New-York tribune., 1901-09-24

This of course. has to do with the foremen
and not with the heads of the department. II
you will not tell the source of your nfor1na'lon
will give you something that may go higher
up.
MANSELLA'S POWER.
There is a man who is not employed by the
department but who has absolute power OF col
lecting and fning. even above the foremen-
His name is r. Mansella, and he keeps saloon
at No 1856 Mott-st He goes all around the city
among the sweepers. and makes report to Cap
tain Gibson of men who have not come up to
the mat mark. By this do not mean only the
men whose uniforms are not just right, put also
men who have not contributed their quota TO
certain funds that I am certain find their way
into pockets other than those of the foremen OF
other lower officials His game is the formen
as well as the sweepers. and he turns in reports
on them if their uniforms not just right or
they are remiss in any other particular he mas
never assessed me. but I know of cases where
fines have been remitted payment TO TINS
man of certain sum. This sum IS OF course,
regulated by the amount of the fine that coulo
be imposed. l know of one case where fore-
man was fined twenty days pay for a derehCtioh
because he would not be shaken down. al
though the highest penalty provided for is ten
days pay.
"Mansella is headquarters for the tickets tor
the Nagle and the Sullivan chowders and pic
MICS and woe betide the sweeper or driver VINO
does not buy enough tickets The assessment
for tickets is all the way from 81 to SO, ac-
cording to the man and the extert to which ne
can be aqueezed. There is not a man on the
force that does not fear Mansella. although
we all know he is not in the employ OF the oe-
partment and has legal authority.
The whole department is full of corruption
and fayoritism Assistant foremeu are assessed
81 week by the foremen for nothing IN the
world except to keep their positions. ana the
foremen are bled by people higher up forgot
to say while speaking of Mansea, that no
collects about 500 man from every man in
the department. on some preteNt or other. fhere
are people walking around in citizens clothes
who are supposed to he doing the work Of fore
men, while their assistant foremen are attend
ing TO their business. The only time when they
appear as employees of the Street Cleaning De
partment is paYdays.
There is one man who draws the pay of su-
perintendent. He is handling envelopes and
paper in the stationery department in the main
office and does not know what cleaning street
means There are other men, who are foremen
of the collar makers. and they never saw col
lar made They draw SIS a week. Several rig
gers are walking about the dumps and smiling
while they draw S31 30 week for nothing.
These men do not even have uniforms on Be
sides, there plenty of foremen who never
show up in their sections and never wear uni
forms. They draw their pay all right but their
work is attended TO by assistant foremen. who
act in their stead without extra pay. out of the
sixty-three foremen who on. the payroll
there at least twelve men such as describe
They have pulls OF some sort. and are thus able
TO work their game. foreman, by the way,
gets 500 a month.
SYSTEM OF TRANSFERS.
Not unlike what I hear of the police force
there is a system of transfers in this depart
ment I have known men to be transferred
dozen times in year. Others l have known TO
be transferred at their own requests. and upon
payment of certain sums. to easier and shorter
routes of cleaning. or course this Is worth
money and although the wages are small there
many men VINO will pay for easier and
shorter hours.
You would wonder at who could not
talk straight English, but who was 5rohcient IN
Italian working under such name, for in
stance as AcManus or O'Shaughnessy. But there
plenty Of them. They have simply been
appointed through the assistance OF dis
trict leader on the papers of a discharged or
resigned man. This enables them 10 evade the
Civil Service examination. | know OF one sec
ton where two Italians working under
Irish names, and the joke is that they are sup
posed to be brothers, although the Irish names
different. About . per cent OF the sweepers
of the department are working under other
peoples names Do you suppose they get this
snap for nothing? Be certain that they pay for
the privilege.
IF | were to sum up all that l have been
saying to you l would do ii in this way: There
is u system Of 'shakedowns' on the street clean
ing force that costs each sweeper about $40 n
year. Fines not imposed nearly so often as
they would be If the threats OF the foremen were
executed. and it is possible to prevent reports
usually on payment TO foremen or certain per
centage of the fine that ought to be imposed
There are plenty of snap Jobs in the department
for those who have pulls. Transfers are OBJ
taned avoided on payment of money. The
contractors receive a price for the uniforms
much in excess OF their value. and hat dealer
has soft thing the helmets. The mer swear
by Nagle and like his administration, because
under Warng fines were imposed and there was
no way of getting clear OF them when they were
deserved. while under Nage II is easy avoid
a fine if you do the right thing by your fore
man.
MANsELLA EXPLAINS.
Mansella was seen last night in his saloon by
a reporter for The Tribune. lie had Just re-
turned from conversation with assistant
foreman of the department In response to
questions Mansea admitted that he went
among the workmen in the department from
one end of the city to the other.
IF | receive order from Captain Gibson.
said Manseila. who speaks excellent English, 'I
attend to it. ] see that the men are doing their
work all right and that their uniforms i'm
good shape. ! am not an employe of the de
partment but / see that things are all right. I
sell tickets for the Magic and the Sullivan chow
ders but do not allow man to buy too many.
Neither do | allow sweepers to visit my place.
1t would not do to let them come here because
they would then be my patrons and become too
familiar with | never take penny from
them except for tickets. If | report a fine II
always goes through Captain Gibson is fine
and take pleasure in executing his orders.
Never, though, have l taken money from the
men for any purpose other than tickets
COMMISSIONER OR NAUGHT.
d ID Il