Evening star., 1925-09-05
RACIAL AND CHURCH
ISSUES MENACING
RACE IN NEW YORK
Smith Attacks Hylan and
Waterman Also Is Victim
of "Whispering."
BY G.. GOULD LINCOLN.
staff Correspondent of The star

interjectiOn of religious ana rdcIal
issues in politics in this country is
rapidly becoming a menace.
The mayoralty campaign in New
York has been given such g twist, not
once, but twice. First Gov. Al Smith
charged that Mayor Hylan, whose re
nomination the governor is opposing
was in secret conference with the rep
resentatives of the ku KluX klan dur
ing the Democratic national conven
tion in New York last year. Then
some one-preSumably the adherents
of Mayor Hylan-started a whisper
ing campaign against Frank d
Waterman, Republican organization
candidate for mayor. charging that he
is anti-Catholic and anti-Jew.
Mayor Hylan is himself a Catholic
a churchman in good standing, his
friends declare, and they insist il is
unthinkable that he had any dealings
with the representatives of the Khan
during the last national convention OF
at any other time. He and William
Randolph Hearst, his hacker, have
bitterly resented the charge made by
Gov. Smith. Mr.. Hearst, in a letter
TO the New York American. asserted
that Gov. Smith had attacked Mayor
Hylan as a ku hluxer, and added:
Sees Hand of Wall Street.
When the Democrats OF the coun-
try have got through laughing they
will ask: why does one Catholic
Democrat call another Catholic Dem
ocrat Ku KluXer?" The answer is
that Wall Street does not want Mayor
Hylan, with his scent fare, elected,
and Wall Street has induced Gov
Smith, who is its particular friend to
attack Mayor Hyland."
Gov. Smith, unwilling TO pass up
this charge, replied to Mr.. Hearst,
calling his statement a wicked, pre-
meditated lie
What I did say" continued the
governor, was the truth, and it was
as follows:
While the Democrats of the city
of New York, with the Democrats of
the Eastern part of the country, stood
day in and day out during the long,
hard siege in Madison Square Garden
against the forces of racial and re-
ligiOus bigotry, not so much for me
as for what l represented in that
fight, where was the mayor? In Sc
cret conference with the representa-.
tive of the Klan."
Designed to Cause Trouble.
But whether Gov. Smith actually
= called the mayor a Ku Kluxer or not
is a matter of little moment. What
he did was to give TO the New York
voters the impression that Mayor
Hylan was trafficking with the Klan
while he, the governor, and other
Democratic Catholics We're standing
firm against Mr.. McAdoo, the Klan
candidate, inside the Democratic ma
tional convention. 1t might be called
interjecting the religious issue in the
second degree, but certainly it was
an attempt TO stir up some feeling
against the mayor, or the governor
would not have made it.
Mayor Hylan himself says all there
is to the charge of Gov. Smith that
he was in secret conference with rep
reSentatives of the Klan during the
national convention is the fact that
he visited Mr.. McAdoo at the request
of Mr.. McAdoo that McAdoo invited
him to be candidate for the vice
presidential nomination on the Nc
Adoo ticket, and that the mayor de-
clined and stated that he was for the
nomination of Gov. Smith for Presi-
dent.
Waterman Issues Defense.
Mr.. Waterman, candidate of the
Republican organization for the may
orally nomination, has made an open
statement, insisting that he has no
religious and racial prejudices in
politics or out. He is an Episco-
palian, but, he insists, in the en-
ployment of thousands of men he has
never Disseminated against any be
cause Of religion or race. He declared
that 60 per cent of his employees to-
day are Catholics and Jews, that his
two sons. now grown, were students
at a Catholic school for a wear in
Spain; that rs per cent of his 5000
customers in New York are Jews, and
that Jew was general manager of
the Waterman business until he died.
But Notwithstanding this state
ment, the whispering campaign con-
t1nues and is likely to continue. When
a religious question is once raised, it
declines as a rule to down. A Pro
testant minister visited Mr. Water
mans headquarters to tell him he
had been drawn aside by a police
man in the street, who told him that
Mr.. Waterman was against the
Catholics" All this is very unfair TO
Mr.. Waterman.
Religion and race have no place in
politics in this country. But activi-
ties Of the Klan and other organiza-
tons are having their effect Mr.
Waterman believes firmly that reli-
gious issues should be barred, and
former Surrogate John p Cohalan,
campaign manager for Mayor Hylan.
is equally strong in denunciation of
any steps to drag religion into the
campaign.
Copeland Denounces Tactics.
Senator Royal S. Copeland, Demo
crat, who is supporting the candidacy
of Mayor Hylan. strongly denounces
any effort to inject religion into poll
tics. He is a Protestant, but in the
old days when he lived in Michigan,
he was active in his opposition to the
political activities of the A P A. 1t
is to Senator Copeland by the way,
the vote of the New York delegation,
or part of it, would be thrown in the
national convention if the Hearst
Hylan combination should gain con-
troll of the party organization, accord
ing to the Smith adherents. But
Senator Copeland insists he has no
presidential bee buZzing about his
head, and that he would prefer to
see the delegation support Gov. Smith
for the nomination.
Over at the Smith-Walker headuuar-
ters disclaimers are made, too, of any
desire to bring religious and racial
issues into the campaign. Indeed,
religion in politics is denounced on all
sides, but nevertheless it has been
interjected into the present campaign
and doubtless will play its part before
the last vote is cast.
Remark May Last.
The governors remark about Mavor
Hylan was made, it is said, in an ex-
temporaneoGs speech, and he might
not have made it had he reflected