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INSIDE THE
MACHINE
TWO YEARS
IN THE
V' '1
BOARD of ALDERMEN
1898 - 1899
P. TECUMSEH SHERMAN
•MP*Ji*iap*
19 01
COOKER FRY
New York
INSIDE THE MACHINE
TWO YEARS IN
THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN
1898 — 1899
A STUDY OF THE LEGISLATIVE FEATURES OF THE CITY GOVIRNMENT
OF NEW YORK CITY UNDER THE GREATER
NEW YORK CHARTER
P. TECUMSEH SHERMAN
COOKE & FRY
New Yo r k
I 9 o I
COPYRIGHT^ 1901.
COOKE & FRY.
SPRECKELS
INTKODUCTORY.
In the early part of 1897 there was enacted by the
State of New York a law known as "The Greater
New York Charter." This statute was drawn by
a commission composed of such men as Gen. Benj.
F. Tracy, Judge John F. Dillon, Seth Low, Gen.
Stewart L. Woodford, Mayor William L. Strong,
and some ten others. And while it had been
severely condemned by the Bar Association of New
York City, and severely criticised at the public
hearings held before the Mayor of that city, and
only forced through the Legislature over his veto
under extreme pressure as a Republican party
measure, yet it was generally hoped that it would
greatly promote the welfare of all the municipal-
ities embraced in the new city, and mark a dis-
tinct advance in the science of city government
in America. By this Charter there were annexed
to the former City of New York, Brooklyn, Long
Island City, with the adjoining territory on Long
Island constituting the present County of Queens,
and all of Richmond County or Staten Island.
By this change, the population of the city was in-
creased from about 2,019,000 to about 3,393,000;
and its area was enlarged from 38,000 to 196,000
acres. For this new city was framed a system of
government based in its minor details on that of
the former city, but in its principles entirely dif-
Q
ferent. And in its government were vested powers
far more extensive than those possessed by the
former city. The principal additional powers con-
ferred were: to establish ferries and bridges over
public waters within the city; to build docks and
to improve the harbor; to construct parks, school-
houses and public buildings; to open and extend
streets; to provide water; and to grant franchises.
These powers were conferred upon the city in re-
sponse to a general demand for a larger measure
of home rule, so that constant applications to the
State Legislature for the above enumerated pur-
poses would no longer be necessary. This new
government, by the terms of the Charter, went into
effect on January 1st, 1898, and the first election
for city officers under it was held in November,
1897.
That election was one of the most bitterly con-
tested in the history of the city. The Kepublicans
nominated General Tracy for Mayor upon the plat-
form that city governments should be administered
upon national party principles ; a new independent
organization, known as the Citizens' Union, nomi-
nated Seth Low, President of Columbia College,
upon the platform that national parties should take
no part in city politics; the Jeffersonian Democ-
racy nominated Henry George, who ran as the ad-
vocate of his well-known semi-socialistic prin-
ciples; and Tammany Hall nominated Eobert A.
Van Wyck, a judge of good reputation, but who
stood simply as the representative of Tammany
and all that it represents, and who personally took
no part in the campaign. A hot four-cornered
fight followed, with somewhat even chances, until
Henry George died, and his votes or possible
4
votes slipped back by natural affiliations to Tam-
many. From that time on, the result was a fore-
gone conclusion, though the opponents of Van
Wyck tried hard to shut their eyes to a realization
of the fact. Tammany carried its ticket trium-
phantly, though it failed of a majority over Low
and Tracy combined; Low was second and Tracy,
in spite of his personal popularity, a poor third.
It was in this election that the writer was elected
a member of the first Board of Aldermen of the
City of New York, from the 25th District, in the
Borough of Manhattan. My experiences with the
Charter began immediately ; for I found that it re-
quired me to take an oath of office and file it within
five days with an official who did not exist, and
who could not exist until the new government was
Inaugurated, some two months later. After some
perturbation, I filed the oath with the official in the
then existing government most nearly resembling
that mentioned in the Charter. Subsequent ex-
periences demonstrated that the Charter was full
of such defects.
The Charter is a statute of some five hundred
and sixty pages. In a technical sense, it is not a
Charter, but merely a loose compilation of rules
and regulations relating to the city government
and its various officials, boards, departments and
bureaus, together with a few clauses containing
some additional grants of power to the corporation.
By itself, it is by no means complete as to any mat-
ter to which it or any part of it relates; but it
must be read in connection with the Consolidation
Act, which was the corresponding charter of the
former city, and itself a statute of some four hun-
dred pages, — none of which is specifically re-
5
pealed, — and the various acts amending it, or re-
lating to the different municipalities and corpora-
tions annexed to the former city, which are dis-
tributed through some thirty volumes of New York
Session Laws. Thus the Charter was not even an
attempt at a codification or a revision of former
laws. And the government that has resulted from
the operation of this ill-digested mass of laws is
naturally not a logical system, but a complication
so intricate and involved that no idea as to how it
would work in practice could be obtained in ad-
vance of the practical experiment.
J
THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT OF THE
CITY.
Before attempting to recite or describe the pro-
ceedings of the Municipal Assembly, it will be nec-
essary to enumerate and briefly explain the con-
stitution and functions of the different boards, de-
partments and officials of the city government in
which its legislative powers are vested. For they
are widely distributed, and only a small part of
them is vested in the Assembly.
The Mayor is the chief executive officer of the
city. He is elected every four years, and is not
eligible for re-election at the next succeeding term.
He receives a salary of $15,000 a year. He may be
removed by the Governor, but only upon charges,
and after an opportunity to be heard in his own
defense. He appoints the heads of all the various
boards, and departments, except the Department
of Finance, whose head, the Comptroller, is
elected, and of the Departments of Health
and Education, which are governed by Boards
whose members are variously elected and
appointed. He also appoints the Chamberlain,
the President of the Board of Public Improvements,
the two Commissioners of Accounts, the three Civil
Service Commissioners, twenty-three Police Magis-
trates, the heads of the Bureau of Municipal Sta-
tistics, and various minor officials. All of these^ ex-
7
cept the Magistrates, he can remove at pleasure dur-
ing the first six months of his term ; but thereafter,
with the exception of the Commissioners of Ac-
counts, only upon charges, and with the approval
of the Governor. He is ex-oflficio a member of
many important Boards, including the Board of
Estimate and Apportionment, the Board of Public
Improvements, and the Board of Sinking Fund
Commissioners, in which the most important leg-
islative as well as a large part of the administra-
tive powers of the city are vested. He is also armed
with the absolute power of appointment and of re-
moval over two Commissioners of Accounts, who
control a clerical force with a payroll of over |150,-
000 a year, through whom he can investigate any
department of the city government. He has also
a veto over all acts of the Municipal Assembly.
It was the declared purpose of those who drew
the Charter to confer upon the Mayor the greatest
possible power and consequent responsibility. And
upon reading the above recital of his powers, it
would perhaps seem that they had succeeded. But
unfortunately this impression is wrong. For after
the time within which the Mayor can remove at
pleasure has expired, his power over adminstration
practically ceases, for it then becomes firmly vested
in the heads of departments, and to remove them
upon charges is in the nature of a criminal pro-
ceeding and practically impossible save in case of
the most flagrant dereliction of duty. And with
the power passes the responsibility. It therefore
resolves itself to this, that the Mayor's respon-
sibility for administration ceases when he has exer-
cised due care and discretion in his selection of
the Commissioners and other heads of departments.
8
And thereafter, all responsibility passes to those
practically irremovable officials. The Mayor's
power, as conferred by the Charter, is therefore
limited to his vote in the different Boards hereafter
described, and to his veto over the acts of the As-
sembly. In addition, he has the power conferred
upon him by general law to veto all special acts of
the Legislature relating to the city, subject to the
power of the Legislature to repass the same over his
veto.
The administrative departments of the City
Government are fixed and constituted by the
Charter. They are:
The Department of Finance.
The Departments represented in the Board of
Public Improvements :
Water Supply.
Streets and Highways.
Street Cleaning.
Sewers.
Bridges.
Public Buildings, Lighting and Supplies.
The Law Department.
The Police Department.
The Fire Department.
The Department of Taxes and Assessments.
The Department of Parks.
The Department of Docks and Ferries.
The Department of Buildings.
The Department of Public Charities.
The Department of Correction.
The Department of Education.
The Department of Health.
The heads of all these departments, except those
of Finance, Health, and Education, are appointed
9
directly by the Mayor, and receive salaries on the
average of $7,500 a year each. They have control
over the appointment, promotion, transfer and dis-
charge of all subordinates, subject only to the civil
service laws; and fix their salaries. While these
departments are described as administrative, yet
they include two Boards which possess very large
legislative powers. They are the Board of Esti-
mate and Apportionment, which is included in the
Department of Finance, and the Board of Public
Improvements.
The Department of Finance consists of five
bureaus and two boards. The bureaus are for the
collection of revenues, for the collection of taxes,
for the collection of assessments and arrears of
taxes, for auditing, and for the safe keeping and
payment of money. The Comptroller is the head
of this department. He is elected at large for the
same term as the Mayor, and receives a salary of
|10,000 a year, besides very lucrative fees. He ap-
points the heads of the first three enumerated
bureaus and all the subordinates in the department,
except those in the last bureau mentioned, and is
himself the head of the auditing bureau. The
bureau for the safe keeping and payment of money
is in charge of the Chamberlain, who is appointed
by the Mayor for a term of four years and receives
a salary of |12,000 a year, besides large fees. In
general, payments by the city are made by the
Comptroller, upon vouchers filed in his department,
by warrants drawn on the Chamberlain. No valid
contract can be made unless the Comptroller certify
that there remains unexpended and unapplied a
sufficient balance of the appropriation or fund ap-
plicable thereto. He is the proper officer to enter
10
into any lease of property to the city; and his
assent is necessary to all purchases of real estate.
This department issues the "city stock." The
bonds of the city issued after January 1st, 1898,
with the exception of certain issues known as
*^Kevenue Bonds" and "Assessment Bonds," are
known as "The Corporate Stock of the City of New
York." It may be in coupon form for not less than
$500 a share, or in registered form for not less than
$10 a share, or any multiple thereof. It must be
payable "in gold or in legal currency of the United
States at the option of the Commissioners of the
Sinking Fund," — it is now payable in gold, — w^ith
interest at not to exceed four and one-half per cent.,
and is free from taxation except for State purposes.
With a few specific exceptions, it may only be issued
to the extent and for the purposes authorized by
the Municipal Assembly and the Board of Estimate
and Apportionment.
The Board of Sinhing Fund Commissioners is
included in the Finance Department. It is com-
posed of the Mayor, Comptroller, Chamberlain,
President of the Council and Chairman of the
Finance Committee of the Board of Aldermen.
They have charge of the sinking funds. "The Sink-
ing Fund of the City of New York" is provided for
the purpose of securing and paying the principal
of the debt of the corporation. It is obtained by
including in the amount raised by the annual taxes
for each year successively until the principal is
paid an amount which, with the interest and ac-
cumulations thereon, will be sufficient to pay the
debt at maturity. There are also a few other
sources of income to this fund outside of the taxes.
The sinking funds of the former corporate bodies
11
now united in the city, are continued and the whole
city is taxed to supply them. There are also several
other sinking funds for special purposes. The
Commissioners of the Sinking Fund also have au-
thority to lease city property (with the exception
of parks, docks and schools), subject to certain re-
strictions and limitations. And all leases to the
city must have their approval.
The Board of Estimate and Apportionment is
also included in the Department of Finance, and
is probably the most important body in the City
Government, for it prepares and, with the concur-
rence of the Municipal Assembly, adopts the budget,
which is the general appropriation bill authorizing
the payment of the current expenses of the city.
It also has an equal control with the Assembly
over all bond issues. This Board is composed of
the Mayor, Comptroller, President of the Council,
Corporation Counsel and President of the Depart-
ment of Taxes and Assessments. In relation to the
budget, it is their duty annually in the month of
October by the affirmative votes of all of them, to
prepare a budget setting forth the amounts esti-
mated to be required for conducting the city's busi-
ness for the next ensuing year, specifying the items
for each department, bureau, etc., as fully as possi-
ble. All the amounts included in the budget as
finally approved, may be spent by the department
or bureau designated during the current year to
which the budget applies in the manner and for the
purposes therein provided, without any further
authorization. There must be included in the
budget sums sufficient to meet the city's accruing
obligations, and to supply the sinking funds. This
Board is also authorized, — formerly directed — to
12
inaike appropriations for certain charitable institu-
tions in the city. When the budget is prepared,
and before it is finally adopted, public hearings
must be had at which the general public may ap-
pear and present objections to the proposed budget.
It is then reduced to its final form and adopted,
and submitted to the Municipal Assembly for con-
sideration in joint meeting of both houses. The
Assembly may reduce or strike out any item, but
may not increase the budget, or any item in it. And
should it vote to reduce the budget in any way, the
Mayor may veto its action, and it can only enforce
it over his veto by a five-sixths vote. Inasmuch as
the budget can only be prepared with the Mayor's
full approval, all this circumlocution means that
the Assembly may reduce the budget by a five-sixths
vote, but cannot increase it. After its adoption,
the Board of Estimate and Apportionment may
transfer any appropriation or excess of appropria-
tion which is found to be unnecessary for the pur-
pose intended to such other purpose or object as
may require it ; and this power is freely used. Any
balance unexpended at the end of the year goes
into a general fund for the reduction of the taxes of
the next ensuing year. This Board also has control
over the city's share of the State Excise taxes, which
it may appropriate to such charitable institutions
in the city that gratuitiously assist the poor as
seem to it most deserving.
The Board of Public Improvements follows in
importance the Department of Finance. Its legis-
lative powers are large, and in addition it has the
exclusive administrative control over all public
improvements, general and local. And through
this latter power it has a strong coercive influence
13
over the Assembly. This Board is a novelty,
created by the Charter.
The head of this Board is the "President of the
Board of Public Improvements," who is appointed
by the Mayor for a term of four years, and receives
a salary of |8,000 a year ; and its other members are
the Mayor, Comptroller, Corporation Counsel, the
President of the five Boroughs, and the Commis-
sioners of the following departments, which are
included in this Board:
The Department of Streets and Highways.
The Department of Water Supply.
The Department of Sewers.
The Department of Bridges.
The Department of Street Cleaning.
The Department of Public Buildings, Lighting
and Supplies.
The President presides at all the meetings, and
has a vote, but no veto. In cases of difference of
opinion, he decides disputes and assigns work with-
in the general province of the Board to one or more
of its departments. In his absence or disability,
the Mayor succeeds to his powers. Each depart-
ment has jurisdiction over the matters indicated
by its title, and the Commissioner of each has in-
dependent charge of it. In addition to the separate
departments, the President has an office force of
his own with a salary list of |239,000 a year, en-
gaged in general map making and in centralized
supervision over the departments included in the
Board.
The Presidents of the Boroughs before referred
to as members of this Board, are ele4fted by the
Boroughs, which are new subdivisions of the city
created by the Charter. Each Borough elects its
U
President at the same time and for the same term
as the Mayor. The Presidents are ex-officio mem-
bers of the Board of Public Improvements, but they
have a vote only in matters affecting solely their re-
spective boroughs. As they have no combined vote
they are practically without influence when com-
pared with the seven appointive members of the
Board. They are also the presiding officers of the
local boards, but their duties in that capacity and
the functions of those boards will be described
later.
There are five Boroughs. The Borough of Man-
hattan consists of Manhattan Island and the ad-
jacent smaller islands, that is, all of the former
city lying south of the Harlem River, and all of
which is within the County of New York. It has
a population of about 1,850,000, and an area of
13,487 acres. The Borough of the Bronx consists
of the remainder of the former City and present
County of New York, all of which lies north of the
Harlem Hiver. It has a population of about 200,-
000, and an area of 25,270 acres. The Borough of
Brooklyn consists of the former City of Brooklyn,
and is coterminous with Kings County. It has a
population of about 1,166,000, and an area of 42,-
000 acres. The Borough of Queens embraces the
same territory as the present County of Queens,
and includes Long Island City, and the former
towns of Flushing, Jamaica and Newtown, and a
part of Hempstead. It has a population of about
153,000 and an area of 79,347 acres. The Borough
of Richmond consists of all of Staten Island and
includes the same territory as the County of Rich-
mond. It has a population of about 67,000, and an
area of 36,600 acres. The Boroughs are not in
15
any sense corporate entities, but are only sub-
divisions for descriptive and administrative pur-
poses.
