USA > New York > New York City > Leslie's history of the greater New York, Volume II > Part 55
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CHAPTER XXIII.
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE GREATER CITY.
HE settlement on Manhattan clustering about Fort Amster- dam received incorporation after the style of a Dutch city by act of the States General of the Republic of the United Netherlands in 1652, and the act took effect by proclama- tion of Director Peter Stuyvesant on February 2, 1653. The form of government was, of course, that which prevailed in Holland at that time (Vol. I., p. 46), and New Amsterdam was duly provided with two Burgomasters, five Schepens, and one Schout. The people had sup- posed they might enjoy the same privilege as their fellow-republicans at home, and choose their officers, or at least some of them. Stuyve- sant quietly brushed aside any such claim or privilege, and appointed Burgomasters and Schepens. The States General or the West India Company had appointed as Schout Joachim Kuyter, the Director's opponent. But as the latter was killed soon after assuming office, Stuyvesant had the satisfaction of appointing the Schout also. This form of government was not interfered with by Governor Nicolls on his capture of the city in August, 1664. Not only did he permit the municipal year to run out, but even on February 1 or 2. 1665, he made no change, and the incumbents were either reappointed or others put in their places under the old system. But in June, 1665, the English form of city government was assumed. It seemed as if it were a mere translation of Dutch names: one Mayor took the place of the two Burgomasters; but five Aldermen replaced the five Schepens, and the Schout became a Sheriff. There were no wards for the Aldermen to represent and to be elected in by the citizens thereof. All the officers were appointed by the royal governors.
The first really important advance in municipal government was made by the Dongan charter of 1686 (Vol. I., p. 79). The city was thereby divided into six wards. In each of these the citizens were permitted to elect one Alderman and one Assistant Alderman. The list of other officers was also increased. They were to consist of a Mayor, Recorder. Clerk, and Sheriff. all appointed by the Governor and his Council. The charter of 1708 had no reference to the govern- ment of the city : it merely prepared interminable vexation for Brook- lyn and other places by granting the corporation of New York their desire of possessing a little more of the earthi than they could realize
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on Manhattan Island. It extended the jurisdiction of the Common Council, and incidentally their power to rent ferry leases, across all the surrounding waters so as to include the land as far as high-water mark. The western bank of the Hudson River on New Jersey soil formed no exception to this extraordinary assignment. To the charter of 1730-the famous Montgomerie charter-we must look therefore for the next modification in municipal government. It went into effect on February 11, 1731 (Vol. I., p. 118). There was an addition of one ward, so that one Alderman and one Assistant from each made a Common Council of fourteen members. Besides the Mayor, there was now quite an array of executive officers: one Chamberlain, with six- teen Assessors and seven Collectors under him; one High Constable. with sixteen Constables; there were also one Marshal and one Coroner -offices not in vogue before; lastly, one Common Clerk, and one Sher- iff. as heretofore. Yet of all this governmental force, no officers were elective but the Aldermen and Assistants; all the rest were appointed by the powers that were.
This charter continued in effect for many years. The Revolution and Independence and Federal Republic, as they successively brought about their tremendous changes in the aspects of the country, did not affect the form of the city's rule. Instead of the Royal Governor and his Provincial Council, there came to be, as the source whence the city derived its executive officers, the Council of Appointment of the State of New York, consisting of the Governor and four Senators. There was no break in this rather aristocratic system in the direction of popular suffrage or home rule until 1822. Then the people were al- lowed to elect not only the members of the Common Council, but also the Sheriff and the Clerk. The State then also abandoned its control over the chair of the Chief Magistrate, as the Mayor was to be elected by the Common Council. Things were now moving fast, and democ- racy must have its full satisfaction; so in 1834 the last barrier was re- moved, and the Mayor was elected by the suffrages of the citizens directly at the polls. Just one hundred and forty-five years before. under the democratic rule of Jacob Leisler, the people had been for that one time allowed to elect their Mayor, in September, 1689. But in 1826 it was still established that only such should have the privi- lege of the ballot as paid at the very least a rental of $25 per annum. There was then, too, but one polling place in each ward, making that a center of violent altercation, and affording such poor facilities for ex- pedition in balloting that it often took several days before the com- plete vote had been cast. In 1840 registration was introduced, and each ward divided into voting districts.
