To The Law

New York, 1895

The Supervisors Take a Strong Stand.

THE TRAMPS MUST GO.

Supervisor Wood Presents a Popular Resolution.

MR. POPLE'S POWERFUL SPEECH.

The Tax Burdened People Must Have Relief.

BARNUM ISLAND IMPROVEMENTS.

The Aged Female Paupers to Have a House of their Own — The Sheriff's Pay for Hoarding Prisoners Likely to be Cut Down — A Bill Regarding Assessors Approved — Counselor Van Vechtett's Views of Affairs at Albany — Assessment Errors — The Tax Arrears Commission Bill Attacked by Supervisor Pople — Sheriff Doht Has a Larger Bill Still for Strike Services — Wide Tire Law to be Tested — Other Matters of General Interest.

When Supervisor Pople was a candidate for office last April it was urged against him that he was too aged to discharge the duties with alacrity. If any young man in the Supervisor's office ever showed more ability to hustle, or more vim in "getting there," we have not observed it in the twenty-three years that we have been attending the meetings of the board. The record which Mr. Pople made at the session of the board on Wednesday, and the Supervisors who aided him, ought to have a large place in the public confidence. The good work thus begun will be carried forward to a successful conclusion and the people will reap the benefit.

Supervisor Wood took hold of the tramp abomination in dead earnest and five other Supervisors stood right up with him in favor of emptying the county jail regardless of the fact that the Sheriff is a Republican.

Supervisor Pople's objection to the tax arrears commission bill was timely and sound. The towns most interested should be represented in the commission. They are Newtown and Flushing. Ex-Supervisor John E. Van Nostrand of Newtown would make a capital commissioner. Jamaica is not specially interested in the bill. This is the one town that derives an annual profit from the tax sale. The Supervisor should agree on commissioners.


Detailed Report of the Proceedings of the Board of Supervisors.

The full board was present at the meeting of the Supervisors on Wednesday.

Supervisors Denton and Everitt, committee to confer with the Kings county penitentiary authorities, reported their inability to enter into an agreement with Kings County.

Supervisor Wood offered the following resolution:

Resolved, That the counsel of this board be and he is hereby directed to take the necessary steps to compel the officers in charge of the Kings County Penitentiary to receive and keep in the said Penitentiary the vagrants committed thereto by the Justices of the Peace of Queens County as provided by statute.

Supervisor Pople made a strong speech in favor of the resolution. He said it was an outrage on the tax-payers of the county to maintain so many vagabonds in the county jail at an enormous expense. It was a gross injustice to the tax-payers to pay three dollars a week for the support of each tramp. It was not good business policy to let the Sheriff go on feeding these prisoners without fixing the compensation that he is to receive. He certainly should not be paid three dollars per week. He was prepared to vote to fix the compensation at once. One dollar and fifty cents per week would be profitable, but he was willing to pay even more than that, but he would never consent to pay three dollars a week. It would be an outrage on the tax-payers to do so, and he thought it time that some attention was paid to the welfare of the tax-payers. The Sheriff's compensation ought to be fixed at once. When it was proposed to cut down the price demanded by Sheriff Norton, they were confronted with a resolution passed two years before fixing the compensation at three dollars per week, and because that resolution had not been rescinded, it was claimed the board had no power to cut down the price in Sheriff Norton's case. The board should not be caught in that trap again. It would be, however, unless the board had the moral courage to settle the question of compensation at once. Politics played no part in such business with him. He wanted to do no injustice to the Sheriff, but he was clearly of the opinion that injustice should not be done to the people who are having a hard enough struggle for existence, and injustice of a serious and harmful kind would be done the people if the board did not proceed at once to reduce the cost of keeping the jail crowded full of prisoners. He was in favor of sending them anywhere so that the tax-payers were relieved of the awful burden of expense.

Supervisor Koehler said he did not see why the prisoners should not be kept in the jail and sent out to work on the roads.

