USA > New York > New York City > History of New York city from the discovery to the present day, V. 2 > Part 19
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* New York Illustrated.
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pleted on Greenwich Street from the Battery to Thirtieth Street, though the cars are not yet making regular trips. Neither of these plans, however, meet all the requirements of the case, and it is evident that a mode of transit fulfilling all the conditions of success has yet to be invented. It can- not, however, be doubted that, with the fertility of expedients which New-Yorkers have always shown to meet any exigencies that might arise, this desirable consummation is only a question of time.
The opening of the year 1870 saw the old charter abolished by the Legislature, and a new one given to the city. The change first had its origin in the members of the Tammany organization sep- 1870. arating into two bitter opposing factions called re- spectively the " Old" and " Young" Democracy-the former being led on the war-path by Wm. M. Tweed, and the latter by Sheriff O'Brien. After much angry dis- putation, both in this city and in the halls of the State Capitol, the "Old Democracy" triumphed, and carried through the new charter. While the fate of that instru- ment was in abeyance, the excitement ran high, and many old and staunch Republicans united, or more prop- erly espoused, for the time being, the cause of the "Young Democracy," whose watchword professed to be "thorough reform in all departments of our corrupt city government." Indeed, so important did it appear that the old charter should be retained, or rather that the new one should be defeated, that the president of the Union League Club, Hon. Jackson L. Schultz, hastily called a meeting on the evening of the 2d of April, at which a committee of fifteen, with the Hon. Horace Greeley as chairman, was appointed to proceed to Albany at the earliest possible moment, and " protest emphati- cally against the passage of the charter now before the Senate, unless it is essentially amended." But although
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the committee performed their duties faithfully, even to opposing it on the floor of the Senate, their efforts availed little ; and although a few modifications were introduced into it, yet the Central Park Commission, with their powers, were changed ; and the NEW CHARTER was given to the city substantially in its original shape .*
* The old and new departments compare as follows :
New. Old.
Finance.
Finance.
Law.
Law.
Police.
Police.
Croton Board.
Public Works. Charities and Correction. Fire.
Street Department.
Charities and Correction.
Health.
Fire.
Public Parks.
Health.
Buildings.
Central Park.
Docks
Buildings.
The number of these departments remains the same, though two old ones are consolidated, and one entirely new one created.
The direct power of the people in the election of public officers under the new charter, and as formerly exercised, compares as follows :
Under New Charter.
Under the Old System.
The people elect-
Mayor.
Corporation Counsel.
Corporation Counsel.
Comptroller.
Aldermen and Assistants.
Supervisors.
School Officers.
Judicial and County Officers.
It will thus be seen that the sum of these changes shows a very considerable loss in the people, even if the various commissioners and other officers were appointed by a Mayor elected for that purpose. But when it is remembered that the appointments are all made by an official about retiring from office, to be succeeded by a Mayor who can exercise no control whatever over any of these executive departments, it will be apparent that the City Government, instead of being more democratic than under the old system, is in reality a great deal less so.
At the present time of writing, however (January, 1872), the presumption is, that the " new charter" will be entirely abolished by the present Legisla- ture now in session ; the State election held on the 7th of November, 1871. having returned a majority of members to both houses pledged to its repeal.
.
The people elected-
Mayor.
Aldermen, who are also Super- visors.
Assistant Aldermen.
School Officers. Judicial and County Officers.
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HISTORY OF NEW YORK CITY.
The main peculiarity of the new charter, stripped of all of its verbiage, appears to consist in two things, viz .. first, that the various commissions which ruled so many departments of the city government and were appointed by the Governor of the State, instead of being elected by the people, are retained, with this difference, that the ap- pointing power is vested in the Mayor of the city of New York; and secondly, that the old system of choosing in- spectors of election is re-established, while the registry law is also retained.
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CHAPTER XV.
