Evening journal., 1910-01-20
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
Grace and the Little Brown
Package of DiShOnOr
BY "Holland."
BY Holland"

To illustrate concretely the tempa-
uons that are constantly being
thrown in the path of almost every
man who is elected mayor Of a large
American city, I am going to tell Of
the great temptation that was brazenly
put before the late William r. Grace,
who was twice mayor Of New York
city, to his own and the city's honor,
and whose efforts largely aided in the
election of William l.. Strong and
Seth Low, New York's two reform
mayors of rather recent years. Mr.
Grace himself told me the story during
one Of the morning walks which IL
was our custom to take together for
many years
Il thought at the time OF my first
candidacy for mayor in 1880 that I un-
derstood men pretty we'll and, after a
short talk with any one, was fairly
able to estimate his character" Mr
Grace began. But I found, after I
had been mayor a few weeks, that I
had greatly overestimated my abil-
ity to judge men, and then It was
that l learned why it was that men
like Samuel J. Tilden, for instance,
placed full faith in only three or four
men, and perhaps complete confidence
In only one or two. Mr.. Tilden learned
in his political life that there are
many hidden sides to mems charac-
ters, and that these are not revealed
sometimes until years have passed.
We'll, in due time there came be-
fore me for my approval as mayor a
certain public utility franchise do
not want to give any hint as to what
that franchise was, but will say that
there were some features about it that
] did not like, and, unless these could
be eliminated, I was fairly we'll salts
ned that it was my duty to veto it.
"One evening, while the franchise
was waiting my action, was sitting in
my library when the card Of visi-
tor was shown to me. It was that of a
man whom l knew and for whom I
had great respect. had always re-
garded him as one of the strong men,
both in intellect and character. in the
city and the state. And he was a man
Of more than local reputation, and he
stood for ideal things in politics.
After we had greeted each other.
my visitor said that he had come
to chat with me about the proposed
franchise. He understood that there
were certain features in It that I did
not like. He thought he could explain
fhauo 70
he undertook to show me how the
charter completely safeguarded the in
terests of the people. He was quite
skillful in answering the various OBJ
iections to the charter that men
toned as having occurred to me. He
seemed to be perfectly frank, declar-
ing that he did not have a personal
interest in the franchise, but felt that
it was an entirely proper one to ap-
prove in the interests of the whole
people.
when he had come into the room I
noticed that he carried with him hat
and somewhat square parcel, neatly
done up. This he put upon the library
table while we talked. AS be rose to
go ne pOluleu 10 IL.
at have said all that occurs TO me
to say in favor of this plan, he said,
but thought you might like some doc
umentary evidence to back up my
statements, so / have brought some
with me for you to look over at your
leisure. Please to glance over it aft
er I am gone
Thank you, shall, said, and we
shook hands.
But just as my callers hand was on
the door a sudden impulse seized me,
and I said: Wait a moment, / will
look at it now And suiting my ac-
tions to my words the next moment
I was thunder struck to find before my
eyes gilt-edged securities whose face
values aggregated d quarter Of a mil
lion dollars
How I managed to control myself,
humiliated and angry as was, do
not know. But did, and I retied the
parcel, and handed it to him, and
pointed to the door. All that I said
was. That is the kind OF documentary
evidence which would persuade me
against rather than for the franchise
HE took the parcel without a word
and went away, and from that day
began To test thoroughly every man
who made loud professions to mo
about his acting in the interests OF the
people"
Copyright. 1909. by f. J. Edwards)
Tomorrow, Mr.. Edwards will tell Of