The New York herald., 1875-03-01

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m %as Il as
posed to tue majority the senate As lie gave hin-
mae 81 he aosa s &
the committee on Cities lie chosen present
S De Ef nd ss esGs' 0uyer
THE SUPPLY BILL INVESTIGATION.
STATEMENT OF SENATOR WOOD BEFORE THE
| SENATE SPECIAL CoMMrTTEE-CoRRoBoRArI
TESTIMONY OF THE SENATE srENooRApHER
AND Mr.. NoRTHRUP.
ALBANY, Feb. %, 1875.
The Senate Committee, consisting Of Senators
King, Dow and Parmenter have he'd another
meeting, at which Senator u. P. Wood was sworn.
He testified that an amendment vas made In
Committee ofthe Whole OF the Senate, providing
that the salary of the superintendent OF the
Capitol shall be $4,000 per annum He
shall be q practical builder. and have sole
control o. the entire work, and devote
his entire time to the building and TO be In no
way interested In any contract. These amend
ments we're carried IN the Senate and went to the
Assembly. where they we're rejected and Com
mittce OF Conference called Tor. Such committees
were appointed on the part OF each House, that OF
the Senate consisting Of witness and Senators
Selkreg and Jacobs. When this Conference Com.
mittee met, the senate Committee insisted on the
Senate amendment aDolishlng .he Commission and
appointing superinte ndent The House Committee
opposed this. The contest was rrotracte1; finally
Mr.. smith Weeu offered COMPROMISE, which was
agreed to by the committee; nothing was said IN
this committee about the salary OF the Superin-
tendent and did not discover that 1t had been
omitted until my attention was called to 1t by Mr..
Norrnrup; supposed. OF course, that 1t was in
Before going to the session OF the Senate on the
morning OF April 80. 1874. MIR. NOrthrup came TO
my roo. and SAID 10 substance that ne under-
stood that the Conference committee had agf eed
upon the Supply bill ana asked about TIE new
Capitol matter; witness took the conference re-
i've ao' 20 the gaptc reaa Sm tSs
report was then handed to him, and,
.No ss c.o nsas sssy r
| Witness replied. "ren thousand dollars" Mr..
waess then took the yepor read Il
carefully, ana 10 his surprise 1Ouni 1t was not In
Witness replied TO Mr.. NortArup that 1t had been
OVERSIGHT OF THE cokMIrrEE.
| Witness tod Mr.. Aitken messenger OF the com.
Batcneler, chairman OF the Assembly portion OF
the committee, that we have omitted to insert
ask MIN to come over with his committee TO cor
rect 1t; he departed. ana returned In a lew mo-
over in lew moments; witness waited some
| time, but as ne did not come he sent the mes
1t was then nearly ten. O'Clock; the House
met carrier than the Senate; he departed,
general witness qemasea "o IN
Batcheer that the committee had omitted
am e ag Sr the
! committee Z" He replied, he could answer Tor MS
committee. He twltness) inferred Irom this reply
that he spoke lor his committee by authority.
Witness asked him. "What shall we make It
Shall we make 1t as 1t passed the Senate u, Mr..
near right as we can get It," Witness then sat
down at the table and wrote at the end OF the
New Capitol paragraph In the Conference com.
mlttee's report, "Ihe salary OF said superlntend.
ent shall be $4,000 per year,
BY Mr.. King-Was Mr.. Batcheller presents
senator WO0d-IcS. sir. | then read it to him,
he standing by me. He said "All right" and then
there was some conversation between MS, he ASK
ing about what time the bill would be down to he
House, and then lett the room. Witness then
Senator sekreg that tue committee M mad Tow over.
looked placing IN tue report the Item OF salary Or
she Capitol superintendent and tnat witness and
fixed by the Senate. He signed 1t, sayIug. "All
right he and witness constituted q majority OF
took the report to senator Jacobs, and he Is quite
onndent ne told him Gacobs) the same thing,
though he understands Jacobs does not remember
II. lie signed 1t. Witness then handed II to the
! Sergeant-at-Arms OF the senate aud directed him
OF his committee. He went with 1t and returned
snortly WIN II, signed by the House committee.
sent to report 1t to the Senate, when 1t was
adopted.
| At this point MIR. Jauner, stenOgrapher for the
Senate, was sworn, and testified that he was
stenosrapner last year and kept g. record @ OF the
time the supply bill was acteu upon b. the Senate
Tha That report OF proceedings was put in evidence.
sent 10 report from the conference committee on
the Supply bill, and said. Tor the purpose of en-
aplng senators better TO understand the report
as it was reao, he would state upon what plan 1t
was made up. lie gave condensed statement OF
| the several amendments, made up In three
classes. senator Johnson moved to dispense with
the reading OF The conference committees report
This motion senator Wood opposed. Du5 it
prevailed. and the roll was calleo, and when
senator DckiDsons name was called. he asked TO
pe excused rom voting, and asked TO have Sena-
Capitol Commission. Senator Johnson OoJected
OF Senator Wood was called he arose and asked
to he excused from voting, saying In reply TO re-
quests from several Senators that he would state
what had been done with reference to the Capitol
Commission, ana proceeded as iOllows:-.A CON-
promise had been agreed upon by which the Com
mlssoners were retained, and provided or the
appointment OF superin endent, who was to be q
man OF large practlcs experience and should have
ploymcnt Of men and purchase Of materials. with
salary OF $1,000 year; that the appropriation,
Mr. Wood then Withdrew his request to be excused
and voted aye.
At this point the printed Journals or the proceed
ings OF April 80 1874, OF both houses of the Legis
lature @ were put IN evidence. They show the
tereu at length. They also show the adoption OF
the report. Tney show IN that report, as adopted
on that day, the paragraph IN relation to tile new
capitol building just as 1t appears on the statute
books TO-DAY, with the salary OF the Superin-
NJ. Ii. Northrup was sworn. He testified he was
legislative correspondent ior the Syracuse Courier
last win err, he called on Mr.. Wood at his room
on the morning OF April 30, 1874, and asked as TO
The disposition OF The new Capitol item; the Con-
ference Committees report was handed MIN; he
found the salaries OF the superlntend ,nts oi the
other State buildings fixed at So, 600 per annum
eacn, uut finding no salary given in connection
with the New capitol superintendent he said to
Senator Wood senator, what Is the salary OF the
New capitol superintendent ~ senator Wood
replied, $50, OOO0.n Mr. N0rthrup said 'There IS
nothing about It here" senator Wood replied,
and finding IL was as stated 10y him (NOrthrup),
he told Mr.. Altken, messenger OF the Senate
finance Committee, to 20 IOr General Batcheiler,
Of the Assembly committee, and tell MIN to come
here immediately, as the Committee had over
looked the item liking the salary 0f the Superln-
tendent OF the Capito. The messenger went out