, 1869-08-26


political c1ique known as the Tammany So
c;e.y. Its ostensible object md purpose
in human Affairs is to assist the Democratic
rdty in carrying elections. Its real object
is TO rob public corporations and private
under the forms Of Law, for thu
hcncht oi very small number Of political
1nlnaeers. It has Il committee, whose busi-
Tess 1t is to appoint Inspectors Of E1ec-
t'ons, 10th general md primary, and
10 decide all disputes concern-
ing tho "returns" Of primary
meetings, From s1nal,, and, perhaps, viz
tucns beginnings, Tammany Hall has
grown to be stronger than the people Of
New fo1l-so strong, indeed, that il its
managers take fancy to any property
lying withintE jurisdiction Of their Judges,
they appoint Receiver for it, send 5her-
IL md posse with a crovbar to burst open
the safe containing it, and divide it among
themselves in the form Of "fecs for the
Receiver Until within year OF two they
Ind contcuted themselvs ss with robbing the
public by enormous taxes and corrupt jobs
Krt these resources did not satisfy
them So they attacked tho
Erie Railway, took il out Of the
laEls ol stockholders md robbed its treas
u1y. TSe: then turned upon the Union
Pacific Railway, rried its ssfe open, helped
themselves to its contents, and drove the
company nway from Ecw York. Al tho
Present time, it may be affirmed, without e1-
aegsraGon. that no Evans property OF lber-
ty is sa{e in New York il be becomes OBJ
uuxious to Tamsnany Usll. The press, for
the most part, stands in nwe Of it. The
TalumAoy managers entertain a sovereign
coctempt for the newspapers Of Now York
city, and an equally thorough contempt for
tie people: and Nis feeling seems in both
cases To he well founded, for press md q
People which VIII allow Ench o state Of
things to continue are deserving only Of
Contempt Rome, under tho Pretofinn
Guards, WIS not more nbjcct and helpless
tLnn New York il under the rule Of Tam
E:.nv.
1t is within q short time, comparatively,
that tic sachers of TasnnAny Hall have
developed their full power for mischief.
They lavo felt their way gradually, each
step being measured and timed according
to the resistance encountered in tho pre-
ccding step. In the beginning they were
perhaps no wo1sa than other mer- Uncon.
trolled power has been the cause of the
f.lrful decentralization which has overtaker
tLem md their victims They haye founG
ly successive experiments that they can Dc
anything they choose; hence they do any
thing they choose. Il they hnd been reso
lutely ssrangled in their infancy, New Yozl
Eight so-day be free city, enjoying hel
i,.alienalAe rights OF liberty md the pursuit
Il Happiness, instead Of conquered prov
is.re paying tribute 10 a handful Of robbers
v..o Enow no Law, not ercu the law of thci,
own making,
That there Is Tat21rany I1all in ninia
tyr" growing up in Chicago is too plain X
e denied or questioned We shall not at
:':zr, to localize it, because eaeh Of on!
s...1crs cao 10 so for himself. The NAL
who eaurose 1t are neither better no
sutse tlAn other men in similar circum
::.snce- neither better nor worso than th
average OF men would be in similar circun
ss:.Gcts. ttlf tho stndy Of socinl prot
lerus." says AIr. C. F. Adams, Jr., in
liable paper contd- ptea to Tho Anerica
Science Association, IS teaehe
ono lossoa more tlistinctl
, another, ii is that politics
II anl political corruption are nove
peculiar property Of any par:icu1z
party in the State Only tho pa1tisa
l..lcrcs that I'LL virtue is to be found
ore organization, and all rice in another
T!.o observer soon discovers that an a
1a,,st inperceptible line separates, j
tLuse respects, contemporary polite;
organizations, and that the charge
14s.le against one f1cton, with sligt
changes Of form and detail, may, wit
oYnul justice, be made against ever
otlez. Fraua in one party begets frau
in another. and corruption begets corruE
tion, if only under tho plausible arg'1n,e1
that the devil must be fought with tt
weapons OF darkness"
Tie evils for which Tannany Hall is
:guoay,u, and Which are beginning to aho
themselves IN smidst, arc inseparnblefro
1. long Continuance Of political power in IL
1iauds u one faction or clique. When sue
4 clique come to consider themselves il
vincis,le, and begin to look upon publ
uasces MS their own properly, it is time K
ilr people to take r,atters again into the
own hands. Tho Republican party Of CT
esgo Las l'een ruled fora long time by such
cllne to its manifest detriment> Y
tLiak it is tine TINT there shoul
te n change. Not that the men who la
governed the party caucuses heretofore a
desperately bad, but that they arc folio
ing Tie Inc Of prece1cnts set for them
ell SIMILAR rings who hnvo enjoyed I
s!.'ils Of office longer than was good
tL.ssl in moral point Of view. We We
IL Ta,nnauy Hall in Chicago. The peol
can 4laays prevent tho existence Of ht
an institution Il they crunch the ceg bcf'
it is LatcLed.