Mr.Astor had with him a very shrewd "Man Friday," and this Man Friday got it into his head that he would like to be Mayor of Jacksonville, and he sought and obtained the support of his very powerful patron.

It leaked out that Mr.Astor favored his Man Friday for Mayor.

The "business interests" of the city took the matter "under advisement." After much "consultation" and preliminary skirmishing, it was decided that it would be unwise to antagonize Mr.
Astor's Man Friday; and so he was placed in nomination as the "Citizens' Candidate." He was elected by a handsome majority.

I believe it is a disputed question to-day, whether Mr.Astor's Man Friday was, or was not, a citizen of the place at the time he was elected Mayor.

Be that as it may, it showed beyond question that the people knew how to go down upon their knees to the golden calf.
A condition of slavery or of serfdom produces two grievous evils, around which cluster many others of less importance, viz: the creation of vast landed estates, and the pauperization and debasement of labor.
Pliny declared that to the creation of vast _latifundia_ (aggregated estates) Italy owed its downfall.