n that honored him, see?

Let me tell you an instance that shows the difference between sellin'
nominations and arrangin' them in the way I described. A few years ago a
Republican district leader controlled the nomination for Congress in his
Congressional district. Four men wanted it. At first the leader asked
for bids privately, but decided at last that the best thing to do was to
get the four men together in the back room of a certain saloon and have
an open auction. When he had his men lined up, he got on a chair, told
about the value of the goods for sale, and asked for bids in regular
auctioneer style. The highest bidder got the nomination for $5000. Now,
that wasn't right at all. These things ought to be always fixed up nice
and quiet.

As to officeholders, they would be ingrates if they didn't contribute to
the organization that put them in office. They needn't be assessed. That
would be against the law. But they know what's expected of them, and
if they happen to forget they can be reminded polite and courteous.
Dan Donegan, who used to be the Wiskinkie of the Tammany Society, and
received contributions from grateful officeholders, had a pleasant way
of remindin'. If a man forgot his duty to the organization that made
him, Dan would call on the man, smile as sweet as you please and say:
"You haven't been round at the Hall lately, have you?" If the man tried
to slide around the question, Dan would say: "It's gettin' awful cold."
Then he would have a fit of shiverin' and walk away. What could be
more polite and, at the same time, more to the point? No force, no
threats--only a little shiverin' which any man is liable to even in
summer.

Just here, I want to charge one more crime to the infamous civil service
law. It has made men turn ungrateful. A dozen years ago, when there
wasn't much civil service business in the city government, and when
the administration could turn out almost any man holdin' office, Dan's
shiver took effect every time and there was no ingratitude in the city
departments. But when the civil service law came in and all the clerks
got lead-pipe cinches on their jobs, ingratitude spread right away.
Dan shivered and shook till his bones rattled, but many of the city
employees only laughed at him. One day, I remember, he tackled a clerk
in the Public Works Department, who used to give up pretty regular, and,
after the usual question, began to shiver. The clerk smiled. Dan shook
till his hat fel