THE SHAME OF NEW YORK

The statement of Mayor Walker of New York, charging that the country's banks have not cooperated in the present crisis, and urging that the federal government contribute to their financial relief, is likely to prove a boomerang. In almost every large American city, the conduct of the politicians themselves has undermined the confidence of the public at large as well as that of the bankers. In making this charge, the mayor is indirectly accusing himself.

The request for federal loans to city governments opens up an even larger problem. The self-sufficiency of local governments is one of the most valuable of American traditions. To accept extraordinary assistance from the federal government, without the most pressing need, would be to confess that municipal democratic government is incompetent. The charge made by Lord Bryce to that effect years ago, and often repeated, would be proved by the cities themselves.

At the time when the Chicago gangsters were at the height of their power, requests were seriously made for military assistance against them. These requests were strongly criticized as equivalent to open collapse. The situation in New York, though less spectacular, is much the same. Moreover, the harmful psychological effect might long outlast the present depression. The federal government undoubtedly ought to make special appropriations for the crisis, but it ought not to make such appropriations to the cities.