Rock Island Argus., 1917-11-16

d F. JOHNSON.
.B. T. FALKNER
JAMES SHANNON.
GEORGE SLETH"
Mr. 1artline said that Dick Red
dick. another member Of the board, is
an engineer and is out on his run. Mr..
Hartline says he is Of the opinion MIR
Reddick would endorse the statement.
Frank Hall, the other member Of the
board refused, Mr. Hartline says, to
sign the denial, stating that be be
liGved AIr. Balls charges to be in a
measure true.
Discussing the dismissal of Mr. Ball,
Mr. Maritime had the following to say:
In reply to the statements OF Fred
J. Ball quotedin the issue Of The
Argus OF Nov. Is. attacking the So
called Socialist administration Of the
village of Silyis, I would say that
have no desire to attack our marshal
but tt is necessary that 3 person or
body defend itself aaginst such a yici-
Gus attack 7 would state further that
the people of Silvis ny their votes have
repeatedly signified their desire 10
have a clean town In my campaign
I promised them thar if elected I would
do all in NY power 10 carry out their
wishes.
"As result of the election two Social
lists and one Citizens party candidate
were elected as trustees. and ] was
elected president of the board Three
members of the Peoples party held
over in office. Il was agreed at the
time the appointments were made that
! if the services of any of the men ap-
pointed were unsatisfactory the board
/ should stand with me in the dismissal
Of the unsatisfactory appointee. AS a
result the full corps Of officers Of the
former administration was held over,
| Mr.. Ball being one Of those retained.
| Funds of the village are very low
and the sole purpose Of the board Of
trustees in combining the offices Of
marshal and street commissioner is TO
eliminate the expense of one emplove
This was decided upon at a meeting OF
/ the finance and street and alley COM
mittee subsequent to the last meeting
of the village board Action by the
l committee Of the whole was taken on
/ Nov ~, approving this plan. On the
/ question Of consolidating the two Of
/ fees all but one trustee, Frank Hall
/ voted affrmatively A motion was
made, and after some discussion, in
! the course Of which I called attention
to the agreement heretofore men
toned to support me in the event ot
/ dismissal of any unsatisfactory ap-
/ pointee, was adopted, providing thai
Henry Bahnks, the street commission
er, should be retained to fill the com.
bined Offices. The motion prevailed By
unanimous vote.
Il know Of the arreste of but one
Stacker by Mr.. Ball. and the arrest o
this man was on the Friday following
the meeting of the trustees at which
lit was decided to combine tue twt
offices, and at which time it was in
| formally agreed that Mr. Ball Should
be dismissed.
There Is less than $500 in the treas
ury available for meeting the genera
| expenses of the village, aside from
water rentals now being collected. Sal
ary Of the street commissioner is 800
month, of the marshal SS5, of the DO
lice magistrate $40. and OF the team
ster SIS, and in addition we must NEE
expense Of maintaining a team. TIL
trustees are of the opinion that it i
necessary to reduce expenses If posi-
Bile. In the winter months one mai
can serve in both capacities as stree
commissioner and marshal.
Neither Mr. Bahnks nor Mr.. Bal
are members of the party on who's
ticket / was elected, and my attitud
. in the matter was determined soleI
by my Judgment of the qualification
of the men.
According to the newspaper re
ports, the dismissal of Mr.. Ball ha
neen made the subject of complaint t
the federal authorities. | can say fo
myself and other members of the boar
OF trustees that any investigation h
the Cnied States authorities or an
other governmental body. will he wei
e coined. Our action is fully ius+ifo5