The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-03-24
THE MAYORS ACTION.

In another column will be found some
correspondence between Mayor Ronald and
| Chief of Police Bolton Rogers. The mayor
| issues an order removing Rogers from
office; to this the chief replies in a letter
which is at once manly and digniied, and
which, to say the least, compares more
than favorably with the order of the
mayor.
Mayor Ronald had this order in his
pocket during the session of the police
commission yesterday. Immediately upon
the adjournment of the board, and before
any of the members had left the room, he
made its contents known, thus undertake
ing to remove police official in direct vio-
lation of the wishes of the board by whom
he had been appointed. The mayor
makes no charge of official dereliction of
any kind against the chief. He bases his
action on the altogether gratuitous pre-
sumption that Chief Rogers is not honest,
though he makes no effort to point out
any specific act, official or otherwise, in
which his dishonesty is apparent.
The mayor finds the alleged authority
of the charter, which is as follows:
Any elective officer may be suspended by the
mayor and removed Tor cause by the council in
joint convention, as hereinafter provided, and
any appointed officer may be removed by the
mayor for cause. In either case the mayor shall
temporarily fill the vacancy, except Us herein
after provided.
1t is needless to say that such action
based upon this section would not stand
the test of investigation by the courts.
Mayor Ronald alleges no legal cause for
the removal of the chief; he simply says
in effect that he does not like him, and
therefore does not want to have him
around. Chief Rogers, it should be
stated, has repeatedly expressed
his willingness to resign as soon
as he has been accorded an
investigation of the charges made against
him by Mr.. Ronald and others on the pub
lie stump and in private conversation. He
is perfectly willing that the mayor should
have chief of police in political sympathy
with himself, but very naturally declines
to go without an investigation into vague
and unfathered charges made against him
at the end of an official career which has
made the police department of Seattle a
model, and which has received common
dation from all but the personal and po-
itical enemies of the chief.
1t is needless to say that the power as
sumed by Mayor Ronald is sweeping and
dangerous one. Its effect is to overthrow
the whole system of government by char
ter. If Mayor Ronald be correct, none OF
the commissions amount to anything
The mayor is supreme and his authority
cannot be questioned. Mayor Ronald
could remove the street commissioner, or
the chief of the fire department, or the
superintendent of the water-works, or any
member of the board of public works, or
of any other appointive board under the
city government. just as easily and as le-
gally as he could remove Chief Rogers.
He assumes to be the sole judge of the
cause of removal and could allege any
cause that suited his fancy. He might re-
move any appointive officer of the city
government on the ground that he did not
like the color of his eyes, and, if his inter-
probation of the charter is correct, the Off
cial would have no recourse whatever. 1t
is absurd to suppose that the makers of
the charter created an elaborate system of
commissions with the intention that they
vera to amount to nothing and were to be
set aside at will by capricious mayor.
There is no reasonable question that
Chief Rogers could legally have held his
position until the next meeting of the
police board. To attempt to do so, how
ever, would have led to trouble, possibly
to bloodshed, and would certainly have
demoralized the department. Under these
circumstances the chief allows Mr. Thorn
ton to take possession of the Office for the
time being, and, without waving his
rights, will allow the matter to rest until
the meeting of the board, which will be on
the 18th of next month. If the public
judge impartially between the course
taken by Mayor Ronald and that taken by
Chief Rogers their conclusion will certainly
not be unfavorable to the latter.