New-York tribune., 1901-09-25
Department Of Street Cleaning,
City of New YORK.
New-Yorlx Sen

City of New-York;
To District superintendents and stable Foremen:
rs oete Is very serious arralgnInent OF the de-
days issue of The New-York Tribune, it is sug-
oe o e on s m
order that they may advise themselves of the char
acter of the charges made therein.
sr Having been misqpoted M myself in that article
other spurious and groundless statements as well.
The PRINCIPAL purpose of this letter is to invite
| the representative of The Tribune and some fore
interview took place and if the foreman spoken
Of is correctly reported, he must know that he is
exist by not bringing it to the notice of the proper
aufnores & in the department @ and i he 3 has stated &
falsifed but has also attempted to bring dscredit
There may possibly be some officer in the en-
y Hf o. of 6a the me h9se S m s OF his
to an abuse that may to some extent obtain, but
SO contemplate as to attempt seIiaudation by the
wholesale contemplation of his brother officers
article has been most unscrupulously colored to
suit the fancy OF the reporter and deceive the read
r. however, there is an officer IN the department
is his plain duty in the interest of ali concerned to
knowledge he should be at once instructed that
by withholding the same he Is not only contrbut-
time just culpable as those who in any way levy
gs % @ he and m If he has Tom td
department should immediately follow
and stable foremen iii be expected and required to
exert proper means of ascertaining if there be such
officer in the employ Of the department, and re-
port the result Of their efforts as soon as possible
control. respectively. f NJ. GIBSON,
Deputy Commissioner.
The name of the foreman who told the story and
the place OF his employment both known In
The Tribune office but for obvious this in
formation refused to Captain Gibson yesterday
Sweepers who were spoken to on the streets by
reporter for The Tribune shook their heads and
refused talk about extortion- Foremen and as
sistant foremen equally shy about spending
few minutes in conversation with a stranger, know
ing that suspicion might fall them as having
given out the ungratefu information. and trouble
at least might ensue to them.
Captain Gibson said that in the few instances
where it had come the knowledge Of the central
office that money in small sums had been
borrowed" from the men the guilty ones had been
summarily dismissed. He denied that there was
any truth in the statement that barge inspectors
had been engaged to number that was useless
and expensive and said he was doing his utmost to
keep the Street Cleaning Department free from all
shadow of corruption.
OF r. ManseIla, who Is said TO be the collector
| for some persons not definitely known, and who
stated explicitly three times Monday night that
he was not an employe of the department and that
he took his orders directly from Captain Gibson
the captain said:
..Mansella is an employe of the department. He
is assistant to section foremen wish he were
out of the department. Why? Because l have no
faith in him. He is directly under the orders Of
Commissioner Nagle. and do not see him twice a
year. He in here twice, 1 think, in the last
year with reports.
You quoted me in The Tribune saying
that McNuty was a flannel mouth and that he was
worth 100000 year. / did not say that. did say
that If he did not like this country he might go
back again and trot the bogs also, that he had
once worked a driver in this department at
small salary. but he to have plenty OF
money. l wish you would make this correction"
The general argument of foremen and others
| expressed for publication by j: Hansen, superln-
| tendent of the second district. thus:
There is nothing in these charges OF eXtortlon
| OF money from the men. have never seen it
| among the foremen. and am sure l never got a
that it possible for foremen shake down their
| sweepers. Each foreman has from thirty to forty
men under him, and about from each gang is
| discharged each month. If he has shaken down
that man would come to the front after he was
discharged and expose his foreman? OF course he
! would Therefore ii is impossible 10 eXtort money
from the men, even If the foremen wanted to do
i So"
| No answer besides this. however was to be OBJ
tanned from any to the serious charges pub
| lished in The Tribune.
The committee appointed last Sunday by the Cen
trail Federated Union to investigate the charges Of
| nlalfeasance in office made against Commissioner
Nagle has not proceeded far enough to wish to say
anything definite, but expects to be able to report
/ progress its main body Sunday.
! Frank Moss the president of the Society for the
Suppression of Vice. yesterday made formal reqUis
ton to the Controller for permission to examine
final disposition in the 1855, 1899 1900 and 1901
/ Nr Moss would say nothing further than that no
undue significance should be attached to the in
yestigatfon. since employees of the society were
| always on the hunt for Irregularities in all the
I branches of the municipal administration.
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