TAMMANY'S REVERSE.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXV, Issue LXV, 16 December 1913, Page 6

TAMMANY'S REVERSE.

AN ARROGANT BOSS

The election of John Purroy Mitchell, Mayor of New York City, by a .majority of 121,000 votes over Eward lE. McCall, a former Judge of the State Supreme^ Court and the candidate of Tammany Hall, was the most smashing , politfcal defeat, that corrjipt organisatiomjias sustained in many years (writes the Wellington Post's Ameri- . can correspondent). In. its degradation of JGoveViior Siilzer, a 'former puppet <of * Boss Murphy, who was pulled out of the Governorship as punishment for his refusal to any longer take Tammany orders, Tamxbany for once over-reached itself and evoked its own condemnaiton. Optim- .-, istic New Yorkers are referring to the election' as the "destruction of Tammany, 1' but Tammany has be'en "de- *■ strayed" so many times' in the past, only to' rise to power and control in a few years, that there is, no ground whatever for the hope that the 'tiger will henceforth be' elmiminated from Ne»- York politics. Under Charles Murphy, Tammany Hall has achieved greater influence than at' any time since the overflow .'of the Tweed ring. With his delegates to the National .Democratic Convention last year., Murphy c,ame within an ace of* defeating WoodroAv Wilson for the nomination for President; but for William J. Byran, the present Secretary of State, the candidate supported by Tammany would undoubtedly have been nominated. 'In New "fork State affairs the .-..organisation about the election of (Governor Dix three years ago .and of Gov- '» <ernor S\ilzer one^ year; ago. Under Dix, Bess Murphy was permitted to dictate most, of the imp&rtant political appointments; Sulzer'S refusal to trea.d the same path as Dix resulted in Si'^s downfall. The late Mayor Gayrior was elected because of Tammany backing, but-he, like Sulzer, could not stomach the demands of thevpverbearnng Murphy. With Mitchell in.the Mayor's chair, and with Governor •Glynu adopting a pronounced anti* Tiiinmany attitude, there is every rea- '■■*■■ son to^'believe that in the immediate .. fxititre, at any rate, the Murphy in- * fluence will be ..eliminated, that po3'itical offices will not be bought and •sold, aid that, the most profitable pub- - lie contracts will not be seized upon ■j>y .Murphy's associates. &n a, sense the election was a vin- '" rdication for Sulzer. State and munici- ' " pdl elections were held on the same day, and this gave" the impeached and dismissed Governor an opportunity to ride back into office on the wave of anti-Tammany sentiment. Notwithstanding his proved perjury and unfitness for, office, Sulzer was elected to the legislative Assembly to represent <■■ .an feEast side constituency. He thus preeminences his political.career on the irung of the ladder upon which he started'twenty years ago. The Mayoralty camapign in its last -flays was fought out with the .utmost virulence and with unbridled language. rSerious charges were bandied back and . 'forth, and in speeches every night the llie was passed. John A. Hennessy, a i'former newspaper writer, who, as an ;appointeeof Governor Sulzer's, started •the investigation of Tammany which led to'the impeachment of Sulzer, gave -utterance to attacks on McCall. the TTammany candidate for Mayor, which ' are to be further'investigated in crim-, inal libel suits. He-charged that' Me- ' Call was Murphy's emissary irr, an atrtempt to coerce Governor Sulzer, and -that McCall paia T<- lls Judgeship of ithe C' u-t was another ►charge. "Let Judys iicCall answer," j Hennessy Baiu in one of his speeches, - s X** "^ c taohey which

for the 4 nomination for Supreme Court Justice." Fighting and attempted intimidation were in evidence around < some of the booths on election day, .'but..-not to the extent that was expected. That gunmen, guerrillas, and thugs were to be employed to intimidate voters was the well-grounded bei lief of the Fusion party, but 700 ' picked policemen familiar with the underworld characters were assigned to the voting places, where the rough elements predominate, and lawlessness was jreduced to a minimum. In three States, Massachusetts, New ; Jersey, and- Virginia, elections were ', also, held 051 3rd "November, and in; each instance a Democrat was elected Governor. Eugene Foss, who has been elected Governor of Massachusetts as. a Republican and as a Democrat^ ran .this time as an Independent and was defeated. The results of the State' elections are highly pleasing to President Wilson, who interprets them as an endorsement by the people of his administration of national affairs.