Evening star., 1932-08-21
C. D. P. DEMANDING
MASCHKE 0UST|NG
Cleveland Republicans Feel
Loss of Prestige Through
Indictment.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

opcSidl DiSpdtCH W ne star.
CLEVELAND. August 20 (NANA)
"A group of Republican ward leaders,
meeting in secret here like a band of
Macedonian terroristic revolutionaries
have Matched plot to accomplish
the political annihilation of Maurice
MaSchke, Republican boss of Cleveland
since the days of Mark Hanna
whether or not Maschke is guilty
OF completely in the embezzlement of
money from the county treasury as his
indictment charges it is his duty to get
out OF the party" one of the bolder
ward leaders said. "Use of his name as
our leader Is killing our prestige"
Furtiveness Shows Power.
The furtiveness of the meeting and
the timidity implicit in later accounts
of 1t are strong testimonials to the
power welded by the veteran politician,
brought into court on charges for the
first time in a long career which has
been luridly Illuminated by campaigns
to throw out Maschkeism."
There Is no doubt that guilty or in
nocent Maschke Is debit to his party,
facing State and national elections wNl
a crumbling organization, but there are
few men brave enough to tell him so
to his face. AS for Maschke himself, it
is plain that he wants to go into court
on trial as the leader of his party with
the expectation of vindication.
In the last three or four years
Maschke has toyed with the thought of
resignation. He Is old, wealthy and
political combat no longer stimulates
him as 1t did in the days when all politi-
cal battlef1eldS were chessboardS on
which he arranged the figures and set
the stakes. But he is stubborn and pug
nacious in his fear that his resignation
would be construed as a surrender to
the reformers who have bayed at his
heels for years.
political Realist."
In his public speeches it is plain that
MaSchke makes an intellectual defense
of the boss system and of his participa-
tion in 1t. He calls himself q political
realiSt, and political realism as he seems
to understand it includes a silent but
unyielding front in the face of what he
considers ignorant opposition.
MaSchke was called the rapier
flashing in the dark" in his first major
campaign years ago when he made Her
man C. Baehr, stolid German brew
master, mayor of Cleveland. Since
then he has been described in illusions
ranging from soaring eagle to ''preda-
tory hawk" and caricaturists have seen
resemblances to both in his great beak-
ed nose, his mouth, his horn-rimmed
glasses and his head.
MaSchke Is a Harvard graduate, q
student Of Shakespeare, Ibsen and
Hauptmann, a ranking bridge player, a
quiet, shrewd and intellectual man. No
assault ever made on him before ever
charged him with personal dishonesty,
although 1t was charged he suffered
corruption as necessary evil. For
years his word has been synonymous
with truth.
But now his word has been impugned
and ward leaders say he must be
ousted. 1t Is possible that he may
soften and resign, but in this indignant
denial of completely in the treasury
deficit were seen echoes of his old de-
termination.
Helped Friend Repay Money.
ut is political indictment" he
roared in court. Il simply helped
friend to repay money to the public
treasury for the public's good. Is it
a crime to be generous?"
But the statement was the last
damning word to a public that had
watched member after member of
Maschke's ruling inner clique fall into
the shadow OF the treasury scandal, or
of the city hall land scandals before
that.
1t was pointed out that Maschke ad-
mitted helping his friend, Alex Bern
stein, then chief deputy county treas
urer, repay money in 1928 and then
allowed Republican county commits
sioners to select Bernstein as county
treasurer until the taking of office by
the Republican L. G. G,arry the Love-
ly) Collister, the incumbent treasurer
who shakes and sweats and means that
he was only the treasurer in name and
that Bernstein ran the Office.
Copyright, 1882. by North American News
paper Alliance, Inc)