The evening world. Newspaper, December 27, 1902, Page 2

“YEAR ‘THE WORLD: SATURDAY EVENING, DEC OF REFORM---WHAT THE HEADS OF PUBLIC — EMBER 27, 1902. DEPARTMENTS HAVE DONE TO IMPROVE NEW YORK. > Ho (Continued from First Page.) tion. but aiso a very marked increase in the primary separation. We have kept separate from the ashes 17,315 loads of garbage which were delivered to the New *} York Sanitary Utilization Company, thus rendering the ashes cleaner and ft for Wand filling. This is a very great step in the right direction In 190), in the Borough of Brooklyn, paper trucks were calculated at two *Aoads; in 1901, at three loads, and in 192 again at two loads. This explains the ie nt rise In the number of loads in 141 and subsequent decrease in 1! © © Those loads (wtth the exception of the garbage) have been hauled to priv. land dumps in the Borough of Brooklyn, Where Inst year the average price | cents per\cart load of a cubic yard and a half, and 60 cents per truck load ©. four cubic yards, it 1s now 10 cents per cartioad of one and one-half cuble yards, ) and 20 cents per truck load of four cubic yards, and in some cases free. FFICE OF COMPTROLLER. “Comptror'er Edward M. t said: “The Coinptroiler's oMce is run on a 6 “pericent, reduced amount cver last year. The collection of arrears of taxes and ents has been substantially larger than in any previous year. Business ods ha been appiled and insisted upon in the disbursements of the city moneys, jreat conveniece to the city x Bit and !ts public school-teachers has been effected in making payments of salaries prompt- ly by a method hitherto unknown in the department. We are pay-checks express, rending pay- the Heretofore rolls and schools by the principal of each school called for the pay-rolls and checks at this office at the loss to the city of some prin me eaca no delay and the checks on Ume. In paying jurors in Qu of distributing pay been changed to public teachers get ike manner we ens, The method ecks generally Now we send a pi master among the laborers while at work. I merly the laborers concen- trated in masses on pay-days and many hours in the course of a month were thereby lost to the city. For this lost time the city has always paid, f*We have culicted half a million dollars by notifying all dellnay arrears for jersonal taxes through the mails, thus saving the penal charges the marshalls for making such collections. ‘We protested aguinst certain specifications in the contracts for asphalt | ‘and secured injuan 5 In the courts against the letting of any contracts for @shphalt on the oll contract specifications, We w sustained and have pre- | soribed new epccifications with the result that to-day asphalt is being lald for} ‘one-third, and in some instances one-half less than the charges which the city | paid In previous yeara. | “Diftering from tho Rapid Transit Commission in giving vault privileges to tig Belmont subway people for annual payments of $25,000, we fixed on a five per cent. valuation of vault privileges per equare foot, which will result In more com- irate compensation to the city. We will seek to have the chanier amendad “fojeover this point tr the future. i +" Special attention has been paid to the handling of the city's real estate and to the development of a real estate bureau adequately equipped. ‘The city ts probably the ‘argest owner and largest buyer of real estate in the clty and we are working to systemize and perfect this branch of the city’s business. *The Mayor's attention has been called by this department to the gross in- paualities in the assvsement of real estate. The policy of observing the law of | “Sinsking the assessments equal has been adopted. The proposition for the reliet | + of the Sinking iund, if carried out, will reduce taxation one-tenth | MReform has beon effected in the cases of certain charitable institutions which | hav been-in receipt of moneys from the city. Bills contemplating changing the Maw fegarding the collection of taxes and certain needs in the law for the col- G leetion of taxes on assessments will be Introduced at the next session of the Lagisiature. 