The evening world. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1887-1931, 1894-08-25
CANNOT Save NEPHEW JOHN.
Uncle Matthew Breen Fails to
{ nsvp His Relative in Office.
Attempt Made to Distort the New
Law Concerning Aliens

When is an axeman not an axeman?
,,e 10 not an axeman II the law stands
In the way and you have an uncle with
a political pull That is the way that
eminent legal authority Matthew p.
Breen, counsel to the Department of
street improvements at 5000 a year,
answers the. question.
If MIR. Breeni had the making of the
laws. chapter 622 of the Laws of 1894
vould probably not be on the statute
hooks now. Chapter 622 provides that
M alien laborer, mechanic or working
man shall be employed on public works
of any kind. Mr.. Breen had imported
a nephew of his from Ireland who comes
under the ban of this law. But IL Mr..
Breen can't make laws, he can construe
and interpret them.
Nephew John j. Breen was luekier
Uncle Matt took care OF him at once and
provdei him with a job as axeman at
IS a day In the Department of Public
Works. When Uncle Matt learned that
cordance with the. provisions of chapter
S22, he was not disturbed. Another
equally learned authority on law had
U Mhs tts thPg VIZ Wv the s.n ssas
Sir, Breen ruiz. his peace Of mind over
a. mere act of the Legislature? Mr.
Breen sat down and thought with himself
but for momnt only; In that instant
he declared that the law might be. all
right and all that sort Of thing, but it
did not refer to Nephew John.
That idea was admirably carried out
by Mr.. Breen. as will be seen by the
Public Works: Mr.. Breen went to his
friend DAILY, the Commissioner Of Public
Works, who is paid 5000 to know
Mr, Daily suddenly had his doubts and
required legal opinion to settle them
So ne wrote to Corporation Counsel
Clark for decision. In his letter to
duties OF an axeman. place him outside
OF the classification Of a mechanic"
Accompanying this document were
seven letters from as many experts
is not an axeman. Here is a sample OF
one of the letters:
An axeman in this city performs, strictly
speaking no manual labor. and cannot be called
is not Appropriate as he really ISN'T an .neman
Hts duties are. to great extent. technical. 1t
Is the lowest grade in the enEneering force, and
10 the higher grades OF the profession
LOUIS A. RIssE.
Mr.. Rise is the Engineer of the De-
partment of Street improvements. The
same opinions were given by Chief En-
Public Works; S. c. Thompson, H.
Farnum and F. Gutenberg, who are de-
scribed as heads of bureaus: Louis Half
fen, Commissioner of the Department of
Street improvements, and Nj. A. KEEL
logg, Engineer of the Park Department.
This note, in Mr.. Breens handwriting
and signed by him. accompanied the
foregoing:
The inclosed expressions of opinion
were obtained by me without my having
disclosed the particular case in point,
or without in any way attempting to
shape the judgments OF. these gentle
men The question was put to them in
a perfectly fair way, that the answers
given may. be relied upon as Their best
Judgment
Mr. Breen. when he wrote that letter,
probably did not think that II would APP
pear odd that all this expert testimony
which was obtained without having dis
closed the case In point was~wr tten
on letter heads OF the Department of
Street improvements. and on the same
typewriter, and that all the letters bore
the impress of the same master mind.
The language varied little. The other
letters are merely a pharaphrase of that
signed by Mr.. Rise, and in some in
stances the language is identical.
But Mr.. Breen had all his trouble for
nothing. The assistant to whom the
matter was referred by the Corporation
Counsel decided that an aXeman was
Just what his name implied in law and
in fact. and that chapter 500 could NOT
be circumvented by subterfuges.