New York, 1895
"The Standard has not discussed the Legislative bill which proposes to create a Commissioner of Jurors in Queens County simply because it has not been favored with a copy of the measure." — Jamaica Standard, April 20.
This excuse is a bald falsehood. The bill was introduced April 3d, passed April 11th, sent to the Senate April 12th. Between April 3d and the 20th, the day the Standard said it had not yet seen the bill, B. Frank Wood spent seven days in Albany, and could have got a copy of the bill any day. He spent four days of last week in Albany lobbying with Boss Youngs and Vacheron for this bill. How could he do that without having seen the bill? The Standard lies. But think of the lack of enterprise confessed by the Standard when it says it had no copy of the bill! There were nine days in which to have got a copy. Of course it lies.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 26, 1895, p. 4.
Showing posts with label corruption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label corruption. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
What Was the Matter With the Supervisors' Counsel?
New York, 1895
That was an extraordinary story that Counselor Wallace told the board of Supervisors at Barnum Island about the Commissioner of Jurors bill. It was to this effect: He had no knowledge of the existence of the bill. He was in Albany the day it passed the Assembly. Vacheron never mentioned it to him. Very soon after it passed he heard about it. He went over to the Senate and spent some time with Mr. Childs, but never mentioned the bill to the Senator. He brought a copy of the bill home with him. When he attended the Supervisors' meeting he did not bring the bill there with him.
Thu FARMER would not and does not accuse Mr. Wallace of perverting the truth, but intelligent persons who read this statement will find it difficult not to believe that he is stupid and derelict in the discharge of his duty as the county's attorney.
The bill was an extraordinary one and would have startled any man who had the public welfare in his keeping. It proposed a burden of at least $10,000 a year on the people and created a brand new office for some political heeler, but neither fact made the slightest impression on Mr. Wallace. Any man representing the county, under the circumstances, would have hastened to Senator Childs and put in a protest against the passage of the bill, but Mr. Wallace forgot all about it in the short time it would take to walk a block. The secrecy with which Vacheron had sneaked the bill through the Assembly would have aroused the suspicion of an ordinarily dull mind, but Mr. Wallace's mind received no impression, if we are to believe him. He did not even see that Vacheron had tricked him by keeping him ignorant of the bill's existence.
How was it possible for Mr. Wallace to have remained in ignorance of this pernicious bill? Vacheron introduced it April 3rd, and passed it April 11th (quicker time than any other bill has made). Mr. Wallace was in Albany more than one day between the 3rd and the 11th. The only way to find new bills, and to keep track of old ones, is to consult the files. If Mr. Wallace did not consult the files he was unpardonably negligent and indifferent to the county's welfare, If he did consult the files he was either stupid or careless in not finding this bill. No matter what his course was, the county received a knock down blow right under his eye, and yet he took no step to prevent a repetition of the blow in the Senate. Perhaps Boss Youngs hypnotised him. We repeat, that it was most extraordinary that Mr. Wallace did not learn of the existence of this scandalous measure earlier than April 11th, and he in Albany, while THE FARMER received a copy of it from the Legislative News Syndicate on April 9th, and Mr. Van Vechten had a copy of it in his office in the Bank Building before that.
Did Mr. Wallace hasten home to consult the Supervisors and organize an opposition to the robber bill as the county's attorney? Not he. He allowed the days between the 11th and 16th to go idly by (time enough for a political bill like this to have been put through the Senate if the Senator had been in the job), and when he attended the meeting of the Supervisors on the 18th, the outrageous bill seems not to have yet made an impression on his mind, for he left it at home when he must have known that the Supervisors would be more than anxious to peruse it and formulate action either for or against it. As attorney for this county he should have had copies of the vicious bill forwarded to the respective Supervisors. He should have telegraphed the clerk of the board to take the necessary steps to convene the Supervisors in special session. But he did nothing in these five days, and every day was one of peril for the tax-payers. It must be remarked here, because it is pertinent (and we call the several Supervisors as witnesses of the fact), that while Mr. Wallace told the board about other legislative matters he ignored this viper commissioner bill, and Supervisor Everitt had to call upon him for information respecting it before he said a word, certainly an extraordinary and discrediting circumstance.
There are those who will believe that Mr. Wallace knew something about the corrupt bill because of his intimacy with Boss Youngs, its author, and that he played a part when he kept silence before Senator Childs, but THE FARMER is in fairness and courtesy bound to accept his word that he knew nothing about it, although it is our opinion that it would be a great deal more to his personal and professional credit were he to declare that he knew of and approved the bill, for all of his actions tend to that conclusion.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 26, 1895, p. 4.
That was an extraordinary story that Counselor Wallace told the board of Supervisors at Barnum Island about the Commissioner of Jurors bill. It was to this effect: He had no knowledge of the existence of the bill. He was in Albany the day it passed the Assembly. Vacheron never mentioned it to him. Very soon after it passed he heard about it. He went over to the Senate and spent some time with Mr. Childs, but never mentioned the bill to the Senator. He brought a copy of the bill home with him. When he attended the Supervisors' meeting he did not bring the bill there with him.
Thu FARMER would not and does not accuse Mr. Wallace of perverting the truth, but intelligent persons who read this statement will find it difficult not to believe that he is stupid and derelict in the discharge of his duty as the county's attorney.
The bill was an extraordinary one and would have startled any man who had the public welfare in his keeping. It proposed a burden of at least $10,000 a year on the people and created a brand new office for some political heeler, but neither fact made the slightest impression on Mr. Wallace. Any man representing the county, under the circumstances, would have hastened to Senator Childs and put in a protest against the passage of the bill, but Mr. Wallace forgot all about it in the short time it would take to walk a block. The secrecy with which Vacheron had sneaked the bill through the Assembly would have aroused the suspicion of an ordinarily dull mind, but Mr. Wallace's mind received no impression, if we are to believe him. He did not even see that Vacheron had tricked him by keeping him ignorant of the bill's existence.
How was it possible for Mr. Wallace to have remained in ignorance of this pernicious bill? Vacheron introduced it April 3rd, and passed it April 11th (quicker time than any other bill has made). Mr. Wallace was in Albany more than one day between the 3rd and the 11th. The only way to find new bills, and to keep track of old ones, is to consult the files. If Mr. Wallace did not consult the files he was unpardonably negligent and indifferent to the county's welfare, If he did consult the files he was either stupid or careless in not finding this bill. No matter what his course was, the county received a knock down blow right under his eye, and yet he took no step to prevent a repetition of the blow in the Senate. Perhaps Boss Youngs hypnotised him. We repeat, that it was most extraordinary that Mr. Wallace did not learn of the existence of this scandalous measure earlier than April 11th, and he in Albany, while THE FARMER received a copy of it from the Legislative News Syndicate on April 9th, and Mr. Van Vechten had a copy of it in his office in the Bank Building before that.
Did Mr. Wallace hasten home to consult the Supervisors and organize an opposition to the robber bill as the county's attorney? Not he. He allowed the days between the 11th and 16th to go idly by (time enough for a political bill like this to have been put through the Senate if the Senator had been in the job), and when he attended the meeting of the Supervisors on the 18th, the outrageous bill seems not to have yet made an impression on his mind, for he left it at home when he must have known that the Supervisors would be more than anxious to peruse it and formulate action either for or against it. As attorney for this county he should have had copies of the vicious bill forwarded to the respective Supervisors. He should have telegraphed the clerk of the board to take the necessary steps to convene the Supervisors in special session. But he did nothing in these five days, and every day was one of peril for the tax-payers. It must be remarked here, because it is pertinent (and we call the several Supervisors as witnesses of the fact), that while Mr. Wallace told the board about other legislative matters he ignored this viper commissioner bill, and Supervisor Everitt had to call upon him for information respecting it before he said a word, certainly an extraordinary and discrediting circumstance.
There are those who will believe that Mr. Wallace knew something about the corrupt bill because of his intimacy with Boss Youngs, its author, and that he played a part when he kept silence before Senator Childs, but THE FARMER is in fairness and courtesy bound to accept his word that he knew nothing about it, although it is our opinion that it would be a great deal more to his personal and professional credit were he to declare that he knew of and approved the bill, for all of his actions tend to that conclusion.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 26, 1895, p. 4.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Vacheron's Corrupt Jury Bill
New York, 1895
Severely Condemned by a Republican Newspaper.
Probably no measure affecting Queens county has been introduced in the state legislature for a score of years that has been so severely criticised and so generally condemned as Mr. Vacheron's bill, providing for the appointment of a commissioner of jurors in and for that county. The press is against it; the public officials, with probably one or two exceptions are against it; and as for the people, the writer has yet to meet the taxpayer who will lift his voice in favor of the scheme, again excepting, of course, the few office-grabbing politicians who have personal interests in pushing the bill. It is gratifying to note that although the bill was introduced, and presumably supported by a Republican assemblyman, it is repudiated by a Republican board of Supervisors and by Republicans generally throughout the county. They see what the leaders apparently cannot or will not see, that the passage of this iniquitous measure will do more to injure the party in Queens county than anything else that has been attempted during this or any previous session of the legislature.
It is stated on the best of authority that the bill was intended to provide a place for Mr. Vacheron, that in the event of its becoming a law, the assemblyman from the third district would be "out of the way" of aspiring candidates for the senatorial nomination next fall. True enough, he would, and it might be safely predicted that the Republican candidate for senator and all other Republican candidates in the county would be put out of the way by the people should this apparently unnecessary office he created by a Republican legislature and the action indorsed by a Republican governor. In this connection it would be interesting to learn since when Mr. Vacheron became such a dangerous senatorial possibility, that it is necessary to provide for him at the expense of the party's reputation for economy in public affairs. The reputation of the party in Queens county is not so secure that her representatives can afford to ignore the will of the people, and it is to be hoped that Senator Childs will, in regard to this matter, as he does in others, maintain his reputation as a people's representative. — Brooklyn Times.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 26, 1895, p. 8.
Severely Condemned by a Republican Newspaper.
Probably no measure affecting Queens county has been introduced in the state legislature for a score of years that has been so severely criticised and so generally condemned as Mr. Vacheron's bill, providing for the appointment of a commissioner of jurors in and for that county. The press is against it; the public officials, with probably one or two exceptions are against it; and as for the people, the writer has yet to meet the taxpayer who will lift his voice in favor of the scheme, again excepting, of course, the few office-grabbing politicians who have personal interests in pushing the bill. It is gratifying to note that although the bill was introduced, and presumably supported by a Republican assemblyman, it is repudiated by a Republican board of Supervisors and by Republicans generally throughout the county. They see what the leaders apparently cannot or will not see, that the passage of this iniquitous measure will do more to injure the party in Queens county than anything else that has been attempted during this or any previous session of the legislature.
It is stated on the best of authority that the bill was intended to provide a place for Mr. Vacheron, that in the event of its becoming a law, the assemblyman from the third district would be "out of the way" of aspiring candidates for the senatorial nomination next fall. True enough, he would, and it might be safely predicted that the Republican candidate for senator and all other Republican candidates in the county would be put out of the way by the people should this apparently unnecessary office he created by a Republican legislature and the action indorsed by a Republican governor. In this connection it would be interesting to learn since when Mr. Vacheron became such a dangerous senatorial possibility, that it is necessary to provide for him at the expense of the party's reputation for economy in public affairs. The reputation of the party in Queens county is not so secure that her representatives can afford to ignore the will of the people, and it is to be hoped that Senator Childs will, in regard to this matter, as he does in others, maintain his reputation as a people's representative. — Brooklyn Times.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 26, 1895, p. 8.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
The Lying Standard Promptly and Emphatically Condemned
New York, 1895
(From Yesterday's Long Island City Herald, Republican:)
"The Standard has not discussed the legislative bill which proposes to create a Commissioner of Jurors in Queens County simply because it has not been favored with a copy of the measure.
"The report of the JAMAICA FARMER that the board of Supervisors passed a resolution condemning the bill is false as will be seen by a perusal of the resolution itself, which appears in our report of the Supervisors' meeting. The Supervisors, not having seen the bill, appointed a committee to read it, with power to make recommendation in the name of the board.
"The promoters of the measure claim that the act is identical with a law which has for some time been in operation in the county of Westchester and which has been found to work well." — Jamaica Standard.
