The American Political Machine.

Evening Star, Issue 8730, 23 January 1892, Page 4

The American Political Machine.

The popular idea in Ergland— writes " An American in England" in the ' AntiJacobiu'—is that every election in the United States ia carried by open bribery. The people read about large sums oi rroney being collected f>>r political purposes, and they jump to the conclusion that r.ll this fund is used to buy votes. On the contrary, a very small amount is so used. Tho parties watch each other so closely, and the penalties are so heavy, that it doesn't pay. The money collected ia used to establish and maintain a system of inspection and a bureau of information so complete in every detail, and so ably officered, that ita power ia enormous. The head of thin system on the Republican si 'e ia .Senator (,>uay, of Pennsylvania, and his plan hj briefly as follows :—An able man, well paid, and known to bo trustworthy, first makes a careful canvaea of each district, reporting on the people, their peculiarities, prejudices', habits, and local feuds. He nho recommends a man living in the place nho will, unknown to the people, watch the drift cf sentiment, and report any ch-mg.; at headquarters. These men are all well paid, and their employment is for years, nrl month?. By means of this system of private observation, to which is added the work cf a corps of acknowledged party canvassers, the exact condition of every district is known. Now, when an election takes pl.ico, both the speaker and the topics on which he ia to speak are selected by the head of this system, and th>y are selected not with an eye to how tho speeches will read in the city newspapers, or be received us literary creations at the clubs, but solely on the ground of adaptation to the special locality attacked. Then, in place of eecdiog somo young man to address the constituency who bas an ambition to practise public speaking, and will go without thinking of compensation, a man of known ability and wide reputation ia sent, and paid handsomely for the work. I have known a hundred pounds to be given to a speaker for making one addresp. Nothing is left to chance; everything is reduced to system in an American campaign—and this system ia not without its good effect on the nation as well as the party. Every little while some new craze will crop up in the United States and threaten to sweep all over the land. Suddenly it drops out of sight. And what has sunk it ? Why, the political machine. That which was more or leaa a dang.r to the nation was also a menace to the party; and so the machinery was put quietly in motion, literature to counteract the evil and educate the people poured quietly into the diseased section, and speakers of known position and great influence were despatched to battle with the evil in its infancy and strangle it before it outgrew control. This is all done for the good of party, but nevertheless it benefits the nation. The ' Anti-Jacobin's' correspondent concludes with some advice to the Tory party in England. "Come down," he writes, " to the intellectual level of the men you wißh to influence, and talk to them about subjects they take an interest in ; and then the wonderful gains of the Liberals will cease to astonish, because they will cease to appear. Above all and beyond all, remember, as Lowell wrote, 'Compromise is a good umbrella, but a poor roof.' 'Stealing an opponent's thunder' is dangerous work; it has a way of coming down on one's own head."