Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-10-19
RUTH PRATT IS PROVING
REAL FIGURE In POLITICS
Race With Tammany Tiger and News
paper Humorist Furnishing
Dramatic Contest.


made day after day up long flights of
stairs and for the hours she had spent
in the kitchens and dining rooms of her
women constituents, threshing the whole
subject out with them in friendly way.
New Yorks experiment with its first
woman alderman turned out to be an
exceedingly annoying escapade for the
Tammany Tiger. So prep nderantly are
the Democrats intrenched in the City
Hall that the forlorn little group of duly
elected Republicans has never found it
possible to do much else than twiddle
its thumbs. But Mrs. Pratt had other
ideas, and it was not because she was
stranger in a strange land that she
had them, either. II 1t was not possible,
she reasoned, for the voice of the mi
nority to be heard amid the roar of
negations from the other side, there
was at least nothing to prevent lone
some and grossly ignored Republican
from wandering here and there about
the Tigers lair to see what she could
see.
1t was mainly upon the Board of
Estimate and Apportionment that she
trained her scrutiny. Father Knicker-
bocker'S purse strings are in the keep
ing of this board, and Mrs. Pratt had
a strong suspicion that on numerous
occasions they were pulled more in the
interest of the Wigwam than in the in
terest of taxpayers. Perhaps the boards
members would be little more circum-
spect about the handling Of public funds
If some one were constantly checking
and double checking their disburse-
mentS At any rate, she determined to
make the test, and 1t is quite notori-
Gus, If not painful, fact in the annals
of City Hall that for three years or so
there were exceedingly few meetings Of
the board which did not find Ruth
Pratt among those present.
Had TO Anticipate Her Reactions.
Political secrets are hard to keep. To
any one even remotely in touch with
municipal affairs 1t has long since
ceased to be a hidden piece of knowl-
edge that the Board of Estimate be-
came so concerned about this tireleSS
vigil maintained by the lone woman
alderman that it rarely acted, If at all,
without trying to anticipate what her
reaction would be. What will Ruth
Pratt have to say about that?" was the
question invariably asked by Tammany
sideration some project which might not
impress the lady as being strictly ac-
cording to Hoyle.
I have always suspected that Tam
many shed no bitter tears when she was
called away from her second term as
alderman to accept the higher political
honors her district had bestowed on
her. It seems to me also that 1t Is more
than q coincidence that while she kept
up her watchdog tactics the city gov
eminent was not besmirched with such
scandals as those which have recently
beset it.
I talked with Mrs. Pratt the other
day. She told me that the issue is the
same this time as 1t was In her three
other campaigns. Again it is Tam
many. As long as that political ma
chine continues to operate and as often
as she runs for Office, the target Of her
siege guns will always be Tammany.
Her fire Of resentment against the or
ganization which has now embroiled its
party in q major scandal has not been
dimmed in the two years she has spent
away from the observation post she oc-
cupied as Alderman. If anything, it
burns more brightly than ever, famed
anew by the exposure of the magistrate
racket and the sordid trail of graft
which has come to light in recent
months.
Denies Personal Ambition.
'It Is not personal ambition to hold
ONCE which keeps me in the thick Of
this endless struggle for ballots" she
said. True, I have a genuine relish
for the work, but that could be Sacri-
feed readily enough. The real reason
have gone before the voters Of = =
district and asked them to elect me
for another term Is that / do not wish
to see the forces Of clean government
lose one of their last remaining strong
holds in this city. Have you any con-
~ he afv hni NH
Tammany already ha= on New York?
Here is q city the inhabitants Of which
constitute S per cent Of the entire pop
ulation of the country, and yet out Of
% Representatives whose districts are
wholly within its limits only two are
Republicans-Maj. La Guardia and my
self.
Certainly 1t does not require extern
sive reasoning to realize how necessary
1t is that Tammany and its sinister in
fluences be checked rom further en-
croachments. Do you remember the
wonderful cry Of battle the French had
in the World War-'They shall not
pass? That has now become our cry.
We are determined that Tammany shall
not pass our frontiers Of self-respect
and decency"
I gathered from this that Mrs. Pratt
did not regard the candidacy of Hey
wood Broun on the Socialist ticket as
a serious threat to her chances for re-
election. 1t was an accurate suppose
ton.
Not Disturbed by BrOun Race.
IT respect Mr.. Broun's abilities as a
columnist," she said but the likelihood
Of his going to Congress can scarcely
be construed as a disturbing element
The Socialist vote in the previous con-
otA a.. 4. -
was only 1900 out of total of 73,148
1 doubt, too, whether Mr.. Broun would
be happy on the floor Of the House
You can't laugh things of in WASH
ington. Men have tried 1t before Mr.
Broun ever thought Of the idea, but it
has never gone well. I am glad he has
a well developed sense of humor. 1t
may come in handy when the Socialist
vote is counted"
1t is the active workers for Ruth
Pratt who supplement the issue of
Tammany dominance with a ringing
bid for support on the basis of what
their candidate has accomplished as the
Seventeenth'S Representative These
helpers come from every corner of the
district, and are as earnest and ener-
getic group Of persons as one will find
engaged in political campaigning :.ny-
where. Phelps Phelps, who opposed her
for the Republican nomination two
years ago, is one of them. The capitu-
lation of Mr.. Phelps to the cause of the
woman against whom he once waged
so furious a battle has its practical as
well as its picturesque side. The prac-
tical side is that Mr.. Phelps happens to
be young man with strong following
on his own account, and can make him
self exceedingly useful in bringing out
the vote. The picturesque relates to
Mrs. Pratt's genius in smoothing out
fractional differences and establishing
party harmony at the moment when 1t
Is needed.