GREATER NEW YORK 
 1902 GOVERNMENT 1903 
 
 Father shocker 
 icKfl Adrift 
 
 Fusion Record Publishing Co., 442 Pearl St., New York. 
 
M everybody 
 now $c« Tt 
 
 N. Y. Herald, Sept. 13, 1903. 
 
 A CHANGE OF NAME 
 
 Intake no persona! allusion 
 
 In this brief reference to "fusion," 
 
 But when dilating thereupon 
 
 Much parlance sapors so of 'con/' 
 
 The dual words should be annexed ; 
 
 I trust that no one will be 'vexed 
 
 Or suffer cerebral contusion — 
 
 The proper word should be "Confusion, 
 
FATHER KNICKERBOCKER ADRIFT 
 
 Every citizen of Greater New York, and every business interest in 
 the metropolis, feels the effect of the situation described in this head- 
 line. In the first half of its experience of the "Fusion" administration 
 the city suffered from a vacillating and nerveless policy dictated by a 
 desire to satisfy the conflicting demands of this irresponsible collection 
 of political elements. The helplessness of the nominal executive head 
 was pitiful. 
 
 Mayor Low's pottering Police Commissioner, Part- 
 ridge, his puerile Bridge Commissioner, Lindenthal, his 
 penny-saving, dollar-wasting City Record Supervisor, 
 Cowen, his patent-reversible-opinion-law-officer, Rives, his 
 department-wrecking Fire Commissioner, Sturgis, his 
 ineffective Water Commissioner, the quitter Dougherty, his 
 many other administrative disappointments and failures 
 with showings of extravagance where retrenchment and 
 economy had been promised, his Reynolds fad faction and 
 his own fathering of legislative follies in Albany and the 
 Board of Aldermen made him supremely ridiculous. Every- 
 body remembers the petty annoyances, the greater oppres- 
 sions and the multitudinous mistakes of that period as well 
 as the stubborn self-sufficiency with which Mayor Low 
 clung to his most obvious errors. 
 It then seemed that no change could be anything, but an improve- 
 ment. The latter half of the "Fusion" administration has, unhappily, 
 dispelled this comfortable illusion. 
 
 Casting aside his pretence of non-partisanship and 
 yielding to his innate Republicanism, Mayor Low formed 
 an alliance with the Odell political machine. This put 
 him in line with the narrow, intolerant and plundering pol- 
 icy of the Republican legislative majority toward this city. 
 He has proved a helpful ally and in supporting the Bedell bill and 
 other attacks upon the metropolis, together with the State steal of 
 $5,000,000 of city excise money, he makes a very able coadjutor in the 
 predatory plans of the up-country enemies of the city. 
 
 No particular pains seem to have been taken to conceal this deal 
 and the strong hand of Odell was soon shown in the replacing of 
 Partridge by Greene and the latter's instant activity in the work of 
 Republicanizing the Police Department and in the enforcement of the 
 blue laws which commend the Republican State Machine to the rural 
 voters. The Mayor's most loyal admirers admit, that unless Partridge'3 
 resignation and the Greene appointment had been arranged for him by 
 the powers in the Republican party, he would still be waiting complac- 
 ently for his first choice as Police Commissioner to do something. 
 
 This would be quite as creditable to him, however, as his present 
 pretence of expecting reforms for the benefit of the city at the hands of 
 the party of the post office frauds, of the Littauer glove, the Indian 
 Commission, the land office and countless other scandals. 
 
 Father Knickerbocker needs to keep a sharper lookout than ever. 
 His rickety "Fusion" raft is in more danger than that of helpless drift- 
 ing. There are political pirates about whose purpose is to capture him 
 and to deliver him into the hands of his enemies. 
 
 Note.— The dictionary definition of "fusion" is: "In politics, the 
 coalition of two parties or factions." (The lexicographer evidently doe3 
 
2 
 
 NEW YORK, 1902-1003. 
 
 iiot conceive the possibility of the coalition of more than two parties.) 
 
 Coalition we find to mean, "Union in a body or mass." 
 
 Even Mayor Low will hardly claim that this "Fusion" administra- 
 tion was ever a united body or mass. Then it must take the character 
 of the boasted 85 per cent, share which the Republicans claim to have 
 had in its make-up. 
 
 There is no dictionary definition of "non-partisan." (See the Century 
 Dictionary.) 
 
 There is no lack of descriptions of this imaginary state, however. 
 One of the best is the work of a well-known writer on political subjects, 
 as follows: 
 
 "Only dead people are non-partisans. The nearest that a person 
 can approach to becoming a non-partisan and live, is to become either 
 a fool or a lunatic. It is impossible for a sane person, after understand- 
 ing any question, not to take some side of such question; and when 
 this is done, such person becomes m Dartlsan." 
 
 PROTECT YOUR HOME. 
 
 New York City Is the Object of the Predatory Plans of the 
 Republican Legislative Majority — Taxed on Property, 
 Business, Refreshments, and Even in Death, 
 for the Benefit of Up-State Land Owners. 
 
 I^ow's Political Partner, Odell, the Arch-Schemer against the People 
 
 of the Metropolis. 
 
 Governor Ode"ll, in his great anxiety to abolish the direct State tax 
 for the benefit of his rural friends, has attempted many expedients in 
 taxation which have astounded all well-informed persons who have 
 studied tax matters. Some of these expedients were so bare-faced in 
 their injustice to some localities or interests that the Governor had to 
 abandon them. An instance of this was the case of the mortgage tax, 
 a most palpab l e outrage in the direction of double taxation of real es- 
 tate. Mortgaged property, of course, pays the taxes assessed upon it. 
 If, in addition, the mortgage itself is to be taxed the individual who 
 lends money on its security will not long be the person mulcted. The 
 poor real estate owner will soon find that he will have to pay the in- 
 crease in the rate of interest on the mortgage. 
 
 Other equally glaring cases of double taxation have, however, been 
 " tuiccessfully carried through to enactment into law by the Republican 
 majority in Albany. 
 
 Of course, this taxation has always been arranged so 
 v at the part of it that falls upon the property and busi- 
 ness interests in New York City will be the heavier, while 
 the rural districts will derive the greater benefit. 
 
 The tax on the franchises of real estate corporations hero is a 
 £Tievous burden. The real estate which represents the assets of the 
 corporation is fully assessed and taxed locally. To put a burden of 
 franchise taxation upon the corporation which stands in the place of an 
 individual owner and pays an equal rate of taxation with such indi- 
 vidual owner, is a piece of glaring injustice. 
 
 In the extra tnxation of some parts of the savings bank funds, the 
 State takes more money out of the city than comes back to us in our 
 proportion of the State's division to localities. 
 
 The New Yorker who riles leaving property on which an inheritrir.ee 
 tax is levied makes a posthumous payment to the exactions of up-Stato 
 greed. The collateral inheritance tax collected here goes more to th» 
 benefit of the strangers afar and afield than to that of the community 
 of the friends and neighbors of the decedent. 
 
NEW YORK, 1902— 1903. 
 
 I 
 
 Even in the city's share toward the levy of what re- 
 mains of the direct State tax, injustice and inequality are 
 the result of the Republican policy. The' New York tax- 
 payer is here hard hit again. 
 
 By the action of the State Board of Equalization, so called, he Is 
 saddled with an over-proportion of this direct State tax, because of the 
 low valuations for tax purposes put upon the farms of the State. To- 
 day this injustice has been magnified under the "Fusion" plan of full 
 valuations in the appraisement for purposes of taxation. This increase 
 in the valuations of city property, which, of course, means no corre- 
 sponding increase Ln selling or holding value, will serve to allow the 
 State Board of Equalization to enormously increase the disproportion 
 that the city has hitherto suffered from. 
 
 STATE STEAL OF EXCISE MONEY. 
 The most, aggravated, instance, of. discrimination 
 against the city, however, is found in the State excise or 
 liquor tax. 
 
 It is when he takes a drink that Father Knickerbocker gets it the 
 worst from the State government that favors its farmer friends. Whether 
 the New Yorker drinks much or little, seldom or often, whether he 
 takes wine, beer or whiskey, he pays heavily in this indulgence toward 
 relieving the tax burdens of the inhabitants of the rest of the State. 
 Last Winter Governor Odell and his State machine, with the assistance 
 of Mayor Low and his other "Fusion" allies here, amended the Raines 
 Law so as to squeeze a few more millions from the people in this city. 
 The hotels, restaurants and saloons in New York which were formerly 
 taxed, under the Raines Liquor Law, $800 a year were made to pay- 
 Si, 200 instead. Before this law was amended, thp liquor tax license fees 
 paid in New York City amounted to nearly 58.000,000. The proportion 
 received back by the city from the State officials who collected it was. 
 on the basis of the two-thirds division, five and one-third millions of 
 dollars, leaving two and two-third millions for the State to distribute 
 for the benefit of the residents of other localities. The amendment re- 
 duced the city's proportion in the division from two-thirds to one-half. 
 Under the provisions of the amendment increasing this tax from $800 
 to $1,200 a year, the proceeds of the tax collected by the State did not 
 proportionately increase. Some of the small dealers, especially those 
 whose liquor and beer business was merely an accommodation to cus- 
 tomers frequenting their restaurants and small table d'hote places, were 
 driven out of business. When the amount of the increase was known 
 and the difference in the percentage of the division calculated. 
 
 It was found that while New York City received only a 
 few hundred thousand dollars out of the additional amount 
 collected, the share that went to the State was increased 
 by about five millions of dollars. 
 This excise money returned to the city from the State is used to 
 make up for the payment of the pensions of the policemen, the firemen 
 and the school teachers whatever may be lacking in the amount raised 
 for that purpose in other directions. When anything is left of the ex- 
 cise money after that, it is used for the charities. It will be seen that 
 this fund should be as carefully guarded as any other part of the income 
 of the city. Any deficiency in it for the purposes mentioned will have 
 to be made up from the proceeds of direct taxation. Every cent taken 
 from it, therefore, is liable to cause the necessity to resort to some 
 other source for means to use in those directions, and the final resort 
 is always direct local taxation, the burden of which falls mainly on the 
 real estate owner, and through him on the rent payer. No clearer duty 
 could devolve upon Mayor Low than that of conserving the city's in- 
 terest in this excise money collection, and we find that he was not only 
 indifferent to this duty, but actually in league with the predatory 
 Odell in his scheme to filch from that fund for the benefit of the rural 
 taxpayer. 
 
 There is no occasion, in this connection, to discuss the merits of the 
 question of this increase as it relates to the liquor traffic. It can safely 
 be said, however, that there must be two sides to the question. It would 
 be hard for the advocates of either side of the question to excuse of 
 
TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION. 
 
NEW YORK. 1002—100.1. 
 
 pilli;ite Mayor Low's conduct in treating as he did the delegation of 
 rfprpsAntat i\ es of the liquor traffic who called upon him in relation to 
 the matter. They certainly complained very bitterly of It, and there 
 seemed to be a general drift of public opinion in their favor. 
 
 The Mayer's act. however, gave strong moral support 
 
 to the promoters of the bill, which was practically a State 
 
 steal of millions of dollars of city money. 
 The Mayor's support was even more active in Albany. The bill was 
 a ^ener- i! State measure, and the Mayor had no power to veto or ap- 
 prove it, as in the case of a city bill, but he did have undeniable in- 
 fluence with the boss of the law-makers, the Governor, who has abol- 
 ished the lobby by taking the commercial control of legislation into the 
 executive chamber. He could have made effective opposition to the 
 passage of the provision reducing the city's proportion of the excise 
 □tones from two-thirds to one-half. The Mayor also had a log-rolling 
 connection with the law-making mill, on account of his interest in 
 various bills for Fusion political purposes, but instead of throwing the 
 weight which, this gave him against Odell's scheme, he really acted in. 
 favor of it. 
 
 NEW YORK CITY PAYS TAXES. 
 COUNTRY COUNTIES RECEIVE DIVIDENDS. 
 A very interesting letter treating upon the subject of this unjust dis- 
 crimination between the State and the city in matters of taxation is 
 given below, and is well worthy of receiving careful attention from New 
 York property owners and rent payers: 
 
 "New York, Sept. 3, 1903. 
 
 TO the Manhattan Municipal League. 
 
 "Gentlemen. — I am much gratified to see that you have organized 
 for the worthy purposes stated in your resolution defining the objects 
 of jrostr association, and particularly to arouse opposition to the sub- 
 sidizing of some counties at the cost of the cities of this State. I am 
 satisfied that an awakening of the citizens to the gross injustice estab- 
 lished and perpetuated by the dominant party and faction in power in 
 the State and city will eventually correct the evil existing and restore 
 a condition of equality based upon exact justice. 
 
 "When taxes are not levied in good faith, as a means of raising 
 necessary revenue to defray public charges, and are not equal and rea- 
 sonable, but designed as a forced contribution from one class for the 
 benefit of another, we have class legislation of the most pronounced 
 and vicious type; in a word, confiscation, not taxation. 
 
 "An effort to introduce a new theory in taxation, adverse to the 
 general principle, that taxation must be only for general public revenue 
 purposes of the State, and not to regulate, affect or destroy any special 
 business or property, would seem to have some sanction in the legisla- 
 tion lately enacted. 
 
 "If universal suffrage shall be guilty of forming tax laws, whether 
 imposing direct or indirect taxation, in such manner as to exempt any 
 class from bearing a proportionate and just share of the public bur- 
 dens, and distribute and impose those burdens, either wholly or dis- 
 proportionately upon others, the result of such injustice will react upon 
 the whole community. 
 
 •We have lately been drifting away from old safeguards in taxation 
 to such an extent that even those high in authority assert that the sec- 
 tion of the State possessed of the greatest wealth should bear an un- 
 equal and unjust proportion of State taxes for the purpose of maintain- 
 ing special State expenditures. 
 
 "Such doctrine would lead in time to revolution., and the very prin- 
 ciple thus enunciated has almost grown into a statute by the persistent 
 action of the State Board of Tax Commissioners. 
 
 ' Taxes have been aptly defined to be largely, if not wholly, sacri- 
 fice for the public good, equality of sacrifice being the rule directed by 
 justice. Equality, indeed, is inherent in the very idea of a tax, as dis- 
 tinguished from arbitrary exactions and in many of the States is 
 enjoined l-y constitutional power. 
 
 "So long as the purpose is a public one the legislative power is 
 unlimited, both as to the extent of taxation and as to the 
 manner, whether upon all the property of a locality or upon sucto 
 
c 
 
 NETV YORK, 1902-1903. 
 
 inly as is benefited, but even if limited the evil in our case consists, 
 not alone of enforcing laws unequal In themselves, but also by the gen- 
 eral distribution to localities of taxes raised for purposes specifically 
 local, with the pretext that such local purpose Is for the general wel- 
 fare of the State. 
 
 . "The principle violated is that the State is required to raise taxes 
 for other than purely revenue purposes. The impropriety of the State 
 injecting itself into local taxation affairs cannot be too strongly con- 
 demnedr 
 
 "It has been truly said that the true spirit of American govern- 
 ment consists of a decentralized system, where each local constituency 
 chooses its own officers, each road district, school district, village, town, 
 city and county administers its own affairs, by the people, for the 
 people. 
 
 "From a system based upon the mere opinion of real estate value, 
 as a means of relief from the gross inequality prevailing, this city has 
 favored separating its system from the equalization of the property of 
 the counties and the adoption of a system by which the State should 
 obtain its requisite revenue by the taxation of capital. Such a system 
 of actual cash value would undoubtedly insure a greater equality. The 
 disposition of the State to appropriate the whole of such taxes hap. as 
 we now see, initiated a system in total disregard of the rights of some 
 of the counties, perhaps as wrongfully, if not more so, than under the 
 old system. 
 
 "Having reviewed the fundamental objection to prevailing condi- 
 tions, let us revert to the fact that in a large number of counties there 
 has been no actual State tax whatever. In those counties hereafter 
 specified it is not a question of what they pay for the support of the 
 State, but what the State pays for the support of them, and it is cer- 
 tainly true that the greater the assessed ' valuation of New York and 
 the other populous counties, the greater the dividends which the rural 
 counties get from the State; with them it is a matter not of tax rate, 
 but of dividend rate. 
 
 "In support of my argument I find for the year 1901 that thirty-six 
 counties are in the dividend column. A few of the counties and the 
 amounts of their dividends are: 
 
 Cattaraugus 
 Chautauqua 
 
 Clinton 
 
 Delaware . . 
 
 $25,398.69 Jefferson 
 
 25,895.95 Oswego 
 
 29,213.64 St. Lawrence 
 
 28,200.13 Steuben 
 
 $21,556.43 
 19.813.16 
 31,863.1S 
 24,247.70 
 
 The others of the thirty-six counties in which similar conditions exist 
 are Allegany, Broome, Cayuga, Chenango, Cortland. Essex. Franklin, 
 Greene, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Madison. Oneida. Ontario. Orleans, 
 Otsego, Saratoga, Schoharie, Schuyler, Sullivan, Tioga, Tompkins. Uls- 
 ter, Warren. Washington, Wayne, Wyoming and Yates. 
 
 "Gentlemen, this subsidizing of counties has been the policy of the 
 Republican party for many years past, and it has been successfully car- 
 ried out in the distribution of the revenue raised by taxation, in many 
 instances, but especially in the distribution of the school funds. The 
 lately adopted "money system" in place of the "labor system" for the 
 Improvement of the highways is another response to the demands of 
 these counties for larger dividends. The State has appropriated and 
 authorized about $400,000 to be expended for this purpose in 1902. It 
 will incr?ase to over $600,000 this year, the demand being for $1,500,000. 
 
 "These facts may explain why the Governor and the last Legislature 
 have been so anxious to raise revenue by new taxation methods in 
 amounts more than sufficient for the ordinary expenditures of the State 
 government. » 
 
 "Permit me to surmise the argument of the Governor in the Repub- 
 lican caucus held on the excise and mortgage tax question, in which 
 this item is presented to the county representatives, and then please 
 understand the unanimity of the legislators to vote for such measures, 
 especially as the State money thus appropriated is to be expended by 
 the town boards, with but slight supervision over them. 
 
 "We cannot be free from alarm when even the State Comptroller. 
 In his report for 1903. M*arns us that 'the large and constantly Increasing 
 contributions this statute will require of the State, natural!} siiKg»'sta 
 
NEW YORK. 190C-1003. 
 
 7 
 
 the query whether there should be some State supervision relative to 
 this expenditure.' 
 
 "It can be safely stated that the counties comprising Greater New 
 York, with Albany, Erie, Monroe and Onondaga, are now paying about 
 ninety per cent of the State taxes, the cities of New York and Buffalo 
 about eighty per cent of the whole. 
 
 "Is this anything less than wholesale bribery, under the form of 
 law, of the electorate of this State? And is it not just this policy that 
 is continually antagonizing the other counties against the cities? 
 
 "The policy that uses the law as a system to relieve one part of 
 the State (and this applies equally to the city) to the detriment and at 
 the expense of the other must be condemned in unmeasured terms if we 
 intend to maintain equal rights. 
 
 The Governor In his address to the people of the Dutchess County 
 Fair, on the second instant, to sustain his tax measures, made the claim 
 that a saving of $6,000,000 to this city has been effected. If he means 
 thereby that this city is now paying $6,000,000 less both by way of direct 
 and indirect taxes than theretofore, his statement is and must be untrue. 
 If our percentage of total taxes was under the direct system 67 per 
 cent, it is now and will be 80. per cent, under the present condition. In 
 addition, by mandatory legislation, including the act of consolidation or 
 charter of this city, the territory which comprised the old City of New 
 York has paid since 1898 more than $50,000,000 a year, under laws which 
 were passed in opposition to the unanimous' vote of the Democratic rep- 
 resentatives of that territory. It should not be forgotten that Mayor 
 Low and his Republican reform associates in the Charter Revision Com- 
 mission appointed by a Republican Governor and the Legislature, were 
 the immediate and direct cause of this extraordinary expenditure. 
 
 Yours respectfully. 
 
 THOMAS L. FEITNER." 
 
 (From the Sun.) 
 AMEN. 
 
 To the Editor of the Sun — Sir: James B. Reynolds, secretary to 
 Mayor Low, in addressing the Citizens' Union of Brooklyn on the even- 
 ing of the 7th inst.. let fall this gem of thought: 
 
 "The administration has done as well as it could." 
 
 Amen! And so say we all! CHOPPER. 
 
 New York, February 9. 
 
 BOSS CUTTING EXPOSED. 
 
 Pretending to Non-Partisanship When His Business Interests 
 Are Bound Up in Republican Success. 
 
 The most colossal humbug in the "Fusion" campaign and at the 
 same time the one which is most obvious and transparent is the non- 
 partisanship pretense of Boss R. Fulton Cutting. He is the head and 
 front of the "Fusion" movement and is the most extravagant in his 
 protestations of the utter absence af partisanship in his interest in the 
 candidacy of Mayor Low. This interest is not merely a matter of the 
 campaign season. It was shown and has distinguished him all Summer. 
 He was almost as early in the field with the announcement that Low 
 must be the candidate as Governor Odell himself. 
 
 The exact flavor of his non-partisanship and the full 
 degree of his sincerity in these protestations will be appre- 
 ciated when it is recalled that he is a large stockholder 
 and heavily interested in the American Beet Root Sugar 
 Company. 
 
8 NEW YORK, 1902-1003. 
 
 His brother, W. Bayard Cutting, also an enthusiastic "Fusionist" 
 and professor of non-partisanship, is the chairman of the Board of 
 Directors of that colossal trust. 
 
 BEET SUGAR NEEDS PROTECTION. 
 The record of the last Congress proves that it is vital to Cutting's 
 Beet Root Sugar Company to secure the re-election of Roosevelt and a 
 Republican Congress next year. In view of this fact the character of 
 his protestations of non-partisanship is plain. They were clearly hypo- 
 critical shams. 
 
 The pecuniary interests of the American Beet Root 
 Sugar Company require the election of a Mayor in New 
 York City who will pave the way for Republican success 
 next year in the national campaign. 
 
 That Low is the candidate relied upon to do this is evident 
 from the nature of the methods employed to bring about his nomination. 
 Despite the attitude of the Independent Democrats, and despite the 
 foundation sentiment against it in the great body of the membership 
 of the Citizens' Union, the renomination of Low was insisted on by the 
 Republican machine and by Boss Cutting, its ally In political and 
 business interests. 
 
 Cutting's Beet Root Sugar Company maintains in Washington a 
 powerful lobby. Its agent, Oxnard, and his operations, were notorious 
 during the last session. This lobby went to the length of opposing vig- 
 orously the reciprocity treaty with Cuba, and it was to the obstructive 
 tactics of the opposition to this treaty that the necessity for the extra 
 session of this Fall can be attributed. 
 
 In this connection it might not be out of place to note 
 
 that the opposition to the Beet Sugar Legislative con- . ; 
 
 spiracy was vigorousJy led on the floor of Congress by 
 
 Representative George B. McCleHan 
 The creditable and effective manner in wliich he conducted the op- 
 position, as a Democrat, might perhaps be urged by . some confiding 
 "Fusionists" as additional testimony to the good faith of Mr. Cutting's 
 protestations to non-partisanship in this Mayoralty campaign. 
 
 The interest of the American Beet Root Sugar Company in national 
 legislation is right along the lines of the Republican policy of protect- 
 ing favored industries. The sugar differential is a matter of the most 
 vital importance to the beet root sugar men. At the annual meeting of 
 the stockholders of the Trust in Jersey City last April, Chajrman Cut- 
 ting, in his annual report, roamed over the face of the globe in the 
 consideration of every topic affecting to the fraction of a mill the 
 cost of producing a pound of sugar. He had considerable to say about 
 the abolition of the sugar bounties recently adopted by the Brussels 
 Conference and touched very interestingly upon the rep'ort that there 
 
 THE BEET ROOT SUGAR BOSS. 
 
 No primaries, no district conventions, no petitions or 
 any such machinery is required by Boss Cutting to assist 
 him in nominating a ticket to the voters of New York. He 
 calls together a gathering of the faithful, calls it a city con- 
 vention and tells it what to do. 
 
 In fact, he tells everybody what to do. and sometimes 
 it Is done as he says. He is telling the people now that 
 they must elect Low, but they will not do it. 
 
 The Cutting pretense of non-partianship has been ex- 
 posed. His beet-sugar interests require the election of a 
 Republican President and a Republican Congress next year, 
 and he thinks that It will help in thai direction to elect a 
 Republican Mayor this Fall. 
 
 The people think so, too, and that's what's the matter 
 with Low. 
 
NEW YORK, 1002-1903. 
 
 
 
 THE BIGGEST BOSS. 
 
10 
 
 NEW YORK. 1*01-1003. 
 
 Would be a reduction of best acreage planted in Europe which would 
 make a difference of 12y 2 per cent in this year's crop, or about 800.000 
 tons, but he did not enlighten the directors, and through them the 
 public upon the legislative campaign or the attitude of the company in 
 the matter of the sugar differential. While he made a comforting state- 
 ment that he believed that his trust would make the refined product 
 more cheaply than any other beet sugar factories in the United States 
 and, therefore, below the cost of granulated sugar made from the 
 imported raws, his company will be just as much interested in the 
 coming session of Congress in seeing that the duty on imported raws is 
 not reduced. That would interfere with the profits of the American 
 Beet Root Sugar Company. 
 
 THE WISE HAYSEED AND THE FOOLISH CITIZENS. 
 
 In a great city there once lived a elass of people who were lovers of 
 Personal Liberty — who had suffered much because they had the courage 
 of their convictions. Although they had not .the full measure of the 
 social freedom which they desired, they did not grumble. What they 
 suffered was due to the narrow mindedness and bigotry of some country 
 neighbors who followed the pursuits of agriculture and husbandry, and 
 sold their produce to the lovers of Personal Liberty. Yet did this sect, 
 who were peculiar, and who wore greased boots, weather-beaten hats 
 and ancient garb, and who never shaved or cut their hair, and were 
 irreverently called Hayseeds, assume to make laws for the Personal 
 Liberty class; and, indeed, for everybody over whom they could rule. 
 Now, it came to pass that there were many things in the great city 
 which the Hayseeds coveted— including piers for their barges and other 
 privileges which belonged to the lovers of Personal Liberty. And a 
 candidate for big chief devised a scheme by which he could cunningly 
 ensnare these good things for his people. He approached the lovers 
 of Personal Liberty with honeyed words and, declaring that he was their 
 friend, promised them the greater measure of Personal Liberty which 
 they longed for; because they hated hypocrisy and deceit. Hitherto 
 they had been more or less contented, and minded their own business 
 but now they gave ear to a humbug neighbor known as Smooth Seth. 
 who induced them to believe that he could prevail upon the Hayseeds 
 to make more liberal laws. They delegated Smooth Seth to represent 
 them. Having done this they went on their way rejoicing, saying 
 that they would no more be persecuted, and would indeed be really free 
 to follow their own custom of living. And they paused for results. But 
 after the Hayseeds had taken piers for their barges, and enacted laws 
 favorable to themselves alone, they spoke no more to the lovers of 
 Personal Liberty, but closed the doors of their houses to them. Indeed, 
 they began to further oppress the lovers of Personal Liberty. Laws 
 were made to compel the people in the great city to pay nearly all the 
 taxes of the class called Hayseeds; and many lovers of Personal Liberty 
 were ruined and lost even the little which they had. When they 
 protested the Hayseeds only laughed at them, and replied: "Oh what 
 a simple people; you sing, 'Back to the woods* to us; but it is you who 
 should retire to the tall timbers. We Hayseeds have always been guile- 
 leas innocents, seeking only to do you people and do you good." And no 
 more privileges did the lovers of Personal Liberty get. "Verily we have 
 been burnswoggled," said they; "but the shame is not for us, "ftut for 
 the cheap Humbug who cunningly appealed to our love of Personal 
 Liberty. He who deceives us once, shame on him; but it is no shame 
 for us until we have burn defrau.lrd a second time. It is. written that 
 he who laughs last laughs best. 
 
 Democracy Is the hope of the people and the only agency of real 
 reform. 
 
NEW YORK. 1002-1903. 
 
 11 
 
 FUSION DISPROVES 
 
 ITS OWN CHARGES 
 
 Campaign Slander Refuted by the Record of "Fusion" Financiering. 
 Charges of Democratic Extravagance and Corruption Refuted by 
 "Fusion's" Appropriations Under Professions of Every 
 Economy — They Lied Then or They Are Extravagant 
 and Corrupt Now — Compiled from the Records 
 and Minutes of the Board of Estimate and Ap- 
 portionment and Board of Aldermen and 
 from the Comptroller's Reports, 
 
 COMPARISON OF BUDGETS FOR 1901, 1902, 1903. THE TEAR 1901 
 BEING THE LAST YEAR OF MAYOR VAN WYCK'S AND 
 THE LATTER THE LAST YEAR OF MAYOR 
 LOW'S ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Increase 
 
 1901. 1902. 1903. 1903 over 1901. 
 
 Appropriated for De- 
 partments, Bureaus, 
 Courts, Charitable 
 Institutions and all 
 City and County pur- 
 poses $91,141,376.31 $94,104,091.59 $96,56S,873.S2 $5,427,497.51 
 
 For State Taxes 6,959,037.12 4,515,509.29 550,157.28 
 
 Total Budgets $98,100,413.43 $98,619,600.SS $97,119,031.10 
 
 By reference to the table it will be seen that the following amounts 
 were included yearly in each budget for State taxes, viz: 
 
 State taxes for 1901 $6,959,037.12 
 
 State taxes for 1902 4,515,509.29 
 
 State taxes for 1903 550,157.28 
 
 that there was included in the budget of 1901, the last year of the 
 Van Wyck administration, $6,4CS,879.84 more State taxes than in 1903, 
 the last year of Mayor Low's administration, making the total budget 
 each year as follows, viz: 
 
 Year 1901 $98,100,413.43 
 
 Year 1902 98,619,600.88 
 
 Year 1903 97,119,031.10 
 
 In other words if the same amount appropriated for State taxes in 
 1901, the last year of Mayor Van Wyck's term, amounting to $6,959,037.12, 
 be included in each of the budgets for 1902 and 1903, made by Mayor 
 Low, the budgets would show as follows, viz: 
 
 Year 1901, Mayor Van Wyck's last year $9S,100,413.43 
 
 Year 1902, Mayor Low's budget 101,063,128.71 
 
 Year 1903, Mayor Low's last budget 103,527,910.94 
 
 So that there was actually appropriated to run the city 
 government in 1903, the last year of Mayor Low's term of 
 office, $5,427,497.51 more than was appropriated for 1901, 
 the last year of Mayor Van Wyck's term of office. 
 Although the Fusion candidates in the Mayoralty campaign of 1901 
 claimed that of the ninety-eight millions appropriated for the last year of 
 Jdayor Van Wyck's term, there was over twenty million dollars stolen. 
 
12 
 
 NEW YORK. 1002-1903. 
 
 6y padded pay rolls, dead men's names on same and otherwise, yet for 
 the last year of Mayor Low's administration the budget for all city 
 and county purposes is over five and one-half million dollars greater 
 than the budget for the same purposes during the last year of Mayor 
 Van Wyck's term. 
 
 It follows that this contention of the Fusion candidates in 1901 was 
 absolutely false or else that under Mayor Low's administration there 
 is over twenty-five million dollars stolen. 
 
 COMPARISON. 
 
 Comparing the amounts appropriated for salaries, services and 
 labor of every description, in 1903, by the Republican Low administra- 
 tion, with the year 1901, the last year of the Democratic Van Wyck 
 administration. 
 
 TAKEN FROM THE DEPARTMENTAL ESTIMATES. 
 Under the REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATION OF 1903, 
 
 there was appropriated for salaries, services and labor 
 
 of every description, not less than $49,299,271.97 
 
 Under the DEMOCRATIC ADMINISTRATION OF 1901, 
 there was paid for salaries, services and labor of every > 
 description $45,656,008.77 
 
 An increase for the benefit of Republican office holders of... 3,643,263.20 
 
 COMPARATIVE TABLE.— STOCKS AND BONDS "AUTHORIZED'* 
 BY THE REPUBLICAN LOW ADMINISTRATION AND COM- 
 PARED WITH THE DEMOCRATIC VAN WYCK AD- 
 MINISTRATION COMPILED FROM THE MIN- 
 UTES OF THE BOARD OF ESTIMATE AND 
 OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN. 
 AVERAGE STOCK AND BONDS AUTHORIZED PER YEAR: 
 
 Republican Low administration, 1902 and 1903 $60,000,000.00 
 
 Democratic Van Wyck administration, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901... 26.000.000.00 
 
 Average increase Republican Low administration $34,000,000.00 
 
 or 133 per cent. 
 
 COMPARATIVE TABLE.— STOCKS AND BONDS "ISSUED" UNDER 
 DEMOCRATIC ADMINISTRATIONS AS COMPARED WITH 
 
 REPUBLICAN ADMINISTRATONS. 
 Comparing the last three Democratic administrations with the last 
 two Republican administrations. 
 
 AVERAGE STOCKS AND BONDS ISSUED PER YEAR. 
 CITY OF NEW YORK AS NOW CONSTITUTED: 
 
 Low Republican administration, 1902, 3903 $34,600,000.00 
 
 Van Wyck Democratic administration, 1898, 1899, 1900, 1901... 29.300.000.00 
 
 * Increase per year under Republican administration $5,300,000.00 
 
 or 18 per cent. 
 
 OLD CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 Strong Republican administration. 1895, 1896, 1897 $23,457,000.00 
 
 Gilroy Democratic administration, 1893, 1894 11.819,000.00 
 
 Increase per year under Republican administration $11,638,000.00 
 
 or an increase of nearly 100 per cent. 
 
 Strong Republican Administration, 1895, 1896, 1897 $23,457,000.00 
 
 Grant Democratic administration, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1892 10.971.000.00 
 
 Increase per year under Republican administration $12,485,000. 09 
 
 OK 114 per cent. 
 
 CAMPAIGN SLANDERS REFUTED. 
 Tt will be s-en by the tables given above that the campaign slanders 
 to the effect that the administration in the first four years of the history 
 of Greater New York was extiavagant and corrupt were baseless, out- 
 rageous and ir justifiable. In iaet, it will be remembered that no effort 
 was made at I he time to show any foundation for the reckless ass.-r- 
 t,,,ns it v.-h.s rn.-relj urged that th" amount <>f the annual appro- 
 
NEW YORK. 1902-1903. 
 
 13 
 
 priations. then $98,000,000, was prima facie evidence that the management 
 of the municipal affairs was extravagant and that the city was being 
 robbed. 
 
 The record made by the administration which stole into office on 
 that false cry has utterly dissipated and refuted this charge, which 
 It now seems could never have been made in good faith. In every year 
 since there has been an increase in the appropriations for actual city 
 purposes and the amounts asked for for the coming year show propor- 
 tionately even a larger increase. 
 
 "FUSION" TAX RATE, A FAKE. 
 
 The Fusion administration's claim that their tax rate of 1.41 for this 
 year represents a sweeping reduction in the taxes that the people will 
 have to pay is another piece of false pretense. This rate was reached 
 by a series of juggling tricks with the finances of the city. In the first 
 place the so-called full valuation appraisement for the purposes of tax- 
 ation increased the valuation of the real estate in the city by $14,000,- 
 000,000. That, in itself, would make a difference of about one-third of the 
 previous rate; but this, it is very plainly seen, would not mean a reduc- 
 tion of taxation when the amount to be expended is not reduced; and 
 there is no reduction, as is already shown, in the amount to be ex- 
 pended. This increased valuation has been supplemented by a system 
 of encouraging the departments to allow deficiencies to accrue in various 
 directions, which deficiencies will have to be made up in next year s 
 budget. 
 
 A further development of this scheme to make an apparently low 
 tax rate for this campaign year is found in the attack made upon the 
 sinking fund. In utter defiance of any principle of law or morals a raid 
 has been made upon these savings of the city, pledged as x they are to 
 the redemption of the bonds of the city. This item alone takes $8,500,000 
 out of the budget and out of the amount to be raised by direct taxation 
 this year, though this is done at the expense of the city's obligations 
 in other directions. One other quarter has been invaded to make this 
 apparent reduction in the tax rate possible, and that is an unexampled 
 depletion of the general fund, which will have the result of making it 
 impossible for the city officials next year to get any help from that 
 source whatever. 
 
 All of this means that a forced tax rate too small for 
 the real requirements of the "Fusion" administration's offi- 
 cials has been made for campaign purposes, with the re- 
 sult that next year's rate must necessarily be greatly in- 
 creased. This increase, together with the requirements for 
 interest on the bonds to be issued under the stimulus to 
 extravagance of raising the city's debt limit by $140.- 
 000,000, will ncessarily make a difference of more than 20 
 points in the next year's tax rate. 
 
 CHOPPER ADMIRES "REFORM." 
 (From the Sun.) 
 REFORM. 
 
 To the Editor of the Sun— Sir: Let me get on the record a bit of 
 Reform economy that has escaped the vigilance of the Comptroller's 
 press bureau. 
 
 A few days since a tyro in Reform and a lion in gravity was seen 
 dashing in and out of the offices of the Finance Department and peering 
 into the water coolers. He then returned to the main office and began 
 to fume and rave! And what do you suppose it was all about? He 
 found that the ice bill for January equalled that of September. The ice 
 supply has been cut one-third, with a saving of 30 cents a day to the 
 city. 
 
 If the Mayor's secretary is to enlighten us on the latent "beauties ' 
 of Reform, let him match this, if he can. CHOPPER. 
 February 10. 
 
 Democracy is ihe hope of the yeople and the only agency of real 
 reform. 
 
14 
 
 NEW YORK, 1902—1903. 
 
 Half Time Classes 
 
 The most sacred promises of the "Fusion" compaign of 
 190i were that seats would be provided in full time classes 
 for all the children ofNe% York. 
 
 The "Fusion" literature of this campaign of J 903 
 falsely claims this promise has Been kept. 
 
 The neglect of School provision and the consequent 
 crowding out of pupils has increased steadily under 
 "Fusion" until the appalling result has been reached that 
 the above figures show. 
 
 FOR 
 
 (Official Figures, Sept 25, 1903.) 
 
THE PEOPLE DO NOT FORGET. 
 
16 NEW YORK, 1902-1903. 
 
 FUSION" AND THE SCHOOLS. 
 
 A Record of Neglect and Extravagance, with Attacks on the 
 Ground Work and Foundation of the System — The 
 Truth Against Citizens' Union False Claims. 
 
 "The total number of New York children reduced to 
 'half time' in the public schools this year is 87,557." — 
 Statement officially made, Sept. 26, 1903. 
 
 The "Fusion" administration has made a great impression upon the 
 public school system, but its "progress" has been in a direction away 
 from the second, substantial standards of the past. 
 
 The Low-Maxwell-Columbia College administration of school affairs 
 has distinguished itself by adding two whole years to the age of the 
 pupils graduated from the regular common school course. This adds 
 thousands to the number of children of the poor and middle classes who 
 will be unable to complete the course. 
 
 The Low-Maxwell-Columbia College administration of the school af- 
 fairs has incessantly attacked the New York Normal College, the only 
 avenue through which the children of the people of this city can be fitted 
 for positions as school teachers. 
 
 The Low-Maxwell-Columbia College administration of school affairs 
 has also failed utterly to keep the promises of the Fusion campaign to 
 provide seating capacity for all the children of school age in the city, 
 despite the fact that by increasing the age of beginners from five years 
 to six years they have thus eliminated from their statistics thousands 
 of children formerly reckoned as of school age. 
 
 The Low-Maxwell-Columbia College administration of 
 school affairs is responsible for the disgraceful record, 
 never before approached, of being unable to furnish all 
 the children, even in the third grade, with seats in full 
 time classes. 
 
 In spite of this failure, on Monday, September 14, the very day when 
 thousands of children were forced to return home and report that they 
 were unable to secure seats in the schools, the publicity department of 
 the Citizens' Union circulated the false claim that all children had been 
 provided for. With this claim misleading details were given as to the 
 expenditures of the Fusion administration for school purposes as com- 
 pared with those -of the previous Democratic administration. In this 
 statement the Fusion officers were given credit for spending several 
 millions of dollars, the provision for which was really due to the fore- 
 thought and public spirit of the previous Democratic administration. 
 
 DEMOCRATIC LIBERALITY TO SCHOOLS. 
 
 The, comparison between the two administrations, if made in good 
 faith, should show the action of each in the matter of initiating appro- 
 priations and proceedings for sjchool sites, school buildings and school 
 additions. Measured by this logical and accurate standard, the records 
 of the Beard of Estimate and Board of Education prove that the Dem- 
 ocratic administration was three times as careful of its duty to the 
 people in providing educational facilities. 
 
 The Democratic administration, confronted with the task of organ- 
 ising the consolidated city, was unable in the first year to disentangle 
 the complex financial problems presented by the confusion of bond issues 
 in the various boroughs. The constitutional debt limit made it necessary 
 to hold up all bond issues until the financial situation was fully cleared 
 up. By surmounting difficulties, the gravity of which outsiders can 
 hardly conceive, the city's financial machinery was put in good working 
 order in the early part of 1899. Attention was then promptly given to th* 
 
NEW YORK. 1902-1903. 
 
 17 
 
 important educational question, and the following is the record of the 
 provision for additional school accommodations made by the Democratic 
 administration in office from 1898 to 1902: , 
 
 MANHATTAN AND THE BRONX. 
 Date. Sites. Buildings. Additions. 
 
 March 7, 1899 3 
 
 March 17, 1899 2 
 
 March 30, 1899 3 # 
 
 April 21, 1899 1 1 
 
 May 3, 1899 9 
 
 June 8, 1899 2 
 
 June 13, 1899 1 
 
 July 31, 1899 1 
 
 November 29, 1899 1 2 
 
 February 1, 1900 1 
 
 August 21, 1900 2 
 
 October 5, 1900. . 1 
 
 October 12, 1900 1 
 
 November 21, 1900 1 
 
 December 11, 1900 2 
 
 January 18, 1901 1 
 
 March 8, 1901 J. 1 
 
 April 10, 1901 4- 1 
 
 June 13, 1901 1 
 
 June 20, 1901 3 
 
 July 17, 1901 ;. 2 1 
 
 July 13, 1901 2 
 
 October 1, 1901 3 
 
 November 20, 1901 1 
 
 December 19, 1901 1 
 
 BROOKLYN. 
 
 Date. Sites. Buildings. Additions. 
 
 April 2, 1899 2 
 
 May 17, 1899 1 1 
 
 June 29, 1899 2 
 
 July 31, 1899 2 
 
 November 29, 1899 1 
 
 December 28, 1899 2 
 
 February 1, 1900 1 
 
 March 6, 1900 1 
 
 April 20, 1900. ............. ! 1 
 
 June 6, 1900 1 
 
 June 27, 1900 1 
 
 August 21, 1900 2 
 
 October 12, 1900 1 
 
 December 11, 1900 1 
 
 January 18, 1901 i 
 
 February 7, 1901 1 
 
 March 8, 1901 6 
 
 March 14, 190J 4 
 
 April 10, 1901 2 
 
 July 17, 1901 2 
 
 October 15, 1901 4 
 
 November 20, 1901 1 
 
 December 19, 1901 2 
 
 QUEENS. 
 
 Date. Sites. Buildings. Additions. 
 
 March 7, 1899 Appropriations 
 
 to complete 
 erection of 
 
 July 31, 1899.... 2 ^ree schools. 
 
 September 7, 1899 1 
 
 October 5, 1899 1 ' rfs - 
 
 December 28, 1899 1 
 
 January 16, 1900 1 
 
 January 16. 1900 A special sites 
 
13 RB.W YORK. 1002-1003. 
 
 nppropriation 
 of $92,690. 
 
 February t, lf>00 1 
 
 March C, 1900...* 1 
 
 July 24, 1900 Appropriations 
 
 to complete 
 three school 
 buildings. 
 
 October 12. 19C0....» 4 
 
 December 27, 1900 : Appropriations 
 
 to complete 
 one school. 
 
 July 31. 1901 3 
 
 November 14, 1901 Large 
 
 school 
 addition. 
 
 RICHMOND. 
 
 Date. Sites. Buildings. Additions. 
 
 July 13, 1S9D ?. 
 
 October 30, 1893 2 
 
 December 28, 1899 1 1 
 
 January 16. 1900 1 
 
 March 6. 1900 1 
 
 October 12, 1900 Additional 
 
 appropriation 
 for one site. 
 
 July 13, 1901 1 
 
 October 30. 1901 1 
 
 TOTALS DURING THE DEMOCRATIC ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 Manhattan and Bronx. 
 
 School Sites 33 
 
 School Buildings 13 
 
 School Additions .7 
 
 Brooklyn. 
 
 School Sites 22 
 
 School Buildings 16 
 
 School Additions 5 
 
 Queens. 
 
 School Sites - 9 
 
 School Buildings 3 
 
 Additions and Completions , 11 
 
 Besides a special sites appropriation of $92,69C for 
 Queens on January 10, 1900. 
 
 Richmond. 
 
 School Sites 5 
 
 School Buildings 2 
 
 School Additions 3 
 
 GRAND TOTAL FOR DEMOCRATIC ADMINISTRATION: 
 
 School Sites 69 
 
 School Buildings 34 
 
 School Additions 26 
 
 "FUSION'S" NEGLECT SCHOOL INCREASE. 
 The "Fusion" administration found the city government in running 
 order, the debt limit at a comfortable distance removed, and It has since 
 added $140,000,000 to the city's borrowing capacity. By its new system 
 of accounts no separate statement of school appropriations by Boroughs 
 is available; but its whole record for the greater city is as follows: 
 GREATER NEW YORK. 
 Date. Sites. Buildings. Additions. 
 
 January 21. 1902 1 1 
 
 February 14, 1902 1 
 
 June 6. 1902 2 
 
 June 29, 1902 « S 
 
NEW YORK, 1902-1903. 
 
 13 
 
 July 1, 1902 , 
 
 August 21, 1902 
 
 September 5, 1902.. 
 September 26, 1902 
 October 23, 1902.... 
 November 28, 1902 
 January 9, 1903... 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 1 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 (Entered as "gen- 
 eral construction.") 
 
 February 13, 1903 
 
 TOTAL FOR ALL THE BOROUGHS. 
 
 School Sites. . . . 
 School Buildings 
 School Additions 
 
 11 
 7 
 . 1 
 
 The comparison which suggests itself is to consider each of these 
 operations as a unit and take the aggregates. The Democratic adminis- 
 tration's record is of 129 operations for the extension of school facili- 
 ties. The Fusion administration record is 19. The periods in which a 
 fair comparison can be made are respectively 34 months and 20 months, 
 as the records are only available up to September 1. Comparatively 
 stated then the record proves that in about four-sevenths of the time 
 the Fusion administration made less than one-sixth of the same amount 
 cf provision. To emphasize the comparison it may be noted that the 
 Fusion administration has done little more in the way of originating 
 public school improvements for the whole of Greater New York than 
 the preceding Democratic administration did for Queens Borough alone. 
 Much work originated, as shown, under the Democratic administration 
 was completed under the present administration, and this explains the 
 avidity with which the Citizens' Union statisticians call attention to the 
 amount of expenditures made by the incumbent officials. 
 
 CROWDING OUT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL WORK. 
 The greatest injury done to the school system of this city by the 
 "Fusion" administration arises from the fundamental difference between 
 that ^administration and others. Mayor Low's appointees in administra- 
 tive positions do not represent the people and are not in accord with 
 popular sentiment. They are distinctively representative of the classes 
 and are aristocrats. In the educational matters this has resulted so that 
 our schools have been treated entirely from the Columbia College stand- 
 point. The whole effort has been in the direction of special work and 
 higher grade courses suitable for the few who desire to fit themselves 
 for college. 
 
