A K E P O E T 
 
 READ BY 
 
 Col. rush C. HAWKINS 
 
 BEFORE THE 
 
 mm LEAGUE CLUB 
 
 THE EVENING OF FEBRUARY 10, 1876, 
 
 RELATINe TO 
 
 THE CAUSE OF THK INCREASE OF THB CITY DEOT, AND 
 COMMENDING MEASURES FOR ITS MORE ECONOMICAL 
 GOVERNMENT IN THE FUTURE. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 John Poi-hkmi's, Puinter, 102 Nassau St., cor. Ann. 
 
RESOLUTION. 
 
 At a regular meeting of the Union League Club, held at 
 the Club House on Thursday evening, October 14th, 1875, 
 the following resolution was presented by Col. Rush C. 
 Hawkins, and unanimously adopted : 
 
 Mesolved. That a committee of five be appointed by the 
 President of the Club, to inquire into and ascertain the 
 causes of the continuous yearly increase of the debt of this 
 City, and also to report any pertinent facts which may be 
 developed by such inquiry, and also to recommend, for 
 adoption by the Club, such measures as shall tend towards 
 a more economical administration of the local government. 
 
 A true cop3' of the minutes. 
 
 GEO. H. B. HILL, 
 
 Seci'etary 
 
 Committee : 
 
 Rusn C. Hawkins, 
 William Gkaydon, 
 John H. Hall, 
 Charles Collins. 
 
 Note. — The members of the committee whose names are printed agreed to 
 the report ; the fifth member, whose name is omitted, dissented. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2013 
 
 http://archive.org/details/reportreadbycolrOOhawk 
 
EEPOKT. 
 
 The Special Committee of the Union League Club, ap- 
 pointed under the foregoing Resolution, made at the 
 regular meeting of the Club, on February 10, 1876, the 
 foUo\ving report, which was accepted and ordered printed 
 for the information of the members : 
 
 To discover the origin and growth of peculation and steal- 
 ing on the part of municipal officials, who have at various 
 times presided over the City and County of New York, is a 
 task surrounded with as many difficulties as the discovery 
 of the source of the Nile. Those who are the most conver- 
 sant with the facts, seem to agree in fixing the first organ- 
 ized stealing about the year 1852, when the Board of Aldei' 
 men, which was then known as the ''Forty Thieves/' 
 commenced its operations. The period from that date up 
 to the commencement of the rebellion may be designated 
 as the era of small stealings, which amounted to some hun- 
 dreds of thousands of dollars a year. 
 
 In 1861, the rebellion came, with its excitements and lav- 
 ish expenditures of monty. When this gn^at storm came, 
 the helm of our municipal ship wasjn the hands of an emi- 
 nently facile and expert politician, who, if all reports are 
 true, was not slow in ascertaining the advantages of his com- 
 manding position. Tlie organization of city regiments afford- 
 
6 
 
 ed excellent opportunities for carrying into practice long con- 
 ceived ideas of personal aggrandizement. This official not 
 only looked carefully after his own interests, but allowed 
 liis political friends to share the spoils which patriotic lib- 
 erality had placed within his reach. 
 
 At the close of the rebellion the tax-paying citizens found 
 in existence and in working order a most perfect and well 
 adjusted machine, organized upon the basis of public plun- 
 der. In this great scheme, that county excrescence — the 
 Board of Supervisors — took the lead, and through the work- 
 ings of this machine in the hands of the members of that 
 Board, all the other departments were subdued and con- 
 trolled, and within a short time the whole municipal system 
 of government became thoroughly and hopelessly corrupt 
 in all its branches. The culmination of this conspiracy 
 was the Tammany Ring, which, in 1868, under the leader- 
 ship of Tweed, Sweeny and Connolly, assumed supreme 
 power over the lives and property of the citizens of New 
 York, and during its reign, the leaders and their hordes 
 of criminals committed a series of crimes which were never 
 rivalled in boldness, and the results of which a century of 
 honest and economical government will not be able to ef- 
 face. 
 
 In 1861 the population of the City of New York was 825,- 
 000 and the debt $20,087,301.55. At the close of the rebel- 
 lion in 1865 the population had not materially increased, 
 but the debt had, to the sum of $35,913,597.11. This in- 
 crease included the various loans for raising troops and other 
 war purposes. In 1868, with a population of about 900,000, 
 the debt remained about as it was in 1865 — it might have 
 been a few thousands of dollars more or less. January 1st, 
 1869, the debt was $36,293,929.50. At this time the Tam- 
 many Ring obtained full and complete control of all the af- 
 fairs pertaining to the government of the City and County, 
 and in the autumn of 1871, — September 16th, — when it was 
 partially overthrown, it was ascertained the debt had in- 
 creased to $97,287,525.03. Within the short space of two 
 years, eight months and sixteen days, this ring had man- 
 
7 
 
 aged to rob the city of $60,991,595.53 and the legacy wliich 
 it left of outstanding obligations, in the way of iiniinished 
 ajid pending contracts and accrued debts, amounted to about 
 i|30,()()0,()()0 more, so that for the brief period of the rule of 
 tliis political banditti, the tax-paying citizens have been 
 compelled to assume an increase in their debt of ahout nine- 
 ty-one millions of dollar Is it not plain, that tlie two 
 i/ears^ eight months and sixteen days of 'pillage and 
 plunder by the democratic leaders of Tammany Hall, was 
 the cause of the increase of our city debt f If tliis great 
 series of crimes bad been ' ommitted in the City of San 
 Francisco, b}^ tlie members )f a secret society, or any otlier 
 kind of an association, its members would have been intro- 
 duced to the halter and their houses burned to the ground. 
 
 It is important that we sliould ascertain, so far as possi- 
 ble, wliat lias been done with this enormous amount of 
 money, and what benefits, if any, liave been conferred upon 
 the city b}^ reason of its expenditure. 
 
 THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS 
 
 was the chief instrument in the hands of the I'ingleaders, 
 for making their largest expenditures. Since 1865 the 
 amount disbursed in carrying out plans which were par- 
 tially originated in that department, foot up the respectable 
 total of $27,868,263.66 ; this lias been expended for im- 
 provements mostly above 59th street, that will probably not 
 be required witliin the next fifty years. Of this amount 
 $8,263,750.51 has been paid for laying out, buying part 
 of the land for and completing a so-called Boulevard from 
 59th street to 155th street. {The length of tliis Boulevard 
 is 25,740 feet— cost per foot, $321.04; per mile. $1,695,- 
 091.20.) 
 
 The following is a detailed statement of the amounts paid 
 out for these improvements, at present useless and unwar- 
 rantable : 
 
8 
 
 Improvements under Department of Public Works 
 (some of which were begun under the Park Com- 
 mission). 
 
 Impkovement. 
 
 Seventh avenue 
 
 Sixth " 110th street to Har- 
 lem River 
 
 St. Nicholas ave. (Manhattan st.) . . 
 
 145th St. (Hudson to Harlem River) 
 
 Boulevard (59th to Harlem River) . . 
 
 Public Square (5th ave. & 59th st.). 
 
 Broadway Improvement (34th to 
 59th sts.) 
 
 Ninth avenue Improvement 
 
 Eighth '• " 
 
 Manhattan st. (see St. Nicholas 
 ave. above) 
 
 Eastern Boulevard 
 
 155th street 
 
 72d street 
 
 Avenue A 
 
 96th street 
 
 110th St. (250 feet west 8th ave. to 
 Boulevard 
 
 116th street 
 
 Morning Side avenue — east 
 Morning Side avenue — west" 
 
 Opening 
 Confirmed. 
 
 Jan. 90, 1868 
 June 10, 1869 
 April 8, 1869 
 
 July 5, 1872 
 
 Sept. 
 
 Riverside Drive . 
 
 123d street 
 
 173d street 
 
 10th avenue (155th st. to 11th av.) . . 
 
 First avenue 
 
 185th street 
 
 Madison ave. extension (86th street 
 
 to Harlem River) 
 
 Lexington ave. extension, 66, 97, 102 
 Removal of Aqueduct 
 
 Total cost (for acquisition of land 
 and construction) of works begun 
 within the last ten years, and com- 
 pleted or now in progress under 
 the Department of Public Works. 
 
 Cost of land 
 for opening. 
 
 $420,195 36 
 961,153 26 
 10,016 21 
 4,652,832 47 
 
 4,305,186 9; 
 
 188 494 00 
 
 Included in 
 cost of Morn- 
 ing Side Park 
 
 Included in 
 cost of River- 
 side Park 
 
 First payment 
 on 
 
 Improvem'nt 
 
 Nov. 30, 1866 
 
 Julv 18, 
 Sept. 11, 
 
 Oct. 16, 
 Sept. 19, 
 
 July 17, 
 
 Dec. 24, 
 Nov. 30, 
 Aug. 31, 
 
 Aug. 31, 
 Dec. 5, 
 Aug. 17, 
 Dec. 20, 
 Jan. 6, 
 Mch. 7, 
 
 Sept. 26, 
 Jan. 19, 
 
 Oct. 15, 
 Aug. 17, 
 
 1869 
 
 1869 
 1868, 
 1871, 
 
 1871, 
 1873, 
 1872, 
 1873. 
 1874. 
 1874. 
 
 1873. 
 1874. 
 
 1872. 
 1872. 
 
 Cost of "Im- 
 provement" 
 to date, Oct. 1, 
 1875. 
 
 Dec. 2, 1874. 
 Jan. 
 
 Jan. 31, 1873. 
 
 1875. 
 
 96,754 60 
 
 37,' 
 
 00 
 
 1,499,571 32 
 2,777,307 06 
 
 Dec. 12. 
 Mav 12, 
 Nov. 3, 
 Oct. 10, 
 May 8, 
 
 1872. 
 1873 
 1871. 
 1874. 
 1875. 
 
 $14,948,549 25 
 
 $1,148,287 96 
 
 727,795 72 
 913,636 79 
 56,614 00 
 3,610,918 04 
 15,000 00 
 
 5,000 00 
 10,597 09 
 222,303 47 
 
 221,612 21 
 143 05 
 183,240 11 
 137,640 70 
 310,731 03 
 13,563 35 
 
 333,054 88 
 151,196 12 
 
 8,177 06 
 149,849 30 
 
 22,817 61 
 
 5,171 27 
 8,987 33 
 807,411 95 
 48,107 22 
 135 00 
 
 323,530 86 
 103,192 29 
 },381,000 00 
 
 $12,919,714 41 
 14,948,549 25 
 
 $27,868,263 66 
 
 The above statement does not include the current ex- 
 penses of keeping up this department, such as rent, offi- 
 cial salaries, printing, &c., &c., nor does it include the 
 work under the control of the Department of Public 
 Works upon the streets below Fifty-ninth street. A 
 statement embracing these expenses and amounts for work 
 upon streets, chiefly for paving, below Fifty-ninth street, 
 carefully prepared from authentic sources, is as follows : 
 
9 
 
 " Statement of Street Pavements far ten years, from 1865 to 1875, shotctng 
 
 amounts of assessments, balances uncollected, and ei<timates and advance* 
 wJiere no assessments were made: 
 
 Balancm 
 
 AfSEeSMENT?. U"^ COLLECTED. 
 
 Stone Pavements $6,350.901 82 81.065.724 60 
 
 Wood " ; 1,7^3.510 38 94,077 44 
 
 Concrete " 21,627 98 2,^44 70 
 
 Actual cost of those enjoined 1,038,606 15 
 
 Amounts paid on Pavements laid by days' work 230.005 &4 
 
 Total estimates and payments .... $10,265,519 27 
 
 $8,156,040 18 $1,162,146 74 
 
 New Stone Pavement, advances and estimates not yet paid 840,865 00 
 
 Pavements, where injunctions against confirming aasesements 
 have been o"btained : 
 
 Stone Pavements, amounts paid $385,039 20 
 
 Wood " 465,692 78 
 
 Concrete " " " 84,786 30 
 
 $885,518 
 
 Memoranda of Appropriations Department of Pub- 
 lic Works. 
 
