The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-01-04
NO SALARY RAISES ALLOWED.

Fire Commissioners Approve Payrolls
 Under the Old Schedule.
 The new schedule of salaries adopted for the firemen by the court of common council has been a bugaboo to the fire commissioners ever since it's passage,
 and various devices to get around the
 new schedule have been proposed. First 1 the board voted to abolish the positions
 of stokers and drivers in the depart ment in order that hosemen might be detailed to do the work of those posi- | tions and receive only the salaries of | hosemen instead of the increased salary
 of $50 per year voted by the common | council to the stokers and drivers 1 Since this portion of the salary i'm
 crease was disposed of to the satisfac- | ton of the commissioners those men
 have been endeavoring to discover a means of disposing of the rest of the new schedule so that it would not go into effect.
 At last it would appear that they have found a loophole, and that, standing be-
 hind the twenty-fourth amendment to
 the state constitution, they refuse to
 pay the increased salaries. Last night the board met and approved the payroll for the past week, made out according to the old schedule of salaries which has prevailed the past year, notwithstand- ing the fact that the court of common council, using the specific power grant ed it by the charter, passed a schedule which was signed by the mayor and provided that it should so into effect on January 1.
 ,x, ,,,1n been informally told by Corporation Counsel Robertson that the new sched- ule of salaries is unconstitutional in so far as it relates to men already in the employ of the department The twen- ty-fourth amendment to the state con- stitution adopted in 1877 is as follows:
 "No county, city, town, borough or school district shall have power to pay or grant any extra compensation to any public officer employe, agent or ser want, or increase the compensation of any public officer or employe, to take effect during the continuance in office of any person whose salary might be in- creased thereby"
 The last legislature was petitioned by the firemen to fix schedule of salaries for the department, but the point was raised that this was matter more properly within the province of the com mon council of the city. The present counsel was hired by the firemen to do lobby work in Hartford in the interests of their petition. It having been decided by the committee on cities and boroughs that the salary ! matter should be left to the city gov to arrange, the city charter was so amended by the legislature that ! in section 55 it is now provided that the | compensation of officers and employees | of the fire department, except the super shall be determined by the court of common council.
 Acting under this charter amendment, the common council adopted the sched- ule which slightly increased some sala- ries and restored others to the same figures where they were before they were cut by the fire board about year ago to make up for an inadequacy in the appropriation for the department. The men who come within this last cat egory now claim that the schedule which the common council adopted does not increase their salaries, but