1 resiviod unsuccessfully in the Rapid Tranelt Commission, but suc- nts dn of ” Deckhands, Mechunics,stok- Kitehen and crn, gardeners and Inborers. Orderlies and | men, dining - room Hospital Helpers. men, orderite) ONE EVIDENCE OF REFORM—HOW EMPLOYEES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CHARITIES HAVE BEEN SPRUCED UP BY COMMISSIONER FOLKS. HOTS Br GYRON Hallmen, door- Clerks, super- Houne staf and watchmen, visors, mates and apothecaries, enginemen, Supertintend- ents, engineers, of wealth we Brooklyn citi rude even te nat ex yal taxe: naitdiity to the chy. It seemed to be blished a branch tn Brooklyn and we + to pay up. In street-opening proceedings we have es of streets. We had great success along that Ine. omy at home and have reduced the expenses of running ray pers this re ask them to pay. But we ¢ got many of the delinque actually acquires forty m We have also studied e this department DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. Rroatest 1,16, ceeurred f£ The year of 192 was welcomeiy cool, as President of the led and a lowered Board of ath ra Health, said: "There were eof over 3 points in the taira nding quarter‘of the vear 191 iths reported from sunstroke, rd with that of the previous year, Which was one of the hottest and most deadly recorted in the history of the de) ‘The next greatest decreaso wa the diarrhoeal cases; {74 t reported In doaths under resses antment among wer deaths 6 from thts Substantial ‘ were shown To all intents and purp2es | between east side. “A new public comfort siution was erected on Park and sewer bullt therefrom to Eighth avenue. for the build.ng of a new pavilion in Willlam H the Ninth Ward, has improved and other The laying of the corner-stone for tre Ne ting up and opening of the Museum of Ari In Central Park are events of moment crowded within the year. In the Borough of Richmond parks at Stapleton and Port Richmond have been greatly improved.” Eleventh and Twelfth avenues, and Williem HH. Seward, in the lower the North Meadow tn Centra! Sewarl Park. Hutson Park, in fetali wont carried ¢ w York Public Library and tho fit be FIRE DEPARTME! Fire Commiss!«) fluence from the F removed from the org that degree only “His offences AR ‘Chief Croker's removal lifts a baneful in- W thit both favori:ism and tyranny are te eflicleney and contentment will be inere: Sturgis says Dopartren niza n 1 | | | anown nay be Dl great A pudlic trust which per to ure city for the nd his friends, and Iast- perty deputy su- perin tendents, Arrangements have been madé sed tO | ghoe ! temper | the ORMER Mayor Robert A. Van Wyck, when seen at his home, No. 135 East Forty-sixth street, to-day by an Evening World reporter, said \that the only criticism he would care to make of the past year's work of the reform jadministration of the public affairs\of Greater New York would involve too much self-praises to be delicate or gracious. He said: “If I were to tell you a word of what I think of Mayor Low's administration I could not utter it without making odious comparisons that would inwolve self-praise. Neither could I criticise any of the work of the city depart- ments without praising the men who were the heads of those departments under me. The same:applies to the Police Department. It is my opiniun that the newspapers can keep these people in line better than any individual criticism.” THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY’S OFFICE. In the absence of Diatrict-Attorney Jerome at his country house in Lakeville, Conn.., Chief Clerk John A. Henneberry told of the achievements of tre District- Attorney's office since the reform administration took office. He said: When Judge Jerome took office on Jan, 1, 1903. there wexe more than nine hundred Indictments awalting action. ‘These covered the years\of 1897, 1898, 1899, remain undisnosed of. All of the 1897 190) and 100, Of these leas than fifty cases have been eliminated; but one !s left out of the 1899, eight of the 1900, and the balance of the fifty are of the 1901 cases, “On June 13, pending was 397, and after the summer it ran up to 700. At the close of tuainess to-day the total number in the office ts 420, less than half as many as there were a year ago. More than 5,00) new casas have como in; so you see we have dis- posed of There are seven police courts in this county to feed this office, and we have kept up with tho current work and caught up with half the off cases, This ts the lowest awsr- axe ever known in this county, and we have handled many long and troudte- some cases. “Lhe number of prisoners now in the Tombs charged to the Court of General Sessions 1s 14, and cf these sixty-two “eabraran? arr RACH Baran. are awalting the action of the Grand WILLIAM T. JEROME. Jury, Efghty-four are awaiting trial, These inchide about twenty homicide cas. and the Caristmas and day after Christmas arrests, “1 will venture to predict, and I believe I am conservative at prophecy, tha\ inside of four months we will be able to bring to trial every case within alx tthe time it comes in en an Indlotment is found under the practice of the courts If the acer is In prison he has forty-eight hours before going to trial. In every instance J cases are being put down for trial witain forty-elght hours and sometim + ume, The prison cases are being tried within «three days, except the defendant asks for delay. They are not kept walting. “We have a system of suipoena serving in which we divide the county tr! districts and hold one man personally responalble foreach district. This we fi a perverted view of the! a deterrent to the old negiect so longe practisedy’ Gs ceeled in ths courts, the effort to make the clty pay for the electrical condults S4n the Subway, Tais alone would have cont the city $1,125,000 | fg'We avs: passed favorably on the matters of new bridges, and great !mprove- SMente which will, when Anished, make history for the present administ all measte. fever and pulnonary ulosis, re having been raported 122 deaths from this lattes dreaded disease. 