New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-01-23

| to execute all laws relating 10 inc repair anu
| navigation of the canals and their cOnstruc-
ton and improvement. This brings the re-
sponsibilty directly upon the Governor, in
stead of leaving it nowhere "a at present.
We know but too we'll that the State Con-
yentions, Legislatures, Canal Commissioners,
Canal Boards, and even the Superintendent
and toll gatherers, are all but parts of one
stupendous system of corruption. Put the
knife in where you Will. there Is
nothing sound The influence of Syracuse
and Rochester il as extensive "a the atmOs-
phere, and it il hopeless to attempt to over
throw it, Could you defeat it in the Canal
Board, it would rise up IN the Legislature
Could you cope with it there, the Commits
soners and Engineers, intrenched behind
their plans and estimates, would successfully
defy you. The proposed amendments 1T seems
to us, provide the only feasible plan, which Is
TO bring all the heads of the monster together,
and to place it within the power of the people
to make a choice in favor of honesty by the
election of a Governor fit to be intuIsted with
the increased power with which it is propO sed
to invest him.
The present management Of the prisons is
open to the same objections as That OF the
canals. Several of the States have succeeded
in making the prisons self-suppOrhng. The
State of New-York by electing every year
some obscure wire-puller as one of Board of
three Prison Inspectors, each holding office
for three years. one going out each year, has
now arrived at that pitch that million
dollars year are expended for the mainte-
nance of three prisons, while less than four
hundred thousand dollars are derived from
the labor of the cOnvicts. The Legislature
has become as pOwerless to cope with robbery
here as it long has been to cope with robbery
along the canals. The Governor has no
power to interfere with either. The remedy
offered to the people Is the same as in the
case of the canals-the Governor ID have
power to appoint with the consent of the
Senate, a Superintendent of State Prisons to
hold Office for five years.
1t will be seen that we have not discussed
this question on theoretical principles at all.
We are firmly persuaded that things are about
as bad now as they can be- We see no hope
of improvement without a radical change IN
the system We have keenly felt the absurd
ity of voting every year for candidates for
Canal Commissioner and State Prison lnspec-
tor and every two years for a'State Engineer
about whom we knew either nothing at all or
nothing good. We have lost confidence i'll the
Legislature as a reforming body. Even were
its members the most honest men in the
world, they have too much to do to do any
thing thoroughly majority of them are
new men, and one hundred days is too short
An apprenticeship i'll which to learn any
honest trade SO far o. our Obserya-
ton has extended the Governors of this
State have usually made use of their
limited power for the public good. The people
are taxed beyond endurance. Millions are taken
from their pockets annually to build up cor
rupton in politics. They have the opportunity
to make at least change, and reasonable
grounds for believing that any change must
be an Improvement. We entreat them TO con-
slider these matters, to inquire into the facts,
and to prepare themselves to decide inteill-
gently next November, remembering that the
power they exercise is frequently shadow,
while the robbery they endure is always sub
stantia loss, though the thoughtless may not
take account of it at the time.