New-York tribune., 1901-11-24
TO KEEP TAMMANY OUT.
PLANS OF REFORM LEADERS TO MAKE
THEIR WORK PERMANENT.

Now that the excitement OF the campaign ha'
passed and the fusion forces are setting oo"h -
the enjoyment of the fruits of the victory the
leaders of the reform movements in the city are
asking the question How shall we keep ram
MANY ont -, For they realize that the peculiar
conditions which brought about victory this year
are not likely to occur again. and that they WIN
have to depend other influences II they are "
win years hence They realize. Also tnat .iie
strength of Tammany in the tenement mouse ois
tricts Is strength which is potent on any
other day of the year Election Day HOW,
then. shall the people who have been oroush' ou'
of Tammany Hall be kept out?
And to rightly understand the strength of Tam
many Hall one has to confine his observations 70
the election district Here the campaign Is oe-
cided and here Tammany possesses its greates'
strength. The election district captain is the hio'
potent force in the organization. For three nun
dred and sixty-dve days In the year ne goes OUT
among his people and looks after their interests
In winter his purse supplies coal to keep fires
burning in the bleak tenements, and his purse pays
the rent that keeps his less provident followers
from the street. At the funeral of voter ne IS
the most conspicuous mourner, and he returns TO
comfort the remaining voters. There Is no func-
tion in the life of the four hundred five hun
dred persons committed to his charge In Whlcn ne
does not take a vital interest And when Eiectloh
Day comes he collects his pay, and woe TO the
backslider whom the insidious arguments of the
reformer leads away that day There VIII De
no assistance for him that winter, he will have
only reformer to turn to for aid In the hor Oh
need and how little aid he can expect one reaiizes
when thinks that the reform organization usual
" begins its operations downtown in June of an
election year and vanishes promptly after Election
Day.
Above the election district captain is the club.
the social centre of the district. Here there Is
usually lawyer to look after the needs or the
people: here wires connecting with all the
headquarters officers. and through the district
lear he m
political preferment.
1t Is to meet just such conditions as these that
the practical men of the reform organizations are
exerting themselves They recognize that the
party which expects assistance from the voters CT
district stay with the voters of the dis
trict, not merely through the campaign but
through the years when there Is no campaign 10
that end the Ctizens Union, we'll as several
other organizations. Is planning the formation OF
Assembly district clu5s-clubs social in nature as
are the Tammany clubs clubs political in purpose
clubs that shall not merely offer places of amuse-
ment. but be places where ideals Of political purity
shall minge with practical work for the protection
and financial and other aid which must from
time to time be given to the honest but needy ciu
of the lower East Side
Nothing can better illustrate the value of the
work OF such organizations than the results ac-
compshed by such club as the George Washing-
years yes this club has been supported largely by It's
president, Dr. S. Goldenkranz. one OF the newly
forded for the respectable young men of the dis
trict meet socially and the atmosphere OF prac-
teal work has also pervaded the club Accord
ingly. when the campaign began this year. Dr.
Goldenkranz able to call upon force OF ener-
getic and able young men, familiar with the dis
trict. They worked by election districts. and as
n result Of their work a normal Democratic ma
Jority was wiped out and Low received a plurality
OF 81
The lessons of this victory are appreciated by
all familiar with East Side conditions. Not the
desire but the opportunity to hold to better things
has been lacking. 1t was not because people pre-
ferred the domination OF men like Martin Engei
that they supported the Tammany ticket 1t was
because they knew that If the reformers were
beaten they would have to bear the brurt of the
punishment. They would have TO pay for their
dsloyalty Tammany. and the payment would
come in actual want and privation or petty perse-
cution. and even in physical injury.
This movement shows and more vital IN
terest IN political conditions. and IL shows more
sympathetic appreciation of the needs OF the dis
tricts which with such great difficulty
cued from the Tammany column. and can only by
intelligent and persevertng EFFORT be kept OF it