The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-08-15
Thinks $31O Paid Turner Could Be Better Used
 Employing Patrolmen
SARCASTIC AS TO
 ARDUOUS DUTIES
Says They Should Be Discharged Either by Commissioner of Public Justice or Chief of Police-Noth-
 ing Against Turner Personally

pr. J. D. Hanlzins of East Lake, can didate for city commissioner last night issued statement in which he ques- tioned the wisdom of creating the of flee of police inspector and suggested that 1t be abolished along with the
 other things that are being curtailed | in the effort of the city fathers to | live within the city's income The statement pr. Hankins makes is really in the nature of an opening ssnn in his campaign for the commis- sionership. His statement made to an Ase-Herald reporter last night speaks for itself
 Our city commissioners have re- gently been compelled to adopt some very drastic cuts in the city's annual budget" said Dr. Hankins. "The neces- sity of reducing the running expenses of the city can arise from but two
 causes namely:
 T. Inadequate income
 { "2. Extravagant or uneconomical ex- penditure of the funds in hand. "rhe committee of 100, and. doubt | jess. a great majority of other cit | izens concurred in the action of the city commissioners. Many of these cuts will affect our conveniences and will curtail what we regard as necessities An arc light may be cut off in your neighborhood. A relative may be re-
 moved from the fire department. Your garbage may be left in the alley to rot, and thereby lower the health con dItion. It may be your policeman has
 been cut off and your home may be burglarized because of it. Grossly Inconsistent Had you observed the gross incon- aistency of official conduct just at this point?
 We had some three dozen police
 men cut from the force. They were
 needed but We could not afford them Here Is the point: For this handful of policemen we have left for the skel- otonized force, it suddenly dawns on us that We are obliged to have a police Inspector Surely he must be an abso- iutely indispensable necessity or the commissioners would not have created the place. He draws a salary of S310 month, so his duties must be very dfouous and eXacting.
 Three hundred dollars a month is no
 meagre salary for bankrupt city to | pay, and especially In these times of fi- nanc1al stringency, when most of us are making less than half our usual in- | come. l regard a salary of $500 now as being equal to S600 in normal times. This | salary would almost pay the salaries of l four policemen for month. I know not the duties of our police inspector. but they must be very important to be worse needed than four patrolmen. Ordinarily when an office is created. the duties of said office are specifically set out in the ordinance creating the of- flee. May be the duties of this office are specific, but the public has not been so informed. and it seems that there has been some misunderstanding at head quarters as to his duties
 some of his prerogatives have been given to the public through the press Among those mentioned are seeing that the patrolmen have on clean collars, full uniforms or no uniforms at all shoes
 shined and faces freshly shaved. We are told also that he did fine or was about to fine patroman, when he was in
 formed from headquarters that this was out of his Jurisdiction. He doubtless has other duties and. no doubt, performs
 them we'll
 T have nothing to say against the
 inspector personally. Assuming that he
 Is 100 per cent efficient in all of his duties, in my opinion the office is an anomaly. I believe every duty assigned
 to the inspector should be performed by the commissioner who has charge of the
 police department. or the chief of po- lice. Certainly every suggested duty falls under the supervision of one or the other of these officials.
 Cancer on Body, Politic
 "1f the office has been created for the man, offer some demurrers Can a man
 be so important in a community as to
 justify our making him into drone?
 Does the fact that a man Is pleasing to
 officaldons justify his being raised as
 brazen image in whose presence all patrolmen must be clean?' Tissue in the
 human body, when found out of its nor nal place and when 1t has no function to perform. becomes the germinating focus of cancer. And so man in political au
 thority without any special function be-
 comes cancer in our body polite.
 Surgeons tell us the only safe proce-
 dure in cancer is to remove 1t early. So
 say, by analogy. if we have a cancer in our body polite let us use knife before other organs become involved
 'Them's my sentiments' regarding the
 office of police inspector for Birmingham.
 know there are cities that have inspec-
 tors and need them. but not city with only handful of policemen.
 "A town with Jne or. two schools could as weu afford superintendent of
 schools It would be just as consistent with good business for cross roads store to employ a salaried purchasing agent or an auditor.
 'If 1t Is the man we want to keep, let us vacate some office where efficiency is not so noted, and give him the office say chief of police
 But, in the name of efficient govern ment beg, nay, demand, that we shall cut out anomalous offices and then deal fairly and honestly with the public, for whom this and all other governments have been established"