We will all hail the day when we shall be able to lay
down the club. But until it comes I do not see that we have any
choice but to keep a firm grip on it.
CHAPTER XIV
I TRY TO GO TO THE WAR FOR THE THIRD AND LAST TIME
That which I have described as "sitting up with a club" in a city
like New York is bound to win your fight if you sit up long enough,
for it is to be remembered that the politicians who oppose good
government are not primarily concerned about keeping you out of
your rights. They want the things that make for their advantage;
first of all the offices through which they can maintain their
grip. After that they will concede as many of the things you want
as they have to, and if you are not yourself out for the offices,
more than otherwise, though never more than you wring out of them.
They really do not care if you do have clean streets, good schools,
parks, playgrounds, and all the things which make for good citizenship
because they give the best part of the man a chance, though they
grudge them as a sad waste of money that might be turned to use
in "strengthening the organization," which is the sum of all their
self-seeking, being their means of ever getting more and more.
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