The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1911-06-29
A SOCIALIST MAYOR IN TOWN
SEIDEL or NiLVAt kEE HAS
A THING or TUO TO SAY.
The city Is Hell for the children social.
ism Wouid Ucmo,c Occasions for
lndi, itiuai Gain ami Crook cdncss
Grab probicns as They Come.

Grab prOblcms as Chcy Come.
THE city," repeated Mayor Emil ScideI
Of Milwaukec. the first Socialist to be
elected the executive head of biz city
as he looked ont of his window at tho
Hotel Manhattan Yesterday forenoon
watching the town th1w. The city i
hell for the children"
Mayor Seidel had told the reporter
to come on upst ir- whore We c'n t1No
our coats on" His Honor led tho way
bv SIX inning of his own coat and hanging
II on reg The la Toilette shock Of h II
which YOU have seen III nc"sra pcr por-
traits of Mayor Scidcl rcIllv Is a rcr.
fectlv tame patch of hlond" thttch when
view ed M close The sometime pattern
maker who now j. u Mayor, and Tho also
is (ney, TO Victor l.. Bcrgor Socll Demo-
crat leader OF MilwaukccD about TIA"
foremost Socillist IN tn" country. is a
stocky Ccrman-Amcricln in type. perhaps
S feet inches tall and with blue cycs that
crlcSlo
$50 YOU want 20 interview mo, oh?"
began Mayor SciJcl down IN tho lobby
of the hotel Como on up stairs" Up
in hir bedroom ho volunteered g SUIT crse
case vere nur'ter of scrlphooa- tclin c
of soci,lis',r reform, in MliwaukoN. en- |
the Mayor urEoi tho pages and pointed
to various p'.tcl clippings a. h" dis
cissed tho many th'1c~ thit have hlr-
rerei in Nivaukoo .ircc tho new order
fut quo it,cncrs wor" bro king in. The
intory Joss - wanted TO ask Il regular
soc!sh.t badly ho ia Socialist Mayor
and rhy
"Nou want 70 know wha. socialism
woIld d) wi:n oI- c,untrv's dishonest
men. rh." r!s Honor started in. Lis
ton cra,N"i1"'s j. no natural quality
in nea. tINl employ crookoinass "a a
means to an end TINS all rhl' end is
rroit. ihero aren't any crooked mon
jus' situations winch permit mon ~ be
rocked He ~ -"i his voice IA an ami
mated wav "tnd"r soClals n" and
this with ,on'iihni smile under so-
calls tho o"ra.lols for individual gain
are al removed
crooks are made bv tho inilviduahs' ic
eystem. Men aren't crooked for the fun
Of being croo ked Won know that yourself
We all know men VIII, will skin another
business man ont Of 81 900. say. hut that
man wouldn't even try II skin vou or me
out Of a single dolla- bill. III wage he'd
give you or mo dollar any time Il wa
needed il
Now, Speaking o! conservatism no-
body had | want 10 tell you that we So
cialists are conservative. Not only do we
want to conserve all kinds of property
we hope some day 10 urn the property
10 its original owners. That's pretty CON
servative, isn't II? And We are conserva-
tive in another way. We Socialists want
to attend to reforms hat are immeiia'ol
practicable Immediately practicable
and SO you see we do no' run to the wild
extremes that we are accused Of.
The Socialist plan as | understand
tt began somebody.
I'VE haven't any general Socialist
plan. interrupted MAYOR Seidel. "rhi, 5
another of the popular notions about
Socialism which is wrong Wha'evcr
comes along that needs first attention
we try to give il frs attention. thai : all
With all the things to be done about us
there's too much WORK on hand to give
time to formulating a general T. an"
All Of which led in time to tn" question
as 10 which country Mayor Seidei helievcd
had got along furthcst IL. socialistlc prog
rees. He couldn't answ"r oi'haud, he
said. When urged further to Civ" his
own notion OF the question lie said that hs
believed that Germany is nearest the tor
step and he dwelt for few minutes upon
Germanys pension systems and her big
municipal improvements.
England and Franc. are tied for seconc
takes care Of her old folks better than
other countries and France eNcels in
taking care OF her young such young as
she has.
Perhaps the excessive thaw Of the out
door weather had something To do with
IL, but the fact remains that Mayor Seido
showed signs of being peeved at III.
iteration and reiteration Of tn. question
by his interviewers What i the mo--
important problem for American Social
lists TO work out just now"
There are so many things for socialism
to settle, he said at last. that its diff
cult 10 put ones finger on the biggest"
However. he believes that the mos,
urgent questions to be considered are the
housing of the poor. the reduction o
infant mortality. the handling of tubercu-
losis in big cities and the regulation OF
wages for womens labor
u was recalled then that bosom Social
SITS can disagree. Mayor Seidel when
elected year ago last spring, advocated
that widows who support their families
he allowed to use Milwaukee water free
Victor Berger heard this and said Huh
Not on your life, was tn" tenor of Mr.
Berger's argument. ma ke conditions
such that widows will not have 10 take il
washing to support their families, SO fal
as could be learned yesterday even Mr.
Berger hasn't brought this state of affair
about
1t was az this point that Mayor Seido
remarked sadly. Child welfare the cit,
is hell for children We've got 10 fine
some way 10 get the children away from
these baking pavements in the hot summer
months The problem is bad enough il
our city Of Milwaukee,, where two mile'
from the centre of town you are out il
open country, but in New York the prob
lem is terrific. There's big problem fol
all of US"
Incidentally. there was evident an ali
Of disappointment about the Milwaukee
Mayor over the fact that solfew inter
viewers had turned up at the Manhattan
to ask him things The chief executive
Of the Lake City showed in manner al
plain as words that he had difficulty II
understanding the lack of fuss.
Mayor Seidel spoke last night TO A
gathering Of Socialists in Cooper Unior
presided over by Abraham Cahan, editor
If the Jeuish Daily Fcru1rd. Mayor
Seidel said that even the bitterest oppon
ents Of Socialism admitted that his admin
istration in Milwaukee had been an homes
one and that graft had been .entrel,
eliminated from local politics. He spoke
of the hope Of his party 10 bring ah"r
municipal ownership of the citys street
railroads
The Mayor said that he was not over
confident that the Socialists would con
tnue TO control the city government
after the election nex xt spring hut addet
that in the event Of "A defeat they woulo
az least he able 10 see II the Democrats o
Republicans could do as well as they ha'
done,