 The needs of the vast majority who never go beyond 
 the grammar school course have been neglected. Worse 
 than this, the facilities for younger children, the majority 
 of whom will enjoy few school years, are most inadequate. 
 Beginning by shutting them out an additional year this 
 administration has allowed the number of children that 
 can only get into half time classes to increase enormously. 
 In September, 1902, the number was 78,000. The natural increase is 
 26,000 a year. The provision to increase accommodations planned for the 
 year was only 16,000; but delays occurred to prevent these plans from be- 
 ing carried out. To a slight extent the building strike made delays inevit- 
 able, and that excuse nas been seized upon by the Fusion officials to 
 explain the fact that about 90.000 pupils have to be content with half 
 time class accommodations. 
 
 The responsibility for this failure to carry out Fusion campaign prom- 
 ises rests with the Fusion Mayor and his cabinet officers in the Board 
 of Estimate. 
 
 It is vociferously claimed by the Citizens' Union publicity department 
 of the Fusion party that Mayor Low's administration has been liberal 
 in the matter of appropriations for school purposes. This claim is not 
 supported by the record. The minutes of the Executive Committee of 
 the B.iard of Education for December 31, 1902, (page 2,98S, Journal of 
 Board of Education, Volume 2) show that the resolutions offered on 
 behalf of the Committee on Buildings were adopted by the Executive 
 Committee, as follows: 
 
2? 
 
 NEW YORK, 19C2— 1903. 
 
 "Resqlved. That the Board of Estimate and Apportion- 
 ment be and it is hereby requested to authorize the issue of 
 corporate stock during the year 1903. to the amount of 
 $8,889,430 'for the erection; equipment and improvement of 
 school buildings and the acquisition of sites therefor, and it 
 is further 
 
 "Resolved. That said Board be requested to authorize the 
 issue of corporate stock tothe amount of $3,500,000. in accord- 
 ance with the provisions of clause 9, section 169 of the Charter 
 at the earliest possible date subsequent to January 1, 1903." 
 These resolutions were accompanied by a report setting forth that 
 "73.000 sittings would have to be provided for in the public schools. 
 
 Early in February $900,000 more was asked for two high schools in 
 Brooklyn, bringing the total requisition up to $9,788,430. Nothing was 
 done by the Board of Estimate until March, and then of the appropria- 
 tion asked for only $3,500,000 was authorixed. 
 
 Not another cent was authorized until late in the Sum- 
 mer when the newspapers began an agitation, showing how 
 utterly inadequate the achool provisions would prove to be 
 in the Fall. The newspapers also called attention to the 
 fact that the debt limit had been raised $140,000,000 and 
 asked what better use could be made of the city's credit 
 than to provide for the education of the children of the 
 people. 
 
 This stirred up the Low administration, and on July 29 made a 
 second authorization of $3,400,000. None of this money, however, id 
 available until allotted for some specific purpose, as shown in the 
 comparative tables above. 
 
 COLUMBIA COLLEGE AND THE TEACHERS. 
 The Low-Maxwell-Columbia College administration of the school 
 system has developed a system of taxing our public school teachers in 
 a manner that would be described elsewhere by the word "graft." 
 Superintendent Maxwell's requirements in the m«tter of certificates for 
 appointments, promotions, etc., seem to have been made with a special 
 reference to compelling teachers to take a Columbia College course of 
 lectures and studies. This takes money from their pockets and infringes 
 upon their time. Under the time honored system of this city and under 
 Superintendent John Jasper the advancement of teachers to heads of 
 departments depended upon merit as displayed in the school room. 
 Under the Fusion-Columbia College system the teacher seeking advance- 
 ment must have the new license, which is granted only upon evidence 
 that the applicant has attended a course of lectures upon teacher's 
 duties, the Columbia College course being plainly indicated as the 
 "<»pen sesame" to advancement and higher salary. The expense for the 
 lecture course is $40, and the price of books is $8 or $10 more. 
 
 SUPERINTENDENT MAXWELL'S TEXT BOOK GRAFT. 
 The Columbia College tax upon the teachers, who seek promotion, is 
 not the only example where graft has been "reformed" into the school 
 department. Before the Greater City was established it was the whole- 
 some rule that no text books in which any superintendent or principals 
 were pecuniarily interested should be used in the schools. When the 
 Charter of Greater New York was framed the reformers succeeded in 
 getting into it a provision permitting employees of the Department of 
 Education to be interested In books used in the schools. 
 
 This provision was strengthened under the Charter 
 revision, which took effect January 1, 1902; and it is an 
 open secret that Seth Low, one of the members of the Re- 
 vision Commission, intrusted the work of drafting its sec- 
 tions dealing with educational matters to Dr. Maxwell. It 
 happens that Dr. Maxwell, the Low-Fusion Superintendent 
 of Schools, has his name on a grammar published by the 
 American Book Company, and on other text books. 
 Since Superintendent Jasper was thrown out, because he was op- 
 posed to graft, and Maxwell got control of the schools, the Maxwell 
 tramm tt h is achieved a wonderful popularity amonj the teachers. 
 
NEW YORK. 1002-1903. 21 
 
 Every school principal orders quantities of Maxwell grammars nl 
 matter how much better he may think some other text books may be. 
 As to that, however, his choice has been somewhat confined; for an 
 examination of the supply list shows that one of the most famous 
 grammars long used in this city, and used almost exclusively in many 
 MAXWELL AND ROGERS AGAINST TEACHERS. 
 The Low-Maxwell autocrats in the Department of Education were 
 not satisfied with an arbitrary exercise of power such as never had 
 been equalled in previous administrations, and planned to seize auto- 
 cratic power. 
 
 The Conkling Bill providing that a teacher could be 
 dismissed for a violation of a by-law of the Board was in- 
 spired by President Henry A. Rogers to make Maxwell's 
 hold absolute. 
 
 No greater injury could be conceived than to put the Tate of hun- 
 dreds of teachers of long service and excellent records into the hands 
 of a capricious and opinionated official like Maxwell. Popular opinion 
 was so unanimously against the bill that its effect was felt at Albany, 
 and the measure was defeated. 
 
 "FUSION" RAISES AGE OF ADMISSION TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS 
 FROM FIVE TO SIX YEARS. 
 
 Children were formerly admitted to the primary schools of this city 
 at the age of five years. Under the Low-Maxwell rules they are not 
 allowed to enter until they are six. If the hundreds of five-year-old 
 children were admitted as formerly the number of pupils forced into 
 half time classes would be much greater than it is now. 
 
 In Manhattan and the Bronx, which Boroughs comprise the old City 
 of New York, the elementary school course covered a period of seven 
 years. This continued to be true in these Boroughs of the consolidated 
 city until September of this year, when the new eight year course went 
 into effect. The effect is to add two years to the age of the child in 
 th^ future when completing the elementary school course. The course 
 of study is very crowded here, and is planned as though it was taken 
 for granted that every child intends to leave it only for the purpose of 
 entering the High Schools and completing a course there. 
 
 No thought seems to be given to those pupils, more 
 than 80 per cent, in proportion of the whole, who never ob- 
 tain anything more than an elementary school training. 
 In place of fitting this great majority for the aetivi;?es of the world 
 into which they must. plunge at about the age of fourteen years, the 
 elementary course is merely preparatory for entering the High School. 
 No course of study has been completed or rounded out. Smatterings of 
 special studies are allowed to waste the time of such pupils. It would be 
 greatly to their advantage in the future if this time could be given 
 to bookkeeping or some such practical study. 
 
 The development of High Schools and neglect of the elementary 
 training that should complete the education of the 80 per cent, above 
 referred to has reached a stage that few of our citizens appreciate. 
 There are three High Schools now in New York, the commercial, the 
 technical and the old fashioned literary ones whose course prepares for 
 college. As only the last named seems to be considered in the grammar 
 school course a greater proportion than 80 per cent, of the students 
 thus throw away a greater part of the last two years in grammar 
 schools. In these last two years the elementary work should differ 
 among different classes of children. Those who are fortunate enough 
 to be able to obtain higher training should have the choice of such & 
 course as now exists. 
 
 Those who must leave school at the end of this course 
 to earn their living as soon as the law will let them should 
 be provided with a course of study suitable to their needs. 
 
 Common sense would dictate such a line of action: but then what 
 has such an administration to do with common sense? Its officials are 
 not merely faddists. They are extreme faddists. The people of the 
 City cf New York do not yet realize the extra burden which this party 
 ©f faddists has imposed upon ?£ie educational system and thus upon the 
 
22 
 
 NEW YORK. 1902-1903. 
 
 taxpayers. Nor do they realize how unsatisfactory is the educational 
 provision made for SO per cent, of those who enter the public schools. 
 If they did, no other subject would need to be considered to insure the 
 defeat of the Low-Fusion administration. 
 
 SUPERINTENDENT MAXWELL GIVES NO HOPE OF IMPROVE- 
 MENT. 
 
 All New York remembers how bitterly the last Democratic adminis- 
 tration of the city's affairs was assailed upon allegations that its almost 
 criminal neglect of the public school system was shown by the fact 
 that thirty thousands of children of school age could not be accommo- 
 dated with seats in full time public school classes. The changes were 
 rung down upon these charges until it might have been supposed that 
 the needs of the children of this city had been absolutely neglected, and 
 that the remote country districts and back-woods places were better 
 supplied with educational facilities than this metropolis. 
 
 To-day, in the face of Fusion's failure to remedy this 
 evil, in the face of the further fact that instead of its being 
 checked or lessened the number has increased to over 
 80,000, we hear some expressions of regret on the part of 
 our Fusion officials, but not the mildest measure of blame; 
 and Dr. Maxwell, the head and front of the Low-Maxwell- 
 Fusion School Machine, complacently says: "I do not ex- 
 pect to live long enough to see the end of the part time 
 classes. They will always be necessary as long as the 
 population keeps growing at the present rate." 
 
 PERVERSION OF FACTS OR WHAT FUSION HAS ACTUALLY 
 DONE FOR SCHOOLS. 
 On a card just issued and spread broadcast by the Citizens' Union, 
 showing what the Fusion-Republican party has done for New York, 
 on the subject of schools, the following is printed, viz: 
 
 Schools: "514.900,000 were appropriated for New Schools in 
 one and one-half years, against $8,904,242 in four years under 
 Tammany." 
 
 After monies have been set aside or authorized (i. e., promised), by 
 the Board of Estimate and Apportionment for school purposes, before 
 they are available to the Board of Education, specific appropriations 
 for the actual buildings to be erected or property to be purchased must 
 again be made by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. It is, 
 therefore, apparent that no matter how much is authorized (i. e., prom- 
 ised), the Board of Education cannot make its contracts until the money 
 is thus specifically appropriated. 
 
 To verify this financial claim of the Republican-Fusion administra- 
 tion that $14,900,000 was by them appropriated In one and one-half 
 years, against $8,904,242 in four years under Tammany, an examination 
 of the minutes of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, Municipal 
 Assembly. Board of Aldermen and the Board of Education to September 
 1, 1903, was made, whch reveals the following true facts, viz: 
 
 The Board of Estimate and Apportionment authorized (i. e.. prom- 
 ised), the following lump sum amounts to be used by the Board of 
 Education for the erection of school houses and the purchase of sites 
 
 therefor: 
 
 AUTHORIZED. 
 
 1 S!»s 
 
 1899 ....................................... 57.683.640.00 
 
 1900 3.500.000.00 
 
 1901 .' 3.700,000.00 
 
 Total under 4 years' Democratic Administration. .$14,883,640.00 
 
 1902 58.000.000.00 
 
 1903 6.900.000.00 
 
 Total under 1 2-3 years' Republican Administration. $14,900,000.00 
 There was appropriated by the Board of Estimate and Apportion- 
 ment, or made available to the Board of Education for specific work or 
 Objects for actual contracts for building school houses and the acquire- 
 
NEW YORK, 1002-1&O3. 
 
 23 
 
 ment of sites therefor, including appropriations from bond issues author- 
 ized by acts of legislation prior to Greater New York Charter, the fol- 
 lowing amounts, viz: 
 
 APPROPRIATED. 
 189$ $1,085,240.00 
 
 1899 6,624,020.00 
 
 1900 A 5,280,234.00 
 
 1901 4,483,451.00 
 
 Total under 4 years' Democratic Administration. . .$17,372,945.00 
 
 1902 $4,945,431.00 
 
 1903 6,732,775.00 
 
 Total under 1 2-2 years' Republican Administration,$ll,678,206.00 
 By reference to the first table, under authorization, it will be seen 
 that the sum of 
 
 $14,900,000, stated by the Citizens' Union as having been 
 appropriated («. e., promised), in 1902 and 1903, is mis- 
 leading and that the truth is that this sum was only au- 
 thorized. 
 
 By reference to the second table, under appropriation, it will be seen 
 that in 1902 and 1903 the Republican administration appropriated only, 
 in round numbers, the sum of $11,678,206. 
 
 The table Of appropriation further discloses the fact that under the 
 four years of Democratic Van Wyck administration there was actually 
 made available to the Board of Education for the building of school 
 houses and the purchase of sites the sum of $17,372,945, or an increase 
 of appropriation in favor of the Democratic administration of $5,704,- 
 739.00. 
 
 From the above tabulation the true facts are clearly set out in the 
 following: 
 
 COMPARATIVE TABLE. 
 
 Republicans. Democratic, 
 1902 and 1903. 1898 to 1901. 
 Claims. Truth. inc. Facts. 
 Period. 1% years. 1% years. 4 years. 
 
 Bonds Authorized None $14,900,000 $14,853,640 
 
 Bonds appropriated in 1902 and 1903 or 
 
 made available $14,900,000 $1,678,206 $17,372,945 
 
 It is desired to point out the fact that these highly respectable 
 Republican gentlemen of the Citizens' Union, to mislead th« public and 
 for their own use or argument, quote the amount of $14,900,000 "author- 
 ised, " i. e., promised, by them in 1902 and 1903, but conceal the fact 
 that only $11,678,207, was appropriated or issued by them or made avail- 
 able for the use of the Board of Education. 
 
 To further distort the true facts, these estimable gentlemen name 
 the sum of $8,904,242, as being the amount appropriated by "Tammany" 
 in four years, while as a matter of fact no such an amount can be 
 deduced from the authentic tables herein shown, and that it should 
 have been shown by them that Tammany did appropriate or make avail- 
 able to the Board of Education in rhe four years, seventeen millions of 
 dallars instead of $8,904,242, as stated in their claim. 
 
 How much longer will the citizens of New York allow themselves to 
 be deluded by such perversions of facts? 
 
 Dr. Low from Brooklyn town, 
 
 Came across the ferry, 
 Dressed out fine in cap and gown, y_ . 
 
 To find New York quite merry. 
 
 t ■ 
 
 * 'Tis sad to see*," said Dr. Low, 
 "The people so contented. 
 
 In two years' time Reform will show, 
 Their smiles can be prevented." 
 
 Vote against ■-Fusion'' fraud and f^lse pretense. 
 
24 
 
 NEW YORK, 1 902-1903. 
 
 "FUSION" NEGLECT OF THE DOCKS. 
 
 Dock Improvement at a Standstill — The Odell Pier Scandal 
 and Favoritism to Corporations Supplemented by 
 Menace to Commercial Progress. 
 
 The "Fusion" administration of the Dock Department has unsuc- 
 cessfully attacked its predecessors on the point that pier leases and 
 privileges had been let too cheaply. In every instance where an effort 
 to show this had been made by public and competitive letting of 
 adjoining and similar facilities the result has been that the prices 
 secured by Commissioner Hawkes were below those asked by the 
 former board. 
 
 The record of the present administration in the matter of letting 
 piers and privileges without open bidding has been even worse. The 
 results in favoritism to the friends or political associates of the Com- 
 missioner and to the corporations with which he shdws indications of 
 affiliation are scandalous. The injury to the city in the loss of the 
 reasonable revenue from such rentals is considerable. ' 
 
 The Odell lease of Pier 24 is a notable instance of 
 favoritism. 
 
 The Central Hudson Steamboat Company, in which Governor Odell is 
 heavily interested, applied for a new lease of that pier, although the 
 company was in possession under a lease that had six years to run. 
 The ostensible reason for this remarkable request was that the company 
 desired to make some improvements and could not afford to do so for 
 so short a time as the life of the lease it held. The real reason was 
 evidently the fact that Governor Odell's relations with the Low admin- 
 istration were such that he saw a chance to get what he wanted now, 
 but could not tell what his chances would be six years later. Every 
 step in the history of the case indicates this plainly. The application of 
 the Steamboat Company was opposed in the Comptroller's office and the 
 Sinking Fund Commission and was not favored or progressed by the 
 Dock Department until 
 
 Gov. Odell, in person, called upon the Commissioners 
 at Pier A, and advocated it in some persuasive way that 
 brought immediate results. 
 
 The price at which the new lease was executed is a further indication 
 of the motives of the Odell Company in making the application to a 
 "Fusion" administration having an open alliance with the State Repub- 
 lican Machine, of which he is the Boss. The new lease, with two priv- 
 ileges of renewal for long terms at 10 per cent, increase was made for 
 $31,000 a year, although Pier 24 is 200 feet longer than the two adjoining 
 piers which were let by the old Dock Board for $40,000, each under 
 renewal terms much less advantageous. 
 
 WATER FRONT IDLE AND MONEY WASTED. 
 
 In the matter of progress in work of the greatest importance to 
 the commercial and business interests of the city, the present adminis- 
 tration of the Dock Departments can be compared with none of its 
 predecessors, and it is hoped that the future gives nothing similar. 
 
 The previous administration began the work of improving the 
 water front on North River, between Bloomfleld and West Twenty-third 
 streets. The present Commissioner, wishing to make the work his own, 
 threw over approved plans and applied last October to the United 
 States Government for permission to extend the pier headline. The 
 Army Engineers, however? did net consider this extension necessary, 
 and so he has indulged in futile ?~nest with the Government author- 
 ities. 
 
NEW YORK. 1902-1901 
 
 25 
 
 The present condition of this most important section is scandalous. 
 Two-thirds of a mile of water front has been taken 
 from commercial use, and the city is now paying interest 
 on about $4,000,000 for property taken, with twice as much 
 more to come, yet not a contract to build a pier has been 
 let, 
 
 and all this delay because an obscure lawyer cannot make the Army 
 Engineers agree with him on engineering problems. 
 
 Liberty street and North River presents another example of waste 
 of the city's money and damage to commercial interests. Work on the 
 new pier has been held up for six months by disputing over a thousand- 
 dollar dredging contract, given after public advertisement. The Com- 
 missioner decides the figure too high, thinks the matter over six months, 
 and gives the contract for the same work to a New Jersey man without 
 public letting. In the meantime the city loses $40,000 rental and a large 
 amount of interest. 
 
 Nothing has been done on East River except to complete work 
 already under way when the present Commissioner took office, and to 
 plan two small piers for the South Brooklyn shore. 
 
 HOW "INCREASE" OF WHARFAGE IS SHOWN. 
 A misleading statement of financial results about this department 
 may, of course, be expected in the "Fusion" campaign literature. It 
 comes in the shape of a claim that the new administration has made a 
 large percentage of increase in wharfage collections. Upon investiga- 
 tion, it is disclosed that this apparent increase is a mere matter of book- 
 keepingv The money formerly collected and accounted for as "dock 
 and slip rent" is now collected by the Dock Masters and turned in as 
 "general wharfage." No increase in the total amount of revenues re- 
 ceived is accomplished by those tactics. 
 
 BUSY ON S25.0C0 BOOKMAKING. 
 
 The Commissioner himself and the whole department seem to have 
 wasted the last six months in preparing his annual report for the year 
 1902. He evidently realizes that the report cannot show work accom- 
 plished, and so it is to consist of photographs of every kind of craft in 
 New Tork waters and of himself. For the past month he has divided 
 his time between visits to Newport and cruising on the department's 
 tug with engineers, draftsmen, stenographers, and three photographers, 
 while the city's interests were neglected. 
 
 The report will cost the city between twenty-five and thirty-five 
 thousand dollars, as against less than $1,000 for previous reports. This 
 sum is to be charged to the city in order that a Dock Commissioner, 
 whose work does not show in enduring form, may appear in a pictur-3 
 book of little value and no practical importance to the citizens who 
 foot the bills, as well as bills for his auto cars. 
 
 The whole dock administration is grotesque beyond words. 
 
 COMPARATIVE WORK IN TWO YEARS OF EACH ADMINISTRA- 
 TION. 
 
 The following table shows the almost complete stoppage of the work 
 of public dock improvement in our harbor. It also shows by the con- 
 tinuance and increase of the work of private improvement that the 
 necessities still call for improvement, and that there is no reason, except 
 neglect and incompetence, for not going ahead. 
 
 WORK DONE IN 1900 AND 1901. 
 
 1900. 1901. Total. 
 
 Increase of wharfage room made 
 
 by city 15,568 lin. ft. 14,131 lin. ft. 29,699 lin. ft. 
 
 Increase of wharfage room made 
 
 by city and private parties.. 11,754 lin. ft. 14,499 lin. ft. 26,253 lin. ft 
 Superficial area of city's pie/s 
 
 increased 344,541 sq. ft. 400,532 sq. ft. 745,073 sq. ft. 
 
 New piers built 12 9 - 21 
 
 Piers extended , * If 1$ 
 
26 NEW YORK. 1902-1903. 
 
 Bulkhead wall built by city 2,049 lin. ft. 2,058 lin. ft. 4,107 lin .ft. 
 
 Bulkhead wall built by private 
 
 parties 174 lin. ft. 174 lin. ft. 
 
 WORK DONE IN 1902 AND HALF OP 1903. 
 
 1902. Half of 1903. Total. 
 
 Increase of wharfage room made 
 
 by city 11,342 lin. ft. 2,233 lin. ft. 13,575 lin. ft. 
 
 Increase of wharfage room made 
 
 by city and private parties.. 22,374 lin. ft. 9,232 lin. ft. 31,606 lin. ft. 
 Superficial area of city's piers 
 
 increased 194,403 sq. ft. 34,762 sq. ft. 229,165 sq. ft. 
 
 New piers built. -. 5 2 7 
 
 Piers extended 7 2 _ 9 
 
 Bulkhead wall built by city 2,067 lin. ft. 194 lin. ft. 2,261 lin. ft. 
 
 Bulkhead wall built by private 
 
 parties .... . 
 
 LAWKS, HAWKES! 
 
 Who gave away our choicest piers 
 And laughed at us with "Fusion" jeers; 
 Who bought cement from friends of his, 
 And then the public sought to quiz? 
 Sly Hawkes! 
 
 Who cooks a daily table d'hote, 
 On frogs and red ink wine does dote, 
 And takes his clerks out every day 
 To have a sail on New York Bay? 
 Chef Hawkes! 
 
 Who tries to fool us for effect, 
 So that Seth Low he can elect; 
 And prates and boasts of "Fusion" thrift, 
 While grafters public money lift? 
 Saint Hawkes! 
 
 Who made a mountain from a mole, 
 And then crawled back Into his hole; 
 Who cried 4< stop thief," the while he ran, 
 And carried pelf to the New burgh man? 
 Lawks Hawkes! 
 
NEW YORK, 1902- 1903. 27 
 
 YOU CAN'T F001 THE OLD GENTLEMAN ALL THE TIME 
 
£S NEW YORK, 1002-1903. 
 
 FUSION IN THE FIRE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 A Wrecker in Charge — Favoritism, Partisanship, Hypocrisy 
 and Tyranny Characterizing the Ruler of the Fire Fighters. 
 
 Mayor Low's attitude toward his Republican appointee as Fire 
 Commissioner, Thomas Sturgis, is one of the most flagrant examples of 
 the humbug of his pretences to be a non-partisan and reform official. 
 Of course, it could not be expected that the Mayor would do anything 
 else but endorse Sturgis in carrying out a pre-election agreement to 
 reward the Purroy faction for its support of Low.. It was a surprise, 
 though, even to those who knew Low's peculiarities of character to 
 find that 
 
 he was so thoroughly entangled in his relations with 
 Sturgis as to be obliged to gloss over and excuse the 
 latter's violation of the law in the matter of contracts 
 and to commend instead of condemn a guilty official pil- 
 loried before the public by the charges of the Comptroller. 
 Mayor Low in his smug self-sufficiency must be as thick skinned as a 
 rhinoceros to preserve his self-satisfied complacency in such a situation. 
 THE OUTRAGE ON CHIEF CROKER. 
 Commissioner Sturgis planned to oust Fire Chief Edward Croker on 
 account of his name and to put Deputy Chief Purroy in the place on 
 account of the political services to "Fusion"' of the Hon. Henry D. 
 Purroy. The campaign was inaugurated by granting Chief Croker a 
 two months' vacation, and continued by breaking open his desk and 
 going through his books and papers in his absence. 
 
 Hearing of what was going on Chief Croker returned and resumed 
 the duties of his office. The Commissioner refused to allow him to 
 act as Chief for the reason that bis vacation had not expired. The 
 Chief insisted on his rights, and the Commissioner made an administra- 
 tive order relieving him from the command of the uniformed forte, but 
 ordering him to report at headquarters every Monday at 10 a. m. 
 
 The fight was taken to the courts and resulted in a decision of the 
 Court of Appeals in favor of the Chief, the following extracts from which, 
 are interesting. 
 
 "While the Fire Commissioner of the City of New York 
 has. under the Charter, the general management and direction 
 of the Fire Department and power to remove the officers and 
 employees thereof upon charges mentioned in the Charter, he 
 has no power to interfere with the specific powers and duties 
 conferred upon and vested in the Chief of the Fire Depart- 
 ment by the Charter, and no power to relieve him from his 
 duties or remove him from his position because he refuses to 
 continue a vacation granted to him at his own request. 
 
 "No charges were preferred against the officer (Chief 
 Croker), and while the reason given for the action of the 
 Commissioner was the refusal of the Chief to continue his 
 vacation, yet he was required to report for duty every week, . 
 and this was the only function or duty he had left. He whs 
 thus prevented from exercising the power given to him by 
 law. by an order made in violation of the law. 
 
 "The Commissioner, by attempting, even in the best of 
 faith, to impose a compulsory vacation upon the ('! 1 of the 
 department, could not compel that official lo abs< :.' nitns. if 
 and thus prevent htm from discharging a statutory duty. As 
 long as he was Chief, with no charges pending against htm, 
 he could not be suspended for either a definite or an indefinite 
 period." 
 
 The stat.''*ory powers and duties of U,» Chief are persistently 
 aTlud»d ».o in ihe derision, and the more Un tase is studied the more 
 
NEW YORK. 1902-1003. 
 
 *9 
 
 apparent it becomes that these powers and duties furnished as strong 
 an inducement for the attack upon Chief Croker as the Purroy agree- 
 ment did. The Court of Appeals says further: 
 
 ' The Chief had the absolute right to exercise the public 
 function of recommending promotion and assignments to 
 duty. and. except during his absence or disability, no one else 
 could exercise that function. No assignment or promotion 
 could be made without his recommendation. In the discharge 
 of that duty he was subject to no one, not even the Commis- 
 missioner. Within the narrow limits of this statutory power 
 he was as independent of control as the Commissioner himself 
 in his wide field. While he could be removed by the Commis- 
 sioner after a trial upon one of the charges mentioned in the 
 statute, he could not, at least until charges had been preferred 
 against him. be deprived, even temporarily, of the right, to 
 make the recommendation, which was an essential pre- 
 requisite to any assignment or promotion. This statutory 
 right was part of his office and he could not be deprived of 
 it, directly or indirectly, while he held the office. * * * 
 
 "As to all of the duties except those conferred upon him, 
 exclusively, by statute, he was subject to the orders of the 
 Commissioner, but as to his statutory duties he was subject 
 only to the commands of the statute itself. To this limited 
 extent an attribute of sovereignity has been entrusted to him 
 which was inseparable from the office and could only be exer- 
 cised by the person who held the office." 
 The "non-partisans" put into the Yire Department by Mayor Low 
 were thus more than eager to carry out the latter's pre-election Purroy 
 agreement so as to get these important statutory powers into compliant 
 hands. Commissioner Sturgis, however, was convinced that he had 
 made a mistake in his arbitrary' methods long before the law was 
 declared by the Court of Appeals as above. The press with substantial 
 unanimity denounced his course, and the representatives of the vast 
 insurance and business interests of this city were heard from in bitter 
 criticism of the netty politics which was destroying the discipline and 
 efficiency of the department that protected the lives and property of the 
 people from fire. 
 
 Commissioner Sturgis was not moved from his purpose, though. He 
 persisted with the connivin' spirit which his Boss Tom Piatt avows as 
 his guide and studied out a way to dismiss the Chief, which he fondly 
 imagines to be within the forms of law, but which will be contested for 
 the Chief until the Court of Appeals is heard from again. He made 
 charges this time, and although they were obviously frivolous, had the 
 Chief before himself as trial Commissioner and dismissed the too popular 
 fire fighter. Aside from the question of good taste and fair dealing 
 involved in the Commissioner's Protean role of prosecutor and judge, 
 there are many legal questions raised by this trial, and it is confidently 
 expected that Chief Croker's reinstatement is only a matter of time. 
 INTOXICATED WITH POWER. 
 Tfc G oker-Purroy conspiracy gave Sturgis the habit. 
 
 From c. . rj ing out the campaign bargains of Mayor Low to 
 
 the gratifying of his own little revenges was an easy step. 
 
 In appointments and promotions he went along the same 
 
 lines of partisanship and favoritism. 
 
 When the time came to make Purroy's appointment as Chief perma- 
 nent, Stdrgis was up against the problem of keeping his pet candidate 
 from being beaten in a competitive Civil Service examination. Every one 
 knew that Purroy could not come out at the head or any list. In 
 view of the well understood Purroy proclivities of the appointing 
 power all of the eligible officers sidestepped the examination, with the 
 exception of Deputy Chief Lally, who insisted on taking the examina- 
 tion for Chief. So Sturgis was compelled to set up the pins for a non- 
 competitive examination, and thus shut out Lally even from the chance 
 of showing what he could do as compared with Purroy. It would not 
 do to let any one have a chance to make a show of the Commission- 
 er's department pet and the Mayor's political protege. 
 
NEW YORK. 1902-1903. 
 
 31 
 
 Mayor Low's interest in the matter was sufficient to induce the 
 "Reform" Municipal Civil Service Commission to comply with the 
 wishes of Sturgis. In Civil Service a3 in everything else the "Reform- 
 ers" have movable standards. What they require of others is no guide 
 to what they feel free to do themselves. All of their professions about 
 Civil Service were set at naught by their action in the Purroy case 
 
 Though evidently pained by this slip of their fellow reformers the 
 National Civil Service Reform Association refrains from any scathing 
 criticism of the Ogden Board or Sturgis for the great diversity between 
 their practice and their preaching. On page 121 of the August number 
 of Good Government Natiooal Secretary Elliot H. Goodwin says mildly, 
 but rather plaintively: 
 
 "It is a great pity that, under this Reform Administra- 
 tion, there could not have been a real competitive examination 
 for Chief of the Fire Department." 
 
 The case of Deputy Chief John Binns is an excellent example of the 
 devious ways of Sturgisism. Binns was made Battalion Chief on a 
 wonderful record of efficiency and bravery. His promotion happened 
 when Sturgis was a member of the old Fire Board so that he knew 
 this record well. Binns was considered a model officer by Chiefs Shay, 
 Bonner and Croker. He is a Bennett medal man. On his advent as 
 Low's Commissioner, Sturgis took ud Binns at once. The Chief was at 
 the head of the list for promotion to Deputy Chief, but was only acting 
 in that capacity while drawing pay as Battalion Chief. It was thought 
 that he would get his deserved advancement without delay. 
 
 The opening of the Low-Sturgis campaign against Chief Croker 
 was the means of a fall from grace for poor Binns. The Commissioner's 
 canvass for support in this dirty work among the superior officers of 
 the force struck a snag in Binns, and then it became apparent that the 
 latter had lost prestige with the executive head of the department. Every 
 fireman knew why Binns was out with the Commissioner. Battalion" 
 Chiefs Burns and Gooderson leaped into favor with Sturgis. Every 
 fireman knew why. They were the only two of the chief officers who 
 did not make a statement in support of the efficiency of the department 
 under Chief Croker. Binns and the rest of the Battalion Chiefs told the 
 truth and stood by their. Chief on his record. 
 
 So Sturgis punished Binns by giving the first appointment as 
 Deputy Chief f .o Chief Kruger, who was second on the list. Then he 
 asked for a new eligible list to try and get some more names ahead of 
 Binns for promotion. The Municipal Service Commissioners again did 
 his bidding, though it was perfectly apparent that his purpose was to 
 try to shut Binns out and put in his two new pets. The plot failed, as 
 Burns and Gooderson were unable to make percentages good enough 
 to put them ahead of Binns. He was still at the head when the new- 
 list came out. The only way that Sturgis could reward them for their 
 assistance in his dirty work against Chief Croker was to take the first 
 three names and make three promotions to the rank of Deputy Chief. 
 To appoint the second man again and call for another list would 
 have made the proof of the Sturgis tactics too plain. So Binns got 
 his promotion at last, but he was immediately sent into exile in Will- 
 iamsburg. 
 
 BRUTAL TREATMENT OF RUSH. 
 The general condemnation of Sturgis for his treatment of Lieutenant 
 John Rush would have been intensified had it been known that the 
 motive for it was found in the fact that he would not lend himself to 
 the Commissioner's purposes in the Croker case. Even as it was, every 
 newspaper in the city denounced the Sturgis action as outrageous. The 
 public sentiment aroused was so strong that Sturgis had to abandon his 
 scheme to throw Rush out of the department, and was forced to be 
 content to banish him to the limbo of the penal colony in the Fourth 
 Battalion. 
 
 Lieutenant Rush was a model fireman and capable officer. He was 
 and is Supervising Engineer of the Department. At the Wicke fire 
 he reported the scarcity of water to Chief Croker. One of the Sturgis 
 fake charges against Chief Croker was in relation to this report of 
 scarcity, and an effort was made to prove that the report was false. 
 The evidence of Rush supported Chief Croker in this report. In his 
 
32 
 
 NEW YORK. 1902-1900. 
 
 resentment Sturgis attacked the young fireman with great malignity, 
 dragging out the record of his long forgotten term in the Reformatory. 
 Of course, Rush had a pardon and produced it, but Sturgis would have 
 hounded him from the department had not public opinion forced him to 
 renounce this revenge. Perhaps some of our self-righteous reformers 
 may be sincere in the belief that this worse than Pecksniffian attack 
 on a man who w r as honestly trying to live down an error of his youth 
 can be justified. The great heart of the people decided differently, and 
 Sturgis had to weaken. 
 
 INDICTABLE OFFENSES CONDONED. 
 Fire Commissioner Sturgis gained unpleasant notoriety in another 
 direction when Comptroller Grout discovered that he had violated the 
 law many times by neglecting to advertise for bids for work done in 
 repairing engine houses to the amount of more than $1,000. 
 
 Any official not protected by the magic name of "Re- 
 form" would have been indicted for such an infraction of 
 the law, but we have a "Reform" District Attorney, and 
 that was the Sturgis good luck. 
 The Sturgis subterfuge was to divide the job into its separate items 
 of carpenter work, plumbing, painting, etc. When the legality of this 
 scheme was questioned the opinion of the Corporation Counsel was 
 adverse to Sturgis, but the latter did not abandon the fake until Comp- 
 troller Grout held up the bills and reported the law-defying Fire Com- 
 missioner to the Mayor. This High Priest of "Reform" astonished the 
 public and some of his admirers by condoning the offense as a merely 
 technical violation of the law, and added that Mr. Sturgis was so good 
 a Fire Commissioner that a little thing like that should not be noticed. 
 STURGIS DEFIES LAW. 
 Comptroller Grout's letter, dated March 17, 1903, in- 
 \ forms the Mayor that "This violation occurred in Novem- 
 
 ber and December last on some ten fire houses, for sums 
 r running from $1,500 to over $3,000 on each house." 
 
 The Mayor's mistake of justifying a violation of the law on the 
 ground that "it was such a little one," was not the result of any lack of 
 good advice in the matter. The Evening Post tried to keep him straight 
 with this admonition: 
 
 "Comptroller Grout appears to have demolished even the 
 technical defense which the Fire Commissioner set up in the 
 matter of his violation of law in the matter of awarding 
 contracts in excess of $1,000 without competitive bidding. This 
 raises a grave question of Mayor Low's duty in the premises. 
 It is not a case where any personal or political considerations 
 should be allowed to enter, even by indirection. The whole 
 test is, shall a Reform administration permit what it would 
 vehemently condemn a Tammany administration for allow- 
 ing? The law is no respecter of reformers. * * * It is for 
 the Mayor to sink all thought of anything but the unflinch- 
 ing and impartial execution of the law and to treat Commis- 
 sioner Sturgis just as if he were a Tammany hold-over caught 
 in flagrant dereliction." 
 
 BONFIRES BOOMED. 
 A despicable little fake fathered by Sturgis is being used by the 
 Fusion politicians in their false claims of what the administration has 
 done for New York. His whole policy is to issue misleading statements, 
 but in at least one feature of this policy he becomes simply ridiculous. 
 The poor clerks at Fireman's Hall cannot keep their faces straight as they 
 juggle the figures to bolster up the bulletined boast that the average Are 
 loss has been greatly reduced by the efficiency of the incumbent Com- 
 missioner. To be sure, the records show the lower average, but to be 
 complete and honest the statement of this fact should add that it is due 
 to the scheme of reporting as "fires," and cumbering up the record with 
 them, all "still alarms," and even all the cases where sparks, smoke, 
 or perhaps a little blaze, have been heard of by the firemen. A blaze 
 In the trolley slot which delays no cars and lasts scarcely a minute, must 
 ffo on the record if it is learned of at the nearest fire house. And if it is 
 
NEW YORK, 1002-1903 
 
 not learned of and put on the record the "Reform" Commissioner Is 
 likely to hear of it somehow and make trouble. The little bonfire which 
 some toddling children coax into a moment's fitful flare, before their 
 watchful parents descend upon them and extinguish it to warm them 
 by another method, must not be overlooked in the reports or in the cal- 
 culation of the average fire loss for Fusion campaign purposes. 
 
 No previous administration ever burdened the records with such rub- 
 bish. It remained for a Fusion official to see how such trifles could be 
 utilized to reduce the average of fire losses. His order on the subject 
 has been reiterated several times and it is perfectly understood in the 
 department that Sturgis has got to have a lot of little fires somehow or 
 other. Shortly after the first promulgation of this order there happened 
 a series of large fires down town in Manhattan. Night after night flames 
 swept the business district until the firemen were exhausted by over- 
 work and discouraged by the belief that the newly made Chief of the 
 Sturgis pattern was a hoodoo. But, while these losses were piling up, the 
 firemen, under the spur of the Commissioner's order, were reporting all 
 the ten cent and no-damage bonfires. Taking a $300,000 blaze with one 
 or two of the ten-cent ones, is practically dividing the average fire loss 
 by two or three. 
 
 This plan works out so well in the preparation of misleading statis- 
 tics for Citizens' Union campaign purposes that on August 18, 1903, an- 
 other special order^ stirring up the force on the subject, was issued. 
 NEW PROTECTION NEGLECTED. 
 Tiie time spent by Commissioner Sturgis in long trials 
 of men and officers under his policy of oppression and 
 tyranny and the attention he has to give to the prepara- 
 tion of misleading statistics, probably explain why he has 
 not organized a single new fire company during his ad- 
 ministration. Taxpayers and citizens have made many 
 requests and demands for additional protection, but noth- 
 ing has been done in this direction by Sturgis. 
 
 MORE VIOLATIONS OF LAW. 
 The Sturgis record in the matter of the Fire Marshal is another in- 
 stance of the utter disregard for the law throughout the "Fusion" 
 administration. Nothing could be plainer than the charter provision 
 that there shall be a Fire Marshal and that his salary shall be $3,000 
 a year. On taking office Sturgis detailed Captain Thomas F. Freel, then 
 on a captain's salary of $2,160 a year, to perform the duties of Fire 
 Marshal. Subsequently Freel was promoted to Chief of Battalion at 
 $3,300 a year. He is still detailed as Fire Marshal. 
 
 It keeps the experts of the Finance Department busy to prevent the 
 Sturgis administration of the Fire Department from violating the law 
 and mixing things up generally. Early last Spring Mr. Sturgis took 
 a notion to convert some of, the bonds in the Fire Department Pension 
 Fund into cash. True to his policy of self-sufficiency (in which he only 
 emulates his sponsor, Mayor Dow) he consulted no law and no adviser. He 
 took from the safety vaults bonds of the City of New York to the amount 
 of $30,000 and. on his own responsibility, sold them at private sale to 
 friendly brokers. It was his intention to sell $20,000 more of bonds in the 
 same illegal fashion, but Comptroller Grout called a halt. The Finance 
 Department had soon learned to its surprise that bonds of the city 
 were being sold by a member of the city government at private sale, 
 and this, too, at a time when the cit3 r had surplus cash on hand. Mayor 
 Low was promptly notified of the misconduct of the Fire Commissioner, 
 but of course did nothing about it. Several days later the $20,000 bundle, 
 was quietly turned into the Comptroller's office by the Sturgis secretary 
 and mentor, Billy Leary, and a check for that amount was in due time 
 issued to the Fire Commissioner as Trustee of the Pension Fund. 
 
 PETTY JEALOUSIES CONTROL. 
 One of the most contemptible exhibitions of the infinite littleness of 
 the Sturgis administration in the Fire Department is shown in the 
 treatment of the search light fire engines. These pieces of department 
 apparatus, since their appearance four years ago have x been regarded 
 by the firemen of this city and of the entire country as among the 
 
S4 , NEW YORK, 1002-1903. 
 
 best inventions for the assistance of the firemen in fighting night fires. 
 But under the present regime it is seen that the search light is unfortu- 
 nate in having been invented by Chief Croker. Ii suffered from having the 
 fatal fault of bearing a name plate on which Is engraved "Croker Porta- 
 ble Search Light Fire Engine." That kept all three of these machines 
 out of the Sturgis annual parade of the department, though even the 
 little coffee wagon was in line. There was no possible reason for the 
 search lights to be kept in quarters during the day, even if they were 
 being used whenever needed at night. But ihe fact is that, from motives 
 of petty jealousy and with a reckless disregard of the safety of the 
 men, Chief Purroy has never ordered these machines used since he has 
 "been Chief. When he is away on vacation, that is forty-eight hours every 
 week and all the other time he can get the Commissioner to stand for, 
 Chief Purroy's substitutes gladly use the search light apparatus at big 
 night fires. They have each a crew of two men and they are due at 
 all second alarm fires. They cost $3,000 a year in salaries, which amount 
 Is nearly all wasted by Purroy's tactics. 
 
 STURGIS HAS HUMOR. 
 Sturgis stands high with the rank and file of the Fire Department 
 In one particular, and that is as a humorist. They liave on file his 
 special order of January 16, 1903, in which he says: 
 
 "Appointments will be made for- merit* only. Faithful, 
 service will be recognized and transfers will only be made 
 for the good of the service. 
 
 Also: "Do s r our duty and you are safe. An era of favor- 
 itism on the one hand and tyranny on the other has existed 
 here. It has passed away. Vindictiveness forms no part of 
 the Commissioner's policy." 
 
 * AN INCOMPETENT FIRE CHIEF. 
 I Committed to his appointment before he assumed 
 
 charge of the Fire Department, Commissioner Sturgis for 
 nearly a year has kept at the head of the uniformed force a 
 chief who is regarded by the officers and firemen as thor- 
 oughly incompetent. 
 
 So long has the name of Purroy in the Fire Department been asso- 
 ciated with poor firemanship that to-day Sturgis' Chief fails to arouse 
 1n his subordinates that enthusiasm so necessary to a successful warfare 
 against fire. Distrusted by his former superiors, Shay, Bonner and 
 Croker, the present Fire Chief is regarded as inferior in efficiency to the 
 officers he commands. The utter lack of confidence in their Chief on 
 the part of tfie officers and firemen is becoming more apparent every 
 day. The absence of enthusiasm and effective discipline is noted at 
 every fire. Already the lives of four brave firemen have been sacrificed 
 at fires at which Purroy has been in command, and his judgment, dis- 
 played at many large fires, has been such that under any other admin- 
 istration it would have warranted charges of incompetency against him. 
 
 The firemen of this city have as their commander a Chief who is old 
 and infirm at the age of 47, whose career in the Fire Department has 
 won for him an unenviable reputation, whoso personal manners have 
 made him unpopular with every rank and grade, and whose judgment at 
 fires has resulted in th>' lo?s of hundreds of thousand of dollars worth 
 of property. 
 
 It war; a knowledge of the incapacity of Purroy that caused Chiefs 
 Bonn» r and Croker to pass his name when looking for a substitute on a 
 vacation or a day off. 
 
 To these great firemen Purroy seemed to lack all the 
 qualities that go to make a commanding officer, and they 
 feared to leave such a man in charge of the department 
 even for twenty-four hours. 
 That t.liis opinion of former Chiefs was well founded there is arnpl* 
 evidence in the deplondblo Judgment of Purroy shown at large fires 
 during the year. Blunders that would have eallei tor charges at any 
 (.:;,. ,■ i i . , i . permitted to pass without comment by Sturgis, who 
 
 did not dare to criticise *hla own appointment. 
 
NEW YORK. 1902-1903. 
 
 15 
 
 THE "TWO NINES" FOR A SMALL BLAZE. 
 The sending out of the dreaded "two nines" for a small first alarm 
 blaze in an uptown residence neighborhood was surpassed only by the 
 amazing attempt to extinguish a burning business block, at the Fayer- 
 weather & Ladew fire in East Houston street with a handful of engines. 
 In each extreme it showed Purroy as he stands before his own officers. 
 In the first instance Purroy found himself in command 
 of a comparatively small fire. His companies did not 
 reach the scene quickly enough and he lost his head. 
 In another minute the department and the city were snocked by the 
 sounding of the "two nines," indicative of a great conflagration, and the 
 last resort of the firemen to check the progress of a fire. For miles and 
 miles on every side the streets and avenues were filled with flying 
 engines and fire trucks bound for the street in which stood Purroy * 
 watching the smouldering embers of the fire. When the companies 
 reached the scene they were told to go back, that their services were 
 not needed. The officers looked at the little fire that caused such a 
 scare, then at Purroy and smiled. It was another instance of his judg- 
 ment. The streets in the vicinity of the fire were congested with appa- 
 ratus, and for nearly an hour a large section of the city was left with- 
 out fire protection. This blunder of Purroy was roundly condemned by 
 everyone but one — Thomas Sturgls. 
 
 It was only a few weeks later that the Fayerweather & Ladew firo 
 occurred in Houston street. Purroy assumed command and a third 
 alarm was sent in. Then followed a fourth alarm. The fire spread 
 with great rapidity. Flames leaped twenty feet in the air and across 
 the street. The fire officers wondered why a fifth alarm was not sent 
 in for the fire was plainly getting away from the firemen. Purroy 
 saw the flames from the street. His Assistant Chiefs looked for the 
 "two nines." but the Chief was determined he would never again sen.i 
 in that signal. 
 
