The San Francisco call., 1898-07-26
DISAGREED
 OVER JONES'
 CLERKSHIP Registrar and Conn missioners Quarrel. SHARP WORDS AT A MEETING BIaaY QUESTIONS THE POWERS OF ELECTION BOARD. City and County Attorney Harry Creswell Takes Issue With
 Him and Carries the
 Day.
SHARP WORDS AT A MEETING
BIGGY QUESTIONS THE POWERS
 OF ELECTION BOARD.

A conflict of authority between W. J. Biggy, Registrar of Voters, and the mem bers of the Board of Election Commits sioners threatened for a time yesterday to mar the opening proceedings of the board. The Registrar felt that his rights were being trespassed upon when the Commissioners appointed Parker Jones as their clerk ignoring the representative of the Registrar.
 The debate for some moments between Attorney Creswell and the Registrar was a heated one. Mir. Biggy volunteered the remark that he thought he was ex- off1cio a member of the board. To this the reply was vouchsafed that the meet ing was not a regular session of the board.
 T refuse to recognize Jones as an at tache of my office" said MT. Biggy. Under what construction of the law do you appoint him?"
 He is acting for us and we are re- sponsible for him." said MT. Creswell You have nothing to do with him. We are empowered. to employ him, and we pay his salary"
 The Registrar came back with the as- sertion: II have plenty of clerks and can supply a man to do the work I will not consent to your employing another man."
 we are not asking your consent" was the sharp rejoinder of the City Attorney. We have the man we want and now de- sire you to go on with our work Here tofore the Registrar has taken cogni- zance of the man whom we select. We can employ all the men we want"
 T do not want any friction between the board and my office" said Mir. Biggy.
 We have produced no friction but are moving along quietly" was the compla- cent reply to this, from Mir. Creswen
 The members of the board were becom- Phelan called halt It was then learned that the board works independently in the selection of the election officials. It has no relations with the Registrar until 1t Is ready to report back to him the re- suit of its work
 When it was all over 1t was found that MT. Biggy was defending his rights in the matter as he understood them. The utmost cordiality existed thereafter be- tween hin, and the board
 A second controversy developed when the question was raised as to whether the names of the election officers must be on the assessment roll City and County Attorney Harry Creswell took the position that 1t was not an indispen- sable qualification that person be a property-owner. He quoted the section in the California constitution referring to the matter: No property qualification shall ever be required for any person to vote or hold office"
 The aggressive City Attorney was ready with his authorities and followed the effect: That 1t Is the opinion of this committee that 1t is not necessary that an election officer be on the assessment roll" The matter did not come to vote. The members of the board agreed to proceed with their selections without re- gard to the presence of a mans name on the roll of property-owners.
 The members of the board with the ex- ception of City Surveyor Charles S. Til- ton were present when the meeting was called to order. The remaining members of the board are: Mayor Phelan, City and County Attorney Creswell Auditor Brod- erick and Tax Collector Block Upon or ganizing they elected Parker Jones clerk and immediately adjourned, going into executive session.
 A crowd of ward politicians and place seekers thronged the office when the meeting was held. It was thought best in view of a possible clash between the Harney and Sullivan factions, that the work of the commissioners be done in a less exposed place. They accordingly retired to the private office of Mir. Biggy where they commenced their allotted task.
 This consisted of the selection of SOC Democrats, who will serve first as pre- cinct registration officials and again as officers of the election. Registration at precinct registration will then continue for five days. Three men are being se- lected for this work-two Democrats and one Republican. This proportion Is due to the complexion of the board, the Dem ocrats being in the majority. Lists of suitable men were presented by the representative organization Of the Democratic party. In some cases the same name was on all the lists. Where there was a conflict among the lists the commissioners selected men who have served before or men of known probity of character.
 The Republican names were not pre- sented yesterday. In this case the party presents a united front and but one list of names will be presented. This will be compiled by the Republican County Com mittee and will be accepted in its en- tirety by the Election Commissioners.
 Registrar Biggy presented the annual report of his office for the year ending June 30 to the Supervisors yesterday. It told of the expenses of running the office and of the preparations now under way for the forthcoming election. The total expense was $42 494 37.