New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-10-15
PLAIN PEOPLE AND THE BOSSES.
THE TRIUMPH or THE REGULAR REPUBLICANS
OR or rAMMANY WOULD TIGHTEN THE

OR or TAMMANY WOULD TIGHTEN THE
R1vETs IN THEIR CHAINS
To the Editor OF The Tribune.
Sir. Outside OF the interest which every true
American citizen should take In those questions
which have n bearing upon the integrity Of tina,
citizenship have no interest in tho Greater New
York election not being resident Bu, that this
election Will have an interest and nm influence Il
does not seem 10 mo that any intelligent man can
doubt.
A triumph Of either the regular" Republican
party or tho Tammany Democracy Will be but one
more rivet in the chain that binds tho people 70
the party bosses. and one more guarantee 10 those
bosses that they persist in their career Of
smothorlng the voice Of the people.
For many years have tho leading OF all our
political parties carried things with n high hand.
and have made deals and trades and combinations
among themselves. confidently expecting tho pco-
pie to accept them relying upon their indifference.
their ignorance the pressure they could put
upon them TO accomplish their purposes.
Like sheep have the people been led. and. like
sheep, have they been betrayed and slaughterc
while tho leaders grow fattor and moro arrogant
year by year 1t aid require n mngn'fying glass
nor the possession OF unusual degree OF percop-
ton TO discover that had bosses" long before
the advent OF the last and most arrogant one Tho
others did assume, even II they did not acknowl-
edge that the people were possessed OF soms in
telligeuce. and pretended lat leasD to be working
for their interest and had the decency not to nout
the actual facts In their faces.
But this last "boss"-what OF hm7 Under the
cloak OF erstwh!c respectable party he wande-s
about in the paths OF sin. dealing in trcachery and
lies, and, after dragging II through mud and mirc
has tho enrontery to call 1t the Republican party
and. alas. many. noticing the texture OF tho gar
ment led to believe him. Never until his adj
vent was 1t necessary that the Representatives. OF
the people in Legislature assembled should pause
In their legislative wo-k until he could be con-
suited as to whether or not he wanted the bin to
pass Never. until his advent WAS IL ordered that
certain men should be sent to the Legislature and
low to elect him TO the Office from which he got
And now. satatcd with the food on which ho has
yea SO long ana grown 30 great In his own cstima-
ton, ne declares openly and without reserve that
and calls to his aid n journalistic pirate who
coinpeis every passenger who even boards his ship
places. and In whom the country has had conf
dence, have been dragged from thelr high places
ruthessly aside. Men with noble ambitions have
been led TO believe that they stood a fair chance
the care Of mis- boss and then been "hooted" or
amid the .]eers Of his followers. Men with more
him, and to them he feeds just enough rap" 10
keep them hungry, and they Join sunday schools
ana other moral societies at which their patron
saint appears win halo peculiarly his own.
and TO- ber St Of oe o5 psry are grand
cite them IS almost enough 10 cause to swear
of those who call themselves Republicans arc
enough to make one swear without any feeling OF
fidelity nXcd IN with il.
There Is principle that stands superior even to
the principles OF the Republican party and that IL
the one that constitutes a man-nOt n living being
that walks to the balot-box and deposits n vote
but who has n living Intelligence back OF that
vote and deposits IT, not for the good OF himself or
the good Of his party. but for the good OF ALL
No man IL a man outside Of his physical :
struction who permits another to do HIS thinking
for him; he is only thing: The who belongs
to any party, care not what party II Is, ought TO
have the brand Of the party burned In his cheek
and unless We assert our manhood. unless we act
upon the intelligence which God has given u.s. un-
less vote with our brains we'll our hands
this surrenderng of our citizenship into the hands
OF bosses Will go on. and the perfection Of the sys-
ten well accomplished that instead OF the peo-
pie being the rulers OF this country. 1t will be In
the hands OF n trust composed OF the bosses.
New York, Oct. II, 1897. ID. e. DAVIS