 And so the fire burned and notwithstanding that for 
 seven hours the firemen exhausted themselves in their ef- 
 forts to keep the fire from spreading across the street, the 
 chief refused to summon further assistance. 
 Another blunder on the part of Purroy that caused Commissioner 
 Sturgis much anxiety was committed at a fire in Greene street only a 
 few days later. The alarm sounded from box 236. A second and third 
 alarms were sent in and Purroy taking command sent in a fourtii 
 alarm. For several hours the firemen labored before the blaze \va* 
 under control. 
 
 Purroy, from his usual position in the street, pro- 
 nounced the fire out and ordered the companies home. Get- 
 ting into his carriage he started away from t.ie scene. 
 A few minutes later flames again burst forth from the 
 building. 
 
 The companies were called -back, and with them Purroy. For the 
 second time he sent a fourth alarm for the fire. Only after four hours' 
 desperate work were the firemen able to master the flame 1 :. The error 
 of Purroy cost the property owners and insurance companies govern 1 
 hundred thousands of dollars. The Fire Chief was condemned on all 
 sides. To save him from further criticism Commissioner Stui^i^ ordered 
 Fire Marshal Freel to investigate and, to the amazement of the fire- 
 men, announced that his Fire Chief was not at fault, the second fire 
 being in no way caused by the first. 
 
 It is the general impression among firemen that Purroy's only 
 interest in the department is to draw his pay. This impression Is the 
 result of the go-as-you-please policy of the Chief, and al?o due to the 
 fact that he has been off duty a greater length of lime than any Chief 
 who ever" held the position. For months he has taken two days oft 
 every week, in addition to an extended vacation. His officers are at 
 sea as to when he is on duty. The officers complain that at fires he 
 regards his own safety before that of his men. He was never com- 
 mended for bravery, and the example of Chief Purroy standing out- 
 side of a building ordering subordinates to face the punishment has 
 bee^ anything but encouraging to \he brave men who fight the battle. 
 
N"EW YORK, 1902-1903. 
 
 LOW=GREENE POLICE. 
 
 Police Outrages, Inefficiency and Incapacity—The Depart- 
 ment Ruled by Ignorant Theorists in the Interests 
 of Rural Republicanism. 
 
 ' Mayor Low's methods in connection with the administration of the 
 Police Department furnish convincing proof of his 'absolute surrender to 
 the Republican State machine. They also furnish evidence of the 
 peculiarities of his own vaccilating character. His first appointment, 
 Colonel Partridge, hampered by the effort of his Chief to keep on both 
 sides of the excise question, was unable to make any impression upon 
 the Police Department. The Commissioner was rather weak himself, 
 but he was placed in a most difficult position by the contradictions in 
 the record cf the Mayor. In his campaign efforts to secure the support 
 of the friends of personal liberty, Candidate Low had committed him- 
 self to a policy which may be described as liberal. In the same cam- 
 paign his bait to secure the suffrages of the church and temperance 
 element was an expressed purpose to enforce the laws strictly. 
 
 Under these discouraging circumstances and his own limitations 
 of strength Commissioner Partridge allowed the Police Department to 
 drift helplessly. It was no better than before in the important par- 
 ticulars which had been severely attacked in the "Fusion" campaign. 
 The liquor dealers, who up to January 1, 1902, had been taxed $5 apiece 
 for some mysterious purpose in connection with their Sunday opening, 
 now found that they had $10 or more to pay. 
 
 The gambling houses, places of ill repute, pool rooms, 
 and sporting resorts of all characters flourished without 
 any apparent attempt to control them. Pulpit and prest 
 joined in ridiculing the monumental failure of the predic 
 tions made for the new "Fusion" administration. 
 
 THE RABBI JOSEPH RIOT. 
 In the direction of real police work, the force was 
 worse than before, discipline disappeared, crime and vice 
 were rampant and the list of murders undetected ran up to 
 the number of scores. 
 For the first time in many years the streets of New York were the 
 Bcene of a riotous demonstration, which the slightest exhibition of police 
 foresight would have rendered impossible. This riot developed from an 
 exhibition of hoodlumism on the occasion of the funeral of Rabbi 
 Joseph, a revered co-religionist who was idolized by the Jewish people 
 of the East Side. For several days the streets in the neighborhood of 
 the synagogue where the body lay were crowded with a surging throng. 
 Every indication pointed to the overwhelming character of the crowd 
 that would be attracted by the exercises and obsequies. In the neigh- 
 borhood were several well known danger points, notably the corner 
 on which a big printing press factory stands. This corner had become 
 well known as a headquarters of the "Whisker Pullers," as the per- 
 secutors of helpless Jews in that neighborhood are called. No captain of a 
 precinct, no inspector of a district, no Deputy Commissioner in charge 
 of the uniformed force, no Commissioner at the department s head was 
 excusable for overlooking, not the possibilities, but the probabilities 
 of the result that followed. 
 
 It testified to the utter demoralization of the Police 
 Department as a factor in preserving order. 
 To be sure, when roused by the outrages of the riotous crowd, the 
 commanding officers rallied, and made a sufficient show of force to quell 
 the disturbance and restore order. In doing this, however, they only 
 
NEW YORK. 1002-1903. 
 
 S7 
 
 added to the outrage on the unoffending Hebrews by the unnecessarily 
 harsh use of clubs and violence to effect that purpose. 
 
 The fellow citizens of the sufferers on this occasion, having in mind 
 the ^ttravagant promises made in the "Fusion" campaign that their 
 welfare would be- the administration's «ne thought, appealed confidently 
 to Mayor Low for redress, and for the punishment of those responsible 
 for the neglect from which they had suffered. They got some fair 
 words, but no one was punished. One police captain whose responsibil- 
 ity in the matter was much less than that of any of his commanding 
 officers, or that of the Commissioner, was worried into resigning his 
 position,- but the real fault has never been expiated. 
 
 ODELL HUNTS PARTRIDGE. 
 Commissioner Partridge learned no lesson from this 
 incident, but continued his easy-going administration for 
 the full year of 1902. The record of failures and the list 
 of undetected crimes, unsuppressed disorder and flourish- 
 ing vice continued to grow. 
 
 At the close of the year the volume of complaint and dissatisfaction 
 was so great that any one with less than the smug self-sufficiency of 
 Mayor Low would have heeded it, and guided his actions accordingly. 
 Made helpless by his peculiar characteristics the Mayor did nothing. 
 But his Republican allies, Governor Odell amr the rest came to the 
 rescue. They knew thai the Mayor was incapable of reaching a de- 
 cision and carrying it out, so they arranged for Commissioner Partridge 
 to tender his resignation. He said that he was sick, and his appearance 
 supported that assertion, but the department was worse off than he 
 was. Governor Odell's kindly administrations extended further. He 
 arranged to supplant Partridge with General Francis Vinton Greene, a 
 strong Republican and far from being like Partridge in lack of vim, 
 vigor and energy. 
 
 WHAT WAS THE MATTER WITH THURSTON? 
 
 During Col. Partridge's term a peculiar experience' was had in the 
 office of the Deputy Commissioner, the position once made conspicuous 
 to the point of notoriety by the incumbency of one Devery, now gone 
 and forgotten. Col. Partridge first put in this position another military 
 gentleman, with militia experience. Col. Thurston, as Deputy Commis- 
 sioner. Thurston was quite active and .forceful, especially in the trial 
 room, where delinquent policemen rrere made to tremble before him. H% 
 did not make much of a mark anywhere else, and there is considerable 
 mystery about his retirement. It is said that "Boss" Cutting, after a 
 heart to heart talk with Thurston over some reports about grafting in 
 the department, recommended the colonel's resignation, and it was ten- 
 dered and promptly accepted. 
 
 GREENE'S RECORD KNOWN. 
 
 General Greene was not unknown to the citizens of New York. He 
 had served as Chairman of the Republican County Committee, and he 
 had paraded as colonel of one of our crack regiments. 
 
 He had managed the Barber Asphalt Company's busi- 
 ness in this city, and last, but not least, he had promoted 
 the formation of the unsavory Asphalt Trust. 
 
 This last mentioned operation was remembered with sorrow by all 
 who had been induced to invest in Greene's scheme. It was a gigantic one 
 with a capitalization running into many millions, but when the bubble 
 burst it was found that this capitalization was based upon very much 
 Inflated security. The plants and properties taken into the consolida- 
 tion were found after the failure to have bee^i so taken at an exorbitant 
 valuation. The sufferers by the collapse arc now seeking, through the 
 courts, to secure the return of some part of their losses, and it is 
 alleged that the profits made in the enormous valuations of these col- 
 lected plants went largely into the pockets of General Greene. It is in 
 this direction that they are .looking for redress and vengeance. 
 
 GREENE— THE REPUBLICAN HENCHMAN. 
 
 The new Low Commissioner speedily demonstrated his energy. Since 
 } t has been in office the record of dismissals, appointments and promo- 
 
3STBW YORK. 1902-1903. 
 
 tions has exceeded those ever made by any Commissioner or board no 
 matter how long a term of service they may have enjoyed. 
 
 In view of General Greene's record it goes without say> 
 ing that these dismissals, appointments and promotions 
 were dictated entirely by political considerations. The mo- 
 tive to Republicanize the police force was obvious. It was 
 part of the game of Odell. Low & Co. to Republicanize the 
 City of New York. 
 
 General Greene's energy was also shown in the direction of stiffen- 
 ing - up the police in the enforcement of all of the oppressive blue 
 laws on the statute books. Riding furiously in a red devil wagon the 
 Commissioner spent his Sundays stirring up the patrolmen and precinct 
 officers in this work. Not only was the Excise law oppressively enforced, 
 with its full measure of discrimination against the people in the poorer 
 sections of the city, where they have no hotels or clubs to resort to, 
 but the necessary Sunday business of all small tradesmen was stopped 
 to the inconvenience and hardship of customers and store-keepers alike. 
 With all this energy and activity it unfortunately re- 
 mained true that vice and crime received no check and 
 there was no improvement to be noted over the conditions 
 under Commissioner Partridge. 
 
 SHAMEFUL USE OF PUBLIC FUNDS. 
 Commissioner Greene's many activities, like his predecessor's few 
 ones, took peculiar directions. Public opinion was not at all favorable to 
 them under the circumstances. Even if they had been productive of 
 good results, there would have been much criticism of them. In their 
 utter failure they were ridiculous. The General imported Western 
 sleuths, furnished them with money to spend in the Tenderloin, and 
 lisk in the gambling houses. General Greene backed up his private 
 secretary, "the never to be forgotteu Coursey," to the amount of $1,500 
 of the city's money in a crusade upon the Tenderloin. The crusade 
 resulted in no prosecutions or convictions, but left Mr. Coursey battered 
 all up by reason of a row in a saloon. In connection with this bill 
 Comptroller Grout made a very stiff fight before paying it. He thought 
 such use of the public money very objectionable. Concerning it he said: 
 "I threw out two bills the other day for $30, charged to the Police 
 Contingent Fund by two Central Office detectives. I got the full story 
 of how they spent the money. They put on evening clothes, went to 
 the theatre, had supper, and then paid a night hawk cabman to take 
 them to a disorderly house in Forty-ninth street where, they said, the 
 rest of the money was spent on wine and cigarettes and in getting evi- 
 dence. The women were all of nge, and there had been no complaint 
 against that house, so that the detectives did not have the slightest 
 excuse within reason for the good time at the expense of the city. • 
 "But city money is being used in that way all the 
 time and it is an outrage." 
 
 The Coursey methods of police duty and those referred 
 to above by Comptroller Grout were carried to a great ex- 
 treme by Commissioner Greene. 
 A few of the bills for this particular work have found their way into 
 print and it may not be amiss to Introduce them here. They are merely 
 
 samples of hundreds of other bills. 
 January 23, 1903: 
 
 Cab Hire $4.00 
 
 Cabman, for introduction 5.00 
 
 Two Bottles of Champagne 10.00 
 
 Cigarettes for Women 35 
 
 Two Women 122.00 
 
 $41.35. 
 
 Similar expenditures are credited to the Partridge administrat u»n 
 also, but that administration larked the advertising advantages of a 
 
 Coursey. 
 
 On April 23 1902, a bill was rendered as follows: 
 
NEW YORK. 1902-1 003. 
 
 Paid Two Women of West 46th Street House.. $20.00 
 
 Paid to Servant for Wine 10.00 
 
 Paid for Cab Hire ' 2.G0 
 
 $32.00 
 
 In a campaign against a disorderly house on Broadway, Williams- 
 burg, the following expenses were incurred: 
 
 January 31, 1903: 
 Six rounds for twenty inmates, including whisky, soft drinks and 
 
 and cigars ! 510.80 
 
 January 31, 1903: 
 
 Dinner for two female inmates, officer and self 6.i0 
 
 February 1, 1903: 
 
 Four rounds of refreshments for fifteen inmates 7.40 
 
 February 1, 1903: 
 
 Breakfast for two female inmates, officer and self 4.50 
 
 $29.40 
 
 In 1902, out of 321 bills for disbursements of the Police Department, 9$. 
 contained items aggregating as follows: 
 
 Paid to women $987.25 
 
 Paid for wine and disorderly houses 172.50 
 
 Paid for room rent 118.55 
 
 $1,278.60 
 
 In 40 out of 170 bills for 1903 (this account is only up to May 1) ar* 
 these totals: 
 
 Paid to women $306.^0 
 
 Paid for wine, etc.... 71.40 
 
 Paid for room rent 64.75 
 
 $442.65 
 
 MORE REPUBLICAN PLOTTING. 
 Commissioner Greene found lime in spite of this energetic Day and 
 Sunday Police duties of oppression to work up a scheme with his friend 
 Governor Odell to secure legislation at Albany that would fix him in 
 his position for a ten years' term. The pretense of it. which Mayor 
 Low joined heartily in supporting, was that the necessities for reform 
 in the condition of the department were so great that even an energetic 
 military gentleman like General Greene could not hope to- do it in the 
 ordinary term. And this aftei; "Fusion"-Reforin had been in control a 
 ■whole year. The Police Commissioner, like other appointments in the 
 city government made by the Mayor, is subject to the power of removal 
 law, which makes the Mayor supreme over all of them throughout his 
 whole term. It seemed to be evident even in the ranks of the Fusion 
 forces that the disgusted people of Now York would not tolerate their 
 administration beyond the current year. So the Important position, 
 from the Republican machine standpoint, of head of the city police 
 was worth doing something to retain. „ 
 
 This Greene-Low-Odell scheme is another one of the 
 bits of conclusive evidence of the absolute coalition of so- 
 called "Fusion" in this city and the Republican machine. 
 As an Albany correspondent wrote to the New York Sun on March 3; 
 "Everyone who knows anything about politics can readily 
 understand why Governor Odell wants a friendly New York 
 City Police Commissioner, who will be in office for several 
 years to come." 
 
 The reasons which everyone knows were not the only one? that 
 Influenced Governor Odell. He also had his eye on the fact that a bill 
 was then on its way through the Legislature making material increases 
 In the New York police force within the ensuing two year*. Knowing 
 ^ as he did the well understood predilection of "Fusion*' officials for 
 appointing non-residents to office in Nsw York City. he -Was sure that 
 the right Commissioner in Mulberry street would be' a good political 
 investment, on account of the chance this would give for up-State 
 patronage. However, this scheme of perpetuating General Greene in 
 office failed. The partisan project excited such general public indigna- 
 tion that it had to be abandoned. 
 
A') 
 
 NfJW YORK, 1 901^ 1 903. 
 
 OH! MILES O'REILLY. 
 General Greene gayly turned again to his campaign of 
 oppressive enforcement of the Blue Laws, which come to 
 us from the Republican majority of the Legislature. 
 
 An instance of this campaign was the installation xn charge of 
 what is known as the Tenderloin Precinct of a Police Captain who 
 secured his training in Brooklyn, and was utterly without metropolitan 
 experience, except for a few months' spent in the Fourth Ward. As 
 might be expected, a Captain with such experience working on the lines 
 of such a Commissioner as Greene, and with such weapons as the 
 country-made Blue Laws was very much out of place in the centre of 
 the city's hotel and amusement life. 
 
 He floundered about in ludicrous fashion, making blundering arrests 
 and fruitless raids. He was openly laughed at by the inhabitants of his 
 precinct, and, in fact, by the public generally. Even General Greene's 
 hardihood was not equal to keeping up the farce, and it was not long be- 
 fore Captain Miles O'Reilly was relegated to the quiet of Brooklyn, from 
 which he had emerged. On his return to Brooklyn, he gave even more 
 ample testimony to the unsuitable character of his equipment for 
 metropolitan police work. As though confirmed in an appetite for sen- 
 sationalism by his New York experience, he made a bid to remain in 
 the public eye by inaugurating a crusade against public euchre parties 
 in Brooklyn. He found that playing cards were used in the game, 
 that they were shuffled the same as real gamblers shuffle cards, and 
 that there were prizes such as gold clocks, fishing sets, bric-a-brac and 
 fancy neckties, won at these parties. This was sufficient to rouse him 
 to action. 
 
 "Why," he is quoted as saying, "it certainly looks as 
 though there were something for me to do. I am not dead 
 sure that the parties are not on the level, but tney look 
 suspicious, and if they are crooked — why, they have come to 
 the wrong precinct to run them. Miles O'Reilly won't stand 
 for such. Sure I would not arrest the women the first time, 
 but you bet I would take them by the arm and say: 'Get into 
 some other business, my dear, or move on. This won't do in 
 O'Reilly's precinct.' That's the way I Avould talk to them." 
 
 POLICE OPPRESSION DENOUNCED. 
 General Greene's zeal to enforce the Blue Laws enacted by his party 
 friends led him from the extreme of ,the ridiculous, as shown in the 
 case of Captain O'Reilly to the extreme of oppression in the case of 
 many raids. Such raids were so numerous and so outrageous in their 
 character that Supreme Court Justice William J. Gaynor went on 
 record in public denunciation of them, in January, 1903. The strong 
 language Judge Gaynor used was as follows: 
 
 ''The idea that the police may trample under foot the 
 law regulating their conduct, in order to make other people 
 observe the law regulating theirs is strange indeed. It is 
 wholly inconsistent with free government and belongs to 
 despotism. 
 
 -Thrre seems to be more lawless and brutal arrests and house 
 invasions than ever before in the City of New YOrk. Within a few 
 weeks over 1,000 persons, men and women, have been arrested in 
 batches and locked up over night, without being even so much as ac- 
 cused by the police or any one else of any criminal acts whatever. 
 Many of these people were mere visitors to the city, who stepped into 
 the cafe of some licensed place, and in a little while found themselves 
 locked up for the night. The recent lawless and brutal arrest and 
 incarceration in that way of 126 persons in Manhattan is only a sample. 
 The Captain and a retinue of his policemen arrested these people at the 
 cipar counter and bar and seated at tables in the cafe on the street 
 floor of a hotel open to the public under a license from tne State, and 
 where any one had a right to be. They did not let a soul ascape. 
 
 "The prisoners being arraigned in court the following morning, the 
 Magistrate asked the Captain: 'What charge do you make against 
 these prisoners?' 
 
TCEVS YORK 190&- 1008. 
 
 41 
 
 " 'I make no charge,' answered the Captain. 
 
 ''Then why did you arrest them and bring them here?' asked the 
 Magistrate. 
 
 " 'To suppress vice,' answered the Captain, wholly unconscious ap- 
 parently that there are more vices than one, and that he was guilty 
 of a most dangerous vice by his lawless conduct. 
 
 " Did you see them commit any criminal offense?* inquired the 
 Magistrate. 
 
 " 'No,' said the Captain. 
 
 "The Magistrate told him he had committed a great wrong. He 
 could have told him t#at he had committed a grave crime of 
 oppression, defined in the Penal Code, and held him for trial therefor. 
 In the same way a batch of 70 were arrested while seated at tables in 
 a public restaurant licensed by the State over here in Brooklyn, locked 
 up over night and_ discharged by a Magistrate next morning for lack of 
 any charge against them. No one knows why they were raided and 
 arrested. They were in a restaurant which is a rival of another restau- 
 rant for after theatre custom. Are the police to serve one lival by 
 extinguishing the other? 
 
 "Batches of 63 persons, 230 persons and so on through a long list 
 were recently treated in the same way in Manhattan." 
 
 This attitude of Justice Gaynor received very cordial support In the 
 columns of many of the newspapers. The others were so wedde/i to 
 their idols of "Fusion" that they refrained from taking cognisance of 
 this judicial denunciation of the •Fusion" Police Commissioner's out- 
 rages. 
 
 Even later, when the outrages were magnified to such an extent 
 that a total of 593 citizens were subjected to the indignity of police 
 seizure, these "Fusion" organs were silent. The Sun, however, referring 
 to this wholesale arrest of more than half a thousand citizens said: 
 "The responsibility for these illegal acts threatening the 
 rights of every citizen must go right through the police to its 
 highest officer. Clearly the responsibility for these acts rests 
 on the Department of Police. The Commissioner of Police is 
 responsible to the public for the conduct of the department, 
 and a man inspired with a due sense of right and wrong 
 would have issued the order needed to bring the department 
 to its senses weeks ago. Judge Gaynor's view of the situation 
 is of the essence of that personal liberty which is always 
 regarded in this country as among the most sacred posses- 
 sions of its citizens." 
 
 MAYOR LOW APPEALED TO IN VAIN. 
 Even District Attorney Jerome was obliged as the law officer of this 
 community to withhold his indorsement and even condemn these prac- 
 tices of the "Fusion" Police Commissioner. In all this Mayor Low's 
 complacency remained unruffled. No thought of reproving the over- 
 sealous and law defying Police Commissioner ever entered his head. No 
 response was evoked from him when he was called upon by the press 
 to declare himself on the subject. He was even deaf to such a notice 
 as the following, printed in an influential New York paper: 
 
 "It is the duty of the Commissioner of Police to pre- 
 vent a repetition of the outrages which called forth Jus- 
 tice Gaynor's letter. If he neglects to exercise his power 
 to this end, it is the duty of the Mayor to remove him from 
 office." 
 
 The Mayor did not act nor did the Police Commissioner prevent 
 the repetition many times of these outrages. 
 
 POLICE ATTACKED FROM PULPIT. 
 
 The general inefficiency of the police in the suppression of vice, 
 the control or direction of real criminals was constantly shown all this 
 time. In April, the Rev. Cortland Myers, pastor of the Baptist 
 Temple in Brooklyn, was obliged to take up the cudgels against the 
 police to stir them up and prevent gambling and crime, from securing 
 a foothold in the neighborhood of his church. He accused the police 
 of inefficiency and said that gambling and vice were becoming prevalent 
 In the district referred to. Deputy Commissioner Ebstein denied the 
 
42 
 
 NF.W YORK. 1902-1.003. 
 
 charges and endeavored to bring the reverend gentlemen into ridicule 
 for having made them. Mr. Myers retorted by reading from his pulpit 
 one Sunday morning a list of the various places in which his investiga- 
 tions had shown that bookmaking, other forms of gambling and vice 
 flourished. Even in the face of these particulars, the police authorities 
 denied the truth of the charges, and took no steps to remedy the condi- 
 tions complained of. Three weeks later, the reverend gentleman was 
 able to stand up in his pulpit and make the following statement: 
 
 "Three weeks ago I read from this platform a lLst of 25 
 pool rooms in this city, and declared the police were either 
 blind or guilty in the face of the startling conditions, and 
 that in either instance they were unfit for the trust and 
 responsibility imposed upon them. The head of the Police 
 Department was interviewed upon what I said, and he tried 
 to laugh me out of court. The Inspector of Police h>d no 
 other hiding place, so he adopted the same method. But I 
 stand before the public to-day, with a bunch of indictments 
 from the Grand Jury with the arrest of the alleged criminals 
 and the unquestioned exposure of the police, and with more 
 to follow, for the battle is to a finish." 
 Shortly after this, Deputy Commissioner Ebstein took refuge in a trip 
 to Europe ostensibly for a rest and to inspect the Police Department 
 of Berlin. This gave the Rev. Mr. Myers his opportunity to have a 
 laugh on Ebstein. He said of him: 
 
 "He has proven himself unfit for the office he holds. If 
 he is ignorant 'Shame.' If any other guilt attaches to his 
 office 'twice shame.' What a minister or any other citizen 
 can find out he can. He is overworked, according to reports, 
 and is going to Europe for a rest. I have done his work for 
 the last two months and have not received a cent of pay. 
 I deserve at least that the vacation should come to me, and 
 if he is going to Berlin to inspect the Police Department of 
 that city, I could do it as well as he, perhaps better. The 
 Inspector of Police made a boyish bluff and said that he • 
 would give a donation to my church if I would show him 
 one pool room in Brooklyn. He did not say how much his 
 donation was to be, but if it is measured by the size of his 
 police ability, this church has no use for him. I have been 
 asked why I did not give that list of pool rooms to the Police 
 Department before making it public. We had given such a 
 list to the Police Department once, and nothing was ever 
 done with it." 
 
 In September Commissioner Greene appointed 815 new patrolmen, 
 is Commissioner Greene is a Fusion-Odell-Lcw officer, and the Civil 
 Service Commissioners are also allies of the Republican State Machine, 
 it goes without saying that a large proportion of these appointees were 
 
 Son-residents of this city. The condition which resulted when thU 
 atch of new appointees were sent on post is thus described in a daily 
 lewspapcr: 
 
 "NEW COPS BEWILDERED. 
 
 "Unable to Locate City Hall Park and Chatham Square." 
 
 "Some of the 315 new patrolmen appointed by Commis- 
 sioner Greene yesterday are having a hard time learing the 
 geographical construction of their new posts. In a certain 
 precinct near the City Hall a sergeant turned some of the 
 recruits out on post for the first time yesterday. One of them 
 said hesitatingly that he didn't know where to go. 
 
 " 'Your post Is near City Hall Park,' directed the ser- 
 geant. 
 
 "'Wh- Where is City Hall Pari;' 1 ' sl;itVr.-d tin- embarrassed 
 policeman. Another caused astonishment on account of his 
 ignorance of the location of Chatham Square. • 
 
 "Much wonderment Is expressed at this lack of geographi- 
 cal knowledge, as In the Civil Service ratings a percentage of 
 26 is allowed for 'city information.' " 
 
"NEW YORK, 1902-1903. 
 
 ASPHALT GREENE MORALIZING. 
 
 In turning loose this batch of new policemen, Commissioner Greene 
 presented certificates of appointment to them in the Sixty-ninth Regi- 
 ment Armory, and also presented them with some gems of good advice. 
 To do these countrymen credit, it must be said that they are intelligent 
 newspaper readers, and seemed to be fully cognizant of their lecturers' 
 unsavory connection with the Asphalt Trust. The edifying exercises 
 in the armory are described by one who was present: 
 
 "While Greene eloquently pictured the trials and temptations that 
 beset the New York policemen on all sides, he unfortunately made a 
 little break which destroyed the effect of his words, and almost upset 
 the strict discipline that the fledgling cops were displaying. 'I warn you 
 most impressively, never to yield to temptation, and to repeatedly spurn 
 it, in whatever shape or manner it may come to you, for sooner or 
 later, you will be found out.' " % 
 
 There were several half smothered snickers audible in the drill 
 room, and several of the new policemen flushed an appopletic red in 
 their efforts to suppress an outburst or laughter. As for Greenes' mor- 
 alization and the effect it had upon his raw recruits that afternoon it 
 has been frequently described in station house section room, and it never 
 fails to provoke unlimited mirth. 
 
 ASPHALT GREENE. 
 
 A Sample Brick in the Fusion Structure — Accused of Swin- 
 dling Widows and Orphans — Get-Rich-Quick Methods. 
 
 Had a member of the uniformed police force been accused of the 
 peculiar acts in connection with the wrecking of the Asphalt Trust, as 
 General Greene, the "Fusion" Police Commissioner, has had charged up 
 to him, he would have been instantly suspended by the Commissioner 
 himself. By the, exposures in the proceedings of the United States Court, 
 at Trenton, before Judge Kirkpatrick, these acts can only be classed as 
 a criminal conspiracy, cunningly devised. 
 
 It has been shown that the scheme had absorbed the 
 trust funds of widows, orphans and innocent persons. 
 
 The spoliation was in progress for eighteen months. The men who 
 promoted the Asphalt Trust with General Greene were regarded as 
 citizens of solid respectability and social and financial prestige. 
 
 The Trust was formed under the obliging laws of New Jersey on 
 July 6, 1S99, with a capital authorized at $30,000,000 in shares of $50 each. 
 It was designated in the articles of incorporation as The Asphalt Com- 
 pany of America. 
 
 In exchange for the securities of the properties acquired, there were 
 issued $30,000,000 five per cent, collateral gold trust certificates. The 
 stock won confidence. Bankers and trust companies bought the certifi- 
 cates, and trustees of estates, guardians of widows and orphans, in- 
 vested trust funds, paying from 90 to 97 per cent, of the face value. 
 
 In 1900, John M. Mack combined several independent companies, and 
 Jie and a few associates, under the name of the National Asphalt Com- 
 pany, were "taken in" by the Trust. Some of the Mack plants were 
 worth only a few thousands. Then the unassessed liability of $40 a share 
 on the American company was converted into National 5 per cent, bonds, 
 of which $6,000,000 were issued. When the market quotations of the 
 bonds fell on November 14, 1901, the promoters announced that the 
 intrinsic A'alue of the securities was as first represented, but bonds which 
 had been unloaded upon the public at 95 sold at 46. Before the end 
 of December they had reached 27^. A "protective committee" of men 
 of the highest standing was appointed to acquire all the bonds that it 
 could. 
 
 The promoters agreed to pay $2,250,000, and received the bonds and 
 $4,500,000 common stock of the newly-formed General Asphalt Company. 
 
44 
 
 NEW YORK. 1902—1903. 
 
 Preferred stock was issued to the defrauded bondholders at the ratio of 
 1 to 2, and the "collateral gold certificates"— selling them at 22— disap- 
 peared from sight. 
 
 Then Hepry Tatnall was appointed Receiver of the Trust upon 
 application of several persons who charged a combine to "freeze" them 
 out. In the course of his investigation, the Receiver applied to Judge 
 Kirkpatrick. of the United States Court, at Trenton, N. J., for an order, 
 which was granted, directing him to proceed against General Francis 
 Vinton Greene, Police Commissioner of New York; Amzi L. Barber, 
 George W. Elkins, J. J. Albright, Edward Hayes, C. K. Robinson, E. B. 
 Warren, W. L. Elkins, G. S. Wiedner, S. F. Tyler, W. J. Latta, W. H. 
 Crocker and H. C. Spinks, to account for and pay over profits which 
 they were alleged to have made in the organization of the Asphalt Com- 
 pany of America in connection with acquiring subsidiary companies. 
 
 It was estimated by the Receiver that after distributing all the 
 moneys received, there would remain due and unpaid, without assets, 
 more than $27,750,000 by way of deficiency on the creditors' claims. 
 
 General Greene wa£ the most active in the formation 
 of the Trust, and his share of the profit upon the merging 
 of the companies amounted to more than cne million 
 dollars. 
 
 Henry Tatnall, Receiver for the Trust, contends that the men who 
 promoted the scheme privately bought large holdings of stock in the 
 subsidiary companies at cheap prices, and then turned in their holdings 
 to the big company at par, receiving therefor gold certificates to an 
 amount thus scandalously excessive. He estimated the profits thus 
 squeezed from the investors in the bonds to be $4,000,000. Examples of 
 this scheme follow: 
 
 Amzi L. Barber, father-in-law of Genera! Greene; 
 General Greene himself, and George W. Elkins bought up 
 13,325 shares each of stock in the United Asphalt Com- 
 pany, paying therefor in money and obligations, $613,000. 
 They transferred them to the Asphalt Company of Amer- 
 ica, receiving therefor gold certificates amounting to $3,- 
 670,000. At the lowest market price during the month 
 when the transfer was made, their profits were $2,666,560. 
 
 GENERAL GREENE, Amzi L. Barber, Edmund Hayes, 
 George D. Weidener, C. K. Robinson, G. W. Elkins and 
 E. Burgess Warren bought 1.515 shares of the New Trin- 
 idad Lake Asphalt Company. Limited, at $48.50 a share, 
 and transferred it to the Asphalt Company of America 
 at $100 a share. 
 
 Greene, Barber and Elkins transferred 9,493 shares of tho Warren- 
 Scharf Asphalt Paving Company of America to the Asphalt Company 
 of America at an estimated profit of $539,096. 
 
 The official action taken by the receiver was mapped out along 
 these lines. First, he brought suit against the promoters of the Asphalt 
 Company of America. Second, he start?d proceedings against the regis- 
 tered holders of the company's stock, to recover the assessment liability 
 of $24,000,000. The Court advised, however, that this action be delayed 
 until the first suit was settled. Thirdly, he is to proceed against John 
 M. Marks and his asso< iatr-s tu compol them to reimburse investors 
 who lost money through the Fame kind of manipulation as the Greene- 
 Barber group practiced. 
 
 The court records show that the Asphalt Company of America, paid 
 In gold certificates for stock the following suns per share: 
 
 Atlantic Alcatraz Asphalt, $1,000, par value $100; 
 Soutnern Asphalt Company, $1,020, par value $100: Alca- 
 traz Paving Company, $500. par value $50; Utica Paving 
 Company, $510, par value $100; Barber Asphalt Paving 
 Compuny. $300, par value $100; New Trinidad Lake As- 
 phalL $100, par value $48.50; Warren-Sc harf Asphalt Com- 
 pany, $240, par value $100; Alcattaz Asphalt Com- 
 pany, $160. par value $100; Alcatraz Company of West 
 
NEW YORK. 190C-1903. 
 
 45 
 
 Virginia, $6, par value $5; Denver Paving Company, $5, 
 par value $1; Alcatraz Construction Company, $104, par 
 value $100. 
 
 As if expecting some such result as civil or criminal proceeding*, 
 the interested persons, it is charged, procured the passage of an act 
 last Spring in the New Jersey Legislature, limiting the period during 
 which promoters may be sued ^recover unlawful profits to four years 
 after the making of such profits: Consequently it became necessary for 
 the Receiver to begin the suits on July 5, 1903. Under this new law 
 the time limit on the asphalt promoters would have expired before the 
 next term of court. 
 
 Mayor Low was asked when the scandal was exposed if he did not 
 consider it his duty to suspend General Greene as Police Commissioner 
 pending the trial of the suits. He replied: 
 "I have nothing to say." 
 When Corporation Counsel Rives was asked if the Mayor had power 
 to remove or suspend General Greene, he merely said: 
 "I consider it impertinent to ask me such a question." 
 General Greene did not resign. He refused to discuss the subject, 
 but said briefly: 
 
 "I feel confident that the decision will be against the 
 Receiver, but if the courts determine otherwise and finally 
 decide that I have injured any one, I must, of course, abide 
 by the decision and make reparation to the utmost limit of 
 my ability. When the Asphalt Company of America was 
 formed I was guided by the advice of the best counsel I 
 <:ould obtain," 
 
 Which means, of course, that if he could get away 
 with the profits and escape criminal prosecution he would 
 do so, but that there was any moral reason why he should 
 make restitution, he did not appear to recognize. 
 •'Reparation" was the word he used instead of "restitution." 
 The Republican machine caused a law to be passed giving the 
 Governor of the State power to remove a Commissioner of Police in 
 New York. On this point the New Tork Sun said editorially on July 
 20, 1903: 
 
 "The real purpose of this provision has been defeated by 
 the act of the Governor of this State. At the very time when 
 the present Police Commissioner Greene, Mayor Low's ap- 
 pointee, is under charges, the gravity of which would, in the 
 case of a member of the uniformed force, lead to his summary 
 suspension, the Governor accompanies the accused Commis- 
 sioner on a midsummer pleasure trip over the Great Lakes 
 and across the continent!" 
 
 "What must be the effect upon the police force of the 
 continued presence of General Greener'" asked the Brooklyn 
 Citizen on August 16, 1903, "with the revelation of his asphalt 
 record brought prominent to the public view, at the head of 
 the department? Is the protection of the morals of the com- 
 munity placed in the right hands when the chosen instrument 
 of the administration is a man who confesses that there is a 
 possibility that he committed a moral wrong in the. formation 
 of the Asphalt Trust, and that if the courts decide against him 
 he is willing to make restitution to the full extent of his 
 ability?" 
 
 Such is the official who is the recognized guardian of the property, 
 character, peace and morals of the City of Greater New York. 
 
 New York City has had an experience with the Trust whi^h was 
 not only mostly in a financial sense, hut dangerous to health in the 
 shameful condition of its streets and asphalt pavements which needed 
 repairing. It was alleged many times that contractors refused to 
 repair the damage and wear and tear, as they knew that the influence 
 of General Greene would support them as customers of the Asphalt 
 Trust. 
 
 Vote against Republicanism masked as non-cartisanship. 
 
NEW YCPwX. 1902-1003. 
 
 MAGISTRATE HOGAN ON POLICE BLACKMAIL 
 
 "Fusion" Graft Exposed — The IWw-Greene Administration 
 Covers Up Corruption in the Police Department — Who 
 Is the Fusion John Doe? 
 
 In urging its claims for the election of Low and his associates two 
 years ago, the Fusionists repeatedly assailed the condition of the Police 
 Department, as managed by the Democratic administration then in 
 power, and alleged on every available occasion that crime was allowed 
 to flourish in its most obnoxious forms, that extortion, blackmail and 
 numerous other kinds of corruption existed among and were protected 
 by policemen, and that .the revenue received from these nefarious prac- 
 tices was shared in, not only by those in subordinate position in the 
 department, but also by those "higher-up," who (it was admitted), could 
 not be traced by name, but whom for convenience they called "John 
 Doe." This condition and these practices they promised to stamp out. 
 When, therefore, they were successful at the polls in November, it was 
 expected that great results would flow from their efforts in this, if in 
 no other, direction. From the lowest to the highest member of the 
 force all kinds of vice, it was supposed, would be eliminated. 
 
 Two years have almost passed since that party of great promises 
 took office, and what is the result? Have they made good their word 
 as respects the Police Department? Have they turned it into the 
 place of purity they claimed it could be made? It is the general opinion 
 that they have not. It is also the fact. Those were hypocritical 
 promises they made for campaign purposes, which they never had any 
 Intention of carrying out, irrespective of the question of their being able 
 to do so. 
 
 Under the "Fusion" administration some policemen, 
 some captains and some sergeants have been levying and 
 collecting money from persons violating the law as the 
 price of allowing them to do so. 
 
 That some police officials also did this under other administrations 
 cannot be denied. Several instances follow, the continuance of such 
 practices from the commencement of the Low regime. 
 
 But the peculiarities of "Reform" reasoning result in quite a dif- 
 ferent treatment on the subject now. Instead of treating the disclosures 
 of these conditions as a reflection upon the "Fusion" administration and 
 as leading up to a "Fusion" John Doe, Mayor Low and Commissioner 
 Greene, take refuge in efforts to suppress the facts and in denials that 
 no one believes. Magistrate Hogan, Magistrate Ommen, and others who 
 have the public spirit and the courage to attack the "Fusion" system 
 of graft are reviled, accused of partisanship and made the objects 
 of unprincipled and unscrupulous attempts to bring them into discredit. 
 THE WEINBERG-SOLLISH OUTRAGE. 
 At No. 247 West Thirty-ninth street a disorderly house 
 had been running for some time previous to June 23, 1903, 
 unmolested by the police; but on the evening of that day 
 at the request of one Weinberg and a young girl named 
 Julia Sollish, who claimed that her sister was an inmate 
 of that house, Officers Zimmerman and O'Rourke were de- 
 tailed by Sergeant Nash, of the West Thirty-seventh Street 
 Station, to go with them to that address. 
 When they arrived there the officers went inside, telling Weinberg 
 and the young girl to wait for them. The officers returned In a few 
 minutes and had the young man and girl go in with them. Upon being 
 admitted Weinberg and his companion were tcid that her sister was not 
 there, in which the officers seemed to acquisce; but as Weinberg and his 
 
NEW YORK, 1002-1903. 
 
 47 
 
 companion insisted that she was there she was at last produced. Then 
 Weinberg was asked to go to the Pennsylvania Hotel, at Thirty-sixth or 
 Thirty-seventh street, for Captain P'erris, of the West Thirty-seventh 
 Street Station, which he did without success, and returned to the house 
 to find the captain mysteriously there. 
 
 The proprietress of the house, Minnie Lewis, and the 
 other inmates thereof, including the young girl's sister, 
 were then taken to the West Thirty-seventh Street Station 
 House, where they gave bail. Weinberg was, however, 
 sent to a cell, on a ridiculous charge of disorderly conduct 
 instigated by the real offenders. 
 The bail given for two of the inmates and accepted at that time was 
 executed by Minnie Lewis, the proprietress of that disorderly house as 
 surety, under the name of Millie Pelta. She gave the disorderly house as 
 security, claiming she, owned it, when in fact it was owned jointly by 
 herself and husband. 
 
 If Officers O'Rourke and Zimmerman were entirely honest and above 
 board, and had no relations with the proprietress of the West Thirty- 
 ninth street house of which they were ashamed or which they did not 
 wish to be scrutinized, why did they not allow Weinberg and his com- 
 panion to enter when they did and not cause them to remain outside? 
 The answer to this question is not hard to read by any one desiring 
 the truth. 
 
 THE POLICE MOTIVE PLAIN. 
 If Captain Ferris was not in some way unpleasantly connected with 
 that house, why did he so mysteriously appear upon the scene; and 
 having arrested the inmates, why did he and Sergeant Nash accept 
 bail bonds from Minnie Lewis under an assumed name if there was not 
 corruption on their part and complicity with her? This same captain 
 on trial before Commissioner Ebstein on the 21st, testified that according 
 to an opinion of Corporation Counsel Rives, he had nothing else to do but 
 accept the bonds when offered. But aside from the assinity of the 
 Corporation Counsel's opinion (if he has handed down such a one), there 
 is the salient fact of the woman giving two different names, which, had 
 the captain and sergeant been disinterested and entirely free from any 
 imputation of blame, would have caused them to have rejected bail 
 bonds so given. 
 
 If not expressly, then impliedly but indubitably and 
 most convincingly, it is shown by the above facts that the 
 Thirty-ninth street house was one protected by the cap- 
 tain, the sergeant and the policemen of the West Thirty- 
 seventh Street Precinct. 
 
 THE CONIZIO CASE. 
 On June 13, 1903, Salvatorie Conizio, who had a fruit store 
 at No. 34 Spring street, sent his niece, Annunciato Concalva, upstairs to 
 his apartments to get a towel to wipe off his fruit. At the moment she 
 started upstairs, two officers, Richard and Wiegold, appeared in the 
 store, and accused him of selling one-half gallon of wine to this girl in 
 violation of the Excise law. While the girl was on her way upstairs, she 
 was followed by Richard, while Wiegold remained in the store with 
 Conizio; but Wiegold' and Conizio followed them upstairs after a few 
 minutes. 
 
 The officers went in Conizio's apartments and took a 
 half-gallon demijohn of wine frcm under his bed. Beth of- 
 ficers struck Conizio and his wife severely at that time. 
 They took Conizio to the station house. The next day he 
 was arraigned before Magistrate Hogan, but, upon being 
 tried, was dismissed. 
 
 It may safely be said that Wiegold and Richard did not institute this 
 proceeding against the Italian through pursuit of duty; for previous to 
 the day of the arrest Wiegold, while accompanied by Richard, told this 
 manjf he would pay them $10 he might sell his wine without fear of 
 the Excise law, and Conizio refused to make any such payment. It 
 therefore appears that after having tried to make him pay without force. 
 
4S 
 
 NEW YORK. 1902-1903. 
 
 they resorted to legal proceedings for this purpose, expecting that he 
 would prefer this to going to the trouble and expense of defending- such 
 a case. They could not have expected to have had him held on such 
 flimsy evidence as above, and it may be safely said they did not. 
 
 The officers had no right to enter his house, and were without au- 
 thority to search his place. Nor should they have arrested him for 
 sending wine to his apartment for family use, admitting he did so. 
 
 This was a plain case of "graft." 
 
 A HANDBOOK HOLD-UP. 
 
 Robert E. Ullner and John E. Gallegan, two officers stationed at Che 
 First Precinct, appeared before Magistrate Hogan with a man charged 
 with making a handbook for a bet of $5; but upon being tried the pris- 
 oner was discharged for insufficiency of evidence. 
 
 This was a plain "hold-up" case. These officers had 
 arrested this man expecting he would pay them to release 
 him. They knew they had no evidence against him. Ad- 
 ditional force is given to this statement when it is re- 
 called that Ullner is a lawyer. 
 
 Furthermore, it may be stated in corroboration of the truth of this 
 statement that these same officers bragged in court that women they 
 arrested went to jail or went free, as they wished. In other words, if 
 they were paid by those they arrested, they did not press the charge. 
 
 These same officers, Ullner and Gallegan, figured in a disor- 
 derly house case in which they failed to produce sufficient evidence to 
 convict and which was another case of "hold-up." The hotel was in 
 Whitehall street. In this case it appeared that Ullner and Gallegan 
 had made up between them, as they said, that if an unfortunate woman 
 solicited them, the one solicited was to go to a hotel with her, and if the 
 same woman solicited the other officer he was also to go to a hotel with 
 her. Both officers testified in court that they were solicited by the 
 woman in the Whitehall street case; that they had known her on the 
 Battery as a prostitute; that they had gone to a hotel with her on the 
 Bowery as a prostitute some time before; and yet they went to a hotel 
 with her in this instance and registered as man and wife to get evidence 
 against her. The Magistrate asked them in court if it was not a plain 
 case of "hold-up;" and they would not reply. Their silence In this regard 
 needs no comment. 
 
 But this is not the only instance in which Ullner figured to his dis- 
 advantage. 
 
 He became intimate with an unfortunate woman. She had a quarrel 
 with another of her kind, and wishing to be revenged had Ullner arrest 
 her. After the arrest, and her release, Ullner wrote a letter to her and 
 signed Captain Schmittberger's name to it. Upon receipt of it, she took 
 it to the captain; but he did nothing about it, did not report it nor have 
 charges preferred against Ullner, as he should have done had he per- 
 formed his duty. 
 
 QUESTIONABLE ATTITUDE OF SUPERIORS. 
 
 But charges of impropriety and unconscionable practice in official 
 positions are not confined to the subordinate officers of the department. 
 The conduct of those "higher-up," to be hereafter stated and com- 
 mented upon, shows unmistakably that the house is not clean in this 
 direction either. In making such statements and comments those 
 "higher-up" will not be styled "John Doe." The Democratic party in 
 making charges does not deal in generalities, as do the Fusionists, but 
 In plain facts that can be sustained. 
 
 Edward Hogan, Judge of the City Magistrates' Court, spoke to a 
 reporter of the New York Sun on August IS, and told him about the 
 cases of the policemen heretofore mentioned, and stated that the sys- 
 tem of "graft" and "hold-ups" in the Police Department was greater 
 than ever before. This interview appeared in the Sun of that date. 
 Upon the same day Commissioner Greene wrote a letter to the Magis- 
 trate in which he asked him for the facts in regard to the cases 
 mentioned in that Interview as it appeared in the Sun. The Judge 
 replied to this letter on the 14th and referred the Commissioner to the 
 ourts in which the records of these cases were. Thereupon the Com- 
 missioner referred the whole matter to his Third Deputy Gherardl 
 
KLSW YORK. 1902-1903. 
 
 49 
 
 Davis, who instituted an investigation of the matter and took a mass 
 of evidence about it. This evidence he transmitted with his report to 
 the Commissioner. 
 