The Board of Public Improvements is authorized
to direct the acquisition by the city for the public
use of the ownership of land for streets, parks and
approaches, and of approaches to bridges and
tunnels "whenever and as often as it shall deem
it for the public interests so to do." And any
"public work,'' — what constitutes a public work
is not defined, — in one or more of these departments
must be authorized by this Board. Where the cost
of the same is payable out of funds available, no
approval by the Municipal Assembly may be re-
quired ; but otherwise, as for instance where a bond
issue is necessary, the consent of the Assembly is
required. All ordinances of the Municipal As-
sembly modifying any of the existing rules, regula-
tions or ordinances affecting any of the depart-
ments, and all ordinances to govern this Board or
any of its departments must originate with the
department concerned or with this Board, and must
be adopted or rejected by the Assembly tcdthout
amendment. The Assembly may originate ordi-
nances providing for a public improvement, but
only after a report thereon is obtained from the
Board of Public Improvements — no method of com-
pelling such a report is provided — and if that be un-
favorable it can only pass such ordinances
by a five-sixths vote of each house and
with the Mayor's approval. This Board is,
by the Charter, given power "to prescribe
rules for regulating, grading, curbing and paving
streets and laying crosswalks"; and in general is
given jurisdiction over the following subjects: the
16
adoption of a land map (which determines the
exact location and boundaries of streets, etc.)? the
acquisition of land for streets, and of rights in land
to lay sewers, etc., the laying of sewers, the repair-
ing of street pavements and the adjustment of
grades, all matters relating to the water supply,
and all "public work" for which money has been
provided either by taxes, bonds or otherwise. It is
the duty of this Board to prepare and recommend
to the Municipal Assembly ordinances regulating
the laying of water pipes and all underground
pipes, and the construction of water works; the
grading, paving and cleaning of streets, and their
use for signs, posts, etc., and temporarily for build-
ing purposes, and for the exhibition of handbills,
posters, etc.; the construction of vaults, the rates
of railways on public bridges ; the construction and
repair of public markets and of public buildings
(except schoolhouses, almshouses, penitentiaries
and police and fire stations) ; and the making of
public contracts requiring the payment of money.
And all such ordinances when submitted to the As-
sembly, must be passed by it without amendment,
or be rejected. It is also provided that all work
undertaken by this Board exceeding |1,000 in cost
must be by contract by the Commissioner of the
contracting department with the lowest bidder
after public advertisement for bids, unless it is
otherwise ordered by the Municipal Assembly by
a three-quarters vote of all the members elected to
each House, or unless this Board, by a majority
vote, including the votes of the Mayor and Comp-
troller, decide to pass the lowest and accept a
higher bid. And, practically the same regulations
apply to all the departments, except the Dock De-
17
partment. The Charter also provides that the
Municipal Assembly cannot release a contractor
or extend his time for performance except upon
the unanimous recommendation of the Board of
Public Improvements.
The Mmiicipal Assembly is the last and least
of the repositories of legislative power under the
Charter. It is composed of the Council and the
Board of Aldermen. They have co-ordinate pow-
ers, except that the Aldermen alone appoint Com-
missioners of Deeds. The Council is the higher
body, and is composed of the President of the Coun-
cil and twenty-eight Councilmen. The President
is an important ofdcial, is a member of many
Boards and succeeds to the powers and duties of
the Mayor upon his absence or disability. He is
elected by the City at large for a term of four years,
and receives a salary of $7,000 a year. The Coun-
cilmen are also elected for terms of four years and
they receive salaries of $1,500 a year. They are
elected from Council districts, three each from
eight of such districts and two each from two.
These districts are new and unfamiliar, and are
not apportioned according to population, one dis-
trict with two Councilmen representing it having
a population of only about 60,000, while several
of the districts with three Councilmen have a popu-
lation of over 500,000. The disproportion is in
favor of the recently annexed districts, and for
this small mess of pottage they have given up all
control over their local affairs and improvements.
The present Council w^hich went into office with
the new government on January 1st, 1898, con-
tains twenty-six Democrats and three Citizens'-
Union Kepublicans.
- 18
The Board of Aldermen is composed of sixty
members, elected for two years, each from an
Aiaermanic district. Tliey receive salaries of
$1,UU0 a year. The districts are generally identi-
cal with the Assembly districts, and are appor-
tioned according to the population. Tnere are on
an average about G,OUO votes in a district. This
Board elects its President from among its own
members, but its clerk is appointed by the City
Clerk, who is elected by the Council and is its
clerk. The Chairman of the Finance Committee
of the Board of Aldermen is a member of the
Board of {Sinking Fund Commissioners, but w^ith
this exception none of its members have any con-
nection or are in any way in touch with any of the
great boards or departments in which all of the
administrative and much of the legislative power
of the city is vested.
All the city's legislative powers, not otherwise
delegated, are declared to be vested in the Assem-
bly. It is expressly given power to establish ordi-
nances for some 31 enumerated purposes, such as
to regulate the inspection and sealing of weights
and measures, the numbering of houses, the use of
the streets by passengers and vehicles, the deposit-
ing of ashes, garbage, etc., therein, the paving and
grading of streets, and their use for signs, awn-
ings, horse-troughs, etc., the control of public cries
and noises, and the licensing of truckmen, news-
stands, etc. Some of its powders are so similar to
those delegated to the Board of Public Improve-
ments that it is almost impossible to draw the line
between them. The Assembly is also given power
to adopt a code of building laws, to fix the salaries
of officials not in any department, unless their sal-
19
aries are fixed by the Charter, and to grant fran-
chises upon terms to be approved by the Board of
Estimate and Apportionment. But no franchise
to use the city's streets can be granted for a period
to exceed twenty-five years, except that a right of
renewal for a further term of twenty-five years on
a fair revaluation may be included in the franchise.
It is also in terms granted the power to investigate
all the departments of the City Government, but
practically it is impossible for it to do so without
the co-operation of the Corporation Counsel. It
has also jurisdiction over matters relating to public
improvements and finances in conjunction with the
Board of Estimate and Apportionment, or the
Board of Public Improvements. The extent of the
Assembly's power in such matters will hereafter be
fully illustrated, and as will be shown, it is really
more in the nature of a veto over the actions of
those Boards than of an ordinary legislative char-
acter. It is provided in the Charter that no ordi-
nance granting a franchise, or alienating any city
property, or terminating a lease, or appropriating
public moneys, or incurring any expense, or laying
any assessment, can be passed in either branch of
the Assembly until five days after the publication
of an abstract of its provisions; nor at a meeting
at which it is introduced except by unanimous con-
sent; nor unless it secures a three-quarters vote
of all the members elected to each House. And no
moneys can be expended for a celebration or a sim-
ilar function except by a four-fifths vote; and no
additional allowance can be granted to any party
to a contract beyond his strict legal claims except
by unanimous consent. The rule requiring a three-
quarters vote is the cause of great delay and conse-
20
quent bad results. It applies to all financial meas-
ures however small, and of whatever character, and
such measures are very numerous and require con-
stant action and frequently immediate action.
And yet for reasons hereafter explained long and
vexatious delays in the Assembly necessarily re-
sult. And this requirement in many such mat-
ters is absolutely without reason or any beneficial
effect. For it has been held by the courts that in
all cases where the ordinances are to authorize
bond issues already directed by the Legislature or
for the purpose of paying indebtedness already
due, the Assembly can exercise no discretion but
must immediately authorize the bonds. This duty
is therefore purely perfunctory and ministerial
and should not have been imposed upon a legisla-
tive body.
An enumeration of the legislative bodies of the
city would be incomplete without some reference
to the Lmv Department^ whose head is the Corpora-
tion Counsel. He is appointed by the Mayor for
a term of four years and receives a salary of $15,000
a year. He is the legal adviser, counsel and attor-
ney of all the departments, boards, bureaus and
officials of the city, including the Municipal As-
sembly; and they, and their members, are all for-
bidden to employ or to appear by other or special
attorneys. This is a change from the former sys-
tem, and as it enables the Corporation Counsel to
appear as attorney for and to bind all the other
officials by his acts, and yet to act in entire disre-
gard of their wishes and in hostility to their rights
and interests, it enables him to exercise a strong
coercive power over them. A striking instance pf
his use or abuse of this power will be related here-
after.
3J
MEMBERSHIP OF THE BOARD OF ALDER-
MEN.
The Board of Aldermen, of which I had been
elected a member, met first at noon on January
1st, 1898, as prescribed by the Charter. There was
some delay in organizing, as we had to wait until
the Council had first organized and elected the
City Clerk, and he had appointed the Clerk of the
Board of Aldermen, whose duty it was to call the
Board to order. Our first action was to choose a
President, and we elected Thomas F. Woods, a
Tammany Hall Democrat of Manhattan, to that
office by a party vote, and his election was there-
upon promptly made unanimous. Mr. Woods was
a horseshoer by profession, and his knowledge of
parliamentary law was not large, but he was ably
coached by the Clerk, Mr. Blake, who had been
clerk and deputy clerk of many preceding Boards,
and thus assisted, he made on the whole a fair and
efficient presiding officer.
The members of the Board were a rather miscel-
laneous assortment of humanity, and represented
all shades of intelligence, ability and education.
As a whole, their ability was beyond their educa-
tion ; but few of them represented any great experi-
ence either in politics or affairs. Eight of them
had no other business than politics, eight were ac-
knowledged liquor dealers, eight professed to be
real estate dealers, but some of them did little act-
ive business, and devoted themselves principally
to politics; four were manufacturers, three were
lawyers, and one a law student; three were truck-
men, two plumbers, two machinists, and there was
a painter, horseshoer, grocer, undertaker and car-
penter, besides fourteen others of miscellaneous
occupations. Nearly one-half were of Irish birth
or parentage, and the remainder were about equally
divided between Germans and Americans.
In politics, there were at first forty-seven Demo-
crats, two "straight'^ Republicans, three "straight^'
Citizens'-Union members, and eight Citizens'-
Union Republicans. In practice, however, the
thirteen of the minority always acted as one
party and in time came to call themselves Re-
publicans. Within the first few monihs, one Dem-
ocrat was unseated by the courts in favor of a Citi-
zens'-Union candidate; and during the two years
of office three Democrats and one Republican died,
and one Republican (Citizens'-Union) resigned.
In each case, the Board elected a Democrat to fill
the vacancy, so that the final party vote stood forty-
eight to twelve. There were two members each of
the majority and minority who had sat in the pre-
ceding Board of the former city; and four mem-
bers of the majority and one of the minority who
had been members of the last Brooklyn Board.
These latter, I heard, had been of the "cold thir-
teen" of that Board, but as I do not know the exact
record of the "cold thirteen," or whether the state-
ment is true, anyhow, any explanations on that
point would be improper. The thirty (afterward
thirty-one) of the majority from Manhattan were
all members of Tammany Hall, and always voted
23
as a unit on important measures. The one member
from Kichmond, a Democrat, and the Democratic
member from Queens, although not themselves
members of Tammany, always voted in entire sub-
servience to its dictations. But the fourteen Dem-
ocratic Aldermen from Brooklyn belonged to a dif-
ferent organization, were often rebellious against
Tammany, sometimes combined with the Republi-
cans, and occasionally acted by themselves. In the
end, however, Tammany always whipped them into
line by its control over patronage and local im-
provements. And even the members of the minor-
ity were sometimes forced to buy local improve-
ments for their respective districts by abandoning
their party and their principles on important meas-
ures.
Among the members, in spite of differences of
politics, race, education and environment, there
generally prevailed the most harmonious personal
relations. But this only came with time. At first
a bear pit was harmonious and orderly in compari-
son. Ill feeling was started at the first meeting,
for after its adjournment when the minority had
generally left the chamber, the majority recon-
vened and allotted seats, thus securing the better
places for themselves. And this ill feeling was in-
creased shortly after by the President's "railroad-
ing" through, in violation of the rules, an ordinance
creating a commission to revise the building code.
It was in this period of disorder that one member
of the majority called an opponent "an academic
pintod,'' and advised him "to sit on his point of
order"; and that another alderman in opposing a
motion for a special meeting, declared that "the
less frequently this lawless body meets, the better
24
for the City of New York." However, in time
things quieted down and no amount of abuse and de-
nunciation served to phaze the good temper of the
majority, or lead to any personal ill feeling. And
the President avoided a repetition of his first error
by thereafter always deputing the duty of presiding
when any matter was to be "jammed through" to a
member whose unfailing equanimity and good hu-
mor under attack combined with his absolute dis-
regard for parliamentary law and minority rights
rendered such action no less effective while much
less ill-natured. The roll call, when ordered, was
always scrupulously fair and the vote correctly re-
corded. But in other respects, the minutes were
sometimes incorrect and unfair.
The majority was ably led by Alderman John T.
McCall, a newspaper man by profession, but with
the exception of those from Brooklyn, its members
seldom spoke or defended its measures in any way.
The minoritv was led bv Alderman Collin H. Wood-
ward with much parliamentary skill. The mem-
bers of the minority spoke frequently, but seldom
at any length, and never indulged in dilatory de-
bate. The orator of the Board was Alderman
B , of Brooklyn, a Democrat of considerable
common sense, but absolutely without education.
He had two failings, an inability to stop when he
once got started, and a consummate ability to mur-
der the Queen's English. He generally spoke out
of order and to a previous question, that is, to a
question that had been disposed of. Once, in ex-
plaining a resolution to provide a court room for
the judges of a minor court in Brooklyn, he said:
"The law says that they must set on the 15th;
theyVe no place to set now, and they've just got to
25
set." In answer to an inquiry as to whether or
not they were then laying, he vouchsafed no reply.
On another occasion he thus retorted to a rather
jeering interruption:
"I don't want to he stopped by no song-and-
dance man. It has been broadcasted in the papers
that this Board has been holding up bond issues.
If that company are getting water from the city, it
is because there are not been no rains. There are
members of this Board that is a-skeered of the
press. I for one cares little about what the press
says about me. I ain't no coward. I ain't a-
skeered of the press. I'll vote according to my con-
science and my dictations."
And at yet another time he opposed a certain
ordinance because, as he expressed it, "it would
destruct the property of the people of my district,
and I won't stand here on my feet on this floor
and see no property of theirs destructed, no I
won't!" And it may be truthfully said of this
representative that, in spite of his deficiencies, he
did carefully guard the welfare of the people of his
district.
But it must not be thought that all the illiteracy
of the Board was monopolized by Alderman B ,
although he alone conspicuously aired it in oratory.
The others ran more to resolutions expressing sym-
pathy, admiration, congratulations, etc., in regard
to current matters and events lying far beyond the
sphere of city government and politics. Many such
resolutions of great length and abounding in ful-
some rhetoric were regularly introduced and care-
lessly passed. The writer once brought down upon
his head some little wrath by introducing a resolu-
tion to amend the rules so as to send all such reso-
26
lutions as of course to a special committee to be re-
vised as to grammar and historical statements. It
is needless to state that it was not passed.
Among the resolutions which came before the
Board there were many amusing mistakes. One
ordinance, for instance, aimed at a street railway
that did not run its cars frequently enough, pro-
vided that thereafter the cars should be run "not
less than five minutes apart." Another provided
that the paintings formerly hung in a certain room
in the City Hall and then temporarily stored, "be
and they hereby are hung in the Committee Room."
Sometimes, however, mistakes were due to the fact
that the resolutions were drawn by outsiders and
handed to members who complaisantly endorsed
and introduced them, without reading, upon the
assurance that they were "all right." Thus one
Alderman was induced to nominate Noah Webster
and Lindley Murray for Commissioners of Deeds.
And some reporters betrayed Alderman H , an
aggressive Irishman, into fathering a resolution
which provided that the City Hall and other public
buildings should be decorated on the Queen's birth-
day. This was a rather serious matter, for, although
the resolution was promptly laid on the table, yet
the newspaper men, in order to carry out the joke,
reported it as having passed. And as a result,
communications poured in from all parts of the
world denouncing us, and particularly poor H .
