The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1910-07-11

10 engage an expert accountant, Les
lie s. EveTts, as deputy under Control
Ter Carl Dietz. Everts Is not Social
list.
A careful examination OF accounts
showed that the general maintenance
expense fund was over $4,000 short.
Deputy Everts explained that the cor
dltion Is ike that which every other
American city is confronting, a condi-
ton under which the increased cost OF
improvements and their maintenance
cannot be met by the present system
OF taxation The streets are increas-
ing in mileage. but the taxes do not
increase in proportion.
Other reasons that Everts gave for
tie big deficit were:
The issuing OF bonds that do not
At the life OF the improvement for
whicE they were issued.
DaIia9aent personal taxes.
The countersigning of warrants for
pending appropriation when there
was no money In the treasury.
Paving bonds, for instance" said
'Everts, have been issued for 20
years But the paving was so poor
that it wore out about every seven
years. while the bonds went on and
accumulated.
Delinquent personal taxes do not
make a big part of the deficit. They
amount to but $4,000"
Aside from the deficit in the treas
ury the Socialists have found that
the pavements are in bad condition,
the streets not kept clean. and that
although there are no tenements there
are spots here and there where the
unsanitary conditions are a menace
to health and the crowding worse
than in many OF the worst tenement
districts OF the country.
These conditions we're also discov.
cred by expert investigation.
Hires Expert Health Officer.
The most signal appointment made
by Mayor Seidel is that of DR.. Will
liam Colby Rucker, an officer of the
United States public health and
marine hospital service. as head OF
the health department. The mayor
wants the best health conditions in
Milwaukee that a city ever had, and
was willing TO go TO any length TO
, get them.
He wanted a man who could fight
yellow fever and bubonic plague In
times Of sanitary war to show the
country what could be done for a
municipality in time Of sanitary peace.
When the request for Dr. Rucker
was made. Surgeon General Walter
Wyman refused to let him go. Then
Mayor Seidel carried his request to
President Taft and his cabinet. He
got his man.
DR.. Rucker goes out to make his
own Investigations, and has already
begun cooperative measures with the
physicians Of Milwaukee that Is revo-
lutionizing health reports.
Another expert who has gone out 10
Investigate is Mayor Seidel himself.
Mayor Seidel is a mechanic. His
business was pattern making. He be.
/ lleves in coming in contact with con
dltions instead OF theories. So he goes
out into the dust heaps and sewers
and pavements, the prisons and hos.
pitfalls TO do some investigating Of his
own.
He explains with a little letting.
lyou.into-the.secret smile that the
mechanic part of him makes him an
expert when it's examining pavements
and that his socialism makes up for
| the rest.
One of these little trips satisfied
! Mayor Seidel that the street car com
panies were responsible for much OF
the bad condition OF the paving.
Their franchises require that the
strip between the tracks and a foot
outside be paved and kept In repair
by the companies.
Where the city put down asphalt
pavements, the street car people found
they had a lot to repair. For every
! time the wheel OF wagon came down
| from the hard surface OF a rail onto
the pavement 1t bumped and cracked
! the asphalt.
City Gets stuns.
To prevent this the company laid
its foot OF pavement outside the rails
with granite blocks. That reversed
the situation. The hard granite blocks
took the place OF the rail and the
city's asphalt strip got the bumps
and the city had to do the repairing.
Then one day light-haired, near
| sighted man walked up 10 some men
who were laying creosote blocks.
Don't you know that isn't the way
| to do it, he asked as one put down
mis- block with the long grain up.
Think of it," he said afterwards
Men laying pavement with inspectors
! supposed TO be on the job and laying
| blocks so they are sure to split"
Another visit that Mayor Seidel
made one morning was TO the police
court. He sat by the judge and watch.
ed the prisoners come in. Two had
bad cuts across their foreheads. Some
we're found TO be III. Men and women
had been huddled together in the bull
pen before being brought In.
The next day machinery was set In
motion 20 have men and women
prisoners kept in different rooms al
police court time and TO provide medi.
cal examination as soon as arrested
persons we're brought into the sta.
lions.