Judge, Fannie, 949 Monroe street, Stenographer and Law Clerk... Theirault, Edgar, 195 South Centre avenue, Law Clerk and Interpreter.... 75.00 100.00 100.00 75.00 75.00 75.00 75.00 83.33 75.00 75.00 83.33 100.00 100.00 75.00 50.00 75.00 75.00 $7,195.78 Emmicke, George, 15 Dean street, Assistant Corporation Counsel and Attorney Public Works Department.. Lyman, Margaret, 4724 Union avenue, Stenographer and Law Clerk.. In connection with the foregoing report, Ald. Harkin, with unanimous consent, presented the following resolutions: Be it resolved by the City Council of the City of Chicago: That, Whereas, the City Council at a late meeting passed a resolution requesting the Corporation Counsel's office to furnish a list of the assistants and expenditures, as well as to report as to the manner of the conduct of the office; and WHEREAS, Said resolution gave rise to the public report and public print that might carry the suggestion that the object of the resolution was to reflect upon Corporation Counsel James Hamilton Lewis or upon the manner in which he had discharged some particular duty; now, therefore, be it Resolved, By the City Council, that the passage of the said resolution had in no wise any purpose of reflection upon the Corporation Counsel as an official or as a citizen. Be it resolved that the City Council takes pleasure in certifying to its very high respect and admiration $ 166.66 75.00 $ 241.66 of the Corporation Counsel, both as to his work in his official capacity and his character as a gentleman and citizen. Be It Further Resolved, That the Council acknowledges the ever existing courtesy and urbanity with which Colonel Lewis has met all the demands of the Council either as an assembled body or as individuals. That it recognizes his services in his office as that of a diligent and capable official, disclosing the highest class of merit as a lawyer and the strictest degree of honor and devotion to the public in the discharge of his services. Resolved, That, notwithstanding any political differences that may exist upon the mere matter of party opposition between that represented by the Corporation Counsel and that by any Alderman, the Aldermen nevertheless express in session assembled that the service of the Corporation Counsel to the city as its head law officer has been of an exceptional character of the highest merit, producing a success to the city to its great benefit and to the credit of the administration he represents. Be It Further Resolved, That the object of the resolution as passed by the Council and the object of the Council in passing the resolution was to obtain information of the character necessary to control the expenditures and to ascertain the manner of service rendered by certain attaches of the Corporation Counsel's office, and to further ascertain whether the same should be longer necessary, and if found to be no longer necessary to relieve the Corporation Counsel of their further engagement. Ald. Harkin moved to adopt the resolutions. The motion prevailed. (By letters, telephone and conversation.) Over thirty-five hundred (3,500) letters have been sent out mainly to injured parties and to witnesses of accidents. As a result we have valuable information as to the cause of transportation accidents. More help is needed in order to thoroughly tabulate and digest this information for the safety of passengers. By attending the 'inquests and making special inquiry as to certain details which could only be obtained by sworn testimony much valuable information has been secured. The efforts made as to the broken fenders, cold cars, dusty streets, dangerous holes and rails, bad order. brakes, broken windows, school speed, railroad crossings, met with very fair results as the City Code covers these points well enough to secure conviction and levy fines. The overcrowding, dirty cars, ventilation, vestibule, wheelguard, and sign section of the code were found to be defective or too indefinite to hold in court. The department has been seriously embarrassed by the fact that there is no police power ordinance requiring the car companies to operate their cars at certain intervals and imposing a fine for its violation. As a consequence, the efforts to compel the companies to obey certain sections of the code only drove cars out of service, and it had to be abandoned. Ordinances found necessary by accidents and by defects in the City Code, and an ordinance providing schedules for all lines are now before the Local Transportation Committee. Most of the overcrowding cases were obtained while gath ering figures on which to base the wagon breakdowns and street repairs, in schedule ordinance. which case officers from this department are detailed to help out. The seven hundred and eighty-seven (787) cases of dangerous pavements were places that were liable to upset a fire en gine or patrol wagon. The letters received from citizens have covered about every phase of transportation-overwork, noisy cars, car routes, leaky elevated, sprinkling, dust, broken cars, switching back, teamsters, elevated stations, railroad suburban crowds, elevated station sanitation, new schemes of all kinds, track elevation, expectoration, petitions, dangerous curves, switches, dark crossings and viaducts, broken wires, waiting for time, il tempered employes, running by stations and streets, transfers, dark cars, etc., and about a dozen inquiries from officials of other cities. The officers detailed to examine "accidents" cars have furnished valuable reports as to the cause of many accidents that were formerly classified as "unknown," "slippery rail," or "brakes wouldn't work." An average of ten (10) officers has been detailed to this department. However, their duties have been such as would practically amount to police duty. As a result of this detail of police being constantly on the hunt for poor service, the car companies have made extra efforts to provide good service if there was a penal ordinance back of the of ficers. All complaints of the traction companies as to blockades, street repairs or other delays to traffic have been promptly attended to, and these officers detailed there until the trouble was over. The mounted police have done admirable service in looking after teams and other street traffic. The officers at the crossings and the mounted police are now handling the downtown traffic, so that there is very little delay to cars in the loop district, other than that due to defective cars, trolley wire curves, Patrolmen whose regular beats include the car barns have been reporting the number of good order cars held in the barns during the rush hours. As a result the car barns are fairly well cleared of idle cars during the rush hours. The change made last summer from cable to trolley has improved the service as to quality, but the number of standing passengers during the hours of the day remains about the same. The work or field of this department increased considerably during the latter part of the year. This was due to the assistance previously rendered to both transportation companies and the public in the direction of better service. This is true of all lines-surface, steam, elevated, local and suburban. Therefore, arrangements should be made which will enable this department to properly handle the demands made upon it by the public. Respectfully submitted, M. F. DOTY, BOARD OF LOCAL IMPROVEMENTS. The Board of Local Improvements submitted an ordinance establishing the grade of sundry streets. Which was, by unanimous consent, duly passed by yeas and nays as follows: Yeas-Kenna, Coughlin, Harding, Dixon, Foreman, Pringle, Dailey, Richert, Martin, McCormick, Young, Bennett, Snow, Moynihan, Derpa, Fick, Scully, Hurt, Cullerton, Zimmer, Uhlir, Riley, Harkin, Maypole, Smith, Beilfuss, Schermann, Sitts, Dever, Conlon, Powers, Bowler, Stewart, Finn, Reese, Foell, Dougherty, Werno, Jacobs, Hahne, Krumholz, Dunn, Williston, Reinberg, Siewert, Blase, Larson, Herlihy, Wendling, Golombiewski, Bradley, O'Connell, |