New-York tribune., 1917-07-31
MIR. Mitchell Accepts

In accepting the nomination offered to
/ him by the Committee of Two Hundred
and Fifty Mayor Mitchell lays emphasis
on the fact that he has been drafted to
run. 1t has long been an open secret that
/ he preferred for many reasons to retire
from public life. But like good citizen
he has sacrificed his personal wishes and
interests at the call of duty.
The Fusion movement will undoubtedly
be stronger this year with him at the head
of the city ticket. And this is critical
year. One more decisive defeat will nearly
/ finish Tammany, whose machinery has
been creaking and whose prestige as pot
/ hunters organization with an invincible
knacb of coming back has been rudely
| shattered. Tammany is no longer a name
with which to rally the predatory classes
/ or to intimidate weakened respectability.
/ The interests with axes to grind no longer
go hat in hand to Fourteenth Street. Nor
are humble and well intentioned citizens
any longer oppressed with the thought
! that it may be dangerous for them to show
] their sympathy with -Tammany ideals
of government.
Now is the time to slay the legend which
has for so many years kept Tammany 60
ing-a legend based on the belief that
/ Tammany fitted naturally into the local
scheme of things, that it was a typical
/ Manhattan growth, that Tammany was
good enough for New York and that New
York was simply putting on airs when it
pretended to be too good for Tammany.
When we explode that superstition by
slaughtering the Tiger we shall have gone
far on the road toward our deliverance
from the old Fourteenth Street Thomas
c. Platt-Amen Corner School of Politics.
, Up to now no anti -Tammany admins
. tration has been able TO succeed itself.
There has always been a reaction. We
had the Strong administration and then
= lapsed back to Van Wyck. We had Seth
Low in Office for one term. Then came
= Mcclellan and Gaynor. They both owed
Office to Tammany, but in the end set up
mildly for themselves. Mr.. Mitchell was
elected four years ago by phenomenal
= plurality. 1t is desirable above all things
that the great Fusion victory Of 1918
should now be repeated. Let US rid our
selves completely of the notion that when
the city is sick of rottenness it Graves for
= reform, and when it is we'll il goes back
! again to Tammanyism.
, Mayor Mitchell will stand for reelection
on his record. 1t is an admirable record.
Only those who have lived in New York
through many earlier regimes can appre-
ciate it at full value. No reasonable per-
, son will deny that our city administration
3 for the last four years has risen to level
of intelligence and efficiency never before
attained That is almost a commonplace,
yet only citizens with memories realize
how great the advance has been-com-
/ pared with the administrations of Gaynor
and McClellan-to say nothing of the
malodorous Van Wyck.
We have seen the idea of civic obligation
instilled into the personnel of the city gov
ernment The motto of the Mitchell admin
, istration has been "The City First" It's
T ambition has been 10 give the taxpayers
the best possible return for their money
through service rendered. All the depart
ments have caught something of the new
spirit, and if in the one where the hold of
the old ideas is strongest-in the Police
, Department-there are to-day evidences of
Tammanyism, that is only because some
elements in that department still cherish
fond recollectons of the days of Devery,
whom Van Wyck glorifed as "the best
/ Chief of Police New York City ever had"
Mr.. Mitchell does not claim that he has
made no mistakes. 1t would be foolish to
put forth such claim. But the point is
that he has had the intelligence 10 profit
from his mistakes lie promises to avoid
. the errors he has made and TO continue
the civic progress for which his four-year
term has been so notable. That is a cam
did programme, worthy Of man who has
p nc.c- fciled 20 broaden in office and who
has always sought TO apply the knowledge
he has been gaining in public service to
honorable public ends
IL is only necessary TO look back four
years 10 1918, when the Fusion mayoralty
nomination went 10 Mr.. Mitchell after a
, 'bi",sr contest, involving much personal