New-York tribune., 1910-12-19
NURPHY'S MOTIVES.

Our neigflbor 1.-The Evening Post put
forth the other day an explanation Of
the new view Of Murphy which makes
respectable Democrats acquiesce in his
leadership" "Mr. Murphy's friends, and
''many who have not heretofore stood
"up for him." 1t said. 'fnsist that he S
"actuated at this time only by the best
motives; that he desires to see at AL
''bany q government SO honest and sc
successful as to make the state desire
''the retention Of the Democratic party
''for years TO come" That is very inter
esting. But why should any one who
has pretended to be a consistent foe Of
bossism speak Murphy's name in an awed
whisper merely because he means, If he
can, to keep q firm grip upon the power
he has? In the last analysis this new
attitude is only the same old attitude
of every boss there ever was: he means
will "stand for and give it just that
He has decided, for example, that it will
stand for" Grady as leader of the State
Senate, and Grady # will be. If the boss
had any new standards, any more en-
lightened purposes than heretofore, he
would have made better Democratic
Senator leader
Murphy enjoys a great advantage in
becoming boss Of the state. The worst
is, or was, expected Of him, and SO when
he does something less than the worst
he receives good deal of undeserved
credit. and independent" Democrats
talk In awestruck whispers about his
leadership" and bis great and far,
reaching responsibilities" If he is not
as bad a state boss as he has been 8
city boss newspapers like The Evening
Post will talk about his being "actn-
ated by the highest motives but really
be will only be acting in accordance with
his own self-interest. He gave the city
of New York bad government because
be could afford to give it a bad govern
ment. He had big popular majority in
his favor TO rely upon. Its citizens
would stand for a good deal in the way
of waste maladministration and corrup-
ton. and he gave j. 10 them. In the state
the situation is different. The Demo
cratic party is on probation. Enough
Republicans refrained from voting In the
last election TO have wiped out Mr.. Dix S
ma iority However good the Democratic
administration may be. the state will re-
main close. Only fool in Murphy's po.
sition would deliberately offend the pub
lie opinion of the state. Had the city
been as close as the state Murphy would
have been very different leader OF
Tammany Hall from what h !, has been.
What Murphy thinks the state VIII
"stand for" will be interesting to see
He thinks it will stand for Grady, as
we have already observed Whether he
thinks it will stand for any one less
acceptable in character than Mr.. Shep-
ard as United States Senator probably
viii not be known until the Legislature
elects Senator. But whatever decision
he reaches. his standards need deceive
no one. They are the inevitable stand
ards OF the boss-"What the traffic will
bear And though his test is the same
his future actions must be different from
those of Boss Murphy Of Tammany Hall
In the state the traffic will not bear sc
much as it did in the city. 1t is not
often that a mans past bad record is to
his advantage, but Murphy's is. Seces
sity in his case viii be the mother OF
better conduct. and many who have not
heretofore stood up for him. will insist
that be is changed man.