Volume III Part 32 (1/2)
Those relating to political matters required thirty days' residence in an election district; abolished property qualification, thus removing all distinction between white and coloured voters; fixed the pay of legislators at $1500 per year, without limiting the length of a session; changed the terms of governor and lieutenant-governor from two to three years, with salaries of $10,000 and $5,000, respectively; required two-thirds of all the members elected to each house to override the governor's veto; authorised the veto of individual items in an appropriation act; and prohibited extra compensation being paid to a ca.n.a.l contractor.]
CHAPTER XXV
RIVALRY OF TILDEN AND CONKLING
1875
If further evidence of Tilden's supremacy in his party were needed, the election of Francis Kernan to the United States Senate furnished it. It had been nearly thirty years since the Democrats of New York were represented in the Senate, and Tilden sent his staunchest supporter to take the place of Fenton.[1466] This fidelity disturbed the members of the Ca.n.a.l ring, who now anxiously awaited the development of the Governor's policy. The overthrow of the Tammany ring and the memory of Tweed's fate hung about them like the shadow of a great fear.
[Footnote 1466: The Republicans voted for ex-Governor Edwin D. Morgan, the vote standing: Kernan, 87; Morgan, 68; Hoffman, 1.]
Tilden did not strike at once. Treating the matter as he did the Tweed disclosures, he secretly studied the methods of the Ring, examined more than one hundred contracts, and employed a civil engineer to verify work paid for with that actually done. So severe was the strain of this labour that in February he suffered a cerebral attack nearly akin to paralysis.[1467] Of the character or purpose of his work no one had any intimation, and guilty men who obsequiously complimented him thought him weak and without the nerve to harm them. But on the 18th of March (1875) he thrilled the State and chilled the Ring with a special message to the Legislature, showing that for the five years ending September 30, 1874, millions had been wasted because of unnecessary repairs and corrupt contracts. Upon ten of these fraudulent contracts the State, it appeared, had paid more than a million and a half, while the proposals at contract prices called for less than half a million. This result, he said in substance, was brought about by a unique contrivance. The engineer designated the quant.i.ty and kinds of work to be done, and when these estimates were published by the commissioners, the favoured contractor, learning through collusion what materials would actually be required, bid absurdly low prices for some and unreasonably high rates for others.
After the contract was let, changes made in accordance with the previous secret understanding required only the higher priced materials. Thus the contractor secured the work without compet.i.tion or real public letting.[1468]
[Footnote 1467: Bigelow, _Life of Tilden_, Vol. 1, p. 285.]
[Footnote 1468: The Governor plainly ill.u.s.trated this device. The engineer having estimated the amount of work and materials, the bidders added their prices.
A bid as follows:
100 cubic yards of vertical wall, at $3 $ 300.00 3,855 cubic yards of slope wall, at $1.50 5,782.50 2,400 feet B.M. white oak, at $50 120.00 60,000 feet B.M. hemlock, at $15 900.00 ------------ Total estimate of A $ 7,102.50
B bid as follows:
100 cubic yards of vertical wall, at $6 $ 600.00 3,855 cubic yards of slope wall, at 30 cents 1,156.50 2,400 feet B.M. white oak, at $70 168.00 60,000 feet B.M. hemlock, at $3 180.00 ------------ Total estimate of B $ 2,104.50
B was given the contract as the lowest bidder, after which the work was changed as follows:
3,955 cubic yards of vertical wall, at $6 $ 23,730.00 62,400 feet B.M. white oak, at $70 4,368.00 ------------ Actually paid B by the State $ 28,098.00
On ten of these contracts, originally amounting to $424,735.90 the State paid $1,560,769.84.--Tilden's _Public Writings and Speeches_, Vol. 2, pp. 106-108.]
The Governor recommended various measures of reform, notably a new letting after any change in the proposals for bids. He also suggested an investigation of the frauds already perpetrated, and for this purpose the Senate confirmed a non-partisan commission,[1469] who quickly reported that the work of one contractor showed fraudulent estimates, false measurements, and a charge of $150,337.02 for excavations and embankments that were never made. Neither surveys nor estimates preceded the letting of the contract, while in every instance he appeared as the lowest bidder. Eleven additional reports made during the year showed that similar frauds were repeatedly practised by him and other contractors. In each case arrests, indictments, and suits for rest.i.tution promptly followed.[1470] It also appeared that the auditor of the ca.n.a.l department, a former Republican candidate for secretary of state, had made use of his office to speculate in ca.n.a.l drafts and certificates.
