By David Dayton McKean
Just as a political machine may sometimes be upset by a
militant newspaper, a vigorous bar association, or a zealous
reform group, it may be overturned by an aroused church.
The Hague organization has provided against this possibility,
however, with the efficiency characteristic of all its political
operations. One method is to put priests, preachers, and
rabbis on the city or county payroll as chaplains with salaries
that are generous, considering the part-time nature of the
work they do.
The highest salary appears to be paid to the Reverend
John E. Heindel, Protestant chaplain at the Hospital for
Mental Diseases and at the county jail. He receives $2500 a
year for his services. The city police and fire departments
have each two chaplains, one Protestant and one Catholic,
at $2400 apiece. The employees of the Bureau of County
Mechanics would seem to need spiritual guidance more than
any other agency, for they have three chaplains at $2100
each, one Protestant, one Catholic, and one Jewish. The
lowest paid in the list appears to be the Reverend Walter A.
Hennessey, Catholic chaplain at the Hospital for Mental
Diseases; for some unexplained reason he receives less than
his brethren, a mere $900. To the twelve chaplains the city
and county annually pay a total of $20,900, a mere trifle in
the millions annually paid out in salaries, but a very important
item considering the groups that these men lead. A few
years ago one preacher gave a series of sermons against the
Hague administration; returning from Europe, he announced
to the reporters that he had seen no city on his travels the
streets of which were so dirty and littered. He is now a chaplain
and no longer sees anything to criticize.
But there are other ways than making them chaplains to
keep the men of the cloth from attacking the regime. One
preacher who started a campaign against the machine, and
offered prayers every Sunday for the deliverance of Jersey
City from the hands of the rapacious politicians, lost interest
when his daughter was given a job at City Hall. Then there
is Rabbi Isaac Siegal, who is one of the most important Jewish leaders in the county; he is the `Special Inspector of
Kosher meats' employed by the County Bureau of Health
and Vital Statistics at a salary of $2600. Other preachers and
priests have been listed as `utility men' on the payroll, and
one was even called a plumber's helper.
This Web version, edited by GET NJ, COPYRIGHT 2003
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