The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-04-25

who opposed slavery, and in 1862 the leader
OF an anti-slavery majority in the Senate. Ten
years is long time in modern politics, and
the republicans are young enough to wait.
The Amenities OF Journalism.
There has been no local event of more inn
portance, recently, than the memorial meeting
in honor of DR.. Livingstone. Our largest
public building was filed from the pit to the
highest tier with the best people in our society.
who came to celebrate the memory of q man
who had done more for civilization and
humanity than any other in this generation,
whose life was given to the noblest endeavors,
and who died in lonely isolation, but as every
true man should pray to die, in the silent and
cheerful doing of his work.
There were two events about this ''Liv-
ingstone memorial meeting" which, Of course,
were in oil mems minds. The one was the
honor which England had done in giving the
dead hero burial in the Abbey sacred to the
dust of her kings, heroes and statesmen; the
other was the honor which America had paid
Livingstone in sending one OF her citizens, an
intrepid young journalist, to discover and
succor him when all hope of his return or Of
his safety had been abandoned even by his
own countrymen.
In England it was deemed honorable and
proper that this young man should take the
post of honor as the head of the pallbearers
who bore the dead hero into the Abbey. Fur
thermore, every journal in London bore it's
tribute to what he, simple American, had
achieved in the pursuit of his duty.
This same honor was paid Mr. Stanley at
the meeting. The different speakers wed with
each other in complimenting his courage and
resolution. As Americans they were proud
that America had earned its part in the
work of Livingstone. But, unfortunately for
Mr. Stanley, his work was done in the service
of q newspaper And, consequently, no allu-
sion was made to him in any other journal but
the one he served. 1t required the most care
full editing to succeed in emitting MI illusions
to MIR. Stanley, for the speeches all referred to
him. But our contemporaries succeeded, and
we trust never again to hear them charged
with carelessness in the editorial supervision
of their columns.
humanity, are all commendable in their way.
But, after all-business is business (! And
Mr.. Stanley must content himself with the
appreciation of the London press.
The Last Chance for Street Reform
Shall Fifth Avenue Be Repaveds
The near approach of the adjournment Of
the Legislature leaves little hope Of a reform
in the present method of cleaning or pre-
tending to clean our streets. We are likely
to remain, for another year at least, one of the
dirtiest cities in the world. We are almost as
badly off as jewellers in Oriental cites But
in Mecca, Bagdad or Constantinorle there is
no pretence at cleaning the roads and keeping
them in order. Yet it is questionable whether
these abominable places would not compare
favorably with great portion of the city of
New York.
Why should we not have good roads, per-
feet cleanliness and sufficient sewerage? Our
taxes are heavy enough, our expenditures are
large enough and our city is rich enough to
procure us all these necessities of civilization
and Of health. The reason is simply that we
do not 90 the right way to work to secure
them. A legislative committee meets, investi-
gates, reports and we continue on in the same
old rut. A new charter is proposed, and when
it has passed through all the stages of politi-
cal management and becomes a law we find on
examination that the evils under which we
have been grooming for years are continued in
new and very likely in an aggravated form.
Reform would be simple matter enough if
we had the firmness and the honesty to act as
common sense dictates and would apply to
public affairs the same rules that we apply
to our private affairs.
AS the foundation of a sufficient and perma-
nent reform we need good laws, made in the
interest of the people, and not in the interests
of parties or individuals. AS superstructure
we need earnest, capable and honest business
men to execute those laws. The whole
business of paving, cleaning and repairing
the public streets and constructing sewers
should be placed in the hands of commission
of five citizens Of established capacity and in
tegrity The commissioners should have no
other duties to perform, and they should per-
form those assigned to them in their own way.
They should have the power to macadamize
all the principal thoroughfares of the city; for,
whatever interested parties may say, ex-
perience has proved that the Mac
adam pavement is the best, the most
durable, the cleanest and the most easily re-
paired Of any that has yet been invented.
Once get the roads macadamized and the e1-
pense of keeping them in order would be-
comparatively trihing. With good Macadan
roads the labor and cost of cleaning would DO
diminished one-half, while the repairs could
be SO easily made as to insure us excellent
travel ct all seasons of the year. As work
of humanity this pavement also is especially
desirable, since it is the easiest and safest for