 Appropriations for 1870 $2,990,888 50 
 
 •'1871 I,:i82,4:^6 99 
 
 " 1872 2,125,000 00 
 
 " " 1873 1,449.500 00 
 
 " 1874 1,591.500 00 
 
 " " 1875 1,582,000 00 
 
 $11,121,325 49 
 
 Summary under Dep. Pub. Works. 
 
 Improvements not needed $27,868,263 6« 
 
 Pavements assessible 10.265,519 27 
 
 All other expenditures 11,121,325 49 
 
 Total in ten years $49,255,108 42 
 
 To this must be added pending liabilities (which the City 
 will be compelled to assume), of $2,047,664.96, which gives 
 an enormous total of $51,302,688.11, an amount larger 
 than has been spent by the cities of London and Paris 
 both, with five times our population and wealth, during 
 the same period for like purposes. In addition to this 
 unprecedented expenditure, there has been spent for the 
 Croton Aqueduct since it became a part of the Depart- 
 ment of Public Works, besides the amount for removing 
 the old Aqueduct, about $7,500,000, making a grand total 
 of $58,802,883.11 chiefly expended under the direction of 
 
10 
 
 tliis departinent. Of this grand total the Park Department 
 i« responsible for the expenditure of $5,165,090.44. 
 
 It lias come to be a well known fact that this department 
 (Public Works) lias been little else than an asylum for politi- 
 cal paupers. . It is so organized and controlled that it is sus- 
 ceptible of indefinite expansion. Every local officeholder 
 of whatever party happens to be in power, and the keepers 
 of corner groggeries and gambling houses, are its active 
 patrons and managers. It is they who furnish the material 
 with whicli the department is kept supplied with Demo- 
 i'ratic or other voters, who control the primary meetings, 
 and vote often when the day of election comes around. 
 For a month or two preceding an important election this 
 department is crowded with thousands of idle men, who 
 draw their pay regularly and vote the ticket approved by 
 those who appoint them. 
 
 Gentlemen of great experience in matters of contracting, 
 w^ho are quite capable of judging, say that it takes five men 
 in this department to do the work of two. A large num- 
 ber of the overseers and bosses of the gangs of laborers are, 
 or have been, men of no experience in industrial pur- 
 suits ; many of them are of the lowest possible charac- 
 ter and association, and of the most rascall}^ and criminal 
 antecedents, such as prize-fighters, thieves, keepers of low 
 groggeries, and other infamous places of resort. These 
 creatures are rewarded with those important appointments 
 for the assistance which they have from time to time ren- 
 dered to the political magnates in power. From the man- 
 ner in which this department has been conducted, it is not 
 only fair, but quite safe to infer, that a part of the original 
 intention in creating it, was to make a place where the po- 
 litical pensioner and henchman could find rest and repose, 
 between the times when his services were required for run- 
 ning the political machine. ; r • fi n 
 
 The facts, briefly stated above, ought to be suflicient 
 to convince the mind of the most obtuse taxpayer, that 
 this department, or the men who manage it, should be 
 abolished from our system of municipal government. No 
 
11 
 
 doubt there are many good, confiding citizens, wlio congrat- 
 ulate themselves upon the fact that it is not as dishonestl}^ 
 managed now as formerly, when the great Boss, now un- 
 happily in exile, was in liis glory and moved all things to 
 his will. The answer to that proposition is, that while we 
 have got rid of the chief thief, many of his rascally methods 
 of conducting public business remain unchanged, and the 
 formula which he created and promulgated still governs 
 in some of the city departments, and will remain, unless 
 uprooted by sweeping and complete changes. 
 
 The next department in order of extravagance is the 
 
 JUDICIARY. 
 
 In the official year ending in 1875, the expenses of this de- 
 partment were $1,268,425.40. The Judges of the Supreme 
 Court are paid $17,500 a year each, and those of the Superior 
 Court, the Court of Common Pleas, the Surrogate, Record- 
 er and City Judge, $15,000 each, | the Judges of the Ma- 
 rine Court $10,000 each, and those of the District and Po- 
 lice Courts $6,000 each. 
 
 The Judges of the United States Supreme Court, who 
 hold positions of as great judicial importance and responsi- 
 bility as any in the world, received, until last year, only the 
 sum of $6,000 salary, the United States Circuit Court Judges 
 only $6,000 a year, and the United States District Court 
 Judges in this State only $4,000 a year, and there are but 
 few of the States that pay the Judges of their highest tri- 
 bunals more than $5,000 a year. 
 
 It is believed that men of equal talent and integrity to 
 many who at present occupy the benches of our various 
 Courts, could be secured for much less than the salaries 
 which are now paid. There are doubtless many able 
 lawyers, who do not make $10,000 a year by their practice, 
 who would gladly accept positions on the bench for much 
 less than that sum. 
 
 A flagrant and wholly unjustifiable abuse which exists, 
 oi' has existed until latel3\ in connection with all of our 
 
12 
 
 Courts, consists in tlio employment of a multitude of useless 
 attendants, wlio receive large pay and perf oim no necessary 
 service. These employees, like many of those in other city 
 departments, are nearly all of^ one nationality. They are 
 either natives of the fruitful Green Isle, or are of the first 
 generation in America, of parents who were born there. 
 Tliey are distributed as follows : 
 
 EMPLOYEES. 
 
 Supreme Court, 
 Superior Court. 
 Common Pleas, 
 Marine Court, . 
 Surrogate's Court, 
 District Courts, 
 Police 
 
 Court of General Sessions, 
 Total, 
 
 35 
 34 
 51 
 29 
 27 
 60 
 30 
 43 
 
 309 
 
 These could be reduced to 250 without, in any 
 degree, injuring the judicial machinery, and a deduc- 
 tion of twenty per cent, should also be made in the 
 salaries of those who remain. The Judges of the Supreme, 
 Superior, Common Pleas and Surrogate's Courts, and the 
 Recorder and City Judge ought, not to be paid more than 
 $10,000 each ; the Judges of the Marine Court §5,000, and all 
 others $4,000. With these reductions, the judiciary ex- 
 penses could be brought down to about $850,000 a year, and 
 a law fixing all of these salaries should be prepared and 
 presented to the Legislature of 1876. 
 
