The New York City School Commissioners

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THE NEW YORK SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS.

If there is any one thing upon which we Brooklynites have cause to pity our New York neighbors, it is in their being misrepresented, disgraced and plundered so outrageously by the set of men composing the majority of their Board of Education.

Setting aside the fact that these fellows are notoriously corrupt in office, ever wiling to sell their votes and influence to the highest bidder, and possessing no more idea of conscientiously discharging their duties than had New York Aldermen under the old regime when the Tea Room was in its glory—there are other allegations against their body much more serious, considering their delicate and important duties, than venality in office. From time to time the New York press for months past have teemed with mysterious allusions in respect to the moral character of these gentry and their disposition to take undue advantage of their position by giving license to the basest impulses and the most cold-blooded villainy in their conduct toward the large body of the opposite sex employed as teachers in the schools under their care. However plausible these intimations might appear to those who were aware of the real character of half the men composing the Board, and who knew the extent to which the authority vested in them might be abused, still the general public—the innocent public of New York, who had voted them into office—hardly credited these statements as anything more serious than Sunday paper sensation canards. Of late, however, this scandalous matter appears likely to "come to a head," and some developments may be expected that will considerably astonish the uninitiated. A day or two ago a leading New York journal—perhaps the least likely of all its contemporaries to be led astray or make unfounded assertions respecting so grave a matter—came out with specific charges against divers members of the Board (mentioning no names) of seduction and drunkenness. The writer alleged in so many words that several lady teachers employed in the New York public schools hd been obliged to leave these institutions with characters ruined forever, whose fall was directly traceable to the unscrupulous profligacy of the Commissioners have frequently been known to pay their visits in a state of intoxication so gross as to make them a laughing stock for the pupils. That such charges as these should be followed up if true, amply substantiated if possible, and the guilty parties ferreted out, seems sufficiently plain,—but the question is—Who is going to do it? What is everybody's business is nobody's business, and especially is this the case in New York. The people of that city are so accustomed to be swindled, bamboozled, browbeaten and disgraced by their representatives elect, that except by a spasmodic effort once in a while (vide the late election of Haws to the Comptrollership) they seem to have resigned themselves to their fate with the stoicism of the Mussulman who believes that what is, was to be, and what is to be will be.

We really believe that the present state of things with regard to the Board of Education in New York is utterly unparalleled in any other place. Not to mention our own city, and the body of dignified, high-toned and conscientious gentlemen who compose our own Board, we doubt if there be any town, city or village in existence where such a weighty interest as the Education of youth is put into the hands of a body, anything approaching to that with which our New York neighbors are afflicted. As we said in the beginning, the latter are entitled to our sincerest condolence.