0X. > * seit-agsrandizoment and DEPARTMENT OF CHARITIES. c wwer which was so absor tng) Gomintestoner Homer Folks said: “Let the public judge for itself of the wi ae £0 lead him to prostitute all the pow! aca in my department within the year. On Jan, 1, 192, there was no hospital 2 | ant DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION. +Vhomas W. Hynes, Commissioner of Correction: + “We have made more radical changes for the betterment of the public penal | * fnetitutions in a year than has ever been done in four years under any other ad- > mjnigtration, whether Democratic or Republivan. Everybody under me, deputies, * wardens and keepers, had but one iden in mind, to do the @reatest good at! ‘the least possible cost - “And yet we have.spent something like $20,000 less than was expended by the former administration, Had tho Board of FE te granted the $40,000 that I wanted last year and for the coming year to build a steam-heating plant for the | Blackwell's Istand Penitentiary, the expenses would have been $20,000 greater than tinder the last administration. or new year, and second, to Improve the sanitary arrangements in all of the tnst tions, I have accomplished both objects. “In the prison we have 300 men, women and “trusties.” ‘They are all well fed and carefully cared for. The cells are clean and for the most part light H “Besides the City Prison, we have the Blackwell's Island Workhouse, the Pent. | tentiary, the Kings County Penitentiary, the Hart's Island Reformatory and the gix local prisons attached to police courts, Every one Is {n excellent condition. “On Hart's Island there are 10 boys getting an education instead of having to} associate mith the lowest claes of misdemeanants, drunkards of both exes, thieves and pickpockets. “Prior to my appointment Hart's Irland wer used as an old women's work- “house. ‘The Blackwell's Island institution was overcrowded, Now I have ent vhe| ‘oldest men and women from Blackwell's Istand there, so that the Penitentiary and ‘Workhouse are not overcrowded. There was plenty of room last summer when the census was bigger than ever before. There were 30 men and 300 women ‘there, but they were all comfortable and kept clean. | “We have also established a public school on Blackwell's Island, which is used | for the children of the warden and his keepers \ “The Miing in of Riker's Island is another thing of which I am proud. Two hundred prisoners in charge of the Warden and #!x keepers work on the refuse! every day, emptying ecow after scow. We have filled in fifteen acres, while four! years ago, when the work stopped, but six acres had been filled in. Some day tho| Asland will be used for a new penal Institution. u-! CORPORATION COUNSEL’S OFFICE. Corporation Counsel George R. Rives, who was apapaointed by Mayor Low and assumed office January 1, said: “think we have reason to be proud of Our work in this department. New branches Have been created in Queens, Brooklyn’ and Richmond. One branch office, which was conducted tn connec- tion with the Health Department, was abolished. That office was doing a lot of Health Department correspondence, “4 in abolishingg that brinch I decided the Health Department could look (after ies work while we attended to the “During the first eleven months we | 5 | have rendered 1,730 opinions on matters S bigi and little. At Albany we killed ©) Gs "bille, allowing none to become a law not satisfactory to the city ration. Y agree with Mayor that we can do our own legislating here. We both agree that home ean effectively be conducted in New to Dec, 1 there have been 145 ip city cases on appenl, of have won 116, beaten in Aty-five, with honors even In four. Out of five cases won on the aver- ‘the bast test of legal eMciency. have been 533 judgements GEORGE LDS. city in the past eleven months, as against 1,912 for the year before, edllected largely Increased sums of money as against collections of but my policy fs not to collect money so much as It ts to gee that pare obeyed for.the public