Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-07-01
Circulation Every 1OOOO
Evening Saturday / LLOO
SATURDAY. JUNE 20, 1nlS.
How About the Peoples Interests?

Mainly owing 10 the peculiar condition
existing under the charter Of Whining
ton bv which there IS possible a change
of the Board OF Health right on tho eve of
the awarding of the thrcc-vcar contracts
for the removal of garbage, the present
Board of Health found itself IN guam
darv The bids for the service for the
ensuing three wears received by MS
predecessor were regarded by the latter
body as too high. and therefore no con
tracts were awarded. The present board.
therefore, came into office with this inn
portant part of municipal adminstra-
ton unprovided for
Thc existing ordinance provides for
the award OF contracts for garbage rc-
moval. for q term of three yeats. b the
Board Of Health in May. just at the tune
when a new board Is hicnnally appointed
Il was tho province Of the last Ncars :
board 70 attend to tins duty. but as We
lavc said. il rrfraincd. dccmng the buds
sxtravagant The new board. therefore
was confronted with n serious dilemma
month of MAY TO act concluSlvcly, and
50 IT waited for advice The city so-
licitor. on appIication. informed tho nov
board that i might invite bids for the
garbage collection service for tho remain
ing eleven months Of the present year
This the new Board Of Health did and
awarded the contract accordingly
1t was thus presumed that trouble
some subject had been appropriately
determined until time and consideration
should give opportunity to City Council
To make ordinance changes to conform
to the existing situation. So that the
people should not suffer from a serious /
interference with the important matter of
garbage collection But aS usual de-
pcndcncc upon the CITY Council proved
to be like leaning upon broken reed
Notwithstanding tlic Board of Health
had acted in accordance with the advcc
Of the city solicitor an experienced and
able lawyer. tho City Council proceeded
TO show the city solicitor that wha, he
knows about Law is nothing compared
with what the City Council knows
Chairman Robertson of the finance com
mittcc who. Judging by his talk, seems
TO have branchcd out INTO learned
exponent OF the law, led the fight in
City Council insisting tba; the Board Of
Health had acted IN defiance Of Law. and
that tho City Council could not approve
the contract entered into BY the Board Of
Health And the City Council did not
approve the contract
And thus, the city, unless the con-
tractor who was gwen the service for
eleven months by the Board Of Health
decides to stand UP on his contract nights, |
perform tho contract and insist Upon
payment the people Of Wilmington will |
be left indefinitely without garbage |
that would be Recently the garbage |
service at best has been far from salts
factory, but il has been better than none
Where will the people he If they are de- |
prived of any prctenec Of a service
This situation serves to reveal TO I
striking extent the general unreliability
OF the City Council Why, in this in
stance, should it have risen on its hind
legs and brayed It's exalted knowledge of |
the law--even against the expressed opin-
ion Of the city solicitor and insisted
that the Law should be complied with to
the last letter according TO City Coun-
ellis construction. OF course instead Of
endeavorng to reach d speedy and salts
factory solution Of the existing difficulty?
Why should ii not have consulted and CO.
operated with the Board Of Health. with
view to guarding the people of Viii
mlngton against an entire abandonment
Of the garbage collection service, instead
OF arraying itself against the Board of
Health when the latter body, with the
purpose of serving the people and acting
on the advice Of the City Solicitor. did
the best it could TO settle perplexing
problem and avert a serious annoyance?
About the only answer IS that the
City Council lacked propricty enough to
do the right thing, and insisted upon
doing the wrong thing And if the
people of Wilmington should be subjected
to serious annoyance in respect of the
non-collection of garbage. they will know
against whom to direct their condelnna-
tion Against The City Council Foruu-
nately, il is probable the work will bc
continued. despite City Council