in the peace and prosperity of the city. It has passed from the stage of pious opinion and obtained a foothold in practical politics, as is shown by the fact that a Republican, well known to be a warm partisan in Federal politics, has obtained a vote of 154,000 for the Mayoralty, when the vote of his own party does not exceed 100,000. Moreover, the various organizations whose reports are contained in this volume, and whose exertions led to his success, either belong to different parties or are composed of men of different parties. The City Club and Good Government Clubs were, indeed, organized long before the election, on the non-partisan idea, and a large part of his success is undoubtedly due to their preaching. So that what is here celebrated is not simply, as it appears to me, a victory over corruption, or the election of an upright man as Mayor, or the transfer of municipal offices from thieves to honest men. It is the final adoption of a new agency in the work of municipal administration. But it is quite plain that its triumph is not complete. In the Legislature, for instance, among country members, who are unfamiliar with the special difficulties of city government, and indeed with its history, the very novelty of the idea of nonpartisanship works against it. To embrace it freely most country members have to unlearn some of the lessons of a lifetime. A good many voters in the city, too, put a great strain on themselves in abandoning their party at a city election, and are probably hardly yet sure in their minds that they have done right; and are waiting in fear and trembling lest the results should condemn them. But this is the history of all new ideas. They have to fight their way to the front in order to prove their value. The history of the competitive system of selection for government offices is full of encouragement for the friends of non-partisanship in municipal government. In fact, civil service reform had, probably, a harder fight for recognition than any other new administrative method is ever likely to have in America, for it had to make the first break in the traditions under which two generations had grown up, and to get acceptance from a public which had never considered at all the possibility of any improvements in governmental machinery. The essentially new feature of the process of agitation by which the late victory was won was the formation of the various clubs and organizations whose history and achievements are sketched in the following pages. They owe their existence to the general perception that any reform movement in this city to be really successful must be permanent. The experience of 1870 contained a very valuable lesson on this point. When the citizens went back to work, Tammany sprang rapidly into existence again and became more powerful than ever; so that it became abundantly apparent that if it was to be overthrown and kept out of the control of the city, it must be met with a persistence and a system equal to its own. It is to this policy that the City Club and the Good Government Clubs owe their existence. They are intended to supply that visible sign of mutual sympathy and support without which continuous unity of action. is not possible. It is not enough, in a community so heterogenous as this, to know that a great many people agree with you about public affairs. It is desirable to have a place and organization which supply visible proof of their existence, and in which information about them can be obtained and means of communication with them be furnished. But what is wanted above all is the means of assuring the great multitude of doubters, that is of the people who despair of permanent municipal reform, that the fight is kept up; that the flag is still flying; that the impetus which led to the late electoral triumph is not exhausted; and that wrong-doers are at last face to face with an enemy who is good for something more than a frantic rush. I am writing these few introductory remarks in the belief that this souvenir volume really records the turning over of a new leaf in the conduct of our municipal affairs; that what we have accomplished in New York is likely to prove the harbinger of a great change for the better in all the great cities of the continent, and will end in wiping out what has been for fifty years the greatest stain on democratic government-the gross corruption of our municipalities. It will, too, I feel very confident, make plainer and stronger than ever the connection between fitness and worthy official life; the essential dishonesty of incompetency in the public service. It will furnish, too, to the next generation, a reminder of a great deal of self-sacrificing and arduous work done by the young men of this generation in the interest of public peace, purity, and security. Through their efforts the city has been delivered from an odious tyranny, and their example and success, it is to be hoped, will always serve to convince their successors that a really good cause is never, in a free country, either lost or hopeless. E. L. GODKIN. HE organization of the Committee of Seventy and its victory were not mere accidents; they were the logical result of the shocking exposures of municipal corruption brought to the fierce light of truth by the Lexow Committee. But even the organization of the Lexow Committee was not an accident, but followed inevitably from the widespread and honest conviction among reputable citizens that the government of the city of New York had passed into the hands. of the criminal and corrupt classes. Upon the character of city governments and upon their moral influences depends largely the fate of the entire nation, because of the increase in the number and the size of cities and the consequent preponderance of urban over rural population. Friendly critics have realized the danger to republican government inherent in the conditions prevailing in many of our municipal governments. These were the underlying facts that compelled the investigation of the city government by the Lexow Committee, and that led to the exposures which prompted the organization of the Committee of Seventy, followed by its splendid victory. Perhaps most appreciative of these underlying facts and the abuses of city government in New York was Charles H. Parkhurst, D.D. Fortunately, educational work had been going on for some years among the people in regard to the needs of