New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-09-13
NO GRAFT IN THIS JOB
Firsd Price for EnIUgiug of Cor
errors Island.

FerrybOat passengers who leave the central bor-
Ough of this city for the outlying borouKhs OF
Brooklyn and Richmond have been vastly inter
ested in the government work OF charging Gov
ernors Island. The sidewheelers to Staten Island
and South Brooklyn pass close TO the engineering
work which the government Is conducting there
and day by day, since the work began in August
1901 the passengers have noted its progress
They have seen yard after yard OF riprap for the
seawall put into place and gradually the outline
Of the great shoal south OF the island has shown
itself to them. They have watched the construc-
ton Of the long T-shaped pier. and ever since he
first of the year have watched the work OF fill
ing in.
At first the ferry contingent marvelled at the
with which this filing carried on. The
scows towed within the circle CT the r1prap
wall and dumped automatically Then they noticed
day for the first Nne that big dipper dredges
were work. The scows were not going as far
inside before. They dumped their loads Of mud
and sand and cnders into the water Little tugs
hauled the scows out OF. the Way, and the dp2er
the bottom Of the Bay. where the seows nd
dumped it, and with great rumbinS OF cogs
was beginning To show above the water.
They are handling that dirt twice" said enc
Brooklyn politician another.
I wonder who is getting the graftg' was the
These men were used To city contracts. they
knew that where dirt or rock or anything else IL
means graft OF some Kind for somebody. Other
passengers the ferries before long noticed the
ernor's Island spread. Even the deckhanJs ON The
ferryboats knew about 1t. and sometimes called 1t
TO the attention OF strange passengers The police
men remarked II. and thought Of Tammany. days.
when a police badge a license to graft
Then somebody investigated, and found that II
was no graft at all IL was a contract FOB the
dredges and scOws were combining to hl and the
same company owned them both SO much the
government to paw for the completed work
much and The contractor could
handle the mud dozen times II he liked
The NewYOrk Filling Company holds the &C n
tract Of placing the retaining material IL is OF
two casscs-sand ashes and other hard material.
for which the government pays +-I9 cents a
cubic yard, and the same material with not
$40 cents cubic yard. The contract stIpuIates
that the material must be brought TO the ron 81
the bulkhead. two feet above the mean low water
line. and thence sloped backward. making a maxi
mum height along the crest OF from thirteen TO
fifteen feet
Major w. l. Marshall who Is directing the work
SAYS OF this In his last report. which Will be
printed
at estimated that 20 per cent OF the IN will
above the line Of mean low water. This part re-
quiTes rehandlng. which - the only expensive
feature OF the work TO the contractor Therefore
the effect that material under low water should
placed above the low level"
The work began In January. and by the END o.
July the contractors hsa delivered aASs cubic
yards OF material OF which IS as cubic yards were
above low water level The hllinz Is proving hard