The New York Herald Newspaper, May 1, 1875, Page 6

q NEW YORK BROADWAY AND JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR. NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.—On and after January 1, 1875, the daily and weekly editions of the Nzw Youx Hexawp will be sent free of postage. THE DAILY HERALD, published every day in the year. Four cents per copy. An- ual subscription price $12. All business or news letters and telegraphic fespatches must be addressed Nzw Youx Buna. Rejected communications will not be re- turned, Letters and packages should be proper! vealed. F LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORE HERALD—NO, 46 FLEET STREET. PARIS OFFICE—NO. 3 RUE SCRIBE. Subscriptions and advertisements will be received and forwarded on the same terms es in New York. HERALD ANN STREET, VOLUME XL. .--esercvecccesseresseneseoeseee NO, 12] AMUSEMENTS ‘THIS APTERNOON AND EVENING, OLYMPIC THEATRE, ¥, 534 Broséway.—V ASINTY, ater, M. Matinee at 2 P. M. FIFTH AVENUE THKATRE, nth alot and Broadway.—THE BIG BO- Ex BY. M5 oi t 10:30 P.M. Mr. Fisher, —e diss Davenpory Mrs Gilbert Matinee at 1 avy SROCkKEIT, a8 P, M.; closes at 1 at 8 P.M, BBW Mr. Mayo. Matinee at 1 30 P. ral BOWERY THEATRE, Seger tas AS STEGKL, at P. M. Matinee at 1:30 ‘M. ; closes at 10:45 pies Ce Ma ty et a cixth avenae.—! ad monte oF et closes at li Fe Me Mise Neilson. al q wn chroed ase Wi th areaue-LA JOLIE PAR. t! ne: ixth avepue.—! POREOSE, ar 8 PML Mile. Aimee. Matinee at 1:30 Tae eracttis ceehtSRGRO way, corner of Twentyenint a PINSTELA StS. M.; closes atl0 P.M. Matinee at TIVOLI THEATRE, nth sti between Second and Third avenges— FeRies a ak RMS closes at 12 PM. Matinee. EATRE, th P. M.; closes at 10:40 reys-Lewis, Matinee at WALLACK": Bixteonth t re Eat BNGtwarme, P.M street —! By N . Gloss atl 30 P.M. Matines at2P. AM. orate BOWERY OPERA HOUSE, 201 Bowery.—VARIEZTY, at 6 P.M; closes at 1015 | . M, — > % EP. a. PhoRouGuBReDr ats THEATRE COMIQUE, fo. S14 Broadway. —' Apary, ate P. M; closes at 10-05 . M. Matinee at? ?. GY RMANIA THEATRE, yen stree.—FALoCHE BIEDERMANNER, at 8 . Ma; closes ROMAN HIPPODROME, Capiteline Grounds, Brooklyn.—iwo P. M. ana 8 P.M. METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, ‘West Fourteenth sireot.—Open from 104. Mw 5 P.M Ful: ee MTETY at 8 Pe Sy closes at 10:45 tom avenae.— eTY, at . : at P.M Matinee at 2 P.M. SS TRIPLE SHEET. 1875. From our reports this morning the probabilities ere that the weather to-day wil be clear and warm, followed by light rain. Wat Srnzzr Yestexpar.—Stocks exhib- ited less than usual activity or strength. Money on call was quoted at 3} and 4 per sent. Gold closed at 115} and foreign ex- shange was firm. Tax Revrvats.—We give the opinions of several eminent clergymen on this subject to-day. ’ coaaaennsiniceihaimenastan Axp So the faithful Commons at St | Btephen’s decided not te discipline the Lon- don press. Ix Iowa they have convicted a former State Treasurer of embezzlement. This is a good beginning. Racera m Excianp.—We present to-day n interesting letter on the Craven meeting at Newmarket, and the results of the four days’ racing from an American view. Veny Lrrriz Countrrrert Morry has been in circulation since the adoption of the national currency, but recently some rascals have been taking advantage of the general confidence to pat spurious bills in circulation. One ét these was canght yesterday and bas been held for trial by Commissioner Shields. Tae Coroztany of General Spinner’s excuse | for sending only ten dollars in aid of the Meck- | lenburg Centennial celebration—tha: he bad | left his office as Treasurer of the United | Btates s poor man—would seom to be that if | be had enriched himself as other office-holders have donea much larger sum might have been expected of him. Should this idea gen- erally obtain among our public men who grew rich at the expense of the people the Philadelphia Centennial will not be in any want of funds. Tear Livery Op Grytiewax, Baron Waldeck, has just died in Paris, in his one bundred and tenth year. For a century or so he was very active both in the social and | artistic world, and he did not lose his interest in affairs up to the time of his death. In many respects Waldeck was a remarkable wan, und especially in the patience he exhib- stredt—BLACK-EYED | NEW YORK HERALD, SATURDAY, MAY ], 1875,—TRIPL Governor Tilden and the City Chare ter-"Better Late than Never,” It is given ont by Governor Tilden’s friends, apparently by his authority, that he is pre paring » special message recommending ® thorough reorganization of our municipal gov- ernment. We trust this is true. There is no subject on which the sagacity of the Governor could be more