The relations existing between the Herald and the Jamaica Standard have always been of the most friendly and fraternal character, but we cannot permit an editorial so full of guile and so purposely misleading to pass without the severe criticism it deserves. The article from the Standard, which we have quoted above, is one of the rankest pieces of deception of which we have ever known any paper to be guilty.
The Standard is regarded as the personal organ of William J. Youngs and Assemblyman Vacheron, who in the darkness which the wicked loves better than light, concocted the Commissioner of Jurors bill for Queens County. It was surreptitiously introduced into the Assembly by them and passed by that body before the judges, the lawyers, or the people of Queens County knew that such a bill was in existence. If Senator Childs had been in league with the conspirators it would no doubt have been rushed through the Senate and been sent to the Governor for his signature.
This is no news to the editor of the Standard, though it may be to the people of Queens County. The editor of the Standard was in Albany last week and he could easily have procured a copy of the bill and made himself familiar with all its provisions. He knew what a rumpus the bill had raised in the county, that it was denounced by both Democrats and Republicans, and that the lawyers said that the powers conferred upon the person holding the office of Commissioner of Jurors made it a most dangerous bill.
We have not talked with a lawyer who has not been outspoken in his condemnation of the bill, which was conceived in iniquity and born in sin, as we will proceed to show. The JAMAICA FARMER says that a responsible and honest member of the Legislature has sent to the editor of that paper "a signed letter asserting that if the Commissioner of Jurors bill became a law, Assemblyman Eugene F. Vacheron is to be appointed to the office."
The Herald can confirm this report. It has been an open secret that Mr. Vacheron would be appointed Commissioner of Jurors if the bill became a law. Mr. Youngs has said so and Mr. Vacheron's appointment to the office has been almost common talk in the county. It is one of the most audacious and unscrupulous acts of legislation ever attempted at Albany. An Assemblyman attempts to create an office with a large salary and giving him the powers of a despot, for his own personal benefit, and in this he is aided and abetted by the chairman of the Republican county committee.
Who is this Mr. Vacheron, who represents the Third Assembly District of Queens County and is the side-partner of William J. Youngs at Albany? He is a man of inferior intellect, but with an abnormal amount of impudence and conceit.
When the Jamaica Standard declares that the report of the JAMAICA FARMER that the board of Supervisors at their last meeting, held at Barnum's Island on Tuesday of last week, passed a resolution condemning the Commissioner of Jurors bill, is false, we must take exception to the Standard's statement, because they Herald's report of the action of the Supervisors agreed substantially with that of THE FARMER. We are informed by a member of the board of Supervisors that a resolution was prepared condemning this bill and administering a stinging rebuke to Assemblyman Vacheron, but at the urgent solicitation of George Wallace, counsel to the board, it was not presented and one couched in more moderate language was substituted and passed by a unanimous vote. Mr. Wallace was afraid, we have been told, that Assemblyman Vacheron would be so enraged that he might obstruct other legislation affecting Queens County.
All the Supervisors, however, were of one opinion, namely, that the bill was both bad and dangerous and that no effort should be spared to have it killed in the Senate. A committee consisting of Supervisors Pople, Everett and Siebs was therefore appointed with the understanding that they fight the bill to the bitter end, and they were invested with full power to that effect. To say that the resolution of the Board of Supervisors was not hostile to the bill is an evasion of the truth.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 26, 1895, p. 1.
(From Yesterday's Long Island City Herald, Republican:)
"The Standard has not discussed the legislative bill which proposes to create a Commissioner of Jurors in Queens County simply because it has not been favored with a copy of the measure.
"The report of the JAMAICA FARMER that the board of Supervisors passed a resolution condemning the bill is false as will be seen by a perusal of the resolution itself, which appears in our report of the Supervisors' meeting. The Supervisors, not having seen the bill, appointed a committee to read it, with power to make recommendation in the name of the board.
"The promoters of the measure claim that the act is identical with a law which has for some time been in operation in the county of Westchester and which has been found to work well." — Jamaica Standard.
The relations existing between the Herald and the Jamaica Standard have always been of the most friendly and fraternal character, but we cannot permit an editorial so full of guile and so purposely misleading to pass without the severe criticism it deserves. The article from the Standard, which we have quoted above, is one of the rankest pieces of deception of which we have ever known any paper to be guilty.
The Standard is regarded as the personal organ of William J. Youngs and Assemblyman Vacheron, who in the darkness which the wicked loves better than light, concocted the Commissioner of Jurors bill for Queens County. It was surreptitiously introduced into the Assembly by them and passed by that body before the judges, the lawyers, or the people of Queens County knew that such a bill was in existence. If Senator Childs had been in league with the conspirators it would no doubt have been rushed through the Senate and been sent to the Governor for his signature.
This is no news to the editor of the Standard, though it may be to the people of Queens County. The editor of the Standard was in Albany last week and he could easily have procured a copy of the bill and made himself familiar with all its provisions. He knew what a rumpus the bill had raised in the county, that it was denounced by both Democrats and Republicans, and that the lawyers said that the powers conferred upon the person holding the office of Commissioner of Jurors made it a most dangerous bill.
We have not talked with a lawyer who has not been outspoken in his condemnation of the bill, which was conceived in iniquity and born in sin, as we will proceed to show. The JAMAICA FARMER says that a responsible and honest member of the Legislature has sent to the editor of that paper "a signed letter asserting that if the Commissioner of Jurors bill became a law, Assemblyman Eugene F. Vacheron is to be appointed to the office."
The Herald can confirm this report. It has been an open secret that Mr. Vacheron would be appointed Commissioner of Jurors if the bill became a law. Mr. Youngs has said so and Mr. Vacheron's appointment to the office has been almost common talk in the county. It is one of the most audacious and unscrupulous acts of legislation ever attempted at Albany. An Assemblyman attempts to create an office with a large salary and giving him the powers of a despot, for his own personal benefit, and in this he is aided and abetted by the chairman of the Republican county committee.
Who is this Mr. Vacheron, who represents the Third Assembly District of Queens County and is the side-partner of William J. Youngs at Albany? He is a man of inferior intellect, but with an abnormal amount of impudence and conceit.
When the Jamaica Standard declares that the report of the JAMAICA FARMER that the board of Supervisors at their last meeting, held at Barnum's Island on Tuesday of last week, passed a resolution condemning the Commissioner of Jurors bill, is false, we must take exception to the Standard's statement, because they Herald's report of the action of the Supervisors agreed substantially with that of THE FARMER. We are informed by a member of the board of Supervisors that a resolution was prepared condemning this bill and administering a stinging rebuke to Assemblyman Vacheron, but at the urgent solicitation of George Wallace, counsel to the board, it was not presented and one couched in more moderate language was substituted and passed by a unanimous vote. Mr. Wallace was afraid, we have been told, that Assemblyman Vacheron would be so enraged that he might obstruct other legislation affecting Queens County.
All the Supervisors, however, were of one opinion, namely, that the bill was both bad and dangerous and that no effort should be spared to have it killed in the Senate. A committee consisting of Supervisors Pople, Everett and Siebs was therefore appointed with the understanding that they fight the bill to the bitter end, and they were invested with full power to that effect. To say that the resolution of the Board of Supervisors was not hostile to the bill is an evasion of the truth.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 26, 1895, p. 1.
In a False Position
New York, 1895
MISLED BY COUNSEL — MISREPRESENTED BY TWO NEWSPAPERS.
The Board of Supervisors on the Commissioner of Jurors Bill — Who Forwarded the Resolution to Boss Youngs — George Wallace Suspected — A Politician Should Not be Counsel to the Board.
The Jamaica Standard said editorially on Saturday of the Commissioner of Jurors bill:
"The report of the Jamaica FARMER that the board of supervisors passed a resolution condemning the bill, is false, as will be seen by a perusal of the resolution itself, which appears in our report of the supervisors' meeting."
This statement places the board of Supervisors in a false position before the people. The Standard does so with malice. The Supervisors passed a resolution on Tuesday of last week as follows:
"Whereas, A bill has passed in the Assembly Providing for the appointment of a Commissioner of Jurors for Queens County, and
"Whereas, we have not the bill at hand, therefore
"Resolved, That a committee consisting of Supervisors Pople, Underhill and Everitt be appointed to examine the provisions of said bill, and with full power to represent the board in the matter, and to demand a hearing on the bill before the Senate Committee to which it may be referred."
Boss Youngs had a copy of this resolution in Albany on Wednesday morning. Unless George Wallace sent it to him, we cannot guess who did. B. Frank Wood of the Standard was in Albany at the time and both Youngs and Wood, in lobbying for the bill, represented that the Supervisors had expressed no opinion against the bill, and left the impression on Senators that the Supervisors were in favor of the bill.
At the board meeting every Supervisor expressed himself as opposed to the bill, and the omission of this statement from the report of the proceedings which George Wallace furnished to the Observer, his own newspaper, and also from the Standard, did an injustice to the Supervisors. It was George Wallace who led the Supervisors into the false position which they are maliciously made to occupy toward the bill. Supervisor Underhill had a resolution in his possession expressing strong protest against the bill, and here is a copy of it:
"WHEREAS, The Assembly of this state has passed an act introduced by the Hon. E. F. Vacheron, to create the office of Commissioner of Jurors in and for Queens County; and
"WHEREAS, There is no public necessity for the creation of this office, which would impose a heavy expense upon the people without in any way improving the public service; and
"WHEREAS, The powers it is proposed to confer upon the person who might be called to fill thls office are unusual and extraordinary, and
"WHEREAS, There is no limit to the expense that the officer may incur, and no discretion left with the Supervisors but to meet all his demands for expenses incurred; and
"WHEREAS, The bill is a gross violation of the principle of home rule in that the local authorities have been ignored, and the people have had no opportunity to be heard on the question, so great has been the haste and secrecy of action thereon, therefore
"Resolved, That we, the Board of Supervisors of Queens County, speaking for and in behalf of the people, do heartily oppose the enactment of this bill into law;
"Resolved, That the Hon. John Lewis Childs, Senator representing this district, be and is most earnestly requested to do all in his power to defeat the passage of said bill to the end that the people may be saved from the infliction of an unnecessary and unjust financial burden."
This resolution was read by every Supervisor prior to the organization of the board. The members talked very freely about the bill and all denounced it. At the noon recess George Wallace got the members of the board into a caucus and induced them not to adopt Mr. Underhill's resolutions, but to adopt one that he had prepared, and the one he prepared is the short one printed near the top of this article, which the Standard and Boss Youngs say does not express opposition to the bill. We knew that this claim would be made by these jobbers, and we knew that the Supervisors would be placed in a false position before the people, and we said editorially last week that Counselor Wallace had misled the board of Supervisors to serve a political purpose. This is the more apparent now for two reasons: First, some one's haste in sending Boss Youngs a copy of the resolution. Second, printing Mr. Wallace's non-committal resolution in the Observer and Standard and omitting therefrom the Supervisors' expressions of opposition to the bill. The adoption of Mr. Underhill's resolutions would have been a condemnation of Vacheron, Boss Youngs and the Republican county committee, and Counselor Wallace prevented that by leading the board into the adoption of his resolution, of which the jobbers have taken advantage to misrepresent the Supervisors and boom the bill.
Undoubtedly the Supervisors meant to condemn the bill by resolution as they had by their speech, but unfortunately for them the Standard and Observer suppress their speech and print only the resolution. It is not good public policy to have a politician as the adviser of an official body. After what has happened the Supervisors should be on their guard. Such a thing never happened before.
Can it be that Boss Youngs had a copy of George Wallace's resolution before the day the Supervisors met and adopted it?
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 26, 1895, p. 1.
MISLED BY COUNSEL — MISREPRESENTED BY TWO NEWSPAPERS.
The Board of Supervisors on the Commissioner of Jurors Bill — Who Forwarded the Resolution to Boss Youngs — George Wallace Suspected — A Politician Should Not be Counsel to the Board.
The Jamaica Standard said editorially on Saturday of the Commissioner of Jurors bill:
"The report of the Jamaica FARMER that the board of supervisors passed a resolution condemning the bill, is false, as will be seen by a perusal of the resolution itself, which appears in our report of the supervisors' meeting."
This statement places the board of Supervisors in a false position before the people. The Standard does so with malice. The Supervisors passed a resolution on Tuesday of last week as follows:
"Whereas, A bill has passed in the Assembly Providing for the appointment of a Commissioner of Jurors for Queens County, and
"Whereas, we have not the bill at hand, therefore
"Resolved, That a committee consisting of Supervisors Pople, Underhill and Everitt be appointed to examine the provisions of said bill, and with full power to represent the board in the matter, and to demand a hearing on the bill before the Senate Committee to which it may be referred."
