New-York tribune., 1901-05-25
COCHRAN ON BOSS POWER.
HE SUGGESTS REDISTRIBUTION OF
AUTHORITY ON A HOME RULE BASIS

At q dinner of the City Club last night the oues-
ton, How shall organize against TammanyF
discussed The list of speakers announcer IN
cluded ". Bourke Cochran. William H Baldwin
jr.. and E. Elery Anderson. Wheeler H. fecAhan
presided He said that his own platform was
union of all. upon the single plank OF an hohes'
government pushed to the utmost extreme
j. Noble Hayes read letter from Governor ooeii
who regretted that illness in his family kept mum
away.
W. Bourke Cochran then spoke. and said in part;
1t is undoubted fact that In this city, ,sI ana
perhaps & In GtheTs the Whole power on wbo oe Was not
elected by the people but who Ts;o TUES 'he Was
charged with rhetorical exasseration when SPOKE d
of the dangers of encroachnents upon Ine I'M Inue
think that recent events have confirmed my re-
marks then The force that controls t bns,V inns G If
that hostility should be incurred ,oss,s
b any prolesS1enaI @ a there bower like this
before in the history Of the world for. though the
boss is all-powerfu his power never seen tbe
may have been able to overawe for a time. they
have never been able to escape the & tb ut
boss rules merely through smile or frowh' OF
If one had said a few years ago that a boss
could be millionaire or that @ i5ir,sS as
preposterous. We have always had bosses ua nut
content with an occasional contribution at Christ
mas at a christening. or some otne1 Itatiits
to prevent political contributions by corporations. @
Why the boss the corporations, since ne I'll an
toms toms. '"e '''"'''''eS' 80 IT, hos. Is
steaiIv enaTging his control of corporate interests
so that it may cover transportation. gas ana ice,
great strike should come which would lnips,lt ost
hese M & great od so5 at the exercise Of any part
of his power in order to prevent the loss OIL "S
In such a struggle would the police be likely to
exercise that moral influence weh h cmb by W the no
iiceman's side is the least powerful of his weapons.
gpTe af mos @ the of the majesty the
uTbdnce wee9 that al S he merely " the empoye
party 6eTe TO Tee % be resenment then resistance
and finally riot and anarchy. III, ,,,u,....,, ~,
redistribution Of power do not say A 6hat Az, you r 90
fall but the end should he something more than
the election of good man next fan AT present.
TO choose between two men, but the indiylduai t
citizen is almost poweress The remsdg ne g is IN rn h
The separate wards: having perhaps thirty ELECTION
paving street Cleaning and police.
Perhaps some wards would elect ignorant or even m
some that would elect their Intelligent citi-
o nS9' get f1 G0 moi his 'RS Rard Council % by making
sona canvass And those wards which @ we were pes nes'
If one well-governed ward for instance; got ts ITS
paid 3 or s.. the taxpayers in those wards would
want to know about IL.
/ don't suppose that there is a man here who
believes that the social evil can be suppressed or
gambling be stopped / don suppose
there is a man here who would be willing 70 enter
upon such a hopeless campaign But that does
mean that we favor system by which dis
orderly houses gambling, resorts are maintained
upon a license system, and the license fees go TO
the police.
l noticed that objection was made to the state
cOnstabulary scheme. because under IL a policeman
could be transferred from Albany 70 New-1 1ork
But the power TO transfer from The Bronx
to Richmond is just as bad IS a means OF op-
preston. If the control of such matters were LETT
ward councils every man in a particular neigh
borhood would know just who is responsible. The
concentration of power in is nothing new.
Our present municipal government is not demo
cratic government. but IL Is the system OF the
French Consulate Our hope is in return 10 the
principles of Thomas Jefferson. Let the people
know by whom they governed. for no one can
completely cCerce the public conscience
r. Fulton Cutting made a plea for the Citizens
Union.
William II. Baldwin. tr. OF the Committee Of Fif-
said that the saloons bound 10 be open
Sundays anyway, so they should favor their
lawful opening. at least for certain hours
A. ]. Boulton was introduced a representative
of labor organizations and advocated municipal
ownership OF railroads.