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copyright by Cornell University Library 1993.1 THREE YEARS’ STRUGGLE
WITH
MUNICIPAL MISRULE.
REPOR T
OF
ANDREW H. GREEN,
COMPTROLLER,
IN
RESPONSE TO CERTAIN RESOLUTIONS
OF THE
BOARD OF ALDERMEN,
FEBRUARY 18, 1875.II
A THREE YEARS’ STRUGGLE
WITH
MUNICIPAL MISRULE.
REPORT
ANDREW H. GREE
COMPTROLLER,
N,
RESPONSE TO CERTAIN RESOLUTIONS
OF THE
BOARD OF ALDERMEN,
FEBRUARY 18, 1875.City of New York—Department of Finance, )
Comptroller's Office,	>
February 18, 1875.	)
^ To the Honorable the Board of Aldermen of the City of New York:
In accordance with the . following resolution adopted by your
Honorable Body, January 14, 1875 :
Resolved, That the Comptroller be and he is hereby directed to
report to this Board, within a period of thirty days, or at the next
meeting of the Board thereafter, a statement in detail, showing :
1.	The amount of the indebtedness of the City.
2.	The amount of receipts from all sources during the past year,
including the unexpended balances of former years; the interest on
unpaid taxes and assessments ; and the interest, if any, paid upon the
deposits of the City.
3.	The expenditures for the past year.
4.	The claims in his office against the City, unadjusted.
5.	The amount of the judgments obtained against the City during
his term of office, with the costs taxed upon the City.
6.	The amount saved to the City by litigation during the same
period by decisions in its favor.
7.	The amount of the bonds and stocks of the City, created by
authority of the State Legislature, and not asked for or approved by
the Common Council or the Board of Supervisors, and the amount
approved or asked for by the corporate authorities of this City and the
late County authorities, respectively.4
8.	The amount of unpaid taxes and assessments up to December
31, 1874, and the amount of assessment bonds outstanding at the
same date ; and
9.	A balance sheet showing the financial position of the City at
the close of the past year.
I have the honor to report under each head of inquiry, as follows :
I.—The Amount of the Indebtedness of the City.
The bonded debt as it existed December 31, 1874, was
Funded debt, payable from Taxation and Sinking Fund.............. $118,241,557	24
Assessment bonds, payable wholly or in part from Assessments....	20,851,000	00
Bonds payable from building lien..........^.	3,700 76
Revenue bonds of 1874.......................................... 2,707,500 00
Total................................... $141,803,758 00
Less securities held by the Sinking Fund........................    26,615,778	00
Total net bonded indebtedness................... $115,187,980	00
In addition to. the securities held by the Sinking Fund, there was
cash in the treasury to its credit for the redemption of the City debt,
December 31, 1874, $208,010.01. And also bonds and mortgages
applicable, when collected, to the same purpose, $710,106.67.
Schedule “ A,” accompanying this report, shows the full details of
this debt, rate of interest, date when due, amount and name of each
stock or bond.
The increase of the bonded debt in the three years, 1869, 1870,
and 1871, is as follows :
The bonded debt, December 31, 1868, was.... $52,205,430 80 Showingan increase of
“	“	1869,	was___	66,040,052	22	$13,834,621 42
“	“	1870,	was--	91,489,446	51	25,449*394 29
“	u	1871,	was.	...	108,551,708	51	17,062,26200
Gross increase from December 31, 1868, to December 31,
1871, three years,of................................ $56,346,277 715
The increase of the bonded debt in three years, since the accession
of the present Comptroller to office, 1872, 1873, and 1874, is as fol-
lows :
The bonded debt, December 31, 1871, was__$108,551,708 51 Showing an increase of
“	“	1872,	was-- 118,815,229 82	$10,263,521 31
“	“	1873,	was....	131,204,57122	12,389,34140
“	“	1874,	was__ 141,803,75800	10,599,18678
Gross increase from December 31, 1871, to December 31,
1874, three years, of........................... $33,252,049 49
The old claims and liabilities existing when the present Comp-
troller took office, and the extraordinary demand on account of the
deficiency in the State Sinking Fund, which have been paid from the
proceeds of bonds, and the money since paid by him for Boulevard
and other Up-town improvements, aggregate more than the whole
increase of the bonded debt of the City during the present adminis-
tration of the Finance Department.
It is idle to expect any diminution of the debt while officers of the
government, having almost unlimited power to contract debt, are
steadily urging its increase for carrying on a class of works a genera-
tion in advance of any public need for them. The Comptroller is
required, by laws imperative in their character, to raise money on the
credit of the City to pay the cost of carrying on these works, and he
has repeatedly asked for the repeal or modification of powers under
which the Department of Public Works is now, and has for three years,
been expending enormous sums of money.
The remarks under this head of inquiry refer to the bonded debt;
the unsettled and unliquidated floating debt will be considered under
the fourth head, “ Unadjusted Claims.”
Besides the above-stated amount of bonded debt of the City, there
is an indebtedness, as far as already ascertained, of over a million and
a half dollars, consisting of the bonded debts of the late towns of
West Farms, Morrisania, and Kingsbridge, lately annexed to this City.
Schedule “ A ” also contains a detailed statement of this bonded6
debt, showing the amounts and objects of the issues of bonds of each
town, and the principal which became due and was paid off by the
City in 1874.
The work of ascertaining this debt has been difficult and pro-
tracted, and is not yet concluded, as many claims and accounts are
uncertain and confused in their character, and the evidence of them
very unsatisfactory. Before a final determination and settlement of
the debts and obligations of this territory can be made, legislative
enactments are required to explain doubtful provisions in the acts of
annexation.
II.	—The Amount of Receipts from all sources during the past
Year, Including the Unexpended Balances of former Years ; the
Interest on Unpaid Taxes and Assessments ; and the Interest, if
ANY, PAID UPON THE DEPOSITS OF THE ClTY.
