The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-10-10

herd of the church militant, will be content to
smile at the attack Of the Churchman upon him,
and to let its taunts pass in that silence which
so well becomes the saints, we cannot say. If,
however. he should not be disposed to follow that
course, but should come out with rejonder to
the attacks of this trinity of clerical editors, we
may expect to see them most exqusitely lacerated,
for the Bishop is hardly behind his Catholic bro
ther of New York in the powers Of sarcasm. 1t
is a mighty pretty quarrel us it stands.
PLUMBER OF THE CITY FINANCEs-REPoRT OF
THE JOINT COMMITTEE OF ACcoUNTs.-It will be
nothing new to our readers to learn that the
communication from the Joint Committee on Ac-
counts of the Common Council, which we pub
lish to-day. contains a long category Of frauds;
for every document which has issued from that
source since the committee was organized has
been history Of theft and plumber by officials
of the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES and others en-
gagged in the business of what is called the city
government.
The communication referred to is q statement
of the affairs Of the Department of Collector OF
Assessments from 1858 to 1856, during the stew
ardship of Isaac Edwards We have before al
luded to the fraudulent system carried on in this
department, whereby the unfortunate property
owners were feeced-frst in the unjust amount
of assessments levied on them, and again in the
deputy collectors not paying the money into the
treasury, but leaving the liens stand on the re-
cord against the property, thus creating W Vb,
stacle TO its transfer
In examining the accounts for the period above
specified the committee state that they found the
following descriptions Of errors to exist
J. Errors in footing assessment lets
Assessment, paid in the treasury, but not discharged
OF record.
. Assessments discharged Of record, but paid into
4 Assessments paid to collector no, paid in treasury
and not discharged 81 record
o. Assessments not discharged Of record and not
turned To Bureau of Arrears.
class Of errors which cannot be ascertalned as
YET consisting of payments paid TO collectors the money
by them aud no entry whatever on the books 10
show H. these found out by parties exhibiting
Their receipts for said pay mcnis.
They then proceed to analyzc twenty -ninc in
dividual accounts of the Collector and his dcpu-
ties, with the Of the parties, in all Of which
some OF the above errors were found to exist. 1t
appears that there are four thousand different
amounting in the aggregate to slo5,s3l So,
which have never been returned 10 the Bureau of
Arrears, a. the law provides shall be done. "A
large portion Of this amount" say the commit
tee, Is known to have been paid. and the gene
raj opinion IL that ALL nearly ALL OF that amour,
has been paid, but not credited" Moreover, this
committee are Of opinion that nearly the whole
Of this large sum will have to BE- charged 10
prof, and loss tina, il 10 say. viii have to be
paid over again by the city.
This Is the way that collectors and deputies
and all the rest Of them grow rich. and keep fls.
horses yachts, and 20 forth. The ingenuity dis
played In tho manner OF pretending to keep these
accounts 20 that no fraud shall appear, is model
in its way. No one knows better how to mysti-
~ an account to make e,crything appear
all right, when IL Is really all wrong. than New
York corporate official; and II is no wonder. for
practice they say. makes perfect
Out Of the twcnty-ninc erroneous accounts
here produced. the error in fifteen Of them is
shown to be = deficiency on the part Of the de-
pu,ies-amounting in the total to s22,9ij.
IL is unnecessary to go further into the details
Of this document. II is enough TO say that mon
strous as they are, they represent but a very
small part Of the system by which our citizens
have been robbed and plundercd for many years
past.
In this case the committee have very properly
not confined Themselves rs heretofore, to generali
tes, or TO simply stating the facts Of fraud
without pointing 10 guilty individuals; but they
give the name Of the party in connection with
every case upon whom the crime may be sup
posed 10 rest. II must be remembered that this
communication only touches the accounts OF the
Collector Of Assessments down TO 1856. The
committee have a rich placer before them vet, In
the three succeeding years; aud If We can Judge
from the recent report of the Street Commissioner
on the accounts Of Mr.. Taylor-whch shows
deficit of 1927 ,0OO-we may expect an immense
deyclopemcnt when they have passed through the
searching scrutiny Of Homer Franklin and bis
accountants. Nor are the accounts of this de-
rartmcnt an exception, by any mcans the sys-
tenn here employed il the rule for all the depart
ments and bureaus Of the municipal government
How long II is to continue Is question which
the oppressed taxpayers themselves must an
swer IA long as the affairs Of the city are left
in the hands Of rogucs and rascals, just 10 long
will the citizens have to pay the penalty Of their
apathy in submitting to such rule.