The Progress., 1892-12-17
EXTRAORDINARY LEgSlATIOa.
Ths CITY COUNCIL ON.THE RAM
PAGl. AGAIN.
ExGravagsnce And Economy COnten leg
For The Supremacy.

one can evey con lecture, not even the
ruembers OF lhsE body themselves.
There seems to be some bycOnot
influence on poWer living within the
inclosure Of The city hall walls, Tyhich
takes corapie.e possession of the
minds and conscienee5 OF The coOn
cilmen, aud plays lgst such pranks
with them, as its oapricious> fancy
suggests. Thus while tnis .enseen
power is.rioting with orr city fathers
they are liable 20 do anything.
though it be deeds which afterwards
myhtify them, as much or more than
the amazed public.
If isw not f0r the fact that az
tual delivery is impossible. the citi
zens Of Shreveport might wake mp
some morning 10 find thai the en-
tire town had been givea away. al
some of It's sessions while they were
asleep. There Is however another
Safeguard against such 4 gift anG
hat is the council may ;asist that. ii
should go with and form part of the
donation. iaus constituting present
that no one would be Induced TO re
ceive.
At it's regular meeting on Thurs
day of last week, the council did
come very near giving away 6he town,
1t was in one of It's giving moods on
that occasion. Everything went and
all that was necessary to obtain any
thing that was wanted WAS simply to
ask for it. The two street railway
companies asked for all they could
possibly handle and got it. They
were granted an extension of fran
chise to that which WILL expire thirty
years hence making total franchise
of fifty years, entirely without price,
Mr. H. Ii. Youree Of the Sixth Ward,
alone, raising his voice against such a
measure. We understand that Ma
jor w. D. ScOfield introduced the res
olution TO grant it. This We must
admit mystities us. We regard Ma
jor Scotield as man of unquestion-
able integrity and good business
Judgment, as we do also Mr.. Herold,
aud for that res son we ara nonplused
to define me cause for their action i'll
the matter. We have no intention of
impugning the integrity OF any
member OF the council, but we must
confess that we do look for more STA
bility and business acumen in Msssrs.
Scofield and Herold on account OF
their age and experience.
Not only is this extreme extension
of gratis franchise, this mighty fifty
years leap in the future unpardona-
ble, but we do not believe it Is legal.
We do not believe that the present
council can anticipate the end of
thirty years and extend fran
chise twenty more years from
that time. 1t seems to us that such
grant should lie with future coun-
Gil, one which is in power when the
present extension of thirty years ex-
pires, and not in the power of the
one now in office. Ii this be law, it
seems to us an easy matter for the
present ccnncil to make leaps into
futuritA on any line and extend any
privilege which may now have a GER
tain limit of years TO run, and extend
the time indefinitely.
For tnis great boon the railway
companies pay nothing. A privilege
which may he worth thousands is
given for the asking simply. A
strange freak truly and one which
the man with average intelligence
will understand only under great
mental strain. AS before stated we
impute to the council no dishonest
motives, but they should admit that
1T was rather queer acting and one in
which the city was the sole donator
and the railway companies the large
beneficiaries.
The single negative vote of Mr. H.
ID. Youree on this question should be
recorded on the memory's tablet of
our city taxpayers, to show that at
least one member of the town council
had sufficient will power to dethrone
Hypnotism and act for the city in the
matter in question.
On the following Monday night.
however, these same gentlemen
threw aside the subtle spell which
had SO completely demoralized them
at the meeting previous, and proved
themselves cool and closely calcula
ting business men. Economy Oh
this occasion was enthroned and
they made many salutary reductions
in both thair employees and the sal
ary, for the services thereof.
The following are the reductions
made:
Police Department-Chief of police, |
from sI25 to Sll5; lieutenant of police,
from $50 to.S1O; patrOlmen, from so 10
s65; Gust dian o. pr s)ucrs ir m .90 to $50
making a saving in this department of
$40 per month. or $40 per annum.
Fire Deparinent-The offices of chief I
and electrician were consolidated into I
one with pay at s72 per month; ass slant 1
chief and me hanical engineer, pay s7j .
per month; twelve call men at $3.50 per 4
month. thus doing away with three call
men, altogether making saving in this
department of $3.50 per mouth, or $50
per year.