New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-03-11
TO TILE LEGISLATCRF.

Gentlemen at Albany. Make no mistake. The
| issues at stake in this town which depend upon
your action are not purely local; nor are they
the issues Of small politics wrapped up in the
award of offices. distribution Of patronage and
promotion Of personal ambitions. They are
questions Of high principle and momenous con
sequence For though they appear TO concern
Immediately only this great community strug
Cling for dcverance from the thraldom Of
rogue rule. they reach much further and strike
much deeper They involve the Qucstion-the
| agitation Of which is now general throughout
the country-wheher municipal government by
honest men for honest men is attanable. or
whether all large communities must be content
with government by lawbreakcrS for lawhrcak-
| ers. and make the best OF II. Do not hclittle
| the importance of that issue. Do not for a mo-
| ment delude yourselves with the notion that it
is confined to this city this State. 1t includes
| the whole country. And do not forget two
| things you who are Republicans, First, that
questions of municipal administration have as
sumcd within the last year an importance they
have never had before, and the great body Of
voters have yet to be convinced that both OF
! the old parties as now organized are not equally
! incompetent for their handling; second. that the
| Republican party is on trial It made promises
before election. viii # redeem them: Pending
the answer a great many more votes than con
stltuted the majority in November are held in
poise Is it so hard. gentlemen. TO be honest?
| 1t IS not an exaggera'ion 70 say That upon tho
answer the future Of thc party largely depends:
| nav more The future of free institutions: for II
the great party whose boast is that Il has a.
ways kept IFS own and maintained the public
faith now deliberately regulates It's obligations
and betravs It's trust. what hope Is left for any
government by party that is not treachcrous
| dishonorable and degrading:
| For many months prior 10 the November cleo
ton the citizens Of New York had been Mortified
day after day by testimony before the Senate
Investigating Committee which disclosed n CON
dltion of rottcnness in the Police Department
and on the bench Of the Police Court that was
| something more than disgusting or shocking.
1t was absolutely alarming. Honest citizens,
startled by exposures Of collision with criminals
| and partnership in crime on the part Of the
trusted officers Of the law. which opened lower
depths of depraviy day by day, began TO see
clearly that their own desperate condition was
! OF vastly more consequence TO them than any
| ouestion Of politics or party. To thinking men
| OF all parties one ovcrshadowing question pre-
,,,lI no
delivered from the infamous system under which
neither life nor property was safe and neither
| public morals nor common drconcy regarded.
An uprising followed The Committee of Seven
| ~ nominated q candidate for Mayor on the
platform that municipal government should
"be entirely divorced from party politics, and
/ from selfish personal ambition or gain" The
| Republican party in convention unanimously
| confirmed the nomination. cordially approved
of the PLATFORM" and appealed TO all citizens
"of the city Of New-York. regardless Of party
| utilization or inclination, 10 Join with us in one
determined and united effort to rescue our city
"from the corrupt influences Of the dcspoilers
"of Tammany Hall" The voters Of this city, by
| u y
| wanted and said 1t in a way tina, meant more
| than any vote polled here for many years In
every ballot Of the $4,000 cast there was fibre
there was purpose-there more, there WAS
a cry for deliverance.
Gentlemen at Albany, You are asked to do
| nothing but redeem TINT promise and answer
that cry. Unless you are grossly misjudged and
| misrepresented- by your enemies, but by
YOUR friends-you are making delays and quib-
bling over tr.vialties and technicaltles at the
| dictation OF a man whose relations with the
, "despoilers OF Tammany Hall" have been so in
| innate and who has been in such close
| touch with the Police Department which
has been shown To be irredeemably
base and corrupt, that he was able 10
bargain with them for the places held
| by two Police Commissioners. and TO use them
at will for the punishment Of enemies and the
| reward Of friends. DO you think you can do
that with perfect safety? That at his bidding
you can trlhe with and deceive 1.4O0O voters
in a matter in which they are more intensely
earnest than they have been in any political
question since the Civil War? And do YOU sup
pose that these $4,000 will have nothing to say,
no influence TO exert, upon your immediate con
stituents when they come to pronounce their