New-York tribune., 1921-11-19
Leo is (goaded
Out of Street
.Jol, by Hyl;an'
tcou'Inus, from page o"e'

while all others had but four scows;,
This concern, he declared, received
STA day for the use Of each scoW..
while others who had scows to rent
at - lower rate were not given the
slightest consideration. Ffs efforts to
lower the rates and to break up the
monopoly of this one firm had caused
an intense feeling of hostility against
him by the beneficiaries of the 'monop~
oily.
Mayor Hylan promptly accepted the
commissioners resignation, Alfred a.
Taylor, general superintendent OF the
department, was appointed aeting COM
missioner
Commissioner Leo admitted yester-
day that the prophecy of Elon R..
Brown, chief counsel for the Meyer
legislative committee, when the Com
missioner testified Before that body on
October 12 last, that he would not be
permitted to remain long in Office, had
come true. At the session Of the Meyer
committee ON that day reference was
made to the Mayors removal of Street
Cleaning Commissioner MacStay, Com
missioner Leo's predecessor.
IF the Mayor treats Commissioner
Leb as he did MacStay he won't keep
him sixty days." Mr.. Brown remarked.
LACK or UlSclDllne gSaSeu
Considerable light was thrown upon
the trouble Commissioner Leo was ex-
periencing in his department because
of his disciplinary methods, when he
testified before the Meyer committee.
The Commissioner testified that the
"decadence" in the department. was due
to a lack of discipline, and told of his
dismissal of 800 men when they failed
0.,t fo> I,,t,, TTot, In-
He said that there were 600 others
whom he wanted to dismiss for the
same reason, but refrained from doing
so at the request of the Mayor.
In his resignation to Mayor Hylan
Commissioner Leo said, in part:
at is with sincere regret that I feel
called upon to send you this communi-
cation. | was Informed yesterday aft
ernoon that some blackguard had m2de
statement to you, which, if true,
would spdicate that in hiring scows for
service in this department | had ig
nored the city's interest for the advan-
tage of the lessor of the scows. Fur
ther, that without being given chance
by you to make any statement III re-
gard to the matter, you had sent the
memorandum to the Commissioner of
Accounts with direction to investigate,
WIliCl IcouiCo III placing iiiT III q W. y
humiliating position, in that apparently
l am an object of suspicion not alone
before the underlings of the Comms-
sioner of Accounts, but also to the
employees Of this department.
II realize that it was your full priv
ilege to follow this course, but |
strongly resent it. My faithful service
of almost four years justifies my claim
that / should have been the first to
have been called to explain.
"When at your urgent request l came
here in January last J. found that,
owing to the long continued illness of
my predecessor and the grotesquely
incompetent management by the office
deputy, as acting Commissioner, to-
gether with the management of the
Brooklyn Office by the then incumbent
as deputy, and who later developed
such an exhibition Of moral turpitude
as to compel his practical removal to-
>gether with the many other conditions
with which you are familiar, the de-
partment was not, to say the least, in a
creditnble condition.
"You realized that so fully that you
assured me that following the city eleG-
ton | would be given the proper as
sistants, and / have cheerfully gone on,