Savannah morning news., 1886-04-04
Corruption in Municipal Govern

Corruption in Municipal Govern
. ments.
The revelations which are constantly
being made OF dishonesty and corruption
among those who make and execute the
laws OF the larger cities in TINS country
: are so frequent and startling that think
iu.s men are beginning TO wonder wbeth-
er some other plan of municipal govern
S ment viii nor have 10 be adopted. In the
civ of New York evidence has been late
ly obtained which leaves very little doubt
thar many ofthe Aldermen there make
practice OF selling their votes whenever
tbere is a demand for them. Three men
who were Aldermen in 1854 are
now under arrest on the alleged
charge Of having received S2O, 600 each for
their votes in behalf Of the Broadway sur
I face railroad franchise measure, and it is
expected that a dozen more will be ar
rested as soon as sufficient evidence
against them can be obtained. 1t
has NOT been very long since
a great gang of thieves who had
robbed the city Of millions of dollars was
broken up in New York, and now it seems
that the corrupt practices OF another gang
/ are about 10 be made public.
Who IS there who can say that New
/ York has not been robbed by thieves in
/ high places ever since the people OF that
/ city in their indignation drove Tweed and
/ bis heuchmen from powe'; Because there
I have been no scandalous revelations 1T
/ doesn't follow that there was nothing
stolen. Those VINO hold the Offices are
able to hide their evil deeds. They have
nothing to fear from the police. Neither
detectives nor policemen can be depended
upon % expose the msdeeds of their Off
cial superiors. A vigilant press opened
the eyes Of the people to the corruption Of
the Tweed gang, and TO the gang that is
not being prosecuted. IC is only when
the thieves become bold from feeling Of
security and power that their crooked
practices attract attention and excite
suspicion.
New York is not the only city where
official thieves flourish. A little while
ago Philadelphia was aroused by the 0is-
coyery Of corrupt practices among its
officials, and 1t is notorious that New
Orleans has been robbed until her debt is
heavier than she can well carry. Chicago
is constantly battling with official thieves,
and Cincinnati has now a committee com
posed of one thousand of it's best citizens
who are busy making an investigation Of
the thefts which men in places of public
trust have committed within the last two
or three years. They have already dis
covered that 800, 600 has been stolen from
the City lntirmary, and they have sue
dictments found for malfeasance in office.
There is no occasion for mentioning
other cities. In many of them the fiGht
against official corruption is a constant
one. What is TO be done? As the cities
increase in wealth and population the
temptations and the opportunities OF those
in official places to make their offices profit
able by improper means will doubtless be
greater. Some say that honest men must
be put into the offices. There are two diff
| fculhes in the way of this suggestion.
! One is the growing disinclination
of men Of character and means
to enter the dirty pool of municipal poll
tics, and the other is the difficulty of get
ting those who are most deeply interested
in having the cities wisely and honestly
governed to attend the meetings at which
candidates are selected or to cast their
ballots. They do more than their share
Of complaining, but refuse to do their
share of voting. Ii is only when munich
pal bankruptcy stares them in the face
and taxation becomes an unbearable
burden that they are stirred into activity.
How to secure honest municipal gov
ernment is rapidly becoming as great a
problem in this country as the question
OF the satisfactory adjustment of the diff
ferences between capital and labor.