The New York Herald Newspaper, December 20, 1874, Page 8

NEW YUKK HERALD, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1874.-QUADRUPLE SHEET, NEW YORK HERALD | *™7 78 NEW MAYOR SHOULD DO. BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.—On and after January 1, 1875, the daily and weekly editions of the New Yorx Herato will be sent free of postage. TPR Sis SE Ali business or news letters and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New Yors Henaw. Rejected communications will not be re- | turned. Letters ard packages should be properly sealed. . LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK HERALD—NO, 46.FLEET STREET. Subscriptions spd Advertisements will be received and Jorwarded on the same terms #6 in New York. N THEATRE Washington street. —MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, at oP. M Mr. rank Roach, Mrs. Comway, ANCISCO MINSTRELS, of Twenty ninth. «treet. NEGRO PLM. ; closes at 101°, M, Kroadway MINSTGE ROBINSON HALL, Sixteenth street.—-BhGONE DULL CARB. cabe Mr. Mac- GLOSE THEATRE, Broadway —VARLETY, at 8 P. Mo; closes at ty 30 P.M. LYCEUM THEATRE, Fourteeoth street Sixth avenue.—-CHILPERIC, at 3 P.M; closes at 10: M. Miss Kmily Soitene. WAL ; Kroadway.—THE SHA M.; closes at We? P.M. Mr, Boucieault. WOOD'S MUSEUM, Broadway, corner of Thirtleth street —ARRAFLN POGUE, at 2 P.M, aud ab P.M; closes at 10:45 P. J. HL. Tinson METROPOLITAN THEATRE. No, se Broadway.—VARIBTY, at 8 P. M.; closes at 10:30 A- M. NEW PARK THEATRE, Fulton street, Brooklyn.—THb ORPHANS, R. M. Car. rou aud sous. OLYMPIC THEATRE, Pi Broadway.—VARIBTY, at 5B. M.; closes at 1045 GEAND OPERA HOUSE, Twenty third street and Eighth avenue. —THE BLACK CROOK, at 5 P. M.; closes at UP. M. PARK THEATRF, between Twenty-first and Twenty-second DED AGE, at SP. ML; closes at 10:0 P. ML Rasmond, THEATRE COMIQUE. Xo, 514 Broadway. —VARIBTY, at 8 P. M.: closes at 10:50 Broadw: streets, Me. Soh BOOTH'’S THEATRE, corner of twenty-third street ana HtRO OF THE HOUR, at8 P.M.; closes at 0-40 P.M. Mr. Henri Stuart. ROMAN HIPPODROME, street and Fourth ‘avenue.—BLUE HEARD and FETE AT PEKIN, atiernoon and evening, at? and Twenty-xth FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE, ‘Twenty-eighth street and Broadway.—A NEW WAY T0 PAY OLD DEBTs, at 8 P.M; closes at 10-301. M. Mise Davenport. ERYANT'S OPERA HOUSE, West Twenty-third street, near Sixth avenue. —NEGRO MINSTRELSY, kc, at8 P.M; closes at 10 P.M. Dan Bryant. LO's, NIBLO'S, Broadway.—SACK AND JILL, at8 P. M. QUADRUPLE SHEET. —————————————— NEW YORK. SUNDAY, DECE From our reports this morning the probabilities are that the meuther to-day will be slightly warmer, with rain or sno. BE Wait Sreezr Yestrapay.—The stock. mar- ket was much excited and prices were lower, A raid was made on Wabash. Gold was firm | at 111}. Money closed at 3} percent. The bank statement shows a further loss of re- serve. upon Papal infallibility and Mr. Gladstone's arguments, is ably set torth in his letter to the Henan to-day. Tur History of the Poughkeepsie Ice Yacht Club, with a inl] account of this beautiful and exciting winter sport, is given in an entertaining letter to-day. Ice yachts will make the Hndson as lively and gay in the winter as sailing vessels do in the summer. PEpESTRIANISM lately has been more talk than walk, but now Mr. Weston claims to have accomplished his five hundred miles in six days. His time table at the Newark Rink is printed elsewhere, with a full description of How Ovr CorpesroypENr crossed the Spanish lines, how he got mto prison and how he finally got ont, with other singular incidents of the Carlist war, is vividly de- scribed in our correspondence from Hendaye. The romance of war and journalism is found in narratives so unusual and picturesque. Tus Parsrct Inrerest in the Ross case has been deepened by the theory that the boy was drowned and that it was bis body that was found a month ago in Newark Bay. The singular and candid statements of Mrs. Mosher, containcd in an interview with one of our reporters, will attract general attention, especially as she believes that her husband was the abductor of the child. Ware We Ane lamenting a great fall. ing off in emigration in America, and while our policy toward emigrants, both national and local, has, we fear, been very much like our policy toward the Indians— namely, that of plunder—the English govern- ment, in its colonies, is making extraordinary exertions to induce emigration from England to the distant provinces of the Empire. The policy of emigration in America has been left to shift for itself, and yet there is no question that so nearly concerns the prosperity and grandeur of the country. Tar Maron's Dury—Pupiic Wonxs.