New-York tribune., 1909-07-16
SAMPLES OF TANMANY.

SAMPLES OF TAHMANY.
Within little more than year the city has
had two glimpses behind the scenes at typical
Tammany government-the administration OF
the Borough of Manhattan by President
| Ahearn and the administration of the Borough
of The Bronx by President Haffen. The same
situation was disclosed in both. Waste, eX-
| travagance and ineff1ciency characterize both
administrations. The government was not run
dishonestly but the obligations of both borough
presidents to the Tammany machine made IL
impossible for them to conduct their offices
economically. Places had to be made for the
faithful in Tammany Hall. That was part Of
| The duty of Ahearn and Haffen to the organiza-
ton. To keep it up it is necessary to provide
employment for horde Of persons needing en-
plovment The result Of this pressure on Bor-
ough President Haffen was such that Commits
sioner MacFarlane records his opinion that he
loaded his payrolls with a force very much
greater than the public work of the borough
| required And as the Commissioners of Ac-
counts earlier reported. the excess in number
of employees and their ineficiency. together with
other political factors. caused public work in
The Bronx TO cost almost twice much as IL
ought to cost.
But the obligation OF Tammany official to
his organization does not stop with the estab-
lishment OF needless places. nor with crowding
| the payrolls with idlers. The humber members
of Tammany Hall are not the most eIigent.
There are the Tammany contractors, whose sue
cess depends upon the favor of the officials. In
| the investigation of Mr. Haffen's administration,
as in that of Mr.. Ahearn, the city had an
admirable illustration of what the Tammany
| officehoIder has to do for the Tammany con-
| tractor. Under Ahearn the favored contractor
was disclosed as himself drawing up the speci-
fcatfons for wood block paving upon which he
subsequently bid. In the Haffen case nothing
exactly like that happened, but we read in Mr..
| MacFarlane's report the familiar finding that
the specifications for paving a certain street
| were not properly enforced" Contracting may
be made a very profitable business if you are
not compelled to live up to the specifications.
But it is not only IN regard TO specifications
| that laxity is necessary in order that the con-
| tractor may receive all the favors he requires.
| Thus we read in Mr.. MacFarlane's report on
Mr.. Haffen that "he greatly abused his discre-
| "tionary power in falling to enforce more stTin-
| gently the time clauses Of contracts Not
only were the time clauses not enforced but
| the derelictions of contractors were hidden from
| the city. for read again in the same re
port the finding that 1.-The time statements in his
| final certificates TO the Finance Department
| were in many instances untrue" The sig
| nifcance of these findings regarding time
| clauses becomes apparent when It is considered
| that contracts generally name a time when the
work under them must be finished. Failure 10
| finish time usually involves a forfeit. II
| time clauses are not enforced and false state
| ments regarding them are made 70 the Con-
| troller the favored contractor escapes the for
| felt. Here some of the duties Of the Tam
many official to the Tammany contractor, as
| revealed in recent investiga tions: He must let
| the contractor in some instances prepare the
| specifications on which he is to bid. In unbal-
anced bids he must insert some item that the
| city will not require. The inside contractor
| knows that material will not be required and
he makes nominal bid on It. The contractor
| who does not know bids the market price on it.
| Thus the insider has the lower total though his
/ bids on all the items the city really wants
are higher than those of his uniformed rival.
The official must further protect the contractor
by winklng at failure TO live up TO specifications
and failure TO finish work time He must
also provide fat n-competitive opportunities
| for the Tammany man by calling for work or
supplies in amounts under 200. He must do
these things for the same reason that he must
create superfuous jobs because in this way
the Tammany machine is kept going
And we cannot pass over Mr.. Haffen's pre-
posterous appointment Of district leader Mike"
Garyin as the architect Of the Bronx court
house. In its grotesque unfitness that was per
haps exaggeration Of Tammany methods
nut me WnOle IhmmanY system Is baSed on
the filling of offices with the politically potent.
hut technically unqualified Even under Mayor
Mcclellan we have not got rid of the Tammany
district leader on the city magistrates bench or
at the head of important city departments.
The Clason's Point Road improvement which
Mr. MacFarlane found to be carried on in the
interest of a real estate speculation. was also
typical Of what the Tammany officeholder has
10 do TO take care Of part OF the Tammany
machine. But perhaps we have seen enough
of what makes Tammany rule of the city
costly. The two glmpses are Illuminating.
There IS more behind the cover but the activi-
ties Of the Commissioners of Accounts have
been directed rather against independent parts
Of the city government than against subordi-
mates of the Mayor They throw nearly ali their
light on borough administrations and next to
none on the municipal administration itself.