National Republican., 1874-05-29
DISTRICT INVESTIGATION

IL q fcontinssd. Jfpm second pags.J /
ever any question comes up to Nh. willard, Il
vice president of the board, he is very apt [
come to me or send for me, and we confer
regard 70 II. The business he attends to
mostly routine business, such as referring p,
| ipers, &c. Any question requiring decision d
/ not think he decides without consultation wit
myself or other members Of the Board of Publ
| Works.
By Mr.. Wilson: q. Are those matters th
matters thst are entered up upon your minute
as being the proceedings of the board
When we have q meeting Of the board now
when first went there there was no reguls
day appointed for the meeting Of the board
Since then we have had regular day al
pointed. When we meet then and get quo
rum, we meet and proceed regularly as an
other board would do, noting down all the pr
ceedings as they occur-everything that come
before the board. / understand that that jou
nal is made up-I inquired about It when
went into it-shat journal is made up from th
current letters Of the board, from the letter
that are written, &C.. But 1t is journal so IA
as it notes the proceedings Of meetings at whic
have been present.
g. Does 1t contain meetings Of the board
Yes, sir.
] Q. And prior to that time 1t was simply tn
record of the current transactions made up
statedr A. Yes, sir, very much. read hi
testimony.
By Mr.. Stewart: Q. And made up Of tn
meeting5 A. Yes, sir; that was one of tn
first things that struck my attention when
went there, that we ought to have regula
meetings of the board and deliberate upon tn
measures that came up and discuss them freely
IL was Ultimately determined upon. Since thei
we have gone on very regularly with 1t.
| Rv the Chairman. q Won do daliharofa vo,v
A: think SO. never belonged to any bod,
when / did not deliberate In regard to any mat
ter that was submitted to my judgment.
Q. do uot speak of you personally.
mea1 Ahe body of which you are a member
Are you letting contracts nowl A. No, sir
not what you would call an original contract
Some matters that require fixing up, whert
the original contractor had either abandoned
the work or was really unable to 90 along will
1t. In those cases, it being necessary, the
board has given the work to somebody eise.
Q. Have you any plans for improving the
| streets that have not been improved. thus far
or are you only completing old workl A. We
are only completing old work. do not know
of any plans. .......
Q. 1mean you have no disposition or under
standing that new contracts are to be made
Would s e !esy Tiss In is to d % so. o. We % have
| no means to fulfill any contracts.
By Mr.. Wilson: Q. Have you made any con
| tracts when you have had no means; when die
your means run out2 A. Well, ! cannot ex
actly tell you that. ,--
Q. Had 1t run out before you came INF A
Well, | rather think that it had, sir; although
won't be positive on that point.
| Q. From your investigation of the affairs O
/ the board, about what time do you think thu
means did run QUIT A. Indeed cannot tell
you, sir; cannot answer that question to save
me. do not know anything about It, except
| what came under my observation. know one
Of the most annoying things to me. in regard
| TO it is that we are not able to pay our debts
have, myself, whenever 1 have been-I have
been commissioner Of public buildings under
two dministrations-alway have had plenty
of money to pay q bill when It was presented
| always took care to have money on hand; and
now when bill is presented and cannot pay
| it, l feel that it is almost q personal matter.
Q. When you became q member of this board
did you OF not find 1t to be fact that the board
was very largely in debt without any means
whatever of paying iti A. Well, believe
that was the conceded fact, sir.
q. Have you any idea, or had any member
| of the board any idea Of the extent of that In.
debtednessl A. had none; cannot answer
for others.
Q. Were you or not aware of the fact that
| there had been very large amount of certif-
Gates already issued when you came In, for
work that had been done, and for which there
was no means to payl A. When I came in
and had been there little while, I had ample
opportunity of knowing something about it.
People made application who had their certif.
Gates. never went into the market to see
about certificates and do not deal in such
things.
@. But you found a very large indebtedness.
without any means to payl A. Well, the con-
tractors would come there with their certif-
Gates and they wanted to get the money.
Q. Have you made any investigation as to
the financial condition of the boardi A. Ihave
not, sir, In regard to that matter. Whilst ]
saw many things that thought in time might
be corrected sdVantageously, proposed not
to move in the matter until everything was
quiet and then we could do so dispassionately
did not want to do so while an excitement
was prevailing. / have noticed among the
members of the board nothing but what was
frank, open, square and honest.
Q. Well, l am not discussing that, but what
I want to get at Is this want TO know
whether in all your consultations you have
taken any steps to ascertain the exact financial
standing of this board, its Indebtedness and its
resources, with view of settling with the par
ties who you owei A. never have, sir; such
a thing has never been before US that I am
aware of. thought that would all be dis
closed In the report that would be made here.
We had no data to go upon Immediately unlesS
we had q general examination Of the who!
affair.
Q. Certificates are still being issued, are
they not from, time to time A. Well, I be-
lieve they are, but you have had the auditor
up here and do not know whether am cor
rect in that assertion or not
Q. The measurements of work are still being
madel A. Yes, sir.
Q. Is there or not any considerable amount
of work done and not yet measured so far as you
are advisedi A. Well, cannot answer that
question; that probably pertains to the engi-
neers. Whenever any question comes up be-
fore us that relates to the engineer department
we call upon them for information. There are
q grest many calls made for information upon
all the different branches. / will say here that
the divisions of the Board of Public Works are
organized separate and distinct from each
other; they seem to me to be perfect, but they
want a regular connection, so as to make 1t q
perfect whole, and those are the points to which
I intended to give my attention.
Q. You intended to straighten this thing out
as soon as you couldl A. Yes, sir; intended
to have everything straight, u could possibly
accomplish 1t.
Q. Do yon know whether there has ever
been from the organization of the board down
to this day any settlement with Mr.. Magruder
as treasurer of that board, or any Investigation
made with q view to ascertain whether or not
his accounts are all straight and rightl A.
Nothing has come under my observation. lido
not know anything about It.
Q. Have you any information that anything
of the kind has ever been done since the
organization of this board A. do not be-
lieve anything of that kind has ever come
under my observation at all; that was one of
the points that struck my attention
Q. Make such statement as you desire in
relation to that matter. sir. A. The first thing
that struck my attention was that the audi
tors certificates were regarded as checks upon
the treasurer. They were taken to the treas
urer, and as understand i'll may not be ex-
actly correct-but as I understand 1t, they
were taken to the treasurer, who paid them In
such funds as he had-if he had money, he
paid money; II he had no money and had
bonds, he paid bonds. thought that was
rather loose way Of doing business. MY
opinion is that the auditors Office should be
supervised By q comptroller's Office; that the
comptroller should have the same or higher
powers than the auditor; he should not only
be an accountant, but law officer, to deter
mine the legal matters which mil.ht be in.
volved In the accounts. Ny opinion was that
If he had examined these accounts and struck
true balance, II there was any difference be-
tween the balance he made and that the audi
tor made, then should make his warrant upon
the treasurer, and the treasurer should then
issue his check upon. the depository Of the
board. Those were my ideas, and I Intended
49, II. - Al A. -