The times., 1898-11-03
THURSDAY. NOVEMBER ,. 1875.
The New York Election.

There is no lack of energy and enter
prise in the Republican campaign in
New York. Pressure has been brought
10 bear on every man of prominence
who is not openly committed to the
support of Van Wyck to add his voice
to the Roosevelt chorus. Money is
spent freely for every purpose that can
be supposed to promote success, from
free drinks to betting. In almost any
other circumstances-by which is meant
with almost any other candidate at
the head of the ticket-the chances
would be largely in favor of Republi-
can victory 1t is rather odd that the
man who seemed TO the party leaders
to be the particular candidate to win
votes with the events of the war still
so fresh in the public mind, should
prove to be an obstacle in the way of
success. 1t is Roosevelts record as the
head of the police department of the
city that most threatens to defeat him.
1t is known that the Democrats trust
to the ma jority in New York and
Brooklyn to overcome that which the
Republicans usually have in the in
terror If this city majority is kept
down. as it sometimes is. Roosevelt's
election is assured-if it is true that
much of the apathy of the rural voters
has been overcome. Here, however. is
where the influence of the German ele-
ment comes in. 1t was not merely the
Germans-whose simple customs
brought from the fatherland were treat
ed as immoral and criminal by the police
under Roosevelt's administration-who
criticised the blue-law enthusiasm of
that official, but even the Republican
press caricatured him and protested
that he used the. police to persecute the
small offenders against Sabbath sane
tity while the dangerous criminals oper-
ated with impunity. Nearly every
newspaper that is supporting him now,
represented him then in the garb of the
Puritan magistrate. bent on making
of New York a Colonial Connecticut
village This. together with arrests,
fines. interference with harmless Gus
toms and the loss of business made a
deep impression on the German mind.
1t is not only that their feelings are
embittered, but their judgment is pos
row views of his duty. and who alb
serbs his time and the power of
the police in an effort to pre-
serve a New England Sabbath to the
neglect of graver matters is not the
man to administer the affairs of the
State with the required wisdom.
Tremendous efforts have been made
to bring the Germans into line. They
have IN uncommon representation on
the general ticket and politicians of in
fluence who are German are kept busy
in the districts where that tongue is
most used, but without apparent sue
cess. The great body of them, in
Brooklyn as well as New York, besides
their personal opposition TO Roosevelt.
are indignant over their failure to have
the obnoxious Raines law repealed The
nomination of the man who was re-
sponsible for the severe enforcement of
the worst features of the law In its
first form. they regard as a special
championship of the measure by the
Republican party Therefore even the
canal issue is unimportant, by compari-
Son, to the German mind. They con-
slider that their day of rest and quiet
enjoyment was made dry and criminal
by the rough riding president of the
police commission, chiefly to the ad-
vantage of the worst class of criminals.
1t seems as though this. more than any
other one thing. insures the election of
Justice Van Wyck
1t is not merely from the indications
of Republican apathy and Democratic
enthusiasm in the interior of the State
that the betting men prefer to place
their money on Van Wyck. but from
the detection of the German Republi-
cans in the city This has its effect
on the voters elsewhere. too. In the
last Presidential election. when all
local issues were kept out of sight by
both parties, as they should have been,