New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-10-15
"PRINCIPLES. NOT MEN"

Much stress is laid by Mayor McClellans
more reputable supporters on his personal quar-
ifications and his assumed ability to give the
CITY an intelligent and dignified' administra-
ton We have cheerfully testified TO Mt Nc
Clellan's many amiable qualities, ana nave never
hesitated to admit that in his personal equip
ment and inclinations he rises superior to the
honest grafters'' in politics whose purposes he
serves and with whose fortunes lie has chosen
to identify himself We are willing to suspend
To certain extent in his favor the application
of the homely proverb which reminds us that
q man is known by the company he keeps. we
have no quarrel with the euloglSts who tell US
that Mayor Mcclellan is doing the best he can
for the city. considering his primary obliga-
lions 10 do "the best he can" for Tammany and
its predacious leaders; but we draw the line st
approving the pleasant fiction of these eulogists
that the Mayor is in any real sense free to put
in practice his private notions of what is dig
nifed" or intelligent in public administration.
Nor can we admit that his limited and hampered
efforts to do his best should be gratefully &C
cepted as all that the voters of NewYOrk should
reasonably expect.
1t is shrewd for the Tammany Hall managers
to try to make the Mayoralty canvass hinge on
Mayor McClellan's reputed aspirations AMI
pleasing personality; but the public is hardly to
be guled by such an expedient. What is there
tude to encourage the belief that his reelection
would interfere in the slightest with the opera
tons of the system of misg0vernment for which
Tammany stands? That is a system under which
the interests of the city are subordinated to the
interests of the professional politicians and the
public service corporations. Its watchwOrd is
honest graft" and it's chief reliance IS on the
power of the Nfurphys, Sullvans and McCar-
rens here and the Durhams and McNicholls in
nj. a. oIYI,s1 - ,fyo,y
late and mislead the voters through appeals TO
partisan loyalty and partisan prejudice. Phila.
delphia has to-day Mayor-John Weaver-who
is honestly trying to restore popular rule AMI
eliminate graft from local administration. He
is doing it by fighting both the honest" and
the penal code" grafters. He is not. doing it
by standing as the nominee of the forces which
are struggling TO preserve the good old system
of organized plumber
George B. Mcclellan unfortunately. is not and
never will be John Weaver. He long ago cast
his fate with Tammany, and is to-day. as al
ways in spite of any possible private and per
sonaI predictions q public advocate of the
perpetuation of Tammany rule and Tammany
methods. His personal influence has been pow.
erless TO check the Tammany organizations
tendencies to evil. He is hailed a candidate
better than his party; but his success this
year would mean not general improvement of
conditions within the Democratic city organiZa-
ton, but encouragement to greater laXness
and scandals. Mr.. McClellans individuality is
not the dominant issue in this campaign. He
must stand or fall with Haffen in The Bronx,
with Cassidy in Queens. with Ridgway in Brook
lyn, with the Murphys and the Sullivans in
Manhattan. Not the Mcclellan administration,
but Tammany with its whole honest graft
theory is up for judgment A principle not a
personality is on trial.