The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-02
Suspicion Not Misplaced.

The suspicious Of Herr OSWALD OFTEN
DoRrER concerning the political organiza.
tion, the German-American Reform Union,
of which he is honorary President, organ.
izer, manager, advocate, adviser, almoner,
and unifying force, do not appear to be
wholly groundless. al have" declared
Herr OTTENDoRFER, in the city of Berlin on
Wednesday, In answer to q query of an in
terviewer, "no confidence in the German
Reform organization, and I regard their
claims of representing 100000 voters, and
Of holding the balance of power, with
suspicion"
Detached temporarily from his hundred
thousand followers, with the raging At
lantic between the leaders and the led,
Herr O~TTENDoRFER, with the prophetic
vision of n seer and with the keen
Judgment of n trained philosopher, dis.
cerncd the Inherent, not to say fatal, weak
ness of his enrolled followers in a great pc.
litical crisis such as confronts the voters Of
New York at present, and gave evidence Of
his profound political prescience in this con-
fession Of suspicion. For, at a meeting Of
the Executive Committee Of the suspected
body at Maennerchor Hall last Thursday,
these Garoos declared their hostility and an
tipathy to the learned and erudite views of
the illustrious but absent leader, Herr
OrTENDoRFER, and, for no visible reason,
resumed the designation reform" official
ly and specifically abandoned in the month
of May last. In other words, what was
until May tho German-American Reform
Union, and from May until the end Of
September the German-A American Union,
has become again and will continue to be
until November, If not longer, the German
American Reform Union, supporting as
its candidate Mr.. Low. who has recently
been made the subject, by cable, Of the an
imadvcrsion of Herr ~OTTENDoRFER as an in
tolerant, untrrstworthy, and futile seeker
after political office, and as a man unworthy
of general support, and particularly un-
worthy of the support of the Ottendorfer
organization, the members of which Herr
OTTENDoRFER looks upon with suspicion.
Under such circumstances, what wonder
Is 1t that the voters connected with the
German Reform organization are confused
and surprised at the turn of eventsl
As a matter of fact, the course of this or
ganization or of any organization purport-
ing to represent voters of any particular
nationality is Of no account. The German
voters-like the Irish voters, the Italian
voters, the Hungarian voters, and all other
voters-are American citizens simply.
They do not separate in the city Of New
York upon lines of nationality, and there
is no reason why they should do so. The
leaders of such organizations based upon
the perpetuation of old-country dis
tinctions are without any substantial
or important following, and both of the
regular organizations, the Bryanites, on
the one hand, and the opponents of Bryan
ism, on the other, having refused to give
any heed to the claims of the Garoos, those
rejected political strikers have no alter
native except to choose a humble place
in the ranks of the Gifts where no questions
are asked, and paper organizations" are
welcome.
Herr OTTESDorFER was right. His sus.
p~icions were solid. He had good reason for
them. When suspicion enters by the front
door, confidence goes out through the
chimney.