Year: 1876

To the Editor the Free Press and Times.


The final decision of the Tweed suit car
ries us back to the events Of II when tn
rebellion against the Tammany Ring inaugu
rated the grand system of reform and inves
tigatior, which after five years of more O
less prominent operation, seems now to b
reaching its climax 1t is n relief to hav,
the heading, "The Six Million Suit" droy
out at last from our daily law reports
especially as the verdict was more thar
could be hoped for, being for only compar
atiyely few thousand dollars less than The
whole amount which the CITY claims to have
been stolen. This NAV seem a barren vie
tory for so tedious and costly fight, par
tioularly as the recovery ofany considerable
sum from Tweed's demoralized estate is
doubtful; and yet the moral effect is felt Il
be worth all it has cost. The suit has dc.
veloped the fact that we have got back some
Of the old-time honesty and incorruptibility
into the bench and iury-box. and holds
out the promise that justice in New
| York will in future be less Of merchantable
article than it has been in late years.
Mr.. Charles 'Conor is receiving the warm
est congratulations on the result and
even Mr.. Field gets praised for his vigorous
defence, now that the danger is over. The
latter will probably appeal the case. but
! Tweed's chances Of success in a higher court
are very limited.


Among the local occurrences of the week
not even the Tweed verdict has excited so
lively and general an interest as the decision
upon the ronte of .he new East-side elevated
railway. Ths experience of this project has
been rather DnmalOus. Everybody favors
rapid transit. Every man, woman and child
who has occasion to patronize artificial loco
motion has had the pressing necessity there
Tor ground into his. her or Its cOrns by the
heels OF the surging and miserable masses
that gorge the matin and the yesper horse
car, and yet a. often as the new route has
been offered TO any street, the honor has
been blushiDgly declined Thus for months
we have had the edifying spectacle of half a
city full Of people soolding ceaselessly
about their travelling accommodations
and clamoring for better. but at the
same time vigorously opposing every
effort looking toward the location and
| construction Of the proposed improve
ment. To hear the pitiful walls of
property-owners before the Commissioners
appointed TO hear objections, one wOnld
think that the latter body were taking
measures to introduce the cholera or small
pox into their thoroughfare. The contro-
yersy might have been endless but for the
authorities getting out Of patience and cut
ting the Gordian Knot by naming Chatham
St., Bowery, and Third avenue as the route,
and this will in al probability be the one
adopted


The business outlook FOR the coming season
Is being discussed, for the most part in a
doleiul strain. One leading paper has gone
into the immediate prospects exhaustiyely.
but only succeeds in bringing forth the
conclusion that nearly every branch of trade
is going t. the demnit.on b0w-wows ~
with awful speed


Two considerations, however, operate to
prevent this lugubrious prophecy from
driving any one 10 DESPAIR First, Is the
special one that this great and increasing
stringency is constantly bringing business
! down nearer to q cash basis. and consequent
safety and, second, there Is the general
fact that the country always manages ID get
through these tight places some way. in
spite OF the gloomiest prophecies.


In this connection two Of the week oc-
currences deserve mention. One Is the strong
resolution Of the importers and 0rooers'
Board of Trade in favor of speedy rcsdmp-
ton, and the other o long memorial to Con-
gress from manufacturing stationers, urging
the abolition of the present postal card and
stamped envelope system, by which it Is
| claimed that the Government not only fur
ni-hes these goOd5 TO the public at loss TO
| itself but thereby makes itself q competitor
| Of its own citizens. The interested parties
are confident of success in cfecting change
/ in the pos tai laws. which will have the effect
Of raising the price Of the commodities above
mentioned.


of all places IN which to lind represent
atiye New Workers, specimens OF her shrewd-
ness, enterprise. and intense activity. Wall
street l. par excellence the one 10 visit
I Probably nowhere on this continent will you
find business boiled down to such strength
/ and crowded within such narrow limits As
in those wonderful few acres about the stock
exchange. In a sense, here i, the financial
| heart and brain of the country. whose pulses
are felt TO the Pacific and the Gull, and
through whose iron nerves the electric hat
terry sends financial health o. disease
/ throughout the body polite.


1 4 few Of the great workers Of Wall street
are known by reputation 10 every one who
can read the newspapers, but besides these
| there are many who. possessing widely felt
influence, are scarcely known by name out
side the scene of their personal activity.
| But to WELD this influence, or even 10 hold
ones own in the cea=eless struggle Of which
| this spot is the centre, requires talent Of no
common order-wits, in many cases, sharp
1 aned by many yicissHudes and long contact
with the world rough corners.


The popular plays which have long oc-
cupied the boards of the prominent theatres
are drawing well in spite o. Lent. The
English opera by Miss Kellogg. and a fair
| support have been successful in filing the big
| Academy ofMusic for a series Of nights, the
dearth Of opera through the winter bringing
out the muslc-loyers in shoals. The most
noteworthy feature Of the season has been
the performance Of Meverbeer's "Star of the
| North. beautiful work rarely given on
this side Of the water.


No diminution of ATTENDANCE ct the Hip
podrome services, but rather an increase, is
a phenomenon which it is still bothering the
wise heads to account for. Now it may
seem rather irreverent to speak CT these ser
vices as an entertainment but it Is hard to
believe that the enormous crowds that
nightly flock to the amphitheatre. 90 there
on purely religious grounds. | have about
come to the conclusion that the nail was hit
on the head by lady who recently remark
ed that it is 'some place to 60 in the even
ing, and don't cost anything. But this fact
admitted is far from destroying the value
of the work. Providing as it does, good en-
tertainment for thousands who would other
wise seek something entirely opposite, it i
certainly doing Gods service whether all
these emotional conversions are permanen;
or not


One Of the humber workers in the re-
vival field, an old canal-boat captain, Park
inson by name, whose chapel Is his own
craft, has JUS; been fined ior expelling dis
turber from one Of his meetings, and, on ac-
count of inability to pay the same, is now
in ial. TIE case is an outrage on religion
and humanity, and excites much sympathy
/ for the nreacher. Yours. DARIx.