ABSTRACT
The affection of the average American for his conception of popular government is so great that probably few if any of the persons who have attained great prominence as party leaders could be elected to any office in the gift of the American people. When it is remembered that it is the party which controls both the legislature and the administration, and it is the party leader or "boss", as we have accustomed ourselves to call him, who controls the party, it will at once be seen what a commanding position is accorded by the American political system to the bosses. For political development has generally been accomplished by making use of the means which were at hand without a too nice discrimination as to their propriety, when considered from the point of view of individual morality. The political storm centre in the United States is therefore not in the government, but in the party.
