at is the first step in the ladder."

"But isn't Mr. Moriarty one?"

"He comes in the next grade. Each of the men I have mentioned can
usually affect an average of twenty-five votes. But now we get to
another rung of the ladder. Here we have Dennis, and such men as
Blunkers, Denton, Kennedy, Schlurger and others. They not merely have
their own set of followers, but they have more or less power to dominate
the little bosses of whom I have already spoken. Take Dennis for
instance. He has fifty adherents who stick to him absolutely, two
hundred and fifty who listen to him with interest, and a dozen of the
smaller bosses, who pass his opinions to their followers. So he can thus
have some effect on about five hundred votes. Of course it takes more
force and popularity to do this and in this way we have a better grade
of men."

"Yes. I like Mr. Moriarty, and can understand why others do. He is so
ugly, and so honest, and so jolly. He's lovely."

"Then we get another grade. Usually men of a good deal of brain force,
though not of necessity well educated. They influence all below them by
being better informed, and by being more far-seeing. Such men as
Gallagher and Dummer. They, too, are usually in politics for a living,
and so can take the trouble to work for ends for which the men with
other work have no time. They don't need the great personal popularity
of those I have just mentioned, but they need far more skill and brain.
Now you can see, that these last, in order to carry out their
intentions, must meet and try to arrange to pull together, for otherwise
they can do nothing. Naturally, in a dozen or twenty men, there will be
grades, and very often a single man will be able to dominate them all,
just as the smaller bosses dominate the smaller men. And this man the
papers call a boss of a ward. Then when these various ward bosses
endeavor to unite for general purposes, the strongest man will sway
them, and he is boss of the city."

"And that is what you are?"

"Yes. By that I mean that nothing is attempted in the ward or city
without consultation with me. But of course I am more dependent on the
voters than they are on me, for if they choose to do differently from
what I advise, they have the power, while I am helpless."

"You mean the smaller bosses?"

"Not so much them as the actual voters. A few times I have shot right
over the heads of the bosses and appealed directly to the voters."

"Then you can make them