The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-02-15
The Paralysis Of RefOrm-The Duty ol
tho Legislnture.

| 10 Albany Win tue noise OF uiuiupuaH1
army, has come to halt. The clamors for
reform have died into echoes. We have
uneasy rumors from the capital. The old
lobby is dead, but its spirit remains, and the
ghosts of Tweed and Sweeny and Connolly
stalk through the corridors of the Capitol.
The necessities of good municipal govern
ment are forgotten in the ambitions'of Fenton
and the yearnings of Conkng. Instead of
resolute, united pull for reform and good
| government, we have nothing but intrigues
affecting the canvass for the Presidency, and
petty inquiries about printing and postage
stamps.
| This will never do. The great uprising OF
the people for reform will come to nothing if
the popular voice fails to find expression at
Albany. In fact, our whole Reform business
has been a disheartening experiment.
| Thus we had what were called the re-
form municipal governments, with supe-
rior Board of Aldermen and an unimpeach-
able company of Councilmen. Has any good
come from their deliberations? Is New York
any better now than it was under Tweed?
Mr.. Hall has made certain commendable APP
pointments has given republican the control
of the greatest department in our municipality,
and has nominated to be Park Commissioners
our unexceptionable citizens. And yet all the
reformers have done to Mr.. Hall has been to
indict him. Our reform Aldermen began
their work by ON intrigue, and already some
| of the best men are contemplating retirement.
Instead of one definite, acceptable charter,
embracing the sound principles expressed in
the HERALD and welcomed by public opinion,
we have half dozen charters eagerly
pressed at Albany by retainers of the old lob
bies, and old gentlemen in spectaces, much
more concerned about the tavern fare than
wise legislation. Will any good come
| from these enterprises? Will any good
| come especially from the communist
charter of that body of well-meaning, help
less men called ''The Committee of Seventy ?"
There is an Arabian custom which expresses
| the situation. When the turban or burnous
of the Arab is infected with insects and be-
comes uncomfortable he takes it off and places
it on the ground. In time a colony of differ
ent insects infest the garment, drive the
|
! Thus far one swarm of vermin has only driven
another from our municipal garments This
| certainly is not reform.
If we had patriotic men in Albany, if the
representatives really spoke for the people,
there would be no difficulty in solving this
problem. Nothing could be more simple.
The best government is free from any compile
cations. We do not want problem in
algebra, or law based upon the principles of
sidereal astronomy, or mysterious treatise
on metaphysics, saying one thing and mean
ing another We have had too much occult
legislation, too many legal tricks, more than
enough Of mountebank charterism. The
simplest laws on record are the Ten Com
| mandments, and they are about the only laws
now established among men which do not need
notes and commentaries and learned decisions
to reveal their meaning. If this sacred and
venerable example is not apt we shall
| be content with the Constitution of the United
| States There is no better code of human laws
1t has stood war and peace and the stress of
many years, and is to-day as sound as
when it was adopted Cannot we do as well
| by the charter? We care nothing for the
| details of the document. When charter
says too much it means too little. We want
certain clear, defined principles. We need
head to the municipality. Instead of ten gov
ernments by which we have been afflicted and
harried, and through the meshes of which
corruption has poured its polluting flood, let
us have one charter, expressing GER
tain general laws and constituting one
symmetrical, responsible, respected govern
ment. Let there be one chief magistrate
who will hold the heads of departments
to rigid accountability, and answer
for his we'll or i'll doing to the
people. Let there be municipal bodies of
wise men representing the capital and the
labor of the city. Let the Mayor have term
as long as that OF the President, and to be
removed from the temptation of an undue use
of his patronage by being ineligible for re-
election. Let us have an end of this chaotic
aggregation of villages and towns on the
banks of the North and East rivers, and one
compact, consolidated metropolis worthy to
rank with London and Paris. New York is a
misnomer. We have not city, but the frag.
ment of city.
AS we have said again and again, reform
does not mean to break down, but to build up.
Nothing hurts city like New York SO much
as experimenting with its interests and
authority. Every new charter scheme is only
confession of weakness and debility. If we
are to make charter to-day which must be
pulled down tomorrow; if we are simply to
legslate one class of politicians into office
only to legslate another class into retirement;
if New York is to be pulled to pieces by every