NEW YORK (CITY). 



649 



unscrupulous from robbing the honest ; and to do for 

 the equal benefit of all such things as can be better 

 done by organized society than by individuals ; and 

 we aim at the abolition of all laws' which give to any 

 class of citizens advantages, either judicial, financial, 

 industrial, or political, that are not equally shared by 

 all others. 



3. We further declare that the people of New York 

 city should have full control of their own local affairs ; 

 that the practice of drawing grand-jurors from one 

 class should cease, and the requirements of a property 

 qualification for trial-jurors should be abolished ; that 

 the procedure of our courts should be so simplified 

 and reformed that the rich shall have no advantage 

 over the poor ; that the officious intermeddling of the 

 police with peaceful assemblages should be stopped ; 

 that the laws for the safety and sanitary inspection of 

 buildings should be enforced ; that in public work the 

 direct employment of labor should be preferred to the 

 system which gives contractors opportunity to de- 

 fraud the city while grinding their workmen, and 

 that in public employment equal pay should be ac- 

 corded to equal work without distinction of sex. 



4. We declare the crowding of so many of our peo- 

 ple into narrow teneinents at enormous rents, while 

 half the area of the city is yet unbuilt upon, to be a 

 scandalous evil, and that to remedy this state of things 

 all taxes on buildings and improvements should be 

 abolished, so that no fine shall be put upon the em- 

 ployment of labor in increasing living accommodations, 

 and that taxes should be levied on land irrespective 

 of improvements, so that those who are now holding 

 land vacant shall be compelled either to build on it 

 themselves or to give up the land to those who will. 



5. We declare furthermore that the enormous value 

 which the presence of a million and a half of people 

 gives to the land of this city belongs properly to the 

 whole community ; that it should not go to the en- 

 richment of individuals and corporations, but should 

 be taken in taxation and applied to the improvement 

 and beautifying of the city, to the promotion of the 

 health, comfort, education, and recreation of its peo- 

 ple, and to the providing of means of transit commen- 

 surate with the needs ot a great metropolis. We also 

 declare that existing means of transit should not be 

 left in the hands of corporations, which, while gain- 

 ing enormous profits from the growth of population, 

 oppress their employe's and provoke strikes that in- 

 terrupt travel and imperil the public peace, but should 

 by lawful process be assumed by the city and oper- 

 ated for public benefit. 



6. To clear the way for such reforms as are impos- 

 sible without it we favor a constitutional convention, 

 and, since the ballot is the only method by which in 

 our republic the redress of political and social griev- 

 ances is to be sought, we especially call for such 

 changes in our elective methods as shall lessen the 

 need of money in elections, discourage bribery, and 

 prevent intimidation. 



7. And since in the coming most important muni- 

 cipal election independent political action affords the 

 only hope of exposing and breaking up the extortion 

 and peculation 6y which a standing army of profes- 

 sional politicians corrupt the people whom they plun- 

 der, we call on all citizens who desire honest govern- 

 ment to join UB in an effort to secure it, and to show 

 for once that the will of the people may prevail 

 even against the money and organization of banded 

 spoilsmen. 



Criminal Trials. The most remarkable expos- 

 ure of corruption since the overthrow of the 

 Tweed Ring was the bringing to light of the 

 bribery of the aldermen through which in 

 1884 the Broadway Surface Railroad obtained 

 its franchise. During the session of the Legis- 

 lature the Senate appointed an investigating 

 committee to inquire into this matter. There- 

 upon some of the aldermen and others who 



had acted as intermediaries fled from the State, 

 and subsequently others took refuge in Cana- 

 da. The investigation was pushed by the com- 

 mittee, and in the mean time the district at- 

 torney and police were not idle. Only two of 

 the aldermen of that year were free from sus- 

 picion. In the end most of the aldermen and 

 several of the officers of the railroad were in- 

 dicted. Alderman Henry W, Jaehne was the 

 first to be tried. After a well-contested trial 

 he was convicted in May and sentenced to nine 

 years and ten months in State Prison. He ap- 

 pealed, and his conviction was finally affirmed 

 by the Court of Appeals in October. In the 

 following month Alderman Arthur J. AIc- 

 Quade was tried, but the jury disagreed. On 

 a. second trial, in December, he was convicted. 



In June Johann Most and three other an- 

 archists were convicted of inciting to riot by 

 speeches made at a meeting in April. They 

 were sentenced to confinement in the peniten- 

 tiary for nine months or a year, and two of 

 them were also fined. 



In June also several members of labor unions 

 were convicted and sentenced for "boycott- 

 ing." 



Statne of Liberty. On October 28 Bartholdi's 

 statue of " Liberty Enlightening the World " 

 was unveiled with imposing ceremonies in the 

 presence of representatives of this country and 

 France. This statue grew out of a suggestion, 

 soon after the establishment of the republic in 

 France, that some suitable memorial of the 

 fraternal feeling between that country and the 

 United States should be erected. The French- 

 American Union was formed in 1874, and in- 

 cluded among its members some of the fore- 

 most men in France. A popular subscription 

 was begun, and more than 1,000,000 francs 

 were realized. The plan and model offered 

 by Fr6d6ric August Bartholdi were adopted, 

 and the statue executed by him. The United 

 States Government set apart Bedlow's Island, 

 in New York harbor, and $300,000 was raised 

 by popular subscriptions, exhibitions, and oth- 

 er means, to build the pedestal. On July 4, 

 1880, the statue was formally delivered to the 

 American minister in Paris. It is 151 feet 1 

 inch high, and the top of the torch is 305 feet 

 11 inches above low water. It is the largest 

 statue ever made. The statue of Lafayette, in 

 Union Square, New York, is by the same art- 

 ist. (For mechanical details of the statue of 

 "Liberty," see ENGINEERING.) 



Free Circulating Libraries. According to the 

 latest library statistics, there are in the city 

 of New York ninety-six public libraries (so 

 called) of one thousand volumes and over, each, 

 containing in the aggregate 1,42 1,618 volumes; 

 but only five of these, aggregating 100,453 vol- 

 umes, are free circulating libraries, from which 

 books can be drawn for home use by any and 

 every resident who can give a responsible ref- 

 erence. The eagerness with which these few 

 books are sought for by the large number of 

 readers who avail themselves of the privileges 



