The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1883-03-22
Our Fire Departments and the
engineer.

Our Fire Department. and the
Engineer.
Mayor Neal has recorded his protest
against the UNANIMOUS vote OF our Coun-
! ell, in retaining Mr.. Shewman, the pres
ent incumbent, as engineer of the fire
department and %janitor of the Opera
House. This he has the lawful and le-
gal right to do, but in exercising the
privilege in this instance, We believe he
has committed an error-even if any OF
the charges set forth in his protest are
true, which We know are NOT, and a ma
jority of our citizens will bear us out in
the assertion. Between the citizens of
the town and the Fire Department there
should exist the best of feeling, and the
Mayor that permits himself to be used
to keep trouble bubbling up all the time
among them, deserves little credit. We
have no apology to offer for either fac
ton ~contending for control of the fire de-
partment. We look upon it as unwar-
ranted and discreditable, and think the
Mayor ought to "rise higher" than to
get down. into this little existing fire
company feud, when so much of the in
terests of the citizens of Eaton are at
stake. We opposed the removal ofZeek
one year ago. We believed it impolitic
and imprudent to change the Fire Engi-
neer every year OIL two, simply through
favoritism, but a majority of the Council
thought and acted different and we fell
in with them. For the same reason we
would oppose the removal of Shewman
now. The entire "~protest" of Mayor
Neal is weak and fimsy, and inconsistent
with his past official acts.
He protests, 1st-because the two 9th
er applicants proposed to furnish re-
concentrations from the Ahren's Manu-
featuring Co., and from other prominent
persons and they agreed to perform
the duties for $40 per week" When Mr..
Geek got the contract two years ago at
$3.50 against bids for $11.5O, did he fur
nish a recommendation from Ahren's &
Co.? Has it been the custom of bidders
for the places of %janitor and engineer to
secure recommendations from the man
ufacturers of the Engine, to obtain them?
Rather weak, Mayor Neal.
The I'd protest sets forth that Mr..
Shewman "failed to furnish a certificate
of his competency" but on the contrary
she has been pronounced incompetent to
properly perform the duties of engineer
by the Vice President of the Ahren's
Manufacturing Co." Have all other jam
itors and engineers furnished certificates
of their competency, Mayor Neal? We
think not. Who asked the Vice Presi-
dent of Ahrens' Manufacturing Co., for
his certificate? Not the Council, whose
duty it is to demand a certificate if one
is required. AS to the present engineers
pronounced incompetency' by the May.
or and Ahrens' Vice President, let the
work done at the fire on Sunday last put
the brand of '~'false" upon the charge.
The Mayors 3rd and last protest" is
on account of ECONOMY" We admire
economy in a public official when moi
carried into picayuneishness. Is Mr.
Shewman drawing more pay for his ser
vices than Mr.. Geek did the year previ.
GUS, whom the Mayor supported? Then
why didn't the Mayor carry his "econo
my" and protest" into the lamplight
ing business? Didn't he cast the decid'
ing vote for the highest bidder for that
position? If"economy" for the Corpo'
ration is SO near his heart, why didn't hi
protest" when the "boss cistern" mo-
ney was so fraudulently and unwarrant
edly paid out of the public funds? Their,
is your inconsistency, Mayor Neal. TAKE
our advice now, and philosophically "ac
cept the s~ituation," use your official pc
sition to build up and encourage our fir
department, instead of in efforts to breal
it down because you failed to install you
"pet" as the engineer.