The New York herald., 1871-12-21
Tho Plans OF tho Political Reformers-
Why Honest Men Arc Denounced.

why Honest Men Arc Denounced.
Those citizens who, like Charles O'Conor,
Samuel j. Tilden, Andrew II. Green, Henry
Y. Stebbins and others, led the recent crusade
against official corruption at the sacrifice Of
political associations and personal friendships,
win the single, honest determination to secure
a thorough reformation of the city govern
ment, must find 1t curious and instructive to
compare the articles now published in the New
York Custom House organ with those that ap-
peared in the columns Of the same journal be-
fore election. When the votes of the people
had yet TO be cast on the question of uphold
ing or uprooting the Tammany administration,
and while the little game of Conkling and
Murphy had yet to be played, the democratic
reformers who stood up unselfshly for honest
government against their own party were
lauded to the echo by their noisy republican
ally. No praise could be too lofty to lavish
on those sturdy soldiers who were to bear the
brunt of the battle, and through whose fidelity
alone could victory be achieved. But, now
that the election is over and has resulted in
the return of a two-third majority OF
the partisans of the Custom House to
the State Legislature, the question OF
reform takes very different aspect.
1t is suddenly found that, after all, the whole
democratic party is undeserving of trust and
that the reform professions of such confirmed
democrats as O'Oonor, Tilden, Stebbins and
their associates cannot be accepted as genu-
inc. 1t is true that Charles O'Conor has been
and is the terror of the corruptionists and the
untiring enemy of official rascality but the
Custom House organ assures us that he pre-
fers the success Of his party to any reforma-
tion of the city government. Everybody
knows that to the efforts of Henry G. Steb-
bins, as Chairman of the Committee of Sew
enty, and to the shrewdness and diligence Of
Samuel J. Tiden in uuearthing the famous
dividend transactions at the Broadway Bank,
the people are indebted for the practical de-
velopments of the whole gigantic system Of
municipal fraud; yet the Custom House organ
snubs both these gentlemen, and declares that
they must not be permitted to have anything
to say on the subject of remodelng the city
government. Indeed, the whole Committee Of
Seventy is politely requested to stand aside,
in order that the full glory Of the reform vic
tory may shine upon the blatant champion Of
shoddy contracts and general orders. A tenn
porary exception is made in the case of AM
drew III. Green, who is generously told that he
will be allowed probationary term before.
being branded as thief or an impostor; but
as Mr.. Green holds the purse strings that may
or may not open to hitherto rejected claims
against the city treasury, this special induI-
gence is readily explained. 1t will not be
long, however. before the Comptroller will be
found in the way of a certain class of 'reform-
ers," and we shall then find him subjected to
the same classical abuse that is now lavished
on Judge Bedford, Charles O'Conor apd
Messrs Tilden and Stebbins.
The people of New York will not be kept
long in ignorance of the meaning Of these
political assaults upon the most prominent
men in the great reform movement. The
explanation will come just as soon as the
State Legislature convenes. 1t will then be
found that our promised municipal reformation
is to be sacrificed to partisan objects. Instead
of such a government as the people have
demanded we shall have return to the irre-
sponsibls and loose system of commissions, to
which we may justly attribute the greater
part of our official corruptions. The lobby is
already at work preparing the members elect
for the partisan work that is before them.
Such citizens as Charles O'Conor, Tilden
aud Stebbins, who are familiar with the
wishes and wants Of the people of New York,
| must be pushed aside In order that their sug-
gestions may not interfere with the programme
prepared for the majority. Every department
| of the city government and every city official,
| honest or dishonest, must be subjected to
abuse in order to excuse general, sweeping
seizure of the spoils by the hungry politicians.
| There are unmistakable indications that the
present State Legislature will rival its pre-
decessors in the magnitude and boldness Of its
jobs, and we may expect to see such carni-
val of corruption at Albany this winter, under
the reformed" houses as will throw the good
old times Of Thurlow Weed and the more re-
cent rule of the Tammany Ring into the shade.
This is the meaning of the present attitude Of
the Custom House organ towards the honest
reformers, and it is well to prepare the people
at once for batch of the most outrageous jobs
at the Slate capital this winter that have ever
emanated from that hotbed Of corruption, be.
ginning with rotten system of partisan COM
missions for our city government and ending
with the revival of Jake Sharp's famous scheme
Of surface Broadway railroad.
THx SAME OLD SToRY.-From the report
of the Board of Health, just out, we have the
pleasing information that the majority of the
streets in the city have not been cleaned at