The evening world. Newspaper, November 1, 1917, Page 15

On Tucsday next the City of New York will elect a Demo- eratic Mayor and refuse to elect a candidate who represents rail- Touds, public corporations, large private fortunes, but not the city. ~~ This statement is made on the authority of Wall Street, itself an institution of which the chief occupation is gambling, and “which expresses in gambling even its political opinions. ; Wall Street, while working for Mr. Mitchel, is betting two to “one-that Mitchel will be beaten and the Democratic candidate ,elected—and Wall Street will win the money thus wagered. As the Democratic candidate I deeply appreciate the hostility of Wall Strect and the big corporations that control it, and at the ‘game time appreciate the soundness of Wall Street’s coldblooded judgment which makes it bet two to one against its own candidate. _. Especially appreciated are these few lines from the Boston News Bureau, the official mouthpiece of the Stock Exchange: “Hylan is an anti-corporation man, and especially anti- Rockefeller corporation, and it will be a bear argument on traction and gas stock if he happens to win. On the other hand, if Mayor Mitchel is elected one can buy these stocks with his eyes shut.” As the Democratic candidate I am not against any corporation that is honest or against any individual, whatever his wealth, un- “Tess he claims for that wealth the right to name and control the Mayor of New York City. I am against the man who is the chosen candidate of special privilege, the man whose election would make it safe to buy ‘‘with your eyes shut’’ the watered stock of the most shamefully dishonest public corporations. *. My Promise to the Citizens. As Mayor of New York City I shall work for the millions © that make up the population of New York City, the millions that struggle under the heavy problem of high living cost, high taxes _* and high rents. } I shall be elected without the votes of those that wish to buy ‘street car stocks ‘with their eyes shut.’’ I shall owe them noth- _» ing, except fair treatment and justice, and they will get nothing 2 * else—and they know it and are all for Mr. Mitchel. There has been too much personality in this campaign, not enough plain, clear talk about government of the greatest city in the world. These are, in the main, the ideas concerning that gov- ernment which are shared with me by the great majority of the people. ‘Municipal Ownership. The Democratic platform pledges its candidate to municipal ownership in principle and in practice. The people should own their streets, and the profit created by their going to and fro, from their homes to their places of work, should be profit for the city and the people, not for private indi- viduals. What applies to public ownership of the street car lines applies to public ownership of gasworks and electric light works, telephones and all other property of which the value is created by the public, and at present exploited by private individuals. I promise to work faithfully for publicly owned municipal monopolies and to create such a condition as would not justify the most optimistic Wall Street gambler in buying, ‘‘with his eyes shut,” the watered stock of dishonest public service corpo- rations. (Taxation. The Democratic Party is pledged to honest, equal, impartial taxation, and to honest, economical spending of the public money. When I am Mayor there will be no favoritism either for those that deal in lands with the city, or for those that seek to avoid their share of taxes and unload that share on the pocketbooks of smaller people. Careful investigation has been made of the taxation of fifteen of the principal corporations and large private fortunes that are supporting Mr. Mitchel, the railroad and Wall Street candidate. I investigated taxes only on part of the property owned by these corporations and rich Mitchel enthusiasts. And I found that the present administration had reduced the "-assessinents on the property of these fifteen owners by more than twenty-nine millions of dollars. Can the little property owner expect that his taxes will be reasonable, can the small rent payer expect that his rent will be reasonable, when fifteen individual great fortunes and corpora- tions can persuade an adininistration to reduce their assessments by twenty-nine millions? I defy any intelligent citizen to deny that the great corpora- tions and the excessively rich men are to a man and to a corpora- tion adyocating the election of Mr. Mitchel. Do you wonder that Mr. Mitchel has the support of these gen- tlemen and these corporations? Tf fifteen of these corporations and rich men are able to have the assessment on part of their property reduced by twenty-nine