New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-04-04
uisrAKEs ABOUT JUDCE FOLGEP

Is secretary fOlSCr lne niOSU pOpuiaI HldH
the Republicans of New York can nominate for
Governor this year, His Administration friends
suddenly claim that lie is, since the disabling
Of Mr.. Starin, and give that belief rs a reason
for taking him from the Treasury Department
so soon after his entrance upon duty
there. They say he has run ahead Of his ticket
when he has been before the people for Office. SO
he has, but not in such way as to demonstrate
the fact of unusual strength with the people.
In $50 he was one of four Republican candi-
dates for Judges of the Court of Appeals. The
election was held under the amended Consttu-
ton, for Chief Judge and six Associate Judges.
In order to give the minority party representa-
ton, each clector was permitted to vote for only
f0ur.candidatas All the Democratic candidates
were elected, and the two Republican candi
dates having the largest vote were given the
other two judgeships Mr.. Folger received
more votes than any other Republican candi-
date, 154, 6G7, the next largest number being
received by Mr.. Andrews, 152, $50. An analy-
sis of Mr.. Folgers vote shows that causes other
than personal popularity were responsible for
its increased size The gain was all made in
New-York City. Here Mr.. Folger polcd
26, 4OG votes, while Mr.. Andrews received only
%, 632, and the other two Republican candi-
dates a few hundreds less But in the State
outside this city all the candidates received
more votes than Mr.. Foger. His country"
vote was the lowest on the ticket, nearly 1000
below that of Mr.. Andrews.
How did Mr.. Folgcr secure his large city
vote An analysis of it shows that all the in
crease was made in five Wards, the With,
With. With, Xth and XXlst. These were
the famous Tweed Wards, where repeating and
false counting were carried on in the most
wholesale manner. Mr.. Greeley estimated that
in this judicial election 10000 fraudulent
votes were cast, and called attention to the fact
that in the With Ward, where there were
known to be less than 5000 Democratic
voters, S,474 Democratic votes were counted
for Church for Chief Judge. In these five
Wards Mr.. Folger polled 4,155 more votes
than the Republican candidate for Chief Judge.
In the With Ward which was under the control
of VI. L. Brennan, Tammany Sachem and faith
full servant of Tweed, he gained $50 votes. In
the With, Twecd's own ward, lie gained 800.
In the With, Mike NOrton's, he gained JOG.
In the Xth, controlled by Police Justice John
Scott, one of Tweed's "Stable Gang" he
gained 719. In the XXIst, Jimmy"
OBricns, lie gained 1851. In all the other
parts of the city he ran along evenly with the
other Republican candidates. falling off slightly
in some He owed his election, therefore, en-
tirely to Democratic votes in the worst of DEM
ocratic Wards. That he gained these through
any compromising act on his part has never
been charged, and it is far from our purpose TO
make any such charge now. Two Republicans
were to be elected anyway, and these Demo-
cratic voters simply expressed their preference
for him over the other Republican candidates.
The "dicker" was arranged by local Republic
can politicians, Mr.. FogeI's close personal
friends, who have never made any attempt
to conceal what they did. His course upon the
bench was never known to be Influenced by the
transaction, in the slightest degree. The
facts in the case arc given merely to show that
he owed his election to the negotiations Of his
friends in the most corrupt Democratic wards,
and not in the least to any exceptional pop
ularity.
The next time Judge Folger came before the
people for their sGfirages was in November
16S, He was nominated for Chief Judge by
the Republican State Committee, and the
choice was unanimously approved 10y the party.
lie was elected on the Presidential ticket, and
it has been claimed for him that instead of that
ticket helping him he ran ahead of Garfield.
His total vote was indeed larger than Car
fields, but, as was the case in 1870, the gain
was all made in such way as not to show ex-
ceptional popularity. His total vote was
562, 821, against 55j,5f4 for Garfield. He
ran ahead of Garfield over nine thousand votes
in New-York and Kings County, but the
country" vote was again lacking, and in that
lie was nearly thousand votes behind Car
field. The reasons for lis increased city vote
are easy to furnish. His opponent Judge
Rapallo, for some reason or other, was very I'M
popular with the lawyers and with his own
party This is shown by the fact that lac ran
over 10, 900 behind Hancock i'll New York and
Kings Counties alone. and $3.50 behind him