The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1879-08-18

although lllS deserves all the attention. ~
excites. 1t is inevitable that the motives OF
the Mayor and the conduct of the Commits
sioners. as well as their conflicting interpre-
tations of their respective rights under the
charter, be adjudicated upon by pub
lie opinion. The charter itself is on
trial as we'll as the functionaries
who have duties to discharge under
it, A mans quarrel with his servants may
bring into notice defects in the construc-
ton of his house. When bottles Of choice
wine have disappeared the butler may be
able to show that the wine cellar is ac-
cessible to everybody who has any motive to
enter it. When ala addressed dinner has
been served tho cook may find his excuse
in defective kitchen range If carpets
and frescoed ceilings are spoiled by the
overflow of wash basins and all the house.
maids profess ignorance as to who left the
water running, thegreater part OF the blame
belongs to the negligent plumbing by
which the overflow was made possible.
Now while we are all finding fault with our
municipal servants and they are quarrelling
with one another it may not be out of place
municipal dwelling is not one OF the main
causes OF the prevailing dirt and discom-
fort A house may be so badly constructed
as to demoralize any set Of servants who do
not possess more than the average virtue of
their class. Our municipal government is
a structure OF this description. OF course
its tunctionaries are to be condemned, so
for hair N ha
but in general it is as difficult to fix
their responsibility Us to find a
needle in a haystack. The responsibility
of the Mayor is limited by his inability to
remove heads of departments without
political convulsion which deranges city
affairs and without raising disputed points
of authority which have to run the gauntlet
OF the courts. While the Mayor has no
efficient responsibility there is none in the
plural Commissioners. Each member
skulks and screens himself behind the col
lective action of the Board, and respon-
sibility is frittered away by division. But
if responsibility is lost by dividing it
among several Commissioners Of CO.
equal authority the evil becomes worse
in board which is composed,
like tho Police Commission, Of demo-
Gratis and republicans in equal proportions.
Such an arrangement annihilates all po-
ltical as we'll as all personal responsibility.
Unless the members are men Of uncommon
virtue board of this description soon be-
comes q nest of jobbery. Neither party
being responsible for its action, its indi-
vidual members of both parties are
gradually carried by their esprit de corps
into tacit conspiracy to shield and pro-
tect one another. Our old Board of Super
visors, of which Tweed was so long the
master spirit. was organized on this prin-
ciple, and it was the most corrupt body
ever known in our city politics. Our Police
Board, which is organized on the same
principle, has become, in different way,
the scorn and scandal Of more recent times
The equal division Of members was os-
tensibly for the benefit of the republican
party, which is a minority in the city; but
the attempt Of Mr.. Tilden to get control of
it through his men of putty shows that, in
his estimation at least, it can be used to
promote the interests. not merely of one
party, but of q faction of that party A
republican commissioner made Of political
putty would answer as we'll as another
young and dependent democrat. Mayor
Cooper is not to blame for the impediments
put in his way by bad charter, but he is
answerable for the use or abuse of such
power as he has. He cannot make the
public believe that his desperate coup to
rcvolutionize the Police Board just previous
to the annual appointment of inspectors Of
election is not made in the interest of Mr.
Tilden rather than in the interest of the
city, Under proper charter such scan
dals could not arise.
The reorganization of our municipal gov
eminent will prove no easy task SO long as
the apathy Of our citizens withholds them
from making vigorous, persistent and
pretty unanimous demand to that effect
Although the people of the city have the
rights of owners they are in q condition
more nearly resembling that of tenants.
They cannot themselves reconstruct the
municipal edifice they are as dependent on
the Legislature as n suffering tenant is upon
his Indifferent or selfish landlord. Such a
tenant must take advantage of opportuni-
ties. 1t is when the rains descend and the
winds blow that the leaky roof and
smoky chimneys and gathering window
frames and flooded cellar present such evil
dence as cannot be contradicted or belt-
tied. Then is the time to present your
grievances and insist on their removal.
And so the present is fit opportunity for
demanding those changes of structure in
our municipal system of which passing
events demonstrate the urgent necessity.
One of the worst faults city charter can
have is uncertainty as to its meaning.
Mayor Cooper has exercised his power of