New-York tribune., 1874-07-04
POLITICAL STIM ULANTS.

bas done us a real service. Gen. Grant
remarked a great many years ago that the
best way to secure the repeal OF bad law
was TO enforce it strictly. 1t was one of those
sensible and pithy things that he used to say
now and then, in the early days of his public
career-a time separated from the present by
such great gulf of disagreeable occurrences
that it seems like dim legendary era, anu
the aphorisms TO which it gave birth sound
across the troubled interval like the maxims
of saints and sages The vicious principle OF
collecting the national revenue on shares had
been recognized in the Treasury Department. for
years, and might have continued in force forever
had not Messrs. Boutwell,. Richardson, Sawyer,
and Banfield developed from it the astonlsh-
ing abuses recently uncovered by Committee
of Investigation. Richardson was tolerated
until he led to Sanborn. The CustOm-house
could not be reformed until it startled the
country by producing Jayne. Butlerism was
nourished until it brought forth Simmons and
the stealing of kilograms. Even the discredit
of the District Ring would have been incom-
plete had not the President reused the indig-
nation of the country by renomlnatlng Shep-
herd to the place from which Congress had
lust deposed him. The truth is, we had grown
used TO wrongs and scandals OF all Nnds
by such slow degrees that they seldom
alarmed u.s. The abuse of the civil
service, the prostitution of Government oiilces
to partisan ends, the wholesale eXtortlon Oh
money for political purposes, the payment OF
party service with fat places-these vicious
practices which lay at the root of the corrup-
tion of the times had crept into orr system OF
administration little by little, and we hardly
minded them. Perquisites grew into pecula-
ton. shrewdness developed into swlndlng, the
smart operator who began by manipulating
ballots got to cracking safes and forging
bills, and still the honest masses seemed
insensibe of what was going on around
them and were not ashamed to SIT at
meat with the thieves and to send them to
Congress. The moral sense OF the community
in short being very much run down, a stlmu-
liant seemed necessary to tone 1t up again.
The public has taken several strong doses,
and begins we think to feel little better.
The reappointment of Charick and Gardner
has stirred the whole body polite from ITS
lethargy. There is an effort now to throw OIL
impurities from the system. The languld
organs resume their normal activity. The
sluggish conscience wakes.
For it is not Mayor Havemeyer, as we have
several times remarked, who should be held
principally responsible for this great wrong
His conduct is denounced in various quarters
as an unparalleled outrage, an indecent affront
to the people We cannot see that it is any
thing of the kind. Mr.. Havemeyer is dong
lust what he was told to do by the politicians
L. nod sir No
enough to imagine that he was nominated for
the purpose of giving us an honest and I'M
partial administration Does any one dream
that the Charter was made what 1T is in order
that the city might be well-gOverned Does
not everybody know that the factions which sup
ported the Mayor always intended to have the
Police Board organized forpartisan interests, and
always desired that the Commissioners should
appoint Inspectors of Election on precisely the
principle which Charlick and Gardner
adopted7 The trouble with the Mayor is not
that he abused the outside public but that he
cheated his partners. They meant from
the first that the public should be swindled;
when they are cheated themselves it seems
TO them high time for Mr.. Havemeyer
to be removed. Against that proposal of
course we UdN6 uOI WOlu W DuI
let us not charge to the ignorant and i'm
becile cunning of one old gentleman an offense
which springs originally from our own disro-
gard of duty. There has been no reform yet
of the New-York City Government. Connolly
and Genet are in exile, and Tweed is
in striped jacket; but the same
system of political chcanery, the same
roguery at the polls, the same disgraceful
misuse of official position which made those
worthless rich and powerful, flourish abundantly
under their successors. The reform move
ment of 1871 never fairly took hold of the
people. 1t was arrested by political faction
before it had got headway, and instead of
being allowed to sweep through the depart
ments carrying away the foul accumulations
of the Tammany Ring, it was diverted by the
new partisan cOnspiratOrs to turn the wheels
of their little machine. OF course we see the
old abuses spIinging up again. The first step
is to control the counting of votes. The second
will be to rob the treasury.
There is only one remedy, and it is in our
own hands Let us try the novel experiment
of clecting Mayor for his fitness, instead of
his politics, and we shall be spared the spec
tace of Tammany and the Custom house tear
ing New-York to pieces, like two dogs quar-
reling over bone.
TAX DODGING.