Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-09-07
ovERHAULrNG VOUCHERS.
Mr.. Crane Calls Attention to Some In
teresting Figures.


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HxNTs AND MONEY ML1oAILY PAID.
letter addressed by Mr.. J. II. Crane TO
First Controller Matthews has been referred
by that official to the District Commissioners
Mr.. Crane in his letter to the controller calls
attention 10 condition Of things he has dis
covered in looking over the pay rolls and
vouchers of the District government that the
controller had allowed him to copy.
Mr.. Crane first calls attention to the bill Of
Mr.. r. NJ. Draney for sprinkling, sweeping
and cleaning streets and avenues from May
to 81, 1889. Mr.. Draney claims, Mr.. Crane
says, to have sprinkled, swept and cleaned that
month 1s,655,Sl0 square yards of pavement at
So cents per 1000 yards, amounting 10
s4,779.35, his account for the same
being certified and approved by the proper
District Offices, and to have worked twenty
days sprinkling, sweeping and cleaning streets
and avenues in the month in question. The
weather report, Mr.. Crane writes, shows that
there were sixteen rainy days and q fall of
1853 inches Of rain that month, the greatest
rainfall in one month there Is any record of In
this District. Mr.. Crane thinks the sprinkling
OF the streets during such rainfall would be
an absurdity.
ALLEGED INCORRECT MEASUREMENTS.
Mr.. Crane then calls attention to the schedule
OF streets and avenues to be sprinkled, swept
and cleaned during the year ending June So
lsS9,as published by the Commissioners, giving
the number of square yards on each street to be
swept
He picks out three streets to be swept semi
weekly: LIST street northwest. from B to F; I'd
street northwest, from Pennsylvania avenue to
l, and I'd street northwest, from Pennsylvania
knows from personal observation that I'd street,
ON which he resides, has not been swept
but once a week during the past
two years, and is informed that the
same Is true Of LIST and Sd streets. First
street, from to F, he says, is put down in
while I'd street, from Pennsylvania avenue to
!, about twice the distance, In put down as
containing $1,000 square yards. Each carriage
way, he says, is the same width.
From measurements made on Hopkins map
Mr.. Crane asserts that the carriage way on LIST
street, from b to +, contains less than 5000
square yards
He asserts that he finds similar incorrect
measurements all through the schedule and
always in the contractors favor. II street.
from 18th to 18th streets northwest he says, is
square yards, while he calculates it as
containing only l3,776 square yards. He
suggests that the street-sweeping contractor, in
stead OF stating the number of yards in bulk
swept each day, should be required to state the
name OF the streets or avenues, the distance in
length and width and number OF square yards
swept on each.
THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT PAY ROLL.
Mr.. Crane next calls attention TO the pay roll
OF the health department for cleaning by day
work unpaved streets and alleys during June,
1889, which foots up S4,O62. He says that while
the number of carts employed is not
stated. The usual proportion of men
employed in cleaning unpaved streets, he says,
10 three men to one cart. He says that the
total number Of days those So laborers made
IN the month of June was 1,255. amounting to
sl7so.76, while the total number Of days
allowed for carts was 922&, amounting
to u ,845, the carts costing S54.45 more than
the laborers, when a fair and economical pro-
portion of each would make the cost of labor
at least twice that of the necessary number of
carts. There were fourteen rainy days and q
rainfall Of Sol inches in the month Of June.
Mr.. Crane suggests, as his explanation of this
showing, that either some OF these carts exist
only in imagination or else were drawing pay
while standing idle in the stable. He remarks
work with carts and others were paid for from
eighty-seven to one hundred and sixty days
each.
Mr. Crane says also that the June pay roll for
superintendents Of street cleaning, who are
paid per diem, shows that three of the superin-
tendents are paid for every day in the month,
including Sundays. and the other two for twen-
ty-five days each, while the laborers they were
experimenting were paid for but twenty days
each.
II observe in looking over the pay rolls that
this mode Of doing business" he says, "was
handed down to the present Commissioners by
their predecessors.
THE WATER DEPARTMENT PAT ROLL.
Mr.. Crane calls attention then to certain fig
ures in the labor pay roll Of the water depart
ment for June last. Sixteen calkers, he says,
are down on that pay roll as having made three
hundred and sixty-two days calking water
mains. A fair days work for a calker
is thirty 12-foot sections or $50 linear
feet. If those sixteen calkers who were
paid for 1872 days labor as calkers were at work
calking water mains all Of those days, they
which is more than has been laid in this Dis
trct during the past four years. The superin-
tendent's son, he says, is paid for thirty days
as calker, which includes every Sunday in
the mouth.
HE DOES NOT BLAME THE COMMISSIONERS.
Mr.. Crane asks that these accounts be held
up at the Treasury until they can be inquired
into. "In conclusion" he says, II would say
that 1t is due to Mr.. Douglass and Mr.. Hine to
say that they had been on the board of Com
missioners but few days when these
papers were approved. They had o
right for time at least to rely on subordinates.
and cannot fairly be held responsible for what
others did SO soon after they were appointed.
Mr.. Douglass informs me that on entering
upon the duties Of his Office he charged
the auditor to be careful Of what he
approved, and to present no bills to him for
his approval unless sure Of their honesty and
correctness. / therefore think that both he
and his colleague, Mr.. Hine, are blameless in
this matter"
AN INVESTIGATION IN PROGRESS.
In speaking of the letter Commissioner Doug
lass said today that he proposed to make q
thorough investigation Of the affair; that he
had sent copy of the letter to the health de-
partment for q report on the portions which
referred to that office. He said that he was
aware that some Of the charges were true, and
a change in prominent Office some DAYS ago
was the result of his knowledge.
Major Raymond said he had received copy
of the letter and had referred IL to Capt. Lusk
for Q report Of the charges concerning the
water department.
Commissioner Hine said that Of course the
matter would be thoroughly investigated, but
could not tell what the outcome would be until
after the reports were all in.
COMMISSIONER TANNERS ATTENTION was d.
rected this morning to q paragraph,
i0ip natl In