Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-11-15
NEW YoRK'S GRAFT MANIA
As A NATIONAL SYMPTOM
To Know What 10 the Matter With the
Country, Read tho Reports Of tho
Lockwood COMMITTEES inquiry


to find out who runs the town.
That Is an old. vain quest Of the cliff
dwellers. But it has been given a wider
scope for this occasion. 1t is being carried
on to determine whether cities In the United
States are capable Of self government or
whether they must submit quietly to en-
slsvement by secret tongs organised vari-
ously by politicians, protteers, spectators
and labor leaders witN perverted notions Of
the purposes Of trades unionism and op-
Grating independently or in blissful harmony
as occasions demand.
For that purpose the Lockwood commit
tee Of the New York Legislature was or
ganised, and for that reason Samuel Inter
myer volunteered to serve a. champion Of
the seemingly friendless general public.
The sessions Of the Lockwood committee
have not been reassuring. The most recent
Of them was u. times thrillingly like lively
afternoon at Smolpey Institute and at other
times wildly suggestive OF the vast, dark
nebulac Of Il musical comedy, with undrilled
and unquiet choruses Of labor men, commits
sioners, deputy commissioners, lawyers,
plumbers. contractors, spectators, grafters.
mayors, Tammnnyites and not SO merry
villagers. There were great moments when
the commission seemed to be getting some.
where. There we're other moments, many Of
them, when it was impossible not to feel
that the show should be moved uptown from
the City Hall to the Hippodrome and set
TO music.
Mayor Hylsn, passionate witness, trem-
bled. He shook He waved his fists while
the crowd murmured thunderously. Mr..
Untermyer pounded the table and cried that
the mayor was seeking to make the hearing
seem like beer garden.
IT was at that instant that ". J. Bryan
strobe In. The not 30 merry villagers ap-
plauded Mr.. Bryan. Prohibition is yet afar
Those who had been reading the news.
papers felt sure that the great Chautauquan
had come to suggest that Mr.. Hylan resign
st once in the interest Of the peace that was
10 close to his heart. He did not do that
thing He smiled on through the tumult.
And the curtain Of night fell while news
papers denounced Brindell, the labor leader,
the limestone ring, the plumbers bund. the
Lockwood commission - everybody. Alone
In . stately way the revered Times gave
itself to grief. It's head was bowed in Its
hands.
New York" said the Times in accents
wild, "is humliated by the humiliation OF
its mayor Such a man at the head OF our
greatest city. 1t did indeed elect him with
full knowledge of his disqualifcations, but
no one could have expected -
Such Is life in the United States!
Mr.. Untrrmyer, an avowed friend of the
friendless who could find in New York no
adequate shelter, set out to prove that spec
ulators and profteers in the building ma
terial market had organized q corner to keep
prices permanently near the moon. His
first questions, directed at witnesses sum-
moned BY the Lockwood committee, brought
down a landslide of testimony that has hid
den. perhaps for all time, the original pur-
pose Of the inquiry.
Members Of the chorus have besought those
In front of them TO give way in order that
they might "s,nash Mr.. Cntermyer on the
nose" Mr. Hylan arrived with certificates
Of character. Much of the testimony has
been passionately declaimed-like speech.
But the case has rumbled on and in the very
middle Of it, as the most significant hsure
OF all, looms 4 man named Brindeh.
Brindell was the man to see X you had
q construction job on hand, He had
mario wav Of starting and stopping strikes.
II vas Brinden who could give you peace.
n you were a builder. And it was Brindeii
Who gave vorkmcn permission 10 work.
II vou didn't see Brindell your men
n;sbt uuit at any time II you did see
rim. other union men Disseminated against
nv Rrindell might make serious trouble. One
huilder testified that he paid Brindell
$40 900 as part OF e $4,000 fee demanded
for strike insurance. That didn't greatly
matter. The contract WAS being carried out
nm the cost plus system and the money was
written down with preliminary expenses.
Rrindcll was not alone. Plumbers could
not plumb in New York unless they diverted
acme Of their profits 10 other plumbers In
| the contracting business, who stood aside as
! spectators and as units in system devised
ascretly to eliminate competitive bids. And
! there was q limestone ring that has made
| endless trouble for Mr.. Hylan.
| A preat many school buildings are in
| course Of erection in New York, and they
upora IN haye been built with terra Gotta.
| Ijmostone WIS substituted after the lime
atone ring had directed a terrific drive at the
mayor. In this drive stonecutters, con-
,r,ctors. sculptors bricklayers and others
were actively interested.
| The substitution cost the city $3.50, 900.
| NJ Hylan waved letter which, he said,
1r,vea TINT he had ordered the change on
| the 'adyice of an expert. The expert was
r.,Ilcd and questioned. He said he was not
| an expert on limestone
ANY one who is interested in the progress
- American cities toward the far distant
sooi NJ real self government ought to find
,Se repor.s of the lockwood committee hear
inrs enlighteuinE. About all the error and
n,,;,ity and jobbcry that characterize 81
many municipal administrative systems in
.sia country az q result Of negligence b.
s" .n,ers ar. yividly reflected either within tn,
,,m;ted outlines OF this one investigation ol
in the atmosphere of the hearing room,
Groups newly organized for the control o.
so,oe important labor organizations. for thu
control of materials, for the control OF poll
ticisns, for the control Of mqasy have man
"