The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-11-10
REPEALs AN ORDINANCE.
Precisely What the Action of the
Comptroller Amounts To.


To the Editor Of the Globe:
Setting aside the unwarrantable inter-
ference of Comptroller McCardy with the
management of the schools by the board
of school inspectors and passing by the
manifest absurdity Of his present insist
ence upon the integrity of a school
year" repeatedly fractured by him, there
are some phases of the case that present
his hold-up of the October pay roll in
still another light.
The act that abolished all the old and
started things anew is chapter SO of the
Special Laws of 1891 By it the board
Of school inspectors Is made an executive
branch of the city government, whose
powers, as relating to schools, are to be
exercised by the board through the legis-
lative department. By section the board
make, by June l. report to the mayor,
stating, among other things, 1.-The month
ly compensation that they recommend
to be paid to each teacher or class Of
teachers or other employees for the follow
ing school year." being, incidentally re-
quired ito appoint, not later than June
Is, all the teachers for the next ensuing
school year, and notify each teacher
thereof" This report, or budget, the
mayor Is to transmit to the common
council. with his recommendations, ito
be convened for the purpose of acting
upon the same within ten days there
after
Then the common council may, 'by or
dinance." reduce the aggregate for sa'a-
ries, but may not increase the same, and
the reduction, If any, is to be prorated
by the board as they may deem just,
and the compensation to each teacher
and class of teachers thus fixed shall be
paid to the teachers for the en-
suing year" Section 6 prohibits the
board from mourning any Indebtedness
against the city or pledging the faith and
credit of 1t until after the common
council or legislative department has, by
| ordinance, ordained what the eXpendi-
lures shall be- and then to the amount
| so set apart.
| Nowhere In the act Is there any men,
| ton of any power in the comptroller to
! interfere with, suspend or arrest the pow
! ers or functions of either of these two
| bodies. His refusal to audit the roll Is
the exercise Of such a power. 1t is the
virtual repeal Of an ordinance Of the city
! council.
These are the provisions of the act
bearing upon the present situation: The
| board Of school inspectors report to the
mayor their appointment of teachers and
their salaries for the ensuing year by
| June l, by June 10 the council act, and
before June Is the board notify each
teacher Of appointment and cOmpensa-
| ZION. w n6n the COunC1l act on the DuQSeL
and fix the amount to be paid, and the
teachers accept. actually, by spoken or
written assent, or implicitly, by entering
on the service in September, there is q
contract made and entered into by the
common council and each teacher to pay,
monthly, during the ensuing year, the
salary mentioned in the budget. This
contract only the common council and
the teachers can alter or annul and
neither one can without the assent of the
other. There is nowhere any authority
that vests in the power Of the comptroller
the power to reduce the aggregate
amount to be paid for compensation, and
still this is the power Mr.. McCardy has
assumed. He would have the board of
school inspectors scale down the salaries
to carry the schools to June, when the
power to scale is vested solely in the
common council, and to be exercised
only when they act upon the board s
budget 1t is extremely doubtful IL they
could do it now by ordinance, the teach
ers refusing to assent, but anyway only
the council, by ordinance, can reduce the
aggregate of compensation. Mr.. McCar-
dy cannot, nor can he compel it.
take issue with the comptroller reluc-
family, because L have a high regard
for his conscientiousness and his sturdy
of public money. but in this instance his
veneration for the letter of the law has
let him lose sight of its spirit.
p. j. Smalley.
st. Paul. Nov. 9.