The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1906-06-06
THE KIND OF HARMONY
MAYOR BLISS DESIRES

his post Of duty or resign. In con-
! fOTmity to this the Board of Public
/ Works endeavored to get Mr.. Gin
| giles to do one or the other, IN which
/ IL failed, and then there seemed to be
nothing left for the board TO do but
/ to declare the ONCE vacant, which it
did. Later the council instructed the
Board of Public Works to re-instate
/ Mr.. Gingles, which order was also
! carried out. But the administration
and the people did not want Mr.. Gin
/ giles and consequently the board dis
missed him on charges of incompe-
tency and characterization. When
complaint Of this was made by Mr.
] Gingies to the council, Alderman
Reilly moved for an investigation
and Alderman MuldOn had the mo-
/ ton changed TO include an "investiga-
ton of the Board Of Public Works"
/ b. the Finance Committee. The in
vestigation occupied several weeks
and proved TO be a veritable mares
/ nest" whereupOn it is alleged the
! committee, or a member of the COM
mittee, endeaVored to secure the
| resignation OF Chairman Zelius by
/ very improper methods. Failing to-
I
| ed that his resignation be requested.
and this was voted for in the council
Now, if there is anything wrong in
all this it certainly is not the fault of
the mayor or Chairman Zelius.
It is true that The Journal had
previously called for the resignation
Of Mr.. Zelius and that Mr.. Zelius did
not resign. Mr.. Zelius did not bow
to the dictation of The Journal. asI
he did not know il officially. andI
neither did he resign at the request
of the Council; nor would any other
right-thinking man resign under such
circumstances when he was guilty of
nothing. To resign under such cir
cumstances would, to the minds of
most people, be an acknowledgment
that something was wrong with the
chairman OF the Board of Public
Works, and that the Council was right
in demanding the resignation.
1t was stated on the floor of thei
Council at the last meeting that all
that was desired by the Finance Com
mtttee was harmony, and 1t was
thought that If Chairman Zelius would !
resign that everything would be har-l
monious. What does this mean? StoDI
and think a minute. It means a great
deal more than appears on the sur.
face to the average citizen. Il means
that with Chairman Zellus out of thel
way the Council could select any man
ii might choose and that the admins
tration would be pOwerless to do any,
thing except in conformity to the OBJ
position that has manifested itself
from the start.
Mr.. Zelius told me, and I believed
him TO be a man of unimpeached |
veracity, and honor above suspicion,
that after the Council had passed the
request for him to resign, that Alder
man Muldon walked up to him and
slapped him on the back and told him
that he (Muldon) believed he (Zelius) /
was good fellow, and that he meant
well and he wanted him to come over
to "our side" that If he would only
do that he would be ALI right" Null
don further told him that it was not
him that they were after so much as
the other fellow" If that be a fact
and / am the "Other fellow" why
don't they come out in the open and
say so2 l do not want the Council to /
be batting some other person in order
10 get lick at me. II | have done
wrong, let them take me to task AMI |
not Jump on some innocent party. |
am able TO carry my own burdens and /
fight my own battles, Oficially.
Recently The Journal asked some /
very pointed questions, regarding a !
certain news-bureau, which seems to I.
have had a very Statutory effect, and
in like connection desire to ask few /
Questions-iust plain, simple questions
that can be easily answered. Why
does The Pensacola journal and Ger.
tain COuncilmen demand the resigna-
ton Of Mr.. Zelius? Mr. Zelius has
done nothing criminal and nothing |
for which the public reproaches him.
II there be any odium in regard to J
the present Unpleasantness and re-
signRtiOns are desired. why not call |
for the designations Of those who are
responsible for il? Why call for the
resignation Of an innocent man?
What is the reason Of all this per-
sistent effort to put Mr.. Gingles back
into ONCE? The administration does
not want him and 90 per cent of the
people are openly opposed to him /
being reinstated. Then why all this
extremely persistent effort to get him
back into once? There must be some
reason for IL, which reason is not the |
little salary Of one hundred ($100.00) /
dollars a month. There is something
back Of that. Will The Journal
kindly tell us what that something
is? The public would like to know.
When I was elected Mayor, Alder
man Reilly gave me his hand and
promised to do everything possible to I
make my administration a success. In
appreciation Of that promise and in /
the interest Of harmony I gave to Al
derman Rely the most important Of !
fee at my cOmmand-:hat of Chair /
man of the Finance Committee. I |
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