The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-12-16
DR.. ALIENS Demand for ssConssdera-
ti0B.1

Dr. Aliens Oem4u0 TOT NOAs10cE9
tion.-
nv five years Of unrewarded service
as a public servant entities me to some
consideration
So says DR.. Ulamor Allen.
Let us see just how far the consider
alton should extend.
The law provides that any municipal
officer who is concerned directly or In
directly in furnishing any sort Of prop
erty to the city for a valuable consider
alton shall be indicted and punished by
a fine not exceeding $1,000 or imprison-
ment for three years at hard labor, or
both.
Is there anything in DR.. Aliens 'un-
rewarded services to suspend this pro-
vision of law in his case?
Or look at it this way:-The building
known as Pratt's Hall cost him LAS. A
permit was issued for repairs upon It to
cost s4oo. The Doctor says they cost
sl.5o0; it is funny the permit was not
Aiaat AOr 9l,ouu, put We VIII give Hih
the benefit of the doubt and call it 1850,
and thu find a total investment of $1,000
or less in the building. The Doctor asks
s72o a year for its use, or hardly less than
one-fourth of what 1t cost.
We ask whether there is anything in
the Doctors 'unrewarded service" to
justify the city in paying him such a
rental?
Or. take the building itself. 1t is a
frame shanty, once so insecure that a
turn buckle brace had to be applied to
keep the walls from parting company. It
is thirty years old and as dry as finder.
If it caught fire, it would burn like a
basket of chips.
Is there anything in DR.. Aliens fun
rewarded service which makes it ex-
pedient to risk the lives of 400 children
in such a building $50 days a year?
Then we have Mr. A. A. Franck, a real
estate agent, who speaks thus of the
building
If I were empowered to look around
for a building suitable for a temporary
annex school. / could find one more suit
able than Pratt's Hall and more safe.
DR.. Allen could not have looked much be-
dYGna nis oyb bu115,ns sf fer a site:
spect than Pratt's Hall, about 50 feet
away from II. The dimensions are about
the same. and it has three floors of fats
and a storeroom. l am only getting S2
a month rent and pNnciGar rnucolf ok,
at that.
Then, again, the locality is not the.
r.ght one for a public school. It win do
the lower end of the district. The build
ing IS not centrally located. and I predict
1T viii not be filed.
SO OF the hill, about Nelson avenue and
irving street, or in that neighborhood.
and not o. Palisade avenue Whence
pah y draw the children if located on
fallsaoe avenue? ! could get the Board
the hill. u
1t Is very unkind to Mr.. Franck to thus
break up DR.. Aliens theory that his
building Is the only suitable one in the
world to fill the city's need in that Sec
ton of the city. But, what he says is
true.
Does the consideration which the city
owes to DR.. Aliens 'unrewarded ser
vices extend to hiring an unsuitable
building inconyeniently located. in order
That the Doctor and his partner may re-
ceive "A per cent. on their Investment in
It. by way of rental.
OF course, DR.. Allen will resign at once
from the Board of Education. HIS use
fuiness in that body is at an end. Then,
the merits of his building and the price
he wants for it may be taken up and con-
s'dered by the city officials. the press ana
the public. Until he gets out. however,
there Is no use wasting talk over the pos
sibie hiring of his bonanza.