Pleasantville weekly press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1890-1911, 1898-03-16
A LETTER FROM THE
CITY BY THE SEA.
Some lights and Shadous on
the hate Municipal Election,
4 POLITICAL CYCLONE sHEEps THE CITY.
RINGS BROKEN, BOSSES ovERTHRowN.
AND CLEANER POLITICS DEMANDED
SOME LESSONS or DEFEAT AND
vICTORY-AFoOLIsHM MOVE HINTED AT.

1t was veritable cyclone that
struck this municipality at the ballot
box, last Tuesday, that uprooted
things generally, and strewed the
shore with political wrecks. Never
in its history was a fiercer conflict
waged and never was disaster more
richly deserved. For months have
heard the far-Off rumblings of the
approaching storm, and hoped that
some fortuitOus CLEAN of common
sense might shoot across the vision
OF our political leaders ahd warn
them OF the impending danger. But
they did not see the signals hOisted
on every hand, and like blind leaders
OF the blind they have all tumbled
| into the ditch together. There is
now chalked up ON the political
| bulletin-bOard the significant fact
that a city that gave Mckinley 1854
plurality sixteen months ago. now
elects a Democrat as Mayor by 5S5
plurality. There ought to be no
trouble in reading that or inter-
preting the meaning thereof. At the
outset let us dismiss the idea that it
| is partisan Democratic victory. 1t
is nothing of the kind, and no one
knows it better than Judge Joseph
Thompson, the MayOr-elect. tits not
a party victory in the sense that we
use that word. 1t is a rebuke-and
an emphatic One-tO rings, and ring
methods, and bosses and heelers OF
every description. 1t was the better
element" that decreed Judge Thomp-
sons election. 1t was the business
men and big taxpayers who are tired
of being robbed. 1t was the steady
going men who are not seeking office
but who want good government. 1t
was the better class of colored voters
who are tired of being traded off by
cheap politicians and ward heelers.
| 1t was the better classes all around
that joined hands and made the re-
suit possible. In short it was the
vest pocket voter who quietly
marched to the polls and overthrew
| the heeler with q great throw. Far
seeing men have seen the storm
coming, and have earnestly discussed
| it. / have heard it on the streets
and in the stores, and quiet earnest
| talk by thinking men is always
portentious. Those who read between
the lines of my last two letters, must
have known what was approaching,
| for aim to record public opinion as
find it and not merely as should
like to have it myself. Judge ThOmp-
son has the opportunity of his life
time to make a great record. Let
him break up the rings; stop the
| jobbery and stealings; ferret out the
rascalities; and expose without fear
or favor the buried scandals. Let
him do this and the people will rise
up and call him blessed. Ii he will go
| forward fearlessly, without fiinching,
he can make himself a nominee for
| the Governors chair few years
hence. 1t was just such an oppOr-
tunity, in the city of Buffalo, that
made an almost unknown man
Grover Cleveland-GovernOr OF the
Empire State and twice President of
| the United States. Reform" is in
the atmosphere, Joseph. Do you
'catch on 2"
Mayor Stoy is going to thepolitical
bOneyard in a hearse OF his own
building. His is the worst case of
hayI-ka,I that ever happened in this
| lovely bailiwick. A few months ago
and everything seemed to be coming
his way. His nomination seemed
assured and his reelection a foregOne
conclusion. Such ! really believed
would be the case but the Mayor
decreed it to be otherwise. AS a
starter let us admit that heis neither.
| a Napoleon, a Caesar, a Charlemagne
or an Alexander. In fact he only
poses as a quiet citizen with no ex-
| traOrdinary ability concealed about
| his Uranium. He is an affable,
everyday sort of gentleman who has
made a good and popular official
personally. At one time he showed
symptoms OF independence-under
| advice am told. The people in
stantly rallied to his support. for it
was refreshing to even hear OF a
| Mayor who claimed to have some
mind of his own and defy dictatiOn.
| Then it was that the old Bread and
| Butter Brigade filled him with
fIattery, and hung out before him all
sorts of dazzling prizes and pleasing
l Illusions. Like many q bigger fish
before, he snapped the bait and
swallowed the hook The rest is
story that is told and the book
closed at Z O'Clock last Tuesday
evening. Believing all the political
fairy tales that were told him, and
feeling strong enough to play a lone
hand, he felt able to cut loose from
his best advisers, and thereby he
made fatal mistake. He shed good
advice as ducks back does water.
and he defied the better element of
his party. The reaction was in
Simultaneous, and the voters flocked
Il to Judge Thompson from every nook
and corner of the city-not because
Mr.. Thompson was a Democrat nor
because those who deserted Mr.. StOy
were not Republicans, but because
the voters felt that the old gang was
behind the Mayor, and that he had
consented to do their bidding. Does
anybody suppose that a candidate
like ssLew.o Evans would have been
buried under such an avalanche
Not much / repeat what said at
| first that it was a plain case of hayl-
Kari. If there should happen to be a
casual reader who does not quite
! understand exactly what mean by
that term, will explain that it is the
Japanese method OF committing
suicide. When a despondent Jap,
desires to shuttle off the mortal coil,
+ he plunges knife into himself, amid
ships, and rips open his bread-basket