millions, what must be the total sum of financial gratitude that big individuals and big corporations owe to Mr, Mitchel and his administration? I shall endeavor to serve faithfully the whole | | | — THE BVENING WORLD, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER i, 1617. | POLITICAL. J POLITICAL, | POLITICAL. | I promise, after my election, to investigate completely and report fully on this favoritism in taxation which has disgraced the city and robbed the small taxpayer. I promise that the big individuals and the big corporations shall carry their share of the burden of taxation equally with the rentpayer and the small property owner. You read, over and over again, in New York City, ‘‘Home for sale; assessed valuation $7,500; will sell for $5,000’’—that is the home of the individual who has no “‘pull,’’ the individual who is not conspicuous as a Mitchel supporter. And you know that the corporation and the big individual holds property assessed for five millions that he would not sell for ten millions, and property assessed for ten millions that he would not sell for twenty. A Few Examples. You know that the New York Central Railroad and those that control it are ardent in their support of Mr. Mitchel. He tried to cut a slice off of the West Side of New York and give it to them. But that isn’t all. Under his administration the tax assessment of the New York Central, which I have just investigated, shows a REDUO- TION of $4,058,500. The Consolidated Gas Company—earnest in the support of Mr. Mitchel—on part of its holdings investigated has had a reduo- tion of $4,939,500. Banks, trust companies, insurance companies have had the assessments on their property reduced to the tune of $12,460,000, Do you wonder that they are all for Mitchel, whose administration puts the load of taxation on the backs of the little property owner and the little rent payer? Kind Treatment for Mr. Astor. Mr. Vincent Astor is a charming young man, very enthiusias- tic for Mr. Mitchel. On part of his real estate the assessment has been reduced by more than $3,000,000, Senator Ogden Mills, relative of the young gentleman who owns the New York Tribune, that left the Republican party to support Mitchel, owes to the administration a reduced assessment on PART of his property amounting to $255,000. Mr. Henry Morgenthau, very pleasant gentleman, has two occupations at present—real estate and re-electing Mr. Mitchel. The tax assessment on only six out of many hundreds of real estate parcels owned by Mr. Morgenthau has been reduced by $100,000. Six properties of the Vanderbilt estate have had $462,500 taken off their assessment. Can you mention any Vanderbilt who is not in favor of Mr. Mitchel? I can’t. On John D. Rockefeller’s residence the tax assessment has been reduced by $60,000, and on the residence of his son, John D., Jr. (small favors thankfully received), the tax assessment has been reduced by $25,000. Mr. Ralph Pulitzer has a reduction of $5,000 on his residence, which seems pitifully small. And Mr. George W. Perkins, another of the Republicans that, have forgotten that such a thing as a Republican candidate exists, got a reduction of $15,500 on the assessment on his residence. Mr. Mitchel and the New York Central. Favors of Mr. Mitchel’s administration to the New York Central Railroad are interesting, even in detail. On the Grand Central Station alone Mr. Mitchel’s kind heart caused a reduction of $1,380,000 in the tax assessment. I deplore personalities, but can hardly wonder that humorous political writers speak of one of my distinguished political opponents as “Grand Central Jack.” The Hotel Biltmore, another Vanderbilt property, has had its tax assessment reduced by $775,000. Very comfortable, you will admit, for those that own hotels worth five to ten millions of dollars. Sixtecn of the most valuable pieces of property in New York City, closely surrounding the Grand Central Station, all owned by the railroad, have had their tax assessments reduced, Surely the Grand Central would be very ungrateful if it did not appreciate the kindness of Mr, Mitchel, the candidate that has done so much, I ask the average citizen, have YOU had such reductions as this in YOUR cost of living? Have YOUR taxes been reduced? Has YOUR rent been reduced? Is there any question in your mind that the eminently re- spectable, enormously rich individuals and the very powerful cor- porations urging you to re-elect Mr. Mitchel have in mind a con- tinuation of this accommodating system of taxation which re- duces by millions the taxes laid upon the very rich and increases by many millions the total of taxes laid upon the little people? Perera ror ep mesp yamine) POLITICAL. ee a AAA eR 0 THE CITIZENS WHOSE VOTES I ASK: | Corporation Favors. | I do not wish to bore you with detafls, but I think you will be | interested to know that the Manhattan Life Insurance Company has been favored with a decrease from $4,750,000 to $3,800,000, The great corporations all admire Mr, Mitchel, and well they may. The Manhattan Life Insurance Company has been favored with a decrease from $4,750,000 to $3,800,000. These great cor+ porations all admire Mr. Mitchel, and well they may. The Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company, the Commercial Cable Company, the American Surety Company, the New York Life Insurance Company, the Home Life Insurance Company and a long list of others have had their assessments reduced by mil- lions of dollars. Electric Light Trust for Mitchel. Do you happen to pay bills to the Edison Company. know how prosperous it is. You know that on one plant of this company, in West Two Hundred and First street, the Mitchel administration has granted a reduction in the tax assessment of $870,000. Do you wonder that this corporation, which taxes you so heavily through its elec- tric light bills, thinks it would be a great misfortune if you failed to re-elect my opponent, Mr. Mitchel? Land Frauds. | You have read about the land frauds which have resulted in the indictment of a number of distinguished citizens dealing with the city in real estate matters. I ask you whose friends | those indicted men are. They are Mrs Mitchel’s friends—and Mr. Mitchel said (in | the New York World of October 21, 1917), “If they don’t like my friends they can go to hell.” Mr. Roosevelt, etc. | You know also that Mr. Roosevelt feels it bis duty to come from Oyster Bay, where he pays taxes, to New York City, where he does not pay taxes, and tell you that you ought to re-elect Mr. Mitchel and allow him to continue his magnanimous tax redue- tions for the big men and the big corporations. When you ask why Mr. Mitchel is so closely associated with | those that are indicted for land frauds, you are told that Mr. Mitchel is a great patriot, that all who fail to vote for him will | prove their treason and disloyalty. \ When you ask why it is that Mr, Mitchel’s administration knocked twenty-nine millions of dollars off the tax assessments of fifteen friendly corporations and admiring rich men, they point out to you a picture of Mr, Mitchel in khaki posing as a hero, But tax reduction for corporations during office hours and khaki photographs in between do not exactly satisfy the people of New York. Rents are outrageously high, and high taxes make them so. Great corporations and powerful individuals are shamefully favored—and the smaller people must carry the load. The real estate in the richest city in the world is a drug in the market, because the small parcels must pay the whole to let the big escape. Clever corporation lawyers, from Mr. Root at the top to the cunning juvenile at the bottom, all living on corporation pickings, tell you that honor requires the re-eleetion of the khaki tax-reduc- ing hero, Mr. Mitchel. You Voters, Not Corporation Lawyers, Decide. Fortunately, next Tuesday the city will hear from the seven hundred thousand voters who have been silent during the campaign —paying the rent, paying the electric light bills, hanging to car straps, paying the high cost of living, worrying about their taxes, On Tuesday next the fifteen big corporations and big indi- viduals anxious for another four years of tax reduction for their especial benefit will disappoint their friend Mr, Mitchel. Fortunately for the people, while it is possible for a Mayor to | deliver the city for four years to a few friends and a few corpora- | tions, it is not possible for those friends and corporations to de- liver the city to that Mayor, once the people are informed, The statements that I have made here as to taxation are mat- ters of record, Not one of them can be disproved by Mr. Mitchel, or by any of those that I have mentioned, Does any citizen think it entirely accidental that those with too much money should have their taxes reduced, while those with too little money have their rent and the taxes on their small parcels of property greatly increased? I respectfully request the votes on Tuesday next of the citi- | zens of all parties who believe that city government should rep- resent honestly the entire population of the city, and not a few chosen corporations and a few chosen friends, some indicted and some not. After my election I promise to work for public ownership of publie property in this city; for just, fair taxation; for full, com- | plete public education for all children; for the welfare of all the people of the city as opposed to the private interests of a few. city—not a chosen few. JOHN F. HYLAN