The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1904-09-12
ODIUM ATTACHED TO ODELLISM
MUCH OF 1T ATTRIBUTABLE TO
HTS COURSE AS GOVERNOR.
It Was the Using OF the Patronage OF the
State Charitable and Correctional
Institutions TO Build Up and Maintain
His Political Machine In the State.

Institutions TO Build Up and Maintain
His Political Machine In the State.
SARATOGA, Sept. ia large measure
Of the general odium which attaches to
Governor Chairman Odell is attribu-
table to his unprecedented course with
relation to the State charitable and cor
rectional institutions, including the large
and growing sales Of the Newburg Ma
thews grocery to the State prisons and
the insane hospitals.
Immediately following his first cleo
ton the Governor Chairman began to
evolve plans whereby he could induce
the people OF the State to believe that 1t
would be to their interest to allow him
to have absolute control OF these insti-
buttons. To his eyes the vast patronage
of the insane hospitals, the State chart
ties and the prisons, represented by an
annual expenditure Of 100000, was a
promised land flowing with milk and honey.
There are few now 80 credulous as to
doubt that the Governor-Chairman de-
sired to gain control of these vast expen-
ditures in order to reap every gain and
advantage for himself and his satellites.
Many of those who were unacquainted
with the Governor Chairman's real charac-
ter, and others, perhaps, who desired to
think well of him in his new and exalted
Office, have been for n time befogged by
his plausible professions of economy
but not for moment did the reasons he
gave for his attempts at benevolent assimi-
lation deceive the large number OF public
spirited men and women who were intelli-
gently interested in the proper administra-
~ he fata o. nh NIL
of them had studied every phase OF the
subject in this country and in Europe and
were too well informed to be beguiled by
any such illogical pleas as the Governor
advanced in defence OF his III digested
plans to strengt then his political machine
through control Of the State institutions.
Some of them. too, through special knowl-
edge, were able to estimate at its true
worth the sinister character of Governor
Chairman Odell. They did not think
that the chief lobbyist Of the Legislature
Of 1900 was exactly the kind of a person to
reform the mar? c-lent OF the State
institutions by driving out as he proposed.
the independent citizens who were sue
cessfuly Administering the affairs Of these
institutions, and centralzing their control
In his own hnr6s.
Unacquainted with the work and pur-
poses Of the great State charities and la
mentally ignorant OF the principles upon
which they were managed and supervised,
II was but natural that Odell should blum
der in his attempted grasp OF power. Floun-
dering badly at every step, he still kept
bindly on, until he had succeeded in arous-
ing an opposition to a scheme that was
tremendous in its scope and influence,
and that, in the election Of 1902, assisted
in bringing his party to the very verge Of
defeat and disaster.
The first step in this programme OF CEN
tralization was to secure legislation to re-
duce the non-political central supervisory
boards Of charities and Of prisons to manage
able proportions politically. By the Gov
ernor-C hairman's plan this was to be ac-
complished through the removal Of the in
dependent citizens serving practically with
out compensation on such boards and the
therefor, as the president OF
each board, OF one salaried commissioner,
with two State officers as assistants, to be
appointed by the Governor and subject to
his removal With this safely accomplished
the Governor hoped and planned. The
next step, cunningly deferred for a year,
however, was to be the abolition of the
separate boards OF managers Of the insane
hospitals and the charities, and the trans
fer of their powers and duties to the central
boards, absolutely controlled by the Gov
ernor.
Fooled in his attempt to reduce the State
Board Of Charities to political vassalage.
the Governor succeeded in his similar effort
directed at the State Commission OF Prisons.
under the pretense. long since shown to be
both false and fraudulent that $40 600
a year could be saved by the change he
This non-political board
Of eight members, who could be trusted to
do their duty to the people Of the State
without regard 70 political consideration
was reduced to the present purely political
board OF three members, who can be trusted
to safeguard the interests of the Odell
machine at all hazards The presi-
dent OF this committee, former State Treas
urer John p Jaeckel, receives 81 500 a year
salary, and one OF the other members, by
the appointment Of Gov. Odell Is Superin-
tendent OF State Prisons, who is thus, in
defiance OF the plain intent Of the Constitu-
ton Of the State, given the absolute in
duty OF visiting and inspecting
his own work
The State Lunacy Commission has always
consisted Of three well salaried officials,
and has generally been more or less po-
litical in It's makeup. No change in this
was therefore necessary to
adapt 1t to the Governors purpose. The
moral fibre Of the present Lunacy Commits
sion, under the influence OF Odellism, is
shown by the recent appointment. at the
instance OF the Governor, Of Michael Hines,
o Bowery drink-mixer and one OF the Odell
New York city district leaders, to the place
OF secretary at a salary of $4,000 a year,
OF the newly created board to examine
mentally affected immigrants. The deep
research OF Mr.. Hines and his special
fitness for the place to which he has been
appointed were shown in a recent pub
lished interview, when he remarked that
the board OF which he is a subordinate
was composed Of "alienists,,r so-called.
because they had to do with aliens.
The State prisons have always been
under political control, and, therefore,
from the 0dell standpoint their manage
was entirely satisfactory. The power
which the Governor exercises over the
penal institutions was shown by the appoint
ment made by the Superintendent Of State
Prisons, at the direct command OF Gov.
Odell, OF Jacob Smell, the ponderous canal
contractor Of Fonda, to the place Of
superintendent OF that political mon
strosity known as the Eastern New York
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