Year: 1874

months ago the teachers Of her public
schools, like our teachers. were holding in
dignation meetings because thsy were not
promptly paid. Her streets, we are
told, are mud holes, notwithstsnd.
ing the <expenditufe of large amounts
Of money for their Improvement Phila-
delpihs d In no bettsr condition. Chicago
is in as sad aplight Boston groans. and
Baltimore complains and whines that she Is
in The hands Of an Ignorant .'ring ~ Bos-
ton is no exception to what would appear
to be the general rule. If we look abroad,
we find Paris bewailing the fact that her
Hausmann, who made her The handsoInest
capital in the world, the centre almost of
the universe, left her legacy of debt, equal
to three hundred and sixty millions ofdollars,
one half of it wholly unauthorized by law.
It is the same story the world over. There
is not large city within the borders of
civilization that is not writing itself down
as the most oppressed and unfortunate of
communities. ...-.. .. ....-..


But to return to the plans for our own
future government. Among the silliest and
stupidest of those proposed is summarized
in dispatch from this city to the New
York Tribune. From the medium through
which it is given TO the public we suspect
1t to be the child of some memorialist, or of
some discontented Congressman who is
endeavoring to make capital with his near
or distant country constituency. The propo-
sition is TO make the President Of the United
States the chief executive of the Dis
trict. The Secretary of the Treasury is to
control its finances, the Board of Engineers
its improvements, the Secretary Of the Int
rior is to do something else. and so on of
the other Departments of the Government
In other words, we are to be divided up
piecemeal among the Departments of the
General Government, tackled on by shreds
to this and that bureau, with the Presi-
dent Of the United States as sort of mayor
over the whole concern. We do not know
anything about the matter, but we venture
the prediction that II Congress shall shirk
the responsibility vested in it, and in it
alone by the Constitution, and do anything
80 silly as that proposed in this dispatch to
the Tribune, the President will not hesi-
tate to veto it. The whole scheme is sb-
surd; the worst blow that could possibly
be given TO the best interests of the city.
In the first place, It would be imposing
upon him duties which are derogatory to
his office; upon each head of o Department
burdens to which he should necessarily
devolye upon subordinates. A change Is
desirable in the present form Of govern
ment. The machinery should be slnplifed
and made less expensive; but this new
tangled idea, If carried out, would be the
worst evil that could by any chance befall
US. The National Capital should, if posi-
bic, be taken out Of national party politics.
In any scheme that may be devised we trust
this idea will be central point of departure.
Washington belongs to all parties, to all
sections of the Union, to all the States, to
the whole people. To fasten 1t upon every
succeeding administration, upon every party
that comes into power. would be fraught
with disaster and ruin, departure from
the ideas which led to its foundation, the
worst calamity that could come upon it. 2