III.	—The Expenditures for the Past Year.
The operations of the Finance Department under these two heads
are presented together, and the following is a general summary of the
amounts of receipts and expenditures of the Treasury and of the Sink-
ing Fund in 1874, from all sources, and the balances in cash at the
beginning and end of the year :
OPERATIONS AND STATE OF THE TREASURY IN 18 74.
The amount of money in the City Treasury, December 31, 1873, was $645,105 40
The receipts into the Treasury, from all sources, during the year
1874, was............................................. 965985.545 78
$97*630,651 18
The amount of warrants on the Treasury, paid by the Chamberlain
in 1874, was.......................................... 96,146,364 56
Balance remaining in the Treasury December 31, 1874....... $1,484,286 62
Schedule “B” shows the different sources of revenue for 1874,
and the amount received from each, including the receipts for interest7
on taxes and assessments, and the amounts of interest received upon
deposits of the City moneys.
The revenues from these sources since 1870 were :
Interest on—	1870.	1871.	1872.	1873-	1874.
Taxes		$361,412 94	$530,386 47	$406,608 75	$443,555 89	$886,511 47
Assessments		128,78$ 46	263,750 96	173,028 38	223,537 21	658,821 79
Deposits		75.495 94	105,362,81	*	+79.992 72	118,654 95
* Nothing paid by Chamberlain Palmer,
f Nothing paid in by Chamberlain Palmer during four months.
Schedule ‘ ‘ B ” also shows the expenditures made during the year
1874, under each account to which they belong; and for items in
detail reference is made to the quarterly reports rendered to the
Mayor, which exhibit the name and object of every warrant drawn on
the Treasury.
Schedule “B” also exhibits the appropriations for 1874, the unex-
pended balances of former years, the amount expended under each
appropriation, and the balances remaining unexpended December 31,
1874, aggregating under each head, as follows :
Balances of appropriations for 1873 and previous years......... $4,613,381 07
Appropriations for 1874............................. 34,872,391 79
Total..........................,................. $39,485,772 86
Amount expended under appropriations in 1874, for which warrants
have been drawn........................................... 36,526,48838
Balances of appropriations unexpended December 31, 1874........ $2,959,284 48
In this connection it should be noted that although the appropria-
tions of former years are not wholly expended, there is a large defi-
ciency in the product of personal taxes, which renders the means of
the Treasury inadequate to meet those appropriations.8
IV.—The Claims in the Comptroller’s Office Against the City
Unadjusted.
Schedule “ C ” shows in detail the unadjusted claims in the Comp-
troller’s office against the City of New York, as completely as the files
of the office permit, without reference to the legality of the claims, and
includes unsettled accounts and demands accumulated for years.
As it is made up, as asked for, to December 31, 1874, it embraces
many current and unobjectionable claims which have been settled and
paid since that date, as settlements and adjustments are made daily.
The following is a summary of this class of unadjusted claims,
amounting in the aggregate to $6,971,149.48 :
SUMMARY.
Amount of unadjusted advertising claims of 1871, and prior thereto,
presented to the Board of Audit and Apportionment, but not
acted upon by that Board.................................. $896,458 64
Amount of Miscellaneous Claims against the City and County of New
York, also presented to the Board of Audit and Apportionment,
but not acted upon by that Board.......................... 172,866 83
Amount of unadjusted claims against the Department of Public Works 324,254 68
44	44	44	44	Docks........	106,626 82
44	44	44	44	Public	Parks. 76,668 54
Amount of unadjusted claims against the Department of Public Chari-
ties and Correction............................................... 29,266	75
Amount of unadjusted claims against the Department of Public In-
struction.......................................................   42,820	02
Amount of unadjusted claims against the Fire Department.....	11,449	67
44	44	44	44	Health Department...........	1,698 78
4 4	44	44	4 4	Department of Buildings	. ..	925 00
Amount of unadjusted Miscellaneous claims against the City of New
York.....................................................  2,787,111	32
Amount of unadjusted claims for Taxed Costs in Street Opening cases 602,503 98
4 4	44	“ Awards for Street Openings........... 1,746,40034
Amount of unadjusted claims of Municipal Policemen for services
between the 16th day of'June, 1857, and the 10th day of April,
i860...................................................      172,098	II
Total unadjusted claims, December 31, 1874..........$6,971,149	489
The old unliquidated claims have been improperly spoken of as
so much City debt, whereas many of them are exorbitant or fraudu-
lent, or wholly fictitious, and not to be considered as indebtedness of
the City except, perhaps, to a comparatively limited amount. Con-
tinued and determined resistance to them by the accounting and law
officers of the City will protect the Treasury and greatly lessen dis-
bursements on their account.
The Comptroller would not recognize many ot them, even by
stating them, were it not that the Mayor and the Board of Aldermen
seem to desire that they should be recapitulated and stated in detail.
The effect of the schedule herewith submitted may be to stimulate and
incite claimants to renewed attacks upon the Treasury,' and more
strenuous efforts in behalf of their schemes. The Comptroller protests
against this recital of them being tortured or twisted into any, even the
faintest, recognition of their validity.
The debt-contracting power was, under the late regime, exercised
indiscriminately by all branches of the City and County Government.
