The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-04-28

| pOrtS furnished at regular intervals. Inc
| council is prohibited from hereafter granting
franchises for street railways across the
public parks.
Boards and Committees.
All functions Of the council. save those Of
| a legislative character, are transferred to
| boards or committees better fitted to perform
them. legislature Is constituted solely for
| legislation. It cannot handily negotiate.
Even legislature composed Of single body
has no instrumentalities well fitted for ne
| COLLATION.. legislature composed of two in
| dependent bodies must be still more awkward
| in making trades When a bargain has once
been carried to finish by an agency adapted
| for negotiation. legislature Is we'll able to
Judge whether the trade is good one, and
| ought to be consummated; but, beyond that.
no legislature can be allowed to interfere.
with either credit to itself. or profit to the
| public it represents. At present, the COM
mon council Of St. Paul makes contracts for
the removal Of garbage. and for lighting the
| streets In the past, this part of its duties
| has been found troublesome, and has even
| invited much criticism of both methods and
| results The new charter proposes that, here
| after, the negotiation Of garbage and light
upon competitive bids as heretofore and I'M
| der other business-like conditions not now
| imposed This committee is the same to which
purchases of fuel and supplies are entrusted.
! 1t is to be composed of the president of the
board of public works, the city engineer. and
the presidents of the water. fire and school
| boards. AS a basis for bids, specifications
are to be prepared by designated officials, and
approved by the common council. All con-
tracts let by the purchasing committee, be-
! fore going into effect, must be submitted to
| the council, and be approved by the af-
| frmative vote of two-thirds of all the men,
| bers Of each body.
All Contracts Limited.
| AS heretofore, all contracts let by the city
must be limited to single year: but ex-
ceptions have been added in the new charter,
| for lighting contracts which may run for
three years, and for paving and building
| contracts. which may each run for two years.
| The purpose Of these exceptions was to en-
large the possibilities of real competition for
| these classes of contracts. 1t is we'll known
| that there is now no real competition, for in
| stance, for the contracts for lighting the
| public streets with gas and electricity. There
| cannot be any, so long the contract IS let
for a single year; but there might be rea-
| sonable expectation for some for lighting by
| electricity, If the city were willing to con-
| tract for period long enough to justify the
| successful bidder in putting up plant. Ii
| use for it cannot be guaranteed for moro
| than a single year, the incentive for bidding
| on that class of work is much reduced. ~
| all cases where competition is discouraged
| by arbitrary conditions the purchaser usually
| pays more for the thing bought
While thinking that all administrative func-
council the charter commission has, at the
| same time, thought all legislative powers
should belong to it. And so the draft has
carefully preserved to the council its position
in the city government the sole lawmak-
| ing body. Under the new charter, as under
the old, the council will be supreme In ali
| things - be disposed of by official action
| properly legislative in character.
Some Salaries Trimmed Up.
| In the organization of the administrative
| branch the new charter practically copies the
old. 1t leaves the several departments now
managed by the appointed boards to be man
aged in future in the same way. Terms of
office in some Of the boards have however,
been changed to better insure the retent On
| of their non partisan character. The greatest
| change made in any board has been in that
of the public works. Under the present char
ter that board is composed of four members,
each with salary of $3.50 per year. This
| arran cement was made when the construction
| work of the city was highly active. 1t
| founded upon supposed necessity for the prac-
| tical.y exclusive services of four men Of large
! business capacity and experience. The COM
mission thought, if such necessity had ever
really existed, it had long ago passed, and
| that much more modest and less costly es-
| adjustment would suffice for the future.
! The commission has therefore provided for
| reduction of the salaries of three of the men,
bers to nominal sum. and, along with nu
meroas other economies, for substantial re-
duction of the salary of the remaining mem
| Der, who is to act as president of the board.
| But for feeling on the part of the commits
| sion that the validity of special assessments
might thereby be Imperfect the membership
of the board would have been reduced, or It's
duties entirely transferred - ~
80 Building Inspector Abolish cd.
No new city office has been crea ed by the
| commission and one abolished namely that
] of building inspector. which has been consel-
dated with that of the city engineer. The
| commission thought the time had passed for
maintaining a SEPARATE building Inspector
| ship, at a cost of S. 900 or S. 600 per year t,
the tax payers. The duties of building in
spector are practically of an engineering char
acter. as the merely architectural features of
the structures to be examined are not within
the scope of the Office. 1t was the comm s.
sion's opinion that by transferring the dut e.
of building inspector, all of which ara. ire
the work would be done quite as well, and
one or two salaries saved.
In the methods of selecting city off ers
some changes have been made. Believing
election by the city legislature, other than of
| city clerk. who is really officer of the
| council Itself, to be unwise, the commission
| fas provided for appointment of the city at
| torney by the mayor. Appointment in this
way was considered more Likely to secure a
hleh degree of professional skill and eff
ftciency for the service of the city than cleo
| ton by popular vote.
The city engineer is now elected by the
board Of public works; but he is engineer for
several other bosrds also. The commission
| presidents of the board Of public works the
| park board and the water board.
Application of Civil Service.
For filing the Places below the heads, in the
I several departments, the commission has de-
! cided to recommend a radical change from
! existing methods. The competitive method is
proposed-in other words, the civil service re-
form system. This system is really an extern
son to the pubic service of the mathod al
| most everywhere in use for the execution of
the public works. When q street is TO he
! graded or paved, a briige to be built. TIE
party is selected to do the work who shows
| himself, by competition, wiling and able ia
! give the services and materials required Or
the least paw. This plan of doing the public
work must be the best. for it has gone into
| universal use throughout the world and h as
| practically excluded all others This method
does not stop to ask the political or other
connections OF those who are selected Merit
| alone decides that.
The competitive system for the cbo;ce NJ
those who are merely to furnish services
moves on exactly the same lines The en-
pioyer. IN this case the city, specifies a par
| ticular task to be performed and the nav
attached, and then awards the place to inc
one able and willing to give the most service
! for the money. This system is the most
democratic OF all that have ever been devised
for choosing public servants. Fayoritism is
! excluded. Whether CIR not the candidate be-
| longs to the dominant party, or whether or not
he has pull inside that party, is not a
| controlling factor. This system is not new
1t long ago passed the experimental stage.
Any one in st. Paul wanting to know ex
actly how IT works can be gratified by in
| curing at the postofice, much the largest
and best managed official establishment in the
city, where it has been in force for years
Out of the two hundred or more employes
about that Office, but one or two are sub
ject to selection otherwise than through the
| competitive system Immense sums of money
| are constantly being handled by men selected
IN this way, but none Of it is lost. TIE
postmaster, who is responsible for it's safety.
never feels insecure because he is precIuded
from personally choosing the men through
whose hands 1t is to pass.