The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-11-10

III SHEET,
Tho Coming Charter NIcctlon-faxsp>
bility Versus Rowdyisms
Now that the State election Is disposed Of
the charter election. which takes place In De-
cember, will become the great topic Of interest
for month to come with every political party
In this city, and with the citizens at large The
moral and social worth, the responsibility and
the educated classes Of New York, ought to lay
this matter to heart, and prepare to rescue the
city from the misgovernment and maladminis-
tration which have so long sacrificed its best
interests to corruption, and plundered the
people by an amount of taxation without
precedent in the history Of this country or any
other in modern times.
Our readers are aware that the large cities
for number of years have been in the hands
of the rowdies, whether organized or not,
whether without any particular designation, or
whether known as Dead Rabbits or Short
Boys, or Killers, or Plug Uglies, or any of the
themselves. Controlling the primary elections
by violence, they have sold the nominations to
the highest bidders-sometimes to the members
of ONE party, and sometimes to those Of
another. They have thus virtually ruled over
the intelligence Of the great cities Of the Unioa.
by placing in power the worst men In the COM
munity-men ignorant, unprmcipled and cor
rupt, and Of scandalous depravity Of morals,
and men to whom the rowdies and criminals
look for protection and immunity from the
consequences Of their crimes.
The rowdies of late have improved on their
original plan. When they cannot get o sufa-
ciently good price, instead Of selling the offices
to other men, they now appropriate them to
themselves, dividing them with each other,
giving the best place to the strongest rowdy
and the greatest rascal No decent man is able
to get party nomination; and SO low has the
character of candidates for public Offices
fallen, that respectable men who would be
public ornaments shrink from the contact, and
will not allow themselves to be put in nomina-
ton, lest their fellow citizens should class
them among the thieves, swindlers and scum of
society. Indeed, unless they stoop to corrup-
ton and bribery, they have but little chance Of
any party nomination.
The condition of Baltimore for a series of
years is an example of this, pregnant with both
shame and instruction. There respectable citi-
zens were driven from the polls by armed vio
lence, and murdered in the streets for simply
exercising the right which the constitution and
the laws gave them. At last the system became
so intolerable that violence was met by violence,
and decent citizens, organizing and arming
at the late election, beat the rowdies with their
own weapons. They beat them also in the po-
ltical contest as well as the physical, and the
result is that Legislature has been elected
which, it is hoped, will take measures to pro-
tect in future the freedom of voting, and put
down forever the rowdy element which has
been 30 long in the ascendant.
Here in New York we have no reliance of
that kind. We must work out our own sal
walton. Neither democrats nor republicans
will redress us. If we would be free, we must
ourselves strike the blow. For many years
every interest Of the city has been mismanaged
and ruined, and wholesale corruption has
waxed fat on the peoples purse while it kicked
up its heels against the people. Take the con-
dition of our harbor as an example BY
the Battery Enlargement scheme the port
has been injured in the most serious and vital
manner. The ferries, the city railroads, the
markets washington market for instance),
have been all subjected to the same
process. The Commissioners Of Emigration
are no exception to the rule, and
the Almshouse is foul nest of vice
and corruption. Even the public schools,
which ought to be sacred from such influences,
are becoming rowdy concerns or arenas for
sectarian bitterness, in which the worst pas
sions of human nature are exhibited. The Gen.
trail Park, whose management hitherto has been
beyond reproach is the solitary exception, the
oasis in the desert of municipal rascality.
Taxation has risen above the fearful figure of
ten milliens of dollars, Of which the hard
working mechanic has to pay his portion as
well as the richest man in the community. The
tax on real estate is paid indirectly in the in
creased rents of those who occupy stores and
private dwellings. 1t is paid too often in con-
sumption and other fatal diseases arising from
the overcrowding of tenement houses by fami-
hes who cannot afford to pay for separate
dwellings in which they could have free light
and pure air. These are only few of the
penalties which the citizens of New York pay
for their quiet and passive subsection TO reign
Of rowdyism.
The question to be solved at the coming
municipal election is no longer one between
parties, but between rowdyism and respecta-
bility-the good and the bad elements Of
society. The American party is gone, rump
and all. The wings are old fogies-fossil re-
mains Of the past. The black republicans
amount to, nothing. The democratic party is
split into three or four factions, each claiming
to be the democratic party par excellence, but