The purchase of water meters, under specifications with which only one company could comply, and the laying of water pipes without letting contracts in a lawful manner, are notorious instances of unblushing frauds committed by this department. It is almost incredible that a dynamo should be bought in parts, so that it could be purchased from a friend, and paid for in sums less than $500; yet this was done. Thus a piece of machinery having a fixed price as a whole, was not only purchased illegally, but paid for in such a manner that its price, as a whole, was doubled when bought in pieces. So it was with other electrical apparatus; so it was with the protection to fire hydrants. Instead of advertising for bids for the work of shielding the fire hydrants from the severity of the winter's cold, they were divided up into companies like those of a regiment of soldiers, each having its contract commander, who received his pay on vouchers each calling for less than $500. The present commissioner is an old politician, who has held several official positions. It is but just to say of him, that, with the general public, he bears a good reputation. His political enemies are not by any means complimentary in their allusions to him, those particularly in the ranks of his own party. He is energetic, self confident, amiable, and a particularly able bluffer when occasion demands it. Without being profound he is efficient, and without being remarkably efficient, he is not at all valueless. The Civil Service Commission has reached its present age, nearly five years, after suffering all the diseases incident to poor nursing. It is not by any means a vigorous child as yet, but as it gains in strength it will perhaps grow in wisdom. When it recognizes the fact that the people permitted it to be born, it will also recognize the further fact that its parents require of it obedience to their wishes. They demand the enforcement of the Civil Service Law as it is written, for the public good and not for partisan advantage. They would impress upon the commission the conviction of their belief that without a properly administered civil service law, municipal government is a menace to republican institutions; that without it the experiment of municipal ownership of "public utilities" is hazardous, and that the increasing intelligence of the people and their wider knowledge of the science of government have taught them that the political maxim, "to the victors belong the spoils," is a relic of the barbaric days of politics, in which wide open primaries, stuffed ballot boxes, captured polling places, and thugs were the governing elements of elections.