The Daily Worker Newspaper, September 19, 1925, Page 9

! k ‘in office. | Tammany’s Triumph in New York By H. M. WICKS HEH} outcome of the primary elect- fons of September 15 establishes the undisputed control of Tammany Hall over the democratic party of New York, If one views the conflict as one between personalities it means that the ignorant shyster, Hylan, has been defeated by the corporation hireling State Senator James J: Walker, whose record reeks with infamy as lawyer for dispensers of rotten meat—the packing house trust. Mentally Walker and Hylan ere equals; both utterly de vold of brains or ability, hence both ideal figurheads for political machines, From another point of view the out- come appears as the triumph of the political machine that is known thru- out the world and the synonym of the most loathsome political venality known to mankind. And the daily press and those who read its editor- ials view the outcome as the personal triumph of Governor Al. Smith and (the humiliating defeat of William Randolph mipetat who is Hylan’s spon- sor, Susspapiitibanataler it is Tammany’s victory. A typical triumph, wrought thru the mobilization of its ward- heelers, criminal hangers-on, pick- pockets, dope peddlers, proprietors of houses of assignation, pimps, priests, gangters, bootleggers, bishops, labor fakers, public and private whores— with Governor Al. Smith as spokes- man for them all. But behind this menagerie assem- bled at the Fourteenth street Wigwam stands the towering shadow of the House of Morgan. The real contest was between the petty bourgeois Hearst-Hylan combi- nation within the democratic party and the banking combine. The mayor of New York and his sponsor, Hearst, imagined they could challenge the House of oMrgan-—or bluff Tammany into acceptance of Hylan for another term. Once before a representative “ot the petty bourgeoisie assailed Tam- ., Many after the Wigwam became the private property of Morgan. That person, now almost forgotten, was Sulzer, governor of the state, who was impeached in 1913 by a Tammany con- trolled state senate and legislature. Issues Forgotten UST as Sulzer tried to wage a struggle against Tammany on the clean government plea, Hylan raised the issue of the 5-cent fare on the transportation lines of New York. But Tammany never fights on issues. It did not raise’ any issues when it boost- ed Hylan into the mayor’s quarters at city hall, and it required none to eli- minate him. The mayor of ‘New York has never been considered a legitim- ate off-spring of Tammany, but he was the best timber available at the time. Hylan is the bastardized offspring of William Randolph Hearst and Tam- many. In 1917 the Wigwam was con- fronted the task of defeating a repub- licant administration that was then John Purroy Mitchell was republican mayor, but was defeated in the primaries by one Bennett. It igs generally conceded that the defeat “of Mitchell at the republican primar- ies was engineered by Tammany who feared a conffict with Mitchell. Tam- many had no outstanding candidate, but Hearst had long been grooming Hylan, Ata strategic moment Hearst yanked Hylan out of obscurity and “{mpose him upon Tammany as the price of a united party. The fact that Hylan was an intellectual zero did not dismay Tammany and Hearst. Expert publicity men write his speeches and Hylan intoned them before audiences. The battery of Hearst papers pro- claimed the candidate a man of un- surpassed ability and exemplary virtue, The result was an astounding “victory, After the victory Hylan remained Hearst’s man, and only secondarily and as a matter of expediency the agent of Tammany. . Within the democratic party Hearst ig the defender of the thoroly rotten industrialists, department store io ors, petty shopkeepers and a strata of professionals, Paradoxical as it may seem, Hearat, who !s a multt- millionaire with vast holdings in Mex- ico in addition to his immense news- paper properties, is unquestionably the spokesman for and political lead- er of this section of the democratig party in the East. On the other hand Tammany Hall is the political mach- |, ince thru which the House of Morgan has controlled the democratic party since 1910. The deep-going conflict of interests between the two econ- omic groups in the democratic party was bound to express itself in open warfare sooner or later. In 1921 when Hylan ran for reelection the Wigwam was forced reluctantly to endorse him because of the political situation in the gtate of New York, which was at that time controlled by the republican party. Again the hall stood for the Hearst-Hylan combination for the sake of party unity. Smith and Hytan in the Arena HE successful campaign of 1922 which elected Al. Smith as gov- ernor and his re-election in 1924 against the candidacy of Theodore Roosevelt Jr. on the republican ticket, made Tammany Hall arrogant, Feel- ing itself secure it determined to elim- inate Hearst and Hylan, inasmuch as this combination had embarassed the Wall Street holders of stock in the rapid transit system. Finance capital, |in control of Tammany Hall, felt that it was not receiving sufficient political advantages to enable it to get the