The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-11-03
Tes Uesves ssssiiuse Meesi.u-TAs Wsrk
Of tho Rsformers.

night was beyond question remarkable ana
striking denomination. The attendance was
large, and the character Of those who werc
present to take part In the proceedings was
such as TO indicate how deeply the best part
Of our community Is interested In the movement
inaugurated many weeks since for the reforma-
ton Of our municipal government. There is
no doubt that the display was imposing and
significant, and It clearly proves that the anti
Tammany campaign is to be prosecuted with
vigor, and Is not 10 be abandoned In tho
event Of q defeat at the present moment.
Enough was developed at the meeting TO show
that if the opposition should be beaten now,
through tho lack Of organization, and probably
through the damaging nature OF the combina-
tons it has been forced to make, 1t will 'still
| live," and will come out of the ordeal of the
present election purified and strengthened,
| and ready to enter the field in the spring con-
test with better hope of success.
So far the meeting may be said to have been
one from which the honest rcformers of New
York may derive consolation and hope. II
proves that enough good citizens take interest
| in the movement against official corruption to
render it tolerably certain that eventually
those public officers who have betrayed their
| trust will meet with popular condemnation
| and be driven from the positions they have
abused. But it nevertheless establishes the
fact that the crusade inauguratcd on the 4.h Of
September last against the city corruptionists
has been nothing moro nor less than
| political maneuvre and that the interests
of the outside cliques and factions have
been regarded as Of greater importance
than the question, pure and simple, Of re-
form in our city administration The meeting
was the eliminating point in this political
scheme The speakers reiterated the violent
Trades aud the appeals to physical force which
have been for weeks the capital stock Of the
stump orators who have distinguished them
selves in the crusade. The report Of the COM
mittee Civ no new facts to the people, bat
simply dresses up the old and well-worn
charges against the municipal robbers with
which every citizen Of New York has long been
familiar. We are told that the treasury has
been plundered, that there is not in the his
tory of villany q parallel for the gigantic
crime against property conspred by the Tam
many Ring, and we are Indignantly reminded
! that not an official implicated in these infa-
mics has had the virtue to commit suicide or
the decency to resign. But we remember
that the Committee of Seventy, from an early
moment, failed to concentrate its efforts
against those who were VIGOROUSLY guilty Of
fraud and corruption, In the hope
of creating political capital against all
to whom they were as partisans
opposed, and hence that the prosecution Of
official malfeasance lost its directness aud
resulted in deplorable failure.
When this war against the city peculatora
first commenced there was, no doubt, an
opportunity to do full justice on all the guilty
partie. This was not enough for the politi-
cians it was their object to fasten
the suspicion Of corruption upon some
public officers whose record has been
proved to be unimpeachable their
interest demanded that the excitement
should be kept up until election, and hence
we find to-day that in spite of the bitter
denunciat;ons of Evarts, the revengeful stings
of Tilden and tue vigorous blows Of Choate,
the principal offenders against the people are
not only unpunished, but some of them are
| revealing in their impunity and boldly Offering
| themselves as candidates for important public
| Offices in defiance Of popular indignation, with
every prospect of success We do not wish to
discredit OF belittle the work which the Com
mittee of Seventy has actually done. II has
succeeded in stopping the squandering OF the
public treasure. The injunction granted by
Judge Barnard was the first really practical
step in the direction Of solid reform. The APP
pointmept Of Andrew H. Green as Deputy
Comptroller, with full powers of the head of
the Finance Department, was the
next. The two have been instrumental
in cutting down formidable List Of
payrolls, which had become enormous, and o
sweeping away an army Of sinecurists who
had long been robbing the city. For these
reforms, as far as they 60, the people are
| indebted to the committee. But at the same
time we cannot ignore the fact that
the men who have been VIGOROUSLY
guilty of malleasance in office are
still in undisturbed possession of the positions
they have abused that no effective opposition
has been organized against them at the polls,
and that the only proceedings yet inaugurated
against them are In the shape Of civil suits for
the recovery of the money Of which the city has
been plundered, one Of which suits is of doubt
full standing in the courts, while the other is
charged to have been brought in the interests
of the guilty parties. The developments that
are constantly being made are simply repe-
titions Of those which have been from the first
familiar to the people. The fact that the city
has been robbed by dishonest contractors and
conniving officials was as we'll known two
| months ago as il Is today and nothing that