The Price of Dissent in the Hay Administration
A state inspector loses his job for allegedly failing to support the Governor's re-election bid, revealing a culture of political retribution.
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A. W. Perly, state track inspector, is the latest victim to be made to walk the plank by the Hay administration. He was a good official as far as competency went—the administration admits that—but it claimed he favored John C. Lawrence in preference to Hay in the coming primary election. 'Pernicious political activity' is the charge. Perly denies having used his office to boost anybody for governor and comes right back at the Hay machine strong for removing him without a pretense of a hearing. Hay is playing the game in the old way, attempting to make every subordinate a spoke in the dominant political machine. That a man is a capable official cuts no ice at all if he isn't a Hay booster at all times and in all places. Mrs. Mason would probably be assistant state labor commissioner today if she had gone around singing the praises of Hay at women's clubs and among all the women she met. She didn't know how to play politics and she got the axe. Perly thought his job was to inspect railroad tracks and railway equipment rather than to solicit votes for the Ambitious One in the gubernatorial mansion. He got the axe also. Go to it, Mr. Hay. But take it from us, your political advisers are away back in the procession. Political strong-arm methods are rapidly going out of vogue.
“That a man is a capable official cuts no ice at all if he isn't a Hay booster at all times and in all places.”
The tension between professional civil service and political patronage remains a staple of state-level politics. Even today, the 'revolving door' and the 'spoils system' mirror this 1912 struggle, where the perceived loyalty to a party leader takes precedence over the technical demands of the role.
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