New-York tribune., 1873-05-24
A nRRdT REFORM AHEAD.

Ring has been aroused in Brooklyn by the
repeated exposures Of the operations by which
tho Board of City Works, the Park Commission
and the Bridge management impose upon tax
payers and misdirect great enterprises. Ihe
serious nature of this newly-awakened ieenhg
against the Ring in all its vaned branches
will be understood after perusal OF the views
of taxpayers and the action OF the herorm
Committees as set forth in other columns. In
the Summer campaign Reform Is destined 10
play an important and, as we trust ana De-
lieve, a successful part in the local pohtlcs Oh
Brooklyn. After the remarkable success OF
Reform in this city, our neighbors ought not
to despair. Our Ring was monster compared
to theirs, but it was broken, and theirs may De.
It cannot be, however, unless those who now
suffer and are grown weary OF the lmposltionS
upon them grid up their loins and at once 10
the task before them. The Ring in Brooklyn
is compact organization Of longer standlng
and greater sagacity than that which LATELY
ruled this city. In every department 1t has lts
agents, who are charged with tho accomplish
ment of certain ends, and each profting by
the success of the general measures which TINS
Ring contemplates. Its representatives are LII
the Legislature and upon the bench. FROM
those on the bench emanate the bills which
legislators lobby into law, and which are then
returned to be adjudicated on by the very men
who frame them for the specific purposes OF
this political combination.
Powerful and influential among the multi
tude, they have one member who rules the
primaries and dictates the nominations from
Mayor to Alderman. In the Park Commission
one controlling spirit has made himself all
powerful through half a dozen administra-
tions, changing with each and controlling all.
In the Water Board, or Board Of City Works,
as it is now called, single agent of these
moro powerful leaders regulates the minor
affairs, and taxes all trades and industries for
his own benefit or that of his superiors. The
police organization is run in the interest Oh
the political machine; its chiefs are members
of this Ring, and in every crisis, political OF
otherwise, they subvert the department which
they control to the uses of their partlsans. In
a word, the Ring in Brooklyn is composed OF
corrupt representatives of every party, and 1t
imposes its rule upon the city, whichever
party happens to be in the ascendant.
The citizens of Brooklyn who desire and
contemplate a reformation Of this rule at the
ensuing election this Fall cannot count upon
any of the fortuitous circumstances which in
augurated a successful revolution in this city.
They have no glaring proofs to make public
of the corruption of these departments. Their
masters have been too shrewd to permit such
proofs TO accumulate. They cannot count upon
the treason of confederates as we were happily
able to do upon that of O'Brien and Connolly
Brooklyn, like Washington City, must depend
upon the expression of public sentiment in the
METROPOLITAN papers. But not all the expo
sures of any journals will accomplish any
thing unless the honest, sterling people
of the city, irrespective of politics, and 1g-
noring all minor differences, combine to sus-
tain and to urge on the reform which two
committees in that city have already begun,
but which was suffered, in the greater excite
ment of last Falls national campaign, to halt,
and finally to appear abandoned. One of these
committees has been persistent, and continues
active in the right direction, ignoring all pol
itics, and laborng only TO relieve taxpayers
from the impositions of this Ring. The other
has accomplished some good, but it is now
threatened with disruption by Republican par
tisans acting in the interest and, 1t is sus-
pected, in the pay of the very Ring which is
an incubus on Brooklyn prosperity.
That an active and united movement for
reform can be made successful by the time
the Fall elections are upon the people of
Brooklyn we do not hesitate to believe. In
this city, after two years. fight, the people
alone are successful. and all partisan organiza-
- ,a1 ruith fha
which taxpayers, and property holders. and
honest, quiet, peace-loving citizens rejoice 1t
is, after all, such organizations of the people,
irrespective of party, which succeed, and such
success the people of Brooklyn can accomplish.
All that is necessary is that they shall go for
ward. with firm confidence in their own
strength.