comfort and convenience. We have doubled 4 for Health Department violations, chiefly in the milk adultera- @ Health people tell me that now there is no adulteration of milk ‘What in itself tells a story. bre thirty thouans rames on the books of this offce when I took hold AM AL ta% Grreass cases, Nothing—abdsolutely nothing—had been + “When J took office I started out first to finish the new City Prison before the |All food suppl | POLICE DEPARTMENT. | would have During the three-quarters of the pres- ent year, during which I have caref stuliel the reports, there were 514 less aths reported from pulmonary tuber in in the corresponding p previous year—teuly a gratifying At eable to a te nia, br bronehitis. In the and croup an {norease o recorded. Whe cough r r 52 deaths is shows an nerease of 122 deaths The aduiteration Joxely and diligently prosecuted, as well as At the instigation of thia department rhe Corporation Counsel has prosecuted a number of cases, and Mt ls safe to say that to-day there aduitemtion of this desirable food quantity than in many previous year Our vaccination bureau has been fully equipped and s of experie men, many ef then volunteers from the ranks of medical men, comprise ready to meet with any acy. T apprehend that the death-rate for t closing year will be less than of any previous year, taking Into consideration the grow:h of population This table is significant on that subject; emilk has been a co} ae tha 1901 Pam 18 18.69 Third Quarter . 18.06 22.04 Thus striking the average we will have a death rate for the Arst nine months Of 19.46 18 against for the corresponding period of last year, Usually tn the three Jat months of the year the death rate falls off. Tf this ebtains for the Test of the year we will have tn proportion @ reduce! rate of 20, or a small f Jon over, which will ostabdlisha record for any year's total. 7 have been introduced a number of ovations, chiefly the examination of the eyes of chiktren attending public schools and the Juvenile inmates of public Inetit ns. In this direction we have met with great results, and we omplish much more for the general good health of the greater | First Quarter Second Quarter John N. Partridge, who leaves Mulberry street next Wednesday, said: “The department has been rid of the “Old Guard'—tne men who regarded blackmail money as a police perquisite “Tho captains pt In the old “red light” distrtet their duty as a result thers 1 disorde: teenth street “T have Kept polities out of the partment almost completely, and ma no promotions at the instigation of p ticlans. All pr ns have made on merit a “Tr have the pension fund many thousands of dollars and the city a considerable sam by egénomiamg tn the different e bureaus” A friend of the Commissiqner eald: OF; aves the office no ri when he Into ft “He has appolnted fifteen Captains which at the old prive of $18,000 each would have netted $270,000, He has made sixty-one sergeants which, at 4,000 each yught In $24,00, The one fteen roundsmen he has old condit would 30,000, and the four ave been required to do house open south of Four- nd ts not do- H ‘ been saved hundred and promoted, un have willingly paid | hundred patrolmen, at $300 each, woul | have meartt $120,000, “These promotions foot up the > of $860,000, and the total could easily have the million mark i) e morale of the force has been Improved, Captains with an eye for blackmail have been obliged to act very cautlourly. Many have been afral take even the suggestion of a bribe. DEPARTMENT OF PARKS. Commirstoner of Parka William R. Willoox said. Nothlug that could be done |to make the ‘clty beautiful’ ts being lett undone by the present Park Commix- @oners. While it ix true that a great deat of the work now being carried on by of cases, are bad cases at the most, but we got after J Atrearages amounting up to Dec, 1 to $368,852, In S736 in all had been collected In personal tax ar- A friend asked mo the other day, ‘What ety hey ees 7m men the department was started In the last administration, a great deal has been Accomplished not qnly in completing untinished work, but in projecting new fresh-air spots inside thé greater, olty,, “The Commissioncr hah opened three new parks—namely, Thomas Jefferson, One Hundred and Lieventh to evenua and the Bast River; era of hts great nd “During the t his in cumbency he labored tahlish a pe} al following, to the siertflze of tho welfare of thi as a whole. ‘ honored, and red, wht! puntshed rvie: of his dl Friends we adherents and follow: (thers were remorseless!y tho: Who would net be su made to fe the welght | i apart for consumptives in the department, although there were 31 consumptt)y patients in Bellevue, Clty, Metropolitan and Almshouse Hospitals, of