New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-03-30


to the accuracy of the canvass, no engineer being
authorized to speak in cases where donbt might
arise as to the good faith of bids. In this way
another added to the oopholes for fraul In fact
the impression left on ones mind after care
full examination of the canal system is that some
one went around and left all the doors opened and
then whistled to the thieves to come in The actual
management Of the canals is marked by the greatest
absurdty Of all. Each Commissioner OF the three is
autocrat on his own Division and may act or refuse
to act. as his within uclines. Imagine the New-York
Central Railroad managed in three distinct pieces.
each under different head, supreme on his own
territory.
The system of appointments and removals Is d.
yded mp under almost as many Jurisdictions rs IS
every other branch of the service. Tie Division
Engineers, who are in charge of the divisions, ana
the Resident Engineers. of whom there is one on
each Division in immediate subordinaion to
the Division Engineer, are named by the State En-
gineer and Surveyor. and confirmed by the Canal
Board but may be discharged by tho Canal Com
missioner in charge of the Division, with the con-
currence of the State Engineer aud Surveyor,
and may be suspended by the Commits
sioner with the concurrence of the State
Engineer. and removed or retained by the Carh
Board after hearing The subordinate engineers are
appointed by the Division Engineer, with the con-
currence of the Commissioner and the State En-
gneer. The disorder of this arrangement Is
enhanced by the political Influences that make the
subordinate engineer indeI ,ndent of his immediate
superOrs if the latter resist the frauds OF the Ring
and put them ALL high and low, III COM
plete subjection. and by tho power that
a Commissioner possesses over all his subordinates
IN the ability to stop their pay by Withholding his
name from the proper papers. Kennedy tor
mediated mismanagement might be found
in tho Capitalization Of proper authority
in tho State Engineer, and Surveyor. or
in on INSPECTOR of Public Works, as Gov. Tilden
desires The State Engineer, in his recent report,
COMPLAINS that his Department is held responsible
for much that it is powerltss to prevent and sug-
gess the increase of responsibility already referred
to- The fight that is going OIL between tho Canal
RefOrmers and the Canal Ring is too hot for discus
sion of the sequcls of the contest but no reform OF
the canal system can be complete which stops short
of total reconstruction.
In view Of these facts it is less easy to say where
official responsibility is fixed than TO say that 1t IS
fixed everywhere. If men had done their plain duty
at any hight in the scale of Office, whether that
of Lieutenant Governor or Assistant Engineer II is
easy to SEQ that at least one blow might have
been struck at concerted fraud. If Engi-
neers had refused to obey the behest OF
corrupt superiors and Ring Commissioners if the
people had been anxious to secure honest comins'
sioners as the Ring were to get pliabe II At
torneys-Geferal and Controllers and State Treasur-
CTS, generally upright and honorable men, had set
their faces against a system the full wickedness of
which they mnst have perceived, Gov. Tilden's mes
sage and The TRIBUNE's exposure would never have
been necessary
This "a GOOD q place as any to dispo5c of the
1nyariable claims put forward in behalf of the re-
spectacle people who have allowed this sort of
thing to 90 on, and urged By such advocates as
Senator Laning, who has got down into the mire
with tho Ring just 1t IS about to
close over them. This cxtenuati0n always Is
that tho law requires the contract 10 be
awarded to the lowest bidder and though
the bids may be palpably fraudulent. tue wording
of the statute leaves the Contracting Board no
alternative. This is not the fact. A suit brought
BY the People against tne Contracting Board was de-
cided by Judge Peckbam then Of the Supreme Court,
on this very isSuc in 1851. Jddge Pecknam said IN
bis decision in reference to an unbalanced bill. that
the Board was not bound to accept any such prOpo-
SAL Its purpose could not be other than fraudulent.
The Board he said, should have entertained any
proposal like the one in question: which led to sus
picion Of probable connivance between the con-
tractor and the engineer who makes the estimate, and
which made the contract system a lottery IN which
the State was always a loser. That decision was
affirmed by the Court OF Appeals and has stood for
II years, quietly disregarded by the Ring.
For it is the Ring that is responsible for all of its
servants and agents. When it does not corrupt, 1t
intimdates; when it does not bribe. it undeImines.
Ii is difficult to distinguish 1t from the system and
officials because it owns both Of them.