The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-04-04

examination of the vouchers and accounts OF
the Comptroller and Chamberlain. This
report has been in the possession OF Mayor
Havemeyer for more than week, and it is
matter of notoriety that during that time it
has been subjected to the examination and
criticism of the very officers of whose accounts
it is an investigation, and that the delay in
its publication has been occasioned by the
efforts of the Mayor to secure an alteration of
the original figures. The report will show
upon its face how far those efforts have been
successful The detailed statement OF the
debt made by the Commissioners in the report
they placed in the hands Of the Mayor
showed the total amount of the city and
county debt on the last day of December
to have been $131, 869, ST., or $665, 900
more than the total amount stated by the
Mayor in his annual Message to the Common
Council. The explanation of the difference is
that warrants to the amount of $685., 900 were
drawn by the Comptroller, prior to. December
81, in payment of revenue bonds due in De-
cember, which warrants were still ''outstand-
ing" on the last day Of the month. These
warrants, the Comptroller claimed, should be
deducted from the amount of the debt, while
the Commissioners of Accounts commended that
until the warrants were paid the bonds still
outstanding were part of the city debt The
demands made upon the Commissioners Of
Accounts were three-frst that they should
set forth on the face of their report that these
warrants to the amount of 100000 on city
account and $685. 900 on county account had
been drawn and were outstanding on
December 81, 1878; second, that they
should strike out of their list of outstanding
revenue bonds sS,975,39S and transfer
the amount to the funded debt
and, third, that they should deduct the
s665,000 from the footings in the
''recapitulation, and thus make their total
amount OF outstanding debt appear to har-
monte with the incorrect statement put forth
by the Mayor in his last annual Message. The
Commissioners refused to alter their revenue
bond statement They yielded to the demands
of the Mayor on the other points, and thus
altered and falsifed their original report.
While the mere statement that certain num-
Der of warrants had been drawn but not paid
ton of the amount of these warrants from the
total of the debt was Justification by the
Commissioners Of their original figures and
an Endorsement by them Of wilful mis-
representation. They know that the
S665,O00 represented by unpaid and
undelivered warrants was part Of
the debt, and that it could not honestly
! l. lalr ii xJ~a lid
it existed on December 81.
The facts are these:-Certain revenue bonds
!. fell due in December last, which Mr. Green
found himself unable to pay without incon-
venience. Some of these we're in the hands Of
banks which hold the city deposits. By an ar
rangement with Mr.. Green they were sex
tended to January and February to the
amount of $685., 600. The clerk in the Finance
Department whose business it is to draw the
warrants for bonds as they fall due drew
these warrants and marked them off as drawn
on his books. But, in accordance with the
arrangement made by the Comptroller the
warrants were laid aside and not delivered.
In the meantime the bonds were held by their
owners until January and February; and, when
they were paid, interest in full to the date of
payment was paid also. No business man will
for a moment pretend that these unpaid and
Understanding bonds were not part of the
city debt on December 81, 1873 If the Comp
troller could strike them out of the debt simply
because undelivered warrants were drawn
against them. then, at any time few days
before his debt statements are made up, he
can draw warrants for twenty million dollars
worth of bonds, put them away in his safe,
and diminish his debt statement by that
amount. merchant who owes ten thousand
dollars would not pay the debt if he should
draw a check for the amount and lock it up
in his safe. Yet this is what Comptroller
Green claims to do; and when the Commits
sioners of Accounts apparently sanction
such financial wisdom and honesty by deduct
ing the amount of these unpaid bonds from
their debt statement they not only put them
selves on par with the Mayor and the Comp
troller but they commit an act of official dis
honesty.
But we have evidence Of conclusive char
acter that Comptroller Green knows the i'm
propriety of deducting this S665, 600 from the
December debt statement, and that his pub
lished exhibit was intentionally deception.
His trial balance sheet for that month, which
is the check upon all his books and accounts
was not made for the public eye; nevertheless,
we have succeeded in obtaining copy of that
document which is published elsewhere in
to-day's HERALD. From this trial balance
sheet it appears that at the close of business
on December 81 the Comptroller's books and
accounts make no pretence to decrease the
debt by this amount of unpaid and unde-
livered warrants, but, on the contrary, show
the total debt to be nearly as originally
stated by the Commissioners of Accounts