CHAPTER XXV

STATE AND LOCAL POLITICS

All that has been said above about the position of the political party as the controlling power in the National Government applies with equal force to state, local, and municipal governments. It is through the party that the citizens ordinarily bring their influence to bear upon the daily operation of these governments. The ballot at the primary and the regular election is the point of contact between the citizen and his government; and the ballot at the primary is in many instances far more important than the ballot at the regular election, for it is at the primaries that the voters determine party policies and select party candidates and leaders. It needs no extended argument, therefore, to demonstrate that, from the point of view of the citizen seeking to maintain his rights and do his duty to his state and community as well as to the nation, a study of political parties, their structure, and actual operations can take no secondary place.

It is well to bear in mind at the outset that the state is a unit in the national party organization and forms the basis of that structure. The state regulates the suffrage within limits, nominations, primaries, and elections-in short, practically all of the operations of parties. It is in the state and city organization that the party has reached its most complete development and has secured the most rigid discipline over the rank and file of the voters. The state organization merges into the larger national organization; the federal patronage is used to build up local machines; and members of Congress serve as party leaders in their respective states. Nevertheless, the overshadowing interest in national politics should no longer be allowed to obscure the fact that the foundations of party government are laid in state and local organization.

1 Above, p. 125.

State Party Organization1

The permanent structure of a political party within a state consists of the state and local chairmen, committees, and conventions. At the head of the party organization is the chairman of the state committee who may or may not be the dominant leader in the party. Sometimes he is a mere figurehead who obeys the orders of leaders, bosses, and private persons who dictate party policies and use him as a screen.2 The real director of party affairs may be a United States Senator who has much patronage to dispense or the governor who commands a large popular following on account of his personality or policies.3 The state chairman may be chosen by the state committee, the state convention, at a party primary, or by a group of party candidates nominated at a primary - according to the laws and political customs of the several states.

The state committee is a representative party organization. It consists of members from various subdivisions in the state counties, legislative districts, or congressional districts, as the case may be. The members may be elected in their respective districts at party primaries or selected by the delegates from such districts at a state convention. The power of a state committee, in the absence of legislative control, cannot be defined, because party rules usually contain no provision on the subject, and the work of the committee really depends upon the personal strength of its members and their capacity for leadership in the party. In a formal way, the committee holds periodical meetings, makes the preparation for state conventions and other state party meetings, and takes charge of the preliminaries of such assemblies. In a few states the committee chooses delegates to the national convention.

It is the duty of the state committee to supervise the process of obtaining a full party registration and vote; to prevent or heal quarrels and dissensions within the ranks; to see that local organizations are in good working order; to raise funds; and to nominate candidates for state offices in case of vacancies and for minor offices. Finally, it is the duty of the committee to direct campaigns throughout the state, coöperating, on the one hand,

1 For legal control over state machinery, see below, p. 545.

2 See H. F. Gosnell, Boss Platt and His New York Machine (1924).

3 Above, p. 237.

with the national committee when there is a national election, and, on the other hand, with the local party committees, strengthening the weak places and devoting special attention to the districts in which it is believed the vote will be close.

The work of the state central committee is chiefly done by the officers the chairman, secretary, and treasurer and such members as choose to devote their time and attention to party matters. In most state committees there is an executive committee, composed of a small number of members who manage to gather into their hands, by constant attention to business, substantially all the powers.

For nearly a hundred years it was customary for each party to hold a state convention previous to every state election, nominate candidates for office, and draft a platform of party principles. At the opening of the twentieth century, however, as we have noted,' the state convention was attacked as a mere tool in the hands of party bosses; in the course of a decade or more it was abolished by law in every state in the Union except Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, North Carolina, New Mexico, and Utah. Later it was partially restored in Idaho and New York; where it was abolished as a nominating device the convention sometimes re-appeared in the shape of an informal party caucus or unofficial assembly. Though forbidden to make nominations it often does in fact arrive at agreements and suggest candidates for the primary. Under a cloud at present, the convention still has vitality in many states.