And the next meeting of the Board was devoted
entirely to his explanations and vindication. For
delegations from Irish societies from all over the
country east of the Mississippi River filled the
chamber and the galleries to overflowing and de-
manded satisfaction. Long and elaborate speeches
27
were made by the majority leader and by Alder-
man B , above mentioned, in vindication and
praise of Alderman H , and the latter excused
himself at length. In the course of his remarks he
said : "I was only a boy when I was evicted from
my home in Ireland. I came at once to this coun-
try, and less than ten days after landing joined
Tammany Hall. Does any one here think that I
would introduce such a resolution if I knew what
was in it?'' And no one there did. The faux pas
was, however, fatal to H , who was not renomi-
nated.
As regards their personal honesty, the members
of this Board were not open to unusual criticism.
It is true that there were quite a number of meas-
ures that were long ^'hung up" in committees and
suddenly reported with unexplained change of
heart. But it is probable that only a little influ-
ence or some small "tips" were all that was neces-
sary to make the machinery move. There were also
ugly accusations that some of the members required
gratuities for their approval of local permits; and
such charges may have been true. But in many
cases of this kind the Aldermen were asked to do,
and did, a good deal of very proper work outside
the line of their duties in aiding the prompt pas-
sage and approval of such matters by the Council
and the Mayor, and the acceptance of an honora-
rium for such extra services was no more immoral
than many practices openly indulged in by other
officials. There were also some rumors of combi-
nations to "hold up" important ordinances, but of
them I never had any personal knowledge. But,
in my opinion, there was one group of from five to
seven members who always acted the part of "Black
28
Horse Cavalry'' ; and the peculiar provisions of the
Charter aided their operations and gave them un-
usual powers and opportunities. It would, how-
ever, be unfair to ascribe to the generality or even
the majority of the members any responsibility for
the evils that they accomplished. Passes on rail-
roads and free tickets to places of amusement
caused rather general demoralization. In spite of
these facts, the personal honesty of a large propor-
tion of the Aldermen was, in my opinion, beyond
question. This, however, does not mean that the
Board w^as a fair and honest body. On the con-
trary, it was not ; for the Tammany members open-
ly disclaimed all personal responsibility for their
party measures, and voted solidly for some of them
for which even the lively imagination of their
leader could not invent the semblance of a reason-
able apology or excuse. Against such an organiza-
tion arguments or appeals to conscience were of
course vain.
The members of this Board were not the hard-
drinking, loud-dressed men that tradition and
imagination cause the majority of people to picture
the traditional Aldermen. Some had their little
peculiarities, but, as a body, they resembled any
other aggregation of ordinary New York citizens.
The excessive funeral ceremonies indulged in
upon the death of a member will perhaps convey
the best idea of their general social standing. Dur-
ing our term of office we lost four members. On
each occasion the walls of the whole chamber, to-
gether with the President's and the deceased Alder-
man's desk, were elaborately draped in black, and
a large majority of the Aldermen attended the fu-
neral in "hacks" dressed in their finest black and
29
wearing elaborate badges with some such inscrip-
tion as "We Mourn Our Loss." A showy emblem,
such as a floral chair or horseshoe, was the usual
funereal tribute presented by the Board. All this
was, of course, at the city's expense. In addition,
there were the usual and appropriate commenda-
tory addresses at the next meeting. An attempt
was made at the time of the first funeral to add a
little supper of the Aldermen at the city's expense
to these other observances. But the newspapers
raised such a row over it that we thought better of
the matter and paid for the banquet out of our own
pockets. And thereafter we omitted it altogether.
Such were the members of the first Board of Al-
dermen of the Greater City of New York; and the
members of the Council were essentially similar.
On the whole, they in every w^ay fairly represented
the people of the city. It is true that they were
not what are called "representative citizens," be-
cause they were not chosen from among the ablest
and most experienced. They were, how^ever, aver-
age citizens — neither better nor worse than the
mass of the people of the districts they represented.
And though this particular Board was roundly
ridiculed and criticised by the press, yet I am sat-
isfied that its faults were due not so much to the
character of its members as to the evil influence of
the great party organization that controls the city
and to the defects of the Charter. Under other cir-
cumstances, with better defined duties, responsi-
bilities and powers, and with larger salaries, that
same Board would have made a much more cred-
itable record. And with proper ichanges in its con-
stitution it would be possible to secure for the As-
sembly a better membership.
30
HISTORY OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN.
1898-1899.
The Board of Aldermen and the Council met
separately every Tuesday afternoon, except during
a month's vacation in summer, and held frequent
special meetings. In addition, the Aldermen met
twice a week during the first three weeks of De-
cember, and almost daily during the last week of
that month to dispose of the accumulated business
of the current year. The meetings were largely
occupied with very petty matters, and but little
time or attention was given to the framing or en-
acting of general ordinances (with the exception
of the building code ordinance mentioned later),
for the reason that the Assembly's jurisdiction
over such matters was so doubtful and ill-defined
that all attempts to exercise it led to conflicts and
disputes with the more powerful so-called adminis-
trative departments.
The most important duty of the Assembly was
the consideration of ordinances relating to bond
issues, contracts and public improvements. These
ordinances were drawn in and transmitted to the
Assembly from the different boards and depart-
ments having jurisdiction over their special subjects
respectively, and the Assembly's duty was limited to
approving or disapproving them. Contracts by de-
partments to be made after public letting and pay-
^ 31
able out of appropriations already made needed no
approval by the Assembly. But contracts without
public letting, bond issues and public improve-
ments, required approval by an affirmative vote of
three-quarters of all the members elected to each
Board. The ordinances relating to these subjects
were divisible into three general classes. First,
ordinances authorizing a public improvement,
which sometimes also authorized the issue of the
necessary bonds to pay for the improvement, but
generally only authorized the work and the neces-
sary contract, leaving the bonds to be provided for
by subsequent action. Second, ordinances author-
izing the issue of bonds. Sometimes they were in-
corporated with the ordinance authorizing the im-
provement or liability, and sometimes they were
to pay for indebtedness already authorized and
accrued or about to accrue. Third, ordinances au-
thorizing contracts without public letting.
These classes of ordinances came to be described
loosely as "public improvement ordinances," "bond
issues" and "contracts without public letting." A
very large proportion of the ordinances fell within
two or more of these classes.
There were also ordinances granting franchises
and for other purposes which required a three-
quarters vote, but they were not numerous or fa-
miliar.
Requests by departments for authority to make
contracts without public letting were very numer-
ous and aroused vigorous opposition. They were
seldom accompanied by any explanation of their
necessity, or by any suggestion or promise of any
other proper method of awarding the contract as
a substitute for the public letting. And sometimes
32
investigation disclosed the fact that the contract
had been already awarded, without public letting,
and that the proposed ordinance was desired in
order to cover up and ratify the illegal act. While
some rather dubious measures of this kind were
pushed through, yet a majority, of the Aldermen at
least, showed a proper spirit in dealing with such
matters, and insisted that all ordinances of this
class should be accompanied by written statements
from the departments showing the reasons for re-
mitting the strict rule. And many demanded,
though unsuccessfully that, where possible, some
other form of letting, such as a letting amongst all
those recognized by the department as competent
to do the work, should be substituted.
Ordinances providing for public improvements
originated in the Board of Public Improvements.
Ordinances authorizing bond issues, if for the pay-
ment of debts already accrued or accruing origi-
nated in the Department of Finance, were first ap-
proved by the Board of Estimate and Apportion-
ment, and then came to the Assembly. Generally
they were transmitted first to the Council and were
then forwarded to the Board of Aldermen. There
was, however, no legal provision requiring this
course of procedure, and therefore they were some-
times transmitted first to the latter Board. When
they also authorized public improvements they
originated in the Board of Public Improvements
and were then passed along to the Board of Esti-
mate and Apportionment and to tlie Assembly, in
the order named. The Assembly had power to orig-
inate bond issues, but only to an amount not to ex-
ceed a total of $250,000 in any one year, by a reso-
lution requiring a three-quarters vote of each Board
33
requesting the Board of Estimate and Apportion*
ment to authorize the issue of a certain amount of
bonds for a purpose stated.
Very early in the history of our Board a large
number of ordinances authorizing various issues of
bonds for purposes of pressing necessity, generally
understood and demanded, were promptly and al-
most unanimously passed. Then a sudden halt was
occasioned by the question of the debt limit aris-
ing.
That question may be roughly explained as fol-
lows. It is provided in the State Constitution that
no city or county shall become indebted to an
amount to exceed 10 per cent, of the assessed val-
uation of its real estate. The former City and
County of New York were at the time of consoli-
dation well within that limit, having a margin of
over $40,000,000 of further possible indebtedness.
But Brooklyn and Kings County had separate
debts, which, in the aggregate, far exceeded 10 per
cent, of their joint real estate. But they had only
recently become coterminous, and the constitution
then as now provided that when a city and county
become coterminous the power of the county to
borrow money shall cease, but its existing indebted-
ness shall not be added to the city's in estimating
the latter's debt limit. By virtue of this clause
Brooklyn had not exceeded its debt limit, for the
old Kings County debt w^as not counted against its
real estate in estimating it ; but when that city and
Kings County were absorbed into the City of New
York this provision of the Constitution by its
terms ceased to apply, for the city's limits were no
longer identical with those of Kings County. And
the present city's debt was thereby increased by
34
the amount of the combined debts of Brooklyn and
Kings County, while its power to borrow was only
increased by 10 per cent, of their joint real estate.
And as their combined indebtedness exceeded 10
per cent, of the value of their real estate by about
$22,000,000, the margin of further possible indebt-
edness remaining over from the former City of New
York was reduced by just so much. And Queens
and Richmond Counties brought similar dowries of
indebtedness into the partnership, which reduced
that margin by two or three millions more. And
when the bonds first authorized by the new govern-
ment had been issued the amount of the city's in-
debtedness came very close to the limit. It was
then that the Corporation Counsel paralyzed the
City Government by rendering an opinion in which
he held that the limit had already been passed.
This opinion was based upon the contention that
certain unliquidated and unaccrued liabilities on
contracts should be included in estimating the in-
debtedness. But after some ^^crawfishing" he jre-
ceded from this position, and the contention was
abandoned. In January, 1899, the indebtedness
of the city was about |244,000,000, and the valua-
tion of its real estate, as assessed in 1898, was
12,464,000,000 ; so that there was only a small mar-
gin of about $2,000,000 for further indebtedness.
But the tax assessors in 1899 remedied this strin-
gency by increasing the assessment of real estate
some $421,000,000, of which $307,000,000 fell on
Manhattan Borough alone, and $42,000,000 was
thereby added to the margin for further indebted-
ness.
After the bugaboo of the debt limit had been dis-
posed of, bond issues again came pouring into the
35
Assembly steadily at the rate of from ^re to ten
important measures a week. But tiiey did not pass
so promptly, and this delay brought down upon it
the reproach of "holding up" bond issues, lieally,
however, it was not altogether the fault of the mem-
bers of the Assembly. In the first place, these mat-
ters required a three-quarters vote, and it was not
at all the meetings of the Board of Aldermen, for
instance, that a vote of 45 out of 60 would be pres-
ent. On stormy or foggy days the members from
the Bronx, about fifteen miles away, and those from
Flushing, Canarsie, South Brooklyn and Staten
Island, all of whom had long journeys by railroads
and ferries, were apt not to attend. There was
generally one vacancy by death, several would be
ill or away from town, and the sense of irresponsi-
bility and uselessness which the general character
of the work engendered was not calculated to make
the members over-scrupulous or self-sacrificing in
the matter of attendance when private business or
pleasure stood in the way. And the inadequacy of
their salaries also tended to make them regard
their public duties as of secondary importance, and
therefore to be lax in attending meetings.
A second cause of delay in passing these ordi-
nances was that the Assembly could not amend
them or originate substitutes, but had to approve
them in the exact form in which they came to it, or
reject them altogether. It frequently happened
that there were included in ordinances for neces-
sary and pressing improvements provisions or rid-
ers not understood, unnecessary, extravagant or in
our opinion wholly bad. And as we could not
amend the ordinances, the only thing that we could
do was to "hang them up" and try to "starve out"
36
the department that originated them. The burden
of such fights fell upon the minority, but many of
the majority often aided. When such games of
patience were resorted to public opinion called
loudly for action, and, as we were the immediate
cause of delay, it would generally be directed
against us, with the result that some of the weaker
members would yield, and the ordinances with their
bad provisions would be passed, but only after
considerable opposition and delay.
A third cause of delay in the Assembly was the
existence of two Boards. This caused delay both
by the longer time necessarily occupied in meas-
ures passing two Boards instead of only one and
also by the double chance of their being improperly
"held up." There is no possible reason for the ex-
istence of two houses of the Assembly in the pres-
ent system of government. In legislative bodies
where such division rightly exists it is for the pur-
pose of having one body act as a check or reviser
upon the measures originating jn the other. But
in this Assembly neither body has .the power to
originate, with some few exceptions relating to
matters for which some other form of check or re-
striction upon the power of the Assembly has been
or could have been easily established. In financial
measures, while each Board has the right of veto,
practically it has the power only to obstruct and
delay; indeed, it hardly has the power to avoid de-
laying and obstructing. And the net result of hav-
ing the two boards is to double the delay, and prin-
cipally in matters in which delay is seriously
harmful. To offset this evil there have been no
good results from the division.
Yet another cause of delav was that the members
37
of the jissembly could not obtain from the depart-
ments sufficient information to enable them to vote
intelligently on pending matters originating in the
departments. In some cases the departments de-
liberately withheld information, and depended up-
on time, part;^ pressure and patronage and public
clamor to force the members of the Assembly to
vote blindly in accordance with their dictations.
By the Charter it was provided that the heads of
departments might participate in the debates of
the Assembly, and it was probably intended that in
this way they should keep its members informed of
departmental measures. Of this privilege, how-
ever, thev seldom availed themselves. And it was
vain to have expected them to do so, for they are
far too busy to spare the time to keep track of the
proceedings and attend the rather lengthy meet-
ings of two legislative bodies. The bond issue ordi-
nances were frequently very important, sometimes
involving the expenditures of millions of dollars
each, and many members naturally delayed voting
upon them until they could get proper information
concerning them. And the place to acquire that
information unfortunately was not at the meet-
ings of the Assembly. The ordinances themselves
seldom disclosed their full purposes, and there
were no explanatory communications transmitted
with them from the departments to inform the
members why and w^herefore the particular ordi-
nances were reasonable and necessary. Thus, for
instance, a certain ordinance for the issue of bonds
for 1250,000, to pay for work on the Croton Aque-
duct. It required about six months' delay before
the Aldermen could learn specifically what it was
for, how much the contract for the whole work
38
called for, how much of the proposed issue was to
pay for indebtedness already accrued, how much
for future work, and why this particular sum was
reasonable and necessary. The departments and
boards practically took the position that this was
not the Assembly's business, and that the members
of the Assembly should rely upon the determination
of the departments as to amounts, etc. And the
members of the Assembly were severely blamed
for the delay that resulted because they refused to
do so. The Council was particularly censured be-
cause some of its members declined to vote for an
ordinance authorizing the issue of $2,000,000 of
bonds to repave streets until the Commissioner
of Highways should furnish some estimate of
the paving necessary and a statement of the
streets to be repaired. The Comptroller, the one
official of the city in whom the independent mem-
bers had confidence, was frequently at fault in this
respect. It was held by the courts that where bond
issues were to pay for debts already accrued, the
Assembly had no discretion as to their approval,
but was bound to pass them promptly. It was also
perfectly obvious that it was economical to do so
where the issue of bonds was necessary to pay the
debt. For the debt bore interest against the city
at the rate of 6 per cent., while the city's bonds
bore only about 3 per cent. There was no dispo-
sition on the part of the Assembly to delay such
measures, but the difficulty lay in distinguishing
them from ordinances to issue bonds for ordinary
purposes, such as for works not yet under way or
even authorized. It always seemed to me that had
the Comptroller taken the trouble to point out and
identify such ordinances they would have been
39
passed promptly. But he seldom, if ever, did so.