Boss Youngs had a copy of this resolution in Albany on Wednesday morning. Unless George Wallace sent it to him, we cannot guess who did. B. Frank Wood of the Standard was in Albany at the time and both Youngs and Wood, in lobbying for the bill, represented that the Supervisors had expressed no opinion against the bill, and left the impression on Senators that the Supervisors were in favor of the bill.
At the board meeting every Supervisor expressed himself as opposed to the bill, and the omission of this statement from the report of the proceedings which George Wallace furnished to the Observer, his own newspaper, and also from the Standard, did an injustice to the Supervisors. It was George Wallace who led the Supervisors into the false position which they are maliciously made to occupy toward the bill. Supervisor Underhill had a resolution in his possession expressing strong protest against the bill, and here is a copy of it:
"WHEREAS, The Assembly of this state has passed an act introduced by the Hon. E. F. Vacheron, to create the office of Commissioner of Jurors in and for Queens County; and
"WHEREAS, There is no public necessity for the creation of this office, which would impose a heavy expense upon the people without in any way improving the public service; and
"WHEREAS, The powers it is proposed to confer upon the person who might be called to fill thls office are unusual and extraordinary, and
"WHEREAS, There is no limit to the expense that the officer may incur, and no discretion left with the Supervisors but to meet all his demands for expenses incurred; and
"WHEREAS, The bill is a gross violation of the principle of home rule in that the local authorities have been ignored, and the people have had no opportunity to be heard on the question, so great has been the haste and secrecy of action thereon, therefore
"Resolved, That we, the Board of Supervisors of Queens County, speaking for and in behalf of the people, do heartily oppose the enactment of this bill into law;
"Resolved, That the Hon. John Lewis Childs, Senator representing this district, be and is most earnestly requested to do all in his power to defeat the passage of said bill to the end that the people may be saved from the infliction of an unnecessary and unjust financial burden."
This resolution was read by every Supervisor prior to the organization of the board. The members talked very freely about the bill and all denounced it. At the noon recess George Wallace got the members of the board into a caucus and induced them not to adopt Mr. Underhill's resolutions, but to adopt one that he had prepared, and the one he prepared is the short one printed near the top of this article, which the Standard and Boss Youngs say does not express opposition to the bill. We knew that this claim would be made by these jobbers, and we knew that the Supervisors would be placed in a false position before the people, and we said editorially last week that Counselor Wallace had misled the board of Supervisors to serve a political purpose. This is the more apparent now for two reasons: First, some one's haste in sending Boss Youngs a copy of the resolution. Second, printing Mr. Wallace's non-committal resolution in the Observer and Standard and omitting therefrom the Supervisors' expressions of opposition to the bill. The adoption of Mr. Underhill's resolutions would have been a condemnation of Vacheron, Boss Youngs and the Republican county committee, and Counselor Wallace prevented that by leading the board into the adoption of his resolution, of which the jobbers have taken advantage to misrepresent the Supervisors and boom the bill.
Undoubtedly the Supervisors meant to condemn the bill by resolution as they had by their speech, but unfortunately for them the Standard and Observer suppress their speech and print only the resolution. It is not good public policy to have a politician as the adviser of an official body. After what has happened the Supervisors should be on their guard. Such a thing never happened before.
Can it be that Boss Youngs had a copy of George Wallace's resolution before the day the Supervisors met and adopted it?
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 26, 1895, p. 1.
Believes the Supervisors Will Do Their Whole Duly
New York, 1895
Yesterday's edition of the Long Island City Herald, an eminently respectable Republican newspaper, contained the following tribute to the board of Supervisors;
"The annual meeting of the board of Supervisors will be held at their rooms in the Court House in this city on Tuesday next. It will be a meeting of unusual interest and importance not only to the people of Queens County but to the Republican party, as a large majority of the board are members of that party.
"The Herald feels warranted in making the prediction that the Republican members of the Board of Supervisors will not be swerved from doing their whole duty to their party and to the people by any pressure that William J. Youngs, the party boss, may bring to bear upon them. It is as plain to them as it is to the Herald and to every intelligent Republican that unless Mr. Youngs is held in check the Republican party will be defeated in the county at the election in November next. His tactics are of the kind that never have been and never will be endorsed by Republicans.
"Mr. Youngs is incorrigible. He always prefers to take the crooked and dangerous path rather than the broad and straight one, which is the path of safety. He would rather be the associate and leader of political freebooters than of men who believe that honesty is the best policy in politics as well as in the business affairs of life. Mr. Youngs could be a very useful man to his party because he is a tireless worker and has other qualities which it rightly applied would secure him the respect and confidence which he has forfeited by his "pernicious activity" — and his lack of sincerity.
"The Republican members of the Board of Supervisors, however, know Mr. Youngs so well that it is not necessary for the Herald to raise a danger signal to caution them. We believe that they will do their duty without the slightest regard to the approval or disapproval of Boss Youngs. If they show that they have the right metal and will not be cajoled or in any way controlled by that gentleman and his following of hungry office-seekers, they will before long have the hearty endorsement and support of every Republican who is a Republican for principle and not for spoils. The Republican members of the Board of Supervisors have already shown that they are not afraid of Mr. Youngs, and all we ask of them is that they stand firm in the position they have taken."
(From the Oyster Bay Pilot:)
* * Youngs will never be satisfied until he receives the nomination for state senator and some of his enemies are unkind enough to say that he is the real instigator of the quarrel between Senator Childs and Assemblyman Vacheron. It is alleged that he is responsible for the Vacheron candidacy for the senatorial nomination, and like the settlement of the quarrel alluded to in Aesop's fables over the possession of the oyster, at the proper time he will step in and settle it by giving Senator Childs and Assemblyman Vacheron each a shell and appropriating to his own use the oyster."
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 26, 1895, p. 1.
Yesterday's edition of the Long Island City Herald, an eminently respectable Republican newspaper, contained the following tribute to the board of Supervisors;
"The annual meeting of the board of Supervisors will be held at their rooms in the Court House in this city on Tuesday next. It will be a meeting of unusual interest and importance not only to the people of Queens County but to the Republican party, as a large majority of the board are members of that party.
"The Herald feels warranted in making the prediction that the Republican members of the Board of Supervisors will not be swerved from doing their whole duty to their party and to the people by any pressure that William J. Youngs, the party boss, may bring to bear upon them. It is as plain to them as it is to the Herald and to every intelligent Republican that unless Mr. Youngs is held in check the Republican party will be defeated in the county at the election in November next. His tactics are of the kind that never have been and never will be endorsed by Republicans.
"Mr. Youngs is incorrigible. He always prefers to take the crooked and dangerous path rather than the broad and straight one, which is the path of safety. He would rather be the associate and leader of political freebooters than of men who believe that honesty is the best policy in politics as well as in the business affairs of life. Mr. Youngs could be a very useful man to his party because he is a tireless worker and has other qualities which it rightly applied would secure him the respect and confidence which he has forfeited by his "pernicious activity" — and his lack of sincerity.
"The Republican members of the Board of Supervisors, however, know Mr. Youngs so well that it is not necessary for the Herald to raise a danger signal to caution them. We believe that they will do their duty without the slightest regard to the approval or disapproval of Boss Youngs. If they show that they have the right metal and will not be cajoled or in any way controlled by that gentleman and his following of hungry office-seekers, they will before long have the hearty endorsement and support of every Republican who is a Republican for principle and not for spoils. The Republican members of the Board of Supervisors have already shown that they are not afraid of Mr. Youngs, and all we ask of them is that they stand firm in the position they have taken."
(From the Oyster Bay Pilot:)
* * Youngs will never be satisfied until he receives the nomination for state senator and some of his enemies are unkind enough to say that he is the real instigator of the quarrel between Senator Childs and Assemblyman Vacheron. It is alleged that he is responsible for the Vacheron candidacy for the senatorial nomination, and like the settlement of the quarrel alluded to in Aesop's fables over the possession of the oyster, at the proper time he will step in and settle it by giving Senator Childs and Assemblyman Vacheron each a shell and appropriating to his own use the oyster."
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 26, 1895, p. 1.
Truth Plainly Told
New York, 1895
A REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER'S COMMENTS ON ITS PARTY LEADERS.
The Board of Supervisors Attacked Because they Would Not Knuckle to Boss Youngs — Party Organs That Stand in the Way of Reform — Corrupt Legislation at Albany.
The Republican gang is breaking up. Boss Youngs has driven all self-respecting Republicans away from him. The Long Island City Herald has kicked clean over the traces. The Herald is an out and out Republican paper, and the organ of the party by resolution of the county committee. Following are some of the things that the Herald says editorially in protest against Boss rule at home and corrupt legislation at Albany:
"Our esteemed Republican contemporary, the Jamaica Standard, is feeling rather blue over the result of the town elections in Queens County, but it places the entire blame for the Democratic gains in Newtown, Flushing, Oyster Bay and North Hempstead upon the Republican members of the Board of Supervisors. The Standard supplements this declaration by another which is even more serious when it says:
"The Republican members of the board of Supervisors have already succeeded in impairing public confidence in their ability to administer the affairs of the county wisely and well, and if they continue the course they have pursued they will by the time their term of office expires have placed their party in a position so humiliating that its defeat will be a foregone conclusion.
"The Standard seems to be more concerned about the patronage at the disposal of the Board of Supervisors than the real underlying causes of the failure of the Republican party to hold all it gained last fall. We agree with our esteemed contemporary that a Republican Board of Supervisors ought to give the offices at its disposal to Republicans, exercising, of course, proper care in selecting competent men, and men who are entitled to some reward for long and faithful service to fill those offices. But we demur to the charge that the Republican members of the Board of Supervisors are alone responsible for our troubles.
"When the Supervisors started out to reform the Sheriff's office did they receive the help they had a right to expect from the Republican papers of the county, especially from those which are officially related to the board? The Standard is one of the official papers and George Wallace of the South Side Observer is counsel to the board. Have these papers said anything in favor of abolishing the tramp swindle, which costs the taxpayers about $20,000 a year simply to furnish that enormous revenue for the Sheriff? If the board of Supervisors had abolished this swindle before the town elections were held we believe their action would have been of great benefit to the Republican party.
"The jockeying with legislation at Albany by Mr. Youngs and other leaders is doing the party more injury than the inaction of the Republican members of the board of Supervisors. There is some excuse for the Supervisors. Mr. Youngs expected they would be dominated by him. They refused to accept him as their counselor and guide because they knew him of old."
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 26, 1895, p. 1.
A REPUBLICAN NEWSPAPER'S COMMENTS ON ITS PARTY LEADERS.
The Board of Supervisors Attacked Because they Would Not Knuckle to Boss Youngs — Party Organs That Stand in the Way of Reform — Corrupt Legislation at Albany.
The Republican gang is breaking up. Boss Youngs has driven all self-respecting Republicans away from him. The Long Island City Herald has kicked clean over the traces. The Herald is an out and out Republican paper, and the organ of the party by resolution of the county committee. Following are some of the things that the Herald says editorially in protest against Boss rule at home and corrupt legislation at Albany:
"Our esteemed Republican contemporary, the Jamaica Standard, is feeling rather blue over the result of the town elections in Queens County, but it places the entire blame for the Democratic gains in Newtown, Flushing, Oyster Bay and North Hempstead upon the Republican members of the Board of Supervisors. The Standard supplements this declaration by another which is even more serious when it says:
"The Republican members of the board of Supervisors have already succeeded in impairing public confidence in their ability to administer the affairs of the county wisely and well, and if they continue the course they have pursued they will by the time their term of office expires have placed their party in a position so humiliating that its defeat will be a foregone conclusion.
"The Standard seems to be more concerned about the patronage at the disposal of the Board of Supervisors than the real underlying causes of the failure of the Republican party to hold all it gained last fall. We agree with our esteemed contemporary that a Republican Board of Supervisors ought to give the offices at its disposal to Republicans, exercising, of course, proper care in selecting competent men, and men who are entitled to some reward for long and faithful service to fill those offices. But we demur to the charge that the Republican members of the Board of Supervisors are alone responsible for our troubles.