[Footnote 1469: This commission was composed of John Bigelow, Daniel Magone of Ogdensburg, Alexander E. Orr of Brooklyn, and John D. Van Buren of New York.]
[Footnote 1470: Indictments were found against the son of a State senator, a member of the board of ca.n.a.l appraisers, an ex-ca.n.a.l commissioner, two ex-superintendents of ca.n.a.ls and one division engineer, besides numerous subordinates and contractors.--See Bigelow's _Life of Tilden_, pp. 262-263; for names of the parties, see Appleton's _Cyclopaedia_, 1875, p. 558.]
The excitement over these revelations recalled the indignation following the Tweed disclosures. Every voter in every corner of the State knew of them. Furthermore, the arrests of contractors and officials along the line of the ca.n.a.l multiplied evidence of the Governor's courage. He spared no one. Of the princ.i.p.al officials and ex-officials indicted all save two were Democrats,[1471] but his administration knew no party and expressed no concern. Such creditable public service made a profound impression, and during a visit to the western part of the State in August, the people accorded him the attention given to a conqueror. From Albany to Buffalo crowds everywhere saluted him with bands of music and salvos of artillery, while his addresses, characterised by plainness of speech, deprecated a reactionary policy.
[Footnote 1471: Bigelow, _Life of Tilden_, Vol. 2, p. 263.]
These demonstrations alarmed Republican leaders. They appreciated that his adroitness and energy in acc.u.mulating proof of Tweed's guilt had fixed the attention of the country upon him as a presidential candidate, and that the a.s.sault on the ca.n.a.l spoilers made his pretensions more formidable. Moreover, they realised that their own failure to lead in ca.n.a.l reform in 1873, evidenced by ignoring Barlow and his incriminating disclosures, yielded Tilden a decided advantage of which he must be dispossessed. To accomplish this two ways opened to them. Regarding the ca.n.a.l scandal as not a party question they could heartily join him in the crusade, thus dividing whatever political capital might be made out of it; or they could disparage his effort and belittle his character as a reformer. The latter being the easier because the more tolerable, many Republican papers began charging him with insincerity, with trickery, and with being wholly influenced by political aspirations. His methods, too, were criticised as undiplomatic, hasty, and often harsh. Of this policy _Harper's Weekly_ said: ”Those who say that the Governor's action is a mere political trick, and that he means nothing, evidently forget that they are speaking of the man who, when he once took hold of the Tweed prosecution, joined in pus.h.i.+ng it relentlessly to the end.”[1472]
[Footnote 1472: _Harper's Weekly_, August 28, 1875.]
This was the sentiment of George William Curtis, who presided at the Republican State convention.[1473] It also became the policy of the managers whom defeat had chastened. They discerned the signs of the times, and instead of repressing hostility to a third term and dissatisfaction with certain tendencies of the National administration, as had been done in 1874, they deemed it wiser to swim with the current, meeting new influences and conditions by discarding old policies that had brought their party into peril. The delegates, therefore, by a great majority, favoured ”a just, generous, and forbearing national policy in the South,” and ”a firm refusal to use military power, except for purposes clearly defined in the Const.i.tution.” They also commended ”honest efforts for the correction of public abuses,” pledged cooperation ”in every honourable way to secure pure government and to bring offenders to justice,” and declared ”unalterable opposition to the election of any President for a third term.”[1474] Furthermore, the convention sought candidates of prominence and approved integrity. In the presence of threatened defeat such men were shy. William H. Robertson of Westchester thrice declined the comptrollers.h.i.+p, and insistence upon his acceptance did not cease until James W. Husted, springing to his feet, declared that such demands were evidently intended as an insult. Then Edwin D.
Morgan proposed George R. Babc.o.c.k, a distinguished lawyer of Buffalo, who likewise declined. In a short, crisp letter, John Bigelow, chairman of the ca.n.a.l investigating committee, rejected the proffered honour. Finally, the choice fell upon Francis E. Spinner, formerly United States treasurer, and although he sent two unconsenting telegrams, the convention refused to revoke its action. Despite such embarra.s.sments, however, it secured an array of strong, clean men.[1475]
[Footnote 1473: Held at Saratoga on September 8, 1875.]