It therefore generally happened that only after
long personal investigations, which necessarily
caused delay, could the members of the Assembly
ascertain that the ordinances to issue bonds to pay
debts were actually for that purpose. And in sev-
eral cases definite information could not be ob-
tained for many months. Thus in the case of a
"bond issue" of $1,500,000, to pay for certain
Brooklyn water works that had been condemned,
over a year's debate and personal investigations
failed to reveal that fact conclusivelv ; for a certain
minority in opposition declared that the condem-
nation proceedings by which the works were ac-
quired were not yet terminated and that the pro-
posed bond issue was therefore improper. While
this minority may have been actuated by improper
motives, yet there were quite a number of disin-
terested members who could not ascertain the true
state of the facts for over a year. The trouble not
only in this case, but in general, was that the As-
sembly was acting apart from the departments and
out of communication with them, and totally in the
dark as to the matters before it. This state of af-
fairs the Assembly was unable to cure; but the de-
partments could have done so. And if we seek for
the reason why they deliberately placed the As-
sembly in this predicament we have not far to
look. For in the Assembly alone of all the effective
forces of the city's government was the minority
party at all represented. All the others were in
the exclusive possession of Tammany or its kindred
Brooklyn organization; (and this same condition
of monopoly would be true in any case under the
Charter, where one party had succeeded in elect-
ro
ing its candidates for Mayor, Comptroller and
President of the Council ) . It was, therefore "good
politics" for all the other departments to do every-
thing possible to keep the Assembly in the dark,
to break its power and to reduce it to public odium
and contempt, and thereby perhaps to lead to its
abolition. And to that end every force and power
of the City Government was directed, in spite of
the fact that such efforts incidentally hurt the ma-
jority members of the Assembly. But it was upon
the minority that the real hardship fell.
This complicated and impractical condition of
affairs in the Assembly naturally led to many
severe struggles and long deadlocks, from which
the people suffered. And one of these deadlocks
brought upon the Assembly a certain mandamus
proceeding which crushed its spirit, shattered the
last remnant of its power in financial matters, and
left it but the cash register of the Comptroller and
the ballot machine of the Corporation Counsel. It
came about in this way: There were "held up" in
the Council three important bond issues. One pro-
vided for $1,500,000 to v^J for the Brooklyn Water
Works, before mentioned, which had finally passed
the Aldermen. The second was for $2,000,000 to
provide a fund for renaving streets. And the
third was for $450,000 for work on a new
Hall of T?ecords, then beinsr built. The first had
back of it the earnest and finally the thoroughly
aroused surn>ort of the people of the locality inter-
ested, but the Brooklyn Democratic organization
was, for some reason, probably sinister, opposed to
it. Tammanv had lonjr simply acquiesced in this
opposition, but at lensrth, aroused by popular
clamor, and having no direct interest, had come to
41
the support of the measure. The Hall of Records
matter was but little understood among the mem-
bers, but there were ugly rumors current as to ir-
regularities in the contract for the work, and the
feeling was that the contractor should be forced to
sue, and that the Corporation Counsel should de-
fend the action in the courts, and thus test its mer-
its. But there were really no suflBicient grounds
specified by the opposing members upon which any
valid defense in such an action could have been
predicated. The paving bond matter had back
of it an intense popular demand for improved
streets. But some of the Brooklyn Councilmen
claimed the right to know what streets it was pro-
posed to repave, and demanded the estimates and
particulars on which the request for $2,000,000 was
based. The Commissioner of Streets and High-
ways declined to furnish this information, and
these Councilmen therefore opposed the ordinance.
For these separate reasons there were enough mem-
bers opposed to each ordinance to prevent the nec-
essary three-quarters vote for it in the Council,
and a long deadlock ensued. Throughout the de-
lay public clamor was directed against the Assem-
bly, because it was the apparent and proximate
cause of the delay in needed improvements. And
when finally the contractor engaged in building the
Hall of Records commenced proceedings for a man-
damus against the Assembly to compel it to author-
ize the issue of the bonds to pay him, that body was
in the depths of unpopularity. A mandamus is a
writ or order of the Court, which, when directed to
a public body, commands it to perform a minis-
terial or administrative act. It does not lie to com-
pel a legislative act. In these proceedings it was
42
therefore contended that the approval by the Assem-
bly of the issue of these bonds was a purely ministe-
rial act involving no discretion, for the reason that
the Legislature had long before authorized the con-
tract for the work and directed the city to issue
bonds to pay for it. And this contention was
doubtless correct ; but the members of the Assembly
did not know it, or even know that the issue of the
bonds had been .directed by the Legislature; and
when they did learn the latter fact they still thought
that as they were a legislative body the courts had
authority to compel them to vote on the ordinance
but not to vote affirmatively for it. Some, too, felt
that, as the Assembly is nominally given power to
investigate, they had the right to demand that this
contract be fully investigated, and that until this
was done they had the right to withhold payment.
The Court proceedings were begun by a notice, or
"order to show cause," as it is called, which was
served upon the Presidents of the Council and of
the Board of Aldermen. This order required them
to show cause — that is, to give reasons, if there
were any — to the court on a day named, why a man-
damus should not be granted against the two
Boards and their members. These officials turned
the notices over to the Corporation Counsel, pre-
suming, we may suppose, that he would do every-
thing necessary to protect the rights and interests
of his official clients. Instead, he appeared in court
through his deputy, consented to the issue of the
mandamus in the form and terms proposed by the
attorney for the contractor, and thereupon the
Court, as is usual and proper when the attorneys
for all the parties interested consent, without look-
ing into the merits of the case or the propriety of
43
the terms of the proposed mandamus, granted the
order and issued the mandamus. And thereupon
the Corporation Counsel took no steps to notify
the members of the Assembly, whose counsel he was
and in whose behalf he pretended to be acting, of
the existence of the writ, or to instruct them as to
their duties under the circumstances, but left them
to their own unaided judgment. The circumstances
attending the receipt of the writ by the Board of
Aldermen were rather dramatic. About ten min-
utes before it convened in its regular meeting the
writ was handed to the President, and immediately
upon the opening of the meeting it was read. This
was the first notice many of us had received of the
matter, and it was the first intimation we had that
the mandamus was directed to us personally, for
the ordinance in question was not before our Board
and many of us had never heard of it. And yet,
here, without a word of warning, was an order from
the Court, granted upon the apparent consent of
our attorney and upon affidavits stating that we
had refused and neglected and still refused to vote
for this strange ordinance — all untrue — and com-
manding us and each of us immediately to vote for
it and pass it. To say that we were surprised and
angry does not describe the situation, and in the
pandemonium that followed many harsh things
were said of the Corporation Counsel. But we
soon realized the ridiculous feature of the situa-
tion, that the mandamus directed us to perform an
impossibility. For we were ordered by it to pass
immediately a specific ordinance which was not
before us and which we could not originate. We
therefore referred the papers to the Department of
Finance, with the ren^ost that it transmit to us
44
the required ordinance; and upon the receipt of it
at our next meeting we promptly and unanimously
passed it, in obedience to the order of the Court.
And yet, during that necessary interval, our Coun-
sel and the press took the opportunity of accusing
us of being guilty of contempt of court! In the
Council, however, the matter was more serious.
They had the ordinance before them, and yet upon
the receipt of the Court's order many of the mem-
bers refused to vote for it, contending that the
Court could not order or compel such action by a
legislative body, and that the Court would not have
granted the order had the Corporation Counsel
properly presented their case. The latter conten-
tion was probably correct. Later some of those
who had voted against the ordinance changed their
votes, and it was passed; but a few still voted
against it. A motion was then made to punish
these recalcitrant members for contempt of court,
and the Corporation Counsel, through his depu-
ties, appeared as their attorney, and consented that
they be punished. Other attorneys employed by
them personally appeared in Court and demanded
the right to represent them and present their side
of the case, but the Corporation Counsel objected,
and his contention was sustained; for, under the
Charter, he is the sole attorney for all city officers.
The curious anomaly was thus presented of an at-
torney acting throughout a proceeding in entire
hostility to his clients, using all his efforts to lead
them into difficulties and contempt, urging their
punishment, and refusing to present their argu-
ments and extenuating circumstances to the atten-
tion of the Court. This proceeding disclosed the
hazardous and dependent position of the members
45
of the Assembly and all elective officers of the city
government. For they alone, of all citizens, are
exposed to the danger of having an attorney, in
whose selection they have had no voice, in whose
judgment and integrity they have no confidence,
and over whose actions they have no control, vested
with full and exclusive powers to represent them in
court and to bind them in every way, while they are
shut off from all other means of presenting to the
Court the facts and arguments upon which they
base their rights and pustify their actions. With
such power vested in him, the Corporation Coun-
sel can compel the Assembly to do anything.
During the years 1898-1899 there were but two
franchises granted. The Charter provides very
fully for the procedure in such grants requiring
long advertisement and public hearings before
committees of the Assembly, and the compensation
to be paid to the city for a franchise must be fixed
or approved by the Board of Estimate and Appor-
tionment. The franchises referred to were for
street railways; they had the general public ap-
proval and were unanimously passed by the As-
sembly.
There were only two important measures that
required a four-fifths vote that came up in the
Board of Aldermen during that time. They were
appropriations for celebrations. The first was a
proposed appropriation of $50,000 to celebrate the
anniversary of consolidation, under the name of
Charter Day. It passed the Board of Aldermen
after some opposition, but, it subsequently ap-
pearing that the subject was not considered a cause
for celebration, it got no further, and the matter
was allowed to drop. The other was the appropria-
te
tion of $175,000 for the celebration in honor of the
return of Admiral Dewey from Manila. The com-
mittee having charge of this celebration insisted
that the appropriations for it should be free from
all provisions as to public letting and other safe-
guards against misappropriation. I voted for both
of these measures, but the way in which the money
was expended for the Dewey celebration, in spite
of its great success, makes me sincerely regret that
I did so.
The first serious struggle in the Board of Alder-
men arose early over an ordinance to appoint a
commission to revise the Building Law, and it con-
tinued with ever increasing bitterness almost
throughout the life of the Board. The power to
enact a code of building ordinances is the greatest
legislative power that was granted to the Assem-
bly, and the majority lost no time in making use
of it. The building laws of the city consisted of
the Tenement House Law, which provides for fire-
proofing and ventilation in tenements, and which
was re-enacted in the Charter and cannot be modi-
fied by the Assembly, and the Building Law, which
could be amended or replaced by any ordinances
the Assembly might enact. The latter law was ad-
mittedly old and out of date, but there were two
diametrically opposite interests demanding differ-
ent tendencies in its amendment. On the one side
were the speculative builders, who objected to all
material restrictions upon the character of build-
ings, and who demanded a "practical'^ law. On
the other side were the architects and reformers
and generally all classes w^ho are opposed to flim-
sy, ill-ventilated and easily inflammable buildings.
Early in the session an ordinance came to the
47
Board of Aldermen after passing the Council which
provided for the appointment of a paid commission
to revise the building laws, to consist of the Com-
missioners of the Department of Buildings and
seven representatives of building trade interests
therein enumerated, to be appointed by the Presi-
dents of the two Boards of the Assembly. From the
very first it was evident that it had the strongest po-
litical influence behind it, and that nothing would
be spared to secure its passage. A combination
between the Brooklyn Democrats and the minority,
however, succeeded in "hanging it up" in commit-
tee. And the minority fought hard to amend it by
adding to the number of the proposed commission-
ers three architects to be nominated by certain ar-
chitectural societies, a civil engineer, a sanitary en-
gineer, two lawyers and the Fire Chief, and further
providing that the commissioners should serve
without compensation. All these efforts were,
however, in vain, for Tammany succeeded in forc-
ing through a substitute ordinance almost iden-
tical with the original, except that a representative
of the Corporation Counsel's ofifice was added and
the provision relating to the payment of the com-
missioners was omitted. But later this last pro-
vision was separately enacted. When in the course
of time the proposed code was reported it justified
the worst fears of the opponents of the commis-
sion. The principal changes it effected were to de-
fine apartment houses in such a way as to distin-
guish them from tenements and thereby to attempt
to take them out of the stricter rules of the tene-
ment laws ; to allow greater height in non-fireproof
buildings and greater laxity in regard to fireproof-
ing and ventilation in many classes of buildings
48
where strict provisions are necessary for the pres-
ervation of life and health. And some nine very
reasonable suggestions made to the Commission
by the Tenement House Committee of the Charity
Organization Society were ignored. In some re-
spects the building laws were made more strict,
but greater power to vary them was given to the
Commissioners and to the Board of Examiners.
Under the Charter there are three Commissioners
of the Department of Buildings, one having juris-
diction over Manhattan and the Bronx, another
over Brooklyn, and a third over Queens and Rich-
mond. In general, each must enforce the strict let-
ter of the law, but an appeal lies from their deci-
sions, in Brooklyn, Queens and Richmond to the
Board of Commissioners, and in Manhattan and
the Bronx to the Board of Examiners, and these
Boards, respectively, have the power to permit
variations from the strict terms of the law wher-
ever in their opinion some other method of con-
struction is equally good or more desirable. The
Board of Examiners is an old Board which existed
in the former government, and has been continued
by the Charter. It consists of the Commissioners
and the Fire Chief ex-ofi&cio and seven representa-
tives elected from six enumerated trade societies.
It has always been of doubtful repute, and has been
charged with laxity and favoritism. It is not
fairly representative, and some of the societies
represented are probably nothing more than "rot-
ten boroughs" maintained solely for the purpose of
securing representation in this Board. The pro-
posed code manifoldly increased the discretionary
powers of this Board and of the Commissioners,
and multiplied their opportunities for favoritism
49
and oppressive discrimination. Severe arraign-
ments of it were made at the public hearings that
were held by a Committee of the Council, but it
was promptly passed and signed by the Mayor. As
a result of the changes effected by it, an architect or
builder whose relations with Tammany Hall are
"satisfactory" is now subject to few practical re-
strictions as to the character and quality of his
building operations.
The next contest in the Board of Aldermen arose
over a series of "strike" ordinances aimed at the
elevated railroads. The Manhattan Railroad Com-
pany, which controls and operates these structures,
is probably the most unpopular corporation in the
city, and any measure directed against it is apt to
be popular. But these proposed ordinances were
too palpably blackmail. Public report stated at
the time that certain personages high up in Tam-
many Hall had tried to secure from the company
certain valuable concessions in the use of its struc-
tures and had been unsuccessful, and consequently
that they were seeking an opportunity to "get
even." And, as if to bear out this rumor, there
were introduced in the Board of Aldermen four
ordinances compelling the elevated railroad to
place iron drip pans under all their tracks, to en-
close the platforms of their stations, to run trains
on all the lines at all hours less than five minutes
apart, and to remove the cars stored on certain
third or central tracks, all within sixty days, under
very severe penalties. Some parts of these ordi-
nances were proper enough, but the time limit was
so short as to render performance practically im-
possible ; and several of them had no other possible
purpose than to mulct the railroad. The public
50
and the press quickly divined the true purposes of
these ordinances and supported the minority in its
opposition, with the result that they were buried
in committees and never resurrected.
The final struggle in the Board was between the
ruling powers favoring the Mayor's policy of build-
ing bridges between Manhattan and Long Island
and the opposition, led by the Comptroller, in favor
of tunnels. At the time this question came up for
consideration there was only one bridge — the pres-
ent Brooklyn Bridge — much overcrowded, with its
foot passages, driveways, trolley lines, and cable
and elevated railways, supplemented by some sev-
enteen ferries. There was also building the new
East River Bridge, between northern Brooklyn
(Greenpoint) and Broome street, in Manhattan.
The Mayor advocated two more bridges at a cost of
about $13,000,000 to $15,000,000 each, one from
upper Manhattan over Blackwell's Island to
Queens, and the other from lower Manhattan to
Brooklyn, just north of the present bridge. The
sums above mentioned, however, do not include the
price of the land that will be necessary for piers
and approaches, which will have to be acquired by
condemnation proceedings, and will cost many mil-
lion dollars more for each bridge. On the other
hand, the Comptroller argued that two tunnels
permitting two lines of rapid transit trains in each
could be built for a total cost of about $5,000,000.
