New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-03-09
County officials Object to
Giving Power to Board
of Estimate.
WANT ALDERMEN
TO FIX AMOUNTS
Mayor Declares All Opponents
Of the Brown Bill Are
Interested in Jobs.

From A stan Correspondent u The Tnoimel
Albany. March s.-Nsyor Mitchell and
officials representing the five counties
Of greater New York clashed to-day
over the question Of giving the Board
Of Estimate power to fix the salaries of
county employees at the hearing before
the Joint Cities Committee on the bills
introduced by Senator Brown for the
relief Of New York City. The fight over
the particular bill which contains a
referendum was SO long that the com
mittee was compelled to postpone con-
sideration Of most of the other Brown
bills.
Register OToughln Of Kings was
the most vigorous opponent Of the
plan TO place the salaries Of county en-
ployes under control OF the Board OF
Estimate. lie wanted this power lodged
in the Board Of Aldermen, preferably
in the Aldermen from the respective
counties. Mr.. OLoughlin was par
ticularly sharp in his criticism OF the
Board of Estimate and Of the standard
izers employed by the Mayor and the
Controller. The latter, he declared,
standardized ni.h Standard Oil meth
DDS
Il have a great deal Of confidence in
Mayor Mitchell Just now" Mr. OLough
1 lin declared, "but there is no telling
what ne might do toward building up
a political machine if the bill were
passed. On the eve of the last election
the Board of Estimate reduced the sal
aries of twenty-siX EMPLOYEES in my Of
fee on the ground that they were
| higher than the statute provided. The
newspapers were told all about it. A.
| ter election, however, the Board ot
+ Estimate restored the salaries to their
/ former amount. even If it was con
! trary TO law. Some fellows were shot
/ who should not have been shot. Coo
I knows what the board would do if given
the power Why do they fake the pub
lic?"
County Officials Object.
District Attorney Swami wanted the
, bill amended to exempt his Office and
the judiciary from its provisions.
District Attorney Martin, OF The
Bronx; County Clerk Schneider, of New
York; Assistant County Clerk ODon-
nell, of Queens; Assistant District At
torney Inness, of Richmond. and Jesse
Fuller, representing the County Clerk
Of Kings, did not object to the power
being lodged in some central body, but
they held up their hands in horror at
the thought of giving this power TO the
Board Of Estimate. Like the Register
OF Kings, the Board Of Aldermen was
their first choice for the job.
When opponents Of the bill had eX-
pressed their thoughts Mayor Mitchc
and Controller Prendcrgast explained
the purposes OF the bill from the tax
rayers' point Of view. Both declared
that they saw no need for a referen-
dun, as they were quite sure the people
Of the city wanted the bill.
Senator Brown explained that he was
willing, but the difficulty lay il. the
fact that the New York City member.
Of the Legislature were against its i'm
mediate enactment
The Mayor and Controller then urged
that the measure be submitted to thC
people next fall instead of waiting un
Ill 1917.
The whole opposition to the bill
comes from officials interested in iobs.