NEW' YORK MAYORALTY

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 111, 7 November 1933, Page 7

NEW' YORK MAYORALTY

TAMMANY FACES DEFEAT

REAL ISSUE : CIVIC ECONOMY

NEW YORK, November 5.

For the first time for sixteen years, or since Mr. John Mitchell was there is a likelihood that Tammany will be defeated in the municipal election in this city when- the voters go to the polls on Tuesday.

Th«e three:-coruered fight has quickly reveajed the unexpected strength of the Tammany opposition, and ,the "Literary Digest's" "straw vote" has shown the mounting strength of Mr. F. H. La Gnardia. Mr. J.. V. McKee is second, and Mr. J. P. O'Brien (the present Mayor) is running a poor third.'

Two million persons have registered as voters, and one of the largest votes in the history' of the city is cxpectod. . The campaign has been oxcoptionallv bitter. ' . -

Today thousands of .persons stood in a lino outside the. Tammany 'Club, where a dollar and instructions "how to vote" were offered every applicant.

The racial issue .was early injected into tho campaign when Mr.La Guardia and Mr. J. V. McKee charged each other with being anti-Semitic, and only _ the interposition of Jewish organisations, with a warning that the racial disputo befogs tho real issue—namely,, the necessity for "reducing municipal expenses and obtaining clean city government —prevented- the campaign developing into a plain muckraking contest. With'a city budget in excess of 500,000,000 dollars, th<K .Tammany organisation is likely to feel the electorate's wrath on Tuesday.

There are four ' candidates. for the Mayoralty of New York, Mr. John P. O 'Brien, the present Mayor and Tammany candidate; Mr. , Fiorello La Guardia, famous as a Republican nongressmau for New York and the Fusion candidate; Mr. Joseph V. McKee, who announced a last-minute candidature, and Mr. Charles A. Solomon, the Socialist nominee. ;

The pbsition as between the various candidates is very involved. When Mr. James J. Walker was forced to resign as Mayor ho was succeeded by Mr. McKee, who incurred the displeasure of Tammany (the organisation in New York) by his1 financial policy and retrenchment. Mr. McKee did not receive the party nomination for the office of Mayor at the. last election, the Tammany endorsement going' to Surrogate O 'Brien, who was elected by a large majority At that election Tammany enjoyed a sweeping victory.' However the disclosures of the Hofstader Commission have been bringing Tammany into disrepute, the city is financially in a bad way, and twice has been refused loans by the banks, and Mr. O'Brien'has brought himself personal unpopularity by taxes on the motorists and the Stock Exchange. A great procession through New York recently booed himwheh a demonstration was made against the now tax on sales of stock and the. Stock Exchange threatened to move to the State of Now Jersey on the other side of the river. The Republican organisation in New York is weak, but Mr. La Guardia ia one of the strongest men to oppose the Demoricratic candidate for a long time.