The Shadowy Policing of Sumner's Iron Works

Trade unionists do not need to go very far back in our local events to find a striking example of what a cumbersome old machine our present plan of city government is and how easy it is to shift responsibility. The wholesale granting of special police stars to strikebreakers employed at Sumner's Iron Works met with severe criticism and certainly could not be defended on the ground of public policy. Yet it was done and so secretly that it was discovered entirely by accident. An attempt was made to have this granting of police power a matter of public record by the passing of an ordinance providing that special appointments should be ratified by the city council in open session. Then began the merry chase after the councilmen, seven of them. The chase led to the fire and police commission, and before they got done, the boys were in a state of mental bewilderment as to who on earth was fixing public policy in this city and whether anybody was responsible for anything. Under the commission form, the trail would have led straight to one man, the commissioner in whose department rested the policing of the city. Under that plan, each commissioner must stand public scrutiny and if he doesn't walk straight, the power of the recall is in the hands of the people. There is no shifting of responsibility. He is responsible for his own acts and for the actions of every subordinate in his department.