The principal objection urged to the bridges was
their great expense. The taxes in Manhattan had
been increased nearly 40 per cent, by consolidation,
and yet here was a proposition to build a bridge into
Queens Borough that would almost exclusively
benefit that Borough, and yet would have to be paid
51
for by Manhattan in the proportion of almost
for every dollar paid by Queens; and it was urged
that a $3,000,000 tunnel would accomplish about
the same beneficial results. And the same objec-
tion applied, though in a lesser degree, to Brook-
lyn; and in addition it was urged that there was
already being built a new bridge to Brooklyn that
would answer for awhile, and, besides that, a bridge
could not reach south Brooklyn, which was the part
of that Borough which most seriously needed rapid
transit, while a tunnel could. It was also objected
to bridges in general that they would take a long
time to build; that they could not go to the places
that most required them, but would be governed
as to location by topographical requirements; that
their grades were unsuitable for trains; that they
lead to serious congestion around their termini,
and that the necessary condemnation of property
would give opportunities for favoritism and land
speculation. Tunnels, it was claimed, would avoid
all these objections; they could be quickly built,
they were so cheap comparatively that they could
be multiplied and so distributed as to avoid conges-
tion, they could lead to any place desired, and could
penetrate to the center of the Boroughs, their
grades would be more suitable for trains, and they
would require no laud, thereby avoiding condem-
nation proceedings. The objections to tunnels
were that they are underground, ill-ventilated
and purely experimental, if not impossible of con-
struction; that their cost is really an unknown
quantity, and that they would not provide road-
ways for teams and foot passengers. The matter
came up in the form of separate ordinances author-
izing contracts for the two bridges and of other
52
ordinances authorizing the issne of bonds to raise
the funds for preliminary expenditures. At first
the ordinance for the Queens bridge was defeated
by the minority with the aid of the Brooklyn Dem-
ocrats. But the latter, together with the Brooklyn
Republicans, could not muster up the courage to
vote against the Brooklyn bridge, the ordinances
for which were consequently passed. And, in re-
turn for the Queens Borough votes for that bridge,
some of the Brooklyn members swung over and
voted for the Queen's bridge. Thus, by a little
finessing and trading, the ordinances authorizing
both bridges were passed, but only in the last hours
of the last dav's session of the Board.
There was a good deal of trading of votes in this
Board. It was larsrelv due to the wav in which the
Charter had massed the control over local improve-
ments in the hands of several central bodies. Thus
it was often necessary to vote for an unnecessary
office or improvement in one or more, or perhaps
all the other Boroughs in order to secure a similar
improvement or office for one Borough where it was
absolutely necessary. And an Alderman who was
inclined to be independent but whose district need-
ed local imDrovements, was constantly obliged to
surrender his independence and buy the passage of
the measures providing for such improvements
through the Board of Public Improvements, the
Council and the Board of Aldermen by voting for
many obnoxious measures.
53
COMMITTEES, JOINT MEETINGS AND
LOCAL BOAEDS.
Committees. — The Board of Alderman and the
Council each have a large number of committees
corresponding generally to the city departments.
They are, however, altogether out of touch with
them. Almost the first act of the Board of Alder-
men was to instruct its Law Committee to wait
upon the Corporation Counsel and to procure his
opinion and advice on a certain question. That
Committee reported back that it had obeyed in-
structions, but had been treated with neglect, and
the opinion was not obtained in time to be of use.
The same condition existed, though to a lesser de-
gree, in regard to the relations between the other
committees and their corresponding departments.
The result was that their reports were seldom
based on any accurate information and were wor-
thy of but little reliance. Indeed, reference to a
committee was seldom resorted to for the purpose
of obtaining information, but rather to secure de-
lay for private investigation or for the purpose of
indirectly defeating the measure. Keferences were
sometimes made for the purpose of holding public
hearings. Such hearings occasionally resulted in a
compliance with the popular wishes, but if the
measures were so important as to arouse the in-
terest of the party organizations, the decisions of
54
Tammany Hall were reported, regardless of tte
merits of the matter as brotio:ht out at the heariD^s.
Public hearings also failed to work well where
the measures, though of general public bene-
fit, conflicted with the material interests of some
class; because in such cases the latter would at-
tend in a body, while the general public, less in-
terested, would be comparatively unrepresented.
!A.'nd on such occasions numbers counted more than
arguments. Some of the committees had a great
deal of work. The Finance Committee, for in-
stance, had from five to ten important measures a
week committed to it, and it worked diligently and
reported promptly. But the members of the com-
mittee could not possibly give the time to properly
investigate the matters referred to them. Their
reports, therefore, seldom communicated any ad-
ditional information to the other members, or in
any way explained complicated or uncertain ques-
tions and measures. Indeed, many of the reports
were signed without any meeting or investigation
by the committees, but were handed around for sig-
nature at the general meetings of the Board, and
were favorably signed upon the assurance of the
chairman or members interested that they were
"all right.'*
Joint Meetinffs. — The Municipal ^A^ssembly meets
formally in joint session of its two houses in eacK
year for two distinct purposes, first to fix the tax
rate and the taxes, and second to consider the an-
nual budsret. These meetings are presided over by
the President of the Council. In addition, the
members of the Assembly, exclusive of the President
of the Council, meet after each election as Boards
55
of Canvassers, to canvass the election returns of
the city.
On the first Monday of July in each year the As-
sembly meets and receives from the Department of
Taxes and Assessments rolls of the real and per-
sonal estates in the City of New York on January
1st, of the current year, together with a state-
ment of the assessed valuations of such estates for
that year, as compared with the year preceding.
The Comptroller has already at least four weeks
before this, as required by the Charter, transmit-
ted to the Assembly a statement setting forth the
amounts by law authorized to be raised by tax^s
in the year, which consists principally of the
amounts included in the last budget, together with
an estimate of all probable receipts by the city
from all its sources of revenue, excepting some of
the revenues of the sinking funds. The assessment
rolls being then in its possession, the Assembly
causes the final tax lists to be prepared upon them
as a basis, in accordance with the assessments and
the tax rate when adopted. The statements it re-
fers to its joint Committee on Finance. The Char-
ter provides that the Assembly must from the total
amount of the estimated expenditures deduct the
estimated revenue, and to the difference add such
sum not exceeding 3 per cent, thereof as in its
judgment may be necessary and proper to meet all
probable deficiencies, and authorize the resulting
amount to be raised by taxation. It must also
compute the rate at which the property assessed
must be taxed to raise the said amount. This work
is all done through the joint Committee on Fi-
nance, and it reports the proper ordinance to the
[Assembly. When the tax and assessment rolls are
completed they are delivered to the Collector of
Taxes with proper warrants authorizing the col-
lection of the taxes. The taxes are confirmed and
become a lien upon the property taxed on the date
of the passage by the Assembly of the ordinance
fixing them. But there is no date specified when
this must be done, except that the assessment rolls,
etc., must be delivered to the Collector of Taxes
on or before September 1st in each year. This al-
lows an opportunity for some juggling in case large
interests happen to be involved in pending sales of
real estate. For when a contract of sale is out-
standing with the title to be passed on a certain
subsequent date, if the tax be confirmed before that
date, it must be paid by the seller, but if later, by
the purchaser. If the amounts involved be large
it mav therefore be worth while to use "influence"
with the Assembly to hasten or delay the confirma-
tion. It was perhaps due to some such causes that
in 1898 the Assembly proceeded with great delib-
eration and did not confirm the taxes until August
23d, while in 1899 it proceeded hurriedly and con-
firmed them early in July. This duty of the As-
sembly is really ministerial, and should be trans-
ferred to some other bonrd.
Owing to the fact that the county charges for
each county are paid by taxation upon that countv
solelv, the fnx rate varies slightly in the different
counties within the city. In New York Countv in
1S99 it was 2.41 cents on the dollar of the asspssed
valuation, w"hioh, in the case of real estate, amou^tf^
to about f)f> per cent, of the real valuation. But
fhp' valuation of personal estate when found was
full, and therefore the tax rate on it amounted to
2.41 cents per dollar of its full value. Of course
all possible methods are resorted to to avoid this
57
onerous imposition, and but little personal prop-
erty can therefore be found to be taxed. The en-
tire assessed valuation of personal estate in New
York City therefore amounted to only |545,906,-
565.
The other annual joint meeting of the Municipal
Assembly is held for the purpose of considering
the budget. The general purposes of the budget
and the rules of procedure governing its adoption
have already been described. The Charter pro-
vides that the Board of Estimate and Apportion-
ment must annually between the first days of Oc-
tober and November, prepare the budget for the
next ensuing year. After it is made it must be
signed by all the members of that Board and sub-
mitted to the Assembly. When, early in Novem-
ber, 1898, the budget for 1899 was thus submitted
to the Assembly, there was but little criticism, and
it was approved immediately by a party vote of 64
to 15. But little attention was paid to this budget
at the time, either by the members of the Assem-
bly or by the public, although it amounted to |93,-
000,000, or an increase of about 125,000,000 over
the combined expenses of the various parts of the
city during the last year prior to consolidation.
This neglect was largely due to the facts that it
was then difficult if not impossible to obtain fig-
ures for accurate comparison, and that two of its
items of about ?7,000,000 and $3,000,000, respect-
ively, were apparently to meet deficiencies or ex-
traordinary expenses attendant upon consolida-
tion. There was, however, a resolution introduced
by a Brooklyn Democrat directing that the budget
be returned to the Board of Estimate and Appor-
tionment, with the request that it appropriate
?7,000,000 for much needed schoolhouses and sites
58
and that other items be reduced to that extent. But
when the budget for the next year was submitted,
although it amounted to but $90,000,000, a reduc-
tion of some $3,000,000 from that of the preceding
year, it was received by the minority in an entirely
different spirit. It was quickly perceived that the
reduction was apparent and not real, and that such
as it was it had been accomplished not by the omis-
sion of former extravagant items, but by the reduc-
tion of the amounts allowed for necessary current
repairs and maintenance. Even the Democrats
from the outlaying Boroughs sharply attacked it on
these grounds, making many damaging specifica-
tions in their charges. But they did not have the
courage to vote against it, and it was therefore ap-
proved by a party vote.
The following is a brief summary of the purposes
for which the money appropriated in the budget
for 1900 was to be used. The items are stated in
round numbers — indeed, are only roughly esti-
mated — for it is impossible to get the exact figures
from the present method of appropriations :
Payments on indebtedness f 19,600,000
Payments for State Taxes 7,900,000
Payments to State and City Charitable
Institutions and Libraries 3,400,000
Payments for supplies and repairs to
schools 2,400,000
Payments for miscellaneous purposes,
such as printing, supplies, con-
tract work, judgments, etc 13,100,000
Payments for salaries and wages, other
than for contract labor 44,300,000
Total $90,700,000
(True total $90,778,972)
The following is a summary of the Budget for
1900 as adopted :
The Mayor's Office: Salaries, etc $37,300
The Bureau of Licenses 9R.455
The Municipal Assembly 200.052
The Department of Finance: Salaries, etc 779,305
The Interest on City Debt, as follows:
6? On that of City of New York as constituted since
January 1st, 1898 $1,429,369
^; On that of City of New York as constituted prior to
January 1st, 1898 .5,181,925
Sr On that of iformer City of Brooklyn and Kinsrs County 2,772,.589
*" " " " " Corporations in Queens County. .. . 420,739
" " " Richmond County 128,139
r*'^ " certain disputed bonds, etc., principally of Queens
County ^161 ,483 10,094,097
The Interest on Stock to be issued within fiscal year 884,180
" " " Revenue Bonds for 1900 (estimated) 729.1fi6
Payments to Sinking: Funds 4,576,561
Installments payable 3,362,511
Rents 315,379
Borouffh Presidents: Salaries, etc i' 51.300
Law Department: Salaries, etc 399.758
Board of Public Improvempnts 239,500
Department of Highways, (n)
Central Administration: Salaries, etc $22,000
Borough of Manhattan 950,160
" " the Bronx 583,160
" " Brooklyn 379.338
" " Queens 199.300
" '" Richmond 117,886 2,251,844
Department of Sewers 803.173
" " Public Buildings, Lighting and Supplies.. 8,819.683
" " Water Supply 1,442,914
" "Parks 1,825.113
" " Public Charities 1,896.812
"Correction 762,775
'• " Health 1,055.515
" " Street Cleaning ,5,031.282
Police Department 11.992.508
Fire " 4,840.676
Department of Buildings 546.525
" Taxes and Assessments 335,450
" " Education 14,594.111
College of City of New York and Normal College 375,000
Coroners 165,150
Commissioners of Accounts 156,000
Civil Service Commission 76,000
Board of City Record, for printing, etc 460,200
Libraries (Public) 214,779
City Courts 966,050
Charitable Institutions in City 2,857,084
Miscellaneous 606,494
Total of City $79,201,764
To meet expenses of County of New York $8,391,332
" " " " " " Kinffs 2,613,663
" " " " " " Queens 436,039
" " " " " " Richmond 136,174 11.577,208
Total Budget (n^) $90,778,972
(n) The anpropriations for the majority of the departments are itemized by
Boroughs; but the Department, of Highways is alone itemized in this summary
t>y way of illustration.
(tia) The budget for 1901 exceeds $98,000,000.
60
('
3
it may be added in explanation of the last foiir
items that, while the counties still retain their cor-
porate entities and perform the usual functions of
county government, they are forbidden to incur in-
debtedness, and have no machinery to impose taxes
or otherwise raise their necessary revenue except
through the City Government. Each county main-
tains its own County Clerk, Sheriff, District At-
torney and Commissioner of Jurors, and in New
York and Kings Counties there are Registers of
Deeds. And each county is separately assessed and
taxed for its share of the State taxes.
Boards of Canvassers. — The members of the As-
sembly, with the exception of the President of the
Council, also meet annually as Boards of City and
County Canvassers. All of them form the Board
of City Canvassers, and those representing districts
within each county form the Board of County Can-
vassers for that county. The county canvass pro-
ceeds first. Each Assembly District is divided into
a convenient number of election districts, and in
each of them is a polling place. Immediately after
the balloting is over and the votes counted, the in-
spectors of election at each polling place make re-
turns or certificates showing the total number of
votes cast, the number rejected as void, the num-
ber counted though challenged and the number
counted for each candidate. The original returns
are transmitted to the County Clerk, and the Board
of County Canvassers takes up these returns one
by one, has the figures read off and the results care-
fully tabulated and added, and then announces and
certifies the result as to the votes cast for all can-
didates for offices except general city offices. The
duties of the canvassers are purely ministerial, and
61
they cannot go behind the returns or count the re-
jected ballots or reject and deduct the challenged
ballots, but only in the case of a manifest clerical
error on the face of the return they may call upon
the inspectors to correct it. The vote as cast for
the city officers elected at large they report to the
Board of City Canvassers, which tabulates the vote
so reported by the different boards of county can-
vassers, and announces and certifies the result in
the same way. Upon the result of the vote thus cer-
tified, the Board of Police Commissioners, unless
restrained by the courts pending a contest, issues
certificates of election to the successful candidates.
The above is of course only a general statement of
the procedure, which is rather complicated. In
New York County the canvass occupies from three
days to a week. The city canvass is a mere formal-
ity, and is based upon the returns from the county
canvasses. It occupies at the most a few hours.
During the years 1898 and 1899 the canvass was
delayed by the necessity of awaiting the returns of
the votes of the soldiers in Cuba and the Philip-
pines. The canvass proceeded as far as possible
and then adjourned until the return of the soldiers'
votes was received; their total was then quickly
added in and the results promptly announced.
The duties performed by these boards are en-
tirely ministerial and foreign to the functions of
a legislative body.
