Colonel George E. Waring
organized, for the first time in the city's history, an efficient
streetcleaning department. Theodore Roosevelt was appointed
Police Commissioner. These men and their associates gave to New
York a period of thrifty municipal housekeeping.
But the city returned to its filth. After the incorporation of
Greater New York and the election of Robert A. Van Wyck as its
mayor, the great beast of Tammany arose and extended its eager
claws over the vast area of the new city.
The Mazet Committee was appointed by the legislature in 1899 to
investigate rumors of renewed corruption. But the inquiry which
followed was not as penetrating nor as free from partizan bias as
thoughtful citizens wished. The principal exposure was of the Ice
Trust, an attempt to monopolize the city's ice supply, in which
city officials were stockholders, the mayor to the extent of 5000
shares, valued at $500,000. It was shown, too, that Tammany
leaders were stockholders in corporations which received favors
from the city. Governor Roosevelt, however, refused to remove
Mayor Van Wyck because the evidence against him was insufficient.
The most significant testimony before the Mazet Committee was
that given by Boss Croker himself. His last public office had
been that of City Chamberlain, 1889-90, at a salary of $25,000.
Two years later he purchased for $250,000 an interest in a
stock-farm and paid over $100,000 for some noted race-horses.
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