The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1867-12-05

of the Sinking Fund Board; another
! salary as member of Street Cleaning
Board and other perquisites of which
the public know n nothing, all of which
is in direct, palpahle violation Of the
city charter. The tenth section of the
charter of 1857. says that = Any per
son holding office under this charter,
who shall receive any fees or emolu.
ments beyond his salary, shall be
his Office" And again, the for
tieth section provides, That any
officers of the city government who
shall willfulIy violate or evade any
of the provisions of the charter or
permit any other person to do so, shall
be deemed guilty of misdemeanor."
| make no comments upon the acts of
Mr.. Hoffman in connection with these
provisions of the law. [ leave it to
others to draw their own conclusions.
But the aggregate above presented of
city expenses does not include the
expenditure made by the Supervisors
ring, under head of County Appro-
priations." In 1866 these amounted
to the modest. sum of st, S47, 675 So,
less the State taxes, making an aggre-
gate together of $16,000,000, instead
of $1,000, %, as falsely stated by the
Mayor. Hoffman tells US that his
associate Sweeney has performed an
act of the greatest public good. That
Peter Bismarck Sweeney, one of the
Tammany ring, has made sacrifice
by paying into the public treasury, or
promising to pay $50, 900 of the pub
lie deposits. Do you know that the
average deposits to the credit of the
city in the Broadway Bank is over
two millions of dollars? [ do not
mean to say that at one time there
are two millions of dollars there, at
another time only two thousand, and
at another time nothing at all. But
| mean to say that there is at all
times in that bank an average deposit
of two millions to the credit Of the
city. Now, the interest upon that
sum at 6 per cent. is $4,000 a year.
and it is a remarkable fact that takes
from one account to pay another ac
count. For instance, there is the
sinking fund account and the city and
county accounts. and he transfers
| from one account to another, making
| one short; then he, as City Chamber
lain, goes tO-the Comptroller and says,
our sinking account is overdrawn, and
the Comptroller thereupon issues
revenue bonds, and he puts them on
Wall Street, issuing them with six
months to run, at six and seven per
cent. interest. This is thrown upon
| Wall Street in anticipation of the tax
not to be paid till October or Novem-
Der ensuing. He deposits these to
make that account good, and when
| that account is short there will be to
the credit of the corporation one or
two millions of dollars. Mr.. Hoff-
man says that Sweeney paid $25, 600 on
interest account. | deny it. | de-
clare boldly here that Mr.. Sweeney
has not paid one shilling on
interest account. And [ further de-
declare that he is liable to be removed
from office for a total disregard for
his official duties in overlooking the
charter, which directs that the city
accounts shall be deposited in three
banks, while he deposits only in one
bank. LCheers and cries of That's
so. Again, in reply to the charge
that he Is responsible for II the ex-
pendltures Of the public money, (be-
cause no money can be drawn from
the public treasury without his sig
nature, he says that if he refused to
do SO, claimants would sue-the .corpo-
ration and put the city to costs. This
is a weak and absurd reply. Accord
ing to this, he would pay@a fraudu
lent claim rather than stand a law
suit. If an individual makes an I'M
just demand against another, it must
q 61l1Trfn6 n ha1. = l.
trouble and expense OF defense, and
this Is MIR. Hoffman defense of him
self for giving his signature to war
rants by which to take from the city
treasury hundreds of thousands of dol
lars belonging to the people, by fcti
tIous and fraudulent claims Cheers.
The absurdIty Of this pretext proves.
conciusiveiy his completely. A public
officer, acting in pursuance Of law
and authority, cannot be compel to
submit to wrong doors. He Is llced
there as the guardian Of the peoples
rights and interests, and If by wiltull
neglect or want OF nerve he fails to
discharge this trust, he is guilty, and
cannot escape the responsibility. Hav-
ing thus failed to defend himself
against the accusations thus publicly
made, he attempts to shield himself
by assailing others; he calls me hard
names and uses " Billingsgate as
familiarity as the other members of
the City Hall ring. (Cheers.) He
shouts Justify of what he intends to
do with me next Tuesday, but he had
better not halloo till he Is out Of the
= Woods" Not content with bella
boring me, he assailS Mr.. Bennett, of
the Herald, charging that the opposi-
ton of the Herald is In CONSEQUENCE