The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-01-25


tho Finance Department.
There con be no good reason why the citi-
zens Of New York should not be as familiar
with the detailed condition of tho city
finances and the manner in which they are
managed as they arc with the details of their
own business affairs and the condition of their
bank accounts. The Comptroller of the city
is simply the agent of the people, and he has
no more right to have secrets from them in
his official capacity than q clerk in o mer-
chants or bankers Office has to have business
secrets from his employers The very fact
that Mr.. Green's accounts are not fully and
intelligibly laid before the public in all their
details, and that he resorts to abuse, artiice
and even to falsehood to avoid giving informa-
ton when it is demanded of him. is an indi-
cation that there is something wrong in his
management Secrecy and deception are in
consistent with honesty in financial business,
and cannot be resorted to for any good pur-
pose.
No person charges Mr.. Green with stealing
money from the city treasury. But offences
other than acts of absolute dishonesty may
be committed by q public officer. There is
reason to believe that under our present fnan-
cial management false statements are issued,
moneys are illegally used and facts ore con-
cealed for the purpose of hiding from the
people the enormous increase of the public
debt aud inducing the belief that q reckless
and extravagant administration is careful
IA ho Of kov
collected each year exactly covers the amount
appropriated for the years expense of run
ming the city government after allowing for
tho sums to be derived from the city reve-
nues. If the whole of the taxes on real and
personal property levied in any one year
just cover the appropriations. The appropri-
atoms are not always wholly used, but the
taxes are never wholly collected. The de-
fciency arising from unpaid taxes is
always greater than the unexpended
balance of the total appropriations,
and ought to be reported by the
Comptroller and raised by taxation in o sue
ceeding year. On the 18th of the present
month seven million dollars of the taxes levied
for 1874 were unpaid. If the appropriations
for 1874 remaining unpaid at that date did
not reach seven million dollars then the money
used for the expenses of last year must have
come from some unauthorized source. 1t is
suspected that the Comptroller's policy has
been to turn into the city treasury oil moneys
collected for the arrears of taxes and assess
ments of former years, which should be de-
voted to paying the unpaid indebtedness of
those years respectively, and in redeeming
assessment bonds, and to use them for the
payment of current expenses. He has then
steadily refused payment of all claims stand
ing over from former years, driven them into
the courts, and, upon judgment being OBJ
tanned, has gone to the Board of Apportion-
ment for judgment bonds. So also, when assess
ment bonds fall due, having Incorporated
the money that should have been used in their
redemption, he issues new bonds and takes
the old ones up with the process. By this
"bridging over" and illegal process he has
succeeded in covering up and concealing the
fact that a heavy deficit exists in the city
treasury This, at least, is the general be-
lief and if it does injustice to the Comptroller
he has only himself to blame for it.
1t is not proper that any doubt should e1-
list in regard to these matters. The people
are entitled to know the truth. Mayor Wick
ham has very properly taken time to look
thoroughly into the situation before acting on
behalf Of the people, but he must now be
well satisfied that no truthful information can
be obtained from Mr. Green. We believe
that he will not be able to entirely clear away
all the mystifcation, deception and artifce
that befog the financial affairs of the city until
he removes Mr.. Green. But. at least, he
should order an immediate investigation of
the Department Of Finance by the two Com
missioners of Accounts. This is duty re-
quired by the charter, and it has already been
too long delayed.