its magnificent chain of parks, its Washington Bridge, its
Speedway, its Museum of Natural History, its One Hundred and
Fifty-fifth Street Viaduct and its West Side Courthouse! 1 was the
father of the bills that provided for all these; yet, because I
supported the Remsen and Spuyten Duyvil bills, some people have
questioned my honest motives. If that's the case, how can you
expect legislators to fare who are not the fathers of the parks, the
Washington Bridge, the Speedway and the Viaduct?

Now, understand; I ain't defendin' the senators who killed the
eighty-cent gas bill. I don't know why they acted as they did; I only
want to impress the idea to go slow before you make up your mind
that a man, occupyin' the exalted position that 1 held for so many
years, has done wrong. For all I know, these senators may have
been as honest and high minded about the gas bill as I was about
the Remsen and Spuyten Duyvil bills.

Chapter 16. Plunkitt's Fondest Dream

The time is comm' and though I'm no youngster, I may see it, when
New York City will break away from the State and become a state
itself. It's got to come. The feelin' between this city and the
hayseeds that make a livin' by plunderin' it is every bit as bitter as
the feelin' between the North and South before the war. And, let
me tell you, if there ain't a peaceful separation before long, we
may have the horrors of civil war right here in New York State.
Why, I know a lot of men in my district who would like nothin'
better today than to go out gunnin' for hayseeds!

New York City has got a bigger population than moat of the states