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AND
NEW YORK, MAY 23, 1914
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PUBLIC REVOLT AGAINST OVER-REGULATION
Borough President Marks' Arraignment of the Lawmakers at Albany For
Unreasonable and Needless Building Laws and the Multiplicity of Inspections.
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BOROUGH PRESIDENT MARKS
and a number of other informed
and representative men gave testimony
on Monday before the State Factory
Investigating Committee concerning the
over-regulation of buildings that did not
seem to be pleasing to Lieutenant-Gov¬
ernor Wagner and Samuel Gomper.s,
members of the commission, or to
.A.bram I. Elkus, counsel. Mr. Elkus,
especially, seemed reluctant to hear all
the facts which the witnesses desired to
relate, and endeavored at the outset to
confine the testimony to precise in¬
stances of duplication of factory orders
with names, places and dates. The
members of the committee were not, to
say the least, sympathetic hearers.
But after the Borough President, City
Chamberlain Bruere, Fire Commissioner
Adamson and other heads of depart¬
ments had spoken, there was a better
appreciation on the part of the commit¬
tee of what property owners in this
city have had to contend with for sev¬
eral years from regiments of inspectors,
and there was a willingness to concede
that there has been an unwarranted
number of official visitations and a mul¬
tiplicity of violation orders, if not an
actual conflict of authority.
It seemed to be the opinion of the
committeemen that through some sys¬
tem of conferences between heads of
departments, with an interchange and
co-ordination of violation orders, much
of the annoyance from which owners
suffer would be prevented. The oft-re¬
peated sugerestion that New York City
be permitted to supervise the erection
and maintenance of the buildings with¬
in her own boundaries was not well rc-
reived; and Borough President Marks's
pertinent ejaculation at one stage of the
proceedings that there are "too many
laws," evoked no reply. The statement
from an early witness that there are
no less than thirteen public departments
and bureaus sending inspectors to visit
buildings, obviously convicted the au¬
thorities of over-regulation, and also
created a verv strong implication of a
duplication of work, althoufrh Counselor
Elkus fought strenuously to defend the
State Factory Bureau against the lat¬
ter charge.
The Facts Concisely Stated.
So clearly and concisely stated are
the real facts of the question as they
appeared to the real estate owners that
no better picture of the situation could
be presented than the remarks of the
Borough President, which are given
here in full, as they have not so ap¬
peared elsewhere:
"The duplication of inspections and
the conflict of orders issued bv the
State, city and borouerh authorities, in
connection with the buildings of New
York, have reached such a state that
both owners and tenants are in despair.
"The most important consideration in
government is to foster respect for the
law. . . .
"Recent developments in the activities
of conflicting powers have tended to
weaken this respect for the law. When
the law demands that you swing your
BOROUGH PRESIDENT MARKS.
doors outward, and another law de¬
mands that you change this arrange¬
ment on account of intereference with
passers-by on the sidewalk, it is pretty
hard to be patient with the law. When
a city departraent orders the owner to
erect a fire-escape from the .roof to the
sidewalk, and he complies with the law,
and a borough department issues an or¬
der for the removal of the fire-escape
from the sidewalk, on the ground that
it is an encumbrance, the citizen be¬
comes demoralized and loses some of
his respect for the law. When one de¬
partment eives permission to connect
two buildings, so that one fire-escape
may answer for both, and another de¬
partment orders fireproof doors to be
erected in the openings which have been
permitted, there is a wail of despair.
"I find that in New York City at
least seven departments can send in¬
spectors to a citizen's house or build¬
ing. These are: (1) the Bureau of
Buildings, (2) the Fire Prevention
Bureau, (3) the Fire Department, (4)
the Health Department, (5) the Tene¬
ment House Department, (6) the De¬
partment of Water Supply, Gas and
Electricity, and (7) the License Bureau.
Add to this the State Labor inspec¬
tion and we have a total of eight legal
inspections which can be made. In ad¬
dition to this, each one of these in¬
spectors has the right to lay down rules
and instructions as to what shall or
must be done to comply with the law, as
his department sees it.
Must Call a Halt.
"No one can deny that these duplica¬
tions and conflicts come to such a point
that we are bound to call a halt.
"There are some who feel that New
York is not a manufacturing city. They
are not posted as to the facts. New
Vork is one of the greatest manufactur¬
ing centers in the world, and to drive
factories out of New York drives out
homes also, because, unless there is an
opportunity to earn wages, or to make
profits in a factory, there is an equal
lack of opportunity to be able to afford
a home in the city. Drive out the fac¬
tories and you drive out the homes and
make it impossible for working people
to live decentlv in our city.
"The ill effects will be felt by all
classes of the community. Worst of
all, this conflict of orders from various
departments brings about a lack of re¬
spect for the law.
"I have been advised that it is quite
likely that the situation will be further
complicated by the addition of another
authority which is entering the field. The
conflict between borough, city and State
authority will be increased if the In¬
dustrial Relations Committee, which is
now' dealing with manufacturing prob-
lerns, should decide upon measures
which will again conflict. I hope that
this will not happen.
A Board of Inspections Suggested.
"There are two things to do in hand¬
ling the present situation: The first is to
bring about the greatest possible co¬
operation between the Ijeads of the vari¬
ous bureaus under the present laws.
"The plan which I have suggested is
the establishment of a Board of Inspec¬
tions, and this I have recommended
strongly in a letter to the Mayor. This
board should be empowered to carry
out the orders of all State and city de¬
partments, co-ordinating these orders,
and calling attention to conflicts that
may arise among them. Thus we would
have a clearing house for inspections
and orders,_ and instead of eight in¬
spectors visiting the same building, two
at. the most would answer all purposes
provided they were clothed with the
proper authority and supplied with the
necessary information.
"This would have a beneficial effect
in two directions: By means of it the
conflict will be reduced almost autc-
matically to a minimum. Also, there
â– would follow a betterment in the effi¬
ciency of the inspection itself. The men
representing several departments would
develop greater ability and become en¬
titled to larger salaries in proportion
to the grade of work they did.
Legislative Relief Needed.
"We cannot, however, eliminate the
duplication, because the laws must be
carried out. Therefore, comes the sec¬
ond method for relief, namely, legisla¬
tion. There must be either a combina¬
tion between more departments under
one head, or the establishment of a
Joint Board of Inspection. If all de¬
partments sliould place their orders into
the hands of such a Joint Board, the
officialsof which vyill be authorized to
harmonize differences, it would be a
great saving to the State and city, as
well as the elimination of conflict,
which would be greatly appreciated by
the citizens. Instead of ei.ylit inspectors
Koing into a building and covering a
large territory, two inspections would
serve the purpose of all the depart¬
ments, and each inspector would have
a small territory to cover. The same