THE CITY CLUB.

N 1892 Mr. Boudinot Keith, a member of the City Reform Club, urged upon his fellow-members his conviction that the time had arrived for greatly enlarging the work of reform in municipal politics. Accordingly, a movement was set on foot to organize and incorporate a much larger and more influential body than the City Reform Club. Success in this would have been impossible but for the efforts of some man having the necessary ability and interest in the subject and able to devote his time to the work. In the slow development which has this year resulted in the complete overthrow of Tammany Hall, the time for the effort to organize such a body as The City Club had arrived in 1892. The opportunity was there, and the man was found. Mr. Edmond Kelly threw himself into the work with a devotion and an earnestness that left no doubt as to the success of the effort. In April, 1892, The City Club was incorporated, with a membership of some 500. The incorporators were: John Jay Chapman, Charles DeKay, William C. Gulliver, Edmond Kelly, Boudinot Keith, and W. Harris Roome. The articles of incorporation declared that the object of the Club was: "To promote social intercourse "among persons specially interested in the good government of the city of New "York, in securing honesty and efficiency in the administration of city affairs, "in severing municipal from National politics, and in procuring the election of "fit persons to city offices; and to take such action as may tend to the honest, "efficient and independent government of the city of New York; and for these "purposes to establish and maintain in the City and County of New York, for "the use of ourselves and such others above mentioned, a club-house, having a "library, a reading-room, a publication office for the distribution of the publi"cations of the Club, and such other appurtenances and belongings as are usual "in clubs and club-houses and publishing offices."

In pursuance of this plan, a club-house is maintained at 677 Fifth Avenue; and a business office, at 27 Pine Street.

The Club adopted a declaration of its purposes, in which the following language was used :

"It will be one of the aims of this club to procure the nomination and elec"tion of city office-holders whose recommendation shall not be solely nor mainly "that they are faithful servants of either political party, but that they are fit for "the positions to which they are elected. Thus it is hoped that in time this test "of fitness will come to be generally regarded as of much higher importance in "municipal affairs than the test of party loyalty, and that, in this sense and to "this extent, municipal politics here may be severed from National and State "politics with appreciably beneficial results."

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"As a club, this club is not intended to be anti-Democratic or anti-Repub"lican, but to be persistently, consistently, and impartially anti-bad-city-govern"ment, and nothing else. It has nothing to do with Tammany, as such, nor "with the Republican machine, as such; but it has to do with the administra"tors of our city government, as such, whoever they may be, and with the law, "system, and methods under and in accordance with which or in violation of “which that government is administered. It is expected that the Club will be "alert to discern and ready to criticise and fight dishonesty and inefficiency in "city affairs, in whatever party or organization they may appear. It is hoped "that its primary usefulness will be educational, that it will be surrounded by a "healthful and hopeful atmosphere producing a perceptible good effect upon "its members."

It will be seen that the very fundamental principle of the Club has been from the first that principle of non-partisanship in municipal affairs which is today generally accepted as the necessary principle in any solution of the problem of municipal government.

From the first The City Club recognized the necessity of rousing and informing the individual citizens upon the subject of municipal politics; and the most important work of the club has, therefore, been of an educational character.

The question of the best method of encouraging non-partisanship among the citizens and of giving form and effect to the essential principle of nonpartisanship, engaged the attention of the Club from the first. The possible formation of a municipal party founded upon the principles advocated by the Club was considered; but it was decided at length that the safer method to follow at the outset would be that which has become familiar to the people of the city in the system of Good Government Clubs. These clubs, now numbering more than twenty, and embracing a membership of some seven or eight thousand, have been formed through the efforts of The City Club. The rapidity with which the Good Government Clubs have increased in numbers and in membership is further evidence of the fact that the time had arrived for such a movement as was begun with the formation of The City Club. The general awakening which we have seen of late among the citizens of nearly all our large cities was beginning in 1892. The time was ripe for such an effort as was made; and, while the work of The City Club did much to crystallize and encourage that sentiment, it is not probable that such an effort would have met with any success two or three years earlier.

The work done by The City Club has been so varied that it is not possible to recite the details here. Undoubtedly the most valuable part of that work has been the organization and encouragement of Good Government Clubs. The City Club has always been active, however, in advocating legislation designed to improve the conditions of municipal administration, in opposing legislation hostile to the best interests of the city, in protecting the people from the schemes of politicians, in exposing abuses in the public service, and in advocating such changes in the state constitution as would be for the interest of New York.

The City Club has been a school for practical municipal reform. In the recent municipal campaign its members performed service as members of the Committee of Seventy and of the Good Government Clubs. Some served as chairmen or members of campaign committees; some, as watchers; some, as counsel on election day in the various Assembly districts.