New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-05-19
IN OPPORTUNITY NOT TO BE LOST

an OPPORTUNITY NOT to BE LOSI.
What insignificant tools the Fates occasion
allv employ, A wifes disappointed cousin
oxnosed the crime of Sheriff Flack and caused
him to vacate his important office. A dis
pruntled brother-in-law threatened Croker
un,il he abandoned his Office of Chamberlain
and was finally driven out of the country too !
A stupid godfather added to the magnitude OF
tbe exposures of mis- own imbecility, thus prac-
tically vacating the Mayors Office $50 far as
any influence the position commands), and
rendering harmless at the coming elections the
most powerful of the local Democratic organ
izations and the most dangerous because at
present under reckless or INSCRIPTIONS control.
The situation thus brought about as If by acct
dent is exceedingly encouraging to those cit
liens really DESTROYS of actual reform in local
administration and the possibilities ought not
n he lost sight of nor the opportunities neg
lected.
The reform of administration in the Sherf's
Office is materially advanced, but it is not abb
solutely secured. The present incumbent is
committed to this policy, and the Legislature
nassed bill under which he can move toward
the desired end. Governor Hill, by his APP
nontment of Sheriff Sickles as well as by
various declarations, is committed to the APP
nroval Of the bill and the forwarding of the
reforms contemplated. Success on the lines
MANNED means the taking of the Sher1ff's
office entirely out of politics. Heretofore 1t
has been. next to the Department OF Public
Works. the most corrupt and demoralizing in
Auence in our local affairs As candidates for
an elective Office the Sheriffs of this county
for twenty years past have stopped to low
poltical tricks to obtain nominations and de-
scended to still lower depths to secure cleo
tions, while every Commissioner OF Public
Works has secured place by intrgues demoral-
ling to the appointing powers. The cost OF
an election as Sheriff has been so great that
resort to various impositons on the public has
been necessary to recoup election expenses
Nothing like a business administration has been
given by any Sheriff In twenty-five years; nor
is ever likely to be given so long as the
office is a political plum whose size the incum-
bent fixes for himself, according to his dis
bulsements for election. The next Sheriff OF
New York should be elected to fill salaned
office. and have the selection of deputies TO
serve on salaries fixed by law, as now proposed.
But the coming elections next fall will give
opbortunity for another reform which IHE
TRIBUNE has advocated on every occasion when
practical step was possible. 1t is the elimina-
ton Of the District-Attorneys office from po-
Itical influence This office, as part of the
machinery of justice, should be as free from
noltical bias as the bench itself. The present
incumbent will probably not be candidate for
reelection No prominent candidate of any
party is talked of yet. There are no good rea-
sons why all parties and factions should not
unite upon some prominent lawyer on the prn-
chile which THE TRIBUNE has so frequently
enunciated of freeing this important part OF our
judicial system from political control. The
best Judges on the bench to-day in this city
and Brooklyn are those whom THE TRIBUNE,
unaided by any other paper, has urged as
worthy of popular support without regard to
their party affiliations. Let the principle be
applied to the Dstrict-Attorney's office, and il
the effort be once successful that Office will
forever be emancipated from the demoralizng
influences of faotional and partisan political
contests.