TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL REPORT 67 



During 1916, it was apparent that the lessons of the previ- 

 ous year were remembered with profit by the lawless element. 

 The number of arrests were far below the record of the previous 

 year; but for all that, they were still so numerous as to prove 

 that the fight must be continuous. The Park men, the plain- 

 clothes men of the Police Department, the uniformed policemen 

 and the city magistrates all have their work cut out for them 

 as long as New York remains a city, and as long as our country 

 remains the land of "libertv" — and of lawlessness! 



THE PAY OF PARK EMPLOYEES. 



Every year, for the past fifteen years at least, we have la- 

 bored with the Board of Estimate and Apportionment to secure 

 for our low-salaried employees all the pay increases that there 

 seemed to be the faintest hope of obtaining. Each year a very 

 small number of trifling increases have been secured, but the 

 annual total has been painfully small. 



It is worthy of remark that with the sole exception of the 

 Assistant Curator of Birds, more years than we can accurately 

 remember have elapsed since the pay of any stafi" officer of the 

 Park has been augmented. 



In the preparation of our annual budget for 1917, we were 

 informed that the Board of Estimate "would grant no increases 

 under the head of personal service." The abolition of two posi- 

 tions set free enough money to increase the pay of eight employ- 

 ees, and we made bold to ask for other increases that seemed 

 imperative, amounting to $980.00. 



Over that unhappy item of $980.00 there ensued a long 

 struggle, encompassing hearings and appeals, and finally ending 

 in the granting of all of it save $60. 



Late in the year 1916, it was reliably reported that the May- 

 or, the Board of Estimate and the Board of Aldermen proposed 

 to increase the salaries of all city employees receiving less than 

 $1,200 per year to the extent of 10 per cent. Without a mo- 

 ment's loss of time we entered an urgent claim that in that 

 wholesale increase the employees of the Zoological Park should 

 participate. The needs and the claims of our 154 men and wo- 

 men, who came within the twelve hundred dollar limit, were 

 set forth to the Mayor, the Comptroller and others in the strong- 

 est terms. 



