The Savannah morning news., 1901-10-27
NEW YORK TOPICS.
DRIFTS AND UNDERCURRENTs OF
THE METROPOLIS.

a Straw May Show which Way the
Wind Blows, but a Straw Vote
Does Not Necessarily show the Di-
rection of the New York Political
Breeze-JerOme, the Picturesque
Candidate Campnigner, Is Similar
in Methods to the Roosevelt OF
Police Commissioner Days-A Half
Hour Street Fist Fight on LeNins-
ton Avenue at Which the Police
Were ConspicuousIy Absent-The
..Jagster" an Exponent of n View
observation-disclosures of an EpiscO-
paIian Church Battle.
New York, Oct. 25.-With election less
IN two weeks off. the situation is in
dense fog. Prophets on both sides
g working overtime. Men with thous-
rds of dollars, coin of the realm (of
fancy) are recording enormous bets
which exist for publication only. But
he genuine bettors are hanging so far
back that they are in danger of fall
ing out of the betting ring altogether.
while the expert political forecasters
are acquiring damp in their weather.
eyelids, straining the vision for lndica-
tions that won't evolve from out the
mist. At the date of my last letter
the odds were swinging slowly toward
Low. Now the return swings them to
the Tammany side. aided by some
thousands of dollars in impression
cash.. e., money offered in wager
with a view to influencing the weak
kneed.
The registration is a puzzle to every
body. On the whole, the Republican
districts have gained over the Demo-
Gratis, but the gain has been peculiarly
distributed, and though both parties
are claiming at the top of their lungs
that the figures are in their favor, the
timers are shaking their heads over
the problem. One thing is certain; the
last day of registration showed an i'm
provement in the Republican columns
over the first three days. This is due
in part to a severe shaking up when
the Republican workers received at the
hands of the leaders. The workers had
taken the money given to them for
IlG EXPENSES VI SGAtlllS C0S eAAN AS.StOA-
ist registrat ton, put it in their pockets,
and had done little or no work. When
the figures came out there was wrath
in the Republican county headquarters.
The delinquent workers were hauled
over the Goals. They were told that
the honor of the Republican party was
staked in this campaign; that If the
registration on the final day did not
compensate for the former days, very
unpleasant things would befall them.
The result was good.
Straw votes are now in order. The
World has taken one which figures out
a plurality of about 1000 for Shepard.
The Herald's straw vote also indicates
a. slight plurality for the Tammany
ticket Chairman Morris of the Repub-
lican County Committee has had his
men out quietly figuring up the dis
tricts and he predicts 10000 plurality
for Low. AS matters now stand, the
chances look evenly balanced; but 1t is
a precarious balance which very light
cause may turn overwhelmingly to
either side.
For the newspapers in this campaign
have been a delicate problem, paruc-
ularly for those who are Democratic.
only one morning paper has stuck
souarely to Tammany: The Telegraph,
which is Crokers personal organ, and
is bought only by politicians, sports,
and theatrical folk. The News is the
sole tiger cub among the evening pa
pers. The World is mildly Fusionist.
with a special enmity for Mayor Van
wyck. The Journal. which pushed
Coler for the mayoralty, is half-heart-
edly for Tammany, and very polite to
the other side. The Herald is monde
script The Times, Tribune, Press,
Commercial Advertiser. Mail and Ex-
press and Evening Post are all strong
for Low. while the Sun which. in the
last mayoralty election, fought Low
more bitterly than it did Van Wyck.
is now his most violent partisan. So
the preponderance of journalistic infiu-
ence is heavily against Tammany Hall.
Tammany, however, counts little on
newspaper support, which is fortunate
for the hall this year.
AS a whirlwind campaigner, Justice
William Travers Jerome is about the
liveliest article that has blown over
the political horizon for many years.
He is of the same type as President
Roosevelt; in fact, the points of resem-
blance between them are many.
Jerome. like Roosevelt, is a member of
one of the most distinguished families
in New York. He is both a scholar
and an athlete, as the President is, and
like his more distinguished fellow
townsman, he has gone into politics