The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-12-18

OF rent due TO the city from inc Eric nollrO8u
for the premises occupied by that company on
Washington and other streets, and to the
questions of the HERALD regarding the pay
ment of interests on the city and county bal
ances by the banks that have the use of the
money. The city has been kept out of four
years rent, says the Comptroller, because the
appraisers appointed by Comptroller Connolly
in 1868 failed to agree. and because no deci-
sion was reached by the umpire until few
months ago. when The valuation of the prop
erty was fixed at two hundred and twenty-five
thousand dollars. Considering that Comp
troller Green has been in Office nearly
year and half, il Is singular that
so active and efficient an officer
should have suffered delay which he regards
as reprehensible under his predecessor to con-
tinue for so long period under his own
regime. His prediction that the amount OF
forty-fve thousand dollars, which he states is
the sum due, will now be promptly collected,
attributable rather TO the zeal Of Alderman
Gels than to the sharpness Of the financial de,
partment of the city government.
But in his reply to our questions regarding
the interest on the city deposits Comptroller
Green attempts to mystify the matter in very
curious and suspicious manner. The facts
are very simple. Under Chamberlain Devlin
the city received no interest on amounts re-
naming in the city and county treasury. The
Chamberlain did, however, receive interest
which be put into his own pocket. The de-
posts were worth great deal to the banks
and they paid the Chamberlain, we believe,
four per cent for the use of the money.
The greater the amount in the treasury
the more profit the City Chamberlain realized.
The consequence was that month after month
tho balapces reached into the millions, S S:1a
Upon all this amount, Of least for nine months
in the year. the people were paying seven per
cent interest, the money being raised on city
revenue bonds In anticipation of taxation.
Chamberlain Dsvlin Is said to have made over
million dollars out Of this interest. Cham
berlain Sweeny decided to give up this perqui-
site Of the Office and to pay over the in
terest received to the credit of the
city. His immediate successor Chamberlain
Bradley, kept up the practice. The interest
account was Kept separately, and when Mr..
Bradley retired from Office it reached nearly
half million dollars. This fund was not all
the advantage the city derived from the new
system. There being no object in keeping
heavy balances in the Treasury, for which the
city received four per cent interest and paid
seven per cent, the balances ran down to q few
hundred thousand dollars and the interest
paid on revenue bonds proportionately de-
creased
Since Chamberlain Palmer came into Office
the amounts in the city and county treasury
have heavily increased. Observing this, the
HERALD inquired Of Comptroller Green
whether the interest on the amounts kept on
| deposit in the banks was still collected
and credited to the city, and if so
where the returns were to be found?
The monthly returns made by Chamber
lains Sweeny and Bradley were no longer
forthcoming and we desired to know
whether the old practice prevailing in Cham
berlain Devlin's time had been resumed and if
the city was being again cheated out Of the
interest on deposits. We put the questions first
to Comptroller Green, and his answer is
evasive, impertinent and unsatisfactory. We
have, therefore, unearthed the truth by an
interview between one Of our attaches and
Chamberlain Palmer himself and we find our
suspicious confirmed.
From the statements Of the Chamberlain
and his deputy, which appear in the HERALD
to-day, it will be seen that since December
last not single dollar Of interest has been
paid to the credit Of the city. The table Of
monthly balances during the year shows q
gross amount Of over sixty-seven millions, or
an average Of about five millions and o half,
in round numbers, per month. -Four per cent
interest on these deposits would have realized
two hundred and twenty thousand dollars
Not cent has been paid. The benefit of the
large deposits has gone into some persons
pockets; it has not been secured by the tax
payers.
Let us examine the manner in which Comp
troller Green attempts to evade responsibility
for this return to the rotten system of the.worst
days Of Tammany rule, and the efforts he
makes to befog the plain issue. He admits
that he prohibited last December the practice
Of keeping separate account and making o
separate monthly return, which every taxpayer
could understand, Of the amount of deposits
during the month and the amount of inter-
est received and paid over to the city. But
he affects ignorance of the after-fate Of the
interest, when its visible life had thus been
cut of, and assumes that it is credited
where it ought to be, along with the
principal Of the various accounts on which
it has accrued" Is this an honest
statement? Comptroller Green knows the
exact amount he raises by bonds and the
exact amount paid in to the bank Of
deposit, the Broadway Bank, from all sources.