usefully employed. We only regret that he did not take this great subject in hand at an earlier stage of the session, We fear it is too Inte to do anything valuable be- fore this Legislature adjourns, although there is no subject, not even canal reform, on which the necessity for early action is so urgent. This city comprises about one-fourth of the population of the State. It contains nearly one-half of the taxable property. The value of the rural property of the State is more than doubled by its nearness to so great and valua- ble a market as New York city. This city is the chief mart of the foreign commerce of the country and has closs business rela tions with every State in the Union. It has been a painful surprise during the winter and spring that Governor Tilden, a resident of this metropolis, a lawyer whose extensive professional relations with various railroad interests have given him a clear per- ception of the importance of the city to the general commerce of the country, should have treated its wants with apparent indifference. Nobody knows better than he how scand.a- lously this great city has been misgoverned. Nobody better understands the defects of its present charter. It seemed astonishing therefore, that be should permit the greater part of the session to pass without lifting a finger for the redress of its grievances and the rectification of abuses which have so long pre- vailed in its municipal administration. We rejoice if he is, at last, bestowing proper attention on this great subject. We pledge him our loyal support in any intelligent efforts he may make to give us a wise munici- pal government. Weare sorry he begins so late, but we will not further reproach his tardiness if he will now lift this great subject into the prominence it deserves. The friends authorized to speak for him express doubts whether the contemplated | message will be sent in now or deferred till the next Legislature. We regret that he has given occasion for such a doubt. His plan, so far as he has foreshadowed it, requires | no delay in the first steps, So for as it can be conjectured from what he has given out it contemplates the passage of a law authorizing him to appoint a commission of eminent | citizens to frame a charter to be submitted to the people of the city for adoption. There is no reson why he should not ask the present Legislature to confer on him authority, Governor Tilden has been too | long conversant with the subject to need another year for sketching the outlines of a .good charter, and the maturing of the details should be left to the capable men whom he will appoint as commissioners with the ad- vantage of bis suggestions in the progress of their work. The Legislature is entitled to know his chief points, his fundamental con- ceptions, before it passes such an act; but the minor provisions and adjustments should be passed before this session closes, with a pro- vision tor submitting the new charter to our citizens in the next election. If it be true that the Governor’s plan con- | ternplates a submission of the charter to o | vote of the people and makes its success de- | pend on their neceptance it will vindicate the | Gover iors fidelity to the great principle of | home rale. Such a plan—if this be the plan— | is a full recognition of the right of the people | of the city to determine the form of their | | local government. The project of a commis- sion of competent men to frame a charter is | preferable to the direct action of the Legisla- ture, a majority of whose members know | nothing of city affairs. Weare quite willing | to trust the selection of the commission to the untrammelled choice of the Governor. Such ex-Mayors of the city as Mr. Opdyke and Mr. Hoffman would be valuable membera of the commissiou, because they would contribute | ripe experience and practical knowledge of | details. Tax Commissioner George H. | Andrews would be a good member. One of our great property holders, like William B. | Astor, some eminent lawyer of the standing of Mr. Evarts, and even a practical politician like Jobn Kelly, would be fit members of such a commission. It should be so composed as to give it the advantage of every | variety of municipal experience, so that no | important point could escape attention, but | with such a ballast of high character and | strong sense that crude or one-sided sugges- tions would be ruled cut. A charter jramed by such a commission would embody the most | enlightened ideas on the subject of municipal | government, and would doubtless be adopted | by a great majority of our citizers. The plan of the commissicn should not be reported to a future Legislature for its sanction, but be submitted directly to