The sun., 1903-09-16
JEROME CHALLENGES Low MEN
u.RES CITIZENS UNION no SE-
TRET VOTE on CANDIDATE.

-DOesn't Believe ROOSEVELT, A fresi.
dent, Has Promised Support-COm.
picstions n He Had-Why Pretend.
II He Hasn't7-Republican Compia-
cency-Riding for . Fall and Killing
Two Birds with Ono St0ne-ster eOpti-
con Views OF the Logical Candidate"
LAxRy1ILx, Conn.,, Sept. 15.-District
Attorney Jerome made public this evening
f.. letter to C. C. Nadal Of the Citizens Union,
in which Mr.. Jerome's position regarding
the candidacy of Mayor Low for reelection
/. fully explained. Mr.. Nadal is one OF
MANY members OF the Citizens Union
and Of the Republican city organization
who have written to Mr.. Jerome asking
bv what authority the indirect statements
nrnted in the newspapers as coming from
the District Attorney have been published.
Mr.. Jerome undertook by answering Mr.
Nadal to answer all Of his questioners. In
his letter he draws particular attention to
what he considers the most vivid example
of Mayor Lows selashness and tacit dis
honesty. He says that he is fully assured that
President Roosevelt has never promised
Mr.. Low his support, as President" He
.avs. furthermore, that il It be true that
president Roosevelt has. contrary to this
belief, offered Federal support to Mr.. Low,
the latter is by that very fact disqualified
from receiving support from any Democrat
in a non-partisan campaign. MIR. jerome
devotes a considerable part Of his letter to
e,plaining his personal position in the
nresent campaign and assures Mr.. Nadal
. thoS ho IA paif hlttprlv
disappointed candidate nor man who
will sulk because his advice is not needed
by the majority
He challenges the Citizens Union to
prove the sincerity OF its support OF Mr.
Low by submitting the candidacy OF Mayor
Low to a secret ballot in the Citizens Union
citv convention on Sept. 23, He says that
the bosses Of the Citizens Union do not
dare let their followers express their real
will in secret ballot.
The utterances of Chairman Linn Bruce
and other members OF the Republican city
organization broadly imputing Interested
and unpenerous motives to Mr.. jerome
were brought to his attention. He said:
Il think my letter will do for them to
Chew on for while. III talk about my
disappointment later
Tie letter follows:
LAKEvILLE. Conn, Sept. IS
My DEAR NADAL: On returning to Lake
VILE | found your letter of the 18th here.
You need not have roamed d about Tor 3sev-
ersl weeks" seeking TO find my friends"
in order to ascertain what my views Of the
situation were Our offices are only a
short distance apart, and you ought to know
me we'll enough to know that you could
have had my opinion at any time by simply
asking for 1t. Very much has appeared
not responsible for and that does not ex-
press my views yet most of what I have
seen published in it's main outlines and
trend correctly states my feeling. The
fundamental idea, however, has either been
entirely neglected or stated with so little
sense OF its proportion that my position is
not understood or is misunderstood.
have satisfied myself by careful in
uuiry that the great mass OF the people
to whom we must look for support in the
coming campaign believe that Mr., Low
cannot be reelected and that, while they
may give a half hearted support to him
for the sake of the cause, they cannot over
come their disli.e and distrust of him
1t is not necessary to trace the commence
ment Of this to the preminaries in 1897,
when lack of frankness, or, as some of us
then thought, disinge nuousness and an
entire absence of unseltish courage laid
the foundation for personal DISLIKE among
the members of the Citizens Union. which
has steadily increased in extent and in
tonsity to the present moment.
Inquiry satisfies me that this attitude
on the part of the people to whom we must
look for support is not due 30 much to any
thing which Mr. Low As Mayor has done or
left undone as to the unlovabe personality
of the man himself Egotism, self-com-
placency and constitutional timidity arr not
the elements to make leader, nor do they
attract the love and support Of an American
electorate 1t was, as II seems to me,
truly said by college mate of Mr.. Low,
when ho was urged to vote Tor nm for the
presidency of Columbia College:
I'm vote for him. because you want
mo 10 hut the trouble with Seth is that
he will never allow himself TO be identified
with a cause greater than himself
If Mr. Lows unpopularity was the
result of what he had done or left undone
in CARRYING out the principles TO which he
was pledged, no one but coward and a
knave would even suggest the idea that he
should not be again our candidate, but
this is not the case. The cause is greater
than anv man. and the feelings or interest
Of anv man must be ruthlessy sacrificed
where they conflict with it. Assume that
Mr.. Low has been as truly faithful to the
cause as | fancy you think he has, he is
nt best like skilled work man who has done
his work properly, but whose services can
not be retained because IN matters wholly
disconneced with his own particular work
he is a disturbing force in the factory.
How characteristic his letter of accept
ance (f) s-not scintilla of huInor. not a
resonant note, not spark OF originality,
absolutely destitute of every indication OF
capacity for leadership; and God knows
wa need leadership badly enough, and it
is its lack that has caused us TO drift into
the present condition. for il Is nothing
blt drifting that we have done.
The conference, he writes, forsooth, is 10
take the responsibility. There are TO be an
abundance of holes into which the T.
stamped all over the letter can crawl IT
the event j, upiOWaid.
See, too, Die ecmingly dieingenuous atti-
rude tOWlru PIE id"n' Roo ov"f. \ man
more apprecative of political conditions
would knu" the, the .c,y .cmO"irc o!
Presidential support and advocacy would
entirely ALLEVIATE the ndependentDemocratlc
vote, without which Mr., Low cannot he
elected But If il has not been deliberately
fosterel certainly no effort has been made
TO check the notion that MI. Low In ap-
proved by he Pre- ident and that the Pre-, i
dent : influence II behind him. and each day
this idea lr hurting "A man loved by many
who ar" opposed to him politically, and IN
State where In his own time OF trial he
viii desperately need every friendly infic-
nee he can have.
| do not mean that the President does
not as an Individual approve OF Mr.. Low
or his candidacy ! nave no authority or