The Labor enquirer., 1886-10-30
The Coming Man Issues q chal-
lenge to Abe Hewitt
10 Meet Him
In Joint Debate Men Placed in
Positions Of Trust and
Power by Means
Or Ballot Box Stufing, Bribery, lntim-
idation--"A Poor Man Myself Pm
the Candidate Of Poor Men,
The Hon. Abram 8. Hewitt.

/ Aho uous ADran >. heW1tL.
DEAR SIR: | have gone over with
some surprise the letter which on Satur-
day last you read TO the committees that
| waited upon YOU to tender you tha may
orally nomination of two of the factions
Of the New York democracy. find in
it no references whatever to the crying
evils which mark the administration of
our municipal government, nor any
word of censure for the corrupt political
system which has made democratic in
stitutions in New York byword and
reproach. On the contrary, I find that
the sole reason you assign for abandon
ing political career agreeable to your
tastes and inclinations in order to accept
this nomination, is your desire to pre-
vent my election and to defeat the move
ment which has put me in the field. To
judge from your letter. this seems to you
to be the paramount duty of the hour,
by the side Of which all considerations
cf honest politics and efficient govern
ment sink nutaof ssight. Z
The burden ofyour letter is that "an
attempt is being made to organize one
class of our citizens against all other
classes of our citizens - that "the idea
which underlies this movement is at
war with the fundamental principles
upon which our government was organ
lied and rests p that it is at war with
the rights of property and is, therefore,
directed bv small minoritv against
the great maiority;a in short, that my
election as mayor of this city involves
the snbversion of the democratic princi-
pie, the overthrow of the foundation
upon which the security of business
rests, the arraying ofclass against class.
and the popular endorsement Of doc
trlnes which must lead to the repetition
of the horrors of the French Revolution
and the atrocities of the Commune, and
that it Is to save society from all this
that you patriotically sacrifice your per-
sonal Inclinations and consent to become
candidate of the associations repre-
sented by the committees that waited
upon you. s
With high opinion of your intellect
ual ability, do not question your sin
cerlty, and am confident that In q
cooler frame of mind the phantoms
which now alright your Imagination
would shrink into the ridiculous scare
crows that they really are; but feeling
that your present spiritual condition
can only be explained by the insiduous
influence of willy politicians who seek
to use you as cats paw to draw their
cherished chestnuts out of the fire, ]
should like to ask you soberly to con-
slider what are the issues represented on
the one side by myself and on the other
side by you.
We are both democrats-thatis is to say,
if we are true democrats, we both be-
lieve that political power should ema-
nate from the people, and that in all
matters that do not involve the inal ien-
able rights of man the majority should
rule How, then, can you think tnat
such disasters as YOU predict could follow
the election of any man who was the
| free choice of the majority of the cti-
zens of New York
i am well ava, that popular suffrage
has in this city becom9 in a large degree
a farce, and that under the forms of dem
ocr tic government men have been
placed in positions of power and trust
by what, though seemingly a popular
vote, was really procured by bribery, by
intimidation, and by ballot box stufing.
But I cannot be elected by such infu-
ences. | can only be elected against
them, A poor man mveelf, | am the
candidate of poor men. Instead of con-
tributing from $4,000 to 100000 as a
political assessment upon my candida
| .
contributed cent and have not been
asked for a cent. The contractors and
officeholders and spoilsmen who con-
tribute 80 largely to the vast sums usu-
ally disbursed in New York political
campaigns are not with me. The police
d partment with its influence upon the
votes of the criminal class and the coer-
clon which it can apply to the $4,000
saloon keepers of this city, Is not with
me. The excise commission, the aque
duct commission, the dock commission,
the park commission, the charity COM
mission, the prosecuting attorneys's
Office, the patronage ofth federal ad-
ministratiOn and of the state adminin-
lstration, are not with me. If elected, |
must be elected by the votes of citizens
who can neither be bought nor coerced
into voting against their best judgment.
Let me ask YOU as dem ocrat whether
there really caD be any danger to society
in the election of man thus supported !?
Your notion that the movement which
l represent springs from desire to
substitute the ideas Of Anarchists, Nj
hilists, Communists, Socialists, and mere
theorists for the democratic principle
of individual liberty, which involves
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