The New York herald., 1876-10-15
Tho Mayoralty.

the Boss of Tammany Hall. He insists on
'my candidate" and cannot bring himself
to give up my policy" In fact, he acts as
was pocket borough which he could dis
pose of as suits his own imperious will.
Even though he knows that he will be
beaten he insists. 1t must be s'my Mayor"
or nobody.
This is mere childs play. A number of
excellent and unexceptionable names have
been suggested to Mr.. Kelly-men who are
not to be counted among his personal or
political opponents, and against whom he
can bring no objection, except that they
would not be his creatures. We
have ourselves suggested to him the
name Of Mr.. John T. Agnew, one of
the foremost merchants OF New York. We
Phelps and Mr.. John Grenville Kane. One
of our contemporaries has. brought forward
that of Mr. Samuel d. Babcock, President
of the Chamber of Commerce. All these are
good names. Any one of these gentlemen
would make an excellent Mayor. Mr.. Bab-
cock or Mr.. Kane ought to be at once ac-
cepted by Mr.. Kelly. Will he refuse both?
Can he not see that there is sort Of inde-
cency in setting up his will against the gen.
eral desire for harmony in his party and
against the universal wish Of the citizens for
the nomination of proper man for the
Mayoralty?
Mr.. Babcock is President Of the Chamber
Cf ho kha viz oft tho
merchants of New York on many of the most
important questions relating to our port !;
as Mayor he would be able to bring to bear
the great influence Of the mercantile COM
munity upon the improvements needed by
the city. What has Mr.. Kelly to say against
him? Mr.. Kane is a citizen of independent
fortune, already familiar with the municipal
administration and thoroughly conversant
with the needs Of New York. What has
Mr.. Kelly to say against Mr.. Kane?
If. however, he will not take our advice,
which is that of all sensible men Of his
party-if he refuses to allow the nomination
of MIR. Babcock, or of Mr. Kane, of
one Of the gentlemen prominently men
toned, or of some citizen of the same
standing character and capacity, then we
advise the anti-Tammany men, if they are
sincere in their wish for reform, to adopt
one of these names. If they do this we pre-
dict another uprising against Tammany Hall
similar to that of last year and MS overwhelm-
ing victory for the antiTammany men. If
candidate" it is the part of the anti-Tam-
many men to take advantage of his blunder
for blunder it is. If they act wisely they
can teach Tammany and Mr.. Kelly lesson
| which both seem greatly in need Of The
Tammany men ought to have learned by
their experience last year how rash it is to
allow themselves and their organization to
be controlled by one man, and to insist upon
putting Mr.. Kelly's favorites, and only them,
into Office. 1t is now the turn Of the anti
Tammany men we advise them to act with
prudence and to put themselves where it
seems Mr.. Kelly will not allow Tammany to
stand-in harmony with the just demands of
the public.
1t seems to be favorite plan Of Mr.. Kelly
and his friends to deprecate in advance all
criticism upon their measures. as if it were
inspired by personal instead of public
motives. If Mr. Kelly is censured as po-
litical leader of large faction for insisting
upon forcing his own will upon great
party then his friends declare this
censure to be plainly discourteous and
''vituperative. When Mr.. Kelly opposed
Mr. Tilden both in New York and ST.
Louis we do not remember that his right
to do so was denied. For our own part we be-
| lieve that men who denounce their political
opponents in discourteous language waste
their power and throw away their oppor-
| tunities. The greatest mistake that news
paper or a politician can make is to be ''vitu-
perative." The speech which Mr.. August Bel
mont made at the Cooper Institute the other
evening was a model of powerful argument
combined with courtesy, and because it was
net denunciatory, but argumentative, it was
one of the most effective addresses that has
been made on either side during the whole
canvass. We cite this as an illustration Of
the fact that q public speaker or a newspa-
per can be frank, bold and strong without
violating any of the courtesies of society,
and that, on the contrary, the more
polished the weapon the more effective is
the blow. Mr. Kelly's organ has intimated
that the HERALD has not treated him with
the courtesy to which he is entitled We
regret the charge, for it has been our policy
to speak of Mr. Kelly with proper Difference,
and we believe that the editorial columns of
the HERALD can be searched from
top to bottom for years past, ever
since he became the Tammany leader,
and that not single word of discourtesy
toward him can be found We have been
severe, and. we think, justly severe, upon his
schemes and his purposes, but personal at
tack we have steadily avoided.