Little or no regard was paid to the positive prohibitory provisions
against expenditures in excess of authorized appropriations, and the
natural result was an annual spawning of a mass of illegal claims, to
be settled as best they might. Nearly every Department had its own
Treasury, paid such bills as it chose, and acted without restraint,
responsibility, or accountability. Annual expenses increased enor-
mously, floating debt accumulated, and all kinds of obligations were
increased, which now exist in the form of unadjusted claims. The
following list of Departments, Boards, Commissioners, and branches
of the City and County Government which incurred expense and con-
tracted debt, strikingly shows the extent and capacity of the debt-
contracting power. How effectively and disastrously its energies were
put at work, is shown by the magnitude of the unsettled claims left by
them :
1.	The Board of Supervisors.
2.	The Common Council.IO
3.	The Police Department.
4.	The Finance Department.
5.	The Department of Public Works.
6.	The Department of Public Charities and Correction.
7.	The Fire Department.
8.	The Health Department.
9.	The Department of Public Parks.
10.	The Department of Buildings.
11.	The Department of Docks.
12.	The Department of Public Instruction.
13 to 34. Each of the twenty-two Ward Boards of Trustees and
Inspectors of Schools.
35.	The Department of Taxes and Assessments.
36.	The Commission for erecting New County Court-house.
37.	The Commission for erecting the Third District Court-house.
38.	The Commission for erecting the Ninth District Court-house.
39.	The Commission for erecting the Eighteenth Ward Market.
40.	The Street Cleaning Commission.
41 to 80. Forty Commissions for Opening Streets.
In all eighty separate and distinct Boards or Departments.
Expenses were incurred and claims manufactured by these various
authorities often without proper restraints.
Orderly official records of obligations incurred by them do not
exist. In some cases no record whatever exists. The changes that
have occurred in the personnel of these bodies in the last three years
make it exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, to trace the extent of
the debts they have created. Many of those who administered public
affairs three years ago have absconded from the country, while others
are reluctant to state their operations for fear of involving themselves
or their allies. Claims for services or supplies which were probablynever performed or furnished, are often presented without the slightest
evidence of their validity, or bearing only a semi-official authentication,
by some suspected or untrustworthy officer.
The Finance Department for the last three years has been con-
stantly embarrassed by want of official co-operation in the adjustment
of claims against the City, and a vast amount of labor has conse-
quently been imposed upon it.
The general character of hundreds of claims with which the
Finance Department has to deal may be illustrated by a brief reference
to a few examples :
1.	Claim amounting with interest to nearly $1,000,000, for water-
meters, not used, but alleged to have been furnished to the City under
a special contract with William M. Tweed, Commissioner of Public
Works, at most exorbitant rates. It is but a fragment of a scheme
comprehending certain public and private persons, which was to
eventuate in furnishing water-meters all over the City, for which the
City was primarily to pay, and take its chances to collect back from
tenants and owners. The legislation was obtained in 1871, upon
which to found this monstrous job, and still remains upon the Statute
book. A suit is now pending to recover this claim.
2.	Claims of Edmund Jones and William C. Rogers & Co.,
amounting to $1,125,610.27, for printing and stationery, said to have
been furnished in 1868, 1869, 1870 and 1871. During the same
period, the same parties were paid nearly one million dollars for the
same kind of supplies. This claim, with the amount already paid to
the same parties, would make more than two million dollars. Others
also supplied stationery at the same time.
These parties are prosecuting these claims also.
3.	Charles Devlin, assignee of John McCauley, for constructing
sewer in Seventh avenue, amounting to $112,000, arose under a
special contract made with the present Department of Public Works at
exorbitant prices.12
4.	Charles Devlin and others, for unearned or prospective profits
on the old Hackley street cleaning contract, amounting to $800,000.
Judgment was obtained against the City on this claim in July, 1873,
for nearly half a million dollars, after nine years’ litigation. An appeal
was taken, and special counsel employed to defend the rights of the
City, and in January, 1875, the judgment of the Court below was
reversed and set aside at General Term, and judgment absolute ren-
dered in favor of the City with costs.
5.	The claim of John H. Starin, Assignee of William McKeag,
amounting to $453,800, for alleged services as lawyer in prosecuting
suits for violation of the Excise Laws, between the years 1857 and
1871. . This claim is one of a large class dating back for twenty or
more years.
6.	Claim of J. G. Bennett for advertising, alleged to have been
done in the New York Herald and Telegram, originally amounting to
more than $72,000. This claim came up for payment. On examina-
tion it was found to be overcharged and subject to large deductions, a
particularly flagrant item being a charge of $18,398 for printing one
of Mayor Hall's messages. This was published as reading matter, and
perused by the public as news, but was really charged for as advertis-
ing at one dollar a line. The highest ordinary rate of the Herald for
advertising was forty cents per line.
The bills were accordingly reduced from the original figures to
about $47,000, and the allowance was promptly accepted by Bennett,
and a receipt in full given. Six months after this settlement and
receipt in full, Bennett is found in the Courts, claiming that the pay-
ment for which he had receipted in full was only on account, and
demanding payment of the balance.
7.	Claim of James Walker Fowler, Justice of the Third Judicial
District Court. Although the charter expressly regulates and fixes the
compensation of the justices of those Courts at $8,000 per annum, in13
payment of which a monthly warrant is regularly drawn, Fowler
claims a salary of $10,000, under an old repealed provision of law, and
has brought several suits against the City.
Certain transactions of Mr. Fowler, when he was in the employ of
the Surrogate, were successfully interposed in one Court in one pro-
ceeding for his salary, but another Court ruled them out.
Another class of claims, though each small in amount, and dating
back many years, is so great in number as to form a large total, such
as the demands of political partisans and strikers, claiming to have
been employed as attendants and officers of the courts, and incumbents
of various sinecure places, as inspectors, market-sweepers, axe-men,
lamp-painters, water-police, court janitors, and other places invented
to reward inferior political ward-operators.
There are to-day three janitors in one court-building in this City,
each claiming his appointment from a different source, and each claim-
ing his pay from the City. One person is entirely sufficient to perform
the service. This is what is called patronage.