—The | Department of Public Works is not as costly now as it was under the distinguished chief of the old Ring, ‘Boss’ Tweed. Its expenses have been materially reduced. Still it is bulky, anwieldly and embraces too many in- terests. It should be made less cumbrous by ® division of its labors. The Croton Aque- duct Department should be separated from the Department of Public Works and made a distinct department. This must be the work of the Legislature, but the influence of the Governor and the Mayor could secure such an amendment to the charter. Mayor Wickbam | would then heve it in his power to place the important Croton interests ander the care of 0 unexcantiaoable commission ixth avenge ~THE | The great change that has taken place in our municipal affairs, as expressed by the resulta of the last election, may be seen in the opportunities that now await the new Mayor. He comes into power as the representative of the party that must naturally govern New York. This is a democratic city and must be governed by the democratic party, at least until we have our municipal politics free from avy but municipal considerations, It has always seemed to ua singular that men should be elected to govern a great city, not because of their capacity, business knowledge aud experience in local sfluirs, but because they have special views on reconstruction in Lou- isiana or revenue reforms in Washington. The names ‘democratic’ and “republican,” | asapplied to city politics, are absurdly gro- tesque and without meaning. We have never accepted them willingly. Mr. Wickham does | not become the Mayor of Tammany Hall or | the democratic party, but of the city of New York. His duty is not to govern as the slave of a ‘boss,” or the partisan of any organiza- | tion, but for the good of the city and his own iame. The expectation that he will enter into power to throw out one class of office-holders and throw in another, that he is to regard the city offices as so many hog troughs, and the change in rulers only a change in the hogs, is a libel upon his common sense and honorable ambition. Mr. Wickham has now a splendid | opportunity, and the question is, Will he be | true to it? We do not expect impossible things from any officer. It would be absurd for us to say | that Mayor Wickham or any Mayor has sim- | ply to wave a wand, as it were, over New York to effect a transformation. We see such things in pantomimes and ballets, but not in real life. Mr. Wickham is dependent upon the Governor, upon the city legislature and upon some of his colleagues. We speak of him in a representative sense. He is the leader of the party now responsible for the government | of the city and the State. We are bound, theretore, to hold him to account for its fail- ure to realize its promises and his own hopes. Among the principles of the somewhat eccen- ] tric platform adopted at Syracuse was “‘home | rule.’ If ‘home rule” means anything, as we sometimes doubt, it is that the party ruling New York shall be sustained by the general voice of the party ; that Mr. Wickham shall be supported by Mr. Tilden in all municipaj authority ; that the Mayor's desires in city affuirs shall be absolute. This reasonable | hope leads us to address ourselves directly to Mr. Wickham, as the one power that can carry | out the aspirations of all citizens for genuine reform. For years the city has been tumbled |about and stifled in its growth. First came the robberies of Tweed and his vassals. Then came the administration of Green and | his vassals—an administration which, as Mr. | Dana kcenly expressed it, may have been | slower than Tweed in the destruction of our credit but was just as sure. New York, the third city in the civilized world, the metropo- lis and queen of the Contjnent, is as shabby | and forlorn as any railroad prairie town. The streets are unsafe. No gentleman can drive his horses along our avenues without fearing \ for the safety of the poor beasts. Fifth ave- | nue—which should be our Champs Elysees or | Regent street—with all the splendor of pri- vate enterprise and taste in its magnificent | architecture, is as dingy as a byroad in Beth- | nal Green. This royal highway—the road to | the Park, the pleasure stroll of the poor and the pleasure drive of the rich—has been neg- lected. We have no wharves or piers. Rival cities boast of an easy triumph over our com- merce because of our barren facilities in | handling freight. The two divinities of the | upper island are chills and fever. They are | to our city guild what Gog and Magog are to Guildhall. Every plan of honest rapid | transit has fallen into contempt. .Schemers | captured them and trifled with them, and, | | fnally, they sank waterlogged with cor- | ruption. Over all there has grown a power, wise | | enough in its inception and under proper | imitations, but now a monstrous unrepubli- ‘ can power. We mean the office of the Comp- | troller. In every government with fiscal | | duties this is a necessary office. We have it | | in Washington and Albany, and we