New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-08-18
THE PRESS AND THE GOpERHOR.

II il reported that Gov. Hoffman Is unwili-
ing 10 take action in the case of DR.. Carnochan
because ho has not been formally and officially
advised of any charges against that officer.
This seems TO us a discredtable evasion OF
duty. The Governor has been advised by the
public press, with all possible fOrmality and
distinctness that man who holds power by
his appointment is outragng and depressing
the mercantile community, and driving COM
merce away from the port. The Governor has
been informed that the feeling of the mcr-
chants is bitter and substantially unanimous.
lie has boon furnished not with vague general
denunciatons, but with specific accusations,
giving all Requisite details of dates. figures,
and names. What excuse can ne find Tor de-
handing that the merchants, who understand
too well the cost of mourning DR.. Carnochan5
displeasure, should step forward to toll him
publicly what he knows alreadyf He might
as well say that grand juries should not in
dict murderer except upon the formal demand
of the victims next of kin.
Theoretically the Governors principle has
some show of soundness. 1t is a good rule
not to notice anonymous attacks upon an
officer who has borne good reputation
and given no cause for suspicion
but our charges against tho management OF
Quarantine affairs are not of that kind; nor
can they be safely passed over in silence. we
have made them deliberately; we hold our
selves responsible for them; we are prepared
to prove them anywhere; and we have cited
the names of wel-known merchants as author
ty for them. More than this, they have
been current in commercial circles for
long time, and Gov Hoffman must be
strangely ignorant of the affairs of his own
city if he has not frequently heard them 1t
is hardly too much to say that they have
been notorious; and yet the Governor will not
do his duty until somebody formally asks him
to do it
Gov. Hoffman may as well understand that
the press il an unpaid prosecutor whose in
dictments cannot be ignored. He has but an
imperfect conception of the function of the
journalist who imagincs the whole business of
the editor to be the collection of the news.
Time and again within the past year the press
has rendered signal service to the community
by unearthing crime, and surrounding 1t with
the publicity which is so fatal to its existence.
Government functionaries have been forced to
recognize this important power, and to admit
that in the detection and pursuit of criminals
it exerts an influence which cannot be over
looked. 1t is only little while since the
press closed the keno shops and gambling
houses in the upper part of the city, and if it
had been properly supported by the police
would have cleared the worst of the Wards of
the nusances which have infested them for
years. It was the press which detected and
exposed the enormous frauds of the Tammany
Ring upon the City treasury, and it is the
press which will ultimately force the Ring to
account for its ste hardship. The press has
now disclosed the rascalities of Quarantine,
and will compel the Governor to give them
the attention which he ought to have given of
his own accord. He will not serve his cause,
but will only do harm to himself by trying
to avoid the responsibility which belongs to
him. Meantime we commend to his anxious
search for complaints against DIR. Carnochan
the further statements given to-day on our
S..nnl pa