New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-05-12
OF April, 1870.

Printing. ....... 554 80
Existing contracts
for Ceanlng and
repairs . - 6S3 65- 26. 452 73
Bureau of Wharves and Landings:
Salaries ........S 81 3S8 IS
Paw Rolls 3, 466 60
Purchases OF material 2oo u
Purchases stationery,
Existing contrScts for
removal OF nuisance
Bureau of city drainage:
Salaries. .........S - 20
Pay Rolls .......... BOD 10
Purchases Of material "a g. 6,627 %
Total. ,478 10
To the foregoing aggregate must be added
S1S56 25 as the amount due 10 contractors
for repairing bridges in the four old city
districts, Some of their work, the contrac-
tors being ia default, has been done by tbs
department, and until the account has been
adjusted the amount due by the city can
not be definitely stated. monthly due OF
$500 to the Carondelet Canal Company, fOr
privilege of draining into ther Capal, as per
Judgment Of the Fourth District Court, re-
0uires to be added to the expenditures oy
the Bureau of City Drainage, making pro-
bable total of expenditures OF this depart
ment for April of (S42, 800) f0rty-two thou
sand eight hundred dollars.
1t is rot to be admitted that the exp enses
of previous years should re The criterion Of
those of the present. Necessities may have
been greater then or more urgent now. But
taxpayers may want to know relatively
what they are now being made respohsiple
for by this department, as compared win
their bills for the last two years. am in-
formed by the Administrator OF Pnnllc Ac-
counts, that the records OF his Office can
not. without great aud laborlous research,
afford detail OF the expenses hitherto lu-
Cured by the departments OF the old CITY
government, corresponding with that or I'M
provements. Recourse to the data and re-
cords of the old Streets and Landings Com
mittee, and to the surveyors department
by myself, discloses an expenditure 81
| 81 O06 eco in 1868, and of Sl,O29, 939 III 1869.
The examination is BY no means perfect,
| aud if 81 $50 900 is assumed for 1865. ana
| 81 100 UOO for 1869, they will be nearer the
| lust figures. And these embrace only the
expenses of the old city. Time has not
| offered for report of the expenses OF
! giers, and Of jefferson City, OF Ike
character.
| Thus we have present monthly ex-
penditures of S42 800 or per an
mum of. ...................- -. S0I0i ouu
Contracts to complete paving IN
| progress. --...--. '-..'. 1oo,ooo
| Contracts to complete repairs to
Morgan Wharf p. .............. 2o,oVo
Total. 1857 ,loC
Six hundred and thirty. seven thousand
one hundred dollars the new city
against 81 100 600 III 1869. Tor the Old.
| Called upon by the Chief Executive OF the
State to administer the department IN
volving the largest expenditure Of money IL
| the city government, | feel the great re
| sponsibill'y of the position, and am more
| anxious 10 acquit myself TO the satisfaction
of the people, than had they been Instru'
mental in entrustlng me with their steward
| snip.
It is not considered that they will be sat
| isied with the above scale OF expenditure
Nv Judgment tells me that they need more
ana are willing to pay for what they GIT
One cardinal principle shall not be lost sigh
ot-nothng shall be under AIKEN that the.
can not afFlrd, nor shall they pay for any
| thing that they do not get. Brains, muscle
material, whatever they pay for, the otbe
| party to the bargain shall render value re
ceived TO the extent that possess toe ablii
ty to exact 1t.
With a dirty city, extensive streets in ba'
condition, wharves and landings tending I,
| decay imperfect drainage, the man VINO, Will
limited pecuniary means at command, eN
| meets to remedy all these defects, may wei
| stand aghast at the hopelessuess OF his CT
forts, but in the trust that some good ma,
be done, | have addressed myself to tn
task, ard shall ask your assistance, that
the Council and OF all obligated or concern
ed, to achieve something to relieve New Or
leans from the reproach justly attached t
the unsatisfactory condition Of its Depart
ment of improvements, that has been de
tailed.
am as confident that I have exhausted
YOUR PATIENCE, as | am that the subject ha
not been concluded.
Trusting 10 be able to make report NOR
to your satisfaction for the coming month
I am, your obedient servant,
| J. r. WEST, Administrator.
Mr.. Shaw handed in the following repor
from his Department:
| DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS,
| New Orleans, May 10, 1910
TO Hon. Benjamin f. Flanders. Mayor of Ne
| Orleans:
In conformity with section tenth Of tn
charter I have the honor to report as FOL
lows:
The officers of the Department of Publ
Accounts have been diligently engaged dun
ing the past month in the organization G
| the department, aud have commenced til
task made their duty under the charter, {
examining and preparing all tnancla! mat
ters of the city for such action 10 Was re
CURED and for the regular transaction c
ousiness. This was found to be no sma
task, az the duties of the Department {
Public Accounts are much more compreheI
sive than the late Controllers office, and
mass of new business, hitherto unknown
city affairs, has accumulated under the ne'
| charter.
FRS. and most important was the duty {
making q jul and complete sworn state
ment OF the Floating Debt. This was toun
impossible to be dune without calling
of the evidences of the debt, the data {
hand being imperfect and inconclusive, q
well as positively Incorrect in many Know
instances 8. Fraud in Il portion OF the obi
| cations in circulation " S freely alleged an
s believed, and in some cases has been provee
Under these circumstances the Counc
, instructed me by ordinance to advertise
, eli holders 0 present their obligations an
vouchers, which they did to an extent COY
, ering nearly the entire floating debt, and
am now en- gag ed in preparing, with as niue
rapidity as accuracy will permit. the state
meDt which the law requires me to suomi
, 10 your approval and That of the Admins
traitor of Finance. The examination C
,, registered bills show that many OF ther
6 have been issued illegally