Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-07-31
.G0SSIPFR GOTHAM
Annual Rush of Aliens to Take Out
Final Papers.
COACHING FOR COMING ELECTIONS
Epidemic of Strikes Among Boys
of the Metropolis.
CROWDS TO WELCOME DEWEY


| Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star
NEW YORK, July 30, 1899
Each year for three months before cleo
| ton day there is a great rush of men anx-
ious to get their final papers, so that they
Will be able to vote at the ensuing election
and so 1T happens that Tammany coaches
are hard at work preparing the men whom
they hope to make good Tammany voters
for the final examination before a Justice
OF the supreme court. The law requires that
voter must be a citizen ninety DAYS be-
fore election day. and it is only within the
past ten days that there has been an unu-
sual rush of applicants for final papers
Each day from thirty-five to fifty voters
nave been turned out by this voters COL
lege- Most of the voters have passed the
examination prepared by Tammany Hall
after having learned, parrot fashion, all Of
the answers to the twenty-nine test ques-
tions printed and circulated by the Tam
many leaders in each of the assembly dis
tricts. Sometimes when these questions
have been asked out of their regular nu-
merical order the candidate has given the
wrong answer first, so parrot-like is the
coaching. For example, if question No .
is first put to the candidate, he will often
give the answer to question No l. When
TINS happens, and the candidate is rejected,
ne again takes up the study of Tammany'S
pet questions. Every day from one hundred
TO TWO hundred candidates can be seen at
the county court house, gathered together
IN small groups or walking about alone or
in pairs, carefully examining long narrow
slips of paper which contain these twenty
nine questions along with the answers The
questions relate to the principles of the gov
eminent of the United States and the Fed
eral Constitution, with which the applicants
are supposed to have some acquaintance
hnt to-
Judges always preside over special term
part z. of the supreme court while these
examinations are going on, and 1t is a fact
that there is a close resemblance to the
questions asked by the judges and the ques-
tons to be found the printed slips
Whether this is a mere coincidence, those
most familiar with Tammany methods are
best qualified to answer.
Architecture and Politics.
The vote in the lower part of the city is
changing. In the tumblng of the squat old
houses that have long been the distinguish
ing feature of the thickIy populated down.
town districts, politicians who look a bit
ahead have begun to see something more
than the obliteration of landmarks To re-
place them tall buildings quickly spring
up. and with the change in appearance
there swiftly comes change in the resi-
dents OF the districts where building op-
efatlons are most active. Traditions and
tenants move on together and the shreWd
ones among the politicians have already
noticed that the politics of a neighborhood
change with its buildings. The most strik-
ing instances of the effect of property i'm
proVement on the vote are in the first and
second assembly districts. There business
buildings have steadily replaced the dwell
lngS and tenements torn down, and the
vote has as steadily decreased. In the
eighth, Martin Engel's district, the reverse
has been the case. Tall tenement houses
there have replaced the old two-story and
duo A.,
building and political changes will soon
have is that reapportionment of districts
Will be necessary. New lines will have to
be drawn and divisions made for new con-
gressional, senatorial and assembly dis
tricts.
Silver Men Becoming Active.
The silver men are getting active here
abouts. An address to democratic voters
will be submitted at a meeting to be held
next Friday night, and will then be given
out for publication. 1t is said it will be
signed by many prominent democrats, and
will mean the beginning of an earnest fight
to drive the machine democratic leaders
either in out of the Bryan camp. If
they go out the plan of the men engineer
ing the move is to send seventy-two Chi
cage platform delegates to the next ma
tonal convention and contest the right of
the Hill-C Notwithstanding crowd to seats.
1t has also been decided to have monster
outdoor meeting on Labor day in support
of the Chicago platform. An option has
been secured on Timer Park, South Brook
Ign, where 10000 men can be accommo-
dated.
DR.. George W. Thompson, who recently
returned from the meeting of the demo-
cratic national committee at Chicago, an
nounced that former Gov Altgeld James
P. Tarvin of Kentucky, George Fred. Will
Jams of Massachusetts, Representative
Lentz of Ohio and Joe" Bailey of Texas
would come on and speak. He further said
that if Col. Bryan could cancel two i'm
portant engagements he would also be on
hand to denounce trusts and all of the evils
OF imperialism" At next Fridays meet
ing committee will be appointed to man
age the Labor day demonstration, and
State Organizer OBrien will report the re-
suit OF the visits he is now making to lead
erS in the western counties of the state
The men who met last night are evidently
well supplied with money and prepared for
a hard political fight.
Epidemic of Strikes.
OF the strikes now going on in New York
city the freight handlers is the most
serious, now that the street car strike is
thing Of the past, while the strikes of the
rewsboys and the bootblacks may be re-
garded as the most amusing. In this cpl
demic of strikes it is noticeable that the
youngsters are putting up better fight
than their elders. Whether this is due to
the fact that the newsboys have no do
mestic responsibilities remains for the close
student of political economy to determine.
The newsboys and bootblacks are sturdy,
independent little fellows. accustomed to
think and act for themselves. The news
boys have certainly made it lively for the
Two papers against which their combined
strength and influence is being exerted
The publishers of these papers want 90
cents hundred from their youthful Gus
toners. The boys are willing to pay so
cents a hundred. The fight, therefore,
swings around the question of who is en-
titled to that 10 cents hundred papers.
One of the papers offered to meet the boys
half way and sell evening papers for 55
cents per hundred copies. This offer was
declined by the young strikers, upon the
ground that 1t was unfair to the smaller
boys who could not afford to buy one hun
bred papers at a time, but who were anx-
ious for uniform rate of two copies for 1
cent and IL goes