Evening star., 1901-10-29
Greatest Strength in Fusion Move
ment Comes From That Source.
CROKER'S PETS WERE TOO GREEDY
AIienated the Element Which Pro-
duced the Sinews Of War.
A COMPLICATED SITUATION

Special From a STAFF Correspondent.
NEW YORK, October 29.-Today talked
with the man who is regarded as the most
skillful observer of New York politics and
whose judgment goes in many quarters, and
he said:
THE fight has not shaped up for finish
yet: it is still too close. Don't make a. bet
before Saturday night. One bad break by
Low or Jerome or by Shepard or Croker
might turn the tide either way. Keep
hands off as to predictions at this time. It's
the worst political mess ever saw
Tammany sent out last night CAT wagons.
each equipped with one or more cart-tail
orators, who harried the town with cam
paign speeches from dark until the last
crowds went home. Up and down Broad
way and in the more populous side streets
white screens were swung across the thor
oughfares upon which dark lantern slides
threw campaign notices and abuse of the
opposition. Bands were driven through the
town on wagons whose sides bore legends
testifying to the great and good govern
ment that Tammany is giving the city.
Morris Blumentbars AbsaIoms.
All through the lower end of the city the
Tammany speakers held forth Morris
Blumenthars band of "Absaloms'' stormed
the town. In every campaign Blumenthal
enrolls the young lawyers who like to hear
themselves talk, the college students who
belong to the debating societies and the
amateur talent from all sides on his staff
of campaign takers. These are the "Ab-
saloms,' so termed in the vernacular They
are to do the rough-and-ready work of the
campaign and address a crowd wherever
they can find gather one. Blumenthal
trains them to their duties, tells each man
what peculiar line of the work to make in
his district instructs them in gestures and
hon rha
above 2Sth street are required to provide
themselves with silk hats. Those working
below that street must carefully avoid dis
play in dress
paign meetings on opposite corners of the
streets. The Steckler Democratic Associa-
ton jumped the Tammany reservation and
Joined the fusion movement This associa
tion is said to be good for 12OOO votes
l went over to see Charlie Steckler lead
his braves out and found a Tammany cart
tail orator in front of the door haranguing
the crowd. while the Steckler ghost dance
was going on inside The president of the
Franklin Pressmen's Union told the Steck-
Ter leaders that his union of 1890 men
would join the Low movement.
Tammany's Bari Open.
Tammany is spending money in the cam
paign with profusion, and times are pros
porous with the boys. There is some
thing doing all along the line, with pros
PcCtS VI even DcllST Inf1SS De1Ore next
Tuesday. The anti-Tammany forces have
not thus far been able to raise the $40 900
they considered necessary for their Iegiti-
mate campaign uses.
1t Is already apparent that IL Tammany
is beaten it will not be at the hands of
the church element and reformers of that
class. 1t will be by a revolution in Tam
manys own ranks, the result of Tammany
having oyer-played its game of extortion
upon its own people.
The ground swell 0f Tay
ing that is being felt here now comes main
ly from the direction of that organization
Itself That is the quarter in which the
greatest danger to Tammany lies for there
Tammany has held it's strength in the past
That is not reform. however, as it is un-
derstood uptown, it is resentment re-
yenge and the instinct of self-preservation.
There are two features of this reform
movement One is the righteous indigna-
tion of the conservative citizens over the
w1de-open town, the protection given gam
piihs. vice ana iawlessness, the usufruct of
pubic offices to private ends the patronag ge
given the degradation of young women and
the many counts of the indictment against
the municipal government.
The Other and Potent Danger.
The other feature, probably the most Do
tent one. If its strength had been correctly
analyzed, is the resentment of those who
are the -beneficiaries of Tammany; who
have in the past been willing to pay, but
OOJctt u DclIS married. when the
exactions OF Tammany are such as to make
the compact Improbable, they threaten to
dissolve partnership. This dissatisfaction
exists not only among the criminal classes
who enjoy prosperity under Tammany, but
among the ones hard-working wage-earu-
ers. who get their bread by Tammanv,s
favor
The most interesting and according to
observers experienced in New York poll
ucs, the most important feature of the
10
own lines. a revolt not for moral reasons
remember, but purely utilitarian If its ex-
tent could only be estimated many think
the elections outcome could be. foreea sted
now But 1t Is ground swelT' move
ment- II necessarily Is below the surface
common safety to all concerned demands
that tney do not shout their dissatisfaction
from the housetops.
Tammany's Perfect ORGANIZATION.
1t is but repetition to say that Tammanv
Is the most compact and perfect polttico-
business organization in the world. 1t IL
the result of years OF labor by many men.
Its present head is Croker. He Is beneficial
to Tammany but not indispensable. When
ne dies, Tammany will not perish Anoth-
er leader will appear. for the organization
Is too gigantic to be dependent upon one
mans existence
Take a brief glance at the perfection of
organization of this association: the or
offers. '"''o''
There are fifty-nine assembly election
districts in New York, Brooklyn and the
component boroughs Each ia nressdad
over by Tammany democrat who is
known as the district leader He is the
temporal father Of his people in that dis.
trict and the supreme authority within his
territory upon all things political or IN
which Tammany takes a hand
Every assembly district contains from
thirty to forty election districts each. with
a captain He knows every voter within
mis- subdivision. and Is the channel of COM
munication with the assembly leader The
district leader is the recourse of all faith.
Iul followers when they get into trouble
He goes bail for them IL they are arrested
He uses his friendly offices with the magfs
trates In sweet mercy's behalf when the
cases come to trial He comes to lhe
rescue when the poor tenant is to be evict-
ed for non-payment of rent. In blizzard
time his friends don't lack coal. The poor
est unfortunate are his wards-that Is
those who vote his way. 1t Is easy to see
the power such an organization can builc
up Tammany knows through the assem-.