New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-09-27

N ths Charities Department he holds swsy.
Hen EseD drawing good Ray
| or Alderman Lantry:
all h- secured IN. e.s. psuns
a. tor,s ss GO, Son N: Is he;
| The friend Of the Mayor ss
OF Alderman Nick Brown:
Neat and nat,y smooth and slick,
A thorough politician. known 'sVick"
The Board OF Aldermen Is amusing
when Il Is composed largely OF Tammany members.
They 90 not intend TO be amusing. therefors easy
are when Tammany is in power the ruders OF
the American metropolis largely Irish and Ger
man and the Board resembles a convention Of the
International Barkeepers' Union Five-fOot waists.
| eighteen-inch necks. nquor-dyed and dia-
monds the size OF hens eggs are IN pros1son. me
| language OF the board Is English But what Eng
lish. Such a conglomeraton can rarely be heard IN
| any place.
There Is the famous board that sat IN ISs Tor
instance. There a generous Tammany ma
jorty elected a To Hell with Reform ticket.
] Here Is a sample Of the names: DoOley. Kessan.
Mckeever. Finn. Hennessy. Geiser, McEnearrsy.
| Keahon Schneider and Carney.
There was one fighting reform member Howard
/ P. Dixie. elected by the Citizens Union Every
/ thing he proposed sat upon promptly IN the
| spirit Of anything TO 'joOmp on the dom re-
| fOOrmer.. Alderman Bridges particularly IN
\ sistent that Dixie be kept IN back seat
| One memorable afternoon Dixie introduced a r-so-
| luton asking for explanation from the Commits
siOner Of Street Cleaning why the city's gar
/ bage dumped into the sea. where "a would
| be taken up by the tide and carried the Jersey
/ beaches
This Is Alderman Bridges's speech in oppOsitions
"Msthir Prisidnt. phwat we want ter bodder
Ourselves about der Jairsey beachis? 'Tain't der
\ conthracthor's fault anyway. He ifs doomps der
garbage. lis der fault der tolde IL gets over
| ter Starlight
| The aldermen lost time in backing Up this
view by voting the resolution down. Some % them
4
( tides.
II was this same board that passed resolution
1 20 reprimand Congress for passing the tax on
beer II recited the fact that the law forced the
retail liquor dealers TO pay a tax that the brewers
/ should pay. They demanded that Congress repeal
4 the tax beer for that reason.
| In 1889. upon the motion OF Patrick Napoleon
\ Oakley. the board passed a resolution requesting
| the New-York Central and Hudson River Railway
( Company to refuse all applications from members
| OF the board for passes over the roa1 The board
confessed that It prone to evil the sparks to
fly upward. and asked to be led into temptation
Ir this way they blu1ed of Satan and relieved
: themselves from the fear that there would be any
assault on their virtue from the railroad quarter
| Some one at the time had the impudence 20 sug-
gest that the board should pass resolution
questing that all street railway and electric Mshns
| companies and other corporations having occasion
70 ask privileges ~ the board should decline ever
/ 70 put up Doodle their request. and utterly
I refuse 70 corrupt them. matter how anxious
! they may be at the time to be corrupted. Need
/ less 70 say this resolution was never proposed
In 1883 the Board Of Aldermen thus described:
| Though having % DO with public concerns and
chosen according % public forms IT Is essentially
a private assembly engaged in accomplishing pri-
vate interests. It's members IN no respect repre-
sent the people. claim q. unless IT be IN Jest
Colonel Booty. one Of the most prominent rnAu7-
bers OF the board gentlemen very red about the
nose, very weak about the eyes and very big about
4 the stomach who delivering speech IN thu
I I'd Tafa Is
( Mr. Cheerman. de people sens Us yere'-
/ but. then. he was Joking lie did not mean to Be
( taken seriously
, The aldermen. as a rule represent two perso1.-
T the district boss. who licenses them to do alder
4 manic business and themselves An alderman.
Importance depends primarily on the size ana
b. number o. his saloons II IL not enough that he
should drink rum. the City Hall would b an
too small building TO contain so great a man "a
Colonel Booty. who IS not believed to bav. aravv,
sober breath IN twenty years But TO b. really
( eminent he must sell H.
An alderman who neglects to say done ,o-
/ did was for were gents for zsntIsr,sn..
who has the uublushing impudence 70 sound the
mai z. or who is unspeakablv stunfd a. -
employ sood English when he might have used
"hyo slang. sustains 10 his colleagues on the
BOARD relation precisely Ike that IN which Ha--
MS the sreengrocer. stood the select foo,n.n
/ OF Bath"
Ihe Board has gone through severe courss
| OF pruning OF power IN the last twenty years
II Iho@eo' ruled the city when the power OF
conlr1iinS the Mayors appointments rested with
H. II was IN 1884 that the agitation ~ 81 g.
power away began in earnest In February n,
that year there was remarkable mass meeting
In Cooper Union What some OF the n-st cft,-
Gems thought OF the board OF that day 4. inter
estng
Chief Justice Noah Davis was rnads cn.,-,s,
and had this 20 say:
Whom DO the Board OF Aldsr-,s- -.,-..-
Why. in theory they represent distinct and 49,
ferent localities That is the theory u the law
under which they are chosen. A few II il ,r1,a
are chosen as aldermen-at-large. God Aelp u.
that they should 50 often show their unhtnesz
to be at large,
There are in this city OF licensed and Unlicensed
gros shops. l0.0o0-1OO00 liquor dealers IN New
York The voting population OF New-York IS
10000 and upward Well what - the fair pro-
portion Of the liquor dealers the representation
. OF New-YOrk? II there be ID GoO OF them. one m
twenty gives them all they are entitled 70 Ia,-
year these 100oo liquor sellers took a majority a,
the Board. and al this hour they hold majority
OF the controlling faction IN the board and ar,
masters Of the power You have heard whom
they have chosen for their presiding oAncsr II.
was chosen doubtless. because he owned tire,
Erog shops and no other member Of that Board
owned four
he went 70 show that one shoe dealer On.
Junk dealer and stove dealer represented the
mercantile Interests Of the city. the 4c9 or 1000
lawyers in the city had representative A
lone Janitor stood for the Iaboring element un-
less they claimed the member who registered as
professional politician" There were 10 us-
chanics doctors. no ciergymen on the Board
In 1850 the board devoted several sessions 20 IN.
discussion OF ordinance declaring war on stray
II provided for the capture and destruction
% all found at large. Members from Avenue
A grave danger in the o-dinance-a danger
from rats. Aldermen from the rat-free ua-rx or