need it in | New York, where we have a financial system as important as that of many States and king- | doms. The Comptroller is monitor, a custo- | dian, a check, a watchdog. He should have | no political or executive power, and no inter- | est in the exercise of any such power. But | this was not within the scheme of the Tam- | many Ring, who made the office a | despotism. The Comptrollership practi- | cally rules the ity as it did under | Mr. Connolly. Mr. Green controls the | | patronage in bis own and other offices, He | | names the heads of many bureaus and has a veto upon important functions of administra- tion. With one hand upon the purse and the | other upon the staff of authority what has he not been able to do? This must be re- | formed. Mr, Wickham must remove Mr. | Green, and the office must be re- }tarned to its proper functions and | limitations, It should be made almost judi- cial in its power and responsibility and should be removed from the temptations which over- \ ciple of nepotism or bosom friendship. He may protect Mr. Green by imitating the fail- ings of General Grant, and, despising the will of the people, follow only the instincts of personal association and friendship. But there is no surer way to fail in any ambition to succeed General Grant than to imitate, as Governor of New York, the policy which made Casey a Collector in New Orleans and Kremer a Minister in Denmark. Mr. Wick- ham, as we read the signs in his own political heavens, cannot re-use to remove Mr. Green. Governor Tilden will pardon us for any emphasis we may adopt, but in the event of Mr. Wickham taking this step he does not dare to prevent the removal. The destruction of the system which Mr. Green represents, by driving out the only im- | portant local officer who now holds power by the grace and favor of any member of the Tweed Ring, will really begin the new era in the fortunes of Mr. Wickham and the city— the era which we anticipate with so much hopefulness and solicitation. “Let the Mayor write ‘Rapid Transit’’ on his banner. Lot him resolve that his administration must stand or fall upon that issue; and, while we know perfectly well that he alone can no more control rapid transit than he can control the tides at Staten Island, that it is a matter for the Legislature and the Executive, still the power which herepresents is absolute, and he can compel it to this or any other just and necessary action; therefore upon him, and justly, too, we place the whole responsibility. If Mr. Kelly has any influence in the new ad- ministration, as is not improbable, he will use it wisely. He is too frank a man to deceive his followers by an unnatural alliance with Mr. Green—too proud and ambitious a man not to urge Mr. Wickham and the party for whose action the coming Mayor and Governor now become responsible in the path of reform and regeneration. BISMARCK DEFEATED BY VON ARNIM. Of course the Count Von Arnim was to be judged guilty of some offence, for if he had not been Bismarck would have been convicted ofacrime. The full acquittal of Von Arnim would have been as severe a blow to the Chan- cellor as was the demand of the Reichstag for immunity of the deputies from arrest. There sa certain degree of infallibility which is supposed to be the attribute of prime minis. ters as well as popes, and it would not have been wise for a German court of justice to virtually pronounce Bismarck wholly in the wrong. Great men like Bis- marck must be protected from the conse- quences of their own mistakes, and so the Count was nominally condemned in order that the Chancellor might escape. But the condemnation of Von Arnim amounts to nothing. Our special despatch trom Berlin says that he has been sentenced to three months’ imprisonment, less five weeks which he has already spent in confine- ment, But it is added that the sentence car- ries with it no dishonor; that the charges of embezzlement fell to the ground; that the Count is simply censured for neglect as an example, and that it is believed that the Emperor will remit even this slight penalty. This is in truth his complete exon- eration. Prince Bismarck in this bitter struggle has the shadow of victory in the shape of a meaningless legal decree, but Von Arnim has the substance in the vindication of both his private and public character. He | has triumphed over his opponent, and may even exult in his past sufferings when he con- | siders that they have conduced to the inter- ests of his party. Thus the great trial which Bismarck provoked has inured to the benefit of his enemies. THE MAYOR'S DUTY—THE FINANCES. Three years ago the financial affairs of the city were placed in honest hands. At that time the treasury was empty, corrupt claims were pouring in on every side and general mistfust and alarm prevailed. It was not a desirable moment to take charge of the city finances, and yet the