The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-31
The Great New Boss.

Inc STehb NC" Do'
Since It Ia reported that the Citizens
Union will publicly announce the choice OF
its candidate tomorrow, 1t is interesting
to consider how thisn nomination has been
brought about, and for what the nominee,
| Mr.. Low, will stand. To be brief, he has
been named through bossism of a potency
double.distilled and unknown In the his
tory OF American politics.
To smash the political machine and to
kill the boss was the Citizens Unions
programme. We will ask any member OF
that marvellonsly constructed political ma
! chine to produce another in which me.
chanical methods have been brought to a
simpler, more smooth.runninR and all-pow-
erful development. Members of the Citi'
zens' Union were enrolled by signing this
statements:
ave authorize the on Organization to
take such steps rs may be necessary to nominate for
local onnces to be nlied at the election OF 1897, candi'
dates who indorse and support the principles and OBJ
Jccts OF the Union. and to take whatever action may
be necessary and proper for tho furtherance OF tho
declared purposes OF the Union and for the election OF
the candidates. so nominated"
The old-fashioned democratic method Of
primaries and conventions. which form
the basis Of the laws for Notwithstanding,
was thus replaced by a plan for putting
the nominating power INTO the hands of
a self-made Committee on Organization
The signer of a Citizens Union enroll
ment paper retired from politics and
surrendered to others his ante-election
influence. Possibly, in innocent enthu-
siasm for the Citizens Union platform,
which proclaimed that the city should be
governed by the people and for the people,
and not by the bosses and for the BOSSES"
the majority of the Citizens Union men,
bers failed to see that they were parting
with their earnestly treasured rights as
people" and setting up bosses over their
political affairs compared to whom THOMAS
G. PLATrisa feeble heller. Probably, also.
the small circle of eligibles for the Commit
tee on Organization had of themselves no
appreciation of the awful despotism contem-
plated by their enrolment blank.
But even the Committee on Organization,
consisting of $50 members, was too I'M
wieldy for satisfactory management Of the
prospective campaign against the bosses.
The next movement in popular government
as conceived by the Citizens Union, was the
formation Of an Executive Committee OF
the Committee on Organization, appointed
not by the majestic committee itself, but
by its Chairman, Mr.. r. FULTON CUTTING.
The Committee on Organization, to which
the members of the Citizens Union had
given the right to choose the peoples
candidates, had shrunk from $50 to 20,
and a queer lot the twenty were. They
included JAMES B. REYNOLDS of the Uni
versity Settlement Society; JOSEPH La
ROGUE, who Is ready to vote for a Tam
many platform that straddles or evades
the Chicago platform; c. c. NADAL of the
Goo Coos Confederated Council; JOHN B.
PINE, Mr.. Lows r~ight-hand man among
the Columbia trustees; HARRY WHITE,
Secretary of the Garment Workers Union;
RICHARD WATSON GLIDER, poet: and, In
addition, the Treasurer of the Parkhurst
City Vigilance League, and also a member
OF the Society for Ethical Culture.
This body of profound and experienced
statesmen, collectively the creature of
Supreme Boss CUTTING, announced one
day that their candidate was Mr.. SETH
Low. How they hit or fell upon Mr.. Low
is unknown; but Mr.. Lows overnight Sc
lection by Mr.. CUTTING and his appointees
is the Citizens foundation of government
by the people and for the people, and not
by the bosses and for the BOSSES"
The great petition or evidence that Mr..
Low is a unifying force Is merely an in.
cident to Mr.. CUTTINGS decision that
Low shall be the man. Mr.. Low was nom.
mated irrevocably, we are told, before the
petition had been thought of. The petit
tion was merely q formal Endorsement
Of the nomination at the hands of
the Executive Committee Of the Com
mittee on Organization. The Citi,
zens could have obtained signatures to n
blank nominating MIR. PINE or Mr.. REY-
NoLDs as surely as they got one for
Low. Money and industry can accomplish
almost anything. And on the strength
of this inspiration, of which Mr.. CUTTING
is the fountain source, Citizens Union.
lists are pledged" to Low. They cannot
confer In good faith with any of the anti.
Tammany bodies who still cling to the old.
fashioned method of nominating by conven.
tions of popularity chosen delegates.
The Citizens Union nave labelled this
extreme and intolerable development OF
the boss system, Government by the PEG.
pie and for the people," 1t expresses their
idea of "good government" But do the
voters Of New York want it3 We rather
think not.
Erythrea.