The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-07-19
The Midsummer Platform OF Tam
many Hall.

~
When the members Of the Tammanv
Hall general committee were summoned
TO attend a midsummer meeting Of that
organization on Tuesday evening very
few of them could have supposed that
the purpose of the gathering was 10 dis
cuss either the merits of the public utili-
ties act or any question relating 10 the
methods Of procedure in the courts. No
notice appears to have been given 70
anybody that these subjects were 10 be
brought up for discussion. Hence there
was no opportunity IN the part of any
one Of the assembled sages 10 form any
opinion in advance upon the matters
which were embodied in the resolutions
presented TO the meeting by the Hon.
". BoURKE COCHRAN and which were
expounded by him in a carefully pre-
pared address.
The adoption Of such resolutions under
such circumstances does not really mean
that they have received the sanction Of
the Tammsny Hall general committee,
TOT does ii signify anything more than
that the members Of that body have ap-
parently acquiesced in the latest batch
Of political views propounded by the
well known but somewhat changeable
Democratic orator and Representative
In Congress.
Mr.. COCHRAN in his speech claimed
originality for some Of his propositions.
The most notable of these is the sugges-
ton that the Government should be rep
resented upon the board of directors of
every corporation engaged in interstate
commerce. The precise name Of do
ing this specified in the Tammany reso-
buttons may have originated in the mind
of Mr.. COCHRAN, but the general idea is
by no means new with him. We have a
dim recollection of having read a SINH
lar suggestion in several recent public
utteranoes Of a jurist and publicist who
is almost as well known throughout the
land as Mr.. COCHRAN himself namely,
the Hon. WILLIAM J. GAYNoR. n of the
Justices Of the Supreme Court resident
in the borough Of Brooklyn.
The next most notable feature Of the
resolutions on Tuesday evening il the
denunciation of the public utilities act
~as dishonest, because the boards which
IL creates have been SO constituted that
no member of the laboring masses has
been admitted To their membership, and
the task Of curing corporate rascalitv
has been confded to corporate agents"
This is certainly a remarkable declara-
ton. There Is not a word that We a
discover in the public utilities act itself
which prevents the Governor from maxi
Ing up the two boards which it creates
wholly of persons who are what the
resolution calls members of the labor
ing masses, whatever that may mean.
II there be any fault in this respect il is
with Governor HUGHES, who made the
appointments, and the State Senate ;,
which confirmed them, and not with the
legislation under which the two boards
have been established. Furthermore,
so far as the operation OF the various
public service corporations in this State
is concerned, the "laboring masses" as
Nh. COCHRAN denominates them, are no
more interested than any other class of
persons in the community, except per-
haps that they are more numerous.
Every man. woman and child who travels
upon a railroad or enjoys the advan-
tages Of the public water supply or uses
electric light or illuminating gas is in
terested directly or indirectly in the
acts and general conduct of those cor
rorations which fall within the purview
cf the recent public utilities legislation
in this State. Even If We were to