Plunkitt of Tammany Hall: a series of very plain talks on very practical politics, delivered by ex-Senator George Washington Plunkitt, the Tammany philosopher, from his rostrum—the New York County court house bootblack stand; Recorded by William L. RiordonPlunkitt, George Washington
General
Plunkitt of Tammany Hall: a series of very plain talks on very practical politics, delivered by ex-Senator George Washington Plunkitt, the Tammany philosopher, from his rostrum—the New York County court house bootblack stand; Recorded by William L. Riordon
Plunkitt, George Washington
Plunkitt, George Washington, 1842-1924; Tammany Hall
Imagine how the city would be built up in a short time! At present we
can't make a public improvement of any consequence without goin' to
Albany for permission, and most of the time we get turned down when we
go there. But, with a Tammany Governor and Legislature up at Fifty-ninth
Street, how public works would hum here! The Mayor and Aldermen could
decide on an improvement, telephone the Capitol, have a bill put through
in a jiffy and--there you are. We could have a state constitution, too,
which would extend the debt limit so that we could issue a whole lot
more bonds. As things are now, all the money spent for docks, for
instance, is charged against the city in calculatin' the debt limit,
although the Dock Department provides immense revenues. It's the same
with some other departments. This humbug would be dropped if Tammany
ruled at the Capitol and the City Hall, and the city would have money to
burn.
Another thing--the constitution of the new state wouldn't have a word
about civil service, and if any man dared to introduce any kind of a
civil service bill in the Legislature, he would be fired out the window.
Then we would have government of the people by the people who were
elected to govern them. That's the kind of government Lincoln meant. 0
what a glorious future for the city! Whenever I think of it I feel like
goin' out and celebratin', and I'm really almost sorry that I don't
drink.
You may ask what would become of the upstate people if New York City
left them in the lurch and went into the State business on its own
account. Well, we wouldn't be under no obligation to provide for them;
still I would be in favor of helpin' them along for a while until they
could learn to work and earn an honest livin', just like the United
States Government looks after the Indians. These hayseeds have been so
used to livin' off of New York City that they would be helpless after we
left them. It wouldn't do to let them starve. We might make some sort
of an appropriation for them for a few years, but it would be with the
distinct understandin' that they must get busy right away and learn
to support themselves. If, after say five years, they weren't
self-supportin', we could withdraw the appropriation and let them shift
for themselves. The plan might succeed and it might not. We'd be doin'
our duty anyhow.
Some persons might say: "But how about it if the hayseed politicians
moved down here and went in to get control of the government of the new
state?" We could provide against that easy by passin' a law that these
politicians couldn't come below the Bronx without a sort of passport
limitin' the time of their stay here, and forbiddin' them to monkey with
politics here. I don't know just what kind of a bill would be required
to fix this, but with a Tammany Constitution, Governor, Legislature and
Mayor, there would be no trouble in settlin' a little matter of that
sort.
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