New-York daily tribune., 1865-11-18
DIR CHARTER ELECTION.


City is enormously prohigate and corrupt no
one has the hardihoOd to deny. Wepay enough
to give us the best government on earth, yet
are provided with the worst. We pay Hall
a Million per annum for the sweeping OF our
streets. vet they are uniformly and abOminably
| filthy. We pay mob of officials to watch over
and preserve the Public Health, yet all they DO
is to draw their salaries, while plague-spots and
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. abound i'll almost every
Ward We have an ample array of we'll
paid Judges, Recorder, Police Justices,
District-Attorney, &c, yet Crime Is rlie
among us, and not One-tOurth OF the
perpetrators are even arrested, while Of those
arrested less than oue-ffth are ever punished.
We develop not less than one hundred muir
derers per annum, not ten Of whom are even
convicted. while of those convicted next to
none are punished. Financial frauds OF extra
ordinary audacity and turptude are common
here; but the swindlerS are never punished, un.
less they are such noodles as TO DO caught with
empty pockets. In short, Rome in the days of
Catiline or San Francisco under the sway of her
confederated backlegs and ballot-box suffers
was hardly governed so badly and was not
plundered half so atrOciOusly as New-I0rk is
to-day.
But enough of the evils, which all good
men see and deplore. What is the remedy
We say, an agreement By all rho desire an
honest frugal, efficient municipal ruie, to unite IN
choosing 6t Charter officers ,cthom regard to heir
politics. This has been tried for the last nine
or ten years in San Francisco, and has proved
thoroughly successful, working well not spas
medically, but continuously. That was long
e the worst governed among Anglo American
y cities, and is now the best. And the change
> has been wrought simply by "a fixed resolve OF
, those citizens who absorbingy desire good gov.
10 crnment not to be divided by politics in their
lie Municipal elections, but to select and elect the
C. fitteSt and best men, regardless of party.
Aportion of our most respected fellow-citizen'
10 have organized "Citizens Association" will
10 intent to purge our Municipal rule Of politics
ne and rascality. We have never belonged to thii
organization and owe no shadow Of obligation
m to it. It's management, lacking sagacity anC
II, homely good sense, has never commanded ON
n entire confidence. 1t has sometimes been i'll
~ advised, and seldom efficient. But it has nov
N been long enough in operation to prove itsel
v thorougly honest, utterly regardless of party
2 ends, and absorbingly devoted to the great an'
u necessary task Of Municipal Reform.
This Association has presented the names o
III e. nd nm
- MAN for Corporation Counsel. We do no
know that these are the best that could hay
# been made; suffice it that they are made, ant
y that no one disputes the integrity nor the capa
n city of these nominees Hecker is a Republi
can, O'Gorman is a Democrat; but neither,
i elected, will use the power and patronage 0
his Office for the ACKNOWLEDGMENT of any party
or faction whatever. Neither Of them vii
r make a dollar by his office beyond the com
i pensatiOn accorded him by law; and uethe
will wink at peculation by his supporters any
2 more than by his adyersaries. In short, he vii
J be chosen to serve the City, not party; and
if elected he will be faithful to this paramount
duty.
Then why should not all good citizens
unite on and elect them
Simply because the confederated plunderer.
now dividing millions Of clear swag every yeal
from the sweat and blood Of our taxpayers
think it would he prejudicial to their interests,
and Meg control hc UariOuS purity Machines
Hence. we are to have Union Primaries, Union
City Convention, and Union nominees-for
every place-run not generally to be elected,
but to secure the election of the fore-ordaned
favontes Of the Ring
But why not nominate Hecker, and thus be
suro Of clccting Mayor
Simply because he does not belong to the
Ring" and cannot be made to subserveits ends.
He will not be nominated at Twenty -thrd-st.,
for the very same reason that precludes OGor-
mans nomination in Tammany Hall. O'GOr.
man is to-day stronger with the rank and file OF
the Democracy than any man who can be pitted
against him; but if he were nominated at Tam
many and Hecker at Twenty-third-st., they
would both be surely elected, which is just what
the wire-workers Of either party don't want.
As vet no candidates have even been indi-
Gated as likely TO receive the Union" nomina-
tions, so that we cannot be pIausibly accused Of
personal antipathy to any when we say that we
shall do our best for HECKER and OGoRMAs.
citation if they shall prove as upright and capa.
bic as these We hold it the duty of every good
citizen 10 unite in lifting our Municipal admin.