The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1875-10-02
The Failure of the Dock Commission.

month, or $500 q gear, postage paid.
The Failure of the Dock Commission.
Mr. WALES, the President of the Depart
ment Of Docks, thinks THE SUN did him
injustice in saying that I'm letter pub
Ished soon after his appointment he ap-
proved the work OF Gen. GRAHAM, the de-
partment's engineer, which he now tells
the Mayor is n failure. lie sends us an ex-
tract of a letter of his to the Ercning Post,
In which lie refers to the plans of Gen.
GRAHAM but that without directly approx
ing Of them. still, in that letter he did
Indirectly speak favorably of Gen. GRA-
HAMS plans, tho same which the Comm.s-
iOners now ask experts to examine. This
h his language:
There is now In process Of con trnoton ct Canal
30 ines let ma az Rnr steat alb $50 ias eet.
sssn W. S2sl ss9st sSi' Rer toct Ia !1sse lar
ed In = caisson. t,ycrs and other costy incldentas
moreover, By heating sii woir aud broken stone
esPS %, a. N sSr' e. & anfn ne
equally honest citizen should tnins ihie systen *
usyaSant one VIII sgtc that the fuel for tbs work
ing the department"
This certainly suggests no doubt OF the
Boundness of Gen. GRAuAM's plan, and
reads To us very like communication
of it. Mr.. WALES may justly say that he
was hardly warm in his official seat before
he wrote the above, and could not be ex-
pected TO know OF his own knowledge the
exact condition OF the work; but does not
this suggest the thought that IL would have
been the part of discretion for him TO wait
until he had thoroughly mastered the de-
tails OF the dock improvements in progress
before he venturcd TO reply TO an objector,
~ he did in this letter TO Mr.. GEORGE w.
BLUNT We recall another letter of his,
which we have not at hand. wherein he
spoke in direct praise of Gen. GRAHAM,
now turned out ~ the scapegoat OF the
departments offences. Moreover, on the
23d OF last July Mr.. WALES used these
words TO SUN reporter:
GTAgsS sslal en-ne'r VS. .se , sue
eughly accomplished e. sineer"
This and the language OF tho letter to
the Post seem to Us to justify what esaid
regarding Mr. WALES praise of Gen. Ora
ham and his assistant, and his implied COM
mendation of tncii work.
In the interview with our reporter Mr..
WALES further said that 1.-THE l0O-ton
ioatmg derrick which was built for use in
constructing the pier [Pler No II, and
which will be almost valucless when the
pier is completed, cost 5l750O0." We can
assure MIR. WALEs that it did not cost that
mn, and that il was not but for that
purpose. IL was built as part OF McCLEL-
LAN's system, adopted by the original
board, OF constructing tile river wall Of
nonolithc blocks of beton to be made IN
mouds on shore, and lowered by the pow
rful derrick into place. The system of
MCCLELLAN was thrown overheard by the
uew Commissioners, by formal resolution
passed in November, 1874, and the derrick
along with it. The system then substituted
the Commissioners now confess TO be a
failure. and Gen. GILMORE, Gen. NEWTON
and Mr.. CAMPBELL are appointed sort
OIL cor0ner's jury TO sit OF the dead body
II was but a few weeks after the passage
Of this resolution that Mr. WALES came
into ofllce The work on the new plan had
then been little more than begun. We are
surprised that IA man Of his sagacity and
lar@c experience of affairs did not pause
before giving in his adherence to plan
new and uuired. which had been substi-
tutcd tor one approved by the best cugl-
neorine talent. As President OF the Com
m.asion, in Office during tho performance
OF large part OF the work, Mr.. WALES
made himself responsible for it so long us
DO did not object aud donand Letter
plan. Ho via not ask us to relieve MN or
the lesponaibihles OF his Important po-
sitiOu.
W. Az surprised at the course OF the Com
misaionurs "A allowing thelr new chief ell
Gihccr a lnau Inexperienced in that sort
OF work, to publish u report uuquulnodly
aoudprnng his predecessor, who did what
no d.d under the approval of the depart
mont, pAd "ho could not have moved a
soy without tacir active support. They
hmpy publish their own folly, and allow
young Sr GHEENE to dust their brooches
with tht birch Of an engineering school
mnster,
But II Is not worth whilo to spend time In
dividing up the blame. What has the Dock
Depar tment done since its establishment
IL came into existence ia 1870, and now
nve years from then, " find the brightest
achievement Of the present board TO DO a
report from its oliet engineer declaring
soIno Of the most important work to be- q
buhgle, blunder, pp1 failure. the orig
hAl SsAMissiQa, s.ptalniug saeb meu