The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-01
SOME POLITICAL HISTORY.
WHY OLD DfsPENsARY ORDNANCE
WAS REPEALED.

Mr.. OKeefe's Friends say That the
PnrtisnnShip Was Then as 1t Is
Now on the side of Nr. Dixon and
His Friends of The Myers Adminls-
tratiOn-Thc DispenSary Not Es-
tabiished Until Nearly Six Months
After the Repeal of the Ordinance
ana Mr. O'kcefc Elected Over a
Number of Applicants-The Old Or
dinnnce Claimed to BE Entirely "a
Partisan Measure.
The friends of Mr.. \. y. O'Keefe keep
cr Of The city disps nsary, are not inclined
to abide by Alderman Dixon's charge that
the dispensary was re-estabH=hed for Mr.
o keefes benefit, and that his election
was purely partisan matter little in
vesl.gadon by Alderman Dixon. they say,
would show that other Councils than the
last one have engaged in partisan work
While Mr.. Dixon was making his re-
search into past political history" said
one of Mr.. O'Keeses friends yesterday
why did he not 90 just a little bit fur
ther back and give US the history Of the
re-estabis hment Of the di-pensary by the
Kiefer as keeper. If you VIII refer to the
files of the Morning News of January, 1897
you viii find that the ordinance for The re-
es ablishment of the dispensary was
adopted by The Myers Council, jan 49,
1891, shortly before the municipal election
Of that year. jan 25 Mayor Meldrim and
his entire Council were elected. Friday
Jan. 20, the sanitary bard met and elect
ed Mr.. Z. J. Kieffer keeper and Mr.. J. c.
knight, assistant keeper. I have been I'M
able to find any advertisement giving no.
tice of such an election as is Gus omary."
The following Monday the new Council
took charge, and one of its first acts was
to repeal the dispensary ordinance, and
very good reasons they had for doing so
No arrangements had been made for the
dispensary, no place had been provided for
il, and nothing had been done to put it in
operation. The retiring administration
had simply supplied a set of officials for
an institution which was not yet in ex-
istence. These officials had been elected
for three years, so that if they had been
allowed to remain their terms would have
stretched through the Meldrim admins
This is one of the very points which Mr.
Dixon makes against Mr.. OKeefe, that
he was elected for over two years, and yet
the same thing was done in the ordinance,
the repeal of which ne alleges as one Of
his reasons for opposing MI o. Keefe. The
salaries under this ordinance We're 81 .200
for the keeper and $500 for the assistant
keeper Under the present ordinance the
keepers salary is only $1,0S0 Under the
ordinance which Mr.. Dixon is now seeking
10 have enacted the keepers salary will
again be 81 ,2UG.
AS to the charge that a new dispensary
ordinance was adopted and position ere
ated especially for Mr.. OKeefe, what are
the facts, The keiffer ordinance, as we
might call it, was repeated in January
The OKeefe ordinance, as Mr.. Dixon
seems to consider it, was not enacted until
the following June The election was not
held until June 90 and Mr. O'Keefe was
not Installed in Office until July 20. Rather
SLOW work for partisans, 1 should say
There seemed TO have been a good many
people about that time who did not think
that the position had been especially Gre
ated for Mr.. OKcefe as there were eight
applicants for the position. There are
members of the board who favored other
applicants and some good work was done
by Mr.. O'Keefe's friends in his behalf be-
fore his election was assured This is the
fun history of the events upon which Mr.
Dixon bases his charge Of partisan action
in the interest of Mr. O'Keefe. The parti-
sauship would seem to me to have been
then, as ii is now, on Mr.. DiXon's side"
The meeting of council tomorrow after
noon is awaited with interest by both The
supporters and the opponents of Mr. Dix
Ons ordinance. Each side confidently
claims that it is sure of success. The
aldermen are not doing much talking and
it is very evident that they will he glad