 The Deputy's method of taking testimony in the mat- 
 ter was most high-handed.. The questions put to the po- 
 licemen who were before him were so framed as to fore- 
 shadow what their answer should be. They were beyond 
 cavil leading ones. If his object in doing this was not to 
 whitewash or suppress facts (which seems to be a 
 "Fusion" trick), it is difficult to understand what it was, 
 unless he was guilty of complicity in the matter. 
 
 His conduct was especially represensible when it Is remem- 
 bered that he is himself a lawyer and presumed to know the 
 proper method of bringing out facts upon examination. In his report to 
 the Commissioner he gives his indorsement to the manner of getting 
 evidence against unfortunate women by two officers going to a hotel with 
 the same woman on the same night. This is certainly a depraved way of 
 obtaining evidence; and such policemen as pursue it cannot and ought 
 not to he upheld, and the person upholding him takes a place in the same 
 category with him. Yet this same Deputy upholds the Officers Ullner 
 and Gallegan in just such procedure. It would not seem unjustifiable, 
 therefore, to attribute the Deputy's zeal in trying to clear these officers 
 of any blame more to personal reasons than to a wish to maintain 
 the integrity of the department by withholding or whitewashing the 
 facts. But either view of the case does not redound to the Deputy's 
 credit. Nor is the position of the Commissioner himself an enviable 
 one; •for upon the report of his Deputy be.ing received he wrote Judge 
 Hogan a letter approving it, bearing date August 18, 1903, and 
 inclosed a copy of the report to the Magistrate in that letter as well as 
 a copy of the testimony taken by the Deputy. 
 
 In his letter to the Magistrate of the 18th the Commissioner asks if 
 he is not satisfied from a perusal of the report and testimony that he 
 was mistaken in his charges and if he will not withdraw them, saying 
 if he will not, he will immediately place all the officers accused on trial, 
 when they will be convicted or acquitted. The Magistrate on Aug. 25 wrote 
 the Commissioner a letter in which he stated he was not satisfied with 
 the investigation and called attention to the fact that the evidence taken 
 in the several cases in point before him as a Magistrate still stood, not 
 having been appealed from or reversed. The Commissioner thereupon 
 placed these officers on trial. An examination of these proceedings will 
 show that they are characterized by the same zeal to uphold the officers 
 by hiding the facts as was the previous investigation before the Deputy. 
 While the Commissioner and his deputies evinced a desire that the 
 Magistrate should be present when the examination was going on, he 
 has at least once started the examination at an earlier date than had 
 been expressly agreed upon with the Magistrate, showing that there was 
 a strong feeling that the interests of "Fusion" in the department could 
 be best served by making the investigation a family affair and not one 
 in open court. 
 
 FUSION HYPOCRISY AGAIN. 
 In making charges against the department in the last campaign, 
 at which time it was under Democratic control, the Fusionists stated 
 tiiat they did so for purely patriotic considerations as well as from 
 civic pride in seeing that it was properly conducted; and yet when a 
 gentleman of standing, but (from the "Fusion" standpoint) unfortunately 
 a Democrat, makes identical charges against it when under "Fusion" 
 control, except that these charges are nearer to the ground and deal in 
 facts and not generalities, it is called a Democratic trick. A specific 
 instance of this is shown In Commissioner Greene's letter of the 18th of 
 August to the Magistrate, in which he says: "I am bound to assume 
 that your sole object in this matter is to punish members of the police 
 force who are guilty of blackmail, 'hold-ups' or extortion of any other 
 form." 
 
 As further emphasizing the statement that all is not as it should be 
 "higher-up," attention might and should be called to the punishment 
 meted out by the Commissioners and his deputies to offending members 
 
50 
 
 NEW YORK. 1902— 1903L 
 
 of the force. The case of Captain Ferris, who has been heretofore 
 referred to in connection with the Sollish case, will illustrate this. He 
 was up on the charge of permitting the house in Thirty-ninth street, in 
 which the Sollish girl was found, to run unmolested, and upon other 
 charges of dereliction of duty; and upon being tried, although found 
 guilty of each of the offenses charged, was fined but two days' pay. 
 This, to say the least about it, is certainly not conducting the affairs 
 of the department to the best interests of the community; and a darker 
 view is necessarily taken of the circumstances when it Is considered 
 that in the past officers similarly charged and found guilty have been 
 dismissed from the force. 
 
 As showing the manner of man the Third Deputy Commissioner, 
 Gherardi Davis is, an incident which occurred at Police Headquarters 
 a short time ago is important. A sergeant was summoned before the 
 Deputy and told that he would have him fined about 50 days' pay and 
 suspended for some thirty days for a small offense of which the sergeant 
 was entirely innocent and could so prove himself. The sergeant told 
 him to go ahead and prefer charges as soon as he wished. While 
 they were talking together the sergeant saw on the lapel of Davis* 
 coat a button of the Sons of the Revolution, of which he was himself 
 a member; and thereupon he took from his vest the button that he 
 wore and threw it on the floor. Davis asked him what he was doing, 
 and he told him. When he told the Deputy that he, too, was a member 
 of that order, but in the future would not be. in view of the Deputy's 
 membership, that gentleman became very tractable and apologetic It 
 is thus seen that this deputy is actuated rather by social considerations 
 in disposing of cases than by justice. It might be added that Davis 
 never preferred or caused any charges to be made against this ser- 
 geant. 
 
 PRAYER OF THE REPUBLICANS. 
 
 "You must save the city far us," 
 
 Cried- Republicans to Low; 
 "Don't forget next year we'll need it, 
 
 Or poor Teddy he'll eat crow. 
 So Tom and Ben and Chauncey, too. 
 
 United must be now; 
 Every mother's son together. 
 
 Join in the great Pow-Wow. 
 Say you're Fusion, Cit, or Goo-Goo, 
 
 It don't matter what you think; 
 But prevent the vote3 from slipping, 
 
 Or we all will surely sink. 
 Don't speak of the post office. 
 
 Or the grafters in our ranks. 
 Humbug is the capital 
 
 In our bluff and promise banks. 
 We have Teddy really with us. 
 
 And he'll stand for all our acts; 
 Leave him to do the shouting, 
 
 And keep away from stating facts.** 
 
 \ 
 
 r Vote for Honest Democratic Administration in touch with the 
 wants of the people. 
 
NEW YORK, 1902-1903. 
 
 CI 
 
 LOW AND PERSONAL LIBERTY. 
 
 Law-Abiding, Moral Citizens Arrayed Against Mayor Low for 
 
 His Alliance with the Party of Intolerance — Natives 
 
 and Foreign-Born Citizens Agree. 
 
 Mayor Low and his "Fusion" administration have lost ground more 
 dh astrously in the direction of what is sometimes known as the German 
 vofi than in any other. This fact is so apparent to him and to the 
 managers of the Boss Cutting campaign that the Mayor has been 
 mo\Vd to an utterance in which he again reverses himself on the im- 
 porti nt question of personal liberty. This question is not interesting 
 in this campaign solely from the standpoint of the Germans. There are 
 large numbers of citizens foreign born or of foreign descent, but of 
 other nationalities than German who are thoroughly imbued by tradi- 
 tion with the spirit of personal liberty which the Germans are so de- 
 voted to. 
 
 They do not recognize the right of a narrow, illiberal 
 and intolerant Republican majority in the interior of the 
 State to impose the limitations necessary in those com- 
 munities upon the cosmopolitan people of this great city. 
 
 They resent the open alliance which Mayor Low has made with the 
 representatives of that intolerant spirit, and the fact that he allowed 
 Governor Odell, the head of the Republican State machine, to dictate 
 the apointiiient of Police Commissioner Greene, for the apparent purpose 
 of harrying them and carrying out certain political schemes. 
 
 "SUNDAY BEER." 
 They al^o very bitterly resent the attitude of <he "Fusion" press and 
 the "Fusion" orators in holding up to derision these views that they 
 hold. Instead of receiving the credit that belongs to them as thinking, 
 law-abiding, substantial citizens, with their own views of rig|^and 
 wrong, under which they certainly have a very high standard or mo- 
 rality, they are constantly pictured as an almost irresponsible body 
 swayed and controlled by no higher consideration than the prospect of 
 securing or losing their "Sunday beer." 
 
 Mayor Low has recently been aroused to the dangers of the situation 
 from a political standpoint; hence the reversal alluded to. Chairman 
 Henry Weisman, of the German-American Municipal League of Brook- 
 lyn, is the reporter who gave publicity to the language of the Mayor s 
 latest flop on the subject. Here are the words: 
 
 "It is impossible to carry out reforms that make the 
 record complete in a two-year term. This is particularly 
 true of the excise question. The great mission of General 
 Greene was to abolish blackmail in the Police Depart- 
 ment. In order to accomplish this result he had to infcrce 
 the law. When his mission is completed it will be possi- 
 ble to permit a liberal construction of the excise law." 
 THE MAYOR'S PALTERING POSITION. 
 Though this is a very guarded statement, it is sufficiently liberal to 
 displease the other element of the "Fusion" party, which Mayor Low 
 caters to when he supports Commissioner Greene's raids and oppres- 
 sions. It is. however, hardly strong enough to make much impression 
 upon the feeling of dissatisfaction already alluded to. The great mass 
 of the Germans and other foreigners, together with the liberal-minded 
 people of native birth, recall Mayor Low's utterances in the campaign 
 of two years ago. He thoroughly committed himself then to the doc- 
 trine that "the extreme of the law is t H <* extreme of injustice," and 
 
OPPRESSION AND PLUNDER. 
 
kizw york. 1002-1003. 
 
 53 
 
 said In ro many words that the Fusion administration, if he was elected, 
 would not mean a- blue-law administration. The disapointmeut in th«^ 
 results which followed this quite definite statement was very great. It 
 is not to be expected that any better results or greater satisfaction will 
 follow the cautious^ campaign declaration now made by Mayor Low, 
 that some time "it will be possible to permit a liberal construction of 
 the excise law."' 
 
 The Mr. Weisman who retailed this report of the Mayor's position is 
 alleged to have informed the Mayor that the declaration would be suf- 
 ficient and satisfactory as he reported it. In this he is entirely at vari- 
 ance with Mr. Otto Streitz, chairman of the German-American League 
 Campaign Committee, who said: 
 
 "The sentiment of the German people is entirely 
 against Mayor Low. 
 I wonder where Mr. Weisman got the information that it would be 
 otherwise? He certainly didn't get it in the Third District (Brooklyn). 
 We went among the people in that district and they didn't know him; 
 yet that is his own district. Take a vote in any society in South 
 Brooklyn or in Williamsburg, and I will guarantee that it will be 
 against Low." 
 
 President Tokaji supplemented this by saying: 
 
 "Mr. Weisman pretends to be a leader of the German-Americans in 
 Brooklyn. How in the world can be be such a leader when bis organiza- 
 tion is purely and simply a Republican organization? That is al! it is. 
 Our organization is composed of independent Democrats and independent 
 Republicans. We will not stand for Low." 
 
 THE PEOPLE'S POSITION DEFINED. 
 Another prominent German expresses the opinion that Mr. Weisman 
 would have his hands full in the endeavor to keep even his assoeiation 
 of Republican Germans in hand. He adds that under no circumstances 
 should the Germans as a body support u party which does not *listen 
 to the just demands of liberal-minded citizens. 
 
 The Germans are asking for no special privileges, but 
 they are of the same opinion as other liberal-minded men, 
 namely, that the Sunday laws made by the up-State legis- 
 lators should not be applied in the same spirit to the in- 
 habitants of a cosmopolitan city like New York as to the 
 farmers in a small village in the country. 
 This important feature of the campaign is receiving the serious at- 
 tention of the New York Herald, in which, on September 21, 1903, the 
 following information was printed: 
 
 The Herald has accurately portrayed the feeling prevail- 
 ing to-day among the voters of German birth and descent 
 who have, so many times, swung this city from Tammany 
 to reform and back again. With a view to arriving at an in- 
 telligent idea of how the voters of the city, of German birth 
 or descent, will vote at the approaching municipal election, 
 the Herald has had careful and systematic inquiries made by <• 
 a German journalist of experience, who was under instruc- 
 tions to give the result without bias. He has done so in the 
 following article. It shows, briefly, that Mayor Low, to win, 
 must recover an apparent indicated loss of 25 per cent, of the 
 German vote, which is placed at 125,000 in the entire city, 
 or make it up in some other way. He had 75 per cent, of this 
 vote in 1901. He will probably get only 50 per cent, of it now. 
 The percentage lost is 31,250, or just about what his majority 
 was when he beat Edward M. Shepard. The conclusions of 
 the Herald investigator follow: 
 
 Two years ago the German vote, so called, which again is 
 classed as a deciding factor in the coming municipal cam- 
 paign, aided materially in the success of the Fusion ticket. 
 Fully 75 per cent, of the 125. COO German voters cast their votes 
 for Mr. Low and his associates. It will require considerable 
 effort this year, as matters stand on the eve of the campaign, 
 to obtain for the same candidate 50 per cent. — that" is, to split 
 the German vote. 
 
NEW YORK. t90S»~lft03. 
 
 They talk about personal liberty and claim that Mr. 
 Low has broken his ante-election promise to interpret 
 liberally the Sunday laws. They also call him an aristo- 
 crat, surrounded by men who do not understand the cos- 
 mopolitan character of New York's population. 
 
 They find fault with him for not having given the Ger- 
 mans representation in the administration, and say he has not 
 found it necessary to acquaint himself \vith their wants and 
 requests. They say that they have never been able to gain 
 his ear when they had grievances to present. Some, also, are 
 inclined to hold the Fusion administration responsible for the 
 fancied curtailing of the teaching of the German language 
 in the public schools, but the paramount question with them 
 is the interference with what they call personal liberty, eager- 
 ly separating that from the beer question. The latter is one 
 which only interests the liquor element; the former concerns 
 all who belong to societies — and what German does not?— and 
 who are in the habit of holding their entertainments on Sun- 
 day. 
 
 Careful estimates, based on statistics, place this vote as 
 one-fifth of the entire voting population. This estimate does 
 not include American-born citizens who affiliate with German 
 societies and who still speak the language of their parents. 
 It does, however, include the Swiss, the Austrians from the 
 German provinces and those Russians who come from the Ger- 
 man provinces of the Tsar. The German districts in Manhat- 
 tan and the Bronx are all on the east side along the elevated 
 roads; in Brooklyn they are in Williamsburg; East New 
 York, Bushwick; in Queens they are in College Point, As- 
 toria, Steinway, Flushing, Glendale, Maspeth, Middle Village, 
 Ridgewood, while in Richmond they are scattered. It is in 
 these districts, normally democratic with a few exceptions 
 that the defection is noticeable. 
 
 It is the storekeeper, the tradesman, the mechanic and 
 the laborer 
 
 As against the business man "down town," who indorses 
 the Low administration and wants no other. 
 
 One of Brooklyn's business men, who is to-day Tor Low's 
 re-election, caused to be made a canvass among his German 
 friends and neighbors prior to the conference of the Fusion 
 elements which settled on Low as the candidate. He told the 
 Herald representative that the best they could hope for in 
 Brooklyn, provided an able campaign be made, is one-half of 
 the German vote, which means a defection of 25 per cent, in 
 that borough alone, and that borough contributed more than 
 20.000 of the 30,000 majority which made Seth Low, Mayor. 
 
 "It is the old story," he said. "The Germans have got 
 * it in their heads that their personal liberty is threatened, 
 that respectable societies and respectable saloon keepers 
 are treated worse than those whose dives are the source 
 of crime." 
 
 To understand this feeling, one has to go back to the be- 
 ginning of the present year, when several society entertain- 
 ments were interfered with. The indignation at that time ran 
 high, and the attitude of the administration was condemned 
 in strong terms. 
 
 SOME SPECIFIED CASES. 
 
 On January 5, the Union Helvetia had arranged a ball for 
 the benefit of its ill members, in Lyric Hall. In the evening, 
 when 500 persons were assembled. Captain Miles O'Reilly for- 
 bade the entertainment, and a protest meeting was held. 
 
 On March 8, 1903, the New York Turn Verein gave an en- 
 tertainment in its club-house. Eighty-fifth street and Lexing- 
 ton avenue,' when suddenly Captain Hogan, af the East 
 Eighty-eighth street station, appeared and ordered it stopped. 
 
NEW YORK, J002--1!K)3. 
 
 55 
 
 There were a thousand people, women and children, In the 
 hall. 
 
 A Sunday entertainment at the Irving Place Theatre was 
 interfered with; another orre on March 15 at Terrace Garden, 
 where a singing society gave an entertainment, and at a simi- 
 lar affair of the Harlem Society. 
 
 Just about the same time, the Germans became agitated 
 over the changes which were planned in the course of studies 
 in the schools. They assert that they had definite promises 
 and that these were broken. They appealed to Major Low. 
 On behalf of the United German societies, which comprise 150 
 clubs, lodges, singing and turn vereins, with a membership 
 of 30,000, Dr. H. A. C. Anderson, the president, presented a 
 memorial to the Mayor, who promised to consider the ques- 
 tion, but has given no intimation up to the present that he 
 has done so. 
 
 Dr. Anderson, who is also at the head of the Central Turn 
 Verein, one of the most influential social clubs of Germans, 
 talked freely at his home, No. 11S East Eighty-sixth street. 
 He said: 
 
 "I come daily in contact with all kinds of Germans, and I 
 find that the slight attention which Mr. Dow gave to one 
 question of interest to the Germans, will cost him many votes. 
 I do not believe that the opposition to the-present adminis- 
 tration emanates from any political causes." 
 
 THE LAY OF WOODBURY. 
 
 One Major Woodbury — John McGaw, 
 He's Street Commissioner by law, 
 Has done some very remarkable things, 
 With his brigade of pure white wings. 
 
 i7«r Viasts of his efficiency, 
 Whit-? all the people fail to see; 
 They note the filthy streets and say: 
 "Why 6\>n*t you clear the dirt away?" 
 
 He want-d a stable for his gee-gees, 
 And "Fusion" agreed the Major to please, 
 it's a French chateau with an asphalt floor, 
 And cost half a million or more. 
 
 Vote for Honest Democratic City Government in touch with the 
 Wants of the people. 
 
5G 
 
 NEW YORK, 
 
 Low Stands bv Lindenthal. 
 
 When danger threatened human Hte, 
 
 Though Mayor Low had said, 
 He'd banish death traps at the Bridge, 
 
 And murder in its shed, 
 
 He stood by Lindenthal. 
 
 As the days and weeks and months rolled by, 
 
 No effort once was made. 
 By Low to end the agony, 
 
 He merely smirked and said, 
 "I'll stand by Lindenthal." 
 
 Two years have come and gone since then, 
 
 And death and terror cling; 
 Seth Low cares not what suffering 
 
 His fads and follies bring; 
 
 He stands by Lindenthal. 
 
 For aid given at election time 
 
 The railroads named their man 
 
 To make all plans of bridges. 
 Which o'er our rivers span; 
 
 And they chose Lindenthal. 
 
 Honest Democracy, purged of Deveryism, welcomes the return of 
 fcer worthy son* ^ » .. - 
 
68 NEW YORK, 1W&-:003. 
 
 THE "FUSION" BRIDGE COMMISSIONER. 
 
 "Eye Bar" and Loop the Loop Lindenthal — The Funny Way 
 a Funny Man Treats a Serious Problem. 
 
 Gust a v Lindenthal, Bridge Commissioner, furnishes a striking ex- 
 ample of Mayor Low's persistency in backing his appointees in the face 
 of popular disappointment and disapproval. 
 
 "Lye Bar'' Lindenthal is the title by which the Bridge Commissioner 
 is popularly known and his motto is "I Bar anything that I dirt not de- 
 sign or which my friends and former associates cannot build and make 
 rnoney out of." It does not matter to the "Eye Bar" Commissioner that 
 new bridges are delayed for years and the congested conditions of the 
 old one continue indefinitely, a menace to the public safety and an out- 
 rage on decency. 
 
 "Eye Bar" Lindenthal has distinguished his administration by 
 subordinating all the engineering' and technical ability of the depart- 
 ment to its "Eye Bar" head. Samuel It. Probasco, Chief Engineer at 
 $10,000 a year, was made an assistant at $5,000. C. C. Martin, Chief 
 Engineer in charge of the Brooklyn Bridge, at >8,000, was made Con- 
 sulting Engineer at ?6,0C0. It. S. Buck, Chief Engineer of the Manhat- 
 tan Bridge, resigned rather than become a party to "Eye Bar" Linden- 
 thal's plan to waste time and money in its "construction. Leffert L. 
 Buck, Chief Engineer of the Williamsburg Bridge, at $i0,C0D a year, 
 was made Consulting. Engineer at $7,500. Q. F. Nichols, Assistant En- 
 gineer on this work, was reduced from $7,500 to $6,000, ard afterward 
 dismissed because he # dared to appear at the Aldermanic Committee 
 hearing in opposition 'to "Eye Bar" Ldndenthal's plans. 
 
 These changes were dictated solefly by the desire to centralize' all 
 engineering authority in the autocratic "Eye Bar." The sufferers were 
 not Tammany men. That would excuse any outrage upon them in the 
 eyes of "Fusion" politicians. But this explanation will not fit the cases 
 of appointees of former Brodtelyn administrations or that of L. L. Buck, 
 who was appointed by the Commissioners of Mayor Strong and Mayor 
 Schieren. Nor was the usual "Fusion" pretence of economy resorted to 
 as explaining the changes. Even "Eye Bar's" assurance was not equal 
 to making such a claim in view of the fact that he was at the same 
 time greatly increasing expenses by 
 
 disbursing some $G3 T 000 to frier.ds and favorites for the 
 Hornbostel plans to beautify the bridge architecturally. 
 \ In these expenditures for plans he also violated the law 
 ; on the lines followed by Fire Commissioner Sturgis, in 
 / neglecting to advertise for competitive bids. 
 
 INGENIOUS INCOMPETENCY. 
 
 Mayor Low's Bridge Commissioner's sellouts business in these direc- 
 tions was interspersed with a comedy element. In fact that element was 
 the most conspicuous at the time. Now we wonder whether the antics 
 which then seemed only fatuous folly were not well studied efforts to 
 distract attention from the Commissioner's real purpose of taking good 
 care of "Eye BaT" and his fuVorltes. At any rate these antics resulted 
 in much merry making and in that way, and that way only, they were 
 some relief to the distressed public cuflering from the conditions at the 
 Brooklyn Bridge. 
 
 The Commissioner's facility in ievising what he called relief plans 
 made him known at this juncture as "A Plan a Day Lindenthal." 
 Though epigrammatic, this Aid him scant justice, as on some days he 
 •volved two or three plans, it is but Just to add that two of the Linden- 
 
NEtf* YORK. 10015-1003. 
 
 (9 
 
 thai plans had actual merit, it' carried out, either of them would have 
 effectually relieved the Bridge crush. 
 
 One of the excellent plans he proposed was to have 
 
 about half of the regular users of the Bridge take to the 
 
 ferries instead. 
 
 Unfortunately, the hundred thousand or so of people for whose 
 benefit this suggestion was evolved, continued to consult their own 
 convenience and did not seize the opportunity to help the fussy Fusion 
 Commissioner out of his troubles. The other equally meritorious plan 
 was to have the working people, the clerks and the business men, all 
 take more heed as to the time of their comings and goings, and not 
 all try to cross the Bridge at the same hour. Somehow, nothing came 
 of this suggestion, though it is undeniable that only good results would 
 have followed if it was carried out. 
 
 Multiplied loops, moving platforms, fourteen million dollar terminal 
 changes, and even flying machines, were among the devices credited to 
 the ingenious Lindenthal to relieve the terrible conditions suffered at 
 the Park Row end of the Bridge, but the fact remains, that after more 
 than eighteen months in office the "Reform" Commissioner, instead of 
 being able to show any improvement in his department, has to try 
 to explain and excuse constantly increasing evils and difficulties. 
 
 And Mayor Low stands for him and stands by him 
 both in his exhibitions of incapacity and in his indications 
 of what are worse, purposes to make the new Manhattan 
 Bridge cost three to five mil'icn dollars more than it ought 
 to, to take three years longer to build than it should take 
 and tc be only about half as strong and safe as it could be. 
 Even Mayor Low's all-pervading charity for his blundering officials 
 will hardly be able to ascribe a good motive for such a course in such a 
 cause. It is doubly suspicious when considered with "Eye Bar" Linden- 
 thal's past relations with the P. R. R. and the American Bridge Com- 
 pany. 
 
 A "FUSION" CAMPAIGN OUTRAGE. 
 It should not be forgotten that in the "Fusion" campaign two years 
 ago, for political effect, an attack was made upon the Bridge manage- 
 ment which spread an unfounded and unwarranted feeling of doubt as 
 to the safety of the structure, with the result of causing needless worry 
 and distress to thousands of men, women and children for many weeks. 
 No more dastardly piece of dirty politics was ever resorted to. even in 
 the name of "Reform." Of course there was no doubt then of the 
 strength of the Bridge as there is no doubt to-day, and nothing has 
 been done to it in the meantime that was not always done. 
 
 LINDENTHAL RIDICULED BY "FUSION" PRESS. 
 To show that there is no suspicion of partisan prejudice in these 
 statements and in the assertion that there are more than signs of 
 "graft" in "Eye Bar" Lindenthal's obvious efforts to favor the com- 
 pany he formerly worked for, the following extracts from good Repub- 
 lican-Fusion sources are convincing: 
 NEW YORK TRIBUNE, May 21, 1902: 
 
 "It really does seem to be about time for Mr. Lindenthal 
 to stop this bewildering output of new schemes for Bridge 
 relief. We would hesitate to say how many new plans have 
 been officially broached since the beginning of the year, but 
 certainly their name is legion. There have been few days 
 without one and there have been some days with each more 
 than one. Some of them have been fantastic. In such a 
 multiplicity of schemes, and paucity of relief the public has 
 been partly amused, partly bewildered and, we are afraid, 
 chiefly disgusted." 
 NEW YORK TIMES. February 9, 1902: 
 
 "If Bridge Commissioner Lindenthal is correctly quoted as 
 saying that with the rejection of his plan of relieving the 
 Bridge by a system of transfers he is "through" and that for 
 the next twenty months or so the disgraceful scenes at the 
 New York terminal must be submitted to, be cannot better 
 
C) 
 
 NEW YORK. 1902—1903. 
 
 employ his time than in reconsidering his conclusion and 
 weighing his official duty against his professional preference." 
 NEW YORK TIMES, March 3, 1902: 
 
 "Mr. Lindenthal's latest plan of shaping his official opinion 
 by taking a popular vote designed to show what the people 
 who use the Bridge want done was doubtless not intended as 
 a contribution to the gayety of nations. But though it may 
 make the unskillful laugh, it cannot but make the judicious 
 grieve." 
 
 NEW YORK TIMES. March 3, 1903: 
 
 "We are sorry to say that the plan of Bridge relief to 
 which Commissioner Lindenthal committed himself in his 
 communication to the public on Monday will be a disappoint- 
 ment to most of those who take the trouble to examine it 
 critically." 
 
 HELPLESS LINDENTHAL. 
 NEW YORK TIMES, June 15. 1903: 
 
 "Commissioner Lindenthal has no ground for complaint 
 if his apparent indifference to the conditions which have so 
 long existed at the New York terminal of the Brooklyn Bridge 
 have created the popular impression that he is unequal to 
 the responsibilities of his position. As a correspondent of the 
 Times says veTy forcibly: 'The people have a right to look 
 to some one— and if not the Bridge Commissioner, whom?— 
 to do the aggressive work necessary for immediate relief in 
 the reachable evils. To any one who saw the outrageous 
 conditions on Saturday, mob law seemed the logical outcome. 
 Orderly mobs of the same sort may yet be running trains and 
 operating switches if a stronger hand than the present 
 one does not quickly evolve plans for relieving the situation." 
 The Brooklyn Times, a Republican-Fusion organ, asked the "Eye 
 Bar" Commissioner these questions July 13, 1903. and still awaits a reply: 
 "Why were the original plans cast aside, causing expense 
 and delay? 
 
 "Why did Commissioner Lindenthal practically stop the 
 w r ork after one of the tower foundation contracts had been let? 
 
 "Why were eye bar cables substituted for wire cables 
 when prominent engineers declare that they will increase the 
 cost of the bridge and may only be manufactured by one 
 company? 
 
 "Why were two engineers in the employ of a prospective 
 bidder permitted to have a hand in drawing the steel specifica- 
 tions? 
 
 "Why was an officer of a company, which may bid on the 
 contract, appointed on the Commission which made a favor- 
 able report on the plans to the Mayor? 
 
 "Why was an architect appointed, without public com- 
 petition, and given every opportunity to make more than 
 $25,000 on this bridge alone? 
 
 "Why should the public accept the word of Gustav Lin- 
 denthal in defiance of the judgment of engineers of stand- 
 ing?" 
 
 William Hildenbrand, an acknowledged engineering authority, made 
 an enlightening communication to Mayor Low on the subject, which 
 was, of course, ignored by that complacently self-sufficient official who 
 thenceforth proceeded to back up Lindenthal and to fight with him 
 against the Aldermen of both parties who had looked upon the question 
 Intelligently. 
 
 In this communication, Mr. Hildenbrand says: 
 
 "Plans for the Manhattan Bridge were first started by the 
 Van Wyck administration in 1899. When completed by the 
 then Chief Engineer R. S. Buck they were approved by Bridge 
 ( 'ommissloner Shea, passed by the Board of Apportionment 
 and the Board of Aldermen, an appropriation made for the 
 foundations and work begun on the foundation on the Brook- 
 lyn side of the East River. 
 
NEW YORK, 1902-1903. 
 
 n 
 
 "Had the work been permitted to continue when Bridge 
 Commissioner Linden thai took office both foundations would be 
 completed, both towers would be neaiing completion and , 
 cable making would begin in the Fall. Allowing after that as 
 much time as at the Williamsburg Bridge, the Manhattan 
 Bridge would surely have been open for traffiic at~the close 
 of 1905." 
 
 Concerning the stoppage of the work and the substitution of the 
 plans for eye bar cables, with the accompanying delay of years and 
 - additional cost of millions, Mr. Hildenbrand says: 
 
 '•Having stopped the bridge work the new Commis- 
 sioner began to work for Mr. Lindenthal's future. That 
 gentleman took out, some years ago, a patent on a chain 
 for suspending bridges composed of wire links, that is, 
 eye bats bound with wire. So a wire-link bridge this 
 bridge must be." 
 
 With what virtuous horror Mayor Low and the other Pharisees of 
 Fusion would cry out against such conduct in office if resorted to by any- 
 one outside of their self-righteous circle. 
 
 Democracy is the hope of the people and the only agency of real 
 reform. 
 
 FUSION'S" HEALTH DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Dr. Lederle Extolled on False Premises — The Favor of Provi- 
 dence Charged to Officials — Death Rate Fakes — Men- 
 dacity and Misrepresentation — Dr. Parkhurst Pushes 
 Along a Lie Multiplied by One Hundred. 
 
 Ernst J. Lederle, Ph. D., the "Fusion" Commissioner of the De- 
 partment of Health, was a subordinate in that department when Mayor 
 Low appointed him to be its executive head. His record was not one 
 of conspicuous efficiency and he had several times narrowly escaped 
 dismissal for neglect of the duties of his position. As Commissioner, 
 however, he has come into the heritage of fulsome praise that the 
 Citizens' Union accords to all officials of the "Fusion" stripe. On his 
 behalf the policy of claiming credit for everything that can be im- 
 agined has been worked to its fullest extent. Indeed, it has been more 
 overworked than is usual, even in that mendacious policy. 
 
 Commissioner Lederle has, however, been lauded with more zeal 
 th# n discretion. In claiming credit for him, based upon the results of 
 cor. iitions of weather and other causes due to no mortal efforts, his too 
 partial commendation discounts belief in anything else that is urged in 
 his favor. The most noteworthy instance in connection with this extrav- 
 agant praise i3 found in the assertion that his administration caused 
 a marked reduction in the city's death rate. 
 
 Unfortunately for this contention, though, the facts of 
 record show that the lessened mortality is directly trace- 
 able to natural causes. 
 
 The effrontery of trying to twist statistics and facts into the 
 semblance of support to such a preposterous conclusion and to partisan 
 politiral advantage is distinctly an attribute of "Fusion" and "Reform." 
 
 The records disclose the real situation so plainly that one wonders 
 at the assurance of those who attempt to misrepresent them in the 
 cause of "Fusion" politics. 
 
 tOW THE DEATH RATE WAS REDUCED. 
 
 Bearing or. tJM death rate, the following are the chief factors to be 
 consider ecu 
 
C2 
 
 NEW YORK, 1902-1003. 
 
 20.00 
 
 18.75 
 
 24,943 
 
 22,757 
 
 4,949 
 
 3.781 
 
 1.273 
 
 36 
 
 856 
 
 157 
 
 1,231 
 
 969 
 
 701 
 
 770 
 
 1901. 1902 
 
 Estimated population 3,536,517 3,632,501 
 
 Death rate 
 
 Deaths in June, July, August and Sep- 
 tember 
 
 Deaths of children under two years in 
 June, July, August and September. 
 Deaths from sunstroke in June, July, 
 
 August and September 
 
 Deaths from influenza 
 
 Deaths from old age 
 
 Suicides 
 
 The reports of the Register of Records (annual report 
 of the Board of Health, 1901, pp. 58 and 59), says "that 
 1872, 1892, 1896 and 1901 were the hottest and deadliest 
 Summers in the experience of the department," and that 
 '•upon a single day. July 2, 1901, 553 deaths occurred, this 
 number being far and above any Drevious record, and 
 looking at the temperature upon that and '*ie previous day. 
 we find that it reached 100 degrees upon both. The ther- 
 mometer registered 90 degrees or above for eight days 
 (upon two days reaching the 100 degree mark), the 
 humidity and night temperature being about as high as in 
 1896." 
 
 Of influenza, in another period of the year, this official 
 report says, page 9: '"The influenza which showed signs of 
 increasing malignity during the latter part of 1900. con- 
 tinued to increase during the early part of 1901. causing 
 altogether 856 deaths during the year." 
 
 The favorable showing of mortality for the year 1902 is therefore 
 seen to be directly due- to the absence of the deadly conditions of 
 •weather suffered in 1901. The decreases in the total of deaths are 
 nearly all to be found in the above list of diseases and are incontestably 
 due to causes which have absolutely no relation to the sanitary work of 
 the Health Department. The friends of "Fusion" have no more right 
 to claim for it the differences in the prevalence of the diseases noted 
 than its enemies and critics have to charge it with being the cause 
 of the increase in the number of suicides in the same period. 
 
 That the absurdity of these claims for credit is publicly appreciated 
 Is shown by the published letters in several newspapers from impartial 
 citizen observers. One of these printed in the Sun of May 26, 1903, 
 presents the case very cogently and comprehensively as follows: 
 
 "Dr. Parkhurst and the Citizens' Union evidently overlook 
 the fact that the Summer of 1902 was the coolest we nave had 
 in thirty years, and as a result the deatlf rate among children 
 under five years was the lowest in nineteen years. 
 
 "I have looked over the records in Boston and Chicago, 
 and oven a greater decrease is shown in those cities as a 
 result of the abnormally cool Summer of last year. Will Dr. 
 Parkhurst and the Citizens' Union ascribe the low death rate 
 in Boston and Chicago in the year 1902 to the Low administra- 
 tion, or will they give any thanks to the Almighty for the 
 lovely weather of last Summer?" 
 
 LEDERLE FRIENDLY TO THE BEEF TRUST. 
 Mayor Low's Health Commissioner was severely criti- 
 cised for his attitude on the subject of establishing a new 
 abattoir at Eleventh avenue and Thirty-ninth street in 
 this city. The opposition to the project by the depart- 
 ment came at a time when the popular feeling against the 
 Beef Trust was at its height. 
 This fact and the further one that the new abattoir wis UDii< r- 
 ftood to be part of the plan of some Iidependent dealers io ight the 
 
KKW YORK. 1&C2-190O. 
 
 trust, made the people very suspicious of Dr. Lederle's pood faith. It 
 was pointed out that a new plant of this character constructed under 
 plans embodying all the modern improvement could not possibly be 
 construed as a menace to health or even be likely to cause any nui- 
 sance or annoyance in the neighborhood. At any rate, it did not seem 
 to be too much to claim that the wonderful efficiency accredited to the 
 Health Department might be trusted to prevent the very necessary work 
 of providing meat for the food of the poor people from developing any 
 objectionable or dangerous features. 
 
 Even that sturdy "Fusion" organ, the New York Tribune, questions 
 the correctness of the position taken by Dr. Lederle. On March 14, 
 1903, it said: 
 
 "It may perhaps be doubted, however, whether its deci- 
 sion, refusing to the retail butchers permission to build a big 
 slaughter house at Bh?renth avenue and Fortieth street, is the 
 best possible in the circumstances. The retail dealers wish to 
 set up an effective competition against the members of the 
 beef combination, which has raised the prices of meats to un- 
 reasonable figures, and therefore they have the spympathy 
 and good will of consumers generally. 
 
 "The Health Department's refusal is defended on the 
 ground that it is not advisable to allow the construction of 
 more slaughter houses in the Borough of Manhattan, no mat- 
 ter who the projectors may be, and it Is said further that a 
 recently submitted plan for a new abbattoir on this island, 
 to be raised by one of the principal firms in the so-called 
 Beef Trust, was denied by the health officers. It is plain 
 enough, however, that the two requests do not stand in the 
 same order of merit. The great combination of firms who own 
 so many stockyards and packing houses now controls every 
 abattoir of much size and importance in this borough. The 
 Health Department ought not to grant this corporation any 
 privileges beyond those it now possesses. But is it altogether 
 certain that it is the best policy for the benefit of the com- 
 munity to stifle competition in abattoir enterprise and de- 
 velopment by rejecting the application of the retail dealers?" 
 The attitude of the press and of the public generally was made 
 so manifest on this point that Dr. Lederle was reluctantly compelled 
 to abandon his opposition to the competitors of the Beef Trust. 
 
 SOFT COAL NUISANCE NEGLECTED. 
 In the Summer of 1902, the Health Department was compelled to 
 relax somewhat its efforts to enforce the city ordinances against the 
 burning of soft coal in the city. On account of the coal strike and 
 the scarcity of anthracite, the public was tolerant of this course. It 
 must be said, however, that the efforts which might have been made to 
 minimize the nuisance, which was perhaps necessary to the situation, 
 were not comprehensive or uniform in their application, and when the 
 necessity for laxity was removed, there seemed to be much of dis- 
 crimination in the way that coal consumers were treated in the effort to 
 restore to its usual clear condition the atmosphere of the city. A 
 great many complaints from citizens reached the department and the 
 newspapers. Lederle's response was very leisurely. It was some months 
 before much progress was made. 
 
 LEDERLE MISLEADS PARKHURST. 
 It is, however, in a very little thing that the real character of the 
 "Fusion" Health Department administration is best shown. Having 
 begun his administration by wholesale and indiscriminate attacks upon 
 his predecessors in the matter of the purchase of supplies, Dr. Lederle 
 might be expected to exercise particular care in that direction himself. 
 He had unhesitatingly supplied ammunition for fulsome commendation 
 by the Citizens' Union by getting up a table comparing the purchases 
 of the previous board with his own. This was published In the form 
 prepared and the prices of items of supplies were given without any 
 indicatioj^-of the quantity purchased in the separate instances or of 
 the circumstances under which the goods were supplied and: delivered. 
 "Whether the figures were of any value or entirely misleading could not 
 
NEW YORK, 1002— 1003. 
 
 G5 
 
 lie gleaned from the manner of their presentation. One instance, 
 however, is sufficient to make the ordinary reader suspicious of the 
 conclusion drawn from them by the friends of Dr. Lederle. 
 
 This instates unfortunately furnished the Rev. Dr. 
 Parkhurst with an opportunity to make one of his charac- 
 teristic blunders, as he fell into the error of repeating in 
 his pulpit a palpably false statement taken from this table. 
 
 DR. PARKHURST NEVER RETRACTS. 
 No Intelligent person, even though his understanding was cloude<5 
 with putjudice as deeply as the doctor's is, can be excused for circulat- 
 ing such a wild statement as the doctor unquestioningly fathered in 
 his sermon. Dr. Lederle's accountants presented a statement that in the 
 purchase of alum his department was paying a fraction over two cents 
 a pound, while the previous administration's records showed that they 
 had paid five cents a pound. As a bald statement this really does 
 not mean anything. The record of the five cent purchase may have 
 referred to the purchase of a single pound sent out for in an emergency, 
 and the two-cent item compared with it may have been a contract 
 price for a large quantity. Without going into this, the doctor's 
 dilemma remains the same. In their official statement of the circum- 
 stances, the Citizens' Union printer made the mistake or saying that 
 borax, which they confused with alum, had been bought by Dr. Lederle 
 for a fraction over two cents a pound, while the previous Board of 
 Health had paid five dollars a pound. In his pulpit utterance on the 
 subject, Dr. Parkhurst supplemented the effect of this egregious error 
 by making the sensational statement that it was easy to tell what had 
 become of the $4.98 difference. This remarkable instance of misrepre- 
 sentation, persisted in after its character was exposed, was never 
 acknowledged or retracted by Dr. Parkhurst, nor did any of the 
 "Fusion" organs among the newspapers of New York give any pub- 
 licity to the correction. The New York Sun, however, despite its pre- 
 dilections in favor of the "Fusion" administration was fair enough to 
 expose the doctor's prejudiced blunder. 
 
 FAKE REDUCTIONS OF FORCE. 
 
 The Citizens' Union publication of praise of Dr. Lederle's department 
 contains the following paragraph: 
 
 "Dr. Lederle immediately dismissed 154 employees. This he was 
 forced to do, because of deficiency of appropriation, but he took care to 
 discharge as far as possible those who seemed to have little more to do 
 than draw their pay. One whole division in the Sanitary Bureau was 
 abolished and two other divisions were consolidated into one. When 
 the reclassification of employees was completed, it was found that about 
 $100,000 had been saved to the city annually in salaries alone." 
 
 When the fact becomes known that the Sanitary Bureau, whose 
 abolishment is referred to, consisted of one man, the value of this 
 x, hole paragraph may be readily estimated. 
 
 FALSE CLAIMS OF ECONOMY. < 
 It is further shown that the claim of a reduction of $100,000 in salaries 
 is wholly false and misleading. The reduction was the result of the estab- 
 lishment of the Tenement House Department, which took away from 
 the Health Department some of the duties it previously was charged 
 with. The police of the Sanitary Squad and the Tenement House Inspec- 
 tors, formerly attached to the Health Department, drew salaries in 
 the aggregate amounting to about $100,000. Of course, it was sought to 
 give the inference that the dismissal of 154 employees resulted in this 
 saving. The fact is, however, tljat it was necessary to reappoint nearly 
 all of the men who were included in this wholesale dismissal. 
 
 With the transfers from the Tenement House Department and the 
 bond issues to the Health Department for salaries considered, Dr. 
 Lederle's claim of saving $100,000 to the city is seen to be plain falsehood. 
 COMPARATIVE TABLE. . 
 
 1901 appropriations, salaries, Board of Health $ 545,794.00 
 
 1902 appropriations, salaries, Board of Health 527,826.00 
 
 This apparent saving of $18,968 speedily disappears when th% 
 
C6 
 
 NEW YOUK. 19011—1903. 
 
 issue of re-venue bonds for salaries In the Health Depart- 
 ment is shown to be .T 104,797.78 
 
 And the money transferred from the Tenement House Depart- 
 ment is shown to be 46,00.00 
 
 The resulting total of $678,623.73 is therefore an increase 
 
 over the -salary appropriation of 1901 of 132,829.78 
 
 In 1903 the increase continued, the Health Department salary 
 
 appropriation was " 761.665.92 
 
 Revenue Bonds for salaries amounted to 71,992.00 
 
 Total $ 833,657.92 
 
 "FUSION" CLAIMS RECORD MADE YEARS AGO. 
 
 The mendacious character of the Citizens' Union Health Department 
 attack upon the previous Board of Health Commissioners Is shown by 
 a number of other little items. The claim that the binding of the 
 records of the department was a new thing is absolutely false. This 
 work was always done by the department. The operations of the 
 Bureau for the Prevention of Tuberculosis, claimed as an innovation on 
 the part of the new officials was simply a continuation of the work of 
 the previous Board. The investigation of the swamps and breeding 
 places of malaria with a study of the work necessary to prevent the 
 spread of disease from them was begun under the administration of 
 the Van Wyck Health Board. 
 
 The campaign pamphlet shows the disingenuousness of its authors, 
 by stating barely the fact that the first Municipal Bacteriological 
 Laboratory ever established was that of the Health Department cf New 
 York City. This is stated as though the credit for this was due to the 
 Lederle Board. As a matter of fact it was established In 129?. 
 and the work done by the Lederle Board was a continuation of that 
 which had been going on ever since. 
 
 A little indication that Dr. Lederle may yet be shown to have some 
 cf the characteristics of Secretary Gustavson of the "Fusion" Armor;' 
 Board is found in the fact that the Health Commissioner's brother-in- 
 law is interested in the Matt Taylor Company, which is doing all the 
 concrete work for the Health Department and had a big job at the 
 Sixteenth Street Hospital. 
 
 Chief Clerk Bell of the Health Department also shows some indica- 
 tions of the "Fusion" ideals of the advantages of holding public c.filce. 
 A great deal of supplies in the form of rubber goods is bought by the 
 Health Department from Hodgman & Company. Mr. Hodgman is Beil'3 
 brother-in-law. 
 
 v 
 
 LAWLESS "REFORM." 
 
 When Reformers make a raid, 
 Armed with axe, and pick, and spade; 
 It's a circus for the Cits, 
 Who are subject to such fits; 
 With brass band they make alarm. 
 And it works just like a charm. 
 
 Men they lock up all the night. 
 
 In the cells they pack 'em tight; 
 In the morning, tired and worn, 
 To the nearest court they're borne? 
 
 Where the judge soon sets them free; 
 
 "No law for such arrests," says he. 
 
 Democracy is the hope of the people and the only agency of real 
 reform. 
 
NEW YORK, 1002-1903. 
 
 C7 
 
 LOW'S "CITY RECORD" SCANDAL. 
 
 The Mayor Made This Unsavory Mess His Own Affair by 
 
 Sticking to Cowen to the Last. 
 
 The policy adopted by Mayor Low in the treatment of the scandal in 
 the City Record office was characteristic and typical. The Supervisor of 
 the City Record, Mr. Philip Cowen. was selected for appointment by 
 Mayor Low himself, the indorsers of the application for his appoint- 
 ment being men who had been active in the "Fusion" campaign. It 
 was, therefore, very difficult to convince Mayor Low that there could 
 be any possible objection to Mr. Cowen. "The new Supervisor had been 
 in office only a short time when the Finance Department had occasion 
 to complain of his methods. The first instance showing the retail 
 character of the man who was put In charge of the city's wholesale 
 printing and stationery interests was shown by his handling of the 
 cash drawer. Although the City Record, being an official publication, 
 has a very small list of paying subscribers, the paper is sometimes 
 sold over the counter. The money that is thus received forms a petty 
 cash fund out of which disbursements when properly accounted for may 
 be made. 
 
 Under Supervisor Cowcn's management, instead of a 
 cash balance in this drawer, the officers of the Finance De- 
 partment found a bunch of I. O. Us. Whenever he needed 
 money Mr. Cowen took it out of the drawer. 
 
 COWEN'S NEPOTISM. 
 
