The Portland daily press., 1878-11-05
Our New York Letter.
The Elecfi0ns--Uncertain in New VorL
City-The CongressionaI OutIook-The
Contest for the MayorsIty.
NEW York. Nov. a. 1873

New YORK, Nov. 4, 1878.
In most places where elections are pending
there Is some basis of calculation as to the
probable results, but 10 New York city eysry
thing is guess work till the polls are closed
There is no canvass Of ths voters such as you
are accustomed to make in New England, and
il is absolutely impossible as general thing to
anticipate which way the scale will turp.
Prima facie, the TammaDyItes are the strong.
est. They have the organization, which r-p-
resents the party under whose banners when
nstiona' TOPICS are alone involved, quite two
thirds of the voting population are enlisted.
Ordinarily nomination by Tammany is equiv
alent to an election Tammsny sells places on
the ticket az an assessed valuation. The eau
didatss understand the terms aud pay the
money without demur. The rates vary accord
ing to the value of the offices and the length of
the tenure. They run all the way from thous-
and dolarsIfor an aldermsn's seat to five tn ,us-
and for iudgeship and ten thousand for the cov-
eted prize of the Mayoraty. The money raised In
this way is turned into the general fund, aad
is supposed to be used to promote the success
of the ticket. 1t is a powerful stimuant no
donbt to the energies of the working forces
that propel the machinery. These levies only
form small part of the expenses to which the
Candidates are subjected. Every man who is
running for an Office is, or thinks he is, s,obliged
to keep few adopts in politics in his employ
to electioneer for him, and then he Is pursued
by horde of Strikers who are marvelously
ingenious in contriving ways of fleeing him.
The Asse Ablymen aud Congressman are left to
struggle for themselves. They are obliged to
settle all the bills for room hire documents,
compensation to followers, cost of holding
meetings, the tooiings of brass bands aud
wages of innumerable ticket distributors The
very least sum on which q man can run for
Congress in New York IL there is anything
like contest, is $1,000; there are few
winners who get off with as little as $4,000.
In some instances the outlsys are fabulously
large. For example, Fernando Wood is aim
ing TO retain his seat from the Ninth District.
He is opposed by John hardy. an Independents
Democrat. who is young, wide awake and pop-
ular. He would beat Wood probably single
handed, but the willy old tactican has the
advantage Of a full purse, the proceeds of his
past spolation of the municipal treasury. and
this is the way he turns his i'll COTTON gains to
account. The District is Democratic, two to
one. the R7pub leans would naturally prefer
Hardy to Wood if they had no candidate of
their own. To provide against this emergency a
Republican is put in the field. There cannot
be any question bus that Wood pays all the
bills for this perform soce. 1t is a fair pre-
sumption that he also ROUTES the decoy for
the eqnivocal position in which he places him
self with his party by cor snting to enter the
race. This plan of dividing the opposition is
an old trick which politicians of infinite ambi.
ton and no scruples at all have bsen accus-
toned to practice when hard pressed. But ID
is heavy drain on the pocket, and there are
not many people outside OF New York who
would be willing to buy their way into the
halls of legislation go dearly even if they
were ever so indifferent to the shame of the
thing. Here unfortunately there are always
aspirants enough to avail themselves Of lust
such methods of circumventing the popular
will. Cnriously enough they invariably do IL
in the name of Democracy, and while they are
doing it they declaim with unwonted vehe-
mence that they are the especial cha pioos of
the freedom and independence of the ballot
that is, FIR white men.
There is one thing very certain: the conbt-
nation has given Tammsny scare. That ap-
pears BY recent concessions Mr.. Kelly has per-
mitted his Candidate for Mayor TO make at the
instance Of morning paper which has been
playing fast aud loose with both sides, though
evidently leaning in favor of Tammany. We
are now told in a semi-authoritative way that If