Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-09-26
The City Appointments

Final action by the mayor and the board of super,
visors in the appointment of departments heads OF
the city administration gives a sense Of relief. The
Ieoplc will at least be- saved from this particular
source Of foolish WrHngng.
Practically interpreted the appointments mean
that the Republican organization has succeeded in
putting its candidate in the office OF city engineer
The water and sewer department is in the hands
Of a competent engineer and the future Will deter.
mine whether he Murray has been the man res,
ponsible for the steadily improving executive con
troll of that department during the last two years.
There is discouning the good record that Muir
ray has made.
The band has been passed to a new leader
and time will tell whether the Hawaiian band,
that is world famous is to be developed an evil
dence of the capacity of the native race. or become
the football of politics and be Il decaying monument
to naturally musical people.
The situation has excellent possibilities. The fact
that Mr.. Cantin is the candidate of the Republican
organization does not damn him unless he goes into
the Office with strings and begins by placing men
in positions of responsibility because they are
friends of friends of his. On the face of it, Mr..
Cantin is a practical man with capacity for han
ding men. Broadly speaking he seems to have the
qualities of executive management that requr-
pected to cooperate with exercise general over
sight over the water and sewer department. He
has never been active in politics. but has attended
strictly to his business.
Mr.. Kirchhof has the engineering knowledge
necessary TO properly continue the work of his de-
partment He is generally rated as Honouus
best informed man On our water and sewer systems,
and his work has been such as to enttle him to
promotion.
To complain that the mayor and supervisors in
reaching an agreement could have done better is to
find fault without considering the material you
have to work with.
The men selected have had experience in the work
they are to undertake. The selection has been made
with decent regard for the demands of the public
Partzah and factional politics have been forced as
deeply into the background as could be expected
more deeply than many had dared to hope.
As with every other move the future must
tell the story. H.. i ....
The city engineer will be the center of public at
tention. He and his department have the big JOB
of the next two years.
If Mr.. Cantin and Mr. Kirchhoff work to-
gether so that the water and sewer repairers Will
know what the road department is doing and the
road managers will have decent regard for the
possibility of streets being torn up by the water
department week aIIer DelhS newly lalu, lhe!
will be fulfilling their duty.
If Mr.. Cantin by his administration indicates
that he must listen to the higherups as to the men
he puts the job becomes involved in the SQUAD
bles of bitulithc and non-btulithic is apparently
pulled here and there by various sets Of contractors
or forgets that he must cooperate with the other
departments controlling the public work of the city
he will of course be signal failure.
The latter is not to be expected.
The people and the taxpayers seek and demand
at this stage of the proceedings square deal, fair
wartime return on their money, competent man
agement of a growing city
These men have ample funds with which to do
the work. They have only to show ar ample amount
of common sense and civic decency.