Supervisor Wood informed Mr. Koehler that if the tramps were committed to the Penitentiary the cost of their support would fall upon the state and the county would save thousands upon thousands of dollars. This information set Mr. Koehler quite at ease, but he did not relinquish his opposition to the resolution and sparred for delay, though rather in jest.

Supervisors Denton and Underhill spoke in favor of the resolution. A viva voce vote was ordered, and there being some ayes and some nays, all not voting, Chairman Wood ordered the ayes and nays to be taken. The roll call resulted as follows:

Ayes — Supervisors Wood, Pople, Everitt, Denton and Underhill — 5.

Nays — Supervisors Koehler and Siebs.

Mr. Siebs asked leave to change his vote to aye, not having apprehended the question correctly. The record was changed — 6 to 1.

Supervisor Pople was on his mettle and at once offered a resolution that the board proceed to fix the sum to be paid to the Sheriff for the maintenance of prisoners. Before the resolution could be seconded, Under Sheriff Baker claimed the attention of the board, and asked that action in the matter be deferred, the Sheriff being at home ill of the grip.

Supervisor Pople thereupon courteously consented to let the resolution lie over.

Mr. Pople was again to the front with a resolution to appoint a stated counsel to the board at a salary of $1,500. Supervisor Koehler moved an amendment that the salary be made $2,000. The amendment was put and lost. Then a vote was taken on the original motion by Mr. Pople, and it was carried.

Mr. Pople moved that an informal ballot be taken for the appointment of counsel. Carried.

Supervisor Denton was appointed teller.

Mr. Van Vechten received 2 votes, Solomon S. Townsend 1, George W. Eastman 1, George Wallace 2, Blank 1.

A formal ballot was then taken as follows: Mr. Van Vechten 2, Mr. Wallace 4, Mr. Eastman 1.

Mr. Wallace was present. He was in doubt about accepting the position at the salary fixed. He asked for time to consider it. He did not propose to do $5,000 worth of work for $1,500. He wanted time to ascertain the extent of the labor to be performed.

Supervisor Koehler took Mr. Wallace to task on his remarks. He said that if Mr. Wallace accepted the position of counsel, he must transact all the legal business of the board, litigated and otherwise, without any additional compensation.

Mr. Wallace was given until the next meeting of the board to reach a conclusion.

The draft of an act increasing the salaries of the County Judge and Surrogate, now awaiting the board's approval, fixes the salary of the Judge at $7,500, an increase of $3,500, and the salary of the Surrogate at $6,000, an increase of $1,000.

Counselor Van Vechten submitted a draft of an act in relation to assessors and assessments in Queens County. It provides that each town shall have three assessors, one to go out of office each year. Some towns now have five assessors, and all of them go out of office each year; consequently, if new men are elected there is a lack of experience in the work of the office. Town board's are empowered to fix the compensation of assessors, not to exceed the sum of $1,200 a year for each assessor, and the compensation shall not be changed for three years. The Supervisor is permitted to challenge the sufficiency of any assessment, and the assessors must hear the proofs and decide the question.

The Supervisor is to be allowed five dollars for each day's attendance before the assessors. Aggrieved persons may lodge a notice of appeal with the Supervisor, and the County Judge shall decide the issue. All builders are required to file a notice of the erection of new buildings and the alteration of old ones with the board of assessors. A fine of $200 is imposed for a violation of this provision. Assessors may be removed for cause by the board of Supervisors. Vacancies are to be filled by the Town Board.

The board approved the draft of the act and directed copies of it to be forwarded to Senator Childs and Assemblyman Vacheron, to be by them introduced into the Legislature.

Counselor Van DeWater, of Flushing, addressed the board respecting the correction of certain erroneous assessments on property in the town of Flushing. Counselor Van Vechten advised the board that it had no power to correct an error after the assessment rolls had passed out of the board's control, until the tax had been paid, and then the power of the board was limited to a refund of the taxes. This, Mr. Van Vechten said, was the rule laid down by the Court of Appeals.

