July 23: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
ON THIS DAY IN 1911, Brooklyn Daily Eagle columnist Frederick Boyd Stevenson wrote, “In a talk with Mayor [William] Gaynor the other afternoon, he outlined, in a general way, the trials and the joys of the Chief Executive of the City of New York. Running the second largest city in the world is no small undertaking. To successfully conduct the affairs of the metropolis, a man must be especially equipped. In this rather personal interview, Mayor Gaynor gives his views on the subject in his characteristic manner. As an introduction to the theme, I asked him if the selection of a competent man for the position of mayor did not mean that such a man must, in most cases, make financial and personal sacrifices. ‘Of course, that is so,’ he replied. ‘It is true that some mayors have come into power and gone out rich. But that could only be the result of dishonesty. Of course, a dishonest man in the office of Mayor of the City of New York would have no trouble to go out of office very rich, so great are the powers vested in him; but, of course, the people must be trusted not to elect such a man.’ ‘In most instances,’ I suggested, ‘the man who agrees to make the canvass is subjected to attacks before election. Does not this deter many good men from becoming candidates?’ ‘Yes, the attacks which a man who runs for mayor has to endure during the canvass, the falsehoods which are manufactured against him, no doubt deter men from wishing to run for the office. That is true in this country of other high offices. Here in this city we have newspapers which do not hesitate to invent overnight all sorts of falsehoods and publish them the next day against a man, out of mere political ambition or political spite.’”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1911, the Eagle reported, “It became known yesterday that the condition of the Statue of Liberty is such, due to the corroding effect of the salt air on the copper and other metals which compose it, that the government has found it necessary for the second time to detail an army engineer to make a thorough examination of the ‘goddess.’ The investigation has shown that the statue will be lost unless some means is found of preserving it. How the giantess shall be saved is a matter which is puzzling even the experts. The investigation has shown that the metal composing the statue is full of holes.”