New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-01-05
THE STATE LEGISLATURE.

we COulu De more HOpcll Utah Ioimo' Va
periences have taught us to be concerning the
acts and deliberations of this body. For
number of years it has been the case that ex-
pectations of decently good results have uni
fOrmly been disappointed. We therefore regard
it as of very little consequence who is chosen
Speaker of the Assembly. THAT body is likely
enough to pass any bill which has plenty of
money behind it. Jobs, If stopped at all,
must be stopped by the veto of the Governor.
| 1t expedites business. however in the Assembly
| to have some keen wtted, well-skilled parlia
mentarian in the chair Such men are
rare, but we believe either Mr. Alv0rd or Mr..
Hustled answers the description. Of the two,
| Mr.. Alvord seems to us to have superior
recommendations for the place He is per-
| fectly non partisan. Having belonged to all
parties in turn, it is now absolutely uncertain
to which he is most attached He has at least
| no slavish devotion to the interests of any to
induce him to pack committees in its favor,
twist his parliamentary decisions to suit It's
needs, or thwart the public business to accom-
modate its schemes
Mr.. Hustled is also very fit man for the
place We should say that of personal friends
he had more and of personal enemies fewer
than Mr.. Alyord. Like Mr.. Alvord, he has
always been able to see good in all political
organizations Like the great Lord Halifax,
he has often been denounced by his political
friends for the good he saw i'll his political
enemies. We believe the coming Legisla-
ture does not put forth any pretensions of
being "Reform body. What the Assembly
wants is Speaker; man who can help 1t
turn out about one thousand new laws be-
tween this and haying time; man of bust
ness, who will not waste time in lecturing the
members on. their department, or IN making
an ass of himself i'll other ways. Mr.. Hustled,
In these respects, would suit them admirably.
A third candidate is Mr. Prince, but it is
understood that his chances are not very good.
His determined opposition last year to the
schemes OF Messrs. Murphy, Bliss and Daven-
port for seizing on the patronage and Treasury
OF this city gave deep otlense to the managers
of the Republican organization. They want
some one in the chair vino has less backbone
than Mr.. Prince. Gen. Batcheller and Mr.
Lincoln are Objectionable to the above named
leaders for precisely the same reasons. The
silent votes of NIessrs. Prince, Lincoln, and
Batcheller in favor of the Inflated Charter
have not, it appears, been received as suifi-
cient atonement for their vigorous and indie
pendent eloquence in opposition to it. In the
same way Mr.. Alberger has offended by his
too great stiffness. In fact il is ominous that
no man of the kind who always vote and talk
right has yet been mentioned for the place.
As to what the Assembly will do after it is
organized, we have already given our opinion.
1t will be the duty of the public and the press
to act as men do when a sudden gust of wind
fills the heated air of our city streets with
clouds of dust-to protect themselves as best
they can. The great institutions which the
Legislature has built up and protected, the
Canal Ring, the Prison Ring, the Ring of poll
ticians who get a living by plundering our
CITY, will not be disturbed. The sO-called
Canal Funding bill we trust to see defeated
without ever coming before the people. The
object of that deceptive project is to cut down
the present canal tolls One-half, to perpetuate
the Canal Debt for forty years, and to saddle
| the cost OF new work and extraordinary re-
pairs, amounting to some two million dollars
year. as a perpetual uncOmpensated charge on
the Taxpayers. 1t would be very diff
cult to prove that any reduction of the pres
| ent moderate tolls would add to the business
of she canals A few wears will enable the
a.,
pay off the entire debt now charged upon the
canal revenues from the proceeds of the tolls
Meanwhile those individuals who have con-
| triyed the so-called Funding amendment"
| will do well to remember that the taxation
| for canal purposes now averages three million
dollars year, which the people submit to
with a patience really marvellous.
Some four months hence, at midnight, on the
last dav of the session, from solitary manu-
script copies, understood by nobody who listens
! to the reading Of Them the taxes and expendi-
! lures of the State of New York for the next
fiscal year will be voted by the noisy, disor-
| gained mobs of the expiring Legislature OF
1874. In the whole matter OF the taxes, the
| expenditures, the collection and care OF the
public moneys, the maintenance Of the Sinking
and Trust Funds, in short, of the finances OF
the State from top to bottom, reform Is needed.
In letter and in spirit the Constitution of the
| Sate is tagrantly violated, to say nothing of
the laws. Every petty County Treasurer may
set himself above the statute book and funda
mental law, and by withholding money from
the Treasury throw the whole system into dis
order. The assessment of property for taxa
ton is made in such way as to rob one por-
ton of the State for the benefit OF another
! And vet notorious as these evils are, we can
not expect any Improvement until we have a
Legislature specially elected to do the work
| I'm conclusion we may say that we shall not
be slow TO recognize any honest or sensible
thing done or projected at Albany We feel
that no matter what the pressure upon our