Local Boards. — Prior to consolidation there were
within the territory now included in the City of
New York a large number of corporate entities hav-
ing control over their local improvements. Loosely
enumerated, they were the former City and County
of New York; the territory embraced in the Twen-
62
ty-third and Twenty-fourth Wards of that city
(about half of what is now the Borough of the
Bronx), which had been given some separate con-
trol over its local improvements; Brooklyn and
Kings County; and Queens County, and included
in it the former towns of Long Island City, New-
town, Flushing, Jamaica and Hempstead. By the
Charter all control over their local improvements,
even over those payable by local assessments, was
taken away from these counties and municipali-
ties and vested in the Board of Public Improve-
ments and the Municipal Assembly. Thus there
was effected an unusual centralization of power in
matters peculiarly subject to local sentiment.
It was to offset or perhaps to disguise this effect
of the Charter that the Local Boards were created.
There are twenty-two of them, one in each of the
twenty-two Local Improvement Districts into
which the city is divided. They are divided by the
lines of the present Senate Districts, each of which
includes generally three assembly or aldermanic
districts. The Local Board for each district con-
sists of the Aldermen and Councilmen residing in
it and the President of the Borough ex-ofificio.
Their jurisdiction is confined to the district and
to those subjects and matters the cost of which is
in whole or in part a charge upon the people or
property of the districts or of a part of it. Where
an improvement covers more than one district the
boards of all the districts affected constitute the
local board for it. These boards may recommend
the opening, closing, extending, widening and pav-
ing of streets, the laying of sewers, sidewalks and
crosswalks, and the setting of lampposts and street
signs. They may also pass resolutions concerning
63
any form of nuisance in the district. They are also
given power to cause the flagging of sidewalks, the
fencing or digging down of vacant lots and the till-
ing in of sunken lots, subject to the approval of
the Board of Public Improvements. But the latter
Board has full power to do the same, with the ap-
proval of the Municipal Assembly and without the
approval of the local board.
It was attempted by the creation of these boards
to establish a method of initiation by the citizens
of a district or neighborhood of local improvements
of streets, sidewalks, crosswalks, etc. The proced-
ure provided is for the citizens to present a peti-
tion for the proposed improvement to the President
of the Borough, by whom it is submitted to the Lo-
cal Board, which may then hold one or more public
hearings, and after deliberation must approve or
disapprove of the proposed improvement. If it ap-
proves it must forward its resolution recommend-
ing the improvement to the Board of Public Im-
provements, which must — but will not — act upon it
promptly, and, if it in turn approves, cause the
work to be done. The expense of such improve-
ment, if payable by assessment, cannot be extended
beyond the limits of the local district within which
the improvement is situated. But nothing in all
the provisions relating to these boards in any way
limits the powers of the Board of Public Improve-
ments and the Assembly to go ahead and cause any
kind of work payable by local assessment or other-
wise without the approval and even against the
opposition of the Local Board.
After a year's trial this elaborate system broke
down, and for a very simple reason. The Board of
Public Improvements is essentially a centralized
64
board, composed largely of members appointed by
the Mayor, principally from the Borough of Man-
hattan, and nearly all belonging to one central po-
litical organization, and in them is vested all the
power of initiative; to the wishes of the people of
the outlying districts and to neighborhood senti-
ment generally they are absolutely indifferent, and
they therefore ignored the recommendations of the
Local Boards. After a year's operation of the sys-
tem all the Local Boards together had recommend-
ed to the Board of Public Improvements some 480
measures, of which that Board had acted upon only
16. It was therefore perfectly apparent that it was
useless to waste time in procuring favorable action
by the Local Boards, and the people learned to go
directly to the Board of Public Improvements and
to exert whatever influence they had upon it. If
nothing could be done with it directly, nothing
could be done indirectly through the Local Boards.
And in the same way the Board of Estimate and
Apportionment ignored the recommendations of
these Boards and of the Borough Presidents in
preparing the budgets, and though guilty of unlim-
ited extravagance in salaries, refused the necessary
funds for current repairs on streets and for other
similar necessities. And yet it was in these boards
that there were evinced suggestions of the most
favorable possibilities of local government. My
experience satisfies me beyond all doubt that in the
strengthening of these boards and the creation of
larger boards for the boroughs, with extensive pow-
ers, lies the only salvation of the city from its pres-
ent over-centralized government.
The very atmosphere of these boards differs from
that of the rest of the government, for in them the
wishes of the people seem to be sought after and to
65
govern. For instance, in the Local Board of which
I was a member there were six members — the Tam-
many President of the Borough, two Tammany
Councilmen and three Citizens'-Union Aldermen.
And yet in spite of this political division, we always
succeeded in coming to an unanimous conclusion in
all of about a hundred matters that came before us.
And this was not because we approved them as of
course, for we disapproved of as many proposed im-
provements as we recommended. And during the
first year, at least, we always acted with delibera-
tion and after public hearings. And yet in no sin-
gle instance did the Board of Public Improvements
act upon our recommendations. And the only re-
sult of our two years' work that I can recall was
the compliance of the Department of Highways
with our request that certain streets receive cur-
rent repairs.
The Local Boards have not even the power of
veto over improvements payable by assessments
upon their respective districts. And in several
cases improvements were located and carried out in
opposition to their protests. It would seem that
where a locality pays for an improvement its rep-
resentatives should have some control over it; but
the Charter has vested that power exclusively in the
central boards and beyond the influence of the peo-
ple of the neighborhood.
Under these circumstances the Local Board of
which I was a member, after holding weekly meet-
ings for about a year, gradually suspended its sit-
tings, and finally ceased to meet altogether. I am
informed, however, on reliable authority that later
experience has been more favorable, and that the
Local Boards have proved useful in an advisory
capacity.
66
OTHER ALDERMANIC DUTIES.
It must not be inferred from the foregoing de-
scriptions of the more important acts and duties
of the Municipal Assembly and its members that
such matters absorbed the larger portion of their
time and attention. A careful perusal of the pow-
ers granted to the Assembly will show that its jur-
isdiction was mainly confined by the Charter to
more petty matters, and it was therefore both nat-
ural and necessary that its principal time and at-
tention should have been devoted to them. It is
the onerous and disagreeable character of this petty
work that makes membership in the Assembly dis-
tasteful to men of education and ability, and tends
to lower its character.
Until the Charter went into effect the Aldermen
had exclusive control over permits for street pa-
rades and displays, for news, fruit, peanut and
similar stands, and for all building projections,
signs, awnings, horse-troughs, lampposts, etc., in
the streets beyond the building line, subject, how-
ever, to the Mayor's veto. And generally each Al-
derman was allowed to exercise exclusive control
over all such matters affecting his district only, and
his time and attention was largely devoted to them.
By the Charter the Councilmen were given joint
power with the Aldermen. This change has prac-
tically resulted in three Councilmen and one Alder-
67
man having joint control over such matters
in each aldermanic district. The Alderman
has a veto over the measures of the Coun-
cilmen through his power to defeat them in the
Board of Alderman; and the Oouncilmen have
like power over the Alderman's measures when
they come up in the Council. This division of re-
sponsibility causes many bad results, amongst
others frequent deadlocks between the two bodies
by which all permits in certain districts, however
necessary, pressing and proper, are either refused
or indefinitely delayed. The change from the
former system is unjust to the Aldermen. The
Councilmen are new and almost unknown officials,
and therefore all applications are made to the dis-
trict Alderman, and he is held responsible for all
improper permits. And yet he is often forced to
allow such permits to be granted in order to avoid
a deadlock. On the other hand the Councilmen
are not held accountable by the people and feel no
responsibility.
The applications for these permits in my dis-
trict were very numerous. The applicants were
mostly Italians of the poorest class who could
speak no English while I could speak no Italian.
They came to my residence at early morning and
late at night, and besieged my office at all hours of
the day ; and their presence at both places was dis-
agreeable in many ways. The great majority of
the applications had to be refused, although the
applicants were pressing in their demands, calling
again and again, and offering all sorts of appeals
to one's sympathies, bribes, threats, tears and hys-
terics to secure the necessary approval. The rea-
sons for refusing them so generally were that they
68
wanted permits for purposes forbidden by law, or
for locations where they would become nuisances
or work injustice. Thus many applications were
for fruit and peanut or similarly objectionable
stands upon quiet residence streets such as Madi-
son Avenue or crowded thoroughfares like Twenty-
third Street. And architects were constantly de-
manding permits for iron and glass awnings and
other building projections over the sidewalks.
The neighbors always objected to such encroach-
ments upon the highway, and on crowded streets
they were public nuisances. Yet it often took from
two to five interviews of about an hour each to
convince an architect that his application should
not be granted. And where one did approve an
application, especially in the case of a permit for
storm doors or for an advertising sign for a charit-
able entertainment, immediate action was often
necessary. And in order to avoid the three or four
weeks' delay which would result from having the
ordinance for the permit go through in the usual
course, great personal exertions on the part of the
Aldermen were necessary to pass it promptly
through the Board of Aldermen, and arrange in
advance with the Council and the Mayor or his
clerk to have it in turn promptly considered and
acted upon by them. And nearly every applica-
tion required a visit of inspection to the locality.
The amount of time devoted to such matters varied
according to the character of the district; in mine
it amounted to from four to ten hours a week, in-
cluding often the busiest hours of the day, and
this continued not for a few months only but
throughout the entire year. Some of the Alder-
men's power in such inn Iters may have been used
69
as patronage and even been made a source of a
small income; but generally it was considered a
grievous burden. It is true that each Alderman
fought bitterly any attempt of the Board as a
whole to interfere with such matters in his dis-
trict. This, however, does not demonstrate an im-
proper use of his power. For in the course of my
experience whenever the Board as a whole inter-
fered it was an abuse of its power exercised in
obedience to party pressure or other improper in-
fluences. Sometimes the Aldermen approved per-
mits where they should not have done so ; but over
such acts the Mayor by his veto exercised a salu-
tary restraint. These matters may seem too petty
to merit such lengthy discussion. But really they
are important, for they materially affect every
building that is erected in the city, and the peace
and comfort of every resident and householder.
And a system of government that makes their
proper administration difficult and dilatory as the
Charter does deserves the severest censure.
A large part of an Alderman's time is also occu-
pied in performing personal services and securing
"patronage" for his constituents. This is a long
established custom handed down from the earlier
days when the Board of Aldermen was a body of
dignity and power, and its members persons of in-
fluence and importance. The Board of Aldermen
did in fact occupy such a position at one time in
the city's history; and around the office of Alder-
men there still lingers in the eyes of the common
people some shadow of its old importance. The
Aldermen still appoint commissioners of deeds,
they can perform the marriage ceremony, and as
we have seen each Alderman has still some con-
70
trol over local permits within his district. The
Alderman is next to the Tammany Hall district
leader, supposed to be the principal comforter of
the afflicted and the aid of the undeserving unfor-
tunates within his district. To him come for relief
those seeking bail, many about-to-be-evicted ten-
ants and hundreds of applicants for railroad
passes. And all doubtful charitable organizations,
within his district, count on him as a certain sub-
scriber. His free tickets to places of amusement
are in great demand among a certain class of his
constituents. In return for the special permits
and privileges necessarily granted to them, race
tracks, baseball grounds, circuses, public balls
and large entertainments generally send free tick-
ets to all the Aldermen. Sometimes they were
voluntarily sent; sometimes they were asked for.
I know that I incurred some resentment because I
refused to demand tickets for such affairs in my
district. Particularly was this true in the case
of the Horse Show, for which I "put through" a
permit to build a temporary shed over the side-
walk, without any free tickets resulting. This
was during the first year of my term, and as the
season for the Horse Show approached the next
year, I heard rumors that "not a thing" would be
done to that resolution if I introduced it again.
Fortunately for me the Horse Show asked for no
renewal of the favor. The principal use of these
tickets was for "patronage" and the pressure upon
the Aldermen to procure them was very strong.
In addition to procuring the tickets the Aldermen
were expected to furnish messengers and postage
for their distribution.
In the same way passes on all railways enter-
71
ing the city were constantly asked for, and
were procurable. Probably in return for the
favors shown to the members of the Board of Alder-
men in this way by the railroads no legislation
inimical to them was ever passed. Any such
measures when introduced were promptly buried
in the railroad committee.
The only open struggle for patronage in the As-
sembly took place over the appropriation for the
celebration in honor of Admiral Dewey. There
was at first |150,000 appropriated for that purpose,
but later |25,000 additional was asked in order to
build stands along the line of the land parade.
The necessary votes in the Assembly to pass this
second appropriation were only obtained in return
for a promise by the committee having the celebra-
tion in charge to devote one of the proposed stands
to the use of the members of the Assembly and
their guests ; and it was apparently agreed that each
Alderman and Councilman should receive one hun-
dred tickets for distribution. It was arranged that
these tickets should be distributed among the mem-
bers of the Assembly by a committee at noon of the
day before the first day of the celebration. On at-
tending at the appointed time and place we found
that the tickets had been distributed to the more
favored the day before and that those that remained
were "short" in number. High words and angry
controversies followed, and some of the Aldermen
got no tickets at all. I secured about ninety, which
I distributed as well as I could among about three
hundred applicants in my district.
When an Alderman performs a marriage cere-
mony, it generally takes place at the City Hall,
though he may be importuned to tie the knot at all
72
convenient hours and places. Down in the musty
vaults of its cellar is a large room called the "Mar-
riage Bureau," presided over by two rather sporty
gentlemen nicknamed Cupid and Psyche. To them
application is made by the couples wishing to be
married, and they seek out the minister. If the
bride and groom are persons of importance the
Mayor's aid is invoked; otherwise they hunt up a
stray Alderman. If the parties are "nice people"
the ceremony is performed in some suitable com-
mittee room ; but if they are only "dagoes" the cel-
lar room is deemed good enough for them. The
Alderman, somewhat embarrassed if he be a novice,
faces the happy pair, who are generally supported
by an interpreter, and reads the Episcopal service
in English. Sometimes the proceedings are as fol-
lows: The Alderman asks the couple: "Do you or
either of you know any just cause or impediment
why you should not be joined together in matri-
mony?" Thereupon they both, promptly and be-
fore the interpreter can intervene, nod vigorously,
say, "Yes! yes!" and smile joyously. Then comes
a pause while the interpreter straightens things
out. Then turning to the groom the officiating
Alderman asks him, "Joachimo, do you take For-
tunita to be your wedded wife?" etc. And
Joachimo, warned by his previous mistake, re-
sponds, "No!" in a firm voice, while Fortunita
beams her approval. But as in a melodrama it all
comes out right in the end. The power to per-
form the marriage ceremony is but an incident of
the office handed down from former days, and is
neither much of a burden nor a source of abuse.
But it is not in accord with the cjeneral character
of the office and should bo abolished.
73
EFFECTS OF CONSOLIDATION.
What are the general effects of consolidation? is
a question that is frequently asked. It is often
the purpose of such enquiries to question the wis-
dom of the act of consolidation itself; but the pre-
vailing opinion undoubtedly is that all the terri-
tory now embraced within the city should sooner
or later have been united under one government,
and that the only open question is whether it would
not have been better to have effected the union by
a gradual assimilation of the parts, and to have
left some residuum of control over local affairs
within those parts. But to the question, What are
the effects of consolidation, as it has actually taken
place under the Charter? the answer may be given
in indisputable facts and figures.
Its principal effects have been : the taking away
from subordinate parts of the city their former
control over their local affairs and improve-
ments; a complete wreck of minor governmental
functions; an expensive overcentralization of ad-
ministrative functions; a ruinous extravagance;
and the strengthening of the political organization
in control of the city. Against these evil effects is
to be offset a certain larger measure of home rule
in the city at large. But this is not an undiluted
blessing, for its government is not of a character
to administer such powers wisely, and as the State
74
Legislature still continues to exercise its powers
in the matters so delegated to the city the result
is that the openings to the city's purse have been
doubled. Many place the blame for evil results
upon Tammany Hall, the ruling party. But no one
who is acquainted with the Kepublican "machine"
in the city can doubt that the result would have
been the same had that party been successful in the
last election. The Charter is therefore their real
cause.