which (jj were distributed through wards occupied by other patients, while 163 were wards devoted to this disease, but In the same bulldings. That I was enabled men of the department) oyen a hosplial for consumptives alone in three buildings on Blackwall occupied by the Manhattan for the insane I consider to be a ent 612 have ba’ formorly improvement along the lines of reform, The total number of pati from the opening of the hospital to Dec. 1, 1902, !s 1,921, and of these Were | discharged, of which 340 were dectdedly improved. In the distribution of supplies the records of the department show that owl (ij to the Insufficiency of the appropriation for supplies the amounts of foot ac A “In past years ft has been the custom) supplied during the greater part of 1901 were much below the’ requirements at election time to assess members of the uniformed force for political pur- poses. This has been done away with. I notified the men that they would have my personal support If they refected at- iempts or demands for such exastion: and [ have Hved ap to my promises, nd in (portance to the removal of Croker I regard (ie ousting of Patrick I. Rvan from the position of Chief of Construction aad Repairs to Apparatus, An exxminatton of the books of repair shops dixclosed the existence ‘ons for Acceptance from contractors for use in the r work of the department apparatus and Imple- ments and for alioving overtime compensation to favored employees when no emery remured the sam ‘The reports further ehowed tat much privace work had been done for ex-Comalasioner John J. Seannel and ex-Chle¢ Edward P. Croker. “IT want to say rignt here that the principles laid down and carried o within the past year na sulted jn a general spirit of content and satisfaction throughout the unrformed force, and the firm conviction that the members are being fairly and honestly treatei without bias or favoritism now prevails. That Injustices have been done in the jasc la shown by the overlooking of many men directiy in the Lue o: promotion, and T ean show where any number of men who have Leen slighted by the late administration have now been promoted on merit alone, namely, vhtelly, Deputy Chief Cashman and Batallion Chiefs Clark and Gray. Since Jan, 1 the practice of falllng to promote these who were without political or other fnfuence has been done away with, and such will continue. “Informed by complaints from citizens and firemen stationed in theatres that certain managers were making it a practise ty crowd the aisless with camp stools and chairs, every effort has been made to enforce the law that there be no re- currence of the Brooklyn Dheatre tragedy of some years ago. “It Is the polloy of the present administration to enforce the placing of etandpipes In all old besiness and public bulldings, and in all new buildings 100 feet In hetght. DEPARTMENT OF GAS AND WATER. Commissioner of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity Robert Grier Monroe, says: “In the Water Supply Department an unusual number of contracts have been let for Imylng new mains and increasing the system of distribution, In the Borough of the Bronx, for example, more contracts for the laying of mains have been let in the past few months than {during the previous four years, | ‘New pumps are in process of con- struction which will beneflt the high service in Manhattan and effectively increase the supply. The entire water- sheds have been inspected and special | atention has been given to the sanitary conditions, ‘The revenues will show an increase which can only be compared to the aggregate Increases of many years. Z | "The fraudulent use of the city’s | water has been detected and stopped. | Provision for even a greater city is be- jing made. A commission Is Inveetigat- Thg to prevent waste and to find avail- able sources for a future supply. “The lighting of the city involves pay- t to the gas and electric ght com- j es of upward of $3,000,000 yearly, ‘The contracts for 19 contain many substantial modifloations over those of last year, and the depar:ment belleves that @ substantial improvement in street lighting will be shown, ‘The vae of electricity has increased out of all proportion to the growth of the population, and the department has had difficulty in maintaining a proper supervision of the great number of new installations. G. MONROE . “A matter of obvious public interest ts the placing underground of ajl elec. |basking of 890 Jewleb congregations and trical conductors, Steady has been made in thet regard in the of Mabhattan, In the Boro ot yn, the first effect: taken. sertamt tc By next May fourteen miles of th i the | i Gletary tables. It foilowed that our records show a substantial dnorease tm