Under the British Government offices have not unfrequently been
constituted, and certain privileges, fees, and emoluments attached
thereto, as a reward for distinguished civil and military service. The
beneficiaries of these offices often become distinguished personages in
the State,, enjoying their dignities and receiving the revenues, as it
were, in lieu of a pension. In the course of centuries, questions arose
in the courts as to their right to these emoluments, and the principle
was laid down, that the holder of an office of this character need not
render any contemporaneous service whatever. He had already ren-
dered the service, and was entitled to the reward.
In these latter times, and in this City, it appears that the wide dis-
tinction in the circumstances has not been sufficiently recognized, the
English precedents have been drawn into the support of the principle
that an officer or place-holder is entitled to the salary while he holdsthe place, whether he renders any service or not; and this rule has
been applied to the pettiest places about the City Government, and has
sustained and upheld sinecures on a principle that has no applica-
bility.
It is difficult for jurors to see why they should, at the direction of a
court, give a verdict against the City to a scavenger, or janitor or court
attendant, or record translator, who has done no service, simply be-
cause some pensioner, a century or more since, could hold a sinecure
under the British Crown, as a reward for high services rendered.
Section 97 of the Charter of 1873 provides that—
“ The salaries of all officers paid from the City Treasury #	*
*	* shall be fixed by the Board of Apportionment.”
Under this provision the salaries of the janitors of Court, of whom
there are fifteen or more, were reduced by the Board of Apportionment,
when Mayor Havemeyer was a member, from $1,500 to $1,200 per
annum, and the Comptroller paid that amount. Shortly after, however,
suits were commenced to recover the difference of $300 per annum.
The Courts gave judgment in favor of the janitors, on the ground that
they were not officers, and therefore the Board of Apportionment could
not fix their salaries.
Who that knows the history of this legislation, and the inequalities
of salaries existing in the City, can doubt that the word “ officers,” as
used in the Charter by its inartificial draughtsmen, meant “ employees ?”
It has become as much the popular habit to call a janitor or a court
attendant an “ officer,” as it is to designate the Mayor of the City by
that title.
Schedule “ C ” also contains a statement of claims for the taxed
costs in street-opening cases, which amount in the aggregate to
$602,503.98. The following are the names of some of the personsi5
representing this class of claims, which are so grossly disproportionate
to the alleged services rendered, viz. :
Names of Parties.	Amount paid during years 1868-1872.	Amount now claimed.	Total paid for 1868-1872, and now claimed.
George H. Purser		$132,058 50	$131,919 05	$263.977 55
Edward Boyle			287,789 19	14,474 06	302,263 25
John A. Bagley		81,723 56	202,115 26	283,838 82
Michaels & Melendy			67,426 68	11,612 78	79,°39 46
John Scott		18,155 14	4,000 00	22,155 H
Hugh Smith		26,420 00	10,000 00	36,420 00
James M. Sweeny		10,080 00	10,000 00	20,080 00
W. C. Rogers & Co		5I>592 50	23,461 86	75,054 36
J. Walker Fowler			1,570 00	1,570 00
The immense charges formerly put upon the City and property-
holders, by extravagant “Taxed Costs,” in street-opening cases, has
been greatly reduced in recent proceedings through the opposition
interposed to their payment; still further reduction should, however,
be effected. The Comptroller is of the opinion that the requirements
of the Law of 1862, framed for the reduction of these expenses, are
rarely complied with.
In the same schedule are found claims for Ring advertising yet
unadjusted, and aggregating $896,458.64.
Prominent among these is the advertising claim presented by the
Commercial Advertiser newspaper for $89,147.80. An examination of
this claim developed the fact that of this amount more than $35,000
had been previously paid to, and receipts taken from, Mr. Hugh J.
Hastings. Certain overcharges were also discovered, amounting to
$36,000, and items for which no authority existed, amounting to
$3,500, reducing the amount originally claimed from $89,147.80 to
about $13,000. This is another of the claims on which suit has been
commenced.i6
The notorious M. L. Hankin’s claim, for alleged advertising in
three obscure papers, comes next in order. These papers were almost
unknown and without circulation. The claims amount to upwards of
$365,°°°, and are believed to have no merit whatever.
No claims, perhaps, were, as a class, more audaciously fraudulent
and disgraceful than those for newspaper advertising during the Ring
administration. The “ Transcript Association ” alone was paid
$783,498.09, and an unadjusted claim of this concern is now presented
for $186,160.20.
The moneys actually paid for advertising during the three years,
1869, 1870, and 1871* were................................... $2,586,477 00
Total outlay for the three years following that period, 1872, 1873,
and 1874, including the cost of the City Record, is.......... 212,438 37
Showing a decrease in this class of expenditures during the present
Comptroller’s administration of..................... $2,374,038 63
—being a reduction or saving of over ninety-one per cent.
In the same schedule are also included seventy-four claims of Mayor
Fernando Wood’s municipal policemen, who were involved in the con-
test in 1857 between him and the Board of Police Commissioners,
amounting in all to $172,098.11 for their salaries for three years from
1857 to i860.
No service was ever rendered by them during this period; how
many other policemen are behind, waiting the result of these claims,
the Comptroller is unable to state.
The same schedule embraces a portion of the claims for “ Rents of
Armories,” many of them under leases made by the Ring Board of
Supervisors at exorbitant rentals. The rents reserved in these leases
for the whole term amount to nearly two million dollars. The claims
under them have been resisted by the Comptroller as invalid, as in the
case of Glass Hall, on which suit was brought; the ground taken by
him has been sustained by a decision of the Supreme Court in favor of
the City. The Glass Hall lease was made by the Board of Supervisors
in December, 1872, at an extravagant rent, and as it was not needed,i7
the building was never occupied. The rent was $10,000 per annum,
with taxes, while it was not worth half that amount.
In the schedule of unadjusted claims is included a statement of
awards in various street-opening proceedings, amounting to $1,746,
400.34, the main portion being for opening and widening Kingsbridge
Road, recently filed in this Department, and although in many cases
these are believed to be extravagant in amount, having been confirmed
by the Supreme Court, their payment must be provided for.
