New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-11-29
100000 ABSORBED BY
MYTHICAL DEPARTMENT
investigators Fail to Find b.
reau of Dependent Adults
in Brooklyn.
PROVISION MADE IN 1904
Commissioner of Accounts Says
Failure to Organize Has
Caused Wasteful Meth
DDS in Relief Work.

Although il was provided for In the
budget for the Department Of Public
Charities as far back as 1904 and al
though appropriations amounting to
$500 600 have been made for it's estab-
lishment and maintenance since that
time by the Board Of Estimate and Ap-
poriOnment. the Bureau Of Dependent
Adults for the Borough Of Brooklyn
never has been organized. according to
the findings of an Investigation now
going on. 10 seems never TO have been
much more than a bureau i'm name. q
sort Of departmental make believe.
No one has ever found a., not even the
men former Commissioner of Accounts
Raymond j.. roedick sent out for it in
the early part Of this year. when tine
Commissioner of Public Charities asked
Mr.. FosdirIs 10 Investigate conditions n
the BrRoklsn end of his department
No Record to Keep
Henry e. Rice. Commissioner OF Ace
couuts. said Yesterday that his tugrsfI-
gators. in their hunt for iuoGicicuoy and
waste I'm Mr.. Drummond's department.
found the superintendent or the uudis-
covered bureau doing a clerks work 60
clerk acting as the boss. and the regis
trar Of records working in some other
part OF the department becHus, there
were no records TO be registrar o. AR.
Rice called It fine example Of plain
official laXity
The Brooklyn Bmcau OF Dependent
Adults was intended to be counterpart
Of the bureau with a similar title boz
the Borough Of Manhattan. The Bureau
OF Dependent Adults for the Borough of
Manhattan is an outgrowth Of the old
Outdoor Poor Department II is the
handspring of all the departments ac-
uyities Some idea OF the Importance
and magnitude Of the work of the Blu
rcau Of Dependent Adults in Mauhat-
tan viii be conceived from the fact tnat
more than Il quarter OF million dol
lars has been appropriated foruts main
.enance in the rast six years
Some Of the results Of the failure to
organize the Brooklyn bureau are in
dicatod by reports submitted TO Mayor
! GaynOr by the Commissioner Of Ac-
counts on August %. which were made
public by Nh Rice yesterday In one
Of these IL is shown that for the year
1911 $4,000 was expended for relief in
the Borough OF Brooklyn, and that no
iuvestigat lions whatever were made. ex-
cepting in one case. to show wheth-
er or not the benehciaries were entitled
10 the payments made to them.
Vouchers Show Fraud.
An examination Of some Of the
vouchers on which this sum was paid
showed evidences Of fraud on the part
Of the recipients.
In another report hearing the same
date the following statement appeared:
During the year 1911 there were 49,
546 patients treated at these referring
10 private hOspitalsD, the total cost Of
which to the city was aDDrONima tclE
Sl,OOO,O0O. To what extent those pa
Ucnts or their relatives were able 10 re-
imburse the city, it is impossible to de-
teTmlne
These investigations. moreover, did
not show whether or not t.ese patients
were entitled To receive free treatment
1T the city expense. out Of the mill
was reimbursed by patients able to pay.
Mr. Rice said that the Brooklyn Blu
reau Of Dependent Adults was now i'm
the process Of organizat ion that should
have taken place years ago lie said
| that methods OF accounting that had
never existed had been installed and
that plans for disciplinary control Of
| the field force were under way