But we must restrict ourselves to the modifications in government. These continued to be made as the decades of the present century grew. In 1830 there is a beginning of Departments in carrying on the. business of city government. Five were established then, the chiefs
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of them being appointed by the Council. By the charter of 1849 the five were increased to nine, and were as follows: 1. Police; 2. Fi- nance; 3. Streets, including wharves; 4. Repairs and Supplies; 5. Streets and Lamps, including Markets; 6. Croton Aqueduct; 7. City Inspector; 8. Almshouse; 9. Law. The heads of these depart- ments were to be elected by the people di- rectly. Another modification of importance was that the Mayor and Aldermen should serve for two years in- stead of one; the chiefs of de- partments were to hold office for - - three years. So- - rious altera- tions were again made in - - 1857. This was the year when - Home Rule for the city was al- most entirely 7711 777 1118 taken away. The most mate- rial change, per- haps, as regards city govern - - ment was made in the Police Department. - The ancient High Constable, SKY-SCRAPERS OUT-TOPPING TRINITY STEEPLE. created in 1731, still wielded his baton or billy in 1844, and the last incumbent was that unique personality, upon whose like the city has not often looked since, Jacob Hays. He had been appointed by Mayor Edward Livingston (Secretary of State under JJackson) in 1802. In 1845 the
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city acquired a regular uniformed police force, known officially as the Municipal Police. It was under the direct supervision of the Mayor himself. By the charter of 1849 the Mayor still had this department under his special charge, but there was also provided a bureau, the head of which was denominated "Chief of Police." In 1857 the De- partment was not only taken from the control of the Mayor, but it was removed from the control of the city altogether. There was created what was called a Metropolitan District, and its police was to be known as the Metropolitan Police. This district included New York City and its suburbs, so that, as we have seen, two of the present boroughs, Brooklyn and Staten Island-were furnished with police arrangements in that year. The force was subjected to the management of five Commissioners, appointed by the Governor, with confirmation by the Senate. We have seen how little this new order of things was enjoyed by Mayor Fernando Wood. Considerable atten- tion was naturally given to the city charter and form of government by the Honorable Mr. Tweed; his idea of concentrating responsibility upon one head, the Mayor's, was worthy of a better cause, and has be- come the feature of later modifications. His scheme of making ap- pointees of the Mayor serve during terms longer than that of the Mayor himself was too obviously in the interest of corruption, prevent- ing a clean sweep of the departments, even if a reform mayor were elected. In the charter of 1894-the last before consolidation, it was placed in the power of the Mayor to remove every and any head of de- partment within a brief period after his own assumption of the office. Other responsibilities for the good government of the city were more cleanly ent and laid upon the Chief Magistrate alone; and the term of the Mayor was extended to three years. The last Mayor before the con- solidation was the only one who served under this extension of time. and his term was concluded when the older and smaller New York ceased to be, and the Greater New York began, on Jannary 1, 1898. It will be our endeavor in the remaining pages of this conchding chap- ter to set forth briefly the details of the government of this greater city.
