Commissioner of Public Markets

Edwin Joseph O'Malley (1883-1955), c. 1905

The Commissioner of Public Markets, Weights, and Measures of the City of New York was a cabinet-level post appointed by the mayor of New York City during World War I, when foodstuffs were in short supply and people began hoarding. The goal was to "set fair prices for meat and fish."[1] The commissioner had jurisdiction over all public markets, market places, and all auctioneers.[2] The office started after World War I and in 1968, the Department of Markets (as it was by then known) was merged with the Department of Licenses by (Markets) Commissioner Gerard M. Weisberg to become the Department of Consumer Affairs.

Commissioners

• Henry Moskowitz, c. 1917.[3]
• Jonathan C. Day, c. 1918.[4] fired by mayor John F. Hylan[1][5][6]
• William P. Mulry, 1919 as Acting Commissioner under mayor John F. Hylan.
• Edwin Joseph O'Malley, c. 1919-1927 for 7 years under mayor John F. Hylan and survived a graft investigation.[7][8]
• Thomas F. Dwyer, c. 1930 to 1932. He concluded that direct rail delivery of food to the Bronx Terminal Market could have saved consumers millions of dollars[9]
• Jere F. Ryan, 1932 to 1933[10]
• J. Bonynge, c. 1934 [11]
• William Fellowes Morgan, Jr., c. 1935 to 1939 [12][13]
• Daniel P. Wooley, c. 1943-1944.[14]
• Eugene G. Schulz, c. 1949.[15]
• Albert S. Pacetta, c. 1965.[16]
• Samuel J. Kearing, Jr., 1966.
• Gerard Maxwell Weisberg, 1966 to 1968.

Deputy commissioners

• William P. Mulry, 1919
• Edwin Joseph O'Malley, 1919
• Samuel Buchler, November 1919 [17]
• Mrs. John Marshall Gallagher, c. 1922
• Mrs. Louis R. Welzmiller, c. 1922 [18]
• John Joseph Delaney, 1924 through 1931 [19]
• Alex Pisciotta, 1937 [20]

References

1. "To Set Fair Prices For Meat And Fish In Food Campaign". The New York Times. August 24, 1919.
2. A New Survey of Universal Knowledge. Encyclopædia Britannica. 1951.
3. Middletown Times-Press; Monday, December 10, 1917
4. Bridgeport Telegram, November 27, 1918
5. New Outlook. 1952.
6. "Dr. Day, Removed By Mayor, Makes Graft Charges". The New York Times. December 3, 1919.
7. "E.J. O'Malley Dies; Led City Markets". The New York Times. April 11, 1953.
8. "Walter O'Malley". SABR. Archived from the original on 2007-04-06. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
9. Seaver, Barry William (2001). "Rebecca Browning Rankin Uses Radio to Promote the Municipal Reference Library of the City of New York and the Civic Education of Its Citizens". Libraries & Culture. 36 (2): 289–328. doi:10.1353/lac.2001.0044. S2CID 142820375. Project MUSE 18910.
10. "Jere F. Ryan Dies; Leader in Queens" (PDF). The New York Times. Vol. XCVII, no. 32942. New York, N.Y. 3 April 1948. p. 15.
11. Tannenbaum v. Department of Public Markets, May 16, 1934
12. "20th CENTURY BRONX". Archived from the original on 2006-06-23. Retrieved 2006-07-09.
13. "Also Fight Against Fear". Time. February 1, 1937.
14. Supreme Court, Special Term, New York County, May 5, 1943
15. Court decision, January 6, 1949
16. Supreme Court, Special Term, New York County, October 1, 1965
17. "Dr. Buchler Resigns. Law Practice Claims Deputy Commissioner of Public Markets". The New York Times. May 13, 1922.
18. "Windber strike for Union 1922". Archived from the original on 2006-09-04. Retrieved 2006-07-09.
19. DELANEY, John Joseph - Biographical Information
20. "Alex Pisciotta, Deputy Commissioner of Public Markets, Weights and Measures, issued a warning to the public yesterday to beware of short-weight deliveries by dishonest and irresponsible coal dealers". The New York Times. July 20, 1937.

Further reading

• Columbia Law Review, volume 34, number 7; November 1934, pp. 1369–1370. "The Commissioner of Public Markets, Weights, and Measures of the City of New York refused to issue a license to the petitioner to vend ice on the ground ..."