The New York herald., 1921-10-23
Coalition Candidate Pre-
sents Testimony to Prove
Assertion.
HOODWINKED TAXPAYER
Underground Influence That
Guided Mayors Unsteady
Hand Is Shown.

The charge that Mayor Hylan Sc
cretly conferred with the traction in
terests and was planning to foist a Z |
cent fare upon the people Of the city |
was the keynote Of five speeches made |
by Borough President Henry Fl. Cur |
ran, coalition candidate for Mayor, !
last night in tour which began in
the middle Of Brooklyn, extended to
Coney Island and ended at the Palm
Garden in East Fifty-eighth street,
Manhattan. Mr.. Curran charged the
Mayor also with having broken his
word and faith with the voters on
eight important matters and occasions
He has deceived the school children"
he declared. fooled the taxpayer and
hoodwinked the rent payer
Crowds which gave him complete
attention and supported the charges
he made with unstinted applause
greeted Mr.. Curran at each Of the
gatherings where he spoke. The prin-
cipal and most enthusiastic meeting
was at the Real Estate Exchange in
Brooklyn, where he spoke at a COM
bined meeting Of the First, Third and
Eighth Assembly District Republican
clubs. His other Brooklyn meetings
were at the Congress Club. the Bsy
Ridge High School and Stauch's Hall
at Coney Island.
| Hy1an Talks, Public Walks.
At the meeting in the Real Estate
Exchange Mr.. Curran said:
1T has taken only one week to demon
strate the kind Of a campaign Mr.. Hylan
Is making to back up his demand that
you allow him to enjoy four years more
as Mayor of New York. I have shown
you eight different promises that he
made to us four years ago, and / have
| proved that he broke every one Of them.
| Eight times he gave you his word and
eight times he broke his word. He has
deceived the school children, fooled the
tax payer. and hoodwinked thee rent
payer. Now / am going to show you
how he has tried to fool the strap
hanger.
Remember that Mr.. Hylan is not a
strap hanger. He travels about in his
limousine talking about the five cent
fare while you and I struggle for a
| strap.
Zone of Mr.. Hylan's principal troubles
Is his talk. ! have shown you that
| while he talked the public walked.
will show you now that while he talked
about the five cent fare he was working
! for a seven cent fare. He did every
! thing he could to boost the fare UP to
seven cents and challenge him to deny
! it. You and / are going to fight for a
! five cent fare and we are going to keep
! it. We are not going to be fooled by
a man who talks five cents and acts
seven cents.
Here is the story of the deal that
Mayor Hylan tried to work out with
! Mr.. Shonts, president Of the Inter-
borough Rapid Transit Company, to sad
/ die q seven cent fare on the strap
hangers of New York. I am going to
| stick to the record in what I say about
this. just as / have stuck to the record
in everything else.
Brought in Hearst Lawyer.
IN 1918 he Interborough had begun
| It's campaign for an increased fare. With
characteristic selfshness, it was casting
about for some way to get more money.
regardless of the fact that it had made
contracts with the city assuring us of
the invioability of the cent fare. Sud-
| denly Mayor Hylan appeared on the
1 scene as the savior of the traction in
terests. He and Mr.. Shonts began to
confer together with their lawyers and
with Mr. Granville MacFarland, OF Bos-
ton. According to Mr.. Shonts"s tes,l-
mony, Mr.. Hylan held out the promise
| of the 7-cent fare IL the companies would
consent to sort OF trustee manage
ment, the trustees to be appointed by
the Governor. or by the Mayor.
Here is the statement which Mr..
| Shonts made, under oath: The Mayor
| (Mr. Hylan), I remember. said to me
that "the people will stand for an in
crease Of fare II they know they are
going to get the benefit of it them
selves, when they would not IL they
knew private corr Oration was going
to get the benefit
"Mr. Hylan has never denied the truth
OF this assertion, although ne most Wig
orously berated the interests when it
was published. But to get back to our
story. Mr.. Shonts swore that he re-
cetved telephone call from the Mayors
office, asking him to call. The Mayor
said afterward that Mr.. Shonts had
called OF his own accord. Well, what's
the difference? The door was open to
Shonts and Shonts and Hylan conferred
| together to put over a 7-cent fare. Let
me read Mr.. Shonts's testimony right
here:
The Mayor took me into his office
and gentleman followed me In, to
whom the Mayor introduced me. He
said II want you to know Mr.. MacFar-
land of Boston" Then the Mayor said:
"'"This gentleman wants to help YOU
get seven cent fare for your various
lines and / think under certain condi-
tions he can succeed" told him that
sounded very good He said
"'"Before we go further, 1 want you
to know who Mr.. MacF'arland is He
represents Mr.. Hearst's interests In
New England. He is his lawyer in New
England"
"'rhe Mayor then said to rle that Mr.. |
MacFarland was probably more respon- |
sible than any one else FOR the adoption |
of the Boston solution of the rapid tran
sit lines OF that city, and asked me IL |
was familiar with the nature OF that |
arrangement. I told him that I was
only in general way. The Mayor then
said that Mr. mcfarland was then
working on a similar solution of the
transit situation In Chicago. and wanted
TO know IL I knew what was going on
out there. and said that did not.
"'The Mayor said he would like then