If there's a family in my district in want I know it before the
charitable societies do, and me and my men are first on the ground.
I have a special corps to look up such cases. The consequence is
that the poor look up to George W. Plunkitt as a father, come to
him in trouble-and don't forget him on election day.

Another thing, I can always get a job for a deservin' man. I make it
a point to keep on the track of jobs, and it seldom happens that I
don't have a few up my sleeve ready for use. I know every big
employer in the district and in the whole city, for that matter, and
they ain't in the habit of sayin' no to me when I ask them for a job.

And the children-the little roses of the district! Do I forget them?
Oh, no! They know me, every one of them, and they know that a
sight of Uncle George and candy means the same thing. Some of
them are the best kind of vote-getters. I'll tell you a case. Last year
a little Eleventh Avenue rosebud, whose father is a Republican,
caught hold of his whiskers on election day and said she wouldn't
let go till he'd promise to vote for me. And she didn't.

Chapter 7. On The Shame of the Cities

I'VE been readin' a book by Lincoln Steffens on The Shame of *he
Cities. Steffens means well but, like all reformers, he don't know
how to make distinctions. He can't see no difference between
honest graft and dishonest graft and, consequent, he gets things all
mixed up. There's the biggest kind of a difference between
political looters and politicians who make a fortune out of politics
by keepin' their eyes wide open. The looter goes in for himself
alone without considerin' his organization or his city. The