Show sif sit sown down said frank hague A AND ROOSEVELT ROOSEVEL 0 ir SAT DOWN by JOSEPH W labine new yorkers are casting worried glances across the hudson these days those who will brave the outer world that lies over the river may some day visit jersey city and see for themselves jersey city they allege is in the grips of a tyrant a dictator a reborn huey P long his name is frank hague mayor hague has undoubtedly ruled all new jersey at least 10 years probably more he made A harry moore a united states senator later a gover nor more recently he sent his personal attorney john milton to the upper house in washington since 1913 he has been in absolute control of jersey city an overgrown community of souls lying within eyeshot of manhattans towers frank hague is a smart poll bician behind his multi col ored exploits lies a genius for grasping votes and power by methods that are exasperating but legal when a legislative commit tee recently tried to seize hudson county vote records on a charge of election fraud hague packed off on a florida vacation and his assist ant in charge of the books was re ported ill this prompted a new york newspaper reporter to corn ment that the official has been in disposed on other occasions when investigations involving his office were in progress I 1 at another time in 1928 hague testified before a legislative corn com cittee investigating jersey city by replying I 1 decline to answer to practically every question fired at him and he ile sat down the height of hague sim s impudence arrived one night in 1932 when franklin D roosevelt campaigning for the presidency was being es carted by the mayor from gather gathering 1 ng to gathering mr roosevelt w was as just warming up to a large outdoor crowd when hague pulling at his coat snapped that s enough sit down the future president of the united states sat down currently frank hague is in the headlines as a C 1 I 0 baiter he has refu refused ed to open the civic doors to john lewis organizers they cannot hire a hall hague s effi eff clent police simply run them out of town the mayor who once thought lessly boasted that I 1 am the law has arranged convenient legal weapons to best the C 1 I 0 one law prohibits distribution of non commercial literature like C 1 I 0 pamphlets another enables police to arrest anyone who can t give sat is factory reason for his presence on jersey city streets thereby land ing C 1 I 0 organizers in the city cooler today frank hague s well oiled political machine depends on such unique implements as at the 25 medical center third largest in the united states and far too im posing for such a small city and a government that is really efficient albeit expensive to understand this amazing situation one must exam me the background from the time young frank hague was an arpir ing democratic boss in jersey city s second ward that was in 1908 started as custodian unimportant b but u t ascending hague s first job was custodian of the city hall at 2 a year under mayor otto H later as commiss oner of the street and wa ter board he made friends both with administration forces and the lusty commission government league in 1913 hague admittedly played a double cross on watt al HIS ills HONOR THE MAYOR frank hague the C 1 I 0 baiting chief executive of jersey city N J virtual dictator over a city in thi the shadows of manhattan I 1 I 1 am the law he once said perm penn by throwing tremendous and unexpected support to the league and being elected to the first jersey city commission he was named commissioner of public safety a tailor made situa tion for the smart politician hague as head of the police and fire de apartments part ments acquired a foundation on which to build his persona personal ll 11 political organization to his credit he trans formed jersey city s police from a corrupt lot of deadwood into an or of clear headed purpose ful young men whether his a aim m was sincere is beside the point the new police and fire departments awakened civic pride and all hands pointed at frank hague as the man who had accomplished it eventually he was elected mayor and the hague star ascended rapid ly next step in cementing his po lotical foundation was the jersey city medical center behind this splendid nine building institution is a story of the mayor s babyhood of the days when he was so weak and delicate that his mother took him each day to st francis hospital there she received sympathy the future politician politicians s life was saved hague never forgot the stories his mother told him of those daily trips today s medical center has been a life long ambition a humanitarian t BRAINS OR PUPPETS 9 john milton new united states senator f arni nl new jersey appointed to replace the new governor A harry moore e arts T is a ringleader in the hague machine and personal banker to the mayor moore also owes all his political success to frank hague institution which nevertheless reeks of politics let the mayor pay any resident of jersey city may enter this 2 bed hospital and re ceide the benefit of every medical treatment known to modern science providing of course that the pa tient says he is poor but rich and poor take advantage of this unique enterprise which costs taxpayers about a year of dis charged patients investigated re bently 30 were said to have been treated at public expense when they were able to pay for hospitalization have your baby on the mayor is popular advice to expectant moth ers since the margaret hague ma eternity hospital was opened yes and have your tonsils out or take a rest cure but don t forget how to vote next time an election rolls around elections are an important event too every hour all the votes cast in each district are telephoned to hague who compares returns with a table showing hourly votes in the last election he pounces on weak spots with ferocity calling cespon sible leaders to task last november when senator moore a hague puppet was elect ed governor it is alleged that votes were cast for babies and dead peo pie illegally listed in the reg istra tion books such allegations have been made after previous elections too but legislative invest investigations igat ons come to naught small salary big fortune not the least puzzling feature of hague s success is his ability to get rich on 6 yearly salary he refuses to answer questions on this subject on the ground his privacy would be invaded one in tor claimed hague made on certain real estate transactions at the expense of taxpayers the may or lives in a fine apartment suite in jersey city keeps an elaborate summer estate at deal and it is claimed maintains elaborate in Maa manhattan attan personal banker and attorney for the mayor is john milton the new united states senator who succeed ed harry moore himself a sub eject act of considerable anve investigation sti gation milton admits having paid for hague s deal estate hague in turn reimbursed him in cash this trick has popped up before federal income tax agents sev eral tunes times but the mayor bland as usual refuses to have his privacy invaded milton is equally suave when investigators began nosing in his di rectum he calmly announced that a few days ago he d decided to retire and so sorry but all his records had unfortunately been de strayed what will eventually happen to this dictatorship 7 undeniably the hague machine has a hold on its constituents that can be compared only to huey long s louisiana re gime a few years back recently when 26 congressmen wrote hague in protest over wholesale arrest and deportation of labor organic ers they received a reply that ev ery grything thing is under control and don t worry I 1 am the law A few days later irked mayor hague sponsored a mass meeting attended by thousands of the faith ful one of the largest gatherings jersey city has ever seen there a select roster of speakers re affirmed the community s faith in the man who says I 1 am the law no moral can be drawn from the career of frank hague because it is not yet ended the strange fea ture is that boss control over jer sey city and new jersey in gen eral has been the vogue many years yet it took a handful of C I 1 0 organizers to bring it into the public eye equally strange is the seeming efficiency with which jersey city is governed high taxes seem to be the only objection and even that all important item is sometimes for gotten by zealous hague henchmen the mayor himself sums up the conditions prevailing in his unusual city with the following typical speech S taxes are higher here because we had to pay for progress we were just about bankrupt 20 years ago the city is a city now and business is beginning to pick up but let me point out one thing about the town the burden of taxation is being borne not by the house holder and the small business man as in other cities but by corpora eions whose shoulders are broad that makes em ern smile next time there s an election they ll U vote for hague 0 western 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