Supervisor Underhill had a claim for a refund of taxes paid under protest in the town of Oyster Bay. Both matters were referred. Subsequently the application presented by Supervisor Underhill was allowed.

Supervisor Denton, from the committee on Poor House and Farm, made a report in favor of erecting a new building at Barnum Island for the use of the keeper and public officers having business there, the old building now occupied to be used for accommodation of the aged females. The report was adopted. The improvements will cost about $5,000.

Counselor Van Vechten reported that he had attended at Albany in the matter of legislation affecting Queens county. The bill to have the State appropriate $250,000 for the extension of Newtown Creek to Flushing bay, will not pass.

Mr. Van Vechten said a bill had been introduced providing a bounty of one cent for each sparrow killed, to be paid by the town within which the birds are killed. The board directed Mr. Van Vechten to have Queens county exempted from the provisions of the law.

The bridge committee reported the employment of two extra men on the Hunter's Point bridge at night. The action of the committee was approved.

Mr. Van Vechten called attention to the bill to create a tax arrears commission for Queens county. He said the representatives of the county at Albany wanted an expression of opinion by the Supervisors before passing the bill.

Supervisor Pople antagonized the bill in its present form. He said that Newtown and Flushing had more lands in arrears for taxes than all the other towns in the county. Mr. Pople said that it was not fair to exclude from membership in the commission the towns most directly interested in the provisions of the law.

Supervisor Pople moved that the county's representatives at Albany be directed to defer action on the bill until after the next meeting of the board.

This was seconded by Supervisor Everitt, who said that the board had never seen the bill, and was not competent to pass judgment upon it.

Mr. Pople's motion was adopted.

Sheriff Doht sent in a bill for $3,633 for the services of 35 deputy sheriffs at Ridgewood and Maspeth. Some of the deputies are charged for at the rate of $4 per day, some at $3.50 per day, and some at $3 per day. The bill was audited. This makes the sum of $6,633.50 that has been paid to Sheriff Doht for services on account of the Brooklyn strike. No one explained why some men were paid $4 a day and others but $3 a day.

Supervisor Underhill offered the following resolution:

Resolved, That the Senator from the First district, and the members of Assembly from Queens county, be requested to use all proper efforts to secure the passage of Assembly Bill No. 482, and to have Assembly Bill No. 451 so amended as to insert at the end of section one "the County of Queens is hereby exempted from the provisions of this act."

The first bill referred to in the resolution is to prohibit the granting of franchises to railroads unless the railroad enters into a bond to the people to hold harmless the city, town or village from any damage resulting from strikes.

The second part of the resolution refers to a proposed amendment to the County Law to authorize towns to borrow money for building highways and bridges, and buy franchises after a majority vote of the people, or on the written request of the town officers.

Supervisor Pople stated that a man had been arrested at Flushing for violating the wide tire law. Certain persons who were opposed to the wide tire law had combined to make a test case on the ground that the law is unconstitutional. The Supervisor said that the county should retain counsel to uphold the law. It is to be a jury trial. Supervisor Koehler was of the same opinion.

Supervisors Denton and Everitt did not see what the county had to do with it. The matter was dropped.

Approval was given to the corrected assessment roll of the village of Whitestone.

Application was made by St. Bridget's Church for permission to acquire two acres of land at Westbury for cemetery purposes. The old cemetery is no longer in use. The application was referred to Supervisor Denton.

A bill was presented for audit in the sum of $45 for sponges and ammonia for Sheriff Doht. That sum would buy sponges and ammonia enough to stock a big drug store.

The Brunswick Home at Amityville sent in a bill for over $600 for the board of epileptics sent there by the Superintendents of the Poor. The Home wants the bill paid quarterly. It was referred to the committee on Poorhouse and Farm.

The board adjourned to meet on the 26th.


A Republican Fizzle

The efforts of the Long Island City Republican leaders to get out a primary vote against the Union College tax dodge bill proved a fizzle Monday night. Only 103 votes were cast out of over 2,000 Republican voters in the city.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, Feb. 15, 1895, p. 1.