the voters of the city. This would be home rule under the guidance of eminent practical wisdom. A charter thus tramed and adopted should be superior to any- thing we can ever expect from rural legisla- tors who know nothing of the city and whose ignorance makes them the easy dupes of art- fol and plausible demagogues who assume to represent the city. We hope Governor Tilden will net spoil a great opportunity by that tendency to pro- crastination which is the infirm part of his character. The laurels he has won by his ap- planded assault on the Canal Ring bave so strengthened his influence that he is in the best possible position for carrying any uuselfish, non-partisan measure. If he asks this Legislature for authority to appoint a cotnmission for framing a good cherter, to be ited in re: ug on this planet long after the friends of his yonth—and of his age, too, for submitted to the pe wple of the city in the next that maticr—bad gone to a brighter anda election, the Legislature will probably grant it. hoppicr sphere. We are confident he would not compose such -—— — a commission exclusively of democrats. We Green's Trssrer has be- pome so bad that. instead of attending to the public basinces, he often spends the time of the boards and commissions of which he is @ officio s momber talking like a fishwoman, fu Mr. Salem H. Wales he tound his match; but the Mayor is almost as powerless against bi vituperstion ax Mme. Angot’s daughter im the hands of Mile. Lange. At the meeting of the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund yesterday Green talked so much and with so much violence that he seemed possessed of poo of those traditional tougues which were taid to be loose at both ends. are sure he would not put upon it nobodies destitnte of experience in city affairs, The strong tendencies Governor Tilden has evinced to cultivate the approbation of the community at large are a guarantee that he would not abuse his power in so vital a mat- ter. We hope his intended message will not be de‘erred. Let it have the the advantage of the flash of his newly acquired popularity. We are confident that the press of the city will give him its unanimous and applanding support in a prompt attempt to rectify the erying evils of our present bad charter. | Everybody will forget and condone his delay: leit to the commission. The act ought to be | everybody will invoke blessings on his head if he will now at lost exert his influence to secure to the city of his residence the best scheme of govern- ment which the wisest minds in our com- munity can devise, Such a commission as he is understood to desire is better than any sup- posable charter framed by @ committee of the Legislature. But Governor Tilden must not amuse and delude us by mere promises. We approve bis views as we understand them, but we recognize no excuses for delay. This suffering community will not excuse him if he leaves our municipal government to flounder onin its present chaotic confusion without asking measures of remedy from this Legis- lature. An incidental benefit which will result from an immediate communication of Governor Tilden’s foreshadowed message is the squelch- ing of the projects for making Comptroller Green the autocrat of the city government. Moving day presents a question of political as well as domestic economy to the metropolis, and itis time wo began to consider how we ean prevent the annual depopulation of the city by devising means to properly house our population. eR ie Ee Justice a la Mode, Tbe closing of the detence in the Beecher case marks an important step in this great trial. With the testimony of General Tracy Mr. Evarts closed his evidence for the defend- ant. It was hardly expected upon his part, as the imagination of the people had conjured up 4 series of spicy witnesses—Mr. Bowen, Mrs. Morse, Mrs. Woodhull, and, above all, Mrs. Tilton. The evidence of General Tracy does not seem to have been of any especial consequence, except to allow Mr. Beach to avenge the wrongs of Judge Fullerton. It seems that during the administration of President Johnson Mr. Tracy, as the District Attorney Generous minds may look with indulgence on Governor Tilden’s wish to save an old friend, but there is no reason why the Governor or why anybody should favor the bills for making the Comptroller an autocrat in city affairs. If the Governor should send in his message now it would explode Green’s ambitious projects. It would pet an end to factious tampering with the charter and leave Green in the posi- tion of an officer whose term expires next autumn and who has not the slightest chance ofareappointment. Governor Tilden cannot be ignorant of Green's unpopularity, and should be