 The Supervisor's next exhibition of the "Fusion" idea, that public 
 office is a private snap, was when he appointed his sister to do some 
 little work of sorting and indexing in order to get her name on the pay 
 roll. None of the formalities of Civil Service examination or authorized 
 appointments were gone through with and the Finance Department 
 would not pass the pay roll on which the lady's name had been added. 
 
 The next development of the eccentricity of Mr. Cowen was his 
 effort to get his friend and protege, Liepziger, appointed as the Super- 
 intendent of the city's advertising. 
 
 JOBBERY IN CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINATION. 
 
 Mindful of his previous failure he resorted to the Civil Service Board 
 and applied to them to have an examination held for this positfon. The 
 subject was a new one for the Civil Service examiners and the Super- 
 visor had an active part in preparing the line of questions to be used. 
 This would seem to allow sufficient advantage to an applicant of his 
 own selection, but Cowen and Leipziger were not satisfied. While the 
 examination was in progress it was discovered that this applicant was 
 writing his answers from a paper, with which he had been previously 
 supplied, containing information on the necessary subjects. He was, of 
 course, kicked out and is now barred from taking any Civil Service 
 examination or from making application for any public appointment. 
 MAYOR LOW BLINDED BY PARTIALITY. 
 
 All these peculiar characteristics were fully shown to Mayor Low, but 
 he stuck to his appointee. The natural result followed. Supervisor 
 Cowen got the idea into his head that in his office, backed by the 
 Reform Executive, he was free to carry out his personal notions and 
 do anything he liked. Running on this plan he soon was again in 
 trouble with the Finance Department, and Comptroller Grout was 
 obliged to make formal charges against him in the Board of City Record. 
 Mayor Low could not dispose of these things in the same cavalier 
 manner that he had done in the previous petty cases. 
 
C3 
 
 NEW YORK, 1002-1903. 
 
 The charges involved suggestions of corruption, and 
 proofs of extravagance and incompetency in the purchase 
 of stationery and supplies. It was also shown that in the 
 handling of the city advertising the methods were wasteful 
 and mistakes were frequent. 
 
 COMPTROLLER GROUT FORCES COWEN OUT. 
 In spite of the almost conclusive character, of the charges the Super- 
 visor was continued in office, attending in his own fashion to its duties, 
 and piling up a deficiency by his extravagance. To be sure he was 
 ordered to make a report upon these charges, but was not suspended 
 or put under any additional supervision or guidance. The matter 
 dragged along in this shape for months until Comptroller Grout grew 
 restive under the scandal and demanded action. By this time the 
 Supervisor was ready with a voluminous report in which he denied all 
 charges. These denials were shown to be false in several particulars by 
 the evidence in the hands of the Comptroller, yet a compromise was 
 arranged between that official and the Mayor, who still stood steadily 
 for Mr. Cowen, although admitting that he seemed to have made some 
 mistakes. The compromise was that the Supervisor should be allowed 
 to resign and leave the office with a certificate that his administration, 
 though not satisfactory and efficient, was not shown to be dishonest. 
 The official who succeeded Supervisor Cowen found the affairs of the 
 office were woefully mixed up and that a deficiency of $200,000 would be 
 the result of the operations for the year in spite of the fact that the 
 Cowen administration lasted little longer than six months. It is inter- 
 esting to speculate on what the deficiency would have been had Mpyor 
 Low's stubborn opposition to Comptroller Grout's demand been \ ^r- 
 sisted in and the Cowen administration continued for the whole yea; , 
 
 THE BUILDING DEPARTMENT 
 
 Arbitrary Removal of an Ei: Jsnt "Fusion" Official — H*€£^ 
 Appointment of a Successor Who Can Be More Easily 
 Controlled for the Purposes of "Fusion's" Friends 
 Among the Builders. 
 
 Perez M. Stewart was appointed Superintendent of the Bureau o£ 
 Buildings when the Reformers came into power. Mr. Stewart was one ox, 
 the few Fusion officials who managed the affairs of his office on a non- 
 partisan basis and thus adhered to^principles of the Reformers as they 
 promised in their anti-election pledges. 
 
 Like many of the other Fusion officials Mr. Stewart was approached 
 on the subject of "graft" by unscrupulous politicians and be it said to 
 his credit that he forcibly ejected these go-betweens from his office, and 
 told them that he was there for the purpose of seeing that the building 
 laws were obeyed. 
 
 Shortly after Mr. Stewart thus made it known that he was an honest 
 man, some of the ringleaders in the "Fusion" camp began to make 
 trouble for him. They tried to hamper him in every way possible. 
 
 From a public point of view Stewart's management of the Building 
 Bureau was eminently satisfactory, but politically it was anything but 
 satisfactory to the Greater New York Democracy. Mr. Stewart had 
 the temerity, among other things, to discharge an incompetent clerk, 
 a member of John Sheehan's political gang. At another time Mr. Stewart 
 refused to i>ermit some queer building plans to go through the bureau 
 presented by John J. Adams, Cantor's law partner. Adams made him- 
 self quite conspicuous around the Building Bureau and tried to dictate 
 to Thompson, but he refused to take "orders" from Adams or any 
 politician. 
 
 Then- was much surprise when President Cantor suddenly removed 
 Commissioner SU-wart without giving any reason for the removal. 
 There had been no charges preferred against him, and the formal 
 
NEW YORK. 1002— 1903. 
 
 69 
 
 announcement merely stated the fact, and also that Henry S, Thomp- 
 son had been appointed in his stead. The press and public failed to 
 get any explanation from Mr. Cantor. Said the New York Herald 
 editorially on May 3: 
 
 "Putting aside all sinister rumors as to the alleged 
 influence of one or another big realty or building corpora- 
 tion, Mr. Cantor owes it to himself, to the man he has re- 
 moved and to the people a public explanation of this re- 
 markable exercise of official power." 
 
 All of the gossip and the insistent demands of the press had no 
 result. President Cantor ignored the interest of the public and the 
 right of Mr. Stewart by vouchsafing no hint of his motive in the 
 arbitrary and precedent defying dismissal. 
 
 But Cantor finally yielded to the demand and imparted the informa- 
 tion that caused him to dismiss Stewart. But unfortunately for the 
 public, Cantor only told one man, and he was the Rev. Dr. Parkhurst. 
 Most people were surprised to find that the Borough President con- 
 sidered himself responsible to the clergyman and not to the people who 
 elected him. Shortly after being confided with this secret the doctor 
 sailed for Europe, and it is not recorded that he ever imparted the 
 secret to any one else. 
 
 Henry P. Thompson, a young society man, was appointed Stewart's 
 successor on April 30, 1903. 
 
 Leaving Princeton College in 1891, Mr. Thompson was engaged look- 
 ing after the financial department of his firm the Thompson-Starrett 
 Construction Company, and later with the Fuller and the United States 
 Realty and Construction Company. It was not known that he had ever 
 had any practical experience of the building or technical departments 
 of his concerns. 
 
 Mr. Thompson refused to give any information as to his experience 
 as a builder, and had never even studied any of the basic principles at 
 school or college. 
 
 Circumstances developed which caused public inquiry to be made 
 into Mr. Thompson's qualifications, and no little scandal was caused 
 when the fact that he had been graduated from college within ten years 
 of the date of his appointment. The Charter provides that: 
 
 "Every Superintendent of Buildings shall be a competent architect or 
 builder of at least ten years' experience." 
 
 Absolutely no notice whatever was taken by the Mayor or President 
 Cantor of the protest that he was not eligible for the office — because 
 the charter expressly stipulated that the person appointed to that 
 office must have had at least ten years' experience as an architect or 
 builder. It was shown that the young man, who is now in charge of a 
 department having control of the construction of $100,000,000 worth of 
 new buildings every year, had merely been the fiscal officer in big 
 construction corporations, and that he had never been a practical 
 builder. 
 
 So important an official as Comptroller Grout objected, and refused 
 to pay Mr. Thompson any salary until Mr. Rives, the "Fusion" Cor- 
 poration Counsel, had so ordered. The legality of this appointment has 
 therefore never been tested. The patent facts connected with his selec- 
 tion indicate very clearly that the young man was chosen because he 
 had the support of the great capitalists and real estate operators upon 
 whose enterprises it will be his official duties to pass. The question of 
 his technical competency was never considered, apparently. 
 
 One of Thompson's strongest backers for the position was John 
 Rockefeller's Bible class. About the time of Thompson's appointment 
 it became known that the younger Rockefeller was largely interested in 
 a prominent building concern. As the Rockefeller family has absorbed 
 about everything else in sight, and have lately gone into the erection of 
 buildings, it is not surprising that they wanted a friend in the Bureau 
 of Buildings. 
 
 It is significant that immediately after Mr. Thompson's appoint- 
 ment, the United States Realty and Construction Company, hi« late 
 employer, announced projected building operations amounting to 
 $3,000,000. 
 
 Some lawyers have given it as their opinion that until the court* 
 
70 
 
 NEW YORK, 1902-1303. 
 
 have passed upon the constitutionality of his appointment there i3 
 danger that all his official acts might be eventually declared illegal. 
 This possibility threatens many very grave complications. 
 
 The voters can safely say that the selection of Henry S. Thompson 
 for the important office of Building Superintendent was a flag-ant 
 breach of the pledges given before his election by Mayor Low. The 
 young man was chosen much as Herr Gustav Lindenthal was tr.r the 
 position of Commissioner of Bridges— because he was identified with 
 vast corporation interests whose ventures were within the official control 
 of the city authorities and which might at any time make it necessary 
 to have a friend at court. 
 
 THE TENEMENT DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Organized Under "Fusion," It Has Spent Money Lavishly and 
 Accomplished No Good — Non-Residents and Grafters 
 in Charge — The Wealthy Commissioner Practic- 
 ally an Absentee Executive. 
 
 One of the few cases where the Fusion administration was con- 
 fronted with the responsibilities of organizing a department is found in 
 the Tenement House Commission. The work was undertaken with a great 
 flourish of trumpets, but the results are utterly inadequate. Greater 
 New York must be congratulated that no such thing as a Low-"Fusion" 
 administration was confronted in 1898 with the gigantic task of organiz- 
 ing the consolidated city under the new charter which then went into 
 effect. 
 
 Robert W. De Forest was appointed Tenement House Commissioner 
 by Mayor Low on January 1, 1902, and his salary is $7,500 per year. 
 De Forest is a millionaire and a corporation lawyer. He is an active 
 member of the law firm of De Forest Brothers, and that firm is the 
 counsel for the Central Railroad of New Jersey. De Forest spends a 
 greater part of his time in his law offices, and he is a director of several 
 corporations. He was formerly identified with the Charity Organization 
 Society, and he has virtually turned the Tenement House Commission 
 over to that society. 
 
 De Forest rarely goes to the office of the Commission 
 in East Eighteenth street, and the affairs of the depart- 
 ment are looked after by Lawrence Veiller, Deputy Com- 
 missioner. 
 
 Veiller is the "whole thing" in the department, and his word is law 
 in the main office. De Forest has already planned to make him the 
 Commissioner. This plan ehay fail on account of the discovery of 
 practices on the part of Vellier which the Reformers would consider 
 sufficient for a pass port to Sing Sing if discovered in the administration 
 of Democrats. Veiller was formerly an instructor in the City College, and 
 he was discharged from that institution for "incompetency," but there 
 were some very serious charges against him. Through his connection 
 with the Charity Organization Society, influence was brought to bear, 
 and Veiller got out on the formal complaint of "incompetency." But 
 Veiller was persistent and secured a position as clerk in the Building 
 Bureau. He assumed the authority of the Commissioner by writing let- 
 ters and signing them with his chiefs stamp. He was afterward 
 charged with some crooked work, and was fired on the fpot for that. 
 GRAFTING HOUSEHOLD * FURNITURE. 
 
 During this time Veiller was still connected with the Charity Organ- 
 ization Society and he made the acquaintance of De Forest, but De For- 
 est will be better acquainted with Veiller when he reads this. How- 
 ever, De Forest appointed Veiller Deputy Commissioner and he started 
 in to "feather his own nest," not only in the department, but in his own 
 home. 
 
NEW YORK. 1902-1903. 
 
 71 
 
 For occasionally a furniture dealer's wagon would 
 drive around to his house and leave a present in the shape 
 of a chair or table, as was done at Patterson's house, de- 
 scribed below. 
 
 Yeiller "feathered his nest" in the office by appointing over 60 per 
 cent, of the officials and employees from those who had been connected 
 with the Charity Organization-Society. In fact, these people were 
 favored in every way possible, and the Commission was made a 
 political "retreat" for them. Out of 160 inspectors appointed, over 
 60 had been connected with the society. These people have been retained 
 in the office on "soft snaps," that is, they rarely had anything to do 
 but look pleasant and salute Veiller occasionally. There was a long 
 list of women on the eligible list for appointment as inspectors, and 
 Veiller sent out a circular in which he stated that he would appoint no 
 more female inspectors. A few days afterward Veiller violated the 
 law and appointed seven women from the Charity Society who had 
 never taken an examination of any kind. Veiller was certainly good to 
 the Charity Organization Society. Had they not got him out of trouble, 
 and was it not through them that he received his appointment? 
 
 Another instance of Veiller showing preference for Charity Organ- 
 ization workers is cited: Twenty-five clerks were worthing in the office 
 who had taken the examination and were on the eligible list for appoint- 
 ment as Inspectors. Veiller called these clerks into his" private office 
 and told every one of them that they must request the Civil Service 
 Commission to remove their names from the eligible list. He further 
 told them that if they were appointed — and they were the first names 
 on the list — that they would be discharged for "incompetency." He 
 explained that he had promised these inspectorships to the Charity 
 Society, and their men must get the jobs, no matter how low their 
 rating was. 
 
 John D. Duncklee was appointed as a "Superintendent." He is a 
 relative of De Forest, and draws a salary of $3,000 for just standing 
 around and looking pleasant. He is supposed to be in charge of the 
 work in the Bronx office. The department has rented an olfice up there, 
 but it has never been opened for business. In it is stored a lot of furni- 
 ture, also bought by Veiller and Patterson. Duncklee comes to the main 
 office about once a week, looks wise and disappears for another period of 
 rest. . He never bothers about doing work, because he is a "Superin- 
 tendent." 
 
 IOWAN "RAILROADED" INTO POSITION. 
 
 William R. Patterson is designated as the "Register or Statistics," 
 and gets $3,000 per year. He is well known as the man w T ho was "rail- 
 roaded' into his job. 
 
 Patterson was a sc!>oo! teacher out in Iowa, and 
 through friends was recommended to De Forest by Presi- 
 dent Roosevelt. He came to town one week and went to 
 work the next. In his case the Civil Service law was vio- 
 lated. 
 
 There was an eligible list of names for the position, but Veiller 
 allowed him to take a non-competitive examination and go to work. 
 There was no competitive examination held after he was appointed, and 
 to all inquiries Veiller answered that there was no vacancy. The papers 
 devoted considerable space to the case at the time. 
 
 Patterson formed an alliance with Veiller and assisted ,him to select 
 some very expensive furniture for the main office of the Commission. 
 
 Since Patterson has been in office he has bought over $30,000 worth 
 of furniture, and, in direct violation of the law, has not advertised for 
 bids nor even made any contracts. The salesman simply came around 
 and Patterson told him what he wanted and it was sent up. The law 
 distinctly states that all contracts over a thousand dollars shall be 
 advertised and let to the lowest bidder. But Patterson paid no atten- 
 tion to the law. He just sent down and told his friend, the . salesman, 
 what he needed. Nearly every time the furniture wagon came up with 
 a load of office furniture there was some article left in the wagon and 
 taken up to Patterson's house. 
 
NEW YORK. 1902-1 900. 
 
 A few months ago Patterson bright over $5,000 worth 
 of office furniture in one day, without any bidding, as in 
 the other cases mentioned. When the furniture was de- 
 livered there was a chiffionier in the load, and the driver 
 of the wagon was ordered to take it to Pattercon's house. 
 This looks like a clear case of graft if ever there was one. 
 A few weeks later Patterson was told by Veiller to order some filing 
 cabinets, amounting to $1,440. This time a Morris ch^ir came up *vith 
 the load, and Veiller saw it first, so it went to his house. Of course. 
 Patterson had just moved here from Iowa and he needed all the furni- 
 ture he could get, but he could not expect all the graft. However, he 
 has his place pretty well furnished by this time. 
 
 But Veiller has the best of Patterson in one respect, and that is 
 in the ^use of cabs at the expense of the department. Being the acting 
 head of the department, Veiller thought it would be the proper thing to 
 ride to the office and home again in a hansom cab. Accordingly a cab- 
 was engaged by the month, at $150 per month, to bring Veiller down in 
 the morning and take him out to lunch and home at night. The t>ills 
 have been objected to by the Comptroller several times, but the city has 
 to settle in the end. This cab business has been going on for over a 
 year, and any ftne can see the hansome waiting for Veiller at Irving 
 place and Eighteenth street any day. 
 
 MORE GRAFT AND EXTRAVAGANCE. 
 Furniture is not the only graft in the Tenement House Commission. 
 Veiller ordered the Inspectors to buy their hats of Mark Cowen, of 
 Lafayette place. Cowen is a brother of Philip Cowen, who was kicked 
 out of the City Record office last Summer. The Inspectors were charged 
 $2 for their hats and they are worth about 35 cents. Veiller called 
 all of the Inspectors in his office and "advised" them to buy their 
 uniforms of Cowen, as he was a "personal friend" of his. More graft. 
 The Fusionists have claimed this is an economical ad- 
 ministration. Evidently they did not include this depart- 
 ment in their claims. Patterson bought sixteen water cool- 
 ers for $259.50 that could be bought anywhere for less than 
 $60. Letter presses were bought for $18 that were worth 
 $3.50. A large piece of glass was ordered for De Forest's 
 desk for which the city paid $15, and it would be dear at 
 $2. These extravagant prices for supplies look very much 
 as if some one was getting a "rake-off." 
 
 There were several thousand dollars appropriated for salaries that 
 were diverted to other purposes without permission of the Board of 
 Estimate. Veiller got up an edition "de luxe" of the tenement law and 
 had it bound in expensive leather. This book was sent to De Forest's 
 friends all over the world. Some more of the "salary*' money went for 
 several thousand copies of a newspaper containing accounts of De 
 Forest's Tenement Commission, and the things he said he Intended to 
 do, but never accomplished. As a reformer of tenements, De Forest is as 
 inuc 1 : i failure as Richard Watson Gilder. No doubt the tenements need 
 attention, but De Forest should not neglect to reform his department. 
 DISCRIMINATION AGAINST HEBREWS. 
 
 While the Tenement House Commission has been yery friendly with 
 the Charity Organization Society it has shown a marked discrimination 
 against the Hebrew race. If a Jew was recommended for appointment 
 he was sent for and questioned by Veiller. He was asked if he would 
 work on a Jewish holiday. If he said no, he was not appointed. Some 
 of them replied that they had no objection to working on a holiday, 
 and then they were asked some other personal questions to lead to 
 seme ground of objection. If possible. Several of them were at the 
 head of the eligible list and had to be appointed. Those who were given 
 positions were the objects of the personal animosity of Veiller, who is a 
 Frenchman. They were given all the hard work, and often Insulted. 
 Several gave up their positions in disgust 
 
 But the climax came on September 21, when Veiller posted a notice, 
 stating that if any Hebrew failed to work on the Jewish holidays this 
 
KEW YORK. 1902-1903. 
 
 T3 
 
 year he would be fined, or dismissed, in his discretion. The matter wad 
 reported to several Hebrew societies, and they are making an investi- 
 gation. 
 
 It's a queer kind of "reform" that discriminates against any one's 
 nationality or religion. De Forest should give a little more of his time 
 to his department and not so much to the corporations. Even if he is 
 a millionaire, he is paid to look after the tenements by the city, and not 
 to delegate the work to such grafters as Veiller and Patterson. 
 
 THE "FUSION" ARMORY BOARD. 
 
 The Usual Scandal and the Usual Relief from Punishment by- 
 Low. 
 
 The reluctance with which Mayor Low admits that there is any possi- 
 bility of fault in the "Fusion" administration may be a commendable 
 trait, but it would seem that a few more lessons on the subject would 
 discourage him in this attitude. The Armory Board scandal was no 
 exception to the rule of Mayor Low's complacent and self-satisfied indif- 
 ference to conditions in his own official family that he would severely 
 criticise if shown anywhere else. 
 
 The Armory Board is composed chiefly of ex-officio members. Low 
 presides himself, the Comptroller is a member, and so is the ranking 
 officer of the National Guard in this Division. This results, of course, 
 in making an executive officer with large powers of the Secretary of 
 the Board. The Fusion candidate for this place was John P. Gustave- 
 son. He was contributed to the "Fusion" conglomeration by the Repub- 
 lican contingent, and William H. Ten Eyck was his backer. It is per- 
 haps a further proof that Mayor Low is given over to the Republican 
 party "body, boots and breeches," to find him standing as firmly in 
 opposition to the charges against Mr. Gustaveson as he did in opposi- 
 tion to those against Supervisor Cowen, whose politics can only be 
 described as a "Fusion" mixture. 
 
 It was only after many weeks of insistence on the part of the 
 Comptroller and the very persistent publicity given to the matter by 
 the Brooklyn Citizen that the Armory Board, which the Mayor domi- 
 nates, gave any heed to the charges. In passing, the public may note 
 that the press of New York, being largely responsible for the election of 
 the "Fusion" ticket, tried to avoid giving this scandal any publicity on 
 this side of the River. Brooklyn's concern in it was no greater than 
 ours, but there happens to be a Democratic newspaper over there that 
 is not tarred with the "Fusion" brush. 
 
 The sweeping charge was made that Secretary Gus- 
 taveson had ignored all the provisions of the law in regard 
 to advertising for contracts, making specifications and 
 taking competitive bids. The alleged firm of Henry Day 
 & Co., which was really a cover for Henry C. Gustaveson, 
 was given orders for ail kinds of supplies and work of 
 every description. The administration itself admitted that 
 it was a case of absolute criminality. 
 Many lawyers are of the opinion that a felony is also involved. In 
 paying the bills of Henry Day & Co., Secretary Gustaveson took the 
 acknowledgement of his own brother as an official, permitting him to 
 sign as "Henry Day." What degrees of forgery and felony are in- 
 volved In this transaction has never been made public. 
 
 It was on May 15, 1903. that Comptroller Grout announced that he 
 had discovered grafting in the Armory Board. He said with much 
 indignation: 
 
 "It is the most damnable piece of roguery that has 
 ever come under my notice." 
 
 Mr. Grout charged specifically that boatloads of coal "SO per cent, 
 dirt and 20 per cent, coal" had beeu delivered to the various armories 
 
7-1 
 
 NEW YORK, 1002-1903. 
 
 in the city, and in many instances it would not burn; that the contract 
 had been given to a "dummy" company" known as the "Henry Day 
 Company," which consisted of Henry C. Gustaveson, a brother of the 
 Secretary of the Board, and who was also known as Henry Day, and 
 George Tarrant; that Day & Co. had been paid for repairing armories, 
 supplying drugs, plumbing, iron work, carpentry and painting. 
 
 Coal had been charged for at the rate of $9 a ton, but the Comptroller 
 refused to pay more than $5 for it. Notwithstanding that he denied it. 
 it was proved that Secretary Gustaveson had been a member of the firm 
 of Day & Co. as late as 189S, if he was not actually so at the time the 
 contracts were given to his brother as Henry Day. 
 
 When the Armory Board began an investigation Secretary Gustave- 
 son was suspended. The Commissioners of Accounts reported that 
 yearly appropriations had been exhausted in five months, and that the 
 National Guard had been embarrassed thereby; that favoritism ha<l 
 been shown in the letting of contracts, and records burned to conceal 
 underhand work. 
 
 In the face of these findings the Armory Board, by a unanimous 
 vote/ removed Secretary Gustaveson on the simple plea that his work 
 had not been "satisfactory." This was on July 20, 1903. He had offered 
 to resign, but the Mayor refused his request and put a motion to dismiss 
 him, which was passed. 
 
 Gustaveson is a Republican and was urged for the position by Tax 
 Commissioner Wells and Aqueduct Commissioner William H. Ten Eyek. 
 He was held up by them as an example of what a citizen of rectitude 
 should be and an example for all good "Pusionists" to follow. Yet on 
 September 21, the day upon which William Hepburn Russeli resigned 
 his position as Commissioner of Accounts, he said: 
 
 "The rottenest piece of political corruption I discov- 
 ered during my examination of accounts was in the office 
 of the Secretary of the Armory Board." 
 
 District Attorney Jerome paid no attention to the. case, and our 
 Reform Mayor, Mr. Low, did not call the attention of the Grand Jury 
 to it or take it to a Police Magistrate's Court. 
 
 Even with the incredible example given in the case of Supervisor 
 of the City Record Cowen it is hard to believe the facts of the record 
 that Mayor Low and his Armory Board let Secretary Gustaveson resign 
 his position. Mayor Low's Commissioners of Accounts made a report 
 on the matter in which they said while they fully acquitted the Secre- 
 taiy of having caused any loss to the city by extravagant contracts 
 or by having any connection with or interest in the contracts and from 
 any action which tended to the loss or injury of the city they declar* 
 him guilty of certain favoritism and irregularities in the performance of 
 his duties. In this case again Comptroller Grout was uot satisfied as 
 easily as the Mayor, and after a hearing given to the Secretary, in 
 which he was represented by very able counsel, he was dismissed. 
 Although too much to blame himself to be properly described as a scape- 
 goat, it cannot be denied that Secretary Gustaveson's superiors, the 
 members of the Armory Board, were much to be censured, it had evi- 
 dently handled its business in careless, loose and unsystematic fashion 
 and must have been cognizant of the fact that many of its contracts 
 were let without competitive bidding and that much of its supplies 
 were purchased without complying with the formalities of the law. 
 
 "Mayor Low's a mighty ruler. He's a splendid city head." 
 
 So declares the high and mighty prince of fakes. 
 He's a man of great refinement and undoubtedly well bred. 
 
 What a pity he should make a few mistakes. 
 
 Vclc against "Fusion" fraud and false pretense. 
 
 Honest Democracy, purged of Deveryism, welcomes the return of 
 her worthy sont. 
 
 Vote for Honest Democratic City Government In touch with the 
 wants of the people. 
 
NEW YORK. 1902-1903. . 73 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF WATER SUPPLY 
 
 "Fusion" Commissioner Monroe's Extravagance and Favorit- 
 ism — Laborers Dismissed and Small Salaries Cut to 
 Fatten Fees of Columbia Professors. 
 
 Facts tell most eloquently the story of the failure of "Fusion" to 
 properly protect and manage the Department of Water Supply, which 
 was committed by Mayor Low to the care of the Arch-Reformer, Robert 
 Grier Monroe. The latter, who like nearly all of the "Fusion" depart- 
 ment chiefs, bears the military title of "Colonel," was regarded as the 
 most practical politician in Mayor Low's cabinet, and he was expected 
 to be the most enthusiastic partisan of the Republican-Cit-Reform 
 Trinity. 
 
 That his administration has resulted in as much cor- 
 ruption and petty graft as that of the other branches of 
 the "Fusion" grafting tree is not surprising. 
 
 Some of the acts of this Reformer of Reformers, which have calle<i 
 down the severe criticism of the newspapers 06 every class are: 
 
 That he sought to build up the "Fusion" machine by the 
 creation and disposal of patronage, without regard to the 
 efficiency of the working force. 
 
 That the salaries of subordinates were reduced and the 
 services of laboring men dispensed with, so that higher offi- 
 cials should be paid more. 
 
 That the force of employees in the Water Registers and 
 Engineers' Department was doubled, the new appointees be- 
 ing mostly professors and students of Columbia College, with 
 importations from Providence, R. I., Baltimore and other 
 places. 
 
 That from January 1 to August 1, 1903, the sum of $175,000 
 was spent in special work, the beneficiaries being Professor 
 Seaver and two other Columbia College professors and grad- 
 uates. 
 
 That in August. 1903, twenty months after Mayor Low's 
 inauguration, extensive frauds were discovered by the New 
 York American in the Meter Department. 
 
 That apartment houses, hotels, clubs, etc., had suffered 
 from a shortage of supply, entailing danger from fire and 
 other losses, and that in the Bronx Borough drinking water 
 could not be had. 
 
 That generally the management of Commissioner Monroe 
 was characterized by extravagance, incompetency, neglect and 
 a thirst for patronage. 
 
 CUT SMALL PAY, RAISE BIG SALARIES. 
 The first act of Commissioner Monroe was to reduce 
 the salaries of the working force from 10 to 20 per cent. 
 The pay of typewriters and clerks with families, who were 
 getting $900 to $2,000 a year was cut, but gradual in- 
 creases were bestowed on "Fusion" appointees. A great 
 number of laborers were dropped from the rolls. 
 Professor Seaver of Columbia College was appointed Consulting 
 Engineer of Electrical Construction at $4,000 a year. There is no such 
 work as electrical construction in the Water Department, and the 
 professor never appeared at the office. Nor did he even deign to call 
 on pay days to sign the roll. Indeed, on every occasion it was necessary 
 for a clerk to call him up on the Columbia College 'phone and ask him 
 to call and sign the receipt. 
 
7G 
 
 NEW YORK, 1002-1003. 
 
 Professor Burr of Columbia, College, John R. Freeman of Rhode 
 Island and another were paid $12,000 each— $36,000 in all— for less than 
 a year's supernumerary and consulting work. The total sum paid to 
 them and to youths of Columbia who acted as their assistants from 
 January 1 to August 1, 1903, was $175,000. This included the price of 
 a new steam launch, hotel bills and personal expenses. 
 
 In the Bureau of the Water Register and the Engineers 1 Department 
 the number of clerks and inspectors was doubled by Colonel Monroe. 
 The Chief Engineer, George W. Birdsall, who had never oeen identified 
 with any political party in his official career of thirty years, was side- 
 tracked. He possessed invaluable knowledge of the location of mains, 
 connections, pipes and the intricacies of the system. In order to retain 
 his services for difficult work, he was made consulting engineer at the 
 same salary $7,500. 
 
 Then N. S. Hill of Baltimore was imported and made Chief Engineer 
 in Birdsall's place at a salary of $10,000 a year, and he was provided 
 with an automobile. 
 
 In every instance where it was feasible graduates of 
 Mayor Low's Columbia College were selected, the pay roll 
 being increased at least $20,000 a year in the Engineer's of- 
 fice, making, with the salary of Mr. Hill, $30,000 more than 
 before in one division within one year. 
 
 A SPECIMEN REFORM OFFICIAL. 
 
 Alonzo S. Gear, Water Register of the Bronx, who was appointed 
 by the Strong "Reform" administration, dismissed by the Van 
 Wyck administration; then reinstated by the Low "Reform" adminis- 
 tration, was suspended on May 17, 1903, on three complaints— incompe- 
 tency, insubordination and swearing. He had asked for 14 more assist- 
 ants in addition to the 24 allotted him. but it was found that they 
 were not needed. He was accused of writing to Governor Odelt, Police 
 Commissioner Greene and others criticising Mr. Munroe, and also of 
 ordering his clerks not to speak to him except through his Chief Clerk. 
 NO RELIEF FROM MONROE. 
 
 Albert T. Foster, manager of the Algonquin apartment house, with 
 other proprietors of the high-class apartment houses, hotels, and clubs 
 on Forty-fourth and Forty-fifth street between Fifth and Sixth avenues 
 complained that they could not get water pressure to supply their guests 
 and tenants. In one hotel the boiler fires had to be put out because the 
 water got so low that it became dangerous. 
 
 "We had to shut down our refrigerating plant once or twice because 
 of the shortage of water," said J. C. Miller, proprietor of the Seymour 
 and the Iroquois. "The danger by fire would have been vers' great." 
 "FUSION" TAXES ON BUILDERS'. 
 
 By an order of Commissioner Monroe, every contractor using city 
 water, has in addition to paying two inspectors at a cost ol $220 per 
 month, to pay $3 a day to an inspector who stands by the hydrant and 
 turns the water on and off. This is something which was never 
 required before. The Borough President appoints a $100 a month inspec- 
 tor, the Commissioner one at $120 a month, and in case they do not 
 agree the Commissioner appoints a third to decide, the contractor paying 
 the entire expense. 
 
 On August 9, 1903, it was claimed that Commissioner Monroe had 
 caused to be illegally collected from $3 to $10 a year each for alleged 
 extra water service to bakers, barbers, florists, laundries, milk dealers, 
 restaurants, fish dealers, saloonkeepers, photographers and others, 
 ft I though Section 473 of the Charter prescribes that the Board of Alder- 
 men shall fix a uniform scale. 
 
 "MR. RIVES' " KINDERGARTKN 
 Mayor Low's Corporation Counsel. George L. Rives, surroar>4c«l 
 himself in that offiee with young society fellows who knew little about 
 the city and cared less. When rules of strict etiquette were pro- 
 mulgated, the chief order being to the effect thai in speaking or writing 
 to or about the Corporation Counsel no ene matt tvir in-glcct to call Liiu 
 "Mr. Rives." 
 
NEW YORK, 1002-19U3. 
 
 77 
 
 MR. RIVES'" CORPORATION COUNSEL'S OFFICE 
 KINDERGARTEN. 
 
78 
 
 NEW YORK, 1902—1903. 
 
 FUSION'S LAW DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Mr. George L. Rives, Mayor Low's appointee as counsel to the Cor- 
 poration, confirms the belief that the whole "Fusion" outfit think them- 
 selves different from and better than the people in whose service they 
 are employed. He holds himself aloof in an atmosphere of superiority, 
 and when he does descend into the domain of practical effort and the 
 consideration of everyday matters he usually manages to make him- 
 self ridiculous. For months after he was appointed the newspapers 
 regularly called upon the Mayor to get rid of him, but that official's 
 self-sufficiency extends to and covers his appointees so that he never 
 can see that anything is the matter with them. 
 
 Mr. Rives, when interviewed at Newport on the subject of his 
 duties, said: "My office is a sort of clearing house for all of the depart- 
 ments of the municipal government. Almost all of them come to me at 
 some time or other for some sort of advice." It was in this same talk 
 that he delivered himself of the famous opinion that "The Reform 
 administration of Greater New York has done everything that is good 
 and nothing that is bad." 
 
 This comprehensive commendation, which, of course, includes his 
 own work, will not bear analysis in the Law Department or any other. 
 It is simply another sample *of the 'Fusion" fashion of claiming every- 
 thing. The fact is that Mr. Rives has repeatedly signed opinions which 
 he had to recall and reverse within twenty-four hours, and has often 
 advised officials to courses which they have found it impossible to follow. 
 The single example of the Bedell bill was sufficient to 
 stamp him as eternally unfit to represent the city in any 
 capacity. This iniquitous measure handed over to the cor- 
 porations all the streets and all the rights that they have 
 not already grabbed and put the city at the mercy of mo- 
 nopolies. 
 
 So flagrant were its provisions that all of the Albany correspondents 
 supported the attacks made on the bill by the Democratic legislators, 
 and the great journals of the city criticised it so severely that it was 
 abandoned by its sponsor and virtually repudiated. even by Rives and 
 Low. 
 
 There were many other instances of similar blundering in connection 
 with proposed legislation, and instead of being a protection to the city 
 in watching for dangerous legislation, the city's law officer had to be 
 watched with great vigilance to keep him from advancing bad bills 
 that were drafted by himself. The Sturgis bill, giving to a Fire Com- 
 missioner whose lack of judicial fairness was already demonstrated, the 
 absolute and autocratic power of dismissal was not opposed by the 
 Corporation Counsel because it was a Fusion-Republican job. The out- 
 rageous bill, under whose provisions, if enacted into law, a New 
 York city school teacher could be dismissed for an infraction of a 
 Board of Education by-law, was killed by the force of public opinion, 
 but not objected to by Mr. Rives* representative. The Mayor's "Sweep" 
 bills, abrogating the Civil Service law, if not subverting the Constitu- 
 tion, were the product of the Rives' bill factory. Governor Odeil'a 
 mortgage tax bill and other experimental forays in every direction to 
 seek relief from taxes for the farmer were not opposed on behalf of 
 the city, albeit many of them were so drawn as to militate agaln«t ns 
 here. ' 
 
 Mr. Rives was again peculiar in his attitude upon the Blatter of 
 opening streets through the city parks. The New York World, January 
 
NEW YORK. 1002-1003. 
 
 79 
 
 IS. 1003, condemned "Mr. Rives' desire for a bill giving New York city 
 power to open streets through any public park." and said: 
 
 "In such a measure would lurk more of peril to the 
 
 park system — and particularly to Central Park — than of 
 
 possible utility to the public." 
 The project which Mr. Rives lent his assistance to was one formed 
 by the wealthy residents in the neighborhood of East Seventy-s-econd 
 street, who petitioned to have the name of that thoroughfare changed 
 to "Park lane" in imitation of the famous, exclusive residence street in 
 the West End, London. They also wanted to have the streets on which 
 they lived cut through the park. This would, of course, enhance the 
 value of their properties and give the section an air of aristocracy, but 
 it would at the same time destroy the park features of the people's 
 pleasure ground. 
 
 Mr. Rives is further distinguished by his record as a member of 
 the Board of City Record where he stood loyally with the Mayor behind 
 Superintendent Cowen, whom Comptroller Grout had accused of unbusi- 
 nesslike methods which more than suggested corruption, as well as 
 general inefficiency. tj 
 MR. RIVES' ARISTOCRATIC FRIENDS. 
 
 Corporation Counsel -George Rives aggrieved many Bronx citizens 
 by recommending for appointment as commissioners on street opening 
 proceedings in that Borough, several wealthy residents of Throgg's Neclc, 
 who are members of the fashionable country club set. Three appoint- 
 ments which caused particular surprise were those of Mr. Alfred W. 
 Cooley, Francis de Ruyter Wissman, and Henry A. Coster. All of 
 these men reside on Throgg's Neck. Mr. Cooley was appointed a mem- 
 ber of the United States Civil Service Commission by President Roose- 
 velt, whose personal representative he v/as on the floor of the Assembly, 
 when Mr. Roosevelt was Governor. 
 
 FUSION'S STREET CLEANS DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Frauds, Scandals, Extravagance and Inefficiency. 
 
 Experience of "Fusion" Republican Reform has proved very costi/ 
 to taxpayers and irritating to citizens of every class, so far as the 
 administration of the Street Cleaning Department under Major John 
 McGraw Woodbury is concerned. 
 
 Indeed were it not for the serious addition to the expenditures of 
 the city for two years, the mismanagement of the medico-military expert 
 would be a source of amusement. Passing over his well-known eccentric 
 personality; his bumptious self-consciousness, and extravagant lan- 
 guage; the key to his incumbency of this important branch of municipal 
 government has been financial waste, and danger to the health of the 
 inhabitants. It is a notorious fact, that the streets of the city have 
 never been so filthy or neglected. Yet in his first year. Commissioner 
 "Woodbury received over $300,C00 more than his predecessor, apart from 
 special appropriations. 
 
 Grafting, blackmail and shakedowns have been discov- 
 ered, and no attempt made to bring the offenders to jus- 
 tice. 
 
 The extent- to which the department was disorganized, may be> 
 gathered from the recorded fact that on one occasion he. transferred 
 the entire street cleaning force from Brooklyn to Manhattan, leaving 
 the borough across the river without any service. ! , 
 
 "Certain eccentricities of manner seemed to have conveyed 
 the impression to those who have come in contact with him 
 that he is not very practical," said the New York Times edi- 
 torially on January 7, 1S02. 
 The prominent feature of Major Woodbury's administration was 
 his continuous demand for more assistants, more horses, more carta. 
 
80 
 
 NEW YORK. 1903-1**. 
 
 Eiore maeninery. more plant, more stables, and more money, particularly 
 the latter. As early as January 15. 1942. he got from the Board of 
 Estimate a bond issue of 31M,1<60 to buy plant and stock, alleging that 
 he must have at once PQ& horses, tfft steel ash carts. 2* double steel ash 
 carts. 75 bicycles, and other things, including a dump at the foot of 
 West Seventy-ninth street, costing $7 .5*00. and a crematory at West 
 Forty-seventh street, costing The request was granted, although 
 
 a similar rt^uesi made by bis predecessor was refused. 
 
 THE S.XOW REMOVAL SCANDALS. 
 It was at this time that the waste and fraud were discovered hi 
 the department- Snow Superintendent Clark announced that certain 
 inspectors had given away tickets in bunches while they were drinking 
 in saloons, and that men had collected for delivery of loads when they 
 Lad not done any work. Others had filled their carts with snow a 
 short distance from the dumps and received tickets. The same sum was 
 paid for a short or long hauL 
 
 M. D. Ronton. Superintendent of Street Cleaning, investigated the 
 snow removal scandal, and declared that the city had been robbed of 
 thousands of dollars, and it was alleged that owners of wagons Which 
 did n»t convey full loads were paid for full loads, and that snow col- 
 lected uptown was dumped on vacant lots in some cases only fifty 
 feet from the place of loading; and that drivers were paid as if they 
 had collected the snow and carried it to the dumping docks. 
 
 Superintendent Bout on found that in Brooklyn in one 
 day 15.000 tickets had been issued to cart drivers, but that 
 there had not been enough streets cleaned to warrant 
 the giving out of so many. On the following day only 7,000 
 tickets were given out and the number of streets cleaned 
 showed a decrease of only 20 per cent. .This made a differ- 
 ence of more than $5,000 in the cost of street cleaning for 
 one day. 
 
 The same official learned that the wagons did not contain the 
 regulated amount of one and a half cubic yards. Some wagons carried 
 less than half the legal measure, yet the drivers collected seventy-five 
 cents for each load. 
 
 In a nutshell, the amount of money paid out the day before Mr. 
 Bo u ton took charge was S1LCSC: while on the day he issued the tickets 
 himself it dropped to 35,11$, which showed a loss to the city at the rate 
 of $39,420 in six days. 
 
 Commissioner Woodbury had practically carte blanche 
 as to expense, yet streets were blocked, business was de- 
 layed, and slush and dirt bred disease. The snow in the 
 streets of New York above Fifty-ninth street was un- 
 touched. No previous commissioner ever dared to be 
 guilty of such neglect. 
 
 EXTRAVAGANT STABLE BUILDING. 
 
 In the revised budget of 1*92 the Commissioner asked for an increase 
 of about $300,004 over the amount which the previous administration had 
 deemed sufficient. This made his total demand 35.464.C11- ©5. Notwith- 
 standing this, the Low administration agreed without demur or inves- 
 tigation to grant Dr. Woodbury whatever he asked for. 
 
 The crowning glory of Commissioner Woodbury's official career was 
 his successful plea for the sum of £395.000 to the Board of Estimate and 
 Apportionment to construct a stable for his department in Brooklyn. 
 Comptroller Grout was amazed at the request, and objected, saying he 
 saw from the plans that It was proposed to erect a beautiful building 
 in the French style of architecture. 
 
 "1 don't see any necessity for the city's being called upon to spend 
 so much money for a beautiful chateau in which to stable horses," said 
 Mr. Grout. 
 
 But Dr. Woodbury pleaded hard and said that he wanted to have 
 a repair shop, storage room, . wardrobe lockers and shower and tub 
 baths for his men. 
 
 Then Mr. Groat yielded, except that he thought the mansard roof 
 
should be dispensed with. But the Street Commissioner had his way, 
 and every member of the board voted for the extravagant structure. 
 WOODBURY DISCRIMINATES AGAINST MERCHANTS. 
 'Merchants, dry gxxis men and department store firms were so 
 angered at the treatment meted out to them by Commissioner Wood- 
 bury, that they went to the Supreme Court on February 13. and 
 asked for a mandamus to compel the Commissioner to remove ashes 
 and other refuse from their premises and the adjacent streets. He 
 had refused to do so, and the complainants alleged that he had dis- 
 criminated against them unlawfully, fearing that the necessary ex- 
 penditure would exhaust his appropriation. Hays and Herschfield. 
 counsel for the firms, proved that Dr. Woodbury had removed ashes 
 and refuse from the private residences and apartment houses in the 
 vicinity of their stores since November 24. 1502. but had declined to 
 cause the removal from any other buildings. Repeated requests had 
 been ignored. The Commissioner, it was related, had said he feared 
 that his entire appropriation would be used up long before the end of 
 the year if he removed all the refuse in the business districts. He had 
 hitherto done so as a favor and not as a duty. 
 
 In arguing for the Street Commissioner, the assistant corporation 
 counsel. Mr. McGuire, made the novel plea that if the citizens were 
 dissatisfied with the results of Major Woodbury's work "the polls were 
 open to them for a change of administration." 
 
 BLACKMAIL AND CORRUPTION CHARGED. 
 In March, 1902, the Drivers, Sweepers and Hostlers' 
 Union charged that $2 r 500 a week was being collected in 
 blaickmail money by foremen of the Street Cleaning De- 
 partment and their agents. District Attorney Jerome at 
 the time said: 
 
 **The department is absolutely honeycombed with cor- 
 ruption." 
 
 But no attempt appears to have been made to find out who was 
 collecting the "graft," and Mr. Jerome, with all his constitutional 
 authority and power, did not bring any of the alleged blackmailers to 
 justice. 
 
 On February 19. 1903. Michael Dilfippo and Joseph Martello. two 
 laborers, complained to Magistrate Flammer that they had been hired 
 to shovel snow. The foremen asked them for their tickets and, as 
 they did not have any, they were told to go to a saloon nearby and 
 pay the proprietor twenty-five cents each, and they would receive a 
 ticket entitling them to work. The men claimed that over one hun- 
 dred men had paid tribute at this saloon. On Christmas Day forty 
 dollars had been paid at this one place for blackmail, independently of 
 the money which the laborers were expected to spend for drink. But 
 the administration took no steps to end the graft. 
 
 Albert Karschar. of No. 208 East 102d street, who was arrested on 
 complaint of the Street Cleaning Department, told Magistrate Zeller 
 in court that he had refused to pay $2 a month for the removal of ashes 
 and refuse from each of his twenty-six houses in the city. 
 
 "I am morally certain there is a 'shake-down' in this 
 
 — case," said the Magistrate. "I know of a case where a 
 man had to pay $30 before he could get his refuse re- 
 moved." 
 
 But the Street Commissioner only replied: 
 
 "I don't believe there are such things as 'shake-downs' in the de- 
 partment." 
 
 And that closed the incident. 
 
 FADDIST AND AUTOCRAT. 
 
 Another fad of the Commissioner is his posing as a lecturer. He 
 appeared on the platform, describing his work and using lantern slides 
 giving views of selected streets to illustrate his success. 
 
 Suits for thousands of -dollars damages were begun in January, 1903, 
 as a result of a quagmire in New street between Wall street and 
 Exchange place. There were dozens of cases of typhoid fever caused bar 
 the fiithy conditions- 
 
NEW YORK, 1002—1903. 
 
 It was in February, 1903, that the Street Commissioner decided that 
 he should be clothed with police powers, so Assemblyman Wright, at 
 the request of the Low administration, introduced a bill at Albany 
 providing the Street Commissioner with a permanent detail of seventy 
 men from the regular force. The bill also provided for double the 
 force of medical examiners, and an increased force of veterinary sur- 
 geons. Three general inspectors, a civil engineer, and many increases 
 of salary were requested for some of the officials. 
 
 Thereafter peremptory arrests were the rule, where citizens did not 
 obey the Commissioner, and one teamster was arrested by Dr. Wood- 
 bury himself on one occasion, because he did not move his truck out of 
 the way of the Commissioner s wagon. The offender was fined $3 in 
 court. 
 
 WOODBURY WANTS INCREASE. 
 
