A Triumph for the People

New York, 1895

The re-election of Martin V. Wood as Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, and of Robert Seabury as Clerk, will give general satisfaction. Mr. Wood is a Republican, Mr. Seabury is a Democrat. Mr. Wood has always believed that the same degree of honest conduct should prevail in politics as in business. Mr. Seabury has never been active in politics. He has kept the position of clerk to the board because of his ability, trustworthiness and courteous demeanor, whether the board was Democratic or Republican. The idea prevails among politicians that any sort of man is good enough for this position, while the fact is that the office imposes a large responsibility on the incumbent, and the people will never consent to have it jobbed about as a reward for political services to the man who makes the most efficient heeler. The present Republican Board of Supervisors took office a year ago, and won the confidence of the people at once by retaining Mr. Seabury in the clerkship. Most determined efforts were made to dislodge him on Tuesday, the power of the Republican County Committee being used, and scandalous jobbery being resorted to to accomplish the end.

Supervisor Wood joined with Supervisors Koehler, Everitt and Siebs in the re-election of Mr. Seabury. Mr. Wood was moved to this action by the demands of the best Republicans of Hempstead. He owed no allegiance to the Republican County Committee, for Mr. Youngs, who stands for the committee, had tried to enter into a deal to make a Democrat chairman of the board in exchange for Democratic votes for Dr. Wright as clerk, but through Messrs. Koehler, Everitt and Siebs, Mr. Wood had votes enough, with his own vote added, to hold the chairman's seat for another year in spite of the deal that was attempted. It was the stubborn resistance of Supervisor Underhill that prevented Mr. Youngs and Dr. Wright from putting a Democrat in the chair. They imagined that they carried Mr. Underhill in their pocket, but they are wiser to-day, and, moreover, they have found that Supervisor Koehler could double discount them in the game they tried to play.

If Republicans and their county committee have reason to complain at all, their resentment must be expressed against Mr. Youngs and Dr. Wright, but we take it that all fair minded Republicans will be glad that the chairmanship has been given to a Republican, and that the clerkship has been given to a Democrat who is honest and capable, whose removal was demanded on no other ground than that he is classed as a Democrat. Republicans who are not pleased with this result can have no regard for the principles of Civil Service.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, May 3, 1895, p. 4.