The New York herald., 1878-03-05

Bay uotHluS VI uauoSOmc purses A1oAA No"
York, Boston and other cities.
Should the Board or fApportionmsntb be
Changeds
The chairman of the Assembly Commit
tee on Cities has addressed communica-
ton to Mayor Ely requesting to be in
formed whether the Mayor favors or disap-
proves the increase of the Board of Appor-
tionment by the addition thereto Of GER
tain number of citizens. in accordance with
the provisions Of bill now before the Legis-
lature This is somewhat hard upon the
Mayor, who, as an aspirant for future polit-
ical honors, and in doubt as to the future
prospects of political factions, must nat
urally be averse to landing himself on
either side Of the fence. Besides, the
Mayor, as DR.. Crosby says, is a physician
who is always ready to change his remedies,
and if he should now prescribe a strong
dose of Independent element for the Board
of Apportionment he might be ready with
an exactly opposite prescription tomorrow
The business Of tinkering with the Board
Of Apportionment is dangerous one. Some
objections have been urged to the present
composition of the Board, but we fail to see
how it could be bettered. 1t has been in
sisted that the heads of two important de-
partments of the city government ought
not to have control over the appropriations
for their own and all other departments
But one of these is the Comptroller, who
certainly is most properly member of the
Board, and the other the head of the De-
presence in the Board is we'll enough. The
Mayor, as the chief executive Of the city,
should not be left out Of such a Board, and
the President of the Board of Aldermen,
who may be changed every year, is there
under the supposition that he is the most
direct representative of the people. The
four officials we have named-the Mayor,
Comptroller, President Of the Tax Depart
ment and President of the Board Of Alder
men-form the Board Of Apportionment as
at present constituted. Could any more
fitting officers Of the government be in
trusted with the power of regulating and
apportioning the annual city expenditures
and with the other important functions OF
the Board?
The addition of o number of Irresponsible
private citizens to the Board would be OF
very doubtful expediency. The plea in
favor ofthe proposition is that they would be
men of wealth-heavy taxpayers-w whose in
terests would induce them to favor economy
and oppose extravagance. But this is not
all that the good Of the city requires. In
deed, such an element in Board of Appor-
tionment might do much more harm than
good by offering captious and obstructive
opposition to the most desirable appropria-
tions. The city officers who are members
OF the Board are responsible for their acts,
and the surest way to protect the city
against extravagance and corruption is to
take care that these officers are men
of capacity, integrity and fidelity. The
embarrassments and scandals occasioned
three or four years ago by the pro-
tracted tie in the Board, growing out
of the jealousies and chickering's between
the departments, prompted q desire that
the Board should either be decreased in
number by dropping one of its members =
the President of the Tax Department or in
creased by the addition of new member,
so as to prevent similar occurrence in the
future. 1t might be worth while to con-
slider whether it would not be wise to add to
the present Board the Recorder of the city,
who is already one Of the Sinking Fund
Commissioners. The Recorder. being we'll
acquainted with the local laws, might be
useful in advising on the many legal ques-
tions which come before the Board. Such
a policy us this would certainly be prefera-
BILE to the experiment Of adding to the
Board n number of private citizens who
would be under no responsibility and who's,
object would probably be to drop the drag
chain under the wheels ut all times, whether
going up hill down hill, or on a level road -
performance that would seriously impede
the progress and impair the prosperity OF
| the city.