The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-10-17

and inefficient municipal administration, and full
Of exulation at the glorious triumph which has
been won, seems altogether disinclined to cool
down. As the immortal HEENAN, after being
victorious in the last round, rushed upon and
foored bis discounted opponent and upset his
seconds, and struck out indiscriminately at the
whole ring, so our quondam ally is pitching into
every thing and everybody that happens to stand
in its way. 1t is just now hitting away with all
its might at the Park Commissioners and the pro-
prietors of the City Passenger Railway. In ou1
humble Judgment, The San is making wild work
of this whole business. 1t has kept up so Devil
dering clamor about "aristocracy," ''tht
''masses," n 'three-cent fare" ''ofIicial vii
'lainy,' and 'the odious railway tax" thai
we are sometimes puzzled to remember whether
the railway company bought the Park, or whether
the Park Commissioners built the railway or how
they all finally came to be one concern. When,
however, the luminary in question has, for a few
days failed, at lis rising to salute the world with
the fierce and fiery aspect it sometimes wears, we
then begin strange to say, to get clearer glimpses
of the real position of affairs Before, therefore,
the public is altogether blinded by the excess
'of Light with which The Sun is about to over
whem it, we would modestly ask it TO look at the
Park question from point of vew and not to in
dictate too hastily its disapprobation of the purchase
which the Commissioners have completed. AS we
have said, The Sun has persistently treated the
Park and the Railway as though the two were
inseparably connected. 1t insists that the people
shall, by one categorical answer endorse or reject
both projects. But the whole case, it strikes u.s.
cannot be fairly covered by any such proposition
The Railway grant was obtained by means the most
fraudulent and corrupt, while the Park was hon
estly purchased. For the use of the former the
citizens pay vastly more than they would have
done if the sale Of the franchise by the city had
been other than a swiudling transaction; but the
price given for the Park was only what it was in
trnsicaly worth. For these reasons we have always
denounced the propretors of the City Passenger
Railway, and expressed the hope that they might
ultimately be brought to punishment and disgrace,
and we have not yet changed our opinions. On
the other hand we cordially approved the selection
and purchase of Druid Hill, and we still think we
were right in doing so. 1t is true that the
two improvements are in some measure linked
together, but it does not follow that they are ne
cessarly so, that the abandonment of one need
destroy the other. The Park is certainly to be
paid for, as the matter at present stands by tax
levied on passengers on the City Railway, but if
the railway grant is revoked the city will still be
bound to provide for raising the money in some
other way. The Railway proprietors might be
convicted of fraud, and the legality of the Park
i l.. IL.
fected by such result The contract which the Com
missioners entered into cannot be impaired merely
because they may fail to get the money with which
to pay for the property, from the source from
which they originally expected to obtain it
When they were appointed to buy Park the City
Council knew that the Passenger Railway Com
pany was unlawfully in possession of our streets
and might be ousted at any time by the decision
of the Courts the action Of the next Legislatures
and the agents of the city therefore bargained for
Druid Hill with full knowledge of the fact that
the revenue which had been set aside to meet the
bonds given by the city to the vendor might in
less than two years, be swept away forever. Un-
der these circumstances it is impossible to resist
the conclusion that the proceedings of the Commits
sloners were lawful, and that, in any event the
city is bound in law as in honor to pay
the bonds issued in its name, no matter
what may become Of the passenger rail-
way, the aristocrats or the masses. The Mayor
and Council were bent on having Park, they
had the legal power to buy il, and their
agents carried on the negotiation fairly, and we
are bound by their act and if they have provided
for the payment Of the purchase money in disrep.
utahe and INSCRIPTIONS way or if they have
reckessy added to the liabilities of the city an OBJ
legation that we are not in financial condition
to bear we cannot expect to obtain redress for such
injuries any more than We can hope to escape the
consequences os all the other misdeeds for which
the present dishonest and partisan local govern
ment is responsible.
We have thus endeayored to show that the Park
and Railway questions are to be treated, notwith-
standing their apparent connection, as totally in
dependent Of each other, lest some incautious
reader should be led by the Sans comments to
suppose that we had changed our ground since
we were called upon to discuss the legality of the
Railway grant. IF our suggestions are sufficient
to satisfy him of our consistency, we have said
enough for we do not propose to argue these mat
lers with our contemporary. If the Sun had
merely set its face against the Park because
1t was to be paid for by tax on the Railway pas
sengers, we could understand its position, and we
might hope that free discussion would lead our
neighbor TO some conclusions favorable to q Park
which it could honorahly advocate But it has
been so curously inconsistent, and has taken such
Numerically opposite views of the whole subject.
that we despair of ever being able even to
comprehend its objects. It professed, in July, its
Willingness to approve of Park which was to be
paid for by the Railway tax, and it wanted one
larger, and of course more expensive than Druid
Hill. Now it opposes the purchase of any Park at
all because the city cannot afford it. Three
months ago it said:
$50 then it is generally conceded that Baltimore is To
the offer of eligible property, and proposition tak
out bravely in round numbers of FIVE hundred acres
less Let us say, then from five hundred to a Thousand
acres OF suitable ground appropriated to the purnose
by the citizens Of Baltimore And ace cord,oJ1 81
cate the prG1ect as 1corty Cf people and of lie Goe
and dbounding % the promise Of great sources of Mon
nent 10 all classes" N''S
The italics are our own. To-day the San is un
able to tolerate the idea of spending so much mo
ney on Druid Hill. 1t tells us that:
ITO very considerable extent the desire is entertain
ed that the amount already paid should sacrificed ra
Their than the city, with new reform admi nistration
should be burdened with the enormous expense wbcI
must be incurred. is not the park alone but we ar
assured from various welinformed sources that the cos
of making Druid Hill what it is proposed it shall be will
not be less than million of dollars; while the ANNA
expense must be enormous"
We rather think the thousand acre Park
on the Hillen Road over which our neipb-
Dor seemed disposed to get enthusiastic, would
have cost more than the wooded glades
of Druid HILL But it is with no purpose O
commenting on the Suns inconsistencies thai
we republish the above extracts. We desire only
to show that it has some cause of quarrel, othel
than its hostility to the railway tax, with the pre-
sent Park. Its denuciaton, therefore, of thu
whole project, and its determined effort to connec
it with the Passenger Railway in the hope that
both improvements may eventually share the same
fate, must be received with due caution, by the
public, and its reasoning ought to be very care
fully criticized before its conclusions are accepted
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Ancient gentlemen of the 'free and easy
sort-when the world was rather more convvaly
inclined than it is nowhere accustomed over