The courier., 1901-11-16
A Fusion Victory

IVt MI. shepard, Iammdny Candl-
date for mayor Of New York, is
about thirty thousand votes. Mr.. Bry-
ans plurality in New York in 1900 was
about thirty-five thousand votes. Con-
sequently the new mayor of New York
owes his election as much to demo-
cratic votes as TO republican.
For once reform energy was COM
pletely fused. The women of New York
had much to do with Mr.. Lows cleo
tion. The revelations made by the
Mazet committee appointed by the New
York state Legislature, by the press, the
City Vigilance League. the Society for
the Prevention Of Crime, the Society
for the Suppression Of Vice, the church
IS and the settlements upon the East
side, by the Committee of Fifteen. and
Dy the ministers convinced most Of the
decent men Of New York that national
politics had very little to do with the
administration Of the business of a
city: and Seth Low got a plurality Of
thirty thousand democratic and reIub-
lican votes.
The Committee Of Fifteen. composed
Of prominent business men, lawyers
and labor leaders. was appointed by
the Chamber of Commerce. Members
Of the committee raided gambling
house after gambling house in districts
where the police asserted there was not
I'D
able evidence showing the existence of
collusion between the gamblers and
Chief of Police Devery was secured.
The committee was greatly assisted by
Justice Jerome Of the Court Of Special
Sessions. His assistance was invalu-
able. especially as the courts We're filled
by Tammanyites anxious to block by
legal conventionalities the operations
Of the committee, by releasing prisoners
and in other subtle ways known and
practiced by Tammany judges.
But with Jerome's aid, and in spite
Of the sympathy of the judges with the
law-breakers, a number of convictions
were secured and other prisoners
Jumped their bail rather than stand
trial for the crimes charged against
them. The most important conviction
was that of Wardman Bissert, VINO
was sentenced to five years in the peni-
tentiary for blackmailing prostitute.
entiaI women in New York-women
who are supposed not to possess any
ideas or wishes about politics or NUM-
cipaI business-were intensely inter
ested in this election. Rich or poor,
aristocratic or plebeian. women in
business and in society are in
tensely and vitally interested in
goodness and in the suppression
against their sex. There was not
a disinterested good woman in New
York from Helen Gould to the poorest
shop girI-and each one of these women
has her sphere Of influence upon which
the other does not intrude-whOw was not
anxious to help suppress the infamous
cadet system. All these women were
against Croker. Some thought that
Shepard alone, on a ticket otherwise
made up Of Tammany men, would be
enough to enforce the laws and punish
the men who have established, devel-
oped and are still carrying on the
cadet" business with the knowledge
and under the protection of the police.
The rich women contributed nearly
fifty thousand dollars to the anti Tam
many campaign. The efforts of hum
bier women We're just as constant and
were directed by the Indignation fem
mime, which is a motor Of unmeasured
but occasionally demonstrated power.
I'll,