The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-09-12
MAYOR DoRAN'S OVERSIGHT
COMPELs THE NECESSITY OF LET
TING THE SCHOOLS REMAIN
CLOSED.
PROVISION IN THE CHARTER
That Places the City in an Embar-
rassins Diiemma-The Mayors
Excuse for 1t.
St. Paul schools will remain closed

mayor Doran has neglected to pre-
sent to the council a resolution an
propriating the money for their main
tenance during the coming year and
the council has not passed the same
as required by law.
1t was partly perhaps, through over
sight, but partly intentional. though
not necessarily wilful. That is. the
city authorities have been hesitating
about submitting the estimate until
such time as the state board Of eauaIi-
cation should determine the final valu-
alton of taxable property in the city.
TO this extent it was intentional. 1t
was probably not a wilful effort to
prevent the opening of the schools, but
an oversight that the authorities
should have failed to comply with the
provision of the city charter which
requires this resolution to be passed
by the council on or before Sept. 1.
Until late hour yesterday after
noon the school board was disposed to
open the schools in spite of the fact
that they had been unable to ascer-
tain from the city comptroller the con-
dttion of their funds They were In
dlgnant at the imperious air of the
c1ty's watch dog but their spirit Of
antagonism to him has paled into in
significance beside the feeling that was
manifested when the full depth of
their situation was revealed to them.
Inspector Wilkes started the fire.
works. 1t sounded good deal like a
bluff when he declared that he would
vote to close the schools until the
board got some satisfactory enlighten-
ment from the comptroller. But it did
not sound SO much like a bluff when
telephone message was received a
few minutes later from Assistant Cor
poration Attorney Phillips, to the ef-
feet that the employees of the board
! could not recover or collect their sal
aries if they did go to work Monday.
| There were no funds in the treasury
for the maintenance of the schools,
and until there were, the board could
not go ahead.
In application of Mr.. Phillips mes.
sage, Mr.. Wilkes cited the case of
Walter Ife, who sued the city to re-
cover for services as architect to the
board, and lost on that ground
1t was also suggested that If the
! board should go ahead and employ
! teachers, it would be likely the mem
DerS would be personally and indiVidu-
ally liable for the amounts of their SAL
aries. This also startled the members
! of the board a bit and, while there
| had been some division Of sentiment
| about the advisability of continuing
the old fight on the city comptroller,
the vote was unanimous on motion
| to appoint committee to visit the
mayor and city attorney to ascertain
| the legal aspects Of the situation. as
we'll as the financial status of thA
| board
! President Abbott appointed, as mem
beFs Of the committee, Messrs Wilkes,
Yoerg and Scholle. and it was decided
to make the business of the committee
| an immediate order The committee
| schools II 1t should be found that the
| board had not available funds for
| their operation during the coming
| year.
That there might be no delay, the
| mayor and attorney were apprised OF
| the intention of the committee which
| adjourned post haste to the city hall
! and spent a lively half hour In look
! ing over the situation.
Mayor Doran frankly confessed that
he had overlooked the charter provis-
ion, and there seemed to be no way OF
| getting around that obstacle which
was made more cumbrous when Attor-
ney Phillips pointed out to the, COM
mittee from the board that, If the
board went ahead and employed teach
| 6TS odcI1 neHlDGG WOulQ De HdDle
| fine and imprisonment for creating
an obligation against the city which
| there were no funds to meet. He did
| advise them, however, that if the coun-
| ell now went ahead and passed the
| appropriation, and curative, and, in
his opinion, no local grand jury would
1 indict the members of the board for
| proceeding hereunder
! However, the three members of the
/ board who were present were not bor-
rowing any trouble from grand 1uries
in the present temper of the members
| of the Grand Army encampment COM
! mittee, who would perhaps not be
adverse to taking advantage of any
shortcomings of the offending organiZ-
4 alton. The upShot Of 1t all was that
Inspector Yoerg, as chairman of the
I committee on real estate and build
! ings, telephoned Supervisor Gerlach to
1 discharge forthwith all the employees
/ of that committee, viz: The painters,
| carpenters and renovators who have
| been at work preparing the schools
for the reception Of the incoming
| classes.
The janitors, who were appointed
yesterday before the committee held
! It's conference, will be similarly noti-
| fed today that they are not legally
| employed by the board, although they
| will be asked as a matter Of accommo-
! dation to take care of the buildings
L
! board that the latter will not oppose
any obstacles to their collection of
/ their earnings when the present trou-
/ bles shall have been adjusted.
! The teachers, of course, will not go
4 to work until the trouble Is settled.
When this will be does not appear
The board OF education is liable to be
| called together at any time, although
it seems to be helpless until after the
4 council has taken some action, and the
committee which acted yesterday was
/ given full power to act in the premises.
/ There will doubtless be special meet
ings Of the city's legislative bodies as
early as possible that the delay may
| not be longer than necessary.
There have been some hot EeSsions
| of the board Of school inspectors at
| various times, but rarely one where
| as much spirit was manifested as at
yesterdays. There was only one alb
| sentee Inspector McNamee, and the
/ rest all met early with the committee
! on teachers, which went over the list
| Of the teachers Of the schools at
length This disposed Of, the board
| was called to order, and the fur be-
| gan to fly with the first order of busi-
| ness, Communications" Secretary
Healy had received letter from City
Comptroller McCardy In reply to his
communication concerning the status
| OF the boards fianaces.
| Mr.. McCardy's epistle was couched