The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-10-22
form. Look out sharp for new Cougressiona
combinations about this time.


why Are DOR Large Cisics so Badly
GOverncdg
No Intelligent citizen can have failed to OBJ
| serve the rapid decay, from year to year, in
the municipal governments throughout the
United States. While the country at large has
been prosperous and comparatively happy. our
large cities-the centres Of wealth, education,
worth and infuence--have fallen under the mis-
rule Of abandoned and prodigate individuals.
Ii has become the deliberate conviction OF wise
men, that the experiment Of free government
has failed, as far as these are concerned, in con-
| sequence Of the abject submission to rowiiy
mobs which everywhere prevails New York,
| Baltimore, New Orleans, San Francisco, Chi
cage. Philadelphia and st. Louis, are the coun-
| terpart Of one another. The press of each
teens daily with the burden Of complaint, that
the most corrupt class in the community have
| possession of the reins of government and that
the honest, upright and moneyed lsborers me-
chanics manufacturers, merchants and 6nan-
ciers, whose industry has built up the Union,
are permitted to have NO share in administer
ing its affairs.
If the largely populated places of the
New World, are compared with those
of the Old, the most marked contrast win
be noticed in their respective conditions. The
American sojourner in Paris, London, Vienna,
St Petersburg, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Ma
drid, Munich or Dresden, is soon struck with
. the wonderful order that everywhere prevails
in those places; and, if his time permits an in
/ vestigation of the details of local government,
with the economy and prudence in finance, as
! well as the wisdom and maturity of police and
| sanitary regulations. Innovations are I'M
known, and public or private accusations
against heads of departments, are so rare, and
are so promptly attended to- that peace is never
disturbed by them. The reason of this admir-
able state of things, in the great cities of Eu-
rope, is that the local authorities are all
OF Them, under higher supervision and
control. The imperial governments of France
Asssis and Austria, and the royal prerogatives
of England, Spain, Sweden and Denmark, are
| sufficiently powerful and immediate in their
influence, to exclude the possibility Of misrule,
or Of the intrusion Of personally selfish ends.
Therefore order and tranquility prevail; and,
while the national administration may be I'M
popular, municipal afairs are never found fault
with.
The want of some powerful check, either ex-
ternal or internal, upon the tendency down
wards of prosperous communities, will always
be calamity, and unless this check is sooner
or later applied, grave evils, if not utter ruin,
must be the result The Industrious portions
of the population, in cities, as elsewhere, are
inclined to the steady application Of THAR anar-
gies to the augmentation of property, and to
acquiring the competence which brings educa-
ton, ease, training and intelligence within their
reach If they participate in politics. they do
SO lukewarmly, as secondary and inferior
matter; but abstain from applying their atten-
ton to those indispensable preliminaries of
good government without the control of which
practical exercise of power can never remain
in their hands. On the contrary, the idle, dis
sipated, depraved scum which floats upon the
surface Of city populations is ever ready to
assume the patronage and power which right
minded citizens improvidently cast off, Those
| who are too lazy to work, whose occupations
and habits make them akin to beasts of prey,
can imagine no higher end than the attainment
of that paradise Of plumber, which neglect of
duty on the part of the better classes throws
into their hands,
Therefore, the future Of the large cities Of
the United States will be sad one, if the expe-
rience of the past does not teach wisdom for
the future. Let those who revel In the history
Of the prosperity of the Italian republics of the
Middle Ages, find lesson there. What consti-
tuted the glory of Venices 1t was that, for
centuries, men whose eyes were steadily direct
ed upwards could attain there Fifth avenue
height of responsibility, influence and wealth,
which invested them with legal power to put
down the efforts of minority rabble to destroy
the republic. When, in the course Of time,
the aristocracy of worth, was replaced by that
of braves, thieves and bullies, decay was i'm
mediate and Venice fen. So long as an aris-
tocracy of industry prevailed in Genoa, Flor
ence and Pisa, those republics shone with q
light which will be reflected throughout gene
rations. When, however, the mailed rowdies
Of the period usurped the sway which
merchant princes were too busy to
exercise, they, like Venice, succumbed
to an ignoble yoke. The free cities
Of the Hanseatic league swung to and from
various phases of prosperity and adversity-in
| proportion as the industrial classes made their
influence felt against the dissolute and worth
less Old Rome, Athens, Sparta, Thebes-
examine closely with bordering minds the
pages of their chequered histories! They all
teach the same lesson. So long as the ele-
ment in their communities which was conserve
tive and good remained active, they were iron
in strength, invincible without and peaceful
within. When these became apathetic, power