The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-05-02
THE CITY DISAGREEMENT.

/ jeopardy than ever. The trouble arise
from hard-and.fast apportionmcut o
the expected revenues of the cit,
J among the FIVE commissioners, each "a
the head of department. of city af
fairs. The apportionment as made
seems to be beyond interference, and
liz commissioner in whose department
any special urgency comes up is not
able to meet that emergency by the
funds apportioncd to him. the public
suffers, and there is no remedy.
When the insurance men OF the city
stated that they would be glad to grant
vided the city would secure an
emergency supply of water easily avail
liable in case of Ere, that created
an emergency in the water department
of this city which ought to have been
provided for from the general funds Of
the city. But no, the water department.
had received its apportionment of the
city s revenues, and unless it could pro-
vide for the general need out of that
apportionment, nothing could be done.
And nothing was done.
Now q crisis has come upon the de-
partment of public safety, in which the
FIRE department is placed. The head of
that department was in favor Of in.
creasing the pay of the fremou. 1t
is the general consensus OF public opin.
ion, as shown by the decisive ex-
prcssions of leading business men in
The Tribune yesterday morning, and is
known generally to exist, that the fire
men ought to receive more pay. But
the department of public safety has
received its apportionment and this APP
portionment does not allow for the in
crease; consequently, it could not be
made. The commissioners as q rule
wish to keep all Of the money that has
been apportioned to them, and the ma
iority voted down any proposition to
increase the pay of the firomen,
primarily. no doubt, because that in.
crease might diminish to some extent
the amount of money that was carried
in the apportionment for their depart
mcnts, and the three who voted down
the proposition for the increase of fire
men s pay declare they will stand pat
on that proposition.
This discloses vicious feature OF
the commission plan Of government as
put into effect in this city All Of the |
expected city revenue is apportioned to |
the different departments by vote Of |
the commissioners. Then there is moth.
ing doing by way Of general public |
activity Everything must be done
from and by the department to which
the call comes, and unless the money
is ample for all ordinary
purposes aud for emergency purposes
too, the emergency is not met.
To be sure, no one approves the
strike of the hremen. Their cause is
Just and the city ought not TO take a
position that would make them the OBJ
lect of public sympathy in their dc.
nand, as they undoubtedly are at pres.
,ut. The city money ought TO be avail
able to meet any emergency like this.
and to pay the slight increase as asked
oy the fremen. But a strike on their
part makes IL more difficult than ever
for the commission to give way,
lnce 1t is human nature to resist com.
,ulsion, and to fight back when a fight
: begun. We believe that it was the
!uty of the tiremen 10 see if they could
lot bring public opinion to bear upon
be commission TO the extent of getting
concessions on the raise in their paw
ather thau TO have taken the drastic
method of organizing strike. They
lnow that the city cannot get along
without fire-fghting force, and they
therefore,, by striking take the munici.
'ality by the throat and make a de.
nand which, however inst in itself. is
made odious by the means of its en-
orcement.
We cite this new development as a {
lear exemplihcstion of the force OF d.,
he argument we have heretofore put
orth. that the commission form is I
merely tentative method of city gov {
that must give way to a bet
er form as soon as that better form is S
'rovided. We believe that better form
o be the vesting of the management
y city affairs and the expenditure of Y
II city moneys in the hands of city Z
manager, business agent, or superin- '
endeut, one competent, large-minded
erson who would be capable of taking =
nto account the whole city and all of +
is interests in the expenditure OF the :
ubhc moneys. II we had such man
ger he would have the whole CITY G
eveDue at his disposal. He would have Y
royided before this. the present year. q
n emergency water supply ample for =
ii reasonable expectations. He would y
ave met the iremen g strike before il 6
egan by taking from the general funds q
efficient TO meet the small require f.
ients of the additional pay. He would :
ave arranged long ago to have paved
outh State street TO the junction with >
he county's State road. And whenever !;
n emergency arose he would do exactly
$ any manager of big business con i
ern would do, take from the general s