THE year 1871 will always be memorable from the occurrence of three events-one of pleasant and two of painful memories. These were : first, the ORANGE RIOT; second, the noble manner in which the 1871.
city of New York responded to the request of the suffer- ers of the GREAT CHICAGO FIRE for relief; and, third, the culmination and exposure of the gigantic frauds, and the downfall of the " TAMMANY RING."
The Orange Riot, which at one time promised to be as disastrous in its effect upon life and property as the " Draft Riot" of the Civil War, occurred on the after- noon of Wednesday, the 12th of July. Numerous threats having been made by the Roman Catholics against the Orangemen should they turn out in procession in honor of the victory won by the Prince of Orange at the battle of the Boyne, the Mayor issued a proclamation forbidding the parade. This step, however, at once aroused such an outburst of indignation, irrespective of party-not only in the city but throughout the country-that Governor Hoffman hastened to issue, on the morning of the day, a counter-proclamation, guaranteeing the safety of all Orangemen who should join in the celebration. The procession accordingly formed at the head-quarters of the Orangemen, on the corner of Twenty-ninth Street and
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Eighth Avenue, and began its march under the escort of four militia regiments, the Seventh, Ninth, Twenty-second, and Eighty-fourth, and a large force of policemen. Scarcely, however, had the procession begun its march, when it was attacked at the intersection of Eighth Avenue and Twenty-sixth Street, both with missiles and fire-arms, hurled and discharged from the street and neighboring housetops. The Seventh Regiment, followed by the Eighty-fourth and the Ninth, thereupon, acting under general though not specific orders, began firing on the crowd by sections, and with such effect that the mob were quickly dispersed. As is almost always the case on such occasions, several innocent persons were unavoidably killed. Still, it is believed that the promptness with which the military opened fire was the means of preventing a vast amount of bloodshed. The number of those who were killed in this riot was sixty-two.
In the morning of Sunday, the 6th of October, the citizens of New York city were startled by the news which flashed along the telegraphic wires that a terrific fire was raging in a sister city. Nor were the emotions to which this intelligence gave rise dissipated when, on the next day, and the next, news came that the fire was still burning with increasing fury, and on the day fol- lowing the further intelligence that, although the fire had been extinguished by a providential rain, yet it was not until five square miles of Chicago had been reduced to ashes, one hundred thousand people rendered houseless, and several hundred persons burned to death.
In response to the cry for help that went up from the stricken city, instant and abundant relief was sent from every part of the Union. Wherever the news was carried it awakened the best impulses of human nature. The General Government sent thousands of tents and army 78
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rations. Societies and private citizens sent money, cloth- ing, and provisions. Railroad companies dispatched spe- cial trains laden with these gifts. From Canada and from Europe came expressions of sympathy and proffers of assistance. Foremost among all in the good work was New York city. On Monday and Tuesday, while the fire was in progress, nearly all business was suspended Crowds surrounded the bulletin boards of the newspaper and telegraph offices; men meeting with men could talk - of nothing save the great and-as all considered it- national calamity ; and although there was scarcely a per- son whose business was not more or less injured by the fire, yet when the event was spoken of it was to express heartfelt sympathy with the sufferers-personal consider- ations were cast entirely aside.
As soon as the extent of the disaster was known, meetings were held for the purpose of raising contribu- tions in money and clothing in aid of the victims ; collec- tions were taken up at the different churches ; the pro- prietors of the New York Tribune offered any Chicago newspaper the use of a duplicate set of type and presses ; A. T. Stewart gave individually fifty thousand dollars ; and wagons went through the streets bearing large placards, with the words : "WE TAKE CONTRIBUTIONS FOR THE CHICAGO SUFFERERS." Public and private liberality walked hand in hand. In less than two weeks the hand- some amount in money and material of nearly three mil- lions of dollars was raised and forwarded to Chicago. The City of New York had acquitted herself nobly.
