Show Gotham Politics Object Lesson For the Nation By BRUCE DRUCE COTTON In all the noise that is being made about the mayoralty fight in New NewYork NewYork NewYork York City you can hear if it you ou listen closely the ominous howling of a avery avery avery very cold wind wind the the coldest wind perhaps that has ever shaken the fabric of American democracy Back of the frantic negotiations and wire o of the New York situation where the nations nation's largest city tries desperately to get Ret Tammany off Its back there stands the simple and unpleasant fact that our system of municipal government government gov gov- has come perilously close to breaking down entirely New York i is proving proving just just as Chicago Chi cago and a host of other cities have already proved proved that that our familiar type of machine politics is totally inadequate in inadequate in in- adequate to meet the problems of the modern world For a great many years we have Inn innocently gone along handing ov over r our city county and state governments govern ments meats to men who quite frankly were not especially interested In good government gov but whose chief concern Iwas was the building up of their own political po po- fortunes The results were scandalous but scandalous but while times times' were good we could afford af ford them or we thought we could The local government became the weakest link In the democratic chain but the chain was slack during prosperity pros and nobody-minded nobody very much Now the chain Is stretched taut The weak link Is being strained right to the breakIng point Machine politics in other words is as anachronistic as as' as one of Columbus Columbus' Columbus Columbus' Colum Colum- bus bus' caravels We have got to the point where we simply cant can't put up with It any longer And what is happening happening happening hap hap- pening In New York is an object 1 les lesson son for the remotest county courthouse court court- bouse house town hall hail and state capitol in America Foreign observers have ha lon long predicted predicted pre pre- that if it the American democracy racy broke down the collapse would begin with the municipal govern overn i ments meats Are we beginning to witness that collapse now Is the cold told wind that howls howl In from Manhattan Island uland going to be n a destroying cyclone that finds us WI with no storm cellar h handy Or are we going to have sense enough to clean house on all of our political machines sense enough to stop listening to demagogues to elect capable public servants instead of corruptible politicians to demand service service ser ser- ser ser- vic vice instead of fair aIr words words and and thereby to replace the weak link In Inthe Inthe Inthe the chain with one that will wilt stand any pull |