strongest argument in favor of municipal ownership when they say
that. Who is better fitted to run the railroads and the gas plants and
the ferries than the men who make a business of lookin' after the
interests of the city? Who is more anxious to serve the city? Who
needs the jobs more?

Look at the Dock Department! The city owns the docks, and how
beautiful Tammany manages them! I can't tell you how many
places they provide for our workers. I know there is a lot of talk
about dock graft, but that talk comes from the outs. When the
Republicans had the docks under Low and Strong, you didn't hear
them sayin' anything about graft, did you? No; they' just went in
and made hay while the sun shone- That's always the case. When
the reformers are out they raise the yell that Tammany men should
be sent to jail. When they get in, they're so busy keepin' out of jail
themselves that they don't have no time to attack Tammany.

All I want is that municipal ownership be postponed till I get my
bill repealin' the civil service law before the next legislature. It
would be all a mess if every man who wanted a job would have to
run up against a civil service examination. For instance, if a man
wanted a job as motorman on a surface car, it's ten to one that they
would ask him: "Who wrote the Latin grammar, and, if so, why did
he write it? How many years were you at college? Is there any part
of the Greek language you don't know? State all you don't know,
and why you don't know it. Give a list of all the sciences with full
particulars about each one and how it came to be discovered.
Write out word for word the last ten decisions of the United States
Supreme Court and show if they conflict with the last ten decisions
of the police courts of New York City."