The New York herald., 1875-07-17
Restituti.n-A suggestion.


Restttutisn-A Suggestion.
The announcement that Mr.. Walsh, the
former Commissioner for ''building" our
Court House, is about to restore twenty-five
thousand dollars to the city treasury has
made a profound impression. The friends OF
the old statesmen talk of restitution" as
new influence in our politics. BY "restitu-
tion' everything will be made smooth, and,
with patience, we may have the reign of the
old empire over again and the present re-
formers and statesmen dancing attendance to
Sweeny and Tweed as they did in the past.
Jay Gould is pointed to as the great apostle
of restitution" Jay Gould was once Pres
ident of the Erie Railway. He managed
affairs SO ably that on his retirement he was
said to have several millions of property to
which he was not entitled. Now, what did
Jay Gould do-the cauny, clear-headed manf
Did he pay out halt million to lawyers,
leeches and blackmailers, like Tweed, his old
partner? Not at all. He called upon the
attorneys of the company and paid them
back several millions This was restitution"
Since then jay Gould has been happy
man-no care, no trouble, no indictments, no
perpetual lawyers, but with abundant oppor-
tunities for improving his mind and selling
Big Bonanza stocks to credulous buyers. From
the way Jay Gould has kept on since he re-
stored his millions it would not surprise us to
see him the Chairman of new Committee Of
Seventy or reform candidate for the Pres
idency.
The success of this great master of ''rest-
tuition should not be despised. Why should
not Sweeny come home and initiate Gould? :?
Why should not Tweed dismiss his expensive
lawyers and pay back like man? We have
no doubt Mr.. O'Conor would deduct half
million on account of lawyers fees and bring
suit against the lawyers, leeches and black
mailers as receivers of stolen money to which
they have no just claim. Then we have Con-
molly, who made more money than any of the
rest, and who has kept it. There is no reason
why as competent a fnancier as Connolly
should remain abroad under cloud when he
could restore four or five millions and come
home as reformer.
Why should not Davidson, the safe man !;
Norton, the great clam opener Keyser, the
plumber Wllbour and Corson, who managed
the printing swindle; Garvey, the plasterer,
and Ingersoll, the furniture dealer, also make
restitution p These men are oil as guilty as
Tweed, although, perhaps, not so largely
possessed with public taxes. They try to
escape, some because they think their
insignifcance will protect them, others
because they are iuformers. Because
man is an informer there is no
reason why he should not make restitu-
ton. They shosld be satisfied to keep ont of
Jail. Why not have restitution fund.- to be
devoted to rapid transit? Here is splendid
idea Let Tweed, Sweeny and Connolly sub
scribe six millions to rapid transit railway.
A million or two could be collected out of the
rest, and so this work could go on. 1t would
be welcome end to prolonged and painful
controversy. Mr.. o. Conor has demonstrated
that however efficient the laws of the State of
New York may be in dealing with the stealers
of hams, when it comes to the stealers of mill
ions they are inefficient Since they are so
why pursue the subject? Let restitution
be the watchword now restitution and rapid
transit" Let us have ''Steam Restitution
Railway" from the Battery to Harlem. Will
liam NJ. Tweed could be President, with P. B.
Sweeny, John Mcbride Davidson, r. B. Con-
molly, j. ii. Keyser, A J. Garvey, J. H. In
gersoll, T. G. Fields, G. E. Wilbour, Cornelius
Corson and Michael Norton as directors. The
money to build the road could be subscribed
by the directors out of what they have stolen
from the treasury. We commend this sugges-
ton to Mr.. OConor, who is practical enough
to know the wisdom of taking what we can
get when we cannot get what we want