TAMMANY HALL.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 233, 26 February 1876, Page 21

TAMMANY HALL.

The New York Times of the 26th Dec., in an article on the political influence exercised by Tammany Hall, says : —Loudly as some persons may talk about “reformed Tammany,” it is very well known to all who are behind the scenes in political life that it remains pretty much what it has been for yearß past—a source of corruption and bad government, and a menace to the welfare and progress of the community. We are not surprised to learn that a number of influential gentlemen in the city have decided to form a “ committee of safety,” in the hope of preventing those outrages on px-ivate citizens and those attacks on pi-operty which are inseparable from Tammany rule. It must be remembered that although great reforms have been carried out in the judiciary by the people, a large part of the machinery of justice is still in improper and dangerous hands. Even under the Tweed rule the Commissioner of Jurors, for instance, was a man who, as we sincerely believe, did his duty faithfully. It is an outrage upon the people of this city that our Government should practically be under the control of a secret society. No one can associate any good work with the name and history of Tammany Hall. When it has not been engaged in the endeavor to plunder the taxpayers, it has ceaselessly endeavored to prevent the will of the people from finding fair expression at the polls. It has degraded the suffrage and turned the foi-ms of Democratic government into a mere burlesque. Immense burdens have been cast upon property, and it would be a great delusion to suppose that the rich have been the only, or even the chief, sufferers by the injurious policy. Working-men have found it harder and harder every year to find comfortable homes for their families. High taxes have made high rents, and all classes have been oppressed in order that a secret political society might acquire unbounded influence. Even the Democrats can no longer derive any advantage from the continued existence of Tammany. There was a, time when a Tammany nomination was equivalent to an election, and when, consequently, it was eagerly sbught after. The election just held proved conclusively that for Tammany to nominate a man for office is to ruin his chances and injure his character. One swallow cannot make a summer, and one honest man cannot redeem Tammany Hall from the utter disrepute into which it has now fallen. Nor is it within the bounds of probability that the organisation can ever be reformed. A house which is built on rotten foundations cannot be made secure by putting in a new door hex-e and there and mending the broken windows. The principle on which Tammany exists and is managed is thoroughly bad, and the substitution of another “ Boss” for John Kelly would be an idle form. The only means by which it can be prevented from doing further harm is to abolish it altogether. It cumbers the ground, and it ought to be cut down. So far as the Republicans are concerned, they have no party reason for wishing any change to be made. But on the grounds of public interest they ought to take advantage of the present opportunity to tear up Tammany by the roots, and thus relieve the people of an organisation which has never brought anything but disgrace and scandal on the city. Tammany, says the Neiv York Herald, is the only conspicuous instance in our history where a secret society has worked the political machinery persistently and steadily through many generations. Other secret societies have come up from time to time, like the Know-Nothings, and been swept away by the results of the next election ; but here is a regularly organised society operating through whole political periods like the secret tribunals of Italy and Germany in the Middle Ages, always for the support of a certain class of society, and for the oppression of all others. Attempts at reform are futile ; it must be destroyed.