 THE DEPAKTMEjS^T OF PAEKS, 
 
 and others of less importance, have, within the last two 
 years, made material reductions in their expenses. The 
 Central Park, which is so extensively visited by all classes of 
 our citizens, ["should be maintained in a condition which 
 will make it the most enjoyable to the greatest number, and 
 to that end liberal appropriations should always be made. 
 
13 
 
 It is doubtful if any considerable reduction could at present 
 be made in its working force, but that the salaries could and 
 ought to be reduced, there is no doubt ; also the number of 
 Commissioners ; one, a man of taste and cultivation, would 
 be sufficient for the management of all our parks and public 
 places. 
 
 The following list, compiled from official sources, gives 
 the number of men employed in each department under 
 our City and County government, with the amounts paid 
 for salaries : 
 
 OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES OF THE CITY GO\'EBNMEXT. WITH COMPENSA 
 
 TIONS PAID. 
 
 Depajrtmitkt or Board. 
 
 Common Coancil « 
 
 Executive Department 
 
 Finance " 
 
 •' Cleaning Markets 
 
 Law Department 
 
 Police *• 
 
 " " Street Cleaning 
 
 Department of Public Works 
 
 " •' •• Charities 
 
 Fire Department 
 
 Health - • 
 
 Department of Parks 
 
 •• Docks 
 
 " •• Taxes and Assessments 
 
 " " Buildings 
 
 " '■ Excise 
 
 Commissioners of Accounts 
 
 " for Erection Third District Court House... 
 
 City Record 
 
 Commissioner of Jarors 
 
 Countv Clerk's Office 
 
 District Attorney's Office 
 
 Supreme Court 
 
 Superior " 
 
 Court of Common Pleas 
 
 Marine Coun 
 
 Surrogate's Office 
 
 District (C\\-iV\ Courts 
 
 Police Courts 
 
 Court of Gtjneral Sesdons 
 
 Board of Education 
 
 College of the City of New York 
 
 Officers and Employees 
 
 Laborers in Departments of Public Works. Parks and 
 Docks 
 
 Total. 
 
 No. OP Oppi- 
 
 Amouxt Paid 
 
 CERS. ETC. 
 
 PER Axxrjf. 
 
 34 
 
 $109,000 
 
 18 
 
 42.350 
 
 1-^4 
 
 225.640 
 
 30 
 
 33.068 
 
 29 
 
 91.350 
 
 2.571 
 
 3.19'i.l40 
 
 1,019 
 193 
 
 799,581 
 
 .334.480 
 
 659 
 
 307.991 
 
 832 
 
 1.040.2SO 
 
 85 
 
 150.050 
 
 151 
 
 205.675 
 
 58 
 
 133.358 
 
 58 
 
 128.700 
 
 70 
 
 97,900 
 
 21 
 
 41.200 
 
 11 
 
 18,000 
 
 6 
 
 4,112 
 
 4 
 
 8,900 
 
 10 
 
 10,000 
 
 24 
 
 40.725 
 
 21 
 
 6.3,600 
 
 45 
 
 150,800 
 
 46 
 
 177.000 
 
 43 
 
 160,700 
 
 41 
 
 126.900 
 
 29 
 
 61,900 
 
 79 
 
 197.200 
 
 52 
 
 182,000 
 
 4T 
 
 82.220 
 
 3.021 
 
 2.fi86,500 
 
 40 
 
 123.600 
 
 9.471 
 
 $11.0ti?.120 
 
 3.ri50 
 
 2.667.016 
 
 13.121 
 
 S13.730,186 
 
 October 30.— An aggregate of 4,700 laborers was employed by the Department- of Public 
 Works. Parks, and Docks. Butthe number is now materially reduced. 
 
14 
 
 The number of persons in the employ of the city ought 
 to be reduced fully one-quarter, and the salaries of those 
 who remain, twenty per cent. The theory and practice 
 which has obtained in our city departments of paying more 
 for the same services than is paid by private parties, si 
 uncalled for and most pernicious in its results. Under it, a 
 set of pensioners have come into existence, who expect to 
 draw large salaries without rendering any equivalent in the 
 way of an honest day' s service. The heads of city depart- 
 ments should have the same right as private citizens, to go 
 into the open market, and there obtain for the lowest price 
 the labor which they require. They ought not to be com- 
 pelled to accept, as they are in many instances, incompetent 
 and dishonest friends of professional politicians, nor should 
 the paupers, that land upon our shores from European 
 countries, be allowed to become burdens for our public 
 departments to support. The sooner they are disabused of 
 the idea that they are entitled to be pensioned upon the 
 public, the better. They should be made to understand 
 that they have no superior rights over our own native- 
 born citizens, and that that only is theirs which theii' 
 labor honestly entitles them to receive. The monstrous 
 demands which they are in the habit of making upon the 
 city, should not be tolerated, and any official who yields to 
 them should be driven from his office. In short, it is time 
 chat the professional politicians, who live upon somebody 
 else's money than their own, and their followers and de- 
 pendents, should understand that those who pay the taxes 
 and have the greatest interests at stake should have some- 
 thing to say as to the selection of their rulers. This never 
 can be done so long as these unwarrantable and impertinent 
 demands are submitted to. The era of corruption and dis- 
 honest administration has been foisted upon us by power 
 derived through a purchasable foreign vote. To this one 
 cause can easily be traced the enormous increase of our pub- 
 lic debt. Without the solid, corrupt Roman Catholic Irish 
 vote of from thirty to forty thousand, the success of the 
 Tammany Ring would have been out of the question, and 
 
o 
 
 15 
 
 its existence, for any considerable length of time, almost 
 impossible. 
 
 THE SINKING OF THE RAILWAY TRACE 
 
 in Fourth avenue, or, in other words, abating a nuisance 
 created by one man having conti ol over a business corpora- 
 tion, has cost, up to this time, $2,845,632.45, or about $711,- 
 408.11 a year. This sum may put down as a forced con- 
 tribution to one of the reigning i'amilies of New York, whicli 
 has proved conclusively, in mfiuy instances, that it has the 
 power to do whatever it wills. There is piobably no mon- 
 arch in the civilized world who would dare to order a simi- 
 lar diversion of public funds. Foreign communities and 
 peoples have special cause for thanksgiving and congratula- 
 tion, that they are favored with no marketable legislatures 
 for reigning families to purchase. How long will it be 
 before the citizens of many of our States will have cause 
 for the same kind of congratulation and thankfulness ? 
 
