A Woman for Mayor | Page 8

"Yes,--and then," broke in Gertrude, "some day by accident, if I take
the trouble to read at all I shall notice in a statute a little clause
concealed in fifty pages of meaningless verbiage, which grants an
unjust and special privilege to certain interests closely connected with
the dominant party in state politics. I shall be unable to reconcile this
law with my ideas of fair play and justice, and it will occur to me that
possibly it is a mistake, which can easily be remedied by appealing to

the 'party leaders.'"
"And so you protest," Bailey chimed in, "and in your sweet and
charming innocence you suggest that this law be amended and the
special privilege abolished. The bland smile that greets your remark
will get on your nerves, and you will sit down to think it over; and
when you have cleared your brain of cobwebs, you will realize for the
first time that machine politics, to which you have been an unconscious
party, has nothing whatever to do with ideas, principles or policies, but
is purely a game of money in its last analysis; that it is a scheme to
enrich a few at the expense of the many--"
"And all accomplished under the folds of the flag in the name of the
'grand old party' of Abraham Lincoln, that freed the slaves, or the great
party of Thomas Jefferson, that 'preserves the fundamental rights of
man'," finished Gertrude. "When the white light begins to play upon all
my surroundings in political life, I shall become disgusted and come
back to sweet home-life,--or else turn around and have the fight of my
life."
"I reckon," said Bailey, smiling, "that you didn't live several years in
Washington--or are a great senator's daughter for nothing. But all this,
you know, is the old way. You won't follow politics after this fashion.
You will take up the 'new idea in politics,' which simply means that
reforms should be brought about by the injection of ideas and
principles at the outset rather than by campaigns against individuals for
wrong-doing. It further means that everything should be done in the
open and by the people themselves rather than by a few bosses who
have allied themselves with the corporations in nearly all the states of
the Union."
"To be of service politically, then, according to the rules of the 'new
idea,' the candidate must first ally himself with one of the organized
political parties in the country?" asked Gertrude. "But what if they will
not have you?"
"No," replied Bailey, "I do not mean to say that this is absolutely
necessary, for there are many useful men who do not ally themselves

with any party; but experience has shown, I think, that one can be of
the greatest service and do the most useful work by joining a party and
exerting himself at the primaries, where all government begins, to make
his party stand for definite principles rather than remain an organization
devoted solely to the task of dispensing patronage.--And there are other
allies than the Municipal League," he added. "No. First make a
thorough study of the political situation in Roma. I presume you have
done this already. You will find that not two per cent of the voters go to
the primaries. The ring selects the delegates and their men nominate the
candidates as they are told. There is no contest and the worst men get
put in offices by the money from some trolley or railroad or other
interest, simply because the people do not know--and will not take the
trouble to find out what is going on. But you women can get up
mass-meetings and attend primaries and do all these things, and if there
is not a pretty general waking up in this town before next January, then
I'll lose my guess."
"We'll do it," said Gertrude. "And I believe,--am I too confident when I
say it?--that we can win."
"Well, if not, we can arouse this community as it never has been yet,"
was the reply. "We can wake up the people, and educate them to an
intelligent vote. And we'll elect you yet, Gertie,--see if we don't."
And five minutes later, when Bailey had left for his down-town office,
Gertrude was asking herself, "Why couldn't John Allingham behave as
sensibly? He cannot be right and Bailey wrong. No. But I wish--"
She wheeled about very decisively and went upstairs for her hat; for
things must be talked over with Mrs. Bateman.
CHAPTER IV
Practical Politics
A few nights later several gentlemen could be seen entering the Van
Deusen mansion, where they were greeted by Gertrude and her cousin,
Jennie Craig. With them, too, were Mrs. Bateman, Mrs. Mason, and

Mrs. Stillman. They had all met to organize the