It is difficult to estimate exactly how much more
the present city costs annually than did its parts
before they were united. But the expenses of all
those parts for 1897 did not exceed $68,000,000,
while as now consolidated their estimated expen-
ditures for 1900 exceeded |90,000,000.* Nor is this
increase of |22,000,000 accompanied by any im-
provement in administration, except possibly in
the Departments of Police, Fire and Education,
which account for about $7,000,000 of it. Espe-
cially is there no increase in repairs and current
improvements ; on the contrary they have been cut
down at least so far as they are paid for out of
current taxation. The main increase has been in
salaries and wages, for which — exclusive of contract
labor — the city now pays the enormous total of over
f44,300,000 a year.f For this increase of salaries
the Charter is both directly and indirectly respon-
sible; directly by its express multiplication of
offices, and by its raising the standard of salaries
in the other boroughs to correspond with the neces-
sarily expensive scale prevailing in Manhattan;
and indirectly by its destruction of many forces
* For 1901, they will be about $98,000,000.
t In 1901, it wHl be $50,000,000.
75
that have tended to promote economy. Where
formerly a department had an administrative
office in what is now a borough, it has
been continued with practically the same or
an increased salaried force. In no single instance
has there been an economical change, or even an
opportunity for such a change under the Charter,
Departments have been multiplied, thus creating
many new offices. And where formerly in some of
the boroughs there was no department correspond-
ing to that in Manhattan, because unnecessary and
inappropriate, a new office of such department has
been established in each of such boroughs, in order
to extend the uniform system throughout. And
over these borough offices the Charter has estab-
lished an entirely new central office for each de-
partment and its commissioner or Board of Com-
missioners, with its army of clerks and assistants.
And in the case of the six departments included in
the Board of Public Improvements, it has estab-
lished over them yet another central office entitled
by that name, and costing the city over $239,000
a year for salaries. Thus by the Charter salaries
are piled upon salaries, and red tape is wound
around red tape. The total increase of salaries and
wages — outside of the three departments above
named, in which it may be argued to have been bene-
ficial—is about $16,000,000. Of this increase but
little if any, is really necessary, or in any way
justifiable; while nearly $7,000,000 of it is abso-
lutely wasted because paid to officials who render
no beneficial services to the city.
During the year 1900 the present administration
will have probably disbursed nearly $140,000,000.
It has planned to issue bonds for $50,000,000 (iu
76
addition to bonds for |35,000,000 for the Kapid
Transit Tunnel, which will be disbursed by a special
commission and during many years). Adding this
sum of 150,000,000 to the amount of the budget,
the total is |140,000,000. This is almost three
times as much as the expenses of the State govern-
ment. And over the expenditure of this enormous
sum the commissioners of the departments have
almost unchecked control; and over about sixty
million dollars of it that little clique of irremov-
able appointive officers composing the majority of
the Board of Public Improvements have absolute
control. It would almost seem as if the Charter
had been drawn with the purpose of placing the
greatest amount of money in the most irresponsible
hands.
The Board of Public Improvements is "the nigger
in the woodpile." It has the legislative initiative
in and the administrative control over all great
public improvements ; it has the disbursement of all
moneys expended for them; and it or rather its
members have the appointment and control over
all the employees and officials engaged upon them.
And yet in the choice of the commissioners who
form the majority of that board the people have
no direct voice. And within a short time after ap-
pointing them the Mayor has practically no power
over them and no responsibility for them. And
therefore they feel no responsibility to him or to
the people. They have been really selected for
their positions by the "boss," and have been mainly
chosen from among the Tammany Hall district
leaders. Their allegiance is, therefore, to the boss
and to their district organizations; and for their
benefit, and as they may direct these officials use
77
their public powers. They are not qualified for the
positions they fill ; and their time, interest and at-
tention is mainly devoted to the petty local politics
of their districts. And while they are all men of
considerable ability, their ability is generally of
the kind which finds its use in carrying primaries,
packing conventions, and evading the election laws.
Where the commissionerships have not been given
to district leaders, they have been bestowed upon
other leading men in Tammany Hall, upon per-
sonal friends of the boss or upon the leaders of the
Brooklyn Democratic organization. From such
sources exclusively are recruited the men who fill
the higher appointive positions in the city govern-
ment, and control the Board of Public Improve-
ments. Nor would it be otherwise should the Ke-
publican party win a partisan victory. For its or-
ganization, in the County of New York at least, is
essentially similar in its character and methods to
Tammany.
The appointive officials in the City Government
have the appointment of thousands of office hold-
ers, and the disbursement of approximately $130,-
000,000 annually. And they are using their power
with tremendous effect for political purposes.
Perhaps this charge should not be made against the
Departments of Police, Fire and Education, as
those departments are supposed to be "out of
politics.'' Unfortunately, however, it is known
that the police are instruments to levy and collect
thousands of dollars in blackmail from the law-
breaking classes for the party in power; and that
political influence is potent within the Departments
of Fire and Education.
The $50,000,000 to be raised by bond issues, and
78
to be paid out for contract work, is a very valuable
asset to the party in power. Not only is there the
chance for favoritism, and even for fraudulent
profits in the awarding of contracts, but
there is also a well defined percentage of the
money disbursed upon them, that is paid to the
organization by the contractors in the shape of
"voluntary" contributions to its campaign fund;
and the district leaders have the appointment of
all the unskilled laborers employed upon the work.
But the salaries in the departments other than
those last referred to are the mainstay of the
organization. The recipients are the appointees
of the commissioners, and the offices are dis-
tributed among the districts, and dealt out without
regard to fitness, according to the value of the
political services rendered, and the loyalty dis-
played to the boss or district leader. And all these
place holders besides demonstrating their gratitude
by increased labor and loyalty, must also contribute
large assessments out of their salaries into the
funds of the organization. As stated above there
is an aggregate of about |7,000,000, which is spent
in entirely useless salaries. This amount is really
used to pay workers for Tammany. All the heads
of departments, deputies for the larger boroughs,
heads of bureaus and chief clerks have besides their
regular office force certain "confidentiaF^ clerks,
stenographers and messengers, who are really used
as their aides and assistants in their political work.
And many of the heads of departments do not per-
form the duties of their offices themselves to any
great extent, but have special deputies who do their
work while they devote practically all their time
to their political labors. And there are besides
79
thousands of other office-holders who do not work
more than three or four hours a week for the city,
and who spend the rest of their time in political
employments. The services rendered at the prima-
ries and elections by these men arci very important,
and count for a great deal in results. And more-
over the assessments that they can afford to pay
are very large.
The total result of all machinery, money and
influences thus controlled by Tammany Hall in a
fairly contested election is estimated by those com-
petent to judge as high as 60,000 votes. A ma-
jority of one, or as happened at the last election,
a mere plurality can thus under the Charter confer
an enormous power upon the successful party, and
give it such a hold upon the city that only a political
resolution can overthrow it; and it also gives to
the successful machine in the city an influence in
the political affairs of its party in the State, far
in excess of what it is entitled to by its vote or its
general merits. No such tremendous opportuni-
ties inured to the dominant party in the former and
smaller city. This is an effect of consolidation
under the Charter.
I will illustrate what I have called the wreck of
minor governmental functions effected by the Char-
ter by one practical instance. Every owner of
real estate must keep his sidewalk well paved and
in good repair. If he neglect to do so the Depart-
ment of Streets and Highways may serve a notice
upon him directing him to repave it. And if he
fail to comply with that notice the city may have
it repaired at his expense. This situation is fre-
quently arising, for property owners constantly
allow carriageways over their sidewalks into
80
stables, yards or excavations to get into such a bad
condition as to become a nuisance to the neigh-
bors. And the latter are constantly seeking their
remedy. Formerly it was brief and simple. Now
under the Charter it is mysterious and lengthy.
Under certain circumstances it requires an ordi-
nance which must be approved by the Board of
Public Improvements and the Board of Estimate
and Apportionment, be passed by the Council and
the Board of Aldermen and be approved by the
Mayor. And the Assembly will probably require
its approval by the Local Board. And being a
financial ordinance it is subject to the strict rules
of the Charter relating to such measures and to
the many consequent difficulties and delays. And
every time it is passed by any of these bodies, and
when it is approved by the Mayor, and every time
it comes up in each branch of the Assembly — and
it must come up at least twice in each, for it cannot
be passed at the meeting at which it is introduced,
— it must be printed in the City Record at the
city's expense. It will therefore take at least a
year's diligent lobbying to procure the passage of
such an ordinance. And it will cost the city from
|10 to |20 for printing. And all this cost and time
and trouble is necessary to effect what may be only
$10 worth of repaving.
The effect of the Charter in depriving the differ-
ent localities of control over their local affairs and
improvements has already been pointed out in the
foregoing description of the local boards. It con-
stitutes a most serious evil. Take for instance
Queens Borough, which is still largely open country
and very dependent upon and justly proud of its
system of fine turnpike roads. During the last two
81
years the centralized city government has appro-
priated for the maintenance of those highways only
about one-half of what was formerly found to be
absolutely necessary for that purpose, and they are
consequently fast falling into a ruinous condition.
And yet the taxes in that borough have not been
reduced, and the money expended in it is no less
than formerly. Now, however, instead of being
used for such useful purposes, it is being spent in
salaries to useless place holders. Had the people
of that locality some control over this matter such
a condition of affairs would not long continue.
But it is in the matter of local improvements, espe-
cially local improvements payable by local assess-
ments, that the results are most demoraliz-
ing. The Boroughs of the Bronx, Queens and
Richmond still contain large tracts of country
land, but throughout them, especially through-
cut the first two, the city is spreading
rapidly, and it is necessary for their proper de-
velopment that streets should be promptly laid out,
graded, paved and curbed and sewers and water
pipes laid. These works are paid for by local
assessments. Even in the former and smaller city
it was found that to leave such matters under the
control of the general city government and its de-
partments led to delay and non-compliance with the
wishes of the people of the locality most interested,
and which needed the majority of such improve-
ments, that was the territory embraced in the 23d
and 24:th Wards, now the Borough of the Bronx.
Consequently and as a result of agitation by the
people of that section a special board of commis-
sioners elected by them was given charge of their
local improvements, and the change was found
82
to be most beneficial and efficient. It was, there-
fore, in direct violation of the experience of the
past, that the Charter took the control of local
improvements in such outlying districts away
from their local authorities, and vested it in the
Board of Public Improvements, and in the general
body of the Municipal Assembly, and left not even
a right of veto to the elected representatives of the
locality interested. The necessity of the approval
by general boards of matters in which only the
localities have any interest gives the political or-
ganization in control of the city an additional hold
upon the localities, and a lever by which it can
coerce their representatives. Thus it often costs
a member of the Assembly three bad votes to pur-
chase the approval of a local improvement of press-
ing necessity, one to get it through the Board of
Public Improvements, and one to get it through
each house of the Assembly. The measures for
which his vote is thus bought may be ^^jobs" of the
worst kind against which he might have the in-
dependence to vote, did not the necessities of the
people he represents require his entire subservience
to the central powers controlling their local improve-
ments. But not even by the greatest subservience
can the local representatives procure the prompt
action that is often necessary in such matters,
for the procedure is necessarily slow and uncertain.
The President of the Borough of the Bronx, himself
a member of Tammany Hall, has declared that as a
result of the changes made by the Charter the prog-
ress of necessary improvements in his borough
was abruptly terminated by consolidation, and has
remained almost suspended ever since. And the
Presidents of Brooklyn, Queens and Richmond have
83
united in his condemnation of the Charter, and
have urgently demanded relief.
Although public criticism has been almost unani-
mously adverse, those who drew the Charter still
contend that it is reasonably satisfactory and de-
serving of further trial, that its apparent faults
are due to the maladministration of the present
government, and that all that it needs are slight
amendments from time to time as minor defects
are discovered. But public opinion demands more
radical action, and pursuant to an act of the last
Legislature the Governor has appointed a com-
mission to revise the Charter. To that Commis-
sion the people of the City of New York look for
relief from a grievous blunder.
Note. — This article was in the hands of the publishers
before the report of the Coin mission was published.
84
APPENDIX.
For the benefit of those who may desire a more
complete description of the city government the
following brief enumeration of the powers and
duties of the remaining departments, not described
in the foregoing pages, is added:
POLICE DEPARTMENT. This department is
governed by the Police Board, which consists of
four commissioners appointed by the Mayor for
terms of six years, and who receive salaries of
$5,000 a year each. This board is nominally bi-
partisan, it being provided by the Charter that no
more than two of the Commissioners when ap-
pointed shall belong to the same political party,
or be of the same political opinion in state and
national politics. They have control of the govern-
ment, administration, disposition and discipline of
the police force, and of the Bureau of Elections.
They have the power to appoint and remove sub-
ordinates, subject however to the Civil Service
law, and to the restriction that no policeman shall
be appointed who is over thirty years of age. They
are required to publish all applications for ap-
pointment. In case of promotions it is provided
that selections must be made from certain grades.
They are authorized to increase the number of
patrolmen, provided appropriations therefor are
85
made by the proper departments. Unless other-
wise provided by the Municipal Assembly on the
recommendation of the Police Board, it is pre-
scribed that the police force shall consist of a Chief
of Police, five Deputies, ten Inspectors, Captains
not to exceed one to each fifty patrolmen, ser-
geants, roundsmen, detective sergeants, surgeons,
etc., in prescribed numbers, and patrolmen to the
number of 6,382. A part of this force may be
organized into a Central Detective Bureau.
The Chief of Police is the chief executive officer
of the force, and is responsible for the execution of
all laws, and for the enforcement of the rules and
regulations of the department as adopted by the
Police Board. He can be removed only by the
Board. He assigns the officers and men to duty,
and has the power to transfer them from station
to station within the city ; and he has the power to
suspend them from duty pending the trial of
charges. All charges are tried by one or more
commissioners under rules to be prescribed by the
Board. The commissioners may issue subpoenas
and administer oaths, and may punish by repri-
mand, by forfeiting or withholding pay not to ex-
ceed thirty days, by suspension or by dismissal.
Policemen cannot receive gratuities without the
permission of the Board openly applied for: and
they cannot make political contributions.
The Police Board may offer rewards to in-
formers ; in case of emergency may appoint special
patrolmen without pay; it may appoint special
patrolmen employed by private parties or corpora-
tions, and may detail men to assist other depart-
ments. This department has jurisdiction over
lost and stolen property, to which subject several
86
provisions of the Charter relate. It also has charge
of the inspection of boilers and of the licensing of
public exhibitions, immigrant boarding houses,
hotel runners and similar matters. It is also its
duty to make and enforce rules and regulations as
to the navigable waters within the city.
There is a Police Pension Fund to which fund
are applied all fines from the police, and also the
fees received from certain licenses. Policemen
over fifty-five years of age, or who have served
twenty years or are disabled may be pensioned.
Pensions may also be given to widows and chil-
dren under certain conditions.
The Bureau of Elections is a separate bureau of
this department. It has control of elections
throughout the entire city, and has the care of the
records thereof. Its head is the Superintendent
of Elections, who is appointed by the Police Board.
This bureau does not canvass the votes, which dutv
is performed by the City and County Boards of
Canvassers. All the election officers, however, who
are present at the polling places, and have charge
of the registration of the voters, and of the count-
ing of the votes, are appointed by and are subject
to the control of this department, subject to the
general election law which it is its duty to carry
out and enforce, and which requires that these
officers shall be evenly divided between the two prin-
cipal parties.
FIKE DEPAKTMENT. The head of this de-
partment is the Fire Commissioner, who is ap-
pointed by the Mayor for a term of six years, and
receives a salary of |7,500 a year. This is a change
from the former system in which this department
87
was governed by a board ; and it is practically the
only instance in which those who drew the Charter
yielded to the general demand for single headed
commissions.
The Commissioner has one deputy for the Bor-
oughs of Brooklyn and Queens.
He may establish such bureaus as may be neces-
sary and convenient, of which, however, three are
prescribed. One is charged with the duty of pre-
venting and extinguishing fires, and protecting
property from water used at fires, whose head is the
Chief of Department. Another is charged with the
enforcement of the laws relating to the storage,
sale and use of combustibles, whose head is the
Inspector of Combustibles. The third investigates
the origin of fires, and its principal officers are the
Fire Marshals.
The Commissioner regulates the government and
discipline of the department, and fixes salaries, not
to exceed the appropriation therefor. Very full
powers are given to this department both in fight-
ing fires and in investigating the causes of fires.
