The Small Fry and the Party Purse

Sonya Forthal

American Political Science Review, 1940, vol. 34, issue 1, 66-76

Abstract: In the workings of municipal politics, scant honor is accorded that lowliest member of the political hierarchy—the precinct captain—yet his is actually an important position, and one which it may be worth while scrutinizing carefully, as a small-scale replica of the entire complex organism. Representing as he does the lowest rung of the political ladder, his contacts are necessarily with the voters directly. He is, in a very literal sense, that “man of the people” famed in campaign oratory, with his feet on the ground and his hands manipulating the minor gadgets of the political machine. His function is, simply and admittedly, vote-getting, although there are a number of methods which he may use in the attainment of this end. The extent of his personal recognition and emoluments at the hands of the party is determined entirely by the number of voters whom he succeeds in enticing into the fold, and the means employed in corralling them are as diversified as the foibles of human nature and the types of voters represented in a large city.

Date: 1940
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