Mayor of New York City

“ New York City has had a Board of Estimate and Apportionment in control of its finances for a decade, yet it remained for the recent three-cornered fight for the mayoralty, with its resulting choice of a Democratic mayor and a Fusion Board of Estimate, to bring home to the average citizen what the professional politician had long understood, that this Board have really much more to do with the government of the city than the mayor, that in reality New York has a sort of government by commission. ”

“ He is a thoughtful, prudent man. His reputation for honesty has never, so far as I know, been called in question. It certainly does not take a genius to be mayor of New York. If so, there have been some years when there was hardly a mayor. I take it that a clear-headed, honest man, whose only object is to do his duty, and with courage enough to stand by his conscience, would make a good mayor of New York or of any other city. ”

“ This principle is constantly attracting more and more attention. Boston has recently made some radical changes in her municipal system, which, while they do not go so far in the direction of localizing responsibility in the person of the chief executive as is now true of the city governments of New York and Brooklyn, still largely increase the power of the mayor, and make him to a greater extent than ever before responsible for the conduct of municipal affairs. ”

“ This being the first election since the passing of the charter which made New York the second largest city in the world, each political party has been trying to get a man in for mayor who represented its own especial way of thinking. ”

“ The majority dare not trust the Mayor with such powers. The result is that “for three years and six months the government of the City of New York will be carried on by eighteen separate departments, not one of which is directly responsible or accountable to anybody. They do not derive authority directly from the people, and they certainly owe nothing to the Municipal Assembly. On the other hand, there is no power in the Mayor to hold them accountable.” Says Dr. Shaw:—
It is bureaucracy pure and simple. ”

“ Low was one of the leading members of the Commission which framed the Charter of Greater New York. He is a man of education, of leisure, of experience, and of the highest character. The Citizens’ Union was formed last winter in the old City of New York, with the object of electing what is called a non-partisan mayor. ”

“ They thought they had the ideal candidate, the propriety of whose nomination would convince every citizen who looked to the good of the community and not of the party. Accordingly a canvass of the city was made to see what the public mind was. In the course of a very few days they had received the signatures of more than 100,000 citizens of New York, asking for Mr. Low as a candidate for Mayor of Greater New York, which is soon to be. ”

“ I knew the mayor very well, and under ordinary conditions he would have insisted on the interview with the governor being private and personal. But he was so excited and bursting with rage that he went right on. The mayor fairly shouted: "It is the station agent of the New York Central Railroad in our city of whom I complain. He is active in politics and controls the Democratic organization in our county. He is working to prevent myself and my friends and even ex-Governor Seymour from being delegates to the national convention. ”

“ These are now in a majority and have always been in a majority. A great commercial city like New York could not exist and prosper if they were not in a majority. Whenever they cease to be in a majority, capital and labor will both begin to move away from Manhattan Island.
The splendid achievements of Mayor Strong’s reform administration need not be rehearsed in detail. Col. George E. Waring was appointed head of the Street Cleaning Department, and before he had been at work a fortnight the Evening Post commented on the change he had wrought. ”

“ The local campaign in the metropolis assumed more life. In spite of its avowed purpose to rid the city of dishonestiii. 498 political tricksters, the County Democracy made bedfellows of Tammany and Irving Hall, and nominated Franklin Edson for mayor. This union was the more offensive because in its accomplishment the Whitney organisation turned its back upon Allan Campbell, its choice for governor, whom a Citizens' Committee, with Republican support, afterwards selected for mayor. ”

“ Mr. Van Wyck, the new Mayor of Greater New York, for six months at least is almost as much master of New York as Napoleon III. was master of France after the plébiscite which installed him at the Tuileries. The two-chambered elective council of the city has even less control over his municipal appointments than the senate and Corps Législatif of the Second Empire. ”

“ In 1892 he was a delegate from the state of New York to the National Democratic Convention which, at Chicago, nominated Grover Cleveland as candidate for the office of president of the United States, and during the campaign of that year he was much discussed by the press of New York as the probable nominee of his party for the office of mayor of the city. ”

“ Old-timers years ago would have wondered what the Mayor means by marketing New York City. Cities were viewed more benignly when they were more livable, more employable at good wages, more replete with public institutions like good libraries, good public transit, good schools, good hospitals and clinics and good recreational facilities in the neighborhoods. New York City is crumbling on these measurements. ”

“ He likes prize fights, perhaps too well for his political good.
Friends expect, Fourteenth Street willing, that James J. Walker one day will be His Honor, the Mayor of the City of New York. The Governorship is not likely. Those regions known privately to the Senator as “the sticks” are slow to approve a statesman who seems to be clothed in the New York manner, or copyright, 1925, Hart, Schaffner & Marx. ”

“ James Harper was in 1844 elected mayor of the city of New York for the succeeding year, and he was subsequently put forward for the governorship of the state; but he preferred to conduct the business of the firm rather than enter public life. ”

“ Under the mayor are various heads of departments,—street commissioners, assessors, overseers of the poor, etc.,—sometimes elected by the citizens, sometimes appointed by the mayor or the city council. This city council Is a legislative body, usually consisting of two chambers, the aldermen and the common council, elected by the citizens; but in many small cities, and a few of the largest,—such as New York, Brooklyn, Chicago, and San Francisco,—there is but one such chamber. ”