"When the Supervisors started out to reform the Sheriff's office did they receive the help they had a right to expect from the Republican papers of the county, especially from those which are officially related to the board? The Standard is one of the official papers and George Wallace of the South Side Observer is counsel to the board. Have these papers said anything in favor of abolishing the tramp swindle, which costs the taxpayers about $20,000 a year simply to furnish that enormous revenue for the Sheriff? If the board of Supervisors had abolished this swindle before the town elections were held we believe their action would have been of great benefit to the Republican party.
"The jockeying with legislation at Albany by Mr. Youngs and other leaders is doing the party more injury than the inaction of the Republican members of the board of Supervisors. There is some excuse for the Supervisors. Mr. Youngs expected they would be dominated by him. They refused to accept him as their counselor and guide because they knew him of old."
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 26, 1895, p. 1.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Eager to be Investigated
New York, 1895
(From the Brooklyn Eagle.)
The news from Albany that Assemblyman Vacheron had a resolution adopted in the house to bring John C. Kennahan, the editor of the Long Island Farmer, before the bar of the house to show cause why he should not be punished for contempt, created no small interest on Long Island, where the editor is known to almost everybody and admired for his courage and independence. An Eagle reporter asked Mr. Kennahan what he thought of the action of the assembly. He said:
"It is a comedy badly played. Vacheron dare not give me a chance to confront him with proof of the statements that nave been published concerning him, and of things that have not been published, but will be. I am well fortified for any conflict that may arise. I seek no favors. I shall he ready to proceed to business at an hour's notice. If the committee on privileges will hear testimony and base their judgment on it with judicial fairness, the public and the committee will have some startling things to ponder over."
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 2.
(From the Brooklyn Eagle.)
The news from Albany that Assemblyman Vacheron had a resolution adopted in the house to bring John C. Kennahan, the editor of the Long Island Farmer, before the bar of the house to show cause why he should not be punished for contempt, created no small interest on Long Island, where the editor is known to almost everybody and admired for his courage and independence. An Eagle reporter asked Mr. Kennahan what he thought of the action of the assembly. He said:
"It is a comedy badly played. Vacheron dare not give me a chance to confront him with proof of the statements that nave been published concerning him, and of things that have not been published, but will be. I am well fortified for any conflict that may arise. I seek no favors. I shall he ready to proceed to business at an hour's notice. If the committee on privileges will hear testimony and base their judgment on it with judicial fairness, the public and the committee will have some startling things to ponder over."
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 2.
Rascally Law Making
New York, 1895
Secret legislation is rascally business. The hasty passage through the Assembly of the bill to create a Commissioner of Jurors for this county was rascally work. The bill proposes to make the people pay about $10,000 a year for a service that costs at present $96. That is rascally, too, for there is no popular demand and no good reason for the change.
Vacheron introduced this rascally bill April 3rd. It passed the Assembly April 10th. The introduction and passage were timed so as to prevent the board of Supervisors from taking any steps to oppose the bill. Not a citizen of the county knew that the bill was in existence earlier than the 9th of the month, except Boss Youngs and B. Frank Wood. The Standard in two issues suppressed all information as to the existence of the rascally bill. That was rascally journalism, but, then, the Standard is a criminal newspaper any way.
Boss Youngs has been accused of being the father of the bill, and he has not denied it.
It has always been the rule of honest legislators representing this county to transmit to the board of Supervisors every bill introduced,, and the Supervisors have been given time to approve or disapprove, as the measure seemed to them good or bad. Senator Childs has never departed from this rule. Vacheron has never observed it.
Now that the bill is in the Senate, we presume that Senator Childs will not soil his record by pushing it through under whip and spur. More than once the people have had to rely on Mr. Childs to save them from the enactment of pernicious laws, and the people look confidently to Mr. Childs in this crisis. Will he stand up against this wrong? Boss Youngs and the bone brigade will push Mr. Childs very hard, but they have done it before unsuccessfully.
As this is the greatest outrage these political jobbers have attempted, it affords all the more reason why Senator Childs should stand firmly by the people. If he does the people will surely stand by him.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 2.
Secret legislation is rascally business. The hasty passage through the Assembly of the bill to create a Commissioner of Jurors for this county was rascally work. The bill proposes to make the people pay about $10,000 a year for a service that costs at present $96. That is rascally, too, for there is no popular demand and no good reason for the change.
Vacheron introduced this rascally bill April 3rd. It passed the Assembly April 10th. The introduction and passage were timed so as to prevent the board of Supervisors from taking any steps to oppose the bill. Not a citizen of the county knew that the bill was in existence earlier than the 9th of the month, except Boss Youngs and B. Frank Wood. The Standard in two issues suppressed all information as to the existence of the rascally bill. That was rascally journalism, but, then, the Standard is a criminal newspaper any way.
Boss Youngs has been accused of being the father of the bill, and he has not denied it.
It has always been the rule of honest legislators representing this county to transmit to the board of Supervisors every bill introduced,, and the Supervisors have been given time to approve or disapprove, as the measure seemed to them good or bad. Senator Childs has never departed from this rule. Vacheron has never observed it.
Now that the bill is in the Senate, we presume that Senator Childs will not soil his record by pushing it through under whip and spur. More than once the people have had to rely on Mr. Childs to save them from the enactment of pernicious laws, and the people look confidently to Mr. Childs in this crisis. Will he stand up against this wrong? Boss Youngs and the bone brigade will push Mr. Childs very hard, but they have done it before unsuccessfully.
As this is the greatest outrage these political jobbers have attempted, it affords all the more reason why Senator Childs should stand firmly by the people. If he does the people will surely stand by him.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 2.
Editorial Briefs
New York, 1895
The Supervisors are to a man opposed to the Commissioner of Jurors bill — the latest $10,000 a year job of Boss Youngs and his tool, Assemblyman Vacheron. The Republican County Committee must be in favor of the job, for they have passed a resolution approving Boss Youngs' work at Albany. It is in order now for the committee to pass a resolution censuring the board of Supervisors for their opposition to the job and to the Boss and his tool.
With the board of Supervisors solid against the rascally Commissioner of Jurors bill we think Senator Childs will deem it wise to strangle the measure. Six of the seven Supervisors are Republicans, but they are not the political tools of Boss Youngs. The people must have respect for such men. As a Democratic paper THE FARMER is proud of Supervisor Everitt's stand against the job.
The Long Island City Herald, the leading Republican newspaper of the county, is showing proper respect for the sentiments of its party in opposition to Boss rule and jobbery by severely arraigning Boss Youngs for his efforts to pass laws to provide offices for heelers and make the people pay them big salaries. The $10,000 Commissioner of Jurors bill is one in point.
The Standard makes another attack on the board of Supervisors, and all because the Supervisors would not allow the Standard to swindle the county out of $225. What a criminal sheet it has become.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 2.
The Supervisors are to a man opposed to the Commissioner of Jurors bill — the latest $10,000 a year job of Boss Youngs and his tool, Assemblyman Vacheron. The Republican County Committee must be in favor of the job, for they have passed a resolution approving Boss Youngs' work at Albany. It is in order now for the committee to pass a resolution censuring the board of Supervisors for their opposition to the job and to the Boss and his tool.
With the board of Supervisors solid against the rascally Commissioner of Jurors bill we think Senator Childs will deem it wise to strangle the measure. Six of the seven Supervisors are Republicans, but they are not the political tools of Boss Youngs. The people must have respect for such men. As a Democratic paper THE FARMER is proud of Supervisor Everitt's stand against the job.
The Long Island City Herald, the leading Republican newspaper of the county, is showing proper respect for the sentiments of its party in opposition to Boss rule and jobbery by severely arraigning Boss Youngs for his efforts to pass laws to provide offices for heelers and make the people pay them big salaries. The $10,000 Commissioner of Jurors bill is one in point.
The Standard makes another attack on the board of Supervisors, and all because the Supervisors would not allow the Standard to swindle the county out of $225. What a criminal sheet it has become.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 2.
The Supervisors Misled
New York, 1895
Counsel to the board of Supervisors, George Wallace, appeared in the role of apologist for Assemblyman Vacheron at the meeting of the board on Tuesday. The Supervisors expressed themselves strongly in opposition to the $10,000 Commissioner of Jurors bill, and a resolution had been prepared and privately approved condemning the bill in unmistakable terms. Counselor Wallace induced the board not to pass this resolution. He said that condemnation of the bill might arouse Vacheron's vindictiveness and lead him to kill the County Road bill. The resolution which the board did adopt was written by Mr. Wallace. It will not satisfy public opinion, which has become strongly aroused over this outrageous measure, and fault will be found with the Supervisors for allowing themselves to be placed in a false position to serve a political purpose, for it was not the safety of the County Road act that actuated Mr. Wallace, but the knowledge that condemnation of the outrageous commissioner of jurors bill by a Republican board of Supervisors would be a condemnation of Boss Youngs, of Vacheron, and of the Republican county committee, and safety of the County Road act was but a subterfuge to mislead the board. The Supervisors made the mistake of being too trustful, but there is the satisfaction of knowing that the board are unanimous in their opposition to the bill, and the committee that will go to Albany will voice that opposition in positive terms.
Mr. Wallace himself does not stand in an enviable light before the people on this scandalous bill. He informed the board of Supervisors that he was in Albany on the day that Vacheron forced the bill through the Assembly. He was in Vacheron's company, but Vacheron said never a word to him about the bill. Queerly enough, he learned all about the bill just as soon as it had passed. Mr. Wallace stated further that after he learned of the passage of the bill he was with Senator Childs for a considerable time, but said not a word to the Senator about it. Mr. Wallace brought a copy of the bill home with him, and took care to leave it at home when he attended the meeting of the board of Supervisors, and that gave him a chance to make the board indefinite and doubtful in their action, as no Supervisor had ever seen a copy of the bill; but Mr. Wallace had seen it, and read and re-read it, knew all about it, and was capable of speaking for the board in the matter, and should have framed an honest resolution for them to adopt. Mr. Wallace appears to be more concerned about politics and the welfare of politicians than about the public welfare. The Supervisors should be on their guard hereafter.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 2.
Counsel to the board of Supervisors, George Wallace, appeared in the role of apologist for Assemblyman Vacheron at the meeting of the board on Tuesday. The Supervisors expressed themselves strongly in opposition to the $10,000 Commissioner of Jurors bill, and a resolution had been prepared and privately approved condemning the bill in unmistakable terms. Counselor Wallace induced the board not to pass this resolution. He said that condemnation of the bill might arouse Vacheron's vindictiveness and lead him to kill the County Road bill. The resolution which the board did adopt was written by Mr. Wallace. It will not satisfy public opinion, which has become strongly aroused over this outrageous measure, and fault will be found with the Supervisors for allowing themselves to be placed in a false position to serve a political purpose, for it was not the safety of the County Road act that actuated Mr. Wallace, but the knowledge that condemnation of the outrageous commissioner of jurors bill by a Republican board of Supervisors would be a condemnation of Boss Youngs, of Vacheron, and of the Republican county committee, and safety of the County Road act was but a subterfuge to mislead the board. The Supervisors made the mistake of being too trustful, but there is the satisfaction of knowing that the board are unanimous in their opposition to the bill, and the committee that will go to Albany will voice that opposition in positive terms.
Mr. Wallace himself does not stand in an enviable light before the people on this scandalous bill. He informed the board of Supervisors that he was in Albany on the day that Vacheron forced the bill through the Assembly. He was in Vacheron's company, but Vacheron said never a word to him about the bill. Queerly enough, he learned all about the bill just as soon as it had passed. Mr. Wallace stated further that after he learned of the passage of the bill he was with Senator Childs for a considerable time, but said not a word to the Senator about it. Mr. Wallace brought a copy of the bill home with him, and took care to leave it at home when he attended the meeting of the board of Supervisors, and that gave him a chance to make the board indefinite and doubtful in their action, as no Supervisor had ever seen a copy of the bill; but Mr. Wallace had seen it, and read and re-read it, knew all about it, and was capable of speaking for the board in the matter, and should have framed an honest resolution for them to adopt. Mr. Wallace appears to be more concerned about politics and the welfare of politicians than about the public welfare. The Supervisors should be on their guard hereafter.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 2.
