their court. Fine ladies can look down from their high casements upon
the squalid dens of their unhappy sisters.




CHAPTER III.


THE CITY GOVERNMENT.

The City of New York is governed by a Mayor, a Board of Aldermen and a
Board of Common Councilmen. The Mayor has been stripped by the
Legislature of the State of almost every power or attribute of power,
and is to-day merely an ornamental figure-head to the City government.
The real power lies in the Boards named above, and in the various
"Commissioners" appointed by the Legislature. These are the
Commissioners in charge of the streets, the Croton Aqueduct, Public
Charities and Corrections, the Police and Fire Departments.

We do not seek to lay the blame for the mismanagement and infamy of the
government of this City on any party or parties. It is a fact that
affairs here are sadly mismanaged, whoever may be at fault.

In place of any statements of our own concerning this branch of our
subject, we ask the reader's attention to the following extracts from a
pamphlet recently published by Mr. James Parton. He says:

The twenty-four Councilmen who have provided themselves with such ample
assistance at such costly accommodation are mostly very young men,--the