Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-08-15
Conditions in Both Parties Viewed
by an Outsider.
TAMMANY'S STRENGTH ITS WEAKNESS
No Harmony Possible Setweer
Croker and Hill.
REP U BLICANS UNRES


NEW YORK. August IA, 1900.
Two views of New York must be taken to
understand it during a political campaign.
One IS that of the outsider who may chance
this way from time to time. The other is
that of the insider, or native. To him Man
haitian borough is the axis around which
the rest of the country turns. Everything
from the presidency down to the repre-
sentatives in Congress is seen from the
local perspective, the horizon of which Is
bounded by Coney Island and Albany,
though sometimes it widens as far as Buff
falo. To an outsider Manhattan borough
may seem only speck on the map of the
country, but when he is here if he wants
to know the probabilities in politics he
must look through the glasses of the ma
tive. Among the democrats he will take
Tammany as the basis. and with the
publicans he will accept the talk of the
organization representing the party
machinery and the party activity. or
course. he knows that Tammany is Croker
and 1.-The organization is Platt.
Tammany's Strength Its Weakness.
About Tammany itself during the last
week l have heard radically different opin-
ions. Perhaps the best way of summing
them up in the statement of keen
local observer whose vision sometimes eX
tends beyond Manhattan borough. He said
Tammany was never so strong, yet never
so weak.
This statement is not a paradox. Tam
many Is immensely strong. controlling as
it does the patronage of Greater New YORK,
which is larger than that which was con-
trolled by some of the earlier Presidents
of the United States.
At present the danger to Tammany is
because 1t is too big. and Crokers ambl-
ton to make ii a controlling influence in
,,.I ,,o1 ID. fr.tt VI
danger. He has carried his first point and
controls the state machinery. No one can
note the signs and doubt that Hill is I'M
horsed Every New York democrat is
practical politician. When Croker showed
that he could control the empire state del
egation his triumph was accepted. and the
machine workers now look to him for or
ders. Possibly after year two Hill will
be in the saddle again, but this can only
come through the failure of Cookers lead
ership in making gains in the state assem-
bly, and in strengthening the democrats
generally.
All this was explained to me by one of
the democrats who is a philosopher. He
was telling why Senator Jones OF the ma
tonal committee had failed to harmonic
Croker and Hill. Said this democratic pol
itician: There was nothing to harmonic.
Jones was told ii made no difference
whether Hill sulked or not. Croker could
not meet him on equal terms and fix up
agreement for the campaign. Croker is the
general and Hill is the private. II is HIS
business to come around to headquarters
and take orders. If he had won out he
would have expected Croker to do the same
thing. We told Jones that politics is war
and he ought to know there could be no
such thing as harmnnizing the general and
the private. or maybe. as you newspaper
people would say, the boss and his bench
man."
Senator Jones was never credited with
acute political instinct, and he may not rec
ogniZe the situation, but his appeals for
harmony will be frujtless until he shifts
his ground.
Hill Does Not Recognize Defeat