Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-05-19
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 It is generally believed that Captain Dodds and Captain Heitman compIi. cated things for the department of safety by sending in applications for the berth created at Hartford by the new charter amendment. p4ssed for the purpose of ousting democrat and making room for tried and true re publican. It. was not intended that this should get out until August. when the act becomes operative, and then there WAS going to be sort of surprise party on Terrence O'Brien and Bernard Byrnes. two men of long experience and recognized ability in the depart ment. but unfortunately they don't play in Chief Snagg's backyard and consequently they had to be disposed of even though sharp trick had to be resorted to to accomplish the feat It seems General. Van Keuren vss not consulted with reference to the details. and not knoving. his lesson or probably not caring to be taught in that schoo. he kicked in the traces. with the result that public attention is again called to the joke somebody pulled on on the aldermen when they got them to ap- prove an amendment to the charter and then took it to one side and whit. tied it into such shape as suited them. selves and palmed 1t off on the legis- lators at Hartford as the real thing. When the cat got out of the bag some body from behind the curtain an. nOunced through the press that the change was made because the depart- inent was top heavy with 50 many ofiicers. Clever hit. A dozen or Mors big rate payers were about town the next day eul0gizing the business ad- ministration on It's effort to cut down expenses by abOlishing some of the ofdces in the Ire department Now it daGns upon them that this was not what was aimed at at all. but. rather to make room for political friends and favored ones. and seeing that they got fooled as well as the aldermen. they don't know what to say and object to being questioned about the scheme. General Van Keuren takes the ground that inasnluch as the act does not be- come operative until August there are no tacancies and nobody can be chosen for The berfhs created at Hartford. The commissioner may be right. but what some of the uninitlated want to know is why he didn't make a scene when a successor was elected to Su- perintendent Egan of the police de pertinent. who will not retire until Oc- fober. and yet George NJ. Beach has been selected by the board to step into the office. although it will not he va- cant until next fall. But probably General Van Keuren may have been let into all the secrets of the little per. formance in the police department and knew his book while on the other hand he evidently was taken by surprise by the sudden turn of things among the fremen. General Van Keuren says there are no politics in the working of the department of public safety. This may be true 70 far as the general Is concerned. but in the light of recent developments blind man might he excused if he should say that he saw somebody turning the political wheel, and if General Van Keuren can't catch on 1t ie a miracle how he acquired the reputation of being one of the ablest hnanciers in Connecticut. But these things will right themselves in time and after few weeks the work as autlined, he beginning will he B. ished up and then everybody will be happy. What difference does 1t make whether 1t adds to the cost of main tenance or not so long as party service is receiving it's reward:
 They have the fire herths in their own hands now and if is safe to pre-. dict that no strangers will occupy them. The present in0nmbenfs were not routed for the good of the depart menf and the men who pushed them outside the breastworks may be de pended upon to take care of the oAlres. But there are other troubles on hand and 1t will require lot of hard work 10 put the plans through without arous- ing too much public indignation. The city has to get more pay and there gre others who deserve to he remembered.
 George Beach has been taken care of and needn't care about the enemies be has made in his advocacy of the right of the trolley to go where it pleaeee without let or hindrance. and his bold stand on other measures rail- roaded through the city government: but he is not the only one that ran counter with public opinion in this re- spect. Look at all the missiles that are being aimed at the city attorney for al- lowing the charter amendments paced by the aldermen to get turned upside down at Hartford. Is it fair to ask him to put up with all this abuse for nothing: Tt 10 said that the present incumbenfs cannot receive an increase in salary while in ofiice. True. but how much would they lose by dropping ouf of o61ce for about ten minutes and then stepping back again? This has been done and the payroll does not show that the parties were docked for the time they were out of office. Why can't if be repeated: If these perform apce< were considered too raw when they were staged. what's the matter with having all this attended to at Hartford. They can do anything up there and if the advocates of higher salaries mean business and don't like the questionable methods employed in the past to defeat the purpose of the charter. let them fix this pan of it. toe. at the Capitol.