The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-28
ALDERMEN TRIM THE BUDGET
POLICE ESTIMATE CUT-LFTTLE
TIM GOES FOR BINGHAM.

Had Had PertlOus stun ON His Bosom since
the sullivan Policemen We're sent
TO the wilderness -RepubIicans and
VI. o. l.. Men Assert Control Of Board.
Little Tim Sullivan let go at the head
of Police Commissioners Bingham a bucket
full Of wrath that he has been anxious for
some weeks past to spill The Sullivans
nave had some troubles lately. even not
counting the recent transfer OF the in
spectors and captains in which the Sulli-
van commanders we're sent into the wilder
ness.
Little Tins opportunity came yesterday
when the Aldermen took up the budget.
The finance committee had recommended
a reduction of SEA 900 in the appropriation
asked for by Gen. Bingham. This part
OF the report was particularly pleasing to
Little Tim. No consideration, he said,
should be shown to a man who lacks the
courage and honor and who is so cowardly
as to say things privately that he is afraid
TO say in public
Il am told" Little Tim continued, that
during the hearings held by the finance
committee on the budget Bingham was
asked by the committee why he had not
appointed the three additional inspectors
after the Aldermen had appropriated the
money he had asked for for that purpose.
l am told that the Commissioner, after
first asking if there we're n reporters
present at the hearing, and being told that
there was none in the room, said to the
committee that he had not made any new
inspectors because the captains on the
eligible list, or most of them. were g~rafters
OF incompetent. He knew at the time he
made that attack that he was not speaking
the truth, otherwise he would not have
been afraid to max it in public.
IF there is any one incompetent in the
Police Department it is Commissioner
Bingham himself. Why, he knows so
little about this town that he could not
describe the location of three streets in
the city. 1t is unfair that a man should
be allowed to come into this city from some
far away place and after being here for
about six months start TO ~criticise and
condemn inspectors, captains and men,
many of whom have spent twenty years
or more in the service of the city and have
been commended by no less a man than
the President Of the United States. h
right has a man who has been struck by
the lightning of good luck to come before
this body and knock the rank and file of a
department that he does not understand
and mon who are far more capable than
the man who by the luck of circumstance
is at the head Of it,"
The item was cut out of the budget. 1t
was the first time in many years that the
Aldermen had tinkered with the budget.
This year the Republican majority resolved
to take advantage Of the power given to
the board by the Charter to reduce but not
increase the items. The Finance Committee
held daily hearings and demanded to know
from the heads Of the departments the
uses they intended to put the money to.
As a result the committee recommended
a reduction of $500, 100 in a $3.50 GOO, 600 bud
get. The Police Department was bumped
the hardest. The committee objected to
an increase Of ~ninety-nine men in the de-
tective sergeant force, most of the in
creases in the salaries of the deputies and
the clerical stat and the proposal to ap-
point our paid chsplains.
The other reductions made were: De-
partment of Water Supply, Gas and Elec-
tricity, SIS, 100; Street Cleaning, Sl1 900;
Fire Department, $4,000 (salary for four
paid chaplains), and Board of Assessors,
50, 900. The amounts out out Of the esti-
mates represented mainly allowances which
had been made by the Board Of Estimate
for increasing salaries. The committee
did not interfere with the estimates of the
Mayor, the Comptroller or the Board Of
Education. The Mayor can veto the re-
auctions or any item Of them and a three
fourths vote is required to pass them over
his veto. This vote apparently cannot
be mustered. The Mayor would not in
dictate yesterday what he would do,
Before the meeting of the board the
Republican and NJ. O.. l.. majority went
into caucus and decided to support the
report OF the committee. The calling of
the caucus led to a long and angry discus
sion in the board meeting. The Tammany
members charged the Republicans with
playing politics, while on the other hand
the Republicans said they had asserted
their right to pass upon the details Of the
budget to prove that the Aldermen still
had some powers left. Alderman Meyers,
the Republican leader, said that the action
OF the board would nave influence with
the Charter Revision Commission, which
would probably be treated this year, and
that on a demonstration that the Alder
men were still Of some Use that commission
might restore some of the lost powers Of
the board.
The report Of the committee was adopted
by ~ votes to IL. 1t was the first important
division in the board since election. If the
majority holds together until the end Of
the wear il can elect Alderman Meyers