100 YEARS AGO IN THE SARATOGIAN
Wednesday, July 24, 1918. New York City board of aldermen president Alfred E. Smith receives the endorsement of the Democratic state convention in Saratoga Springs for the 1918 gubernatorial campaign, The Saratogian reports.
Smith was considered one of the front-runners going into the convention. His chief rival, Binghamton mayor Harry E. Walker, is endorsed for lieutenant-governor. While Smith becomes the preemptive favorite in September’s gubernatorial primary, he’s still expected to face competition from former Democratic state committee chairman William Church Osborn and newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst.
Only one delegate opposes Smith. Judge Samuel Seabury, representing Suffolk County, “precipitated a near riot in the contention when he spoke against the nomination,” The Saratogian reports.
“The judge, while speaking of Smith’s ability, said he was too close to Tammany Hall and represented the best part of the worst element in the Democratic party.
“Cries of ‘put him out,’ mingled with hisses and cheers, greeted his remark. It was five minutes before the chairman could restore order.”
State party leaders have portrayed Smith as an opponent of Tammany, the New York City political machine that dominates statewide Democratic politics. Tammany leaders reportedly left the choice between Smith and Walker to a select committee of upstate Democrats. Kings County delegate John J. Fitzgerald boasts that the convention is “forcing” Smith upon a reluctant Tammany.
For his part, Seabury supports Osborn, who claims the convention was rigged in Smith’s favor. While Osborn plans to stay in the primary campaign until the bitter end, rumors from New York City warn that Hearst may throw his support, and the influence of his newspapers, behind Republican incumbent Charles S. Whitman.
Whitman’s challenger for the Republican nomination, state attorney general Merton E. Lewis, remains in Saratoga Springs, where he was injured in a car accident last week. Now that former president Theodore Roosevelt has definitively refused to enter the GOP gubernatorial primary, Lewis tells reporters that he will stay in the race until Republicans vote in September.
Darker Nights in Congress Park
The federal government has reimposed “lightless night” rules in order to conserve fuel for the war effort. Effective tonight, “the use of lights for display or ornamentation purposes” is once again prohibited, except where lights are necessary for public safety.
In response, Saratoga Springs will tone down the lighting for the nightly band concerts in Congress Park. Half the lights surrounding the bandstand will be dimmed when Noller’s Band plays.
While most electric signage will be shut off, “the outdoor restaurants and grills conducted by the Grand Union and United States hotels will not be affected by the order to any great extent.”