Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1883-12-15
4 LITTLE MORE CARE, GENTLEMEN.

A LITTLE MORE CARE, GENTLEMEN
The city council will do well to study
the little adverb ''no." They seem tt
have forgotten, at a very importan
j%uncture during the last meeting, tina
there was such a word, and the pur.
poses for which it was evolved.
They appropriated, during that ont
evening, $1,OS1 81, the portion allowed
for improvements and repairs being
about one-ffth Of the entire annua
revenue for that purpose. Not only
that, but they made e%xtravagant allow
ances after they had been told by the
register and treasurer that the estimated
revenue for improvements and repairs
was already overdrawn $500. And
more than that, even, they allowed s
bill of 1864 81 contracted by the city
engineer, much, if not most Of it.
without proper authority, in violation
of the ordinances and of the express
commands of the council.
Some months ago the council passed
a resolution that the city engineer
should;not thereafter do any work upon
the streets except by order of the COM
mittee ON improvements and repairs.
1t is unlawful to do any job ofrepair'
ing that costs more than $40 acihout the
instructions Of tie council.
At the November meeting the council
instructed the city engineer to put in
sufficient ~culverts on Water street, pro-
vided the Ferry and Transfer compa-
MES, which had made a proposition to
that effect, would provide teams to re-
pair the street. The culverts were put
in, costing, for lumber, S7S "a; for
carpentering, 1924 IS; total, 1913 29.
The Ferry company did two days work
on the street, with one team; Mr.. Pratt
did about mt days work with a team,
and the Transfer Company did a half
days work. At the conclusion of this
work the street was in an almost i'm
passable condition.
Then Mr.. Mulligan, without i~nstruc-
tons from the improvement committee
or the council, went to work and put
the road in very good order, bringing
in a bill for that and other work done in
the month of November, of 1864 "a, the
biggest itemi in which is $78 81 allowed
to James Mulligan for work with team.
James Mulligan is the engineers son,
and is a mere boy, about Is years old,
we are told, and the team he uses is the
property of his father, Mr.. John Multi
gan.
This whole business seems to us to be
wrong. Mr.. Mulligan says he was
ordered to Go the work by the mayor
and by MI. Davis of the improvement
committee. The mayor has nothing
whatever to do, under the law, with
ordering improvements, as the engin-
eer should know. We have not in
quired if he really made the order, as
it should not cut any sort of figure, one
way or the other. Mr.. Davis could
hardly have informed Mr.. Mulligan that
he was instructed by the committee on
improvements to have the work done,
as the other gentlemen OH the commit
tee say they v agreed to such ac-
ton. The necessities Of the case
need not be considered, as it is
simply a question of authority;
and as a matter of fact unless the
councils action in November was
wrong the Ferry and Transfer compa-
MES should have been permitted to
suffer for a failure to carry out their
promises in the matter. And what is
particularly wrong is,for the city engi-
neer to work his own team on city
work, for of course the allowance Of
1913 81 is really to himself. He stands
in the place OF the city, to protect it
from overcharges or unnecessary
charges and imposition of any and all
kinds, and should, not therefore, sui
fer himself to have interests adverse
to those Of the city.
How can he with propriety write, 81
certify the above to be correct, John
Mulligan, City Engineer" when on the
bill appears the item of 1913 81 to
James Mulligan I? Our attention has
been called to this our frequently, but
the allowance by the council of this bill,
when the committee on claims and
the improvement committee re-
fused to approve it, when the register
had announced that the revenue for
repairs was already overdrawn, and
all the incidents attending the affair,
evince such a loose way of attending
to the city's business that we cannot
we'll refrain from stating the facts as
they appear.
Decidedly, the council should, in
several particulars, learn to say "no'
with a very big en-"
Mrs. James P. Caldwell rode on a
free pass the other day from Mexico,
Mo-, to Leadville, COL, to see her sor.
This pass was given to her husband and
herself twenty years ago, and is a life
pass for both, and will pass them over
any railroad in the United States. 1t
was gwen them by the North Missouri
Railroad Company after they had res
pectfully declined the company's offer
of a gift of $4,000. How the company
happened to offer the couple-who
were well-to-do i'll the world-a Gift of