Year: 1878

ment. The men he selected were Moses TAYLOR,


John Jacob Astor, Marshall o. Roberts,


George K. Sistare, E. d. Brown and Edward


Schell; the two latter were bank officers and


presumed to be experts Mr.. Sstsre wss Q


large negotiatOr Of city securities. Ths o.ieH


tdree are known everywhere. Mr. Taylor 4: @


great merchant, probably one of the ablest liv-


ing. The other two are men perfectly well


acquainted with affairs. Within eleven days


after they were invited to scrutinize the condi-


tion of the treasury they reported that every


thing was correct and volunteered strong tes-


timonial in favor Of the administration OF Con-


nollyl


That pronunciamento quieted the popular


mind for quite while. The criminals had a


new license to steal. People did not stop to


reflect that an examination lasting not more


than nine working days and pursued by six


gentlemen Of whom the three whose report


would have the most weight were so busy with


their own concerns that they could have but


limited opportunities to give personal atten.


tion to the search, must necessarily be


cursory and imperfect In fact 1t would have


taken those gentlemen six sweeks-with ten


hours day labor each to have made such an


investigation as would have warranted the
certificate they gave


Nevertheless, although the Times and Har-
per's-the ouly two journals that refused abso-
lutely to partake Of the spols Of the Ring
continued to exhibit overwhelming proof of the


wrong doing they had devoted their columns to


the exposure of, the banditti fourished for


nearly nine months after Messrs. Taylor, Astor


and Roberts had furnished them with clean


bill of health. When their depredations were


made known, the fact stood revealed of course,


that the pretended examination OF the preced-
ing autumn was merely q preconcerted white
washing performance into which half dozen
eminently respectable gentlemen had been de-
coyed by an artful dodger who was so thorough


ly up to that kind of mau9uvreing that he had


all his life gone by the sobrquet of "Slippery
Dick.''


The Tsylor-Astor certificate no doubt helped
the Ring to steal great many million dollars.
The probabilities are, however, that it so en-
boldened them as to prepare the way for their
subsequent detection. During the winter fol.
lowing they contrived the Board of Apportion-
ment scheme, which vested in the four knaves
who then ruled the city the unchecked power
OF levying taxes. 1t was in furtherance OF this
project that they had recourse to the sigma
ture expedient with considerable effect Thew
had previously captured an officer of hostile


municipal reform association-oue Nathaniel
Sands-by the tender of ten thousand dollar
office. He retained the outward ssmblance of q
reformer in his changed vocation. 1t was only
in that disguise that he could be of servics to
his new associates. He got up petition to
the Legislature, humbly praying that body to
pass the bill then pending, which literally re-
moved all restraints upon the precious quarteste
that were at that very moment bsnkruptng the
city by their stupendous embezzlements, To
that petition he obtained the signature of three
hundred and thirty-one Property owners aud
Rent payers as they are described, among
them huadred prominent aud eminent mer-
chants, lawyers, bankers and presidents of
banking corporations. Not one of them knew
what he was signing. They all did 1t because
Sands asked them to and told them it was q
good thing to do. He got them to do it because
Tweed wanted to be backed up by moral support
aud 20 counteraet the influences the Times and
Harper's Weekly were bringing to bear for the
overthrow of his dynasty. They made ths un-
pleasant discovery five months afterwards that
they had been most egregiousIy gulled. can
say of several of them that they have not been
permitted to forget their indiscretion. The
sense of il has been kept before them by fire.
quent and constant reminders


Now it might be supposed that In view of
such an occurrence as have related the men
who were so badly taken in by Sands would be-
very shy of lending their names to any fresh
endorsement OF public official, whoever he
might be or whatever his merits. And vet
there are quite number of Foley's 80 who
were also enrolled among Saads's 33l. And
what is more curious still Mr.. Foley secured
the signatures of four of the six who endorsed
Connolly so stoutly on the lst of November,
1870! 1t is actually true that their names are
inscribed on his list, whether they put them
there or not-Moses Tay ior, John Jacob Astor,
Marshall o. Roberts and Edward Schell. After
tha. conclude that there are no discourage
ments that will dissnade those worthy gentle.
men from signing petition.


do not wish to be understood as implying
that there is the remotest point OF similarity
between the present certifcaton of the merits
Of Mr.. Kelly and the past asseverations Of con-
fidence in Mr.. Tweed and his confederates.
On the contrary Mr.. Kelly is beyond any man
ner of doubt an upright, diligent and capable
public officer. Nobody need to be ashamed of
subscribing to public commendation of him.
But men of that stamp do not have to seek for
vouchers of their respeotabilitg. It is the
Tweed and Connolly style Of chaps that require
that kind of bolstering up. Aud since they
have done 20 much of that business aud over
done it and "run it into the ground" as the
phrase goes, it is In very questionable taste to
revive the practice under circumstances so en-
tirely different.


But even that Is not the strongest feature of
objection to the manifesto of Mr.. Foley and his
eighty coadjutors. They accord to the Comp
troler credit to which he is not entitled.
They ascribe to him a reduction of two million
dollars in the debt and cutting down of the
rate of taxation from 2.65 to 255 per cent.
The fact is that these differences and more too
arise from the decline in the amount assessed
upon the city for the maintenance of the gov.
ernment of the State. To have praised t.
Comptroller for things he did do would ha
been an act of supererogation; to applaud hi
for what he did not do is to place him 10
false position, and rather to detract from tb,
add to his claims to popular confidence, whi
are so tenable that it is gratuitous interf
ence to endeavor to substantiate them. / he
the next petition that is put in circulation "
be one imposing moderate per capita tax
every signature appended to any paper eulog
ing a civic officer for the performance Of hit
duties, as If forsooth it was something so un-
as to deserve special mention-which
is not the fact in the first place. aad ought not
to be admitted as fact even if it were. That,
have no doubt, would prove an effectual
remedy. The tax could be put at low figure
and still it would amount to q prohibition. I
have occasionally seen the facial contortions Of
millionaire when confronted with a demand
for donation for a charitable object. 1t was
an extreme case of course; no one would ever
think of applying for money in such quarter
unless the exigency was pressing and the obli-
cation to give indisputable. But even then
the quiveripg of the muscles, the paIlor of the
cheek, the indications of mental anguish, ths
difficulties of articulation, were painful to Wit
ness and threatened fainting spell. On an