New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1867-07-19
CITIES IND TILE SITE

officers is proceeding of doubtful utility ana calculated
10 destroy the civil division Of the State INTO cOunes
and has the effect which is inconsistent with the genius
spirit of republican institutions, OF eenrazng power
In the State Government which, upon every principe VI
democracy, should be welded by localities; and
Whereas II IL nyidous for the LEGISLATURE 10 assun t
that certain parts Of the state In reference 10 mere n
tiers Of morality, demand legislation fundamentally ull
ferent from that which is applicable to other portions o
the state and 70 enact law. %S@YIe9 70 Phu PloVeeunb
from such Assumption on is part and s., 49,
Whereas The odorsness Of such legislation has been
STATE passed April H. 1866 entitled An act TO regulate
sale of intoxicating Liquors within the metropolitan
is made to embrace the City and County of NewYork as
though their interests In that particular Cond not WIN
safety proprety be managed or controed ny oces
appointed or elected within those localities under laws
uniform their character regard to the other portions
Resoired That provision ought TO be inserted in the
Constitution Of this state amended and proposed ny
this Convention. TO the effect that the sale OF
Liquors within the different counties OF TINS state s0uu
be regulated az ut alb by legislative enacthents %
I'm their character and applicable to every portion OF %
state and comforting upon appropriate OheeIs
a elected within the respective counties Oh t5 I.o'
r. powers and duties requisite or Incident 10 such leHS
latye regulation. -. -,
granted in pursuance of existing laws hnd Tor rpeco
term designated by law ought 20 be deemed rTevOcaDe
such licenses are issued aud ought To De fegIuee "a, as
contracts within the provision of the constitution Oh to
United states. prohibiting ate from passing law
mparng the obligation OF contracts; ana thai PIo
vision cmbodying this principle be inserted IN me tG
stution Of the state as amended ana proposcu " ''
Convention.
This manifesto seems to challenge discus
sion of the relations of the City to the State,
which we are by no means disposed to avoid.
Let us first settle the facts:
!. Our last Legislature was prepared to extend
over the whole State the provisions Of the
Liquor law now in force in this City Brooklyn
and their suburbs but the City Liquor interest
protested and, by influence and money, de-
feated the proposed extension. And now Its
champions make this failure an argument
against the law What they want is "uni-
FORM absence of law on the subject.
III. "The odiousness" of the system now by
law established in these cities results from the
fact that it is enforced. Only let the rum
sellers choose the officers who are to execute
il. and they do MT care how stringent your
Liquor law may be; for they will take heed
that it las no effect To intrust the execution
Of the laws restricting or regulating the Liquor
Traffic to locally chosen or appointed officers Is
simply to provide that there shall be no law
on the subject in the larger cities. To commit
that duty to State officers is of doubtful
utility in the eyes of Mr. Russell, simply be-
cause he doubts the utility of restraining the
traffic at all.
Ill We are now prepared to consider olr
Russell's dctum as to mere matters OF
morality and Legislation fundamentally
" different from that which is applicable to
"other portions of the State" The essential
facts. which Mr. Russell suppresses, are as
follows:
As the country improyes-we will not say IN
morality, but in decency-vice tends to con-
centration in the cities. The excavated streets
and unburied houses of Pompen attest that
the trade of prostitution was once as public
and rs free in the display of its characteristic
symbols as tailoring or bread making. To-day,
il is obliged to affect isolation and privacy.
Men are yet living who can remember time
when not to drink copiously, and occasionally
10 intoxication, Hsubjected a youth to the con-
tcmptuOus appellation of milk s0p'-to the
disgust of the brave and the derisiOn of the
fair. IL is otherwise to-day. Hypocrisy may
be more prevalent than of old-we presume it
is-but vice is not only more shame
faced but far less generally difused. There
are county seats in this State in which no
house of ill-fame, however private, exists or
would be tolerated; there are populous town
ships wherein no intoxicating drinks are pub
licly sold. Hence an enormous concentration
of sensual vice in the cities, where 1t Is kept
in countenance by such concentration and by
the profits it dispenses. Men who maintain IA
fair exterior in their rural homes come hither
occasionally to crafty their lusts We est-
mate that Fifty Thousand legal voters in this
City are interested in the profits of crime
or debaucheTy in one form or another.
Some of them keep houses of designation
or board kept mistrcsses or public har-
lots; others receive and hide or dispose
of stolen goods thousands are thieves,
counterfeiters or burglars outright; while other
thousands supply liquor and shelter to those
who are. The Liquor Traffic in all its ramiG
cations, but especially i'll its lower depths, is
in open alliance with debauchcry, and in secret
partnership with crime. The low brothel af-
fOrds profitable custom to the adjacent grog
shop; the "palatial" house of Infamous resort
is the most liberal and profitable purchaser from
the genteel wine and liqu0r-store. Sleek, deco
rous tradesmen furnish sumptuously the gilded
haunts of sexual deprayity and charge twenty
per cent. per annum on the investment. Rlch
religious corporations are popularity reputed to
rent houses to people of dubious reputation,
"asking no questions for conscience sake"
In short, vicious appetite has here
the upper hand, and will have it
more and more decidedly MS it
shall be compelled to hide its cloven foot in
the country, whence it so largely draws its
aliment Those who are resolved either to
crafty their own sensual desires in defiance of
morality, or TO make money out Of such graft
fication by others, are locally our masters, and
we cannot successfully dispute their ascen-
dancy except through the power of the state.
They nominate and elect our Dshict-Attor-
neys, our Criminal Judges, our Sherilts: that
they have not complete control of orr Police,