The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-09-25

tire OF commerce or intelligence on any part of
the globe with which we shall not be in hourly,
daily or weekly communication. From our
Office we can communicate direct with our cor
respondents in all parts of the world, and the
result will be to push the ramilcations of our
present system to an extent that will rendey
the HERALD almost omnipresent. AS news
papers with limited capital and enterprise can
not enter upon such tremendous field of
competition, it follows that most of those
which arc now dragging out precarous exis-
tence by begging, stealing and borrowing
will be at once crushed out by the resources of
their Weather and more energetic rivals.
Our Next Legislature and Its Lobby
Jobs-Lobby Jobbers mt Work.
Never before, perhaps, were more active
preparations made to pack a Legislature than
are now going on all over the State by the
schemers, jobbers and lobby men, with view
to further their multitudinous schemes to make
money by all sorts of means at the next SEES
sion of the Legislature at Albany. The open
ing of the season will be the signal for flooding
the lobby with bills for city railroads and
every other conceivable job whereby money
can be filched out of the pockets of the people.
The great State barber, Thurlow Weed has
already his slate prepared it is filed with all
kinds of plans for public plumber, from the
Broadway Railroad to free wool. He has ar
ranged to run railroads through all the avenues
and cross streets of the city, up town and down,
until New York has become like gridiron.
Weed has two states made up-one for offices,
the other for schemes and spoils. His office
slate fell into sacrilegious hands at Syracuse
the other day, and when he got it back he found
sundry names wiped off and others inserted, SO
that he had to take it back to Albany and fix
it to suit his own intentions. But his slate for
schemes and spOils is full, from margin to mar
gin, and everything is laid out there in apple
pie ORDER waiting for the organization of the
Legislature and its more potent and more cor
rupt band of lobby sharks and first of all
stands the city railroad job, which is expected
TO net a few millions for Thurlow and his CO.
laborateurs.
There can be no doubt of the value and i'm
portance of railroads to this city: they bring
the upper part of the town under the sway of
civilization, open up the entrances to the Cen
trail Park, enable people to reside in that vici-
nifty and reach their business speedily, and
enhance the value of property generally. But
they should not be placed in the hands of
tsw politicians to made fortunes out of them.
The franchises Of railroads and ferries belong
of right to the city, and the city should receive
the profits in aid of its immensely expensive
government and to tighten the city debt. The
proceedings of the last session Of the Legisla-
ture show that not more than twenty parties
would be benefited by the establishment of
the railroads sought to be lobbied through,
the value Of which to these few spectators
could be counted by millions From the re-
port made to the Comptroller few days ago
by the Sixth Avenue and Eighth Avenue Rail
road companies we can form some estimate of
the value Of our city railroads. The receipts
OF the Sixth Avenue road from the FIRST of Janu
airy to the last of August were $216,7O3, and
those of the Eighth Avenue road for the same
period, $256,980. How nefarious, then, is it to
put such profitable corporations in the hands of
two or three scheming politicians, for it is only
these will be benefited by them, though it is
true that a few members of the Legislature
will make trife indirectly for their votes and
interest. 1t is surprising how members from
the rural districts will allow themselves to be
bamboozled by the lobby into assisting their
schemes for plundering this city, on the assump-
ton that the interests of the metropolis are no.
thing to them. Is it not of great Importance to
them when they visit the city with their families
to be protected from insult by rowdies, to be
secure in life and property during their sojourn,
to have the shield OF law and order thrown over
them in public places and in the streets,
and to have convenient and cheap
conveyances to all parts of the city?
In these respects it is as much their interest as
that Of the residents that the city should be
well governed; indeed, more so, because the
residents know better the ways of the place,
and can in measure take care of themselves;
and yet country members are habitually found
either aiding by their votes or by their apathy
every corrupt scheme of plumber concocted to
fleece the three-quarters Of million of people
in New York and render its municipal govern
ment more inefficient than before.
We contend that as far as our city railroads
are concerned the only proper action for the
Legislature to take is to pass measures author
izing the Corporation to dispose of the fran
chises by auction to the highest bidders, in
leases Of five years duration. By this means
the city could ensure an efficient management
of the roads for the public, and could develope
and populate the entire island by keeping
within its limits the thousands who now seek
residences in Brooklyn, Hoboken, Williams
burg and other adjacent villages. Moreover, the
sale of franchises would be very profitably en-
ployed in meeting the expenses of the city
government. The railroads, like the ferries