nt him to the Assembly from my district Now remember that the boy was
only seven years old when he left Brooklyn, and was twenty-three when he
went to the Assembly. You'd think he had forgotten all about Brooklyn,
wouldn't you? I did, but I was dead wrong. When that young fellow got
into the Assembly he paid no attention to bills or debates about New
York City. He didn't even show any interest in his own district. But
just let Brooklyn be mentioned, or a bill be introduced about Gowanus
Canal, or the Long Island Railroad, and he was all attention. Nothin'
else on earth interested him.
The end came when I caught him--what do you think I caught him at? One
mornin' I went over from the Senate to the Assembly chamber, and there I
found my young man readin'--actually readin' a Brooklyn newspaper!
When he saw me comm' he tried to hide the paper, but it was too late.
I caught him dead to rights, and I said to him: "Jimmy, I'm afraid
New York ain't fascinatin' enough for you. You had better move back to
Brooklyn after your present term." And he did. I met him the other day
crossin' the Brooklyn Bridge, carryin' a hobbyhorse under one arm, and a
doll's carriage under the other, and lookin' perfectly happy.
McCarren and his men are the same way. They can't get it into their
heads that they are New Yorkers, and just tend naturally toward
supportin' Hill and his hay-seeds against Murphy. I had some hopes of
McCarren till lately. He spends so much of his time over here and has
seen so much of the world that I thought he might be an exception, and
grow out of his Brooklyn surroundings, but his course at Albany shows
that there is no exception to the rule. Say, I'd rather take a Hottentot
in hand to bring up as a good New Yorker than undertake the job with a
Brooklynite. Honest, I would.
And, by the way, come to think of it, is there really any upstate
Democrats left? It has never been proved to my satisfaction that there
is any. I know that some upstate members of the State committee call
themselves Democrats. Besides these, I know at least six more men above
the Bronx who make a livin' out of professin' to be Democrats, and I
have just heard of some few more. But if there is any real Democrats up
the State, what becomes of them on election day? They certainly don't
go near the polls or they vote the Republican ticket. Look at the last
three State elections! Roosevelt piled up more than 100,000 majority
above the Bronx; Odell pi
|