On December 31, 1874, there remained in the hands of the City
Chamberlain moneys deposited with him for the payment of interest
due on stocks and bonds, which had not been called for, amounting to
$73>4-87-o8.
There are heavy City liabilities on account of a large number of
pending contracts for street improvements, supplies, etc., to the vari-
ous Departments. A list of contracts of the Corporation, filed in the
Department of Finance during the year 1874, with statements of pay-
ments made thereon up to December 31, 1874, is in course of prepa-
ration, and will be submitted to the Board of Aldermen, as required
by ordinance, as soon as completed.
Testimony taken before the Commission on Contracts, in 1872,
indicates how the passage of ordinances of the Common Council,
authorizing wooden pavements, etc., was formerly obtained. One
witness testified that, as he desired to procure certain contracts for the
paving of streets, he had paid $60,000 to a person who claimed to have
influence with the Common Council, and could secure the passage of
the necessary ordinances. Persistent efforts were made in the Legis-
lature to confirm these ordinances, and saddle millions upon the City
for worthless wooden pavements, which were defeated only by the
most determined resistance.
Previous to the accession of the present Comptroller to office,
advances had been made from the Treasury of more than seven hun-
dred thousand dollars for the erection and completion of the New
Court-house-building, which amount of over-drafts is regarded in thei8
nature of a claim, to be reimbursed to the Treasurer by the issue of
stock forming a part of the permanent debt.
Under resolutions formerly passed by the Common Council, donat-
ing to various institutions, principally to churches, the amounts for
which they were assessed on local improvements, large arrears of assess-
ments have not been paid, and will, therefore, constitute claims against
the City.
It is proper to remark that many existing claims, even though they
may have some degree of equity, cannot be paid by the Comptroller,
for various reasons. A large number belong to that class of old claims
incurred by the Departments when expenditures were made in excess
of appropriations, and the Comptroller is forbidden, by express pro-
vision of law, from recognizing their legality.
A clamor against the Finance Department has been gotten up by
holders of fraudulent claims and fostered by certain unprincipled
newspapers, on the charge of delay in the adjustment and payment of
bills incurred by the various City Departments. This is without just
cause as respects the great bulk of the immense number of accounts
and vouchers audited by the Finance Department.
Their average time during 1874, for passing through the Depart-
ment from the date of receipt to the date of payment, including all
classes of claims and liabilities for contracts and supplies, is less than
four days.
Doubtless there are occasionally just claims, for which no legal
provision has been made, that are delayed, but the general fact is
indisputable, that claims that are delayed are generally those the
merits and justice of which are not readily ascertainable.
It must not be supposed that no efforts have been made to dispose
of old claims without intervention of the courts. More than four mil-
lions of dollars in amount have been adjusted in the Finance Depart-
ment and paid. Where the claimant refuses to accept the adjustment
proposed, the Comptroller is unable to compel him to do so, and
delay and possibly suit occurs.
The City of New York is no exception to other governmental agen-19
cies in respect to unsatisfied claimants. In all governments, claimants
are sometimes compelled, however equitable their claim may be, to
wait till the necessary legislation is obtained to authorize the paying
officers to recognize their demands. This is a necessary incident to
the existence of society. It is not always possible to foresee the future
needs of a community, and exceptional cases of delay will naturally
occur ; but of course these should be reduced to the minimum.
The current claims for which value has been given to the .city,
are and have been recognized and promptly liquidated. The other
class of claims for which no value has been given, which were con-
ceived in the lobby and are held and promoted by that disreputable
class, who are enabled by craft and cunning to live without labor, out
of the earnings of honest and industrious men, have no foundation
either in justice or in equity. The courts ought to find some ground
for discrimination against them, and every agency of the government
should be prompt to intercept their progress to the door of the treasury
and to frustrate and defeat them.
Why should the taxpayers of this City, and by the taxpayers I do
not refer alone to that • class to whom the payment of a thousand
dollars, more or less, involves no diminution of comforts, but
especially to those less favored, who in these times of depression find it
difficult to keep the wolf from the door, and to maintain a roof over
the head of their families—why should these have their frugal earnings
diminished to pay a monstrous class of fraudulent claims, for which no
value has been given, and which are principally held by public
leeches, who have never done an honest day’s work in their lives ?
Why should the industrious mechanic, or poor widow, engaged in
a constant struggle for the means of existence, be called upon to pay
an increase of taxes in order that a Purser, or a Palmer, or a Hastings,
or a Sweeny, or a Boyle, or a Bennett may thrive upon moneys
drawn without adequate consideration from the Public Treasury ?
There are men among us who are now marshalling the influence,
the ingenuity and the greed of attorneys,.lobbyists, and journalists, to get
from the Treasury, on single claims, without value rendered, amounts20
that, if distributed for honest service, would, in these pinching times,
gladden the hearts of a whole community.
Is there, in the whole machinery of justice, no process by which
such wrongs can be prevented ? Must the whole train of precedents
be harnessed to the service of the idle, the crafty, and the depraved
against the frugal and industrious.
In my official action I shall not cease to recognize the rights of
those who have rendered a fair equivalent for the amount they seek to
obtain, and every energy that I possess shall be exercised to defend the
trust which I have been set to protect against depredators, whether in
the garb of seeming respectability, or that of corrupt or dishonest con-
spirators.
V.—The Amount of the Judgments obtained against the City
DURING HIS TERM OF OFFICE, WITH THE COSTS TAXED UPON
the City.
From September 16, 1871, when the present Comptroller took
office, to December 31,1874, a period of more than three and a quarter
years, the total number of judgments obtained against the City, includ-
ing costs taxed upon the City, was 844, including 272 for vacating
assessments, amounting to $1,935,389.04, in which sum was included
for costs, $63,082.28.
