New-York tribune., 1901-01-14
UNITY THE KEYSTONE.
PLANS TO SECURE COHESION OF ANTI
TAMIANY FORCES-DISAGREE-
NENT FATAL.

One Of the causes of the present municipal
naisrule (there are those who think it the only
cause) was the inability of anti-Tammany
voters to unite their forces at the last Mayor
atty election
Mr. Peckham attributed this TO lack Of popu-
lar determination to put the right man in office
IF there was any such lack, no doubt 1t existed
to some extent among the leaders. The one
thing needful seems to be 10 provide a way for
anti-Tammany voters 10 unite. whether party
leaders favor that course or not.
Anu-Tammany voters may be brought to-
gether. apparently. in two ways. One is to wait
until there has been ample public discussion of
the Mayoralty question. and public opinion
seems TO be setting Enthusiastically in a certain
direction: and then TO have the Republican or-
ganization, the Citizens Union, the Independent
Democrats and other anti-Tammany elements
agree, if they can, on one candidate
The second plan is TO provide in advance for
an expression of the will OF the people. whether
the leaders of all these forces agree upon one
candidate or not Failure TO provide against
disagreement in the election Of 1897 caused the
loss Of more than one hundred thousand anti
Tammany votes. by diversion OF that number
20 General Tracy. That failure elected Tam
many Mayor and has cost the city of New
York millions OF dollars and led to carnival
Of vice in the town
1t is possibly not of consequence now whose
fault that was The fact is sufficient. What is
worse the error of 1897 may be repeated at the
coming election, innocently. because no provision
has been made against il.
Henry Wattarson says good men cannot
agree among themselves. while bad men are
held together by the cohesive power Of public
plunder" 1t is proverbiaI that thinking men
are more difficult to unite than men who follow
blindly leader. The bulk of the anti-Tammany
strength in this city is composed of thinking
men, They are adherents of different political
opinions: il will be difficult to unite them; it
may be impossible to find a man upon whom
they unanimously agree. Suppose that they
do not agree. What then? Is there no way by
which the people can rectIfy the mistake, aEs
at the polls themselves unite upon the most
suitable candidate?
It is believed that the remedy for a disagree
ment among the leaders can be found About
ten years ago an article appeared in The Cen
tury Magazine from the pen of Daniel RemSen.
lawyer of this city, advocating the passage of
a law granting to voters the right or a second
choice in elections. bill has been twice intro
duced into the New-York Legislature to secure
that end. The system seemed complicated al
though not in reality, and the bill never at
tracted much attention In Australia, however
(frou which country we have adopted features
of value in electons). the idea first advanced
from this city has been adopted, and the second
choice system prevails in elections 70 Parla-
ment. A majority vote is required to elect, and
if no candidate secures majority when the
first choice Of the voters has been counted then
the second choices are examined and the man
chosen who has majority or the urst and sec
ond choice votes cOmhined.
At the end of The Tribune's canvass for the
Mayoralty shall give an illustration Of the
operations of the second choice system.
The following table shows the results of the
baloting SO far: