The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-09-05
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To TIE EDITOR OF TIE SuH-Sir! The pro
jcctors Of the Citizens Union movement have
reached In tho nomination Of Low the culmina'
ton OF n lonE.premeditated conspiracy against
tho organization OF tho Republican party. Tit
real objective Of this Low movement is Mr.,
Plat, "Plattism." that is. the organization Of
the Republican party In New York.
Low is distinctivcly a politician. adroit and
deliberate in the regulation OF his stops; avery
practical, unimnRinative. and essentially prosaic
person. He is in no sense q man Of scholarly
tastes and habits. He is strictly man Of affairs
by the limitations Of his Inherited makeup
He 10 out of place in the atmosphere OF q col
lego. and would never have gone into II II he
had not dropped out Of political life completely
at the time he was elected President Of Column
bia. He was Mayor Of Brooklyn fifteen years
ago or 30. At that time Brooklyn was q
very provincial place. with purely parochial
politics and Of far less outside political
significance than that Of many q own
Of q quarter Of its size; yet tho cleo
ton Of Seth Low, by a fusion against the
previously dominant Democrats. had attracted
oven national attention. Thus his aspirations
were stretched out far beyond the bounds Of the
politics OF the City Of Churches. But after his
second term as Mayor Of Brooklyn he dropped
out Of public notice speedily and completely.
There was nothing left for him to do except to
go into his fathers business as O tea importer,
and tho disappointment must have been hard
for him to bear. 1t Is not remarkable, therefore,
that his success as o tea merchant was not bril-
liant, though. as I have said. he inherited from
his father, whom he closely resembles In ap-
pea-ance. a very decided business Instinct
His election as President Of Columbia College
TO succeed the deceased DR.. Barnard came at
this time and was undoubtedly welcome to him.
1t brought him again before the public. and It
was a very great honor for SO young q man. 30
great was 1t that he said that his life
thenceforward would DO devoted, dedicated
to Columbia alone. Except for tho oonvio-
tion Of the trustees Of the college that
such wns his feeling and purpose, MI. Low
could not have been chosen by them as Presi.
dent, for II 10 q place Of great exaltation. and
many men OF high consequence desired II. But
tho craving for political distinction generated in
Low by his Brooklyn experience in twice captur.
ing the Mayoralty has never been quieted. His
real and stimulating ambitions have never been
fed by the opportunities of a college President.
He is an ingrained politician. and of the field Of
politics no Is as discontented as is q woman who
has left the triumphs Of the histrionic stage for
the seclusion Of private life. That vision OF the
Executive Mansion at Albany and the White
House at Washington remained ineffaceably In
the Imagination Of Seth Low.
When. therefore. the chance Of getting back
to political life presented itself through the
extraordinary means afforded by the Gre
alton Of tho Greater New York. tho tempta-
ton was irresistible to the dissatisfied occu-
pant OF the Presidents chair at Columbia:
the vision Of the road to Albany and WASH
ington became more vivid in his dreams. It
was a foregone conclusion that he would get tho
nomination Of the Citizens Union. and he knew
q TLHN
in Rainsford's st. Georges Church. OF which
Low is one Of the vestrymen. though in Brook
Ign he was q Unitarian. and to-day its con-
troll rests largely in a st. Georges crowd.
He is also represented in It by q young
man who Is one Of the trustees OF Columbia.
The Reynolds now posing as the Arbiter Of
our political hopes is a young fellow who was
known as a college politician while he was
an undergraduate, and as the boss OF tae Uni.
versity Settlement he is substantially Lows
creature. Hence Low had only to wait sSrenely
with the assurance that the nomination would
come to him inevitably. He knew be was to be the
prize winner from the start of the enterprise,
and that the Goo Coos, who despise him heartily,
could not prevent his getting it. l do not mean
to suggest that there was anything under
handed about Lows conduct in tho matter, but
he is not n chicken in politics like the typical
Goo Goo. He meant to get 1t and he got it.
The undetermined business came in with cor-
tain Republicans who were eager to smash the
Republican organization because 1t had out
grown their control. The sam men tried
the same game last year. through the In
strumcntality Of the so-caIled Mckinley
League" That movement was started under
the impulse OF the bitter spite and disappoint-
ment OF Whitelaw Reid. Reid was then. and
he is still. q really ~pitiable figure. His political
n n hi an y nil iU- tho,-A ~
they arc hopeless. With ambitions blocked, tho
circulation OF the Tribune reduced to tho
lowest ebb in It's whole history. Q few thou
sands only. with his own and its political
influence destroyed. no has nothing left
to him except his spite and his chaRrin
at his downfall. President Mckinley. In the
kindness OF his heart, took pity on the poor, vim
dictive man and gave him nominal Importance
for the moment as Jubilee Commissioner with
out power or authority. With Reid were Joined
q few other Republican soreheads and malcon-
tents who were against the organization simply
because they had tried in vain to boss it. They
all hated Mr.. Plat because he had demon
strated his superiority to them as q po!it-
ical leader. Hence last year they were
for anything to beat Platt." oven II in
cidentally the State should DO lost to the Re-
publicans- II was an intrigue a. vile and
treacherous as It proved TO be futile. Mr.. Plat
stood up before tho public at tho beginning Of
the campaign a fgure OF foremost national i'm
portance, and the petty intrigucrs against him
were relocated to a political obscurity from
which they will never emerge. But when tho
campaign was over and Mckinley elected
they began anew their mole-like conspiracy.
Last year they had relied on the frantic as
sistance OF the d;sordered Parkhurst He was
to organize an anti-Platt propaganda In every
district OF the State, but his wind was soon
spent, and now he has retired from politics, hts
spirit burned out by the intensity of his
internal tre Of fanaticism. This year the Citi-
Gems Union and the Low movement gave them
q new opportunity 10 go after Platt,' with q
view TO constructing a new Republican machine
to he bossed by themselves. During ali this time
Mr.. Plat has kept silent; he has not dignihed
them with his notice. They keep up thor spite
full assault upon him. dealing only in general
abuse, but without any particular offence of
which TO accuse him. Except for them. Low
would not have considered a nomination from
the Citizens Union with n moments seriousness.
h toni Tho rn,tra, a..