The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-08
NEW YORK TOPICS.
DRIFTS AND yNDERCURRENTS OF
THE METROPOLIS.

Dilemma Understood by No One
Better Than by Tammany-LessOn
TO Police Officers in the Case of
Captain DiamOnd-Fake Invest
ment Companies Thrive Contin-
uaIIy in Wall Street-Yerkes, the
Millionaire of simple Tastes, Back
i'm New York-GamboIinEs of the
Bulls and Bears.
New York, Dec. 6.-When a month
hence, the new administration comes
In, the man with the hardest job on
! his hand is going to be Col. Partridge,
the new Police Commissioner. Two
very formidable mill-stones are wait
ing for Col. Partridge, and If he comes
out from between them. unpulverized
! 1t will be by virtue Of an unexampled
ability in getting out of tight places.
| One Of these mill-stones is the law;
/ the law which declares that all gamb-
| ling joints and disorderly houses must
! be closed. The other is public senti-
/ ment: the public sentiment which
/ elected Seth Low as a protest against
! the public corruption fostered by Tam
many Hail. but which demands, never
| theless, that the city shall not be tight
! shut" If Col. Partridge fails to en-
/ force the law he is liable not only to
! dismissal but to Indictment If he en-
forces it rigidly there will be a howl
of protes: to alright wooden Indian
! from his pedestal. His own party is
| for a liberal Interpretation of the law;
! District Attorney elect Jerome has
said so openly, Mayor elect Low has
! said so by implica ton. Probably four
| fifths of the voting population takes
I This view. a ttght-cToseu city would
mean overwhelming victory for Tam
many Hall next election. Herein lies
| Col. Partridges dilemma, and Tam
many Halls opportunity.
| Observe. now, how beautifully the
! thing works out for Tammany. The
| new Police Commissioner calls his
| captains together CTammany captains,
most of them and bids them enforce
the law. Either they try to obey this
| order literally, and temporarily close
up every illegal place in which case
| an avalanche of unpopularity will
overwhelm the present administration:
or they don't do it and all efforts to
make them do it fail. in which case
! Tammany says Behold how impossible
| 1T is to wipe out these places You
blame us for not doing what your own
administration has failed to do The
reformers have made the mistake of
declaring that only the higher officials
of the Police Department are corrupt:
| that the rank and file would be straight
! if they had chance Tammany knows
better. 1t knows that the whole force
| is saturated with corruption and that.
| so long as the man on post stands with
/ his hand behind his back and his palm
| upward, so long the worst kind of dives
will flourish in every precinct.
Charles I. Yerkes, the multi-mil-
lionaire street railroad man, who has
recently returned from London, where
he is putting in the new underground
railroad system, is far more of a pub
| lie figure in the metropolis of the Old
World than in the metropolis of the
! New. There, as head of a mighty
public enterprise. he must figure largely
in the public eye; deliver addresses,
respond to toasts at banquets. and sit
upon the conspicuous platform Here
at his own home he may live as he
pleases, and he pIeases to live quietly,
amusing his leisure hours, which are
few. in his superb picture gallery
containing the finest collection of mod
ern painting in this country or be-
hind his fast horses. Few people know
that Mr.. Yerkes is a Quaker. but such
is the fact. He was brought up in
the strictest environments of the
quaint gray sect, and its influences
abide with him still. He occasionally
walks soberly down. of a Sunday. to
the church where the Friends ,-1eet.
In one of the old and once artist ltic
parts of the city. Always, in yate
with his own family, he uses the af-
fectionate thee" and THY" of his
boyhood And, though it may seem a
| strange thing to say of a man who
has fought his way to the mastery of
the great Chicago street railway sys-
/ tenn and the ownership of nearly a
| hundred million dollars, his tastes to-
! day are for the most part quiet and
simple. Mr.. Yerkes is nearly sixty
five years old, but no stranger who
met the sturdy, re-shouldered man
with the atmosphere of vigor. health
ana the enjoyment Of life, and the
| Keen, clear eyes In the unwrinkled
| face. would set him down for more
than fifty. In the generation of soured
| and broken millionaires who
have bartered health, temper and the
SAVIOR of life for their fortunes, the
street magnate stands apart and al
most alone--I have heard him express
the hope that when he began to break
he would go quickly But there Is no
|
1t is the calm and self-restraint of his
Quaker boyhood that is bearing its
fruit now in a vigorous and active
age, after a lifetime of battle.
To the grating policeman the SEN
tence In the case of Police CAPTAIN
Diamond is bright rift in the clouds.
| Diamond it will be remembered. was
indicted for neglect of duty in falling
to suppress a dsorderly house main
| tanned by a woman named Schmidt in
his precinct. His wardman. Bissert is
now under sentence for receiving brides
from the Schmidt woman. on the
ground that he could not get a fair
| trial In New York, the accused cap
tain got change of venue and his
case was tried before Judge d. Cady
Herrick and a jury of farmers at AL
bany. That the jury should have found
| him guilty was no great SURPRISE the
surprise came later when Judge Her.
rick made speech to the defendant,
in which he declared that the offence
was one Of which any police captain
in New York could be found guilty,
and which he terminated by fninR
Captain Diamond $1,000. In the course
of the speech. which was apparently
designed to forestall criticism of his
action. the learned Judge said that the
outcome would prove a lesson TO
police officers" II will. And the les
son is a plain one. II is that they will
find II good business to fail TO sup
press" disorderly house, and. when
| put on trial therefore, get a change of