Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/33

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TAMMANY HALL. 17 TAMMUZ. generally assumed to be tlie local representative of the National Democratic Party, and has ex- erted a powerl'ul inlluonce on the political his- tory of the State, and a preponderating inlluence on the political history of the city. At times the organization has been bitterly assailed by rival factions of the Democratic Party, and on at least one occasion, in 1878, it bolted the party's regular State ticket, but for the most part it has controlled a vast majority of the Democratic voters of the city. After 1834, when the mayoralty first became elective, it devoted its attention primarily to securing control of the city government, and from 1834 to 1903 suc- ceeded in electing fully two-thirds of the mayors. Gradually its organization became more and more perfected, and the inrush of immigrants after about 1S40 added enormously to its strength, Tammany succeeding largely by its political skill and tact in securing the adhesion of an immense majority of the foreign-born citizens. In order to secure proper compactness and dis- cipline within the organization, great power was necessarily thrown into the hands of a few indi- viduals, and in the history of Tammany many of its officers are alleged to have succumbed to the temptations which such power has brought. From an early period charges of corruption, peculation, and blackmail were made against Tammany leaders by their political opponents, and the climax was reached in 1869-71, when Tweed and Iiis associates were proved to have robbed the city of untold millions. (See Tweed, William M. ) . Damaging disclosures concerning the methods of Tammany were also made during the investigations conducted respectively by the State Committee on Cities, headed by J. Sloat Fassett, in 1890, the special committee of the State Senate, headed by Clarence Lexow, in 1894, and the special committee of the State Assembly, headed by Robert Mazet, in 1899. Tweed was the first to exercise over Tammany the powers of the modern 'boss.' After the exposure of his colossal frauds, Tammany was reorganized by John Kelly (q.v. ), who caused some of the most prominent of Tweed's prose- cutors — men like Tilden, Charles O'Conor, Hora- tio Seymour, and August Belmont — to be chosen as officers, while he. by perfecting the 'machinery' of the organization, gained almost entire control. At his death in 1886 he was succeeded by Richard Croker (q.v.), who, how- ever, did not exercise the powers of a 'boss' until 1888, and who in 1901 retired. Lewis Nixon (q.v.) was then nominally the leader for several months. Tweed, Kelly, Croker, and Nixon had each been chairman of the finance committee; this committee was reorganized in 1003, after the policy of Tammany had been shaped for a time by a 'triumvirate.' and Charles F. Murphy was chosen leader, though nominally with greatly curtailed powers. In organization, Tammany is highly central- ized, the power resting ultimately in the h.ands of one man or of a relatively small number of men. There is a captain for each election district in the city, and a district leader for each Assembly district. The executive committee of the organi- zation is generally made up of these various dis- trict leaders; while in addition each district elects a cectain nimber of men to the sn-ealled General Committee, in which ostensibly the power rests, and in whose name the lease of the build- ing known as Tammany Hall is held. The men elected by each district to the General Committee, whose membcrsliip is somewhat in excess of five thousand, form the General Committee for that district, and are presided over by the district leader. The General Committee has standing sub-committees on finance, printing, naturaliza- tion, correspondence, and organization. The power of Tammany is traceable, however, to something more than mere machine organiza- tion. It makes a systematic appeal for the votes of the lower classes, and accomplishes its pur- pose by numerous acts of real charity; by gratify- ing the social instincts of the tenement dw^eller, the district leaders giving at their own expense frequent dances, chowder parties, picnics, and ex- cursions; by bailing unfortunates out of jail; by systematically ingratiating itself with the vast numbers of immigrants; by securing work for the unemployed ; by an extensive and gener- ally astute use of patronage (when Tammany is in power) ; and apparently by the application of 'pressure' and by various acts of virtual intimi- dation. It also gains tens of thousands of votes by virtue of its position as the representative in New York of the Democratic Party; and, by the lax enforcement of sumptuary laws when iii power, it wins the support of those voters who on principle or through motives of self-interest oppose such laws. Arrayed against it are a large majority of the cultured and well-to-do classes, the members of the Republican Party, and large numbers, representing various classes, who are convinced that Tammany government means a government of blackmail, of fosterfd vice, of police corruption, and, if not of outright dis- honesty in all respects, at least of general waste- fulness and inefficiency. Consult: Myers, Bistory of Tammany Hall (New York, 1901) ; Blake, History of the Tam- many Society or Columhian Order (ib., 1901), written from the Tammany standpoint ; a chap- ter by Talcott Williams iii Historic New York, vol. i. (ib., 1899) ; several chapters in defense of Tammany in Thompson, Politics in a Democracy (ib., 1894) ; a chapter in Bryee, The American Commonwealth (ib., 189S) ; an article by Davis, "The Most Perfect Political Organization in thfe World," in Munsey's Mayaziw'. vol. xxiv. (ib., 1901); Jernegan, Tammany Societies in Rhode Island (Providence, 1895) ; and Cabeen, "The So- ciety of the Sons of St. Tammany of Philadel- phia," in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and liionraphi/. vols, xxv., xxvi.. and xxvii (Philadelphia.' 1901, 1902, and 1903). TAMMERFORS, tam'mer-fors. The princiiial manufacturing city of Finland, Russia, situated in the Government of Tavastehus, close to the falls of Tampereenkoski and 125 miles northwest of Helsingfors by rail (Map: Russia, B 2). It is a modern town with extensive cotton, paper, and iron mills and various other manufacturing es- tablishments, whose motor power is supplied chiefly by the near-by rapids. Population, in 1898. 28.725. TAM'MUZ. A deity of Babylonian origin whose cult is referred to by the prophet Ezekiel (viii. 14), who describes his horror at seeing wo- men sitting in the north gates of the temple and weeping for Tammuz. The worship of Tammuz (under the form Dumu-zi) may now be traced