The Republican County Committee Imitate Balaam's Ass
New York, 1895
Boss Youngs is bossing the Republican County Committee with a degree of amusing silliness. At his dictation the committee has served written notice on all of the Republican Supervisors that they must submit to Boss rule or be condemned. The notice served on the Supervisors is remarkable for two things: First, they "must" appoint a Republican as clerk. Second, they "must not" give patronage to THE FARMER because of its antagonism to certain Republican "leaders." It must be a brainless committee that would lend itself to such insane dictation. The Supervisors can want no better reason for refusing to be bossed.
The Boss demands the removal of Mr. Seabury from the clerkship for no cause at all, but merely on the ground that he is a Democrat, and yet, as a matter of fact, Democrats made the board Republican. Mr. Seabury is an excellent clerk. Politics plays no part in his official work. If the Boss could put a Republican in the office it would be used more for politics than any other purpose. This is the danger the Supervisors have got to guard against.
THE FARMER is compelled to laugh at the utterances of the committee as to patronage. This paper has given no offense to decent Republicans. Criticism of the eccentricities of management of Boss Youngs, exposure of jobs that were harmful to the public, and laying bare the venal acts of his servile tool, Mr. Vacheron, are the sins charged against THE FARMER. No sane person will deny that this paper has rendered a valuable public service in these things. We have been right in line with the conduct of the board of Supervisors all the time, so that the committee must necessarily harbor the same grudge against this honest body of public officers, but is too cowardly to express it.
Boss Youngs cannot bribe THE FARMER with promises of patronage, nor intimidate it with threats to take away patronage. The Boss has made a scandalous exhibition of himself at Albany as a lobbyist and place hunter, and the fact has been commented upon by several newspapers. THE FARMER has spoken adversely of him only to the extent that he has deserved, and that we shall continue to do as a public duty. Assemblyman Vacheron has been exposed in some of the rank jobbery that he has been identified with, and there is more to follow.
The Boss makes the County Committee declare that criticism of himself and Vacheron is an offense to be punished by the same board of Supervisors that has denounced every job that we have denounced. On the other hand, Republican newspaper denunciation of the Republican board of Supervisors meets with no objection from the Boss or his committee. A Republican newspaper, the Standard, may even go the length of trying to swindle the county and still keep the favor of the Boss and his committee. This Republican newspaper may pour forth venomous tirades against the Republican Supervisors for their honest act in preventing the consummation of the attempted swindle, week after week, but never evoke a word of expostulation from the Boss or his committee, and, as if fate had turned a mocker, the name that appears at the bottom of the committee's resolution ordering the board of Supervisors to do its bidding is that of B. Frank Wood, the assailant of the Supervisors, and the very man who would have been benefited if the Standard's fraudulent bill had crept through undetected.
As honest men the Supervisors should ignore the upstart mandate of the Boss and his Committee, and, again, as honest men the Supervisors should put it beyond the power of the Standard to present another fraudulent bill.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 2.
Boss Youngs is bossing the Republican County Committee with a degree of amusing silliness. At his dictation the committee has served written notice on all of the Republican Supervisors that they must submit to Boss rule or be condemned. The notice served on the Supervisors is remarkable for two things: First, they "must" appoint a Republican as clerk. Second, they "must not" give patronage to THE FARMER because of its antagonism to certain Republican "leaders." It must be a brainless committee that would lend itself to such insane dictation. The Supervisors can want no better reason for refusing to be bossed.
The Boss demands the removal of Mr. Seabury from the clerkship for no cause at all, but merely on the ground that he is a Democrat, and yet, as a matter of fact, Democrats made the board Republican. Mr. Seabury is an excellent clerk. Politics plays no part in his official work. If the Boss could put a Republican in the office it would be used more for politics than any other purpose. This is the danger the Supervisors have got to guard against.
THE FARMER is compelled to laugh at the utterances of the committee as to patronage. This paper has given no offense to decent Republicans. Criticism of the eccentricities of management of Boss Youngs, exposure of jobs that were harmful to the public, and laying bare the venal acts of his servile tool, Mr. Vacheron, are the sins charged against THE FARMER. No sane person will deny that this paper has rendered a valuable public service in these things. We have been right in line with the conduct of the board of Supervisors all the time, so that the committee must necessarily harbor the same grudge against this honest body of public officers, but is too cowardly to express it.
Boss Youngs cannot bribe THE FARMER with promises of patronage, nor intimidate it with threats to take away patronage. The Boss has made a scandalous exhibition of himself at Albany as a lobbyist and place hunter, and the fact has been commented upon by several newspapers. THE FARMER has spoken adversely of him only to the extent that he has deserved, and that we shall continue to do as a public duty. Assemblyman Vacheron has been exposed in some of the rank jobbery that he has been identified with, and there is more to follow.
The Boss makes the County Committee declare that criticism of himself and Vacheron is an offense to be punished by the same board of Supervisors that has denounced every job that we have denounced. On the other hand, Republican newspaper denunciation of the Republican board of Supervisors meets with no objection from the Boss or his committee. A Republican newspaper, the Standard, may even go the length of trying to swindle the county and still keep the favor of the Boss and his committee. This Republican newspaper may pour forth venomous tirades against the Republican Supervisors for their honest act in preventing the consummation of the attempted swindle, week after week, but never evoke a word of expostulation from the Boss or his committee, and, as if fate had turned a mocker, the name that appears at the bottom of the committee's resolution ordering the board of Supervisors to do its bidding is that of B. Frank Wood, the assailant of the Supervisors, and the very man who would have been benefited if the Standard's fraudulent bill had crept through undetected.
As honest men the Supervisors should ignore the upstart mandate of the Boss and his Committee, and, again, as honest men the Supervisors should put it beyond the power of the Standard to present another fraudulent bill.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 2.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Supervisors At Work
New York, 1895
LEGISLATION FOR THE COUNTY SLOW AND UNFAVORABLE.
Kings County Will Take the Tramps and Other Prisoners — Protest Against Commissioners of Jurors Bill — Hunter's Point People Want Hearing.
The board of Supervisors met at the Alms House at Barnum Island on Tuesday, all the members being present. Supervisor Denton was appointed chairman pro tem.
Counselor Wallace stated in regard to legislation that matters are progressing slowly and in some respects unfavorably for the county. The bridge bill he found asleep in the Assembly, after it had passed the Senate, and he got a favorable report on it from the Assembly committee, but Mr. Fairbrother had it referred back to the committee and amended, and in that shape it passed the Assembly. It then went to the Senate to be concurred in. What the action has been in the Senate, Mr. Wallace did not know.
The bill to give Long Island City five Supervisors was amended to make the number three. Lucien Knapp has been at Albany urging the passage of the bill, but Mr. Wallace thinks the bill is dead.
The County Road bill is on its passage in Assembly.
The bill to allow broken stone to be purchased outside of New York State was advocated by Mr. Wallace and reported favorably by the Assembly committee, and it will probably pass. If it does, macadam will become cheaper.
Counsel reported as to keeping the tramps in the Kings County penitentiary, that he had been defeated on the mandamus proceeding, but the commissioners of charities and correction of Kings County have since had the matter of receiving the tramps under consideration and the penitentiary will probably receive them under proper commitment.
Supervisor Everitt asked Counselor Wallace what he knew about the commissioner of jurors bill. Mr. Wallace said he knew nothing about it until after the bill had been forced through the Assembly by Mr. Vacheron. Mr. Wallace was in Albany at the time, but did not speak to Senator Childs about it, and he does not know what action Mr. Childs will take on the bill.
Supervisor Everitt objected strongly to the Commissioner of Jurors bill, denouncing it as a job to provide a high salaried position for some politician. He thought it an outrage that such a bill should be rushed through the Assembly without the Supervisors even being notified of its existence. Supervisors Denton, Pople, Underhill and Wood also spoke against the bill. Not a man who had spoken to them about the bill favored it, except a few politicians.
Supervisor Wood offered the following preamble and resolution:
Whereas, A bill has been passed In the Assembly providing for the appointment of a Commissioner of Jurors for Queens county, and
Whereas, We have not a copy of the bill at hand.
Resolved, That a committee consisting of Supervisors Pople, Underhill and Everitt be appointed to examine the provisions of said bill and with full power to represent the board in the matter and to demand a hearing on the bill before the Senate Committee to which it may be referred.
A communication was received from business men of Long Island City requesting the board not to take any action toward building a bridge over Newtown creek at Hunter's Point, or placing a viaduct in the public street, without giving them a hearing. They said that it would be a detriment to business and would entail large public expense by reason of the necessity of acquiring land by condemnation.
A bill of $100 was presented for a gas saving machine at the County Court House. Mr. Koehler asked for information as to the results of the machine. Supervisor Pople said that a saving of $60 a month had been effected in the gas bills, comparing three months of this year with three months of last year. Supervisor Koehler had the bill laid over to give him time to look carefully into the matter.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 1.
LEGISLATION FOR THE COUNTY SLOW AND UNFAVORABLE.
Kings County Will Take the Tramps and Other Prisoners — Protest Against Commissioners of Jurors Bill — Hunter's Point People Want Hearing.
The board of Supervisors met at the Alms House at Barnum Island on Tuesday, all the members being present. Supervisor Denton was appointed chairman pro tem.
Counselor Wallace stated in regard to legislation that matters are progressing slowly and in some respects unfavorably for the county. The bridge bill he found asleep in the Assembly, after it had passed the Senate, and he got a favorable report on it from the Assembly committee, but Mr. Fairbrother had it referred back to the committee and amended, and in that shape it passed the Assembly. It then went to the Senate to be concurred in. What the action has been in the Senate, Mr. Wallace did not know.
The bill to give Long Island City five Supervisors was amended to make the number three. Lucien Knapp has been at Albany urging the passage of the bill, but Mr. Wallace thinks the bill is dead.
The County Road bill is on its passage in Assembly.
The bill to allow broken stone to be purchased outside of New York State was advocated by Mr. Wallace and reported favorably by the Assembly committee, and it will probably pass. If it does, macadam will become cheaper.
Counsel reported as to keeping the tramps in the Kings County penitentiary, that he had been defeated on the mandamus proceeding, but the commissioners of charities and correction of Kings County have since had the matter of receiving the tramps under consideration and the penitentiary will probably receive them under proper commitment.
Supervisor Everitt asked Counselor Wallace what he knew about the commissioner of jurors bill. Mr. Wallace said he knew nothing about it until after the bill had been forced through the Assembly by Mr. Vacheron. Mr. Wallace was in Albany at the time, but did not speak to Senator Childs about it, and he does not know what action Mr. Childs will take on the bill.
Supervisor Everitt objected strongly to the Commissioner of Jurors bill, denouncing it as a job to provide a high salaried position for some politician. He thought it an outrage that such a bill should be rushed through the Assembly without the Supervisors even being notified of its existence. Supervisors Denton, Pople, Underhill and Wood also spoke against the bill. Not a man who had spoken to them about the bill favored it, except a few politicians.
Supervisor Wood offered the following preamble and resolution:
Whereas, A bill has been passed In the Assembly providing for the appointment of a Commissioner of Jurors for Queens county, and
Whereas, We have not a copy of the bill at hand.
Resolved, That a committee consisting of Supervisors Pople, Underhill and Everitt be appointed to examine the provisions of said bill and with full power to represent the board in the matter and to demand a hearing on the bill before the Senate Committee to which it may be referred.
A communication was received from business men of Long Island City requesting the board not to take any action toward building a bridge over Newtown creek at Hunter's Point, or placing a viaduct in the public street, without giving them a hearing. They said that it would be a detriment to business and would entail large public expense by reason of the necessity of acquiring land by condemnation.
A bill of $100 was presented for a gas saving machine at the County Court House. Mr. Koehler asked for information as to the results of the machine. Supervisor Pople said that a saving of $60 a month had been effected in the gas bills, comparing three months of this year with three months of last year. Supervisor Koehler had the bill laid over to give him time to look carefully into the matter.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 1.
A New Combination
New York, 1895
It is reported that Sheriff Doht, City Treasurer Knapp and Boss Youngs have entered into a combination to defeat Senator John Lewis Childs for renomination by his party. They are going to throw Mr. Childs down to show their supremacy over Governor McCormick and his followers, and to get square with the Governor for having opposed the nomination of Mr. Doht. This is publicly proclaimed in Long Island City, where a newspaper has been started to advocate the cause of the spoilsman.
While THE FARMER does not doubt the good will of the combine to "do up" Mr. McCormick and Senator Childs, if they can, we incline to the belief that the purpose of the combine at this time is to frighten Senator Childs into support of the rascally commissioner of jurors bill. If Senator Childs lets himself be bulldozed by these fellows, and comes up for re-election in November, he will find a big majority of the voters ready to bury him under an avalanche of ballots.
