New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-04-06

vertical wall instead of 1900. This will illustrate
my point, which is that with honest officers inc
stealing through unbalanced bids would have been
very much less"
"What has been the expectation Of the officers IN
charge of this part Of the canal |" ] asked.
about that cannot speak positively" was inc
reply; but you know that Of the worst steal
ing has been done right around here, and that,
should think would indicate that the officers have
been as bad in any other parts Of the State nave
heard that the leading members OF the KING arc 50
afraid of the Commissioner. Thayer, that they
put in no bids at the last letting in his division and
that the ontractOrs whose bids have been accepted
at wholly inadequate figures, are in great trouble
They bid, thinking that tho old system was to con-
tnuc and while the prices at which they have agreed
to do tho work are altogether too low they expected
that bedecisncies would be made up by oyer-neas-
urements and extra allowances. | also hear that
Commissioner Thayer proposes to hold them strictly
to the terms of their bids, and our new assistant
engineer kere is man whom the contractors will
not find it safe to tamper with. and is backed by
such strong political influence that they will not
succeed in causing his removal, they will have to DO
one of two thlngs-either perform the work and
pocket the loss or abandon their contracts and take
the consequences"
Turning the conversation again to the probability
of the of the present crusade against the
Ring. | asked my friend again if he did not believe
it possible to break up the Ring.
yes" said he, 81 have already told yOu that |
think the stealing in the future may be stopped, but
am afraid that the State Will not be able TO re-
cover much Of the money that has already been
stolen | fear that the Ring has intrenched itself
behind special acts of the Legislature or votes OF
the Canal Board, 50 that there may be great deal
in the boast Of its members that nothing has been
done without authority of law. | suppose no one
now knows what acts have been passed affecting
the contracts THE TRIBUNE has printed. and 10
one will know until the Governors investigation is
made"
Iaskcd my friend what the political effect of the
war on the Canal Ring would be. He said that 1t
was too early predict it's effect on parties.
AS to the motive which prompted it. have
heard a good deal of speculation" he continued.
1t is n discouraging fact that great many OF our
politicians never seem to think that public man
NAV make raid on thieves because he believes it
his duty to do so. They always look for some
hidden political motive for every act. Now
have heard several theories in regard to
Gov. Tlden's late action. The first and most
| Obvious one is that the late message was bid
for the Democratic nomination for tho Presi-
deucy next year. and that Mr. Tilden hopes
to place himself at the head of the list OF candidates
in this State. II has not been thought likely. you
| know that the Democratic nomination could come
to this State in the new canvass, the last two can
| didates having been NEWCOMERS, but no very
prominent candidate has appeared elsewhere YET /
| mean no one that towers high above all Others and
| it might he possible, If GOV. Tilden should be-
come very strong through his action i'll this matter,
to carry tho convention i'll spite Of The argument
based locality. Then it WILL at any rate Kill oil
| Church a. a canddatc-'
Y, I.l that JuIra Church il involved
with the Canal Ring. do you ?" interrupted.
Not III the sons. of sharing in the spOils,"
the reply, "bnt y0u hurt him if You strike his
friends. These canal men have always rallied
around Churc.s name in all conventions, and much
of his political strength mas been derived from their
earnest support; if this thing goes no further You
will find that they have already been politically
crippled, ana that as a result We may rs well count
Church ont of The list of possible candidates for
the Presidency
"Wnat do you say about Gov. Seymour 2" 1 asked.
"Well. have heard very curious theory that
this whole thing nothing but trap set by Gov.
Sevmour's friends to get both Church and Tilden
out of the Presidential race. Those vino PUT forward
this theory explain il in this way: The exposure,
they think. will destroy Church, as | have already
explained, and it will make his friends and the
Canal Ring very angry with TIlden. and they will,
of course, seek revenge by preventing his nomina-
ton. They might DO able To do that. yOu know,
even though tney were not able to name the man
themselves. This would leave a clear field for Scy
mour who would undoubtedly be the man, II any
one were taken from this State"
But suppose Gov. Seymour should enter into
tins investigation. do everything in his power to
promote II. and even become of the members of
the Governors commission; then he would stand in
the same relation towards Judge Church5 friends as
TiIden does would he not I" | asked.
Yes but he won't do that. lie is too shrewd.
Even if the Governor should appoint him. he would
lind good excuses for not serving. Besides, he Is
not aggressive enough. The Governors Commits
sion should not be judicial body it should be
their duty discover frauds if any exist, and re-
port them; the trial of the cause will come after
ward The Commission should act the detectives.
Now ;his kind of work requires young, active men,
and such believe the Governor will appoint. Be-
sides. don't believe Mr.. Seymour will allow him
self to be drawn into too active participation in this
contest He will have it understood that his SYM
pathIcs are with the Governor, but he will allow
others to do the fighting"
told my friends that had received an entirely
different impression from GOV. Seymours friends,
although had been unable to see him, as the roads
between Utica and his place had been reported to
me as impossible since my arrival here. The
conversation closed with speculations by my
friend is to the length OF time that public interest
could be kept up this subject He said that some
people in Utica believed that the interest had al
ready reached its highest point and that when the
Commission was appointed the subject would be
dismissed from the public mind; report might be
made next Winter, changes III the laws recon-
mendcd and tina; be the end of it. We both agreed,
however, that the no wspapeIs likely to prevent
that ZLw.