New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-03-24

MR.. WEED ON CAM FRAUDS
WHAT AN INVESTIGATION WILL D. now.

| SHIP CANAL fROh LAKE ERIE TO TIE HUD~
| son RIVERA STATE CONTROLLER A SENTINEL
| AT THE DOOR TIE TREASURY
! To me Edior or the Trfbuns.
| SIR John Randolph once began q speech in Com
gress by asking for " tho patience, the pardon and
the PITY of the House for so frequently trepass-
! ing upon ITS time. / feel that ought ~ ask your
pardon for SO soon trcspasin ing upon size pa
thence" Of your readers. certainly did not intend
or expect again to obtrudo myself upon the public
| attention but Gov. Tidens message in relation
| TO canal frauds opens door SD widely
and so nyItngly that cannot resist the temptation
! TO speak The Governor has undertaken q her
cnlean task. can conceive Of motive for thus
boarding powerful combination than a desire. in
protecting the Canal Fund, to discharge his duty to
| the people and the State as their and its Chief
Magistrate. To discharge that duty eiTectuaIly ho
| viii need the assistance and cooperation OF all
| thoughtful, independent and honest citizens. In
exposing as he has DONE the recently perDetrated
| frauds his work and duty have only begun. The
past cannot be retrieved, but guarantees can b. pro-
yided for the future. While mover contemplated
a contingency that wond draw me to the support Of
| Gov. Tilden, cheerfully take my position with
| lin in this conflict.
| Tho Governor contents himself by exposing
of the modes by means Of which tho canal revenue
has been frigbtfully dcfrauded. Deceptive bids for
| contracts while by no means new Device. have
reached perfection only within the last few years.
| With the collision Of State officers this was the
easiest simplest, and most profitable process Bat
the Governor has cOurageOusly demanded full and
thorough investigation it is alike important aud de-
siraDe that the other modes OF depicting the State
Treasury should be inquired into. AT an
| earlier day, and for p or 30 years, Old
contractors after making all the money they could
through incompetent ior untrustworthy engineers
t.It cot ba ToUiS1p for
"relief" Their claims, skillfully manipulated.
went from the Legislature either to tho Canal
Board or the Board of Canal Appraisers. If tho
Committee to which the Governors message may DO
sent does its whole duty, it Will ascertain what
amount of money has been paid to satisfy these de-
mands upon the Canal Fund, and then by assuming
what from my knowledge of the character
and history of those claims will DO low estimate
that 50 per cent of the aggregate amount was
fraudulent the people will learn how much tho
State las lost by misguided II not dishonest leg
isatiOn.
To me this is no new question. was involved in
perpetual warfare with canal plunderers from
1880 when The Ereaing Journal established, until
nv retirement in 1864. In nominating state ohcers
We ALWAYS remembered that the Lioutenant-Gov-
crnor. the Controller the Secretary of STATE, the
| Attornev-Genera and the Treasurer, with the Canal
| Commissioner constituted the Canal Board and
! therefore endeavored to find Candidates OF pro-
verbal integrity for these Offices In most cases. az
their records will show, we were successful when.
| howeyer-as occurred in some instances weak or
unworthy Wing State officers had been chosen, care
was taken to prevent their rehoinIna-
ton These discarded men attributed their
defeat to Ereniag Journal "dictation" and
wero loud in their denunciation OF Its
editors Meantime tho Canal Ring" went on
capturing or beguilng commissioners, engineers,
| superintendents appraisers and Legislatures WIN
success and impunity, UNTIL IN cooperation Win inc
"Tammany Ring under the demOralized and III
| omened Administration of Gov Fenton 1T became
the most insidious and rapacious organization ever
known in the State. Like its Tammany namesake.
the Canal Ring" tempered with the judicial bal
lot-boxes. Syracuse members of that King came TO
New-York after the Judicial election of $780, and
made an arrangement by which Judge Mason WAS
counted out and Judge Andrews counted into tho
Court of Appeals. / have no reason to believe that
Judge Andrews himself was either party to oil had
knowledge of that atrocious fraud.
The rapacity of the Canal Ring" became so ap-
parent that in 1867 or 1863 the Senate ordered an
investigation. The Committee, OF which Senator
Stanford of Schenectady was Chairman. found all
the avenues leading to information quite inacces-
sble until the lac David Mitchell of Syracuse was
employed as counsel by tho State His residence IN
Madison and Onondaga and his knowledge OF the
operations of the Ring" proved alike successful
and important The testimony then elected will DO
found useful in the Investigations the Governor
now calls for. II, infer, the high ground taken
by the Governor has been maturely considered, ana
the investigations contemplated are to be fearless
aud searching all who possess information or
knowledge calculated to assist those who are ell
gagged in it should come to the front.
tha "eternal vigilance" OF Intelligent,
dependent and infiexible State officers, canal con-
tractors would have long since utterly ruined our
State do not apply these strong terms of approval
to all State officers. Unfortunately there have been
too many exceptions. In passing along the line OF
the Erie Canal, 25 80 years ago. when strangers
incurred who were the owners of the most highly
cultivated farms and the most expensive mansions,
their owners were found to have been either canal
contractors, canal engineers, or canal superin-
tendents. To the occasional assumption that tbore
is nothing new in all this and that Canal Commits
sioners, engineers, superintendent, eto" were
always dishonest, l enter explicit denial.
1t is utterly untrue that this class Of public
officers were all and always corrupt; and
equally untrue that during the years when
frauds were perpetrated there were not honest as
we'll az dishonest Commissioners engineers, &c,
and that it was easy to discriminate between Them
The evidence Of the truth of my assertion Is found
in the fact that the original Erie and Champla'u
Canals were constructed and completed for an ag-
gregate sum within the estimates OF the engineers.
While in those DAYS public servants were held to
O rigid responsibility, there were very few allega-
tons of fraud 1t said that in the large and ex
pensive contracts at Lockport the contractors were
too sharp for Commissioner Bouck. who had charge
of that section Of the canal 1t was also SAID that
Commissioner Holley's accounts and vouchers were
ha tirsf