 Dr. Woodbury was forced to acknowledge that he had not made a 
 conspicuous success in his department and when interviewed as to the 
 many, complaints in January, 3903, he said, airily: 
 
 "Give me $1,000,000 more and I will put this department in shape. 
 We need 500 more horses, 500 more carts, 500 more drivers, 50 more 
 hostlers, three new stables, foremen, assistant foremen, stable clerks, 
 added water front accommodations, and 500 sets of harness." 
 
 REPUBLICAN FUSION EXTRAVAGANCE IN DEPARTMENT OF 
 STREET CLEANING FIRST SIX MONTHS OF 1902. 
 FINAL DISPOSITION. 
 
 Increased cost 
 of Fusion in 
 1902. 1901. 1902. 
 
 Total expenditure $139,000 $378,000 $S1,000 
 
 Or an increased expenditure in 1902 of 16 per cent. 
 
 Loads in favor 
 1902. 1901. of Fusion. 
 
 Loads, of refuse material disposed of.... 970,500 916,500 54,000 
 
 On an increase in favor of Fusion of 5% per cent. 
 
 NET INCREASED PERCENTAGE COST OF FUSION. 
 
 Per Cent. 
 
 Net increased cost of Fusion 16 
 
 Deduct loads in favor of Fusion 5^2 
 
 Republican-Fusion extravagance 10% 
 
 Total cost per load to dispose of all refuse in 1902 exceeds 1901 by 
 
 nearly 4 per cent, per load, or a total increased cost of nearly $40,000 as 
 
 a result of Republican administration. 
 
 Don't make those goo-goo eyes at me, 
 Says little old New York; 
 
 I "know Reform gold bricks, my boy, 
 I know the rot you talk. 
 
 Vote against "Fusion" fraud and false pretense. 
 
 CHAIRMAN BRUCE AND "MR. DEVERY." 
 
 "Mr. Devery," discredited in every other direction and banished from 
 the ranks of the .purified Democracy., still has the regard and support 
 of Chairman Bruce of the Republican County Committee. 
 
 Chairman Bmoe look it upon himself to sound a warning to the 
 leaders of the Democracy in his great oonoern over the expressions of 
 irrevocable opposition to the continuous performance primary contestant 
 in the Nint\ '.J' _ „. J J i 
 
 It is certninly a shame to have Chairman Bruce so disappointed 
 over the results of his investment in an alliance with the collapsed 
 disciple of "hot air" in politics. 
 
 Vote against Republicanism masked as non-partisanship. 
 
NFW YORK, 1902-1903. 
 
 83 
 
B4 
 
 NEW YORK, 1902— 190& 
 
 "FUSION'S" PARK DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Plenty of Money Spent and Little to Show for It — Hundreds 
 of Republican Henchmen Appointed as "Assistant 
 Gardeners." 
 
 ' The Fusion administration's Department of Parks is pointing with 
 pride to a record of four new parks opened as compared with one 
 opened during the previous administration. Of course, it need not be 
 explained that it is absolutely impossible for any park property to have 
 been acquired and opened for park purposes within the period that 
 this administration has been in office. It is a matter of several years 
 to carry through the legal proceedings for the condemnation of land 
 for park purposes, after w T hich the work of tearing down and removing 
 the buildings and surveying and laying out the site and improving it 
 for park purposes is a matter of several years more. 
 
 Therefore, these parks "cpened" with such eclat by 
 President Willccx and his feliow commissioners of the 
 Fusion Board must be credited to their predecessors. 
 
 The members of the present Board of Park Commissioners have 
 been very active, and have enjoyed the advantage of having unlim- 
 ited funds at their disposal. This has been accomplished by the resort 
 to bond issues. The Board of Estimate has been very liberal in au- 
 thorizing such issues, and the result has been great activity and bustle 
 in park department work. If the Commissioners could claim an equal 
 showing of results accomplished, they would have reason to be proud 
 of themselves. Unfortunately, however, there is very little to show for 
 all this expenditure. Most of it has been wasted, as in the case of 
 appropriations for the improvement of the Central Park drives. These 
 drives Were in excellent condition; yet President Willcox has spent many 
 thousands of dollars in the work of replacing their shale surface with 
 gravel. In this work it must be confessed the men were obliged to 
 do something. 
 
 WASTEFUL, INCREASE OF LABORING FORCE. 
 
 In most of the places where the payroll expenses have been largely 
 increased the result has not been any additional work. There has been 
 nothing for the men to do, and they have lounged about in each other's 
 way, even crowding the basement of the Arsenal, where the offices 
 of the park commission are located, In such numbers as to create a 
 scandal that must have attracted public attention. 
 
 In spite of this fact the payrolls of the Park Department show a 
 most remarkable absence of men drawing pay under the title of laborers. 
 This is the result of one of the peculiar "Fusion" practices of juggling 
 with the Civil Service. The Park Commissioners, upon taking office, 
 found themselves under a tremendous pressure from the Republican 
 machine for places for unskilled laborers. President Willcox was in 
 despair and unable to respond to the demands of his party friends. In 
 February, 1902, at a dinner of the Republican Club in the Twenty-second 
 District, he expressed the opinion that the leaders of the party must 
 spend nineteen hours out of every twenty-four in hunting after pat- 
 ronage, and dolefully protested that he was getting much too great a 
 share of their attention. He begged them to ease up on him. There was 
 no let up and the result was: 
 
 THE "ASSISTANT GARDENER" FAKE. 
 
 The City Record's official roster, published July 20, 1903. contains a 
 list of several hundred men employed under this title. In spite of the 
 requirement of law that the title under which a man is appointed 
 should show the nature of the duties he performs, tharc is nothing 
 whatever to show any distinction in the character of the work of any 
 

 
 NEW YORK. 1002-1903. 
 
 85 
 
 ©f^. these assistant gardeners. Yet when the men are looked up and 
 traced to their various occupations it is found that an astonishing 
 variety of positions is concealed under the title. Clerical work in the 
 offices of the Commissioner of the department is performed by some of 
 them. Painters and other workmen in the mechanical branch of the 
 department sign the payroll beside the designation of assistant gardener. 
 Drivers who gayly hold the reins over department horses are officially 
 known as assistant gardeners. There seems to be no end to the ver- 
 satility of the men grouped under this elastic title. 
 
 As an indication of the extent to which the appointment of assistant 
 gardeners and the stuffing of the ranks of unskilled laborers under this 
 designation has been carried, it has been found by investigation in the 
 Comptroller's office that 
 
 The payrolls for the corresponding weeks in August, 1 £01 
 and 1903, show an increase from $1,600 in the former year 
 to $16,650 in the latter year. 
 
 PLAYGROUND MANAGEMENT .FAULTY. 
 
 President Willcox especially plumes himself on the record of his 
 department since January, 1902, in the matter of opening and main- 
 taining playgrounds for children. These playgrounds are in Seward 
 Park, Hamilton Fish Park, DeWitt Clinton Park and Thomas Jefferson 
 Park. The one in Seward Park was in operation during the term of 
 the previous board; the one in Hamilton Fish Park was completed and 
 in use before that board went out of office; and the one in Thomas 
 Jefferson Park had been made possible by the energetic work done under 
 former Commissioner Clausen in clearing off the buildings and grading 
 and surveying the site of that park, even though it was known that 
 it would be some years before a sufficient appropriation would be avail- 
 able for its permanent improvement. The playground in DeWitt Clinton 
 Park is a new one. it having been established since January 1, 1902. 
 
 In connection with this claim of credit for the playgrounds, it is 
 perhaps not out of place to call attention to their present status. It is the 
 opinion of many of the friends of the movement for their establishment 
 that under the management of -the present Park Board they are very 
 far from realizing the advantages expected of them or which they are 
 capable of affording. A very important expectation concerning them 
 was* that they would be so managed as to afford places of healthful 
 recreation to the younger children of the neighborhoods in which they 
 *vvere established. This feature seems to have been entirely lost sight of. 
 
 There is no discipline enforced among the children who resort to 
 these playgrounds, and the natural result is that the larger and stronger 
 children are in complete possession of all their facilities. The little 
 ones are crowded out and forced back into the streets, from which it 
 was planned, to rescue them. The active youngsters who are able to 
 stand their ground in the city's play places, according to the principle 
 of the survival of the fittest, are a pretty hard lot. They believe in 
 very strenuous amusement; and the apparatus of the gymnasium play- 
 grounds suffers so severely under their assaults that the requisitions 
 which reached the Park Department for replacing it ar« received almost 
 daily. 
 
 EXTRAVAGANT OFFICIALS. 
 Everything about the park department savors of extravagance. As 
 eoon as it was installed in office, costly improvements were planned and 
 carried out in the Arsenal Building, where the headquarters of the 
 department is located. The next development in this direction was fur- 
 nished by the secretary of the board, Mr. Terry, in the purchase of a 
 pair of horses for ostensible use in trips of inspection and supervision. 
 In the whole history of the Park Department no larger price than $250 
 had ever been paid for a horse, even when it was necessary to fur- 
 nish mounts for the mounted policemen. For the secretary's use, how- 
 ever, nothing could be found for less than $400 a head that was good 
 enough; and he could not be satisfied without having a team purchased 
 for hitn at that figure. The secretary's vigilance in the matter of 
 making the inspections for which his team of horses was purchased is 
 so conscientious tha.t -a;*;e.s»«rver he is otherwise engaged be loans the 
 Park Department horses te trusted friends, to whom he delegates thia 
 
NEW YORK, 1902-1903. 
 
 Work of inspection and keeps the team well exercised. The Secretary 
 moved up from the office of a downtown beusiness concern, in which he 
 was interested, to take the position of Secretary of the Board. Shortly 
 afterward he was followed by the furniture and fittings of his former 
 office, which were stored in the Park Department Building. 
 
 SCANDAL IN RENTING CITY PROPERTY. 
 
 President Willcox depends very largely upon the secretary of the 
 board in the details of the conduct of the affairs of the Department. 
 Sometimes, however, he finds it necessary to give personal attention to 
 such little matters. 
 
 In May, 1902, the buildings remaining on the site of DeWitt Clinton 
 Park were sold for removal as a step toward the work of improvement 
 there. The terms of sale, as stated by the auctioneer at the time that 
 he took the bids, required that the buildings should be removed within 
 a specified brief period. All of the buildings were promptly removed 
 by the purchasers according- to the terms* of the sale, except a brick 
 structure occupied |jy a silk manufacturer. This building was left 
 standing, and this factory continued in operation for several months 
 after all the others were razed to the ground. 
 
 It was not until the middle or last of December that the machinery 
 was removed from the factory and the work of tearing down the build- 
 ing begun. The influence which operated to secure this discrimination 
 was that of a political and personal friend of Commissioner Willcox, 
 who persuaded him to permit this delay. As the building had been sold 
 by the City, the Bureau of City Revenue could not collect rent for its 
 use and occupancy, nor was there any way in which the Park Depart- 
 ment officials could make any charge to the occupant. 
 
 It is said, however, that the privilege of remaining 
 there and keeping his factory in operation was worth a 
 thousand dollars a month to the proprietor, and that there 
 is no doubt that payment upon this basis was made to 
 somebody. 
 
 "FUSION" AND RAPID TRANSIT. 
 
 More Ridiculous Efforts to Grab Credit for Things Which 
 
 Low's Officials Had Nothing to Do With. 
 
 The Citizens' Union campaign document, issued on the 
 subject of Rapid Transit, is a notable example of the man- 
 ner in which they manufacture alleged history. 
 
 It claims for the credit of the Fusion administration everything 
 that has been done, or planned in the direction of improvement in transit 
 facilities within the city limits, despite the fact that nearly everything 
 to which they refer ante-dates in conception or in some considerable 
 progress the birth of the Low-Fusion administration. 
 
 In addition to this wholesale appropriation of the results of the 
 efforts of many administrations, of the Rapid Transit Commission and 
 of the transportation corporations, who have devoted themselves to 
 transit questions in years past, the C. U. chronicle teems with false 
 statements about the record of its predecessors. These false statements 
 are supplemented by equally mischievous statements that are partly true, 
 but are so treated as to be only misleading In their effect. 
 
 The mischief making effect of this remarkable political document 
 is, however, very slight, when it is considered as a whole. Any intelli- 
 gent citizen who reads it through will find that in its claims there are 
 enough which are palpably false to discredit the whole document. After 
 its voluminous assertions of entire responsibility for all the good that 
 has been accomplished and all the improvements that are planned, the 
 Citizens' Union manifesto descends from the sublime to the ridiculous, 
 by publishing in apparent seriousness claims for credit to Fusion in 
 the following language: 
 
NEW YORK. 1902 -19rtH. 
 
 S7 
 
 ABSURD FUSION CLAIM. 
 
 "The Manhattan Elevated Railway System has availed 
 itself of the progressive attitude of this administration to 
 make extensive improvements upon its lines, the most con- 
 spicuous being the change of motive power from steam to 
 electricity. This company is now arranging to make altera- 
 tions to their stations, to the great convenience of the 
 public." 
 
 The absurdity of the contention that the Fusion administration, 
 ■which came into office January 1. 1902. has any share in whatever there 
 may be of credit for the electrical operation of the Elevated R. R., is 
 apparent to everybody in New York. This system of electrical trans- 
 portation required many months in the work of planning, and prepara- 
 tion before the installation of the third rail, with current conductors 
 and other appliances, was attempted upon the company's structure and 
 even the work of this installation had been long- in progress when 
 Mayor Low took office. 
 
 MORE ABSURDITY. 
 Another example of absurd claims follows: 
 
 "The Metropolitan Street Railroad has made haste 
 under the Fusion administration to effect great improve- 
 ments in its equipment, substituting electrical for horse- 
 power on all its cross-town lines." 
 
 The number of years of effort and experiment spent by the City- 
 Transit Companies to overcome the difficulties at the crossings of the, 
 uptown and cross-town lines is known to all of the public. To claim 
 that these difficulties were overcome by reason of any influence of the 
 Fusion administration upon the affairs of the city is perfectly absurd. 
 It might as well be claimed that the natural laws controlling electricity 
 {were influenced by the fact that there is a "Fusion" Mayor in the 
 City Hall. As a matter of fact, the solution of the problem and the 
 beginning of the work, the results of which are now exploited as a 
 "Fusion" triumph, were both, as in the case of the elevated railroad 
 improvement, of date many months before Janury 1, 1902. 
 
 "FUSION'S" PRETENDED NON-PARTiSANSHiP. 
 
 Republican Insistence That Only a Republican Can Run for 
 Mayor On the "Non-Partisan Platform in This 
 Democratic City." 
 
 The first conclusive evidence of the hollowness of the "Fusion" pre- 
 tense to non-partisanship is furnishe/1 by Mayor Low himself. It is in 
 evidence throughout his administration of the office of Mayor, a notable 
 instance being shown during the State campaign last fall. The Mayor 
 did not hesitate to give the moral support of his name and of his office 
 to the partisan candidacy of Benjamin B. Odell, Jr., as a candidate for 
 Governor. He presided at a political demonstration, one of the most 
 important of the campaign held in this city, for the Governor. In 
 many other ways the Mayor was active in aid and support of the Re- 
 publican State campaign. 
 
 PARTY POLITICS ADMITTED. 
 Even in his Own campaign, this fall, the Mayor lias been betrayed 
 by the weakness of his non-partisanship pretensions to a disclosure of 
 the real situation on that question. In his letter to Boss Cutting, writ- 
 ten on September 4th, for. the evident .purpose of forestalling any inter- 
 ference with the Republican Citizens' Uruoji plan of renominating him. 
 Mayor Low exposed himself completely. 
 
'8 
 
 NEW TO»RK. 1902-1908. 
 
NEW. YORK. 1002-1903. 
 
 90 
 
 Despite the usual flavor of Pecksniffianism which characterized the 
 communication, it is plainly evident that the Mayor could not disguise, 
 even to himself, the position that he occupies in the advance guard of 
 the Republican National Campaign for 1904. His expressions on the 
 subject should be read with careful analysis. They are as follows: 
 
 "I have found, in certain quarters that are entirely friendly, the 
 opinion that the present emergency, perhaps, calls for the nomination 
 of an independent Democrat as the leader of the Fusion forces this 
 year. 
 
 "Under these circumstances, I very much prefer that the confer- 
 ence should act upon that view, and, in that event, the candidate of the 
 conference will have my hearty support. My single idea is that the 
 conference shall recommend for nomination the person most likely to be 
 elected. 
 
 "In this situation I recognize not only the very natural feeling that 
 turn about is fair play, but also the natural and inevitable result of the 
 shortening of the Mayor's term from four years to two, which brings 
 this municipal election in the year preceding the National election. 
 This has thrown into the coming city canvass the maximum amount of 
 party politics, and has made it as difficult as possible for this superb 
 city of 3,750,000 people, with business and social interests of its own far 
 greater in importance than those of many States, to elect its city gov- 
 ernment, from the point of view of its own interests only, instead of with 
 an eye to the possible indirect bearing of the election upon State and 
 National issues." 
 
 THE PRESIDENT INTERESTS HIMSELF. 
 
 President Roosevelt comes next, perhaps, in importance as furnish- 
 ing evidence to refute the claim of Fusion non-partisanship. During 
 the whole Summer, while presiding at the "Summer Capital" in Oyster 
 Bay, and with his daily movements photographed and described in every 
 detail for the benefit of the country at large, he furnished instance after 
 instance to show where he stood. The inspired articles from the Oyster 
 Bay correspondents, published in administration and Fusion organs, 
 made no secret of the President's attitude. He was represented as being 
 determined to take an active hand in arranging the local ticket and in 
 seeing that Mayor Low should again be the standard bearer of the so- 
 called "Fusion" movement. He did not hesitate to let it be understood 
 that he fully appreciated the importance of having a Republican in the 
 Mayor s chair in New York City in the Presidential campaign. 
 
 PARTISANSHIP SMIRCHES PATRIOTISM. 
 
 The most significant and the most characteristic evidence of Presi- 
 dent Roosevelt's willingness to appeal to partisanship in connection with 
 the Low campaign this fall is shown by his remarkable action on New 
 Jersey Day at the battlefield of Antietam. The President made an ad- 
 dress on the occasion of the dedication of the monument to the New 
 Jersey soldiers who fell in that battle. In the course of his remarks, he 
 took occasion to mention the name of General Greene, one of the officers 
 of the Federal forces in that engagement. General Greene's share in the 
 honors of that glorious day was one entirely to his credit, but not in 
 any way such that should make him conspicuous above the other officers 
 of the same rank who were engaged. There was certainly nothing in it 
 to suggest the singling out of his name for^mention, in view of the fact 
 that President Roosevelt never once uttered the name of Major-General 
 George B. McClellan, the commanding General on that day. 
 
 Without going any further, this incident would have seemed pe- 
 culiar, but the President did not stop here. His purpose in introducing 
 the name of General Greene was made evident by his explaining to his 
 hean-rs that General Francis V. Greene, one of the members of the "Fu- 
 sion" administration of New York City, was a son of the officer of 
 whom he had made such flattering mention. This plain indication of 
 willingness to mix the patriotism' of this interesting occasion with cheap 
 partisanship in a reference to a remote and unconnected*New York City 
 matter is hardly consistent with the professions now resorted to, that 
 President Roosevelt will not interfere in the matter of Mayor Low's 
 candidacy or canvass. 
 
90 
 
 NEW YORK, 1902-1903. 
 
 ODELL'S PLAIN DECLARATION. 
 Governor Odell is, perhaps, the next most conspicuous exhibit in the 
 array of evidence discrediting the Fusion claim of non-partisanship. 
 Even on the occasion of his four weeks' vacation tour to the Pacific 
 Coast with Police Commissioner Greene, Governor Odell lost no oppor- 
 tunity to declare himself in favor of the renomination of Mayor Low. 
 To the reporters in the far West, whose papers and readers had no pos- 
 -sible interest in New York City affairs, Governor Odell gave this con- 
 stant assurance. It was only by his treatment of the announcement 
 that it gained a general interest or could be used as news for the read- 
 ers of those distant neighborhoods. Governor Odell's words supplied 
 this general interest by making the matter of Mayor Low's campaign a 
 subject of National importance. In a general review of the Republican 
 situation in the country, Governor Odell felicitated the party on its 
 victories in New York and other States last fall, and spoke encourag- 
 ingly of the outlook from his, standpoint for the future, leading directly 
 up to the prospects for 1904. In conclusion, he gave the whole weight of 
 his political and partisan judgment concerning the New York City cam- 
 paign this Fall in these words: 
 
 '"Our next great fight is for Mayor of the City of New 
 York." 
 
 Senator Thomas C. Piatt takes an important place in furnishing evi- 
 dence of the strong and dominating Republican flavor of the so-called 
 Fusion campaign. He has been insistent all Summer long in urging that 
 there is no candidate in sight but Mayor Low, and he displayed scant 
 patience in considering or discussing the possibility that fairness to the 
 electorate of the metropolis would dictate the nomination of a Democrat 
 in National politics for the standard bearer of what is claimed to be a 
 non-partisan business administration movement. 
 
 STATE CHAIRMAN DUNN IN LINE. 
 
 Chairman Dunn, of the Republican State Committee, from the more 
 than suburban distance of Binghamton, N. Y., testified to his interest 
 in the political matters of this city by his repeated utterances concern- 
 ing the candidacy of Mayor Low. In his own words, he was for Low, 
 first, last and all the time. 
 
 BRUCE ADDS TESTIMONY. 
 
 Chairman M. Linn Bruce, of the Republican County Committee, in 
 all his utterances, spoke in the same strain. Mr. Bruce is an up-country 
 importation who reached this city by way of Greenville, N. J., where he 
 is remembered chiefly on account of the sudden and peculiar nature of 
 his departure. Mr. Bruce, ever since becoming the Chairman of the 
 County Committee— which position was offered to him after it had been 
 characterized as an "old slough hole" and disdainfully refused by many 
 good men, has insistently declared that the nomination of Mayor Low, 
 the Republican, as the non-partisan candidate for Mayor was an abso- 
 lute necessitv, and that no other man could be considered. 
 
 "ME, TOO '— QUIGG. 
 
 Even little things have their value in deciding a question of this 
 kind, and straws are sometimes useful in showing which way the wind 
 blows. Mr. Quigg joins in the Republican assurance that Low is the 
 only possible candidate for this non-partisan eampaign, and when Mr. 
 Quigg, too, has spoken for the Republicans, "they are all in." Of 
 course, like his colleagues in the G. O. P., Mr. Quigg's distinguishing 
 characteristic is self-abnegation, party-abnegation and supreme devo- 
 tion to reform and non-partisanship. 
 
 THE "NON-PARTISAN" HUMBUG. 
 
 The efforts of the Republicans to disclaim the fact that they swing 
 the so-called "Fusion" party are laughable. President Roosevelt leads 
 with an unofficial but apparently authorized proclamation of non-inter- 
 ference in the selection of the candidate for Mayor. - Following the 
 symposiums at Oyster Bay, with Low, Swanstrom, Coffey, and others, 
 oveT the local political situation and considered with the avowed can- 
 didacy of the President for the 1901 nomination this is scarcely con- 
 vincing. 
 
 Quite amusing, also, is the effort of the Mayor to obscure and cause 
 to be forgotten the fact that he presided at an Odell mass meeting in 
 
KEW YORK, 1902-1003. 
 
 91 
 
 the last campaign and gave much official and personal aid and encour- 
 agement to the Republican State ticket. 
 
 Funniest of all, however,, is the attempt of fly old Tom 
 Piatt to make it appear that the Republican machine has 
 not been recognized in Mayor Low's appointments. 
 
 Very clever and characteristic was the way the senior Senator cried! 
 "I didn't get anything out of Fusion, either, except that little Judgeship 
 that went to Julius M. Mayer." 
 
 Even that "Fusion" organ, the Times, cannot stomach this phase of 
 the humbug. On August 4, 1903, it published the following list, which 
 sfcows only part of the patronage enjoyed by Piatt's people: 
 
 POLICE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Gen. Francis V. Greene, Commissioner $7,500 
 
 Frederick H. E. Ebstein, First Deputy 4.000 
 
 Gherardi Davis, Third Deputy 4,000 
 
 DOCK DEPARTMENT. 
 
 McDougall Hawkes, Commissioner $6,000 
 
 Jackson Wallace, Deputy Commissioner 4,500 
 
 Edward Sitterly, Secretary to Commission 2,000 
 
 Russell Bleecker, Department Secretary 4,000 
 
 FIRE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Thomas Sturgis, Commissioner $7,500 
 
 William Leary, Department Secretary 4,800 
 
 Richard H. Laimbeer, Jr., Deputy Commissioner for 
 
 Brooklyn and Queens 5,000 
 
 John J. Slater, Secretary 2,000 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC CHARITIES. 
 
 Homer Folks, Commissioner $7,500 
 
 James Edward Dougherty, Deputy Commissioner 5,000 
 
 TENEMENT HOUSE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 Robert W. De Forest, Commissioner $7,500 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF TAXES AND ASSESSMENTS.. 
 
 James L. Wells, President $8,000 
 
 Samuel Strasbourger, Commissioner 7,000 
 
 BOARD OF ASSESSORS. 
 
 Benjamin E. Hall, Assessor $3,000 
 
 Henry B. Ketcham. Assessor 3,000 
 
 PARK DEPARTMENT. 
 
 William R. Willcox, President $5,000 
 
 John E. Eustis, Commissioner 5,000 
 
 George S. Terry, Secretary 4,800 
 
 BOARD OF ELECTIONS. 
 
 Rudolph C. Fuller, Commissioners $5,000 
 
 Charles B. Page, Secretary 5,000 
 
 MUNICIPAL CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION. 
 
 Willis L. Ogden, President $6,000 
 
 CORPORATION COUNSEL'S OFFICE. 
 
 John C. Clark, Assistant £6,000 
 
 Charles S. Whitman, Assistant 6,000 
 
 John W. Hutchinson, Assistant 5,000 
 
 EXAMINING BOARD OF PLUMBERS. 
 
 William Montgomery, Examiner $1,300 
 
 COURT OF SPECIAL SESSIONS. 
 
 Julius M. Mayer, Justice $9,000 
 
 CITY MAGISTRATES. 
 
 Joseph M. Deuel, Magistrate $7,000 
 
 Leroy B. Crane, Magistrate 7,000 
 
 Alfred E. Ommen, Magistrate 7,000 
 
 Seward Baker, Magistrate 7,000 
 
92 
 
 NEW YOP.K, 1902-1903. 
 
 CIVIL COURT JUSTICES. 
 
 William S. Bennett, Justice $6,000 
 
 Julius G. Kremer, Justice , 6,000 
 
 General Greene, the Police Commissioner, has been chairman of the 
 Republican County Committee; his Third Deputy, Gherardi Davis, has 
 been an Assemblyman; Dock Commissioner McDougall Hawkes has been 
 the Republican leader of the Twenty-fifth Assembly District; Richard 
 Laimbeer, Deputy Fire Commissioner for Brooklyn and Queens, has 
 been a Republican Assemblyman; Tax Commissioner Strasbourger is the 
 Republican leader in the Thirty-first District; William R. Willcox, Park 
 Commissioner, ran for Congress on the Republican ticket, and was 
 beaten; Charles B. Page, of the Bureau of Elections, was a Republican 
 State Senator, and many others have been prominent in the ranks or* the 
 organization. 
 
 POST OFFICE SCANDAL 
 
 One Phase of the Record of the Republican Party, Seeking in 
 "Fusion" Guise to "Reform" Our City. 
 
 An endless chain of looting, grafting, shake-downs, bribery, and 
 every form of corruption, large or small in its scope, has smirched the 
 Post Office Department of the United States. 
 
 It would be well-nigh impossible for the human mind to conceive 
 any new channel through which graft could be " obtained. Chaotic is 
 the only word which approximately describes the present status, but the 
 main trend of the conspiracy of graft is known to have been an effort 
 to perpetuate the Republican power through the free rural delivery 
 system and its $12,000,000 appropriation; at the same time that individ- 
 uals were raking in their own reward by consistent thievery. 
 
 The department in every section was honeycombed with rottenness, 
 and the individual grafting revealed a devilish ingenuity. 
 
 Contract looting, exorbitant prices, bribery for office 
 holding, increased salaries, promotion selling, sinecures, 
 conspiracy, collusion, illegal methods and trickery per- 
 meated the service. 
 The oath of office became a dead letter, and the neglect of honest 
 officials to denounce the practices amounted to cowardly political con- 
 nivance. 
 
 Briefly, the sources of the graft were: 
 
 Post office boxes, canceling machines, registry time clocks, wagons, 
 mail bags, twine, wrapping paper, pens, pen-holders, rubber stamps, 
 stationery, automatic registers, coal contracts, patent mail bag fasten- 
 ers, sheet iron mail boxes, patent change-making machines, package 
 boxes, postal locks and devices, the bonding of office holders, the forcing 
 of employees to purchase worthless mining stock, excessive rentals for 
 branch post offices, bribery by get-rich-quick concerns for protection, 
 selling of influence to get favorable opinions from the law department, 
 and even a share of plunder from the sale by the Agricultural Depart- 
 ment of inferior seeds at light weight 
 
 Fourth Assistant Postmaster Bristow found that there had been 
 reckless extravagance, collusion, on contracts, sale of promotions, and 
 innumerable infractions of the rules of the department. He alleges that 
 chiefs of divisions borrowed money from subordinates; that the latter 
 acted without regard for their superiors, and that there was drunken- 
 ness, immorality, petty stealing, total repudiation of civil service, and a 
 network of scandal. 
 
 The free rural service was geographically arranged so that it would 
 benefit Republicans alone. The official reports show that four States- 
 Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Ohio had on October 15, 1902, more than 
 one-third of all the rural delivery routes in the United States. These 
 States, represented in Congress by the strongest men in the Republican 
 party, were allotted 3,792 rural delivery routes, out of a total of 11,199. 
 
NEW YORK, 1902-1 90S. 
 
 03 
 
 The deficiency In the Post Office Department, according to Auditor 
 Castle, on July 1, was $4,617,203, as compared with $2,961,170 last year. 
 This was attributed to the management of the rural delivery routes by 
 Superintendent August W. Machen, who is under specific indictment for 
 accepting bribes from Groff Brothers, also under arrest, for awarding 
 them the contract for a patent letter box fastener, for which Machen 
 got $20,000. It is futher averred that in all Machen received from the 
 firm $70,000. 
 
 The charge that stores for branch post offices in Manhattan and 
 the Bronx were leased for $223,900 a year, but which were only worth 
 $148,550, was also made. 
 
 The syndicate for the promotion of officials charged 
 $25 to $50, and a monthly percentage on salaries. On 
 March 20, 1903, as many as 1,716 of these promotions were 
 made in the New York post office. 
 August W. Machen, Superintendent of Rural Delivery, and George 
 "W. Beavers, Chief of the Division of Salaries and Allowances, both 
 indicted on man> counts are, so far as is yet known, the mediums 
 through which the graft system was worked. Their power was so 
 great that they induced Congress to increase their salaries independently 
 of any superior officer. Beavers also drew a salary from the Postal 
 Clerks' Union. 
 
 So far, nearly forty persons in all sections of the country have been 
 indicted and arrested for complicity in the frauds. Among the most 
 prominent of these are State Senator George E. Green, president of the 
 International Time Recording Company and the Doremus Canceling 
 Machine Company, both of which supplied the department with goods; 
 Isaac S. McGrehan and G. H. Huntington, charged with conspiracy and 
 bribery in the sale of package boxes; George and Martha Lorenz and 
 officials of the Postal Lock and Device Company, for paying A. W. 
 Machen a bribe of $7,000; Former Congressman E. BT. Driggs, for having 
 while a member of Congress secured the passage of a contract whereby 
 the government paid $150 each for "automatic cashiers," that cost $15 
 to make, and which proved worthless; George F. Miller, agent of the 
 Brandt-Dent Company, indicted in the same connection; Joseph M. 
 Johns and Daniel V. Miller for conspiracy in protecting get-rich-quick 
 swindling concerns, and accepting a bribe of $4,500; Thomas McGregor 
 and C. Ellsworth Upton, clerks under Machen, for taking a bribe of 
 $8,000 for a mail pouch contract. 
 
 Owners of apartment houses and hotels complained that they could 
 not get mail boxes unless they purchased mail chutes in which officials 
 were interested, at a cost of $1,800 each. 
 
 President Proctor, of the Civil Service Commission, charged that 
 persons were appointed to the Rural Delivery Department and then 
 transferred to the classified list without examination. 
 
 The bonding of 15,000 clerks has been diverted to the Fidelity Title 
 and Deposit Company, of Maryland, of which United States Senator 
 Piatt's sons are principal officials. 
 
 The story is one long dream of graft and loot. 
 
 Seth Low, he has got a fine yacht, 
 Of money he's got a big pot, 
 
 But the people don't care 
 
 To have him for a Mayor, 
 And it's dollars to doughnuts they'll not. 
 
 There is an old woman called Low, 
 Whose pockets run over with dough; 
 She wants to be Mayor, 
 But we're going to take care 
 That she hasn't a ghost of a show. 
 
 Vote for Honest Democratic City Government in touch with the 
 wants of the people. 
 
 Vote against Republicanism masked as non-partisanship. 
 
94 
 
 NEW YORK, 1902—1903. 
 
 LITTAUER'S GLOVE CONTRACTS. 
 
 Graft Enjoyed by Friend of the President and the Governor — 
 • The Timber of Which "Fusion" Reformers Are Made. 
 
 Congressman Lucius Nathan Littauer, whom President Roosevelt 
 has said is his most intimate personal friend, and who is a stanch politi- 
 cal adherent of Governor Odell and General Asphalt Greene, has been 
 the storm centre of charges of graft for some months. Papers and 
 reports describing his connection with a series of army glove contracts 
 amounting to $200,000 a year, are now in the hands of the Attorney- 
 General of the United States, whose opinion has been asked as to 
 whether Littauer violated his oath of office or the law in participating 
 in the profits of the contracts. 
 
 Edmund R. Lyon, who formerly conducted a glove factory, with offices 
 at No. 258 Fifth avenue, New York, filed a petition in bankruptcy in 
 April, 1902, ,and asked for his discharge on June 30, 1903. His liabilities 
 were stated to be $30,000, with no assets. 
 
 Littauer Brothers, of Gloversville, N. Y., a firm consisting of L. N. 
 Littauer. William Littauer, and their brother-in-law, Oscar L. Richards, 
 protested against a discharge, and in the course of his examination, Lyon 
 retaliated by exposing his relations with the Congressman and his 
 firm. 
 
 In his testimony Lyon swore that in connection with Littauer Brothers 
 he had from 1897 to 1900, during the entire time of the Spanish-American 
 War. filled contracts with the Assistant Quartermasters' Department of 
 the U. S. Army and the U. S. Marine Corps. They had supplied buck- 
 skin gauntlets, muskrat gloves, muskrat caps, cotton duck, pajamas, 
 flannel, and dress caps. 
 
 "Littauer Brothers were in with me on the muskrat gauntlets and 
 the muskrat caps," said Lyon. 
 
 He explained that the Littauers furnished the buckskin gauntlets, . 
 the muskrat gauntlets, and the glove parts. 
 
 Documents, letters and written and oral evidence, 
 some in Congressman Littauer's own handwriting, were 
 produced to prove that the latter had attended to the 
 getting of the contracts, used his influence in every way, 
 and had received a share of the profits. 
 Lyon said he had filled government contracts amounting to half ■ 
 million dollars, and that Littauer's profit had amounted to about 
 $90,000. 
 
 As any violation of the law renders a contract with the government 
 void Lyon and his bondsmen can be sued for all the money paid on the 
 
 contracts. 
 
 LITTAUER'S PARTNERSHIP PROFITABLE. 
 
 The four contracts offered in evidence, showing that William Littauer, 
 brother of L. N., and his brother-in-law, Oscar L. Richards, had been 
 bondsmen for Lyon, contained this stipulation: 
 
 "That no member of or delegate to Congress, or any person belong- 
 ing to or employed in the military service of the United States, is or 
 shall be admitted to any share or part of this contract or to any benefit 
 which may arise therefrom." 
 
 "We have introduced in evidence." said A. H. Gleason. counsel for 
 Edmond R. Lyon, "books showing that so long as the connection with 
 Littauer Brothers was maintained, Mr. Lyon did a business of about 
 $200,000 a year. 
 
 "Thf moment that connection ceased his volume of business dwindled 
 to $6,000 a year, and he was not even able to employ a bookkeeper." 
 
NEW YORK, 1902-1003. 
 
 95 
 
 Mr. Littauer denied that his firm had any interest in the Lyon con- 
 tracts, but a letter in the Congressman's own handwriting was offered 
 to contradict this. It was written on the paper of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives' Committee on Manufactures and dated January 25, 1900. It 
 contained a detailed statement of account between Littauer Brothers 
 and Lyon and said, concerning the balance: 
 
 "Of which your share of one-half equals $1,768.52," and "profits as 
 above $1,768.52." 
 
 Another letter from Mr. Littauer to Lyon, dated May 18, 1898, said: 
 
 "By to-morrow or Friday night the 1,000 pair special contract will 
 be delivered, and the 577 paid will be delivered by Monday night." 
 
 There was plenty of other evidence to show that Lyon and Littauer 
 had profited jointly by Lyon's contracts. 
 
 SECRETARY ROOT AS A WHITEWASHER. 
 
 On July 7, Secretary of War Root issued an order to the Adjutant- 
 General directing that an investigation be made into the charges made 
 by Lyon in his bankruptcy examination, to ascertain whether the law 
 had been violated. 
 
 Colonel Garlington, of the Inspector General's Department, was 
 detailed to make the investigation, and filed his report at the War 
 Department on July 29, 1903. He exonerated all officials who had any- 
 thing to do with the making of the contract and found that Mr. Littauer 
 was guiltless of wrongdoing. 
 
 Secretary Root announced that there appeared to be no evidence 
 that there was any violation of the statute except in one case — the 
 contract of December 7, 1898. There were many consultations with the 
 President upon the subject, and the papers were sent to the Attorney- 
 General, but nothing further was done in the matter. 
 
 President Roosevelt said on February 20, 1900: 
 
 "1 want to tell you that it is a Harvard man who is 
 my most intimate personal friend and who is also my 
 closest political adviser — and that man is Lucius Nathan 
 Littauer." 
 
 Congressman Littauer, who represents the Twenty-second District 
 of New York, has served in the 55th, 56th, 57th and 58th Congresses, 
 and has always been a welcome guest at the White House, and was 
 often consulted by the President. Mr. Littauer stands very high in the 
 councils of the Republican Fusion party, and he has always been held 
 up as a model of what a Reformer in public life should be. The people of 
 the City of New York can judge for themselves of the possibilities of 
 "Reform" in a "Fusion" municipal government by the political and 
 personal friends of Congressman Littauer. They are the sponsors and 
 supporters of Republican Candidate Low. 
 
 LOW AND ROOSEVELT. 
 
 From his office all so snug, 
 
 And his thousand-dollar rug; 
 In an auto and a yacht that beat creation; 
 
 Mayor Low he went one day, 
 
 Where Roosevelt at Oyster Bay, 
 Made a toy of the Navy of the Nation. 
 
 Teddy's scheme and plan 
 
 To make New York Republican, 
 'Spite of gloves, P. O., graft and things provoking; 
 
 Was the theme of which they talked, 
 ' But the "Fusion" steed has balked, 
 And now they're not in any mood for joking. 
 
 Vote for Honest Democratic City Government in touch with the 
 wants of the people. 
 
 Honest Democracy, purged of Deveryism, welcomes the return of 
 her worthy sons. 
 
96 
 
 NEW YORK, 1902-1903; 
 
 THE REPUBLICAN STATE MACHINE. 
 
 Some Reflections Upon Its Membership and Injustices to the 
 City of New York, Together with Special Observations 
 Concerning Gov. Benjamin B. Odell, Jr., Its 
 Would-be Boss. 
 tl 
 
 For ten years the cities of this State have groaned under the oppres- 
 sions of the Republican State machine. The territory of Greater New 
 York has from its very richness been the special prey of this political 
 organization so suggestive of the banditti who swoop down on the 
 Italian towns. At its retreat in the Albany Capitol its leaders have 
 planned their attacks and laid upon our citizens staggering burdens 
 of taxation. They have compelled us to stand and deliver, and having 
 appropriated our purse have divided it among themselves and their 
 followers in the rural districts up the State. They have whetted the 
 appetite of the farmer for a reduced tax-rate and despoiled the dwellers 
 of the great city to satisfy his hunger. They have done more. 
 
 They have banned our personal liberties, prescribing 
 what we shall eat and drink, the raiment we shall wear, 
 even how we shall shave, pull and plug our teeth and em- 
 balm our dead. 
 
 There seems to be no limit to their ingenuity and audacity and no 
 thought of the day of reckoning which is bound to come. 
 
 They are a hybrid crew, the leaders of this Republican machine, 
 foregathered for public plunder and personal gain — the crafty Piatt, the 
 sinister Odell, the marauder Raines, Malby and Aldridge, the light- 
 fingered; Jotham Allds, the addle-pated; Quigg, the speckled, with their 
 retinues of mercenaries, among them petty pilferers of local treasuries, 
 robbers of the great State chest on Capitol Hill, burrowers for public 
 contracts, and Buddenseiks always in the performance of the same. 
 Every morning for four months in the year this Republican machine 
 opens with prayer its deliberations in the State Capitol, and every night 
 the sun goes down on some newly hatched scheme for the discomfiture of 
 our great city. Truly, a combination of Puritan and blackleg sufficient, 
 to make the most stolid Knickerbocker shiver. 
 
 • * • 
 
 ODELL WORSE THAN PLATT. 
 II. 
 
 Chi<-f of these figures now in the public eye, and insanely ambitious 
 to seize I he staff when Piatt shall have set it down is Gov. Benjamin 
 B. Odell, Jr. 
 
 Bad as the Republican machine has been under the 
 leadership of Piatt, infinitely worse it must be if Odell's 
 aspirations are gratified and he acquires the complete con- 
 trol, as he has long been secretly planning. 
 
 It cannot be doubted that he already pictures himself the chief of a 
 band that will rival Quay's, and dreams of a Republican citadel here- 
 abouts as strong as Philadelphia. To accomplish these ends he has 
 sought by every means in his power during the last three years to 
 strengthen his personal hold upon the Machine. He has not been at all 
 times successful, for Piatt has kept an eye upon his methods, and 
 here and there has blocked his personal game. Odell has man- 
 aged, however, to establish a modus vivendi with our "unlovable" 
 Mayor Low, the consequences of which the Democrats of this city and 
 State will be realized speedily and sorrowfully if the Republican-Fusion 
 
NEW YORK, 1902-1003. 
 
 f<7 
 
 •ticket should happen to be elected this Fall. The popular distrust of 
 Odell in this vicinity was extraordinarily manifested when he ran for 
 Governor last year. Another similar demonstration in the Mayoralty 
 contest this year will emphasize the hostility of the city toward Odell, 
 the Affiliated Good and the Republican State Machine, and pave the 
 way for the disappearance of them all from public life. 
 
 * * • 
 
 III. 
 
 A glance at the career of this would-be Boss shows much that can 
 liot be commended to the emulation of the Knickerbocker youth. Indeed, 
 there is much in it deserving of honest condemnation by both Repub- 
 licans and Democrats. Odell's has been "a commercial life" chiefly 
 devoted to "the ice and electric lighting interests of Newburg," so 
 runs his brief biography in the directories of the Fifty-fourth and Fifty- 
 fifth Congresses. To these interests this Chevalier of Industry has 
 since added others, notably in the steamboat, electric railway and gro- 
 cery business, so that when he became Governor in 1900 he was for an 
 jp-State, citizen a tolerably rich man. 
 
 BOSS ODELL'S BEGINNING. 
 
 The man who wants franchises for lighting or laying rails or who 
 seeks to "cut short corners" on the public has always seemed to accom- 
 plish his desires more readily in Newburg and other interior cities by 
 mixing in local politics. The Junior Odell quite early in his career noted 
 this fact and aspired to be the Republican Boss of his city, county 
 and Congressional district. The Dickey boys, Captain Joe, now a State 
 Railroad Commissioner, and Colonel William, now on the Supreme 
 bench, were practically in control of the local machine, and young Odell 
 made poor headway in butting in. Battle after battle was fought 
 between them, and not until these veterans were good and ready to lay 
 their armor down did Odell succeed them as a political, force. It was 
 during this period that Odell laid the foundation for nis subsequent 
 reputation as an Albany lobbyist. There was a considerable African 
 vote in Newburg in those days, and any old Newburger can repeat the 
 stories of how "Ben bought the 'niggers' and rounded them up in his 
 caucuses and at the general elections." 
 
 * * * 
 
 IV. i 
 Such a strenuous politician was clearly of use to Piatt's State 
 Machine, and in the nineties he was called up higher and made chair- 
 man of the Executive Committee of the Republican State Committee, 
 a position in which his commercial instincts had full play. He knew 
 the corporations which would willingly be assessed for the Republican 
 State Machine and the methods best calculated to bring the unwilling 
 ones into line. The Republican Legislature was the whip with which 
 he chastised the recreants and the instrument with which he rewarded 
 the incorporated friends of the Machine, and every Winter he was to 
 be found at Albany promoting and preventing legislation. He made his 
 headquarters in the room of the Lieutenant Governor on the Senate 
 side and in those of the Speaker on the Assembly side, and there he 
 kept a critical eye on the movements of the law-makers, cajoling them 
 or threatening their political lives, according to the conditions con- 
 fronting pending legislation. If kisses and kicks were insufficient, and 
 money had to be used, Odell was wise and skilful, knowing there was 
 no less weakness in some Caucasians than in the Ethiopian when it 
 came down to a question of selling his vote. 
 
 * * * 
 
 V. 
 
 ODELL THE LOBBYIST. 
 Those were the days referred to by former State Senator John 
 Ford, the reputed father of the Special Franchise Tax Law, when he 
 told the City Club last Winter of the part played by Odell at the time 
 the measure was introduced in the Legislature. Said the Senator: 
 "Roosevelt was then Governor and Benjamin B. Odell, 
 Jr., was a plain, every-day trafficker in legislation, .a 
 hanger-on in the lobbies at Albany. Ha was the man to 
 
NEW YORK, 1902-1903. 
 
 seen then if you wanted any legislation, and equally the 
 man to be seen if you wanted to stop any. It was then a 
 recognized fact that Benjamin B. Odell, Jr., was the dis- 
 penser of legislation at Albany, in the name of and by and 
 for the Republican State Machine. 
 
 "I remember his calling me aside, one day, and say- 
 ing: 'You can't pretend to belong to the Republican or- 
 ganization of this State and expect to have a bill like this 
 franchise tax bill passed without first submitting it to Sen- 
 ator Piatt and getting his O. K. on it.' 
 
 "'And besides I want you, Mr. Ford, to understand 
 that I myself am interested in franchises.' n 
 The Senator ignored Odell's intimation that he had better "pull out,** 
 and, of course, there was a subsequent coolness between them, and the 
 Republican State Machine saw to it later that the Senator's political 
 candle was snuffed out. 
 
 Four years later, Mr. Odell, no longer a "hanger-on m the lobbies** 
 and "a plain, every-day trafficker in legislation," but the Governor of 
 the State, in his annual message to the Legislature urged the repeal of 
 this special franchise tax law because it was "vexatious" and a source 
 of great annoyance, alike to the tax gatherer and the corporations as- 
 sessed. It only remains to say that the Court of Appeals has confirmed 
 the constitutionality of this "vexatious" measure, and the public may 
 expect ulitmately to receive some millions of dollars in taxes from the 
 corporations which have been so sadly annoyed. 
 
