The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-07-05

JERSEY CITY. June q, 1892.
To the Board Of Street aud Water Com
missioner
GENTLEMEN-Your Committee o. the
Whole to whom on this date was referred,
among other matters, a document signed
by Peter Il. Wanser, Mayor. and Lurport-
lug to be q veto or a certain payroll
amounting to $500 for lAborers IN public
parks in month of May, 1892, respectfully
report as follows:
Your committee wou preface their re-
port with the stltement that u perusal of
the submitted documents evidences the
fact that they, in common with other
matters of like emanation, had been pub
lished iu IL local newspaper before being
submitted TO the Board. The absence.
however, of the usual headline. Especial
correspondence of the EUentng Journal"
would seem to warrant the conclusion
that they have been obtained s~nrrepti-
tiously. Any other conclusion would be
unfair to His Honor the Mayor. The
document at present In question is cer-
| tainly a most remarkable one. 1t deals
, with the old issue of committee appoint
ments, and Notwithstanding the fact that
this Board has already officially and
fairly stated its reasons for such action,
the document before US ignores that fact
utterly and endeavors to create the i'm
preston that the entire responsibility for
non-payment of the laborer devolves on
us. Iu the communication from His
Honor. he says, 81 insist that no Board
has the right to taxi away from the
Mayor the right to c~riticise a new en-
ploYe as TO his qualifications and as to
whether the city needs his services"
v n n "If / can prevent it, no man
shall be put to work In secret and then
shove ii resolution on me calling for u
| warrant paying him" II n n sIf am
| right the Mayor and the public can act at
the time of primary mi ,oyment."
Law, in the abstract, is but a reflection
of the wants of a community. and is
placed upou the statute books because
the necessities Of that community require
it. In our limited connection with public
affairs we lave found it not only imprac-
ticable to make all appointments by reso-
luton, but that the adoption of
such a course would result in
serious loss to the city. The Mayor
cites the fact that our committee
appointments exceed in number those
appointed by resolution. That is so be-
cause the demands of the service requires
iJ. 1t Is reasonable to expect that the
Iaborers on streets, the pipe layers and
pipe repairers. ETC., should, when taken
in the aggregate, exceed in number sucn
chartered officers aud clerks as are re-
CURED in the executive branches Of the
city service under our control. A fair
and just man will concede this. We can
not tell vita a reasonable degree OF GER
taintY nor can we even approximate how
much water pipe the Board Of Finance
will allow us to purchase annually, or
what breaks are liable to occur In the
mains. The amount Of pipe allowed is
laid, the repairs are made when needed,
and the employees who have been thus
engaged are then discharged. to be re-
appointed by committee in such numbers
aud for such time as the eXigencies OF the
service MAJ require. Were they ap-
poiufod hu rn4nlI1finn fhou yyn1Id houN
to be paid, work or play. This same rule
applies in like degree to street laborers.
True. we could, on the battledore and
shuttlecock principle. rotate weekly with
resolutions of appointment and dismissal.
But which is The most business like
method? Does a private firm or corpora
ton require that all the members of that
firm shall lie present to acuuiesce
or that a meeting of the officers
of a corporation shall be held before a
necessary appointment can be made ?
We have cited general employment only,
but IN cases where SPECIALISTS are desired,
when breaks occur in the mains under
water and the services of a diver are nee
eSsary, shall the committee wait until a
resolution making the necessary appoint
ment can be passed at a regular or special
meeting. or shall they allow our citizens
to suffer O water famine? Which would
be the more business ike method of pro-
Suu1G OA4u " q IL Z
ton be criminal? The foregoing is but
one case among those which occur con-
stantIy. They may be called isolated, and
may be met with the statement that COM
mittee action In such cases would be con
doned, and that a subsequent ratification
by the Board would meet with executive
acquiesce nce, but these facts must
also be considered, that the law permits
of no conformation, and that a resolution
cannot be retroactive.
That this was the opinion of previous
executives Is borne out by the fact that
appointments mad IL like manner to
| ours and for like purposes, received the
subsequent official sanction of such bust
ness men as Charles II. O'Neilland Charles
| Siedler. or such lawyers as Gill
bert Collins aud Henry Traphagen,
Can anyone question their honesty, their
ability. their INTEGRITY? Is it not reason
| able to expect that with such a past his
tory in municipal affairs. we would be
| at least combativs wheno on these grounds
we ara charged with criminaliJy? Is it
not also reasonable to suppose that the
desire of me and the pubic" to act
! primarily Is because of some Interior
motive, suggested by the thought that
| our appointees are Democrats? We
| again reiterate the fact that we believe
our course has been and is the right one,
Notwithstanding the decisions cited by
His Honor. md this belief has been fur
| Their strengthened by a concurrence
| therein of legal opinion. IT we are proven
wrong we will heartily submit, AID in
| order that our position may be legally
defined aud that the innocent cause
Of dispute may cease to suffer, we
would recommend that a test suit be i'm
mediaLely instituted.
In the dissertation of His Honor, we
fl. d ttat a reflection is cast upon our en-
| tire force OF r, gnlar employees. We would
answer briefly ny stating that the present
Board has made very few appointments
| in the class ofunderstood permanents. We
found them In the employ OF the city and
but continued their several engagements,
but we have no HESITATION in saying that
| the personnel Of the several Departments
| will compare more than favorably with
| previous regimes, and that taken as a
whole they are we'll fitted for the branches
| of service in which they are employed.
| That the Mayor should place iu a pro-
miscuous category individuals of whom
| there is no question of their fitness would
Seem to us to be bothsundignified and I'M
just. We occupy our positions rs the
| representatives or agents f,of the people,
l aud are as responsible to them as are any
other CITY officials. mo more, No less.
I We make no pharlsaical display of virtue.
nor do we nrrogate to aud invest our
selves with all the good that is in
the city government. We earnestly
endeavor to do that which is right, but
are frank enough to admit that even VITA
the best that we cln Ito we fall short of
being perfect. This is an ioflex BILE law
of humanity, and can no more DO con-
trolled than can the revolution of the