New-York tribune., 1907-06-06
THE RECOUNT BILL.

It has always been the opinion of The Tribune
that Mayor Mcclellan made a grave mistake
in seeking to embarass and defeat review by
judicial process of the count of the votes
cast In the mayoralty election of 1903 If he had
at once publicly said that he did not want an
Office TO which he was not entitled, that tue
public did not want Mayor who was not
elected. and that because of claims made by
bis principal opponent and doubts entertained
by many citizens he would assist in procuring
O. determination Of the result by the courts, his
position would have been not merely improE-
nable, but highly honorable. If, then, his elec-
ton had been confirmed he would have taken
office with greatly enhanced prestige. If he had
lost his case he would have been the one com
manding figure among the Democrats OF New
York. He chose a course which has proved
vexatious and personally unproftable and it IS
not improbable that he feels he yielded 10 bad
advice
A familiar and well guarded method of 1u-
dicially correcting any errors which may have
been made in the election of 1905 exists. and
in our opinion it should not be resisted by the
Mayor or his supporters. That a new method
should be provided by legislation after the
event IS another and q very doubtful prop
Osition. The bill recently passed by the Leg
isature and about to be returned with q
municipal veto is retroactive in appearance
and substantially in effect We cannot persuade
ourselves that it is not repugnant to the con
stitution, and it is morally certain to be sti1ly
contested, with the inevitable result Of long de-
lay. Moreover, aside from that consideration,
it Is open to serious objections, of which perhaps
the strongest is that 1t puts the de factO Mayor,
whose title thus far IS indlsputably valid, at
a great disadvantage as compared with a claim
ant whose conduct throughout has been far
more suggestive of a fondnesS for martyrdom
than Of a passion for justice. 1t would saddle
the lawful incumbent, who would be bound by
his duty to the city as well as to himself to de
fend his title with heavy COSTS which might be-
come almost ruinous if he felt constrained to file
q general petition of his own in response to tie
contestants specification Of particular districts
He might, indeed, apparently, escape this eX-
pense in case he lost-but what an extraordi-
nary condition that would be for the law to I'M
pose
When Mr.. WINS said at the hearing on Tues
day that the demand for the recount bin was
virtually unanimous, he doubtless meant merely
to indulge himself in n rhetorical assumption.
He certainly does not know his statement to be
the truth. Nor do we know II to be untrue, but
our strong impression is that many persons are
rather discreditRbly Indifferent and that very
large number Of Republicans as well as Demo-
Gratis share DR.. Lyman Abbott's strong feeling
OF repug0ance 10 I1e Dill. NODOuy DelltNeS tluL
Governor Hughes in advocating It is actuatcd
by partisan motive, and nobody has any suf-
ficient reason to believe that the Republican
majority in the Legislature was Influenced by
political considerations in passing 1t. But good
faith is not sufficient justification. In our de-
liberate judgment the measure would supplant
a better remedy for any wrong which may
have been done, and its adoption would threaten
q long succession Of evils.