New-York tribune., 1885-10-20
MAYOR GRACE EXAMINED.
HIS IDEAS ABOUT CITY GOVERNMENT.
FAyoRING sINGLE-HEAD DEPARrMENTs-PoLiCE
JUSTICES AND DOCK COMMISSIONERS.

JUSTICES AND DOCK COMMISSIONERS.
Tho Gibbs Committee spent all of yesterday Itn IN
listening to the testimony OF Ma{Or Traoe; oS;.r 10 1
o'clock and was received by Senators GlbDs, NC
Carihy and DAILY, and Mr. Strahan, counsel lho
Tha Wavo, hena sworn was asked by Mr. Strahan
his views respecting legislation at Albany upon
matters pertaining to the Se c amount of bonds issued
during the last ten years. lhciuulHg H icN . al and
issued for specific purposes 1he OcGs % aount V
ncnded as n result of mandatory leglslaton ny lno
State The sum amounted to $9O, .l0O ~ ~
connectiOn with this statement the MayOrsau thafI
boJ .I,Savs seemed to him that the management 0i
the financial affairs of the city should be separated
from all State aud poltical Sn ron of the
city who were most interested III It's wcIl3rc' ne
was not prepared however, to answer the Question
TO what extent this legislation had been hueHG1ru i1
Lv tke representatives of the city in the lcglsi-
tHre He believed that the absolute control 3l the
expenditure of money account OF the CITY siou!n
lie snLiect TO SUPERVISION by the Board OF estimate
and AppoItionInent. This body should also pass
upOn the necessity OF work gwen OUT uiiucl ;G Got'
tract should have the right to examine specincIn
t,nns ana generally stand as check upon eXlendl,
lures of every sort. He thought tnat theIe shoulu
e amendment to the consttu1ion w. an
the Legislature from passing mandatory laws, az
lcable to New YORK City, such as authoiiZuR pqp
lie works creating offices or hxlng salalles. ne
had always sought 10 impress upon tne uInCIont Ie
nortmeuts that they should not 90 TO the Legisla-
tine but that they should 90 to the Board OF Esii-
mate lie had received much complaint during the
present wear in regard to legislation By Tie STATE
esnecally i'm connection with the One-hnndred-and-
= Senator Mccarthy suggested at this point that no
great measure had passed the Legislature WIN
ont the consent Of majority OF the reprcseht"t.@es res
of the city. The Mayor was asked suppose the
Hoard of Public Works asked for $4,000 600, how
far could the Board of Estimate control @ that
amount His reply was DT,dTc Inst to the extent '"'
the mandatory laws do not interfere -. /.
ReYcrtne to the subject OF constltutlonal
amendment providing that the Legislature should
oitv money the Mayor called attention to the stat
utcs of Ohio and Illinois limiting the power oil the
Legislatures over municipal governments; ,
MIR Strahan asked the witness II he had observed
ANYTHING in the way of legislation by the ottate
which Disseminated unfilTy against the CITY Ih9
Mayor called attention to the TAXATION l0r schooi
nurposes for the past ten years which IN !he aegTe
gate amounted to 5000, ,593 ". VI tDls sum- nc
said the city had contributed 80. T me
amount returned was 500 0oo-or only az, aoout i
Onc-third In addition to this the city had puIis ls
own school houses and had borne It's own ourucnS
in the way of school expenses. ,. Az;
SENATOR McC Carthy INTERCEPTED tho remark tba thls
was because of the aggregation OF property within
The city limits. lie said that the only reason was
tbot Tho cty wbileit possessed tic property subject
TO taxation propOrtionateiy with Other ndrts 4i 'no
State did not for snino reason or 0thel XSulP9 a.
many pupils. IIo thought that if New-n0;k city
should make application to the Board oI regents II
,yonJd receive some allowance for the maintenance
,f its normal schools, and thus IN measure IeIe'e
itself of a part Of the burden now borne. ,
On tie general subject of assessments the Mayor
expressed the belief that the assessaent %
of TIE CITY was unjusty IN excess OF that OF o'er
localities lie called attention to the action OF he
Stotn Board OF Foualzatiou in adding last year
SiI3 900 900 and this year $112 600 600 on the as
%d"',tion t,,ot there had been an undervaluation.
