The New York herald., 1876-12-17
what VIII They DO for Uss

With tho next year we inaugurate new
city government and commence new de-
parture under new conditions in our mu-
nicipal affairs The people of New York
have not been fortunate in their rulers for
number of years. Under the old Tammany
regime there WAS great deal OF apparent
progress, plenty Of money aioat among
the politicians, easy living all round
and wonderful imitation in real estate
But our seeming prosperity was the extrava-
gance Of the spendthrift or the liberality
Of the robber who squanders his plunder
with princely hand as long rs it lasts
We awoke from our dream one day to find
that the men who, in the popular phrase
were doing SO much for the city, in
reality held US in the grasp of the
highwayman, and were emptying our
pockets and choking us to death at the same
time When we got free from their hands
our municipal affairs fell into the keeping OF
reformers, who reformed us too much. Be-
cause public improvements had been reck-
lessly pushed by the old rulers for their
own purposes the new rulers deemed it
necessary to put drag chains around us
and prevent us from advancing an
other step. Because dishonest men had
robbed the city treasury honest men double
locked its doors and refused to pay our just
debts, thus squandering in yexatious litiga-
ton what had been saved from the hands Of
the plundercrs Because one set Of public
men had acted without principle another
tha Ia bo
had been just saved from being bled to
death found their lives in danger from suffo-
cation.
When the old officials were detected in
their crimes and sent adrift the conflicting
interests Of the reformers gave us hybrid
government controlled by law the main
object of which seemed to be to make
all the public departments Independent Of
each other and to fix responsibility nowhere.
Mr.. Havemey er's administration was hon.
est. but imbecile. and nothing better
can be said of it's successor. Both meant
WE'LL no doubt, but neither has accom-
plished anything for the advancement Of the
city, the revival Of business. the improve
ment of real estate interests, or the con-
venience and comfort Of the people. Our
new boulevards and avenues are much MS
they were left in 1871. Our downtown streets
are in the same wretched condition as they
were five years ago. Our docks, with
some few exceptions, are as steadily
rotting away now as they were then.
1t has been claimed that the divided
responsibility attendant on q mixed govern
mcnt, the inharm oniousness Of the depart
ments, the obstructiveness Of some public
officers, the conflicting interpretations given
to the meaning OF the law by jealous and
squabbling officials, have been the principal
causes Of our difficulties and have smothered
enterprise and progress in our municipal
affnirs If the Mayor and Common Council
have desired to push forward public work
they have stumbled over the obstruction of
the Comptroller. If the, Commissioner of
Public Works has desired to move ahead he
has run against the bars Of the Finance De-
partment. If the Commissioners of Parks
have stretched out their hands they have
been raped over the knuckles by the
Mayor. The departments, which are in
tended MS the motive power Of the munich
pal government, have had their heads turned
in different directions and have been pull
ing all ways at once. But as these
evils no longer exist; as we have now a
harmonious, friendly, Tammany democratic
government from the basement of the City
Hall to the dome as the Mayor elect and
the heads Of subordinate departments are
all in accord; as the legislative, legal and
executive branches are as united as the Tam
many Hall General Committee, we have
right to expect and demand better results in
the future.
Mayor Ely in connection with friendly
Board of Aldermen, q friendly Board of
Apportionment, friendly Commissioner of
Public Works and a friendly Comptroller,
and wherever they are lacking in the city.
The Common Council has power to
provide for and regulate street pave
ments," and no one will now place
distractions in the way Of the exercise Of
this power. Mayor Ely, whose duty it is to
recommend to the Common Council all such
measures as he shall deem expedient, can
call attention to this most necessary and
desirable reform, and can insure the favor
able action Of the democratic Aldermen on
his recommendation. He will greatly dis
appoint the people who have elected him if
he does not make this desirable reform
prominent feature of his first message.
Will he do so?
Mayor Ely is required by the charter to
keep himself informed of the doings Of the
several departments. He is an old resident
of New York and an old and active politi-
clan, hence he knows as we'll to-day rs he
will know on the first anniversary Of his in
auguration the exact condition of our docks
and the difficulties that have interposed to