The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1895-05-15
THIRD EDITION
NOT A MODEL COUNCIL.
ShenandOah'S Queer Lot of COuncil-
manic FinancierS.

matter of population in Schuylkill
county, and it is oneof the greatest coal
centres and producing points in the an.
thraeite coal fields. 1t is also a town Of
great Importance otherwise, and has
many institutions of business such as
are not possessed by any other town In
the county, not excepting Pottsville,
notably two hat factories and quite a
number of minor manufacturing estab-
lishments, retail stores galore, and
licensed Ilq ,or place for every 1870 persons
within its corpola ate limits
1t has also Borough Council consist.
ing of fifteen citizens, and among them
are a few very correct and prosperous
business men, who are shrewd and care
tul in transacJing their own private
affairs, and some of them have built up
lucrative establishments Individually
most of the gentlemen composing the
Council are cool, calculating, careful and
concise in their business dealings but coll
iectively, rs legislative body, they are
not earning good name for themselves
as a Borough Council.
In fact, if the statements of the local
press and correspondents are true, the
Council of that progressive borough is |
doing some queer financiering. The HER
AID, of Friday last, published the follow
ing:
The Borough Treasurer makes his de-
posits in the Merchants National Bank,
of town, and the borough does not receive
one cent of interest, and this week, when
the borough had about Sl7 900 on deposit
in the bank, a note for 81 $50 was given to
the JeHnesville Iron Works and the Dor.
ough was obliged to pay over Sl2i as dis
count, In other words the borough pays
Sl25 bonus for the use of its money. This
is certainly queer financiering.
The same paper supplemented the above
with the following furnished by the
Mshanoy City Records Shenandoah cor
respondent:
What a costly adj dj7urnment that was of
our Council last week. At the adjourned
meeting held Tuesday evening, the treas
urer's report of April was read, and it
shows that there is a balance of Sl7, COS 5S
in the treasury. Then T. J. James wanted
to know why, with that amount in the
treasury, a note had been given the
-Jeanesviile Iron Works Company for 80
days, to the amount Of some S. 900, and
the borough Obliged to pay some 500 or
more as interest on it. Had the meeting
been finished last Thursday evening the
report would have been read, and the
Water Committee would have known
what was in the treasury and could then
have paid the bill and saved the interest.
There are certainly some bright com
mittses in Council
Commenting on this the HERALD ex-
presses the opinion that Councils way
of economizing is a model one-saving at
the spigot and leaking at the bung hole" ="
The present Council is composed of the
following:
First ward, William Mcclure (presi-
dent, Andrew Meluskey, James Kane.
Second, James McElhenny, f. E.
Magsrgle, John P. Boehm.
Third, Thomas j. James, Charles
Straughn, David r. James.
Fourth, Augustus Gable, Patrick
Kearn, Patrick Gaffigan.
Fifth Patrick Hand, Michael Dough
erty, Richard Reese.
ECONOMY is wealth" is not one of the
mottoes of this extraordinary and queer
lot of financiers. When it comes to pay
ing claims against the borough, Council
does not take into consideration that
much could be saved in the way of costs
by instructing it's Law Committee tC
settle. The members evidently like tC
come to Pottsville, and attend court
and in many cases, which could be settled
and money saved, they foece the claimant.
10 sue.
The borough now has dozen or moJt
lawsuits on hand. There is the NJ. A
Boyer claim, which was decided on iti
merits by a jury against the borough, anG
the borough has carried the case to the
Supreme Court, where it will most likely
be affirmed. Then the whole amount tc
be paid by the borough will be twice al
much as the original claim which was
Cess than S400 when the suit was brought
Another case is that of NJ. E. Doyle fol
services performed. Long ago the Dor
ough authorities could have settled this
claim and saved money Another is tn,
case of Mrs. Lambert, suit for damages
sustained by the claimant in spraining
her ankle on one of the borough's bunio1
pavements. Still another is the suits they
have forced A. J. Womelsdorf, the engi
neer, to bring, and so on to an almost in
definite number.
Council asks advice of its Borough
Solicitor and does not follow it.
And no one has yet talked of asking tn,
recaleitrant members of this Council Il
resign and no talk of impeaching them i
heard.
For every quarter in a mans poke
there are dozen uses and to use eacI