This he regarded as an unJost discrimination ne
SAID that he q ought it was especially unjust that
the city should be without rep' p'eSeh'a'No y" 'n''
Board, ...., .,,o .,,hioo+ of i,ouirv
tprned tmon the mana cement of city departments
The Wavor said that he believed better results
would follow if each department was under one
head lie thought that by concentration OIL re-
spOnsihility there wOuld he greater incentive 10
90 ,1 work Executions might be made III the case
of che Health and Tax Departments III wOuld De
quite have only two wnSd ii
then be on the assessments made by the deputy aDe
where they did lot agree the deputy assessment
,YouId stand Assessors lie regarded rs absolutely
rseess as thCy submit their woE1 70 the Board for
revision and correction II the Board of Assessors
consisting of four HGmbers receiving salary 0i
SO 900 year eacn, were discontinued, there Woniu
he an ANIMAL saving of $12, 900 The Police De
partment lie thought, should be under one head;
and the Bureau OF Eect2hs ernent snOGu ne He an
proved the method in practice IN Bre9k{n Ielt t
was reason why one capanIe heTn % WrNr vas r9
asked: .n. no hoods of oonort,nonts of
The (Tty of NewYOIk are largely OF political ha-
"i9 - suppose they are SIR he re9liGd. "I think
the departments sh9%la Do sbond he set en-
tirclv aside. My theory is that Que head Is Amply
sufficient with the exceptions nahod 10 con'Iol 'ho
entire organization. .:.o, olo,olr L, Nv
Strahan as to his appointment OF DOCK I CoiihRs Ms
sioners and tho ability OF Mr. oHinr hOGa chnrocfer M
intelligently He was inclined to detend the az,
pointmcnts on the grounds OF the Colhmis1ioheIs
1naIi6catious to act intelllgentiy upon the legai
6Ho;nts raised. lie was reminded Of the fact that
The Corporation Counsel was the oilcer autn1rT%eu %
to treat OF those maeT m under the care of the
Enpneer and upon the work OF that oihcer neithef
of the Commissioners appointed were capannlo oi
passing scientific Judgment though ne claihed tnai
q" ordinarily intel cent man could absorb technical
knowledge so vorac0usly that lie GOnlG soon rehuer
himself capable of supervising works OF TINS charac
fer When asked il he would consl1er IL proper
hnsiress cxpcdent to put entire strangers not pos
sesscd of knowledge of their duties IN charge OF
sncciol work he confessed that be would not;
As TO the Department of Public Works he was
alphabetically of the opinion that the Commissioner
nossessed altogether TOO much power His attention
PaS csIcd TO the expenditures by that department
varying in amounts year by year from ! l'90l 200
in 1874 to $2,777O66 III Isl lie dCSpGnaGtG taI ton
were concerned he COZ only say that the amounts
were increased during that period because OF ex-
trcme economy having been practised 10y inc Itlor
adnipistraticn and the necessity OF much WORK
being accomplished in repaving and sewerage A..
" But the question was asked " as head OF tHo
citv government yOu have had occasion to look
over tho surface Of the city repeatedly and ISM IT
fact that all its pavements ale III "retched
Tney are in very bad condition. was the
reply A., ;i. .ho+ +horo
should be closer supervision Of WORK IN the Depart
,nent of Public Works, and that the efficiency OF
the department had not kept pace with the expendi-
Referring TO the subject CT re-sewcring he said
that Inc thought this should be done ont of the gen
eral fund for the purpose He wonld put the sewer
ste, unI er one head and the Department of Public
Works under smother. In regdr! 10 tbs powers OF
the Eyese Roa1d he said that Eu t0ugbt the Mayor
s1onld pass upon every license and that where n
license HAD been Cancelled, another should not be
Gronte TO the saIe person to any Que else occu-
nying the same place unt alter the lapse vi Cer-
lain period specified by law.
.The most amnsug occurrence ot the day was when
The Mayor was asked inreg3rl e. the Police am
Svil Courts He ex pressed thc le.ici u1hes tatmgy
mat lie Justices should bc lawyers. Mr.. Strah3n
th,n asked tho witness how he accounted Tor the
fact that all The police nstcfs 4i oe &c st Ky c