peculiar circumstances | of the revolution gave the financial officer advantages of which a competent financier would not have been slow tg avail himself. The debt was under one hundred million dol- lars. There was a determination on the part of the taxpayers to stand by the new Comp- troller in all his propositions. The wealth of the commercial classes was placed at his command for temporary use. If he had then mapped out a broad financial policy ; the consolidation of the whole debt | at five per cent interest; the prompt | examination of all outstanding claims, discarding those that were dishonest and paying those that were honest with new five per cent stock ; the closing up of all the accounts of the old régime, and the commence- ment of new accounts anda new system for the future, he would have received the co- operation of the moneyed interests and the support of eight-tenths of the people, and would have secured such legislation as might have been necessary to carry his policy into effect. Comptroller Green did nothing of this kind. He had not the capacity to grasp the situation and rescue the city from its difficulties. His time was occupied in gratifying his spite | | came Mr. Connolly and are overcoming Mr. | | Green. A bad office is bad enongh, but when | \ this office becomes the opportunity of an ob- | stinate, narrow minded, ignorant, selfish man | like Andrew H. Green, it is worse than the | | Old Man ot the Sea. There can be no true reform in the new administration that dges | | pot remove Mr. Green. He is the obstacle in | | the path of all reform, and New York can no | more advance in that career of prosperity | | which lies before her than Sindbad could climb | | the rocks while his shoulders sank under the | burden of the evil spirit. We repeat, there can be no honest meas- | ure of 1eform that does not begin with the removal of Mr. Green and the amendment of the system which he and his predecessor have | used to the injury and sorrow of New York. | In the multitude of stories which are always in the air as to this combination and the other we hear rumors that Mr. Til- | den, by reason of some earlier friendship, | will not consent to Mr. Green's re- moval This we cannot conceive to be | cial machine was left to run on as it best | probable. By the principle of home rule Mr. | Wickham’s wish should be » command to the Governor. If this does not content him he should remember that nothing will be more sare to wreck his sdministration than to govern bia official action uoon anv orin- against those who had offended him in other departments of the city government and in intrigues outside his own office. The finan- could. In the earliest hours of his adminis- tration he commenced a course of deception to make it appear that he was economizing | expenses and decreasing the pablic debt, and this has continued up to the present moment, when we find ourselves saddled with about one hundred and forty millions of debt and an annual taxatior. of thirty-seven million dollars. To-day the people do not | really know how much they owe or what are | their actual assets. We have no balance sheet from the Finance Department. Our floating debt may be twenty million dollars and it may be forty millions. All we do! know is that we have some ten million dol- | lars of claims against the city in litigation; | that we are paying seven percent interest on nearly all of our admitted debt, and that seven per cent interest and legal costs are accruing on all our floating and contested debt. Mayor Wickham will toke office on January 1, and his first and most pressing duty will be to make a clear disclosure of our financial con- dition and « sweeping reform in the Finance Denertment, Tha tate of taxation has eanchad | side by heavy taxation and on the other by | provements for the past three years, the crab- | three per cent to pay the ordinary expenses of the city government, and we are, besides, bridging over and extending our obligations as they fall due, We have, in fact, no finan- cial policy whatever, except to raise money on bonds whenever we need it and to put off to a future time the payment of our debts when they fall due. A private business thus conducted would soon be in the bankrupt list. A city that indulges in such financiering must at last see her property owners involved in ruin. At the same time the recklessness of our financial management so cripples our re- sources that our public works are neglected, the city grows more and more dilapidated and real estate is doubly depressed, on one the cessation of public improvements. Mayor Wickham has been called to the executive office by the people of his native city to give us relief and to establish » new financial policy. He must commence this work with the commencement of his official term. His first act must be the clearing out of the Finance