New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-12-08
OPERA TICKETS and POLICENEN


There WAS an unpleasant little affair at the
Academy of Music on Friday. A messenger
applied at the box office IN the course of the
afternoon for three free tickets (value Sl2)
for Mr.. Police Commissioners Smith. He did
not get them. and an official notification was
then conveyed to the manager that If the
tickets were not given the usual police force
would be withdrawn from the opera house
during the rest OF. Mr.. Strakoschs administra-
ton. Az Mr.. SrakOsch stood firm, the threat
was carried into execution that evening and
at the performance on Saturday afternoon
Two patrolmen were indeed stationed some
where near the building. but the customary
supervision of the house and of the departing
audience was RENTED, and the cOachmen were
left to regulate themselves according to
their own sweet wills. Inquiry at the
managers Office reveals the interesting
fact that Police Commissioners and subordi-
nate officers of the force have been in the
habit of demanding-not asking-a number of
seats, ranging anywhere from three to twenty,
for every performance. Let us call the aver
age tax five seats Mr.. StrakOsch then has
been called upon to surrender twenty seats Il
weel, IA an induccment to the police to do
their duty. Perhaps 1t would not be over
stating the case very much to say that the
Commissioners have backmailcd him to the
amount of $50 week. That is not a very
large sum; but then there are all sorts of
thcatcrs, and shows, and such things in oper-
alton in New York, and if the Commissioners
treat them all alike the aggregate raise
may be considerable.
A., b.,l 20
finding the Chronic Dead Head in municipal
uniform. We have known him for years in
the newspaper Offices. the Legislature. and the
national capitol; travelling free on the rail-
roads under prctense of being an editor;
dining for nothing and getting gratuitOus
CHARS because he is supposed To write letters
for the metropolitan press; and franking his
household effects from Washington to the
Pacific slope in wooden packing cases,
which ne calls registered letters" but
Commissioner Smith and his colleagues
have surprised us with "a new sensa-
ton. OF course they have no sort of
claim TO free opera tlckets-none but their
ability TO annoy the manager if they don't
get them. Placing sergeant and few men
on duty at the Academy of Music when two
or three thousand people are coming out. and
the streets for several blocks around are
crammed with carriages, is not favor TO the
manager; it is merely an ordinary duty to the
public. Wherever crowds collect, and thorough
fares are Distracted, and opportunities for
theft violence and disorder are multiplied, the
Commissioners are bound to have an ample
police force at hand-just rs much bound to do
that as they are to have the streets patroled
Ic. A. 10 An
private citizens for doing what they are paid to
do by the city, we might as well have Mr.. Hank
Smith sending to our basement doors and de-
handing a roast leg of mutton, with plenty of
gravy, under threat that no policeman shall
ever pass our houses if we refuse
Deadhcadism is becoming a national vice
It has blunted the national sensibilities. 1t
has corrupted the national conscience. 1t has
dulled the nice sense of honor in Congress
and opened the way for the venal transactions
of Credit MObiler and the disgraceful rob-
berries of Back Pay. 1t has debased every
branch of the Government, till legislators stuff
their pockets with railroad passes, and judges
furnish their houses by the liberality of suitors,
and high officers Of state are not ashamed TO
sit by the wayside like sturdy beGgars with
outstretched hand. Decentralization beginning
at the top works downward with augmenting
force Gift taking at one end of the line
becomes bribe-taking at the other. 1t is only
a short step from free tickets to hush-money,
from enforced compliments in the Board room
to black-mail in the Station House. If the
Commissioners strike the play houses, they
need not be surprised to find their officers
levying upon panel houses and faro banks