| Show I SALARIES OF CITY OFFICIALS Tuesday evening the City Council I gave some consideration to the question I ques-tion of salaries of the city officials I Two reports on them were submitted I one to allow them to stand as they are the other to reduce them Whether the salaries as at present fixed are II too high or too low we do not say but there is one argument put forth in the majority report in behalf of the present pres-ent salaries that is entirely fallacious It is that of citing the salaries paid by other cities the cities cited being generally gen-erally very much larger than our own such as Denver Omaha Los Angeles and the like Not what others do but what we are able to do should be the criterion by which our City Council should decide in fixing salaries Nothing Noth-ing can be worse than to run a city government on the keepingupappear ances theory It is both pernicious and expensive But that is the theory on which our own city is run Our municipal munic-ipal government is organized on the plan of a city three times the size of Salt Lake It is the same elsewhere The Omaha Bee of recent date on this same subject said It is an open secret that taxation has become almost unbearable in the city I of Omaha The municipal machinery of Omaha is run on the high pressure plan It is designed for a city of 250 000 population with taxable property aggregating at least 100000000 In other words Omaha has been entered in the class of cities of the size of Buffalo Detroit and Milwaukee when I it properly should be classed with Albany Al-bany Indianapolis and Atlanta And what is true of Omaha is true i of Salt Lake Those who manage or J mismanage the affairs of Omaha go on I the theory that that city is in the j ame I class as Buffalo Detroit and Milwaukee Milwau-kee just as those who control our municipal mu-nicipal affairs proceed on the theory that we are in the same class as Omaha Denier and Los Angeles So I one member of the Council put us To administer the citys business successfully I cessfully cognizance must be taken of I just what the city is and not what we I hope or expect it to become Expenditures I Expendi-tures have had altogether too much of a tendency to be on a scale commen surato with what we expect to be rather than what we are The man of moderate means who attempts the style of the millionaire Is doomed to bankruptcy So is a moderate sized western city that attempts metropolitan metropoli-tan airs There is but one true rule togo to-go bY and that is to cut our coat according ac-cording to our cloth U I I |
