New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1905-10-14
AT ITS OLD TRICKS.

The general attitude of the Mcclellan admin
istration toward the corporation interests with
which it is VIGOROUSLY allied Is clearly Illus
trated In the hating manner in which the Cor
poration Counsels Office is now proceeding TO
enforce the provisions of the gas bills passed al
Albany last winter One Of these laws regu-
lated the pressure to be applied in gas mains
The Stevens committee discovered that 1t was
a common practice here TO apply overpressure'
thereby swelling the consumers gas bills while
giving him no better Illumination. The gas COM
panies defended themselves at the time by al
leging that extra pressure was necessary 10
force the gas to the points most distant from
the centre of distribution, and argued character
isticaIly that the nearby consumer ought to Dear
this extra tax for the greater beneht and Sc
curity Of his more out Of the way nelghbor
The committee held, however, that such an ar
rangement though pleasant and profitable for
the company, was unfair to its patrons, since II
was the companys business TO furnish illumina-
ton on equal terms to all consumers. The legis-
lature Endorsed this view when it adopted the
Stevens bills. Il not only fixed limit of press
ure but provided that any company exceeding
that limit should pay a fine of $1,000 for every
day it transgressed the statute.
Tests made by inspectors now show that the
law has not been lived up TO. According to g
recent report of DR.. E. G. Love one company
had been applying illegal pressure every day
since July l. Other companies were intermt-
tent offenders and the penalties incurred were
computed to foot up about 100000. An admin
istration bent on enforcing the law and protect
ing the consumer would have lost no time in
proceeding against the transgressors and exact
ing the full penalties Of their misconduct. Yet
our tender hearted powers that be could appar-
emily hardly bring themselves TO mulct or In
convenience the great trust which has long held
the NeW-York gas consumer at its mercy. It
became known on Thursday that the Assistant
Corporation Counsel to whom the reported vio-
lations of law had been referred had drawn up
a complaint against the various companies using
overpressure and had claimed from each the
paltry penalty Of $1,000 Euphemistically speak
ing these suits were to be entered ito test the
constitutionality of the act'; but when atten-
ton was called to the fact that the city by
claiming only $1,000 in damages against each
offender might debar itself from asking any
further satisfaction, the Assistant Corporation
Counsel bIandly admitted that "if anything IS
going to be written about it, think we Id
better name larger sum in the complaint"
Here is the true philosophy Of Tammany rule
exemplifed. If anything was going to be writ
ten" about the celebrated Oakley gas contracts
those contracts would never have been fOisted
on the city; but the Commissioner took good
care that they should be drawn in secret-the
secrecy being so impenetrable that even Mayor
Mcclellan managed to be ignorant of what
favOrs the Commissioner was doing the Gas
Trust. Probably If the facts had not accidentally
slipped out the other day we should have walked
up some time after election to find that the
violators Of the Stevens law had been let off
with a merely nominal penalty. Tammany IS
consistent in sticking to its friends" 1t is
little awkward Ito stick to friends on the eve
Of an election, when sticking to friends" In
wolves betrayal of the public interest. There
fore we may perhaps expect an amendment OF
the city's complaint and an insistence on few
more thousand dollars of penalties. But If
Tammany is returned to power the good old
system Of live and let live" will continue TO
flourish for the enrichment of Tammany leaders
and public service corporations. Do the voters
of NewYork want to perpetuate an administra-
ton which is content to do It's best" for the
PEOPLE only after II has done its best for the
honest gra fters" Of Tammany Hall and their
corporation hackers and allies?