full benefit of its investments in public utilities in the city of New York. In addition to the purely local situation, the continuation of the Hearst-Hylan control of the city had an unhealthy effect upon the national welfare of the party, as was clearly revealed during the Madison Square convention of the democratic party last year when Hearst fought against the nomination for president of the United States, of the attorney for the House of Morgan John W. Davis. After openly breaking with Hylan and opposing his candidacy with that of State. Senator James. J. Walker, Tammany discovered that the Hearst- Hylan group. was capable of waging a fierce struggle to maintain power. Seven years of control had resulted in creating a powerful machine loyal to Hylan. Since Walker was unknown it became necessary for Tammany to call into the fray Governor Al, Smith, who entered the arena like a gladia- tor, full armoured with the language of the gutter which he handles with admirable abandon. His. opening salute, challenging Hylan to the fray was: “Watch my stuff, I'll throw Mayor Hylan into the ashcan so quick- ly he won't know what struck him,” Refined Political Discussion "ITH that elegance of diction so peculiar to him, Al. Smith, pro- ceded to his task. His first javelin carried the intimation that Mayor Hylan was in sympathy with, if not actually a member of, the ku klux klan. That was too much for Hylan, so Hearst, from his California ranch, fired a broadside against Smith. The governor came back with a long tir- ade wherein he tried, in his own re- fined way, to convey the idea that he really hadn’t said the Mayor was a kluxer, but that he knows that Hylan attended a conference with kluxers during the famous nominating con- vention of the democratic party last year. Mention of that convention was all that Hearst desired. It gave him the opportunity he had long a- waited to assail the dominant wing of the democratic party which has of late treated its petty bourgeois wing in the East with almost the same contempt that it’ accorded the late Bryan who led the petty bour- geois elements in the Middle West. In the opening sentence of his re- ply Hearst paid his a ges _to Smith: , “The distinguished ‘governor or’ the great state of New York ‘has ‘taken three days laboriously to prepare a vuigar tirade that any resident of Billingsgate or any occupant of the alcoholic ward at Bellevue could have written in fifteen minutes in quite the same style, but with more evid- ence of education and intelligence. The Wall Street friends of Governor Smith have enabled him to remove his domicile and his refined person from the neighborhood of the Bowery but he still reverts in the manner of thot and expresion to the familiar localities of Five Points and. Hell’s Kitchen, if this may be said without undue offense to these localities.” After this adequate, concise and.yet comprehensive description of the Tammanyite governor of New York, Mr. Hearst then cites his petty bour- geois list of grievances against the late national convention of the demo- cratic party. First he asserts that Smith and McAdoo, after the long struggle at the national convention, met at a room in the Ritz Hotel, which Hearst intimates was paid for by the House of Morgan, and there agreed upon John W. Davis as the presidential candidate. Secondly he raises the question of Goyernor Smith having been put into the na- tional convention in order to prevent the nomination of a representative of the liberal (petty bourgeois) wing of the party and eventually throw the nomination to Morgan's lackey. With the customary hypocricy of the intellectual leaders of the middle class Hearst concludes his indictment of Smith by asserting that he cannot support such a party “while a brazen instrument of the traction interests sits in the governor’s chair and claims to be the democratic leader of the state.” Hearst refrained, of course, from comparing the mental capacity of Hylan with that of Smith. The stories of the lives of these two political pawns are not dissimilar—the differ- ence is that one of them is the pliant tool of the House of Morgan, while the other serves Hearst, the political spokesman in the East of the mer- cenary middle class that is always for sale to the highest bidder. Smith closed the debate by crawl- ing even lower in the gutter in order to appeal to his supporters, most of whom are also dominated by the ultra- montane machine directed by the agents: of;*the .Pope sof Rome, and whose training enables them to ap- ‘Preciafe tie governdr’s style of pol- itical argument. Speaking of Hylan’s recent visit to WHearst’s California ranch, the governor said: “While he (Hearst) and the mayor (Hylan) were out brushing flies off the cows grazing on the thousand hills, they were both engaged in shipping the bull back to New York.” Smith Accepts Bribes HO not a candidate for office in this election, the role that Tam- many imposed upon Governor Smith has revealed him as oné of the low- est types of political hireling. Most politicians receive their pay from the corporations they serve in indirect ways, but the governor of New York receives some of‘his direct. He