The Irish standard., 1907-11-23
Only in Recent Years, However, Has the
Position Gained Such Prominence
Outside of New York.
The Reputation That Grover Cleveland Won.
as Mayor Of Buffalo, Made Him
President in 1884.

tracted suoh wide notice as that vh9ud
the contest for head OF tho rnuntoipal-
ity In that states chief oity command.
ed in 1907.
Important, however, as the of9ioe Of
mayor In the large cities has become
IN recent times, no United States SEM
ator today would resign to accent such
81 post. Yet a very prominent person,
age did this little over a century ago,
This was Dewitt Clinton. He re.
signed In 1902 from the Senate to be.
come mayor Of New York, to which
post his uncle. Gov. George Clinton.
appointed him. Until 1920 the offloe
of mayor Of that city was appointtvo
by a state board, Of which the gov
ernor was the chairman. With two
short Interruptions lie held the Office
Of mayor until 1915, and held other
important offices at the same time.
While mayor OF New York he was
nominated for president by an element
OF the Democratic party, and was sup
ported by the Federallsts.
A Strong Canvass.
Fte made such strong canvass. evon
against II war president who had been
renominated, that If Pennsylvania had
gone to him, as his friends supposed 1T
would. he, and not Madison, would have
been elected in that year. But this bolt
against Madison, who belonged to Gin.
toms party. alienated many of tho old.
line Democrats, and he was removed
from office. While he was at the head
Of the government Of New York City.
however, he attracted AZ much attea.
tion as did the governor Of the stata.
and was known farther throughout the
country than was the governor Of Il.
most any state Of that day. It waa
while he was mayor Of New York that
he devised the scheme which led to
the construction Of the Erie Canal,
This waterway, which extends from
Lake Erie at Buffalo to the Hudson
River at Albany, and which was begun
in 1917 and finished in 1926, gave New
York the long lead over all rival ports
on the Atlantic, which has been IN.
creasing ever SINCE
AS mayor o. New York Dewitt clin.
: ton did q, greater work for hts own
reputation by shaping and directing
F, tEe influences which compelled the
New York Legislature to pass an act
authorizing the construction O. tho
Erie Canal than he did by gaining the
! residential candidacy in 1912. It was
a work also which had q profound In
fluence Of the development Of the
West. BY giving water connection be.
tween the Hudson and the Great Lakes
1t reduced freight charges from Albany
to Buffalo to a. tenth of their figure
when carried by the Conestoga wagons,
immensely Increased the traffic, and
gave New York q large advantage over
Philadelphia and Baltimore, which
We're nearer to the Mississippi Valley
| in number Of miles than New York.
Both these towns, however. had to
cross the Alleghenies to get to the
West. while the Hudson breaks through
| the Alleghenies, and New York had
direct water communications with. the
West as soon as Clinton's canal was
completed.
The canal was one Of the reasons
why both Philadelphia and Baltimore
got an earlier start in railway building
than did their great northern rival.
That rival. however, steadily increased
its supremacy among the great ports
Ohio, struck the Ohio river at Wheeling,
delphia were a little earlier in getting
rail connection with the waterways Of
the West, but New York was not far
behind them. Although Baltimore and
Philadelphia started earlier in railway
building to the West, New York estab-
lished through rail connection with the
VESTS waterway sooner than any other
] Jtown on the coast. M. 4s