Although it had long been known by the citizens of New York, and the people throughout the country gene- rally, that immense frauds were being perpetrated by cer- tain persons ycleped " members of the Tammany Ring," yet it was not until the early summer of this year that
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the people were fully aroused, both to the alarming state of affairs and to the necessity of bringing the guilty par- ties to justice. Accordingly a vigorous attack upon the " Ring" was first made by the New York Times, which, in a series of able editorials, exposed, by the publication of the exorbitant sums paid for different articles furnished the city government and other documents, the iniquitous proceedings by which the tax-payers of the city had been robbed of their money. There was the record of mil- lions paid away for work that never was done, supplies that never were furnished, chairs and carpets that never were seen in any of the city or county offices. There were warrants drawn in favor of men who had no exist- ence, and indorsed to the order of particular friends and instruments of the "Ring." There were proofs of the most daring forgery as well as of wholesale robbery. The whole country was aroused. Even Europe rang with the scandal.
At first the leaders of the "Ring" contented them- selves with replying either by gibes or by the argumentum ad hominem-referring to alleged frauds in the departments of the Federal Government. At length, however, the sledge-hammer blows dealt day after day in the columns of the Times began to tell, and the "Ring " leaders, relin- quishing their former tactics of treating the accusations lightly, and as a thing to be settled merely by a pert repartee, resorted to various quibbles. The Mayor, for example, stated that he had acted " ministerially," and had, therefore, " no personal responsibility." He also said that his name had been forged to duplicate bills, while the other officers of the municipal government, following the same line, assumed an air of entire ignorance regarding their alleged fraudulent practices.
Meanwhile the disclosures of corruption and malfea- sance in office were of so astounding a nature that the
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people were at length aroused to the importance of vigor- ous measures, and joined in a general demand for some action that would lead to the deposition of the men who had violated their oaths of office and betrayed their high trusts, chief among whom were mentioned A. Oakey Hall, Mayor; Peter B. Sweeney, President of the Com- mission of Public Parks; William M. Tweed, Commis- sioner of Public Works; and Richard B. Connolly, Comp- troller of the City and County of New York-public officers commonly known as the "Ring" rulers of this city.
In obedience to the popular demand the following call was issued and published in the public newspapers :
" A meeting of citizens and tax-payers, irrespective of party, to consider the present condition of the city finances in view of the charges of corruption that have been made in respect to them, and to take such action as the public safety may require, will be held at the Cooper Union on Monday, September 4th, 1871, at 8 P. M. Hon. Wm. F. Havemeyer will preside. Hon. Edward Salomon, Hon. Robert B. Roosevelt, Hon. James Emott, Hon. Oswald Otten- dorfer, Hon. Edwards Pierrepont, Hon. Thomas A. Ledwith, and others, have accepted invitations to address the meeting. All persons opposed to the cor- rupt administration of city affairs are respectfully invited to attend.
In response to this call Cooper Union was crowded on the evening of the 4th of September in every part, and long before the hour announced for the opening of the meeting thousands of citizens were obliged to return to their homes, unable to obtain admission.
At eight o'clock, James M. Brown, Esq., of the firm of Messrs. Brown Brothers & Co., bankers, called the meeting to order, and nominated for chairman the Hon. William F. Havemeyer, ex-Mayor of the city of New York. The organization was completed by the election · of two hundred and twenty-seven Vice-Presidents and fifteen Secretaries. These were chosen from among the most distinguished citizens of New York city.
At this meeting, after the subject for which it had been called had been ably presented by speakers of both
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parties, Joseph H. Choate, Esq., reported a series of reso- lutions, which were unanimously adopted, and are ap- pended, and a committee of seventy citizens and tax-pay- ers was chosen in accordance with the recommendation therein contained.
THE RESOLUTIONS.
"Resolved, That the tax-payers and citizens of New York have learned with astonishment and alarm that the funded and bonded debt of the city and county has been more than doubled within the last two and a half years ; that the acknowledged indebtedness of the city and county is now upward of $113,000,000, being over $63,000,000 more than it was when the present Mayor took his office, and that there is reason to believe that there are floating con- tingent or pretended debts and claims against the city and county which will amount to many millions of dollars in addition, which will be paid out of the City and County Treasury, unless the present financial officers are removed or their proceedings arrested.
