Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-01-26
PUBLIC LEDGER.
CITY LBeIsLArIOE


The General Council took a step eau
tiously last night in the right direction.
The ordinance fixing salaries and pay OF
various officers and employees of the
city passed previously on the first read
ing was laid on the table in the Board OF
Aldermen, and this action was concurred
in by the Common Council. New COM
mittees were appointed on salaries and
nothing further will be done until they
are heard from. The Avalanche says
very peEinently this morning, after the
spirrammatic style Of Horace Greeley,
the way to retrench is to retrench.
TheAldermen and Councilmen work with
out pay. This is not an argument that
everybody else should do the same, bat it
is entirely consistent with the idea that the
city is not in q condition to give bounties
to anybody. Weowe everything to every
body. We see frst-rste clerks and book
keepers who formerly commanded $1,000
a year glad to get $1,000, and when one
dies, for they never resign, there are q
dozen applicants ready to underbid each
other for his place. All the mercantile
houses, manufactures, railroads, lines OF
steamers, hotels, ETC., Of the country
have been compelled by the hard times
to practice the most rigid economy, and
in consequence the pay Of their employees
has been reduced from ten to fifty per
cent. Where such precautions have not
obtained failures have nearly always been
reported. The last General Council
made a most commendable redsction
and should be sustained in the main, as
we think, BY the present Council. This
is a matter for the members to carefully
consider. The average price Of labor
and compensation for public services
all over the country should be considered
in connection with our liabilities and
capacity to pay. The Governor Of the
State is paid $4,000, and ne n has ever
yet resigned on account of insufficient
pay. Criminal, Circuit and Chancery
Court Judges receive $500 per aDnum;
the members Of the Legislature feur
dollars per diem, and SO on. This is as
high, on an average, as paid by other
States. What we require in this COM
muuity is fair pay and prompt pay. We
should bring everything down to a cash
basis, and employ as much tact and busl-
ness discretion in public affairs as would
be required to successfully conduct a
large private business. There is no good
reason why q party in the ascendancy
should pay men three thousand dollars a
year who, in a private capacity, could
not earn fifteen hundred to save their
lives. There has been too much Of this
already. Pay day has GENE and we are
in a lamentsble fix. The stopping place
or the bursting place must be reached at
last. The new charter has already eff
fected 3 large saving most gratifying to
those taxpayers who expect to stay
here, and q step backward from the
policy Of retrenchment and reform at
this time would be most unfortunate.
The ordinance which was laid on the Ia
BILE brought out an expression Of the peo-
pie which could not have been obtained
in any other way, thus enabling the Gen.
eral Council to act advisedly and in &C.
cordsnce with the public wishes. The
boards are composed Of earnest, i%ntelli-
gent citizens, who have no interests save
10 common with the people, and the
measures they adopt are likely u do jus
tice to all and promote the best inteIe sts
of the community. Violent reductions
would be as great q mistake as excessive
salaries for light work, but we have no
fears that either extreme will be touched.
The new city government has mountains
Of difficulty to climb, but by acting de
liberAtely and in concert may, with the
support Of a patient and wellinformed
constituency, accomplish wonders in the
next two years.