The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-04-03


England and ton in Halifax fixes the re-
sponsibility first and heaviest upon the Com
pany for the heavy sacrifice Of life involved in
the loss of one of their finest steamers.
The Charter Critics and tho Poli-
The critics are doing as much as the poll
ticians to befog the real issues involved in the
New York charter amendments now under
consideration by the State Legislature Some
Of them seem to suppose that the sole duty Of
the party now in power is to give the metrop-
oils what they call a "non-partisan" gov
eminent, or. in other words, to divide the
various municipal departments equally be-
tween republicans and democrats, and they
insist that this was the intention Of the people
who elected Governor Dix, Mayor Havemeyer
and three-fourths of the Assemblymen last
November. Others appear to believe that the
whole city government must be started anew,
and that the verdict of the election must be
interpreted as meaning the wiping away Of all
the past, whether good or bad, and the entire
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end. Others again, imagine that the city
should be lett just as it was before election,
and that no change is required either in the
laws or the persons who execute them. It is
easy to single out the disinterested parties
who entertain these several views. Their
ideas of what the charter ought to be are
controlled by their ideas of what they and
their friends ought to receive under its pro-
visions.
When the last election took place the Tam
many Ring had been overthrown; but some
of its allies and followers still remained in
Office and its rule in the city had been sue
ceeded by q mixed and inharmonious govern
ment under which the public interests were
seriously suffering. The people desired such
o reform as would secure the removal of the
last vestige of old Tammany from the munic-
ipal departments and give us an efficient,
honest and harmonious administration instead
of the irresponsible middle then called gov
eminent There were two ways of accomplish
ing this result the one, by sweeping away all
the present offce-holders, giving us an
cAtAIcly Lew CAdItc1, Will Iuc dUSOluJ5 uuI6-
stricted power of appointment and removal
vested in the Mayor; the other, by amending
the existing charter, keeping what was good
and altering what was bad, and wedding ont
the departments, keeping efficient and honest
officers in and turning dishonest or incompe-
tent officers out The former would have been
the most direct, honorable and disinterested
policy for the State Legislature to adopt. Mr..
Havemeyer had been elected by the people as
trustworthy man, and would, no doubt, have
acter and integrity. At all events the prin-
ciple would have been sound and the respon-
sibility would have been direct.
The large power unexpectedly gained by the
republicans excited in the minds of the leaders
of that organization the hope of being enabled
to redeem the metropolis from the hands of
the democracy by Selling upon the whole ma
chinery and patronage of the city government
as party spoils and using them as party capt.
tai. They determined to monopolize the
offices, to appoint none but republicans to
municipal positions, and thus to make New
York, like Philadelphia, republican city.
Mayor Havemeyer refused to lend his aid to
the scheme, because his associations were with
the reformed democracy and he sympathized
with the efforts of Green, Tilden and Kelly to
rebuild the time-honored organization on
new basis Of honesty and principle. He de-
clared his intention to appoint democrats as
well rs republicans to city Offices, requiring
only the test of integrity and CO.
pacity. The republicans, believing that
they had a perfect right to enjoy
the fruits of the victory they had won, re-
solved to act without the Mayor and to take
the offices in spite of his opposition. They
argued that the responsibility for good govern
ment rested with them; that, inasmuch as
Legislature three-fourths republican must pass
the new charter, they would be held account
able for its future working, no matter
whether the law gave the appointing power to
the Mayor or to any other authority, and they
insisted upon their right to entrust the de-
partments to the hands of their own political
friends in preference to placing them in the
hands Of their political enemies. The people
were careless who might enjoy the patronage,
and would just as readily have seen the
Offices all filled with republicans as with demo-
crats but they did insist that the new
charter should be based on sound principles
and that the administration Of the Laws