“I was aghast. I wanted to repudiate the whole thing forthwith, but I was afraid, as you say, that I would drive them bodily over to the Socialists and Communists. In general, I’m beginning to wonder if we could try to marshal this extreme movement back of Matthew Towns. I don’t exactly trust him, and I certainly do not trust his wife. But Towns has got sense. He is a practical politician. And it may be that with his leadership we can restrain these radicals and keep them inside a normal liberal movement.”
Mrs. Beech pushed her dessert aside and sat for a while in a brown study.
“I am wondering too just how much can be done in this one Chicago congressional district, to use Towns and his wife in order to unite Republicans and Progressives, so as to begin a movement which should liberalize the Republican Party and stabilize the radicals. Unless we do this, or at least begin somewhere to do it, I see little hope for reform in politics. A third party in the United States is impossible on account of the Solid South. They are a dead weight and handicap to all political reform. They have but one shibboleth, and that is the Negro.”
“Yes,” said Mr. Cadwalader, “and the Democrats play their usual role in this campaign. Their positive policies are exactly the same as the Republicans’. They, of course, have no chance of winning in this political district, unless the Republicans split. Now with Towns’ revolt, the Republican machine is split and the Democrats are just waiting. If Towns should be nominated they would raise the question of the color line and yell ‘nigger.’ They might in this way elect one of their own number or some independent. If Doolittle is nominated, it is going to be hard to be hard to elect him if Towns runs as an independent; and in that case it might be good politics for the Democrats to back Towns and beat the Republican machine. So there they are on the fence, waiting.”
“On the other hand,” said Mrs. Beech, “down in the black trenches the war is bitter, as I gathered from my attendance at the meeting this afternoon. Sammy Scott, the boss, and Sara Towns were formerly close associates and know each other’s personalities, political methods, and secrets. They are watching each other narrowly and are utterly unhindered by scruples. What sort of personality has this man Matthew Towns? Do you know anything about him?”
“I’ve been looking up his record. He intrigues me. He had, I find, an excellent record in medical school. Then in silly pique he became a Pullman porter and, I judge, sank pretty low. He does not seem to have committed any crime, but went to jail on a technicality because he wouldn’t betray some of his friends. Scott rescued him and used him. He’s got brains and education, but he’s queer and not easily approachable.”
“Well, if I were you,” said Mrs. Beech as she arose, “I’d get in touch with Towns and cultivate him. He may be worth while. His wife is a shrewd climber, but even that might be an asset.”
And so they parted.
XVII
The Honorable Sammy Scott was carefully planning his lines of battle and marshaling his forces. First he threw out certain skirmish lines—feints to veil his main action. Of course they might unearth or start something, but he was not putting his main dependence upon them. Of such a nature was Corruthers’ trip to the East. It flattered Corruthers and gave him something to do, and it left Sammy unhindered to arrange his main campaign. And, of course, it was also possible that something would come out of this visit.
Among his other skirmishing efforts, Sammy kept looking for the weak spots in Matthew’s armor, but was unable to find many. Matthew’s obvious faults rather increased his popularity. He drank liquor, but not much, and Sammy saw no chance to make him or keep him drunk. He tried bribery on Towns from every point of view, but personal graft had not attracted Towns even when he was in the machine, and Sammy had little hope that it would now. Nevertheless, he saw to it that Towns was offered a goodly lump sum to withdraw his candidacy. Of course, Towns refused. The trouble was, as Sammy argued, that his machine could not afford to offer enough. He did not dare make the offer to Sara. She was capable of pocketing cash and candidate too.
Sammy’s main dependence was to regain or split the Negro vote by careful propaganda; to reorganize his own machine and drive his leaders into line by the free use of money; and to alienate the church and the women from Towns by digging up scandals. Of course that second establishment that Matthew kept down where he used to live was a hopeful bit of scandal, only Sammy couldn’t discover the woman. Naturally there must be a woman, or why should he keep the rooms?
Finally Sammy would try, wherever possible, strong-arm methods to intimidate the independents. Beyond this he believed that in some way he might split the Progressive support back of Matthew by making Matthew say or do something that was too radical for men like Cadwalader, or by making him bind himself to a program which was too reactionary for the radical Laborites.
Sammy envisaged the situation thus: If all efforts failed and Matthew received the Farmer-Labor nomination and the support of the majority of the colored vote, nevertheless, a huge sum of money spent at the polls might even then defeat him. If bribery failed and the Negro vote stood solid,
