THE NEW YORK MAYORALTY MESS

...President Truman gave the proper answer at once by ignoring both labor organizations and getting an outstanding former progressive Senator, with a fine record of friendship for labor, to take the position...

...The result is that the reform forces are utterly dismayed by the choice presented...

...It is true that Gen...

...Having, as all who know me and my writings are aware, no race prejudice whatsoever, I think it a misfortune that with the rising tide of anti-Semitism Judge Goldstein should have been chosen to run in New York City...

...O'Dwyer will give us a fine administration or prove especially capable in dealing with the city's particular and pressing problems...

...It demonstrates itself every day, and is particularly to be recognized in our national situation—I cheerfully recognize the amazingly good record President Truman has made so far, and above all his exploding of the theory that only Mr...

...It is a very corrupt borough, with recurrent "crime waves" that from time to time find their way into the Manhattan dailies...

...For this, a good deal of the responsibility rests upon Mayor La Guar-dia's police force which he could have built up into a magnificent organization during his 11 years in the City Hall had he been so minded...

...O'Dwyer has compelled changes in his ticket...

...I am sure of my facts when I say that he will not have the support of the best members of our judiciary or of the Bar...

...PLAINLY there are national aspects to this situation...

...Judge Goldstein now passes himself off as a great reformer and as anti-Tammany...

...WHEN one thinks of the coming to the front of men like Eisenhower and Nimitz, and the other officers who by the dozen have contributed to the extraordinary success of our war effort, it must be perfectly obvious that American life is rich enough to produce the same type of leaders along civilian lines, capable of uplifting the whole standard of our democracy...

...The dearth of leadership throughout the country needs no stressing...

...He came out openly and frankly and refused to run with certain men...

...It is disheartening, indeed, therefore, that wherever one looks throughout the United States there is hardly a single place of honor and distinction filled by men of genuine capability or fitness for the offices involved— I refer particularly to the government of our towns and cities—and that the metropolis is offering to its voters a Goldstein and O'Dwyer...

...There is nothing in his record to make people believe that Gen...

...O'Dwyer has some interesting photographs revealing those associations which may make this quite a spirited, not to say a sensational, campaign...

...There are dozens of such men who could be taken into consideration, men who have had no affiliations whatever with politics, but have given evidence of their civic conscience and their freedom from any entangling alliances whether of business or finance or politics...

...IT is a sorry choice...

...It would be patriotic of him to step into the breach whatever his own shortcomings and his recent correct assertion that 12 years was long enough for anyone to be at the head of our municipal government...

...There are those, like my friend George Sokolsky, the columnist, who write warmly of Judge Goldstein, of his kindly heart, his deep interest in people, his American rise from humble beginnings, his knowledge of the city, etc...

...Thus, we said that we had given Eisenhower the greatest reception in the city's history—which was true—and that no less than 6 million people, so the evening papers said, had turned out to greet him...

...Since his stay with us was so short it is very much to be hoped that all this self-praise has remained in his mind and that no one has called his attention to what is happening in our political situation here in his newly acquired civic home...

...Instead, we are to be compelled to choose between a very glib judge and a Brooklyn lawyer-politician who was soundly thrashed when he ran against Mayor La Guar-dia 4 years ago...

...Its endorsement of Judge Goldstein means next to nothing...

...As things stand today, multitudes of our best citizens will stay at home when the election comes, with a heartfelt "a plague o' both your houses" on their lips...

...Out of our 7 1/2 million we are offered a choice for the mayoralty between Judge Jonah Goldstein and former District Attorney William O'Dwyer, who has recently returned from service in Italy as a Brigadier-General—not at the fighting front but in connection with the reorganization of Italy...

...Eisenhower was informed that it was the greatest, richest, most powerful, and most patriotic of the American cities that extended its freedom to him and made him an honorary citizen, and he was reminded again and again of the 750,000 men and women that the metropolis has contributed to the armed forces...

...Gen...

...The morning papers were soberer and toned the figure down to 4 million, thus allowing S\'2 to carry on the city's life while the others were hailing the European commander-in-chief...

...But he has been a Tammany man, and it is absolutely certain that he would have welcomed a Tammany nomination just as much as he has that of the Republicans and the so-called liberal forces...

...A Republican nomination in this city is certainly not a guarantee of political purity or sound intention...

...Perhaps this sad situation may yet induce Mayor La Guardia to change his mind and become Samuel Seabury's independent candidate for the mayoralty...

...During the many years of my active life in Manhattan no one could possibly believe that there was any inherent virtue in the Republican organization...

...Dewey appointed the 5 new members of the just-established New York Fair Employment Practices Commission there was the same old division of the offices among the groups—a woman, a Jew, a Negro, a labor man, etc...

...O'Dwyer was formerly a county judge in Brooklyn before becoming District Attorney...

...That is altogether to his credit though the cynics say that the selections were so bad that it was absolutely necessary to purge the tickets...

...EISENHOWER'S triumphant reception by the people of the City of New York was not unaccompanied by our usual Knickerbocker boasting...

...President Roosevelt gave it as his excuse for not accepting Frances Perkins' frequent resignations of her job as Secretary of Labor, that he must not be forced to choose a new Secretary of Labor from the CIO or the AFL...

...Men like Samuel Sea-bury and Charles C. Burlingham, who organized and led the independent forces which put Mayor La Guardia in office and kept him there, admit frankly that they cannot support either candidate...

...In his person he represents the old familiar Catholic-Irish-Tammany combination, and I for one am getting dreadfully sick of the prevalent business of choosing men for office on the ground that they are Catholics or Jews or Protestants or Italians, or belong to the CIO, or represent the AFL...

...What New York needs to carry on its enormous civic business and deal with its serious financial situation is a business man of independence and experience, thoroughly familiar with the city's great problems and ready to cooperate with our excellent comptroller, Joseph McGoldrick, who has been renominated to work them out...

...Roosevelt was capable of handling our foreign affairs...

...Were he a great and outstanding figure, with a splendid record of civic virtue and devotion, that would be another matter...

...Why cannot we get back to the choosing of men for special tasks like these on the sole ground of their eminent fitness for the jobs...

...But Gen...

...But the fact is that before he began his career on the Bench he had a curious array of friends and of clients, and there are those behind the scenes who say that Gen...

...I very much fear that not only his earlier relations with distinguished members of the underworld as their attorney may be publicly brought out, but that he will become the focus for an anti-Semitic campaign, which will harm the race all over the country...

...It has been just like Tammany Hall in that it has been held together by "the cohesive power of political plunder"—to cite an historic phrase...

...O'Dwyer is chosen will be the return of Tammany Hall to power after a very long interval during which it has reached the lowest estate in its history...

...That he has ability is beyond doubt, but it cannot be said that Brooklyn profited very much by his term of service as its prosecuting officer...

...Seabury talks about running an independent ticket, which would give us another small party in addition to the Liberal Party and the Labor Party, with very little chance of success for the Seabury candidate unless someone not now in sight with genuine oratorical power should present himself to lead the forlorn hope...

...The other day when Gov...

...It has won victories only when it has been carried to success by the independent voters...

...What we shall get if Gen...