New-York tribune., 1900-12-11
BUILDING LAWS RELAXED.
TENEMENT HOUSE INQUIRY HOLDS
OFFICIALS UP To RIDICULE.
BRADY AND DooNER APPROVE THEIR OWN
WORK, ONLY TO HAVE ITS DE-
FEcTs LAID BARE

To describe graphically yet briefly. what the
Tenement House Commissioners did to the De-
partment Of Buildings yesterday il is almost
necessary to use popular slang phrase and say
that they made monkey Of it," n they had
set out with the avOwed intention OF making the
Building Commissioners look as ridiculous as
possible. ii is doubtful If they could have done
1t so well. for large part OF the success OF the
exposure lay in the fact that the Tenement
House Commissioners were not out cunning for
inefficient officials at all Their sole purpose
was clearly stated BY Robert W. De Forest.
chairman, at the opening Of the hearing yester-
day afternoon He said il was not the duty
nor the object of the Commission to institute
any investigation into the affairs Of ary city de-
partment. and he hoped that city officials would
clearly understand 1t. That is to say. they
were not investigating any department to find
out the efficiency OF any particular officials. but
merely to secure information bearing upon the
tenement house problem So far as they may
| have appeared to investigate any city depart
ment. it was purely with this end in view, and
the witnesses who had been subpenaed would
be asked only about such matters as might
throw some light upon the proper methods for
| insuring the building and maintenance OF salts
factory tenement houses. He wished, in that
connection, to express his satisfaction at the
courtesy shown to the Commission by the heads
/
cluding the Police, Fire and Building Depart
ments
WELL DONE. SAY TAMMANY OFFICIALS.
After this announcement Thomas J. Brady.
Building Commissioner for Manhattan and The
Bronx, was called to the witness chair. After
him came John A Dooner, superintendent
They were followed oy John GuiIfoyle. Commis-
siOner for Brooklyn. and Daniel Campbell Com
missioner for Queens and Richmond. Paul d
Cravath. a member Of the Tenement House
Commission. conducted the examination Of the
witnesses. assisted from time to time with ques-
tions put by other members as the evidence sug-
gested them. Mr.. Cravath began by asking
each witness if the building laws were being
faithfully and vigorously enforced in his bafIf-
wick Mr.. Cravath well knew that they were
not. and his object presumably was to give the
witnesses chance to point out where the ma
chinery for enforcing the law was defective and
needed improvement. None Of the witnesses.
however, seemed bright enough to catch the
cue Each protested that the law in his dis
trict being enforced almost to the letter
with commendable alacrity and with highly
satisfactory results
BELIED BY THE INVESTIGATORS.
| Mr.. Cravath looked grieved. He also looked
surprised But" he would say in a tone OF
| gentle Femonstrance. "our Investigators who
have been at work in your borough all summer.
report entirely different state OF affairs" and
then he would unfold a long and carefully tabu-
lated statement from the Commissions own ex-
! perts. This report was backed by documentary
evidence. Of it from the Building Depart
ment's own files giving hundreds and thou
sands Of instances where the building laws have
been. and being. hagrantly violated ever
since the present Building Commissioners took
office The faces Of the witnesses when con-
fronted with these reports a study. Sus-
picions that trap had been set for them, dis
/ gust at having fallen so completely into it.
mingled with a swift search for any means of
getting out Of it. showed plainly on their flushed
countenances. They finally. with one accord.
put the blame upon their inspectors for not re-
porting many violations Of the law. and also
upon the District Attorneys Office for not prose-
cutting vigorously such violations as were re-
| ported.
/ RELUCTANT ADMISSIONS MADE.
| Even their reluctant admissions that the law
was continually violated. and the excuses there
| for. not clear and satisfactory. Commits
/ sioner Brady. in order to show the vigilance OF
| his Department, swore that eleven thousand
violators Of the law had been reported by him
in the last year alone to the District Attorneys
office for prosecution but he would or could
give no real reason why he had not exercised his
power of stopping by injunction the progress
the buildings where the law was being vio-
lated. instead of waiting for the District At
tOrney's Office to get around 70 them. He said
that probably not more than five hundred OF
these eleven thousand violation cases had got
into court yet, and it was his opinion that this
delay all wrong. because the builders went
right ahead in the interval. completing their
houses. filing them with tenants and even sell
ing them before they had obtained permit
from the Department TO build. Mr.. Cravath
asked if there much difficulty in obtaining
injunctions, and Brady had to acknowledge that
the courts always granted them as matter OF
course when he asked for them. but as he had
not a sufficiently large clerical force to prepare
injunction papers in all the cases where the law
violated, he thought it better not 20 do so
except on rare occasions. but continued to pass
the cases along to the District Attorney Mr.
Cravath asked if a policy of getting out all the
injunctiOns that the present clerical force could
handle. even if the number was comparatively
small. would not deter other builders from vio-
lating the law so freely. To this the only reply
Mr.. Brady could give that he did not think
il would
FAVORS FOR CERTAIN BUILDERS.
Summing il up briefly. the days testimony
clearly showed that Tammany is allowing GER
tain builders 70 violate the law with impunity
and to an extent that is intensely discouraging
to advocates of tenement house reform. On this
point the Commissions experts say in their
report
In order to ascertain how far the evils OF our
tenement houses due 10 the defects OF the law
to its nOn-enfOrcement the Tenement House
Commission during the last summer has had IN
spected all the new tenement houses In course Of
most Of those IN course OF construction in the other
md AhoIIf rIftdin We ed in, Man