willing to see him dropped at the expiration of his term, even though he is un- willing to sanction his removai before the term expires. From the moment that Gover- nor Tilden sends in his intended message Green’s bills will collapse and projected | amendments of the charter will be postponed in deference to the radical changes expected from the Governor's commission. We sincerely hope that the Governor will relieve the existing muddle by communicating his message to the Legislature without unneces- sary delay. The Independence of Belgium. A despatch, based upon the authority of the London Times, informs us that the Bel- gian government has answered the demand of Germany, to the effect that it shonid | prosecute the person, Duchesne, on a charge | of having contemplated the assassination of | Prince Bismarck, by the explicit statement | that the Belgian courts are incompetent to | take proceedings, Our readers will remem- | ber that complaint was addressed by Bis- | marck to Belgium to the effect that the | delay in the prosecution of Duchesne | was an injury to Germany, and that | Belgium, as an act of good will, should | so reform its laws that they would take cog- | | nizance of these offences. In the comity of | Bations it very often happens that acts will | occur upon the territory of one people an- | | nosing and injurious to the citizens of other | countries. The sense of independence and | | sovereignty possessed by a free people pre- | vents anything more than a remonstrance | | where the laws are insufficient, During the civil war America and American citizens were eeriously injured by the acts of men who claimed the protection of the British | | flag. In defiance of all of our remonstrances | | on the subject Great Britain claimed that so | long as her people did not break her laws and did not come within the law of extradition she could not consent to punish them for any act committed on American soil. Whatever | we may have thought in our anger, no ono | now doubts that England took the proper and | | manly ground. England could not in self- respect, or with due regard to her own inde- pendence, submit to the dictation of America ss to how she should deal with her own people. Nor would America consent to any | | interference from England iu her municipal | laws because of the Fenian acts, for | instance, with the attempts to invade | Canada from American soil. The demand of | Prince Bismarck is a porallel case, the differ- _ence being that he represents the mighty power of Germany and deals with the slender, | uncertain power of Belgium. Belgium has | ‘answered the demand of Bismarck with | proper spirit. She has replied as becomes an | independent nation. If this Duchesne has broken no Belgian law Germany has no right to ask Belgium to punish him. We think that in the position thus taken Belgiam will | be protected by the reason aud common sense | and good faith of the other great Powers, Moving Day Considerations. | May Day comes again, though May time is | still enveloped in the icy garments of winter. It was the custom in the olden days to formally | welcome the summer season on the first of | May with fresh flowers and green leaves, but | this year we have none of these, and it is April | instead of March that goes out more like the | lion than the lamb. Moving day, however, | comes with May Day whatever the weather, | and on every hand in the metropolis there are | | to Mr. Beecher. of Brooklyn, instituted a suit against Mr. Fullerton, in which he was triumphantly acquitted, and so conducted the case that he incurred that gentleman’s enmity. Mr. Beach, with that sense of fidelity to his brother practitioner which has marked his whole demeanor in this case, amply avenged Mr. Fallerton by submitting Mr. Tracy toa severe and impressive cross-examination. Common people, who are only interested in the administration of justice, may marvel that the quarrels of Mr. Fullerton and Mr. Tracy should be allowed to play so prom- inent a part in the trial of Mr. Beecher. But this case bas gone beyond all precedent or control, and we must marvel at nothing. ‘Witnesses who have suffered so much in the way of cross-examination at the hands of the lawyers will look with complacency upon one attorney torturing another. Now, however, that Mr. Beach has cross-examined Tracy, the interests of a fair fight, if not of justice and fair play, demand that Mr. Tracy should be allowed to examine Mr. Beach. That would be exciting. There has been much disappointment be- cause of the failure of Mr. Evarts to call Mrs. Tilton as a witness. The Hznaup has always contended that without the testimony of Mrs. Tilton there could be no proper ver- dict in this