This is the people's fight against a great wrong. Stand by the people, Senator.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 1.
It is reported that Sheriff Doht, City Treasurer Knapp and Boss Youngs have entered into a combination to defeat Senator John Lewis Childs for renomination by his party. They are going to throw Mr. Childs down to show their supremacy over Governor McCormick and his followers, and to get square with the Governor for having opposed the nomination of Mr. Doht. This is publicly proclaimed in Long Island City, where a newspaper has been started to advocate the cause of the spoilsman.
While THE FARMER does not doubt the good will of the combine to "do up" Mr. McCormick and Senator Childs, if they can, we incline to the belief that the purpose of the combine at this time is to frighten Senator Childs into support of the rascally commissioner of jurors bill. If Senator Childs lets himself be bulldozed by these fellows, and comes up for re-election in November, he will find a big majority of the voters ready to bury him under an avalanche of ballots.
This is the people's fight against a great wrong. Stand by the people, Senator.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 1.
NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC
New York, 1895
A responsible and honest member of the Legislature of the State of New York has sent to the editor of The Farmer a signed letter asserting that if the Commissioner of Jurors bill becomes a law, Assemblyman Eugene F. Vacheron is to be appointed to the office.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 1.
A responsible and honest member of the Legislature of the State of New York has sent to the editor of The Farmer a signed letter asserting that if the Commissioner of Jurors bill becomes a law, Assemblyman Eugene F. Vacheron is to be appointed to the office.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 1.
Another $10,000 Grab
New York, 1895
ASSEMBLYMAN VACHERON WILL RUIN THE TAX-PAYERS.
Proposing to Give a Republican City Treasurer $10,000 for Doing Literally Nothing — Reduced Ferry Rates Secured by Mr. Madden — General Legislative News.
ALBANY, April 18.
(Correspondence of THE FARMER.)
Mr. Vacheron has had another steal bill passed by the Assembly. The bill empowers the receiver of taxes of Long Island City to settle all arrears of taxes and water rates, and he is to be paid $10,000 in addition to his salary. It is now the duty of the receiver of taxes, under the city charter, to receive and receipt for all back taxes, and his salary is $3,000. The $10,000 that he is to get will be just so much money wrung from the tax-payers and presented to the receiver of taxes. The bill is in the interest of Lucien Knapp, who was elected receiver of taxes by Mayor Gleason's party and the Republicans. His term lasts two years, and the new law is only to be in operation two years. It is a most outrageous act. The Senate has to pass upon it yet.
The Assembly passed Mr. Madden's bill, providing that the rate of fare for foot passengers on the ferry operated by the Long Island railroad company, between Long Island City and Thirty-fourth street in the city of New York, shall be as follows : Between the hours of 5 and 7 A. M. and between the hours of 5 and 7.30 P. M., 1 cent for each foot passenger ; at all other times and on Sunday, 2 cents each for foot passengers.
The Assembly passed Mr. Vacheron's bill, providing for the application and distribution of receipts from premiums collected and to be collected from foreign fire insurance companies in property in Long Island City.
Mr. Madden has introduced a bill providing for the manner of the collection of taxes in Long Island City.
Governor Morton has signed the bill creating a tax arrears commission for Queens county.
A bill has been favorably reported in the Assembly to release Union College from the payment of back taxes in Long Island City amounting to nearly $500,000. Vacheron made no opposition to the bill.
If Boss Platt decides to kill the Greater New York bill, it will not be the first thing of the kind for which New York city has him to thank. It was to him almost wholly that the loss of the World's Fair by New York City in 1890 was due, and it was to the World's Fair that Chicago can date most of her enormous recent growth.
Iu the Senate a favorable report was made on Mr. Madden's bill, providing that the East River Gas Company shall charge the same rate for gas in Long Island City as in New York. Subsequently the bill was recommitted. The lobby did it.
In the Assembly a favorable report was made on Mr. Madden's bill, fixing the salary of the clerk to the police justices in Long Island City at $1,500 a year. He must be a stenographer.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 1.
ASSEMBLYMAN VACHERON WILL RUIN THE TAX-PAYERS.
Proposing to Give a Republican City Treasurer $10,000 for Doing Literally Nothing — Reduced Ferry Rates Secured by Mr. Madden — General Legislative News.
ALBANY, April 18.
(Correspondence of THE FARMER.)
Mr. Vacheron has had another steal bill passed by the Assembly. The bill empowers the receiver of taxes of Long Island City to settle all arrears of taxes and water rates, and he is to be paid $10,000 in addition to his salary. It is now the duty of the receiver of taxes, under the city charter, to receive and receipt for all back taxes, and his salary is $3,000. The $10,000 that he is to get will be just so much money wrung from the tax-payers and presented to the receiver of taxes. The bill is in the interest of Lucien Knapp, who was elected receiver of taxes by Mayor Gleason's party and the Republicans. His term lasts two years, and the new law is only to be in operation two years. It is a most outrageous act. The Senate has to pass upon it yet.
The Assembly passed Mr. Madden's bill, providing that the rate of fare for foot passengers on the ferry operated by the Long Island railroad company, between Long Island City and Thirty-fourth street in the city of New York, shall be as follows : Between the hours of 5 and 7 A. M. and between the hours of 5 and 7.30 P. M., 1 cent for each foot passenger ; at all other times and on Sunday, 2 cents each for foot passengers.
The Assembly passed Mr. Vacheron's bill, providing for the application and distribution of receipts from premiums collected and to be collected from foreign fire insurance companies in property in Long Island City.
Mr. Madden has introduced a bill providing for the manner of the collection of taxes in Long Island City.
Governor Morton has signed the bill creating a tax arrears commission for Queens county.
A bill has been favorably reported in the Assembly to release Union College from the payment of back taxes in Long Island City amounting to nearly $500,000. Vacheron made no opposition to the bill.
If Boss Platt decides to kill the Greater New York bill, it will not be the first thing of the kind for which New York city has him to thank. It was to him almost wholly that the loss of the World's Fair by New York City in 1890 was due, and it was to the World's Fair that Chicago can date most of her enormous recent growth.
Iu the Senate a favorable report was made on Mr. Madden's bill, providing that the East River Gas Company shall charge the same rate for gas in Long Island City as in New York. Subsequently the bill was recommitted. The lobby did it.
In the Assembly a favorable report was made on Mr. Madden's bill, fixing the salary of the clerk to the police justices in Long Island City at $1,500 a year. He must be a stenographer.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 1.
A Lie Nailed
New York, 1895
The advocates of the Commissioner of Jurors bill have tried to give it character by stating that Judge Garretson saw the draft and approved it.
This statement, so industriously circulated, is a vicious falsehood. THE FARMER is authorized to state that Judge Garretson never saw the draft of the bill, and knew nothing whatever of its contents.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 1.
The advocates of the Commissioner of Jurors bill have tried to give it character by stating that Judge Garretson saw the draft and approved it.
This statement, so industriously circulated, is a vicious falsehood. THE FARMER is authorized to state that Judge Garretson never saw the draft of the bill, and knew nothing whatever of its contents.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 1.
A Slippery Party Boss
New York, 1895
His Peculiarities Pointed Out by a Republican Newspaper.
(From the Long Island City Herald, Republican.)
The interest which the Hon William J. Youngs manifests in county politics is, we fear, of that kind which has been felicitously described as "pernicious activity." Mr. Youngs not only wants a lucrative and important state office for himself, but he wants one less lucrative and less important, we suppose, for his protege, Mr. Charles L. Phipps. Owing to the mistake our two Republican assemblymen made in not voting for Mr. Fish for speaker, Queens county Republicans have got very few plums at Albany. Only two places — and those are of small value — have been given to Republicans from this county and Mr. Youngs has secured them for men who came from his end of the county. He has completely overlooked Long Island City. An effort is being made to secure the removal of Mr. Seabury as clerk of the board of Supervisors and have a Republican appointed in his place. The office is worth $2,000 a year, and the work is light. It is here that the "pernicious activity" of Mr. Youngs again asserts itself. He wants the office for his protege, Mr. Charles L. Phipps. A year ago he was willing that Long Island City should have it. If Long Island City was entitled to it then, why is she not entitled to it now, Mr. Youngs? Up to date the Republicans of Long Island City have not got within smelling distance of an office, either in the state or county government. For this slight, we must hold Mr. Youngs, who claims to be and is recognized as the party boss in this county, responsible and accountable. There is no use in mincing matters with Mr. Youngs. He is and always has been a very slippery gentleman, who thinks more of feathering his own nest than looking after the interests of others.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 1.
His Peculiarities Pointed Out by a Republican Newspaper.
(From the Long Island City Herald, Republican.)
The interest which the Hon William J. Youngs manifests in county politics is, we fear, of that kind which has been felicitously described as "pernicious activity." Mr. Youngs not only wants a lucrative and important state office for himself, but he wants one less lucrative and less important, we suppose, for his protege, Mr. Charles L. Phipps. Owing to the mistake our two Republican assemblymen made in not voting for Mr. Fish for speaker, Queens county Republicans have got very few plums at Albany. Only two places — and those are of small value — have been given to Republicans from this county and Mr. Youngs has secured them for men who came from his end of the county. He has completely overlooked Long Island City. An effort is being made to secure the removal of Mr. Seabury as clerk of the board of Supervisors and have a Republican appointed in his place. The office is worth $2,000 a year, and the work is light. It is here that the "pernicious activity" of Mr. Youngs again asserts itself. He wants the office for his protege, Mr. Charles L. Phipps. A year ago he was willing that Long Island City should have it. If Long Island City was entitled to it then, why is she not entitled to it now, Mr. Youngs? Up to date the Republicans of Long Island City have not got within smelling distance of an office, either in the state or county government. For this slight, we must hold Mr. Youngs, who claims to be and is recognized as the party boss in this county, responsible and accountable. There is no use in mincing matters with Mr. Youngs. He is and always has been a very slippery gentleman, who thinks more of feathering his own nest than looking after the interests of others.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 1.
Will Beat It
New York, 1895
Senator Childs Stands by the People.
The Vacheron-Youngs $10,000 Commissioner of Jurors Bill Will Not Pass the Senate.
SUPERVISORS OPPOSED TO IT
So Are Judge Garretson and the Lawyers.
SOME PRESS OPINIONS.
(Special to the Farmer.)
ALBANY, April 17
The people of Queens County will be gratified to learn that Senator Childs has taken off his coat and gone to work in dead earnest to defeat the Commissioner of Jurors bill which Assemblyman Vacheron sneaked through the lower branch of the Legislature so secretly that only those knew of it who were interested in the job. Many lawyers, and many more citizens, have written letters to Mr. Childs asking him to do everything in his power to defeat the bill. Supervisor Pople has communicated to the Senator the information that the board of Supervisors are unanimously opposed to the bill and desire to be heard in the opposition to it. The Senator will have a day set for the hearing. I think the people can rest in the confidence that Mr. Childs will kill the bill and bury it without much ceremony, Vacheron and Boss Youngs to the contrary. Senator Childs is aware that Judge Garretson does not favor the bill. Congressman McCormick has been here and the bill has not received his approval. In fact no one favors it but Vacheron and Boss Youngs, District Attorney Noble and Sheriff Doht. The latter two would control the appointment of the commissioner, a thing which in itself would warrant the defeat of the bill.
Credit should be given to Assemblyman Madden, representing the Long Island City district, for doing all that he could to defeat the bill on the floor of the House. He was kept in ignorance of the existence of the bill until it came up for passage, and was taken by surprise. Being a minority member, Mr. Madden could not defeat the bill, for the reason that before it came up for passage Vacheron and Boss Youngs had had it made a party measure. It was Youngs' lobbying that led the New York Sun to protest against his presence on the floor of the Assembly.