Department, the selection of an able financier as Comptroller, and the initiation of & new financial policy that will close up past follies and clear the.road for progress and real economy in the future. . THE MAYOR'S DUTY—THE POLICE. There are many faithful, courageous men on the police force. On occasions when their qualities have been tested they have, as a body, acted in a becoming and praiseworthy manner. During the draft riots and in the 12th of July trouble they did good service, and we have no doubt they would maintain their reputation for discipline and fearless- ness whenever a like emergency might arise. Yet it will be conceded that the force is not what it ought to be. Its inefficiency in the detection of crime is shown in the failure to ferret out the truth in the Ross case, and in the fact that the perpetrators of that crime could arrange and carry out a difficult burg- lary under the very noses of the detectives who pretend to have been on their track. Its character for honesty has not stood above suspicion since the admitted necessity of shifting the captains into new districts for the purpose of breaking up alleged combina- tions with violators of the law, and will not be improved by the more re- cent return of ex-Speaker Alvord’s watch, through the efforts of the police, without the arrest of the thieves who stole it. It will be conceded, therefore, that there is fault some- where and need of reform, and the fault will be readily traced to the management of the force, just where the reform should be com- menced. We have had the venerable Matsell on the police for nearly two years as an incumbrance fastened on the public by the late Mayor, first as Superintendent and next as Commissioner. In both positions he is equally out of place ; a useless fossil dug up out of the débris of a former generation. He might wear a many | caped overcoat, carry a lantern in one hand and a rattle in the other, tie up his head in a huge muffler, encase his feet in gouty over- shoes, and stand on a street corner as a faith- ful representation of the old watch of half a century ago. But in any capacity on the police force of the present age he is ridiculously out of place. Yet he is President of the Police Board. We have another accidental Commissioner in the voluble Voorhees, who delivers flowery speeches at the Board meetings, with all the grace of a Sunday school visitor, and who knows as much of the police as he does | of the internal arrangements of the Chinese government. We find appointments on the police and in the Street Cleaning Bureau divided up between the Commissioners and dealt out to Senators, Assemblymen and other useful politicians, without regard to the in- terests of the city of New York. It will be Mayor Wickham’s duty after January 1 to reform the Police Commission. The power of removal vested in him by the charter would be wholly valueless and absurd if it did not enable him to faithfully discharge the obligation imposed on him by the law to see that all the departments are competently managed and the laws properly carried out. The Police Department is the most impor- tant in the city government. No bargain | should be made for influence in the Legisla- | ture or anywhere else with the present Com- | missioners, but a complete purification of the | department should take place. Mayor Wick- | ham will not perform his whole duty unless he gives us at the very commencement of his | official term a Police Commission composed of | four of the most competent, honorable and | reputable citizens he can select from the one | million inhabitants of the metropolis. He can do this without legislation, and the people | demand it at his hands. THE MAYOR'S DUTY—PUBLIC HEALTH. | The great drawbacks to the growth and | prosperity of the metropolis are the want of | rapid transit and the insufficiency of the } drainage of the city. A steam railroad that | would enable us to reach the City Hall from | | the Harlem River in twenty minutes would be | the commission as speedily as the interests of ‘the department should be thoroughly sifted, } en attempt to condone their graver offences | office and responsibility in less than two ! any real advantages in return. We have had government that will restore confidence, re- Central Park or any other of our publie vive trade and property, encourage public im- | grounds; but they are unwilling that the provements, and thus invite the investment of | Park Department shall continue to be a refuge capital in a substantial rapid transit project. | for favored architects and engineers whese We look to him also for assistance in securing the better drainage of the city, so as to re- lieve us of fever and ague, diphtberia and other malarial diseases, and to make all parts of the city available for residences without the risk of losing health or life, No city in the world has better