It is an amusing, as well as an instructive sight, to witness a meeting of the council upon an occasion when some well announced "boodle" ordinance is called up for passage. The plan of campaign has all been arranged beforehand, and the floor leader selected to command the movement. Let it be an ordinance for granting the right to a street railway company to lay down its tracks, and operate its line, in a given street. The preliminaries have all been gone through with, the signatures of property owners verified, and the price to be paid for favorable votes agreed upon. When the ordinance is taken up its opponents are generally in a disorganized condition. There is among them, as a general rule, no coherence of opposition. The main object to be attained, viz., the defeat of the ordinance as it is presented, is lost sight of in the effort "to make records" by the introduction of amendments, reflecting some individual idea of the member who offers it, without having submitted it to his associate opponents for their judgment. Consequently they disagree among themselves and fall to fighting each other, thereby weakening their opposition. Meanwhile the "gang" sits smilingly by, under instructions to vote down all amendments. When one is offered, of comparative unimportance, the quick-witted lobbyists of the corporations, Jew and Gentile, convey a tip to the leader of the "gang" that the amendment "is all right," "quite agreeable," "will be accepted," etc., whereupon the gang's leader obligingly informs the chair that it is his profound belief the amendment is a very proper one, and it is graciously accepted. The opposition having some little encouragement, present other amendments, which are, of course, defeated. Sometimes debate is permitted. If the speeches could be reported verbatim and the words spelled out as pronounced, it would make Mr. Dooley reflect on the style of modern oratory, as presented by the "mimber from Archey Road." The question coming to a vote upon the passage of the ordinance, the roll call begins. From the "Bath House" on the right comes, on the first call, the familiar "Aye." That response is repeated by every member of the gang without explanation, and in a stolid way, indicating contempt for public opinion. The measure is now out of the way. Preparations are made for the next. Settlements have to be made and everybody satisfied before new matters involving "boodle" can be presented. Occasionally there is a loud "kick" by some slow-witted member who fails to secure his full share of the "swag," but he is usually placated in some manner best known to the combination, and business goes on in the old way. The division and distribution of the "boodle" are matters of great secrecy and adroit management. It is forced into the pockets of some, or finds its way into them in mysterious ways. It is discovered under a plate at a restaurant, or under a pillow at bedtime; but it seldom passes into the open hand,