New-York tribune., 1905-02-16
TOO LATE. BUT IT'S ALI RIGHT.


The Sunerintendent of Buildings came back
from Florida in order to persuade the Mayor
that the little aldermanic resolution adding
S130OoO to the resources of his department
ought to be approved forthwith. but he arrived
lust in time to be too late The Mayor had al
ready signed his name to a particularly IN
cisive veto message. No doubt Mr.. Hoppers
first thought was that the fate which delayed
his northward flight had been unklnd, nut he
must have become aware ere this tnat the re-
snJt would have been the same if he had never
left the city. He acknowledges that the reso-
lution was a trffe irregular in phraseology"
and is disposed to be philosophical; but, having
attended to these verbal infelicities. he means
10 try again. though our guess is that he Will
waste his time, for the Mayors message re-
Iates TO the substance we'll as to the form
Of the resolution, which "seemS TO be nothing
but a proposition 10 multiply places and IN
..crease salaries" The local administration has
evidently made a note of the fact that the pub
lie thinks we have an enormously expensive
municipal establishment our hands, and is
not inclined to look kindly on any scheme for
taking better care of more Tammany boys.
Go far as we have observed, every Super
intendent of Buildings thinks his force is too
small and is accustomed to plead that excuse
when complaints Of neglect and ineficiency are
laid against his department. 1t may be far
to say furthermore, that pretty good arsu-
ment has occasionally been made on that side
of the case. But the building trade has been
to such an extent paralyZed by internal STRIFE
for so long time that we find 1t hard TO be-
Iieve the Superintendent has been seriously EN-
barrassed by an inadequate supply OF subordl-
nates The Mayor evidently thinks that reor-
ganization rather than expansion is the one
thing needful, and the probability is that he
will be found adherng to his opinion after Mr..
Hopper has improved the phraseology OF the
vetoed resolution and returned to the semi-tropl-
cal and peninsular delights of Florida.
The interruption of Mr.. HopperS vacation,
while chiefly due to anxiety about the revenues
of his department, was not wholly unrelated 10
the circumstance that he is accused of having
violated the charter by accepting advertise
ments for our esteemed contemporary, Inc
Harlem Reporter and Bronx Chronicle, with
which he is understood to sustain proprietary
relations. Mr. Hopper is advised by counsel in
whom he places implicit confidence that he
has done nothing obnoxious to tie law, and
in any case we are fully prepared to believe
that he is guilty of nothing worse than an IN
adyertence Moreover, be appears to be justly
entitled to a measure of compassion.
Those who might be considered the natural
sunpOrters of 1.-The Harlem Reporter ana BRONX
Chronicle never fail to exhibit pralseworthy
pride in that part of the city which they IN
habit, and are always ready, with or without
notice. TO take the field in its defence and put
n fight the armies of the aliens. But for some
reason they do not seem to reckon their local
publicat ton among the necessarieS of life. Ihere
is a touch of pathos which is akin to humor
in Nr. Hopper's allusion to the subject /
tried" he says ''to sell the paper last July, ana
Thought / had done so. A man named Jack
"son bought it with notes, but when the notes
..matIIred had to take the paper back. Cd
serve how gentle and uncompla1nmS he Is! ne
doesn't even imply that Jackson didn't know
good thing when he saw II. We nave hearu
that. having had an unsatisfactory experience
with that gentleman's notes, he trled 10 give
the paper away, but the report may eAaggerale
his dislike for newspaper proprletorshp AT
all events, he comedies that he has received
only a trivial sum for city advertising ana the
Controller is firmly resolved not to pay out
another dollar on that account, so that IL may
he nroper to consider the incident closed, espe
cially as Mr. Hopper doesn't need the money
and. we are sure doesn't want it unless IL De-
longs to him.