New-York tribune., 1909-12-31
THE HCLELLAN ADMINISTRATIONS.

a
Mayor McClellan's administration, just
closing, cannot fairly be said TO have
been good or bad 1t was both by turns
and in spots. II had the defects of his
His excellent general In
tentions are manifest in it. and so is MS
characteristic weakness Of not perslsting
In those intentions throughout and TO
the end. At the very moment when his
COURSE had aroused high expectations he
weuld suddenly dishearten the friends
of good government by entering into
some whispering combination with Sui
Ivan TO GUST Murphy or with McCarren
or with Conners. When the public felt
that at last 1t was to be On to iNch-
mond' cautious change Of base i'll the
opposite direction was sure 10 be dis
closed
General Bingham has drawn picture
in his magazine articles Of the Mayor
which has been generally accepted rs
only a trif1e exaggerated, and the Blng-
ham incident itself exhibits the char
acteristic excellences and defects Of the
Mayors administration. In appointing
General Bingham. telling him 10 90
ahead without regard to the politicians
and In the main standing firmly by him
In the face OF great pressure, Mayor Nc
Clellan exhibited himself al his best. and
fortunately there was much of this best
III the administration In weakening
finally and removing his Commissioners
he appeared at his worst. We suppose
the general impression regarding that
incident is that the Mayor ousted the
Commissioner 10 please the politicians,
and then, in the face of the storm his
action raised. lost his nerve and kept
politics out of the department as much
as before. That was characteristic. The
Mayor has striven to deserve the com
mendation of the best citizens without
wholly alternating the politicians. He
has fallen between the two stools he
sought to occupy.
Mr.. McClellans administration has
been governed by no fixed principle
even his hostility TO Tammany was not
directed at the Tammany principle but
at the personality OF Murphy-haS been
animated by no large purpose and has
sought to accomplish no definite ideal.
1t is vain 10 look in it for any such dom
mating conception as is revealed in that
of Governor Hughes. for example, or as
the Mayor-elect. Mr.. GaynOr. processes
TO have. Mr.. Mcclellan sought neither
TO give 10 the government of the city
businesslike character. nor TO free ii from
the influence of national political Organi-
cations. nor TO apply TO il the lessons OF
municipal experience elsewhere nor to
leave it improved in some definite way
as result Of his mayoralty. Even in
his large public expenditures there is no
evidence of well rounded clearly de-
fined plan. They are more muniticent
than those of any predecessor. bnt they
are i'll balanced. being extravagant in
some directions ar the expense Of others
An administration that nearly doubled
the city debt spent almost nothing for
subways until severe structures caused
the eleventh hour appropriation for the
Brooklyn tube. Amid the vast improve
ments undertaken, only two parks were
added 10 the city'S poSsessions-Kisse
and Hunts Point-of neither of which
can the administration be proud. Still,
the Mcclellan administra ton will be re-
membered by its large public improve
ments. by the Chelsea Docks and the
Catskill water supply. If the improve
ments do not show a comprehensive
grasp of the city's needs or its problems,
physical and social. those that We're
undertaken are impressive for the scale
On which they Were prosecuted
If the administration has contributed
nothing to the science Of municipal gov
ernment and has done nothing for the
furtherance OF those ideals which good
citizens have at heart; if New York is
no nearer to good government because
of il: if the Mayor himself has proved
IT, be only a commonplace administrator,
lacking both largeness Of view and de-
votion to principle he has at least made
many admirable appointments to office
and has striven. though not constantly.
not TO fall below the standards set by re-
form administrations in this city And
as the representative Of the city in pub
lie functions. both in what he said and
N what he wrote, he will not soon be
surpassed