YOUNG LADY OF NIGER

"Bedlam Reigns As Walker Testifies," "Jimmy's Wisecracks Convulse Audience," "Crowds Cheer Walker On Street." With these headlines the newspapers record the popular reaction to the examination of the Mayor of New York on charges of graft and incompetence. Apparently the greater part of the people of New York are so accustomed to the Tammany Tiger that they prefer the smell of the beast to clean air. On the basis of such reports it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the average American has less self-respect, as a citizen, than men who live under other democratic governments. With these examples of popular complacence before him, Governor Roosevelt might well be tempted to dismiss summarily the petition to remove Walker from office, which he is expected to receive before the Democratic Convention.

The Governor's position is, politically speaking, a highly dangerous one. The enmities which he will acquire, which ever way he acts, will affect both his chances for the nomination, and for election if he is nominated. All that can safely be said is that on the basis of his past record he will bend both ways in an arduous effort to please both the reformers and Tammany, as he did when, after reluctantly firing Sheriff Farley, he proceeded to appoint a Tammany man as his successor. On that occasion the reformer set out to take Tammany for a ride, but they came back from the ride with the reformer inside, and the smile on the face of the Tiger.