Telegram-herald., 1890-04-15
ROBBER-RIDDEN GOTHAM.
Why New York Failed % Get ras
Words Far.
Ons-rs whs IA. So CsFy tate fnetE
0~z F~skst.-TAs CsrrsPEisA "a tAs
sh-rfTs omes- P.sti ass BE
urs fx@m khs sI~ss

York
f5ere IS absolutely nothing ne" In
the charges a ale and sustained against
tie Shsrirs once For over seusFter
OF eensery this eesspool OF political
CORFU pti0n has been perfectly familiar
20 tbe lawyers OF New York. and It's in
iquities were al knowR 70 the city On
cisls and the press
For twenty-five years. therefore, vir-
tuous indignation growled, soto yoce,
winked one eye, and put up With IL lt
was known TO be the stronghold OF
worse than feueal elan, whose chief
was q partisan baron. and whose re-
tanners were Ihe worst rafians that ever
had existence close under the pretec-
tion OF Law IL dshsd and neutraliEed
the very laws Ii vas expected TO exc
cute. IL held in reserve force OF
deputies who appeared 10 have carte
blanche TO bleed everybody. IL
laughed in the face OF public
opinion. it snssrsd 81 Investigation, it
triumphea over political opposition.
And all this time Q great community
Was we'll aware that IL WAS being robbed
and defed. Like = wealthy coward who
II blackm allied the community put I'D
with the enormity rather than oppose
it.
Public opinion in New York is
diffused and uncertain presence. L. Is
an atmosphere rather than = moral
force. Some shock must precipitate ii
in a storm, and then IL RACES for awhile
with violence.
/ Curious isn't IL that wealthy COM
monwealth can have an abstract and
airy conviction, sort of foggy ETHEREAL
conscience, that has got TO be or
ganiIed up 10 the point of virtuous in
dignauion, even In its own behalf. by
some kind of melsdramatic operation.
/ was talking tho other day with
well-known Congressman from the
vest who is here looking after the
/ Government emigrant depot. He said
! to me apropos of something had re-
marked about New York's losing the
World Fair: The bottom fact is that
the country doesn't respect New York
as she should be respected. You have
talked through yeur representatives
and your papers a good deal about your
being the emporium, and the metropo-
lis The imperial metropolis Mr..
Depew called her, and the commercial
capital of the nation. about your wealth
and power, and facilities and popula-
tion, but these things do not make
character. You didn't say anything
about your ability to govern yourself
wisely, economically and honestly.
You omitted to. say that your wealth
and influence and population guaran-
teed you against the worst clan rule
that ever cursed city. You laid no
stress on the fact that New York as
The Metropolis OF the Nation, never in
its selfshness regarded the nation for
G moment and in all Presidential cleo
tions bartered and betrayed the ma
tional cause for the county perquisites.
You might have shown US If II were
possible, that the wealth and influence
centered in your great city, and TN at
were put forward rs plea for World s
Fair. were capable of running New
York-or II running il" is too
general phrase, let me say, capable OF
paving it, or cleaning ii. or watering it
No, sir, New York Is not run oy its
best citizens but by its worst, and there
was no good reason why the nation,
when it had an option, should consen,
to have these citizens run a World s
Fair.
1t stuck me at the time that this argu-
ment left Chicago posing on a parian
monument as Q milk white lamb OF q
municipality, and that the World &
Fair had been given to her as the re-
ward Of virtue, a conclusion tha,
drops the whole matter into the abyss
OF wild Western humor.
But there is this truth in the arraign-
ment that New York which is run SO,
cislly by its -Four Hundred is run polit.
ically by . clan. At one end potential
wealth and respectability boasting oil
the IMPERIAL Metropolis in their bach
parlors. At the other unwasted and
scarcely acclimated citizens running
the city into their own pockets.
Do you suppose that because the scat
has been pulled from the cancer in the
sherir's ofice that the disease will be
cut out7 Don't you know that IL is
deeper than the sherir's Office. in the
primaries and the clan fastness? Tha,
public opinion to be OF any avail ough,
to be . steady pressure, and not an un-
expected tornado; that down under thi,
rsformatory spasm is press competition
and partisan rivalry-not righ teous
infeIible sense of public honesty.
Sincere reform would not stop at the
Sherifs Office. 1t would be very apt Z
examine the School Department ar
morally convinced that the next tor
nsdo will blow Ia that direction. There
has long been a feeling that ,here Is
something worth exploiting a. the
point where ward influence laps over
upon State direction. For severa
years past school scandals come TO the
surface OF journalism. and then myste
riousiy die out Tasys ia I suspect
connecting wire between education and
IA. corner gin mill. Why do 7 SAP
suspect when ID had been openly showr
over and over again.
Ssv York has . tradition thst 4,
buried ia ring some years ago. bit a.
mos. every New Yorker Knows that 1,
les the tail sticking out The rats wsrs
driven from she -ainscosting into "a.
cellar. shssrss all
had this reminds ~. shat during TIE
Trsed regime there came 20 Ns-
York A. snterprisins pianist Hisnsns
vas WehH. He .sized TIE political
situation sssrlsac.. rigsed upsschsns
rih theu prominent piano nauufso-
ssr.r. sad by dint % pounding grand
piano for sevsral % the Tsmnsny nag
natss gos hold OF the nen d. vauted
ard tslsed them ovsr He proposed =