The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-10-11

have flourished. and have either with.
drawn or been cut down.
Mclaughlin and his friends be-
lieve that he is to-day as strong as
ever and he certainly put up a stiff
fight against Murphy before the
Democratic convention, which named
McClellam for Mayor, was held.
Should the Tammany ticket win in its
entirety this year Mclaughlin will be
out of it completely. Should it fail he
will be stronger than ever, and he
would be good for another thirty
years supremacy were he not so old
man.
Yet Hugh Mclaughlin has rarely
been heard of outside of Brooklyn.
In a way this is surprising, for until
the creation of the so-called Greater
New York by consolidation, Brook
lyn was the country's fourth city in
size, being outclassed only by New
York, Chicago, and Philadelphia. As
powerful a boss in any of these cities
as Mclaughlin has been in Brooklyn
would have been known all over the
land, yet so far as national promi-
nence goes he seems to have been
born to blush unseen, and waste his
sweetness on the desert air.
In d way, however, the fact that
Mclaughlin has remained unheard OF
by the country at large is one of the
most natural things in the world.
Brooklyn is only a borough now, bus
1t has good many more than a mill
lion inhabitants; it has a wonderfully
beautiful park system, its public
works are gigantic, it's area is very
large, its manufactures are exceede-
ingly important, and it's great retail
shops will not suffer by comparison
with those of Chicago, Boston, Phil
adelphia, or even its sister Borough
of Manhattan.
All this was quite as true before this
consolidation as it is now but the fact
is that New York is so big that it
dwarss everything near il. Not only
has Brooklyn been overshadowed
during the whole of its existence, but
a whole cluster of cities that would
count for lot anywhere in America,
but right here stand for almost moth
ing In the national eye.
Who, either in New York or out Of
it, considers Newark, N. j., much of a
city? Yet it is bigger than either ST.
Paul or Minneapolis, and Jersey City
is quite the equal of either of these
famous towns in size. Located in the
Mississippi valley or in the South
Atlantic States, or on the Pacific
coast, either of these places would
loom up big in the affairs of the ma
ton, but located here they are looked
upon merely as annexeS to Manhattan
Island. Maybe that is practically all
they are, too. but all the same their
inhabitants don't think so. Nor do
these same inhabitants relish in the
least the scant attention given to their
home cities by the rest of the world.
10 give Mclaughlin, the Brooklyn
boss, final word. it must be admitted
that he has contributed not little
picturesqueness to the campaign SO
far, and that he is likely to hand out
plenty more of the same article before
election day rolls around.
AS the reader might surnise from
the length of his bosshood, McLaugh-
lin is now past 20 years old.
He looks his age, being white as to
hair, and scanned as to countenance.
but he is still hale and vigorous; his
eye is still bright, and his mental grip
is something not yet to be sneeZed
at by anybody. His office holding has
never incended anything worth mem
tioning, if anything at ALL His head
quarters have always been in pri-
vate auction room, for the Brooklyn
Democratic organization owns no
building, like Tammany Hall, and his
personal modeSty has been proven bal,
with a single exception. That excep-
ton occurred ten or fifteen years ago
when his daughter was married to
the man of her choice. The wedding
was made an occasion for the paying
Of an enormous amount of tribute to
the power Of her father, for the NUM-
Der of gifts exceeded those received
by the richest and most prominent
society brides, and their value ran into
such really big money" as to call out
sarcastic comments all over the world
The out-of-town reader may wonder
WHY it is that there should be any OPP
position to Tammany on the part or
the regular Democratic organization
of Brooklyn, since Tammany is gener-
ally recognized as the regular Demo-
cratic organization of New York.
The fact OF the matter is that while
Tammany was the regular Democratic
organization of New York at the time
of the consolidation it then became
the regular organization of single
borough only. Ever since then the
regular organizations not only or
Brooklyn, but of all the other bor-
ougs as we'll, have been very jealous
of Tammany's power and prestige IL
was this jealousy on the part of Nc
Laughlin and his organization far more
than any personal objection to Tam
many's mayoralty candidate, Col Nc
CIellan, that caused the Brooklyn re-
volt.
Mclaughlin and his followers knew
that quiet acquiescence in utter Tam
many domination this fall would mean
humiliation of their organization, and
they would rather see a sweeping
IL 1nfn ha tn crn amt n