The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-11
Compare Thomi

At Cooper Union on Saturday night Gen.
TRACY, the representative Of a party and
Of the principles upheld by a great political
organization, defined thus his partisanship
in the language of n man:
..If nor. partisnnship means that tho business Of
the city Is to be transacted according TO bust.
ness principles. then l am a non partisan. II It
monus that the interest of the city 10 TO be
the hrst and primary object OF city administration
then ] am . non-partisan. And I had been for ten
years before Mr.. Low was ever heard OF as q political
factor. But, II It means that political organizations
arc TO disintsgrate and to dissolve when they are APP
p~ronchtng q municipal election, II the demand 10
that the Republican party, always faithful to good
government. cannot be permitted as an organization
to take part in q municipal election, but we must dis
solve Ourselves into our original clements. break up,
and act simply a. individuals, then / am not a nom
partisan."
At the Brooklyn Academy of Music on
the same evening Mr.. SETH Low, the rep
resentative of himself and of ~disorganiza-
tion, attempted, in the language of a
whining boy, to reconcile his declaration
of June, that he was ready to run IL he
could run az q unifying force. with his later
willingness to run when it had become
evident that he was Q disunifying force:
AT that time I wrote my letter of June 2, which
has attained st least q momentary fame. In that
letter 1 said I would not Withdraw myself from con.
sidsration. as I had done three years before; and
sdded that II I were persuaded that there were
q popular desire for my nomination. and that my
candidacy would have a ~unifying force among the
friends Of good government, l should not hesitate
90 accept The nomination. because I was in sym.
pathy with what they wanted to accomplish.
Now, In some quarters an attempt has been made to
mako It appear that 1 said in that letter that l would
not aocopt q nomination unless 1 should become .
candidate Of all the anu-Tammany forces. II my news
paper critics were to make the charge l should expect
them 10 say that I did not understand how to use
language; that. az 4 matter Of fact, I have not said
what I meant; but. unfortunately for the critic, I did
say exactly what I meant. I did not feel called
upon to sav IN June ,rhat I might do at some later
ttnA All shat I said and all that I meant to say was
what I would do on two expressed conditions and
there the matter rested.
"In August 1 came to the city by request. because
the Citisens' Union BY that time had increased its
membership from 5000 to $4,000. and had acoumu.
lated this large petition In favor of my nomination.
They aaked me to come to the city to look over
the ground and geo what I would do. I came and
dd what I could to verify the accuracy OF the pc.
etnon. I became satisfied that IL vas substan-
italy an honest expression Of the public will
But the people Of the Citizens Union said to me
that they were unwilling to confer with any organ
igation; they had started out upon . definite. straight
forward platform. making nominations. and they
aaeoat to do that tcithout oonJcrsnoes with anp-
body. I told them at once that If that was to be
their policy they had NOT met the conditions that
stated In Juno. and, so far as I could soc. they
were NOS in any position to mako them II they
would not confer; but I said to them. also. What
yov ask me-. thsrvore. 70 q nsuo ~Qucstfon; I CON
csde your rSeAt 20 ask e Uhen you como TO mo
sStth this Ioroe Mezsbershtp and with this large en-
rollment, but what you ask now 10 O new question,
and that II, VIII you now accept our nomination for
Mayor based upon this state Of factsp Upon that
said I must have time to reflect. and certainly that I
would not do It until the organization itself had
taken the responsibility of declining to confer, that
Iwould be NO party to that policy myself.
1.-THE organization declined to confer. and then
they offered me the nomination. and I accepted It.
I accepted IL because I felt that. had I declined It at
that time. every spontaneous effort on the part OF the
people Of this city 70 secure good government for its
own sake. and 20 carry out the constitutional intent
when local elections were separated from State and
national elections. would be indefinitely postponed"
What 10 this tumble of words and juggle
of moral principlea Simply a confession
from the Hon. SETH Low that he was his
own candidate from the beginning, ready
In June to run on the conditions which
he then thought likely to prevail, and Just
as ready in August to run under new con
ditions; willing to stand either as a unity
ing candidate, or as the representative of a
policy resolutely opposed to uniication
ready to run on any pretext; anything tc
be q candidate.
Compare the two men, we say.