main- tains an extravagant suite at the Bilt- more Hotel, but does not pay one penny rent. The hotel is owned by the Vanderbilt family, the New York Central railroad and Armour & Co. of the meat trust, Under the domination of Hearst, Mayor Hylan, during his seven years in office, has succeeded in build- ing up a rival machine to Tammany. He has his own political favorities in all the various boroughs who fatten at the trough of political spoils. The regular Tammanyites had been left out in the cold and had been enduring lean years since the second inaugural of Hylan. Hence the fight in the various buroughs was a veritible guer- illa warfare between the ward-heeling gangsters in both groups. Labor Fakirs In Scramble Mo" of the reactionary labor lead- ers in the city and state are part and parcel of the Tammany machine. Thru this political machine the offi- cialdom of labor allies itself directly with the House of Morgan. These of- ficials of labor are tolerated in the Tanks not because of the votes they can deliver. It is generally known that they can deliver nothing in the form of voting cattle. But since they exert influence in the labor unions they can prevent the organization of the public utility employees and other slaves in industries where Morgan has huge investments. Being politic- exces iataiidicrilanipsicnitaceitinasatinabittipmte st tiaitintiimaeimnttiontiitaishatinttccteennii mavensishtinnpetiljeasitsiateiiancitatatattt experience ally allied with the direct agents of* the part of the would-be farmer, the Interborough and B. M, T. stock- holders there is no possibility of the New York City labor officialdom tak: ing drastic steps to injure the profits of these concerns by aiding in creat- ing labor unions, Among the galaxy of labor lieuten- ants who supported Tammany's fig- urehead—Jimmy Walker—were James P. Holland, president of the New York State Federation of Labor and Peter J. Brady, that garrullus blaterskite who heads thé Federation Bank. Lined up with them was the Whole crew of the most unspeakable traitors to the working class in control of the labor movement of the city who will sink to any depth for pay. Communists Only Defend Workers Interests GAINST the powerful machinery of Tammany Hall there is but one force that really“defends the pol- itical interests of the vast masses of workers in the city and that is the Workers (Communist) Party and its candidate for mayor, Benjamin Git- low. That does not mean that there are no other candidates in the field. There is the republican party, with the millionaire scab herder, Frank D_ Waterman, manufacturer of fountain pens that bear his name. Possibly Hylan, at the direction of Hearst, may launch a third ticket. Then there is the moribund socialist party, with the pulpit-pounder, the Rev. Norman Tho- mas, talking altruism to the workers and making vague suggestions about subway management and building in New York. But the Communists alone come out openly in defense of the ‘elementary interests of the wage workers. It is only the Communists who propose to use the city government as a bludgeon against the rapacity of the stock- holders of public utilittes. It is only the Communists who will stifle the in- famous conspiracy between, the labor leaders and Tammany Hall to prevent the organization of the thousands a Interborough slaves. in the suby. elevated and on the surface “lime Greater New York. Furthermore the Communists util- ize this campaign to expose to the working class of this city the fact that the socialists and labor leaders will not enter into a-united political struggle for the elementary demands of the workers by endorsing a united labor ticket against both old parties and their henchmen. With the hand-picked Tammanyite and defender of the putrid meat trust on the democratic ticket; with Water- man on the republican ticket, and the insipid Thomas on the socialist ticket, the Communist have an opportunity to wage a brilliant. struggle against the combination and to demonstrate to the intelligent strata of workers the fact that only a revolutionary party of labor can defend their inter-. ests. 1905 Rebels Plan Reunion Celebration at 20th Anniversary A celebration in mémory of the 20th anniversary of the Russian revolution of 1905 is being planned in Chicago by old rebels of the 1905 revolution. The revolution of that year awaken- ed the masses, it shook the throne of the czar, but it,was not strong enuf to overthrow czarism and capitalism. As a result of that, a terrible fnass- acre broke out, killing thotsands of workers. ‘Many were exiled tod Si-| beria; some were more fortunate and) fled to other countries, A conference of the old rebels who are living in Chicago is being called to organize a monster celebration for the occasion. Old rebels are request- ed to send their names and addresses to the Chicago office of the Novy Mir, 1113 W, aac Blyd., Chicago, Illinois. off 4 5 Poor Farmers Not Wanted WASHINGTON, Sept. 18—(FP)— Poor men need not apply for land on government irrigation projects in the west, Secretary Work has issued new regulations that call for $2,000 min- imum capital or its equivalent, and two years of practical on