New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-03-30

IN arltnmcuc,
The first thing that occurs to the average
taxpayer orr municipal reformer, when this
alarming state of things is laid before hiin' Is
to go up to Albany and get the Legislature
70 interfere in behalf of purity and econ
omy This plan of salvation has now Deeh
resorted TO at greater or less intervals for
forty-seven wears. Between 1880 and 1870.
five complete and brand new charters have
been bestowed on the city by the state UoV-
ernment, and each of these charters has Dcen'
in each year of its existence, altered or nioul-
fed in a greater or less degree. Almost every
variety of arrangement has been tried In them.
The legislative power of the Common Council
has been expanded and cur allied, and then ex-
banded and curtaied again. The executive
departments have been multiplied and divided,
and their powers regulated and re-regulated,
and transferred and put back. All sorts oil
new offices have been created and aDoiisneu'
and revived and abolished again, and the pub
lie interest in these experiments has been kept
lid by periodical "uprisings" against new sets
of thieves and corruptiOnists. Nevertheless,
in 1880 the taxation was only 50 per head
of population: in 1850 it had risen to 50 per
head, and in 1876 it was $40 per head, ex-
c,usive of the interest on the debt. In 1886
the rate of taxation was $500 OF one per
cent; in 1850 it was 81 13 per cent; III lSoo
the valuation of property had been doubled,
and vet the rate was 81 CO; in 1870 1t was
So II per cent in 1877 it is 81 81. In
that interval, too, except the construction OF
the Park. little or nothing has been done to
beautify the city OF improve its property or
1n,-a
wharves; no new or convenient mode OF trans
pOrtation our streets are no better paVea vi
cleaned, and 10 great public buildings.
Clearly, therefore, the multiplication ana
amendment of charters by the Legislature
has not only done us no good, but apparently
has not even delayed our progress toward
ruin. Yet at this moment, with debt OF Tll
OOO, 900. an estimated expenditure ef S3o,9o4,-
$50 AZ. and rate of taxation OF 50 81 on tax
able property the attention OF the press ana m'i-
nicipal rclOrmers is actually occupied NANNY
with-what? Why the efforts OF the Leglsia-
ture to make new charter, or tinker thc
present one; and, as far as regards It's perlna-
ncnt effect on the city government, everybody
who opens his lips about it knows perfectly
well that in practice the charter will differ from
a fresh shuttle of the old cards. There will
be some new officers, and the old powers VIII
be differently distributed; but not one OF the
real sources Of existing corruption ana eXtraV-
agance will be touched. No new agency
will be brought TO the work OF puri-
Gcation. and no new clement introduced into
municipal politics. 1t will simply furnish
political managers with a new puzzle, out OF
which the man who first solves it will make
most profit. But even if it were the most
perfect charter the wit OF man could devise,
and the one best adapted to the wants OF this
city, the fact that whatever the Legislature
makes one year the Legislature of the next
wear will be sure to- unmake or alter would
deprive il of all value for the prOperty-holdcr.
Nothing can give value to property but GER
tainty and stability in the government which
imposes burdens on it, This there is absolute
proof the government of this city cannot
secure from the State Legislature. No charter
made at Albany can give any security that
taxation will be reduced, or that taxes raised
will be economically and prudcntly spent,
and we warn the Albany cOncoctcrs of NUM-
cipal governments that the taxpayer has be-
come aware of this and shows that he knows
it both in the price he asks for real estate and
the price he is willing to give for ii, and that
all attempts to revive his hopefulness by
calling the new scheme "WOodin charter"
instead of Tweed charter" will produce
no more effect on him than calling it the
Ready Relief" or the "Wealth Restorer."
He has had fl ty years experience OF the thing,
and cannot be duped any longer.
The pity of it Is, however, that this clear
ness of perception on his part does not con-
vert him into rcformer. He sees plainly
enough where Albany legislation is carrying
him; but instead of making stand against
it and insisting on having the management of
the local affairs of this great commercial COM
munity securely and permanently protected by
provision Of the Constitution, his disposition
is to sell out and move to the country or into
New-Jersey, or into a hotel, or calculate
whether he can stand the present state of
things long enough to "makc his pile and be
able to quit the place altogether Nothing
stands in the way of reform but the prcva
lence of this state of mind among the tax
payers, and this state of mind, it is 20 be
hoped, strenuous agitation, set in motion by
such meetings az that of the Chamber rf
Commerce yesterday and of the Produce Ex
change of the day before, will eventually
remove. Nothing is needed, too, but the
certainty as to the future of the city which
the organization of the government by con-
stitutional provision would give, to restore
the magnificent rate of progress which carried
NewYOrk to its present size and wealth.
But for this certainty there is no substitute,
and as long as it is absent we may feel salts
fed that the secret distrust and anxiety which
are now felt about business and property in
New York will continue.