The herald., 1897-04-01
Some Inside Facts on the
Boiler Inspectorship
THE ELECTION OF CHURCH
WAS THE CAUCUS CHOICE OVER
A MONTH AGO
The Examining Engineers Simply
Made Stool Pigeons to Garry
Out the Compact

No single act of the city council since
they took Office on the first of January
has caused more unfavorable criticism
than the action of that body in appoint
ing the boiler inspector and his deputy
Tuesday afternoon. The competitive ex-
animation, 1t Is charged was turned into
a farce, and in consequence, it is al
legged that two members of the board of
engineers have declared that they in
tend to at once resign. Onepont is gen.
orally conceded, and that is that the
first attempt of the council at civil SER
vice reform has been a dismal failure,
owing to the greed Of some of the MEM
bers to secure a little patronage in order
to further their political aspirations In
the future.
1t will be remembered that when the
repeal of the boiler inspector ordinance
was first brought up it was charged that
1t was done solely by Councilman Baker
to get rid of the inspector. who, it was
charged was friendly to a rival firm
in the same line of business as that gen.
tieman. This Mr. Baker emphatically
denied He insisted that a change was
necessary for the best interests of the
city, and that this was the only motive
actuating him. To show that he was
acting in good faith Mr.. Baker called &
meeting of practical engineers to assist
in drafting the new ordinance, and Il
was drawn substantially as suggested by
them. To further guard against any
thing like favoritism Mr. Baker pro-
posed that q board of we'll known en-
uf g ,f,,a he 30.
and that the applicants securing the
highest percentage should be appointed
Messrs. Hawgood, Van Week and Fow-
Ter consented to act as such board and
they faithfully performed their duty
Every precaution TO secure a fair and
impartial examination was taken, the
engineers themselves not knowing the
men until after the examination was
concluded. So far so good. The en-
gineers reported that the four highest
of the seventeen applicants stood in the
following order: Milstead 100, Dahl
80 1-9. Church 30, Little 80. After much
bucking and filing Milstead was de-
clared ineligible on technicallty. and
after more doubling and twisting the
council finally elected Church and Lit,
tie. the two lowest men reported by the
examining board. instead of the highest.
This is not particularly new, as it was
ytSlcTudy, nut CERTAIN iIldtttTS
came out yesterday, which explain
the mystery, If they are true, and, it Is
claimed they can be proved. 1t is stated
as a fact that more than a month age
Church, who is a neighbor of Council.
man Baker, and Mr. Fosmir, were
agreed upon in caucus for the positions
of boiler inspector and deputy. Fosmir
II is claimed, was first proposed for the
first office. but such a protest was RAISED
by the engineers that he was dropped,
and the slate as above given was
actually decided upon. This slate was
not satisfactory and then the examina
ton was decided upon as a way out of
the difficulty. On the first notice of ex
animation only three applicants re-
sponded, Messrs. Milstead. Dahl and
Church. In this company it was ap-
parent that Church was outclassed. and
It was suggested that that it would be a
good thing to postpone the examination
to get in others. The examining en-
gineers of course agreed, as they wanted
legitimate competition. The examina-
tion was held, and Church was the low
est of those who were applicants for
the first place. Despite this fact he was
elected to the place, and the wishes Of
the caucus a month ago were carried
out. OF course no blame attaches to the
examining engineers; they did their duty
faithfully and conscientiously 1t re-
mains for the councilmen to explain
their very equivocal action in the prem
ises