New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-05-05
TIE PUBLIC WORKS INQUIRY.

The public has been waiting with some clrlos-
| ity for thereport of the Senate Committee whic h
! investigated the Department of Public Works.
! The HeraId, with commcndable enterprise. has
| undertaken to meet the demand. 1t publishes
what it allegel to be a report prepared for the
committee There is one thing to be said for
| T1cUrad rcport-it Is gDod one and what is
more, it is borne out by the evidence.
The committee gave the work of preparing a
report to its counsel, General Tracy, ana Mr..
| Whtrdge. Their familiarity with the evidence
and the law would naturally enable them TO
reach the conclusions found in the alleged re-
port published In Tie Herald. But as the Sen
ate has no authority to remove Commissioner
| Thompson, it is not likely that the committee
will make such recommendation unless it
is for the benefit of Mayor Edison, who is the
only person authorized to act i'll such a case.
If the committees report is Ito be such as The
Herah inlimates, what is to become of the one
prepared under Mr.. Thompson's direction, type
writer copies OF which, it is reported, were fur
nished to certain members Of the committee
That typewriter report contained such appro-
pirate marginal instructions is the following:
make this stronger if possible, ," strike this
out" :" tone this down. etc. Whether or not
those directions were put there for use in gain
ing signatures, OF whether that draft OF report
was merely intended as a suggestion Of what
Nh Thompson would like, viii perhaps appear
hereafter.
So far as the public is concerned they are not
waiting for any committee report, whatever it
may be, in order to form an opinion in regard
to the maadmnistIation of the Public Works
IL L I,,t how
difference of opinion among the members of the
Senate Committee on that point, however they
may differ ms 10 what has been brought out by
the testimony in the limited investigation they
have made. Charges have been twice presented
to the Mayor, by reputable citizens, against
Commissioner Thompson, but they have not
been acted upon. A former Senate Committee
undertook an investigation, but mysteriously
abandoned II. President Asten and others have
repeatedly shown before the Board Of Estimate
that the Department has yen managed in
Tecklcssly cXtrayagant manner. And the tram
scripts vi the official records in the Finance De-
partment, published last December in The
TRIBUNE, proved conclusvely that the charges
against Mr. Thompson, so often repeated by
reputable taxpayers, were not without strong
foundation. The testimony taken by the Sen
ate Committee, brief abstract of which has
been published, only confirmed what was before
well known.
The expenditures of the Public Works De-
partment greatly exceed those of any other
branch of the city government. As political
machine the Department has been used to con-
summate bargains and deals with the other
Democratic factions, and TO defeat every effort
of reputable Democrats TO reform the city gov
eminent. Hence, more can be accomplished
for the cause of municipal reform by the puri-
fcation Of this one Department than in almost
any other way. But the prospect ut presen! is
not promising. The ramifcations of the De-
partment are so great that it has been able to
defeat the many honorable efforts that have
been made to purify it. The Tenure-of-offce
bill. now before the Assembly, offers about the
only hope of change. Even that has not yet
escaped the dangerous influence that has de-