The New York herald., 1921-10-21

tative Martin w. Littleton. the last three
OF whom have opposed Tammany un Ter
Murphy.
Only jerome Has Responded.
The only one Of these gentlemen who
has responded to date Is Mr.. Jerome,
who as candidate for District Attor-
ney staged one or two OF the most spec
tacuiar and successful campaigns In the
history of the city. 1t Is quite prcb-
able that some Of the other gentleme n
who have been approached will join Mr..
Jerome In trying to head off the trend
OF popular sentiment to Mr.. Hylan, the
candidate OF the Murphy Hearst COM
bination.
The backbone Of the Fusion campaign
so far has been supplied by ths local
Republican (koenig) organization. Mr..
Curran has not received much aggres-
sive support from Independent Demo-
crat and Republican agencies. which IL
thoroughly welded In the Fusion move
ment would be numerically great
enough to determine the result.
The most ardent supporters of the
Fusion candidate who have prospectsd
existing conditions admit he has dire
need OF all the support that can be re-
cruited II the city IL to be reclaimed
from the control OF the Tammany-
Hearst combination. The Mayor has
enjoyed the advantage that naturally
favors a candidate already In office.
He is at the head OF a great army of
municipal employees. who for obvious
reasons probably will favor his reelec-
ton. He Is in control of the Police and
Fire departments. which are units Of
great strength IL properly handled.
He enjoys the support Of the dominant
| political organization OF the city-TaIs-
many Hall. His reelection is favored by
tn, numerically uncertain hut aggres-
| sively active Hearst organization. which
| is running his campaign. The TAM
many organization Is, In fact. less active
In directing the Mayors bid for popular
favor than ever was true OF any munich
pal campaign in the history of the city.
The Tammany leaders are supporting
tho Mayor simply because they can't 10
| any thing else. None OF them are really
for him. and IL the selection Of his sue
cessor had been left to them they would
| probably have chosen ons of a higher
standard Of efficiency and better typo
! OF citizen. They have no particular
complaint to make against him as far
as treatment of their organization is
concerned In the matter OF patronage.
But they regard him as "a Hearst
man" pure and simple.
| For the time being they have for
gotten their grievances against Mr..
Hearst, who Is accorded the full credit
+, for debating the policies Of tho Hylan
administration during the last four
years. This does not mean that they
have revised upward their estimate OF
Mr.. Hearst as citizen Of New York or
as a political ally. Soms of them even
recall (privately) the statement made
ESxas ot0
lowing the nomination of Mr.. Hearst
for Governor at Buffalo fifteen years
ago.
Grady's "Dfrtiest Days Work."
Grady. who was the right hand man
OF Murphy at the Buffalo function. de-
clared that his contribution to the ncn,.
nation of Mr.. Hearst was "the dirt,est
days work Of my life" Some of the
Tammany leaders who are compelled ia
keep their tongues In their cheeks when
they discuss Mr.. Hearst also recall the
cartoons printed In the Hearst news
papers portraying Mr.. Murphy In a
striped garment. But these meno.ies
are set aside for the moment because
the Tammany leaders frankly admit
that In showdown Mr.. Hyian is more
q Hearst man than he Is a Tammany
man. Consequently their contribution
to the Hylan campaign at present Is of
perfunctory character and the active
management Of It Is left to the lieuteu-
ants Of the editor politician.
The Mayor is very fortunate in this
respect, for the actual direction Of his
candidacy and the preparation and dis
senlination Of the Hearst literary food
that pours daily from City Hall Is skill
fully provided by the resourceful Wat
sons-Bob and Vic-who are not only
vigilant but perniciousiy active In
soaking every hostile head that ap-
| pears with ream after ream Of the sort
OF political ullage they consider mos,
deadly.
| The watsons. on whom the full meas
! ure of credit Is deservedly conferred
for the fine points In the Mayors favor
have painted him In glowing colors with
the true touch OF the artists they are.
He Is held up as Honest John Hylaa,"
humble son of toll who has risen from,
the ranks and who has saved New York
from innumerable atrocities conceived
by all the Octupuses that do not ac-
cept the Hearst standards and SUBJ
scribe to the Hearst doctrines.
Charges made by Candidate Curran
and supported by facts that ordinarily
would be accepted as convincing evil
dence Of the Mayors incompetency and
lack of fitness for the office he holds are
tossed aside as unworthy of notice. For
every offence charged against the
Mayor a dozen are hurled back from
the Watson monographs at everybody
who refuses to accept the Mayors esti-
mate Of himself.
The success OF this form Of strategy
not only surprises the citizen of inde-
pendent political tendencies, who know
Ing the Tammany record Is usually
against the candidates of that organiza-
ton on general principles. but is equally
astounding to Tammany men.
| Old timers among the Murphy boys