The New York herald., 1870-04-08
Our City Goverrment-Tho Mayor and
His Opportunity.


No system of government is so bad but good
men in its administration may make 1t tolera-
BILE and even satisfactory to the people, while
II is certain that the best scheme OF govern
ment that human wit can conrive VIII be bad
in the hands Of bad men. If there is any fact
made plain in the history Of great cities it ls
that their welfare and the happiness, content
ment and prosperity of the people depend
less upon tho law that gives form to tho gov
ernment than upon tho men who give the
spirit. All tho grievances OF which the people
Of this city had to complain could be summed
up in the single statement that our system OF
government in its practical working favored
tho Introduction to Office Of men who had not
the respect Of the public-men of notoriOusly
bad character, sometimes even criminals, from
whom it would have been absurd to expect
honesty. Into the causes of this fact 1t Is now
needless TO 60. Whether ii was that such men
were lifted into place by controlling few, thai
the few might use them as confederates against
the public treasury, or whether it was due to
some inherent vice of free government in great
cities, matters but little just at present. The
fact is that the municipal government Offices
were filled in great degree by men whom
no merchant would have trusted with
his purse; men who had loag since
| blurred in their own minds all the
force of moral restraint; persons in whom
the public had no conhdence-who had no
| confidence in one another, and no regard for
| public opinion men who counted it as sim
plicity, not honesty, if any ono of their num-
ber failed to improve an opportunity for pecu-
lation. With such tone prevailing in gov
ernment Offices there could be no good govern
ment; and it was the ieproach of the old muni-
cipal system and of the commission system
that they produced and perpeuated this tone.
Under these systems we saw fully the truth OF
what was said by Bacon that 'the advauc>-
ment of unworthy persons is one Of the main
causes of sedtion and discoatent. Popular
uprising and the application Of a violent reme-
dy must have been the result if the evil had
been much longer continued.
Now, however, we have prospect, under
new and wise law, for the most extensive and
radical changes in the personnel of the city
government; and for the wisdom, policy and
propriety of the way in which .these changes
are made the Mayor is responsible.
| His appointments are the most vital
part of the enforcement of the new law. In
| the words of tho now law, he is responsible
for tho good order and efficient government of
the city," but in no point more than in the pri-
mary organization of the departments. He
has the power to appoint call the heads of de-
partments except of the departments of finance
and law" Under this authority thirty appoint
ments are to be made. These are heads of
departments only, and the law gives to the
gentlemen thus appointed the power of ap-
pointing their subordnates. Thus though the
power the Mayor may have over the vast mass
of placeholders is only indirect, yet it is sufi-
cient to insure that they shall be capable,
decent, honest men; and nothing less than this
should be expected or required from any man
hOnOred with a position as head of depart
ment. The power of the Mayor in the depart.
ments does not cease with the appointment Of
the heads. It is made his duty at any time to
confer with the heads Of departments, as the
public interest may require; he may call upon
tho departments for information Of their opera
| tions as he sees ct, and he holds the power of
impeachment, and can vacate any Office by
proving malfeasance.
All this is at once the Mayors responsibility
and his opportunity. He has, we believe, the
chance to prove that it is possible to govern
well even this much misgoverned city. 1t is
his rare good fortune to be the first Mayor
under law which gives some scope to his
Office, and which passed both houses of the
Legislature with unanimity hardly known in
these days of party legislation. He has to
enforce law which, though the people are
certainly indebted to the democratic party for
it, is still something much more than party
measure. We are Of opinion that he would do
well to remember this fact in regard to the law,
and to remember also that all enlightened
people now regard with favor the tendency to
that principle Of strict representation which
f,rbids us to ignore tho minority. Our city is
democratic, and the people want an administra-
ton of democrats yet they readily and most
freely concede that there are some points of
government into which the consideration of
politics should not enter, and from places of
this character they would not like to see COM
pe.ent officials thrust out. There are several
of the departments in which it would be wis
dom to reappoint the presen. incumbents, and
the Park Commission Is pre-eminently Of this
class. Taking no narrow view of the function
he is charged with, accepting his responsibility
and meeting it with full knowledge Of its scope,
the Mayor may give us 9 revolution in the
best possible sense.
The RIOTS IN SPAIN.-Our latest dispatches
from Spain do not encourage the belief that