586 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



great sinners in this respect. While they are continually extolling 

 the natural advantages of the city, her magnificent river-front and har- 

 bor, her advantageous situation, her brilliant sky, they are also con- 

 stantly bewailing her bad government, her lukewarm public spirit, and 

 the universally asinine quality of her public officers. One would think 

 that her present position as a metropolis is entirely due to natural ad- 

 vantages, and has been gained in spite of the most earnest opposition 

 from her leading citizens. The elevation of an honest, sober, intelli- 

 gent citizen to a public oflice makes him straightway an ass in the 

 estimation of his fellows. A public officer, who declines to do what 

 certain citizens want him to do, is believed by them to be prima facie 

 corrupt. If he agrees to do what they wish, some other citizens are 

 equally certain that he has been bought. It seems impossible for a 

 man to remain in public office in New York City for six months with- 

 out having charges or intimations of bribery come to his ears, in one 

 form or another. And not only are our public officers all supposed to 

 be open to corrupt influences, but, when they are put in office, they are 

 believed ipso facto to become suddenly ignorant of all that they knew 

 before. And not only are they taunted with ignorance, incapacity, 

 and an itching palm, but they are continually reminded that things 

 are much better managed elsewhere, and that the sooner they learn 

 how a city ought to be governed, by observing how other cities are gov- 

 erned, the sooner they will become of some use in their places. 



One of the things New-Yorkers complain most about is the dirty 

 streets, including the garbage-box nuisance. It is a popular belief, 

 fostered by the leading newspapers, that New York is the only large 

 city in the civilized w^orld where such a filthy nuisance as the garbage- 

 box would be tolerated, and those officers who have charge of the pub- 

 lic health are continually reminded of Paris and London, where no such 

 frightful eyesores exist, and where the public service in this regard is 

 immaculate, as every person who has taken a flying summer trip through 

 those cities is ready to testify. 



Another frequent cause of complaint is the offensive odors from 

 manufacturing establishments, which also are believed to be kept under 

 such strict watch in Paris and London that they are never nuisances ; 

 and the American visitor, being sure that such things are banished from 

 those cities, wants to have them driven out of this one. 



The purpose of this paper is not to show that the complaints of our 

 citizens are unfounded, for they are, unfortunately, too well founded, 

 but to do something toward stemming the prevailing current of opinion 

 1. That the dirty streets and offensive odors of New York are en- 

 tirely due to the negligence, stupidity, or corruption of public officers ; 

 and, 2. That Paris and London are free from the same kind of nuisances. 

 I shall, in other words, try to show that Paris and London, in similar 

 circumstances, are troubled with dirty streets and offensive odors, de- 

 pending upon the same causes as in New York, and that the public 