New York as now constituted is an imperium in imperio, a republic within a republic, a reproduction in miniature of the State and of the Union. And we can not call it a little republic either: its population exceeding by far those of the Kingdoms of Portugal, Denmark, and Greece, and counting as much as three-fourths of that of the Kingdom of Holland. It resembles the State and Federal Governments in hav- ing an executive head and a legislative body of two houses. This legislature is entitled " The Municipal Assembly of the City of New York." composed of an upper house, called the Council, and a lower, called the Board of Aldermen. The Council consists of twenty-nine members, counting the President, who is chosen by the people, and who by virtue of his office is a sort of Vice-Mayor, or Deputy-Mayor, to
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act in his place in case of sickness or absence. His salary is fixed at five thousand dollars per annum. The remaining twenty-eight mem- bers of the Council are chosen by the various boroughs, as follows: Manhattan, 12; The Broux, 3; Brooklyn, 9; Queeus, 2; and Richmond, 2. The salary of Conneilmen is fifteen hun- dred dollars a year. The Board of Aldermen elects its own President, and is composed of sixty members, 33 from Man- hattan, 3 from The Bronx, 21 from Brooklyn, 2 from Queens, and 1 from Richmond. An Alderman's salary is one thousand dollars a year. A distinction of importance is, that while Councilmen are elected for a term of four years, an Alderman's term is two years. As in the wider spheres of our government, the Mayor has the power to veto the ordinances passed by the Municipal Assembly, and a two- thirds vote is necessary to override it. Thirty-one items are specified in the conduct of city affairs whereupon the Assembly may pass or- dinances. It seems rather a long list to repeat, yet just those simple matters which we are apt to think it is not necessary to know, it were really best we did know in all their circumstance. Prof. John Fiske speaks very strongly and truly upon this very subject: " When we try to study things in a scientific spirit, to learn their modes of genesis and their present aspects, in order that we may foresee their tenden- cies, and make our volitions count for something in modifying them, there is nothing which we may safely disregard as trivial. This is true of whatever we can study. Questions of civil government are practical business questions, the principles of which are as often and as forcibly illustrated in a city council or a county board of su- pervisors as in the House of Representatives at Washington. It is partly because too many of our citizens fail to realize that local gov- ernment is a worthy study, that we find it making so much trouble for us. The ' bummers ' and . boodlers ' do not find the subject beneath their notice; the master who inspires them is wide awake and-for a creature that divides the hoof-extremely intelligent." The Assem- bly, then, are permitted to " make, establish, publish and modify, amend or repeal " ordinances: (1) in relation to inspection and sealing of weights and measures; (2) in relation to inspecting, weighing, and measuring of firewood, coal, hay, and straw; (3) to regulate the use of streets and highways; (4) to regulate the opening of street surfaces; (5) to regulate the numbering of houses; (6) to regulate and prevent throwing ashes, offal, or garbage in the streets; (7) to regulate the use of streets and sidewalks for signs, awnings, telegraph poles, and such things; (8) to provide for and regulate pavements and crossings, flagging, curbing, etc .; (9) to regulate public cries, steam whistles. bell ringing; (10) to restrict vagrancy and begging; (11) in relation to guns and pistols and fireworks in the streets; (12) to intoxication and fights; (13) to places of amusement ; (14) exhibiting banners, placards. flags; (15) the erection and maintenance of public fountains; (16) ad-
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vertisements or handbills exhibited along the streets; (17) in relation to construction and use of vaults, cisterus, areas, hydrants, pumps. sewers; (18) in relation to partition fences and walls; (19) to the estab- lishing, care, use, repair, of markets; (20) the licensing of public cart- men, truckmeu, pawnbrokers, junk dealers, and a whole host of such tradespeople; (21) the fixing of the annual license fee, not exceeding twenty dollars, for each street or horsecar (which is specified as having for some reason reference only to Brooklyn); (22) the suppres- sion of vice and immorality; (23) for the licensing and otherwise regn- lating the use of dirt carts; (24) for the preservation and protection of all works connected with the water supply; (25) regulating fees for searches in the matter of assessments and arrears; (26) the running of stages, oumibuses, trucks, and cars; (27) to regulate rates of fare charged for the use of hackney coaches; (28) to authorize the estab- lishment, or terminate, or alter, such, of omnibuses or stages; (29) to regulate swimming and bathing; (30) to prohibit or suppress all gaming; (31) to enlarge from time to time limits of fire districts. It will be seen that the range of subjects here enumerated does not carry the mind to a dangerous height above mundane and pedestrian pursuits. There are, however, matters pertaining to franchises and finances which demand a wider sweep of intelleet, and will make it much more worth while to spend fifteen hundred or a thousand dollars each year apiece upon the city's legislators. The Municipal Assembly is authorized to grant franchises for constructing and operating rail- ways in the streets, but not for a longer period than twenty-five years. the renewals may be made on a fair revaluation. Also, before such grant of franchise. all the terms and conditions of it, including the provisions as to rates, fares, and charges, must be published for at least twenty days in the City Record, and twice in two daily news- papers published in the city. An important provision is that by which the Municipal Assembly and the several members thereof, and all officers and employees of the city, are declared to be trustees of the property, funds, and effects of the city. The office of City Clerk- or Common Clerk. as he was wont to be called-is supplied by a vote of the Council. This functionary was formerly among the appointed officers, and has also at times been elective. Now the Council on meeting elects a clerk, and by virtue of that election he is also City Clerk. and enjoys a salary of seven thousand dollars per annum. Lastly a penalty is indicated for the violations of laws prescribed for the members of the Municipal Assembly by the charter. One who shall vote for any contract or any appropriation unauthorized by law or in excess of the amount so authorized, shall be guilty of a misde- meanor; and every member voting in favor of any illegal disposition of corporate property or franchises, " shall be individually liable to re- fund the amount to the city at the suit of any citizen or taxpayer."
