New-York tribune., 1921-06-09
Hylan Retinue
Gets 'Pickines'
Off Puslncarts
Political HenchmensRecesve
ST. From Each Street Ped
dler; One Collector Ad.
mits He Got $l62 inWeek
Market Payment Probed
Administration Witnesses
Hamper City Irtq,iry:
Charter Reform Is Urged

With the sanction of the Hearst
Hylan-Tammany administration, polit-.
ical ward heelers have been collecting,
81 weekly from the thousands of push
cart peadlers who use the city's streets.
One of them has admitted collecting
S162 weekly.
When these facts were brought out
by the joint legislative graft inwes-
tigating committee yesterday, after
several of the petty politicians who do
the collecting had made admissions to
the Investigators, Commissioner of
Markets O'Malley, political protege ,of
Charles F. Murphy, issued a staten ent
justifying the practices.
$4,000 Item Investigated
At the same time it was learned
that the commissioner of Markets had
Cancelled the lease of 2. Kahn, the
Washington Market produce dealer.
whose brotherin-law, Isaac Goldberg,
has denied to counsel for the legisla-
tive committee that $4,000 item on his
books represented a graft payment. to
I
was merely a loan to his brother-in-
law.
The investigation shows that more
than $4,000 annually was collected by
the ward heelers of the Hearst ylan-
Tammany political machine. Some
members Of the committee place the
amount in excess of 100000.
One of the collectors examined yes
; terday by the committee was James J.
Morris <pbn cOmaS from d;r+r,+ E
Tax Commissioner James P. Sinnott,
whose son is secretary and son-in-law
to Mayor Hylan.
Morris has supervision over the
Blake Avenue pushcart peddles' mar
/ ket. Under examination he admitted
| that ne collected 81 weekly from the
/ peddlers. He said that he collected
about Sl06 week. He said that he
kept $50 of this weekly for his own
pocket and used S56 each week ito
clean the streets"
i Tribute Paid by Peddlers
Another Supervisor" whose name
was not made public, admitted that he
collected S162s weekly from pushcart
peddlers. How much he kept for him
self and how much he paid for cleaning
the streets around the pushcarts was
| not revealed.
1t is said that in addition to this 81
week which Market Commissioner
O'Malley permits the "supervisors" to
/ collect, some of them demand S5 and
more for favored positions in the
pushcart markets. The committee is
/! trying to learn with whom the "super-
visors" divide the money. The reports
which have reached the committee is
that some of the money goes to Tam
many leaders Of standing in the organi-
Zation.
Commissioner of Markets O'Malley
said that when the pushcart markets
were established the farming out Of the
markets to supervisors or collectors,
as they are generally called, was only
! a makeshift, and that he has an appli
cation before the Board of Estimate for
paid force He said that the super
to his Office showing how much they
collected and how much they spent in
keeping clean the streets around the
pushcarts under their charge.
Attempts to Thwart Inquiry
The committee finds that the subor-
dinates of Mayor Hylan, with scarcely
an exception, are doing all they can to
hamper the investigation. When sub
ppnas calling for the production of GER
tain papers are served the Hylan ap-
nointees appear before the committee
with only part of the documents, say
ing that they did not understand that
the subpoena called for anything else.
This has happened so often, ana the
explanation has been so UNIFORM, that
the t committee members believe that it
is part of a carefully arranged SYSTEM
to hamper and delay the investigation.
The committee is also inve estigaating
the evidence unearthed by The Tribune
in it's exposure of the Hearst Hylan-
! Tammany administration. especially
ths Police Department. Some of the
evidence, when followed up by ex-Gov-
ernor Charles s. Whitman as special
prosecutor, led to the indictment of
several members of the police depart
ment.
Considerable evidence was not made
use of in the Whitman investigation
Lanunan nf il,a rafncat nf the Rnard OF