The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-12-29
STRONG Man AT
A GOOD SALARY
Acting Mayor Jones Discusses the
Conditions Surrounding the
Office Of Mayor.
"a Well Paid Business Manager
Could Save the City Thousands
of Dollars.
An Extension of Authority Is Sug-
gested, Also Civil Service
for Police.

Desirable changes in the conditions that
surround a local mayor were suggested
to-day by David P. Jones, alderman from
the fifth ward and acting mayor.
"The time has arrived in Minneapolis,
said Mr.. Jones, when we need strong,
able executive, and should pay him Weh.
There are dozen firms and corpora
lions in Minneapolis that are glad to pay
their presidents or managers from $4,000
| to $4,000 a year. And when we stop to
realize that the business interests of the
| city are of vastly greater Importance than
the business interests Of any other cor
poration in the limits of the state, 1t be-,
comes perfectly evident that only a. first
class, high-grade, experienced business
man can fill the bill. A superior executivAI
could save hundreds Of thousands OF dol
lars year, if his power was not SO lin
| tied and he had the full charge Of the ottyf
business. ..-~:- ... -.
| European cities long ago learned this
| lesson Of municipal administration. Their
] citizens choose a mayor who Is an expert
and pay him large salary. And II they,
| have no high grade, expert. official at
| short range, they import one. ~ .s- (
| Minneapolis must look at the matter In
a reasonable way and realize that inter-
ests Of the city and the taxpayer are too
important to hand over to anybody who Isl
| simply a party representative and not a
! trained business man Of long and wide:
experience. 49,. .--5.
More Authority, More Pay.
Neither the salary of the mayors Of.
fee nor its authority is what it should be.
neapolis should be held by broad
gauge, high-grade man. He should de-
vote practically all his time to his official
duties. Such a man can seldom afford
| to give more than a few hours daily to
an Office that pays no more than $4,000
a year. That's enough, perhaps for
simply running police department.. But
a fun-fedsed mayor, I think, should have
about $500. Mayor Harrison Of Chi
cago, for example, gets $4,000. He de-
votes his whole time to the office, and, in
spite of some partizan misstatements, he
has filled an important position very sue
/ cessfully. .. '..@ ~. :. .. :.
/ What Minneapolis mayor, after all:
/ He's the superintendent of a superintend-
i ent of police. Why should he sit here in
/ this hnetsonicesswi its gorgeous ante
i room? ought himself to occupy an ante
room down in the basement. next to the
4 office Of the chief of police. Most citizens
4 imagine that the mayor is the. head of
7 the city government. But outside tef the
police department, he ism t as influential
as an alderman. What can a mayor con-
i troll in the fire departments? What has
4 he got to say about pavements, bridges,
and other public improvements What
can he DO TO, project the people A|e|Si'
/ Practically nothing. =. = ~:
Consequently it is my belief tina the
most important change that a new city
i charter could bring into the Office OF
mayor, the change that would most dement,
both the city and the MAYOR himself.
would be to give him supreme authority
not only over the police but over all the
adminstra tive departments. The mayor
should not wholly lose control Of the =pe-
lice but his control of them should be
| much diminished, On. the: other hand
his authority should be extended to de-
nartments where he is now without influ
ence.
I Civil Service For Police.
.'To relieve the mayor of the burden of
being a consta bularly car, civil service
regulation should be established for the
police department. That would not only
make the mayors work easier, but II
would take the department out of poll
! tics. which is even more important. The
; civil service system should also be APP
piled to the fire department, SO that abil-
ity to extinguish fires and not to get
woes should be he qualification of every
fireman. :...,-'
i ..If a mayor were deprived of the power
to appoint patrolrnen and subordinate pc
lice officers he might find some time to
give to official matters of more conse-
quence. AS it is. he, and he alone, can
appoint or remove every man in the police
! department, except the chief, or superin-
tendent as we will call him, whose ap
pOintnlent or removal must De approved
by the city council =.
$50 there are always ten applicants for
every vacancy ON the the force, and the
mayor is nearly driven crazy by impor-
tunities. His anteroom is filled with APP
plicants and their friends, his office hours
are devoted largely to hearing these pep
pies pleas and arguments. his mall IS
i crowded with recommend his telas
phone keeps ringing testimonials He's
buttonholed and whispered to at street
corner and in street cars.
I The aldermen poster him with pulls,
business men try to use commercial argu-
ments that sometimes affect his private
Iaffairs, and even social influence is brought
to bear in avor of poor fellows whose lives
depend upon wearing silver shield.
! IF civil service were established all
this trouble would be ended. In fact
something has been accomplished to that
end by little informal civil service of
my own. Every one of my police APP
pointments has been made from among
the 107 men dropped by Mayor An1es the
first day he occupied the chair.
"Those were picked men Of ability and
experience. In choosing between them I
4 have compared their official records their
personal regulations and their private cir
cumstances. But even then I've suffered
4 the usual fate of appointing officers I've
made ten enemies to friend by each
appointment.
4 Larger Appolntlve Powers
yet the police department is an adj.
ministrative department and an impor-
tant one. The mayor. as have said,
should retain general control of it's opera
lions by keeping in his own hands the
appointment of the police chief or SUI
perintendent. The mayor should also ap-
point the chief of the fire department, the
city engineer, the city physician. the city
health officer, the building inspector, and
the superintendent of water works.
1.-THE mayor would then be strictly re-
sponsible for anything that went wrong in
!, any administrative department. believe
thoroughly in the mayoral form of city
government; but to be responsible may
or man must be invested with full au-
thority.
'The city assessor, the city attorney, the
city controller should continue to be elected
by the people These officers are not, prop
erly speaking, any part of the municipal
administration. fs
} Then, besides, the mayor should be au-
D thorized preside of the <.ffyr