 THE NEW COUNTY COURT HOUSE, 
 
 which might have been completed for about $8, 000, 000, has 
 already cost $13,000,000, and is still unfinished. This was 
 Si placer, which, in the hands of the true disciples of Tam- 
 many, probably yielded the largest percentage of stealings of 
 any of its many sources of plunder. There was a degiee 
 of boldness in connection with this pet steal, which was 
 quite unique. Whenever money was wanted for ring pur- 
 poses, or for any individual ring-master, a set of bills 
 were manufactured out of whole cloth, and the necessary 
 warrants signed by the proper officers for their payment, 
 and Controller Connolly was not at all backward in paying 
 upon vouchers, in which he had a large interest. There 
 were many other lesser placers that were faithfully worked 
 and yielded large profits to the parties in interest. To 
 attempt to give anything like a complete, or even a partial, 
 history of them all, in a report like the present, would t^x- 
 
a 
 
 16 
 
 tend it far beyond the limits of this report. The impor- 
 tant facts connected with these great frauds have been so 
 often published that every citizen who takes any interest 
 in public affairs should know them by heart. 
 
 OUR POLICE DEPARTMENT 
 
 is by far the most extravagant in the world. The City of 
 London and Metropolitan District, with a population of 
 about four millions, during the official year which 
 commenced in 1872 and ended in 1873, paid for their police, 
 which numbered about ten thousand men, £959,820, or 
 ahout $5,470,974 in our currency. Tlie City of New York 
 paid for its police, numbering about twenty-five hundred 
 men, during the official year whicli commenced in 1874 
 and ended in 1875, $3,201,152.33, bdng only $2,269,821.63 
 less than was paid for the same service for the whole city 
 of London the year before, with four times the inhabitants. 
 Thus it will be seen that the amount paid jper capita of 
 •population in London is $1.40 for almost perfect protec- 
 tion of life and property, while the amount in New York 
 per capita is $3.20 for that peculiar kind of protection 
 with which the average New Yorker is perfectly familiar. 
 Such is the difference between the two cities — one governed 
 for the best interests of the whole people and the other 
 governed by the people for the interests of office holders 
 and their dependents. 
 
 The two systems are managed on opposite principles. In 
 London, the superior officers of the department appoint all of 
 their subordinates, and are held responsible for their con- 
 duct. Neither members of Parliament, aldermen or local 
 politicians have anything to do with the management of the 
 force, and a sufficient salary only is paid to secure men of 
 intelligence, sobriety and integrity, and these qualities they 
 manage to obtain for about one-half of the amount paid 
 here. There the officials devote their time to maintaining a 
 well discijjlined, perfectly regulated, and efficient force ; 
 here the primary object seemfe to be to provide a comfort- 
 
17 
 
 able resting place for tlie friends of rural and local politi- 
 cians and office holders. These fortunate gentlem'en — the 
 friends of our rulers — are paid a salary of $1,200 a year, 
 which ought to secure a superior class of men, and no doubt 
 would, if the management could be taken out of the hands 
 of our present kind of political rulers. It is believed that 
 $900 a year would secure any number of men, quite equal, 
 if not superior, to those now upon the force. If the Com- 
 missioners were to advertise for men at $75 per month, they 
 would probably have fifty thousand applicants, from which 
 they could select 2,600 excellent men. This change, with 
 such reductions of officials and salaries as ought to be made, 
 and can be made without detriment to the service, would 
 bring the expense of this department down to about 
 $2,200,000, or, in round numbers, a million of dollars less 
 than they are now. 
 
 THE DEPARTMENT OF DOCKS, 
 
 since its organization, has had centered upon it a large share 
 of public attention, and has been pretty thoroughly investi- 
 gated,-and so far as harmonious results of the investigations 
 are concerned, none have been reached. It seems that this 
 department, since its organization in 1870, has expended the 
 sum of $4, 934, 473. 92. While the present financial condition 
 of the city continues, public sentiment, as well as sound 
 economical business discretion, calls for the least possible 
 expenditure in this, as well as in all other departments. 
 This is not a time for carrying out a great scheme for the 
 improvement of our whole water front, involving the expen- 
 diture of many millions of dollars. The city should manage 
 its affairs as any discreet merchant or business man would 
 under like circumstances. Make the necessary repairs to 
 keep the property in good condition, and obtain for it the 
 largest income possible. In tlie future, when the burden of 
 debt has been lightened, and our current expenses shall 
 have been reduced to a reasonable amount, then mil be the 
 time for the consideration of this elaborate scheme for the 
 
18 
 
 improvement of our water frontage. The present demand 
 is, that all new work should be discontinued and the com- 
 mission abolished, and in its place a competent engineer 
 appointed or one commissioner with a reasonable salary, say 
 $6,000, who should be under the control of the Mayor, so 
 far as power of removal is concerned. It is due to this 
 department to state, that under the administration of the 
 present commission the income has largely increased and 
 the expenses have correspondingly decreased. 
 
 THE DEPAETMENT OF CHAEITIES AND COERECTIONS 
 
 cost, during the last official year, $1,183,000, which was 
 chiefly spent for the care and support of persons of one 
 nationality, and much of it in a way which directly en- 
 courages pauperism. If the city were to purchase a large 
 tract of land in some of the Territories or new States, or in 
 the interior of this State, and would cause the European pau- 
 pers to be sent there as soon as they land upon our shores, 
 they would cost us far less than they do now, supported as 
 they are in perfect idleness. Some plan should be devised by 
 which they could be compelled to make some returns in the 
 way of earnings for the large sums which are paid out for 
 them, and if this were done, they would find work for them- 
 selves rather than be sent to the Island, where it would 
 be found for them. Some experiments might be tried in 
 the way of introducing a system of employment which 
 does not require skilled labor. If an experiment of this 
 kind should prove successful, it would probably result in a 
 great reduction in numbers, as well as in the expenses of 
 our pauper institutions. 
 
