The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-11-05
GRADY DIDN'T GET.
AMAZING As A BoND Lawyers FEE,
NOT As A TAMMANY FEE


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Inference That ReEistrRtion by the City
Would Have Added n Good Deal More
Than One Per Cent. to the Market Value
OF the $1,000, 900 of Suburban Bonds.
Lawyers who make a speciality OF examining
Issues OF bonds are discussing with admiration
and surprise the $4,000 fec offered to State
senator Tom Grady, Cookers legal adviser. and
the most popular man in Tammany Hall with
the rank and file OF the organization by
the firm Of Leland. Towle & Co. for securing
the registration by the Comptroller OF a lot OF
Richmond and Queens county bonds. To be
sure. the fee wasn't paid. because the silver
tonGued orator. with all his pull and persua-,
slve powers. didn't succeed in pushing the
bonds through, but 1t Is surmised that he got n
good slice OF money. and. anyway. the offer OF
$4,000 for the handling OF 81 100000 OF bonds
II an unprecedented percentage to n lawyer. IL
meant that the syndicate which handled the
bonds expected TO make. In some way. an
enormous profit. How that profit was possible is
a matter which doubtless Tom Grady and the
firm. and perhaps the officials who sold the
bonds. could tell II they chose. They don't
choose. Meantime II is said that more than
S1.00O.OOO Of the bonds which were bought by
Leland. Towle & Co. are still unregistered.
In the present condition OF the market y Of 1
per cent. is q very fair profit to the banker or
broker on a large issue OF bonds. It Is there
fore obvious that to pay a lawyer 1 per cent.
for his services in the matter would be dis
astrous.
Lawyers fees for examining an issue Of
bonds" said a representative OF a large bank
on an ISSUE 81 ssi,066.S6686'O % Roc cord e 70 S1'G the
s : T.,q psw Of work <. 2ne-e light q ! per cent Is
cent. iis~ 'nispreceden ut 'i Take ,S the cs 1ee Of fG q
firm which RECENTLY bought a bond issue OF
Ihl II ~ n MI q In uy la
is one OF the best and hishest-priced bond law
yers IN the cityoo1 per cent. he would have
that the firm was either, going into wholesale
philanthropy; voluntary bankruptcy. or a luna
hsps $1,000, and that would be a liberal fee.
Nineteen Thousand dollars fol. an issue Of less
than Sns sES ml Y f Z ws %sy AZ we'd prIo have to go out
What does such a fee indicate. then ?"
The broker shrugged his shoulders and re-
You can draw your own differences as to the
That $4,000 Is. paid for more than legal ser
t tandH il E inyItsa : al e.. the Ssf pfindip sS s 5Gtnin hd NJ:
called; to come into The deal. But the moEs
bonds as were safeguarded by the equity be-
hind them. whether the city took them up or
there the sT Is DOUBT sHSH q the iega RHRps Of Ff tRe ISSUE ana IN
% Wise to G ths holders tnsr 81 de;ub Il RIefbs opds s to em1
ploy the services Of q man with valuable politi-
s snyS s 3 essn MI, & dqaGs himself SfTy RV Would hSSt eem
Mr.. Grady's legal services-his purely legal
services, understand-worth $4,000 in this
matter"
As a matter OF fact. Mr.. Grady's purely polit-
ical services seem to have fallen somewhat
short OF that figure. but this fact could not be
foreseen at the time OF his employment by the
syndicate. Then he was high In favor with Mr..
Croker. and In all matters OF importance was. to
use the anRua Of the organization very much
next. The Syracuse, Convention changed all
wanted. and badly wanted. to help out Tam
many. but he had executed one OF his mysteri-
GUS disappearances, and Tammanyh has learned
by experience that when Mr.. Grady elects to
disappear 1t Is not the course of wisdom to ex-
hume him from his retirement. Since, the
tongued one has not been as high as hereto
fore In the esteem OF Mr.. Croker, and 1t may be
assumed that his general political pull has
suffered some deterioration. At any rate.
he didn't succeed in getting all the bonds
through. and that, a large part Of them
the owners won't reap that profit for which
they fondly hoped, and were willing to pay
Tom Grady an unprecedented percentage. 1t
was said on Wall street yesterday that Leland.
Towle d Co. has sold many OF the bonds at a
loss. Most OF the Greater New York bonds not
which means that they are accepted by the city.
while on the unregistered ones the interest Is
held up pending adjudication by the courts on
the legality OF the issue.
All this Is interesting. politically. as showing
these deals, such as the one which has just
failed. could be carried on on q still larger scale.