case, We urged upon the Legisla- ture the necessity of passing a law to enable her to testify. It isa matter concerning not ouly her own honor, but that of her children, and she, of all persons in the world, can say whether or not she has been guilty of the crime of adultery. It seems especially cruel, also, that Mr. Tilton ehould be allowed, by statements and cards to the press and inter- views with reporters and days of examination | and cross-examination on the witness stand, to fasten upon his wife a charge which had only come to him at best from hearsay, and she should not be permitted to make her defence. This seemed to be an enormity in our law. A Dill was introduced into the Legislature to so amend the law of evi- dence that Mrs. ‘Tilton should be called. The Committee on the Judiciary re- ported against it, for good reasons, no doubt, and it fell through. As soon as the de- fence closed Mr. Beach, with admirable tact, announced upon the pert of the plaintiff that there would be no objection to Mrs. Tilton | As a masterstroks in the | conduct of the case this move of Mr. Beach's | taking the stand. was superb, and the impression it will make upon the people generally will be unfavorabis At the sam> time we do not see how Mrs. Tilton could have been, even by the consent of the counsel, with a statute expressly against her, competent to testify, | This especially with the still further fact that the Legislature, the law-making power, had | retused to amend this act. Whatever the value of Mrs. Tilton’s evidence may be in this case the law is the law, and it is the master of us all. We donot see, therefore, how it | could be competent for Mr. Evarts on one side and Mr. Beach on the other, and Judge Neilson as a consenting party, to make any agreement that would violate the law. With- out pretending toa knowledge of the subtle ethics of the legal profession we do not see, either, how an attorney could seriously pro- | pose an act which he knew to be directly in contravention with the laws of the State which he has sworn to defend. At the same time the policy of Mr. Beach in offering Mrs. Tilton will produce profound effect throughout the country. Mr. Evarts made the best answer in his power, the only | answer, in fact. He might have commented, perhaps, on the anxiety‘of Mr. ‘Tilton’s coun- sel to add still further to the measureless pain and sorrow and suffering that has fallen | upon this woman through this extraordinary trial of an examination under oath. This, perhaps, he reserves for a still further occa- | sion. The disappointment in not hearing the evidence pf Mrs. Tilton, especially among those who have long ceased to regard itas a trial, but as an exhibition, will be sincere. There is a hope, however, that we shall have | Mr. Bowen and Mrs. Woodhull and Mr. Ste- phen Pearl Andrews and probably Gen- H SHEET, district," A fire like this occurring after « long period of depression and business prose tration, and in the beginning of @ prosperous spring season, is not only a calamity to those upon whom it has fallen but « distress to the whole region. We suppose it isa necessity of our civilization that we should build these thin, unsubstantial dwellings which fall be- fore the first gale or crackle in the first flame. With the nomadic tendency of our people, their disposition to float from town to town and State to State, seeking that ideal West, which was the romance of so many, itis hard to expect them to build dwellings that will last longer than s year or two. If such dwellings are built there will be fires like this at Oskosh, The marvel is that we do not have them every day in other parts of the country, The moral of the disaster should be the necessity of reconstructing our cities and building houses that will exist for generations, and so defy the flames by making it impossible for them to do their dreadful work. jpeaker McGuire. It would be a pleasant alleviation of edito- rial toils if we could always obey the apostolic pfecept not to ‘speak evil of dignities.” We are sincerely sorry that Speaker McGuire comes across our path and obstructs our wish to cultivate an amicable temper toward ‘all in authority.” The best we can do is to pray for him; we cannot approve him. He will give us no opportunity to do the latter. With the persistency of a jack-in-the-box he is no sooner down in oné scrape than he pops up again in another. A few weeks ago the Gov- ernor excited his pugnacity. Then his “whoop” was heard, and his high St Patrick’s Day beaver was thrown into the Tammany Ring. A few days ago he slapped the floor as an invitation for Assemblyman Davis to ‘come on.” Yesterday his coat was off for a round with democratic newspipers