The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1879-04-03
SENA roR MURPnr's REPLY
Answering the ComptroIIer's Attack by an
Attack Upon the Comptroller.

ALBANY, April Am reply to Comptroller
Olcott Senator Thomas Murphy prints letter.
addressed to Mr.. Olcott. in which he says:
With the return Of my bill against tho Man
haitian Life Insurance Company | have received
your letter, which. from the haste and the pomp
with which 1t was prccipitatcd into print, seems
TO have been addressed to the public quite as
much rs to me.
was designated TO appraiso the value OF tho
morigaRed premises and real estate included
within tho assets OF the Manhattan Life Insur-
anco Company. II was work OF much care.
Not few OF the pieces Of property ranged In
value among the hundreds Of thousands. and
the difficulty and responsibility Of n correct de-
termination corrcspondcd with the magnitude
Of the amount When. upon tho conclusion Of
the service. tho question Of compensation was
raised / declined TO name any anisunt.
but asked the officers OF the company to
mako out tho bill themselves. expressing
they should decide to be fair and reason
able. The report had been made md had
passed out Of my hands. 50 that there was no
constraint whatever upon them They fixed
upon the ratio OF one-sevcnth of one per cent.
upon the, appraised value OF tho properly. and
thus the bill was made out 10y them. not by me,
rs presented for your approval, IL you had
any knowledge q the. established rate Of such
services in New York. you would know that this
was below the usual price.
You think the rate Of one.seventh Of ono per
cent eNorbitant. Yet find that you have audited
bills for tho examination Of titles at the rutc OF
one-tourth OF one per cent
But like M accomplished statesman and
rhctorician, YOU reserve your browning nrgu-
ment and Illustration for the peroration Of your
cnOrt. Before presenting II. however let mo
illuminate 1t 10y n parallel which will interest
you. because II Involves your own services and
charges. Senate document No. 80. Of 1878 is n
report signed " Il. L. Olcott. Comptroller In
answer to q resolution OF the Senate calling for
lpll iniormation as 70 sales and exchanges
since Jan. /. 1876 Of State securities for the
Bounty Debt sinking Fund. II shows that these
sales in 1876 were made for Lucius Robinson.
Comptroller by the firm Of +. Z. Olcou Co..
New York brokers. ANer giving items and de-
tails. you rs Comptroller proceed 10 say OF your
action MS broker:
Al or about this time the question OF compensation was
MN % W .s nl,.",or , am9 w. ndh i,e
pressed their Willingness to accept any sum agrccd upon
had been The agents OF te STATE in New York r over
suited m an & G the % ray ave. one ssr re-,
OF one per cent commission upon the first $4,000 OF
upon The balance This compensation was paid by the
Comptroller to The urn ON all the securities In The Bounty
Debt sinking Fund except otherwise stated In this
port Under his arrangement the following amounts
= ?. olcoi, a Co ssen75 r. dur Davis 81 500 "
d du = Dayis..... 66,7 Gi Total ........ si5i7Lz5
As Davis was the Co." this may be treated
as one matter. 1t thus appears that you re-
ceived SIS 17i.25 for negotiating securities TO
The amount 9f q 1890; There are some anal,
this account and mine which you will not fail
TO notice. In the first place, | declined to name
my compensation. but left i to the parties for
whom the service was rendered; go did you.
In tho second place. the compensation was
fixed by u percentage In my case so IL WIS
In yours. But the difference is that. though
YOU deem this method very wrong in my case.
you accepted It IN your own; with the rate Of
percentage nearly twice as high.
IND by examination ot your report that all
tho negotiutions for which YOU received
$l517l2j were transacted within sixty days.
Your services therefore. arc charged at the
rate Of S27l per day. II you could find steady
employment AZ this rate Tor a year Of 800 days
Including sundays according to your tfavorite
calculation. YOU would receive S9S9l5. which
= an amount that would pay the salary ~ the
tomptrollcrto whom YOU were then subordinate
forsiNtceu and hail years. Assuming that you
were occupied five hours a day-which are
ths regular hours Of brokers In New YORK.
your charge Is at the rate OF over s54 an hour
Under an arrangement with LScius
Robinson rs Comptroller your ilrm as appears
l39.AqO OF securities for tho Bounty Dept Sink
ing Fund. The Assembly documents Of 1876.
page 1872. show that for the fiscal year end ni;
Sept. 30. 1875 Nelson X. Hopkins. then the Re
the same Bounty Debt Sinking Fund.- and that
the total commissions paid for this service
the arrangemct between Comptroller Luclus
Robinson and yourself. by which the
Comptroller turned this part OF his work
over 10 you the service 81 purchasing
securities Tor tho bounty debt sinking fund cost
the State uinety-fcven times ~ much "a under
Controller Hopkins. In the light Of this fact.
II is gratifying 90 know that You did not permit
your modcsty % conceal what might not have
been known but for the words with which you
close your report on these nogotiati0ns To
the successful result u them more than 10 any
tho risk Of charge Of egousm l challenge The
financial history Of the State 20 furnish nm n 70
stance IN which greater fidelity was shown or
more successful results attained. &C.,