New-York tribune., 1901-10-24
PLAIN WORDS.

Appearing in Brooklyn on Monday evening as
an apologist for the same Tammany Hall which
he has heretofore denounced with all the vigor
be could command, Mr.. Edward NJ. Shepard
said:
If you read the papers to-day-or, rather, II
some one not living here to read them-you
would believe that crime and vice were broad
spread In every avenue street and alley OF the
city. You would believe that there was not a
single honest officeholder. You would believe
that there a complete system OF looting the
public treasury-that no taxes We're used Tor
the purpose they were intended for. You know
all OF that TO be gross and. I may say. an
abominable perverson OF the facts.
We have been careful in this campaign 10
treat Mr.. Shepard CONSIDERABLY, to make gener-
Gus allowance for the effect upon his mental
and moral perceptions of the strange delusion
by which he has appeared TO be afflicted, and TO
refrain from challenging the recttude Of his
purposes. Mr. Shepard has pretty constantly
added to the difficulty of maintaining this atti-
tude, but the sentences quoted from his speech
on Monday evening strain benevolence almost
to the limit. They are clearly not intended as
piece of rhetorical exaggeration, which would
have been utterly out Of place while he was re-
buking his adversaries for Misrepresentation.
He meant his hearers TO accept them as grave
statement of fact, but yet they are indisputably
charge or so much as suggest, that vice and
crime are broadspread in every avenue. street
and alley Of the city: that there IS not single
honest oficeholder, and that no taxes are used
for legitimate purposes. They charge that and
no more than that which Mr.. Shepard charged
in 1897. when he said: 1.-The most burning and
"disgraceful blot upon the municipal history Of
this country is the career Of Tammany Hail.
They are guilty of no "abominable pervecsion."
whereas Mr.. Shepard is guilty OF that very Of
fence in attributing it to others.
Is the mantle OF charity broad enough to cover
even such monstrous departure from The truth
as Mr.. Shepard has made in this instance7 We
are still anxious TO think so. But we must tell
Mr. Shepard plainly that no man who honestly
believes what he urged all TO believe four years
ago considers IT in the slightest degres unfair
or indecoIAus TO declare an utter contempt for
his present course. No apology is needed for
hating and despising his betrayal OF the trust
which he has so laboriously besought his fellow
citizens to put in him. He has resented several
times since he stopped TO become Croker's can
didate the censure to which he has been SUBJ
jected. If his reputation were a sufficient
guarantee of the propriety OF any action which
he might choose to take. We are forced TO as
sure Mr. Shepard that he is not entitled 10
claim any such privilege. There is. indeed, a
singularly offensive flavor Of vanity and i'm
pertinence in his assumption Of immunity 1t is
not merely permissible, but obligatory, to pro-
nounce judgment OF explicit and absolute con-
demnation on his present conduct, while cher
ishing the hope that his moral hbre Will prove
not TO have been corrupted In the service OF his
miserable ambition. There is no higher duty at
this time than that Of seeking TO Undue the re-
spectacle members Of this great community, and
If possible himself with a realizing sense Of the
wrong that he is doing. We have his own au-
thority for declaring that his candidacy Is per-
sonal degradation and q public affronr