The sun., 1903-06-20
TAMMANY BEGINS ITS HOLD.UP
~, DELAYING MONEY FOR THE
MANHATTAN BRIDGE.
rau,t Found With Commissioner L'nden'
thsls Il, e.Bar Scheme Alleged ENpert
shown Up Same Game to BE worked
nm All Lows Public Improvements.


on All Lows Public improvements
Tammanv, through its represe natives
in the Board Of Aldermen, began yes
terday to put into operation Its pan 10 pre-
vent the Mayor from carving ont MS known
intention Of awarding so many contracts
for public improvements, before his term
of office expires, that the next admlnlstra-
ton will have the spending OF little II any, OF
the $40. 600 900 which the city will be able
n borrow after July /. because OF the in
creased debt margin. Mr.. Low has made
no secret Of his purpose to provide for
numerous improvements. If no should
succeed and Tammany should be successful
st the fall election, it would have not even
q smell at the big contracts which are
PENDING for municipal improvements.
1t was for tho purpose Of fighting the
Mayor that Tammany after securing con-
troll Of the Aldermen, put Alderman Mccall
at the head OF the Finance Committee.
The first act OF the reorganized COM
mittee was to seek grounds for holding up
the appropriation Of about $500 Co., asked
FOR by Bridge Commissioner Lindenthal.
to complete the Manhattan Bridge. De
spite the fact that the tower foundations OF
the bridge have been completed or con-
iracted for, that the work on the pedestals
is under way and that the appropriation
asked for is for the construction OF the
superstructure, Mr.. Mccall held a public
hearing yesterday on the matter
The revised plans for the new bridge
have been completed. work upon 1t has been
begun and only the sanction by the Alder
men of the new bond issue is needed to
have the work so expedited that it Will be
finished within three years. But the TAM
many Aldermen are out to delay the letting
of the steel contracts until after election.
Hence the public hearing yesterday, at
which a pretext for reporting adversely
upon the appropriation was found.
Speeches were made by engineers. who
we're not, as it was shown, altogether dis
Interested. in which it was contended that
the eye-bar system. which MIR. Lindenthal
wants to put into the Manhattan bridge
would be more costly than the cable sys-
TEN ana that it would delay the compile
ton Of the bridge.
Alderman Doull who acted as sort OF
counsel for the Tammany members Of the
committee, said he saw no need for haste
in appropriating the six and half millions.
and sug gested that the committee lay the
whole matter over
The holding up OF, this appropriation is
only part of the scheme Every similar
appropriation passed by the Board OF
Estimate will probably be rejected In the
effort to prevent the spending & oy & TINS ad-
pointed out, however. that once contracts
are let by the city government, the con-
tractors, as has been done before, may
compel the Aldermen, by mandamus pro-
ceedings. to vote for the issue OF bonds for
work authorized.
Mr.. Mccall started the hearing yester
iay bv asserting that the resolution ask
ing for the appropriation had been drawn
in crude manner and that, consequently,
il fa1 been decided to hold public hear
ing 10 ascertain for Just what the money
was wanted
Mr.. Lindenthal explained this and said
The bridge would cost from sl5,oooooo to
Then MIR. Mccall wanted to know if the
Inc engineers Of the Bridge. Department.
He had been told that the plans had been
made ny Prof. Hornbostel OF Columbia
University.
He had not been told. however, that
oil Mr.. Hornbostel had done was to sug-
gest changes in the architectural features
Of the bridge and that Mr.. Hornbostel's
work nd nothing t" do S,,n the engineer
tried to make the difference clear, to Mr.
Mccall, but apparently the new chairman
couldn't grasp it,
Mr Mccall Then TIE stcrE =, that III so 900 m
1s ISs pisa. 2 IS n"t
Mr Lindenthnl-.It is not true in the man.
ner in which you put it The architectural
by the Art Commission. and it was necessary
n employ an architect TO superintend the
drawing Of the designs for the artistic por-
Mr. McCall-Couldn't your own engineers
draw those designs?
ton Engineers cannot make architectural
plans. s,.u,. ~, h,, a-a,.
men n gomr ee hey do hs NoTt
Mr. Lindenthal-Yes. have drauRhtsmen. ..
but a draushtsman could not draw. ,archi-
@ ssnT ss sT Tdfs % sn snaa he
!men could probably make designs for stable.
bn not for h the q Of brd
You have spoken about altering the plans
found when took Office, IN any great
RI. plans for the Firth of Forth bridge.
the biggest in the world. were modified at
least afteen times. The engineer does not
To all concerned. and the architect has not
been horn who can shake out Of his sleeve at
The first shake design that will please every
Mr. McCall-You have said that you had
TO appoint this architect because III" first
the Art Commission. DO YOU think it right
tor. the Art ,Commission to tell you how to
Mr. Iindentha-I have said nothing Of the
sort The Art Commission did not tell me
how to make nv bridge plans
Mr. McCall--You said the Art Commsis son
had to accent your plans.
Mr. I.indenthal-I protest against this
perversion Of what have said, stated that
the Art Commission passed only on The archi-
tcotural features and had nothing to do with
the plans for the building Of the bridge itself.
Mr.. Doull tried to tangle up the Commits
.ioner on the questions Of the difference
In cost of the Williamsburg and Manhattan
bridges. The Alderman sought to show
thst the smaller cost Of the Manhattan
bridge was due 10 inferior material.
After the Commissioner had demonstrated
TO Mr.. Doull how little he knew about steel
the Tammanyites began to banter Mr.
Lindenthal upon hi- proposition to put in
.ye-bar instead of cable suspenders Mr..
Jindenthal .explai ined that the eye. bar
system would facilitate the completion of
the bridge as we as strengthen It.
G. E.. Henning. an engineer who said be
Bridge, got up to criticise Mr.. Linden
thal's plans. It was brought out by Mr.
McInnes that the speaker had never seen
the plans He had seen only the archi-
tectural designs.
-Do you pretend as an engineer to Judge
signs?- asked Mr.. Lindenthal