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of New York. Wherever there was a problem of the prohibition of the sale of liquor you have an invitation to graft and corruption. So there was a constant rumor, a constant telling of stories that people knew for certain, that such-and-such a restaurant keeper paid so much every week or every month to So-and-So and that a certain percentage of it reached Walker.

I never knew whether there was any truth to those stories or not, but the rumors began. There were people, like William Jay Schieffelin, who were primarily concerned about civic virtue who were very distressed about it and very disturbed about it. But I don't think the run of the mill people cared much. They liked Walker's personality. He always made a good speech. He was interested in every kind of sport from basketball to horse-racing. He showed his interest. He took his part.

I imagine that the city wasn't very well run. I think they went into terrible debt and had a terrible problem with the subways. The great scandal with the subways had been in Hylan's administration, but still nobody in Walker's time solved the problem, except the nickel fare was very important. It was a part of the right of every free-born New Yorker to ride for a nickel wherever you wanted to go. I think Walker stood firm on it and that made him very popular. He understood