The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1860-03-07

man to foIesee. - ,t.a.- x .a rsrra;
PIous PnsBURY JUDGED BY Hrs Woaxs-
The resignation Of Superintendent Pilsourv.
| with which We had been threatened for some
weeks past, Is now an accomplished fact. Not
witbstanding the lamentations made over it in
certsin quarters, we do not find in this event
any very strong grounds for regret or sympa-
thy. Judging MIR. Pilsbury by tine amount of
authority which he exercised mp to the circum-
stances That led to his resignation, we must
say that the results achieved by him during his
tenure of Office could not have been smaller If
he had been acting from the first under re-
stricted powers,
| We have always been advocates Of the CEN
trelzauon of authority in municipal affairs,
where it could be shown that the principle
could be safely applied. Thus in the case OF
Mayor, we believe that the city would gain
much if the responsibility of the proper admi-
nistraton of the different departments were
vested in him. It is very different thing,
however, to delegate TO the chief magistrate Of
city powers of this kind, and to give to the
executive head of the police force the absolute
authority claimed by Superintendent Pilsbury
The one is, and must ever be, incon-
sistent with the other, and as long as
there is Board of Police Commissioners it
will be doubly SO, for 1t places the control of
| the police force still further out of the reach
of the central authority. The attempt to draw
an analogy between the constitution of the
London police and ours in order to support
the ex-Superntendent's pretensions is absurd
| in the extreme. Unless our institutions are
wholly changed it will not be possible to
adopt in all its features the org 4nization which
works 40 well in the British metropolis.
| Owing, nevertheless, to the foroearauce of
the Commissioners, Mr.. Pisbury has had an
opportunity OF trying for time the effect of
'the one man power" over the force under his
| command. What benefits has the city gained
! by it? Have the statistics Of crime exhibited
| decresse?-have the arrests of offenders multi
| plied?- have we had, in short, any of the evil
| dences of increased vigilance and activity on
the part of the police? The contrary is the
| fact. Crime has never been more prolific
a. may be seen by the calendars aud the
Fire Marshal's report; and as regards street
offences which mark more than anything else
| q watchful police supervision-there certainly
has been no Improvement under hat head
| OF what importance to us are petty improve
7 mepts in the discipline of the force il they ex-
| hibit no better results than these? They only
| prove that a man may be martinez in trifies,
and yet q very bad administrator on the whole.
The refusal of the Superintendent TO comply
with the Mayors suggestions as to the disposi-
| the narrow view which he seems all through to
have taken of bis duties.
The truth of the matter is, that the ex Super
intendent has from the beginning only looked
upon his Office as o sort of apostolic mission.
| All the really vigorous steps that he has taken
during his tenure Of it have been to forward
the fsnatical projects of the Sabbatarisns, and
to render the Sunday as gloomy and uncom-
Portable as the efforts of the police conld make
| it. We do not blame the man the constitu-
| ton of his mind is naturally ascetic. He re-
CARDS the Sabbatarians as the vicegerents of
God, and Pious Pilsbury as their executive Of
ficer. OF course, when the police is put under
the control Of such narrow minded zealots. we
must expect to see the legitimate objects Of it's
organization neglected. and its energies wasted
on matters foreign TO them.
Az to the remonstrance which was sent in
to the Commissioners, Disappearing of their
action, we think the Board we're quite right in
taking DO notice of it. Memorials of this kind
are SO easily gotten mp that they have ceased
to have any value. They emanate from pretty
much the same class of men as those whose
pames were appended to the Fifth Avenue Ho-
tel manifesto, and who can be got to sign any
thing without reading it, counting on the
chance of their backing out on this excuse
shonld their autographs threaten to bring them
| into trouble.
THE SPRING TRADE WITH THE SOUTH IN New
| York AND PHILADELrHIA- Is IT INCREASING OR
| DECREASING Some of the journals of this city
assert that the spring trade with the South 10
| New York and Philadelphia is in very fou.
rishing way--better, indeed, than it ever was
while others state that there is great failing
| OFF in business in beth these cities, with mer
| chants who have hitherto done thriving trade
with the Southern States. Now, strange as it
may at first blush appear, both these statements
| are true and consistent with each other.
In New York and Philadelphia the CONNER
cial houses are chiefly of two kinds in a politi-