New-York tribune., 1901-10-15
THE QUESTION OF P4RTIsAySHIP.

Mr. Shepard in his speech Saturday evening,
trying TO prove Mr.. Lows candidacy as partl-
san as his own, charged that Mr.. Low had
changed since 1897 and surrendered to the
Republican organization, which had not changed
since 1897. AS an expert judge of the changes
of others while avowing his own immutability,
Mr. Shepard can hardly be taken seriously. A
gentleman who ten months ago was demanding
that the organization now in power should De
driven into exile for its sins. and who now asks
people to help him place in office the Frommes
fingers and Van Wycks of that organization
suggests the notion that he himself is spinning
in space so rapidly that he thinks he is standing
still and everything else moving. The man who
sat on the floor waiting for the bed 10 come
around was not more ridiculously pathetic
figure than Mr.. Shepard in his new alliance
with Croker Tim" Sullivan and Frank Far
rell. loudly protesting that everybody else has
gone queer" Nevertheless. 1t may he well 10
consider frankly a few facts bearing upon Mr..
Shepards dizzy delusion.
In the first place, the Republican organization
has changed, and not Mr.. Low, 10 make possible
the present anti-Tammany union In 1897 the
organization leaders were filled with partisan
ideas Now they have accepted the doctrine or
municipal non-partisanship placed in the consti-
tuition and laws by Republican constitutional
convention Mr.. Lows platform is admittedly as
satisfactory as 1t was in 1897 when Mr.. Shepard
supported IT; but Mr.. Shepard says platforms do
not count perhaps because he does not himself
like running platform which indorses Dew
eryism. He takes refuge in conjuring up theory
OF the way the Republican organization bun
coed" the Citizens Union. Let us examine the
facts. Seth Low on the original list of the
Citizens Union. and was not forced there by the
+1,a%
the Republicans wanted 10 force Mr.. Lows
nomination for partisan purposes does not fit in
with the equally cocksure notion held few
weeks ago by the Shepard cOterie of 'indepen-
dents" that the Republicans were not in good
faith trying 10 defeat Tammany, but were try
ing 70 lead the Citizens Union into mOrass
Tho Republican organization could not at once
be working for anti-Tammany defeat and sue
cess II frequently announced Its readiness to
take Democrat. and the charge has frequently
been made that the reason was that the leaders
did not expect 70 win and preferred that the re-
sponsibility should not he on their heads. That
of course. was before Mr.. Croker put up as his
candidate one Of the strongest anti-Tammany
campaigners who ever spoke in this city. and
dispelled all the pessimism Of the professional
politicians who had feared that the gambling
combine too strongly intrenched and public
opinion too lndlf1eren 10 It's outrageS 10 revolt
OF course. a special pleader OF Mr.. Shepard's
facility can interpret any state OF facts TO suit
himself and discover that II is unconstitutional
10 think anything else: but the simple truth is
that the various suspicious and charges against
the Republican adhesion in good faith TO effec
tive and genuine non-partisanship mutually
destructive. But even supposing II were true
that Mr.. Low did stand for the Republican
organization, as Mr.. Shepard stands for Tam
many, what claim has Mr.. Shepard TO the sup
port of honest meni He has described Tam
many as ''the most burning and disgraceful blot
upon the municipal history of this country" He
has declared that a party which does wrong
should at all hazards be driven from power
and not under any pretence OF reform be
allowed with a good candidate TO secure new
term. He has declared that the present admin
istration Is such a party and should be exiled
II Mr.. Low were ten times as much OF n parti-
san as Mr. Shepard declares, and were the
Republican organization likely to dominate the
city ten times despotically as Mr.. Shepard
pretends to fear, ii would still be his duty
according to his own declarations, to work for
the overthrow of the scoundrels now in power
so as TO teach officers who may come after that
If they do wrong they will surely be punished.
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