Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1869-10-28
THE CITY CHARTER.

THE VIM A.--'
Our City Charter is now before the
Legislature for revision. The changes
proposed and published in yesterdays
Lspcrn were admirably conceived and
will meet the approval of our people.
Some Of our journalistic friends, how
aye, differ with US in opinion as to
,bs, mart of the bill which requires
preDer,y qualification of $4,000 for each
Of the ten Aldermen. That is nothisg
mora than in accordance with the al
ready expressed liberal views Of a certain
newspaper in this city, and sstonishes no
one
The bill now before the Legislature
smeods,ory of the ciiy's charter requires
I'm Basrss-s Board of twenty Com
mon CouncilmeD and Board of Alder
men consisting of ten members, with the
qualification as specified. The Mayor
aud these two Legislative bodies are
elected BY the people without the least
restriction of the elective franchise.
Everyone living within the corporate Inn
tia of'the city will have. under this new
charter. the privilege of voting for whom
he sees Ct, with . certain qualih-
cation required of the ten Aldermen
This much needed reform has been
demanded by the people for sometime
and heretofore il was out of our power to
have ouch law passed BY the Leg'sla'
ture, because we we're all under the foot
of the carpet-bagger and the Ethiopian.
Civ charters are especially required fer
the protection Of the property OF the
people who live within the bounds OF the
corporation. Suppose, for instance, no
guarantee shonld have been given 10
wealth. what inducement, IN the name
Of all that is good, would there be Tor
men to struggle to attain III L. not the OBJ
jects Of government intended as much ior
protection of property as those OF life and
liberty? What is life worth without prop
erty. and does not liberty consist IN
each individual of the community being
permitted by the law to enjoy unmo!estea
the earnings of his hard toilf Why, them
should certain newspapers endeavor TO
arouse ill.feeling between the poor and
rich of the city, when all demand protec-
tiou to their little Of earthly goods I
Perhaps it is to the'pecuniary interest OF
come people to have just such stste OF
affairs as at present exist. The Board oil
Aldermen, as now elected. can be easily
ipdsced to shower its favors in the way
of public printing upon certain newspA'
ners. The new Board elected under the
amended charter it is not TO be appre-
hended could be Influenced by fess. to-
yor or affection in the discharge OF Its
duties. And, if such was the case, some
of our friends would not be permitted to
feed entirely upon the public pap.
The property qualification required
by the charter as now before the
LEGISLATURE was intended ss check upon
the wild, radical RepubKcsnism thai
places the minority ofproperty owners IN
der the foot Of usjority ofirresponsibls
men. We will instance one occurrence
that took place in our city government
When four-6fths of the property ovneri
on Main street, sometime since, petitionec
theBoard of Aldermen that they might b.
permitted to have stone. paving put down
and pay for it, instead Of wood. their pray
ers was scornfully rejected and the peti
ton thrown nnder the table. This wa
done by Aldermen who did not own {
dollars worth of property on the street
and scarcely so much in the city
This is only one instance out Of thou
sand that might be mentioned when ,h
rights of properly owners we're spit upol
by met whose interest il was to rob lh
people. We would not pretend that tn
interests Of this class is above that o
others Of the community. But then it ]
equally important that property sboul
receive its jast protection from th
law. Every mon, be he rich or be b
poor, is proportionably intersste
in having property qualification
for one branch of our municips
government. The twenty member
Who eonpOre the Common counci
and constitute part oftheBoard are will
out restriction or qualification. These al
intended 10 stand in the same relation
the Democratic community that th
Lower House Of Congress does TO Ii
people Of the different States The tie
Alderman Who are cautious properi
h1iders are the qsie', dignihed, ordeFl
Senate. The N.yor Is elected direct b
the pepsIs. add may be saleci-i ~''hYs
qual,6cali0H fssu tbe masses This CHI