New-York tribune., 1918-06-13
Murphy Agrees
JJpstate Shall Pick
Man for Governor
Tammany Leader Tells
Steering Committee He
Will Keep Hands OF
To Confer at Utica
Selection Of Candidate for
Democratic Nomination
Likely To Be Made

Next Tuesday the steering committee
of seven appointed by upstate Demo
.r,te will meet at the Fort Schuyler
clnh in Utica to select one or several
candidates. for Governor to be referred
later to the statewide conference OF
Democrats at Saratoga next month
Members Of this committee were IN
conference here yesterday with Charles
Murphy and other Tammany leaders,
md il is understood that they have
tbe;r approval to "get down to hard
.scks' and put forth some Simon pure
candidates at the Utica meeting
Leader Murphy is understood to have
o;v.n his inal word that the Demo-
cratic candidate must be an upstate
man. or a. least be suggested and have
the support Of the upstate Democrats,
and has told the steering committee to
20 ahead and name their man. There
is difference of opinion, however,
among members of the committee as
10 whether they should focus or one
man at this time or name five or six
candidates for the consideration Of the
later conferences.
To members of the committee Mr..
Murphy appears to be sincere in his
attitude to keep his hands off and let
them name the candidate. The major
isy of the members of the steering COM
mittee are said to be in favor Of boil
ing it down to one man at the Utica
meeting. while the others believe five
or six deserving Democrats should be
listed from whom the final choice can
be made later.
Who the one man may be none of the
committeeman appear to know at this
time. 1t may be said, however, that W.
R. Hearst has been thrown in the dis
card, and that it only remains to con-
vince Mr.. Hearst himself of that fact
The choice might be any one of the list
of seven or eight names which seeped
out of the Syracuse conference some
weeks ago. including Harry C. Walker,
Mayor of Binghamton; George r. Lunn,
of Schenectady; Oliver Cavana, of Erie
County; Charles H. Hitchcock, of SYRIA
cuse; Justice Henry Y. Worst, Of AM
sterdam; Delos NJ. Cosgrove, of Water
town; ex-Ambassador James W. Gerard
or Alfred E. Smith, president of the
The action of the steering commit
tee is not final. They will issue a call
from Utica for a meeting of the larger
committee of forty-two members ap-
pointed at the Syracuse conference,
probably to meet in Albany the fol-
lowing week. The steering committee
will report back to the larger COM
mttee.
1t is likely that another session of
OF the Syracuse conference, which was
attended by about 200 upstate Demo-
Gratis, will be called prior to the state
wide conference at which the Tam
many braves will be represented.
The Saratoga conference, at which
Nh. Murphy will be present, will have
the final say. According to the up
state men a good deal of sentiment
has developed in their territory for
"Al' Smith, former Speaker of the As
sembly, and one of Mayor Hylan's
strongest opponents on the Board of
Estimate. While Mr.. Smith is popu-
lar throughout the state, and Mr..
Murphy and Tammany leaders would
IKE nothing better Shan to see him in
the governors chair, it is understood
that some of the leaders doubt his
ability to be elected.
Ex-Ambassador Gerard is declared
IN Democratic circles here not to be as
strong for the candidacy as Mr.. Smith
while the chances are that the uiti-
mate choice will fall upon an unstate
man. Leader Murphy has not COM
mitted himself for President Smith
1t is understood that he cautioned the
upstate men that if Mr.. Smith were
named 1t would have to be purely or
'he strength of the upstate sentiment
The steering committee of seven
consists con of Joseph ]. Murphy, of Troy;
MILAN II. Manning, of Saratoga
William H. Kelly, of Syracuse; r
Harvey Ferris, of Utica; Charles D
Norris. of Jefferson County; David F
Lee. of Chenango County, and Johr
FNzgi bon. MaYor of Oswero