The herald., 1917-04-05
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE.
Discipline for City EMPLOYEES.

When a man punches your nose,
do you go home and beat up your
wife? If not, why deprive the wife
of a fireman. of the necessities of life
whenever he violated a regulation of
the department? When a fireman
was fined this action of the Fire
! Chief caused the fremen to sit up
and take notice, because il affected
their earning capacity. To this ex-
| tent il was very effective.
/ From a social and from an admin
/ istrative point of view it has two
/ serious drawbacks; however. there
has always been a feeling OF suspi-
/ cion among the firemen that fines
were inflicted TO swell the revenues
OF the pension fund. 1t inflicted
punishment upon innocent victims,
the wives and children of the men
who had violated the regulations of
the department.
When these arguments against
the fining system were brought to
the attention of Robert AdamsOn,
the fire commissioner of New York.
he promptly abolished the filming
system in his department. Firemen
in New York who violate the rules
Of the department are now required
to work longer hours instead of be
ing fined. Longer working hours
Furnishes the fremen and not the
innocent members of his family.
Most men have Whim and preju-
dices. Heads of City Departments
are no exception to this rule. and
city employees resent the fact that
hni ole h., II Is
their families so frequently depend
upon the within or prejudice of the
head Of the department. II they rub
the head of the department the
wrong way they may lose their job
Few people. on the other hand,
recognize and acknowledge ones
own shortcomings. City employees
are inclined TO ascribe their dsi-
missal 10 whim or prejudice even
when II is based upon sound disCip-
linary grounds. What dismissed en-
plOyee thinks of the man who dis
missed him may be of comparatively
small Importance, but the fact that
his fellow employees generally take
the same view of the situation as
the dismissed employee results in
bad influence upon discipline.
Marcus VI. Marks, president OF the
Borough of Manhattan of the City OF
New York. realized the truth of
these observations regarding the ar
bitrary exercise of the power of dis
mlssaI. He accordingly has estab-
lished joint trial board consisting
of two officials selected by himself
and Of two employees of the same
rank as the accused selected by lot
President Marks has referred TO
the trial board more than 80 cases
in which he possessed the arbitrary
power of removal In every case the
judgment of the trial board has been
unanimous, the two fellow employees
in each case reaching the same con-
clusion as the representatives of
the president.
The effect of the joint trial board
upon the discipline of the depart
ment has been most Salutary. In
stead of distorted descriptions of
the star chamber proceedings which
preceded the arbitrary dismissal of
guilty employee. the employees
who have served on the Joint trial
board have returned to the fellow
employees with the doctrine of the
square deal. No innocent employee
can lose his position while his fellow
employees sit upon the trial board
to protect his interests, but his fell
low employees cannot undertake to
protect him if he has really been
guilty of serious misconduct. In
each case thus far the employee has
been found guilty.
The abolition of the ining system
In the fire department and the es-
Enlistment of the joint trial board
In the office of the Borough presi-
dent have greatly improved disci-
pine IN these two branches of the
New YORK City administration.
Should this not teach us a lesson in
other cities and to private employ
ers who have the interests of their
employees seriously at heart
SITRSCRIp