TAMMANY'S HOLD

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 459, 17 February 1933, Page 7

TAMMANY'S HOLD

NEW YORK CHAOS MOYEMENT TO PURGE CIYIC LIF E IS GAINING MOMENTUM. ABOLITION CAMPAIGN. New York, Saturday. i [ As New Yorkers ponder the chaos j j left behind after public opinion forced J ! Mayor Walker into exile, the move- • ment to rid the city of Tammany for • ever is gaining momentum. The city j is bankrupt, and carries on from hand- j , to-mouth as the banks grant it finan- ! ' cial accommodation, piecemeal, on receiving practical evidence of saving ! | millions of dollars in publc expendi- i 1 ture. J There has been an election for j Mayor, at which' the Tammany nomi- ' ni§e, Surrogate O'Brien, was chosen by the sheer weight of Tammany ini fluence at the polls. Mr. O'Brien may be expected to do no more 'and no less than the "boss" of Tammany, Mr. John F. Curry, ordains. The feelings of the people may be gauged from the fact that a quarter of a million voters voluntarily disfrant chised themselves by writing-in the name of Acting-Mayor McKee, although the Tammany Court ruled that he was not eligible for election. i The initiative in the campaigni for the abolition of Tammany has already | been taken by Judge Seabury, coun- . sel for the Commission which, having sat for over a year, disclosed h'ow millions of dollars had gone in graft : and corruption, in line with the best traditions ' of Tammany corruption in i the past. Judge Seabury proposes

the abolition of Tammany boards, public services and precinets, and their replacement by the election of a single municipal council by proportionate representation. He points out that the Board of Aldermen in New York today is composed of 64 Tammany men and one Republican. Judge Seabury proposes. that the election be carried out by boroughs, land not "at large," as at present, and that aldermen b'e elected on a no'npartisan ballot, without party designation or party emblems. He would have the Mayor and City Controller nominated by petition, so as to eliminate politics in the party nominations. He holds that there are no party .issues in a municipal election. He wotild abolish borough presidents and their retinues. He would select a Civil Service Commission outside the pale of politics, and would forbid officers taking part in municipal politics. Tammany will fight to the last ditch to prevent such' a referendum as is. proposed, knowing that the temper of the people is such that the Wigwam, which has sheltered corruption for a century, would go down before the waves of reform. If Tammany loses control of the election and primary machinery, it is a spent force. Meantime, depression stalks abroad in the city, and is a doughty ally in the cause of cleansing the civic administration. One is not optimistic enough to hope that the death! of Tammany is at hand, but the crisis has certainly been reached.