 The sum of $825,905.00, appropriated for asylums, 
 reformatories, and charitable institutions, seems to be very 
 large, and especially so when considered in connection with 
 the large amount expended by the Department of Charities 
 and Corrections, and when the fact is taken into considera- 
 tion that more than one-half of this large amount goes 
 through the hands of one religious denomination, we ought 
 
19 
 
 to inquire into the direction and results of these expendi- 
 tures. It is a fact which is probably susceptible of proof, 
 that this particular denomination referred to, does not make 
 from its own people any considerable collections for charita- 
 ble purposes, but relies entirely upon the tax payers for 
 the support of its paupers and the reformation of its 
 criminals, while the large amounts which it collects from 
 its members go for keeping up extensive and expensive 
 church establishments, semi-political in their aims and 
 aspirations, and exceedingly worldly as far as their busi- 
 ness matters are concerned, and which chiefly tend in 
 the one direction of accumulating large landt- d properties. 
 It is questionable whether this one religious denomination 
 has the right to call upon the tax paying portion of this 
 community to contribute so largely towards the support 
 of its paupers and criminals, which form about thiee- 
 fifths of the whole of these two classes in this city. The 
 policy of making such large donations of public moneys 
 to private institutions is, at best, a doubtful one, and, out- 
 side of the limits of the United States, is not, to any great 
 extent, indulged in. The government that gives away saeh 
 large sums of money, ought, at least, to have the right to 
 see what becomes of it, for the single purpose, if for no 
 other, of ascertaining how much of it is spent for objects 
 of charity, and how much of it, if ^ny, goes into the insa- 
 tiable and capacious maw of the church. Enough has 
 been said to show that this system of careless giving to 
 quasi-irresponsible institutions or societies, is radically 
 wrong and liable to abuse, and some well-devised meas- 
 ures should be adopted for the purpose of preventing 
 extravagance and misdirection of the public funds in the 
 hands of these institutions. 
 
 In order to prove the above statement concerning our 
 criminal and pauper classes, the following statistics (all 
 that could be obtained), are inserted : 
 
20 
 
 Statistics^ showing arrests in New York for the fifteen 
 years and four months ending December ^Ist^ 1875, 
 with nativity. 
 
 tTNITED STATES. 
 
 1860 
 1861 
 1862 
 1863 
 1864 
 
 1867 
 
 *1870 
 1871 
 1872 
 1873 
 1874 
 1875 
 
 13,985 
 18,379 
 21,868 
 18,199 
 16,167 
 23,036 
 25.393 
 27,156 
 27,326 
 26,142 
 10,126 
 25,900 
 30,916 
 31,673 
 32,973 
 37,917 
 
 387,154 
 
 38,576 
 39,606 
 45,409 
 33,317 
 28,808 
 32,867 
 35,375 
 38,128 
 37,014 
 34,226 
 12,902 
 35,561 
 38,009 
 42,432 
 41,746 
 37,121 
 
 671,497 
 
 5,720 
 7,287 
 8,631 
 5,284 
 5,846 
 7,162 
 8,914 
 9,460 
 8,281 
 7,099 
 2,364 
 8,452 
 9,597 
 7,025 
 9,886 
 8,651 
 
 119,659 
 
 ALL OTHERS. 
 
 7,528 
 5,860 
 6,164 
 4,688 
 3,930 
 5,808 
 5,948 
 5,788 
 5,830 
 5,517 
 1,826 
 5,779 
 5,992 
 7,458 
 7,507 
 7,311 
 
 92,934 
 
 65,809 
 
 71,130 
 
 82,072 
 
 61,888 
 
 54,751 
 
 68,873 
 
 75.630 
 
 80,532 
 
 78,451 
 
 72,984 
 
 27,218* 
 
 75,692 
 
 84,511 
 
 88,588 
 
 92.112 
 
 91,000 
 
 1,171,244 
 
 * Only four months of this year reported. 
 
 This reduced to a ratio, based on the United States census 
 of 1870, shows that in the City of New York, for the above 
 period of fifteen and one-third years, every one hundred 
 (100) native born citizens produced seventy-four (74) arrests; 
 every one hundred (100) Irish born inhabitants, two 
 hundred and forty-three (243) arrests ; every one hundred 
 (100) German born inhabitants, seventy-nine (79) arrests ; 
 and every one hundred (100) inhabitants of all other races, 
 ninety -four (94) arrests. 
 
 In this City for that period, the comparative ratio of 
 criminality of the races, taking the native born as the unit, 
 is as follows : 
 
 American 1.00 
 
 Irish 8.28 
 
 German -1.07 
 
 Another 1.27 
 
21 
 
 Extract from a letter written December 21, 187 5, hy an official 
 of very long experience in connection with criminal mat- 
 ters in the City of New York, 
 
 Of tbe number born in the United States, a lar;;e per 
 cent., in my opinion from one-half to three-fourth!<, con- 
 sist of persons born in the United States of Irish parents. 
 
 It is very noticeable that high crimes^ and especially 
 crimes accompanied with Tiolence to the person, are 
 traceable to this class. The young ruffians, who in gangs 
 infest the streets and render travel by night neither 
 pleasant nor safe, are chiefly of this class. American- 
 born criminals with Irish names are very common ; Amer- 
 ican-born criminals with German names are rare. 
 
 Statistics, showing the number of paupers cared for by 
 the Department of Charities and Correction during 
 five years ending with 1875, and their nativity. 
 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 IRELAND. 
 
 GERMANY. 
 
 ALL OTHERS. 
 
 TOTAL. 
 
