The Portland daily press., 1873-01-28
human judges and they are sorely tempted to
use their authority to hinder ifonly for time,

human judges and they are sorely tempted to
use their authority to hinder ifonly for time,
THE LEGAL STANDARDIZATION
OF fellow being. Outraged communities
will have spasms of wrathful cruelty towards
murderers but the taking Of life whether
done in the insane rage of unbridled passion,
or by the cool and deliberate sanction of
statute of law is dreadful thing to do or to
think of. Consequently, however blood
thirsty the public may grow in view ofrepea'-
ed and brutal homicides, as long as we
HAVE CAPITAL PUNISHMENT,
there will be small portion of executions III
compar son to the number of convlctlons OF
that crime. Human nature III itS oest estate
reyolts at the idea of killing, and the better it
grows. the stronger the repugnance to CAPT.
tal nunishme1lt will become.
Fosters case was one calculated to divert
fsom the criminal all traces of sympathy or
paliation. III half drunken fit of deliberate
malignlty he struck down fellow passenger,
on a street car, his only provocation being
that bis victim properly rebuked him for an
act OF brutal familiarity towards two ladies
under his escort. Considerable time elapsed
between the threat and the murder, so that
the generalization was established beyond
peradventure. If there is any culprit in our
over crowded city prison who deserves the
utmost rigor of Justice it is this wretched
man whose day of doom, thrice fixed and
twice evaded, at last seems determined be-
yond the possibility ofrevocation.
THE CITY CHAPTER
The Legislature proposes to act upon the
city charter during the present week, conse-
quently great solcitude is felt among our cit
liens and taxpayers in regard to its delibera-
lions. Both houses being overwhelmingly
Republicans, the temptation to modify the
charter in the interests OF party may prove
too powerful to be resisted. That
the incumbents Of the offices of Com
missioner of Public Works and of Corpora
ton Counsel will be retained is generally con-
coded, but this bit of special legislation will
appear s;ngularly invidious unless the Comp
troller and President of Parks are also exclud-
ed from the sweep which the charter makes
of Tweed's followers. The Comptroller is a
Democrat, and for this reason it is inferred
that Republicans will be found to vote him
out. 1t so happens that his own party re-
CARDS him with disfavor,a s Democrats are apt
to dislike any man who is strict construc-
zionist in the matter of expenditures. Mr..
Green's Democracy is of the old fashioned
sort and he is as dead set against every
species Of spoliation upon the public treasury
as any city official since the days of Flagg
! As matter of course, every contr actor, every
man who has an exorbitant claim against the
municipality, every newspaper publisher with
a large advertising bill, every holder
of sinecure or duplicate Office, is his impla-
cable foe. His predecessor in Office 'made to
| himself friends of the mammon of upright
| BUSINESS" by pouring out money from his ex
chequer, with prodigal proportion. The new
Comptroller makes enemies ny guarding hi
treasures from every unjust or suspicious de
mand that is urged upon him. 1t is a CAPT
tai thing to have the Comptroller of one party
and the various Commissioners of the other
1t is not best that there should be too good al
understanding between them. A little jeal
ousy little distrust of each other will prov,
healthy for b til classes of public servants
| Nor is it desirable that the Republicans SHOULD
be charged with the responsibilities of dis
bursements Of the city funds. As amatter O
policy it is better that any odium which ma,
alta III to undue penuriousness in this depart
ment should find harmless vent upon the un
| offending head of democratic officer. There
| fore, as a question of good faith, as prope
| recognition OF the great reform movement Q
| 1871, and as measure of sound party policy
| whatever else is done Mr. Green should b
kept in Office if any of the incumbents are ex
cepted from removal.
| YAPMOIrTu