San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1894-12-19
CoNTRIBU TED SCRAPS.
For the Daily LIGHT:


has the ring OF the pure metal in
it. 1t is explicit, manly and brave
and 1t bears on its face the mint
stamp of honesty. The city wants
PLAIN, honest and patriotic man
In the office OF mayor. BY the ex-
ercise of his veto power, he can
compel the council to be prudent
and economical.
If Mayor ElmendOrf will resolve
to dispense with entire indepen-
| dence of cliques and rings, he will
be elected, and he will make a
capital mayor. The people will
not vote for member Of the ring
nor for a creature and puppet of
the ring. They never will turn the
control and management of the
city government over to the county
ring. This is settled fact.
Any mayor, who is run by a
clique or a ring, will prove a
grevious curse to the city. He will
simply be a puppet and a figure
head the county ring will control
and run the city government,
solely for the benefit Of itself and
its hungry creatures and tools.
The people want all sinecure city
offices abolished and each officer to
be made to earn his salary, or to
skip out and make room for some
man, who will work and earn his
salary.
Why cannot one city clerk attend
to all the bushes in the office? A
public officer should work as long
and as efficiently as a clerk in a
bank or store does.
What does the city auditor want
with an assistant auditor? How
many claims and accounts does he
have to audit per day? He should
be able to dispense with an assist
ant auditor, provided he would
work faithfully eight hours day.
The office of assistant city at
torney is purely an accommoda-
ton to the city attorney, and Is
entirely unnecessary. The salary
| of the city attorney should be re-
| duced to the extent Of the salary
OF the assistant attorney, IL one is
to be retained so as in effect to
make the city attorney pay his
salary, as the office exits solley for
his benefit. and not for the public
| benefit.
| Public officers are the servants
and agents Of the people, and are
bound by good faith to husband
the public taxes as carefully and
watrhfully as they do their private
| funds. Every unnecessary salary
which is paid is wrong done to
the taxpayers and involves a
breach Of duty on the part Of the
public officers, who: may be guilty
Of creating unneeded offices to
bumor a subordinate public officer,
or to provide for some henchman,
or ward hummer.
Public officers are prone to spend
| the money wrung from the tax
| payers much more lavishly and
recklessly than they would their
private funds, and, particularly,
| when an election is close at hand,
| or some henchman is clamOring
for a chunk of pie. This free and
easy way Of dealing with the
money Of the taxpayers, by county
| and city officials, is no more nor
less than robbery Of the taxpay-
ers and a breach Of public duty,
which taxpayers should mark with
| their stern condemnation.
AS Mayor EImendorf is known
to be an honest and straight for
ward man, and, as he has publicly
pledged himself in case he is elect
ed "to guard and protect the inter
est Of the city and community as he
would his own business and
family" he stands pledged to APP
ply the pruning knife to every I'M
necessary city office and to require
every subordinate city official to
perform his duty, as such, in an
efficient manner; that is to say, to
put in faithful work during work
ing hours and to earn their sal
| aries.
Inasmuch as he would not, as
private individual, employ two
clerks or bookkeepers, when one
could, and should perform the
work, he cannot, under his pledge,
sanction the employment Of uu-
necessary city officers, and is
bound to exercise his veto power,
should it be required,to guard and
protect the interest OF the city
and the community from reckless
expenditure of the money of the
taxpayers.