This general committee holds
stated meetings and appoints subcommittees. The executive
committee, composed of the leaders of the assembly districts and
the chairman and treasurer of the county committee, is the real
working body of the great committee. It attends to all important
routine matters, selects candidates for office, and conducts
their campaigns. It is customary for the members of the general
committee to designate the district leaders for the executive
committee, but they are elected by their own districts
respectively at the annual primary elections. The district leader
is a very important wheel in the machine. He not only leads his
district but represents it on the executive committee; and this
brotherhood of leaders forms the potent oligarchy of Tammany. Its
sanction crowns the high chieftain, the boss, who, in turn, must
be constantly on the alert that his throne is not undermined;
that is to say, he and his district leaders must "play politics"
within their own bailiwicks to keep their heads on their own
shoulders. After their enfranchisement in New York (1917) women
were made eligible to the general and executive committees.
Thirty-seven were at once elected to the executive committee, and
plans were made to give them one-half of the representation on
the general committee.
Each of the twenty-three assembly districts is in turn divided
into election districts of about 400 voters, each with a
precinct captain who is acquainted with every voter in his
precinct and keeps track, as far as possible, of his affairs.
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