New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-05-25
GENERAL TRACTS VIEW or 1T.

While emphatically contradctng the common
report that he was the legal representative or
the Republican organization In the matter OF
the police upheaval General Tracy said yes
terday that he believed the Mayor had violated
his duty and intmated a conviction that the
Governor would be justified in deposing HIM
That is. If the Mayor for merely political rea-
sons or TO make this "wde-open" town re-
moved two Commissioners. appointed one SUP
st,tute and sanctioned the dismissal of McCu-
lagh and promotion Of Devery. the Governor
ought to exercise the power vested IN him by
the charter. General Tracy continued:
Why, It is matter Of the deepest gravity. or
the profoundest import to every cltizen. III the
Nayor can use the removal power given MN
for the protection Of the peoples interest. and
hence to he exercised with the utmost discre-
ton and the most valid reason-if. say ne can
with immunity pervert this power to subserVe
merely partisan ends. to place In the hahos OF
his organization control OF the elections. or 10
debauch the city by calculated relaxation OF
law and order. It is-what? Revoiution-
tion. nothing lessl The Mayors wronSdonS
did not stop with the removals. II actuated by
any Of the considerations I have indicated' ne
did wrong when he acted with Boaro coih-
posed of only three Commissioners 10 oppose the
Chief The trainers of the charter. OF whom l.
was one certainly never contemplated the legal
ity of any such action
To take the last sentence Of the foregoing
paragraph first. General Tracy Is prooably war
ranted in declaring that the trainers or the
charter, Of whom he was one, never 1oresa"
what has occurred. though some OF his less
Ingenious colleagues may possibly have had
such a provision. For uninstructed laymen
often find 1t hard to believe that laws which are
faulty and dubious were intended by the law
yers who drafted them TO be plain ana nav
less But at any rate General Tracy must have
been aware long before the election OF last No
vember that consolidation was dangerous ex-
nertment. and the charter which he had 80
much to do with framing. an extremely imper-
feet instrument Of government; and for this
reason his felow-citixens have always felt that
he was under a special obligation to do all in
his power to elect Mayor who would give us
the best administration which 1t made pos
sihe, instead Of Tammany Mayor who was
certain to exhaust Its possibilities or mischief
The shocking fault which General Tracy COM
mitted in consent1ng to be the means OF LOWS
defeat and Van Wyck's election makes his pres
ent Indignation seem almost frivolous
Then. again, though we are as fully prepared
as General Tracy can be to believe that Van
Wyck's motives are outrageous. how can the
fact be legally demonstrated1 II. having been
called to account, the Mayor should be formal
" accused Of an intention Ito place in the hands
''of his organization control Of the elections. or
ito debauch the city by calculated relaxation
"of law and order" who and what could hinder
him from saying to the Governor: TT isn't
true. Ny purposes are strictly honorable
look at Devery. The first thing he did was
Ito summon the inspectors and captains and
tell them that the laws must be rgdly en-
"forced"f Doubtless such an assertion would
make a Roman Augur laugh, but 1t would be
an uncommonly hard thing for the Governor 10
disprove out OF hand Blessed are the pure
in heart, for they shall see God" read the Eng
lish schoomaster and added: MIND that now,
boys; II you're not pure in heart I'll fog you"
That was the schoolmaster's privilege, but the
same wns never conferred upon the Governor
OF New-York. II all comes back TO this that
laws however excellent, never gave and never
can give good government The men who adj
minister them make civic conditions happy or
the reverse With General Tracy's consent md
assistance NewYork was deliberately turned
over last fall TO Tammany Hall, in the expccta-
ton that It would keep faith with the men by
whom good citizens and perhaps General Tracy
himself had been betrayed. The results to the
community are as injurious as they were in
evtable, but the personal woes Of a few indi-
viduals who are getting the worst Of an odous
bargain are not a cause for public grief.