The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1889-09-14
Sold Themselves for Three Hundred
Dollars.

Dollars.
! We blush to confess that we have a
city council compared of men who
would, for the paltry sum of $500 sell
their honor, integrity and manhood.
I Had they made the sum say SO, 600
! each it would have been all the same
/ disgraceful but we might have had
/ the doubtful enjoyment of knowing
/ that while our cOncilmen were not
honest they held themselves at a res
pectable valuation, and we would have
been saved the cheap John humility
into which we have all been plunged
by our first Board of Aldermen
The action of the Council last week
when it by snap judgment and illegal
methods appropriated to Mayor McRae
$500, and to each Of the fourteen alder
men $500 year, is without pre-
cedent III the history of the
country. Some Of the old cities have
had higher priced boodlers than ours,
buy no young city with its first in
fantile council has ever had such an
experience. Fortunately for the tax
payers only one Of the beneficiaries
succeeded in getting the illgotten
gains into his pocket. Our Mayor was
on the alert and got his first Install
ment safely in his pocket before it
was generally understood what had
really been done. But it viii prove
the dearest 5000 he ever put into his
pocket. If he has not lost all sense Of
decency or shame he viii resign the
position he has so plainly shown him
self unfit to hold and if he Will not re
sign then he should be put out by act
of impeachment.
The only small grain Of comfort we
can get out of the diSgraceful affair
lies in the fact that the aldermen from
this, the first ward, did not vote for
the steal, and that Mr.. Butler, an
East End man, and one of the alder
men from the second ward, voted
against the steal. Mr. Bardon says
the question being one for the expend-
iture Of money, was not legally passed
at least, as the yeas ana nays were not
called as provided for in the Charter,
but that it was brought up under the
guise of an innocent little motion and
declared carried before any one except
those in the secret knew what was
really going on, and at time when he
was out Of the room attending to some
committee work, and that he did not
know what had been done for a day or
two after that session of the council
He further says that he was opposed
to the scheme, which had been brought
to his notice some three weeks pre-
yiouS, and further that he was
ashamed for the council that 1t should
do such a thing, and sorry that it
should so throw away the general good
name it had made for itself.
Mr.. Johnston, our other alderman,
is not sure whether he was in the
council room when the resolution was
passed or not, but if he was it was run
through so quietly and quickly that he
did not observe its rapid flight through
the chamber. We feel like scOlding
Mr.. Johnston a little because he had
seen the resolution that day and had
refused TO introduce it, and for that
reason he ought to have kept his eye
on it. But he is under the impression
that it was run through at some time
time when he was temporarily absent
from the chamber, and this looks reas-
enable, as those in favor Of the steal
knew he had refused to introduce the
resolution, and as natural conSe-
quence his absence would be desirable
to the bOOdlers.
Mr.. Butler was present and voted
against it, but the records DO not show
any speech made against it. Mr.. But
Ter is a lawyer and he should have
made that council chamber, and the
whole building for that matter, ring
with his denmciations Of such meth
DDS Of ro5bing the people. And herein
Mr.. Butler let slip his opportunity to
serve his constituents well and make
for himself a good name. But we are
glad to know that the East End mem
bers Of the council denounce the act,
ana we join the multitude in asking
every councilman who voted for the
steal to resign his place. He is both
unsafe and unfit to represent any in
telligent people.