The state convention, where it is permitted by law, is composed of delegates from counties or legislative districts chosen by party voters or local conventions. So far as the management of party affairs is concerned, the convention is supreme, subject of course to the laws of the state. It is bound by nothing save its own will, the theory being that the delegates coming "direct from the party voters" are the sovereign power within the party for the time being. Accordingly there is often no written constitution for the party; each convention is regarded as an original and independent body, which may make its own rules of procedure; for practical purposes it is governed only by the principles of parliamentary law and by precedents.

The formal party organization just outlined is only a part of

1 Above, p. 153.

the state "machine."

Indeed, as indicated, the dominant figure in the party may not be a party official at all. He may be a United States Senator, a governor, or a silent, retiring figure behind the scenes. The machine itself consists of all the state, city, county, and village officials belonging to the party, all the party chairmen and committeemen throughout the state, all the aspirants for office who expect to rise by services to the party, numerous attorneys for railway, utility, and other corporations that are involved more or less in politics, and all the retainers affiliated with the precinct or election district captains whose function is described below. In short, the most permanent, most loyal, most dependable elements of the party machine are those who derive emoluments directly or indirectly from its operations or expect to do so. Since we have in America no leisure class of independent means devoted to party management, as was once the case in England and still is to some extent, it is necessary that those who apply themselves to this form of public service should derive at least a certain degree of economic support from their activities. Of course the public suffers frequently from the evil deeds of machine politicians, but on the whole perhaps the public business is managed as well as could be expected in the circumstances. The truth is that thousands of members of political machines transact with a fair degree of efficiency business which the indolent voter cannot or does not transact for himself.

Local Party Organization and Methods

Leaving out of account the congressional district organization which, save in rare instances, is of no considerable importance in state politics, the basic unit in the state party machinery is the county organization, except in New England where the town is the home of local politics. It consists of a chairman, committee, and convention (unless the direct primary takes its place). The county convention is composed of delegates from lower units - towns, townships, precincts, or election districts as the case may be. The county committee, as a rule, is also made up of representatives from certain local subdivisions and the chairman is chosen at a convention, or by the committee, or at a primary. The county organization runs into the great cities; the Cook

county organization in Chicago, the New York and Kings county machines in New York, and the Suffolk county organization in Boston are already more than famous in the history of local politics.

The most famous of them all, perhaps, is the Democratic machine in New York County - the central portion of the metropolis - popularly known as Tammany Hall. This organization was established some time before the adoption of the federal Constitution, for the purpose of connecting in "indissoluble bonds of friendship brethren of common bonds of attachment to the political rights of human nature and the liberties of the country." It seems that William Mooney, an Irishman of humble extraction, eager to "diffuse the light of liberty," was chiefly instrumental in the organization of this society.' As its purposes were patriotic and benevolent, it took the name of an Indian chief of William Penn's time, Tammany, celebrated for his wisdom, peace, diplomacy, and exemplary life. Tammany had been canonized as a saint by the Revolutionary army in place of St. George, the slayer of the dragon and the patron protector of the British army. In honor of this noble red man, a number of Tammany societies had been established at various points throughout the East. The New York organization, therefore, got its name from older societies, and, as if to give more weight to its American character, it took the name of Columbus also and called itself "the Tammany Society or the Columbian Order.”

The early purposes of the Tammany Society were social and patriotic rather than political, and strange to say it seems that some of the first leaders were decidedly anti-Catholic. Being a secret society its membership was limited; candidates were initiated according to prescribed rites; and officers bearing Indian titles were elected. The Society, however, in its membership and spirit was in decided contrast to the more aristocratic clubs of New York City. When it was incorporated in 1805, its avowed object was to afford "relief to the indigent and distressed of the said association, to widows and orphans, and others who may be found proper objects of free charity."

The Tammany Society seems to have entered politics in support of Jefferson during the hot campaign of 1800, and from that

1 The traditional date, 1789, for the establishment of Tammany Hall seems to be wrong, and even Mooney's part in it is uncertain. See Dr. E. P. Kilroe, St. Tammany and the Origin of the Tammany Society (New York, 1913).