not distribute his Christmas favors from any hardly acquired philanthropic motive, there is no disposition to apply the carefully evolved rules of the charitable societies to his beneficiaries.  Of course, there are those who suspect that the benevolence rests upon self-seeking motives, and feel themselves quite freed from any sense of gratitude; others go further and glory in the fact that they can thus “soak the alderman.”  An example of this is the young man who fills his pockets with a handful of cigars, giving a sly wink at the others.  But this freedom from any sense of obligation is often the first step downward to the position where he is willing to sell his vote to both parties, and then scratch his ticket as he pleases.  The writer recalls a conversation with a man in which he complained quite openly, and with no sense of shame, that his vote had “sold for only two dollars this year,” and that he was “awfully disappointed.”  The writer happened to know that his income during the nine months previous had been but twenty-eight dollars, and that he was in debt thirty-two dollars, and she could well imagine the eagerness with which he had counted upon this source of revenue.  After some years the selling of votes becomes a commonplace, and but little attempt is made upon the part of the buyer or seller to conceal the fact, if the transaction runs smoothly.

A certain lodging-house keeper at one time sold the votes of his entire house to a political party and was “well paid for it too”; but being of a grasping turn, he also sold the house for the same election to the rival party.  Such an outrage could not be borne.  The man was treated to a modern version of tar and feathers, and as a result of being held under a street hydrant in November, contracted pneumonia which resulted in his death.  No official investigation took place, since the doctor’s certificate of pneumonia was sufficient for legal burial, and public sentiment sustained the action.  In various conversations which the writer had concerning the entire transaction, she discovered great indignation concerning his duplicity and treachery, but none whatever for his original offence of selling out the votes of his house.

A club will be started for the express purpose of gaining a reputation for political power which may later be sold out.  The president and executive committee of such a club, who will naturally receive the funds, promise to divide with “the boys” who swell the size of the membership.  A reform movement is at first filled with recruits who are active and loud in their assertions of the number of votes they can “deliver.”  The reformers are delighted with this display of zeal, and only gradually find out that many of the recruits are there for the express purpose of being bought by the other side; that they are most active in order to seem valuable, and thus raise the price of their allegiance when they are ready to sell.  Reformers seeing them drop away one by one, talk of desertion from the ranks