You may say organize, organize, organize; but there may be so much organization that it will interfere with the work to be done.  The Bishop here had an experience of that sort, and told all about it down-town the other night.  He was painting a barn—­it was his own barn—­and yet he was informed that his work must stop; he was a non-union painter, and couldn’t continue at that sort of job.

Now, all these conditions of which you complain should be remedied, and I am here to tell you just how to do it.  I’ve been a statesman without salary for many years, and I have accomplished great and widespread good.  I don’t know that it has benefited anybody very much, even if it was good; but I do know that it hasn’t harmed me very much, and is hasn’t made me any richer.

We hold the balance of power.  Put up your best men for office, and we shall support the better one.  With the election of the best man for Mayor would follow the selection of the best man for Police Commissioner and Chief of Police.

My first lesson in the craft of statesmanship was taken at an early age.  Fifty-one years ago I was fourteen years old, and we had a society in the town I lived in, patterned after the Freemasons, or the Ancient Order of United Farmers, or some such thing—­just what it was patterned after doesn’t matter.  It had an inside guard and an outside guard, and a past-grand warden, and a lot of such things, so as to give dignity to the organization and offices to the members.

Generally speaking it was a pretty good sort of organization, and some of the very best boys in the village, including—­but I mustn’t get personal on an occasion like this—­and the society would have got along pretty well had it not been for the fact that there were a certain number of the members who could be bought.  They got to be an infernal nuisance.  Every time we had an election the candidates had to go around and see the purchasable members.  The price per vote was paid in doughnuts, and it depended somewhat on the appetites of the individuals as to the price of the votes.

This thing ran along until some of us, the really very best boys in the organization, decided that these corrupt practices must stop, and for the purpose of stopping them we organized a third party.  We had a name, but we were never known by that name.  Those who didn’t like us called us the Anti-Doughnut party, but we didn’t mind that.

We said:  “Call us what you please; the name doesn’t matter.  We are organized for a principle.”  By-and-by the election came around, and we made a big mistake.  We were triumphantly beaten.  That taught us a lesson.  Then and there we decided never again to nominate anybody for anything.  We decided simply to force the other two parties in the society to nominate their very best men.  Although we were organized for a principle, we didn’t care much about that.  Principles aren’t of much account anyway, except at election-time.  After that you hang them up to let them season.