Five hundred and seventy of these judgments, amounting (including
costs, $45,831.97) to.................................. $i,37i,38o 73
Or about two-thirds of the whole in number obtained, and more
than one-half in amount are on causes of action originating
prior to the present Comptroller’s accession to office.
Forty-three of them are for salaries of Supervisors in addition to their
salaries as Aldermen, amounting to............................ 13,987 82
Fifty-six are for wages of Boulevard men, supposed to have been
illegally employed, amounting to.............................. 8,819 J8
One hundred and seventy-five are miscellaneous, amounting to........	541,201 31
Total......................................... $1,935,389 0421
Judgments obtained in favor of the City are not included in these
amounts.
The character of some of the above judgments will be seen by the
following explanations :
The forty-three judgments for salaries of Supervisors, in addition to
their salaries as Aldermen, were given, notwithstanding an express
prohibitory provision of law to the contrary.
The Charter of 1873, section 4, provides that “ the Aldermen shall,
‘ ‘ from the time of the passage of this act, be the Supervisors of the
‘‘ County of New York. ”
Section 114, of the same instrument, provides that “no person shall
“hold two City or County offices except as expressly provided in this
“act, nor shall any officer under the City Government hold or retain
‘ ‘ an office under the County Government, except when he holds such
‘ ‘ office ex-officio by virtue of an act of the Legislature ; and in such
‘ ‘ case he shall draw no salary for such ex-officio office. ”
No appropriation was made by the Board of Apportionment to meet
this class of expenditures, because of the above prohibitory provisions
of law ; yet forty-three judgments have been obtained.
We look in vain among the recipients of double salaries as Aider-
men and Supervisors for the respected name of Oswald Ottendorfer.
He alone of the Board of which he was a member denounced the
receiving of double salaries as illegal and wrong.
Judgments were given against the City of over $100,000, for paving
New Church street and South Fifth avenue with a patent stone-block
pavement. These works were done under special contracts, made by
the Department of Public Works with one Charles Guidet, and at the
exorbitant price of $6 per square yard.
A ^bid for laying similar pavement in Newark was made by the
same Guidet, at $4.07 per square yard, and that work was awarded to
another party, at $2.87 per square yard.
A judgment was also given of more than $130,000 on the contract
for paving Seventh avenue with a wooden pavement in 1870, made by22
William M. Tweed, Commissioner of Public Works, with Joseph A.
Monheimer, late Alderman.
The whole amount paid for this scandalous job was $433,000. Its
character is evidenced by the present utter worthlessness of the pave-
ment. The City has been enjoined from collecting the assessments,
and the whole expense is thrown upon the tax-payers at large.
Can tax-payers and property-holders afford to pay a half million
dollars for a pavement that is rotted out in less than three years ? A
fair pavement ought to last for a generation ; there are now in this City
pavements in good condition laid over fifty years ago.
Another judgment of $366,926.80 was obtained by the Manhattan
Gas-light Company, for supply of gas in the year 1871, at prices which
were exorbitant. The Court allowed $45, instead of $53 per lamp,
the amount charged, thus saving the City the sum of $63,000.
It is quite natural that the shareholders in those gas companies,
who have been in the habit of receiving from 30 to 50 per cent, per
annum in dividends, should consider the Comptroller an obstruc-
tionist. I presume, however, tax-payers will not object to that sort of
obstruction which has effected a reduction in the cost of lighting the
streets of the City, as shown by the following comparison of prices
charged per lamp per annum, in 1871 and 1874 :
Company.	1871.	1874.	Number of Lamps.
Manhattan Gas-light Company		$53 00	$33 00	6,561
New York “ “ 		45 °°	33 00	3,010
Metropolitan “ “ .... .	S3 00	39 00	3*4^8
Harlem “ “ 		S3 00	39 00	4*025
N. Y. Mutual “ “		35 00	583
In 1871 the cost of gas was about $1,000,000, and in 1874 the
saving was more than one-third of that amount.
It will be seen that the great bulk of judgments against the City23
obtained since the present Comptroller took office originated in trans-
actions which took place before that time, in an era of unexampled
official corruption and reckless extravagance. They grew out of laws
framed by conspirators and public plunderers in their own interest.
These claims very generally bore the badge of fraud and official
malversation, but being apparently contracted under some color of law,
they have, under the faintest pretext and technicalities, often without
equity and justice, been pressed upon Courts under the prevailing
influences of the hour, to the detriment of the City Treasury, whose
protectors are but few.
Laws framed to promote private interest at the public expense still
remain on the Statute book, giving rise to unjust claims against the
City, for which no monetary provision is made. The claimants, and
their attorneys practised in the art, knowing that their claims cannot be
paid until put in the form of a compulsory judgment, readily resort to
this favorite method.
But the fact remains to be stated, that notwithstanding the bulk of
rotten claims precipitated upon the Comptroller from a previous regime,
the amount of judgments obtained against the City during his adminis-
tration is less by one-third than it . was during the previous three years.
The amount of judgments and costs agaiiist the City for three years
prior to September 16, 1871, was $3,221,821.95. Amount for same
period since September 16, 1871, was $1,935,389.04.
VI.—The Amount saved to the City by Litigation during the
SAME PERIOD BY DECISIONS IN ITS FAVOR.
The judgments obtained against the City within the last three years
were, as has been stated, very generally based on claims of fraudulent
or extravagant character; it therefore became the duty of the Comp-
troller to resist such as were not clearly exempt from any objections of
this sort. The courts of this City are maintained out of the public
treasury, at the cost of more than one million of dollars per annum.
