Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-02-14
BLANKENBURG'S RULE
PRAISED BY PROBER
/ OF DISCHARGE CASES
Care Used in Most of Them,
Says Chairman Sewers, of
Councils Inquiry
Committee
Ex-D1RECToR COOKE FAIR
One Instance Found of Man Who Re.
fused to Be Spy and Lost
His Job

As the result OF Investigation Of more
than 1000 complaints, Common Councilman
Clinton a. Sewers, Of the goth Ward,
chairman OF the committee recently ap-
pointed by Councils to examine into the
charges OF unjust removals of city en-
ployes under the Blankenburg admins
tration, said today that the general trend
OF the inquiry was to reflect high credit
upon the late administration for its nc-
curacy and care in making most of the
discharges of which complaints had been
made. ~
mo one questions the thorough honesty
and high motives of Mr. Blankenburg,'
said MIR. Sewers "whatever we might
think OF his judgment at times Every
one Is liable to err and we believe there
was actual injustice done In some In
stances. But most of the cases so far re-
ported TO us show that the department
heads took care to specify clearly the
grounds upon which the discharge was
made, and their general practice was to
look into the evidence with care.
Where this was done we have, Of
course, no Jurisdiction. Even though we
might differ as to the evidence, we can
not blame department head where the
facts show that he had substantial rea-
sons for his judgment.
SAFETY HEAD FAIR.
II will go further and say that while
our Investigation so far has been con-
fined mostly to the Department of Pub
lie Works. there has not been the slight
est evidence shown to reflect directly or
Indirectly upon Director Cooke in the ef-
fective and impartial discharge of his
official duties. We must say that he
seems to have been fair to his subor-
dlnates as well as strict and viEilant in
protecting the city. ! was surprised to
find in looking through the records OF
his department that In 1900 detailed cases,
only 46 of the discharges were for politi-
n 1,. -pi,, -,
there had been many more removals for
this cause.
"Of course. few cases OF injustice may
have escaped Director Cookies notice.
What merit there may be in some of the
complaints we have decided to probe
little deeper into would seem to affect
bureau chiefs or assistants who may have
been hasty or prejudiced. Where there
are many removals some cases of this
kind are bound to occur
I'VE are trying to review the evidence
I'm a spirit OF fairness to all concerned,
and do not mean to blame any official
who tried to do his duty.
ITO cite two or three instances of the
kind of dlsmissals we have been led to
question and expect to report to Councils
in detail, there Is one instance of "A man
who was ordered to act as a spy upon tho
political activities of his fellow employees
and given sum of money for expenses
He returned this money to his superior
with the statement that he could not do
this kind OF work. He was shortly after
discharged for 'dsobedence, and we
think this unJustifed, as there was moth
ing to show that he was not properly per-
forming the work for which he was en-
ployed
AN INDICTMENT TO QUIT.
'In another instance, a man who had
been frequently told he must resign was
Apal llxr FNatH a mn a In ~ q f1rn
as ain inducement to quit. and another
man at once put to work in his place.
These facts as alleged. constitute a fraud
on the city,
Eve have not accepted any of the COM
plants at face value, but in some In
stances. as where a woman stenographer
has alleged her discharge to be due to her
refusal to accept attentions from the
office chief for whom she was working,
we have felt justified in going carefully
into the facts"
Upon n series of charts which have
been prepared for the use OF the commit
tee there is detailed analysis Of 1893
discharges made under Director Cooke
while he was at the head of the Depart.
ment Of Public Works. These charts show
extreme care in the specification OF
charges. It was also noteworthy that
nearly two-thirds OF all the discharges
were of day laborers-Si9 in this class
and of this number iO6 were discharged
for "laclx of funds" and 239 for lack of
work"-this last sufficient proof of econ
omy for the city.
Among the other reasons carefully
specified were reduction of price," 76;
poor service" 81; neglect of duty" II;
"unbusinessliSe methods" G; failure to
report for work." 90; "intoxcation." 20;
'.incompetency." AZ; political activity"
40; absence without leave" Al; "sum-
mary discharges" 102; designations" 293.
The committee has held three sittings,
and expects to have sufficient evidence to
present a summary OF its work at the ses-
sion OF Councils on Thursday.