g department. Theodore
Roosevelt was appointed Police Commissioner. These men and their
associates gave to New York a period of thrifty municipal housekeeping.

But the city returned to its filth. After the incorporation of Greater
New York and the election of Robert A. Van Wyck as its mayor, the great
beast of Tammany arose and extended its eager claws over the vast area
of the new city.

The Mazet Committee was appointed by the legislature in 1899 to
investigate rumors of renewed corruption. But the inquiry which followed
was not as penetrating nor as free from partizan bias as thoughtful
citizens wished. The principal exposure was of the Ice Trust, an attempt
to monopolize the city's ice supply, in which city officials were
stockholders, the mayor to the extent of 5000 shares, valued at
$500,000. It was shown, too, that Tammany leaders were stockholders in
corporations which received favors from the city. Governor Roosevelt,
however, refused to remove Mayor Van Wyck because the evidence against
him was insufficient.

The most significant testimony before the Mazet Committee was that given
by Boss Croker himself. His last public office had been that of City
Chamberlain, 1889-90, at a salary of $25,000. Two years later he
purchased for $250,000 an interest in a stock-farm and paid over
$100,000 for some noted race-horses. He spent over half a million
dollars on the English racetrack in three years and was reputed a
millionaire, owning large blocks of city real estate. He told the
committee that he virtually determined all city nominations; and that
all candidates were assessed, even judicial candidates, from $10,000
to $25,000 for their nominations. "We try to have a pretty effective
organization--that's what we are there for," he explained. "We are
giving the people pure organization government," even though the
organizing took "a lot of time" and was "very hard work." Tammany
members stood by one another and helped each other, not only in politics
but in business. "We want the whole business [city business] if we can
get it." If "we win, we expect everyone to stand by us." Then he uttered
what must have been to every citizen of understanding a self-evident
truth, "I am working for my pockets all the time."

Soon afterwards Croker retired to his Irish castle, relinquishing the
leadership to Charles Murphy, the present boss. The growing alertness of
the voters, however, makes Murphy's task a more difficult one than