New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-01-18

Mayor.
Tammany Hall Outdone
In New York City Tammany Hall
itself would not have dared to do
such thing, and thunders Of de-
nunciation would have gone up in
almost any other municipality in
the land had one of it's "bosses" as
sumed to make such a bold raid on
government authority; but Philadel-
phia accepted the situation stoically.
For twenty-five years, with the
one or two exceptions already al
luded to, it had grown accustomed
to "vicarious government" Forces
not legally represented in the admin
istration had been blamed for the
existence Of at least 500 gambling
clubs, which, in the last few years,
f1ourished openly in the city, scores
of them in the most prominent
streets. Men reputed to have long
prison records, some of them even
burglars, had found their way into
the Police Department by the same
means, twas said. Only few months
before a policeman had been MUIR
dered because he had dared to at
tack band of gunner, who were
said to have been imported to help
control an election, and the voters of
the city had suffered the humiliation
of seeing even their Mayor indicted
as an accessory to the crime, al
though he was afterward acquitted.
But outside and not associated
with any of these things the people
Of Philadelphia had come to know
that when the "Vare Boys" and es-
pecially "The Little Fellow" as the
state Senator is generally called,
said thing cit vent" and nobody,
save few irreconcilables and
chronic reformers, thought there
was any use in trying to oppose it.
To predict, therefore, even face
tiously, that after January 6 per-
sons having business with the Mayor
would have to transact it at the City
Hall was looked upon as one of those
rare jokes which certain wags are
always perpetrating about impossi-
bilities; but apparently the new
Mayor failed to grasp it. Or if he
did, he refused to admit it.
''The Office of the Mayor is in the
City Hail." he said briefly, "and
there are no back stairs leading to
it,"
To appreciate the effect this state
ment had on the public, and the
divided opinions it called forth, one
should know some of the high lights
Of Moore's career.
j. Hampton Moore always had
been regarded by his friends as q
"practical politician" BY this they
meant that he was in no sense an
"uplifter," as that term is some
times used. In Congress and out Of
it he had always "stood with the
organization" although it was gen.
orally conceded that he "flocked
with the decent element" Nobody
doubted that he had ability and
courage.
Started as a Reporter
His rise to political prominence
was interesting. AS young man
he had been for years a newspaper
reporter in Philadelphia. covering
labor news, the courts, politics and
"big stories," like the Johnstown
flood and the Homestead strike
riots. While engaged in this work
"Hampy," as his friends and associ-
ates affectionately called him, won
a reputation as q tireless worker, a
capable gatherer Of news, and as
person who was peculiarly hard to
discourage. Before entering the
newspaper field he had studied law
in the Office Of Edmund Randall in
Philadelphia and had passed the
preliminary examination for the bar
when he was fifteen years old-the
youngest student by two years who
had done 80 in the history Of the
state.
In 1898 Moore quit reporting to
become secretary to the then Mayor
OF the city, and, before being elected
to the House Of Representatives in
1905 to fill the vacancy caused by
the death of George A. Castor, had
served one term as treasurer Of the