The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-10-22
A Peculiar Meeting to support Dam
gerOus Scheme.


A Peculiar Meeting to support Dam
gerous Scheme.
peculiar and extraordinary meeting will
be held in Steinway Hall tonight. 1t has
been called by q number Of citizens, who are
described rs prominent citizens" Some "
them are millionaircs; some are Wall
street Spectators; some are lawyers;
some are importers, or shopkeepers;
some are onlceholdcre. and some are
political Adventures These prominent
citizens Of this city propose to dis
franchise over fifty thousand Of their fell
low citizens, or at least To nullify their pow
or as voters. They desire to establish sys-
tom of qualified suffrage under which they
themselves will enjoy privileges that others
are to be deprived Of. They seek to wrcst
from other people certain constitutional
rights which they themselves are de-
termincd to hold on to. They propose to
have 1t provided by law that on election
day they themselves shall be entitled to APP
proach one of the boxes, and put their bal
lots into this one, the most important Of ali
the boxes, from which every voter who can
not show the title they have prescribed
SHull bt 'AtluV'u. III snoTl, tHty pfbppSt
to put the business of this citys govern
ment into the hands OF so-callcd
Board Of Finance, holding power, not by
universal suffrage, but by the votes Of n
majority Of that portion OF the community
which possesses the property or rent quail
tication prescribed by the proposed consti
tutional amendment. To-night's meeting of
prominent citizens is in the interest OF this
scheme. dangerous to popular rights and
the public welfare, the promoters Of which
expect to push il through the Legislature
at its approaching session
These prominent citizens hold that the
voters whom they would disqualfy are UNI
fit to enjoy the rights and the power now
and heretofore possessed by them but that
they themselves are prominently fit to en-
Joy those rights and that power. They claim
to be. in an especial sense, taxpayers, a.
though all men were not taxpayers, and as
though all taxes. like all property,
We're not the product Of labor, and
were not sustained by labor. They
claim superiority for themselves in other
respects, and seek to brand with the mark
Of infcriority those whom they would dis
franchise, infcriority Of character. or OF in
telligence, or Of morality, or Of patriotism.
Several hundred OF them have signed their
names to the call for to-night's meet
ing, and in doing 50 they have chal-
lenged the people 81 this city to
look at them. Surely, the list should be-
wholly made up OF the signatures Of those
who have the happiness to possess record
So distinguished for political purity, public
spirit, financial honor. and business virtue
a. TO cntitle them to demand the disfran-
chisemcnt of one-half of their fellow citizens
for inieriority in these or other respects.
The scheme which they sustain strikes al
the root of the principle of popular self
government. They merely demand that
they shall manage the finances of
the city; but this implies the manage
ment Of the city. Tie public purse
is the symbol of the governing power,
the world over. They who control
the purse control the Government. The
Shah Of Persia rules as a despot because
he holds the purse; the British House of
Commons rules that country because it con-
trols the purse and the people of this city
retain their political rights only 50 long a.
they control its finances.
The scheme will disfranchise the ten thou
sand clerks and statesmen of the city who
live in boarding houses 1t will disfranchise
thousands of professional men who are
neither property owners nor rent payers; II
will disfranchise thousands Of small shop
keepers and traders; it will disfranchise
tens OF thousands Of honest, Industrious,
and patriotic mechanics and laboring men
ii will disfranchsc the thousands of voters
who live in hotels IL will disfranchise many
of the sons of wealthy citizens who live at
home with their parents; and il will disfran-
chise many OF the talented young men
whose minds give life TO the newspapers.
1t was the worthy WooDIN, the brish-
taker, who managed the nefarious scheme
in the Legislature last winter; and
IL Is he who has been looked to as
the proper man to procure its pas
sage at the approaching session. But
this shameless disfranchiser, with $4,000
of Boss TwEEDs plumber in his pocket, who
himself deserves to be forever DISTINGUISHED,
has been knocked out Of political life by the
revelations before the Aldcrmen's Commit
tee, and will now be unable to give the
scheme the benefit Of his manipulation.
1t Is a foolish scheme this. 1t calls upon
universal suffrage to commit suicide by de-
stroyng universal suffrage. 1t asks one
half Of the people of this city to vote
against their own right Of voting 1t can
not be- successful, and it will ruin any party
or any public man that sustains it.
More Ammunition for the AnneXationists.