The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-04-23


remain q permanent applicant for the
bounty Of the Legislature. II the structure
had been started for private purposes, it
would long ago have been completed at per-
haps half the cost. As it is, years pass, and
the new Capitol slowly moves toward com
plctiOn architects quarrel over its style and
proportions. and every year more money is
demanded to pay for the stone and mortar
put in it,
This s disgraccful to the State, corrupt
ing, and humiliating. 1t was folly to dig the
foundations, for the old Capitol is good
enough for Albany, an out-of-the-way town
so disagrecablc that IT il Punishment to
spend any length of time there. There may
be members of the Legislature who as they
comb the hay seed out of their hair at
the Delavan House, fancy they have ar
rived at an imposing city; but man accus-
toned to metropolis begrudges the hours
he spends in so dreary a place, destitute Of
those things which render life attractive to
n cosmopolitan mind There Is pleasure of
its own in village society, gossipng though
it may be; detached existence on n farm has
its joys for tranquil Compartments; but the
restraints of II onc-horse town are really UNI
endurabe by an active person. Its excite
mcnts are small, its social opportunities few,
and its amusemcnts cheap and tawdry. 1t
smothcrs the intellect, and gives superior
consequence to small men, who would sink
into insigniiicance in n metropolis where the
competition was brisk, as the pretty picture
Of a weak artist fades when put in a collec-
tiOn along with the works Of the masters of
painting.
The dull life OF Albany has done much to
lower the tone and keep down the ability of
the Legislature of the greatest state in the
Union, whose government is second in inn
portancc only to that Of II, whole country
Inferior men have gained prominence in the
parliament of the Commonwealth, because
the capital was situated in 50 slow and mar
row place, and they have fancied them
selves SoLoNs when they were nothing but
back-country pettifoggers, greedy Of money,
and stuffed out with sclf-importance. They
have undertaken to regulate the machinery
of the great capital of the New World, and
have treated us as If we were a modern
Sodom. requiring the correcting and guild
ing hand Of rural simplicity and Ignorance.
II Is time for the great city to assert it.
self, and though New York would gain no.
thing in consequence by having the capital
brought 60 H. yet by the change the L"gis-
laturc would grow in Importance, improve in
quality, and learn 10 treat the questions
submitted to it in large and comprehcn-
sve spirit \ new Capitol. far more i'm
posing and artistically more beautiful than
that now begging for money at Albany.
can Ice built here for what it will cost to fin
i-h the enormous affair going up on the
bleak hill near the head waters of the Hud-
son. The Board OF Aldermen. rightly ap-
prcciating the advantages to the city and
state of the removal Of the capital to
New York, offer site for the cdiiicc.
and competent architects stand ready
10 put it up at cost not exceed
ing the ordinary estimates for the
completion Of the prodigious pile at Albany.
providing they are allowed To- do the work
in business way, and are not hampcrcd by
the necessity Of providing fat contracts for
our hay-sccd legislators. Indeed, there Is
room for fair amount Of stealing without
exceeding the money.
These are things which the Senate must
bear in mind before they hazard the re-pon-
sbility of voting another million for the
new Capitul lob