The New York herald., 1921-06-10
BROWN CLAMPS LID TIGHT
ON NEWS OF CITY GRATING

Just decided to approve his application.
You can tell him ] have granted your
request SO Kahn came In then and
the permit was made out. and as / re-
call il McManus and Kahn went off to-
gether. But made Il very clear 10
Kahn then that he was not buying the
permit from the city, but the fixtures
Kloebleip owned. He told me then he
was going to pay $4,000 for them.
Il don't know anything about this
story of Kloeblein that he was to get
$50 and only got s6.250, and that
somebody got s3,50o for influence from
Kahn.
"If Kahn paid anybody any mony Tor
influence with me he was q fool. Now,
since all these rumors have been going
around about money having passed for
this permit, L thought 1t best to revoke
IT, and i did. In doing SO ] considered I
would be assisting the Joint Legislative
Committee in It's investigation Of the
matter. That's all I've got to say about
il"
When Commissioner OAIalley was
asked about the supervising of the
pushcart pedlers he made a weary ges-
ture and pointed to the office Of his
deputy, Mrs. Louise Reed Welnmiller.
SEQ her" ne replied That matter
comes under Mrs welzmiller's jurfsdic-
ton"
On OhlcfaI List, but Not PayrolI.
From Mrs. Welzmiller It was learned
that for the last three or four months
she has had control OF some ten super
visors,' who. since the passage Of an or
dinance approved by Mayor Hylan May
GO, have beep regularly attached TO the
Department OF Markets, though without
official pay.
Each of these men has full direction
of one of the city markets. except one
OF them, who combines two markets
under his Jurisdiction. Atlantic and
Blake avenue markets, Brooklyn. They
are expected to keep order In the mar
kets and see that they are property
cleaned up and that the city ordinances
affecting health, fire. police. street
cleaning, membranes and the sale OF
food are observed. They also have much
70 say about the location Of each ped
ler's wagon.
For these services they are permitted
to collect, IN the name of the city. 81
from each pushcart pedler every week.
Out OF this sum they pay the men or
women they hire to clean UP the market
and keep the balance for themselves.
According to Mrs. Welzmiller the work
Is efficiently done ana the services
worth what the men make, which, she
declares, averages between SO and S7b
a week net for each market.
But behind this lies an ancient insti-
tuition OF graft, against which every ef-
fort has failed. Since city markets were
instituted. In fact since the pushcart
pedler became a feature OF city life,
supervisors" whose authority existed
merely In their nerve and the. say-so
Of the district leader. have lived off the
pedlers. They have been recognized by
the police and sponsored by the Alder
men and their authority has been un-
questioned. For their services" which,
whatever they are now, formerly were
nil they collected anything from 81 to
$40 week from pedlers in the markets
whatever the traffic would bear. In re-
turn they decided who should have the
choice locations and who should do the
dirty work of cleaning up the market.
Their revenue was all net graft and
often ran to 800 week and more, out
of which somebody" had to be "seen."
Lately the practice OF extending the
city markets to cover far more blocks
than ever before has grown apace and
at almost every meeting OF the Board Of
Aldermen new blocks are added to the
existing markets. This gives room for
moro pedlers and therefore for more dol
lars per week.
Aldermen PfsconhoIe Reform.
Alderman Novello. on April 10, COM
planned of this condition and submitted
n resolution disappearing of the collec-
ton Of the 81 a week and proposing
that the city pay ting supervisors week.
~ wage. Tho arbitrary extortions of
these collectors, Alderman Novello said.
added considerably to the cost OF keep
ing pushcart, and therefore to the cost
Of selling food In the markets.
But the committee on markets. of
which Alderman Charles W. Dunn is
chairman. pigeonholed the Novello res
olution. while formally approving the
sentiments expressed in IT. Alderman
Dunn then framed new ordinance,
which Mr.. La Guardia sponsored, giving
the Commissioner of Markets the power
and duty TO appoint the supervisors.
but saying nothing about paying them
That was left as II stood In the form
of the 81 week collections, of which
no return is made TO the city or any
accounting. There Is no fee collected by
the Markets Department from pushcart
pedlers, though they pay 81 for a license
TO the Department of Licenses.
Why the archaic system Of arbitrary
and unaccounted for collections from
these poor merchants Is perpetuated re-
gardless OF all complaints against II is
TO be the subject Of a sharp investigation
by the committees counsel.