The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1907-08-21
SEND TRACER INTO
COUNCIL MORGUE
Buried Resolutions Must Come
to Light for Good of
City.
SLOW METHODS OBNOXIOUS
Recommendations Six Months
Old on Tablc-Going
After Them.

General complaint has been mado
heretofore regarding tho slow method
by which important resolutions are
handled by committees and in Council.
and while Hi of this may not be due
primarily to any obstinate feeling on
the part OF members, itsis a fact never
theless that the business OF the city
departments suffers because OF the
snail-like pace. Evidence or this came
to the surface at the meeting of the
Committee on Relief Of the Poor held
at the City Home Monday night
Recommendations from the superin-
tendent. all of which are urgent, have
been "on the table for months. It APP
| pearing that 1t is not the duty OF any
man In particular to look after their
passage. An instance was cited by Dr.
r. G.. Williams. The cook at the home
receives only SIS month. and to get
good results IT was shown that this
amount had to be increased. The
baker receives s65. Months ago the
committee recommended that the cooks
wages be increased, but the matter
! has been hung UP somewhere. and
meanwhile the conditions are such that
changes are Imperative. The services
of a good man cannot be secured at
that price. and while there Is no seri
GUS objection to the plan for paying
more the resolutions has been shifted
from one committee to another, and
the effort to trace 1t is more difficult
than the average man familiar with
! Legislative methods would imagine.
Or. Williams Offers Help.
/ At the request of DR.. Williams, SUI
! perintendent Davis was instructed 10
act as tracing COMMITTEES of one and
to appear before the proper body to
urge the Importance of immediate ac-
/ ton DR.. Williams said that he would
1 be perfectly willing to assist Mr.. Davis.
! and would appear with him before COM
| nittees for he realized that something
| had to be done to bring the ordinances
/, to the point of enactment. DR.. Will
| lams has taken an Interest In the az
1 fairs of the City Home which has been
of decided value. and the fact that he
| will add to the duties which are upon
him as a member OF the Common Coun-
i ell is very strong proof that the course
1 heretofore followed is not credit 10
the city of Richmond.
/ Some Matters Now Buried.
4 Some OF the suggestions of Superin
/ tendent Davis. favorably received By
i the committee in charge. have been on
i the docket for more than six months.
The superintendent said that 1t would
be a pleasure to him to work for
speedy consideration. ard he is already
at work with that end In view. Among
the more important matters thus de-
layed is request that an extra resi-
dent physician be employed at the
home, the present force not being SUI
ficient to attend to the requirements
of the patients now there. Extra
nurses and pharmacist are also badly
needed, and Mr.. Davis is anxious to
have the regulations amended so thae
4 a table can be provided in the naess
room for officers. A new morgue. for
white and colored, has been urged. but
has been buried somewhere with conf
mittees or in Council. There is also a
, resolution to require that an ambulance
fee be charged for ambulance service
f when these calls are sent in from be-
!, jyond the city limits and where pa
tients are able to pay.
! These charity patients who are really
not to be put in that class. keep the
g ambulance running day and night, Sew
eral days ago twenty-one calls We're
answered.. While the c0n,nittee was
at the home Monday night the wagon
: was sent to the Cedar Works section.
being called there by a man who had
broken one of his fingers.
Present Plan Cumbersome.
Men who have watched the City Hall
a routine have found that these COM
a plants are not the exception. ANY
[, resolution, for instance, which carries
[, an appropriat ton of more than 500 has
4 to go first to the Finance COMMITTEES
|. then to the two branches of Council
e and finally to3the Mayor for approval.
f For smaller amounts the resolutions
I. may be passed under a suspension OF
S rules in both houses. 1t Is not always
: possible to get a quorum, and this ac-
n counts for much Of the delay. The
L committees are hard worked, and II
s any simplifying plan can be offered
t it would be approved by.members moro
+ readily than by the public at large.
BATTERED AND BRUISED.