B. Frank Wood, of the Jamaica Standard, is here assisting Vacheron and Boss Youngs to pass the Commissioner of Jurors bill. Several of the bills sent here by the board of Supervisors will not pass. They are delayed in the Assembly. Mr. Wood represents himself to be the Secretary of the Queens County Republican committee, and the editor of the Republican organ in the county. He is very bitter against the board of Supervisors. He says they do not represent public sentiment, and that not one of them will ever be elected again. If the county does not get the legislation it requires, it will make the Supervisors unpopular, and that is the reason the bills are to be killed. Mr. Wood has resolutions with him, said to have been adopted by the Republican county committee since the secret passage of the Commissioner of Jurors bill in the Assembly, and he says that these resolutions represent popular sentiment in Queens County, and that the Commissioner of Jurors bill should be passed. The resolutions do not refer to the bill in terms, but are an indorsement of the course of Vacheron and Boss Youngs in legislative matters, and, therefore, according to Mr. Wood, are an indorsement of the Commissioner of Jurors bill. Senator Childs does not agree with this view.
The Robber Bill Denounced by the Press of the County.
It is a healthy sign that the newspapers of the county are opposed to the robber bill. Some conservative newspapers, that very rarely express opinions at all, have come out strong against this job. Even the Brooklyn newspapers have felt called upon to denounce it. The people almost to a man are down on it. The lawyers are down on it. Judge Garretson is down on it. The comments of some of the newspapers are appended.
(The New York World:)
WANTS TO CREATE A SINECURE.
The bill introduced by Assemblyman Eugene F. Vacheron to create the office of commissioner of jurors in Queens county is a political job. The measure, if it becomes a law, will add thousands of dollars to the tax rate of the county.
The commissioner is also given power to levy tribute upon citizens in excusing them from duty. When a person is exempt from jury duty the commissioner gets fifty cents for entering the name upon a list. Taken all together, the creation of the office would give unlimited chances to bone-hunting politicians.
(College Point Reporter, Republican:)
IS THE JOB FOR VACHERON'S BENEFIT.
Assemblyman Vacheron introduced a bill into the assembly providing for the appointment of a commissioner of jurors. The bill has passed the Assembly and if it passes the Senate, it is said that Assemblyman Vacheron is slated for the position.
(The Newtown Register:)
NO NECESSITY FOR THE OFFICE.
Mr. Vacheron has introduced a bill in the Assembly which provides for the appointment of a commissioner of jurors in the County of Queens. * * It strikes us that there is really no necessity for such an office, the creation of which will only involve a heavy expense that should not be incurred.
(The New York World:)
A RIVAL OF SENATOR OWENS.
If Assemblyman Vacheron keeps on he will rival Senator Owens as a place-grabber. He is now asking that a commissioner of jurors be appointed for his county, to hold office five years and draw a salary of $3,000 a year. Queens County taxpayers will have reason to remember the accident which gave the Republicans control of that county.
(From the Brooklyn Times:)
BOSS YOUNGS' HANDIWORK.
The man who conceived the brilliant scheme of creating the office of commissioner of jurors in Queens county is living twenty years ahead of the times. The office is well enough in its place, but the place is not Queens county, and the people are not ready for it. Every lawyer and every citizen is opposed to any change in the present system of drawing juries, especially when the change would mean the addition of thousands of dollars to the cost of maintaining the county government. The proposed measure is a good thing for the commissioner, but the taxpayers do not want it.
(From the Brooklyn Times:)
THE NEW OFFICE NOT NEEDED.
If the bill now before the Assembly committee on internal affairs, providing for the appointment of a commissioner of jurors for Queens county were submitted to the people at a special election there is no doubt that it would be rejected. * * The bill was introduced by Assemblyman Vacheron on April 3, and referred to the committee named. It will probably be opposed by the board of Supervisors in the interest of economy, for the reason that under the workings of such a law the cost of drawing jurors in the county would, it is estimated, be increased from less than $100 to $10,000 annually. * * A commissioner of jurors is all well enough in cities, but here it seems too much like spending the people's money for nothing. Under the present system jurors are honestly drawn, at a very small expense, so why should any change in the system be made.
(From the Brooklyn Eagle:)
A JOB TO PROVIDE A FAT OFFICE.
Something of a sensation has been created among the Queens county lawyers by a bill introduced in the legislature by Assemblyman Vacheron. The bill provides for the appointment of a commissioner of jurors for Queens county, at a salary of $3,000 per year. The term is five years. The bill gives the commissioner unlimited powers in the working up of an exempt list, the selection of jurors and the imposing and remitting of fines — in fact, under the provisions of the bill every man in Queens county is practically at the mercy of the commissioner. * * That the bill provides an office which is not necessary to the welfare of the county seems to be the general opinion. * * With the unlimited powers given the commissioner, should he be a man of dishonest tendencies, he could reap an income of $10,000, half of which would come in the way of contributions from persons wishing to be placed on the exempt list. The measure is viewed as a political dodge to provide a fat office for some faithful follower of the Republican party.
(The Hempstead Inquirer:)
A BAD BILL.
Assemblyman Vacheron has introduced a bill in the legislature to create the office of commissioner of jurors of Queens County. The officer to be appointed is to receive a salary of $3,000 a year, and his term of office is to be for five years. There is no necessity for a commissioner of jurors in a small county like Queens, and we doubt if the tax-payers of the county will approve of the expenditure of $3,000 for a commissioner of jurors.
The extravagance of the bill is not its only bad feature. It gives to the commissioner power to grant exemptions from jury duty for which a fee of twenty-five cents is to be charged for entering the name in a book to be kept for that purpose, and a charge of fifty cents for granting the certificate of exemption. It is safe to say that this new office, should the bill become a law, will be a very expensive affair for the people. Many bills creating new and useless offices, at great expense to the tax-payers, have been presented to the legislature during the present session. It is safe to say nothing more unnecessary and in its way extravagant has been introduced than the bill above described. The people of this county should make a vigorous protest at Albany against its passage.
(Long Island City Herald, Republican:)
THE BILL MUST BE KILLED.
Assemblyman Vacheron has introduced into the Assembly and has had passed by that body a bill which appoints a Commissioner of Jurors for Queens County, for a term of 5 years, at a salary of $3,000 a year, with contingent expenses in the form of assistants, etc., which would probably cost the taxpayers not less than $5,000 a year, and perhaps a much larger sum. The origin of the bill is a mystery, but we suppose the Hon. William J. Youngs is behind it.
The proposition to establish an office so expensive to the county should have been given the widest publicity before it was submitted to the legislature. The people have a right to decide whether or not they want such an office; but it has been kept a profound secret from them,and that alone stamps it with suspicion. It is a most dangerous bill as it gives the Commissioners of Jurors powers in some respects greater than that of the higher courts. The Commissioner of Jurors can exempt whoever he pleases from jury duty. Every man in the county qualified to act as a juror is at his mercy. His powers are in a manner as autocratic as those of the Czar of Russia.
The Republicans of Queens County know nothing of this bill, and they don't want it to become a law. The passage of such a bill, they believe, would kill their party in this county.
This is the kind of jockeying with legislation affecting Queens County that is sounding the death knell to the Republican party. Mr. Youngs, it must stop.
(From the Jamaica Democrat:)
A DANGEROUS AND SCANDALOUS BILL,
Last week a bill passed the Assembly affecting this county, and of very grave importance. It provides for the appointment of commissioner of jurors and does away with the present method of selecting the jurors. Its object is two-fold — to provide some politician with a fat office and to fortify certain Republicans in the power they have lately obtained in the county. Though the community is already sufficiently burdened with office-holders and taxed up to a point that incites considerable complaint we suppose another office-holder — a commissioner of jurors — drawing a salary of $3,000 per year might be endured, but an inspection of the bill shows that it is quite within the range of possibility that the office would cost the county at least $20,000 per year, and this is altogether too much for the people to stand without making emphatic protest. The present cost of selecting jurors is probably less than $100 — and is simpler, more effective and better than the one proposed at an expense of perhaps $20,000.
But the question of economy is not the only one. The bill is intensely mischievous from another point of view. It leaves the appointment of the commissioner to the county judge, the sheriff and the district attorney or any two of them. Under its provision Sheriff Doht and District Attorney Noble would practically control the jury system of the county for the period of five years. Such would be the inevitable result if the bill become a law. Mr. Vacheron, our representative, introduced this extraordinary bill, and has, no doubt, favored its passage. He has made no explanation of his course and it is doubtful if he will. The people must now look to Senator Childs to defeat this scandalous measure, and should he fail, then they must appeal to the Governor to veto it. Republicans are no less interested in its defeat than Democrats. It is the most dangerous bill that has gone up from this county within our memory.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 1.
Senator Childs Stands by the People.
The Vacheron-Youngs $10,000 Commissioner of Jurors Bill Will Not Pass the Senate.
SUPERVISORS OPPOSED TO IT
So Are Judge Garretson and the Lawyers.
SOME PRESS OPINIONS.
(Special to the Farmer.)
ALBANY, April 17
The people of Queens County will be gratified to learn that Senator Childs has taken off his coat and gone to work in dead earnest to defeat the Commissioner of Jurors bill which Assemblyman Vacheron sneaked through the lower branch of the Legislature so secretly that only those knew of it who were interested in the job. Many lawyers, and many more citizens, have written letters to Mr. Childs asking him to do everything in his power to defeat the bill. Supervisor Pople has communicated to the Senator the information that the board of Supervisors are unanimously opposed to the bill and desire to be heard in the opposition to it. The Senator will have a day set for the hearing. I think the people can rest in the confidence that Mr. Childs will kill the bill and bury it without much ceremony, Vacheron and Boss Youngs to the contrary. Senator Childs is aware that Judge Garretson does not favor the bill. Congressman McCormick has been here and the bill has not received his approval. In fact no one favors it but Vacheron and Boss Youngs, District Attorney Noble and Sheriff Doht. The latter two would control the appointment of the commissioner, a thing which in itself would warrant the defeat of the bill.
Credit should be given to Assemblyman Madden, representing the Long Island City district, for doing all that he could to defeat the bill on the floor of the House. He was kept in ignorance of the existence of the bill until it came up for passage, and was taken by surprise. Being a minority member, Mr. Madden could not defeat the bill, for the reason that before it came up for passage Vacheron and Boss Youngs had had it made a party measure. It was Youngs' lobbying that led the New York Sun to protest against his presence on the floor of the Assembly.
B. Frank Wood, of the Jamaica Standard, is here assisting Vacheron and Boss Youngs to pass the Commissioner of Jurors bill. Several of the bills sent here by the board of Supervisors will not pass. They are delayed in the Assembly. Mr. Wood represents himself to be the Secretary of the Queens County Republican committee, and the editor of the Republican organ in the county. He is very bitter against the board of Supervisors. He says they do not represent public sentiment, and that not one of them will ever be elected again. If the county does not get the legislation it requires, it will make the Supervisors unpopular, and that is the reason the bills are to be killed. Mr. Wood has resolutions with him, said to have been adopted by the Republican county committee since the secret passage of the Commissioner of Jurors bill in the Assembly, and he says that these resolutions represent popular sentiment in Queens County, and that the Commissioner of Jurors bill should be passed. The resolutions do not refer to the bill in terms, but are an indorsement of the course of Vacheron and Boss Youngs in legislative matters, and, therefore, according to Mr. Wood, are an indorsement of the Commissioner of Jurors bill. Senator Childs does not agree with this view.
The Robber Bill Denounced by the Press of the County.
It is a healthy sign that the newspapers of the county are opposed to the robber bill. Some conservative newspapers, that very rarely express opinions at all, have come out strong against this job. Even the Brooklyn newspapers have felt called upon to denounce it. The people almost to a man are down on it. The lawyers are down on it. Judge Garretson is down on it. The comments of some of the newspapers are appended.
(The New York World:)
WANTS TO CREATE A SINECURE.
The bill introduced by Assemblyman Eugene F. Vacheron to create the office of commissioner of jurors in Queens county is a political job. The measure, if it becomes a law, will add thousands of dollars to the tax rate of the county.
The commissioner is also given power to levy tribute upon citizens in excusing them from duty. When a person is exempt from jury duty the commissioner gets fifty cents for entering the name upon a list. Taken all together, the creation of the office would give unlimited chances to bone-hunting politicians.
(College Point Reporter, Republican:)
IS THE JOB FOR VACHERON'S BENEFIT.
Assemblyman Vacheron introduced a bill into the assembly providing for the appointment of a commissioner of jurors. The bill has passed the Assembly and if it passes the Senate, it is said that Assemblyman Vacheron is slated for the position.
(The Newtown Register:)
NO NECESSITY FOR THE OFFICE.
Mr. Vacheron has introduced a bill in the Assembly which provides for the appointment of a commissioner of jurors in the County of Queens. * * It strikes us that there is really no necessity for such an office, the creation of which will only involve a heavy expense that should not be incurred.
