Year: 1875

brief canvass, and the impossbility of dscrim-
mating between the grains of truth and the
bushels of falsehoods that are told in their
praise or dispraise render it positively distract
ing to the average elector to select his ballots.
One thing the dulest citizen may know with
absolute certainty, and that is that the financial /
condition of the corporation is deplorable. The /
valuation of property is excessive, the pro rata /
of tax is excessive and the burdens of main. |
tanning the city government have grown intol- |
erably onerous already Independently of the dis
agreeable prospect that they will in all human |
probability continue to increase.
OF course these troubles are largely Teferable |
to that terrible saturnalia of crimes which went
oa unchecked for the ten years of Tweeds
reign. But four years have elapsed already
since his expulsion from place and authority.
Surely the debris of the wreck he left, ought TO
have been cleared away by this time, and be- |
ginning made toward reducing the nordInate |
deb: which bears SO heavily on the whole peo- |
pile.


TIE most potent reason why no remedial |
measures are adopted is, that partisan rulers |
lack the courage TO meet the emergency. They
are afraid of mourning popular disfavor by |
augmenting the tax levy. And yet no other |
method will avail to extricate the city from its
embarrassments. All that is possible now in |
the practice of economy-assuming that it
could be vigorously applied to every depart
mept OF the service-would be altogether too
little to help us out. The disease has got en-
trely beyond that mild system of treatment.
To economize is simply a negative virtue
which oil in cho of nnhlic sfs ra
bound to practice. To recruit plundered and
depleted exchequer, ard to provide means for
curtailing debt, which is serious hindrance
to the prosperity and growth Of the metropolis,
demands larger capacity, and manly indiffer-
ence to mere present personal consequences.


doubt whether any considerable number of
our own citizens realize what an incubus this
debt IS New York is an attractive city, and
would, under ordinary circumstances, invite
people of wealth and culture TO become resi-.
dents. Its parks, its grand Boulevard, its many
places of amusement are all incentives 10
af1uent immigrants. And if they came they
would build costly houses and share the ex-
peDses of the municipality. But they are de-
tered from buying or building by the knowl-
edge that the moment they get tit!e-deed





very least, is mortgaged to pay the stealings
of the Ring. This is why the brown stone
mansions are not at all salable and up town
lots can hardly find buyers at any price. This
is why SO many men are out of employment,
and there is so much poverty and misery.


1t is not altogether easy, in view of these
neglected duties and wasted opportunities, to
preserve ones patience and composure. If
only the folks on this island were victims of
the follies practiced here it would not matter
SO much, but the whole country suffers when
the metropolis is misgoverned. There never
was greater opportunity for the display OF
large capacity in affairs3than the condition of
this city presents to-day. There are men in
the community who are equal to the undertak-
ing, but their names are never mentioned in
nominating conventions, and they would,
fear, stand small chance of success at the polls
if they could be persuaded to encounter the
caprices of the ballot.


But this unpremedtated depression was not
induced by any special objections to the men
who are to be voted for on the I'd proximo.
The candidates on both sides are fully up to
the average. Some of them are exceptionally
worthy. The most conspicuous nominees of
the Anti-Tammany combination, Messrs
Phelps and Hackett, are deserving Of cordial
support. The former has shown himself one
of the most effective and straightforward pros
ecuting officers that has ever served il that
| capacity. His opponent is also reputable
gentleman, with the disadvantage of mex
| perience however, which places his claims
| immeasuraby below those of his competitor.
| There is another consideration which makes
! it very desirable that Mr. Phelps should be
chosen. In community so thoroughly party
| ridden as this, and with all branches of the
| judiciary overwhelmingly Democratic, it would
be in every respect expedient to have Dis


trict Attorney of opposing politics. Instances
| might occur in which such a check would be
sautary and wholesome.


| Judge Hackett has been the object of bitter
attacks from his alenated political associates,
but presume they have helped rather than


burt him. Invecsives hurled at candidate in
the heat of a campaign are always received with


extreme incredulity. And when they emanate


from parties who have hitherto manifested en-


tire confidence and respect Tor the subject Of


their presen denunciation they are not only


rejected with discredit but they are very ap,


to inspire his supporters with increased zeal in


his behalf. The photographed letters of Oakley


Hall to one Rosenthal, an interpreter in the


Judges court, suggesting tender of his resig


nation, that il might be made the text of a


magnanimous letter from MIR. Hackett declin-


ing to accept it, proved a source of amusement


for day or two, but tie laugh was exclusively


on Hall whose taste for dramatic situations
l L IaI i'm, IN tnIn lUa n


similar attempts at stage effect. 1t will be re-


membered that when he was District Attorney


he introduced the bogus baby, that figured ir


the Cunnngham-B Burdell trial, performance


which brought him for while into great deri


sion. He was Republican then, but not Ions


after he flashed like meteor across the Demo


cratic armament He became successively


Tweed's District Attorney and Mayor ant


went down with bis chief into everlasting po


litical night.


1t is not little curious that any contingency


should ever have arisen to make it the hope o


honest citizens that John Morrissey should wiz


seat in the State Senate. And yet as be


tween Morrissey and Fox there can be no room


for doubt that the former is by far the least OBJ


jectionable. Fox was a member of the old


Board of Supervisors. He had the luck to ge


out before the crisis came. But while he was


there, he shared with his comrades, and was
, willing participant in the guilt which covered
| them all with infamy. He helped to impos
} that cumbrous burden of indebtedness whicl
| weighs so heavily upon the city now, and dii
. fers from Tweed only in the degree, not in tn


kind, of turpitade which both practiced so Ion


with impunity and for which only one as ye
has undergone punishment.