The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-04-05

Iammany and Erie rings were the natural
Successors of the whiskey ring. With It
begal that leprous distilment which poisoned
the fountains of the public credit and the
public honor
| With these events patent, so patent that not
to know them Is to be- ignorant of one of the
most striking and shameful chapters in our
recent history, what course has the President
but to pursue the frauds and punish their au-
thors? We are not DESTROYS OF seeing our citi-
zens in trouble. We have no pleasure in
knowing that hundred indictments have been
found against residents of New York, and
that four or five hundred more will most
probably be found at the next session of the
Grand Jury. 1t is no pleasure for us to see
men Of wealth and standing summoned to the
bar of justice. But we insist that justice be
DONE and that the President be sustained in
doing it, and il men have wealth by reason of
their frauds upon the revenue, and standing
only because the circumstances under which
they amassed wealth are not known, let them
be indicted with their humber partners in guilt.
President Grant ia not man to fail in any
thing he undertakes. He fou ght the rebel
ring when it was strong enough to almost
overturn the government, and he will fight
this whskey ring by every means in his power
until he has shown its members, whether re-
publican or democratic, friends of the admin
istration Or foes, that SO long as he is Presi-
dent he means that every law shall be enforced
and the violation of law punished, no matter
how powerful the offenders may be.
The Railroad Jobs mt Albuny-The his.
honesty or Incompetency Of the Stnte
Legislature.
The fight over the New York Broadway
Underground job continues at Albany, and
Senator Madden, who is the champion of the
Beach Pneumatic bill, already passed by the
Senate, yesterday made an attempt to strangle
the rival project--the Central Underground,
which is the favored OF the Assembly. The
motion to agree with the adverse report
Of the Railroad Committee failed by tie
vote, and the matter was thereupon laid
on the table, to be called up as soon as the
lobby jobbers, who, as Assemblyman Avord
states, are passing the bills, have agreed
upon some plan for division of the plumber
they hope to secure at the expense of the
citizens Of New York. No more disgraceful
exhibition has been presented in any of our
former notorious Legislatures than is made in
the present session over the scramble for this
railroad franchise. Two persistent and i'm
pudent lobby gangs have been in Albany
~, tLn A,,aA 81 Ano 81,
quarrelling, squabbling, bullying and brib-
ing, in order to induce the Legislature
to bestow on one or the other of them the
privilege Of tearing up Broadway and destroy
ing the property on that street, under pre-
tence Of constructing an underground rail-
these persons to build railroad; they desire
to secure the franchise only to make money
out Of it, either by selling the privilege, by
trading on the shares, or probably by black
mailing the property owners. They are not
the men who would be entrusted with the work
and they have not the first claim to demand
such franchise, either from position, wealth,
character or ability; but they hope to secure
it through giving away interests in the stock
to the representatives at Albany or through
buying votes for other consideration. The
best prospect Of their defeat lies in the fact
that one set of lobbyists has bought up the
Senate, while the rival gang has purchased
the Assembly. But if the attempt to con-
cilate these conflicting interests should sue
coed we are quite confident that Governor
Hoffman would protect the people of New
York by his veto.
In refusing to pass an honest, practical rail-
road bill for this city, the reform Legislature
has shown its Indifference to the wishes of the
people and its willingness to sacrifice public
duty to sel-interest. The want of rapid transit
Is seriously felt in New York Every years
delay in the construction Of a railroad by which
our citizens can travel from the Battery to
Harlem Bridge in twenty minutes is serious
injury to the metropolis. Our most useful
business men are being driven from the city
and from the State to find homes at reasonable
rents and convenient Of access, and their
money and their healthful political influence
arc both lost to us. This drainage Of the best
portion of our population is increasing year
after year. To-day, from the HERALD office,
we can see the tempting Orange hills of New
Jersey, across the Hudson River, and we know
that they can be reached in forty minutes
in comfortable trains, running from thirty-fve
to forty times day. Looking on our own
side we find comfortless, slow, dirty horse
cars, over crowded and inconvenient, taking
nearly an hour to reach Fiftieth street, three
miles distant If we had two viaduct railroads
running along the river lines on each
side Of the city, into Westchester county,
we could reach a country more beautiful
than New Jersey, and our best citizens
could secure handsome residences, heallhful