acknowledge money getting as their own motive power,
and they believe in the cupidity of all the men whom
they encounter. No attempt in either case is
made to put forward the claims of the public, or to
find a moral basis for action. As the corrupt
politician assumes that public morality is impossible,
so many business men become convinced that to pay
tribute to the corrupt aldermen is on the whole cheaper
than to have taxes too high; that it is better to pay
exorbitant rates for franchises, than to be made unwilling
partners in transportation experiments. Such
men come to regard political reformers as a sort of
monomaniac, who are not reasonable enough to see the
necessity of the present arrangement which has slowly
been evolved and developed, and upon which business
is safely conducted. A reformer who really knew
the people and their great human needs, who believed
that it was the business of government to serve them,
and who further recognized the educative power of
a sense of responsibility, would possess a clew by
which he might analyze the situation. He would
find out what needs, which the alderman supplies,
are legitimate ones which the city itself could undertake,
in counter-distinction to those which pander to the
lower instincts of the constituency. A mother
who eats her Christmas turkey in a reverent spirit
of thankfulness to the alderman who gave it to her,
might be gradually brought to a genuine sense of appreciation
and gratitude to the city which supplies her little
children with a Kindergarten, or, to the Board of Health
which properly placarded a case of scarlet-fever next
door and spared her sleepless nights and wearing anxiety,
as well as the money paid with such difficulty to
the doctor and the druggist. The man who in his
emotional gratitude almost kneels before his political
friend who gets his boy out of jail, might be made
to see the kindness and good sense of the city authorities
who provided the boy with a playground and reading
room, where he might spend his hours of idleness and
restlessness, and through which his temptations to
petty crime might be averted. A man who is grateful
to the alderman who sees that his gambling and racing
are not interfered with, might learn to feel loyal
and responsible to the city which supplied him with
a gymnasium and swimming tank where manly and well-conducted
sports are possible. The voter who is eager to
serve the alderman at all times, because the tenure
of his job is dependent upon aldermanic favor, might
find great relief and pleasure in working for the
city in which his place was secured by a well-administered
civil service law.