New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-09-16
OUP MUNICIPAL FAILURE.


nomicol and honestly administered municipal
government in tho United States il that OF
San Francisco. 1t il avc,rcd that the discovery
of what was thought to be an cxorbitant bill
for stotioncry-amouniing to SSi-madc moro
discussion in the excited Board OF Supervisors
and in political circles than all the Tammany
frauds havo ever made in Ncw-l ok. Inc
total expenditures of tho City Government are
light; life and property are secure; the school
system is admirable and frugnlly conducted,
and the police service in beyond rcprOach.
San Francisco claims that she has gained all
this Ivy a fusion Of MI political parties in one
organization pledged only to the support OF
the best men who can he found to accept
Office. Lot TIA look Mt NcwYork:
Nobody who has paid any attention to the
condition of municipal affairs can deny that
our present system of carrying on the govern
mcnt il failure. The City is bankrupt;
audncious plundcrcrs are everywhere IN
powcr; life and property are almost as unsafe
rs they ever were in the rudcst and most
lawlcss frontier settlements; criminals escape
through the loose mcshcs Of tho law or
easily cudc sluggish police; tho sanitary
care of the City is neglected, and the ordinary
quarantine regulations of the port are USED
to destroy commerce and enrich an unlawful
combination of men; every department OF the
City Government is a vehicle for the oppression
of the people and the extortiOn OF money; the
right of suffrage is destroyed through open and
shameless frauds by ruflans who infcst the
polls, and are moved by the orders OF Junta
of mildcr-manncrcd scOundrcls who secretly
control the machinery of the elections, and
thus stifle all expression of popular Will. 10
crown all, the highest officers of the City Gov
eminent, detected and exposed in their pre-
dations, defy their master-the publlc-and,
holding to their booty, destroy the evidences
of their guilt, and regard unblushngly the con-
sequences of their crimes with the utter aban-
donmcnt of courtczans who know no virtue.
The picture is appalling. There is no bright
ness of color about its hard, forbiddng lines.
What has brought us to this dreadful pass
and made us tho by-word of natiOnsf What
can save us from the abyss of political ruin
which yawns before us' Must we go on for
ever in tho old evil way of choosing rulers
who will bctray the people and make de-
mocracy failurei These are questions which
every man who loves his country and has pride
in the institutions of popular government
asks nlmSclI. nc uDSWcI 10 Cicdi w hOh
bad men combine, the good must associate
" else they will fall, one by one, an unpltied
sacrifice in contemplate struggle"
The air is murky now with Ineffective
tlreatenings the ear is panied with i'm
potent threats but the wicked dynasty
holds on and robs; public virtue is out
ragged, and public decency dciied. An up
rising of the people which would drive
| from the places they disgrace the creatures who
have grossly fatened themselves on the spolls
of the City may take the form of violent
and destructive revolution, or 1T may, IN
strong and mighty wave of popular will
sweep over the politics of the city, and for
ever submcrging all petty, partisan divisions,
engulf the men who have brought disgrace
and bankruptcy upon us. 1t Is urged that
great ills demand violent remedies; that few
iudcious hangings and lynchngs would be
a wholesome example for years to come.
There are not q few men, reputed
judicious, who consider that the blast of
Vigilance Committee would purify the moral
atmosphere of the City and make it safe for
the growth of public confidence. We shudder
at the spectacle of a great city given over to
the unbridled license of a revolution, which,
however we'll organized, would bear upon its
skirts wild mob which would trample ndis-
criminately upon the most sacred rights. 1t
is madness to talk of such desperate resort.
The last defense of struggling communities on
q distant frontier, revolution in the metropolis
would be ruin.
No; the good must associate, not in an in
surrection against the men who rule us, but
in an honest adaptation of the machinery of
popular government. In the first place, the
voters who pay taxes and have this direct
pccuniary interest in the righteous conduct
of municipal affairs have neglected their obi
cations at the polls. This must be reformed.
Next, questions which have had no pos
sible practical bearing upon municipal affairs
have been allowed to divide the voters and tax
payers of New-YOrk into adverse factions, by
which they have fallen an easy prey to design
ing men, This must cease. Of what use is
it that we quarrel over high tariff and low
tariff while the enemy plumbers usf Why
should the citizens of this rich municipality
separate into hostile factions upon the bred
Scott decision, the Fugitive Slave law, or the
annexation of SantO Domingo, and leave the
care Of the vast interests of nearly a million
people to the results of a lucky accident or the
success of alert schemcrsi Men of Nrw-YOrk
the time has come when only municipal ques-
tons must divide us at municipal elections. We
nave failed as a city, not because
virtually bankrupt, but because we have
shown that republicanism. as now illustrated
In our conduct of city elections, cannot save
us from anarchy and ruin few steps more
Will carry us to utter destruction. We can
didly confess that no great city in this Union
can be safely governed by merely conducting
our local elections with refcrence To the sama