New-York tribune., 1905-06-07
.EW STATE COMMISSIONERS.

| corernor Higgins has solved the difficult prop
,o,, of selecting members of three State COM
| MISSIONS in q way that will give general saus-
faction Mr. Sheffield the representative vi 'llo
cstv on the Gas Commission is man Vi uS
highest character and of proved eXecuu'e avn
,tv AS Fire Commissioner under Mayor "'ion6
he gave the people an excellent administrator
of the department, and his presence IN the ""S
Commission is a guarantee of an lmpartlal anu
honest enforcement of the law here, free on lne
one side from favoritism for the corporations
ond on the other from demagogic attempts 10
curry nopular favor by unjust and connscatoIs
reouirements His colleagues on the board are
hotb well known and respected men III thelr
parts of the State.
Ex-senator Persons of Erie, who heads the
State Water Commission served in the leels!d'-
IRE beside Governor Higgins with honor 10 hiii
self and benefit to the public. Mr.. Sleicher u
this CITY. is a we'll known figure in JournailSh.
former State Civil Service Commissioner ana
q man of capacity and energy. His colleague
from New-York DR.. Ledere, won f1ne reputa
tion as Health Commissioner under Mayor Low
and has a professional standing as pacterloio
gist and sanitary expert which Will be OF great
value in the development of comprehensNe
plans for safe water supply for the people Vi
tbe whole State. With two such metropolitan
representatives the projects of this city are GER
+sin +o have adequate and prompt consideration
whom brought before the State body for review.
The snpointnent of George W. Aldridge. the
present secretary of the Railroad Commission
10 one of the new places in the board mas Seher-
allv been expected. and comes in the wa! OF
nro1notiop to an officer who has efhclenty ana,
we believe without criticism been for seVeral
raars the actual executive of that department.
This anpointment is criticised because of MI Al
bridges conduct of the canal improvement While
Commissioner of Public Works. The Tribune
has frecuentIy expressed its dissatisfaction with
his administration of that office. But 1t Is not
true that the 50 100000 wasted. in the sense
| that the bulk of it not honestly spent ana
| the work not done which was paid for. Ihat
| abortive enterprise was doomed to failure from
the beginning through the disingenuousness or
| mercantile bodies which foisted on the State
nIan with estimates of cost which they knew to
| he deceptive and utterly inadequate. Not daring
| TO tell the people what the enlargement would
at best cost they embarked the State on
! scheme which was bound to exhaust the appro-
nriatiops while the work was half finished and
so useless. Such waste as Mr. Adridge may De
Justly blamed for was. we believe. not the re-
suit of anv dishonesty. hut of an excessive good
nature in the distribution of patronage and
failure to realize the difficulties of his problem
and the obligation TO do more than enforce the
contracts in d routine way. mistake shared by
the State Engineer.
MI Aldridge grew up in the school of strict
machine politics. and if political leader is prop
erv to be blamed for taking Il narrow and cynl-
cal view of his position, it is only fair that
when he does use his infueuce for good he
should have credit for it. We have in the last
few years watched with interest the evolution
of Mr. Aldridge in this direction. Long the I'M
questioned master Of the Monroe County organ
ization. he has made that organization an in
strument of steadily improving government,
though he has never pretended TO be reformer
Rochester to-day is one of the best governed
cities in the State. under a Mayor of Mr. Al
/ dridges nomination. who is universally praised
/ and whom Mr.. Aldridge has Loyalty supported
in most independent policy. Rochester has a
Civil Service administration which is accepted
/ as a model for second class cities. It has an
/ independent non partisan school administration,
bitterly hated by the rank and file of politicians,
but steadfastly upheld by the organization. The
Monroe County members of the legislature, ac-
! knowedging his party leadership, are among
the best men sent to Albany, and their names
are uniformly identified with important meas
ures in the public interest and absolutely free
from scandal. The political leadership which
achieves these things whatever its past mis-
takes is worthy of encoura cement, and we
should be lacking in fairness and candor not tC
acknowledge them because of old grounds fol
: criticism.