fa- cilities for possessing perfect drainage than New York, and the public money cannot be more profitably invested than in securing this important object. If it were neceasary to in- vest millions in completely and effectually draining every part of the city the outlay would be well repaid. But in fact the work can be thoroughly done at a cost not de- serving consideration in view of the interests at stake or the benefits to be secured. The new Mayor will make his administration famous if he will inaugurate during his first term rapid transit and a complete system of drainage. THE MAYOR'S DUTY—THE ISLANDS. The affairs of the Commissioners of Chari- ties and Correction are now undergoing investigation by Mayor Vance. The acts immediately inquired into are in connection with the case of William M. Tweed. It is alleged that this distinguished prisoner has suffered none of the inconveniences of prison life since he has been a resident of Blackwell's Island; that he has enjoyed privileges incon- sistent with the rules of the Penitentiary, and which virtually nullify the sentence imposed on him by the law. There are other out- standing charges against the same Commis- sioners officially on record in the report of the Commissioners of Accounts made several months ago to Mayor Havemeyer. It is stated in that report that the Commissioners of Charities and Correction have repeatedly pur- chased supplies for the city in direct and wilfal violation of law, and that in order to cover up and conceal the mulfeasance after it had attracted public attention the entries in the books of the department were altered and false bills were substituted in place of the true bills originally rendered for the goods. The presentment of o Grand Jury is also on record, showing, from testi- mony taken before that body, that one of the Commissioners thus illegally purchased of a near relative several bills of dry goods, which were charged to the city at prices from thirty to forty per cent above the market value of the articles. There is evidence that flour illegally bought for the city during twelve months by another Commissioner, at a range of six and a quarter to nine dollars and a half, could be purchased on the market at a range of from four dollars to six dollars and a half. These facts are sufficient to prove the neces- sity ofa prompt investigation of the depart- ment and of a thorough reconstruction of the city will allow. In the interests of the people it is desirable that these alleged corruptions and frauds in so that the unfaithful officials, if guilty, may be brought to punishment. This work Mayor |- Vance will not be able to accomplish, and he should, therefore, leave it tohis successor. A removal of the Commissioners for their treat- ment of Tweed or their resignations at this time would bear too much the appearance of | and to give the appointment of their succes- | sors to the temporary Mayor, who retires irom | weeks, Mayor Wickham, on the other hand, will be responsible for the city government in all its Gepartments for two years to come. It will | be his duty immediately after January 1 to give | the people efficient and honest administration | in every branch of the city government. To | enable him to do so the charter has vested | in him the power of removing heads of depart- | ments, He shonld exercise this power in the case of the Commissioners of Charities and Correction, but not until he has tully tried | the charges of malfeasante in office made | | against them. The department will disburse one million and a quarter of the public money | next year, and Mayor Wickham should be satisfied that it is intrusted to honest hands, | He should also be enabled to prove that un- | faithfulness in public trusts cannot any longer | go unpunished. It will, therefore, conduce to | the public interests and to the harmony of the | city government if Mayor Vance will band | over the case of the Commissioners of Chari- | ties and Correction to his successor and leave | Mayor Wickham to take final action upon it. THE MAYOR'S DUTY—THE PARKS. The Park Department has, no doubt, been | honestly managed so far as the expenditure of its funds is concerned. The tact that Colonel Henry G. Stebbins is at the head of the de- partment is sufficient to satisfy the people on | this point. But an unfortunate policy has prevailed in the department of spending | Money on unnecessary works and involving the city in debt without giving the citizens | services are not required by the city, or that any more money shall be invested in museums while the streets are in their present de- plorable condition. Mayor Wickham will therefore do well to turn his early attention to the Park Department. THE MAYOR'S DUTY—THE DOOKS. The Dock Department is at present com ducted under a ‘law outside the city charter. It is, however, recognized in the charter, and