New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-10-19
"TUPEyDING CALAMITY


What no calls with profound emotion n
sorso ~ ,mncndine calamity" has impelled Mr..
William NJ. Wins to write two-colnmn open
letter 70 Seth Low full OF the finest sarcasm
touching that gentleman's political duty III the
nrosent crisis. Opening with Il prophccy-the
"tbus-sath- the Lord" flavor Of which at once
orro.,s o,tentlon-tbat "when the result OF the
"o,oo,io, ,s mode known it will be found that
"tbe contest has been between the two historic
"narties" he proceeds to point out nj great
length and with much detail that MT. Low ~
ce,6sb unpatrotic insincere. ambitious, reck-
lose dishonest and vain, and that his candinac!
Is fraucbt with mischief TO everything 'ha'
Live ho,ds dear He can only explain Mr.
Lows obduracy upon the ground, first. that he
is "fehtlnc fanatically for an alleged prihci-
"nle no the consequences TO the c0lnmuhi'!
"what they may; second. that IN his conf
dence Of an election he has taken grounds mat
vii, enable him when elected ito set up pure
IL personal government; and, third. that cost
"the rest of us what 1t may, you have deter
"mned tina. Tammany would be preferaple 10
"norty government by those Republicans OF
"whom YOU. nevertheless, claim TO he one. III
vii, he observed that in the last speclhcatioh
| Ivins IS little mixed In his language and OBJ
scure in his meaning Being at the end or the
two long columns written under "A sense OF
imnendrg calamity" and with his tongue out,
| doubtless he was too tired to write sense. III ne
| Intended TO impute to Mr.. Low the remark MADE
hv Iauterbach and Endorsed by Quigg. Better
.far that there should be placed In power true
democrat, even n Tammany Hall Democrat,
"tban that we should aid TO elect TO that state
.of mower and place a man of no party whose
administration IS responsible to no party ana
"vho has no party at his back"-he should nj
lea ST have mt the falls ,hood in ineligible Eng
lish The sacrifice of truth should not be ac-
companied by the murder of the mother tongue.
WINS tells Mr.. Low that II Is too late Tor MN
to retire from the race. so he Olnlts an appear
TO him to take that course 1.-The only thins
which can be expected" he says, rs that, see
"ing the hopccssness Of your cause ana recog-
"nizng that every vote cast for you Is vote
| thrown away, your constituency may prefer
1.-The welfare Of the city to your personal ad-
"yanccment or to the justification OF your theo-
'rcs 1t is to he hoped that they VIII realize
THAT politics Is not council OF PERFECTION nut
"tbe art of the attainable." The appeal, then,
Is not to Mr.. Low, but to his constituency
Under the 'sense of impending calamity he
gave it the wrong address. This gives him the
appearance of being guilty Of gross and
gratuitous imperinence. What, precisely, he
means by the hope that Mr.. Lows constituents
will realize that politics Is "the art OF the at
tainable" is not clear. Nor what he expects
them TO do when they realize 1t. Nor. in fact
what in his judgment is really "attainable'
The Sense of impending calamity" has had
q bad effect on WINS. He rambles round and
| beats the air. II he means that the election OF
General Tracy, who appears TO be his candi-
date. is "attainable," he has failed to make 1t
| clear He was not always so mudllcd as to
the "attainablc" He was entirely clear about
| Il in 1886, when as a ncgotiator between the
Grace Democracy and Henry George he pointed
out to the latter what was "attalnable" Cor
him in quite unambguous language.
BY singular coincidence Mr.. Georges recol
lection Of the interview on that occasion APP
pearcd simultaneously with Ivinss commun
cation. Mr.. George, who was at that time
candidate for Mayor, says that he met WINS,
at that gentcman's request "n quiet resau-
rant" He continues: "Mr. WINS insisted that
~ could not become Mayor Of New-York, no
matter how many votes were cast for me- and
Offered on behalf Of Tammany Hall and the
County Democracy that II ! would refuse to
run they would select Congressional district
"in which the nomination was absolutely
equivalent TO election; that should be at no
expense whatever. but might 20 TO Europe or
anywhere l willed. and when came back |
should receive q certificate Of election That
was the sort Of politics which Wins defines ms
the cart Of the attainable." But Henry George
did not understand why WINS was so anxious to
have him withdraw II there was no chance Of
his election. In reply TO question on that
point WINS clear and concise. you can
not be elected" said he. "but Your running will
raise hell" Doubtless he had the same sense
of impending calamity" then that he has now,
only it had not so overpowercd him as to CON
fuse his utterancc. He knew just what was
"attanable" for Henry George If he would
; withdraw, and pointed It out with precision
George preferred to remain In the field and
"rase hell"
It's q pity about WINS and his "scnse OF lnl-
J pending calamity" II Is TO be remarked, how
} ever, that there's always "a sense Of impend-
ing calamity" when Wins puts himself in evil
dence II WINS doesn't have II, everybody else
hoc