The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-07-12

has no staying effect on municipal poh- tics. Perhaps 1t is because 1t is a cool if not cold game. Fusion on one side is to battle with Tammany on the other. Ownership of the municipality is the stakes. There Is a difference between municipal ownership and ownership of the municipality. It Is for the latter the district leader puts his shoulder to the wheel and becomes the grand patron of the summer picnic and the childrens' walking party. It is for politics the ward boss becomes ward benefactor. In every district there is activity. The November voter is being gotten into line.
 Once more the people are to select Low or the tiger. Each has a record Much capital is being made out of insinuations inuendoes, etc. concerning the Tammany control of the dock department. At the best all that can be furnished will be companion picture to that which was set up by Commissioner Hawkes. during the Low administration. From the citizens point of view and from that of the tax payer It makes little difference what name the favored one may bear, whether it be Murphy, brother of Boss Murphy or Odell, governor of New York and chief owner of the Hudson river steamboats carrying freight to the Newburg grocery firm.
 Our smug-faced mayor makes bold front for virtue. He Is a reformer and reformers are not made of lasting ma | terial They are quick to assume a vir- tue if they have it not. By a neat device in bookkeeping, a subterfuge, it would appear that the city tax rate in Man. haitian borough has been decreased. As a fact, the rate Is lower This Is due to the city counting into it's valuations all parks and property wherever located in the city and all church. religious and other exempt property. This, too, in- creases its valuations and widens the arena of the debt limit. The energy of the administration Is now directed in swelling the debt by assuming new obli- gatlons so that in the event of a Tam many victory at the polls 1t will be cur tailed in expenditures If this Is bad for Tammany, how Is 1t good for Low? It smacks of favored contractors. From the taxpayers point of view n makes little difference who gets the money, 1t means more debt and more interest to meet.
 
 But let the virtuous men of Lows camp shout proclaiming their virtues to the house tops, the public knows them to be
 
 rule of the Pharisees longer It prefers sin-stained Tammany.~ It is nearer to the plain people. The Low administratio fits the men who stock their cellars with wines, gamble at the clubs, keep racing stables and send their money to be bet by commissioners" The Tammany ad- ministration fits the men who have pail filled with beer at the side door, who have no clubs and who do patronize the pool rooms In a great city like New York, the entire gamut of mortality from low to high can be run and to every note struck some human being responds Tammany grants much liberty. but it suppresses licence. It does not screw up to standard to impossible heights. It is city government, not a reformatory institution. The New York public is weary of the pretensions of fusions 1t would Welcome Tammany.
 The magnetic proposition to bind the scattered and inadequate shlpyards into one competent unit was the hope and the ambition of the worlds greatest ship builder, Lewis Nixon. The projection of the United States shipbuildng company had the accomplishment of this purpose in view. In hands other than his was entrusted the financing of this great en- terprise This was the rock in its path. Upon it the company struck, and today it is. in the hands of ex-Senator "Jim' Smith of New Jersey. as receiver. In the selection of Smith the court was wise and the company fortunate. If in past performances can be found a guarantee of future success the record of Senator Smith gives abundant evidences of great ability and notable achievements. Fi- nanciers impose great confidence in him and any plan he will propose will re- ceive the support of strong men. Wall street believes that Senator Smith will prove a whole salvage corps in himself and will tow into deep water the folfn- dered company before 1t Is dashed to pieces on the reef of diversity; and then with skill and new material will send the United States Shipbuilding company on it's mission with the chances of suc- cess largely in it's favor. I wish Smith success In his labors.
 A few evenings ago James w. Gerard, Jr., distinguished lawyer in this city, said: "I have known Chief Justice Par ker for some years and I do not hesitate to say that I believe he will be nomi- mated by the democrats and carry states now regarded republican with cyclonic force. What the country needs today is an executive who understands the con sttution. There has been a tendency to drift away from It. A strong man, one fully csnversant with the spirit as well as the letter of the law, would do much to overthrow evils that have crept in. There is a general feeling that the na- tional administration has drifted away from the safe moorings afforded by the Constitution and that a strong. wise, conservative man like Parker is needed to restore the essential principals of na- tional government. In Judge Parker are