The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-01-16
Not a Shot In the CITY Locker.

The Common Council of last year having failed
to pass upon the estimates furnished by the
Comptroller, and the charter of 1857 specially
forbidding any expenditures to be incurred by
any Of the departments, "unless an appropria-
ton shall have been previously made covering
such expense" the whole machinery of our city
government is brought to q dead halt, and pub
Tic necessities, however urgent or imperative,
must await the passage of the estimates by the
Common Council, and the action of the Legisla-
ture on the Tax Levy. Not ton of coal can be
purchased in this bitter weather for the public
ofices-not window be mended, or broken
armchair be set to rights, until both the Com
mon Council and Legislature have taken definite
action on the appropriations.
Such appears to be the decision of the Street
Commissioner; and, as an example of faithful
adherence to law, we commend it to the notice
of all other heads Of Departments in the city
government. If the Inconvenience caused by it
were merely little freezing and scantiness Of
red tape in the public Offices, many taxpayers,
perhaps, would not regard the matter as an in
suppOrtable calamity. But when we consider
that at this moment nearly half the fire and hose
engines in the lower part of the city are out of
order, and in need Of repairs, which cannot
be made for the want of money the affair
grows good deal more serious. Most Of
the hydrants are frozen, and would requiu
much trouble and expense to put them at once
into good working condition Our wharves piers
and slips, moreover, are suffering injuries from the
ice, and nothing can he done to protect them.
A thousand dollars expended this week in pre-
vention might save the city fifty thousand which
will be needed before next June to cure the in
juries now being sustained by city property.
But the Street Commissioner does quite right
to stand within the limit of the law, and place
the responsibilities of his course on the absurd
and injudciOus Legislation by which his power is
crippled and his utility as public officer de-
stroyed. The straight waistcoat of legislation,
devised to prevent dishonest men from over
reaching their authority has been drawn too
tight, and now only acts torestrain an efficient
officer from properly discharging the functions
which are entrusted to his care.
This evil of entering each new year with no
appropriations made to meet necessary expen-
illegality which it has always heretofore forced
on the heads Of departments, has done much to-
wards encouraging corruption and general con-
tempt of any law having for its object to keep
unlicensed hands out of the city treasury 1t is
met and successfully resisted in the present in
stance by passive obedience to the charter, and a
determination to abide by the law, at whatever
cost; but it can never be radically cured until
the commencement Of the financial year is shifted
from the LIST of January to the LIST of July in
each year. This would leave abundant time for
the preparation of estimates, and any unforeseen
contingencies arising during the first six months
of the year could be covered by the necessary
legislation. Until this has been done we must
continue subject to these annual fits of financial
and run all the risk we at present en-
dure from city government made wholly pow
erless by the want of funds. We commend this
matter to the early attention of the Common,
Council, and hope that our State Legislature will
act promptly on the tax levy as soon as it can be
brought before them.