municipal government, and at the time of the organization of the Committee of Seventy, honest reformers were unanimous in the conviction that municipal government could be permanently reformed only by non-partisan devotion to questions of municipal interest. In the unsuccessful campaign of 1890, conducted by the People's Municipal League, emphasis was laid on this fact, and it was then declared, as the fundamental principle, that "municipal government is business, not politics." To strengthen this conviction, the City Reform Club, the City Club and the Good Government Clubs have labored earnestly, and it should be said to the credit of the Union League Club that, though organized on party lines and to promote the welfare of the Republican party, it boldly announced, as early as the Fall of 1893, its belief in the principle of non-partisan government for the city of New York. It is just to Mr. Charles S. Smith to record this fact, and to acknowledge that to his efforts this result was largely due. The first endeavor to put into practical effect this idea of non-partisan administration of city government was made on the 1st of September, 1894, by the issue of a circular, inviting a select body of citizens, irrespective of party, to attend a meeting to be held at the Madison Square Garden on Thursday even. ing, the 6th of September, at 8 o'clock. In this circular it was stated: "This meeting is called to consult as to the wisdom and practicability of "taking advantage of the present state of public feeling, to organize a citizens' "movement for the government of the city of New York, entirely outside of 66 party politics and solely in the interest of efficiency, economy and the public "health, comfort and safety. "It is believed that the people of the city are tired of the burden of ineffi"ciency, extravagance and plunder, and understand that a city, like a well"ordered household, should be managed solely in the best interests of its "people, and to this end should be entirely divorced from party politics and "selfish personal ambition or gain." This circular was signed by the following prominent and representative citizens W. Bayard Cutting, George Macculloch Miller, Charles S. Smith, Julius J. Frank, George F. Baker, Woodbury Langdon, Charles Butler, Henry Rice, James Speyer, F. D. Tappen, G. G. Williams, J. Crosby Brown, W. L. Strong, John Sloane, C. Vanderbilt, Max J. Lissauer, Alfred S. Heidelbach, William H. Webb, John P. Townsend, J. Harsen Rhoades, William Ottman, Joseph Larocque, Morris K. Jesup, George W. Quintard, William Mertens, M. S. Fechheimer, William E. Dodge, G. Norrie, H. C. Fahnestock, James M. Constable, Hugh N. Camp, Gustav H. Schwab, H. Cillis and A. S. Frissell. This call was sent to about 3,500 citizens, representative of the best citizenship in all walks of life. It should be noted that this circular and the labor of preparing it, and of obtaining the necessary signatures, devolved on a committee of three citizens, consisting of Mr. William E. Dodge, Mr. Hugh N. Camp and Mr. Gustav H. Schwab, who were unofficially asked by a number of gentlemen in the Chamber of Commerce, to take the initiative in the organization of the citizens for good government. At the meeting of citizens held in pursuance of this call at the Madison Square Garden, Mr. Joseph Larocque presided, and Mr. John P. Faure acted as secretary. From this meeting resulted the address to the people of the city of New York, which was prepared by Mr. Schwab, Mr. Charles S. Smith, Mr. William E. Dodge and Mr. Carl Schurz. The address is as follows: "TO THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, REGARDLESS OF PARTY: "Convincing proofs of corruption in important municipal departments of this city have been presented; inefficiency, ignorance and extravagance in public office are apparent, and business principles in the conduct of the affairs of this municipality are set aside and neglected for private gain and partisan advantage. The present government of this city is a standing menace to the continued commercial supremacy of the metropolis, and strongly concerns the welfare of every family in the whole country, for there is no hamlet in the land that the influence of New York City does not reach for good or evil. "The time has come for a determined effort to bring about such a radical and lasting change in the administration of the city of New York as will insure the permanent removal of the abuses from which we suffer, and the management of the affairs of the city as a well-ordered household, solely in the best interests of its people. "Municipal government should be entirely divorced from party politics. and selfish personal ambition or gain. The economical, honest and businesslike management of municipal affairs has nothing to do with questions of National or State politics. We do not ask any citizen to give up his party on National or State issues, but to rise above partisanship to the broad plane of citizenship, and to unite in an earnest demand for the nomination and election of candidates, whatever their National party affiliations, and to form a citizens' movement for the government of this city entirely outside of party politics, only in the interest of efficiency, economy and the public health, comfort and safety. "We pledge our active co-operation with all other organizations of this city, holding the same purposes and aims, recognizing that only through a combined and well-organized effort of all citizens who desire good government can that object be attained." To give effect to the appeal to the voters, it was resolved also at the meeting to organize a Commitee of Seventy, and the appointment of the Committee was intrusted to the Chairman of the meeting, Mr. Joseph Larocque. The Committee of Seventy, as finally organized, consisted of the following representative citizens: ARCHIBALD, JAMES P. COLLIS, CHARLES H. T. FRISSELL, A. S. FULTON, T. A. GALLAWAY, R. M. GRINNELL, GEORGE BIRD HORNBLOWER, WILLIAM B. JACOBI, DR. A. JEROME, W. TRAVERS JOHNSON, J. AUGUSTUS KLEIN, ISAAC H. KNAUTH, PERCIVAL McCOOK, ANSON G. MCMAHON, FULTON MILLER, GEORGE MACCULLOCH MORGAN, J. PIERPONT OAKLEY, HENRY A. OLNEY, PETER B. RIVES, G. L. ROOME, W. HARRIS SCHIEFFELIN, WILLIAM J. SCHIFF, JACOB H. SCHWAB, GUSTAV H. SELIGMAN, E. R. A. SLOANE, JOHN STEWART, JOHN A. SMITH, CHARLES STEWART SPEYER, JAMES STERNE, SIMON STEINBERGER, JULIUS WHEELER, EVERETT P. |