is thus subject to all the provisions applicable to other departments in regard to reports, ea- timates, &c. But the present Commissioners, excepting, of course, the recently appointed Mr. Wales, have insisted that the department is a sort of independent government by itself— a close corporation, not reached by the chase ter, not subject to its provisions and not called upon to pay any attention to the Board of Apportionment. The Commissioners have, therefore, declined to put in an annual esti- mate, as other departments do, orto make apy statement to the Board of Apportionment of its officers and employés and of the salaries paid to them, There may be a motive for this resistance to the law. The Dock Depart- ment hes spent a vast amount of money and has given the people nothing in return. It seems to be an extravagant, incompetent, mis- menaged department, and its affairs demand ® very scrutinizing investigation. When Mayor Wickham takes office he will, no doubt, make an early overhauling of this department. We shall then have an entirely new Board of Apportionment, with the ex- ception, probably, of Tax Commissioner Wheeler, and the Dock Commissioners will be held in proper restraint, But the most de- sirable action Mayor Wickbam can take will be to clear out the department. The dock improvements are highly important to the future progress and prosperity of the city, amd Mayor Wickham cannot too soon remove the present costly drones of the abused depart- ment and fill their places with active, ener getic and capable men. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. Baron de Bussterre, of Paris, has apartments at the Hoffman House. Dr. Austin Fitnt, Jr., willbe appointed surgeen on the Governor's stam. Assemblyman F. A. Alberger, of Bu/Talo, Is step- ping at the Metropolitan Hotel. Congressman Stephen A. Huribut, of [ilinote, te staying at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. General James H. Ledlie, of Chicago, is among she latest arrivals at the St. James Hotel. is King Calico of the same family with the “colored prints” that come from France? Sixty-six thousand fewer emigrants teft Liver- pool in the last year than in the year before. Professor Peter S. Michie, of West Point, ts re- siding temporarily at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Adjutant General James A. Cunningham, of Mas- sachusetts, is registered at the St. Nicholas Hotel. Mme. Iima di Murska returned to this city (rem Boston yesterday, and is at the Union Square Hotel. In the Munich Military Academy the Russian language has been put on the list of obligatery stadies. Dr. Hayes, the Arctic explorer, was given s re- ception on Friday at Cincinnati by tne Chamber of Commerce. Mr. J. M. Walker, President of the Chicago, Bur- Ington and Quincy Ratiroad Company, is sojourm- ing at tue Windsor Hotel. At Agram, in Croatia, the newspaper Obzor has adopted the practice of adding to each announce- ment o! a death the name of the medical practi- tloner who attended the deceased. Thiers said to an interviewer, “France ts neither monarchical nor Bonapartist, but repab- lican; and MacMahon will ger in trouble tf he hesitates between the monarchy and the Repab- lic.” If the Pope 1s not a sovereign he has no right to coin money, and so the authorities in France have taken steps against the further circuiation of franc pieces, or Italian lire, with the Pope’s head on them. In Russia it is forbiaden by a recent law for any Jew to be employed on raiiway itnes as @ func. tlonary in charge of goods at the stations. Jews in such employment have in that country beem found generally dishonest; hence the sweeping prohibition. The Paris Liberté argues that tor the indisot- pline of the medical students the authorities are to blame, asin permitting them to smoke tnetr pipes or cigars during lectures and to sit wits their hats on while the professors are uncovered | they are taught a mischievous indulgence of per- sonai caprice, AS & gentleman was nearly run over in a nar- row London street by a dray, he shouted to the driver, “Do you want to kill me ?’ whereupon the intelligent driver put tbe thumb of his dexter hand to bis nose, and, spreading out his fingers like @ fan, replied, “if | had knowed you was a-coming this way I would have sent you a post cara |? There seems to be nearly everything tn the police of this city except brains, It only takes @ mere pinch of brains to make a detective, yet we dave not a single detective. The use made of the Ridge street clew in the Ross case was, for clamst- ness and stuptaity, worthy a full grown hippopote mus. A little hippopotamas would have had more tach Paris journalists are discussing the dates of their papers. Every paper wiich appears in Paris on Monday is dated Tuesday, and this usage is based upon the utterly nonsensical notion that when the paper reaches the country at