The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-06-30
BILLS SHOULD NOT BE PAID
STREET SPRINKLING INVESTTGAT-
ING COMMITTEE 4GREE IN THIS.

In other Respects There is Wide Vari-
ance Between the Reports of the Ma
| jority and Minority of the Committee
Heated and Lengthy Discussion by the
Aldermen-NIatter Referred.
Soon after the meeting of the board of
aldermen had been called to order last
evening Alderman Pickett presented
| the name of w. H. Forsyth as Il can
didate for member Of the board of
finance under the new charter a vote
was taken and Mr.. Forsyth was elect
ed to represent the aldermen on that
board Mayor Farnsworth then an
nounced the following appointments of
citizens to the board of finance: Menry
C. White, Burton Mansfield and Reuben
II. Brown.
City Sheriff Bunce was instructed to
inform the councilmen of the election
and appointments.
The resolution offered at the last
meeting of the aldermen and tabled,
providing for the appointment of a
| committee to investigate the delay in
the building of the substructure of the
| Grand avenue bridge was then taken
from the table Alderman Rourke OBJ
jected and said he was opposed to any
more Investigations, but If one was to
! be made offered an amendment 10 have
the matter referred to the new director
of public works to act with the com
mittee appointed by the selectmen.
Alderman Guernsey also opposed any
more Investigations saying that there
had already been too much farcical it
vestigation. He seconded Alderman
Rourke's amendment. Alderman Bren-
nan also opposed an investigation, but
if one was to be made, favored referr-
ing the matter to the director of public
works
Petitions were read from residents on
| Sherman avenue, Lyon street and Jeff
erson street, asking that those streets
be sprinlkled, and 1t was voted to re-
fer the matter to the board of finance
with request to recommend appropria-
tions to pay for sprinkling of the
streets named from the fund derived
from the assessments for street sprink-
ling.
Alderman Pearce read a cOmmunica-
ton from Morris F. Tyler president of
| the New Haven Bicycle union. Mr..
Pearce then offered a motion to the ef
feet that the board of finance be d.
rected to appropriate from the perma-
nent fund sum sufficient to pay FOR
the paving with brick of the intersec-
ton of Chapel and Church streets,
Chapel and Orange, College and Tenn
pie, High and Chapel, Elm and Church,
York and Elm, and State and Elm
streets. The motion was passed.
The next business was the reading
of the majority and minority reports Of
the committee in charge of the investi-
cation of the street sprinkling adver-
tisement The reports were as follows;
The Majority Report.
The main feature of the majority re-
port are as follows:
Our conclusions upon the evidence ad-
duced are that the recent advertising
of street sprinklng assessments was
not done because of the deliberately
formed purpose of members of the city
government to benefit a newspaper or
newspapers in which they are pecuni-
arily interested, and that no city Off
cial has committed or attempted to
IOlilllill any uloIlOllOl ttDlC VI NloIiOlitSI
act in reference to this advertising, and
that no city official has exercised or
attempted to exercise any improper
influence in order to secure this adver-
tising for any paper or papers in which
he was interested.
We state more specifically that we
fully and unreservedly exonerate his
| honor, the mayor, the corporation
| ~
the members of the city government
having financial interest in newspa-
per which published the advertisement;
namely, the Evening Leader, from all
charges of dshonorable or dishonest
acts, and free them from the imputa-
ton of any combined or individual job
berry in this connection.
We do not improvise any special def
nitions of certain words for momentary
needs, but employ them in the sense in
which they are commonly understood,
namely, that "dshonora BILE" and dis
honest involve the element of motive
and imply moral delinquency of some
sort "Jobbery' we hold to be the per-
verting of public service to private gain.
AS the opinion of the corporation
counsel, Mr. Ely to be quoted in this
| report, IOTUleu lIle DdSlS Ol dGltlDIlLy
for all the action which followed we
mention it particularly to say that in
our judgment it was given in good
faith, without improper motive. OF the
correctness of the opinion as a matter
of law we do not, of course, undertake
to speak. That is a question that be-
longs to the courts. We remark, how
ever, that legal opinions are not expect
ed, in the common sense of mankind.
to carry with them a warranty of final
confirmation by the court of last re-
sort. The call for an opinion in itself
! implies a doubt, and If such opinion be
honestly and intelligently given no CEN
sure should follow. There was abso-
lutely no evidence to show, nor do We
in any degree believe, that Mr.. Ely
bartered his professional and personal
honor for his private gain. 1t is to be
observed also that even had he called
attention to the probable size and ex-
tent of the advertisement he would
impaired nothing of which the city
clerk, by his own testimony, was not
already aware.
Your resolution instructed US to in
quire not only upon the acts of city
officials in relation to the street sprink-
ling advertisements but also concern
ing the acts of other persons. In our
Judgment this phase of the question in