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Legislation for the City

About This Item

  • Title: Legislation for the City
  • Date: 29 January 1858
  • Creator(s): Walt Whitman
  • Whitman Archive ID: per.00966
  • Source: Brooklyn Daily Times, 29 January 1858: 2. Our transcription is based on a digital image of a microfilm scan of the original issue. Microfilm of original issue held at Pennsylvania State University Libraries. For a description of the editorial rationale behind our treatment of the journalism, see our statement of editorial policy.
  • Editorial note: This piece is unsigned, as was the case for most of Whitman's journalism. However, this editorial is part of a series of texts that deal with a coherent theme that has been identified by the Whitman Archive journalism team as likely authored by Whitman. This decision is based on a combination of historical and (auto)biographical accounts, similarity to contemporary Whitman writings, a history of scholarly attribution, extant clippings retained by Whitman, computational stylometric analysis, and, in some cases, manuscript evidence in Whitman’s hand.
  • Contributors to digital file: Kaylen Michaelis Francesca Boston Jason Stacy Stephanie Blalock Karie Cobb
  • Cite this page: Whitman, Walt. "Legislation for the City." The Walt Whitman Archive. Gen. ed. Matt Cohen, Ed Folsom, & Kenneth M. Price. Accessed 16 July 2024. <http://www.whitmanarchive.org>.
  • Source File: per.00966.xml (TEI)
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LEGISLATION FOR THE CITY.

As an Albany correspondent of ours has elsewhere expressed himself strongly in favor of the bill for shortening the terms of the various officers of the city, we deem it right to express our dissent from his views. The financial department of the city is managed with great ability, and the onerous responsibilities attending the enterprises the city has now undertaken, render the continuance of these officers to the end of their present terms most desirable. However, if we are rightly informed, Mr. Dayton has a bill providing for the appointment of the heads of departments by the Mayor, on the expiration of the present officers’ terms, on the same principle as the President appoints his cabinet. As this is a principle which is not only justified by precedent, but promises a better chance of harmonious working than the present system of electing one head of one department at one time and another at another, we trust such a bill will pass.

Mr. Beach’s forthcoming bill on the subject of ferriage, is too long and detailed to be understood at a glance by the general reader; but its design is to multiply guards against the ferry companies evading the obligation to charge no greater sum than will repay them ten per cent. on their actual capital.

Hitherto, there have been nearly as many bills noticed relative to Brooklyn as to all the rest of the State. Only a small proportion, probably, of the schemes introduced, will emerge from committee, and fewer still will be enacted.

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