The sun., 1908-11-15

ton during tho uns1pirsd term for which
Tho Commissioners of Accounts made
an Investigation Of the Bureau OF Licenses.
AZ q speedy result the. ofhce has been
are Being put In that will prevent the
blaoiEmailing Of pushoart. pedleFR the
oVOrchRrglng Of licenses, the reeeInng of
Of licenses and the grating that has
brought several former employees Of that
bureau and Of the Police Department TO
the Grand Jury and to trial; The res success ,S Us
proved. Judging from the experience
OF railroads, bankers and business houses.
nothing will prevent its protecting the
taxpayer from the continuation OF former
abuses. except indifference on the tax
payers part.
power TO investigate and recently made
report to the Legislature on the Comp
trollers office. How much investigating
IL shall do and to what extent lite reports
shall be based upon records and provable
evidence is very largely a question OF
the interest shown by taxpayers. ., No
payroll can be paid by the Comptroiler's
ment Of the Civil Service Comnissiop
to the effect that the men referred TO are
on the payrolls named for the salaries
named. But at the present time the Civil
Service Commission has absolutely no
way Of knowing whether people that
they certify have actually done any work
for their pay or whether they have been
conducting private business In the oity's
time. Even 30 good a thing as civil service
can never be at It's best so long as those
whom IL 10 aimed to serve take no interest
and ask no intelligent questions about
it's methods and results. The eheonveness
Of the Civil Service Commission as an
investigating body is a good su9yeet Ior
consideration by real estate associations.
As to the Bureau OF Municipal In
vestigation and Statistics. working for
the Department OF Finance and the
Board Of Estimate and the Comptroller
auditors, they are supposed never TO act
or approve action until they nave eyi-
denoe. The Civil Service Commission
has power to learn whether men certified
by them as on. payrolls work for their
pay. Practice does not require them to
know. Records do not tell them. Comp
troller Metz has stated that In the past
records have not come to the Depart
ment Of Finance from the various De
could protect the taxpayers interests.
The chief lack has been evidence. The
Comptroller states that he has begun and
made considerable progress with reorgan-
izaton that will currently provide evil
denoo enabling the peps-:sasa: Q; Finance
haze been carried out he claims that the
investigations OF his subordinates will
pre-, ent waste, and soldering. This Is
q statement Of fact. Any one who ques-
lions II will make little headway who
does not found his doubt upon proof.
Are the real estate men making any effort
to prove or disapprove the Comptroller
statements, and to make sure that the
Investigations in his Office henceforth shall
mean all they pirport TO meanf III the
method OF doing business is such that
investigators act upon hearsay rather
than upon evidence the stah Of the Comp
troller's Office might be multiplied five
times and hundred Investigations con-
Quoted every week without any benefit to
taxpayers
Last Friday night Robert E. Simon
OF the. Henry Morgenthau Company
attended dinner Of real estate men in
Boston desirous OF establishing in that
city permanent body for the study
Of the city budget similar to the Greater
New York Taxpayers Conference. Mr..
Simon was able to refer to the budget
exhibit and to various gains from the
recent budget campaign. is there no
significance in the fact that he wac un-
able to point to a single real estate or
gani7ation in this city equipped to tell
next February whether city departments
acted in January according to the reso-
lutious that are supposed to protect the
of salary and against the exhaustion OF
the years appropriation for one or more
divisions during the first few months. OF
the year? Whether the city's innumer-
able Investigations Of the next months
shall prove q good investment depends
very much upon the extent and intelli-
gence OF the taxpayers interest. /, -.