Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/39



that this was a business nation and that the government represented not the people, but business; not men, but business men. So he sat silent, apart, and perplexed — not indignant, mind you, not quarreling and arguing; no, the others did that; the Mayor only listened perplexed while Colonel Dickinson and General Wanser and the rest discussed “his” policy and “his” appointments; discussed them and disagreed, quarreled, all among themselves, but finally agreed among themselves. And then, when they had settled it all and turned to him, a party in harmony, he “got off something about being Mayor and reserving the right to change some items of the slate and policy.” It was their turn to be perplexed. Perplexed? They left him in a rage to “go to the devil.”

The Mayor, abandoned, proceeded with a quiet study he was making all by himself of the city. He went about, visiting the departments, meeting officials, and asking questions. People wrote complaints to him, and some of them were as perplexed as the bosses when Mayor Fagan answered their letters in person, looked into their troubles, and went off to “fix ’em up.” There were lots of things for a Mayor to do: Parents couldn’t get their children into school; no room. Families couldn’t get water above the second