Boss William J. Youngs

New York, 1895

Is After the Office of Railroad Commissioner and $8,000 a Year.

The Long Island City Herald, the leading Republican newspaper of Queens county, makes these interesting observations respecting the Boss of the party:

"What is the matter at Albany? After the magnificent victory in Queens county last fall are there to be no plums for distribution among the Republicans in the county who are looking for a 'soft snap?' Or is the report true that the Hon. William J. Youngs, of Oyster Bay, is the preferred creditor of the party and after he is cared for there will be nothing left for the other hungry fellows?

"The Hon. William J. Youngs, we are informed, is looking for the position of railroad commissioner, with a salary of $8,000 a year. It really seems that office-seekers and office-holders, like poets, are 'born and not made,' for the same fellows always get the places.

"Last year the Hon. William J. Youngs was a howling anti-Platt man, because Platt laughed at his aspirations to be clerk of the assembly, but at this session of the legislature he has been one of Platt's obedient vassals. He was very much cut up, however, when the Brooklyn Times called him down. The Times has been very kind to Mr. Youngs and he cannot afford to lose its good will, but he is still a Platt man 'on the sly.'

"By the way, we do not think it is the proper thing for the chairman of a Republican county committee to be an office seeker. If he accepts that position, it should be with the understanding that he wants nothing, and will seek nothing, for himself. If the Republican papers in the county had more back-bone and independence there would be fewer political jobs put up and the party would be the gainer."

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, March 29, 1895, p. 1.