New-York tribune., 1908-10-09
~BUT HE WASN'T DIsBARRED."

"BTT HE WASN'T DISBAnhED.
Boss Murphy seems to have spared New York
the nomination Of Emanuel Blumenstel to the
Supreme Court not because of the mfftness Of
Mr. Blumenstel nor out of regard for the
susceptibilities of the people of New York
County but because the nomination might af-
feet adversely the chances of Mr.. Chanler and
of Mr. Bryan. To the criticism that Blumen-
stie had been the subject of disbarment pro-
ceedings and that the courts had anlmadverted
with the utmost severity upon his professional
conduct the boss replied stOldly, "But he
wasn't disbarred." Any one who just escapes
disbarnent IS in the boss's view, good enough
10 present TO the electors Of this county for
their suffrages and good enough to sit upon the
Supreme Court bench. That is what the con-
temptuous boss thinks of the people Of New
York. Do they ike his opinion Of them? Do
they like 10 think that IN the judgment of an
expert they stand ready TO put on the bench
a man who was mixed up in q scandalouS
fraudulent bankruptcy proceeding. Of which
the United States District Court said 'the
creditors were justified in believing that this
was clear case of looting"? Do they like
to think Of Murphy and Sullivan-Biumenstiel
belongs TO the Sullivan legal galery-of that
precious pair filling the bench in that spirit of
disregard of ,decency and Of only too well
grounded contempt of the voters?
Take a good look at the boss rs he listens to
the disgraceful objections TO his candidate and
as, with blank amazement that & disbarment
scandal and a scathing arraignment from
court should be urged in Tammany Hall
objections to q Tammany judicial nominee, he
retorts, as if disposing of them finally, But
be wasn't disbarred." His brutal contempt of
decency is a scandal at which the people of
this city ought TO vince and cry out. He is
their boss. His caIousness is only the reverse
Joo;4,r ic
proportioned TO their Indifference. He knows.
alas only too WELL just what New York City
will stand That is his business. And it is also
his business TO see that New York has 70 stand
all that it viii. He does that too. admirably,
perfectly; no one could surpass him in fitting
the burden of civic indecency upon the shoul-
ders of civic Indifference. He never adds the
excessive straw that breaks the back. Blumen-
stiel was not such q straw-nOt he. On the
sturdy shoulders which bear the civic loads of
the boss he would have proved only mite.
But the boss is widening the field of his
operations He has no longer TO consider only
the New York he knows so well. but the New
York of which he knows as vet comparatively
little. the New York above The Bronx which
he is ambitious to Tammanyize. The question
what il will stand for" he has not vet worked
out 10 q nicely. He is in the position of the
man who has built many small bridges and is
now undertaking the construction Of a very big
bridge What burden of civic indecency the
State Of New York as q whole will bear in
wolves new questions Of moral strains and
stresses. Not even to please his friend Sul-
van would he experiment with the weight of
the Blumenstel nomination upon the state at
large.
The attention of the state is invited to this
boss whom Mr.. ChanIer is asking it TO take
to its bosom. Not by his final rejection of the
improper candidate out Of respect for the rural
conscience whose alertness he fears. but by his
willingness to put the man up if the local sit
uation had not been complicated by his amb-
tions in a territory. should it Judge him.
Does it want this hardened boss whose measure
of judicial fitness is escape from disbarment,
TO rule ii as he rules this city? Let it think of
him as he says brutally, But he wasn't dis
barred" for that was one of those intensely re-
vealing moments which come in the history of
men and institutions. Then were bossism and its
ConcOmitant civic degradation etched in verbal
lightning for a warning to that part of the state
which has them not That boss with his But
be wasn't disbarred," does not seem bit nicer
because a respectable young man Of good fam
lily is introducing him TO the state as q Demo
crat of prominence from whom it is fitting
that such as ne should seek laid and advice"
He is not a whit more inviting because Judge
Parker and Judge O'Brien are trying to sugar
coat his nature. The brutal truth will out
There he sits in the executive session of his
henchmen vivdy self-portrayed in one re-
vealing phrase. Gentlemen Of the upper part
of New York State, you may share this huml-
ation with us Of the lower part if you like it.