Worcester morning daily spy., 1898-01-14
THE CITY HALL.
Street Commissioner Prior Meets
His Foremen.
Some Plain 7 ak to Them-License Board
Meeting The Stone Cutters
Again-Notes.

pdntmeM IN the commissioner S ONCE
in the Walker building, Thursday night
After greetings, Mr. Prior addressed
those present as follows:
1--WE come together to get acquainted
and to lay out plans for work. Much as
we may regret the fact. we are known
as a department of loafers, and we are
here to devise means for Riding our
selves of that title, and to establish a
name of which both the city of Worces-
ter and we may be proud. have been
elected to the commissionership for the
reason that there was a demand for a
change in this department, and | was
selected for the reason that men be-
lieved me- capable of making those
changes. / say to you, gentlemen, with
no hesitancy whatever, that L am conf
dent that these men will rot be disap-
pointed. All changes necessary to ac-
complish the desired results will be
made.
Now. then, how shall it be done?
will tell you just how L propose to bring
this about. l propose to do it by organ
ization of forces and distribution of
responsibility. The city council have
elected an assistant in whom / have
faith, and from whom I expect loyal,
faithful and untiring support Mr.. Bla-
ney will be appointed to mis- old place
as superintendent, and from him ex-
pect the same ZealouSness and efficient
work that has been characteristic of
him in the past Thus far 1 am well
equipped and ready to grapple with
any problem or condition that may be
presented. These two men will have
general supervision of all work with
which Won rp n0nDa0tpd 11ndar dirao-
tons and in accordance with orders
from the commissioner. You, as fore
men. will be responsible to them, and
viii take directions and receive orders
from them. They will, in turn, be re-
sponsible to me, as will be every man
onsthe department, when called to strict
account; but in the main you will deal
with them.
This brings us down to the question
of foremen. Upon assuming charge of
the department, / find eleven foremen.
You are all here tonight I wish knew
YOU would all prove as satisfactory as
the two men previously discussed If
you do, then the unqualified success OF
the department is assured without a
ohange in forces down to the Iaborer.
II You do not prove satisfactory, then
changes will be made until the right
klnd OF foremen are secured We shall
soon be better acquainted, and then we
can judge better OF merit or demerit
Ihat You may all so far as possible
prove satisfactory, I will tell you what
! consider prime qualifications for a
good and efficient foreman, and NAV
perhaps add. that shall have none
otner,i If know it@si - ~ syges~a -es,r
might say that a foreman need
nave but one qualification, but that one
Is most comprehensive, namely, to be
master the situation. Thai is what
! snail expect and require you to be
Al al times. II this you feel you can
not De, resign now, and save the en-
narrassment of being discharged.
But we are here to come to a de-
mite and tangible understanding. so 7
VIII De more specific In order to be a
good foreman, man must thorolehlv
understand the work he in charge in an. All
its details and bearing, and thus be
able to direct his men with intelligence.
discretion and dispatch He must he
ambitious, faithful. honest, tactful and
determined. He must have authority
beyond possible question, and he must
use it and not abuse it. Some people
can use authority, others can only
abuse 1t. A successful and competent
foreman will use it and use it rightly.
II, is my determination to have as good
rorenen as can be secured. l know I
have some Of that kind, and hope there
are no exceptions.
Next in order are the laborers prop
er. It is important that they should be
good men, .able-bodied and we'll qualified
generally; but, after all, their services
are wortf in dollars and cents about
what the foreman makes them. An or
binary foreman will get three-quarters
OF days work out of men on the aver
age, while a good foreman will get a
full days work. The latter type of fore
man is the kind this department win
deal in. Each foreman will have a GER
tain number of men, and so far as is
practicable the same men the season
through. He will have entire charge
OF them and will be held responsible
for their department and general con-
duct. He will require of them services
IN full for money paid, and every man
must be kept at work all the time. A
man that is hired on the nine-hour syS-
tenn is supposed and will be required to
work nine whole hours. The men must
get out in the morning in due season or
not at all, and remain at work on the
job till the hour of quitting Never al
low men to stop work a minute ahead
OF the hour. Let every man understand
that the continuation or termination of
his labors depends upon services and
not upon social relations or anything
of the kind. Work is what we want,
and work is what will be required
After Mr.. Prior's talk, an informal
discussion Of needs, ways, means and
methods followed, in which all took
part.
LICENSE BOARD MEETING.
The new license board met Thursday
afternoon at O'Clock. The following pc
titions were granted: To sell petroleum.
John Hedlund; to drive hack. w. j.
Dcherty; to deal in old gold, silver and
secondhand watches, o. F. Ballou; to
/ drive job wagon, Eric Lindquist; to be
an auctioneer, Daniel P. Shea.
The following petitions were referred:
To be auctioneer, Charles A. Stone; to
trade IN secondhand goods, S. e. Seb-
bins, to the chief of police to store old
rags and deal in junk, paper, ETC., Hub
ley & Co., to the clerk Of the board Of
health; to build wooden addition, D. A.
Howe, to Chief Engineer Vaughn.
DEATH AT HOME FARM.
Patrick Sorry, an inmate Of the home
farm for three years past. died at that
institution Thursday after a long ILL
ness. Mr.. Sorry was laborer before
going to the home, and has no known
relatives. The body is at Athy's under
taking rooms Clerk Brown is anxious
to have relatives notified of the death
If possible. Mr.. Serry was 10 years of
age.
THE STONECUTTERS AGAIN
The labor union men were about the
office Of Superintendent Peck again
Thursday morning. but the officials had
nothing to say The non-union men at
work on the building are both experts
and doing a good amount Of work