Talk:John Purroy Mitchel

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Untitled

I believe he's the grandson of Young Irelander John Mitchel who was a convict in Van Diemen's Land, Australia and prominent pro-slavery advocate in USA.

I believe you're a kcid-head — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2806:1016:6:1CF7:8CCB:BD3B:2D9B:9A92 (talk) 04:39, 23 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Review and Critique

The Wikipedia article on former Mayor of New York, John Purroy Mitchel has a decent amount of factual information on his life. However, the Wikipedia article is not as credible and informative as the comparison text, “Mitchel, John Purroy,” written by Augustus Cerillo which is published in American National Biography. Also, the Wikipedia article lacks credible footnotes and citations. The Wikipedia article is a decent example of an overview of Mitchel’s life but Cerillo’s article is imbued with fine detail and is more specific. Cerillo’s article is well far more informative and superior than that of the Wikipedia article.

Cerillo makes a case for a stronger article because he goes more in depth on Purroy’s early career as well as his career in general. In Cerillo’s article, we get a glimpse of how Purroy came to become a politician. In the Wikipedia article, we are given a portion of how Purroy came to who he is. The Wikipedia article lacks information such as Mitchel holding the position of assistant corporation counsel and then investigating city departments as a member of the Commissioners of Accounts. Mitchel was a thorough investigator and his findings led to the dismissal of borough presidents of Manhattan and the Bronx amid accusations of corruption and fraud. The Wikipedia article disregards to point out fine details in the life of John Purroy Mitchel.

Though both articles tell us that Mitchel was elected President of the Board of Alderman, Cerillo’s account actually goes in depth. Cerillo’s account mentions that with the help of The Bureau of Municipal Research, Mitchel was able to enact numerous administrative and fiscal reforms. The Wikipedia article is very sloppy, the article jumps into mention that Mitchel became mayor but lacks certain facts and details that highlight his political career.

Before Mitchel became mayor, he joined the Fusion Party. Cerillo does a great job in explaining the Fusion party’s agenda whereas the Wikipedia article strays away from it. The Fusion Party is a name for multiple political parties that unite together to fight a cause. The Fusion Party focused on "a non-partisan, efficient and progressive government." Cerillo mentions the struggle for Mitchel to become mayor; “it took the Citizens Committee nine ballots to nominate Mitchel for mayor.” Cerillo’s account gives the reader information as to what kind of mayor Mitchel wanted to be by mentioning his campaign. Mitchel’s campaign tells the reader that he wanted to make Tammany Hall a priority. He wanted to reform Tammany Hall. Cerillo notes that Mitchel focused on leading a struggle "between the forces of decency, honesty and public service, and the forces of public plunder." Cerillo doesn’t fail to mention promises made by Mitchel such as modernizing the administrative and business sectors to voters while Wikipedia fails at this aspect. Cerillo further states that Mitchel wanted to change how the city functioned.

The Wikipedia article is very general in describing Mitchel’s tenure as mayor. Not much is expressed about the tenure. Cerillo’s coverage of Mitchel’s candidacy and position as mayor is superior. Cerillo explains how Mitchel appointed experts to various heads of departments, including the first woman commissioner, Katherine Bement Davis who was appointed Correction Commissioner. His administration successfully set out to create new agencies, such as the Markets Department and the Board of Child Welfare. Cerillo notes that unlike Tammany Hall, Mitchel ran the police department more honestly and efficiently. He did this by changing the leadership of the notoriously corrupt police department. Mitchel also maintained impartiality during garment and transportation workers strikes in 1916. These are some details the Wikipedia article fails to mention.

Cerillo maintains a clear account on Mitchel by using credible resources. Cerillo’s account can be attributed to the use of first hand or primary information while The Wikipedia article uses general and short credible accounts such as "The Green Book: Mayors of the City of New York" and The New York Times which detail only Mitchel’s death. The Wikipedia article fails to supply citations throughout the article which lessons the quality of the article. The Wikipedia article’s Talk Page has only one post, a minor suggestion, and not any specific change is mentioned.

Cerillo’s account of John Purroy Mitchel is superior to that of Wikipedia’s due to the difference in organization. Cerillo's content is placed in chronological order with an abundance of fine details. The article is uniformed and is broken up in to paragraphs that relate to Mitchel’s life. Cerillo starts by mentioning Mitchel’s background with simple details and then ventures into explaining his early career as a politician. Afterwards Cerillo improves his account by writing several paragraphs of Mitchel’s candidacy and then his tenure as mayor. He finally concludes his account by writing a paragraph that brings the article to a whole. The Wikipedia article has one section of information and is not organized in any way. The Wikipedia article lacks subtopics which would help the article be more organized. Subtopics such as Background, Early Career, Mayoral Campaign, Tenure as Mayor, Life after Politics and Death would help the article be more organized.

Other issues that the Wikipedia article has are the lack in development in certain areas which can be attributed to the organization. Throughout the article there was some information that seemed to be not relative or not eminent. Aside from its flaws, the article does give a general overview of Mitchel’s life. Compared to Cerillo’s article, there is room for correction and betterment. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lal24kb (talk • contribs) 03:40, 6 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

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