The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1909-04-28
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The News of the Goth inst, from at.
NJ. A." making a request that 1 should
explain why with all my promises
before election" l beg to advise that
| made only one promise-that of a
faithful discharge of my duties to my
constituents my platform, retrench-
ment and reform, for economy and
against false economy.
am not taking issue with T. M. A.
I am very glad that he has spoken,
and wish more of the citizens would
speak out so that we might know their
feelings on this subject. Unless the
citizens express themselves the mayor
and board of aldermen will think that
they are doing just the right thing
that is needed to be done. Yes, sir,
Lasseter is on record; see his scale
of pay for all employees of the city
this offered the first meeting of the
new board; see the minutes of the
meeting and note how many mays"
recorded, and by whom and what for.
Lasseter recommended nine police;
twelve were placed on the force, then
two others added. We now have one
police sergeant and thirteen police.
Did Lasseter think the city needed this
number of police? No. How did he
vote? No. Has Lasseter questioned
the need of so many police at any
meeting since the election of the adj
ditional two men? Yes. Has the
city been to any other expense in
this way? Yes, the minutes will show
that seventy dollars was paid out for
detective work in the month of Feb
ruary. Has Lasseter had anything to
say about this? Yes, he thought that
the regular paid police force should
do this work. Did he put himself on
record as, opposing the increasing of
Chief PoCters wages? No, he did not;
he voted in favor of allowing Potter
the raise. Why? Because Chief Pot
ter had an offer from Meridian as the
chief of their fire department at a
much better salary than we were pay
ing him. Lasseter had a talk with a
few of the taxpayers who are heavy
fire insurance payers, and they were
in favor of holding Potter as our
chief, therefore it would have been
false economy to have allowed Merid-
ian to have the benefit of the chiefs
experience and We would have had to
take an inexperienced chief. Will T.
M. A. suggest a method as to how we
might make a saving in the fire de-
partment without loss to the insured
Lasseter has made inquiry long ago
as to the reduction that has been made
in insurance the information receiv-
ed was that there had been a big re-
duction to the fellow who had the in
surance to pay and while the money
did not go into the city treasury there
was a big saving to the citizens of
Hattiesburg. Does Potter fill anoth-
er position other than chief of the
fire department? Yes, he is city
electrician. Does he receive any pay
for this service? No. Does Merid-
ians chief of fire department fill the
position Of city electrician? No, they
have an electrician. Now T. NJ. A,
for your information l will say that
am aware that the expenses of the
| police department has increased: De-
cember payroll, general fund, 1908,
$1,36500; March payroll. 1909, gener'
al fund, $1,46000; increase $500
fire department, December 1908, $3.50;
March 1909, $715.00; decrease $500
Sanitary department, December, 1908
$379.50 March 1909, $39200; increase
$3.50. Engineering department, 1921.
60 against $200.25; decrease $2735
Street department, $4S3.50, agains
$511.75; increase s2S.25. Water de
partment, $91S.5O, against ss76.6O; de
crease $41.90.
All of the above is taken from thu
payroll of December, 1905 and Marcl
1909, of which have copy. Decem
Der roll has been in my possession
since December-March roll sine
March. You will see that we hav
had an increase of s135.75 and d
crease of $S4.25 which means a ne
increase of $3.50 over December pay
roll. Suppose We figure little furtl
er and say that the payroll for thi
month will exceed March payroll.
is estimated that we will have in on
general fund about $24, 32600; in tn
street fund $7,000.00-this after a
privilege and street taxes have bee
paid in and all taxes collecte