Evening star., 1901-03-09
Citizens Union Getting Ready for
the Spring Campaign.
THE AEYI-IMPERItLISqS FOOLED
New Telephone. System to Do
Away With Central Station.
NEW MECCA FOR SPORTS"
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

NEW YORK, March s, 1901.
Officers of the Citizens Union are busy
making arrangements for the convention
on April II, which will open the municipal
campaign, so far as the union is con-
cerned At this convention the committee
of seventy will be named. TO this COM
mittee is delegated the duty Of selecting a
candidate for the mayoralty. Just how
long time will be given to it to re-
port its choice has not yet been deter
mined As the election does not take place
until the fall, and as the work Of agreeing
upon man who will be suitable to all the
anti-Tammany organizations will be diff
fcutt one, it is thought that some time
| may be given to the committee to complete
it's work. At present there Is no candidate
in particular suggested by any of the MEM
| bers of the union. The committee will
have an absolutely free hand, and the Citi-
zens' Union will throw it's entire support
| to the candidate it may select.
Referring to the committee, member of
| the Citizens Union said
1--WE have not yet determined precisely
how the committee of seventy will be
| chosen. The Citizens Union will doubtless
| try to select such committee as shall be
| thoroughly representative of elements will
| ing to work for the best interests of the
city, and it, in turn, shall select so good
candidate that neither the republicans
nor any other political organization shall
have just cause to take exception to him.
I think that the committee will not con-
suit with either a republican as such nor
democrat as such, nor with any one ex-
cept as a citizen, who is willing to sink his
party considerations In order to secure the
city's best good
Delegates to he Elected April @.
The delegates to the convention will be
elected on April in the various assembly
bxyt tba djrfr p;1a.
tions meeting in convention. Officers of
the union will not be surprised if every as
sembly district in the city Is represented.
| There is an excellent organization in Man
haitian, and reports from Brooklyn show
that that borough also is particularly well
organized. The delegates to the convention
will be elected on a basis of one delegate
to every twenty-five enrolled members. The
chairman of the district and the delegate
to the central committee will constitute the
first two delegates to the convention, and
will represent the first fifty enrolled MEM
bers in each district. 1t Is possible that
the new committee may consist of a smaller
membership than seventy, but as seventy
! is the maximum number allowed in the
constitution, it Is expected that 1t will be
completed at that figure.
Republican leaders shaye decided to let the
anti-Tamnany democrats have all the hon
| ers of the coming municipal campaign
They say now that IL the democrats op-
posed to Tammany- will unite and agree
upon some candidate he will be supported
loyalty by the republican organization, and
will not be asked to make any promises or
pledges. Authority for this information,
however, cannot 'tbe given to the public.
Thus no responsibility is publicly incurred.
-. t.rAnti-ImperiaIists. DiaSruntIed.
| 3 The Anti.Imperialist League Of New York
Is SO vexed at the United States Senate
for rushing through tho army bill In the
early hours Of the morning before the
league had awakened for the day that
1t may either disown 1t or write
castle letter. Such conduct has spoiled one
Of the incest mass meetings the league has
ever engineered; it has deprived a number
of well-known citizens of an opportunity of
unloading some burning thoughts; it has
made it useless for a committee of we'll
known men to visit Washington: it has
deprived brass band of a chance to de-
liver much patriotic music and taken money
out Of the pockets Of Cooper Union. For a
long time the league has regarded the army
bill and the Spooner amendment TO it as
menace to the constitutional liberties of the
country, 80 dearly bought with blood of
the revolutionary fathers" and from it's
headquarters at $50 Nassau street ener-
gettc young women clerks have been mail
ing open letters. circulars and warnings to
that effect.
The mass meeting was originated last
week, and Andrew Carnegie and Mark
Twain agreed to be included In the list of
speakers. Both of them are vice presi-
dents. Mr.. Clemens. 1t was arranged, was
to rid himself of a stinging, biting. satiri-
cal speech, in which he was to say mean
but laughable things about the present ma
tionaI drift. Mr.. Carnegie. on the other
hand, was to get right down to business
and show by multiplication, addition. d1-
vision and subtraction just where imperial
ism puts the balance on the debtor side
every year. The combination OF the speech
es, 1t was asserted. would make the most
pronounced imperalist recant at once. But
the Senate worked overtime and circum-
vented them, and row the league init
mates that 1t was afraid OF the deluge OF
condemnation which would sweep down on
the Capitol last Saturday morning.
Hello Girls Calling Threatened.
A new invention threatens to do away al
most entirely with the telephone girl, and to
make every subscriber his own Central"
There is now being constructed in a shop
at Forestyille, Conn.,, an apparatus with
this object in view. 1t is the design Of an
electrian employed by the Providence Elec-
trio Company of Providence, r. L. Wealthy
New York and Boston men, 1t Is SAID, are
promoters OF the scheme. Under the new
system there will be no more 'hellos' with
central office operators but subscribers Will
be equipped with miniature swttehboards
and plugs. The lines will be numbered, ana
each subscriber may call any one he pleases
without connection with Central When,
however. ng-distance connection IS de-
sired 1t will still be necessary to call CEN
trail office as at present. The new invention
Is called the autocofnmutator. 1t seems to
be practically the same idea as that of the
Providence electrician. Every subscriber
is supplied with an instrument consisting
of a battery, transmftter, receiver, cali bell
and a movable dial with decimal figures.
After the subscriber has marked the num-
ber of the personi he wants he pushes the
call bell button and sunhooks the telephone
receiver. II there Is azhumming sound he
knows that the iine isalready in use. AS
1T Is possible to bring the pins of the COM
mutator rod into contact with all the lines.
of which the extremities end at the bottom
Of the apparatus, this will suffice for about
one hundred subscribers
New Mecca for sporting Fraternity.
Connecticut promises TO soon become the
Mecca Of the gamblers and New York
sporting men. Three bills have been intro
duced into the Connecticut legislature to
legalize pool selling, and there Is also a
very strong fight being made against the
bill which was recently introduced to Kill
the prize fighting game.1. This fight is head
ed by New York sport smen who were in
terested In the boxing game here in the
DalIny dayS of the Horton law. The poOl-