CHARLES JOSEPH BONAPARTE cerning the Equitable Assurance Society and some of the larger railway systems, they may very properly be classed as "op portunists." As we all know, doctrinaires and opportunists are not mutually attrac tive, but on the contrary are quite the re verse, and therefore, the fact that Mr. Bonaparte has never formed entangling alli ances with organized capital any more than he has with organized labor, while it may have been somewhat bad for his pocket-book in the past, will undoubtedly strengthen his position in the cabinet in the future. Those who are wont to speak disparag ingly of so-called doctrinaires, generally do it upon the assumption that they are always unpractical and never can accomplish any thing, because of their inability to act in harmony with other people. Whatever else Mr. Bonaparte may be or may not be, he surely is eminently practical. No one who has had much to do with Mr. Bonaparte either in professional or busi ness matters, would be any more likely to apply the term unpractical to him, than they would to Theodore Roosevelt — for both of them belong emphatically to the class of men "who do things." To illus trate how practical Mr. Bonaparte is, I need not refer to the fact that he has had per sonally the entire management during the past twenty-five years of two large estates of probably over a million dollars each, in vested largely in realty, and that he has without any seeking on his part, within the past year, been chosen as trustee to manage another estate, equally large, for a long period of time; and that whenever he is present at a meeting called to invoke the action of the public authorities in any mat ter in which property holders and the gen eral business community are supposed to Ъе interested, he is almost invariably made chairman of the committee relied upon to formulate a definite plan of procedure and to put that plan into active operation. I shall not refer to what he has actually done as chairman of the Council of the National
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Civil Service Reform League, or as president of the National Municipal League. I shall confine myself to what I have actually seen him do while sitting with him on the executive committee of the Baltimore Re form League during the last eighteen years. This Reform League is a non-partisan organ ization, formed in the fall of 1885, its de clared purpose being "to secure fair elec tions, promote honest and efficient govern ment, and to expose and bring to punish ment official misconduct in the State of Maryland and especially in the city of Bal timore." All the great reforms in state and municipal government which have been made in Maryland within the past twenty years, have been obtained largely through its instrumentality. Its governing body is an executive committee of fifteen members, including all its officers and eight other members. A majority of the committee has always been more or less in sympathy with the Democratic party upon national questions (excepting in the matter of free silver), and two-thirds of its members have generally been lawyers. All of these are men of independent character, who think for themselves and are usually quite tena cious of their opinions. Mr. Bonaparte has always been chairman of this committee, and I should say that at least six-sevenths of the resolutions passed have been drafted by his hand, and most of them started from his initiation. A resolution except as to matter of routine is rarely passed without discussion. These discussions frequently cover the points as to whether the proposed action, or indeed any action at all, is expe dient at that particular time, or whether some action is not imperative in order to maintain the prestige and force of the League as a moral power in the community; and then, if it be decided to act, the further question arises as to exactly what action will be best. Upon every one of these points there are often decided differences of opin ion, and most of the resolutions eventually agreed on are found to differ considerably
