New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-10-13

pipes or defective meters The inspectors "eIo
made to inspect carefully every meter ana -
nection. Then. If IT was found tnat ,n a,,o,,nt
water had been used. estimates OF the anlouiis
were made and bills presented. II these were
not paid, the cases were taken into the coui Is
An amendment to the Penal Code, making IL a
rnisdemeanor to tamper with meters, service
pipes or connections was enacted Under IL seV
eral convictions were obtained. This taught the
offenders that the city was on the LOOKOUT; SO
that now there is comparatively htue s'eaiiAs
Of water.
When Commissioner Monroe took office he
found that the contracts for city lighting nau
been let during the previous administration.
Therefore he could do nothing about the eX0rpl-
tsnt prices the city was forced to pay untli the
contracts for 1908 came up. Then he went care
fully into the entire subject. He found that this
city was paying STAG a year for 2VoO-cahoie
power lamp, for which the average price PAID
by other cities through the country was $50 on.
For 1.2o0-candle power lamps, for which the
city pays S124 30 in Brooklyn. the average price
was $S1 0S The prices paid for gas lamps. While
not quite high for electricity, were Tar
higher than other cities were paying.
The city, In fact, in spite OF its using so many
thousand lights was paying far more for them
than a private consumer, using a few lamps or
a few thousand cubic feet of gas. Then, too, the
city was poorly lighted-much better than under
Iammany, every one ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS not as
it should be. Therefore the Commissioner had
an expert make an estimate of just what would
be necessary for this city TO have TO De prop
erly lighted and the cost Of installing munich
pal plant able to live up TO the requirements,
also how much il would cost to run such an IN
sttution. This he submitted to the Mayor, to-
gether with tables showing how the city was
being overcharged compared with other
towns. and declared that he didn't feel justified
in accepting any of the bids submitted for the
1903 contracts.
The Mayor and the Board of Estimate and APP
portiOnment thought a municipal plant would
be an excellent thing, a bill was drawn up,
asking permission for the city to build one. In
the legislature, however. a strong opposition
developed among the Democrats. Senator Pat
McCarren, of Brooklyn. and Senator Martin. OF
this borough were especially violent in their
attitude toward the measure. Lined up with
them We're Senators McCabe, Wagner. Whitlock
and Cullen, OF Brooklyn, and keenan,, of
Queens. Among them they killed the bill in the
Senate, and the next day it met a similar fate
in the Assembly. Therefore the city was de-
lvered over TO the monopoly for another year.
Under Commissioner Monroe the inspection OF
all electrical work has been strict. This extends
to the elevated and surface railroads. overhead
wires and subway conductors. The West Side
Pole Line the line OF the NewYork Telephone
Company, from Cortlandt-st to the Harlem
River, had always caused more or less annoy
ance. Commissioner Monroe declared that the
wires could be run underground. The officials
Of the company finally consented, and the work
is almost completed now. It VIII be finished be-
fore the end OF the year. In Brooklyn, also,
about twelve miles of streets were cleared of
overhead wires. except the trolley wires. A sec
ond group OF streets, about twelve miles more,
was selected. and these are almost cleared This
work has been planned so that next year it can
be done much more quickly.