politician looks after his own interests, the organization's interests,
and the city's interests all at the same time. See the distinction? For
instance, I ain't no looter. The looter hogs it. I never hogged. I
made my pile in politics, but, at the same time, 1 served the
organization and got more big improvements for New York City
than any other livin' man. And I never monkeyed with the penal
code.

The difference between a looter and a practical politician is the
difference between the Philadelphia Republican gang and
Tammany Hall. Steffens seems to think they're both about the
same; but he's all wrong. The Philadelphia crowd runs up against
the penal code. Tammany don't. The Philadelphians ain't satisfied
with robbin' the bank of all its gold and paper money. They stay to
pick up the nickels arid pennies and the cop comes arid nabs them.
Tammany ain't no such fool. Why, I remember, about fifteen or
twenty years ago, a Republican superintendent of the Philadelphia
almshouse stole the zinc roof off the buildin' and sold it for junk.
That was carryin' things to excess. There's a limit to every-thing,
and the Philadelphia Republicans go beyond the limit. It seems
like they can't be cool and moderate like real politicians. It ain't
fair, therefore, to class Tammany men with the Philadelphia gang.
Any man who undertakes to write political books should never for
a moment lose sight of the distinction between honest graft and
dishonest graft, which I explained in full in another talk. If he puts
all kinds of graft on the same level, he'll make the fatal mistake
that Steffens made and spoil his book.

A big city like New York or Philadelphia or Chicago might be
compared to a sort of Garden of Eden, from a political point of