Life — February 9, 1911 — page 8: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“While there is Life there's Hope. FEBRUARY 9, 1911 No. 1476 VOL. LY Published by LIFE PUBLISHING COMPANY JOA Mivenmit, Prete AL MILLRK, Se’pama Treas, 17 West Thirty-first Street, New York, ali HAT was an amusing squib that was thrown into the Senatorial dead- lock at Albany by Bishop Ludden, of Syracuse. The Bishop, a Roman Catholic, communi- cated to the newspapers a signed state- ment in which he said that “ bigotry and the old spirit of Know-nothingism” were at the bottom of the hesitation at Albany, and that “the real meaning of the opposition led by the Osbornes and others against New York Demo- crats led by Murphy” was “ you are an Jrishman, and that’s agin you; you are a Catholic, and that’s agin you, and your name is Murphy.” The interesting feature of this ex- pression was that it was so ineffective, It was not only not true, but was im- mediately examined and dismissed as untrue. The opposition to Sheehan was neither racial nor religious, nor even personal, but political. It was an opposition based on the same grounds as the opposition of Governor Wilson in New Jersey to James Smith, The trouble with Mr. Smith was that he was understood to represent the prin- ciple of government by an inside ring for the benefit of its members and their friends. Governor Wilson did not want him, because he would not have represented in the Senate the voters of New Jersey who elected Wilson Governor. The Democratic rebels in Albany who would not go into caucus to be shackled by Tam- many objected to Mr. Sheehan, be- cause he would not represent in the Senate the voters who elected Dix. Who would he represent? In the eyes of a large proportion of the independent voters he would have represented Charles Murphy and his proprietors and customers. Mr. Shee- oy al) ks a han is entirely a practical man, and a disbeliever in the theory of something for nothing, and as Senator he would undoubtedly represent the men and the forces that mace him Senator. Those men and those forces can never carry the State of New York at the polls. The effort in New York, like the effort in New Jersey, was an effort by the proprietors of a faction to fill an office that belonged to the whole State. When Murphy and Cohaian, with a verdict by voters confronting them, -agreed to Dix for Governor they compromised. When, with no verdict of voters ahead, they picked Sheehan for Senator, relying on cau- cus rule to elect him, they tried to take all there was. It doesn’t matter a particle whether Sheehan is or is not an Irishman or a Catholic. The trouble with him is that as Senator he would not fairly represent the Democratic voters of the State, and would scare off. inde- pendent voters who were inclined to act with the Democratic party. & As BisHoP LUDDEN said: According to our theory and system of gov- ernment the majority rules, or is supposed to rule. That's our boasted system, and American patriots ought to. stand by that system or expatriate themselves as do the Astors and other apostate patriots. Majority rules, as the Bishop says. A majority vote of the Legislature elects the Senator. A majority vote also governs a caucus, but the Albany insurgents did not go into the Demo- cratic caucus, The Bishop does not seem to understand the working of the protestant mind that will stay out- side of the party machine rather than forswear essential liberties of thought and action. Plenty of Catholics, of course, have protestant minds; plenty of Catholics in this case are opposed to Sheehan. There are tens of thousands of Democrats in New York City that are outside of the Tammany organiza- tion, and will stay outside. Friedman,a Tammany Assemblyman who bolted the caucus and voted for Shepard, jus- tified himself on the ground that his constituents were overwhelmingly for Shepard. Tammany represents only a fraction of the New York City Democrats. The rest are without rep- resentation in the party councils. Mur- phy’s caucus, including many unwill- ing members, did not represent them, The fight at Albany was natural and inevitable, bound to come at the first considerable failure, forced or natural, of Murphy's discretion. It is not be- cause Murphy is an Irishman, and not because he is a Catholic, but because he stands for Tammany, and because the Demoeratic party in New York State must be democratic and cannot live at the will and under the control of a trading despotism. E thank Bishop Ludden for free- ing his mind. We wish all the Catholic clergy would speak out at all times on all subjects. They would say many indiscreet things and many things that are not so, and would be set right, and it would make them seem less detached from our common life and its emotions and misapprehen- sions, and more like the rest of us. Moreover, it would relieve the Protes- tant clergy from their present burden of contributing a large preponderance of the present supply of indiscretions of clerical speech. After all, why didn’t Tammany take Shepard? He suited a good many Tammany men. There was no such violent objection to him from Tan many as the insurgents felt for Shee- han. Tens of thousands of New York and Brooklyn Democrats wanted him and the Democratic League men yearned for him. Who turned him down? Was it Ryan? Do you think, Bishop Ludden, he was turned down because he was not a Catholic Irish- man? We guess not. It could not have been that “the interests” op- posed him, for there was Mr. Mor- gan’s next friend and lawyer, Mr. Stetson, writing columns of excellent letters for him to the Times and Sun. Who turned down Mr. Shepard, and why? Was it because he is a freer man, with a mind less sympathetic to hidden purposes and less susceptible to suggestion than Mr. Sheehan’s? We don’t know, but not knowing helps one to understand the cry for popular election of Senators. Lorimer could not have faced the voters in Illinois, nor Sheehan in New York.