New-York tribune., 1909-02-09
SMITH RISES TN WRATH
REsEABCH BUREAU WORK.
Park Commissioner Talks Of he
formers from Kokon1o.

pn-l Commissioner Henry Smith, one OF tne
Sneakers AZ the tsRenty-hfta anniversary dinner OK
she West End Associatioc at the Hotel AHtor lase
might, took occasion make bitter attack on the
T4,resp Of Municipal Research which he called the
.-Sureau Of Besnirch
= T.s 1.,r5sn Of Commissioners Smiths complaint
was that the bureau which ne SAID was run @ - .
-S4niuue director and technical director mao
,asde Yeports about his department which he
declared 70 be '-un3ust, unfair and untrue he
afso Told OF tia chzs1n he had felt when the tech
meal director had called him I'D ana s2lo hs
fbought some reports on forms made up py the
Park Commissioner were pretty good and asked
M smith 10 come down and discuss with him the
possibility OF adopting the forms In other Depart
rneuts.
This bureau said the Commissioner. may not
e=a commercial enterprise but II has subscription
lists 10 maintain for the purpose Of larger salary
rolls Il IL not their purpose to help, IS does an
association Of this kind. They want 70 tear down.
so that some eiss may be raised I'D on ms
ruins Thsy cannot do that with
.s=yhs sInsoue director called at my office and
scent from a-to s,z5 o'clock trying to persuade me
70 approve report they had made On my Depart
lnen+ snd sign a reouisition TO have 1t printed
told him I could not do II, the report was un-
true The director said: IF you VIII give your
name to this and have Il printed We win tuarl1or-
Iaiize you How viii you co thatT asked
Why We VII use the report IN the next city we
ere going 20 hesrnsrrh- which is Philadelphia ne
. repiied
a.Then. ons OF their young engtneers-he may
have been twenty years old-came to me with
report shout the work Of my gangs on faversioe
Drive They said one gang had worked fifty hours
end leitered fifteen minutes That was terflpie
thing wasn't it? That is what we are paying our
money for. They said IN their report rnat II is
srnuassble TO approximate the cost OF MAINTAINING
s single park. The man who wrote kre" II )" aS q
lie. ~,..
-.rer Gods sake. don't let Us lose all our fsith
sr our sellov-rnanl Don't let us believe they are
all bad If you let lot Of men fronl hokono ano
rzslssnazoo in 10 run government they VIII Do
- come arrogant overbearing and insulting. Tney
viii say that all city employees are loafeTs ana III
- commissioners are liars and fsisifsrs-
.-rtausauds aysd thousands Of dollars have been
veSeed IN fhA ControIlsg's Office in printing oLnKs
that have beea thrown sway without having hao 4
pen put 70 than getting tired OF hearing tnese
snsn call everybody else names. can't get any
shfak suf OF the city Offices any more Everything
has 20 so 20 ths technical director and the unique
director 9er approval"
Commissioners Smith charged that two men from
-ste Bures1 OF Municipal Research. whom he found
IN his osfics when he took charge. made q report
which they had crihbed almost verbatim from pre-
vfous reports the, subject
Details OF his fight 10 get S5ss9o Of corpoTate
stock 10 build fences around the grass plots In
upper Br6saEay given by the Commissioner,
and he asked the members OF the association 10 go
with hfra to tie next meeting of the Board Of
Estimate On February Is In Al effort to get the
money. il hzS been held up by the engineers OF
the Controller, who he said did not know
whether tle feacs was Intended 10 keep mos
qutoes IN or out"
Mayor Mcclellan praised the work that had been
done by the West End Association, and said II
was type OF civic Organization needed in the city.
There were tendencies among certain civic organ-
zstionz. however. he said. which might hamper the
work Of all. He did not mind the abuse so much
he said but Il harmful continually TO seek TO
1llI down and obstruct without making any useful
suggesS5on As an illustration, he spoke Of the tax
4-Srr 4s1ra f1aH H9r7
every work OF isrss proportions The taxpayer being
backed usually by scrns civic organization
John G Coleman spoke IN q reminiscent vein OF
the work OK the association and showed by the