Tammany Picks

If one were to pick an ideal name for a Democratic Boss* in New York City, how would one go about it? First, one would want something patriotic. George Washington ? Excellent! Then something Irish. Olvany? Nothing better.

The new boss of Tammany, therefore, is Judge George Washington Olvany. He succeeds the late "Commissioner" Charles F. Murphy (TIME, May 5).

After a committee of seven Tammany leaders had considered in private for an hour, the Executive Committee of the entire organization ratified the subcommittee's choice of Judge Olvany. The vote was 22 2/3 to 1/3. The one-third vote was cast by two leaders of a single district.

The election was peculiar. Technically, there was no office vacant. There is no official post of boss, or "leader," to use the political euphemism. The supreme and autocratic ruler of the organization exists through usage and necessity. He dispenses patronage, makes up tickets, handles the funds, gives the orders, but he holds no office. Consequently the election took the form of passing this resolution: "That Hon. George W. Olvany be and hereby is, elected to succeed Hon. Charles F. Murphy, deceased, and to perform all the duties formerly discharged by him."

Judge Olvany was born on Pike St., lower Manhattan, the son of a bricklayer. Thus he began in the Tammany tradition. He graduated from New York University Law School (not quite traditional) and became a lawyer. For 26 years he has belonged to Tammany. Six months ago Governor Smith made him a Judge.

Now he is six feet tall, hearty, only 48 years old. He is a master of silence like his predecessor, Murphy. Unlike Murphy, he is also a persuasive speaker. This is not entirely an advantage. James Bryce in his standard work** declares : "It is, of course, a gain to a Ring to have among them a man of popular gifts, because he helps to conceal the odious features of their rule, gilding it by his rhetoric, and winning the applause of the masses who stand outside the circle of workers. However, the position of the rhetorical boss is less firmly rooted than that of the intriguing boss, and there have been instances of his suddenly falling, to rise no more."

Judge Olvany looked upon the future in no such sinister light. Said he: "The call of the New York County Democratic organization, as voiced by its Executive Committee, though unexpected, is too strong to resist. Within the next few days I shall resign as Judge of the Court of General Sessions and undertake to carry on the work so ably, unselfishly and successfully* performed by Charles F. Murphy for more than twenty-two years."

A colloquy followed with a reporter.

"Will you follow the policies of your predecessor, Mr. Murphy?"

"I could not follow a better man."

"Well, we hope you will be a little easier to interview than Mr. Murphy."

"I expect to have a good secretary."

Before Olvany there were five bosses of Tammany. Previously Tammany had been what it still calls itself, a "Society." The first of the bosses made himself Dictator. After him the others were Emperors pure and simple. Their careers and characteristics were well summarized by Samuel McCoy:

No. 1, Fernando Wood, "handsome cigarmaker, defrauded his business partner of $8,000 and became Mayor of New York in 1855; Fernando Wood, whose supporters were gamblers, brothel-keepers, the gangsters who called themselves 'The Dead Rabbits' or 'The Blackbirds'; who went into office when the Board of Aldermen was familiarly known as 'The Forty Thieves'; who was elected upon his promise of reform and who in two years had surpassed the record of all his predecessors in civic corruption."

No. 2, William M. Tweed, "heavy-jowled, bulbous-nosed, cold-eyed. . . . Tweed, the first absolute tsar of the city's fortunes. Tweed, who robbed New York of $2,000,000 for his own pockets, robbed it of $100,000,000 for his accomplices, and who died, praying for forgiveness, in Ludlow Street Jail; Tweed, who had asked in his days of arrogance: 'Well, what are you going to do about it?' Tweed, who chose the tiger as an emblem, and, like the tiger, stalked in cruel triumph over the plundered city."

No. 3, "Honest Jawn" Kelly, "whose Aldermen caught at last accepting bribes, were scattered to the winds -three sentenced to prison; three turning State's evidence, and six escaping to Canada. 'Honest Jawn,' who died brokenhearted, crying for opiates."

No. 4, Richard Croker, "under whose leadership police captaincies were sold for cash, brothel-keepers and prostitutes paid fortunes for protection, gambling-houses flourished openly, while millions were collected by blackmail and extortion. Croker himself became a millionaire. Hail, dead lover of fleet horses, exiled emperor!"

No. 5, Charles F. Murphy, "whose sway gripped five cities into one, tripling the richness of the captive domain. Murphy the silent, the gray-faced mountain, whose sway extended beyond the metropolis, and who contemptuously flattened a Governor who screamed impotently that $50,000,000 of the people's money had been wasted or stolen in three years; Murphy, around whose head had grown up, even while he lived, legends of power beyond all the dreams of the emperors who went before, and of benevolence and civic righteousness such as they never planned."

Murphy was undoubtedly the greatest. Nobody ever got anything on Murphy.

* "Boss," from Dutch "baas," a master work man or superintendent.

** The American Commonwealth, by James Bryce, onetime British Ambassador to the U. S.

* Mr. Murphy, who began life as a streetcar conductor, left a fortune when he died.