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While this legislative body, with the Mayor, are to administer the affairs of the great municipality, it is not forgotten that there are five main divisions of the city, and that these need more special attention or immediate supervision. These sections, having been hitherto under separate con- trol, each within itself, it was wise to recognize the neces- sary individualism growing out of the historic develop- ment. Hence each Borough has its own President, a somewhat distant imitation - - --- -- -- ---- of their former mayors of - - -- other governing heads, and -- perhaps a still more feeble ro- -- -- -- flection of the Mayor of the -- present city ; but yet reducing within himself the otherwise - abstract general authority to - a more concrete and distinct form, gratifying and useful to each of the five divisions. It is needless to restate here what these are: the natural- ness and obviousness of the طيرد principle whereupon they were made constitutes a high merit of the consolidation. - and will contribute much to render its working smooth, - harmonious, and therefore prosperous. The President of a Borough serves for the same length of time as the Mayor-that is, four years; is also elected by the people of his immediate limits of jurisdiction, and may be re- moved by the Mayor on suffi- cient charges, subject to the NORTH END OF NASSAU STREET. approval of the Governor. The Presidents of Manhattan. The Bronx, and Brooklyn, have a salary of five thousand dollars each, and those of Queens and Rich- mond three thousand. The President has his office in a building or hall that the Municipal Assembly shall designate, and in case of
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Brooklyn this is, of course, the fine City Hall that used to serve its own municipal officers. For each Borough there are also bodies of administrators called " Local Boards." We shall describe these in the precise language of the charter, and we dwell with so much par- tienlarity on this feature of Borongh government, or management, be- cause just there are found the novelties introduced into our municipal government necessitated by the unusual exigencies of the gigantic corporation resulting from the consolidation of so many parts and such diverse and extensive territories. First there are the " Districts of Local Improvement ": " For the purposes of local improvements the territory of the City of New York is hereby divided into certain dis- tricts of local improvements. The districts so constituted shall be named or numbered or otherwise distinguished by the Municipal As- sembly. As first constituted by this act, there shall be twenty-two districts of local improvements which shall together comprise all of the territory by this act consolidated into the City of New York. The territory in each of the senatorial districts of the State of New York situated in whole or in part within the limits of the City of New York, as constituted by this act, as such districts are divided by the constitu- tion of the State of New York in force January 1, 1895, and to the ex- tent that they are within the limits of said city, and as therein bounded and described, shall constitute a separate district of local im- provements, that shall be bounded and described in the same terms as is the same territory when contained in a senatorial district, as aforesaid. The Municipal Assembly shall, whenever necessary, sup- plement and complete the description of the boundaries of any dis- triet." The districts are distributed over the various Boroughs in the following manner: I. Queens; II. Richmond; III. to IX., Brooklyn; X. to XX., Manhattan, also part of XXI .; and the other part of XXI., and XXH., The Bronx. Now it is in each of these districts that there is created a " Local Board," consisting of the President of the Bor- ongh, who is a member ex-officio of each and every board, no matter how many there are. The members of the Municipal Assembly- Councilmen or Aldermen-who happen to reside within any district, are thereby constituted members of the local board of said district. They serve as such members without additional pay. " The action of a local board shall be by resolution, subject to the procedure gov- erning resolutions passed by the Municipal Assembly, and conform- ably thereto, save that they need not be submitted to the Mayor of the City of New York for his approval." The fortune of such a resolution after leaving the local board is determined by the progress it makes along the steps indicated by the following section: " If the local board shall by resolution decide to recommend that proceedings be initiated for a local improvement within its jurisdiction. it shall thereupon, forthwith, transmit a copy of such resolution to the Board of Public Improvements. Said board shall promptly consider such resolution,
