The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-01-02

An Unfortunate Plea for MI. Green,
1t is urged as reason why Comptroller
Green should be continued in the Office he at
present abuses that his removal is advocated
by parties who hold dishonest claims against
the city treasury which they do not hope to
collect until Mr.. Green is out of the way. If
the friends and benefciaries of the Comptrol-
Ter can use no better argument than this in
favor of his retention they must have weak
and hopeless cause indeed. Their plea for
their patron would be good one, provided
first, that their assertions true, and, next,
that MIR. Tweed had been chosen Mayor of New
York ut the last election and was about to take
control Of the city government But William
II. Wicllham is our Mayor elect, and he will
have the power of appointing a Comptroller
in the event of Mr. Green's removal. TO
argue that Andrew II. Green must be kept in
Office through the personal Intervention Of
Governor Tilden, because his successor would
be likely to favor the payment of unjust claims
against the city treasury, is to charge that
MIR. .Wickham is capable of appointing to the
head of the Finance Department a knave or
fool, and to insist that the citizens of New
York are in such deplorable position that
they must look to the Governor of the State
for protection against the unfaithfulness or
incapacity Of their newly elected Mayor at the
very commencement of his administration.
Mayor Wickham's happy allusion to the
'shome rule" principle of the democracy at the
Manhattan festival shows that we shall not
l,o Lad xr,&b
Comptroller. Mr.. Green must be removed from
Office because Of his unftness, his unreliability.
his arrogance and his impracticability. He is
not large enough for the place he has attempted
to fill He has no doubt resisted the payment
of unjust claims; but any Comptroller ap-
pointed by Mayor Wickham would just as
resolutely and just as effectively protect the
public treasury against the raids of dishonest
men. No one can suppose that John j. Cisco,
E. P. Fabbri, George s. Forrest Frederick
Happen, W. Seymour, John L. Agnew, Edward
Cooper, Abel Denison, or any other person who
would be likely to be chosen as Green's
successor by Mayor Wickham. would pay out
dollar of the peoples money improperly,
either through connivance or ignorance. The
insinuation that the next Comptroller would
do so, conveyed by Mr.. Green's benefciaries,
is serious reflection on Mayor Wickham' s
integrity or capacity. Governor Tilden could
not decline to approve MI. Green's removal
on such grounds without placing personal
affront on Mayor Wickham. If the Mayor
elect should resolve that the retention of
Mr.. Green in the Office of Comptroller would
be detrimental to the interests Of the city and
prejudicial to the harmony and efficiency Of
his administration, Governor Tnden could
not reply that Mr.. Green's presence at the
head of the Finance Department is necessary
to protect the city treasury from spoliation
without afixing on the Mayor elect the brand
of official dishonesty. These special pleas,
put in to save Mr.. Green, are in reality dam
aging to his cause. The people hope now for
rule of genuine reform They have been
furnished for two or three years with bogus
article and are disguised with the experience
The property owners of the city find that
under our present financial policy the public
debt has increased from forty to sixty million
dollars in three years. The uncertainty as to
the actual amount is an evidence of the
dishonesty or incompetency of their inan-
cial managers. As Mr.. Green's friends
insist that he has not paid out a single
dollar of the public money to dishonest
claimants it follows that the enormous
increase of debt and taxation is due to his
own extravaganza or incapacity as financial
manager. At the same time the city has
been suffering from sutfocation. What the
people now want is relief from financial
quackery 1t is too late to raise the absurd
cry that there is only one honest man in the
city of New York and that his name is An
drew II. Green. Mayor Wickham's Comp
troIler, while quite as honest as Mr.. Green,
will be less arrogant, less prejudiced, less
pragmatcal and far more capable 1t is an
unwarrantable reflection upon Governor Til
denis good sense and sterling democratic
principle to inslnuste that he would oppose
Green's removal on the absurd and insulting
pretence that Mayor Wickham might appoint
a Comptroller who would connive at the rob-
berry of the public treasury.
Religious Advertising.