The New York herald., 1921-11-09
Mayor Hylan Again.

Mayor HYIAN is reelected by vote
so overwhelming that the local oppo-
sition to him Is dumfounded and the
country may be startled. Ii anybody
in or out of this city stops to think
about the matter, however, he will
not conclude that the Hylan ava
lanch indicates that New York has
gone to the political dogs or wants
to go to the political dogs. Nobody
could be more confident than The
New YORK HERALD is that such is not
the fact, is nothing like the fact.
The people of New York do not
prefer inefficient government to eff
cient government. The people of
New York are not willing to do with
out schools. They do not look with
Indifference upon a demoralized Po-
lice Department. public market graft
and dock scandals.
The people Of New York, on the
contrary, want not only. an honest
municipal government but a we'll
managed municipal government They
want the best that intelligence and
capacity in the City Hall can give
them.
Why did the people of New York
reelect Mayor HYLAN, then, by plu.
rality running beyond 100000? THE
New York HERALD believes the ex-
PLANTATION Is that they simply were
stampeded by Mayor HYLAN's cent
fare cry. Undoubtedly the State
prohibition enforcement act was
strongly resented by certain elements,
but. only single overpowering OBJ
session obscuring nearly every other
political idea could account for so
wild rush as the people of this city
yesterday made toward HYLAN.
With HYLAN's vulnerable record for
the last four years; with the mis-
takes he has made, not of the heart,
as Ex-Governor SMITH expressed it.,
but Of the head; with the neglect Of
virtually all the city's interests and
the proved unfitness of Mr.. HYLAN to
fill the great Office which calls for the
Lest brains, the best training and the
best character obtainable; with the
unfortunate associations surrounding
him, it is not possible, 1t is not think
able, that the people Of New York
would have reelected him il they had
rot been so far misled by his 5 cent
fare Issue as to be voting in effect
on nothing else.
To the great mass Of the voters the
S cent fare, possibly because it typi.
fed for them the Home Rule prin-
ciple at stake, became for the mo-
ment of more Importance than all
the real issues. 1t was from first to
last false issue. 1t was false
issue because HYLAN did not save the
s. cent fare for New York, as he made
his public believe. HYLAN's boasted
cent fare had become, with the loss
Of transfers due to his policy, an
average 6 cent fare. The extra taxes
which had to be levied on account Of
the transit companies deficits and
bankruptcies made 1t even more than
a 6 cent fare, part Of it going straight
into the rents.
1t was a false issue because, as
Mayor HYLAN in his first term did
not save the cent fare for New
York, Mayor HYLAN in his second
term cannot restore the cent fare
to New York. II this is to be done
it will be only the Transit Commits
sion which can do it.
But with the voters OF New York
completely deceived as to the cent
fare, with every other issue thrust
far into the background by Mayor
and candidate who showed himself a
past master OF political cunning and
trickery, that false issue served not
merely to reelect Mr.. HYLAN but to
reelect him by a plurality such as
no other candidate for that Office ever
approached, even with due allowance
made for the increase Of the vote by
women.
Yet nobody need suppose that New
York is either ruined or disgraced
by this election and by the measure
of the Hylan vote. New York still
has its work to do and New York
will do it with Mr.. HYLAN for Mayor
as it would do it with anybody else
IL his place. New York still will be
the first city Of the country in its
aspirations and its merits as in its
population and its wealth, as 1t
would be with another in the City
Hall. New York Is still New York,
and for the next four years is going
to be New York.