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and if, in its opinion, the work proposed ought to be proceeded with. it shall take such steps in regard thereto as are in this act provided in the cases where public works are proposed and initiated by said board of public improvements. The expense of all such improve- ments shall be assessed and be a lien on the property benefited thereby in proportion to the amount of said benefit, and in no case shall extend beyond the limits of said district." Petitions for any local improve- ments desired : to open, close, extend, widen, grade, pave, etc., streets; to remove nuisances to health or morals; all other matters concerning the peace, comfort, order, and good government in any neighbor- hood-are to be addressed to the President of the Borough, whose duty it is to call a meeting of the local board having jurisdiction over the neighborhood whence a petition comes; and in the interim a notice is to be published in the City Record, stating that such petition has been received by the President ; that it is on file in his office for inspec- tion: giving also the time when and the place where the meeting of the local board will occur. the time not to be less than ten days after the publication of the notice. It is thus seen, how by the system of Borongh officials, any particular section, the residents upon a certain street or block, or even an individual, can get reasonable desires granted or complaints heeded. Were it not for this minute ramifi- cation of municipal government. the smaller parts or the individual citizen might be lost in the overwhelming magnitude of territory. population, and interests of so enormous a city.
We come now to the most important office of all-the Mayor. In 1652 the Burgomaster ruled but over about a thousand sonls. The first Mayor of New York in 1665 governed the destinies of but fifteen hundred. James Duane, the first Mayor of the American city, in 1783. found that the exodus of loyalism had yet left twelve thousand people under his sway. When the first Mayor elected by the suffrages of his fellow citizens, instead of by the sufferance of the Common Council. Cornelius Van Wyck Lawrence, entered upon his duties in 1834. there were not as yet three hundred thousand people to be governed. But when Robert A. Van Wyck assumed the Mayoralty on January 1. 1898. of the Greater New York, the population for whose interests and happiness he became responsible was calculated to reach 3,389.753 sonls, a figure exceeded by but three States of the Union-Pennsyl- vania, Illinois, and Ohio-besides our own; and overtopping several countries of Europe.
The chief magistrate whom this great constitueney was to choose for itself was to be intrusted with signal and unusual powers. The " Brooklyn idea " of city government had complete possession of the framers of the charter for the consolidated municipality. One of the members of the commission was the Hon. Seth Low, who had been the first to test its effectiveness in Brooklyn itself. The chairman was ex- Secretary of the Navy Tracy, a resident of Brooklyn, and himself a
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prominent promoter of the principle and advocate of the scheme when it as yet needed commendation to the people by way of arguments in advance. As another influential member, Mr. William C. De Witt, also of Brooklyn, said in a public lecture: " I am for a Czar-Mayor, with a short term, and a free right to go again to the people. I fully appreciate the objections successfully urged in the Commission to so powerful an officer. But in my judgment these dangers and evils are of no considerable weight against the advantages of all responsibility for maladministration in one man, who must, either in person or through his party, go to the people every two years. I be- lieve that the Supreme Ruler of the universe moves through the minds of the multitude, and in this age of free schools and ubiquitous jour- nalism, no mayor with plenary power and full responsibility would dare to permit corruption or inefficiency to exist in any department, and if he did the people would have only one head to hit, and one party to demolish. Singly and alone, let the Mayor be made responsible for all abuses or benefactions in municipal administration, and the people will have a certain and speedy way to remedy bad government, or to support wise and patriotic administration." The actual power and term finally adopted were not quite what Mr. De Witt deemed most wise. Yet the spirit of the provisions was quite in accord with the Brooklyn idea, and there was more of " Czar " power committed to the Mayor of the Greater New York than was ever thought advantageous or prudent for the Mayors of the less or even the very little New York.
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