"What difference does it make?" he asked. "They are organization men."
"The fact that they are organization men doesn't make any difference, either," said Grace. "I'm going to appoint men who know their business."
This started a quarrel between him and Tammany Hall, but he managed to carry through the reforms on which he was determined.
He put the Louisiana Lottery Company out of business in the city, by raiding their place, and when he found no one there to arrest he carted off their safe to the City Hall, and refused to give it up until the company withdrew from the city and promised to stay out.
He took the street-cleaning department from under the control of the police and made it an independent department with a special head. The local machine tried to stop him by holding out the inducement of another term. But he sent back the answer:
"I'm mayor now, and I'm going to run things in the interest of the city and to suit myself. There is no use leaving any work to a second term."
The next election he was defeated, but in 1884, when Cleveland was running for President, Grace ran for mayor as an independent, and was easily elected. The work of his second term was along the same lines as that of his first.
His business interests with Peru continued to increase in importance, for his brother, Michael Grace, had established himself as the leading man in the country. He helped develop the banking system, railroads and mines of the country, and also aided in founding a regular line of steamships between there and New York. In 1890 he organized a corporation which assumed the Peruvian national debt, and in return for doing this the company was given control of the canals, roads, and other sources of revenue in Peru.
Although much of his time was given to his business with South America, he was also interested in many home enterprises, and was a director in a score of big corporations.