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By David Dayton McKean
In one of his speeches he said that he had studied Tammany
Hall, and he thought his organization was superior.
He did not exaggerate, for compared with his, the Tammany
machine at its best was unsystematic and superficial. His
touches every corner, reaches to the very bottom of the community.
Let the citizen turn where he will, work or play
where he will, or join what he will, he meets the organization
at every point. We are now able to view the culmination of
the years of work by Frank Hague and his associates.
At the top of the army of public employees is the general,
the Mayor himself, whose salary for 1940 is $8000, by no
means the highest paid by Jersey City. Second in command
is John Malone, deputy mayor, at $7000. Malone directs the
mayor's department (public affairs) during his master's frequent
absences from the city, and he is also the political
chief-of-staff both for the city and the state. He does not,
however, exercise much discretion; rather, he knows from
long experience what the Mayor will want, and when he is in
any doubt he telephones. Malone is both too old and too unpopular to be a possible successor: he has had to carry out so
many orders which, to the recipients, have been unpleasant
that he has many enemies and few supporters. Frank Hague
Eggers, the Mayor's nephew and secretary, is third in command; he is paid $6500.
The general staff may be said to include Milton, Moore,
Hershenstein, Gavin, and O'Neill, and the important leaders
of the various city wards. Milton is the Mayor's lawyer,
whom the reporters have called the keeper of the privy
purse; he has held many public positions from county prosecutor
to an appointive term as United States senator. He
acts as a kind of adjutant-general to the organization.
A. Harry Moore is the unbeatable candidate, the orator, the
funeral-goer, the cornerstone-layer. Charles Hershenstein is
an important adviser; he is city counsel at $12,500. Surrogate
John H. Gavin is another; his salary is $10,000. Judge
Louis N. Paladeau, the legislative agent, receives a mere
$7000. John F. O'Neill is county supervisor at $12,000; he
has charge of county patronage. The Mayor named some of
the other members of his political staff and gave their public
positions in his testimony at the C.I.O. trial in Newark:
Q. And he is president or chairman, or whatever you call it,
of that particular club?
`I say, are the policies of the other departments of the city
government your policies?'
`Oh, yes, yes,' was the reply. `I would say yes.'
This Web version, edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003
This group of staff officers has no central headquarters, no
Tammany Hall, where they can meet to discuss problems of
public or party policy. Orders, rather, come to them from
Hague, through Malone. There may be consultations with
the Mayor in one of his offices - when he is in town - or
with Malone at City Hall; but, in general, the process oper-
ates in one direction only. The Mayor thought a question on
that point by Dean Frazer in Newark was so absurd that he
did not at first understand what was wanted, and the ques-
tion had to be repeated:
Q. You have ward clubs, don't you?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. Do you have a club in every one of the wards?
A. Not
in every ward.
Q. But in most of them so-called Democratic clubs?
A. Yes.
Q. There is one in the Fourth Ward?
A. Fourth.
Q. Of which Mr. John J. Coppinger is the leader?
A. That's right.
Q. Is Mr. Coppinger in the city employ?
A. Tax commissioner
[$6000], former sheriff.
Q. And there is a Seventh Ward Democratic Club, the
North End?
A. Yes, that's McGark.
Q. No, Eugene Ertle.
A. Eugene Ertle, city clerk [$7500], that's right.
Q. And there is the Eighth Ward Democratic Club. Patrick
J. Donnelly is leader; is he not a public employee?
A. Yes, he
is a freeholder [$6000].
Q. Not directly connected with the city government?
A. No, the county government.
Q. Now, among these ward clubs there is one in the First
Ward, is there not, Mayor?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. And that is presided over by William J. McGovern?
A. He is city commissioner [$7500]. Yes, sir.
A. Yes, sir; he is leader of that outfit.
Q. Leader of that outfit. And there are others?
A. Yes,
there is Eleventh, Tenth, Ninth, Sixth.
Q. And they all have leaders?
A. Oh, yes, every ward has
got a leader.
Q. And who are the other leaders in those clubs you just
mentioned; could you remember them?
A. The First is Commissioner
McGovern, Billy McGovern; the Second, John
Kenny.
Q. What is his job?
A. He is a freeholder. We take good
care of them. The Third, county register [of deeds, $10,000]
William J. Sullivan; the Fourth is former sheriff John Coppinger;
the Fifth is Michael Scatuorchio; he has no position at
all, he is the [sic] contractor.
Q. How did that happen?
A. I suppose he finds it more
profitable without a position. The Sixth is Freeholder Teddy
Fleming; the Seventh, there is two sections, the North and the
South, City Clerk 'Gene Ertle and Joe McGurk, who is city
treasurer. He is our candidate for sheriff. Eighth, Doe Donnelly;
we call him doc, he never practiced medicine, he is a freeholder.
Ninth, Sheriff Parle [$11,000]; Tenth, Freeholder Heffron;
Eleventh, Commissioner and ex-Sheriff O'Driscoll, and
Commissioner Tatum; Twelfth, Freeholder Sweeney and
Commissioner Barney Johnson. It is divided. So they are all
substantial citizens, all of them.
Q. Except for Mr. Scatuorchio they all have jobs. All of
those leaders have been associated with you politically for a
great many years, haven't they?
A. Yes, I can say I raised
every one of them. (Transcript, pp. 1061-1066. Some duplicating and irrelevant questions and
answers have been omitted here.)
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