There is a pension fund for firemen, and to provide
it special taxes are laid on insurance companies
doing business in the city. There are also some
very elaborate and stringent provisions relating to
the storage and sale of combustibles. They are all
old and are merely re-enacted ; some of them, how-
ever, are singularly inappropriate if not nonsensical
when applied to the farming lands of Richmond
and Queens, although they were very proper in the
densely populated Borough of Manhattan, as for
instance the law that 20 tons of hay cannot be
kept in a wooden barn. Such matters, or at least
the right to amend these regulations, should have
88 -
been left to the Municipal Assembly, and doubtless
would have been had the Charter Commissioners
had time to consider such minor questions.
THE DEPAETMENT OP TAXES AND AS-
SESSMENTS is presided over by the Board of
Taxes and Assessments, which consists of a Presi-
dent, appointed by the Mayor for six years, with a
salary of |8,000, and four other Commissioners,
also appointed by the Mayor for terms of four years,
and with salaries of |7,000 a year. They may ap-
point forty deputies to hold office at their pleasure,
and fix the amount of their salaries within the
appropriation therefor. The Board may have an
office in each Borough. It is their duty to assess
all taxable real and personal property in the city,
and to receive the taxes thereon. A full code is
contained in the Charter as to the method of as-
sessment, the confirmation of the assessment and
the fixing of the taxes by the Municipal Assembly,
and the record of the taxes and their collection.
Upon application made within proper time the
Board may reduce or remit an assessment; and
upon apeal (certiorari is the technical term) there-
from the Courts may reduce or vacate an assess-
ment for fraud or substantial error, but not for
technical irregularities. The Charter omits to give
any list of property or classes of property exempt
from taxation, for which therefore reference must
be had to the Consolidation Act and many other
statutes.
The Receiver of Taxes is the official of this de-
partment to whom taxes are paid. He daily ac-
counts for and pays over all moneys received to
the Chamberlain.
89
All taxes, assessments and water rates are a lien
upon the land affected, which may be sold to pay
them. The Charter contains a full code of proceed-
ings for that purpose ; and also certain appropriate
provisions for enforcing the personal property
taxes.
There is also in this department a Board of As-
sessors, consisting of five assessors, receiving $3,000
a year each, whose duty it is to make all assess-
ments for local improvements, other than those
determined in court proceedings as hereafter de-
scribed. Such assessments can never exceed one-
half the value of the property. Assessments may
now be laid upon water front property for deepen-
ing the water. In the Boroughs of Manhattan and
the Bronx (the old City of New York), assess-
ments for repaving a street once paved can onlv
be laid with the consent of the majority of the
property owners, but the Charter is so vague that
it is impossible to say definitely what the law is
in that respect in the other boroughs. Where
property is built upon, damages may be awarded
to it for changing the grade of a neighboring street.
Appeals from this Board are to the Board of Re-
vision of Assessments, which consists of the Comp-
troller, the Corporation Counsel and the President
of the Board of Public Improvements.
The city is authorized to acquire for the use of
the public the ownership of lands for streets, for
Darks and approaches, and for approaches to
bridges and tunnels, and of land under water for
bridges and tunnels. "The Board of Public Im-
provements is authorized to direct the same to be
done, whenever and as often as it shall deem it
for the public interests so to do." This power is
90
new and is a very large addition to the power of
the City Government. A full code prescribing the
Court proceedings for that purpose is contained in
the Charter. The method is by the appointment
by the Court of three Commissioners, who examine
into the subject, hear evidence and report awards
for the value of the property taken and for damages
for the property injured, and assessments for the
value of the benefit to the neighboring property
favorably affected. This report is subject to the
confirmation of the Supreme Court.
THE DEPAKTMENT OP PARKS is governed
by the Park Board, consisting of three Commission-
ers, appointed by the Mayor for terms of six years,
one for the Boroughs of Manhattan and Eichmond,
one for the Bronx, and one for Brooklvn and
Queens. One is designated by the Mayor as the
President and they each receive a salary of $5,000
a year. They have charge of the government and
regulation of all parks, public places and places
for museums, gardens, etc. ; for which purposes
the Charter provides that the city may receive gifts
and grants of lands and money. There are special
provisions relating to certain libraries and gardens.
The Board appoints a landscape architect and all
subordinates and fixes their salaries within the ap-
propriation therefor. It is provided, however, that
no work of art shall become the property of the city,
or be located in any public place, and that no work
of art at present belonging to the city shall be re-
moved, relocated or altered without the approval
of the Municipal Art Commission. This body con-
sists of the Mayor ; the President of the Metropol-
itan Museum of Art ; the President of the Brooklyn
91
Institute of Arts and Sciences; one painter, one
sculptor, one architect and three laymen, to be
selected by the Mayor from a list of not less than
three times the number to be appointed, proposed
by the Fine Art Federation. The members of this
body serve without pay.
THE DEPARTMENT OF DOCKS AND
FEERIES is presided over by the Board of Docks,
composed of three Commissioners appointed by the
Mayor for terms of six years. They elect their
own President from among their number and he re-
ceives a salary of $6,000 a year, and the others
$5,000 a year."^
The chapter of the Charter relating to this de-
partment is in a very confused condition and con-
tains principally extracts from and references to
previously existing laws ; in general it may be said
that this Board succeeds merely to the powers of
the various former Boards in the different
Boroughs. They have charge of all wharf property
belonging to the city and have the exclusive govern-
ment and regulation of all wharves, docks and
marginal streets in the city. They also have charge
of ferries, subject in certain particulars to the ap-
proval of the Commissioners of the Sinking Fund ;
and it is also their duty to sound and survey the
water front when necessary.
There is already a plan of docks for a large part
of the city established by act of the Legislature,
but this may be altered by the Dock Board in cer-
tain particulars with the consent of the Commis-
sioners of the Sinking Fund. They cannot, how-
ever, change the exterior line of piers and bulk-
heads where the same is established by statute.
92
They may purchase private wharf property or con-
demn it in the method used in acquiring street
property. They may lease doclvs, regulate the
charges for public docks and set aside certain
wharf property for the sole use of special kinds of
commerce, and may set aside certain piers for public
recreation or for the use of the Street Cleaning De-
partment or the Board of Health.
They may make leases of ferry franchises to the
highest bidders for not longer than ten years with
the approval of the Commissioners of the Sinking
Fund.
There is a schedule of rates for wharfage in-
cluded in the Charter which "it shall be lawful to
charge.'^ Dock-masters, who are officers created
under previously existing laws, are continued, but
for their number and duties reference must be made
to those laws. They are, however, expressly given
by the Charter certain powers to assign and regu-
late the position of vessels at docks. This chapter
of the Charter contains quite a number of special
provisions not necessary to mention.
THE DEPARTMENT OF BUILDINGS is
governed by the Board of Buildings, which consists
of three Commissioners appointed by the Mayor
for terms of six years; one for Manhattan and the
Bronx, and one for Brooklyn, who receive |7,000
a year each, and one for Queens and Richmond,
who receives |3,500 a year. They must be archi-
tects or builders of at least ten years' experience.
One of them is designated as President by the
Mayor. It is their duty to enforce the building
laws of the city, and probably also to enforce so
much of the Tenement House Laws as relate to
93
tenement buildings. Each has jurisdiction within
his respective Borough or Boroughs. An appeal,
however, lies from the decision of a single Commis-
sioner to the Board of Commissioners, except in the
Boroughs of Manhattan and The Bronx, where the
appeal by special act of the Legislature must be
to a Board of Examiners consisting of certain ex-
perts specified by statute. The appeal must be
taken within ten days after the entry of a decision
of the Commissioner. However, the Commissioner
is not limited as to the time in which he must de-
cide and he need give no notice of his decision.
The Board of Examiners in Manhattan and the
Bronx have very broad powers to vary or modify
any rule of the Board or any law upon written ap-
plication ^'where difficulties occur in carrying out
the strict letter of the law, so that the spirit of the
law shall be observed and public safety secured
and substantial justice done.''
DEPAKTMENT OF PUBLIC CHARITIES.
This department has general charge over all hos-
pitals, asylums, almshouses, and similar institu-
tions belonging to the city, with a few exceptions,
and excepting also some similar institutions under
the Department of Correction and the Department
of Health. This department is governed by the
Board of Public Charities, consisting of three Com-
missioners appointed by the Mayor for terms of
six years, one for the Boroughs of Manhattan and
the Bronx, one for the Boroughs of Brooklyn and
Queens, and a third for Richmond. The two former
receive |7,500 a year and the third $2,500. One of
them is designated by the Mayor as President. They
each have the power to appoint and remove a deputy
94
at pleasure, and the Board of Estimate and Ap-
portionment and the Municipal Assembly may pro-
vide for further deputies. They have the power
to establish by majority vote rules and regulations
for their department. They determine whether
children in private institutions for whom the city
makes any payment have been received and retained
in accordance with the rules of the State Board of
Charities on that subject. They are in their re-
spective boroughs the overseers of the poor, and
must also make provision for the care of vagrant
and indigent persons. They succeed to all the
powers granted in their boroughs to indenture and
otherwise provide for indigent and destitute chil-
dren; and they may commit destitute children to
private institutions and must investigate all appli-
cations for commitment made to a city magistrate.
They distribute relief to the indigent blind, insti-
tute bastardy proceedings, compel the support of
poor persons by relatives, and compel the mainte-
nance of abandoned wives and children. Their
duties and powers vary slightly in the different
boroughs.
THE DEPAKTMENT OF CORRECTION is,
as formerly, presided over by a single Commis-
sioner, w^ho is appointed by the Mayor for a term
of six years and who receives a salary of $7,500 a
year. He must have his principal office in the
Borough of Manhattan, wath a branch office in
Brooklyn. He has the power to appoint and re-
move at will all necessary deputies, wardens, sub-
ordinate officers and assistants. All the city's in-
stitutions for the care and custody of criminals
and misdemeanants are under his charge and con-
95
trol. This does not include the county jails. The
only peculiar provision of the law as to this de-
partment is that which directs the Commissioner
to keep a record of all persons committed for in-
toxication and disorderly conduct, and which pro-
vides that if they are committed again for such a
cause within two years the Commissioner shall de-
tain them for a longer period, and that they must
be committed by the magistrate subject to this pro-
vision. It was in force several years before the
Charter, and is therefore not new. It has, however,
been declared unconstitutional by the courts.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION. There are
four Borough Boards of Education in this depart-
ment, one for the Boroughs of Manhattan and the
Bronx, consisting of twenty-one members, one for
Brooklyn, consisting of forty-five members, and one
each for Queens and Richmond, consisting of nine
members each. Each Board elects its own presi-
dent. The members of these Boards are ap-
pointed by the Mayor for terms of three years and
receive no salary. The head of this department is
the Board of Education of the City of New York,
which consists of nineteen members, composed of
the Presidents of the Borough Boards, and ten
delegates elected by the Borough Board of Manhat-
tan and the Bronx, and five by the Borough Board
of Brooklyn. They are elected for terms of one
year, and receive no salary. This board elects its
own president. It has the management of all the
funds of the department and enacts all general
rules and regulations. In general the central board
has charge of the physical conduct of all schools,
while the borough boards have charge of their edu-
96
cational conduct; but their jurisdictional bounda-
ries appear confused. The central board appoints
a Superintendent of Buildings with appropriate
duties; also the City Superintendent of Schools,
whose duty it is to visit and examine all schools;
it also appoints a Board of Examiners for teach-
ers ; and it has charge of the retirement fund. The
Borough Boards, or as they are otherwise called
the School Boards, fix the salaries of teachers, ap-
point principals and teachers, and change grades
in schools. This subject, however, has since been
to some extent regulated by special act of the Legis-
lature. They also divide their respective boroughs
into Inspection Districts, in each of which five
Inspectors, who are volunteer citizens, serving
without pay, are appointed by the Mayor to con-
stantly examine into the conduct of the schools,
and make recommendations and reports to their
Borough Board. Each Borough has a Superin-
tendent of Schools and a Board of Assistant Sup-
erintendents. They visit all schools and report
to the City Superintendent. They arrange rules
for the promotion of pupils and transfer of teach-
ers, and subject to the rules of the School Board,
they assign teachers. They also try teachers on
charges and recommend books, etc., to the School
Board. They are the active executive force in the
government of the schools.
In addition to the public schools of the city, the
College of the City of New York, the Normal Col-
lege and the Nautical School, are also under the
jurisdiction of the Board of Education.
THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH is adminis-
tered by the Bo^rd of Health, which consists of the
97
President of the Police Board, the Health Of&cer
of the Port (a State officer), and three Commis-
sioners, of whom two at least must be practicing
physicians. The Commissioner who is not a phy-
sician is the President of the Board. The Commis-
sioners are appointed by the Mayor for terms of
six years and receive salaries of |6,000 a year each.
There are two bureaus in this department, headed
respectively by the Sanitary Superintendent and
the Kegistrar of Records, the latter having one
deputy in each borough.
The powers of this department are very extensive.
All marriages, births and deaths must be recorded
with it, and physicians must at once report to it
all cases of contagious diseases. The Board may
also make rules as to reports to it by the Coroners.
It enacts and may amend at any time the sanitary
code, which has all the force of a city ordinance;
it may call on the police for assistance, and very
severe provisions are contained in the Charter for
the punishment of disobedience to its rules and
orders. The Charter also contains provisions for
proceedings by it to abate nuisances. The Board
may cause lands to be filled in at the expense of the
owners ; may destroy unsound articles of food ; and
where houses are infected or uninhabitable may
cause the same to be condemned by suit and de-
stroyed, and in certain aggravated cases when it
does so need only pay for the value of the materials
in the buildings. It is also the duty of this Board to
enforce the Tenement House Law, so-called, which
is a statute passed several years ago regulating the
building, use and inspection of tenement houses
in the city, and which is re-enacted in the Charter ;
but the Building Department doubtless has juris-
98
diction over the provisions relating to the build-
ing of such houses. The city is without power to
modify this law.
THE BUKEAU OF MUNICIPAL STATISTICS
is a new body consisting of a Chief of Bureau, ap-
pointed by the Mayor for a term of four years, with
a salary of |3,500, and not more than six Commis-
sioners appointed by the Mayor for terms of six
years, and who serve without pay. They are to
devise and carry out plans for the collection and
publication of such statistical data relating to the
city as they may deem advisable. The head of each
city department upon a request from the Commis-
sion made through and approved by the Mayor,
must transmit to the Commission such statistical
data relating to his department as it may call for.
The Commission ^^shalP' with the approval of the
Board of Estimate and Apportionment, publish
annually a volume to be known as the "Municipal
Statistics of the City of New York for the year " ;
and there are lengthy provisions as to what sta-
tistics shall be included in this publication. But
it is provided that the annual expenses of this
bureau shall not exceed $10,000, unless otherwise
provided by the Board of Estimate and Apportion-
ment and the Municipal Assembly. The sum of
$11,200 has been appropriated for this bureau for
the year 1900, $10,700 of which is for salaries. The
Commission has met to organize, but has done
nothing further and has published nothing. It
has no power, being entirely dependent upon the
Mayor and other Boards, and as now constituted
is useless. ' <■
There are three elaborate codes for the condemna-
tion of land included in the Charter. The first
governs proceedings for procuring land for reser-
voirs, and to protect the water supply ; the second,
for streets, parks, sewers, wharves, bridges and
tunnels; and the third, for all other purposes, in-
cluding school sites and public buildings. The
proceedings have been briefly described hereinbe-
fore, and they are very similar in all cases, the
only substantial difference being that in the second
class of proceedings assessments for benefit are
laid on the surrounding property, as well as awards
for damages for the property taken to which the
other two proceedings are confined. The framers
of the Charter made a mistake in not codifying the
rules for these proceedings into one code. It would
have avoided much redundancy, and a proper codi-
fication would have cured many inconsistencies
and avoided much confusion. And it has also been
a source of considerable regret among those fa-
miliar with the cumbersome and expensive system
of condemnation that has prevailed here for many
years that the opportunity was not taken to amend
and simplify the general method itself.
THE END.
OF THE
UNIVERSITY
OF .
100
I
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BERKELEY
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