The alderman of the ward we are considering at one time could make the proud boast that he had twenty-six hundred people in his ward upon the public pay-roll.
This, of course, included day laborers, but each one felt under distinct obligations to him for getting a position.

When we reflect that this is one-third of the entire vote of the ward, we realize that it is very important to vote for the right man, since there is, at the least, one chance out of three for securing work.
If we recollect further that the franchise-seeking companies pay respectful heed to the applicants backed by the alderman, the question of voting for the successful man becomes as much an industrial one as a political one.

An Italian laborer wants a "job" more than anything else, and quite simply votes for the man who promises him one.

It is not so different from his relation to the padrone, and, indeed, the two strengthen each other.
The alderman may himself be quite sincere in his acts of kindness, for an office seeker may begin with the simple desire to alleviate suffering, and this may gradually change into the desire to put his constituents under obligations to him; but the action of such an individual becomes a demoralizing element in the community when kindly impulse is made a cloak for the satisfaction of personal ambition, and when the plastic morals of his constituents gradually conform to his own undeveloped standards.
The alderman gives presents at weddings and christenings.

He seizes these days of family festivities for making friends.