New-York tribune., 1874-10-16

in the statement which we published yesterday
morning, considers the income of the Sinking
Fund in the same light as the receipts from
taxes. People complain of the issue of bonds
and the Controller tells them that only nine
millions of new debt have been created
since the middle Of September, 1871.
But to obtain this result he is obliged
to treat the revenue Of the Sinking Fund
as O mere item of the current income.
The sum involved is ss,296,5O7 SO. If at the
time Mr. Green received the finances Of the
City into bis keeping there had been no float
ing debt, if there had since been no issues OF
fresh bonds, and if the income Of the City had
been just sufficient to meet the charges upon
it and no more. the City debt would have di-
minshed $S,296,5O7 62 simply by the operation
of the Sinking Fund. But when bonds are
issued as they have been for the last six
years, the maintenance of Sinking Fund
becomes farce. Mr.. Green's recapitulation
should have brought in, not a comparison OF
tho net indebtedness, after deducting the
Sinking Fund, but comparison of the stocks
and bonds on which interest is actually paid,
whether to the Sinking Fund or to private
citizens. Such comparison we here make:
Bonds and S,'ct. Of ns ot,y Of Ner.york onl.taHd'Hs
SspT1,g I'll 1874 and StDie"',ss = ds5 1s5l ,ae O.
September IA. lS7l...........".... ll67O9S5S 6l
Increase e......................... $50, ,8O734 43
ADD stock. paid from revenue Q the sIut
ing fund.. l,loo'aoi oo
Debt to b. accounted for........... s3z5l4,l7l SO
The above is the sum MIR. Green has to
deal with, and it is prepOsterOus to assert
that it has all gone toward the payment of
obligations contracted before he became Con-
troller Among such obligations he includes
part of the State tax levied by the Legislature
of 1872! 1t is not necessary here to go into
the history of the State finances to ascertain
when the money belonging to the Sinking
Funds was paid ont for current expenses, but
surely Mr.. Green's predecessor cannot be
blamed for not providing funds to pay
State tax two years before it be-
came due. and nearly year before
it was levied. Through the influence of
Mr.. Green, the Legislature of 1874 passed
a law authorizing the City of NewYOrk to
raise money to pay this tax of s3,s99,494 So by
sale of bonds having long period to run.
Had all the counties of the State followed the
example we should have seen debt of the
kind which the State is prohibited by the
Constitution from contracting or issuing bonds
for, transformed into sixty separate funded
debts created by the several counties. The
object of the trainers of the Constitution
would thus have been defeated throughout
the State, as it was defeated in the City of
New-York. We are suffering from that very
evil of excessive debt from which the State
by constitutional provisions is protected. The
people of this City have sufficient cause to
s;n
for their municipal government.
Nor do we see the justice of including in
the floating debt inherited from Mr.. Connolly
the $3,791, 400 for awards in cases Of land ac-
quired for City purposes, and the g., $4,000 for
vacated assessments. We really are unable to
see that local assessments on private property
are less prejudicial to the growth of the City
than taxes in more general form. A great
quantity of work has been and still is going
on in the upper part of the island for which
the Taxpayers must pay in one shape or
another. If Mr.. Green is under the disagreea-
BILE necessity of paying for some of this,
which was commenced before he came into
power, his successor will likewise have to
provide for some of the boulevard building
and other improvements made during the last
three years.
Allowing Mr.. Green the rest of his claims
undisputed, we have the sum of $9,739,696 %
for arrearages and floating debt received from
Mr.. Connolly. Deducting this from the
$37,514171 93 Of fresh debt created since 1871,
we have left S27,774,475 II of funded debt
contracted in the last three years, for which
Mr.. Green does not account. Against this is
to be placed an increase of $7,163,07O 10 in the
Sinking Fund, and the 81 ,133, 437 80 of bonds
actually paid by the Sinking Fund. The
81, ,253 of bonds paid out of the proceeds OF
taxes, and $3,41S,5OO decrease of revenue
bonds, do not appear on either side of the
account as we have stated it. There is de-
crease of $2,1362S1 20 in the cash in the
Treasury, the cash balance reported
by Mr. Green on the 1st of
September, 1874, being only $42s,025 6s.
Add this to the $27,774,475 II, and We have a
total of $20,OIO,756 %, which represents
the amount by which the receipts from other
sources than bonds have fallen short of main
tanning the Sinking Funds and paying current
expenses, including all so-called improve
ments in the three years of Mr.. Green's ad-
ministratiOn as Controller, after excluding
bonds issued to the amount Of $9,739,696 % to
raise money to pay floating debt existing
when Mr. Green took charge. If this does
not bear out our statements to the letter re-
parding the excessive issues Of bonds for
bouleyards and other purposes then for us
has simple arithmetic been delusion and a
snare. - -