The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-04-11
THAT MYSTERIOUS LAW.


We have undertaken to run down the
law that was passed by the legislature
on the day of adjournment giving boards
of Mayor and Aldermen exclusive "oon
troll and direction" Of all subordinate city
officers, and the result OF the pursuit is
given in our telegraphic columns. The
author of the bill was Representative
Lane of Augusta, and as far as we have
been able to discover nobody knew much
of anything about it until it reached
the Judiciary committee, which it did
few nights preceding adjournment. Then
Mr.. Lane explained its purpose, and it
proved SO captivating that the committee
accepted it before he had had hardly time
to sit down. We presume that his eX
PLANTATION to the committee was similar
which is substantially that some of
the subordinate city officers of Augusta
had developed big heads and were setting
themselves up as Independent despots in
their departments, and therefore it be-
came necessary to make them aware Of
the right to supervise and control them.
On the strength of this explanation
Mr.. Lane gives US to under
stand that the mem ers Of
the judiciary tumbled over one another
in their engerness to pass a law which
did not apply exclusively TO Augusta,
but affected every city in the State
equally. which virtually abolished all
executive control, or participation there
in, on the part of every common
council in the State, and
which practically nullified the main
purpose of the Portland street commits
sion, that the judiciary committee had
been largely instrumental in creating.
1t does not appear that there was any
general demand for this legislation even
from Augusta. Certainly there was none
! from Bath or Biddeford, at B Bangor or
Lewiston. AS for Portland there had
been a practically unanimous demand
for legislation that would take one ima
portant department of the government
to large extent out OF the hands of the
Board of Aldermen, aud the legislature
had reoongized it by passing the bill
prayed for. But nevertheless on late
night OF the session within, few hours
of final adjournment when, as every body
knows, the legislature has ceased to be
deliberative body, a bill is reported
| and rushed through affecting the status
of every city governments in the State,
reducing one branch of every city coun-
ell practically to a nonentity, frustrating
the main purpose of commission Great
ed by legislature only a few weeks be-
fore, for no better reason than that some
thing was needed to teach some arrogant
Augusta city, officials that they were not
all they thought they were. Neither the
governments nor the people of the cities
that were to be affected were consulted
or even informed in regard to what it
was proposed to do. Portland had two
mem bers on the Judiciary committee,
yet the first information that the people
of this city had that some of the most
important functions exercised by the
lower board ever since the city was
chartered were to be taken away
and that the main purpose of the
street commission created about three
weeks before by general request was to:he
nullified, was derived from. the newspap-
ers after the act had been passed and the
Legislature had adjourned finally. How
the Portland representatives on the
judiciary committee could fail to see
that this bill was likely to null
| ify the street commission law in its
most essential part. it is difficult to
understand. Of course they did fail to see
/ it or they would have protested against
it.