They are furnished with criers, clerks, attendants, juries, and all the
means of ascertaining the truth ; they can summon witnesses and24
punish them for false testimony. The City is provided with a Law
Department, having a retinue of counsel, clerks, and assistants, main-
tained at a cost of nearly two hundred thousand dollars per annum.
Cases against the City are by law given a preference before all other
cases, and are speedily reached. What is all this machinery of courts
and lawyers paid by the City for, unless it be to act in just such emer-
gencies as have arisen ? It is the business of the courts to examine
and determine upon the legality of these claims. That is what they
are constituted for.
In suits decided in favor of the City since September 16, 1871,
either the Court decided against the whole claim, or reduced it, or the
suit has been discontinued and abandoned. In some instances an
appeal from the decision has been taken. The whole amount of
saving in these suits thus far is $2,456,632.28. If the Comptroller
had possessed the power to adjust and pay old and doubtful claims,
and the same appliances to ascertain the truth, fewer of these claims
would have found their way to the courts, to the corresponding advan-
tage of the treasury. It is proper to add in this connection, that
besides the saving to the City by litigation, the amount saved by
reductions and abatements since September 16, 1871, on claims that
were adjusted in the Finance Department without the intervention
of the courts, is $856,912.87.
The following statement shows the total saving effected during the
administration of the Comptroller to December 31, 1874 :
On suits thus far decided in favor of the City............... $2,456,632 28
On claims adjusted in the Department......................... 856,912 87
Total savings................................... $3,313,545 15
Besides this, these litigations have often, on a claim of small amount,
determined principles that will defeat similar claims to a large amount.
Such advantages and savings are not included in the above figures.
The Courts decided against one newspaper claim of about $3,000 in
favor of the City, and with this decision fell claims for more than three25
hundred thousand dollars of similar character. In one suit, in an
armory lease, involving $15,000, the decision in favor of the City will,
if sustained in the higher courts, carry a million and a half of dollars
of this class of rents.
All legal actions to which the City is a party are conducted by the
Law Department, and upon the Corporation Counsel rests the respon-
sibility of prosecuting or defending them. In those cases where, at the
Comptroller’s instance, special counsel have been retained, every case
which has been decided has had a successful issue.
VII.—The Amount of the Bonds and Stocks of the City
CREATED BY AUTHORITY OF THE STATE LEGISLATURE AND NOT
Asked for, or Approved by the Common Council or the
Board of Supervisors, and the Amount Approved or Asked
FOR BY THE CORPORATE AUTHORITIES OF THIS ClTY AND THE
late County Authorities, respectively.
1.	Bonds and stocks issued by authority of the Legislature,
and approved by the Common Council of the City of
New York, amounting to.............................. $38,777,026 00
2.	Bonds and stocks issued by authority of the Legislature,
and approved by the Board of Supervisors of the
County of New York, amounting to..................... .	18,124,304 46
3.	Bonds and stocks issued by authority of the Legislature,
and not asked for or approved by the Common
Council or. Board of Supervisors of the City and Coun-
ty of New York, amounting to...................... 84,902,427 54
$141,803,758 00
Schedule “ D ” presents detailed statements of the issues of
stocks and bonds which have been made under the three kinds of
authority above distinguished.
Prior to 1864, all stocks and bonds were issued by authority of
the Common Council or the Board of Supervisors under acts of the
Legislature passed upon the application of the Corporate authorities.26
This practice was discontinued at that date, and the power to issue
stocks and bonds was conferred by the Legislature upon the Comp-
troller, subject to the requisition of officers of Boards and Departments
having various public works in charge. The reason for this deviation
from the former practice appears to have been that, when the. power to
authorize the issue of stocks and bonds was given to the Common
Council, members of that body often refused to comply with the law,
and occasioned delays in the issues necessary to carry on improve-
ments until the officers charged with their execution would give these
members appointments or otherwise satisfy their demands. This
practice caused so much embarrassment that a remedy was sought at
the hands of the Legislature, and authority obtained for a single
officer to issue stocks and bonds, instead of calling into requisition a
multitudinous Common Council. Neither the Common Council nor
the Comptroller can now issue stocks or bonds without authority from
the Legislature, but no authority to issue bonds on the credit of the
City should be granted by the Legislature unless specifically asked for
by the officers of the City, and this authority once obtained, under
proper amendments, the fewer intermediate parties there are to be
consulted the better for the public interests.
The local authority which now takes the place of the Common
Council in authorizing the issue of bonds from time to time, as needed,
is the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. This Board has been
established by a number of recent enactments in and since 1871, and
acts in the issue of stocks and bonds authorized by the Legislature.
There has been, and there is now, a lack of system in this matter,
opening the door to the mischievous practice of heads of Depart-
ments, and other public officers, taking a direct and active part in
lobbying through the Legislature special acts of authority to issue stocks
or bonds, to be applied to purposes in which they were personally
interested, without any consultation with the Financial Department or
Common Council.2 7
VIII.—The Amount of Unpaid Taxes and Assessments up to
December 31, 1874, and the Amount of Assessment Bonds
Outstanding at the Same Date.
Schedule “ E ” exhibits a yearly statement of taxes on real and
personal estate, remaining unpaid on December 31, 1874, from the
year 1841, thirty-four years, amounting in the aggregate as follows:
Unpaid Taxes on Real Estate prior to and including	1873........... $4,023,036	38
“	u	Personal Estate prior to and including	1873....... 9,644,913	64
“	“	Real and Personal, 1874............... ......... 6,178,874	71
Total..........................................$19,846,824	73
The unpaid taxes on real estate are a lien on the property assessed,
and will be, in the main, ultimately collected.
Sales of property have been made for unpaid taxes down to the
year 1870, but there are many items of taxes unpaid in former years,
which, for various reasons, have not been included in the sales for
taxes, and still appear on the records as unpaid. A very large amount
of personal taxes remaining unpaid will, however, be lost to the City,
as the parties against whom they stand cannot be found, or have no
property whatever. It will be seen, by reference to said Schedule “ E,”
that the deficiencies in the product of personal taxes have increased
immensely within a few years past. There are defects in the mode of
assessing personal taxes which should be corrected to obviate this very
serious evil.
