Silly Billy Business

New York, 1895

BOSS YOUNGS IS SNAPPING LIKE A MAD SPITZ DOG.

Exposure of His Place Hunting, Lobbying and Jobbery Has Driven Him to Desperation — The Farmer Attacked in the Interest of His Criminal Organ.

Boss Youngs, the lobbyist and jobber, got his Republican County Committee together on Thursday of last week. There was a bare quorum. The fewer the number the better for the Boss's purpose. The proceedings of the committee, under the Boss's direction, are embodied in the following circular, which has been sent to each Supervisor:

WILLIAM J. YOUNGS, Chairman.
CHARLES L. PHIPPS, Vice Chairman.
B. FRANK WOOD, Secretary.
H. A. FRANCE, Treasurer.

QUEENS COUNTY REPUBLICAN COMMITTEE,

SECRETARY'S OFFICE, JAMAICA, L. I.,

April 12, 1895.

DEAR SIR —

At a meeting of the Queens County Republican Committee, held in Long Island City on Thursday the 11th inst., I was instructed, as Secretary of the Committee, to send you a copy of resolutions adopted unanimously at the meeting, as follows:

1. "Resolved, That the Republican members of the Board of Supervisors be, and they are hereby requested to vote for Mr. G. A. Roullier of Flushing, as County Engineer."

2. "Whereas the Republican County Committee did on the 1st day of October, 1890, by formal resolution adopted unanimously, repudiate the newspaper known as the Long Island Farmer, and declare that it was unworthy of the confidence or patronage of Republicans and Republican officials, and

Whereas, By reason of lapse of time, the aforesaid resolution may not now be known to many Republicans in the county, and

Whereas, The said Long Island Farmer, though continuing its pernicious course and its vicious and willfully slanderous attacks upon Republicans, has frequently of late received valuable patronage at the hands of Republican Boards, and Office-holders; therefore be it

Resolved, That it is the desire of this Committee that Republican Boards and Officials within this County, having this notice of the antagonistic character of the said newspaper, should refuse to grant it any of the patronage of their respective Boards or Offices, unless absolutely required under present existing rules of Boards." Respectfully yours,

B. FRANK WOOD,
Secretary.

A separate circular has been sent out ordering the Republican Supervisors to vote for a Republican for clerk of the board.

This is a very funny mess. The committee did repudiate THE FARMER in 1890, after the paper had refused to do dirty work for them, and the Long Island City Herald was at the same time made the Republican organ and did the dirty work for a bribe of money. The history of the Herald, and its bankruptcy and disreputable character under Richensteen, the absconder, are known to the people. Under Mr. Dodson's editorship the Herald has become an able and respectable paper. The Committee of 1890 did not injure THE FARMER one penny, nor will this later action, for the people are not fools, and THE FARMER is glad to print the Committee's proceedings, for they bear evidence of the desperation and damage that Boss Youngs and his clan have suffered from constant exposure. The people know that THE FARMER is independent of Bosses, rings and cliques, and the paper's great prosperity is due to a hearty public support.

If B. Frank Wood could cripple THE FARMER he might be able to make the Standard earn a dollar, and that is another motive for the committee's action. The Standard is a criminal newspaper. It tried to swindle the county to eke out an existence, but was detected by the board of Supervisors and Counselor Van Vechten, and exposed. The committee evidently approves of swindling for political purposes. The Standard has been vilifying the Supervisors to punish them for stopping its swindle of the tax-payers, and to blackmail the board into giving it patronage.

With this explanation, everything else must be plain to the people.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, April 19, 1895, p. 8.

Note: There are several other articles relating to the people mentioned above, and no doubt more to come. Most of those can be found at Antique Archives.