The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1872-06-11
Onr New York Letter.

ol the COnnlUUee OF the SENATE charged Win
investigating the alleged abuses in the New
York Custom House. No wonder. One by
one, the long series ofinquisitions whereby it |
was hoped to bring reproach upon the Adj
have come to grief. And at last
a Committee which patiently sat for six |
weary weeks, listening to the tittle-tattle and
gossip gathered up by the. political idlers
whose wont it is to lounge about the doors of
the Custom House, waiting Micawber-like
for something to turn up" quietly express
their disgust at having been summoned from
their post of duty to listen to the woful plant
of this or that discharged tide waiter who
mourned for his lost Office, and refused to
be comforted, albeit Tammany hall invaria-
bly, opened its doors to receive him, reward
ing his martrydom with a place in which
he had more to get and less to do than be-
fore
The whole inquisition turns out to be what
Mr.. Summer, in his highest flight of classical
ity would call ''the muscipular abortion of
parturient mountain" Not particle of evil
dence has been elected tending to inculpate
duty. On the contrary the most extensive
importer in the country has declared to the
Committee that the Revenue Service has new
er been better performed, and rarely so well
as under the present Collector, and his i'm
mediate predecessor. Of course the conspir-
ators against the Administration rave with
anger as they see the planks to which they
chung in their vain endeavor to float into
power, disappearing one by one from under
them. They declaim fiercely about s'ser-
vile" majority, and impeach the motives of
such Senators as Buckingham of Conn. and
Howe of Wisconsin. But this kind of war
fare only shows the utter desperation to
which the opposition is driven. The attacks
of the Tribune upon Republican Senators
have become so envenomed, and are so
groundless that they are producing recoil.
The paper is losing its old subscribers by
thousands. Probably it is making up the
loss by recruits from the Democracy, espec-
tally at the South. But unless the coalition
it is aiming at proves successful, and it be-
comes the great democratic journal of the
country it can hardly hope to hold its new
supporters after the election. A well estab-
lished newspaper is a hard thing to kill, and
the Tribune will doubtless always be valu-
able property. But it would not be surpris-
ing if the new adventure of its founder and
Editor, involving practical surrender of the
political tenets which he has firmly held and
ably defended for thirty years should result
in damage to the stock and reduction of
dividends. . 1877" A
The Times has reason to thank Mr.. Gree
ley for having opened to it the way to enor-
nous increase of circulation. Within the
three months ensuing from the beginning of
the Cincinnati movement this newspaper in
creased its receipts from subscriptions alone
over 100000. With increased circulation
comes a certain accession of advertising pat
ronage, and it is easy for any habitual reader
Of the Times, to see what rapid gains it is
making in this most profitable department
ofjournalism. With its augmented revenues
it will be sure to increase its corps of sub
editors, reporters and domestic and foreign
correspondents, until it becomes so complete
newspaper as to be almost indispensable to
the general reader. 1t bids fair to rival its
great London namesake in this respect if it
seizes the golden opportunity which circum-
stances have combined to place before it. I9l
Our own citizens will rejoice in any good
fortune which may accrue to the Times Its
great single-handed battle against the Ring
has given it strong claim upon the popular
regard. When that warfare began, four men
held undisputed sway over the revenues of
the city. They had acquired by purchase
from corrupt and plant Legislature, the alb
solute right to levy taxes, contract debts and
expend money at will. They felt so strongly
entrenched in power, that they became inso-
lently defiant of public opinion. They sub
sidized the press, by keeping eighteen news
papers under pay, bestowing upon them mill
ions of dollars for worthless advertisements.
When the Times opened its batteries upon
this gang of thieves they first attempted to
silence it by bribery. They offered its propri-
etor $4,000 per annum in advertising. When
this was scornfully refused they had the
effrontery to propose to furnish the adver-
Using matter themselves all printed and fold
ton of circulating the extras or not, as it
should see fit. All these appliances failing,
tool of the ring waited upon the proprietor
of the Times and exhibiting blank check
authorized him to fill it up with any sum
that would buy his silence. When he proved
infexible to all mercenary considerations
the gang resorted to threats Anonymous
letters poured in upon the proprietor, and the
editor-in-chief of the paper threatening vio-
N
pers of the baser sort libels of the most afro
cious character were fabricated against them.
In more decent journals the course of the
Times was deprecated mildly or denounced
Indignantly. 1t was accused of preferring
charges without sufficient proof, and the
vehemence of its philippics was unsparingly
censured. Just on the eve of the election of
1870 the comptroller procured certificate of
character from six eminent citizens, among
them being John Jacob Astor and Moses
Taylor.
In spite of all these discouraging circum-
stances, in spite of the extraordinary apathy
of the mass of the people, this fearless journal
pursued its noble course unmOved by cajolery
or intimidation, and finally, after some of our
most influential merchants had given the
Tammany Ring quasi endorsement, by con-
senting to associate with its members in the
Viaduct Railway-and when it seemed i'm
pregnable in its tenure of power-on the Doth
day of July, 1S71-the startling revelations
came which scattered the ba1ditti to the four
winds, and disclosed conspiracy of plumber
which astonished the world. a'ia 81
This daring crusade of a single newspaper
against band of robbers, holding the purse,
the police, and the property of the metropolis
in their grasp, will go down to history as one
of the greatest achievements of American
journalism, and deservedly places Mr.. George
Jones, the proprietor, and Mr.. Louis J. Jen-
nings, the chief editor, of the Times, in the
highest rank as public benefactors. 1t is a
fitting sequence to their splendid victory over
the Ring, that they should earnestly spouse
the cause of the great soldier who guides the
destinies of the Republic.
The integrity with which the federal gov
eminent has been administered under Gen.
Grant is a striking contrast to the profigacy
which has characterized the municipal man
agement of the men, who are now seeking to
obtain control of the national treasury,
through coalition with disaffected Republi- /
cans. Should any combination be effected
that would bring upon the country the ca
lamity of a defeat of the present administra-
ton, no matter under what guise it appears,
it will amount to resuscitation of the dead
body of Tammany. So strongly does this con-