New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-04-03
THE CANAL RING.
DOUBLE ROBBERY.


CONTRACTORS.
lFRoM STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF THE IRiboNhI
IIr1c. Anril 1-"None of the work on the Canals
10 done in accordance with the specmcaoono
nv which the contractors agree to be governor
said an earnest supporter OF Gov. lhden W INC ="
ALBANY. the other day. 1.-The ROBBERY is uo"o,0
ono Nv means Of the unbalanced bids the Lords
and The Beldens. the Johnsons and the Candies get
three or four times much for dong the work us IL
,s worth and even then they don't half do It,"
"How is it," asked, that the quantity sheets
are made M in such way that unbalanced bids are
possibles The engineers must certainly be Cocoon
spirators with the contractors"
at is easily explained" was the reply. Suppose
that an assistant engineer here in Albany or in
Syracuse for instance receives orders from the resi-
dent engineer 10 make estimate Tor wall o
thousand feet long not TO cost more than gwen
price The owners of the property In the vicinity
desire to have a much more expensive wall built
than can he constructed for the sum named. They
tamper with the assistant engineer and induce him
10 make false estimate of the number of cubic
wards which the wall will contain. In this way he
keeps the apparent total cost within the limit
set but the actual number of yards of wall
which il viii be necessary to build IN
order to complete the thousand feet will be four or
five times as great as the estimated number. con-
tractor who is in the secret, or who may himself
have arranged the job bids at fair OF even made
quate prices for other portions of the work, but puts
the stone work at twice or three times its actual
value His bid is the lowest put in and is accepted
He then goes TO work but by the time he has COM
pleted one-fourth or one-third of the work, the
money is used up. Then the citizens and the con-
tractor aud their friends TO Albany and get an
order for the work to proceed and the result is the
enormous discrepancy between the original estl-
mate and the amount actually paid for the work
which THE TRIBUNE has strikingly illustrated"
find ii TO be almost universally admitted that
the assistant engineers have been wholly under the
control Of the contractors If an engineer condemned
a piece OF work found fault with the manner IN
which il was done the contractors have paid no
attention to him. They have ordered him to stand
aside and not to trouble them and If he persisted IN
interfering they caused Lis dismissal for incompe-
tency. This tyranny Of the contractors has resulted
in the moral ruin of hundreds of the young and
promising engineers OF this State. A young man
recently from school, ambitious In his profession,
receives through the influence of friends, an ap-
pontment as assistant engineer. He enters upon
bis duties and finds a contractor sighting his work,
using bad material and failing in various ways to
fulfill the specifications OF his contract. The en-
ciueer demonstrates but Is informed that the We.
Is done as il always has been Gone; that il is i'm
poesible for contractors to follow the specifications
literally and that nobody expects them to. lie IS
referred to work done under his predecessor, ana
if shown that il has been no better. If he still per-
sists or at the end of the month refuses 10 MAKE
the required affidavit in regard to the amount ana
character of the work. then dismissal III disgrace
e;ares him in the face
To resist all this pressure and TO take the conse-
queDces with no hope of vindcation by an appeal
TO superior authority, and to 90 out OF ofhce
branded as incompetent in ms profession and thns
ruined as an engineer when all the precedents have
been against him. has required an amount OF moral
courage which it is feared great many young men
do not possess 1t is not strange, therefore, that
the engineers have not stood in the way OF the Ring
and thwarted their plans. The reform must begin
at the root and not in the branches The corruption
begins at Albany: there is where the heart andsoul
of the Ring and from there the poison has spread
throughout tie State and tainted subordinate
officers. With an honest Legislature at Albany, an
honest Canal Board and honest Canal Conmis-
sioners and State Engineer, dishonest assistant
engineers could not long remain III office and DIS
honest contractors would soon be found out, ex-
posed, and driven out of the business. L never yet
heard of Ring that succeeded in the systematic
robbery of city, State. National treasury without
the aid of some accomplice who was inside OF the
official circle and somewhere near the source ol
power, aud don't believe it possible for corrupt
Ring TO exist very long without such official coun
tenance AID support.
For these reasons, say that the engineers are not
alone responsible for the robbery of the state by the
acceptance of inferior work and the multiplication
of unbalanced bids. The corps of engineers on the
canals is as whole as rotten it is possible for 1t
T. be- Many of its members have neglected their
duties and some Of them have been PAID Tor DONG
70: others have the inferior Work as III mas
cone on. and have made false aihdavlts as 10
its character and amount; engineers nave
received presents from contractors, ana IN some
rarts of tho State there seems TO have been sort of
rivalry among contractors III corrupt'ng them they
have taken sort of pride in having their engineers
well dressed and a prominent Ring contractor
hoasted in Albany not long ago that he always
Looked ont well for his engineers and that they
were well dressed and had the means TO make
pleasant little excursion whenever they felt like IT.
But as sand before, the origin OF tins corruption
i,as been higher than the engineers ana nlgner
than the contractors and the reform must De-
puD higher than either OF these classes l. W.
THE INVESTIGATION OF CANAL FRAUDS.
INTEREST FELT IN THE COMPOSITION OF THE Gov
FRNoH's COMMISSION AND THE LEGISLATIVE
COMMITTEE--THE POSITION OF MR. pORsHEIMER
IN TIE sENATE-spEAKER INQUIRIES PROBABLE
APpOINTMENTs-T MEN WHO WILL BE CHOSEN
COMMISSIONERS BY THE GOVERNOR.
trRoM A REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE
ALBANY, April 2.-Much interest is felt here
M 10 the probable Of the organizations for
investigating canal frauds, the Governors commission,
and the Joint legislative committee The eager antcipa-
ron Of the Canal Ring eavened with dread wi lie the
expectation OF the friends Of Reform is quckened with
hope Of good results in the punishment OF the men VINO
have been guilty Of fraud and in the establishment OF
safeguards against wrong doing in the future.