 * * * 
 
 ODELL THE COMMERCIAL GOVERNOR. 
 VI. 
 
 Exit now, Odell the citizen. Enter Odell, the Governor of the 
 Empire State.. 
 
 It has always been the saying of slick Republican politicians up-the- 
 State who have become discredited for some roguery, either at Albany 
 or at home, that the proper time to seek "vindication" is at a Presi- 
 dential election. As such a time they are lost sight of in the greater 
 issues involved, and they come back into office on the strongly rushing 
 tide. On the crest of the big waves of 1900, then, perched this "trafficker 
 in, legislation," and was flung into the Executive Chamber by a 
 plurality of something like 112,000 votes. To the galleries filled with the 
 Truly Good he now addressed himself with such success as to win the 
 favorable opinion of those eminent expounders of civic faith and politi- 
 cal righteousness, the Evening Post and the New York Times, without 
 whose commendation life is dross alike to the uninitiated in public 
 affairs and to the hardened, who, like our Governor at that time, think 
 they are seriously trying to lead a reformed life. The New York SUN 
 be it remarked, was never fooled about this moral up-lift of Odell, and 
 was never, unlike its illustrious contemporaries, compelled to reverse 
 itself in its judgments of the man. Wherefore, the sayings of the SUN 
 as a stalwart Republican newspaper are mighty illuminating, not to say 
 critical, and therefore all 'the more valuable, in any attempt to portray 
 the relations of this would-be Boss to a Republican State Machine. 
 
 * * * 
 
 * VII. 
 
 The Governor mortified the flesh and in the society of 
 his new admirers was good for about a month after he 
 took office. Then he emerged from his joyless surround- 
 ings and proceeded to do some things which immediately 
 attracted attention. 
 
 Il<« has boon doing them ever since, and their ultimate purpose has 
 been, almost without exception, the establishment of himself as the sole 
 Ross of tho Republican State Machine. He disguised bis real purpose, 
 however, behind Economy and a Reduced Tax Rate, and boldly began to 
 centralize and bring under his own control the powers of the State insti- 
 tutions established for the insane, the poor and (he sick. In the hands 
 €>f men loyal to himself the hundreds of. employees and the hundreds of 
 
NEW YORK, 1002—1903. 
 
 99 
 
 thousands of dollars annually expended for supplies and medicines 
 would prove powerful instrumentalities in the up-building of a new 
 Boss for the Republican State Machine. 
 
 ODELL GRABS STATE CHARITIES. 
 The abolition of the Boards of Managers of the State hospitals 
 for the insane was first decided upon, and in spite of the protests of 
 publicists and of the friends of these institutions he "jammed" through 
 the Legislature a bill whicn vested their management in the State Com- 
 mission in Lunacy. The Manhattan Hospital and the Long Island 
 Hospital, both in New York, and nine others up the State were thus 
 "centralized" with their 24,000 unfortunate inmates. 
 
 * * * 
 
 VIII. 
 
 Abram S. Hewitt voiced the general disapproval of Governor Odell's 
 course regarding the insane hospital in his open letter to the Governor, 
 saying: 
 
 "Apparently you have overlooked considerations of a 
 humanitarian nature, which are far more important than 
 economy in the public expenditures, however desirable this 
 may be. 
 
 * * * 
 
 ODELL IN A DANGEROUS GAME. 
 IX. 
 
 The New York TIMES, which had now adjusted its glasses and ob- 
 tained a proper perspective, had this to say of the Governor and the 
 political scheme embodied in his lunacy hospital measure: 
 
 "Mr. Odell ought to know by this time that a very large 
 number of the best citizens in all parts of the State have 
 reluctantly been forced to conclude that his plans are neither 
 wise nor pressed in good faith. The saving he professes to 
 seek he will get, if at all, at the cost of efficiency in a most 
 important branch of the State service, and he will get it at 
 the far greater cost of injecting partisan politics into that 
 service. It is a shrewd notion to cloak the patronage with 
 the profession of economy, but there are too many intelligent 
 and zealous citizens, thoroughly informed as to the facts, to 
 permit such a notion being generally accepted. We fear that 
 the Governor is playing a dangerous game — dangerous for the 
 State if it succeed and dangerous for him in any case. He is 
 incurring a grave risk in stretching out the strong hand of 
 the party leader to grasp as patronage the disposal of offices 
 that should be kept, as they now are, free from politics. The 
 better opinion of the State will not brook that. We hardly 
 think that he has weighed the final effect of his policy. It 
 would be well for him to do so before it is too late." 
 
 * * * 
 
 X. 
 
 The Governor's next move was upon the salaried employees of the 
 State Charitable Institutions by the passage of a bill to "regulate" 
 annually just prior to election the salaries of the thousand odd employees 
 of those institutions. This was more centralization with the ultimate 
 purpose of stimulating campaign assessments by these employees. To 
 the Fiscal Supervisor of the State, an officer already appointed to 
 supervise the purchases of supplies, and payments for the same, to the 
 institutions, was delegated this new power. Of this gentleman named 
 Bender, who was one of the products of Albany County's peculiar Re- 
 publican politics, the SUN has had this to say: 
 
 "Column after column could be written about Bender and 
 his connection with Governor Odell in the management of the 
 charities institutions of the State of New York as a political 
 machine in the interest of Governor Odell, not to say any- 
 thing about the purchase of supplies a la Matthews & Co., 
 (the Governor's grocery partners at Newburgh.)" 
 
 * * * 
 
 ODELL, THE GROCERY MAN. 
 - Upon the accomplishment of this last move of the Governor's, the 
 New York SUN pointed out that the new law was framed to transfer 
 
100 NEW YORK, 1002-1003. 
 
 JZ? jS? j& 
 
 The Campaign 
 Ghost Dance. 
 
 The Republican Indians having assumed a supposed disguise of 
 "Fusion" feathers are indulging- in a veritable "Ghost Dance" in this 
 campaign. In their mummeries and incantations they do not even 
 deceive themselves. With Deveryism cast out by the Democrats, while 
 its head and front is supported and indorsed by Republican County 
 Chairman Bruce and his associates, the Democracy to-day is farther 
 from the conditions of 1901 than the "Fusion" administration is with 
 its admitted failure to abolish "graft." 
 
 With its management in new hands and the great numbers of men 
 of position and influence returning to its ranks, the Democratic organ- 
 ization cannot be assailed to-day on the dead issue of alleged absentee 
 leadership. 
 
 With a record of two years of an adverse administration unable to 
 make the promised revelations of corruption and extravagance or to 
 carry out the threats of condign punishments for accused Democratic 
 officials of 1S9S to 1902, the latter stand to-day in a better light before the 
 public than the incumbent "Fusionists," who are loudly claiming 
 retrenchment on a record of extravagance and improvement on a record 
 of inefficiency. 
 
 With a Republican President, a Republican Governor, all the Repub- 
 lican bosses and the Republican press scheming for the renomination 
 of Mayor Low with no concealment of the fact that their eye3 are on 
 the Presidential fight of 1904. all pretence of non-partisanship falls from 
 the imposture of "Fusion." 
 
 All of these issues are as dead as Adam, and even as ghosts they 
 have no power to terrify an infant In politics of the tribe of Acorns. 
 
 On with the Republican Ghost Dance! It is a diverting spectacle. 
 
 Jc? Jc? jZ7 
 
101 
 
102 
 
 NEW YORK, 1002-1903. 
 
 to the Governor all the powers now vested in the Salary Classification 
 Committee, and thereby give him the absolute control of the entire 
 personnel of the charities service. Under the title of "Glorious News 
 for the Inmates," it ironically put its congratulations on record thus: 
 "This is an admirable proposition, if for no other reason 
 than that it implies a guarantee of the quality of the food sup- 
 plies of the lunatic and other unhappy wards of the State of 
 New York. With the alimentation of the State institutions 
 confined solely to Matthews & Co., the Governor will be able 
 personally to vouch for the excellence and purity of the goods 
 and satisfy himself that a proper price is being paid for 
 them. 
 
 "We take it that there is no indiscretion in our commend- 
 ing to public confidence the eminent house of Matthews & Co., 
 of Newburgh, with its quiet, sedate and industrious associate, 
 the distinguished epicier of the State House at Albany. Prime 
 are its coffees, its Oolongs and Souchongs, its self-raising 
 hams and its sugar-cured flour, and likewise the countless 
 other commodities that make up the bill of fare of the State's 
 various dependents. 
 
 "Happy, too, the many philanthropists from whose shoul- 
 ders our unselfish Governor takes the heavy burden of admin- 
 istering these State charities. Without other reward than 
 the consciousness of good deeds done, they have given their 
 time and labor to the cause, and it can well be imagined 
 with what feelings of gratitude and pious resignation they 
 see their thankless tasks assumed by the Chief Executive of 
 the State. 
 
 "How the eleemosynary charges of the Newburgh Chari- 
 ties Trust will thrive during the next two years, anyhow!" 
 
 XI. 
 
 When it is remembered that certain very disagreeable disclosures 
 made within a year connected Gov. Odell with the grocery firm of Mat- 
 thews & Co., of Newburgh, as a sort of special partner; that the firm 
 has been furnishing State institutions with supplies; that the sum total 
 of supplies for these institutions mount up annually into millions, and 
 that a Bender, under the Governor's eye, attends to the supervision of 
 these expenditures, then can readily be understood the full significance 
 of these centralizing tendencies of our Governor. 
 
 Thus the New York SUN, with its accustomed directness, emphasized 
 the growing distrust of the would-be Boss of the Republican State 
 Machine, March 24, 1903: 
 
 ODELL, MATTHEWS & CO. 
 Odell.— "Many Republicans who have nothing to hope from 
 organization affiliations are sorry that Gov. Odell, while Gov- 
 ernor of the State of New York, has been engaged in com- 
 mercial and financial enterprises. They say that other Gov- 
 ernors, Republicans and Democrats, within their knowledge, 
 going back to 1856, have kept free of such entanglements 
 while in office. 
 
 "The connection of Gov. Odell with the firm of Mat- 
 thews Co., was a source of sorrow and humiliation to 
 many Republicans in the last campaign. 
 
 "The Governor's alleged connection with other business 
 enterprises whose prosperity he could influence Is also a mat- 
 ter of distress to some of the Governor's friends. These things 
 are matters of daily talk among Republicans In the street 
 and in the clubs, and among men who would not desire to 
 speak unfairly or unjustly to the Governor of the State of 
 New York, whether he be a Republican or a Democrat." 
 * * • 
 
 ODELL'S BANK ACCOUNT. 
 XI. 
 
 Somewhat more severe was the SUN in its contemplation of Go\r. 
 Odell, a month later, when it tuok its readers into Its confidence in this 
 language: 
 
XT5W YORK, 1902-1003. 
 
 103 
 
 "The Hon. Benjamin B. Odell has elected while Gov- 
 ernor to increase his bank account rather than his stand- 
 ing as a public man. 
 
 "His management of legislation touching the State Chari- 
 ties and the exertfon of his influence with the government 
 of New York City toward obtaining the lease to his steam- 
 boat company of Pier 24 forbid any reasonable doubt of this 
 bewildering fact. 
 
 "Never was there in the Republican party more urgent 
 need of the spirit of sobriety and rectitude, militant and 
 visible, than there is to-day." 
 
 * * * 
 
 ODELL AND NEW YORK CITY JUDGES. 
 XII. 
 
 The City of New York especially has had cause to 
 hold our unscrupulous Governor in unkindly remembrance. 
 His attempt to raid its judicial machinery and attach it 
 to his owli political fortunes was not, it is true, successful, 
 but that was not the Governor's fault, and we may expect 
 to see it repeated should the Republican-Fusion combina- 
 tion chance to influence the election of an Assembly which 
 shall again be completely dominated by the Governor next 
 Winter. 
 
 The Governor's plea that the calendars were congested and the 
 courts needed relief was true enough, but the methods he proposed 
 showed his insincerity. He would have had Judges from up-the-State 
 assigned by the Governor to duty in this vicinity, thus depriving our 
 Judiciary of the right of regulating its own affairs. He would have 
 had up-the-State county Judges. two-thousand-dollars-a-year-men, come 
 down to the city and take hold of seventeen-thousand-five-hundred- 
 dollar jobs, for which they were manifestly unfitted. Of course these 
 propositions raised a storm of indignation. Clearly he was aiming at the 
 possession of the largest possible control over the Judiciary through the 
 channel of patronage. 
 
 His motives were the same as those of the monarch of 
 
 whom it was declared in the Declaration of Independence: 
 "He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for 
 
 the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of 
 
 their salaries." 
 
 Caught with the goods on him. the Governor beat a retreat. It 
 seemed to the Sun that the Governor's situation was "painfully sug- 
 gestive of a political leader who has become badly 'rattled' by a con- 
 sciousness of his own error in stretching out for the control of a 
 co-ordinate branch of the State government." 
 
 But, said the New York TIMES: "Gov. Odell is bold, the 
 Legislature is subservient. He may secure the power he 
 grasps at. But that he or the Legislature or the Republican 
 party should escape responsibility for these acts of usurpation 
 is Impossible. * * * Gov. Odell should not be permitted to 
 go one step further in the path of usurpation upon which he 
 has entered." 
 
 * * * 
 
 ODELL'S VOTING MACHINES. 
 XIII. 
 
 The efforts of Gov. Odell and his friends of the Republican State 
 Machines to foist upon this city an expenditure of $807,400 in the pur- 
 chase of voting machines will no more be forgotten than his attempt 
 upon the Judiciary. Something like 1,468 machines would have been re- 
 quired and their cost was to have been $550 each. There were at that 
 time 19 voting machines in the market, but the State limited the pur- 
 chase to two of them. These were manufactured by two companies 
 which were believed to have an "understanding" with one another, 
 wholly politico-commercial and entirely satisfactory to each. The fac- 
 tory of one was in Chautauqua County, and a leading director was one 
 of Gov. Odell's political lieutenants in that highly Republicanized section 
 
104 
 
 NEW YORK, 1902-1903. 
 
 of the State. Newspaper publicity and such statements as ' this by 
 Elections Commissioner John R. Voorhis frightened the voting machina 
 lobby out o£ the field. 
 
 Said Mr. Voorhis: "I do believe that the City of New 
 York should not be clubbed by the Legislature into spending 
 nearly a million of dollars for voting machines. We can afford 
 to wait a year or two. The makers of the machines are con- 
 stantly making improvements, and yet we have to-day no per- 
 fect machines. The city's hands, however, are tied by such 
 legislation. Out of 19 machines it might choose from, it is 
 limited to one of two styles." 
 
 * * * 
 
 MULCTING THE METROPOLIS. 
 XIV. 
 
 With Gov. Odell's many schemes for mulcting the vast interests of 
 this city and wiping out the direct State tax to the especial benefit of 
 the farmers in the Republican interior of this State, the intelligent tax- 
 payers of the vicinity must be tolerably familiar. 
 
 His plan for taxing mortgages was declared by the 
 financial world to be essentially unsound, and he was 
 promptly certified as taxation-mad. But there is a certain 
 method in the madness of any politician who would rob 
 Peter on the hither side of the Harlem River to pay the 
 debts of Paul who tills the soil beyond. 
 Said the Governor in reviewing his extraordinary policies of taxa- 
 tion before the maidens and the mature men, at the Altamont Fair, 
 Albany County, this Fall: 
 
 "We are all more or less dependent upon the pros- 
 perity of the great City of New York and its millions of in- 
 habitants. The people of the cities contribute the greatest 
 part of the State's revenues. True, this revenue is used for 
 purposes which may be considered, in some instances, as 
 purely local, but which will be found to be based upon the 
 sure foundation of the greatest good to the greatest num- 
 ber." He might truthfully have added that his policy con- 
 templated the payment of all the State's revenues by these 
 same cities, if the farmers continued him in office long 
 enough to accomplish his beneficent purpose. 
 
 * * * 
 ODELL AND LOW. 
 
 XV 
 
 Hostile comment is not wholly confined to Democrats, as we have 
 already seen. Note this opinion of the Republican POST-EXPRESS, of 
 Rochester, in April last: 
 
 "Republicans and all interested In beating Tammany Hall 
 next Fall and retaining the State a year from" next Fall in 
 the Republican columns are not averse, but rather glad, to 
 sound the tocsin, and, if necessary, put upon Gov. Odell and 
 Mayor Low the strictures which blind egotism, blundering 
 ignorance and all self-sufficiency deserve." 
 
 XVI. 
 
 One more vivid contribution from the New York SUN of March 24, 
 1903, and the curtain may be dropped: 
 
 "The newspapers printed the other day articles to the 
 effect that 'Gov. Odell has cleared out the lobby at Albany!' 
 
 "This statement was one of the most truthful that the 
 New York City newspapers had printed in many years. 
 
 "There is now no Third House at Albany — there has 
 not been since Mr. Odell became Governor of the State of 
 New York." 
 
 * • • 
 
 ODELL'S DEGREE OF LL. D. 
 XVIL 
 
 Such is the Governor upon whom Columbia University conferred thi 
 hitherto respected degree of LL: D. Such is the Republican State Ma- 
 
NEW YORK, 1002-1903. 
 
 103 
 
 chine, curiously enough overlooked by Prof. Boyce In his search lor 
 excrescences upon the American Commonwealth, and of which Odell is 
 Its most arrogant product. 
 
 A WARNING TO THIS CITY. 
 Whether Eat-him-up-Platt or Rip-the-old-man-up-the-back Odell 
 wins their struggle for the Bosship of this machine is of little moment 
 to this city, conscious as its citizens must be that when rogues fall out 
 honest men are likely to get their just dues. 
 
 But it is of consequence that the Republican machine 
 itself should receive a body-blow this Fall, and the way be 
 prepared for throwing off its yoke. A vote for the Repub- 
 lican-Fusion ticket is a vote for its preservation. A vote 
 for the Democratic ticket is a vote for its suppression, 
 the destruction of these centralizing tendencies which it 
 has cultivated and the restoration of those principles of 
 justice, equality and honesty enunciated by the immortal 
 Jefferson. 
 
 "FUSION" FALSE TO CIVIL SERVICE. 
 
 Citizens' Union Reformer Gets $6,000 Salary Tacked on Where 
 None Was Paid Before. 
 
 In the campaign of 1901 the "Fusionists" made . extravagant pre- 
 tentions of devotion to the cause of Civil Service Reform. They par- 
 ticularly disclaimed any intention of office seeking for themselves. Many 
 of them were supposed to be wealthy and entirely above the idea of 
 looking for a salary. After. January 1, 1902, there was a remarkable 
 change of heart in the ranks of these pretenders. Beginning with the 
 staff at the Low headquarters a grand hunt for appointments was en- 
 tered into. Every member of that staff down to the man who opened 
 the door succeeded in getting his name on the public pay roll. 
 
 Mayor Low offered no obstruction to this change of front. He 
 stultified himself by causing the Civil Service Laws to be suspended for 
 thirty days and procured the approval of the State Board .to amend- 
 ments designed to increase the number of places in the non-competi- 
 tive class. 
 
 The pressure for office from his supporters continued to be so severe 
 that the Mayor complacently asked the Legislature to pass a "sweep" 
 bill, allowing his heads of departments to dismiss employees without 
 any charges or hearing, thus withdrawing all the protections and safe- 
 guards of the Civil Service laws from them. This bill also provided 
 that the Board of Estimate, where the Mayor's power is supreme, should 
 have the fixing of salaries of subordinates in the city departments. 
 
 Even the New York Tribune was forced to condemn the Mayor in 
 this. Under the head "Hungry for Spoils," it said editorially: 
 
 "The idea that a non-partisan administration, pledged to 
 the maintenance of the merit system, should wish to commit 
 suicide by legislating its political opponents in the depart- 
 ments out of the protection of the Civil Service law is un- 
 thinkable." 
 
 The rest of the Fusion organs expressed the same surprise, and were 
 unkind enough to recall the solemn promises of the Low campaign that 
 party politics would be eliminated from his administration and that 
 merit and efficiency would be the sole tests for obtaining or retaining 
 office in the Fusion government. 
 
 COL. OGDEN'S SALARY GRAB. 
 
 Willis L. Ogden, one of the chief fugelmen of "Fusion" in the Low 
 campaign, and a pretender to all of the virtues of Low himself, wa.9 
 selected as the head of the Municipal Civil Service Commission. 
 
NEW YORK, 1 002-1903. 
 
 This office was never before a salaried one, but for 
 Mr. Ogden, Mayor Low put it on the salary list; and this 
 "Reformer," whose political activities were professedly 
 inspired by pure public spirit, has since enjoyed^ the re- 
 ceipt of $6,000 a year. His administration, as compared 
 with his predecessor, who drew no salary, is a distinct 
 failure. 
 
 More charges against the conduct of the office have been made during 
 his incumbency than ever before. Examination papers have been 
 peddled on the street, and applicants for anointment have been ac- 
 customed to figure upon the expense of securing positions on the Civil 
 Service eligible lists. 
 
 Mr. Ogden has also proved most compliant to all of the wishes of the 
 "Fusion" heads of departments. Some examples of appointments made 
 by virtue of his accommodating spirit are as follows: 
 
 William Patterson, an Iowa school teacher, through the efforts of 
 Commissioner Robert E>e Forest, was appointed Register of Statistics 
 In the Tenement House Commission on a non-competitive examination, 
 which was the veriest farce. 
 
 A protege of John McGaw Woodbury received the appointment as 
 mate of a scow in the Street Cleaning Department one afternoon at 1 
 o'clock, took a Civil Service examination at 2 o'clock and at 3 o'clock 
 was in charge of a boat. 
 
 Peter Aitkin was appointed Supervisor of Complaints, and Henry A, 
 Gulden was made Superintendent of Incumbrances. It is not known 
 whether they ever took any examination, for the Civil Service Commis- 
 sion refused to answer the questions of the reporters on the subject. 
 
 DOORS OPEN TO NON-RESIDENTS. 
 
 In the Bureau of Sewers, Borough of Manhattan, a recent examina- 
 tion for Assistant Engineer was held without complying with the law, 
 that every man in the bureau eligible for appointment should be allowed 
 to take the examination. Mr. Otto Huffland, in whose behalf this dodge 
 was worked, is a Republican, and resides in Mt. Vernon. 
 
 Mayor Low's Commissioners of Accounts appointed John K. Hayward, 
 of Missouri. Chief Accountant, and Clarence Devlin, of Albany, Confi- 
 dential Secretary in the office of the Commissioners of Accounts. Both 
 places are in the non-competitive class. The Commissioners had so 
 many others to take care of that they applied to have thirty more posi- 
 tions placed in that class; but Mayor Low was afraid to allow this re- 
 quest to be complied with. A compromise was reached by giving the 
 Commissioners sixteen jobs at $150 a month each. Afterward the Com- 
 missioners returned to the charge with the request for thirty more non- 
 competitive places, with salaries ranging from $2,000 to J3.000 per annum, 
 and this time were successful. The Commissioners refused to make any 
 reply when asked why these men had not been required to take a com- 
 petitive examination. 
 
 The system of peddling Civil Service examination papers resulted in 
 the arrest and conviction of Charles S. Benisch on a charge of selling 
 an examination paper for $400 to enable an applicant to secure a position 
 in one of the departments. 
 
 Last October the State Civil Service Commission made a scathing 
 report upon the administration of the New York Civil Service Commis- 
 sion. The methods of the local board were discussed, and Commissioner 
 Ogden was shown up in a very unpleasant light. Any mere office-holding 
 politician would have resigned his position and got out; but Colonel 
 Ogden held on tenaciously, and is there yet. As he has the full support 
 of Mayor Low, despite the revelations, he continues to run the board ,to 
 suit himself. 
 
 LOW AND OGDEN'S EXTRAVAGANCE. 
 
 The falsity of the "Fusion" pretensions in the matter of Civil Service 
 Reform is further shown by a little examination <>f the appropriations 
 for the department under them as compared with those under the 
 previous administration. 
 
 The Civil Service Bureau appropriation for 1901 was $S6,000, and part 
 of that was returned to the city treasury. 
 
NEW YORK. 1902-1903. 
 
 107 
 
 The appropriation for 1902 was $98,000, and an additional amount had 
 to be granted. 
 
 The appropriation for 1903 was $100,000, and an additional amount 
 will be asked for. 
 
 The appropriation asked for in 1904 is about $116,000. 
 The sum of $5,000 has been spent for what is called monitor service 
 In the present year. In many cases the proportion of monitors to 
 applicants has been about one to four. Each monitor receives $5 a day. 
 These persons have not been appointed from the eligible lists, and a 
 large number of them have been residents from other States. Oite or 
 two individuals are continually on the list, and seem to have been 
 consistently favored. 
 
 Long periods of time have elapsed between examinations and the 
 establishment of eligibles. Notably in such examinations as attendance 
 officers, searchers, process servers, clerks in the Tenement House 
 Department, foremen in the Fire Department, and medical inspectors. 
 These delays were always co-incident with the requirements of some 
 scheme in regard to appointments by the Fusion heads of departments. 
 LOW'S CIVIL SERVICE ADMINISTRATION DENOUNCED. 
 The first year's record of "Fusion" in the Civil Service Bureairi jhaa 
 not been improved upon.- What that record was is shown by the sqath- 
 ing language used in a letter to Mayor Low by Elliott H. Goodwin* 
 secretary of the Executive Committee of the Civil Service Reform 
 Association, under date September L 1902. Among the bricks which were 
 thrown by Mr. Goodwin in that letter are the following: 
 
 "If the knowledge of and belief in the principles of Civil 
 Service Reform and their efficiency in promoting good gov- 
 ernment when applied by competent administrators, rested 
 upon no surer foundation than that afforded by the conduct 
 of the present local commission no answer could be made 
 to the open and avowed enemies of Civil Service Reform 
 as a practical and effective means of bettering the public 
 service." - 
 « * * * * * * * * 
 
 "Whether care be had to the character or to tne cost a. 
 -the work the inefficiency of the commission is marked, as 
 shown by the following comparison : 
 
 Cost in the Federal service per person examined $2.72 
 
 - Cost in New York and Brooklyn before consolidation, 
 
 per person 4.74 
 
 Under the present New York City Commission, per 
 
 person 6.76: 
 
 • This increased expense would be a matter of smalL - 
 importance if there were- a corresponding or even a measur-;. a 
 able increase in the efficiency of the administration as com-: 
 pared with the Federal Civil Service or the Civil Service 
 of New York in 1897. The very opposite is the fact. 
 
 "This association has repeatedly called attention to the- -, 
 injury to the public business and the great harm to civil ~ 
 service reform due to the expensive and inefficient methods 
 of the present City Civil Service Commission. 
 
 "The commission has entertained approximately 300 ap- 
 peals for re-rating the markings of its examiners and has 
 granted re-rating to more than one-sixth of those asking for 
 it. Taking less than 50 of such re-ratings we find that they 
 resulted to the prejudice of more than 1,450 candidates already 
 on the eligible lists. 
 
 "Such re-rating is not only an abuse in itself, it is an 
 injustice to all the other candidates. Naturally they attribute 
 the result to 'influence.' And why not, when the results 
 attained are precisely those which 'influence* would attempt 
 to secure, and if a Civil Service Commission were abandoned 
 'influence' would secure? 
 
 "The commission has not only shown its lack of confidence 
 in :ts own methods, but it has largely lost the confidence 
 of the public, especially those willing to seek positions in the 
 public service through open competitive methods. 
 
10* 
 
 NEW YORK, 1902-1003. 
 
 "This commission had larger powers than any of its 
 predecessors, and it had a gTeat increase of membership, 
 thus making possible subdivision of labor and a systematiz- 
 ing of it. It was clothed with ample authority to investi- 
 gate the different abuses of the service and to expose and 
 devise proper remedies. We do not think the commission has 
 adequately met its opportunities. 
 
 "To write this letter has been a painful duty. Its purpose 
 l j is to express some of the reasons calling for a prompt and 
 t great improvement in the efficiency of the local administration 
 of the civil service law." 
 
 Secretary Goodwin's letter, of course, made no impression upon 
 Mayor Low. His arrangement to pay a salary of $6,000 a year to Willis 
 L. Ogden, a Citizens' Union pillar, as head of the Civil Service Com- 
 mission where no salary had ever been paid before, was sufficient evi- 
 dence that the devotion to Civil Service Reform as understood by the 
 Reform Association had no part in his political plans after the time 
 for making campaign promises was over. 
 
 LAW VIOLATED FOR DE FOREST, 
 i -.Some of the most flagrant violations of the Civil Service law have 
 occurred in connection with the Tenement House Commission during De 
 Forest's administration. "Professor"' Patterson of Iowa was "rail- 
 roaded' into a job in direct violation of the law. The "professor" came 
 on here "with his job in his pocket." He took a so-called examination 
 one day and went to work the next. The examination consisted of six 
 hypothetical questions and had no bearing on his position as •"Registrar 
 of Statistics." About 50 people had filed applications to take the 
 examination for the position, and when inquiries were made by the 
 waiting ones the Civil Service people said the position had been filled 
 and there was no need of a competitive examination. Thus a non-resi- 
 dent landed in a good position and residents of the city were debarred 
 from even taking an examination. Patterson is mixed up in the stories 
 of Tenement House Commission furniture scandals with Veiller, the 
 Deputy Commissioner. 
 
 But Patterson is not the only one from Iowa. He had been holding 
 his place only a few weeks when he sent for Forrest A. Hirleman to 
 come on and help "look after the poor people of the tenements." 
 
 The quoted phrase is a standing joke in that department. Hirleman 
 landed in New York one»morning and went to work the next. He also 
 took a non-competitive examination, and draws a salary of $1,500 a year 
 as a "Supervising Inspector." He spends his time loafing around the 
 office, never inspecting anything but his pay check. 
 
 Charles B. Ball is designated as a "Chief Inspector of Tenements" 
 at $3,000 per year. Ball came on from Washington. D. C, where he 
 was and is still connected with the Health Board. It is not recorded 
 that he ever took an examination of any kind. He spends half of his 
 time in Washington, and it is said he draws a salary there as a Sanitary 
 Inspector. There are no tenements in Washington or Iowa, and it really 
 doesn't matter, for of the eight Supervising Inspectors and five Chief 
 Inspectors only one ever goes out to see if the inspectors are doing 
 their work. Ball's place is merely a political snap, and he was recom- 
 mended by Roosevelt, who was once a Civil Service reformer and 
 formerly a member of the United States Civil Service Commission. 
 
 The law has been violated in the Tenement House Commission in 
 many ways. Over 60 per cent, of the total appointments are people 
 recommended by the Charity Organization Society, and they have been 
 given the preference, although they were at the middle or bottom of 
 the eligible list. In several cases clerks in the office, who were on 
 the eligible list for promotion, were ordered to stand aside for charity 
 workers, and the law on promotions was wholly ignored. 
 
 OGDEN DOMINATED BY M'ANENY. 
 
 Col. Willis L. Ogden is the president of the Civil Service Commission, 
 according to the City Record. When he was appointed he told Low that 
 his business interests would suffer if he devoted his whole time to the 
 Commission. According to the newspapers of the past year, the 
 Colonel's business has not suffered in the least by any attention he haa 
 given to his department. 
 
NEW YORK. 1902-1903. 
 
 109 
 
 The real head of the Commission is George MeAneny, the secretary, 
 lie was formerly connected with the Civil Service Reform Association. 
 His salary as secretary is $6,000 a year. As is the case witn several other 
 reformers, he thought he knew all about the Commission as soon as 
 h>> got in the place. His usurpation of the powers of the Commission 
 and insisting upon construing the rules to suit his own desires caused 
 many letters of complaint to be written to the Commissioners. 
 
 MeAneny is the man who invented the little political joker as the 
 "non-competitive examination," which is in reality no examination at 
 all, The non-competitive examination has been a great thing for the 
 Fusionists. If a head of a department wished to place a friend the 
 scheme worked was to send down to MeAneny for one of his famous 
 non-competitive examinations, and MeAneny was always willing to 
 oblige, as he occasionally had a friend who wanted a position. In several 
 instances appointments were made through this scheme, and when, 
 people whose names were on the lfsts called to ask about the date of 
 the regular examination they were invariably treated as intruders, and 
 in some cases were insulted. 
 
 McEneny is the man who invented the little political joker, the 
 in which he spoke of the great evils that would come to the city if 
 the competitive examination idea was not carried out. Since then he 
 seems to have changed his views if the number of non-competitive 
 appointments made is any criterion. 
 
 MeAneny refused to show public records of examinations and ap- 
 pointments, and thus avoided answering many awkward questions. In 
 many cases of non-competitive examinations the appointment was sup- 
 pressed, and this enabled the appointee to be at work long before the 
 appointment was known to the other applicants for that particular 
 position. 
 
 The press of the city, particularly the New York Press and Brooklyn 
 Citizen, criticized MeAneny severely for the manner in which he con- 
 ducted the affairs of the Commission. 
 
 MeAneny is a Republican henchman, and has favored his party in 
 every way possible. 
 
 MORE CIVIL SERVICE ABUSES. 
 
 Under the head of "Leak in the Civil Service worked by Politicians." 
 the Brooklyn EAGLE of February 22, 1902, published a startling story 
 that from some employee in the office of the Civil Service Commission 
 certain data and information regarding examinations was being fur- 
 nished systematically to certain political leaders identified with the 
 Greater New York Democracy and the Coffey Democracy. The article 
 said: 
 
 "According to the EAGLE'S information, the leaders of . 
 the Greater New York Denioci acy and the Brooklyn Democ- 
 racy are in direct touch with the doings of the Civil Service 
 Commission and are furnished with all the information neces- 
 sary to the attainment of their ends at first hand: It is said 
 that not an eligible list is ever prepared by the Civil Service. 
 Commission, which, before it is scrutinized by any one else 
 or ever is made public, is not exhibited to certain representa- 
 tives of the leaders of these two organizations or to the leaders 
 themselves. 
 
 "No appointment is ever made, it is further asserted, 
 without the same men being acquainted with the information 
 that such an appointment is about to be made. No examina- 
 tion is announced without these men being first apprised of it 
 and opportunity given to them to acquaint their constituents 
 of it. 
 
 "Nor do the methods of the political leaders who, it is 
 said, are interesttd in this scheme, stop here. Attempts havfl 
 been made to coerce persons who have undertaken and passed 
 Civil Service examinations into joining the organizations, with 
 the accompanying implied threat that if they do not comply 
 with the demands made on them they will never succeed in 
 being appointed." 
 When these charges were laid before the Civil Service Commission 
 
 they said they had heard of such things. What have they done to stop 
 
 the "leaks." 
 
110 NEW YORK, 1002—1903. 
 
 ■ 
 
 " FUSION'S" BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 PHilip and Mark Cowen Illustrate What It Means When Re- 
 formers Are in Office. 
 
 The Cowen family— that is Philip Cowen and Mark Cowen— attained 
 some prominence in the Fusion administration. 
 
 Philip was appointed Supervisor of the City Record by Mayor Low. 
 His duties were to suuply all the city departments with stationery and 
 ta> 'Supervise the printing of the city's official newspaper known as the 
 City Record. 
 
 S Cowen had not been in office long before he displayed gross incompe- 
 tence. As Low said in a resolution, "He failed to have a mastery of 
 circumstances." and "his lack of the administrative gift was the most 
 conspicuous." 
 
 Cowen was formally charged with restricting competition to favored 
 bidders and giving large "emergency" orders to his friends. His' books 
 showed a deficiency of over $200,000. As Secretary of the Board of City 
 Record he was obliged to stand up and read the charges against him- 
 self. The newspapers pounded him unmercifully and olamed Low for 
 not ascertaining Cowen's utter lack of business capability before 
 appointing him head of such an important city department. 
 
 Cowen probably, thought that, amid the almost innumerable scandals 
 of the Reform administration, he might possibly escape further pub- 
 licity. But he was mistaken. The newspapers renewed their attacks on 
 him, and two months after the chief charges were preferred, Cowen 
 handed in his "answer." Cowen's reply to the charges was in the form 
 of a 104-page parti-colored book. He showed up other members of Low's 
 cabinet in one tint and upheld himself in another. The extravagant 
 "styJe"'of the book was only another illustration of Cowen's reckless 
 expenditure of the city's money— for the cost of printing a few copies of 
 tMs edition "de luxe" was over $500, and the city had to pay the bill, of 
 course. 
 
 After several secret meetings of the Board of City Record, and some 
 more pounding by the papers, Cowen was allowed to "resign," and Low 
 waS 1 so grateful Cowen had got out of the limeligiit of publicity that 
 he promptly voted to give him a thick coat of the beautiful "Reform'' 
 tint of whitewash. Even the staid old Evening Post was forced to say 
 tha*i the "Cowen incident could not fail to be humiliating to the Low 
 administration." 
 
 'The other Cowen who assists in "humiliating" the Reform adminis- 
 tration is known as Mark Cowen, and is in the uniform and supply 
 business on Lafayette place. About the time the Tenement House Com- 
 mission was organized in the early months of the Reform regime, 
 Mark formed ah "alliance" with Veiller, the Deputy Commissioner. 
 Philip had a "good thing" in the City Record office and saw things were 
 so easy he tipped Mark off to go after the graft in furnishing uni« 
 forms, fedora hats and badges. Accordingly the latter , sold the city 
 lettered hat bands at 90 cents that were worth 15 cents, and many other 
 things in proportion. The men were compelled to pay for their own 
 hats, so Mark charged them $2 apiece for cheap "chowder fedoras" that 
 sold on the Bowery for 35 cents. Every time an inspector was caught 
 In the rain he looked as if a bottle of Philip Cowen's ink had hit him 
 In the face. And, of course, the Inspector had to go down to Mark 
 and get a new "regulation" fedora. Mark charged a fat price for the 
 uniforms, and it was in these he had the largest "graft. ' These urn- 
 
NEW YORK. 1902-1903. 
 
 Ill 
 
 forms were inferior to those worn by car conductors, but cost three 
 times as much. They were made of flimsy material and lasted but a 
 short time. 
 
 During the last campaign the Cowen brothers were active workers 
 ♦ in the East Side for the cause of Reform. When the Reformers came 
 tnto power they put in a claim that they were entitled to some 
 "recognition." It looks very much as if the brothers got all that they 
 were entitled to. 
 
 One of the pledges of the Reformers was that, if elected, they would 
 give us a business administration. The Cowen brothers are proofs of the 
 character of a Reform "business" administration. 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF CHARITIES. 
 
 Homer Folks, the Fusion Commissioner of Charities, is believed by 
 the administration to be an official particularly well-suited by reason of 
 his studies and his tastes to have the care of this department. He 
 * demonstrated this when he went in by continuing and giving credit to 
 former Commissioner Keller for important reforms which he had insti- 
 tuted in the department. One of these was the discontinuance of the 
 employment of workhouse inmates in the charity institutions. Another 
 was the reduction of the death rate of children on Randall's Island. 
 Through Commissioner Keller's efforts the mortality of children was 
 reduced from 96 7-10 to less than 20 per cent.; and for this work he was 
 highly commended by the New York County Visiting Committee in it3 
 annual report. 
 
 Commissioner Folks found that the heads of institu- 
 tions and of the bureaus in the department left to him by 
 his predecessor were capable and efficient in their posi- 
 tions. 
 
 They remain as they were when he went into office, except in the 
 case o/ Superintendent George Blair, of the Outdoor Poor Dpartment. 
 He has been succeeded by Edwin F. Merwin, a Republican politician. 
 The retained officials are as follows: 
 
 William B. O'Rourke, Superintendent of Metropolitan Hospital; M. 
 C. Dunphy. Superintendent of Randall's Island; Robert Roberts, Super- 
 intendent of Almshouse; Edward E McMahon, Steward of Almshouse; 
 Joseph Schilling, Superintendent of City Hospital; J. McKee Borden, 
 Secretary to Department, Central Office; Cyrus V. Kean, Auditor, Cen- 
 tral Office; Frederick Bauer, Superintendent, Bureau of Dependent Chil- 
 dren; William C. Yorke, Superintendent of Municipal Lodging House; 
 A. J. Dickerson, General Storekeeper Blackwell's Island; Miss Mary 
 Gilmour, Superintendent of City Training School for Nurses; Dr. F. M. 
 Bauer, Examining Physician for Admission to Island Institutions. 
 
 In the "Fusion" claim of credit foi the administration of the depart- 
 ment their share should not be forgotten. They are practical men, and 
 know how to do the work. Mi. Folks, though a theorist, is entitled to 
 some praise for being practical enough to keep these assistants. 
 
 Commisioner Folks has shown other evidences of being practical. 
 He has largely increased the pay roll and paid high prices for supplies, 
 the result being a steady increase in appropriations from the figure of 
 ^1,895,491.01 in 1901 tc $2,398,070.93 in 1903. 
 
 Of course some humbug "Fusion" claims are made in behalf of Mr. 
 Folks. One was in connection with his appointment of a supervising 
 nurse for the infant hospital. Commissioner Keller's failure to fill this 
 place was due to the fact that the Civil Service Commissioners could 
 not furnish an eligible list from which to make the appointment. 
 FUSION'S NEW MORGUE GANG. 
 
 It is also claimed for Commissioner Folks that he made war upon 
 the undertakers in the neighborhood of East Twenty-sixth street, who 
 are alleged to have carried their business rivalry to such an extreme 
 as to result in abuses, from which the poor suffered. This is not a new 
 Bubjtect, and other commissioners achieved as much success in the 
 
112 
 
 NEW YORK, 1902-1903 
 
 direction of repressing this as Mr. Folks has done. They did it in a 
 different way, as they restricted the facilities of the undertakers in the 
 neighborhood as far as possible and opened the grewsome business to 
 general competition. Under Commissioner Folks, assisted by Super- 
 intendent of Outdoor Poor Merwin, the war upon the undertakers in 
 the neighborhood has been carried on with the aid of a West Side 
 coffin trust. Mr. Merwin uses the telephone regularly to keep this 
 concern posted as to the possibility of business at Bellevue. The cor- 
 poration whose interest this official promotes so energetically is in the 
 hands of an officer of the court who was a conspicuous official in the 
 Strong administration, and very near to the Mayor. The matter has 
 been called to the attention of Commissioner Folks; but he does not 
 seem to see any impropriety in it. 
 
 The Fusion Charities Commissioner is fond of exploiting the man- 
 agement of Bellevue Hospital, though his connection with that is only 
 as an ex-officio member of the Board of Trustees. 
 
 Yet, it is only a few months ago that the newspapers of the city 
 were filled with stories of brutal treatment of inmates by em- 
 ployees of the hospital. The explanation given by this official is 
 that the outrages were the work of some convalescents who were acting^ 
 as nurses, while the regular nurses were away from their posts. This 
 seems to make the matter worse instead of improving it. It is scarcely 
 less a reflection upon the administration. 
 
 A heading in the World of January 30, 1903, indicates the character 
 of these brutalities as follows: 
 
 "Eye-witnesses tell horrors of Bellevue — Patrick Moon 
 describes outrages upon old man McGarra — Says nurses 
 uttered threats of death — Held him under water, then 
 made him subject to dreadful orgies — Had box in waiting 
 to carry out his body." 
 
 Commissioner Folks has been considerably eulogized in the publi- 
 cations of the Citizens' Union. In them he is given credit for establish- 
 ing a separate hospital for consumptives. As this hospital was opened 
 in the first month of his administration, it is certainly an evidence of 
 remarkable efficiency. As a matter of fact the tuberculosis infirmary 
 was planned and appropriations for it granted, buildings erected and 
 furnished before Mr. Folks took office. He was, therefore, able to at 
 once transfer the patients to their new quarters, a very easy way to 
 secure credit for establishing the infirmary. 
 
 John Doe, John Smith, and Richard Roe, 
 
 Are still at large they say. 
 When will Jerome the public show, 
 
 Who gets the dough to-day? 
 
 Vote against "Fusion" fraud and false pretense. 
 
 Vote against Republicanism masked as non-partisanship. 
 
 Vote for Honest Democratic City Government in touch with the 
 wants of the people. 
 
 REPUBLICAN CLUB OUTINGS. 
 
 A crying shame is revealed In the story of these trips of roystering 
 politicians upon the city's steamboats. It is bad enough to fill these 
 boats with merrymakers, and to thus deepen by contrast the misery 
 of the poor relatives and friends on their sad errand to visit inmates. 
 
 A burning outrage is found In the practising of withdrawing regular 
 trips of th*-K*? boats without notice for excursions of Republican heelers, 
 and having in the lurch those who have spent time and money they 
 could ill afford to make one of their all too few visits to some unfortu- 
 nate. 
 
NEW YORK, 1002-1903. 
 
 11$ 
 
114 WW YORK. I«3-TW». 
 
 I 
 
 iThe Massasoit Taken from Her Regular Run to Hart's Island 
 and Used for an Excursion Given 4 by Deputy County 
 
 , Clerk Henry Birrell, While Seventy-five Friends of 
 
 • Prisoners and Prison Missionaries Are Driven 
 
 ^ H 5 from the? Dock with No Explanation. 
 
 The steamer Massasoit, that runs to Hart's Island from the foot of 
 East Twenty-sixth street, is the property of the Department of Cor- 
 rection. One trip a day is made, the boat leaving her Manhattan dock 
 
 at 11 o'clock. 
 
 At that hour on July 18, last, there were over seventy-five persons 
 on the dock waiting to go to the island. Among them were several 
 people from out of town, who were anxious to see relatives. Others 
 were poor people who had taken a day off to see friends. Also there 
 were two or three missionaries and one of them carried some important 
 legal papers that had to be signed that day to be valid. 
 
 After, waiting some time an announcement was made that the boat 
 would not run again that day, as she had left at 9 a. m. instead of 11. 
 This announcement caused much indignation anions? those waiting, as 
 the only way that Hart's Island can be reached besides by the city boat 
 is to go to City Island and be rowed across the bay. For these poor 
 people this was out of the question, and they left the pier, denouncing 
 the correction officials. 
 
 For upon inquiry it was learned that the Massasoit had 
 been loaned by Commissioner Hynes to Deputy County 
 Clerk Henry Birrell for a political excursion. 
 
 The invitation to this excursion, at the expense of the city, read as 
 follows: 
 
 "You are cordially invited to attend an outing, which 
 will include an inspection of the city institutions, situated 
 on the East River and on the Sound, on Saturday, July 18. 
 Steamer Massasoit will leave pier foot of East Twenty-sixth 
 street at 9 a. m. sharp. Refreshments will be provided. 
 Hoping to have the pleasure of your company, 
 "Very truly yours, 
 
 "HENRY BIRRELL." 
 No one offered to explain why the city should lend a boat for a 
 political junket. Commissioner Hynes and other correction officials were 
 guests on the outing. The party was in charge of Secretary John J. 
 MeKinney, and a large majority of the excursionists were constituents 
 of Birrell. who is the Republican leader in the Twei.ty-flf th District 
 and the Deputy County Clerft. 
 
 From persons in a position to know in the Department 
 of Correction, it has been learned that trips similar to that 
 of July 18 have been made ever since last faJfl, fusion or- 
 ganizations of Brooklyn, as well as Manhattan, have gone 
 on excursions at the expense of the city — and to the great 
 inconvenience of poor people who wished to visit Mart's 
 Island. 
 
 If these outings took place under a Democratic administration they 
 would be denounced as an outrage on the public, but Birrell has a 
 political organization to look after. The city operates a convenient 
 
NEW YORK, 1002-1903. 
 
