Hall, but they're chiefly ornamental. You never heard of Charlie
Murphy delivering a speech, did you? Or Richard Croker, or John
Kelly, or any other man who has been a real power in the
organization? Look at the thirty-six district leaders of Tammany
Hall today. How many of them travel on their tongues? Maybe one
or two, and they don't count when business is doin' at Tammany
Hall. The men who rule have practiced keepin' their tongues still,
not exercisin' them. So you want to drop the orator idea unless you
mean to go into politics just to perform the skyrocket act.

Now, I've told you what not to do; I guess I can explain best what
to do to succeed in politics by tellin' you what I did. After goin'
through the apprenticeship of the business while I was a boy by
workin' around the district headquarters and hustlin' about the polls
on election day, I set out when I cast my first vote to win fame and
money in New York City politics. Did I offer my services to the
district leader as a stump-speaker? Not much. The woods are
always full of speakers. Did I get up a hook on municipal
government and show it to the leader? I wasn't such a fool. What I
did was to get some marketable goods before goin' to the leaders.
What do I mean by marketable goods? Let me tell you: I had a
cousin, a young man who didn't take any particular interest in
politics. I went to him and said: "Tommy, I'm goin' to be a
politician, and I want to get a followin'; can I count on you?" He
said: "Sure, George.', That's how I started in business. I got a
marketable commodity---one vote. Then I went to the district
leader and told him I could command two votes on election day,
Tommy's and my own. He smiled on me and told me to go ahead.
If I had offered him a speech or a bookful of learnin', he would
have said, "Oh, forget it!"