Evening star., 1902-08-12
How the Offices Are Distributed.

ernment are: A republican mayor and COM
missioner of police; a democratic president
OF the borough, district attorney and con-
troller. There is ~combinat ton which is
rich in possibilities of friction 1t was
months before the desiredschanges could be
made in the police department.; there was
always some kind of hitch in the efforts
and in the meantime the game proceeded
with the old layout
Ihe inertia of vice In New York is too
vast to be easily overcome It may never
be overcome 1t is fixed proposition, an
element In the city's cosmos that is tangi-
Die, real, ever propagating ever yiriIe
Lively as quicksilver, disturbed in one cor
ner 1t seeks a level in another 1t is one
phase or human nature-niore prominent
IN this case because there are more con-
st1tuent elements, numerically
Some one has said that New York is the
tenoerloln district Of the United States,
meaning by that term that the metropolis
Is the homing rookery for the birds of sor-
uiu piuIhage from every quarter Of the
!ahd The average New Yorker is no diff
ferent from the average American The
percentage of vicious persons is not abnor-
maj put tnat percentage comprises a nu-
merical mass which is formidable
10 that mass must be added the floating
population of the country which visits New
YORK, intent upon mischief There must
oe persons TO cater to that immense float
ing nifh list: ar;n, They have to be fed. supplied
gamble, to ride In hacks and to make
tn1ngs lively while 1t lasts. They have a
punch of money" that they tucked away
IN their inside pocket to blow in in New
1ork, ana they want action. New York
gets the blame for that class, because New
York supplies the action.
New Administration Ambitious.
The new administration came in confident.
eager, ambitious. There is the mayor, a
gentleman of fine sensibilities whose life
nad been spent amid the environment of
the study, the library and the college presi-
dents S sanctum. He had never seen a ''red
light or any light more raucous than the
soft glow of his study Argand What was
a man like this going TO do when he en-
countered the vast inertia Of vice which
the existing system in New York presented? {?
How was he to bulge it?
He has done the best he could He sur
rounded himself with clean. honest COM
petent men who have brought about re-
forms IN many municipal affairs. The
street cleaning department.. the various
bureaus OF pubic works, have been braced
up, swept out and tidied bit, to be sure.
1t was a long time before the new admin
istratlon could make any headway in the
oepartment Wnere reform was most loudly
demanded the police department. Devery
was put out promptly, and that action
stilled the clamor Of the unthinking for a
moment. Croker tried to throw Devery to
the wolves and make notable sacrifice Of
him, put the big chief would not have it.
III go up the road" he said to his old
cronles VINO threatened him, "it will take
q special train to carry youse fellers who
VIII go with me-" Nothing was made out
of Devery.
The police department has improved
some. am told by weN-informed persons
that there is al Improvement of probably
10 per cent That is, that the evils and
ABUSES charged against Tanmany's rule Of
the ponce department have abated to the
istration.
There has been a great hustle and pother
IN the police department., Captains and
sergeants have been transferred, super
seoeo, showed around, promoted, denoted,
moving Of furniture. The old system has
not been uprooted, however. Some Of its
most Objectionable thorns have been shorn
trunk.
Those Who Wantsd Raform.
There were two classes OF people who
wanted a reform in thesctty government,
and voted for it. First, the class who
wanted to put down crookedness In the
municipal government. Second, the class
who wanted to weed out vice. They in
Guided selling Of liquor on Sunday and af-
Yer yer lne excise hours and conducting gam
pans houses In the categories of vice.
The citizens in the first class have seen
a portion of their hopes realized. Those OF
the second class will be wholly disap-
pointed, according to present prospects.
Inc d impeiling motive with many In the
nrst class was not alone q moral one
tney wanted to escape payment Of tribute
TO Tammany. 1t is no ufe TO revamp the
oid stories OF Tamnnany's methods. Every
nody probably knows IN a. general way how
Iammany conducted the game until finally
the players revelted.
The municipal government is believed by
the PUBIC to be meRe honest than the lam
MANY R0Yeruu1eut The nuhlfc ceIS4tuky