The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-07-23
Tho New Commissioners.

In designating Mr.. WILLIAM s. ANDREWS
to be Commissioner Of Street Cleaning
Mayor GILRoY has made an admirable Be-
lection. It Is an exceptional Office. and Mr..
ANDREWS Ia citizen Of exceptional gifts
and accomplishments.
The Commissioner of Street Cleaning OF
New York Is paid $1,000 year for trying to
keep the streets Of the city clean. with an
insufficient appropriation. He must. first
OF ALL be financier for the problem how
to make two dollars DO for three. remains
here as elsewhere conspicuously unsolved.
He must be something of civil engineer
to understand the odd conformation Of New
York streets. subways. pipes. springs. and
interior mechanisms. He must be dis
ciplinarian. In order to handle large
body. little loss than an army. Of unskilled
and sometimes tumultuous workmen.
many Of them strangers to the customs and
language, OF the country. He must be q
lawyer to know the vagaries Of legislators.
who. in the fine old hill town Of Albany.
at distance from New York. prescribe
rules and regulations for sweeping the
streets OF this city and keeping them
clean. He must be philosopher to with
stand the onslaughts and criticisms of the
Mugwump reformers. who have denounced
every Commissioner ut the head Of the
Street Cleaning Department. He must be
an authority on weather changes. able to
provide for q cold spell. a hot wave. high
wind. week Of humidity. blizzard. or
an April shower. He must be contro-
versialist. able to defend his conduct
against all antagonists. He must be a
picturesque figure to charm those whom
his sternness does not alright. This Is es-
sential; without 1t no Street Cleaning Com
missioner Is secure In his post over night.
This attribute Of picturesqueness may have
the form OF military dash. as In the case Of
JAMES s. COLEMAN. with his white tuft Of
beard: or Of flowing black moustache flut-
tering In the wind. as in the case OF HANS
s. BEATrIE; or OF physical eminence. as in
the case Of big Tom BRENNAN. 1t Is all one
which, 30 long as the populace is awed or
bewitched. or both.
Then, too. the Commissioner must be
man OF patience and forbearance. He il
never praised, 30 fattery will not unnerve
him. He Is always censured. To this he
must be reconciled in advance. without for
feiting any OF the jauntiness under rebuke.
which is the quality of greatness the world
over. He must be politician in order to
provide many applicants with places; a
student In order to understand New York's
conglomerate population: a trained SOL
der. to execute orders uncomplainingly:
and an authority on intoxicants and the
perlls lurking In their use. In order. when
hard pressed. to keep away from them.
Now Brother ANDREWS fills the bill. There
10 no other citizen like him In New York.
There Is probably. II we except GEORGE
FRANCIS TRAIN and ADRIAN STEVENS HEw-
TIT. illustrious In municipal annals for his
besetting Independence. no more diversified
resident OF this town than ANDREWS. the
new Commissioner. Born In Texas and ed
ucated In Westchester. he has been In turn
printer. a dentist, photographer. q
comedian. lecturer. a lawyer. an editor.
an inventor. politician. a publisher. q re-
former. and soldier. He served
In the HAWKINS Zouaves. represented
part OF Brooklyn and afterward part OF
New York In the Albany Legislature; was
editor OF the New York Star now deceased;
held the Office OF Internal Revenue Col
lector under o Republican national admin
istration: was appointed Excise Commits
sioner by Mayor GRACE In 1885. after having
run unsuccessfully for Civil Justice In 1881.
AS an actor his favorite character was Derrick.
In Hamlet. and Mr.. BOOTH. with whom he
acted. used to say that ANDREWS was
excellent in the role OF the frivolous cour-
tier. and that he might cultivate his thes-
plan gifts to great public advantage. As
dentist Mr.. ANDREWS won no enduring
fame; but as photographer his tintypes
have abated many a Conjugal ostrange-
ment. He was popular lecturer Of humor-
GUS temperament. when the lyceum was In
higher estimate than 1t appears to be now:
aud some OF his leading articles. written
for the Star. and reproduced In other
newspapers. gained widespread publicity.
and were accepted as lucid defenoes OF
sound economic and political theories. In