oar, are imbued with an inflexible faith in the
party and colored by the conviction that it is a function of Government
to aid business. Platt, for instance, alluding to Blaine's attitude as
Speaker, in the seventies, said: "What I liked about him was his frank
and persistent contention that the citizen who best loved his party
and was loyal to it, was loyal to and best loved his country." And many
years afterwards, when a new type of leader appeared representing a
new era of conviction, Platt was deeply concerned. His famous letter to
Roosevelt, when the Rough Rider was being mentioned for Governor of New
York (1899), shows the reluctance of the old man to see the signs of the
times: "The thing that really did bother me was this: I had heard from
a great many sources that you were a little loose on the relations
of capital and labor, on trusts and combinations, and indeed on the
numerous questions which have recently arisen in politics affecting the
security of earnings and the right of a man to run his own business in
his own way, with due respect of course to the Ten Commandments and the
Penal Code."

* "Notes from a Busy Life", vol. I., 98.

The leaders of both the great parties firmly and honestly believed that
it was the duty of the Government to aid private enterprise, and that
by stimulating business everybody is helped. This article of faith, with
the doctrine of the sanctity of the party, was a natural product of the
conditions outlined in the beginning of this chapter--the war and the
remarkable economic expansion following the war. It was the cause of the
alliance between business and politics. It made the machine and the boss
the sinister and ever present shadows of legitimate organization and
leadership.

CHAPTER IV. THE POLITICIAN AND THE CITY

The gigantic national machine that was erected during Grant's
administration would have been ineffectual without local sources of
power. These sources of power were found in the cities, now thriving on
the new-born commerce and industry, increasing marvelously in numbers
and in size, and offering to the political manipulator opportunities
that have rarely been paralleled. *

* Between 1860 and 1890 the number of cities of 8000 or more
inhabitants increased from 141 to 448, standing at 226 in
1870. In 1865 less than 20% of our people lived in the
cities; in 1890, over 30%; in 1900, 40%; in 1910, 46.3%. By
1890 there were six