Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-02-11

Information Of the Public "A Mi
nority Of First Branch Members
Turn Down Conference Commit
tee Report, and Refuse to Lay the
Financial Transactions of the City
Before the Whole People-Miscel-
laneOus Business.
Last night six members of the First
Branch of Council refused to have the
financial transactions of the city gov
eminent for the past fiscal year laid
before the taxpayers of the city.
1t is the first time, certainly in TWEEN
ty years, that this has occurred.
The gentlemen who took the stand
1t is right for only one man in every
four or five to have access to the city
annual statement were Messrs. Baird,
Bachman, Ebeling, List, Mcclure and
Williams, all Republicans. The four
members of this Branch who favored
the widest publicity for the public af-
fairs of the city were Messrs. Nickel
vey, R., and Strobe, Schmidt and
Weidebusch, D.
In the Second Branch there was
practical unanimity in favor of print
ing the statement in all the city pa
pers, in accordance with usage, and
President Chew led the fight for the
observance of precedent. This Branch
was powerless, however, against the
narrow minded minority which hap
pened to be in control in the First, and
the six members who were temporarily
holding up the city by the tail even
went to the extreme of turning down
the report of the conference commit
i tee, which decided by vote of five to
one, the latter Mr.. Mcclure, to endose
the action of the Second Branch, and
followed this up by killing a resolu-
ton to print the statement in the
Staatz Zeitung, for the benefit of the
German taxpayers of the city.
The matter came to the front early
in the session in the Second Branch,
where Mr. Chew offered a resolution
instructing the City Clerk to have the
annual statement of the city published
in all the papers of the city. Mr. Ali
suggested that the papers meant be
specifically named. Proceeding. he
said some taxpayers read no English
paper at all, others took one or the
other morning paper, and still others
took an evening paper. He thought
the whole people should have chance
to read a public document. Mr. Hig-
gins took the other side, and quoted
the law governing the publication,
which provides for the publication OF
the statement Gin some newspaper
He said year ago the advertising bills
for publishing the statement were $500
or s7O0, and the Committee on Ac-
counts had simply determined to fol-
low the ordinance.
Mr.. Chew said the idea of the law
was to compel the city to publish the
statement, but it did not follow that
the publication was to be confined to
one paper On the contrary, the pur-
pose was to give the information to
the people, and this was the proper
construction of the ordinance The
ordinance had never before been con-
strued to mean but one paper.
Mr.. Chew was followed by Mr. Ali,
who called attention to the precedents,
and also called attention to the fact
that the Committee on Accounts had
never asked Council for authority to
extend the publication to more than
one paper.
Mr.. Higgins said it was only the
province of the Committee on Accounts
to pay the bill. 1t was for the Clerk
to publish under the ordinance, and 1t
naturally went to the organ of the ma
iority. If the boot was on the other
foot he said, the Intelligencer would
"stand no more show than snow ball
down below" The idea of the COM
mittee was to save some four or five
hundred dollars. Mr.. Higgins over
looked the fact that when the Demo
Gratis we're in control the Intelligencer
always got the statement.
"If that was the idea said Mr.. Ali,
swhv did not the committee ask for
bids and let the work to the lowest
bidder?"
Mr.. Higgins did not respond to this.
The chair ruled that the ordinance
did not confine the publication to any
one newspaper.
The Clerk having been invited into
the discussion by Mr.. Higgins, Mr..
Watkins said he had called the atten-
ton of the committee to the fact that
the statement had always been publish
ed in all the papers, and asked what ne
should do, land Mr.. Horkheimer the
mouth-piece, told me to follow the or
dinance. | construed the ordinance to
mean one paper. The committee re-
commended nothing in the premises,
but when it came to recommending
400 or 500 copies in pamphlet form,
the committee recommended that. You
cant put anything on me- for | Will
follow the law as ! understand it.
The resolution ordering the publica-
l.tion was then adopted. The First
Branch, under the leadership OF Mr..
Mcclure, refused to concur. and named
Strobe, McKelvey and Mcclure as a
committee of conference. The Second
Branch named as such committee
Messrs. Higgins. Nesbitt and Ali. The
committee met at once. and discussed
all the phases of the matter. reso-
luton to recommend concurrence with
the action of the Second Branch was
finally put and adopted, Mcclure vot-
ing no.
The report of the Committee was
made to the First Branch. when Mr..
Eholinc moved To Law the report on