Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-07-03
First Blood Claimed for Croker in the
Squabble With Sheehan.
WHAT TEE WAR MAY LEAD TO
Extravagant Annual Waste Of
Money in Useless Salaries.
B RIG HIT GOTHAM OSSIP


| NEW YORK, July ., 1899.
The partisans of Richard Croker are in
| clined to be jubilant over what they con-
| slider first blood in the Croker-Sheehan
| squabble. 1t is nothing more nor less than
| the rejection of all candidates for primary
| officers who are not favorable to Croker.
Daniel F. Mcmahon, chairman of the Tam
many executive committee, in filing the list
| of primary officers with the police, did not
allow a name to go in that had not been
| approved by Cookers lieutenants. 1t has
been the custom heretofore to allow the
district leaders to name the primary Of
| fcers, but this rule was departed from
| this year in order to prevent Sheehans
men from taking hold in the ninth assem-
bly, district. All the names he sent in were
cast aside. Mr.. Sheehan's friends say that
| this action is no doubt renewable by the
courts. and legal fight may follow.
The war inaugurated by the regular
Tammany organization of the ninth dis
trlct against the dictation of Richard Gro
ker, which has spread to other districts,
will probably result in these happenings:
A mass meeting of Tammany voters in
Madison Square Garden late in August to
protest against the Croker management Of
Tammany Hall
The revolt of one Tammany senator
(Munzinger) from Cookers following at
Albany.
The prosecution of some of Cookers
leaders for the attempted intimidation of
voters at the primaries to be held Septem
Der 20.
thorough probing of the practice of
assessing saloons, pool rooms and other il
legal establishments by the Mazet COM
mttee, based on information now being
collected. The mass meeting project deveI
oped as a result of conference between
Tammany men in several districts who
object to Mr.. Cookers practice of treating
the Tammany organization private
enterprise. The fight against the Croker
| clique seems to have been inspired by
purely financial considerations. Nine
tenths of the so-called "kickers'' believe
| that Croker and Carroll, his lieutenant,
are rapidly getting rich a result of their
personal and private management of Tam
many.
New Ordinances Being Prepared.
The municipal assembly, aided by Rollin
| NJ. Morgan. assistant corporation counsel
| is quietly engaged in preparing a set
| of ordinances for Greater New York. The
confusing and conflicting ordinances of the
| old cities and towns, which We're continued
| in effect by the consolidation act, are to be
wiped out. The new ordinances. besides
| being fewer and more explicit, will be in
cluded in code and issued in book form.
| The codifying and publishing are the OBJ
| jects in view. This was ordered by that
section of the corporation act reading The
ordinances of the municipal assembly shall.
as far as prdct1cdDie- De reduced TO a code
and published" 1t is nearly two years
since the act went into effect, and until
few weeks ago nothing had been done to
obey the order. This was probably owing
to the necessity of revising the ordinances
before they could be codified. There was
some question among the members Of the
municipal assembly to the propriety
and legality of repeating the ordinances of
Brooklyn and Long Island City. 1t was
pointed out to them by Mr.. Morgan. how
ever that the very section which permit
ted the continuance in force of the old
ordinances gave the municipal assembly
the right to modify, amend or repeal them.
Acting this advice, the license ordi-
nance was passed fortnight ago In this
ordinance is included the gist of half
hundred of the old ones. The other ordi-
nances will be treated in a similar way so
that by the early fall the city will have
new and revised set easy of access. AT
present searcher for ordinances has to
wade through records at the city clerks
office. Some ordinances in the past be-
came dead letters through inaccessibility.
The publication of a code will do away
with this.
Fortune Wasted in Salaries.
Bird S. Coler the controller, says that
New York city, under the charter of the
greater municipality. is wasting annually
81. 0C0, 600 of the peoples money in salaries
of useless officials. For the first time since
consolidation was effected and the charter
in effect it's workings have been examined
by competent authority, its failings pointed
out and amendments to 1t suggested. After
calling attention to the eXtravagant con-
tracts entered into before consolidation by
the small cities which were to be merged
into the great one, which have plunged the
municipality into litigation and added i'm
mensely to taxation Mr.. Coler declares the
cty's solvency and credit have become
firmly established, bonds of the municipal
ity ranking almost as high as governments.
He then takes up the mistakes in the char
ter-'too much government and unnecessa-
ry division of authority. There are too
many departments, too many bureaus and
too many officers. Authority should be CEN
tralized, responsibility fixed beyond posi-
bliity of evasion
Nearly Ready for Launching.
The torpedo boat destroyer Bailey, which
is in course of construction in the ship
yards of Charles L. Seabury & Co., at
Morris Heights on the Harlem river, will be
launched, in all probability, within the next
fortnight. The hull is practically complete
and is receiving its final coat of paint be-
fore being released from the ways. Ma
chinists are now fitting the boats tail
shafts and rudder, and yesterday her twin
propellers received their final trimming. and
are ready to be fitted to the shafts. Her
boilers finished and are resting on the
end of the pier near the big steel derrick,
which is to lift them over into the hold of
the destroyer as soon as she is brought
alongside. The builders refuse to give any
idea of the date when she is to be launched
celebrated in official manner. No per-
sons except mechanics and officers con-
nected with the firm or with the construc-
ton bureau of the Navy Department are
allowed on board, and few are permitted to
visit the section of the yards in which the
boat is being built. The employees about
the yard say the vessel will be ready for
launching within fortnight, however, and
that she will probably be put overheard as
soon as she is ready, as her builders are
anxious to fill the contract. A dozen or
more men are working on her tail shaft.
Both shafts are in position, as are the
braces which are to hold them, but the
packing about the bearings remain to be
fitted. This will require several days.
Much attention has been given to the con-
struction and fitting of the shafts and the
brass propellers, as the designers expect
that the Bailey will be able to develop a
speed of thirty-three knotes an hour. Each
of her propeilers has three blades. The
work Of trimming and balancing these