 1871 
 
 10,876 
 
 16,829 
 
 3,271 
 
 2,629 
 
 33,605 
 
 1872 
 
 12,174 
 
 19,291 
 
 5,201 
 
 3,588 
 
 40.234 
 
 1873 
 
 12,674 
 
 20,539 
 
 4,568 
 
 3,606 
 
 41,387 
 
 1874 
 
 13,999 
 
 20,696 
 
 5,291 
 
 3,851 
 
 43,857 
 
 1875 
 
 13.455 
 
 21,452 
 
 5,942 
 
 3,887 
 
 44,736 
 
 
 63,178 
 
 98,787 
 
 24,273 
 
 17,561 
 
 203,799 , 
 
 TMs table reduced to a ratio, based on the United States 
 census of 1870, shows that in the City of New York, for the 
 above period of five years, of every one hundred (100) na- 
 tive born citizens, twelve (12) have, for some part of the 
 time, been public paupers; of every one hundred (100) Irish 
 born inhabitants, forty-two (42) were, for some part of the 
 time, public paupers; of every one hundred (100) German 
 born inhabitants, sixteen (16) have, for some part of the 
 time, been public paupers; and of every one hundred (100) 
 
22 
 
 inhabitants of all other races, eighteen (18) have, for some 
 part of the time, been public paupers. 
 
 In this city, for that period, the comparative ratio of 
 pauperism of the races, taking the native born as the unit, 
 is as follows : 
 
 American . . 1.00 
 
 Irish .^^ _,i;ij<- ^^t^ 3.50 
 
 German 1.33 
 
 All others 1.50 
 
 THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS 
 
 are managed at an expense of $3,583,000, and the College 
 of the City of New York $150,000 per annum, making a 
 total of $3,733,000. " This seems to be a very large sum for 
 a city of one million of population, to pay for its educational 
 purposes. It is believed that the cost is more per capita 
 than in any other American city. But those who have haA 
 superior opportunities for judging, say, that there can be 
 no reduction in expenses, save in the simple item of salaries 
 of superintendents and teachers, and, since it is a matter of 
 the highest importance that the schools should be managed 
 in the most efficient manner, it is perhaps better that those 
 who are responsible for their management should be over 
 rather than under paid. This is a matter of such grave 
 public interest that no recommendations should be made in 
 relation to it, unless predicated upon more information than 
 is at present accessible. 
 
 THE STREET CLEANING DEPARTMENT 
 
 last year expended $800,000, and the Health Department 
 $222,000. These two departments are so closely connected 
 in their duties and operations, that they should be consoli- 
 dated into one, and the whole placed under the control of a 
 competent professional sanitarian, who should be assisted 
 by a corps of professional assistants, who, at certain stated 
 
23 
 
 periods, should inspect the streets and tenement houses, 
 with authority to carry out and cause to be obeyed such 
 reasonable regulations as the Cliief of the Department should 
 direct. When these two departments shall be so organized, 
 then we may expect something like a reasonable condition 
 of cleanliness in our streets, and the fearful results which 
 flow from the overcrowding of tenement houses somewhat 
 neutralized. As our sanitary aflTairs are now conducted, 
 neither the one nor the other is accomplished, and we en- 
 joy the supreme satisfaction of living in the filthiest city in 
 the w^orld. As to the expense, it is thought that 81,000,000 
 is not excessive for what a consolidated department would 
 be expected to accomplish. For the results which are now 
 achieved, the expenses are enormous. A competent and re- 
 sponsible contractor has stated that he will engage to keep 
 the streets in a better condition than they are now kept, for 
 8600,000 a year. 
 
 The present Health Department wants the power to 
 enforce reasonable regulations for the government of our 
 terrible system of overcrowded tenement houses, which are 
 quite the equals, as to filth and density of population, of 
 any houses of the poor in any portion of the whole civilized 
 world. Even the squalor and wretchedness of the native 
 Chinese mudhut is more conducive to health and morality'. 
 The rapacity of the owners of these pest holes of filth — 
 wholesale generators of crime — is beyond the scope of a 
 reasonable imagination, and no power wdll ever control 
 them unless it be the strong arm of the law, directed by an 
 intelligent sanitary department. When this can be accom- 
 plished, we may expect a visible diminution in the volume 
 of disease and crime. 
 
 THE SHERIFF, REGISTER, AND COUNTY CLERK, 
 
 are the recipients of emoluments far above those in any other 
 country, or in any other part of the United States. It has 
 been estimated that the net profits of these three offices 
 that go into the pockets of the three officials who are at the 
 
24 
 
 head of them, amount to between $200,000 and $250,000 » 
 year. And notwithstanding these large . receipts, in the 
 shape of fees from the public, the city pays a considerable 
 sum towards the expenses of one or more of these offices. 
 Instead of adding to the expense of the city, they should be 
 made the sources of large revenues. The Sheriff would be 
 sufficiently well paid, if he were to receive a salary of $20,- 
 000, and the Register and County Clerk not more than 
 $15,000 each a year, the three offices, at the present rate of 
 fees charged, ought to net a clear profit to the city of at 
 least $150,000 per annum. 
 
 London^ with its immense and varied population, is with- 
 out doubt the best and most economically governed city in 
 the world. In 18Y1, the whole population, including the 
 Metropolitan District and the City of London, was 
 3,883,092. Since then, it has probably increased up to, if 
 not beyond 4,000,000 of inhabitants, and the expenses for 
 its government are not $4,000,000 more than those of 
 the City of New York. The items for the official year 
 ending in 1873 (the latest published) are as follows : 
 
 Poor relief, . . . . 
 Local management, watering 
 
 vestries, &c.. 
 Board of Works, 
 City of London, 
 Metropolitan Police, . 
 School Boards, 
 Burial Boards, 
 
 Total, 
 
 £1,780,145^ 
 
 roads, eewers, 
 
 1,563,804 
 . 1,182,62& 
 . 963,854 
 
 959,820 
 . 444,153 
 
 144,440 
 
 £7,038,844' 
 
 which, at the rate of fourteen per cent, premium, is 
 $40,121,410.80 in our currency, or $10.03 jper capita. The 
 total amount raised in this city from its one million of in- 
 habitants from taxes and other sources in ISl^^ for all pur- 
 poses^ was $36,367,744.75, or $36.36 per capita. 
 
