New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-10-22

York. the securing of the passing Of the bill was
made easy"
Because Of political influences the trial of the
police commissioners did not end in their re-
moval The courts refused to support the Mayor
in his effort to GUST them.
This rebuff, however. did not calm the fight
ing spirit of Mr. WINS. He and his friends at
once began an agitation for giving the Mayor
the power of appointment independent Of the
Board of Aldermen. together with the power Of
removal. Hitherto the heads of departments
had held office from administration into an
other. This 10 be done away with and
these heads were to begin and end their service
along with the Mayor who appointed them. In
the fight for charter amendments Mr.. WINS
worked constantly to secure legislation for the
city of New-York resembling more closely that
which had been secured through Mr.. Low for
the city Of Brooklyn.
With the same energy with which Mr. lvlnS
fought for a clean police department he con-
tended for more practical studies In the pubic
schools. In school work he has always taken
an unusual interest. AT the conclusion or MT
Graces term Mr.. WINS went into the Board OF
Education and for three years devoted large
part Of his time to educational problems
Throughout his entire term commissioner
Mr.. Wins rarely failed TO visit or some
times two schools the morning OF each school
day. H devoted himself particularly TO the
questions of curriculum and to manual training,
of which he takes pride in saying that he was
the first advocate on the floor of the board. 1t
at the beginning of the question of the
Introduction of manual training into our public
l.
wrote, chairman of the committee annual
reports. the annual reports Of the board for
those years.
The belief that personal inspection is one of
the duties OF public officer belief which led
him to spend whole nights watching the police
and whole days in going from one sChoolhoUse
TO another caused Mr. WINS to become &C
quainted as few men are with the tenement
house conditions Of this city The struggle for
reform in the conditions of the tenement houses
began in Mr.. GraCes first term. and the entire
fall and winter of 1881 and 1882 devoted
the
to a personal inspection Of the tenement houses
in which time. as he himself has said. he Wis
tied every tenement house in the city of New
York and made a detailed report to the Mayor.
AN EXPERT IN FINANCE
Yet of all the qualifications which Mr. WINS
possesses for the office of Mayor none is more
important than his knowledge of the cftvs
financial system. From 1885 to 1889 he was
the City Chamberlain. and in this capacity he
sat in the Sinking Fund Commission In this
way he became especially familiar with the
general fund. the Dock Department and the
Sinking Fund. II Is this knowledge which makes
him particularly capable to handle such prob
lens municipal ownership and the letting of
public franchises.
Mr.. WINS was Chamberlain under both Mr.
Grace and Mr.. Hewitt, and only retired when
Mayor Grant came in and appointed in his place
Richard Croker.
The energy of Mr.. WINS is the characteristic
which first attracts the attention of a stranger.
he IS always at work, most of his recreatiOns
being various forms Of industry. Mastering tho
vocabularies of foreign languages, for instance,
is one way in which he spends his leisure hours
He thus has taught himself to read Spanish
Portuguese, Italian and French with equal
facility. He also understands German. speaking
IT correctly although somewhat slowly. The
Romance languages. however. he can speak as
easily his native tongue
One of his summer occupations is that of an
amateur botonist. and he has for many years
made a study of the fora of the newfoundland
States. At his summer home at Naragansett
Pier he has a we'll equipped biological labora-
tory. where he spends large part of his time
WORKED EACH DAY ON SHIP.
On returning from Europe some weeks ago
Mr.. WINS was not willing to rest even for the
few days he was aboard ship. Instead he en-
ployed British stenographer to make the voy-
age with him. and each day the two men toiled
together over literary work in which Mr. WINS
is now engaged On reaching America, the Eng
lishman was just about to return home when
Mr. WINS was asked to for Mayor. The
stenOgrapher accordingly stayed here and is now
hard a work in the first American c1n paign he
has seen.
The way in which Mr.. WINS is conducting his
canvass is characteristic of the man. Although
his home is only six blocks away from his head
quarters, Mr.. WINS has rented a bedroom
next to his reception room and brought thither
his clothes. In this way he can Sleep dress and
eat without any loss of time. In the campaign
against Edison Mr. WINS was twenty-seven DAYS
away from home. and IN the closest crush of
the fight he went for days without sleep, catch
ing q meal only here and there.
In the last four years, although Mr. WINS has
spent much OF his time IN his library he has
labored just zealously as in the old DAVIS
People who live in East 25th-st say that the
lights of his STUDY the last to go out at
night and many times they are seen burning
until daybreak Mr. WINS has often caused the
other members of his family alarm by working
all night among his books. 1t is this zealousness
with which he does everything that makes him
look TO be a man Of sixty though in his fifty
fifth year.
In his early youth he showed the same cana
city for work. Instead Of simply devoting all his
time to a college course most young men do
he worked day times in the publishing house of