New-York tribune., 1883-12-10
THE cry CONTR1CT FRAUDS.


Startling as were the frauds committed under
the system of unbalanced bids practlSed oy INC
old Canal Ring, there is reason 10 DeheVe '''t.
much worse state of affairs exists to-day uhoer
the city government. In yesterdays lRlBoNE
we EXPOSED this system as connected wlth con-
tracts for regulating and grading streets. 10
dav we show that precisely the same lrreg'ilari-
ties exist in the construction OF sewers In lacI'
to.dav's exhibit is even worse than that OF yes
tordav And there are many other branches oil
,,.,rl done undcr these unbalanced bid contracts
which we have not yet touched upon. There
arc outstanding bonds for street openings ana
improyements to the extent OF $25, ,OoO,ooo. III
i. undoubtedly true that very large proper
fion of that debt is due to frauds and lrregluarl
ties growing out of unbalanced bids.
II is difficult to understand how such system
has been allowed to reach its present proper
tions without having been exposed by city
officers whose business it is to look INTO such
r,a,tcrs. Controller Grant, it appears, under
took to stop the payments on one of these con-
tracts. but he made no effort to expose the sys-
tom and we do not believe he could
have become aware of its extent. 1t
is true that it has been in a large meas
urc covered up by the peculiarly reckless laws
which allow department heads to eXpehu at
will vast sums of money for particular pur-
Dosc. But there is Finance Department, and
there are Commissioners of Accounts, and there
is an extensive circumlocution system OF check
ing warrants and vouchers. None OF these
were of avail in saving the City Treasury
single dollar of the millions that have been lost
to il by this corrupt system. 1t appears to have
occurred TO no city officer intrusted with the
duty of examining vouchers, that $50 and 300
a cubic yard for excavating rock must be fraud
ulent figures when the same work was DelhS
done under other contracts for Sl ana y
cubic ward The same indifference was shown
TO vouchers on which the charge for earth e1-
cavation was 81 80 and SIS cubic yard al
though fair value for the work was not NOR
than 80 cents a cubic yard
In the Canal Ring exposures it was shown
that work and supplies were paid for, to large
extent, by the State, although never furnished.
Does not the same state of affairs exist under
the city government The Corporation COun-
sci is now seeking an appropriation to complete
work ON street improvements for which the city
has once paid. No doubt there are numerous
instances of that kind under more recent con-
tracts. There Is WOTK III dOuhudhCe hcic iol
the Legislature and the Grand Jury. The laws
in regard to contracts should be amended at
once so as to compel a contractor to do the en-
tire work at the amount of his total bid. That
would sweep away the unbalanced bid system.
But it is not enough to expose the frauds and
to stop the prodigal and wasteful expenditures
that go on unchecked by the city government.
There can be no guarantee for honest admins
tIation until the men who profit by this coTup-
ton are severely punished. The frauds of the
Tweed Ring were exposed, but many persons
who profted by them live to increase their i'll
gotten gains through other Rings of a like char
acter