New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-03-19
bids for at high price and in very small quantities.

bids for at high price and in very small quantities
The total of his bid, therefore, is necessarily
smaller than that of any contractor who means to
do the work honestly and he Is the successful ap
plicant. After work has been begun, the changes
are made for which he has made allowance, ard the
contract may become an heirloom in his family.
There is one contract still running which was let In
1869 at $4,000, and which it was stipulated should
be completed by April 2j 1870 far there has been
paid on this about 100000, and the estimate of ex-
penses for the month of February was nearly one
third the amount of the original sum agreed upon.
There are to be sure. infinite variations upon this
single theme which makes such expensive music for
the taxpayers of the State. One Of the most com
mon devices by which money is ilched from the
people is by false measurement Ii is safe to say
that q large proportion of the materials and work
paid for is never furnished. An instance OF this re-
Gently came to light through o change in the
office of one of the Division Engineers. The new
Engineer found. his entrance into office, that the
contractors who were furnishing materials for
certain work under his charge, had been paid for
$4,000 feet of timber which still piled up unused
To satisfy himself of the correctness Of the measure
ment, he caused the timber to be remeasGred and
discovered that the contractors had furnished in
reality only 10000 feet Old canal men say that you
may run your finger at random over almost any
fraudulent in quantity, to say nothing of price
Another favorite method of fraud is that Of build
ing the canal walls several inches less than the
standard thickness. This is from Is to 90 inches,
but it Is common practice for contractors to build
and engineers to accept walls of IL inches or TO- or
even Of Q. 1t is said too, that the items of lining
and pudding. which often make no incoDsid-
cradle proportion Of the cost of contract are
seldom furnished at all. Lining is the
filling of gravel or clay, which is by
the contract required to be placed between the stone
wall of the canal and the neighboring FOIL. 1t IS
the general practice to cut the frozen ground just
enough to make room for the wall, and to omit the
lining or pudding altogether but not to forget to
collect the money.
While the main device ofc1nal frauds ia simplicity
itself it would need a vounc, if not cyclop@dia,
to describe with accurate detail the infinite yaTia-
tons and notifications of the original idea. IL is
an immense labyrinth of theft which ingenuity hes
framed that rogues may rob the people and escape
justice. Prcccdents have been piled up year after
year, until fraud becomes inevitable and seems
almost lawful. Millions Of dollars have undoubtedly
been stolen from the State by the devices detailed
and indicated above, and the system IS apparently
as prosperous as ever for the lettings of last year
are said to have been in some respects among the
worst on record. How long this system of open and
legalized robbery to continue is the question that
is about to be submitted to the Legislature. aud
through them to the people of the State.