The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-12-03
SO LONG, COPELAND
CURTAIN RUNG DOWN ON THE
COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC
WORKS FARCE.
SUPREME COURT MEANT 1T
WHEN 1T ORIGINALLY DECIDED
THAT THE LAW WAS NOT CON-
STITUTIONAL.
LAST DYING EFFORT FAILED.
Old Board VIII Return to It's Qunr-
ters Today and There'H Prob
ably BE Cleaning Out.

y
the petition of Walter Chaplin for a re-
hearing in the case of the board of pub
lie works. The denial caused little sur
prise in legal circles as the opinion Of
the court was regarded as exhaustive
in the first case.
The news of the supreme courts ac-
ton reached Commissioner Copeland
about 2:S0 o'clock and he at once began
10 ciear out the private papers from
MS desk. To a reporter for the
q e, Mr.. Copeland said that he
would be ready to turn over the Office
and papers to the old board at 9 O'Clock
this morning. The clerks, six in num-
Der, who have been employed in the Of
nee during the short reign of the com
missioner of public works, took the
news not quite as philosophically as
the deposed commissioner, owing to the
tact that there is deal of uncertainty
as to their future employment Mr.
Copeland has the promise of being ap-
pointed as a member of the board In
March next, this appointment being in
the gift of the mayor. But the clerk
and deputies in the service of the board
are selected by the board and it is gen
orally understood, although not Of
ficially announced, that none of the six
employees who have been in the service
OF the commissioner will remain with
the board
Jared How, who has been the at
torney for the board was advised of the
action of the supreme court by Capt
German. The members of the board
felt that they would be intruding unless
the writ of custer had been served on
Mr. Copeland and SO informed their
attorney. Mr.. How hunted up Mr.
Chaplin, attorney for the administration
in the legal battle over the Office and
explained the situation. Mr.. Chaplin
had a talk with Mr.. Copeland and at
o'clock last evening visited the office
of the board of public works in the
Frost block and infromed Capt. Cor
man that Mr.. Copeland would expect
them to take possession of the Office in
the city hall this morning.
Mr. Chaplin, in course of conversation,
said he was not at all disappointed in
the matter of denial of the re-hearing
as he had anticipated this would be
denied He did feel sorry for his Client
however, and particularly those hold
ing positions under the commissioner
of public works. Under the decision of
the supreme court he saw no way the
city could get rid of the board of public
works unless the entire charter of the
city was knocked out Asked as to
whether the decision of the court would
render all the acts of Commissioners
Copeland during the time he had held
the Office void, the attorney said the
decision had not touched on that point.
1t would, he thought, be i'll advised to
have the question as to the legality of
the acts of the commissioner brought
UP as 1t might lead to and result in
endless litigation. Mr.. Chaplin con-
graduated the members as to the sue
cessful termination Of the suit in their
personal benefit and after again an
nouncing that Mr.. Copeland would ex-
pect them this morning, withdrew.
Jared How came in few moments
later and was exceedingly we'll rece1v-
ed He admitted that he never had any
doubts as to the ultimate result of the
case but said that if the decision had
gone the other way he would have had
a well-equipped board of public works
together with three clerks which he
would have been willing to sell at prices
way below the market quotations. He
also advised the board that they would
not have to wait for the writ of custer
to issue from the supreme court as Mr..
Chaplin had advised him that the office
would be turned over by the deposed
commissioner this morning. About all
Mayor Doran could do now, Mr.. How
suggested was to answer the last de-
cision of the court having done the
rest.
Capt German did not care to talk as
to the legality of the work done by
MI. AOpSldllu Jul Ing LIE lllllc lAC AAcO
occupied the Office as commissioner.
The board he said had gone on with
the work in hand during the time they
were shut out of the Office in the city
hall and now that the court had decid-
ed the law under which the commits
sioner usurped their duties as uncon-
stitution, what they had done would
not have to be gone through with
again The board had confirmed the
Phalen park assessment and had also
made the assessments for the paving
of West Third street. Summit avenue,
West Sixth street, East Fifth street
and Oakland avenue. In fact all con-
tracts let before Aug. l had been at
tended to as though the board was still
in possession of the office in the city
hall As to what if any changes would
be made in the clerical force Capt.
German said he was not prepared to
say except that it was very probable
that the clerks which had been in the
employ Of the board for the past four
months would be retained. The talk,
Capt German said, about the immense
saving in money to the city by having
the commissioner instead Of the board,
was incorrect as the only saving he
knew of was in the salaries of the three
extra members. The same number of
clerks was employed by the commits
sioner as by the board and the salaries
Capt German as well as Mr.. Hare,
the other member of the board who
was present, looked forward with some
pleasure to the time when they would
be able to draw their pay which owing
to the suit has been held back by the
comptroller for the last four months.
It was noticed at the meeting of the
board of aldermen Tuesday night that
the comptroller had failed to send the
pay roll of the commissioner and his
clerks for the month of November to
be passed on and it is argued from this
that they will receive pay for this work
only after a resolution to this effect
has been passed by the council.
Aside from the change in the cleri-
cal force in the Office of the board, it
is possible that some changes will be
made in the personnel Of the six
street commissioners. Under the law
which Commissioner Copeland acted on
the appointment of the six street COM
mssioners was with the city engineer.
and the commissioner had nothing to
do with the confirmation of the sex
tette. Under the board law the COM
missioners are appointed by the engi-
neer and are subject to confirmation by
the board. The present force includes
NJ d. Carroll, William Marquart, c.
E. Sandeen, T. F. Yorke, ]. E. Williams
and N. Larsen. The first named re-
ceives $S3 33 per month, and the others
SIS per month.
City Engineer Rundlett, seen last
evening said nearly all the six com
missioners were giving good satisfacJ
ton and so FAM as he could say there
was NOT likely to be MANY chan peS