The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1895-01-25
WATCHING PATRONAGE
Curtailing the Supervisors
Powers.
FREEHOLDERS ARE VIGILANT.
Fire Commission to Be Appointed by
the Mayor.
PENSION ASSESSMENTS INCREASED.
Colin NJ. Boyd Speaks Against Putting
Public Funds in the Hands Of
the City Fathers.

The patronage which the Supervisors
should or should not control was discussed
at yesterdays session of the Board of Free
holders.
George T. Marye took the floor when the
question as to how the Fire Department
contracts should be made came up and said
he thought the funds of the department
should be in the hands of the Supervisors.
In fact he thought they should handle
moneys for all city departments. The
proper course, in his opinion, was to CEN
tralize as much as possible the powers of
spending the city's revenue, and thus close
the avenues for corruption which would
otherwise exist. Colin NJ. Boyd disagreed
materially with Mr.. Marye, and proceeded
to define his views on the subject.
''To my mind" he said, ian exactly OPP
posite course would be the proper thing.
We do not want to centralize the power,
but on the contrary to distribute it as
much as is consistent with good manage
ment. Mr.. Marye, l think, made some
mention of corruption. There, gentlemen,
lies the whole reason why we should keep
these funds out of the-hands of the Super
visors. The funds are the cause of all the
corruption in our city government and a
the sooner we put them out of harms way
the better. Surprising you placed the park
funds in the hands of the Supervisors
what would happen? Every time the Com
missioners wanted to have a flower bed
laid out they would be compelled to place
some patronage at the disposal of the Su-
pervisors before the necessary contract
could be made. We will never be able to
purify politics in this city if we do not cur
tail the powers of the Supervisors and
make the board a purely legislative body
instead of the disbursing agent of the
whole treasury"
Mr.. Hecht supplemented the remarks of
the previous speaker by saying that the
object of the new charter was to divorce
power and the Supervisors, and that the
Board of Freeholders might as well stop
work and let the old laws stand if the
power was to be centralized instead of dis
tributed. 1t was an insult to the Mayor,
the appointing power, to make fgureheads
of his appointees and cast slurs upon them
by depriying them of the funds intended
for their departments.
After several motions relating to the
question had been proposed the matter
went over to the evening session for settle
ment.
The committee on Fire Department
stated that their labors had not resulted in
many very material changes in the exist
ing regulations. Their report had been
made up largely of the old rules after long
consultation with the Chief of the Fire De-
partment and the Board of Underwriters.
As in the case of the Police Commission
report, the first provision called for the ap-
pointment of the three Commissioners by
the Mayor.
Mr.. Hecht said that when the depart
me1t was fully paid the salaries ought to
be liberal and the amount paid into the
pension fund should be So instead of So as
at present. This, in case of accident or
death, would give the injured person or his
benefciaries good "draw down."
Mr.. 0'Brien urged strongly that in case
of accident to tiremen they should be kept
in full pay while disabled. This was OPP
posed by Mr.. Scott, who thought men
would be more liable to return to their
work at the earliest possible moment if
their pay was curtailed. The matter was
left to the consideration of the committee.
The Superintendent of the Fire Alarm
and Police Telegraph Department was
made supervisor of all electric wires owned
by the city.
Mr.. Clement wanted the appointment of
other employees than those specifically
named in the charter to be vested in the
Supervisors. This was opposed by others
who argued that it would be placing too
much patronage in the hands of the Super
visors, and the matter was finally referred
hank IN the oomrnittaa