(The New York World:)
A RIVAL OF SENATOR OWENS.
If Assemblyman Vacheron keeps on he will rival Senator Owens as a place-grabber. He is now asking that a commissioner of jurors be appointed for his county, to hold office five years and draw a salary of $3,000 a year. Queens County taxpayers will have reason to remember the accident which gave the Republicans control of that county.
(From the Brooklyn Times:)
BOSS YOUNGS' HANDIWORK.
The man who conceived the brilliant scheme of creating the office of commissioner of jurors in Queens county is living twenty years ahead of the times. The office is well enough in its place, but the place is not Queens county, and the people are not ready for it. Every lawyer and every citizen is opposed to any change in the present system of drawing juries, especially when the change would mean the addition of thousands of dollars to the cost of maintaining the county government. The proposed measure is a good thing for the commissioner, but the taxpayers do not want it.
(From the Brooklyn Times:)
THE NEW OFFICE NOT NEEDED.
If the bill now before the Assembly committee on internal affairs, providing for the appointment of a commissioner of jurors for Queens county were submitted to the people at a special election there is no doubt that it would be rejected. * * The bill was introduced by Assemblyman Vacheron on April 3, and referred to the committee named. It will probably be opposed by the board of Supervisors in the interest of economy, for the reason that under the workings of such a law the cost of drawing jurors in the county would, it is estimated, be increased from less than $100 to $10,000 annually. * * A commissioner of jurors is all well enough in cities, but here it seems too much like spending the people's money for nothing. Under the present system jurors are honestly drawn, at a very small expense, so why should any change in the system be made.
(From the Brooklyn Eagle:)
A JOB TO PROVIDE A FAT OFFICE.
Something of a sensation has been created among the Queens county lawyers by a bill introduced in the legislature by Assemblyman Vacheron. The bill provides for the appointment of a commissioner of jurors for Queens county, at a salary of $3,000 per year. The term is five years. The bill gives the commissioner unlimited powers in the working up of an exempt list, the selection of jurors and the imposing and remitting of fines — in fact, under the provisions of the bill every man in Queens county is practically at the mercy of the commissioner. * * That the bill provides an office which is not necessary to the welfare of the county seems to be the general opinion. * * With the unlimited powers given the commissioner, should he be a man of dishonest tendencies, he could reap an income of $10,000, half of which would come in the way of contributions from persons wishing to be placed on the exempt list. The measure is viewed as a political dodge to provide a fat office for some faithful follower of the Republican party.
(The Hempstead Inquirer:)
A BAD BILL.
Assemblyman Vacheron has introduced a bill in the legislature to create the office of commissioner of jurors of Queens County. The officer to be appointed is to receive a salary of $3,000 a year, and his term of office is to be for five years. There is no necessity for a commissioner of jurors in a small county like Queens, and we doubt if the tax-payers of the county will approve of the expenditure of $3,000 for a commissioner of jurors.
The extravagance of the bill is not its only bad feature. It gives to the commissioner power to grant exemptions from jury duty for which a fee of twenty-five cents is to be charged for entering the name in a book to be kept for that purpose, and a charge of fifty cents for granting the certificate of exemption. It is safe to say that this new office, should the bill become a law, will be a very expensive affair for the people. Many bills creating new and useless offices, at great expense to the tax-payers, have been presented to the legislature during the present session. It is safe to say nothing more unnecessary and in its way extravagant has been introduced than the bill above described. The people of this county should make a vigorous protest at Albany against its passage.
(Long Island City Herald, Republican:)
THE BILL MUST BE KILLED.
Assemblyman Vacheron has introduced into the Assembly and has had passed by that body a bill which appoints a Commissioner of Jurors for Queens County, for a term of 5 years, at a salary of $3,000 a year, with contingent expenses in the form of assistants, etc., which would probably cost the taxpayers not less than $5,000 a year, and perhaps a much larger sum. The origin of the bill is a mystery, but we suppose the Hon. William J. Youngs is behind it.
The proposition to establish an office so expensive to the county should have been given the widest publicity before it was submitted to the legislature. The people have a right to decide whether or not they want such an office; but it has been kept a profound secret from them,and that alone stamps it with suspicion. It is a most dangerous bill as it gives the Commissioners of Jurors powers in some respects greater than that of the higher courts. The Commissioner of Jurors can exempt whoever he pleases from jury duty. Every man in the county qualified to act as a juror is at his mercy. His powers are in a manner as autocratic as those of the Czar of Russia.
The Republicans of Queens County know nothing of this bill, and they don't want it to become a law. The passage of such a bill, they believe, would kill their party in this county.
This is the kind of jockeying with legislation affecting Queens County that is sounding the death knell to the Republican party. Mr. Youngs, it must stop.
(From the Jamaica Democrat:)
A DANGEROUS AND SCANDALOUS BILL,
Last week a bill passed the Assembly affecting this county, and of very grave importance. It provides for the appointment of commissioner of jurors and does away with the present method of selecting the jurors. Its object is two-fold — to provide some politician with a fat office and to fortify certain Republicans in the power they have lately obtained in the county. Though the community is already sufficiently burdened with office-holders and taxed up to a point that incites considerable complaint we suppose another office-holder — a commissioner of jurors — drawing a salary of $3,000 per year might be endured, but an inspection of the bill shows that it is quite within the range of possibility that the office would cost the county at least $20,000 per year, and this is altogether too much for the people to stand without making emphatic protest. The present cost of selecting jurors is probably less than $100 — and is simpler, more effective and better than the one proposed at an expense of perhaps $20,000.
But the question of economy is not the only one. The bill is intensely mischievous from another point of view. It leaves the appointment of the commissioner to the county judge, the sheriff and the district attorney or any two of them. Under its provision Sheriff Doht and District Attorney Noble would practically control the jury system of the county for the period of five years. Such would be the inevitable result if the bill become a law. Mr. Vacheron, our representative, introduced this extraordinary bill, and has, no doubt, favored its passage. He has made no explanation of his course and it is doubtful if he will. The people must now look to Senator Childs to defeat this scandalous measure, and should he fail, then they must appeal to the Governor to veto it. Republicans are no less interested in its defeat than Democrats. It is the most dangerous bill that has gone up from this county within our memory.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 1.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Honest Men Assailed for Doing an Honest Act
New York, 1895
The Standard assails the board of Supervisors for having paid Counselor Van Vechten about $7,000 for a year's work as the county's lawyer. The Supervisors, as honest officers, could do no less than pay a reasonable fee to a lawyer who had won damage suits aggregating $194,000, and having saved the county from being compelled to build a $150,000 bridge over Newtown creek at Maspeth avenue, and having attended to all the other legal business of the county for twelve months. Some lawyers would have charged the county $25,000 for their services in the damage suits alone, which grew out of the Blissville bridge disaster, and yet no higher priced lawyer could have been more successful than Mr. Van Vechten was. The Supervisors have not done an unreasonable thing at all.
The Standard's attack on the Supervisors is malicious. The Supervisors are assailed because they do not give the Standard patronage. The reason they do not take kindly to the Standard is that they caught the Standard in an attempt to cheat the county out of $255, which involved false swearing, and, like honest men, they defeated the steal. This dishonesty and false swearing taught the Supervisors not to trust the Standard, but to avoid it, just as every honest man mistrusts and avoids a notoriously dishonest person. Besides, the Supervisors have the common knowledge that the Standard has no facilities for doing public work, but is compelled to sublet work to city offices, where high prices are charged, and the Supervisors are not willing, nor would they be justified, in paying profits to New York printers and the Standard, too, for no better purpose than to keep alive a dishonest political newspaper. We have an honest board of Supervisors, thank goodness, and while we have there will be no robbery of the tax-payers to help political mendicants and pauperized newspapers.
We have at hand this very moment the evidence of the incapacity of the Standard to do public work. The Town Clerk of Jamaica is a Republican. He gave the Standard the work of printing the ballots for the town election. The Standard does not own a numbering machine, and has not the type or the presses to produce election tickets. After ten days' waiting the Standard was obliged to throw the job back on the Town Clerk with the humiliating confession that it could not do the work. Consequently, the Town Clerk was obliged, in order to have the election tickets printed at all, to send his order to THE FARMER, in whose office there are eighteen numbering machines, perforators, and presses of the very best kind. Here is the evidence of the Standard's default:
JAMAICA, L. I., March 23, 1895.
The LONG ISLAND FARMER will please furnish 15,000 official Democratic ballots, 15,000 official Republican ballots, 15,000 resolution ballots "For," 15,000 resolution ballots "Against," 15,000 Democratic excise ballots, 15,000 Republican excise ballots, 200 tally sheets, and 200 cards containing lists of candidates.
JOHN B. McCOOK, Town Clerk.
Now the public can see what a shabby concern the Standard is, and why the Supervisors are justified in ignoring it.
The Standard's malice toward Counselor Van Vechten grows out of the fact that he discovered and exposed the Standard's attempt to cheat the county. If Mr. Van Vechten had kept silent about the Standard's steal he would have the friendship of that dishonest paper, but he preferred to act the part of an honest attorney toward the Supervisors, and the Supervisors preferred to act honestly toward the tax-payers, and so the Supervisors and Mr. Van Vechten must submit to the billingsgate of this discredited newspaper.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, March 29, 1895, p. 4.
The Standard assails the board of Supervisors for having paid Counselor Van Vechten about $7,000 for a year's work as the county's lawyer. The Supervisors, as honest officers, could do no less than pay a reasonable fee to a lawyer who had won damage suits aggregating $194,000, and having saved the county from being compelled to build a $150,000 bridge over Newtown creek at Maspeth avenue, and having attended to all the other legal business of the county for twelve months. Some lawyers would have charged the county $25,000 for their services in the damage suits alone, which grew out of the Blissville bridge disaster, and yet no higher priced lawyer could have been more successful than Mr. Van Vechten was. The Supervisors have not done an unreasonable thing at all.
The Standard's attack on the Supervisors is malicious. The Supervisors are assailed because they do not give the Standard patronage. The reason they do not take kindly to the Standard is that they caught the Standard in an attempt to cheat the county out of $255, which involved false swearing, and, like honest men, they defeated the steal. This dishonesty and false swearing taught the Supervisors not to trust the Standard, but to avoid it, just as every honest man mistrusts and avoids a notoriously dishonest person. Besides, the Supervisors have the common knowledge that the Standard has no facilities for doing public work, but is compelled to sublet work to city offices, where high prices are charged, and the Supervisors are not willing, nor would they be justified, in paying profits to New York printers and the Standard, too, for no better purpose than to keep alive a dishonest political newspaper. We have an honest board of Supervisors, thank goodness, and while we have there will be no robbery of the tax-payers to help political mendicants and pauperized newspapers.
We have at hand this very moment the evidence of the incapacity of the Standard to do public work. The Town Clerk of Jamaica is a Republican. He gave the Standard the work of printing the ballots for the town election. The Standard does not own a numbering machine, and has not the type or the presses to produce election tickets. After ten days' waiting the Standard was obliged to throw the job back on the Town Clerk with the humiliating confession that it could not do the work. Consequently, the Town Clerk was obliged, in order to have the election tickets printed at all, to send his order to THE FARMER, in whose office there are eighteen numbering machines, perforators, and presses of the very best kind. Here is the evidence of the Standard's default:
JAMAICA, L. I., March 23, 1895.
The LONG ISLAND FARMER will please furnish 15,000 official Democratic ballots, 15,000 official Republican ballots, 15,000 resolution ballots "For," 15,000 resolution ballots "Against," 15,000 Democratic excise ballots, 15,000 Republican excise ballots, 200 tally sheets, and 200 cards containing lists of candidates.
JOHN B. McCOOK, Town Clerk.
Now the public can see what a shabby concern the Standard is, and why the Supervisors are justified in ignoring it.
The Standard's malice toward Counselor Van Vechten grows out of the fact that he discovered and exposed the Standard's attempt to cheat the county. If Mr. Van Vechten had kept silent about the Standard's steal he would have the friendship of that dishonest paper, but he preferred to act the part of an honest attorney toward the Supervisors, and the Supervisors preferred to act honestly toward the tax-payers, and so the Supervisors and Mr. Van Vechten must submit to the billingsgate of this discredited newspaper.
—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, March 29, 1895, p. 4.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
