New-York tribune., 1908-08-28
TO PROBE C0LER CASE
Grand JURY WILL ACI.
Borough President attacks Erery-
body IN City affairs.

s..frg District Attorney Elder of Kings County
said Yesterday that the report Of the Commissioners
~ Accounts relating 10 the so" loan "ae
torousb President Coler by William , hufley oi'
the same day that the latter received ms par VI
rayraent made sewer contracts IN "hien .s m
interested after the payment had been faciil'a'eI
by President Coer, would be LAID before ''
Jury next week - .o &c
From F3insharnton the Borough President WI"
on 4 speechnaking in the interests Oh ne
- 1,so. Gov tho democratic governorship no1i-
nation sent a statement in which he deciaieo U
senator NcCarren was resorting to the old nle'hoos
az Tweed In an effort discredit him eOoiei'-
Through John A Hefernan. ms pIlNa'e s.
.ary who is in the city, President Coier gave ou'
long statement presented 10 the char'e' ie'-oiO
,,,,oissior on Nav q in an attempt to sho" that
there were as many abuses in the cehtrai soN
,neut of the city as had been fouhd III uie "9
governments. ,,sr+
=, .b,s statement which the Borough President
declares was suppressed by the commission dt '
,.s, op the controller. President Coler makes
series Of charges against the Controller and saihs'
the various departments the heads OF ""''n a's
.nnosnted by the Mayor The statement Is prelaceu
follows
In -,esenting them I would ask your board TO
III, IN n = Tnin5 fhis. that my purpose is not TO at
AN the present administrations, central @ or DoL
ourh or 10 defend them: what is true on nils"a1, @
sgerent error and dishonesty in gove1nment NOW Nv
has true. unfortunately IN 5d,r Iontl mainly
unon the Character OF governmental agents
central departments particularly bad but simply
to from your rninds con- ny tfasa de-
bsTtrsenfs have been better administered than the
departments OF the borough presidents
of the charges made against the Controller me
most important refer to the handling Of bonds The
statement says:
s reZsnue hon6s 10 the extent OF millions of dol.
lars said revenue bonds having been sOie y"
and no steps having been taken by me ConIroIe1, @
brought to his a{tenton to Temedy ced an sF in the
grave than anything "hiSIl haS 60 ~ Tvvead
Denartrnent OF Finance since the time OF i"eeu
charge the Controller with having so handled
,,,d saiss as 10 favor certain financial interests
borrowing raonoy from banks In which t dne % r,oed t
,aeded and keering extraordinary cash balances
upon which the city was paving large interest anu
receiving small Interest
President Coler CHARGES the Controller with 1ssu-
ing warrants for the payment of exorbitant hs'
that he has made possible system OF 1aNori'iSii
in the payment of contractors that ne mas pee 4e
spoDsfbe for scandalous delays in the matter OF
franchise applications. that he has dernoraizeo 'le
working force of his office: and there are nunoeF
less other charges. many of which nave Oeeh VI
tered by Mr Coler before The Borough PRESIDENT
saws that the Generalization is due to large ek-
tent to the misuse of the office for political pur-
poses
The Controller is charged with increasing the
salaries of men n his office in an Illegal manner
and with having increased the salary OF man
who is still under Indictment In con1ecuoi Win
the sewer fraud scandals
Almost every department or the government "ii
der Nayor Mcclellan comes in for seTne charges IN
the sweeping Indictment OF President Coier- Ac-
cording 10 him. the Bridge Department has con-
structed the Williamsburg Bridge SO as 10 ieaFe
useless the entire upper tier Of tracks, the water
Departnent has made extrayagant contracts, the
Fire Departrnent has purchased rotten hose, the
Street Cleaning Department has failed properly To
clean the streets the Tax Department has under
valued property owned by men OF poItcal ihnu-
ence the Board OF Water Supply has Improperly
awarded large contracts TO other than the lowest
bidders. the Dock Department has made con-
tracts with unbalanced bids, the Civil ServicesCo1-
mission has approved of the appointment by the
Controller of men untitled Cor the work they were
asked TO do-and down the list Everything
is general. Nothing is specific
controller Metz had departed for Philadelphia be
fore the Coler statement was made public II was
said in his office that there would be no reply
that the Controller had had the statement since IL
had been placed IN the hands OF the Charter Re
vision Commission and did not take II seriously
II was sail that the acts of the Controller crltl-
cised by President Coer had all had the sanction
Of the Corporation Counsel Mayor Mcclellan IS
on his vacation.
The statement issued by President Coer in Bing-
barntnn before The making public of the statement
10 the Charter Revision Commission said in part:
McCarren is now attempting revival Of the
old Tweed systems. Tweed had a committee OF
the supposed reputable citizens examine Inc 1oN-
troIIer's office. and they gave it clean bill OF
health He then. through Cardoza and f5arIlard
and the grand jury, tried TO attack every one oi-
NcCarren got Woodruff TO appoint a legislative
commission of which he tMctarrenb Is a member
for the purpose of whitewashing hls henchmen IN
such as Mr. Lee, that he cannot handle however
Things going in McCIellan's and Metz's
Offices that have never before been done IN tfe
city known felonies have been condoned