The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1868-09-16
err WHARyEs AVID PEERS.

VIII EShhvES AVID fkEESs
What IL Costs 10 Repair Tlen,-C nrious
Facts and Fisures-Oae Of the causes Of
Exorbiiant Taxation.
The Citizens Association recently addressed
letter TO Street Commissioners Mclean communicat-
ing the result or investigation into the condition
OF The wharyes and piers OF this city and into the ex-
penditures made by the Street commissioners De-
partment. The communication sets forth the law
giving the control OF the wharves to the street Com
missioner, and then continues
Such was your absolute power and authority over
all expenditures OF money In the construction, care
and supervising OF wharves and piers on the LIST day
OF July, 1867, and on that day large sum OF money
placed at your disposal by appropriation was SUBJ
lect to your call Tor such repairs and care OF our
partment that from the aforesaid LIST day OF July
1867 to the LIST day OF July 1885, period OF one year.
there has been drawn from the city treasury on your
requisOn and certificate the sum or 1883 II for
the alleged purpose OF paying for repairing certain
or this sum 49, 7O5 So was alleged to be for lumber
used in repairing the plankng or sheathing OF the
PIERS $3,lsl 70 for nine and ten inch iron spikes and
bolts to fasen down such panking, and the balance
or S6' $685. 9e for workmens labor LII laying the SAID
panking
The first matter of astOnshment In regarding these
figures is the extraordinary dlsp-oporton OF mate
rial and labor. Lumber 50, 7o5 SO; spikes and bolts
s$ g, 81. 2s workmen's wages se7s'0 SS; total
II thus appears that to lay one dollars worth Of
Danking requires eleven dollars worth OF Skilled
labor. IL would seem on consideration or the work
TO be done In repairing pier that no necessity for
such dsproportlon exists. The lumber is furnished
by the lumber dealers in planks OF the width and
and the only labor needed Is to take up the rotJon
pankIng and trim the new to take its place
e pay o tha ar % 10 20 per e NV are
needed TO lay one dollars worth of planking.
The Association has caused to be investigated all
the circumstances connected with this enormous
expenditure Of money for alleged w0rkmen and finds
the following peculiar facts connected with it:-ln
July, 1867, "a men appear on the pay rolls in August
2l3: in December, 1l6; In January, 1868 so; in Feb
ruary, "a; III March, 70; in April So; in May "a; in
June, ia.
II thus appears that from the month of July, 1867,
to December 1857, the number or men placed on the
pay roll steadily increased, aud from the latter
month began to decrease. II Is to be noted in con.
nection with this that in all the public works Of
your department the number OF men placed on the
pay rolls and drawing money from the city treasury
is largely swollen as the months OF October NOvem-
Der and December approach. In the months of No
vember and December the elections are held in this
city, and the curious coincidence of the approach of
that period and the augmentation OF the pay rolls
occurs year after year.
immediate predecessor, the late Street Commits
siOner which the Citizens Association presented to
Governor FentOn, and on which the removal Of your
predecessor from the office you now hold was de-
manded, the eighth charge and specification was TO
the effect that while Street Commissioner he pre-
tended to employ large bodies Of men as wOrkmen
on the public works but that such men were not in
fact employed for such work, but to distribute to
them the patronage of his office in order to retain
their services for electiOneerng purposes. Your
predecessor resigned his ONCE as street Commits
sioner in order to avoid his trial on those charges,
and you were appointed IN his place. But the same
remarkable facts and figures appear In your record
found In his on this subject of the increase
OlabOrers hired by your department and paid on re-
QUESTION just before and during the November and
December elections. There can be no explanation
OF tins on the ina. e
on the wharves. because it appears upon investga-
ton, that when the greatest number of men were
employed the least work was done. The records OF
your department show the following singular facts:-
In July, 1851, you employed afty-ionr men and i
piers. The next month (Augusl you hired seventy
one men, who laid less than eleven thousand feet.
The month after (September) you hired one hundred
and men, who laid less than seven thousand feet
of lumber. The next month (OctOber) you hired one
hundred and fifty -four men, who laid little over
appears you hired two hundred and thirteen men,
who laid only thirty-four thousand feet OF planking
while in the month OF July before afy-four men had
These figures tell their own tale and no comment
upon them Is necessary.
The cost Of the labor in these months kept pace
with the number OF the pay rolls and not with the
amount Of work done; thus, in July you paid for
ss%Ssr sse
$lo,os6. In January II Tell to s2ees. SO far
to too excite the gravest concern among our citzens
where taxes every year are paid in such sums for
such objects. But the association has caused sur
wharves and piers alleged to have been repaired
by the army Of workmen and with the materials
mentioned above.
The. communication next cnumerates the piers
in detail which were alleged to have been repaired
and concludes:-
The gross amount OF lumber thus charged to and
paid for by the city in the said twelve months was
lse5l9 feet. while i'll the aforesaid period no more
than 81 800 feet OF lumber were laid used for such
repairing. The balance or 107,0l9 feet OF lumber
charged 10 the various wharyes and piers aforesaid
found thereon. II was no difficult matter upon this
survey and Inspection for skilled and experienced
dock builder to discover, from the appearance and
condition " the timber or the wharycs, what part
had been renewed in the year ending July |, 1860.
The association considers that one hundred and
seven Thousand feet OF lumber Is too large quantity
of material to have disappeared without leaving some
Indications IA TO where IL went and where IL Is now.
There seems TO he no evidence thai Your department
you have taken any steps To detect the perpetra
tors oi the great wrong on the city
II cannot be possible that such discrepancies be-
tween the amount of material charged for aud the
amount actually furnished are so common In Tie
Street department OF New York that not an effort is
made to bring The perpetrators To justice. No such
imposition can he praCiised upon you ir any means
exist whereby you can convince yourself that the
city has had the full value of the money, which you
draw lroin the treasury upon the acquisitions
siened by your own hand. II YOU have no
means by which YOU can verify the ac
counts TO which you certify 1t Il time that
You laid the facts before the Legislature and
demanded authority 10 protect the city. But the
association il Of opinion that you have ample means
OF knowing whether the bills you certify correct
and full power ~ protect the treasury. without
your signature no money can he drawn nom the
treasury, and 1t is submitted that you should sign
no acquisitions without - thorough conviction that
YOU are not thereby making yourself party TO
wrong But this is not the whole extent OF the
evil. bad IL seems 10 be. lt appears by the re-
cords OF your Office that You paid for this lumber s35
and S37 80 per thousand feet besides paying carriage
OF 81 per thousand feet for delivery. while 1t Is asccr
tanned by the association that the same kind Of un-
Der sold in the market during the whole period
mentioned above for SIS per thousand and delivered
free OF carriage.
The ASSOCIATION does not understand how the city
should have pay at the rate OF SIS and Sc. 80 for
material which can he bought for s2J; nor how In
the digent performance OF your duties you could
permit such an exorbitant overCharge not only to
pass without circumstances but even TO be certified
be paid. y
Before such figures and in the presence OF such dis.
proportion no citizen can be longer amazed IN the
increase OF his taxes and tine yearly increase OF the