William J. Youngs is Better Than His Party Associates

New York, 1895

The Long Island City Herald, the leading Republican paper of the county, argues in an extended and exceedingly well written editorial that complete failure has been the result of William J. Youngs's leadership of the Republican party, and the article is printed in another part of this paper for general information, and particularly for the enlightenment of Republicans. When the newspapers of Mr. Youngs's party are compelled to cry out against his methods the situation must be very serious. They have hidden a great deal for political reasons, we know, but the people have come into possession of all the information in spite of this suppression, and the Republican newspapers have taken to howling only because they find the Republican masses howling.

THE FARMER has always believed that there was a great deal more to Mr. Youngs intellectually and morally than some of his critics were willing to concede, and we still have a good opinion of him, though at the same time we must admit that he has been singularly unfortunate in his leadership. He came to the front at the turn of the political tide, and the two successive victories of his party gave him unprecedented opportunities to make a splendid record personally and for the party, but those opportunities he threw away, not because he did not want to do right and win fame, but because he fell into the company of vicious politicians, his inferiors in everything, whose views he thought he must adopt and whose schemes he must favor, or retire from his place at the head of his party, through fear that they were powerful enough to depose him. Mr. Youngs should have ignored these blighting influences, just as Governor McCormick ignored them and defied them, and if Mr. Youngs had done this, he, like Mr. McCormick, would have triumphed over them in the end.

Mr. Youngs made a mistake last year when he sought the office of Clerk of the Assembly, and failing to get it became a lobbyist around the Legislature, for he at once put himself in league with the evil men whom he should have avoided. He made a mistake when he gave countenance to the Newtown Creek tunnel project, for that was a job to impose a debt of millions on the people and to enrich politicians of both parties. Mr. Youngs made a mistake this year by urging himself for the position of State Railroad Commissioner, again by accepting the petty position of clerk to an Assembly committee at $5 a day, and again by seeking appointment as counsel to the Tax Arrears Commission at $2,500 a year. He made a mistake by taking to the lobby again this year, and by advocating the Commissioner of Jurors bill — a measure that was vicious in almost every line, so much so that it had to be kept concealed from public view, and was passed in the Assembly under false pretences. These are but a few of Mr. Youngs' mistakes.

THE FARMER does not mean to intimate that Mr. Youngs is not entitled to seek and hold office, or that he would not make a competent officer, but morally he had no right to seek any of these offices while at the head of his party, because in so doing he violated a sacred pledge to the people, namely, that while in the position of leader he would seek nothing for himself, but all things for the upbuilding of his party. Once freed from this obligation Mr. Youngs would have the unquestionable right to seek any office, and THE FARMER would be pleased to see him honored. Our adverse criticism of Mr. Youngs has occasioned no breach of friendship. Mr. Youngs sees plainly that if he had the doing anew of some of these things his course would be different. He would have gone right and done right, we fully believe, if he had had men of conscience and character to deal with instead of fellows who were self-seeking and corrupt. We dare say there were times when Mr. Youngs would have restrained them if he could, and it is unfortunate if bad results accomplished against his judgment have damaged his public standing. In spite of everything, we say that Mr. Youngs is better than the company he is forced to keep.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, May 17, 1895, p. 4.