New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-08-22
SEPTEMBER MAGAZINES.
ruv uopru- AMERICAN REVIEW.

Ill. ~ Government and society, and giving
49, .t.nt;o, 70 the evidences of healthy feeling
.ra action. MFR. Kasson's paper on Municipal
Reformn presents many exasperating instances Oh
had management and corrupt practice. he ADVISES
that CITY and town affairs be placed not IN
The hands of political parties, but III
those of the responsible taxpayers whose great IN
teress are the security of and property INC
suppression of crime, the promotion OF eonca,lon
and virtue, and the development OF prosperity. MT
G. w. Green relates divers unpleasant fac''
About the Caucus and the Primary" tending W
prove that in the DEVELOPMENT Of the caucus system
in all large cities and towns the mass Oh 'o.eI'
have no choice in the selection OF the
candidates who depend upon their ballots Tor
election. Mr. Walton's "facts" are interesting IL
far from agreeable reading. "In Democratic eau
cuses in the city of Baltimore, Nd" he writes. IL
"a stated on the authority Of former United STATES
Senator. the abuses have become intoleraoe. ITO
ouently. with but score Of mento vote, thnty Vi
forty ballots have bsen found IN the hat"
..Tbe rougbs of both parties" writes q mary
land legislator, unite to carry for each otner
primaries 10 their class lnier1s' nv, numerically
stronu euou sh to stuff the ballot-box WIN pnuuins
tickets'-one ticket sometimes 1nclcsing s3mo
ty.ntv sIips-which the rascally election JuoBos
Ssliherately open and count for their nominee.
Each party in Baltimore is instructed by tneir Guy
convention to receive votes from certined coua'
copy of the last se Tev''P bnt Oh as we have
10000 graveyard and imaginary names mes
on the registration lists, tne Sc h;T ars
repeaters This being the case, gentleman VIII no
longer attend primaries or support the class Oh men
tnsy iOiV nr i'm slectons of 1879 city council
man and member of the Three-Tentbs Social
Club together with city magistrate pfougni.
wagon loads Of hired repeaters nom tns in bs
T,yentieth Ward, and then drove them over
TO the Eleventh Ward, where they again ear
voted their roughs for another ring ri n9
work. it is claimed, was 81 600 clerkship In the
CITY Appeal Court. In May, 1881. the power Oh
the Democratic machine In Baltimore was 80 sions
that il controlled the appointment OF gil the Judges
and clerks of the primaries in each OF the twenty
wards for the ensuing year. In the Iwenti na
Ward, the only oasn,t one the "n mng. the ma
chine candidate was gwen two Of. the three
iudges-a saloon-keeper and the boss OF gang OF
street-cleaners. The leaders collected some three
or four hundred repeaters III saloon 10 an adjoining
ward where refreshments" and registration
hook of the Twentieth Ward were provided, the
vote mnder and sent in lots to the Twentieth Ward
TO vote for tho rings choice. These facts
were brought out on sworn tes,'ip dav
"Two wears ago." writes gentleman from
whose letter these statements are taken, Iound
800 names to strike OF our a iS5 Td
- Il,
could I'LL pages with instances Ike those already
gwen"
These and like facts it is undoubtedly well for
Americans TO reflect upon. and if for years to come
they are TO hear the regular repetition OF the
cynical question: "What are you going
20 do aboutItY" q day may yet arrive when de-
cency and economy will have their turn. The world
does not grow worse, but better. One cause oil po-
htica corruption in this country is tho indifference
of men who are too much absorbed LII money get
ting to care much for their duties as citizens. Or
certain results of the popular passion for getting
riches Mr. Richard Grant White writes in a slash
ing fashion in q paper ON "Class Distinctions in
the United States" The entertaining
qualities of Mr.. Whites article are
undeniable but few readers will consider it alto
rether inst. 1t is not easy for example, to agree
with his assertion that the Civil War was SIMPLY
mouey-making process; that "The North had
fought for the riches which 1t had &C
onired and that the newly developed means for
acquiring riches night not be destroyed; for moth
ing else" Mr.. White devotes some
amusing if bitter paragraphs to the effects of the
modern American combination of unprecedented
wealth with absolute political equality; and he is
especially lively over the influence of foreign
travel upon those not fitted to appreciate 1t.
Whatever they may have failed TO acquire. of
EurODe'S
of them failed to learn to initiate the least admir-
able of the manners and customs OF Enrope-those
which lay upon the surface those Which ngn' Of Of
the most pretentious and most frivolous
society, the only society IN Europe to winch such
casual travellers such transient solourners would
he admitted The pitabe spectacle of the Amer
can colony in Paris during the Second Empire may
be passed over here without remark, but the effect
these and their LIKE Sesy IN S
izing. The observation OF high HE
BY such spectators SO transient 1snaa so ignG
to them nothing which may not be obtained by an
expepditure of money; and briefly lfor / must be
brie this vast increase OF wealth. this democratic
equality and these skippngs over the surface 0,
European society, working together, have produced
newspapers Society or "World of Fashion.
Now society aud fashion singular, inexPlcable
this society this fashion. Some money Ia necessary
always for the formation and maintenance OF cul
tiyated society; some exclusiveDess must be praC
ticed or your society becomes general bear gar
den. But this society rests upon money only; mo-
upon property, possessoDs estates; put upon sheel
money that may be put in box and carried about
got one day and lost another, like watch or toy
and with no more social disturbance; aud this ex
clusiyenees excludes only those who have
many Of them not out but in. Lei
any man who chooses 50 to spend time and trouble
read the highly interesting paragraphs under the
'World of Society" and Circle OF Fashion head
ings in three four of our leading newspapers and
If he has auy particular knowledge OF society," and .
knowledge which extends backward beyond the
war; he will that quite seven-tenths Of
them relate To people who at that time would
themselves not have dreamed OF themselve,
as persons of gentility ITO use an obsolescent
word) not to say of consideration or fashion Peo
pie without breeding, without education; whose
every word and every tone surest ey dence on such
q point betrays the inferior associations III which
they grew up, whose language, whether they speak
or write, would be put to shame by that
of wel-bred upper servant i'll England
and whose notions OF politeness are con-
can be taught to monkey and poured into a
man. and yet more easily into woman, as liquor
can be poured out of one vessel into another; who
have indeed generally a sort of forInless. nsipid
good mature, but of courtesy. inborp OF Inbred no
conception whatever. They have simply money
money which they are ready to spend for their own
coarse pleasures. money which they are even will