“ I will defy any one, be he friend or foe, to show me the name of any man ever nominated for the Mayor's office in New York, or for that matter anywhere, who in point of character, rectitude, ability, temperament, liberality of mind, public spirit, knowledge of municipal affairs, experience of municipal affairs — in short, in that combination of qualities which we wish our Mayor to possess — excelled Mr. ”

“ The Dutch were permitted to elect all minor officials and to observe the customs of the fatherland. New York received a new charter, and the government was placed in the hands of a Mayor, Aldermen, and Sheriff, appointed by the Governor. The legislative power was vested in the Governor and Council, who alone possessed the power to impose taxes. ”

“ It is known now as Greater New York, and its present municipal constitution is curiously at variance with the democratic traditions of a nominally free people. Supreme power, the absolute autocratic authority, is vested in a single individual, elected, it is true, by the popular voice, but, while he holds office, as despotic as any Czar. The only check on the Mayor of Greater New York is that of public opinion, expressed through a vigilant, often outrageously plain-speaking, Press, but a Press at times influenced, even to the point of silence, by party spirit. ”

“ I believe that the net result of the non-partisan movement which elected Mayor Strong has been of distinct advantage, in some respects, to the people of New York; but its merits have been confined to the services of a few men who have conducted their offices with conspicuous fidelity and intelligence. ”

“ As mayor he attracted wide attention by his independence and business-like methods—qualities which distinguished his entire career. After his election as governor in the following year, the Democratic party chose him as their candidate against James G. Blaine. He was the first Democrat to be elected president for 24 years. His administration was marked by firmness and justice ”

“ The most singularly illogical position in this respect is taken by some of the sound-money Democrats in New York, who, loudly professing to be in favor of good municipal government, still insist that the Mayor should be “a Democrat,” while at the same time they know, or at least ought to know, that they cannot elect a Mayor for the reason that he is a Democrat without again exposing municipal government to the deleterious influences of organization politics ”

“ DeWitt Clinton, happy and eminently efficient as the mayor of New York, seemed to have before him a bright and prosperous career as a skilful and triumphant party manager; while George Clinton, softened by age, rich in favouring friends, with an ideal face for a strong, bold portrait, was basking in the soft, mellow glow that precedes the closing of a stormy life. Never before, perhaps never since, did a governor enter upon his duties, neither unusual nor important, under more favourable auspices ”

“ During the campaign of the Committee of Seventy, which resulted in the election of Mayor Strong, we were often indebted to them for their presence. I hold it to be an augury of victory that in this large audience so many ladies have honored us with their presence. Ladies generally accomplish what they undertake, and I am sure that Seth Low will be the first Mayor of Greater New York. ”

“ The problem before the voters of New York, therefore, at this election is not simply to secure capable and honest administration of a governmental organization already in operation, but it is to install, over an immense territory, an entirely new City Government ”

“ It ensures unity of administration, it encourages promptness and economy, it locates and defines responsibility, and it is so simple that everybody can understand it. The people, having but few officers to elect, are more likely to know something about them. Especially since everybody understands that the success of the government depends upon the character of the mayor, extraordinary pains are taken to secure good mayors; and the increased interest in city politics is shown by the fact that in Brooklyn more people vote for mayor than for governor or for president. ”

“ To its agency more than any other is due the fact that for the last three-quarters of a century New York city has been the most potent political centre in the world, not even Paris excepted. Greater than a party, inasmuch as it has been the master of parties, it has seen political organisation after organisation, in whose conflicts it has fearlessly participated, arise, flourish, and go down, and yet has stood ready, with powers unimpaired, to engage in the struggles of the next crop of contestants. ”

“ Every good citizen, of course, joins in that pious wish. But it is useless to indulge in such delusions. No Tammany Mayor, unless he be a man of the loftiest kind of public spirit, of exceptional strength of will, and of the most self-sacrificing devotion to public duty, can resist the influences bearing upon him from the power that made him; and even if he be such an extraordinary person, he will find himself balked at every step. ”

“ Hence it was regarded by the leaders of the Republican machine as virtually a revolt against the Republican Caucus, and the Chairman of the County Republican Committee publicly declared that the Republican party would much rather see a Tammany man installed as the first Mayor of Greater New York than a mayor who was not the nominee of the Republican organisation. And the Republican Party men have had their wish. ”

“ The American Mayor is usually a different person from the English Mayor. Until within the last five-and-twenty or thirty years, the Mayor of New York was invariably a man of social and political importance, belonging strictly to the higher class of society. The same was true of the Mayor of Albany. ”

“ At a time when Washington is divided in old ideological battles, he shows us what can be achieved when we bring people together to seek pragmatic solutions. Not only has he been a remarkable leader for New York - he has established himself as a major voice in our national debate on issues like renewing our economy, educating our children, and seeking energy independence. Mr. Mayor, I share your determination to bring this country together to finally make progress for the American people. ”

“ The natural incompatibility of good government and that kind of party organization which culminates in boss rule could find no more striking illustration than the recent municipal election in Greater New York. There are at present not a few well-meaning persons who, while deploring the restoration of Tammany Hall to power, seek to console themselves with a vague hope that after all, the new Mayor, Mr. ”

“ A man has been found who, in the estimation of many of his fellow citizens, possesses in an exceptional measure three qualifications of character, ability, and experience which the Mayor of Greater New York should have. Those who think so request the voters of Greater New York, without distinction of party, to speak out if they are of the same mind. The formal presentation of the candidate will depend upon the response this request meets with. This proceeding is expected to result in the nomination of the best man for a very important office. ”