The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-11-08
THE PASSING OF TAMMANY.

l The passing or IdmHldHy sHoulu Hol occasion one breath of regret from any
 honest man, Democrat or Republican.
 There should be no feeling of politics or
 partisanship in connection with the re-
 suit. Instead, there should go up from
 good men everywhere a sincere thanks
 giving that the most corrupt organization
 this country has seen has gone down to it's reward. And the hope should be uni- versal that the Tammany which has
 ruled and debauched the metropolis of 1 this continent until the very stones of 1 the streets cried against the shame of it has disappeared forever from the politics of New York.
 | In the life history of nations there often comes a time when wrong and corruption and debauchery pass the limit of human | endurance, and that nation passes away and becomes both memory and a warn ing. When justice is bought and sold like carcases in the shambles; when bribery and corruption hold high carnival in the very temples dedicated to the law; when vice faunts her scarlet robes in the face of officials who close their eyes that they may not see;. when honest poverty and virtue and purity are elbowed and arod- den under foot by harlots and thieves and bribe-givers; when those who make the laws are for sale and those who execute them go with open hands to receive the gifts of villainy; when. in short, the whole of a government from the highest official to the lowliest striker is permeat- ed and saturated with dark, deep and damnable corruption, then that govern ment has no longer a mission among honorable men, and must go down in the | mire and slime of it's own infamy.
 There have been times and occasions l when Tammany has done good work for Democracy, for the people and for the
 country. There have been men in con- trol of that organization who were both personally and politically honest. It has more than once shown itself power for good and has served the gratitude and commendation of good men both in and out of the Democratic Party, but all that 1 belongs to the past. Its recent history | has been one black page of misgovern- ment. Bribery and perjury and condona- l common of it's offences. The villainy of 1 it all has been so open, so unblushing
 and so palpable that it's own debauchees
 have been surprised at the license al-
 lowed them, and have jeered with trucu-
 lent audacty at the patience of their
 victims. When the wickedness of Sodom
 and Gomorrah became unbearable, God
 chose his own way to punish them and
 fearful was His wrath. When the wick
 edness of a modern municipality reaches
 its limit, the people rise and wipe the
 wrong -doers from their high estate. Tam
 many reached that limit and Tammany
 fell If the old red chieftain whose name
 the organization bears could look dowE from the happy hunting grounds, his
 bronze face must have blushed to think that his name was borne by the most de. . prayed organization that has cursed any I civilized city in modern times.
 What of the future? Tammany has , gone down in defeat before and has again
 risen to power, but let us hope that there
 is no resurrection for the organization
 which went to deserved doom last Tues r day. For the good that Tammany ha. a done Democracy in the past, thousands F are grateful, but no one who believes 1T 1 honest municipal government can regre . that the Tammany of the recent pas has been buried. nor can any good ma1 hope for it's rehabilitation. If Tamman, p can be reborn instead of reorganzed and if 1t can be controlled by honest anc patriotic citizens, it may again be ; [ power for good in the history of tn
 country. and that time may come. "swee