Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-09-23
NEW YORK'S LEGISLATURE
TURNS IN WITH Mr.. DEBS
Sweet and the STammanyltes Are a
Greater Help to RadiesIism
Than the Radicals

be OuSted They showed themselves 70 be
far shrcwdcr men than their opponents, and
they showed themselves. too. to be no more
admirable and no moro scrupulOus than the
veteran toiI"rs in Mr.. Murphy's own vine
yard.
These five men wished to make the LcgiS.
Jatur" OF their state appear foolish unfair
unCnIightrned and even lawlcsS. They sue.
c"cd"d. They forced Speaker Sweet to do
NOR" in fvc minutes for the cause of radical
am than Debs could do in a year with a
regiment of orators. The slower minds of
old-tnshloned party men were no match for
the wits of volatile propagandists hot with
the mental fevers of the East Side
Claessens, De Witt, Solomon, waldman
and Orr toyed Indignantly with the speaker
and with his followers in the course of a
demonstration that was wholly disgraceful,
utterly shameless and. happily. without
precedent in the United States.
Sweet. hlundcring and striving to keep his
own self -poSScsSion and something like order
among his friends. was goadcd and proddcd
by on" Socialist or another. Leaders on the
Democratic side. when it seemed that they
might weather tho storm without PLAYING
INTO III" hands Of the enemy, were stung to
blind fury with studied insults that fell
''ke whip across II mans face. The
they did it rumplptcly.
\ great deal was said about Amcrirnnisr
on both sides of the uproar. and there is
hardly word Of it that will not make any
decent American writhp. ASSombyman
Martin M"Cu". a child Of Tammany. Il crea-
turr of an institution that never hositatcd
to ignore election laws and constitutional
restraints or to U>o the election machinery
a> means of graft. rose to baw about the
Tag and Benedict Arnold and lovc of coun-
try, only to be told by inference that hc had
h"atcd into an exalted office on a tide of
beer.
IT we cannot 70 to the ballot box with
our gri"van,"S whore shall we TO-" de.
mandcd 'lar>senN. not without reason.
'Go. shouted tn" mon Of Tammanv. 30
hell"
TIL" Socialists themselves plainly cxutcd
in their isolation. They found a wild ioy
i'll III" opportunity to stand and talk. 1t
IS not often that men are permitted pub
IlrIE to insult whole legislature to de-
rd" and b"iittIc it and >neor at it in the
proNcnr" of the whole country. and wbat
is moro. in the hearing of their own ad
mlrlng "lanNm"n, That opportunity was
given to Mr.. solomon and his colicocuos
and they made the best Of it, They shouted
contempt for th" accepted laws and iu,ti.
tuti"nS OF the state. They drfcd tho mem
h"rN OF tho Assembly sing'y and en- ma>,c
And they kept tn" whiphand
ih"% had IN" bipartisan organization in
In" Assembly surging blndIy after them ot
every turn. and when reason seemed tn hn
returning to the Democratic and RcuubIiran
leaders the Socialists fickrd them again with
4 word or an cpith"t that renewed the >tap
uodo
,F Il
S"mb1Hm"n got away with what to them wcrc
honurs.
Mr.. Hughes said yesterday that tho spec
ta"I" at Albany was incredible But it was
not Incredible. II is easily understood. The
bIam" cannot be permitted to r">t wholly
upon III" Sweets and the MrCuc> in the Now
York Legislature. 1t must rest urou thc
public AT large, which accepts n system that
sends iIlt"rntcN and puppets and tnhorn> to
places Of political power and authority.
Aggr"NHIv" Ignorance is bad and dnngrrou.
enough under any circumstances. Bur ip
n"ranr" mad" agSrrS>iv" with power and
vocal with vanity can b" appalling in
roHti"aI system like ours
-" Sweet and tho Tammany mon know
"hat Is in III" constitution Of the Tnitnd
states DO they know that government in
N" ht'd states Is supposed to be- bv and
for IN" DeopI" and not by and for lDrmbcrs
"i inc legislatures or the parties and fac.
tiona which they represent?
SocinIi>tic organizations which hpIned IN
".""f Solomon and four others 10 tho Assem-
bly, in Now York behaved abominabIy during
n" war; They did their utmost with Dropa
ganHh WhI"h, had it been >fuI. would
haT" left the country PROSTATE in the uatb
~ "A ~ ,.i,l;
wrong in its surmiSoS about life and in
dustrE. II may have no more grace or do
r"n"y at bottom than its individual repro
s"ntativeS Displayed in their great hour ot
Albany. And yet judgment in such circuu.
stances is not among the privileges Of auy
Legislature or any oficohod"r or any Of thr
mon who are trying 10 make profession
Of patriotism in these times
nI"S9 "" ar" 10 ditch the Fundamental
principles OF the constitution and 20 of
craZiIF at right angle, tn" right Of Judgment
rests and rests exclusively with the people.
and it can b" expressed by the balot and in
no other way
II community desires to send Socialists
to the Legislature. to Congress or to the
Senate il has the right But Sweet and tbc
TamInany crowd have disrrgarded the con
stitUtiOn. They have declared in effect
that given districts in New York are without
the right of elective representation That il
an unhoard- Of thing in America These dis.
trirts will elect the same Socialists again.
And what will Mr. Sweet do then?
What Mr.. Sweet might do, if he desires
to b" consistent in the next emergency, has
been tried with disastrous results in other
countries and in earlier times. And it was
tried under far more favorable circumstances.
There have been kings and dctators who
held that they should do the thinking for
the mutitudes. They are gone now. though
they were infinitely wiser than any Tam
many asscmblyman. They based their op-
position to religious and political creeds on
| ordered theories of one sort or another.