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But his savings were none the less real, for he took a down-at-heel city and gave it desperately needed equipment, scores of new school buildings, sewage plants and incinerators, $7,000,000 worth of snow-removal equipment, more than double the number of playgrounds and dental clinics for children, new fire equipment that cut fire losses $2,000,000. His Park Commissioner Robert Moses (who replaced five such commissioners, one in each borough) laid out nearly 5,000 acres of new parks and two new municipal bathing beaches. His city law department cleaned up back litigation, much of it 15 years old, some of it nearly 30, reduced recoveries in suits against the city by 73%. In doing these and a thousand other things he had the benefit of Federal relief and PWA grants running into many millions and he imposed a 2% city sales tax, but no responsible civic group contends that the city has not got its money's worth, and far more than that by Tammany standards. As long experience of Fusion administrations proves, however, the possession of such a record is the best way not to get re-elected mayor of New York City.
The Game of Politics. LaGuardia is today supremely confident of being reelected. Even in 1933 with the Republican machine solidly behind his Fusion ticket he did not win a majority in any borough, only a bare 800,000 out of 2,000,000 votes split three ways. That he may carry Manhattan where Tammany itself is split and where he has long had constituents is obviously possible, but has high hopes for Kings and Queens—and knaves. Just a little too-obvious knavery in the ranks of his opponents will drive the independent vote into his arms. And he hopes for Kings and Queens—and the other outlying boroughs—because of two attitudes which count more in politics than the most brilliant record of efficient administration.
One of these attitudes was expressed several months ago when, talking to a group of Jewish women about Grover Whalen's World's Fair, Fiorello nominated Adolf Hitler for the Fair's chamber of horrors (TIME, Mar. 15). The other attitude is his consistent stand in favor of Labor. Both C.I.O. and A.F. of L. leaders in the city announced themselves for his reelection. The Republican Party may or may not back him, for its leaders have had no favors from him, but the American Labor Party, formed last summer in New York—which succeeded in delivering over 200,000 votes to Franklin Roosevelt and Governor Herbert Lehman—is virtually committed to his nomination. Finally believing that the voters, who in the last city election backed Joseph V. McKee, were independents who will naturally swing to him, LaGuardia easily adds up a majority for reelection.