The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-12-18
Union City Ticket.
'IayOr Sweeney and the city Govern.

written under the inspiration of the
Mayor himself, intended to show that
all the opposition to that gentleman's
reelection is of a partisan character,
and results from willful determine
ton to ignore his conspicuous merits
as an Executive officer. We presume
that the Mayor is well satisfied with
the eulogy pronounced upon him by
his organ. 1t is certainly calculated
to make him feel very complacent.
We suggest, with becoming defer
ence, that there nay possibly be
another side to the question:
1t is becoming somewhat apparent
that Mayor Sweeney is not viewed by
all the people of this city in the light
of the picture drawn by his organ.
Those who do not see him as he sees
himself, are not merely his political
opponents, but comprise not few of
those who belong to the same party
with his Honor. The wide spread oppO-
sition to him that is certainly devel-
Oping itself, is not of partisan charac-
ter, but, on the contrary, proceeds from
IA general conviction among men of all
creeds and all parties, that so far from
being the man he is represented to
be by his superserviceable sheet,
he does not answer to the picture in
scarce one recognizable feature. The
day of such attempted humbuggery, so
far as the Mayor is concerned, is past.
Large numbers of the people, who have
heretofore made no sign OF opposition
TO it, are now speaking out their minds,
and, unless we greatly mistake present
Indications, n wide spread revolt among
citizens generally, without distinction
OF party, is imminent. The Sweeney
dynasty has been wheel within II
wheel in this city for n long time. There
is common desire, outside of, and
wholly irrespective OF politics, to see it
play out. And we believe that
all that is necessary in order to
open the eyes of the people to the true
nature of the Sweeny machine, is to get
at the facts in regard to it. We dare
say that the Mayor feels himself quite
invincible in this campaign. He imag-
ines that he has acquired sort of pre-
scriptive right TO the Mayoralty, and
that all that is necessary is to gather his
personal partisans together each year,
and go through the monotony of IA
nomination, after which an election fol-
lows as II matter OF course. To preside
at political meetings, to write sounding
prOclamations, to send i'll pretentious
messages and inaugurals to the City
Council, to be the conspicuous man of
the town, has become the chronic
ambition of his Honor, and every.
body sees it and understands II,
The self magnifcntion of office
was never more conspicuous than it
has been under the administration of
the present Executive of this city.
But leaving these very observable
features of the Mayors official chnrac-
teristics to one side, we propose to deal
chiefly with his record SO far AS the
same may bear upon the points raised
by bis organ in its article yesterday.
We are told that it is to Mayor Sweeney
that we are indebted for "a reduction of
our taxation and our exemption from
crime, and for the general economy in
city affairs that prevails under his ad-
ministration. Such talk is the veriest
stuff and nonsense. 1t will de-
celve no intelligent man iii the
city. We undertake to saw that
Mayor Sweeney in all these re-
spects has been as near mere mega
tive as 1t is possible for tho executive
officer of a city to be. 1t is well known
that his programmes and policies, SO
far as the same have been submitted to
the public, have generally been consid-
cred prOdiGNl, and not infrequently to-
tally impracticable. We need not more
than mention his great pet scheme for
establishing a'Police force of thirty-six
oficerss This scheme is emphatically the
one great "My Policy" feature of his
reign thus far, exceeding, if possible,
the dimensions OF the twenty-inch
water Pipe and the "fnt take" there
unto appertaining. So far from the
Mayor having had anything whatever
to do with the reduction of taxes, the
facts are that the reduction was made
by Republican Council last year, and
no credit whatever for the mitigation
OF our burdens belongs to the Mayor.
And as regards the alleged reforms in |
the way of peace and good order, exact
ly the same remark will apply. If it
be true, as the organ AYERS, that crime |
has decreased in our midst, it seems |
very strange that Mayor Sweeney and
his personal partisans should gather
together and Dust from position the |
very man of all others under whose |
immediate eye and administration this
decrease has been effected. Why WINS |
Mr.. Mcdonald so ruthlessly slaughter
ed If what the organ says be
trueR We submit that theory and
practice hang wide apart when such n |
claim is made under such circum-
stances. But the reading public know
that il crime has decreased in our midst, |
and better order prevailed within the
past two years than formerly, it is
more ascribable to the existence OF our |
Municipal Court than to all other influ- |
ences combined, an institution for which
the city stands indebted to the same
Council that reduced the taxes from
fifty to forty cents on the hundred dol
lars.
The facts are that the farther and
deeper we so into the record of the
Mayor, the more and more of a carica-
ture does the eulogy of mis- organ be-
come. If we had space and time to
bring up his antecedents as connected
with the city government, We should
go back to the days Of 1855, and ask for
the facts connected with that contract
which so Unexpectedly and unaccount-