NEW YORK. 



559 



payment for them, making considerable profit 

 by these transactions. Charges were presented 

 by the commission against the Auditor, before 

 the Commissioners of the Canal Fund, which 

 consisted of the Lieutenant-Governor, Secre- 

 tary of State, Controller, Attorney-General, and 

 Treasurer ; and on the 28th of December that 

 body adopted the following resolution : 



Resolved, That a requisition is hereby made upon 

 his Excellency the Governor, to suspend Francis S. 

 Thayer, the Auditor of the Canal Department, and 

 to appoint a suitable person to perform his duties. 

 if it shall be made to appear to him that the said 

 Auditor has violated his duty in respect to the public 

 moneys in his charge and subject to his draft, the 

 particulars of which alleged violations of duty ap- 

 pear in the report of the commission to investigate 

 the affairs of the canals of the State, which has been 

 submitted to this board, and which is herewith 

 transmitted. 



The same day Mr. Thayer was suspended 

 from office, and the Treasurer notified of the 

 fact, and requested to " scrutinize carefully all 

 warrants drawn upon you by him and still un- 

 paid, and to refuse to pay any you may find 

 that are in any respect suspicious, until they 

 can be investigated." 



With regard to future measures affecting the 

 canals, Governor Tilden, in his message to the 

 Legislature of 1876, made the following sug- 

 gestions : 



In this state of things it is obvious that our first 

 measure should be to ascertain completely, and with- 

 out unnecessary delay, the financial condition of the 

 canals ; the state of the contracts yet outstanding 

 for extraordinary work, in order to determine what 

 ought to be stopped or abandoned, and what ought 

 to be continued, and the means applicable to any ex- 

 penditure they may require. A second measure is 

 the careful and thorough investigation of ordinary 

 expenses and repairs, for the purpose of keeping 

 them down to the lowest point consistent with the 

 efficiency of the canals. A third measure relates to 

 the disposition of such laterals as are not necessary 



as feeders. It will bo recollected that at the last 

 session, in view of the complicated questions inci- 

 dent to this subject, requiring legal, engineering, and 

 business skill, and much devotion of time and atten- 

 tion, I recommended its reference to a special com- 

 mission. The Legislature, however, preferred to 

 charge the Canal Commissioners and State Engineer 

 and Surveyor with the additional duty. 1 am not 

 advised what report they will make on the subject. 

 A fourth measure is a radical change in the system 

 of administration. The present machinery is cha- 

 otic, and except with something of the unity which 

 existed in practice under the old constitution, the 

 Canal Board is incapable of acting with efficiency 

 or economy. The abuses, perversions of law and 

 morals, improvidence and waste which cling around 

 it, are the growth of years. When a man of average 

 well-meaning and average ability comes singly into 

 one of these administrative offices, the graft develops, 

 not its own nature, but the nature of the parent stem. 

 It is difficult to carry out reform by instruments that 

 are incurably averse to reform ; whose indolence, 

 comfort, associations, habits, assistants and advisers, 

 are air naturally opposed to what they are expected 

 to do. Every step of progress is not only through 

 an enemy's country : but beset by unexpected be- 

 trayals. A constitutional amendment, changing the 

 system of administering the canals, was unanimous- 

 ly passed by both Houses at the last session. Your 

 attention is respectfully called to the importance of 

 an early consideration of the subject. A fifth meas- 

 ure is the continuance for the present year of the re- 

 duction in the tolls made for last year. A sixth 

 measure is to subject all the work called extraordi- 

 nary repairs to a systematic and thorough scrutiny, 

 and discard everything that is not clearly and cer- 

 tainly necessary. When the debris of the old rotten 

 system shall be cleared away, there is a work of real 

 utility and small cost, which will claim an early at- 

 tention, and for which the people would be willing 

 to provide the means. 



The income and expenses of the canals for 

 the fiscal year ending September 30, 1875, 

 given in the following table, show the tolls 

 received on each canal, and the total expendi- 

 tures for ordinary and extraordinary repairs 

 and new work : 



Total disbursements on all canals in excess 

 of tolls, $335,044.95. Tolls in excess of dis- 

 bursements for ordinary repairs, $638,268.85. 



The following is a comparative statement of 



the revenues and expenses for the fiscal years 

 1874 and 1875, showing the aggregate receipts 

 and payments on account of the ordinary ex- 

 penses of the canals for the last two years : 