in general and Assembly- man Daly in particular, We are com- manded by ao high authority not to speak evil of dignities; but Speaker McGuire has no dignity to be spoken of at all, and the com- mand cannot apply to him. We recognize and half admire his talents as a hot legislative skirmisher. He is as unique in his way as Bessie Turner was on the witness stand, and Bessie Turner is perhaps as well qualified for the position of Speaker of the Assembly as Jeremiah McGuire. When the Tilton-Woodhull women’s rights millennium comes we may have a Bessie Tur- ner as Speaker of the New York Assembly, and her impulsive liveliness may be as edify- ing as that of the irrepressible member for Chemung. Bessie in breeches could not be more glib-tongued, audacious or incon- siderate than the fiuent, irascible Speaker who comes down from his chair to delight ina Donnybrook shindy on the floor of the House. Satan may fathom his motives, but we can- not. Wecould understand a Beseie Turner in trousers, whose spiteful impudence and gush, munister to the ill-regulated vanity of an un- disciplined young woman. But howa man | with a beard on his face can make such a dis- play passes comprehension. Bessie McGuire isan enigma. At Donnybrook the character might be familiar enough. The McGuire in his shirt sleeves, dragging his coat through the crowd, extending to the company a gen- eral invitation to tread on its tail, and giving point to the request by the expert twirl of a shillalab, would be understandable, The McGuire in a deliberative assembly, srmed with the gavel of a presiding official and con- stantly shouting, ‘Who'll knock tke chip off my shoulder?’ is puzzle. Such a character | in such a body is as much ont of place asa bulldog in a lady's boudoir. There is nothing to object to in the mere | act that the Speaker comes down from his | chair to take partin the debates. It is one | of his rights as a member. But he has no | right to desert his dignity when he leaves the | chair. When he participates in the debates, | which he should do but rarely and only on great occasions, he should set an example of the dignity, courtesy, wisdom and argumen- | tative pertinence which befit parliamentary | | discussions. He dishonors his position if he | indulges in offensive personal flings. It is | inexcusable for him to make violent, traculent | attacks on persons who are not present to de- | fend themselves. It is a violation of parlia- | mentary propriety for any member, let alone | the Speaker, to make a vehement |assanlt on a member of the other | House, as Mr. McGuire did on Senator | Jacobs, or on the Chief Magistrate of the | State, as he did on the Governor. It matters | not whether his personal vituperation hit the mark or was wide of the mark, he had no mght to launch out into personal vitupera- | tion at all and talk on the floor of the Assem- bly with the license of an irresponsible bar- | room politician. A member who has been elevated to the position of presiding officer, | and made the appointed guardian of digmity and decorum in debate, forfeits every title to signs that it bas come to the denizens of New | eral Batler. We do not think there could | respect when he appears on the floor as the York once more. It really seems as if people | be fonr livelier witnesses. Under proper | hectoring bully of his fellow members and refuse to own or live in their own houses in | treatment of General Butler, for instance, | the assailant o: gentlemen not present who this city for the mere pleasure of changing | in the process of a cross-examination by Mr. | oecapy high and responsible positions in the | their abodes once a year. Sostrong is the | Evarts, there would be a great deal of amuse- | gtate government. A Speaker who leaves the | spirit of moving day that even our wealthiest | families change their residences every few years, the encroachments of business and the | desire for better mansions being the explana- tion of the uptown movement of our popula- tion. Similar reasons govern the middle and poorer classes. Most families fiud themselves either better off or worse off as May Day comes round. If better they s better homes, and if they have retrograded they are compelled to content themselves with less @xpensive quarters. In consequence of all this moving day is one of the necessary muta- commercial city, and, iction in terms, stitution.’’ This year, we believe, the to be fewer changes than on any moving day within the last decade, and yet there are more houses unlet than at the same time in any previous year. Theso facts indicate greater stability in the future, and if rents fall toa proper standard the result wil! be a return to the city of many families which have been living in the neighboring villages. It is very desirable that New York should keep as much of her poptlation withia her own limits as possible, | and if the cost of dwellings is reduced so as to make the annual hegira less universal the | return of othors, which would quickly follow, | growing town will prove a great blessing im every way. | in the very heart of it marked as ment. Mr. Bowen is said to be suffused with information which oozes ont at the approach of every reporter of the press. Itis scarcely the terrific onslaught made by Mr. Tracy in the opening. Mr. Bowen owes it to himself to become a witness, to state what he knows, | and he must know a good deal affecting the reputation and conduct of all the parties to this suit. The evidence for rebuttal cannot last very long. As it looks now we shall have a verdict by the middle of May, and then be enabled to live once again like Christian people and enjoy the blessings of the summer and spring. The Moral of the Flames Nothing could be more distressing in its way than this fire at Oshkosh, Wis. We have had so many achievements in the way of large conflagrations that it is scarcely worth | while dwelling upon ‘an estimated loss of two millions of dollars.’’ Chicago and Boston and Philadelphia have all done infinitely bet- ter in the way of the destruction of property. There is searcely a month that passes in which New York does not exceed this figure. It is painful to look over the lines which trace on thé map of this young and and find so large a space ‘the burned gavel and brandishes the shillalah, like a wild, untamed Irishman, is a spectacle never seen | before, and, we trust, never to be seen in | expected Mr. Beach will fail to call him after | onal in the Legislature of New York. Another Grievance. When Mayor Wickham tendered the posi- tion of Commissioner of Public Works to General Fitz John Porter there was a loud wail from the Fourth avenue improvement. The old statesmen of the empire of past years who have’been digging and building and faithfully completing this fine roadway bare been patiently waiting that retarn of Tam- | many to power which would give them the | prominence they held in days when the exile of Blackwell's Island was master of New York. Bus instead of going into the Fourth avenue improvement and select- ing @ representative statesman like Harry Genet, or Mike Norton, or Tom Fields, Mayor Wickham took a curled darling of the Man- | hattan Club, who was not even a resident of | New York, and gave to him the first place in | his gift. The anger was so intense and the | resentment was so widespread at the appoint- | ment that it was reported that this would be the end of the Manhattan Ciud politics. Now it seems that the Mayor has offered | one of the police commissionerships to Gen- | eral Smith, better known as “Baldy” Smith, and the attention it would excite, might | who served under McClellan im the Peninsula, and afterwari became bitter critic of General Grant, General Smith is another curled darling of the Man- hattan Club, who has never had any sym- pathy with the genuine democracy in New York, and who probably does not know the difference between the Fourth and Eleventh wards, nor whether Mullingar is in the north or south of Ireland. We have no doubt that he will make an efficient Police Commis: sioner, that he is a gentleman of learning; but what sympathy has he with the Fourth avenus improvement statesmen? What idea has he in common with the eighty thousand of the democracy who vote for the party whether it raing orshines? Are we to believe that, under the new régime, there is to be o peerage in the democracy for the good of the Manhattan Club? Are they to be given all the offices, all the contracts, all the opportunities for dis- tinction and wealth, while the mere voting people are to have no opportunity but that afforded by such useful and stern employments as building stone walls on the Fourth avenue improvement for two dollars a day? If Mayor Wickham is resolved upon this policy we shall have livelier times ahead in local cam- paigns than have been dreamed of tor many & day. How Shali We Clean the Streets of New York? The street cleaning abuse has long been one of the most scandalous features of the New York city government. The taxpayers have been compelled to pay in the neighbor- hood of a million dollars a year for the ex- pense of the Street Cleaning Bureau, and every year the condition of the streets hag grown worse than the preceding year and the business has been more and more shamefully neglected. We have been going downward on a sliding scale until at last incompetency seems to have reached its lowest depth, and after a