The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-12-09
NEW York. Dec. 8, 1879.


New York is city of surprises. Something
is turning up every little while to fill the
thoughts of the people with astonishment.
There are great varieties and diversities OF
noticeable events occurring. The unexpected
is continually happening. A few days ago the
citizens woke up to find in the columns of their
morning papers that the Board of Aldermen
had voted for a new surface railway in Cham
hye.s street, one of the most crowded thorough
fares down town, the place of all places where
such an appendage -Eould be sure to prove
nuisance. The deed was done suddenly and
without premonitions. 1t had all the appear
ances of job No intimation had ever been
heard from any quarter that the public con-
venience demanded such road. The proper
ty owners along the route didn't want it. No
body seemed to be in favor of it. The general
conclusion was and is that it is a scheme to
make money, either by constructing the road
or selling the privilege, and that the Aldermen
who voted for it are to receive pecuniary con-
sideration for so doing.
Now this is an exceedingly unpleasant view
to take of the character of what is known in
the records as "the Honorable the Common
Council" a title by the way which is so strik-
ingly in contrast with the conduct of the in
dividuals who are part of this imposing San
hedrim that it sounds like stinging sarcasm
to make use of it even for a formula But it
has become matter of such universal recog-
milton and notoriety that the Aldermen col
lectively are low set, that they have no apol-
ogists nor defenders. There are some good
men among them, perhaps half dozen OF the
four and twenty, but the rest are raked up
from the slums and are worse if anything than
the constituencies they represent. They are
as bad in respect of what they leave undone as
in what they do They never legislate for
New York as if it had great commerce to fos-
ter and great interests to conserve. They leave
its frontiers in dilapidated condition, its piers
shaky with age and decay, its streets dirty and
its whole appearance dingy and uninviting to
any one approaching it by water, as large
majority of all who come here do. There are
no ordinances which protect the consgners of
merchandise from the interior against heavy
exactions after they are landed. On the con-
trary, every encouragement is tacitly given to
the levying of burdensome contributions upon
all such property. 1t is looked upon as legit-
innate object of spoil, just as disabled ship
used to be 10 set of Barnegat wreckers. If a
stranger arrives in the metropolis he Tor she) is
obliged to encounter a mob of ill-visaged and
begrimmed hackmen from among which if he
selects the one that looks least like cut throat
he will be sure to find fellow who will fleece
him, if he doesn't take the precaution to drive
a sharp bargain before he starts, and if he es-
capes extortion, he will still feel the discomfort
incident to riding in vehicle whose every ap-
purtenance is suggestive of contagion, over
pavements so sadly out of repair that the jolt
ing is a perpetual strain on the stoutest nervous
system.
AS long as L can remember the insoluble
problem among the dwellers in the metropolis
has been "what can be done to improve the
local government" The majority of those
who realize fully the magnitude OF the evils
existing have long since abandoned the idea of
remedying them as hopeless. A few continue
to exert what little power or influence they
can command in any way to mitigate the
troubles, but the results of their exertions are
not encouraging. There is no doubt we have
made an immense gain in pecuniary point
of view, since the Tweed thefts were put
stop to. Indeed the present grievances are
not about the expenditures of money. Those
really are not excessive, just now To be sure,
we do not get much return for the annual out
lay, but that is rather because there is so little
Judgment used in the disposition of the funds,
than for the reason that they are actually mis-
appropriated. Undoubtedly the municipal
functionaries, with possibly rare exception,
are personally honest. They are named by
the Mayor, and no man has held that office
whose integrity was open to the slightest sus-
picion, thank Fortune, since Oakley Hall went
out of it on the 31st of December 1871. Under
the plea of political necessity some appoint
ments, have been made from time to time that
never should have been thought Of. Curiously
enough the worst of these originated with
Havemeyer, the Reform Chief Magistrate.
who 1oated into office upon the wave which
swept the Ring into the abyss of infamy. He
was independent; owed no obligation to any
body; could select whomsoever he chose to;
but he managed to pick up lot of waits and
strays, who served only one good purpose, and
that was to intensity the public distrust OF the
sort of people who affect independence III poll
tics. AS general rule persons OF that llk
have no fixed ideas about anything, and regard
honesty as so rare quality that they keep 1t
for a holiday deco alton rather than for contin-