25 
 
 It will be observed that London has no debt upon wliich 
 to pay interest, and this comparison of these two state- 
 ments may be objected to on that account. The an- 
 swer to such an objection is, that the debt of the City 
 of New York was incurred for city and county pur- 
 poses in an improper manner and by dishonest officials ; 
 •and that the ten millions and a half, which we are compelled 
 to pay yearly for interest and for redemption of the city debt, 
 are nothing more or less now than a part of the current 
 expenses of the city. It is different, so far as the State debt 
 is concerned, although a large portion of that debt was 
 created and the sinking fund stolen, by substantially t'he 
 same parties who were chiefly instrumental in creating our 
 city debt. Still, it must be admitted, that the city's 
 share of the interest upon the State debt, and of the 
 taxes for making good the sinking fund, cannot in any way 
 be considered a portion of the current expenses proper 
 of the city, although our payments on account of these 
 two items are directly attributable to the two years and 
 eight months' reign of the Tammany Ring. Until the State 
 debt is reduced, and the sinking fund re-established, our 
 annual contribution towards the accomplishment of these 
 ends may as well be considered a part of our yearly ex- 
 penses. 
 
 From careful investigation, your Committee have reached 
 the conclusion that, although the extravagance which pre- 
 vails in the various departments, has prevented any con- 
 siderable decrease of indebtedness, the debt of the city has 
 not been increased since 1871 from causes which have arisen 
 since that period. The ascertained increase of $24, 716, 920. 43 
 since the Ring was ousted, has been paid for old dohts of the 
 Ring, obligations which have accrued from Ring contracts, 
 the vacating of assessments levied when the Ring was in 
 power, and for improvements con(3eived b}^ tlie Ring and 
 authorized by the State Legislature. The more important • 
 facts concerning this increase are so notorious, and have 
 
26 
 
 been published so often, that it has not been deemed neces- 
 sary to particularize them in this report. 
 
 The road to retrenchment and reform is an open one, and 
 seemingly so straight that those who are the blindest ought 
 to be able to find their way to the end. The means so to do 
 have been considered and the following recommendations 
 suggested for the approval of the club : 
 
 I. — Repeal all laws which authorize any new works in the 
 City of New York ; abolish the Department of Public 
 Works, and distribute the business now centered in it 
 among other departments ; make the Croton Water and 
 Streets separate departments, one under the control of a 
 competent hydraulic engineer, and the other in charge of a 
 Superintendent ; abolish the Dock Commission and place 
 the care of our water front under the charge of an engi- 
 neer or one Commissioner, with limited powers. 
 
 II. — Consolidate the Street Cleaning and Health Depart- 
 ments into one, and place the whole under the control of a 
 competent sanitarian, to be assisted by a corps of profes- 
 sional assistants and inspectors. 
 
 III. — Increase the Police force to 2,600 effectives, and re- 
 duce the pay. 
 
 ly. — Reduce the pay of the heads of departments and of 
 the judges of all the courts, and the numbers of the various 
 commissioners, including Police, Parks, Docks, Excise, 
 Charities and Corrections. And the number of employees 
 at least one-third, and the pay of those who remain at 
 least fifteen per cent. 
 
 V. — Create a Board of Inspection, to consist of three 
 members, who shall have the power to inspect the books, 
 vouchers and workings of every city department as often 
 as they may deem it necessary, or when ordered to do so 
 
27 
 
 by the Mayor or Controller. This Board should be clothed 
 with the necessary power to enable them to look after the 
 expenditure of moneys paid by the city to charitable 
 institutions. 
 
 VI. — Separate power should be given to a newly 
 created authority, for the purpose of levying taxes and 
 making expenditures for public purposes. This should be 
 a separate Board, composed of taxpayers and voted for by 
 taxpayers only."^ 
 
 The respectable citizens of all parties must come out 
 on all questions bearing upon municipal or State govern- 
 ment, and do their own political work. They ought to 
 attend and control the primary elections, and see that proj)- 
 er candidates are presented for the people to vote for. This 
 is the only way to banish from elections the influence of 
 ecclesiastics, the Irish groggeryf, and the professional poli- 
 tician. A good citizen should regard his political rights in 
 the light of a valuable trust, and he should devote to it a 
 portion of the same care which he bestows upon his private 
 affairs. 
 
 To those who read this report, the thought may occur that 
 its animus is decidedly against a certain religious sect, and 
 our Irish citizens, who are mostly members of that sect. It 
 is believed that fully three-fifths of our criminal classes, and 
 about the same proportion of our pauper population, are 
 Irish, and belong to this sect. The expense of protecting 
 society from the attacks of these criminals, and providing for 
 these paupers, is very large. But not content with compelling 
 
 *It has been ascertained that of the 129,327 votes at the election of 1875, 
 and of the 140,000 upon the city register, less than nineteen thousand were 
 taxpayers. It seems that those who pay the fiddler have very little to 'say 
 about the kind of music furnished. 
 
 fOf the candidates for members of the Assembly and for Aldernifn presented 
 by our Tammany and anti-Tammany rulers for the citizens of New York to 
 vote for at the autumn election of 1875, nineteen icere the'keepers of groggeries — 
 five of them were, when nominated, selling their decoctions without license. 
 
28 
 
 the taxpayiiig portion of our citizens to contribute nearly 
 the whole expense for these purposes, these very classes, 
 through corrupt party affiliations, and the power which 
 fraudulent naturalization has given them in the right to vote, 
 have imposed a rule upon the city more despotic, more cor- 
 rupt than has ever been felt by any similar community. 
 
 Without the vote of these two classes, Tweed could never 
 have obtained power, or retained it for any considerable length 
 of time. It was at once his source of present strength and hope 
 for future power, and it remained by him until the last. In 
 1871, it elected him Senator against a combined public senti- 
 ment never before aroused, and in 1875 it opened his prison 
 doors. So long as this saleable vote exists, we may expect, in 
 the future, as in the past, to see it always arrayed upon the 
 side of corruption, and our city will continue to be governed 
 by those rascals of criminal antecedents, who can offer 
 their friends the largest opportunities for stealing. Tam- 
 many Hall, at the head of the Democratic party, with from 
 thirty to forty thousand Irish priest-controlled votes, upon 
 which it can rely, is a power which no prudent man in this 
 State can afford to despise, and the sooner all honest citi- 
 zens unite in an earnest effort to overthrow it, the better it 
 will be for the commonwealth and the whole nation. 
 
 JN^ew York, January 31, 1876. 
 
♦ 
 
 4 
 
I 
 
Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library 
 Gift of Seymour B. Durst Old York Library