 113 
 
 river steamer, and what scheme could be happier and cheaper than 
 to take out the election captains and lieutenants for a pleasant sail up 
 the East River and in the Sound, and enjoy a good dinner and "refresh- 
 ments" at the expense of the city? 
 
 These excursions were painful subjects to the Fusion newspapers, 
 and they said very little about them, and Mayor Low took no action in 
 the matter. Perhaps, after all, as the Evening P,os;t intimates, Birrell 
 may hive, had no other purpose than "acquainting! the. ordinary citizens 
 of New York" — in other words, the Birrell | Association — "with the 
 manner in which their business is being conducted under a reform 
 administration." And then, again, perhaps Birrell preferred to avoid 
 the expense of paying for a boat for a political picnic and merely 
 appropriated a city steamer, causing a lot <*f pop,i) B,eople to wait thirty 
 days before they could get another pass to go to Hart's Island. Such 
 Is Reform. Waoaia Ma 
 
 . j — ' j'ft jA-yrnS \ iol 
 
 SOME "FUSION" SALARY INCREASES. 
 
 The Record Shows That Claims of Retrenchment and Economy- 
 Are False. 
 
 A study of the roster of city employees, published in the City Record, 
 July 29, 1903, exposes many examples of salary increases made by the 
 Fusion officials, who loudly prate of their record of economy in this 
 and other directions. t&<l 
 
 Mr. Rives, in the Corporation Counsel's office, makes a brave show- 
 
 ing in this list, as follows: >fl ti I 
 
 J. A. Stoner. Junior Assistant Counsel $1,500 to $1,800 <■ 
 
 F, J. Byrne. Junior Assistant Counsel 1,200 to 1,500 
 
 J. H. Greaner. Assistant Chief Clerk 3.000 to 3,600 
 
 J. R. Salmon. Clerk... ...V. ....... .i .. 2,700 to 3,000 
 
 C. C. Halpine. Clerk 1,200 to 1,500 ' 
 
 J. H. Johnstone, Clerk 900 to 1,050 
 
 T. J. Kelly, Clerk 600 to 750 
 
 F. E. Johnstone. Jr., Clerk 600 to 750 > 
 
 H. A. McCrumlisk. Clerk 480 to 600 
 
 H. J. Shields, Clerk..' 300 to 4S0 " 
 
 John A. Leddy. Junior Clerk 300 to 4S0 
 
 Miss M. D. O'Toole, Stenographer 900 to 1,050 
 
 Miss A. M. Colleton. Stenographer 900 to 1,050 ' 
 
 G. W. Welch, Stenographer 900 to 1,050 ° 
 
 W. H. Lake. Examiner : 1,500 to 1,800 1 
 
 J. M. Valles, Librarian 2.100 to 2.400 
 
 S. J. Parmenter, Assistant... 3.000 to 3,500 1 
 
 H. T. Johnstone, Assistant 1,800 to 1,950 
 
 Miss M. French, Assistant 900 to 1,050 
 
 E. H. Wilson, Assistant 1,200 to 1,500 
 
 C. J. Druhan. Clerk -.1,050 to 1,200 . 
 
 T. A. Murphy, Process Server -900 to 1,200 i 
 
 H. M. Powell, Assistant 1,950 to 2,500 
 
 H. Steifel. Assistant 2,500 to 3,000 
 
 F. W. Stelle. Assistant 2,500 to 3,500 
 
 James McGrath. Assistant 1,800 to 2,100 
 
 M. F. Murphy, Process Server 900 to 1,050 
 
 T. C. Blake, Assistant \ . . 4.000 to 5.000 
 
 D. Tomlinson, Assistant 1,800 to 2.500 
 
 And three other increases amounting to $900. 
 
 OTHER OFFICIALS KEEP STEP WITH RIVES. 
 In the Civil Service Commission's office Examiner Crandall had his 
 salary of $1,200 doubled; two $1,000 stenographers had $150 each added to 
 their salaries, and another stenographer was jumped from $1,500 to 
 $1,800. The Assistant Secretary, J. H. McCooey, was advanced from 
 
116 
 
 NEW YORK, 1002-1003. 
 
 $3,000 to $4,000, and increases amounting to about 52,000 more were 
 made in the salaries of five other employees. 
 
 In the Board of Elections but $800 was added to the pay roll, and 
 the Board of Assessors jumped salaries with increases aggregating 
 
 $1,350. 
 
 In the Tax Department not a single reduction in salary was made, 
 but $3,250 were given in increases to already well paid clerks. 
 
 Outside of the regular promotions, there was in the Street Cleaning 
 Department a number of salary increases.. Clerk C. A. Charles had 
 $200 added to his $2,500 salary, the $1,800 salary of J. F. Fitzsimmons was 
 increased to $1,950, Miss C. H. Jeffrey, stenographer, was raised from 
 #1*206 to $1,500 and over $4,000 was added to the salaries of nine other 
 office employees. 
 
 In the Department of Correction the Secretary had $1,000 added to 
 his $1,500 income and a general raise of salaries in all branches of that 
 department increased the cost of administration about $5,000 per annum. 
 
 ^Iiii Robert W. De Forest's Tenement House Commission $6,450 was 
 added in increased salaries to the pay rolls, but they were careful that 
 none Of the increase went to those whose stipend was $800 per annum 
 or less. 
 
 In the Department of Education about $5,000 was added to the pay 
 rolls, nearly all of the additional money being given to those already in 
 receipt of $1,200 and upward. In the Normal College the salary raised 
 amounted to about $9,000, and in the City College to about $5,000. 
 
 In the Health Department Dr. Lederle jumped two secretaries from 
 $3,000 to $5,000 a year and added about $4,000 more to the salaries of other 
 employees. 
 
 The Armory Board has only six salaried employees, and they are 
 not overworked, nevertheless increases amounting to over $300 were made 
 to thfeir salaries. 
 
 Nearly $5,000 was added to the salaries of other employees of Bellevue 
 and the allied hospitals, but by some strange oversight in this solitary 
 instance small salaried men were benefited. 
 
 "Eye Bar" Lindenthal added $6,500 to the salaries of his employees, 
 and in the Department of Docks and Ferries increases amounting to 
 over $2,000 were made. * 
 
 The salary increases in the Department of Water Supply, Gas and 
 Electricity amounted to $6,000. 
 
 Borough President Cantor's salary increases were only $300. 
 
 Commissioner Livingston in the Public Works Department increased 
 salaries to the same amount in his office, while in his Bureau of High- 
 ways, exclusive of two fifty cent per diem increases allowed to three 
 detailed laborers, $3,450 additional were added to the assistant engineeis, 
 an already well paid staff. 
 
 In the Bureau of Buildings the increases amounted to $7,150. while 
 in the Sewer Department $500 was added to the $3,500 the principal engi- 
 neer had been receiving. 
 
 under the Democratic administration of the Bronx Borough by Pres- 
 ident Haffen the only increased expense is in the cases of several skilled 
 laborers whose wage rate was slightly increased. 
 
 If children could but vote to-day, 
 On "Fusion" in this city, 
 
 Why, they would quickly bury it 
 Without a spark of pity. 
 
 For eighty thousands are denied 
 The teaching that they need, 
 
 The free schools cannot shelter all 
 Because of "Fusion's" deed. 
 
 Oh, why in this free land of ours, 
 Where men are seldom fools, 
 
 Should such neglectful men be givm 
 The power to rule the schools? 
 
 Vote against Republicanism masked as non-partisanship. 
 
NEW YORK, 100' 
 
 117 
 
 JEROME'S REVELATIONS 
 
 OF "FUSION. 
 
 He Only Confirms the Public Belief in Its Insincerity — Th» 
 People Are Convinced That There Is No Good 
 Faith in Low & Co. 
 
 Mr. Jerome's share in the campaign slanders which put "Fusion" 
 in power made him a good judge of the different varieties of humbug 
 which distinguished the different periods of that administration. He 
 became disgusted with the weakness of the particular brand of humbug 
 which distinguished Mayor Low's course. 
 
 The two right bowers of Fusion split on the Sunday liquor question, 
 Mr. Jerome seemed to think that this was one of tne questions on 
 which some consistpncy between campaign promises and official per- 
 formances could safely be had. 
 
 Mayor Low, on the other hand, being tied up with the Republican 
 machine and its up-State constituency on the one hand, and rather 
 committed to personal liberty by his campaign utterances on the other, 
 was in no position to join Mr. Jerome in his liberal ideas. 
 
 District Attorney Jerome prepared a bill for Sunday opening between 
 certain hours and went to Albany to see what could be done in the 
 Legislature. Of course, nothing was done toward the passage of any 
 such revolutionary measure: but this effort of Mr. Jerome and this 
 attitude of Mayor Low in connection with it was tne parting of the 
 ways for them. 
 
 Even when campaign matters began to stir up this fall. Low and- 
 Jerome remained apart. Jerome stayed in Lakeville tinkering clocks, 
 while the work of the Republican Citizens' Union politicians, to cinch up 
 the renomination for Low, was at its busiest stage. The clock-maker 
 seems to have kept his eye upon the situation and to have been a 
 recipient of reports from the seat of war with great regularity. 
 
 He did not fail to notice that the Republican end of 
 the political part of this Fusion deal, consisting of Roose- 
 velt, Odeli, Piatt, Dunn, Depew, Bruce and Quigg, rather 
 overbalanced Sheehan and Devery, the only representa- 
 tives of the Democratic element (so called) in this non- 
 partisan partnership. 
 
 His knowledge of the situation, coupled with these rumors and his 
 previous experience with the humbug of reform politics, convinced Mr. 
 Jerome that it was his duty or opportunity to lead a new sensational 
 crusade this fall by attacking the humbug of Fusion. As it subse- 
 quently appeared that his information came from the secretary of the 
 Citizens' Union. Mr. Thomas A. Fulton, the public can safely rely upon 
 the accuracy of his conclusions. 
 
 Mr. Fulton, it may be said in passing, was the most energetic, sys- 
 tematic and practical man in the whole Citizens' Union outfit. Mr. Je- 
 rome has dubbed him Boss Cutting's political valet. He might better 
 have said Boss Cutting's political master mechanic. There is no doubt 
 that Fulton will be very much missed before this campaign is over by 
 those who made such haste to kick him out for allowing the public to 
 go behind the scenes and get a glimpse of the methods of the Fusion 
 forces. 
 
 All of this, however, is only useful as an introduction into and an 
 explanation of 
 
 The very illuminating description which Mr. Jerome has 
 furnished of his former colleagues and the very clear ex- 
 hibition that he has made of the situation in the ■"Fusion" 
 campaign this Fall, 
 
118 
 
 NEW YORK, 1902-1003. 
 
 The gems of this public-spirited contribution, the making of which 
 is one of Mr. Jerome's great services to the community, are as foHows: 
 "I have satisfied myself by careful inquiry that the 
 great mass of the people to whom we must look for sup- 
 port in the coming campaign believe that Mr. Low cannot 
 be re-elected, and that while they may give him a half- 
 hearted support for the sake of the cause, they cannot 
 overcome their dislike and distrust of him. 
 
 "It is not necessary to trace the commencement of this to the pre- 
 liminaries in 1897, when lack of frankness, or. as some of us then 
 thought, disingenuous and. an entire absence of unselfish courage laid the 
 foundation for a ^persjonal dislike among the members of the Citizens' 
 Union, which has steadily increased in extent and intensity to the pfes- 
 jim. moment. : , ' 
 
 ^'!""^riquiry satisfies ! ^ne that this attitude on the part of the people to 
 whom we must look for support is not due so much to anything which 
 ^Nriv Low as mayor' fias done or left undone as to the unlovable per- 
 sonality of the man himself. 
 
 "Egotism, self-complacency and constitutional timidity 
 are not the elements to make a leader, nor do they attract 
 the love and support of an American electorate. 
 
 "How characteristic his letter of acceptance (?) is — not a scintilla of 
 humor, not a resonant note, not a spark of originality, absolutely des- 
 titute of every indication of capacity for leadership, and. God knows, 
 we need leadership badly enough, and it is its lack that has caused 
 us to drift into the present condition, for it is nothing but drifting that 
 we have done. 
 
 "The conference, he writes, forsooth, is to take the responsibility. 
 There are to be an abundance of holes into which the 'I' stamped all 
 over the letter can crawl, if the event is untoward. 
 
 "See, too, his seemingly disingenuous attitude toward President 
 Roosevelt. A man more appreciative of political conditions would know 
 that the very semblance of Presidential support and advocacy would 
 entirely alienate the independent Democratic vote, without which Mr. 
 Low cannot be elected. 
 
 "But, if it has not been deliberately fostered, centainly 
 no effort has been made to check the notion that Mr. Low 
 is approved by the President and that the President's 
 influence is behind him, 
 and each day this idea is hurting a man loved by many who are 
 dposed to him politically and in a state where in his own time of trial 
 he will desperately need every friendly influence he can have. 
 ' ' "You ought to know better than I the present condition of affairs in 
 the Republican party in this State. Has it occurred to you that a part 
 of the complacency of the leaders of the Republican machine in <>ur 
 city may be due to the 'kill-two-birds-with-one-stone' idea? This no- 
 tipn of Mr. Low's letter about an independent Democrat is all nonsense. 
 We Democrats who have worked so many years in Fusion movements 
 are not considering this. We will heartily support a Republican, even 
 in such a year as this, 
 
 If we are satisfied that next year he will not be found 
 presiding at Republican political meetings and is a man 
 who has elements of leadership and a sincere belief in 
 honest and non-partisan municipal government. 
 
 "I have no patience with this talk about a 'logical' candidate. \V) nt 
 does it mean? I understand 'candidates' and strong 'candidates.' and 
 Republican ot Democratic candidates and others of this sort, but the 
 only real meaning in the minds of people who resort to the term 'log- 
 ical' candidate is a candidate whom they do not want but cannot get 
 rid of. In this sense Mr. Low is surely the 'logical candidate of the 
 Citizens' Union. You may be able to fool all ot ili< people some of 
 the time, but not when the matter about which you felfch to deceive if 
 so open a secret. 
 
NEW YORK. 1302-1903. 
 
 119 
 
 "You know or ought to that the Republican district leaders believn 
 with practical unanimity that Mr. Low cannot be elected, and that very 
 much more than a majority have expressed themselves in substantially 
 the language used by one of them to me. 'We cannot help his nom- 
 ination, put him up and let him get it in the back of the neck.' 
 
 "You know or ought to know the financial difficulties, and even" a 
 reform movement cannot be run without funds. 
 
 • You know in your own organization not only with the 
 leaders, but with the rank and file also, Mr. Low is the 
 most unpopular candidate we can select. 
 
 "It seems to me that the Citizens' Union leaders must know all 
 these things, and, what is more, every one else does; and yet they join 
 with the selfish professional and ride deliberately for a fall with brag- 
 gart words on their lips known to be false and shame in their hearts. 
 
 "Were all our fond phrases and moral pretension in 1901 but words 
 to us? Does the cause after all mean nothing? Must we again go back 
 to the old shameful method of bargain and dicker and chicanery? Are 
 we forever to have reformers praising the sentiments of the good, but 
 afraid to practice their precepts? Surely, the conventional methods 
 being what they are of professional politicians are the best things for 
 reformers to avoid. Can we not have a little bit of faith? 
 
 "To summarize: First. Mr. Low should not be nominated because 
 of his personal unpopularity caused not by adherence to the principles 
 of reform., but springing from personal character of the man. Had 
 the antagonism to him been because of his adherence to and enforce- 
 ment of reform principles, no decent man could doubt that he should be 
 renominated. 
 
 "Second — The sincerity that was in the campaign of 
 1901 gave him his victory. .. Should Mr. Low be renomi- 
 nated under the existing conditions, we should commence 
 the campaign patently insincerely." 
 
 RANDALL'S ISLAND ABUSES. 
 
 This State Institution an Example of the Mismanagement, 
 Parsimony and Inefficiency of the Republican Officials 
 in Partnership with Low. 
 
 During the past year the Republicans have made much noise about 
 the alleged "Fusion" reforms introduced in our institutions for criminals 
 and charity patients. But the grocery Governor has been very careful 
 to avoid Randall's Island in the numerous stories sent out by the pub- 
 licity bureau to the Republican organs. 
 
 For years eminent sociologists and criminologists have pointed out 
 the crying necessities of Randall's Island. They have sriown that re- 
 form of children is impossible where the conditions are even worse than 
 in the slums from which they were snatched. They have shown that 
 the neglect is almost criminal. 
 
 Jacob A. Riis and other sociologists who have visited Randall's 
 Island have reported to the Governor conditions that were so startling 
 the papers refused to print the entire reports. But the Evening Sun 
 devoted considerable space to point out to the Governor and the people 
 the horrible conditions existing on this island. That paper, on June 22d, 
 published a two-column article describing the conditions in the Hous» 
 of Refuge, and the heading reads: 
 
 "ALWAYS HUNGRY— BOYS IN HOUSE OF REF- 
 UGE DO NOT GET ENOUGH TO EAT— NOT A FAIR 
 CHANCE TO WASH. 
 
 "The meat supply cut down at Albany more than 
 1,200 pounds per month, with a largely increased inmate 
 
120 
 
 NEW YORK, 1902-1903. 
 
 population — State Board of Charities hears from its In- 
 spector — The State saves several bars of soap at the ex- 
 pense of cleanliness — Danger of verdigris in copper ket- 
 tles — Good job for the ragman on the island, says the in- 
 spector — Only one change of underclothing in two weeks." 
 
 Articles similar to this appeared in the Sun and other papers, and 
 the Grocery Governor was compelled to acknowledge that he had re- 
 ceived the report of the State Inspector. 
 
 DECREASED ALLOWANCE FROM CITY. 
 
 The Governor said that this was a "private institution, although it 
 receives substantial aid from the State each year and some aid from 
 the New York City treasury." 
 
 He further claimed that the deficiency in the appropriations was 
 due to the decreased allowance from New York City this year of about 
 $15*009. 
 
 The Fusion administration has claimed that they have 
 given increased sums to support institutions like Randall's 
 Island, but this contradicts their claims. 
 
 The Governor was finally compelled to make a bluff "investigation.** 
 All that resulted from this inquiry was a few new uniforms and some 
 •window sash. The meat supply was not increased, no underclothing 
 was supplied, nor was there any changes made in the sanitary arrange- 
 ments, so badly needed. 
 
 The State and City Government stands convicted of neglecting the 
 House of Refuge on the report of a State inspector, and by the Gov- 
 ernor's own statement. 
 
 The purpose of the House of Refuge is to make the inmates useful 
 members of society. This cannot be done if they are naif-starved, 
 dressed in rags and their self-respect ruined. The result of such a brutal 
 policy is to graduate plastic material for the penitentiary. 
 
 CONDEMNED BY STATE CHARITY AGENT. 
 
 The press of the city has not let up in its exposures of the neglect 
 and crime committed on Randall's Island. The papers made it so in- 
 teresting for the Grocery Governor that he sent his Fiscal Superintendent 
 down to make a further investigation of the institution. Mr. Bender 
 made a thorough inspection of this blot on humanity and reported his 
 findings to the Governor. 
 
 The report began with a statement of the manner in which the 
 child inmates of the reformatory are fed. Mr. Bender said: 
 
 "It is true that the inmates of Randall's Island do not receive nutri- 
 tious food. The dining-rooms are in a wretched condition. There were . 
 340 boys at dinner at the same time. In many instances 
 
 two boys occupied the same chair, while other boys knelt 
 on the floor while taking their food. 
 
 BREAD WASTED, BUT NO SHOES. 
 
 In the second division dining-room twenty pounds of bread was gath- 
 ered from the table after dinner, showing that the boys receive too 
 much bread. .(That is the principal article of food, and the boys em- 
 phasize their dissatisfaction by throwing it at the attendants.) There 
 are 287 chairs in the dining-room, showing a deficiency of 53 chairs. 
 Many were broken, 77 were without backs. I find the inmates destitute 
 of shoes. Thirty-seven boys wore shoes that were worthless, and many 
 of the boys walked on their uppers. The instructor informed me that he 
 had in stock only 11 pairs— there were 922 boys on the island— and from 
 August 1 to 7 none had been manufactured. 
 
 "I find that the institution is short of sheets, pillow cases and night 
 shirts. 
 
 "In the girls' department a few months ago there were in the 
 recreation room 65 good chairs. There are now only 25, and 10 of these 
 without backs. (There are more than 100 girls in the Institution)." 
 
 I MEAGRE BILL OF FARE. 
 
 Commenting on this part of his report, Mr. Bender remarked tba^ 
 Tvere animals so neglected it would excite pity. 
 
NEW YORK, llfefc-lOOSr-itf 121 
 
 Then he sets forth the meagre and monotonous menu for these chil- 
 dren whom the State and City seeks lo reform. 
 
 For Wednesday they are served with this "grub" — it does not de- 
 serve to be called anything else: 
 
 Breakfast: Bread, coffee, syrup. Dinner: Bread, stew. Supper: 
 Bread, milk, apricots. 
 
 The bill of fare for the other six days of the week reads almost 
 exactly the same. The inmates receive very little meat and no veg- 
 etables, but an occasional potato. There is no reason they should not 
 be served with plenty of vegetables and eggs. 
 
 ATTENDANTS WELL FED. 
 
 How about the attendants, those who dispense the funds? Are they 
 compelled to eat this miserable fare? This is what -they get on Wednes- 
 day: Breakfast: Coffee, bread, rolls, butter, broiled steak, eggs, pota- 
 toes. Dinner: Tea or coffee, bread, butter, roast beef or mutton, stewed 
 potatoes, macaroni, tomatoes, pudding. Tea: Bread and butter, cold 
 meats, canned salmon. , ' m'rrbs 
 
 The fare on Monday and Tuesday was about the same, but on other 
 days chicken was included in the bill of fare. Of course, on Friday, fish 
 was added to the menu. But the boys and girls never saw any. 
 
 Now Mr. Bender asks why these things are so— why the boys and 
 girls are nearly starved while the attendants are fed "on the fat of the 
 land." 
 
 The State Superintendent visits all State institutions, and he com- 
 pares the conditions at Bandall's Island with the conditions at the 
 Rochester Home of Refuge, where exactly the same allowance is made 
 for food. This is a sample of the wholesome diet of the Rochester boys 
 for Wednesday also: 
 
 Breakfast: Coffee, oatmeal, cookies, bread, syrup. Dinner: Potatoes, 
 bread, bean soup, beets, beans, boiled beef, lamb stew, dumplings. Sup- 
 per: Bread, syrup, chocolate, milk, cheese, pea soup. (Who ever heard 
 of chocolate at Randall's Island?) 
 
 There is the same remarkable difference as to dress. 
 The Rochester boys are well and comfortably clad, and at 
 a cost of only $9.45 per capita. On Randall's Island it 
 costs $20.50 per capita to keep the boys barefooted and in 
 rags. This is a clear case of graft for some one. 
 The Governor should have removed these officials and employees 
 long ago. His Newburg grocery house supplies nearly all the State in- 
 stitutions with food and supplies, and it is not quite clear why the in- 
 mates of Randall's Island should be starved and barefooted and with- 
 out soap to wash with. 
 
 POLITICS BLOCKS BUSINESS. 
 
 Board of Estimate Hampered by Absentee City Officials. 
 
 "So busily engaged in politics are most of the city officials 
 that they have not the time to attend to public business, as 
 was plainly shown yesterday when the meeting of the Board 
 of Estimate and Apportionment had to be adjourned without 
 accomplishing anything but the most ordinary routine busi- 
 ness. Appropriations that were to have been taken up could 
 not be considered because there were three absent members 
 when a unanimous vote wa3 necessary to approve the meas- 
 ures in question." 
 The above clipping taken from the New York Times of September 
 10, 1903, tells a story of official neglect of public business that is far- 
 reaching in its effect both upon the city and upon the owners of 
 property affected by the numerous proceedings now under way and in the 
 hands of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment awaiting final 
 approval. • v 
 
122 
 
 NEW YORK, 1902— 1908. 
 
 The charter provides that all public improvements shall be Initiated 
 by the approval of one of the several local boards of the district in 
 which the contemplated improvements are to be made, and that there- 
 after they shall be ratified or rejected by the Board of Estimate and 
 Apportionment, consisting of the Mayor, Comptroller, President of the 
 Board of Aldermen and the Presidents of the Boroughs of Manhattan, 
 Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Richmond. The local boards are usually 
 stirred to action by the petitions of the owners Of property in the 
 neighborhood of the contemplated improvement. The preparation and 
 the obtainment of the signature to such petitions to these boards con- 
 sumes much time, and. after the local board acts the petition and accom- 
 panying papers are transferred to the Board of Estimate and Apportion- 
 ment, who thereupon send them to the Chief Engineer for his report. 
 
 Much time is then generally consumed by the engineer in the obtain- 
 ing of data with reference to the assessed valuation of the property pro- 
 posed to be taken for the improvement, and also in estimating the assessed 
 valuation of the property which may become liable for assessments, rep- 
 resenting part or the whole of the cost of the improvements. The matter 
 is then advertised in the City Record for a period of not less than ten 
 days, after which the Board of Estimate and Apportionment may legally 
 act upon the proposition. These delays, which are harmful not only to 
 all who are interested in the property, but to the public at large, make 
 It the duty of the Board of Estimate to act promptly. 
 
 Mayor Low and the Fusion majority in the Board of 
 Estimate and Apportionment are chargeable with wanton 
 procrastination in these matters. 
 
 From the moment a piece of property is designated as likely to be- 
 come the property of the city for any public purpose, its selling and 
 rental value depreciates. So does the condition of the, property itself. 
 Tenants will not and do not bestow the same care on property which 
 they expect to occupy for a short period as they do upon'property which 
 they intend to occupy for years, nor can property so situated be as 
 easily kept rented to responsible tenants. 
 
 When it is remembered that a large proportion of the real estate in 
 New York City is heavily mortgaged and under "Fusion Reform" 
 heavily taxed on the "full assessment" plan, the sorry plight of the 
 owner who finds his property under the cloud of one of these long pend- 
 ing public improvement proceedings either unoccupied because responsi- 
 ble tenants have moved out or occupied by irresponsible tenants is easily 
 appreciated. 
 
 In the matter of the Fifty-ninth street widening the 
 •minutes of the Board of Public Improvements afford an 
 illustration of Mayor Low's* procrastinating and arbitrary 
 methods with respect to public improvements. 
 
 Since the advent of the Fusion administration this proposition 
 has been buffeted about by the local board to the Board of Esti- 
 mate and Apportionment; and the proposition as adopted by the local 
 board has been ^defeated by the Board of Public Improvements upon 
 the vote of the 'Mayor himself. In this proceeding it was stated by 
 several owners of property along the line of the proposed im- 
 provements that many of their leases expired on. the first day 
 of May, 1903. and that the uncertainty of the property remaining in its 
 present condition restrained the lessees from renewing their leases. The 
 loss of the rental value of property at all time? affects its market value; 
 and after, as in this instance, the rental values of property are per- 
 mitted to decrease because of official indifference the small equities 
 which many owners only have in their properties are necessarily almost 
 entirely wiped out. 
 
 The City Record of September 9. 190.1. contains some startling 
 examples of official ignorance, carelessness and neglect in other 
 public Improvement matters. There will be found there a report of the 
 nilnutrs of the mating <>f the Hna.nl of Estimate .Mid Apportionment 
 held July *JS. 190.1. in which all the members of the board, with the 
 exception of the President of the Borough of Richmond, appear to have 
 been present. The matter of th > • \-r:t .pj ■ !. t<> the Madison avenue 
 bridge came up for consideration. This improvement has been con- 
 
NEW YORK, 1902—1903. 
 
 123 
 
 templatod for upward of two years. All citizens who have occasion to 
 use the Madison avenue bridge have demanded that some remedy for the 
 congested conditions which confront them in their transit across the 
 bridge be adopted. There was no dissension as to the necessity of 
 enlarging this bridge. 
 
 By the meeting previous to the one mentioned the approach was 
 adopted; and for some reason which does not appear in the minutes 
 as published in the City Record of September 9 the Mayor upon his 
 own motion moved that the adoption of the resolution approving them 
 at the previous meeting be reconsidered. There was not a dissenting 
 vote among the officials who compose the board and who were present 
 at' that time. They also resolved that the matter be referred back to 
 the Dock Commissioner, and that he take some action upon the alter- 
 ation of the plan. 
 
 And so, in the same issue of the City Record may be found the 
 proposition to acquire land for the approach to the Willis avenue bridge 
 and numerous other contemplated improvements which had been pend- 
 ing before the city authorities at least two years previous to their 
 reaching the Board of Estimate and Apportionment, and in almost every 
 instance the board, upon the Mayor's motion, regardless of public de- 
 mand for improvements and ignoring the rights of property owners, 
 voted that the matters stand over until the 30th day of September of> 
 this year without a dissenting vote. 
 
 The charge of procrastination, however, is not the 
 gravest charge to be made against Mayor Low in connec- 
 tion with the subject of public improvements. At his in- 
 stigation and in violation of public policy he procured at 
 the recent session of the Legislature an amendment to the 
 law, taking out of the hands of the Board of Aldermen the 
 power to ratify all public improvements of the City of 
 New York and investing this power in himself as Mayor. 
 Acting under the power so conferred the Mayor on several 
 occasions has publicly stated while sitting as a member of the 
 Board of Estimate and Apportionment that his official acts as a member 
 of such board may or may not be ratified by him in the exercise of his 
 new prerogatives which he has cau?ed to be conferred upon himself by 
 the Legislature through his friend. Governor Odell. Thus under the law, 
 as he has caused it to be amended, even though as a member of the 
 Board of Estimate and Apportionment he votes for the passage of a 
 resolution authorizing public improvements, he may upon the adjourn- 
 ment of the board acting in his individual capacity nullify the action of 
 the board of which he is a member and overrule the judgment of his 
 associates. 
 
 "HOW ABOUT STREET SIGNS, MR. CANTOR? 
 
 The Small Results of Nearly Two Years' Work Resented by 
 
 the People. 
 
 The fact that the most progressive citizens in the world should 
 have to rely upon dead reckoning to guide themselves about the City of 
 New York is not only too great a test of patience, but an injury to 
 business and a danger. The absence of street signs is the most positive 
 kind of proof to strangers and visitors from all i^arts that "Fusion" has 
 been a pronounced failure in municipal government. 
 
 The people of New York are always willing to give any administra- 
 tion a reasonable time to make a demonstration of their policy. But 
 after twenty-one months one of th^ most emphatic pledges given by the 
 "Fusion" administration remains unfulfilled, and the condition can only 
 be attributed to willful disregard of the comfort of the citizens. The 
 direct blame rests with the President of the Borough of Manhattan, 
 Mr. Jacob Cantor, who was more vociferous in his promises and more 
 boastful than any of the candidates of "Fusion," two years ago. 
 
124 
 
 NEW YORK, 1902-1003. 
 
 CANTOR'S PROMISES. 
 
 In a specific positive pledge, Mr. Cantor said before election, that he 
 would see to it that the street corners throughout the city were provided 
 with suitable signs; so that residents and strangers might be able to 
 discover their whereabouts at any hour of the day or night. 
 
 Now, over three-quarters of his term of office has lapsed, and but 
 few signs are to be seen. When he entered on his duties, Mr. Cantor 
 at once took up the sign question, and there was a long controversy over 
 the style of signs to be put up. The Art Commission had much to say. 
 as it had ideas of an aesthetic nature which it»would not forego. Then 
 came a long delay in discussing the contracts. For months the office 
 of the Borough President in the City Hall was filled with sample signs 
 representing the patents of inventors, and "Fusion" officials from every 
 department held afternoon levees much as artists do when they open 
 an exhibition of their pictures. 
 
 COMPLAINTS CONTINUE. 
 
 Complaints came in from all quarters, and at Mr. Cantor's request 
 the Police Department made a canvass of the Borough, and reported to 
 him the section in which the lack of signs was most apparent. Then 
 he applied to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment for an appro- 
 priation. On May 17, 1902, he received an allowance of $40,000. 
 
 No barrier was placed in his pa^th by any department, but on the 
 contrary every assistance was rendered. The new policemen from up- 
 State who had been appointed by the Low-Odell-Greene-Platt political 
 combine, were especially desirous of having the signs put up, so that 
 they could find the way to the station houses to which they had been 
 assigned. The street railroads were also anxious to see the signs go 
 up; and every citizen and visitor wished to find out whether he was 
 going to Harlem or the Battery. 
 
 But delay after delay followed. When some of the signs finally ap- 
 peared, it was found that only a few of the principal streets had been 
 equipped with them. They looked very nice and were praised by the 
 Republican "Fusionists" in whose districts they had been placed; and 
 it was supposed the work would continue until every street in the Bor- 
 ough had been fitted with them. 
 
 FINALLY A SMALL BEGINNING MADE. 
 
 But it is found that only a beginning was made, and the work then 
 stopped. The operations came to a sudden halt, and large areas of the 
 city are in the same signless condition as when Mr. Cantor took the 
 ante-election pledge, and later his oath of office. 
 
 The entire East and W T est Side of the town and those portions off 
 the main lines of travel have no signs whatever. In some sections, as 
 on St. Nicholas and Upper Amsterdam avenues, posts for the new signs 
 have been put up, but the glass which bears the name or number of 
 the street has not been inserted in them; and consequently they are 
 useless and only aggravating. Even so crowded and important a traffic 
 thoroughfare as Ninth avenue below Fifty-ninth street has been 
 neglected. During the first week in August, as the time the nominating 
 conventions approached, an advertisement appeared in the City Record 
 inviting bids for signs; and Mr. Cantor said that a contract would be 
 awarded as soon as possible. The type of sign asked for, is similar to 
 the few which have been already erected, in which iron, glass and 
 enamel were used. 
 
 Contractors who furnished the latter charged from $12.50 to $17.50 
 each. 
 
 All those who secure contracts are obliged to follow the specifications 
 established by the Municipal Art Commission, regarding the color of the 
 glass, the size of the letter and the dimensions of posts. 
 
 The anger of citizens is caused by the general opinion that such a 
 simple and utilitarian matter could have been attended to without 
 s>» much political buncombe and humbug. 
 
 Vote for Honest Democratic Administration in touch with the 
 wants of the people. 
 
 Vote against "Fusion" fraud and false pretense, 
 
NEW YORK. 1902—1903! 
 
 " Fusion " Campaign Material at Public Expense. 
 
 William C. Redfield, Commissioner of Public Works in the Borough 
 of Brooklyn, hit upon the novel plan of making the churches of 
 Brooklyn centres for the propaganda of the "Fusion" movement. Ac- 
 cordingly the Commissioner had cards distributed, announcing that he 
 would lecture in a Lewis avenue church on "Our Borough Government; 
 What It Is and How It Works (illustrated with stereopticon views.)" 
 
 It was supposed that the Commissioner was too good a churchman 
 to introduce politics in a lecture delivered in an edifice dedicated to 
 the worship of God. But his lectures and pictures were intended to 
 glorify the work of the "Fusion" administration. The stereopticon pic- 
 tures were on the "before and after" order, purporting to illustrate the 
 improvements made by the Reform officials. In his lectures the Com- 
 missioner devoted little time to the pictures: in fact, they were not 
 worth much time, although they cost considerable money. Redfield 
 preferred to pose as a public benefactor of the Borough of Brooklyn, 
 and tell the assembled citizens what he had done for them; that their 
 only salvation was to vote the "Fusion" ticket this Fall and keep such 
 good ( ?) citizens in office. 
 
 But this Reformer was not contented with using a 
 church as a political hall. He actually sent the bill for 
 making the pictures to Grout, the Comptroller, and ex- 
 pected the city to pay his campaign expenses. 
 
 The city did pay the first bill of 545, but a few days afterward Red- 
 field was warned that in the future he would have to pay his own cam- 
 paign bills, as there was no provision in the charter which makes 
 "Fusion" campaign expenditures a charge upon the city. Redfield prob- 
 ably paid nothing for the use of the church, but the cost of printing the 
 cards advertising the "lectures," was charged to the "contingent expense 
 account" of the office of the Commissioner of Public Works. 
 
 If the Commissioner is sincere in his motives and desires to be a 
 real public benefactor he should give a course of lectures and exhibit 
 pictures describing the numerous scandalous doings under Matyor Low's 
 administration. For one interesting picture, the Commissioner would 
 not have to go out of his own department. 
 
 A picture showing one of his drivers carting stolen 
 paving-stones to a private yard would probably make an 
 interesting subject. The Commissioner could tell the 
 audience how this man carted away over 50,000 paving- 
 stones belonging to the city, and when the driver was ar- 
 rested he implicated his foreman. 
 The foreman fled from the city. It is hard to ascertain the 
 value of the stolen paving-blocks. The thieving had been going on for 
 months under the very nose of the Commissioner. 
 
 The history of the Fusion administration in "Word and Picture" 
 would be incomplete without a series of slides depicting the twenty-six 
 fire engine houses in the Borough of Brooklyn upon which repairs 
 were made by Fire Commissioner Sturgis in violation of the charter. 
 No doubt Comptroller Grout would be glad to loan Redfield the reports 
 made to him by the experts of the Finance Department with reference to 
 the contracts given out for these repairs by Sturgis, as a basis for a 
 lecture upon the management of the Fire Department under the "Fusion" 
 administration. 
 
 It would be very easy to write many more suggestions of pictures 
 and topics fcr lectures by Mr. Redfield if he really desires to bring the 
 •'Fusion" administration before the people in its true light. 
 
 Mr. Redfield is not the only Reformer who has tried to use a church 
 
126 
 
 NEW YORK, 1902—1903. 
 
 as a political hustings. But he is the first politician who ever asked 
 the city to pay the expenses of political meetings. Redfield is a fair 
 specimen of the men put in office by the alleged Reformers. To use 
 a pulpit for exploiting a political party is an insult to all Christians, 
 and will be resented at the polls in November. 
 
 SWANSTROM COPIES REDFIELD. 
 
 Brooklyn statisticians have been doing some close figuring on what 
 the city will have to pay for Borough President Swanstrom's .edition de 
 luxe bearing the campaign title, "One Year of Non-Partisan Adminis- 
 tration, Borough of Brooklyn." 
 
 It is estimated that $4,000 will about cover the bills for the reports 
 comprising the volumes. 
 
 When President Swanstrom first planned this text-book of campaign 
 literature at the expense of the city, he asked for the printing of 250 full 
 reports and 5,250 condensed reports. 
 
 When the requisiUonwas en route, it was discovered that the char- 
 ter limited reports- t° 2,oW'COT3tes; and Mayor Low, Comptrolled Grout 
 and Corporation COvuisel Rives approved of a modified requisition for 
 that number. * V?' !!!|| , 
 
 "FUSION" GRAFT IN PUBLIC BATHS 
 
 Fees Exacted from Frequenters of the "Free" Baths — Unex- 
 ampled Delay in Opening Baths This Season. 
 
 For the first time in municipal history — since "Free" Public Baths 
 were established, they were not "free," and owing to neglect and grafting 
 all the benefits were lost to those for whom they were principally 
 intended— the poor children and the laboring class in the city. 
 
 The baths should have been ready for the public in June, but it was 
 not until July 25 that half of them were put in commission. 
 
 Soon afterward complaint was made that some of the attendants 
 were grafting — that children were made to pay five cents each to the 
 attendants, and that charges of various kinds were imposed. In con- 
 sequence hundreds of children, unable to pay the fee, were barred from 
 the baths. 
 
 The President of the Borough said he would investigate, and an 
 attendant named John Caddigan was arrested and bailed, but nothing 
 more was heard of the case. 
 
 W. H. Blatchford, a citizen, alleged that five cents was extorted 
 for a bathing suit, and that persons were not allowed to use their own. 
 
 On days which were reserved for women, according to Mr. Blatch- 
 ford, they were charged ten cents at the bathing house at the foot of 
 Thirty-fifth street and the North River. The police, it was said, w^re 
 fully aware of the outrage. 
 
 But one-half the bath houses needed were put in commission, as the 
 administration had not applied to the Dock Department early enough 
 to secure proper locations. 
 
 Owing to the inadequate arrangements, the free swimming lessons, 
 under the Board of Education, were interfered with. 
 
 So that the "Fusion" administration, besides neglecting to provide 
 sufficient school accommodation, also failed to maintain the bath 
 privileges previously enjoyed. 
 
 THE RESURRECTIONISTS. 
 
 Dead issues, combined with manufactured "facts" and false claims 
 of economy, efficiency and reform are mighty poor ammunition to fight 
 political battles with. In fact they are more dangerous to those who 
 use them than to those attacked. 
 
 Two years ago the adversaries of Democracy laid great stress upon 
 the imaginary issue of absentee leadership, with policies "made in Eng- 
 land." The intelligent electorate of Greater New York, with its knowl- 
 edge of what has since been shown of strength and harmony under 
 very present leaderships, is only amused by the efforts of the prow.'ers 
 In the political graveyard to raise the ghost of that so-called iMtue. 
 
128 
 
 NEW YORK, 1002-1903. 
 
 MAYOR LOW'S LITTLE 44 JIMMY." 
 
 A peculiar thing about this administration is that as soon as an 
 official entered upon his duties he would look around the office and see 
 if the previous administration had- introduced any reform. If so, the 
 reformer would simply continue the good work and announce in a 
 Fusion newspaper that HE had introduced such and such innovations. 
 If the preceding official had planned any reforms, the Fusionist would 
 announce that he intended- to do great things, and then proceed to 
 carry out the ideas of his predecessor. Folks, the Commissioner of 
 Charities han been noted for this habit of "Claiming," and as Jimmy 
 Reynolds wanted to boom himself in the Fusion papers, he tried the 
 game of "Claiming," which seems to be the favorite pastime of the 
 Fusionists. 
 
 George W. Brown, the Mayor's Marshal, proposed several innova- 
 tions in the Bureau of Licenses, and put his ideas in writing, and sent 
 them to the Mayor. Reynolds, as secretary, of course, read the papers, 
 and a brilliant thought occurred to him. "Why not propose these 
 things to his Honor, and tell him that I, the sociologist-secretary, 
 thought out these reforms?" So Jimmy started in to reform the Bureau 
 of Licenses, and the first thing he did was to tell Low to discharge 
 George Brown— the man who proposed all the innovations, and who had 
 held the position for some time and was acquainted with the needs of 
 the Bureau. Previous to Brown's discharge, Reynolds had never visited 
 the Bureau. Reynolds, through Low, tried to have the Legislature pass 
 a bill reorganizing the Bureau and enlarging its scope and making its 
 head a sort of a sub-mayor. The term of office was to be ten years 
 and the salary was to be $6,000 a year. Of course if this "sneak" bill 
 had become a law Reynolds would have landed the job. 
 
 However, Reynolds put all of Brown's ideas into effect, and then 
 Jimmy conceived some quite original ideas of his own. He picked out 
 the second hand dealers for objects of his animosity, and he hit upon 
 a plan of persecution for the poor push-cart peddlers. For one "re- 
 form" Reynolds will be ^remembered long after he goes back to work 
 in the slums. Some one told Jimmy that the police were getting graft 
 from the push-cart peddlers for not enforcing a certain ordinance. So 
 Jimmy conceived the brilliant idea of rescinding the ordinance, and 
 Low, who had implicit faith in Jimmy, promptly ordered the ordinance 
 abolished. The practical way to stop the graft would be to prosecute 
 the police. But this shows the kind of "reforms" Reynolds has insti- 
 tuted in the Bureau of Licenses. 
 
 Vote for Honest Democratic Administration in touch with the 
 wants of the people. 
 
 Honest Democracy, purged of Deveryism, welcomes the return of 
 
 her worthy sons. 
 
 Democracy is the hope of the people and the only agency of real 
 reform. 
 
Lo<w 
 
 the Man 
 
 Lo<w the Candidate 
 
 A REFORM EXPERT S EVIDENCE. 
 
 District Attorney William Travers Jerome, a shining light 
 in the circles of "Fusion" and "Reform," wrote, Sept. 15, 1903, 
 as follows: 
 
 "I have satisfied myself by careful inquiry that the great 
 mass of the people to whom we must look for support in the 
 coming campaign believe that Mr. Low cannot be re-elected and 
 that, while they may give a half-hearted support to him for the 
 sake of the cause, they cannot overcome their dislike and dis- 
 trust of him. 
 
 "It is not necessary to trace the commencement of this to 
 the preliminaries in 1S97, when lack of frankness, or, as some 
 of us then thought, disingenuousness, and an entire absence 
 of unselfish courage laid the foundation for a personal dislike 
 among the members of the Citizens' Union, which has steadily 
 increased in extent and intensity to the present moment. 
 
 "Inquiry satisfies me that this attitude on the part of the 
 people to whom we must look for support is not due so much 
 to anything which Mr. Low as Mayor has done or left undone 
 as to the unlovable personality of the man himself. Egotism, 
 self-complacency and constitutional timidity are not the ele- 
 ments to make a leader, nor do they attract the love and sup- 
 port of an American electorate. 
 
 ************ 
 
 "Hoiv can you hope to win in a campaign whose first note 
 and its keynote is insincerity? If you could win, what worth 
 has such a victory? 
 
 "7 have no patience with this talk about a 'logical candi- 
 date.'' What does it mean? I understand 'candidates' and 
 'strong candidates' and Republican and Democratic candidates 
 and others of this sort, but the only real meaning in the minds 
 of people who resort to the term 'logical candidate' is a can- 
 didate whom they do not want, but cannot get rid of. In this 
 sense Mr. Low is surely the 'logical candidate' of the Citizens' 
 Union. You may be able to fool all of the people some of the 
 time, but not when the matter about which you wish to deceive 
 is so open a secret." 
 
father Knickerbocker Tooled 
 
 v (A Fable.) - 
 
 Once upon a time Father Knickerbocker was 
 aroused from a comfortable nap in his easy 
 chair by the clacking and chatter of some old 
 women who declared that his house needed a 
 "thorough cleaning." In vain the genial old 
 man protested that it was cozy and just about 
 to his tastes, and in the matter of respectabil- 
 ity and cleanliness compared favorably with 
 those of his neighbors. He was confident of his 
 own ability to work out what improvements 
 were needed. The old women insisted and 
 said that he must also discharge all his trusty 
 and faithful servants and have a new lot of 
 help. They undertook to supply him with su- 
 perior articles, not just the ordinary sort of 
 servants who work for their living, but college 
 graduates and sons of the aristocracy and fad- 
 mongers and freaks of all kinds. Father 
 Knickerbocker, in a weak moment, permitted 
 the array of noisy incompetents to take pos- 
 session and run his home for him on what they 
 were pleased to call "reform" lines. They 
 : tartcd in by stirring up a terrible dust which 
 flew in all directions, then settled down in new 
 piaces. But the dust and dirt remained in the 
 house, all the same. The only difference was 
 that you could see it now, whereas, before it 
 at least was hidden. 
 
 Then the "reformers" started in to tie their 
 master hand and foot with red tape and blue 
 laws, while they pillaged the house and took 
 everything available over to their friends, the 
 farmers. And the home of old Father Knick- 
 erbocker became a very unpleasant place to 
 live in. Particularly offensive were the new 
 staff of servants to his guests from abroad, 
 who saw no harm in taking a stein of beer on 
 Sundays and enjoying themselves in a rational 
 way after their habit at home. Then came the 
 time when the period expired for which the 
 "reform" outfit had been hired, and again all 
 the old women raised their voices and begged 
 Father Knickerbocker to give them another 
 chance to muss around. But he saw that his 
 home was full of discomfort. The ropes with 
 which *he. was bound chafed and hurt him. and 
 with a mighty voice he bade the "reformers" 
 and the old women be gone. 
 
 Moral. — New brooms raise a terrible dust.