THE MOST EXPENSIVE CITY IN THE WORLD. 21 



it was not, and the demand for more money from the public treas- 

 ury has extended to every class of expenditure. 



The city of New York is a purchaser in the open market of 

 supplies exceeding in value $5,000,000 a year. This figure applies 

 only to articles purchased without competitive bidding. There is 

 in the charter a provision that all purchases of supplies and labor 

 in excess of $1,000 shall be made by open competitive bidding. 

 This leaves a wide field for fraud and favoritism, and it is an easy 

 matter to evade the spirit and letter of the law relating to com- 

 petition. If a department requires material and supplies amount- 

 ing to $10,000, or even $50,000, it is often possible to make the 

 purchases in lots of less than $1,000 from day to day, and thereby 

 obey the letter of the law while permitting the grossest frauds 

 against the city treasury. 



Under the system that has grown up, protected by this imper- 

 fect legal restriction and opinions and decisions to the effect that 

 the city has no defense against excessive claims unless fraud and 

 conspiracy can be proved, robbery of the public treasury has not 

 only been legalized, it has been made respectable. The comp- 

 troller, who is by law the auditor of accounts, may be able to show 

 that the city has been charged double or treble the market rate for 

 supplies purchased, yet under the legal opinions and decisions that 

 have prevailed for two years he is not permitted to interpose any 

 defense to an action to recover unless he can prove that there was 

 a conspiracy or agreement to defraud. In the very nature of 

 things it is next to impossible to secure legal evidence of such 

 agreements; therefore the city has been robbed with impunity. 

 The methods of the Tweed ring have long been out of date in the 

 city of New York, and fraud upon the public treasury has become 

 a respectable calling. 



It is not easy — in fact, not possible — to determine accurately 

 how much the expenses of the city have been increased in recent 

 years by the lax interpretation of an imperfect law and the toler- 

 ance of a public sentiment that demands proof of crime on a large 

 scale before becoming aroused to a condition of effective action. It 

 is safe to say, however, that a perfect system of buying in the open 

 market at the lowest prices obtainable, if honestly enforced, would 

 save to the taxpayers more than $1,000,000 a year. 



Honest and intelligent administration in every department of 

 the city government would reduce expenditures, but the extent of 

 the reduction that might be made would depend largely upon the 

 proper amendment of certain laws, and to an even greater extent 

 upon the development of a thoroughly informed public sentiment 

 that would sustain retrenchment and economy. The expenses of 



