Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1871-09-07
More Tammany.

mere political dodge. The charges, we
are told, were brought by partisan enemies
only, and will soon be ignored by the peo
pie. If the Sachems lay this fiattering
unction to their souls, they greatly mis-
Judge public sentiment. As matter of |
TACT, too, the charges are not preferred by |
Republicans only. What the New York |
Times SO grandly begun has been followed |
up by others in position to know about |
Tammany doings, and the unearthing |
process is still going on. The nine or ten
millions stolen by Ingerson & Co. was
only one among several similar operations.
One exposure leads to another, and the
whole truth may yet De made public.
Not long ago the President of the
Twelfth and Ninteenth Wards Citizens's
Association invited Mayor Hall to attend
ore of the Associations meetings; but the
Mayor, instead, published a card, filled
with empty vaporlngs. To this we now
have reply. 1t is from the pen of
visor John Foley. Mr.. Foley being of
the same party as the Tan.many leaders,
his arraignment is specially significant
Mr.. Foley addresses himself directly to
Mayor Hall. The latter asserted that if
any rascality had been done, it was
chsrgeable to the old Board of Supervisors
Mr.. Foley shows that, on the contrary, the
main responsibility rests on neither the
old nor the new Board, but an dd interim
Auditing Board. composed of Messrs. Hall,
Tweed and Connolly-those three and no
more. The items directly traceable to them
figure up Sc BIZ, ,541 81. The looseness with
which things were done by the Auditing
Board, may be inferred from the admitted
fact that the whole batch of claims was
audited at one sitting. The list is long,
| and all the auditors did, at most, was to
see if the items had been correctly sum-
married. No investigation was made into
| the nature of the accounts, or whether the
| claims were valid or bogus. The main
| duty of an Auditing Board was entirely
| neglected.
If the General Government had been
conducted upon the same plan as long as
| the New York Government has been, the
nation would have been on the brink of
| bankruptcy by this time. Fraudulent
claims and eXorbitant charges are contin-
ually made against government, and in
discriminate payment is monstrous. If
private business were conducted on this
plan, how long would even an Astor or
Vanderbilt stand the drain? But, it is
urged in eXtenuation, the six millions and
| more thus paid out must have been, in the
main, for legitimate expenses. In reply
| to this we are told that the claims in ques-
ton were incurred during the years 1868
and 1859, although not audited until 1870,
and that all the expenses legally incurred
during that period were paid at the time.
This is point of the greatest importance
| in this controversy. In the statutes of
1868 and 1869 for New York city and
county, are fully set forth the appropria-
tions made by the Legislature for carrying
on the government and providing for the
work to be performed for the county for
| those years respectively, and in each stat
ute provision is enacted as follows:
The said several sums shall be applied to the
| objects and purposes for which the same here
by appropriated, except as herein otherwise pro-
vfded and neither the Board of Supervisors ofsaid
county, nor any officer, agent, or member thereof
or head of department. shall incur any liability,
make any contract or contracts, or permit or vote
for, or authorize, audit, or allow, drec ly in
directly, any expenditure or expenditures for any
of the objects and purposes specified, the aggregate
of which expenditures and of the liabilities under
| such contracts shall exceed the sum appropriated
for said purpose, or for any other purpose or OBJ
| ject than that herein specified
| Supervisor Foley then clinches the nail
by adding:
| beyond these appropriations no Board, no of
] fetal had any right power or authority to enter
into any contract, or incur any liability for work
legally responsible. This the statutes specially
declare. You knew that; SO also did the Comp
troller and Tweed, when you entered upon your
| with this knowledge, how did you discharge the
| trustreposed in you? Claims to the amount of
millions of dollars were presented for work stated
to be done and furnishings supplied to the county
during the years 1868 and 1862 Not only were
| the work and the furnishings thus claimed never
performed supplied the order of any
person authorized to act in the matter
for the county, but many Of the claims were
being made out in the names of par
ties who did not exist, and under other forms of
device Notwithstanding all this. however, you
allowed the claims-you passed them all-you
and attempt to throw off the responsibility, and
place it up a board composed half of Republi-
cans and half of Democrats. This will not do. 1t
must be admitted-and I, lifelong Democrat do
anything to do with the passing and paying of the
541 81 of fraudulent claims paid in S7O and
when you publish the accounts you have pr missed
1 undertake to show that, under the operation oi
the accumulated debt bonds,' both you and the
Comptroller are equally responsible for all similar
claims paid in 1862"
This is as explicit as words could make
it. Neither of the trio accused has ven.
tured upon reply.
The testimony against the ring is now
complete. Every link in the chain of evi
dence has been supplied, so far as concerns
the six millions three hundred thousand
By the time the people have to choose
once more between Democratic and Re
publican rule for the nation, the extent Of
the Tammany frauds will, doubtless, have
been ascertained, and the exact truth have
been established beyond cavil. The rims
! will find that they have enriched them
eelves only to make doubly sure the con
demnation of their party Chicago jour
7lAl