The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-05-06
The Obstructive Policy OF the Fi-
nance Department.

Il
nance Department.
If Mayor Wickham and Comptroller Green
could Indulge in their unseemly fights with
out obtruding them upon the public ID
would matter very little how much they
might snarl at each other. II their inclina-
tons prompt them to display their antagonism
upon every occasion, in season and out OF
season, they mighb at least 80 arrange it that
innocent persons would not be compelled to
suffer. Governor Tiiden, it seems, is deter
mined to keep Comptroller Green in office,
although his peculiaribes OF temper should
throw the whole city government into confu-
sion and his financial tinkering should bank
rupt the taxpayers. The Mayor, therefore,
cannot get rid of the present head of tho
Finance Department until the expiration of
MIR. Green's term OF Office, unless by the i'm
tervention of an authority over which the
Governor has no control The Comp
troller, on the other hand, will not
be allowed by the Mayor to usurp
functions that do not pertain to his Office, nor
will he be any longer permitted to intermeddle
with and control the patronage of departments
with which he has no official connection.
Under these circumstances both the Mayor
and Comptroller, az men of sense and self
respect, should cease their unseemly wrangles.
attend to the duties of their respective Offices
and adopt some outward show of official
courtesy when the public business requires
them to act together, whatever may be their
private opinions of each other.
!. 1t is due to Mayor Wickham to say that I'M
the indecent brawls between these two officers
the Comptroller has invariably been the
aggressor. His latest act of hostility has
been to send to the Mayor this month
the warrants for the payment of the fire.
men separately, instead of on payrolls
for each company, as provided for in the
charter. When Mayor Wickham took Office
he called the Comptroller's attention to the
needless delay occasioned in the payment OF
the citys employees by the practice of draw
ing separate warrants for each individual
account and pointed out TO him the provision
of chapter 757 OF the Laws Of 1873, section 8.
which provides as follows Wages and
salaries, incluaing payments for the Board Of
Education, may be paid upon payrolls, upon
which each person named thereon shall sepa-
rately receipt for the amount paid to such
person /; and in every case of payment upon
payroll the warrant for the aggregate amount
OF wages and salaries included therein may be
made payable to the superintendent, principal.
teacher, foreman or other officer designated
for the purpose This provision was inserted
as an amendment to the charter of 1873, be-
cause it was discovered, after the passage of
the original law, that to be compelled to draw
separate warrants for each individual in q
department where great number of men
are employed would not only seriously
embarrass the business Of the departments,
but would necessarily cause delay, annoyance
and needless trouble to the city's employees. In
accordance with the Mayors request the fire.
men were paid on company rolls in February.
March and April Now Mr.. Green has q new
spite against the Mayor. 50 he sends him
thousand warrants to sign instead of about
fifty. II the Mayor should allow the Comp
troller to continue this abuse the men would
be kept out OF their money until nearly the
middle Of the month"; instead of being paid.
rs they ought to be, by the second or third
day of the month. But Comptroller Green
cares nothing for this so long as he can spta
the Mayor. The law authorizes the drawing
Of the mems pay on company rolls, and they
receive their money from their foreman in
their engine house. The city derives no
benefit from paying each individual fireman
separate warrant; but then the Mayor can
be kept busy signing a thousand needless
papers, and Mr. Green's malice is gratified