George Washington Plunkitt of Tammany Hall
Everybody is talkin' these days about Tammany men growin' rich on graft, but nobody thinks of drawin' the distinction between honest graft and dishonest graft." With this sentence in the first chapter Plunkitt sets the tone for his short treatise on New York City politics while Tammany Hall ran the show. George Washington Plunkitt was a senator in New York during the turn of the 19th Century to the 20th Century. He was very successful in politics, and at one time he held four offices at once and collected salaries from three of them. G. W. Plunkitt held any one (or more offices) in Tammany Hall for over forty years. He was a shady politician who took care of his constituents and his bank account. Plunkitt was never shy about becoming rich in politics because he did nothing illegal by the standards of the time. Moreover, Plunkitt never broke the penal code and therefore never spent a day in jail. However, Plunkitt had to defend himself against reformers by distinguishing between honest graft and dishonest graft. He would explain this difference as well as his wealth by saying, "I seen my opportunities and I took 'em." In Plunkitt's own mind, as seen through his writings, he did not regret his actions because he did so much to help the Tammany supporters. Plunkitt's main complaint was against civil service examinations, but in his talks he also instructed young men how to be successful in politics by examining human nature and doing as e had done.
The curse of civil service reform to George W. Plunkitt was that patriotic young men could not get jobs without passing the civil service examinations. Plunkitt's objections about civil service reform are two fold, not only cou...
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... people and knew how to attract them to his ticket.
The book Plunkitt of Tammany Hall is not only a monument to George W. Plunkitt's 40 plus years as a senator, it is also a monument to his enormous ego. G. W. Plunkitt was a well-liked man among his supporters and Tammany men alike. He had opposition from reformers who accused Tammany Hall of illegal activities involving graft. But, according to Plunkitt he never engaged in, "blackmailin', gamblin' or disorderly people." He said that "the politician that steals is worse than a thief. He is a fool." Plunkitt made a fortune in politics, and he did it all through honest graft. He says that even if his worst enemy wrote his epitaph that he could not do more than write: "George W. Plunkitt. He Seen His Opportunities and He Took 'Em."
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plunkitt of Tammany Hall
by William Riordin
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...hey knew nothing about. Therefore, civil service examinations were created in order to hire skilled professionals. These examinations were a needed stipulation for hiring during a time when more technical skills were needed. It also displaced unskilled workers, a number of which were put into place by the political machine. Civil service examinations hurt the machine in many ways. It released workers who were put in by the machine, and then taken out due to being unqualified, from voting in their favor. They created an atmosphere which made it difficult for the machine to use their patronage in order to place unskilled workers in a job. More importantly, it aided in the public realization that with the arrival of a more representative government for everyone, which didn’t ask for individual favors, political machines no longer appealed to them and were not needed.
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