Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-11-26

OF work he is following.
2. l do not believe the council 1
should violate the law of the state to .
give a certain man the position re-
ferred to.
3. l do not believe in combining /
the Office of superintendent of water /
works and superintendent of fltra- /
ton, as l am in accord with the rec I
ommendation of Mr.. Birdsall that the ,
superintendent of filtration should also I
be city chemist, so as to aid the health 1
department in analysing milk, cream /
and other foods.
4. / believe that we have men who /
arc citizens here, VINO are competent !
TO fill the Office of superintendent of |
Waterworks, and that the man who is /
row in the employ of the city as head !
eDgineer at the waterworks, is one OF
them. We so often hear about this
million dollar plant" There is a GER |
tain fascination to the words, mil /
lion dollar plant" l suppose that |
is the reason they are used so often. |
Now, let US be cool, conservative bus
mess men for few moments. Where
is the million dollars in this water
works plant-most of it is under
ground invested in water mains that
lie perfectly still, and need very little
attention. The next in cost is the
failure of a slow sand filter. The next
is the new filter plant that We will
call success, which was contracted
for by the former administration,
which / propose to put in charge Of
a first class chemist. Then the pump
| lag station now in charge of a first
class engineer who has been there
/ for about Is years-reappointed by all
mayors. Why? Because he was a
good politician? No. Because he
I knows his business.
Now with a good engineer at the
pumping station, good chemist at the
filter plant, a good rOs ,er of employees,
what will we lack to run our water
works? Why a good level headed bus
iaess man as commissioner of public
property, who can also act as superin-
tendent of waterworks.
5. l believe that when the next cleo
ton is held for commissioners, the
people will select as ohe of the COM
missioners some man who will be COM
petent to take charge of the water
works, and that our waterworks can
be managed as Moline's plant, with
out a special superintendent.
I 6. That with the appointment of our
head engineer, or some other citi7en
of his calibre, as superintendent, and
a city chemist in our laboratory at
the inter- plant, our waterworks wouIi-
be in good hands until the next regu
Ter election, at which time the people
would have a chance to elect their
superintendent of waterworks, or some
one his equal as commissioner, to take
charge of that department (ThIs
is not said as slap at Mr.. Bear, as
ia was not elected for this depart
ment, but was left this department
after all the other commissioners had
picked theirs, and l fully realize that
he is not in the department he is best
able to handle.)
Z. One of the arguments used
against the commission form Of gov
eminent in cities our size, is that
too much money is paid out for salar-
les, and the argument, in most cases,
Is we'll taken. Is there any good rea-
son why the people should not select
their commissioners on account of
their fitness for some certain depart
ment? Let US get busy and ask to
have the law amended so that candi-
dates must run as candidates for a
certain department, and not simply
for commissioners, and unless the peo-
I III
pointment of a superintendent Of wa
terworks, I am certainly opposed TO
the passage Of the ordinance men
toned.
And now a few words abont this
great mistake of the commission ID
asking the people to vote on this ordi-
nance; as a director in some big bus
mess where the board of directors
j was about evenly divided as to the
= ACCESSIBILITY Of employing, we will say,
= an assistant manager, and some mem
Der knowing that a stockholders
. meeting would be held in the next
, 80 days, asks that the question. be
v referred TO them at that time for their
!, approval or reiectiOn-would you con
, slider that anything out Of the way?
. Is not this similar? An election has
been called to vote on a telephone
, ordinance, and must be held Where
is the great harm in asking the peo-
: pie 10 pass on this ordinance? Does
IL lie in the fact that you believe, as
: believe, that the people will, with
a big majority, turn this ordinance
down? Are you here in the hope that
, you will be able to stop the people
from passing on this ordinance be
> cause you think they do not know
Z enough 10 pass on It?
. With a few exceptions, /. believe
. you are here in what you honestly
. believe TO be for the best Of the city,
but as We do not agree on the dis
position of the ordinance, l do hope
that we will at least part as friends
d as must say that think have done
:, what | think is the best under the cir
, cumstances.
> AS 20 the Islander in the Argus. well,
y don't think | will even discuss il.
. AS to the other papers, they have
. expressed their views on this matter
+ in a clean cut business way, and |