New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-10-25

a deputy In the Highways Department,
Is now under indictment for crooked
ness in n road contract In the Oets'
kills. All the cost Of this corruption
came out OF the public.
Mr.. Hennessy, who dug up the svl-
dence on which Dunn was convicted
and much more said 70 be as good q
total Of $40 cases-chsrged frequently
that Governor Glynn was personally
responsible for breaking down or the
campaign against the highway crooks
The Governor ousted Hennessy as an
official Investigator; he failed TO take
action urged by his own investigated
Mr.. Osborne. He refused TO give DIS
trict Attorney Whitman his backing
and procure for him q designation as
special deputy Attorney General by
which he could have continued on a
state wide basis the John Doe proceed"
ings he began in this county. The net
result has been practically stand
still in the road cases.
The Capitol fire gave the Democrats
another great chance for grab ana
graft Necessity dictated immediate re-
pair and reconstruction work. IL was
begun almost while the ruins were
smoking. An immediate instance OF
Democratic enterprise" in this work
was the sale of certain size and de-
scription of lumber by Governor Dixs
firm 10 the contractor. The Governor.
in explanation, said his was the only
firm in Albany which had this size and
kind OF lumber In stock. Other Albany
lumber dealers said the Governors
firm purchased the lumber from an
other dealer In that city to sell il 70
the contractor.
Work Progressed Slowly.
Soon il was noticed that the work
progressed slowly, in spite of the large
number Of men on-or around-the
job. The contract had been awarded
on a percentage basis. Eventually--in
Suffers tme-the affair became so
bad that charges were preferred
against the conduct of the State Archi-
tect's office, which was supposed 70
supervise this work. Governor Sulzer
removed the State Architect. a Tam
many man. and some of his Office force.
4 report Of Mr.. Hennessy, supervis-
ing auditor, on his investigation of the
way the state was being looted on this
job contained these statements: Con
Gitions revealed that the State Archi-
tect was paying double overhead
charges for supervisors and foremen
on the two jobs and for double time
keepers. Il was clear that the
payrolls had been padded, not only as
to actual time worked, but also as TO
men actually on the job. The
Jvcrcharge on each light outlet is
$50 90, or an entire overcharge in 1879
outlets Of SS,2SS 80. He (the consult
ing engineerl also finds that there arc
forty other light outlets charged for
which he cannot find in the plan or
the rooms to which the bills refer.
The engineer on the job rep
resenting the state and who was as
signed to the job by the late architect,
Mr.. Hofer. testified that the remaining
work would cost at least $4,000, in
his judgment, but Mr. Armstrong (the
consulting engineer says he can get
reputable contractors who will give
bond to do it inside of $4,000. ~
One other extract from a report Of
Democratic investigators of Democratic
department heads will show how the
public has had TO pay for Tammany's
control of the state. This is from the
report Of Suffers committee Of in
curry" which investigated Dix depart
ments. OF the request of the conser-
walton commission for appropriations
in the annual budget the committee
said: at is too large an overhead
charge, and a saving Of at least S45,-
900 q year could be made by providing
for a single-headed commission, with
one deputy in charge Of each of the
three divisions, a general secretary for
the entire commission and an advisory
counsel 10 the commission"
As that procedure would have dt-
yorced Democrats from jobs it was not
followed.