Vanderbilt's management on the ground, as their letter set
forth, that the change would result in larger dividends to the
stockholders and (this bit of cant was gratuitously thrown in) "greatly
promote the interests of the public." In closing, they wrote to
Vanderbilt of "your great and acknowledged abilities." No sooner had
Vanderbilt been put in control than these abilities were preeminently
displayed by such an amazing reign of corruption and exaction, that even
a public cynically habituated to bribery and arbitrary methods, was
profoundly stirred.[145]

It was in these identical years that the Astors, the Goelets, the
Rhinelanders and many other landholders and merchants were getting more
water grants by collusion with the various corrupt city administrations.
On June 14, 1850, William B. Astor gets a grant of land under water for
the block between Twelfth and Thirteenth streets, on the Hudson River,
at the ridiculous price of $13 per running foot.[146] William E. Dodge
likewise gets a grant on the Hudson River. Public opinion severely
condemned this practical giving away of city property, and a special
committee of the Board of Councilmen was moved to report on May 15,
1854, that "the practice of selling city property, except where it is in
evidence that it cannot be put to public use, is an error in finance
that has prevailed too frequently; indeed the experience of about eleven
years has demonstrated that sales of property usually take place about
the time it is likely to be needed for public uses, or on the eve of a
rise in value. Every pier, bulkhead and slip should have continued to be
the property of the city...."[147]

WATER GRANTS FROM TWEED.

But when the Tweed "ring" came into complete power, with its unbridled
policy of accommodating anyone who could pay bribes enough, the
landowners and merchants rushed to get water grants among other special
privileges. On Dec. 27, 1865, William C. Rhinelander was presented with
a grant of land under water from Ninety-first to Ninety-fourth street,
East River.[148] On March 21, 1867, Peter Goelet obtained from the
Sinking Fund Commissioners a grant of land under water on the East River
in front of land owned by him between Eighty-first street and
Eighty-second street. The price asked was the insignificant one of $75 a
running foot.[149] The officials who made this grant were the
Controller, Richard B. Connolly, and the Street Commissioner, George W.
McLean, both o