t amount of food stuffs was made. supplies of clothing and bedding were found to have Deen especially equate during «Mil of the institutions have been supplied with ample quantitles. A defictency in the supply of hospital furniture has: been m good, Among (he groatty needed articles provided are the following: “A clinical and pathological laboratory on Randall's Island, including bigh! grade microscopes, water sterifizers and an Instrument cabinet for the Hospital; dental chair for the City Hospital, and 200 chairs, which were stituted for stools without backs, for the use of patients in the same inetttution, Material wconomies have been effected in the distribution of supplies, vis,: It was found that bread had been cut in very thick slices, in many cases only @ emall pertion of the elices being eaten and the remainder thrawn away. By @ut- ting the bread in thin slices and serving as many slices as each patient wishes @ saving of 6,487 pounds of bread auring Juno was effected at the Almshouse alone. I colts this ax 4 xingle instance where past waste was improved upon at a saving to the greater city without any loss in substance to the inmates, “A neticeadle reform was the uniforming of employees of all the institutions in the department. The offsers and employees are divkled into eight grates, for each of wGch a dixtinetive uniform ds provided, and where employees reodive small salaries the expense of game is pald hy the tepartment. My idee ts that the uniforms will materially assist in maintaining a proper standard of discipline by making it easier to detect ary employee who is not doing his duty. Extensive repairs to buildings have been made. The’ first act of my @d- ministration was to bring about the inspection of afl of the municipal etructpres by the Fire Department authorities and the heads of the Bureau of Buildings, I¢ followed that many needed fire-escapes, additions, plumbing, and general repeita were ordered. “Tho bakery has been reorganised and the quality of the Sread tms:been. seny miaterfally improved. Heretofore bread has been bought by contract from an outside person for use of the officers of the institution, but so improved Bae ‘bocome the quality of the bread baked by the department ¢het it is now gre- ferred by the officers to that which they formerly got outelde. “Female nurses have replaced male nurses in all the wards of the Gity pital Sc riaicancs who neglect to support their wives have been fought more eys- tematically and vigorously then ever before. Within the last quarter the amount © collected for the support of wives amd children and aged garents was $28,000.20, as against $19,009.87 during the corresponding quarter of last yeur, being an 'a- crease of #$1-2 per cent, “The matmgement of the Morgue has been reorganized to prevent mistakes, whish have occurred In the past, dn the;delivery of bodies, and also to prevent ‘favoritism to certtin undertakers who have by collusion with employees subjected the relntives of patients dying in the clty hospitals to importunity, embarnasement, extortion and diatress, “Within the year three hospitals, located respectively at Coney Istand, Cum- perland street, Brooklyn, and Bradford street, in Hast New York, have been organized, equiyped and thrown open, At the Municipal Lodging-House. two Dri- vate rooms have been fitted up dn the wonan's dvparterent for special cases, and by an errangement with the managers of the New York Catholic Frotectory band concerts are provided for the inmates of the Alm#house during Jury and August, “Kighteen excursions upon the river were given during summer months to the children and mothers in the Randall's Island tstitutions, whion were an iano- vation “By foroing the work upon the Richmond County Poor Farm vegetables suf- ficient to supply a population of 3,000 will be produced next summer, As there are 7,140 inmates in city institutions very few vegetables will have to be purchased," BETH ISRAEL HOSPITAL FAIR Pecan Hig Entertalmment to Be Held at Madison Sauare Garden. conclude with a ball. ‘The annual fair of the Beth Israel] Tho hospital, which has just been Hospital wilt be held in Madison Square] completed, stands at Jefferson’ and Garden Saturday evening, Jan. 3. Gov.| Cherry streets. The $0,000 ts needed for Odell and Mayor Low will be among th? |{ts maintenance. ———_———— over than Thomas Q. Seabrooke and Miss Kitty Barry can. There will be ® ballet divertiscment by fifty dancing girls and the whote entertainment fs ¢o in pur: prominent men to ald the festival by At eee ee Funeral of Dr. their presence. It is xpected that $0,000 will bo rateed. ‘The hospital bas the! - oooh ay Temple, The remains of Dr. Temple, After the falr proper | ] ‘Wallace fs an