Evening star., 1953-10-11
New York City Voters
Faced With Poor Choice
Muyorolty Candidates Called
Men Of Little Stature
By Frank r. Kent

~ S~sAAsS SA0A0bS
BY Fronk r. Kent
The election of Mayor of New York
City always is of national interest. One
reason is because it is our largest city
in our largest State Naturally. the pol
iticians closely watch the many and
diverse voting currents there with the
idea Of gauging public sentiment in
other sections. Sometimes this works
out; sometimes the New York yard
stick is wholly unreliable as measure
ment.
However, the election on November
3 is sure to affect not only the State
and congressional elections of 1854 but
also the presidential election Of 1856.
For example. should the Democratic
candidate, Robert F. Wagner. jr., win,
it would put the liberal or left-wing,
element of the party in complete con-
troll. For, supporting Mr.. Wagner, in
addition to what is left of the Tam
many machine, are the Americans for
Democratic Action and the organized
labor bosses unified by the fact that
he is the son of the late author Of
the Wagner Act, under which the
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and power.
Also. among the early Wagner Spon-
SorS are Franklin D. Roosevelt, jr., and
his mother. Mr.. Wagner also has been
indorsed by Adlai Stevenson, the pre-
cocious Stephen Mitchell, chairman Of
the Democratic National Committee:
Mr.. Truman. Averell Hartman and
the aged Senator Herbert Lehman.
The Roosevelts are counted upon to
swing the Negro vote to Mr.. Wagner,
which-if they can do twill give him
real advantage. Statistically, the odds
favor Mr.. Wagner because of the very
heavy Democratic registration majority
in the city. His election probably
would mean the nomination of young
Roosevelt for Governor in 1854. Should
he be elected, Mr.. Roosevelt would con-
troll the big New York delegation to
the 1856 national convention, where
unquestionably he would be available"
for the presidential nomination. His
limitations are many but they do not
apply to his ambitions.
Thus, it is easy to understand that
the Wagner nomination opens up
beautiful vista for the Roosevelt-Tru
man New and Fair Dealers, along with
all their adhering groups and classes.
Should it be realized it indeed would
be marvellous comeback and the left
wingers from coast to coast are natu-
rally thrilled with anticipation. Some
of the more gleeful are beginning to
say, 1--WE planned it that way" But the
best-laid dplans-particularly in politics
nftnV1 oN NAl -
q few things that could spoil this
dream. For one, there are three other
mayoralty candidates besides Mr.. Wag-
ner, two of whom are Rudolph HALEY.
nominee OF the Liberal Party and
Mayor Impellitteri, who is running as
an independent. Both of these will poll
some Democratic votes and Mr.. HALEY
claims both labor and left-wing support.
Then. there is Harold Riegelman, the
Republican candidate. Undoubtedly he
will get considerable vote from the
conservative Democrats. Some news
papers and observers assert he easily
is the ableSt man running but his
chances of success generally are not
considered good. A rather dirty name
calling campaign has developed. From
the public point of view there are sew
eral distressing features of the situa-
ton. The chief of these is the mediocre
equipment of the candidates given the
best chance Of success. New York is not
only the greatest city in the country
but 1t is the worst managed. It's A.
nanceS are almost unbelievably bad
and its government is saturated with
corruption and incompetency.
The problems with which the next
Mayor will have to cope would tax
the strength and ability Of the ablest
man in New York. None of the four
candidates measure up to that standard
or anywhere near up to 1t. Next to the
presidency, being Mayor of New York
is the toughest job in the country It's
burdens are enormous 1t is no place
for an inferior man. Yet, the choice
presented to the voters of this great
city seems to make the election of one
such almost inevitable. 1t is tragic
prospect. From the national viewpoint
the election of Mr.. Wagner would be
particularly unfortunate in that it
might put young Mr.. Roosevelt in reach
of the presidency
In three terms as member Of Con-
gress Representative Roosevelt has
made no affirmative record at all. His
chief asset is conceded to be his fathers
name. It is true the supposed magic of
that name may be overestimated and
Mr.. Roosevelt fail to be elected Gov
ernor. Two years ago his elder brother,
James Roosevelt ran for Governor of
California on the Roosevelt name and
supported by all the old Roosevelt
groups. He was beaten by more than a
million votes in State where the
Democrats had more than a two-to-one
registered majority. The man who beat
him was the new Chief Justice of the
Supreme CourtT-Earl Warren.