Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-12-26
EYESON MAYOR THOMS
Men Looking For Ber,hs Baye Ear to the Ground Just
 Now.

to the ground in the hope of catching
 some sound from the headquarters of
 Mayor Thoms regarding his appoint
 ments to the several boards, but
 while some claim to have inside in-
 formation it is very doubtful if any,
 body knows anything worth men,
 tioning as to what his honor will do
 in the premises. As usual everybody
 wants to know the personnel of the
 department of public safety. In some
 quarters you are told that there
 will be but one change, while others
 claim to be positive that the whole
 board will get the bounce. A man
 who knows or thinks he knows lot
 about the mayor and his plans de-
 clared to-day that there will be no
 changes worth mentioning, adding
 that he knew the thing was already
 settled and that those who were mak-
 ing try to bring about changes were
 worrying nobody but themselves. He
 was willing to wager his weeks
 wages that the dominant element i'll
 the fifth district will be the sickest
 lot of fellows in town after the
 boards are announced, because, he
 had it on the best authority that the
 mayor will not be able to hand them
 anything more palatable than a
 lemon. On the other hand the fifth
 warders are confident of such recog-
 milton as the district is entitled to.
 Some are more sanguine than others,
 but even the more doubtful refuse to
 take any stock in the ice water or
 lemon solution, but in case nothing
 better comes they will manage to get
 along and be happy Just why there
 should be such a scramble for places
 on the safety board is as much of
 mystery now as ever, but it is safe to
 state that somebody knows if he cared
 to tell. Perhaps one would not be far from the fact should he attribute
 it to a desire on the part of men to
 help their friends into good posi-
 tions. This is laudable ambition
 and so long as public interests are
 properly safeguarded and good men
 Elaced wherever vacancy occurs mo-
 bady needs offer the slightest apolo-
 gy for being in the race.
 But unfortunately the public's end
 of the case is too often lost sight of in the desire to advance personal friends. What other meaning can one take from the talk regarding the plans to retire Captain Ramon on half pay and elect somebody else in his place and give him even more than the captain is getting. It re- quires nerve to. father proposition of this sort, but they say the new board will be equal to the emergency. Captain Bannon is very competent man and the idea of putting him on the idlers' list at half pay while he is we'll able to remain in active service and earn full pay is bold way of fooling with the public, and if such tactics go on without interruption the day is not far off when the town will be filled with pensioners. The only argument anybody could offer in favor. of the. retirement of Captain Ramon is that there is a precedent on record for it. MT Elton's board retired George M. Egan on a salary of $1,000 and appointed an inexper- fenced person to succeed him and fix Cu hlo odldl dt CAsUVU. uclc lS uOJ a man in Waterbury to-day who is | willing to say above his own sigma ! ture that the present head of the po- lice department is superior to the man whom he succeeded in anything | that goes to make a competent SUD- erintendent of police. What, then, caused the change? Why politics, | pure and simple. It was reasoned | out that in the natural order of | things George M. Egan would be re- tired within nine or ten years by | some board and as there was no way of telling whether the board would | be democratic or republican at that | time it was deemed wise to take time by the forelock and put tried and true republican in the place while the coast was clear One might talk for a month and write book as large as the bible on this subject and that is all he could make out of the re- tirement of George NJ. Egan and the election in his stead of George NJ. Beach. This is no knock at Mir Beach. He is a good man and mo- body grudges him his luck. It is the viciousness of the principle that the people object to. The idea of the taxpayers of Waterbury paying d man like George NJ. Egan a salary of $1.- 0O0 year for doing nothing is pre- posterous, especially so long as he was willing and competent to remain in active service. In the first place 1t was not fair to Egan to say nothing of the raw deal on the public. No doubt Egan would prefer to have been left at his post, but having no he made the most of things as he found them. We have been told that Mir Egan presented his to the commissioners of his own volition. Is that so? We'll, DOW anybody who wants to IS 1t liberty to believe that and those who take the other view enjoy a similar privilege. It would be interesting to see the house divided on this ques- lion. Why the majority in favor of the "other view" would be almost as as when a rising vote was taken on meters in City halTi when the little machines were beat sn by about z.O00 votes to 1 vote.
 This sort of reasoning may not ap- peal very strongly to people who are 1. liter Captain Bann0n's berth, but just 1 he same when they are questioned loosely for a reason they invariably 1 all back upon republican precedents { md they don't have to look far tO , ind one It is true that republicans 1 Ire In no way bashfuI about doing I hings for political reasons and dem | 'cFsts might not make any mistake s