a day's distance from Paris it wil, if dated correctiy, seem to bea day old. .They seem to fancy that the country people are #0 stupid as not to know of incalculable benefit to property, and would | buildings going on in the Central Park, new | thatit must be day old whatever date it pears, enable the laboring people to possess comtort- | able homes at cheap rents, instead of being huddled together in unhealthy tenément | houses. A great deal of inconsiderate talk is | indulged in as to the impracticability of build- ing a rapid transit road in New York. The | embarrassments thrown in the way of such a | project by interested parties and the corrnp- tion that has prevailed in our State legisla- tures have stood in the way of the work. The “stop” policy that bas impeded all city im- \ like character of our city government and the | general financial depression have obstructed | projects that have been started in good faith. | But there is no reagon why we should not be. supplied with so great a public convenience as a steam railroad through the city, and with | such energy, capacity and liberality in the administration as would revive trade, increase | the value of property and restore confidence, , we should soon be able to command sufficient capital to build sachs road The new con- stitational amendments are calenlated to aid rather than to embarrass the enterprise, since j they stop special legislation on the subject and place it under general laws. We therefore expect Mayor Wickham to help us on with the desirable work by making his administration one of enterprise and liberal. ity, and by effecting those reforms in the finance and other devartments of the citv \ gineers. We | the-way walks, bridges and tunnels and other walks laid out, new bridges built, out-of-the- way roads made and useless tunnels con. | structed, necessitating the employment of a small army of architects and en- should have confined our | expenditures to the proper care and mainte- nance of the walks and drives, and should have made no -new improvements, unless it | the others put together. Our public parks | are good enough as they are for ten years to | oome if properly maintained. The money thrown away apon museums, galleries of art, | observatories that have no existence, out-of- humbugs could be more profitably used in repaving our wretched streets, macadamizing | Broadway and Fifth avenue and making other | substantial improvements calculated to benefit | the city, accommodate the people and revive | the value of property. Mayor Wickham takes office on January 1 and can make athorough reform in the policy of the Central Park management. A change in the Comptroller's office will, in fact, be a substantial change in the Park Department, aa the objectionable expenditures are under- stood to be made under thg Comptroller's in- fluence. The people do not begrudge’ any prover and unecessary exvenditure gn the and they seem also in caring for the small notions of the countrymen to utterly ignore what may be thought in the case by the people tn Paria, In the Italian papers there appears @ letter from Garibaldi to ‘ear Kiboll,”’ in reference to his cir- cumstances and to assistance from this country. He says ‘Henceforth | suail require oothing, and espectaiiy no subacription in my favor. Wi the commercial dimculsies of my sons gave ucca- sion to the newspapers to remember that I was | might have been the inexpensive and popular | not rich, a similiar recollection suggested to Mr. ! one of a combined drive, bridle path and | Koss, of Toronto, the idea of oferiug me a sum of | promenade, which would have been worth all | money, which I expected to accept. No such sam came; but Ms. Joun Anderson, uf New York, with. ‘| Oot any previous notice, sent me a drafton Me. Rothschild for 6,000 lire in gold. I therefore ac- cept no subscription.” Ths suggests several in- Guirtes as to who is Mr. Ross, of Toronto? Did ne ! ase Garipaldi’s name to make a suvscriptiont And if he did where is the money? On the 10th of November Mrs. Guinot and an old woman were digging potatoes in a field at the edge of the forest of Clairvaux, in France, whena woif came out and looked at them. He, perhaps thought in the distance that Mrs, Guinot and the } old woman were another Little Rea Riding Hood and her grandmother. But that wae an error. Mrs, Guinot threw stones at nim. He was not Irightened, but he retired a little into the o9- scurity of the forest. The stout came followed him, armed with the imple had been digging, and the old woman ran ao the shadow of the forest the wolf waited tor Dame Guinot with his eyes biasing and his mouth hal open. She hit him on the head, which startied him, She bit bim sgain and nhs bim dows and, after a desperate combat on his part, she Gm- ished him, put him on her shouiders and carried Lum home. He waa A Wall ar tbe lanont pina.