100 YEARS AGO IN THE SARATOGIAN
Thursday, April 4, 1918. “Although the party primaries will not be held until mid-September politics are already beginning to simmer in this county,” The Saratogian reports today.
The big story in local politics this year is that recent redistricting may end the state senate career of George H. Whitney. His district previously encompassed Saratoga and Washington counties, and while Whitney hails from Mechanicville he depended on Washington County voters to survive a primary challenge in 1916.
This year, Whitney will have to vie with another incumbent, James Yelverton, for a new senatorial district uniting Saratoga and Schenectady counties. It’s unclear so far whether Yelverton wants to stay in the senate or run for Congress, but he would be the overwhelming favorite against Whitney in a Republican primary for the new district. Not only does Schenectady County far outnumber Saratoga County, but most Saratoga Republicans opposed Whitney two years ago for turning against his predecessor and mentor, Edgar T. Brackett.
The race to succeed the term-limited W. J. Dodge as sheriff is the main event at the county level this year. The favorites so far are George F. Best of Malta and Frank Strumpf of Stillwater, though at least four other men are potential contenders, including current undersheriff James T. Betts and former undersheriff Fred Ruback.
Credit Bureau May Be Created Here
The Business Men’s Association endorses the idea of a bureau that will assign credit ratings to Saratoga Springs consumers after hearing C. C. Lockwood make the case for it tonight.
Lockwood works for a credit bureau in Brockton MA and advised the creators of a new bureau in Schenectady. “This system is a benefit to both debtor and creditor,” he tells The Saratogian.
“The man who pays his bills will be known as such by the entire business community, and thus be in a position to obtain credit accommodations wherever he wants. But the man who pays three or four merchants and uses them as a reference to buy goods on credit when there are a dozen or so he does not pay, will find it extremely difficult to obtain credit anywhere.”
What’s Happening
Alexander Hamilton didn’t just become a popular stage character in the 21st century. “The Beautiful Mrs. Reynolds,” now playing at the Palace, purports to tell the “startling story” of how “a beautiful woman, Mrs. Reynolds, caused Hamilton’s downfall and led to his death at the hands of [Aaron] Burr in a duel.” Playing with the feature are a Harold Lloyd comedy short and a newsreel. At the Lyric, the “Home of Sunshine Pictures,” Carmel Myers stars in “The Wife He Bought.”