Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1912-05-11
MISCELLANEOUS INDUSTRIAL ITEMS
Pine Bluff, Ark, May Sth, 1912.


 TO THE GRAPHIC:--
 F. have been asked to contribute something ill the City Beautiful Edi- flon on City Government | will ne- cessarily have to confine myself to our own city as l do not feel capable of treating this subject from gener- al viewpoint. The mayor and mem- bers of the police, fire and street de- partment comprise the personnel of the city government
 Mayor, A. C. Jordan; Clerk, w. A. Lee, City Attorney, w. B. Alexander; Police Judge, ]. Id. Stewart; City Physician, Dr. w. T. Lowe; City Col lector, A. c. Russell; Board of Pub lie Affairs, Mayor Jordan, Dr. !. W. Withers and J. F. Boyce; Sanitarian, A. P. Turney; Sexton A. A. Harper; Surveyor, F. R. Allen; Councilmen-- First Ward, Chesnuee and Fox; Second Ward, Hut and Sheppard; Third Ward, Well and Howell; Fourth Ward, Wolff and Johnson.
 hear as little complaint about the police department and the manner it is conducted l have ever known since I have been connected with the city's affairs.
 Our fire department have been dili- gent enough in looking after fires in our city to place Pine Bluff close to the front as a fire risk with any informed we stand third and I be- lieve our fire organization has the endorsement and admiration of our peo pie. Now as to the legislative part of our city government will say that the mayor, together with his eight coun- cilmen, put their heads together to look after this part of it the best they can. and you will pardon me for say ing that there is not a member of this body who does not put his best business judgment into each one of the multiplicity of subjects that is brought before them. Sometimes they make mistakes For these they get severely censured For the thousands of things they do right, no atten- tion is paid. They do the best they can with the revenues at their com mand. A question asked oftenest of a councilman is, what are you doing with all the money you get. Our rev enues from the general taxes collect ed by Mr. Brewster is about $36,- OOO.O0 We pay for light, water and the fire department $36,0O0. Now to provide money to care for the $400O0 that the city must have to meet it's running expense in addition to this, is no small job and would make my article too long to go into details. The expense has to be watched and handled carefully to keep out inn positions, as far as possible. A gen. tleman told me yesterday that he heard one of our business men say in the Chamber of Commerce that the City Council with the mayor. had recently had two conferences With the Pine Bluff Company that cost the city forty dollars each, with refer ence to the improvements in our street car system. Now if this gen. tleman had taken the trouble to ln- form himself he would have learned that Mayor Jordan called an lnfor- mal meeting at his office to talk over the proposed changes with the Shlef Engineer, who will have this work in charge, and that it did not cost Pine Bluff a copper. The city gov ernment wants the cooperation of our people, and are certainly striving for their good will, and I believe the government will compare favorably with any in the South.
 Very truly yours,
 FRED FOX.