Morning journal and courier., 1881-10-19
Wednesday Morning, Oct. 19. 1881.
AEOTABLE POLITICAL MEETING. The citizanS of Rrnnklur, a,.a crraatl1r nxa,

Wednesday Morning, Oct. 19, 1881. ANOTABLE POLITICAL MEETING. | The citizens of Brooklyn are greatly exer-
 cised over the approaching municipal cleo
 tion, owing to the great importance that is
 attached to the incoming mayor. In conse- quence of recent legislation this officer will, 1 after the first of January next, have power to nominate all public city and county officers, l with the exception of comptroller and audi l tor also all assessors and members of the l board of education, as their terms expire, un- l trammeled by the necessity of obtaining con- l firmation at the hands of the board of alder
 men, and thus the mayor can give practical shape to the whole administration of city af- fairs
 This being the situation, 6,000 of the best citizens of Brooklyn signed their names to call for mass meeting, and that meeting was
 held on Monday evening. General Alfred c. Barnes was chairman of tke meeting, and in his opening address said: ''We are as-
 sembled tonight by an impulse that seems
 to be almost spontaneous. A very large
 number of people desire to call to the chief
 magistracy of our city one who will adorn
 the office and one who IS inspired by good
 principles and pure motives. We are not
 disposed to ignore the great political parties,
 but we want to point out to the leaders of
 the organizations the wishes of the people in
 this matter, and, if possible, we desire to in
 fuenee the action of one of the great par
 ties" After General Barnes address some
 resolutions were adopted, one of which was
 as follows: "ResozUed, That the welfare
 of the taxpayers, the development of
 our manufacturing and business inter
 ests, and the prosperity of the whole com
 munity, the poor and the rich alike, demand
 at this crisis the election, as mayor of Brook lyn, of man who shall take his seat free from obligations to political leaders, in order that, as mayor, he may be free to administer his great trust in the interest of the people," The Hon. Ripley Ropes was commended in another resolution as the citizens choice for candidate for the office of mayor.
 After the adoption of the resolutions Henry Ward Beecher was introduced and made an eloquent and telling address. part of what he said is the following:
 It may occur to many that such movements I as mutual guardians of the peoples interests, and their existence depends on organization, and organization necessitates machine" |" An organization without machine is like an army without organization. There should l be s'machine'' to keep the party in order and if there is a machine of course there must be men to run it. But the tendency of all power is, as we know, to lose sight of the end of all government and concentrate | all thoughts upon governing, and the con tinuance in control of the same men | from year to year has the same demoralizing effects in it's tendencies grow up under an | imperial and monarchical system of govern l ment It makes men selfish. and overbear- l ing and despotic. No machine, therefore 1 should exist except in this tennpering atmos phere of the people themselves. Two meth l ods suggest themselves as likely to be sue cessful in attaining this end. Where the l machine has set up candidates selected sim ply for personal and partisan reasons, when we know managers will dicker and bargain, | it is the right of the Commonwealth to set aside all caucuses and call their own capdi 1 dates out of their own ranks, saying, ''We want you whether you want us or not" believe, in short in the doctrine of election 1 in sense John Calvin never dreamed of | When it becomes known that if the politi- | clans do not nominate candidates who shall l be selected for their fitness, and not for sell | fish and partisan purposes, the people them selves will make the nominations believe that that knowledge will have such a restrain | ing effect upon the politicians that I do not l despair of seeing within the bounds of the | millennium pure administration of public l business. What is there in the twenty | men who now govern us that renders them | better able than ourselves to govern us | It is our right. We have never given | it up. It is our right to rise, as a body of citizens, and say to the politicians, l appoint the men we want or we will break | your machine.'' And when the politicians protest that we revolutionize and destroy the ! party in doing so, we will reply, conduct yourselves as you ought and we won't destSoy | you. The duty of citizen does not end | with the casting of his vote. I have hearr l it said that I held that the discharge of the | duty of citizen was next to godliness. Why, | I believe it to be part of godliness, and | when we pray ssOur Father who art in heav- | en" think we should pray also 'Our Fath- | CT and our Fatherland." A citizens duty to | that Fatherland is part of his duty to his l God. When the need comes for such action, | as it has now, there ought to be tumultuous 1 uprisings of the people to dictate to the ma | chine what they want and who they want. would, in short, have pubic matters so con- | ducted that the people shall discipline all par ty movements which are operated by the ma | chine, and have the public sentiment so om- | nipotent as to control the excesses of that | machine and direct the manner in which it | shall work. The politicians may be the en- gineers, if you will, but you must make | them feel that you are the captain. By this | course we may reach the ideal of true demo- l cratic government It will be- in truth, the | government of the people. for the people, and by the people.
 Other speakers followed Mir. Beecher, and l then the Hon. Mir. Ropes came forward and | as soon as the applauding multitude would | let him made brief and modest but earnest | address, accepting the great honor which his | fellow citizens had thrust, upon him. Con- mittees were appointed to carry on the cam- paign and the meeting adjourned.
 This Brooklyn meeting is one of the most | encouraging political meetings that we have l read about for some time. How could the | true idea of our government be better set | forth than it was there? Would that such | meetings were more common.