The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1856-06-06

the present Mayor of the city, Fernando
Wood, commenced his official term with pro-
missing sketch of the reforms he proposed to
effect He informed us-what we knew very
we'll that the tax bill was needle sly and
shsmefully swelling; that corruption pervaded
every department OF the civic administration;
that the police were wretchedly inefficient,
and, consequently, that crime was rife and IN
punished; that the legislative branches Of the
Corporation were disgracefully negligent,
while the executive departments were az dis
gracefully reckless and incompetent; that the
laws were not obeyed; that scenes Of violence,
fraud and public indecency were every day
occurrences; that gambling houses, lottery Of
fees and houses of i'll fame tourishec in defiance
of law; that the chief thoroughfare WAS mono
polized at night by abandoned characteristic
fine, that the city had fallen complete prey
to anarchy and disorder. 1t will be my bust
ness, said the Mayor, substantially, to correct
each and all of these abuses The whole of
The power vested in me shall be exerted to that
end; and should find that cannot reach the
evils intend to extirpate without exerting
doubtful powers" shall not hesitate to use
them, and to take the whole responsibility of
my acts upon myself, for the public good.
With such flourish did the Mayors admin
istrstion begin. And there were not want
ing persons who, when they saw how the
action was suited to the word, how vigorously
old abuses we're assailed, how promptly new
evils were checked, honestly prepared for
-, u;,;n fcto 81,
auspices Of Fernando Wood.
Time has proved that Of all the fallacies that
have deluded mankind Of late years, this was
the vaiDest and most preposterous After more
than years administration, the government
of Mayor Wood may fairly compare, in point
Of ineficiency carelessness, corruption and
absurdity, with the worst Of its predecessors.
After all the newspaper puffs which gloriied
Mr.. Woods first efforts, they have one and all
proved mere flashes in the pan. Neither the
gambling houses nor the lottery Offices, nor
the houses Of ill-fame, have been suppressed.
Broadway still belongs to the street walkers.
Filth and dirt still clog the streets to an un.
exampled extent. The police are still incom-
petent to prevent and unable to punish crime.
There is no diminusion in the number of street
brawls, or scandalous frauds on countrymen,
or cases Of HOUSEKEEPING. There is NO ap-
pea1ance, even, of respect for municipal ordi.
dinances which are openly violated day after
day by rich and poor alike, without the least
effort being made to vindicate them. The
taxes are glaringly increasing; corruption
as VIGOROUSLY pervades the executive depart
ments of the city government-in a word,
the condition Of the city, after seventeen
months Of the Wood regime, is as bad
as ever it was, except in some particulars in
which it is worse. And within the last half of
this period we can call to mind no public act
of the Mayors save that he went to Richmond,
Va, to deliver politico-historical speech, and
to show how little first magistrate of this
city knew about one Of her foremost Revolu-
tionary heroes.
That this should be the net result of repub-
lican government in a city inhabited by
prosperous, religious, orderly and intelligent
population that the fruits of free elections
should be the installation of incompetence,
corruption, negligence and every bad thing in
places of honor and trust, cannot be discerned
by liberal minds without deep regret. We are
proud Of our selfgovernment. But how does
that pride Withstand journey across the At
lantic? FIVE 60 to Paris, we find the people
whom we taunt with their submission to mere
military despotism and self-imposed autocracy,
leading quiet, orderly, comfortable lives in the.
most beautiful and best governed city in the
world. It is clean, it is safe the eye is not
shocked by outrages against public decency:
neither houses of iIl-fame nor gambling houses
obtrude into the way to tempt youth; the
laws are vigorously carried out if man is
wronged he is cure Of redress. Paris has i'm
proved within the last two years at rate
far surprising any American city: it's
strides towards comfort and beauty will
almost surpass the belief of those wv
are accustomed to estimate municipal pro-
gress by cisatlantic examples. Or, cross to Lon
don. There is city ruled, as stump orator
would say, by pampered aristocracy and
bloated set Of peers" with the Queen and the
House of Lords at one end, and the Towe49
brimful of machines of despotism, on the otheI:
Yet look at London. Was there ever cleane
better ordered, safer, more comfortable city to
live in? Where is there SO efficient poll 9
force? Where is there less rowdyism or fewer
violations of law? Go to Germany. Berlin
and Vienna, under their military despotism
are both well governed, safe, convenient places
to live in.
The only city in Europe where corruptiori
and filth, and disorder hold as much sway as
they do in New York, is the city of Rome,
which is under an ecclesiastical government,
with the Pope at its head. That is a badly
governed city. They have bad laws there,
which are badly executed. Gambling houses
and worse places abound. Robberies are quite
as frequent as they are here, and the police
does as little to check them. The Corso is as
filthy as Broadway, and the side streets are as
x,,I1 80 II