The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1912-06-28
new NEWS OF YESTERDAY
Grace and the Little Brown
Package of Dishonor.
oreas Temptation That Was 6razen.
W Placed Before Mayor OF New
York by One Who Sought a
Franchise.


To illustrate concretely the tempa-
lions that are constantly being
thrown in the path of almost every
man who is elected mayor of large
american city, l 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 1t
was our custom to take together for
many years.
i thought at the time of my first
candidacy for mayor In 1880 that un-
derstood men pretty well and, after a
short talk with any one, was fairly
able to estimate his character" Mr..
Grace began. "But l found, after
mad been mayor few weeks, that /
had greatly overestimated my abil.
fty to Judge men, and then 1t was
that l learned why 1t was that men
like Samuel ]. 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-
tiers, and that these are not revealed
sometimes until years have passed.
Well, 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 l will say that
there were some features about 1t that
did not like, and, unless these could
be eliminated, was fairly well salts.
fed that 1t was my duty to veto 1t.
One evening, while the franchise
was waiting my action, ! was sitting in
my library when tho card of visi-
tor was shown to me. It was that of a
man whom | knew and for whom I
had great respect. l 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 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 1t that did
not like. He thought he could explain
them to my entire satisfaction, and
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
Jections to the charter that | men.
toned as having occurred to me- He
seemed to be perfectly frank. deolar-
ing that he did not have a personal
interest In the franchise, but felt that
1t was an entirely proper one to ap.
prove in the interests of the whole
people.
when he had come into the room
noticed that he carried with him n fat
and somewhat square parcel neatly
done up. This he put upon the library
table while we talked. AS he rose to
go, he pointed to 1t.
al have said all that occurs to me
to say in favor of this PLAN he said,
but thought you might like some doe
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 1t aft
er / 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 | said: Wait moment, | will
look at II now. And suiting my &c.
tons to my words the next moment
was thunder struck to find before my
values aggregated a quarter of a mil.
lion dollars
How ] managed to control myself,
Inundated and angry as | was, | do
not know. But | did, and | retied the
parcel, and handed 1t to him, and
pointed to the door All that | 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
about his acting in the interests of the
people"
Copyright. 1909, by e. j. Edwards.)