winter of inaction the summer is com- ing upon us to find our streets reeking with filth and pregnant with disease and death. I¢ was bad enough during the winter and early spring to be compelled to submit to the ine convenience and annoyance of interrupted travel and almost impassable sidewalks while officials who squander the public money were scarcely waking a pretence of doing more than distribute the patronage of the department among ward politicians and country legislators, But now the incapacity and neglect of the bureau are a more serious matter, for they threaten the public health. The city is more filthy now than it has ever before been ai this season ofthe year, and without a re form in the bureau or a change of system it is not likely to improve. There is no doubt great difficulty in keep. ing New York clean. The wretched condition of some of the streets, full of holes that gather and retain the slush and filth, is on serious obstruction to the work. With com mon sense and common honesty we ought t« be able to accomplish something with an out lay of a million dollars a year, or nearly twe thousand seven hundred and forty dollars « day all the year round, Sundays included. But it is very certain that we get but little more return for the money than ig realized in the support of a large army of political bammers. So many plans have been tried and failed that the peopl have about made up their minds to favor ax entire new departure. This feeling has led te the suggestion of the entire abolishment of » Street Cleaning Department, as it now exists, | and the passage of a law compelling the | owners of property to keep the streets and roads clean, each owner being respon sible for the condition of the sidewalk and half the roadway in front of his house | and lot, The argument in favor of the plan is that the tax for a million dollars is collected of the property owners or taxpayers now and is thrown away, the streets scarcely being cleaned at all; that the expense of cleaning by each individual owner would be no heavier, and probably not nearly so heavy as the tax he has to pay, while the work would be done and the streets kept clean. When ®& property owner was compelled, under heavy penalties, to keep his own share of ¢ | street clean the money he paid out for that pur | pose would be spent on the work, and the people | would have the benefit. While the tax he pays goes into the hands of incapable or um | reliable officials the money is diverted from its legitimate purpdéses, becomes a political | fand and tke work is not done atall. There may be practical difficulties to be overcome in making the proposed system work; but i/ | would seem almost as easy for a houscholde | to clean the sidewalk and half the road ix | front of his house and lot as it is to remow the garbage and ashes from the interior of his | house daity for the purpose of having it carted away. The carrying away of the street dirt | would be done by contractors, who would re | alize o profit out of the loads and could make | their own arrangements, if necessary, with | the householders in the several localities, | This system of making the property owners os | householders do the street cleaning work | themselves and bear the expense, enforcing the observance of the law by heavy penalties | for neglect, would not, in the end, cost the | taxpayer as much as he now pays for street cleaning and might at last insure us clean streets. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE. The German Mintater, Baron Schlozer, expects | to spend the summer in Europe. Major George A. Gordon, Unived States Army, is quartered at the Sturtevant House, Baron Thieimann has been appointed Secretary of the German Legation ia Washington. Lieutenaut Covernor George G. Stil, of Con | nectient, is staying at the Fitta Avenue Hotel. Protessors (. M. Mead and J. H. Thayer, of Anao- ver, Mass., are registered at the Everect Honse, The Prosident will go to his farm iu Missonri before ho removes for the summer to Long Branch, | Postmaster Goneral Marshall Jewell and family are residing temporarily at tne Fifth Avenue Hotel. colonel Frederick A. Conkiing is anxious t¢ know why he was no invited to the Cari Scuurs dinner. Assembiymen PF. W. Vosburgh and A, B. Wenzol arrived from Albany last evening at the Metropolt tan Hotel. Judge Willlam J. Wailace, of the United States District Court tor Northern New York, has arrived at the Homan house, | Vice President Wilson artived in Louisville yes- terday. General ilarian gave nim a reception let nigut. To-day he goes to Lexington to visit MP John C. Breckenridge, who, as Vice President, presided over the Sevate during one of Mr. Wik son's carlier terma.