New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-01-07

| lations laid down by my predecessors, must be
! ex acted, and each member OF the force must be
! held To the strctest personal accountability Tor
| the faithful discharge OF every duty assigned 10
him. Without discipline, the nine hundred men
composing the Department would be worse than
useless for the purposes Of detection or prevention
! Of crime and our City would become again. as It
has BEEN a resort Of thieves, burglars and incen-
diaries, who would practice their crimes without
fear of moiestaton. The term Of office OF Police
man being now extended TO four years, greater
| inducement is held out Tor good behavior, while
the Policemen are rendered more independent
and further removed from political or sectional
influences They will thus be made to feel that
the greatest security they can have for their
retention in Office will be found in their ZEAL fidel-
ity and energy in the discharge of their duties,
As the regular semi annual Report of the Chief of
Police has been recently submitted to your honor
able body | shall not notice its details further,
than to invite your attention to its suggestions for
providing q Police Organization, without increas-
ing the number Of the Policemen in the Depart
ment on the division of the w ards, or the expense
to the City, and this measure deem practicable
as well as desirable.
Wharves and Piers.
The management of the Wharves and Piers ia
a subject which merits at the hands Of your hon.
orable body the most serious consideration, as
well in view of the great amount invested In
them, as from their intimate connection with the
best interests of our City.
New. York is, by its position, the great empori-
I'm of the Western World, the very heart OF com
merce, whose pulsatons are ielt and responded
to- in every section of our widespread Union
But we must not rely solely upon its natural ad-
vsntages, which make our City preeminent In the
inducements it offers to commercial enterprise. 1t
is not enough that we should provide wharyes
and piers to accommodate our fleets Of sailing
vessels We should also provide accommodation
for the ocean steamers the number Of which has
increased with a rapidity unparalleled IN the his
tory OF the world.
And | cannot more forcibly illustrate the i'm
mense increase Of our maritime intercourse with
foreign countries, than by presenting the follow
ing statement of the amount OF tunnage employed
in foreign trade;
Foreign Tunnnge:
No of vessels 2O4a No of vessels 1888
Msn s1nioyei $3.50
The coastng trade employs three hundred times
as many vessels and tunnage as the iorelgn ana
the increase of the latter in the past year has
been about the same as that above exhibited OF
the former.
New.York should not only afford the most ample,
but should provide the most convenient and the
best arranged wharf accommodations to be found
in any commercial port as no one can doubt that
this CITY owes its wealth, prosperity and reputa
ton to the commercial enterprise OF Its mer
chants. | think, therefore, that no objection
should be made to any expenditure within the
bounds of reason, having in view the continuation
and increase of the commercial prosperity OF the
City. But there is yet another aspect IN when
this matter must be viewed, and which cannot,
as Chief Magistrate of the City, permit myself to
overlook.
While then we owe it to the commercial char
acter of our City TO provide the very boat accom-
luodatfons which science and experience can suS-
eest it is due to the City of New. York that some
return should be made for the large amount annu
ally expended in this Department 1t true that
every advantage offered in the way OF superior
arrangements for facilitating the ladlng and dis
charge of cargoes at our wharves, finds its return
in increased commerce. but the City treasury Is
in no wise benefited thereby. | perceive that
among the appropriations asked TOR and made by
your Honorable Body for the current year, is the
sum of S25OOOO for Wharves and Piers Sl4O,-
O0O of which is for new work. aud the balance,
$4,000, for the construction of bulkhead at
Gansevoort St beside further sum OF 1000, for
repairs. In addition to this, resolutions have
passed the Common Council, IN favor OF making
application to the Legislature, for authority to Is
sue bonds to the extent of 100000, TO be used as
occasion may require for the Department of
Wbarves and Piers. If this shall pass the Legs-
lature there is no reason TO doubt that occasions
will soon present themselves for the expenditure
of this amount
Large as is the amount called for under this
head [ should not feel justified in advancing
preparing to enter upon such expenditures, there
was any reason to suppose that the City would
derive any corresponding benefit 1t IA an ac-
krOwledged fact however, that next To the mar
kets, the wharves and piers OF our City are the
most unproductive of all its property-the rev
enue derived from them not exceeding or = per
cent on their valuatiOn-and this exclusive OF the
large sums annually expended to keep them In
repair. 1t would seem to me, therefore, to be the
part of wisdom, while making preparations for
60 10 ole for
means of deriving something like proportionate
revenue from them. | know OF no other way In
which this can be accomplished, than by the I'M
position of a small whart.tax on all goods landed
on the wharves and piers belonging to the City:
The nature of this tax, its amount the modes oil
collection, sc. are subjects for reelection and con
sideration; but the principle is one, against the
immediate adoption of which cannot see any
objection This tax would necessarily be so
small, that it would not in any perceptible degree
enhance the price of any article OF merchandise;
and the party most interested, viz the consumer
would not be at all affected by its operation
Unless this, or some other provision having the
same end in view, is adopted, l trust that the
Legislature will not be called on to authorize the
enormous expenditure Of half a million OF dollars,
the interest Of which must be raised by direct
taxation, in a department whose revenues are
now so very Insignificant.
But if the above views should not meet the
concurrence of the Common Council, desire then
to consider the expediency Of selling immediately
all the wharves and piers now owned by the CITY,
and permitting them to be managed by private
individuals 1t is well known that the wharves
and piers owned by private parties, yield much
larger revenue than those owned by the ClIyi
and it is not because they are more commodOqs
better arranged, or more wisely adapted to the
purposes for which they are constructed 1t Is
simply because they are prudenty managed; and
unless the public whsryes and piers can be made
to produce revenue in some measure adequate
TO their value, and the sums yearly expended on
them. the sooner the City parts with them
the better. We shall thereby avoid an annual
taxation of some s2OO, 900, and the extraordinary
expenditures of millions for building new wharves
and extending and repairing old ones, with tue