Evening star., 1908-02-04
LITTLE TINS REFORM
Prohibition of Women Smoking
in Public.
MUCH MERRIMENT CAUSED
Purpose Is to Protect the East Side
Girls.
TAMMANY'S PATERNAL WAYS
Its Representatives Brought in Close
Touch With the People in Their
Daily Concerns.
BY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM F. CURTIS.
| Special Correspondence Of The Star and the
Chicago Record Herald.
NEW YORK. February I. 1908.
| A few days ago the New York board
| of aldermen. by a unanimous vote on
/ roll call passed an ordinance forbidding
women to smoke in any hotel dining
ROOM restaurant. cafe. lunchroom. tea
room, or any other public place. Lit
| tie Tim Sullivan, one of the most
| prominent leaders of Tammany Hall,
| proposed this reform. and several of
his colleagues. the newspapers ard the
| public generally have had a great deal
! of fun with him about it. Both Mr..
| Sullivan and his ordinance nave been
mercilessly ridiculed, and various mo-
| tives have been ascribed to him. The
| explanation most generally accepted is
| that he was hitting at high life; that
| he was seeking notoriety aid popu-
| larity among what are called "the
| lower classes by attacking a habit. or
a vice. if you please. that is growing
more prevalent among people Of wealth
and fashion. But l have been assured
| by several gentlemen who have close
political relations with Mr.. Sullivan
and are familiar with his ideas and
purposes in this particular case that
he actuated by much higher
motives.
Tammany politicians are not usually
credited with a desire to promote mo-
rality or to suppress vice. and In that
respect they suffer an injustice. There
is great deal of good in Tammany.
While it must be conceded that the
leaders of that powerful organization
are not always model citizens. or al
ways actuated by unselfish purposes.
the greatest source of their strength
and influence lies in the continuous
neighborly service they are performing
for the welfare and happiness of their
constituents.
Tammany's Paternal Methods.
The republican party will never con-
troll the city of New York; the pro-
fessional reformers. those men of lofty
aims and ideals who occasionally or
ganizc campaigns of virtue against vice,
and the managers of the Goo-Goo clubs
none of those will ever obtain control
of the municipal government Of this
city until they initiate the tactics of
Tammany and serve the people day in
and day out by actual, tangible, practi-
cal methods for 3G5 days in the ear in
stead of passing resolutions and admir-
ing their own virtues few months be-
fore an election takes place.
The chief reason that the Tammany
leaders can control SO many votes is the
interest lllcy ldhc III lISh SOH-
stituents. The ward leader is the Little
Father of the poor and distressed in his
juris isdiction. and is there all the time.
He finds employment for the boys and
the girls, and he sees to it that they are
properly treated by their employers. If
they get sick or injured he finds them
safe and comfortable places in the hos
pi.al without much expense. If way
ward boy runs wild and gets into trouble
the mother or the father goes to the Tam
10 cof him, n,Yf ~
a husband gets to drinking or abusing
his wife. she goes to the Tammany leader
for advice and protection. If the daugh-
ter who has graduated from the high
gets IL for her. If any of his constitu-
entS are hungry or cold, he sees that they
nave food and fuel.
During the hard winters. when the bread
line grows longer and the fathers of
families are shu: out of their work, the
bly, appropriates ten. twenty-sometimes
fifty thousand dollars from the treasury
to buy coal and bread to be distributed
among those who need them. through the
ward leaders. And the Tammany members
of the board of the city council and the
Tammany contractors who are accused of
loOting the city treasury go down into
their own pockets and give literally in
small sums at time to people who ap-
peal to them for aid. They may not
come by their money honestly; they may
be grafters; but they spend 1t wisely
and generously for the benefit of the
people whose votes keep them lin power.
1nat is why Tammany is so strong;
that is why any one of the leaders can
control the votes of his district. 1t is
because Tammany has such human side
and because the candidates for Office. the
political leaders, come closely in touch
with the homes and the everyday life
and the vital incidents of the people
Foreigners who settle in New York. as
thousands of them are doing every month
soon learn this fact from their neighbors.
1t does not take a newly arrived immi-
grant long 10 learn on which side his
bread is buttered.
Whispering Larry Lemour.
whispering Larry Lemour. who re-
Gently died after a long service in the
common council and the legislature and
as leader o. Tammany Hall. was an
example of this paterna lism. Every even
Ing in the year. except when he was