National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-04-23

do 90. :. ~ ~ y So. "
4 q. 10 whom were these various sales Of spe-
ctal improvements and sewerAge-certiicates
madei A. To the Firpt National Bank Of New
YORK. They were ont and out sales.
j MIR. Wilson. Does be give the amount, Mr..
| Merrickf t5a 49, go : - =
Mr.; Mer,ick. BE gives the amour. on page
The Witness. 1t Is in the Governors answer.
Mr.. Merriek Ito the vitness.) L. there any
authority Of Law authorizing the sale Of these
assessment and sewerage certifcatesl A. /
do not know Of any.
Q. By what authority then, or BY whose sd
vice and direction were those sales madea A.
By the authority Of the board.
O.. By the authority Of the Board Of Public
Worksi A. Yes, sir. 81 5. .....,
+ Q. Was there resolution to that effect made
by the Board Of Public Worksi A. That do
not remember; but / had the authority of two
members Of the board besides myself, and
| probably three. - !s --z-s
Q. What duties as member Of the Board
Of Public Works did you perform besides that
of treasurer of the Board Of Public Worksi
A. l was in the office answering questions, re-
ferring papers in the absence Of other members,
conyersing with people who came there, large
number OF them every day; AMI very often
went out on the work, looked at It, consulted
with other members Of the board in relation TO
contracts, and in relation to work to be done.
1 ". IOu pcflOIElcQ dCtlfG uuty % y hltLuOtf
of the Board OF Public Works independently Of
the duty which you performed as treasurer A..
/ did, sir.
Q. We're you paid q salary as member of
the Board Of Public Works Of q, 500 year,
A. By the Government. &c., rs..t
Q. And also salary of q, 500 year as
treasurer Of the boardi A.. Yes, sir.
@. Neither of these, then, engrossed all your
tmel A. Well, the two Offices engrossed my
time from early morning until very often mid
night-yery often. probably had less leisure
than almost any man In Washington.
Q. Now, subsequently, to the month Of Sep
tember, 1878, how have you made payments to
contractors and other creditors Of the Board OF
Public Works. A. Well, we have made them,
some in money, when we had 1t, and in these
sewer certificates and special improvement GER
tifcates.
Q. And the proceeds of the sales of these
sewer and special Improvement certihcates2 A.
Yes, sir.
@. Did you pay them in the certificates at
part A. Yes, sir; invariably.
Q. Then II you paid them in certificates at
par why did you sell some of the certificates at
this discount and pay the money to sonnet A.
Because we had borrowed the money from the
First National Bank TO be paid to them In
assessments upon the property. After the
Legislature passed law authorizing US to
issue these certificates for special improve
ments-to anticipate them-the law required
that from and after that time all assessments
| made by the Board of Public Works upon pri-
4 Yste property should be placed In the hands Of
the sinking fund commission. To enable US to
settle with the First National Bank we paid
them these certificates at that discount.
Q. Then, they were not sales to the First
National Banki A. They were sales In ALL
1 Q. But payments to them at this'kind at
discount A. Exactly, It was the same thing
| as q SALE,
Q. But the actual fact was, that IL was a
payment to them of the debt3 A. Yes, sir; it
was payment TO them Of debt that we owed
them.
Q. In these payments that you made out of
the 81 ,240 900 appropriation bill to the Ma
tional Metropolitan Bank and to the First Ma
tional Bank, were not these in point of fact
also payments to the bank, substantially, be-
cause had they not bought in substance these
certificates at these various discountsi A. No,
sir; they had not bought one of them; they had
lOaned money on them TO our contractors
Q. What other security had they for the pay
ment Of those loans, except these certificates
A. do not know.
Q..They held these certiHcatesl A. They
held these certificates.
| Q. And when the certificates were redeemed,
that cancelled the obligation Of the contractor
TO the banki A. No. understand that they
did not give them the amount of the certif-
1
to him probably fifty, sixty or seventy five cents
on the dollar, holding the certificates as collst-
eral for the payment of the debt, l presume,
without knowing, that they took his note at the
same time.
@. Do you know any instance In which they.
ever paid over any surplus to one Of these mem
A. No, SIR do not know It, but have no
doubt that you can bring up fifty men who Will
tell you they did.
| O. You know nothing about m A. I know
nothing about it. They are gentlemen, and
took their word that they had not bought these
certificates, and I do not believe to-day that
they did.
3. You have stated already to us, believe,
that you had no rule by which you paid con-
tractors, but paid those who first obtained ac-
cess to youl A. have stated that sir.
Q. Was your office equally open to all con-
tractorsl A. No, sir It was not open, because
could not keep my door open. could not
have done anything If I had.
Q. Then you only admitted such persons as
you chose to admit A. Just as fast as got
rid of one man would say: "Bring in another"
@. You made no Discrimination A. None,
unless It was in some particular case.
Q. You made no preference of audience as to
those who came to claim the payment Of their
billsi A. No, sir. 1 -
Q. find on the stubs of your checks here, on
| March II and March Is, an aggregate of about
SoSSiOOO, ah pau W hoses hoAyi VI buO wa
tional Metropolitan Banki A. Yes, sir.
Y Out OF what APPROPRIATIONS were tney
paiai a. Iney were Paia, guess, out Oh tne
million oohar aPpropnation.
march, A. Yes, sir; / should judge 50.
Q. I find that you have charged yourselfwith
the receipt ofthat appropriation, until the goth OF
March, according to your books: "20th of
March, United States Government, 81 ,106, O00."
A. 1t possibly might not have gone on the
books. Very often my old bookkeeper is sick.
He is very reliable; one of the best bookkeepers
in the world, / reckon; and when he is not
there put my papers in the safe. When he
comes I hand them to him and he charges
them. But the account will show. You have
got there In the Governors answer what will
show just when received the money. The
Governors answer will show when received
that money from the Treasury Of the United
States.
Q. Did you dedicate that appropriation made
by the Government to the payment, exclusively,
of these contractors who had done the work
upon the Government property A. do not
know that 1 did. We had paid those con-
tractors q good deal Of that money before we
received it.
Q. You had paid those contractors good