The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-03-07
THE NEW CITY COMMISSIONS.


THREE of the bills creating commissions for
the future government of Philadelphia were
introduced yesterday in the State Legislature,
and we publish them in full in to-day's TELE-
GRAPH, that our readers may comprehend the
nature and extent of the extraordinary powers
that are to be taken from the people and
vested in the hands of few citizens. 1t
matters little that some of the gentlemen
named as commissioners enjoy a large
share of the confidence of the community.
There is no assurance that their names will
not be stricken out before the bills are finally
passed, but whether they are retained or not,
the principle of conferripg such vast powers
upon men not elected by the people is in the
highest degree dangerous; and if the people
quietly submit to it, the next step may be
complete annihilation of their few remaining
local political rights. 1t will be seen that the
commissioners are to be placed entirely be-
yond the reach of popular indignation.
The boards as now constituted
are to serve for five years
before an election takes place, or, in other
aoords, the men chosen By tile Legislature are
to rule the city absolutely in the matters
designated unta 1876, and at the end of that
time the wise and virtuous men in the State
Capitol graciously propose that small share
of the blessing of self-government shall re-
vert back to the people from whom they are
now attempting to steal it. Attentive readers
will observe that the commissioners are en-
trusted, within their respective domains, with
nearly absolute powers The city is not only
to be ruled by men in whose selection she
has no voice, but they are authorized to rule
despotically. The Metropolitan Police
Board is not only to be
entrusted with the appoint
ment, control, and entire government
of the police, but it is authorized
to make all needful rules and
regulations, to increase the number OF
officers, to erect new station: houses, etc.,
and it is made the imperative duty of Ooun-
ellis to appropriate such sums of money as the
Board of Commissioners shall require The
Water Commission is to have 'all the powers
Of the city of Philadelphia, and of the Water
Department, and of the Chief Engineer of
the Water Works, and of the Register of
Water, and whatever other authority may be
necessary to give tuem the exclusive right to
furnish and regulate the supply of water to
the city of Philadelphia and the inhabitants
thereof" But oven the powers entrusted to
the Police and Water Commissions shrink
into insigni6cance when compared with those
entrusted to the Board of Public Works.
There may be some excuse in the present
condition of the Police and Water
Departments for an extraordinary
new policy. But the Board of Public Works
was manifestly and clearly created for the
express purpose of providing unlimited op-
portunities for plunder. 1t is to have ex-
elusive control of all highways and public
works not now under the control of existing
commissions; and in addition to the exercise
of many other excessively dangerous powers,
it is authorized (see section 81, to determine
what material the streets shall be paved with.
and to issue city bonds for the payment of
all the pacing contracts ii chooses % giOe out
II the Commissioners of Public Works are
entrusted with this privilege, nothing but the
entire destruction Of the city credit will pre-