Pleasantville weekly press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1890-1911, 1898-03-09
4 LETTER FROM THE
CITY BY THE SEA.
"A Busy Week Hmong the
Politicians and Candidates.
I'LL HANDS AWAITING THE RESULTS0F ELECTION
POLITICAL TRAFFIC IN voTEs-DEATH OF
PETER TUCKER- RAILROAD IMPROVE
MENTs AND PIER-BUILDNGs-As sUGGEs-
TIoN FOR 1900.

The past week has been one of grea,
activity among the politicians and
anxiety among the candidates. Not foI
many year has q local election &c
stirred them up. suppose all the tricks
known to politics have been resorted to-
and many of them have been anything
but reputable ones. No doubt there
has been more promises made than can
be fulfilled in dozen years; but little
thing like unfulfilled promises or broken
pledges never ''phases" an Atlantic City
politician. He goes right along making
and breaking and trusting that all will
be forgotten, if not forgiven, before
another election rolls around. All our
local statesmen have been kept busy for
vassing, and making all sorts Of pre-
dictions. Some of the latter, imagine
may be sheared of their reliability, about
Wednesday morning, when we compare
them with the election returns. You will
know the result about the time this
letter appears in print, SO it is hardly
worth while for me to appear in the role
of political prophet. If the promises
of solid business men amount to any
thing, however, should say that Judge
Thompson would be elected Mayor, for
be certainly has pledged to him a large
number of prominent Republicans who
by this time ought to be tired of rings
and ring methods look for a big
upheaval, but it may be switched off and
side-tracked before Tuesday.
1t is amusing to watch those who
want to capture votes, and those who
have votes to be captured. The ceaseless
dicker goes on day and night, and health
and success are pledged in barrels of
beer and bumpers of champagne. | pity
the pocket-books of the candidates, but
really the suffrage is not corrupted
nearly as much as would appear from
surface indications. The ssstriker" is the
fellow who gobbles the most of it, and
the poor devil who trades his vote for a
dollar or two is the one who gets the
least. What shame that this making
merchandise of q mans most valuable
privilege-his right to vote-cannot be
stopped We have very stringent law
upon the subject but it seems to be
absolutely dead letter. Why not re-
peal it, if it cannot be enforced, and
openly proclaim that all nominations
and all elections shall be auctioneered off
to the highest bidder That is the way
they did in ancient Rome, and il preceded
the downfall of the great Republic. /
hear rumors of arrests to be made here,
and only hope the rumors are true. 1t
is high time for something to be done to
check the wholesale corruption thatgoes
on at every important election right
under our very noses.
The death of Peter Tucker was very
sudden and took away one Of the best
known of our colored fellow citizens.
For many years he was central figure
of his race, and there is no denying that
he welded great influence among
them. Had he lived little longer he
would have been an active worker in
the present political turmoil which
seems to lack picturesque feature with
him left out. He was close observer
of men and events and he also had a
fund of dry humor which cropped out
on many occasions. The present politi-
cal scramble reminds me of something |
heard him say, many years ago, when a
close election was pending, and all the
candidates were warming t,-e sidewalks
in their Herculean effort to secure votes
Gas the time for holding the caucuses
approaches they hail ne and say, Hello,
Pete, how are you," said he. "When
election day comes, they shake hands
and say, How do you do, Mr.. Tucker ?
] am very glad to see yOu,' but after
election they allude to me as that id
old nigger Pete Tucker" There you
have professional politician photo
graphed to life Poor old "Pete"
Peace to his ashes There were many
v,,ox, xuhsks,r f,ooc or,l hlo oGoy
hearts than he.
What a tremendous job of work the
railroads are doing out on themeadows
in building their high embankments tC
get their tracks out of the way of the
storm tides. The winter has beer
extremely favorable for such work
being moderate and clear for the greater
part of the time. The amount of grave
hauled down and dumped is almost be
yond belief, but the job will undoubtedly
be cheap in the end, for it will be per
manent, if the expectations of the build
ers are fulfilled. Such vast amount o
work, at this time. is sure indication
that the railroad people have confidence
in the future of Atlantic City-for wher
q railroad puts out big sums Of money
in improvements you can bet your bot
tom dollar they expect to get it bach
| again.
Pier building is also going on in gigan
tic preparations down on the beach
front. Nowhere else on earth are such
structures as the two big piers will be
when they are finished. Together
suppose they must cost well up to hal
q million dollars-perhaps more, When
completed they viii have many attrac
tions, and they will be cheap enough to
be within reach of everybody. The vast
pavilions would be an excellent place to
hold the National Conventions of the
two great political parties, and / hope
to see concerted effort made in that
direction. No City in the Country has
such hotel accommodations for one
hundred thousand people-and not one
of them has such accommodations so
near the place of meeting. Just imagine
big Convention hall on either of the
piers and see what an army could be
housed and fed within one mile. This is
no joke, and it will pay our hotel keepers
and citizens to make a bid for the presi
dential nominating conventions in 1900
ARGUS.
THE FLORIDA LIMITED.
The southern Railways New