The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-07-10
The AIdermanic Champions OF the
PestIlentiaI Flats.

Aldermen have taken upon themselves very
serious responsibility in banding together to
defeat the ordinances providing for the filing
OF the pestilential Harlem flats and the in
crease OF the water supply of the city. The
danger threatening the metropolis from
the insufficiency of water and the
lnadequacy of the small sized mains has
been officially recorded by the Chief Engineer
of the Fire Department, who has shown, after
a careful investigation, that conAagration in
some of the most crowded and hazardous
localities could not be checked with the
means now at the command of the depart
ment The foul nuisance of the Harlem
flats is a public scandal. The rascalities
that have led to the creation of this plague
| spot in the heart of O crowded
city are very well known, if they
have not yet been fully exposed. Even those
officials who, in fear of risking their posi-
tions, were at first induced to deny the ex-
istence of this nuisance and make light OF its
evils, have been compelled to recall their
statements and to acknowledge that the pub
lie health is in deadly peril from the pestilen-
tial vapors of Disbecker's dumping ground.
The police surgeons, one after another, have
recorded their protests against the continued
existence of the deadly nuisance. The Board
of Health have stamped the brand of danger
upon it, Yet the republican Aldermen have
ventured to put themselves on record as
Isobstructing the increase of the water supply
and the protection of the public health by the
.ofA h. IL aoln ochN ln
visited by disastrous confagration next fall,
or if pestilence should sweep over the city
during the months of August and September,
the republican Aldermen would be, in q great
degree, responsible for the destruction OF
property and the sacrifice of life.
The insufficient excuse the obstructionists
make for their reprehensible defeat of these
necessary ordinances is that the democratic
city government would give the work to be
done under them to democrats, and might by
this means increase their vote next fall. The
mere statement of this miserable excuse is suff-
cient to brand those who advance it as false to
the interests of the city and to their official
oaths. 1t is officially made known to them
that the city has outgrown its present water
supply; that the mains in many localities
where the property and the lives of the citi-
zens are the most exposed to the danger of
fire are entirely inadequate; that should a
bad confagration occur it would be impossi-
BILE for the Fire Department to get enough
water to check it, and this especially in some
localities where theatres and other places of
public resort are situated. Yet, in the fear
that democrats would be employed to do the
work, the republican Aldermen determine
that we shall get no better supply of water
and that the peril pointed out by the Chief
Engineer of the Fire Department shall be
kept hanging over the city. In like manner
the Aldermen know officially that the Harlem
flats have been pronounced dangerous
nuisance by the Board of Health. If they
travel in the neighborhood of the foul spot
they can discover for themselves the stencil
that renders the whole district abominable.
Yet, because they believe democratic laborers
may be employed to cart and shovel the dirt
with which the pestilential swamp is to be
covered, they vote that the nuisance shall re-
main undated during the sweltering summer
months, and that the graveyards shall con-
tinue to be filled with the victims of the
deadly vapors of the flats.
The action of these Aldermen is the more
inexcusable from the fact that they are not
elected by the people, but are legislated into
Office on the minority representation" prin-
ciple, which they are doing their best to bring
into contempt. They have not the confidence
of majority of the electors in their districts,
and could not hold their positions by the
popular voice. BY single vote they can de
feat a two-thirds ordinance, and they use this
power in factional manner and for party
purposes to obstruct the business of the city
government. They have no regard for the
safety, the interests or the wishes of the people,
but study only their own narrow-minded
partisan interests in their public acts.
They have entered the lists as republican
politicians, and only seek how they can
embarrass and cripple a democratic admins
tration Weapons are sometimes used in
warfare, especially in boarding ships in q sea
fight, known as ''stinkpots," which, being
filed with materials of an offensive and suffo-
eating smell, are intended to paralyze and
uSotIOJ Iho ShOAuJs vi tulS Iuo IT,
publican Aldermen throw in the face of the
democratic city of New York the foul stencil
of the Harlem flats, in the hope of thereby
securing party victory. They are the ''stink-
pot" warriors of the Aldermanic Board But
unless they abandon these tactics they are
likely to be regarded rs nuisances as often
sive as the Harlem fats, and to be buried
under load as heavy as that which, it is to
be hoped, will before long be heaped upon the
foul deposits now stewing and rotting in
Disbeckers dumping ground.
WE PUBLISH this morning ON interesting
letter from Japan describing the progress
which that curious and interesting country is
making toward the acceptance of Western
civilization. One of the most gratifying