The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-10-29
REAL ISSUE
 1.-THE GANG"
POPULAR DIsCONTENT STIRS BOTH
 PARTIES IN NEW YORK.
Trying to Pick Right Man-Questfon Is, Which Wtll Do Most For the People AS Against Greed of
 Corporations.

New York Special to Baltimore sun. Popular discontent with existing
 conditions-deeply rooted, eagerly im- patient for an object on which to vent its anger, only hesitating over a choice of victims and weapons-sucn
 is the situation in the greater city as | the State election draws near.
 The offenders-those in power at Albany and at the City Hall and the public service corporations. who have 1 used both to their own advantage cannot hope to escape the punishment | long threatened and may only hope | to tighten it by the interposition of | reason against the appeals of passion. To a certain extent this effort al- | ready appears to be succeeding. We are no longer being asked by the more
 radical of the two leading candidates for Governor, William R. Hearst, to vote for Federal. State or municipal ownership of all kinds of business en- terprises. It is not even proposed at
 this time to confscate the propert! and privileges of the corporations
 most obnoxious to the average New
 Yorker. namely. those supplying light
 and street transportation.
 Apparently the failure of MT. Hearst's Mayoralty campaign last year on the Municipal Ownership tick ct. through ascribed by him to fraud. has exposed to his clever political
 managers the unreadiness of ma iority of the voters to adopt such radi- cal remedies for their wrongs. Muni-
 cipal and State ownership are ideas
 now to he approached carefully as ex-
 periments. and the managers of the
 Hearst campaign find no place Tor
 them at this time when he Is before the people. The memory of such pro-
 the ghost of
 Ranquo. will not down and is con- stantly being. summoned from its grave by MT. Hearsts opponents as an argument against seating him in
 the State Executive chair.
 As the radicals on one side have been silenced. for the time at least, so on the other the corporations and their servants occupy a position less prominent than in many years.
 Charles E. Hughes. the Republican candidate for Governor, may be con- sidered fairly representative of his party. In years past as an attorney he has served some of the most obnox- ious public service companies for the fees they paid him. Yet the knowl- edge that he obtained in his dealings with them was ably and successfully used in the service of the people in the conduct of two legislative inquir- ies. One of these exposed the gas combine" in this city and paved the way for the SO-Cent Gas bill. meas ure for which MT. Hearst also claims credit. to which he Is, without doubt, entitled The other inquiry which es- tablished MT. Hughes In public confiI dence and made him available as a candidate for Governor was that made by the Armstrong committee, which exposed the gross encouragement of the life insurance companies and the misuse of their funds in the organiza- tion of trusts.
 ward as he champions of the popular side in the case of The People vs. Special Privileges The popular de- mand might be summarized thus: "Wanted-A man who will yield notn- ing to the corporations secret influ- ence and who will wiring from them the last penny due the public"
 It Is a Question of Men
 Which of the candidates will best meet thes requirements is the ques- tion into which the issues at the end resolve themselves. Which promises the most for the public interest by his record, affiliations and his word' Which is the most capable of fulfill ing all that he promises and all that is expected of the next Governor cf New York? It is to answer these questions that both candidates fot Governor and host of other orators are stumping the State and the news papers fill their pages daily.
 No incident in the career of either man bearing on these questions seems too trivial to escape notice. The light of publicity never beat more fiercely
 Iio hA muck rake" was never more actively employed; vet the standards of decen- cy maintained on both sides have pre- served the private lives of both from mpeachment-this despite the bitter personal feud that has arisen between MT. Hearst and rival newspaper pro- prietor. and the hostility or every daily newspaper in the city other than his own. with one exception, to the can didacy of Mir. Hearst.
 The feud in question. beginning in litigation in the civn courts. has cul- minated in indictments obtained by the efforts of MT. Hearst in a Federal court against James Gordon Bennett and his editors for alleged improper use of the mails. Despite the damag- ing blows from both sides, personali- ties have been avoided. unless we are to lncluQe unQer that neaQ the rlQlcu- lously exaggerated caricarures of pub fishers and candidates by the cartoon ists. which serve to provoke amuse- ment rather than resentment. Should this modern rule of war be maintained to the end of the campaign, despite the temptations to violate it that must daily be presented, the combatants may justly lay claim to the respect and approval of their fellow citizens for the moderation and self restraint that they have exercised.
 Party Lines Lost sight Of.
 In the absence of national issues from the campaign the old party lines are little in evidence, particularly on the Democratic side, where the repu- diation of MT. Hearst as the party's candidate by many of its mostopromi- nent members places him in the role of a fusionist rather than a Democrat