Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-12-19

nothing in the world they were more
eager to do than to cooperate" with Mr.
Shank. Cooperate was their middle
name" in fact, but couldn't Mr. Shank see
the position they were in? They were
elected representatives Of the people and
they had pledged themselves to properly
weigh everything that came before them
and they couldn't do that and make up
their minds a few minutes after a propO-
sition had been put up to them.
Charles e. Coffin, appointee for chair
man Of the board Of public works, finally
eased the strain when he proposed the
meeting today The councilmen, with
indications that they were much relieved,
accepted the invitation to meet again with
alacrity
The plan for relieving unemployment,
outlined for Mr.. Shank at the dinner by
Mr. Elliott consisted, at the outset, Of
the re-establishment of grades and re-
pairing Of the more than 300 miles Of I'M
improved streets in the city and the
dumping of surplus dirt scraped from
these streets on the east bank Of White
River as the foundation for the food pre-
vention wall These projects, Mr.. Elliott
said, would put more men TO work tmme-
diately with the need Of less expensive
equipment than anything else that can
be done.
SHANK ASKS
QUICK ACTION.
The big idea, Mr.. Shank said, was to
get men to work and get them there
quickly. Mr.. Elliott thought that several
hundred men could be employed on this
work at a time and it would be wise to
let one group work q week and new
group the next week and so on until all
of the unemployed got a chance to earn
at least enough to keep their families
from starving and freezing.
Money for this work is available In the
unimproved street department funds. 1t
/ will not take more than two or three
months of such expenditures, however
/ to depIete the fund, MIR. Elliott said,
/ leaving nothing to operate the department
/ on the rest of the year. Here IS where
/ the councils cooperation would come In.
/ The mayor-eleot wanted to know II the
council would appropriate money 70 re-
| plenish the fund. This is what the six
/ councilmen were unwilling to promise
! they would do. Some OF the unwillin :
! sextet declared they couldn't see the i'm
mediate need Of food wall Mr.. Elliott
| said he would try to show them. They
/ said they would like to be fully in
/ formed That was to be one Of the
/ things to come up today.
! Mr. Shank proposed, and the council
J
! council name committees TO meet
regularly with the various boards In
order that the legislative branch might
/ be fully informed OF the doing OF the
executive department. In return the
councllmen suggested that the executive
/ branch send department heads TO the
/ council whenever a matter which might
require explanation comes up.
SHANK TELLS HOW
JOHNSON LOST OUT
! Mr.. shank and several OF his appointees
stressed the importance of keeping the
| police and fire department out OF
politics. Mr.. Shank said that Claude
! johnson, present captain of the traffic
division, might have been appointed as
second man to Herman Il. Rikhoif,
named for chief OF police In the Shank
/ administration II, during the primary
campaign, he had not gone to some boot
| legxers who were for Shank and told
them they would have to be for Thomas
! C. Howe for the Republican nomination.
because Claude johnson was going to be
chief Of police under Mr.. Howe.
One by one Mr. Shank called on the
members OF his official family to make
brief talks All pledged their heartiesr
cooperation and expressed the hope that
their relations with the council would be
amlcable.
Besides Mr.. Elliott and Mr.. Coffin the
appointees who spoke were; DR.. NJ. J..
Spencer and w. II. Freeman. members Of
the board Of public works; Edgar NJ Tn
versaw, street commissioner; John
Walker, superintendent Of street clean
| ing; Ernest L. Kingston, chairman, Ed
ward G. sourbier and James Il. Armi-
| tage of the board OF public safety; John
| ]. O'Brien, fire chief; Herman +. Rik-
hon. chief Of police; John Mullin, super
visor Of detectives Robert r. Sloan,
market master; Jesse r. Miller, pur-
chasing agent; Joseph L. Hogue, city
controller; Michael ]. Shea and Fred
Cline members Of the board of park COM
mlssioners; DR.. E. Z. Hodgin, chairman
Of the board Of public health; ~ H.
| Camden, superintendent of parks; c. l..
Hutchinson, land agent In the park de-
partment, and Taylor e. GrOninger, cor
| poration counsel.
| Mr.. Groninger praised Sampel Ashby,
| present corporation counsel. as one Of
the best public servants indianapolis has
ever known, and declared 1t to be his
ambition to execute the duties of the
! office as Mr.. Ashby has.
Each of the nine councilmen were given
an opportunity to express themselves.
| ---------------------