New-York tribune., 1890-05-28
TYpTC4J cry METHODS.

| In lis present line of investigation the f1s-
sett Committee is meeting at every step with
the conditions which render the decent GOV
ernmcnt of New-York City SO difficult. he
rule of irresponsible bosses has produced us
natural result. and the city is enslaIc ed by lis
worst elements. What the bosses are after i
money Political power Is 10 them simply
means 10 the prime end Of pundcr. In other
circumstances many of them would he high
waymcn. Here they 60 by the name OF poll
tician, but their methods are similar IN kIhd
70 those of ordinary robbers. They have built
ND a system with the aid Of saloonlccpcrS, dive
keepers. gamblers and other Infamous char
actcrs 10y which they are kept where they can
plundcr the city easily and safely. In return
for this opportunity, they protect these various
criminal classes against police and judicial
interference The immoral example set by the
bosses themselves IN their relations with bad
and questionable characters naturally affects
the entire body Of municipal oficcholders'
EVERYBODY secs everybody else getting all he
can by whatever means his Office places at his
disposal. and of course everybody cmulatcS
his neighbor.
Three city departments have come under
Dock Department, the >hcrifS Office, and the
Excise Commission. In each the same condl-
ton of immortality was revealed. The Dock
Commissioners were shown 10 be without NyN-
tenn or sense in their leases Of the city prop
erty. Many Of the leases were 50 improperly
prepared as 10 BE really without any binding
force. Politicians OF the worst type were
found 10 be the posscsSors Of waterfront priv
iloges. obtained in defiance Of Justice ana de-
cencv. which they held in the names Of dummy
lessecs Contracts were found 10 be given ont
70 favored contractors under circumstances
well calculated 70 excite suspicion, and dock
masters were shown 10 be engaged III cNtor-
tionate and unlawful practices Things wcrc
even worse in the ShcrifTs Office. The sheriff
himself and all his assistants were discovered
at regular game OF extoition. Over $40, 900,
obtained without any legal warrant whatever,
was traced 10 Sheriff Grant. The evidence
justified the belief that public processes werc
REGARDED by the sheriff and his men as private
opportunities for gain 10 he made as much OF
as possible.
At the first poke of the FasSett Committees
investigating stick into the Excise Commission
corruption and incompctency were shown 10 be
the rules of the department. The Commission
made 10 pretcnce of doing any of the things
which were the reason OF its existence. IT took
its appropriation Of $144,000 year and dis
tributod il among the seventy five persons who
had been placed on lis payroll by Tammany
Hall and it gave ont licenses as il pleased with
no reasonable or apparent regard for facts or
decencics The Committee has proved CON
clusively that no attempts were ever made to
investigate the character of even the most noto
rious dives and if shamed or driven by public
or official demands into rcvokng a license, it
was almost Immediately renewed. These are
alarming facts for they are merely typical and
illustrative. They do not happen To apply to
these particular departments, but they char
actcrze the city government from beginning
TO end. They are a fair sample of the general
method II is "a method which can never be
escaped so long as the public tolcrates such Or
CARNATIONS as Tammany Hall.