Tammany

New York City politicians dropped into the Board of Elections office one morning last week to shake the hand of an old man there presiding. His name was John R. Voorhis; his age, 98. The occasion for congratulations was his 17th anniversary as Grand Sachem of Tammany Hall.

Grand Sachem Voorhis, by no means feeble, thanked everyone and announced that he hoped to pass his 100th birthday with Alfred Emanuel Smith in the White House. He also said: "Everybody talks about Tammany . . . but hardly anyone seems to know. To listen to them talk you'd think that the Tammany Society was one and the same thing as the Democratic party of this city. But it's not. The Democratic party became connected with Tammany only because it began years ago to hold its meetings in our hall."

Grand Sachem Voorhis guessed that delegates to the Democratic convention of 1924 in Manhattan had learned "that the Tammany Tiger was not nearly the vicious animal some of them had supposed. The animal, as a matter of fact, has had one black eye during all its life and only one."

Distinguishing between the Tammany Society and the political machine controlled by its members is something like distinguishing between the social and the business implications of a Lions' Club luncheon. What Grand Sachem Voorhis meant was that there is such a thing as the Society of St. Tammany, founded in Revolutionary times by a New York upholsterer named William Mooney to give the bourgeoisie a club comparable to the aristocratic Society of the Cincinnati, to which only New York's fine families belonged. An Indian patron-saint and Indian rigmarole were adopted as a protest against Toryism. The objects of the Society were and have been benevolent--making immigrants comfortable, for example. The activities of the members were and have been political. After comforting immigrants, one can enfranchise them and show them how to vote.

The "one black eye" referred to by Grand Sachem Voorhis was, of course, William Marcy ("Boss") Tweed, the coarse, corpulent crook who grafted incredibly on New York City while he was Grand Sachem. He died in jail 50 years ago. Beside the doings of Tweed, the political peccadilloes of other 'Tammany 'members are dwarfed. Tweed and his "ring," controlling the city's Board of Supervisors, cleared tens of millions in letting contracts, selling permits and offices, contributing for the city to "charities." A plasterer named Garvey once got $133,187.20 for two days' work from the City. How much Tweed took back no one knows, but he gave $1,800,000 to his two mistresses and the "Ring" once offered the New York Times $5,000,000 to cease" its relentless and ultimately successful exposures.

In Tweed's heyday, which Grand Sachem Voorhis well remembers, leading citizens of New York were not above working with Tammany. John Jacob Astor vouched for Tweed in a crisis, and escaped three years' taxes. Elihu Root was one of Tweed's lawyers. Many another good name is connected with many another bad moment in New York City's government. No matter how well the present Tammany-ites behave themselves at Houston--and last week they said they were not even going to take a brass band--many a bad moment will doubtless soon be rehearsed by Republicans from the high-colored history of Tammany currently published by the biographer of P. T. Barnum.*

But Grand Sachem Voorhis' point still stands. The social activities of old gentlemen far beyond the age of active politicians, are not to be confused with the Democratic party of New York City.

*Tammany Hall--M. R. Werner--Doubleday, Doran & Co. ($5).