The Portland daily press., 1873-05-06


by the discovery of certain omissions in the
new charter, which are supposed to inyalidate
the claim of Mr.. Havemeyer to retain the office
OF Mayor, tits true that the charter annarentlv
leglslates everybody out of place except certain
neaas Oh department. who are specially named.
nevertheless the Mayor having been elected by
the people for term of two years, and being
invested with large powers and functions under
this very charter is so obviously the central hg-
ure in the new system, that the idea OF as
placing him, through some defect OF phraseolo-
gy is too absurd to be treated seriously. Yet, II
is Astonishing to what o pitch of excitement
people can be wrought up by sensational ru-
mors The universal theme of inquiry on ev-
erv tongue to-day has been, "What does it
mean? Has the Mayor really been turned out
nv an oversight of the charter makers? If so,
who will take his place? And then your ex-
perts in technicalities proceed to elaborate the
point that the new law makes no express pro-
vision for the retention Of the Mayor-that he
is therefore out-that being an elective officer
there is no power in the Legislature to REIN
state him, that the vacancy can only be filled
at the general election provided for by the stat
ute in November 1874, and that meantime, the
President of the Board of Alderman, is Mayor
de fdcto etc. etc. To all which the answer is
plain and simple enough. The Mayor is in Of
fice-was placed there by the suffrages of the
people, and cannot be constitutionally remov.
ed except for misdemeanor The fact that he
is in possession disposes of all the theories Of
hair-splitters and sensation-mongers about bi
title to his seat. The agitat;;r,- u the question
has served its pose. It has proved days
wonder, and the theme of days talk. 1t will
furnish a text for the leading articles in the
Sunday papers perhaps But by Monday noon
it will be forgotten.
Another caadrd has relieved the monotony
OF a dull week for news. There is q story
that the aldermen have formed a 'Ring" to
control the appointments to be made by the
mayor subject to their confirmation, the four
Tammany members censorting with three Re
publicans and two Apollo Hall men in the
Board Some of the journals are violent in their
denunciation of the plot to capture the patron
age of the city. Such combination would
certainly be discreditable to the parties con-
cerned in it and would justly call out a genera
expression of popular indignation. But the ru-
NOR is not sustained by evidence and is proba-
big another of that numerous brood of Roor
backs which are always set af1oat on the eve
of important changes in governments, great or
small the Aldermen are in the main reputa-
BILE citizens, far above the average Aldermen
of the past fifteen years, in character and
standing. Doubtless, they have ambitious
projects, and desire a voice in the selection of
the incoming municipal functionaries. The
statute declares that nominations are to be
made "by and with their advice and consent
The uniform practice of the President and SEN
ate of the United States would seem to be con-
elusive authority for the ruling, that the Exec
utive in sending in the name of candidate,
invites thereby the 'advice' of the body
clothed with the power of confirmation OF re-
lection. Some of the Aldermen hold that their
advice onght to precede and guide the selec-
tons made But certainly the Mayor has every
argument that precedent can furnish for con-
trary view of his preIogative, and I presume
his right to initiate nominations will not be
seriously disputed. AS long as these matters are
in allegiance, we must expect to be in o state of
heat and fermentation. Every variety of ru-
NOR, sometimes with slender basis of fact and
oftener conceived in pure fiction, will be set
aaoat with alacrity and caught up and kept in
circulation as long as its specific gravity will
sustain its fight People are amazingly credu-
lous about affairs of public concern, and literal
ly revel in reports of plots, and conspiraces, so
nonsenscal, that when they come
to be sfted, everybody wonders how anybody
could have been humbugged by them.
Almost every day some enterprising journa.-
list makes up ''slate" on which is inscribed
the name of every local officer to be selected in
conformity to the provisions Of the charter.
Very likely it is pure invention from begin
ming to end. But it almost always serves the
purpose of eliciting comment, often indignant
protest, sometimes angry philippe. Even the
Times, which is par excellence tho great organ
and mouth-piece of reform and never conscious
ly swerves from the straight path of unfalter-
ing rectitude, occasionally gets caught by one
Of these fables of the gossips, and hurls its
thunderbolts of wrath against suppostious
candidate who probably had not been even
thought of in connection with the post assigned
him, save in the brain of the writer who used
his name to point and emphasize para
graph.
Whatever may be the disappointments OF in
dividuals in the distribution of patronage under
the municipal law just going into effect, of
one thing we may be reasonably certain, and
that is that the people at large will be greatly
benefited by the changes that are to take
place. For eighteen months the city of New
York has had really nothing more than pro-
visional government. Its chief financial Off
Ger has been sort of assignee in bankruptcy
administering upon a disordered estate 1t
was the rule of the Tweed Ring to pay bogus
claims and ignore genuine ones. Nothing
could get through that hadn't steal in it,
Consequently the Comptrollers Office il be-
sieged by creditors, whose long standing &C
counts have to be subjected to a scrutiny en-
barrassed by the lapse of time since they orig
mated, and which severely tax the patience
and skill of the whole clerical force of that
vast department. When the new order of
things is firmly established and system and
discipline succeed the chaotic confusion of
rascaly regime, the public service will grad
ually improve, the highways of the city will b,
put in decent condition, and that unsightly
structure in the Park, the County Court House,
VIII ch stands as perpetual memorial of the
reckless lnlquity of the old Board of Supervi-
:oAS Dy Whoil ~ WAS DeSun Twelve Years ago
in defiance of law, will be fastened to comple-
ton. AT present its surroundings of dnov
and weather beaten scaffolding, and out-lying
blocks of rust-eaten marble offend the SIGHT IF
every passer-by. 1t will never cease to be the
shame of every honest New Yorker, but it will
be a less hideous spectacle when it is finished.
1t is the "whited sepulchre' of the metropolis
of the new world.
Next to Erie, the stock of the Pacific Mail
Steamship Company, has most conspicuously
illustrated the vicissitudes of Wall Street spec
ulation. for several years past. Before the
Union Pacific railway was completed, it was
rich corporation and paid large dividends regu-
larry. The stock has been increased several
times and now represents millions of dollars.
1t has been quick of sale at $3.50 aud hard to
dispose of at $40. Leonard w. Jerome lost
million by it, and other operators have found
in it the grave of their boards. The last time
it got down into the forties, young man
named A. b. Stockwell, a son-in.law of the
Sewing Machine inventor Howe, and the in
heritOr of his fortune in part, took vigorous
hold of it and secured enough of the shares to
control its direction. The former managers
were deposed, and new set with StockwelI as
President entered into possession. The same
parties combined to monopolize the Panama
Railway at the same time, The fluctuations in
the shares Of this company had been even more
,arlyo hon, has 1,,f;