RICHARD CROOKER THE TAMMANY BOSS.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 23 January 1901, Page 4

RICHARD CROOKER THE TAMMANY BOSS.

There is no deep mystery in American politics. They can be understood by anybody who will give the subject serious sludy ; but one thing will always remain unintelligible to him who has not studied the conditions on the spot —and that is, the stupendous local ascendency of Richard Ciokcr. This remarkable dictator, holding no official position, without education, with a youthful record as a prize-fighter and “Bowery tough,’, spending the income of a prince derived nominally from a “ real estate business,” carries in the palm of his iron hand the administration of a great city of three and a half million people, the financial and commercial heart of the richest nation in the world. An Irishman, his power derived from the political activity of the Jrish-Amori-cans, he lives in England, a country which his followers hate—and engages in an aristocratic amusement —-racing— which they despise. *His career is a most striking example of power without responsibility which democracy can show. Professor Bryce might: go to Wantage Road, study this unique and sinister personality, and add a chapter to “The American Commonwealth-” Telegraph,”