100 years ago in The Record

Friday, Aug. 17, 1917

Now that the major-party contenders for the Troy mayoral election are known, The Record issues an endorsement of Democratic incumbent Cornelius F. Burns that is mainly a scathing attack on Republican challenger George T. Morris. Our paper leans Republican in national politics but has been critical of GOP leadership at the city and county level since its launch in 1896. Morris, the Fourth Ward alderman, is an insurgent Republican himself, but his obstructionist tactics in the common council and his loose-cannon personality are even greater turn- offs for our editors. Our editorial writer states bluntly that Morris has secured the Republican nomination because no one else wanted it. “The possibility of election seemed so remote to the various men solicited that they did not care to enter the primary in the face of a sure contest [from Morris]. Moreover, some of them unquestionably were satisfied with the present administration and preferred to ‘ let well enough alone.’” Morris’s August 13 acceptance speech effectively disqualified him from serious consideration for mayor, our editor claims. His personal attacks on Mayor Burns, whom he characterized as an attention-seeking loudmouth, proved Morris to be an attention-seeking loudmouth himself. “It is not Mr. Morris’s broad charges of inefficiency and extravagance that the voters will remember. Gener- alities are generally ignored. It is the unchecked ranting of the Republican candidate that will stick in the voters’ mind. “They will feel that the true cause for this outburst is a clash of personalities – the rancor of one seeking celebrity against one who has attained it; the jealousy of a minor actor on the political stage against one who is in the center of the limelight. “They will recall the winter’s record of the alderman in the city hall, pestering the public with trivialities until even his own party refused to support his vagaries, spending his time devising strange and inexplicable resolutions designed to hamper and embarrass the administration and finally standing before the representatives of his organization announcing his personal platform while those about him howled with hollow laughter or showed by their immobile expression that they were swallowing a bitter pill.” By comparison, “For six years Mayor Burns has given himself unstintedly to Troy. Whatever his individual characteristics, he has been a Trojan, untouched by suspicion of dishonor and indefatigable in his efforts to advance and improve the city. Behind him is solid achievement; even his opponents admit the value of many movements instituted by him to modernize equipment, introduce progressive ideas and take advantage of natural resources.” The Record urges Trojans to think “Safety First!” and re-elect Burns in November.