The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1920-01-08
Raising official Salaries.

ennial struggle over the change in the
salary list. There is the usual desire
on the part of the aldermen to shy
at the question and get it over with
with as little discussion as possible
and there seems to be a hesitancy on
the part of any one to stand as spon-
sor for the increased pay which is
manifestly demanded by the present
conditions. There seems to be the idea
that there is going to be one loud wall
on the part Of the tax payers because
the salaries Of city officials must be
increased. This is false idea. No
tax payer with judgment is going to
object to the men who work for the
city in clerical and executive positions
being paid every cent they are worth.
Some Of them may have some doubt as
to whether or not the city is getting
its money worth in all of the offices
but there is not going to be any great
objection to fair pay for fair SER
vice.
The workman is worthy Of his hire
applies to men and women who work
for the city of Kenosha no matter
whether it be the mayor, clerk in one
of the offices or a school teacher. These
people who do real work for the city
are entitled to the same consideration
from the people of the city as the
men and women who work for other
corporations.
The city Of Kenosha is now forty
six million dollar corporation. It may
not pay dividends in money to its
stockholders but it is expected to pay
dividends in service. Service is the
only return that the stock holders Of
this corporation expect to get for their
investment.
The average tax payer knows what
it costs to live. He knows that a pc.
lice officer can not live on the same
money he existed on year or two ago.
He knows that a school teacher can
not take the place she is expected to
take in the community and work for
less than the man who shovels the
snow from the street crossings after a
snow storm. The average tax payer
knows all of these things and he mas
become hardened long ago to the de-
mand for increase Of pay. He is pay
ing more for his meat and his cloth
ing, more for his sugar and his shoes,
more for his fees to the lodge and the
church and if new baby comes to the
house he finds out that the visit of
the stork is more expensive than it
ever was before. 1t is only natural
that he should expect to pay more to
the men who run the town for him or
the women who run the schools for
him.
Official salaries are not supposed to
be subject to change during the per-
iod that they are set for. This means
that the law provides that the salaries
shall not be reduced There is yet to
be law framed which can circumvent
the increasing of salaries if the men
who make the salaries have a desire
to increase them. Most wages have
in the past year increased in the
neighborhood of thirty per cent. Ger
tainly it is only fair to expect that the
wages of officials should go up along
the same ratio.
II Is the duty of the municipality
to place the salaries of men who serve
it at a figure which will attract to
these positions men and women who
are qualified to do the work You
can't get good police officer to travel
a beat for hundred and ten dollars
a month if lot of other organizations
are competing for the service of men.
You can not get man to serve as
mayor or city clerk of the city at a
salary of $4,000 a year if lot of com
panies stand ready to pay men of the
calibre desired twice this much. There
may be something of AN honor to hold
these offices but after all it is the
jingling of the guena that counts when
Il comes to getting the right kind Of
men. The very same thing is true of
aldermen The city had better have
three real men at salary Of three
thousand dollars year than twenty
five at salary of two hundred dol
lars
The man who pays taxes feels that
the measure of the salaries paid by
the city should be wholly measure of
service, If man is in the service of
the city and worth five thousand dol
lars year he should have the five
thousand. If he is worth but five hun
dred it is an error to give him any
more. The competition in the labor
market is strong and the city like
everyone else must meet this competi-
tion. This does not mean that we
favor fancy salaries to attract profess
sional politicians to seek office. There
is no such desire but rather the de-
sire is to get fair men for Office at a
compensation in keeping with the SER
vice they render and their ability to