Year: 1878




90 down so long as we have such patriots on
guard as those who, on Monday, made things
lively at the Stevens House with the thumpage
and brcakage of their large contention. Fears
have sometimes been expressed lest disaster
might some day befall the country through
the inexperence of our statesmen, and the
lack of any thorough school of training for
the responsibilities of government and the
duties of public life. All such apprehensions
may be dismissed; they are groundless. Free
institutions are in no danger OF fall
ing into decay through neglect. For
however it may he in stagnant rural dis
tricts, where though anvis nng and spindles
hum sales of whiskey are small, and week
after week goes by with never nose broken
or a Jaw smashed for reform, here in New
York we have daily and hourly proofs that
there are patriots by the hundred and the
thousand who are ready to stand by and fight
over free institutions to the abandonment OF
every other pursuit, so long as there's dol
lar in the treasury or a bottle on the bar. Talk
about the ballot falling into disuse and free
dom running to seed because citizens are
losing their interest in politics! Why, here
are Democrats enough in New-YOrk alone
educated in that school of statesmen, Tam
many Hall, and devOting all their time, be-
tween drinks to general pOlltics-to run the
whole Government, if necessary. And as Tor
training why these are men who have been
brought up on politics and have made busl-
ness of it men who, since they learned the
first Iesson-that more depends on the stuffer
than on the voter, and more on the


I,t
their ewes off the Government, nor, II
they could help it, their names off the
payroll No doubt the First Ward alone
in which Mcssrs. Fox, Hogan and Shine
held their late dcbate-furnishes dally enough
poltical discussion of one kind and another,
with sticks and empty bottles and dccayed
tropical fruits and language, to more than
balance the apathy of half the country.


Ii is truly surprising, the amount and quail
Ity of devotion to free institutions daily eX-
hibited in the First Ward. There is probably
not bar-keepcr in that whole ward who
cannot tell regular. customers politics
whether Tammany or AnuTammany-as far
of rs he can fling "A tumbler. And yet
there are persons who say we have no
training schools for statesmen. Take now



ming gracefully with knucblcs and noses and
gradually rising-until interrupted by the
arrival of the muscular MuldOOn-to thumb
nails and cye-balls. Take this debate for in
stance: could anything better show the noble
devotion to the cause of good govern
mcnt which animates, at any time after eleven
n. NJ. pretty much the whole Democratic parry
of that wardi For look yc, warm rs was this
dispute. it cannot be denied that each of the
dcbaters was actuated by spirit OF patriotism
and love of good government. If they
diflercd-and there is reason to believe they
were not altogether harmonious-it was
only Us TO what constitutes good gov
ernment. Viewed in this aspect, it was
a noble contention. Here were three brothers
in-law who, from their youth up. had devoted
themselves to the public service. One had
been Judge and is now a State Senator; an
other had been Senator and member OF
Congress, and had expressed great willing
ness TO continue in official life; aud the
third had been Deputy Coroner. 1t
is very rare that one family con-
tains three such statesmen. Each aimed at the
public good, and all sat up nights deyfsing
measures for the relief of taxpayers, the
establishment of justice and tue final tIi-
umph of No. /. They met casually at
the Stevens House, Hogan being accom-
panied by the ex-Deputy Coroner Shine
(The prudent Tammany leader usually takes
along an acting Coroner for convenience
sake. Hogan had only an eX-dcputy) The
appearance of Hogan suggested to Fox the
fact, which he remarked to friend
hard by, that Hogan was an "mgrate.'
Hogan thereon countercd on FOx's nose, and
the two, accompanied by Shine, whose rcla-
tion to the entertainment is somewhat
dimly described, began Il waltz about
the bar and office, from which spectators con-
siderately Withdrew, and winch was closed
only with the arrival of Muldoon.


We need not descend to details. 1t has
already been recorded that Shine put out
his tongue to Fox aud charged him
with stealing seven or eight hundred
thousand dollars from the City Treasury,
and that Fox was discharged and Hogan al
lowed to 20 on his own recOgnizance. The
whole affair shows that we have a class of
men among us upon whom we can depend TO
see that the State is properly cared for. These
brothers-in-law are all Jealous for good gov


ernmcnt. We do not precisely KNOW now thcy
are divided on the subject of Reform but
Fox being ont of Office, it is safe 10 set him
down as IA Reformcr, and this is his year, we
are quite confident. for being Anti-Tam-
many. Hogan, we suppose, is a Tlmmany
man and for John Kelly, and Shine is for IIo-
gan. And yet Democratic politicsThd politicians
are so Kaleidoscope that one cannot tell more
than twelve hours at a time whether one
of these leading men is Tammany or Anti


Tammany, Reform or Anti-RefOrm. The only
sure thing is that they are all devoted to the
Government and ready to serve it IN any pay
ing capacity. They learned politics with one
Ill. rLln,- tnll.I