NEW YORK’S MAYOR

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 149, 20 March 1931, Page 9

NEW YORK’S MAYOR

Charges of Incompetence HIS REMOVAL DEMANDED New York, March 18, ■ The City Affairs Committee, in a report, demands the removal of the Mayor, Mr. James J. Walker, on charges of Incompetence and malfeasance. James J. Walker, Mayor of New York, is 50 years of age, unconventional in speech, and dapper in appearance. “Jimmy” is notorious for his unpunctuality, paytieularly on important occasions, and this queer, apparently studied trait is accompanied by a habit of making nonchalant pronouncement upon, public questions. • For example, when questioned about the recent unsavoury revelations in New York police circles, he remarked that he was shocked “more or less,” then announced that he proposed to go to California for a holiday. Recently both Governor Roosevelt and Mayor Walker were charged with failure to take adequate steps to investigate and stop official corruption in New York City in a pamphlet issued by the City Affairs Committee, of which John Haynes Holmes, pastor of the Community Church, is chairman. “The pamphlet, which purports to. be ‘a manual of misgovernment’ in New York City, lists twelve judges and twentyeight city officials and political leaders as involved in governmental scandals during the year, eight alleged ‘rackets’ and eleven miscellaneous scandals,” stated the “New York Times.” A statement by Mayor Walker, ’ You know as well as I do that our city is run cleanly and honestly,” is quoted on the cover of the manual, to which the committee adds: . . “Mayor Walker, although promising co-operation in the Ewald case, has not suspended or removed from office any. of his appointees for refusing to waive immunity.” Concerning Governor Roosevelt, the pamphlet reads: . „ , “Governor Roosevelt has steadfastly refused to order a general investigation of the New York City government, even after he was empowered to make such an investigation by the Legislature. “As 1930 draws to its close, the citizens of New York look back upon a year’s record of political scandals and debaucheries worse than anything that the city has known since the days of Tweed and Croker,” Mr. Holmes said in making public the manual. “What have been revealed are, of course, only a few of the surface facts which indicate deep sources of corruption which are as yet untouched. . “Meanwhile, the administration at City Hall is complacent, idle and indifferent in the face of revelations of corruption. If there is any one thing that is fixed and certain in the present situation, it is that Mayor Walker’s administration cannot be counted upon to save the city and protect its citizens. There is no lack of intelligence at City Hall, but there is a- tragic lack of courage, character and conscience.