Chapter 293, Laws of 1861, provided that “it shall be the duty of
“ the Board of Supervisors to include in any and every ordinance or
“ resolution passed by them imposing and levying taxes for any purpose
“or purposes authorized by law, within the City and County of New
“York, such sum, in addition to the* aggregate amount required for
“ such purposes, as they shall deem necessary, not exceeding three per
“ cent, of said aggregate amount, to provide for deficiencies in the
“ actual product of the amount imposed and levied therefor.”
Under the operation of this provision “the deficiencies in the
“ actual product ” were fully met and provided for by the sums added28
annually by the Board of Supervisors, up to and including the year
1870; but under the fraudulent and deceptive “Ring” tax levy
imposed by the Legislature in chapter 583, Laws of 1871, by which
the amount of taxes levied was limited to two per cent, on the valua-
tions, it was construed as repealing this deficiency provision and, there-
fore, that no authority of law existed to provide for deficiencies in the
product in the years 1871 and 1872; and the actual deficiency from
unpaid taxes alone in those two years amount to upwards of two
millions and a half dollars.
Chapter 756, Laws of 1873, re-enacted the same provision as the
Act of 1861, making it the duty of the Board of Supervisors to add
such a sum, not exceeding three per cent, of the aggregate amount
required; and in 1873 the sum of $807,502.80, or nearly three per
cent., was added; but the unpaid personal taxes of that year alone
amounted to $1,108,770.87.
The Board of Supervisors of last year (1874), against the wish of the
Comptroller, added only $490,425.13, or only about one-half of the
three per cent., for deficiency allowed by law, and which should have
been added, thus failing to provide for the actual deficiency in the pro-
duct of the Tax Levy which obviously would occur for that year. Such
a course of action might deceive the public by lowering the rate of
taxation, but it also causes a deficiency which must be met by an in-
crease of the public debt, or by future taxation.
Schedule “ E ” exhibits a statement of unpaid assessments on prop-
erty benefited by local improvements, with the years in which they
are respectively confirmed. The total amount remaining unpaid
December 31, 1874, is as follows:
	Bureau of Collection of Assessments.	Bureau of Arrears.	Total.
Assessment Fund — Opening Streets, Parks, etc		$402,745 00	$2,287,051 64	$2,686,796 64
Street Improvement Fund— Regulating, grading, etc.. .	2,092,876 04	2,823,827 67	4,916,703 71
T otal		$2,495,621 04	$5,110,879 31	$7,606,500 35'
			29
Sales of property have been made for arrears of assessments con-
firmed by the Supreme Court, up to and including the year 1870, and
a list of property for street improvements up to the same date is now in
course of preparation. Three years, in cases of assessments and taxes,
must elapse before collections can be enforced by sale.
The amount of assessment bonds outstanding December 31, 1874,
as will be seen under the proper head, is $20,851,000. This class of
debt should be strictly limited, as I have constantly recommended,
by some provision of law, fixing a maximum of issues of assessment
bonds. If no limit be set to their issue, there will be no limit to
wasteful and extravagant expenditures for unnecessary and costly local
improvements.
The outstanding assessment bonds are represented by the following
items :
Advances to contractors.................................   $5,712,739	21
Advances on boulevard work................................. 7,531,477	42
Uncollected assessments.................................... 7,606,500	35
Total....................................... $20,850,726	98	.
Schedule “F” exhibits the balance sheet of the General Ledger of
the Finance Department, at the end of the year 1874.
In the summer of 1871 the credit of the City received a severe
shock by the exposure of the enormous frauds committed on the
treasury by the notorious officials then in power. Capitalists were
justly alarmed, and City securities were seriously depressed. Confi-
dence has since been wholly restored, the credit of the City is now
unimpaired, and its securities, which are rated at a high premium, are
sought after for investment by the most prudent capitalists and trust
institutions.30
During the present Comptroller's administration the entire personnel
of the City Government has been changed, in some Departments more
than once, and another change has actually commenced. Inex-
perienced men have come into office, who have to pass through the
process of educating themselves for their duties; it is erroneous to
suppose that important public trusts can be either intelligently or
efficiently administered by new officials without experience in the busi-
ness they are called upon to manage.
The average politician makes but a poor administrator of respon-
sible affairs, and the public interest must correspondingly suffer. Such
persons are not apt to be very careful accountants or rigid economists,
and it is no small task for the Finance Department to bring them to
consent to necessary and methodical systems of business.
During the same period a new Charter, with entirely novel powers,
has come into operation, underlying and affecting every transaction of
the government.
The business of the City, conducted by very many agents, has had
to be adjusted and systematized, as rapidly as was practicable, accord-
ing to its provisions.
Again, an act of annexation has been passed, nearly doubling the
City territory and raising innumerable causes of complication.
To crown all, amendments have been added to the Constitution of
the State, which have created numberless questions respecting appro-
priations and the payment of moneys.
These changes and complications in the City government have
immensely increased the responsibilities and labors of the Finance
Department, without corresponding recognition and provision to meet
them.
Although the time for the preparation of the mass of statistics pre-
sented with this report has been very short, yet I have, I believe, given
all, and perhaps more than all, the information that was asked. It is31
but a brief epitome of an earnest struggle of more than three years of
official life, to bring the affairs of this community, so sadly astray,
back to better ways.
To the completion of the work, which I am aware is but partially
accomplished, I shall welcome the aid of any agencies, whose object is
singly and honestly to bring about results that the better portion of
this community will approve.
Respectfully submitted,
AND. H. GREEN,
Comptroller.