CHAPTER XIV.

The Great Street-Cleaning Job.-Reform in the Manner of Awarding Contracts.-Wastefulness in Public Expenditure Checked. -A Frightened Council.-Very Plain Language from Mayor Cleveland.-The Veto Message that made him Famous as a Reformer.

The story of Mayor Cleveland's successful fight for the establishment of a sewer commission, has been told at length because it so well illustrates the character of the man, his earnestness, his unwavering fidelity to the purpose in mind, his readiness of resource, his clear perception and his administrative skill.

This was doubtless the most important work that Mayor Cleveland accomplished during his short term of office; but it was perhaps less brilliant than his attack upon and utter rout of the street-cleaning gang. This latter exploit, which gave him his first wide reputation as an executive of extraordinary powers, culminated at the same time as the sewer business; and, together with that notable victory, it put a quietus upon the jobbing element for the rest of the year. It settled the question as to Mayor Cleveland's sincerity in the matter of municipal reform, and his ability to carry out his ideas on that subject.

The cleaning of the streets of Buffalo, as let out by the city to individual contractors, formed a job in which there was a great deal of money if it was shrewdly managed. The year that Mayor Cleveland came into office, the ring

bad determined to make it a better thing than ever, and so contrived a scheme by which the contract should be made to serve for five years, and one of their number got the contract at a fat price. The Council was manipulated so that the plan should find no opposition, and all was arranged with skill and care for what was to be the richest "spoils" of the year.

On the nineteenth of June, then, the Common Council passed this order:

"That the street commissioner be and he is hereby directed to contract with George Talbot for sweeping and cleaning the streets and alleys of the city of Buffalo for a term of five years, in accordance with the advertisement of the street commissioner June 5, 1882, and in accordance with the specifications adopted by this Common Council April 10, 1882, at his bid of $422,500."

There was some little difference among the aldermen over this award, as the prize was such a rich one that several wanted it for their especial friends, and a number of votes were taken before the log-rolling and dicker resulted in the award to Mr. Talbot.

There were several lower bids

for the same work. Indeed, Mr. Talbot had raised his figures as soon as the combination of jobbers was made that assured him of his contract. In fact, it was a remarkably fine illustration of the very things against which the citizens of Buffalo had rebelled when they elected Grover Cleveland to purify their city government from jobbery and corruption.

He came to the front promptly and energetically. But in the mean time the members of the Council had received intimation of what was coming, and a perfect panic struck them.

It was only one short week between the award of this contract and the next meeting when Mayor Cleveland's

veto would be hurled at them, and during those few days the comments of the press and the expressions of popular indignation on every hand had fully informed them of the state of public opinion. They felt the storm about their ears before it broke upon them.

So when the Common Council met on the twenty-sixth of June, a ludicrous spectacle, although humiliating, was exhibited. There was a scramble among the aldermen to explain, apologize, and express repentance for their votes of the week before. Although the reading of communications from the mayor is first in the order of business before that body, the chairman got down from his platform as soon as the Council was called to order, and hurried to get in his defense and apology as a "question of privilege," and he was followed by others, until it became apparent that the ring was not only defeated, but put to rout in dismay.

The chairman was the only one who attempted to justify himself, and he finally said:

"Public sentiment seems to be adverse to awarding the contract in accordance with my judgment, and I shall not insist upon forcing a contract upon the people which they manifestly object to. Nevertheless, my convictions remain unchanged; but I bow to the will of the people, trusting to the lapse of time for my vindication."

Then followed another, more penitent, with a full confession, beginning:

"MR. PRESIDENT: I arise to speak on a question of privilege. I have made the greatest mistake of my whole life. I have no doubt but that every man in this room knows full well to what I refer. I voted to award the contract for street-cleaning to George Talbot, last Monday, and I am very sorry for it. My reputation, which I worked so long and so hard to establish, is at stake, and I desire to explain as well as I can my position in the matter. I do

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not intend, neither will I try, to lay the blame on any one besides myself. I will not try to raise myself up by implicating or belittling any member of this Council. I simply propose to tell the truth; and if, after I have told you my story, it can be shown that I have stated that which is not true, then I am ready and willing to take the consequences. While I am fully conscious that I cannot show that I was justified in doing as I did, yet there are mitigating circumstances connected with it which I am in duty bound to myself, to my constituents, and to this Council, to make known.

So they went on; and when all who cared to speak had finished, there came the mayor's message, scorching the derelict Council like a whirlwind of fire:

"BUFFALO, June 26, 1882. "I return without my approval the resolution of your Honorable Body, passed at its last meeting, awarding the contracts for cleaning the paved streets and alleys of the city for the ensuing five years to George Talbot, at his bid of four hundred and twenty-two thousand and five hundred dollars.

"The bid thus accepted by your Honorable Body is more than one hundred thousand dollars higher than that of another perfectly responsible party for the same work; and a worse or more suspicious feature in this transaction is that the bid now accepted is fifty thousand dollars more than that made by Mr. Talbot himself within a very few weeks, openly and publicly to your Honorable Body, for performing precisely the same services. This latter circumstance is, to my mind, the manifestation on the part of the contractor of a reliance upon the forbearance and generosity of your Honorable Body, which would be more creditable if it were less expensive to the taxpayers.

"I am not aware that any excuse is offered for the acceptance of this proposal, thus increased, except the very

flimsy one that the lower bidders cannot afford to do the work for the sums they name.

"This extreme tenderness and consideration for those who desire to contract with the city, and this touching and paternal solicitude lest they should be improvidently led into a bad bargain, is, I am sure, an exception to general business rules, and seems to have no place in this selfish, sordid world, except as found in the administration of municipal affairs.

"The charter of your city requires that the mayor, when he disapproves any resolution of your Honorable Body, shall return the same with his objections.

"This is a time for plain speech, and my objection to the action of your Honorable Body, now under consideration, shall be plainly stated. I withhold my assent from the same, because I regard it as the culmination of a most barefaced, impudent and shameless scheme to betray the interests of the people, and to worse than squander the public money. There are

"I will not be misunderstood in this matter. those whose votes were given for this resolution whom I can not and will not suspect of a willful neglect of the interests they are sworn to protect; but it has been fully demonstrated that there are influences, both in and about your Honorable Body, which it behooves every honest man to watch and avoid with the greatest care.

"When cool judgment rules the hour, the people will, I hope and believe, have no reason to complain of the action of your Honorable Body. But clumsy appeals to prejudice or passion, insinuations, with a kind of low, cheap cunning, as to the motives and purposes of others, and the mock heroism of brazen effrontery which openly declares that a wholesome public sentiment is to be set at naught, sometimes deceives and leads honest men to aid in the consummation of schemes which, if exposed, they would look upon with abhorrence.