Henderson gold leaf., 1911-09-07

commissioners came to me and said
he was glad that | was elected and
hoped that | would Join him in Civ
ing the town an economical admins
tratIOn. We discussed several mat
| ters, and at his suggestion and re-
quest, prepared q resolution and
offered it at the first meeting | at
tended. This resolution set out that.
whereas at this time, the mayor was
a lawyer, and another member nfthe
/ board was OF the same profession.
and whereas, when the board called
on their attorney for any particular
service, he charged them the usual
Ices, III addition TO his annual re-
tainer, IT. was therefore Resolved that
the board do not at this time elect
regular attorney, but to leave them
selves open to rrtaim one whenever
needed, and by this means save to
the town 500 retainer fee. 1t waA
further resolved that whereas the
town treasurer WHs receiving about
5000 for doing practically nothing,
that his commission be- cut in hall
| This resolution, if it had passed.
would have saved the town last Nehf
S326- 30. Do yOn know this, nv first
resolution, trying to save some Of
the town money was killed quicker
shan lightning aud draler than
Julius Caesar, aud rc.,eiveI IL worse
drubbing than WAS hpaped on Marion
Butler during the last campaign
Imagine my surprise and chagrin
when my old vrn"rdIel and pcOnOm
ical friend, who got me to draw The
resolution, arose in his usual dignifi-
ed manner, and Hs sOOL as had fin
ished reading my first resolution,
moved to lhV it. ON the table Hi
motion was seconded Hnh carried t,s
quickly as if it had been gre asrd for
the 0rc.lsiOn. 1t matt"rrd nothing
to them if they voted $326 30 Of the
towns money into the packets nt
one of these members and their at
tOfney, without II moment \ hi-cua-
sion or cOnSiHrrntiOl There is
nothing personal in this matter, be-
cause both the attorney and Treas
ur+r are amDng my WarmeSt friends.
This is not II personal but n public
question. Is it right for the town
hundred dollars a Year for doing the
work that any good book-kepprr
would be glad to do for 800? |
maintain that under our present
system of doing business, the com
missioner who is lucky enough to be
elected treasurer is gratuitiOusly Civ
Oh S4OO Il year that he never earns.
Last january, when the bill Great
ing the recorders court was read
before the commissioners for their
approval, it was stated that the new
court would be a great benefit to the
town in many ways. Among other /
things pointed out, it was stated |
that the recorder would relieve the |
mayor of the unpleasant and annoy |
ing duty of trying cases, and for
this reason the town could reduce
the mayors salary $500, and the
treasurer would be that much in /
After the bill was passed, some time
in March or April, before anyone |
was nominated or elected, and at a |
time when at least two other gentle |.
men except the present mayor were
considering running for the office, a
resolution was passed in a regular
meeting setting forth the facts as
above stated, and reducing the may
or's salary for 1911 to 800. This
was done before election for two rea-
sons: First, that whoever was elected .
might not think it a personal mat ,
ter, and in the second place the
board wanted the man running for
the office to know what he was to
get before elected. After it became
known that the board had passed
this resolution, the other two gen
! tlemen decided not to run for the of
flee, and the present mayor had no
opposition. He knew before he was
elected that the board had fixed his
salary at 800. At the first meeting
in May the question of the mayors
salary again came up. The atten-
tion of the board was called to the
/ fact that the town laws provided
/ that all salaries should be fixed the
first meeting in May. Some ques-
| ton was raised as to whether or not
/ the old board had legal right to
/ fix this salary, whereupOn the sal
ary was again fixed by the new board
at 500. The mayor stated at the
/ time that whatever the commission
ers did would be satisfactory to
/ him, as he did not run for the office
/ for the money that was in it.
/ thought that inasmuch as the
MAYOR knew before he was elected
that his salary was fixed. and mas
much as it had been fixed by two
boards at two different times that it
would stay fixed, but it did not. In
stead, somebody fixed two of the
commissioners. In this case, the
board of town commissioners of
Henderson beats the Supreme Court
I OF the United States in that it had
on it's board two Shirases, and one
of these a grandaddy Shiras who
had voted twice for the 500 salary,
but all of sudden something came
over their dreams and they saw
new light. Am often amused watch
ing the manOeuvring of some of the
commissioners, they remind me of a
jumping jack. Suppose all the read
that was very popular few years
ago 1t was wooden monkey with
strings and springs so that every
time you would pull the string the
monkey would Jump. In this case,
the board had spoken twice in due,
solemn form, saying 500 shall be
the salary of the mayor, but what
difference did that make? Somebody
pulled the string and the monkey
jumped, and with it 5000 mysteri-
ously disappeared from the town
, treasury into the mayors pocket. No
! reason for this sudden change has
, ever been given, except one Mr..
Shiras says he could not go against
: Dick, )" another advanced the idea
J that he was for progress, and want
: ed To add DIGNITY to the office of