THIS DAY IN 1918 IN THERECORD

Friday, July 5, 1918. Facing a possibly formidable primary challenge this summer, Governor Charles S. Whitman is taking steps to secure the loyalty of Rensselaer County Republicans, The Record reports. Whitman is seeking a third two-year term in Albany but must first get past his attorney general, Merton E. Lewis, at the September gubernatorial primary. With that in mind, our reporter writes, “Six juicy political plums – jobs paying over $20 a week and requiring not an exacting amount of arduous service – comprise the first helping of patronage assigned to Rensselaer county in the initial step of the sweetening process planned to reward the faithful and discourage the malcontents from believing they can be sugared at some other source.” The Trojans in question have been hired as security guards at the state education building in Albany. $20 in 1918 is equivalent in buying power to approximately $333 a week in 2018. In an era when the Republican party has little set ideology beyond protectionism, patronage is important, as it is for the Democratic party, to securing loyalty to elected officials. Each “political plum” theoretically earns the gratitude not only of the new employee but of family, friends and politicians in his neighborhood. “As each [plum] is picked and dispatched to its overjoyed recipient it is tagged ‘Procured through the influ- ence of State Committeman C. V. Collins,’” our reporter notes. Collins, the longtime boss of the county GOP, may need those jobs to secure his position as much as Whitman does. The hiring of Trojans to guard the Albany building has sparked rumors that the governor would use his influence to make Collins the next superintendent of public buildings in the capital city. Our writer doesn’t think that likely, but speculates that Whitman is using the possibility of a Collins appointment to keep the current superintendent in line. Thrift Bag Drive of County Chapter The American Red Cross encourages people to collect “the worthless waste of the homes” into paper Thrift Bags this week for the U.S. war effort. Local Red Cross members have distributed 20,000 Thrift Bags in Rensselaer County. The bags will be filled with scrap wool, cotton, rubber, copper, etc. for recycling. The bags will be collected on July 8. “Buglers will accompany the trucks and the sound of the bugle will be the signal to set the bags outside the door, where the collectors can see them and get them quickly” The Record reports. “Every American housewife will gladly give this material and the time necessary for getting it together in her home,” predicts national organizer Mrs. Ledyard Cogswell. -- Kevin Gilbert