" Resolved, That the distinct, precise, and emphatic charges in regard to the use and expenditure of this enormous sum, and the fraudulent misappropria- tion of the public money, which have been made against the present city and county officials, have been met by these officers with contemptuous denials of any power to interfere, with flippant evasions, with studied concealment of a large part of the public accounts, and with attempts to garble and confuse the residue, and by the other parties implicated with an utter silence, which is a con ession of their guilt.
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' Resolved, That the facts and figures already disclosed compel us, as they must all honest and reflecting men, to the conclusion that enormous sums of money have been wrongfully taken from the public treasury ; that millions of dollars have been paid to a few firms and individuals for work never performed and materials never furnished, and this with the procurement or connivance of persons now holding the principal offices of trust and profit under the pres- ent charter; that exorbitant rents are paid for military armories and offices. and in several instances in rooms which do not exist or are not occupied. That the long and continued concealment of the accounts of the city proper furnishes ground to believe that these accounts will disclose facts, if possible, yet more astounding, and will show that the same men who have squandered or stolen hundreds of thousands of the tax-payers' moneys are still engaged in similar frauds and peculations. .
" Resolved, That the public officers directly arraigned at the bar of public judgment for these offenses, are William M. Tweed, now Commissioner of the Department of Public Works, some time President of the former Board of Supervisors, and afterward one of the 'Interim ' Board, who had notoriously a controlling influence in the first of these Boards and shared in the acts of the othe .. and who from his relations to parties in whose name bills were pre- sente., and to whom they were ordered to be paid, is open to the suspicion, not only of having planned the swindle, but of having shared the plunder ; Richard B. Connolly, the present Comptroller, and A. Oakey Hall, the present
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Mayor, who were also members of the 'Interim' Board which sanctioned the payment of several millions of dollars, contrary to law and right, but who also signed the warrants and consented to the payments which they confess they had the power to expose, if not to arrest; and unless these officers can meet the charges by other evidence and on different pleas than have yet been fur- nished in their behalf, the credit of the city of New York and the material interests of its citizens will demand that they quit or be deprived of the offices which they have dishonored and the power they are abusing.
" Resolved, That we have a right to, and do, demand a full and detailed exhibit of the public receipts and expenditures for the past two years and a half, and of the real and pretended liabilities of the city and county of New York, including its funded and its floating debt. This demand is not simply to show whether the men who have used money of the city and created its now enormous debt, can produce vouchers or accounts for every payment, or whether the books of the Comptroller will balance, but what is the total amount which has been collected from taxes, received from revenue and bor- rowed upon the credit of the city ; and what has been done with the money, to whom it has been paid and upon what considerations and pretense, in every instance.
" Resolved, That the citizens of the city have also a right to know, and are determined to ascertain, who are and have been on the pay-rolls of the City Government, what pay they receive and what services they render, as well as who have actually profited by the enormous payments of bills or accounts, obviously exceeding any value received by the city ; who are represented by the fictitious names alleged to appear in these accounts, and to what extent any members of the present City Government are concerned, in real partner- ships or under fictitious names, in the plunder of the public treasury.
" Resolved, That any legal remedy which is now available to citizens at large to fully ascertain and disclose frauds charged upon the city and county officers, and to recover the money wrongfully taken thereby from the public treasury, should be resorted to, and that if no such remedies are found to exist, then the law should be altered so as to enable citizens and tax-payers, under proper restrictions aud regulations, to call officers intrusted by them with power and money to legal account, and to invoke the arm of justice to discover fraud in public officers and to prevent or redress the dishonest appropriation of public money.
" Resolved, That we appeal to the next Legislature of the State to repeal the charter and laws by which the present rulers of the city have obtained and perpetuated their power, and to give to the city of New York a form of gor- ernment such as shall be devised or approved of by our wisest and best citizens, andi shall enable us to secure an honest and efficient administration of the laws.
" Resolved, That the citizens of this city are earnestly entreated to make the reform of their own government the one controlling issue at the next elec- tion, to support no man for office, and especially for the Legislature of the State, no matter what may be his party name, who is not known to be both honest and incorruptible, and determined and distinctly pledged, so far as he is 'ble, whatever may be the consequences, to reform the city of New York ; and that our fellow-citizens throughout the State are entreated to join ns in the 'effort to redress evils which concern them hardly less than ourselves.
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" Resolved, That the public credit, character, and the business interests of this great and growing city imperatively demand that its citizens be kept fully and constantly informed of the issue of any public stock, bonds, or other evi- dences of debt binding the real or personal property of the city or its citizens ; and further, that legal provision should be made for preventing any such issue not especially authorized, or exceeding the amount specifically appropri- ated for that purpose (by means, if necessary, of officers to be elected by the people of this city, in such manner as to secure the representation of the whole people, the minority as well as the majority).
" Resolved, That the thanks of the community are due to the public news- papers who have contributed to enlighten the public mind and to form and give utterance to public opinion upon these issues, and especially to the New York Times, for its fearless and searching investigation and exposure of the public accounts and of the conduct of the present officers of the city.
" Resolved, That an Executive Committee of seventy members be appointed by the President of this meeting, whose duty it shall be to take such meas- ures as shall be necessary or expedient to carry out the objects for which we are assembled, to demand a full exhibition of all the accounts of the city and county, and an explicit statement of all the persons to whom, and the pretenses upon which the large payments of the past two years and a half have been made; to enforce any remedies which now exist to obtain this information if it is refused, and to recover whatever sums of money have been fraudulently or feloniously abstracted ; and also to impress upon the Legislature and Gov- ernor of the State such measures of legislation and action as may be necessary or proper to enforce the existing laws, and to supply their defects, and to remove the cause of the present abuses ; and finally, to assist, sustain, and direct an united effort, by the citizens of New York, without reference to party, to obtain a good government and honest officers to administer it ; and the said committee are hereby authorized to call upon all citizens interested in good government to contribute such funds as may be needed to execute the powers intrusted to them, and also to fill vacancies and add to their number."
The Committee of Seventy, which, like the Vice- Presidents and Secretaries, was also composed of men of character and position, soon afterward met and organized by the selection of the following officers :
HENRY G. STEBBINS, Chairman.
WILLIAM F. HAVEMEYER, Vice-Chairman.
ROSWELL D. HATCH, Secretary. EMIL SAUER, Treasurer.
A Committee on Address was appointed, of which Major J. M. Bundy was chairman, who reported " Ax APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK," at a special meeting of the Committee of Seventy, held in
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the rooms of the Chamber of Commerce on Saturday, September 23d. The Address was unanimously adopted, and ordered to be printed for general circulation, together with the resolutions adopted at the meeting in Cooper Union on the evening of September 4th, and the speech delivered thereat by the Hon. Robert B. Roosevelt, M. C .*
The appeal read as follows :
"On the 4th of this month the people of the City of New York assembled at Cooper Institute to give expression to the almost universal indignation that has been growing daily deeper against corrupt municipal officials. As this expression was deliberate and not spasmodic, it was not completed by the pro- ceedings of the most earnest and enthusiastic meeting held in this city since 1861. Our best citizens, of both parties, felt that the hour had come when all lawful means must be used to redeem the city from plunderers and to restore her drooping credit. As the most effectual method of carrying out their pur pose a Committee of Seventy was appointed, which now, as part of its work, addresses the people of this State, and calls upon them to do their share toward effecting a thorough and complete reform.
" What we have done here is known through the public press. What may and should be done elsewhere we propose to suggest, and from the stand-point of the wholly non-partisan movement which we represent. And at the outset we must say, that from the time of our appointment to the present this Com- mittee has not misrepresented the sentiment of the meeting which called it into being.
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