New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-12-01
MIXING A CHARTER.


of our State to enact for her new Municipal
Charter at an carly day OF lis ensuing ap-
preaching session, and already two or three
Committees are at work on the outline OF such
Charter. This is well we wish there were
more of them. Simply as our contribution
toward tue work in hand, we proiicr tie fol-
lowing suggestions:
|. Let us have an end Of all state Commits
sions-all attempts to govern the City from
Albany. These have had fair trial, and have
not proved a success. Let us put the now wine
into an entire set of new bottles. and not
try any half-and-half experiments. Police,
Fire, Charities, evcrythng-lct us try to get
on with less than half our present number of
Commissioners, Cor lcsS,) and let us have these
entirely of home manufacture. The foreign
article was spacious and snowy, hut did not
wear well.
H. Let us concentrate Executive power in
| the Mayor. nc-tcnths of US are only confused
and bewildcred by multiplicity of names on
| a ticket How many of our legal voters can
fairly be expected to decide intelligently
| between two or three rival candidates for Con-
trolcr. Corporation Counsel, District Attorney,
&C., &c.7 The freedom of choice thus proffrrcd
defeats its Ostcnsible object, and the voter
| either "gOes it blind" for one of the rival
tickets or abstains from voting at all Almost
any one will have decided preference for one
of two rival candidates for Mayor and can
give a reason for that preference: put dozen
names on his ballot and the average citizen
will know little or nothing. of majority %
them.
Ill. We would give no strained impracti-
cable scope of meaning TO the term re-
"sponsibility." We fully realize that there is
IN obvious limit to the extent in which any
one can be responsible for any acts but his
own. Still, we are confident that a Mayor
chosen for short term by direct popular
vote, and authorized to appoint every execu
tive officer but such az the Constitution re-
quires to be elected, would give us better
average heads of departments than would be
nominated through our party machinery and
chosen on a Municipal ballot. We greatly
prefer that the Mayor be authorized to APP
point absolutely and to remove when he shall
see fit. If not, he will have to bargain
for the confirmation Of his nominees
and thus make up list satisiac-
tory neither to himself nor any one
else. We want, when extOrton or Opprcs-
sion is endured, to 20 straight to headquarters.
and say, "Mr. Mayor! have suffered this at
"the hands of your subordnatcs" and hold
him responsible for the wrong if he does not
promptly redress it. If not, we may chase it
from bureau to bureau and never find it.
Just as the Treasury now holds the Paymas-
ter-Generars bureau responsible for Hodges
mOnstrOus defalCatiOn, and the PaymaSter-
General puts it back upon the Treasury, we
shall have abuse after abuse disclaimcd by
each department and practiced by all. Give
the Mayor ample powers and hold him rrSpon-
shc for all his subOrdinates may do or leave
undOnc. We know no better way.
". We do trust that the American fetish,
legislation by two houses, may be successfully
resisted, and single Board of Aldermen, who
shall also be Supervisors, provided for. The
Federal Constitution, though by 10 means
faultless, is the best model known to us; but
the Senate and House of Representatives rep
resent radically diverse constituencies: the
States on the one hand, the People on the
other If oil the other States should wish to
blot out little Delaware by anncxing her ter
ritory to Pennsylvania or Maryland, they could
not lawfully succeed unless she expressly con-
scnted. There is nothing like reason in elect
ing one man to ltgislate in one house and
another to check and override him in another
house. In the main, we pay the second set to
help the other do nothing or worse. We plead
for one Board only.
V. This house we would elect on what is
improperly termed the system of Minority
Representation. That is, we would apportion
the City fairly into seven districts, dividing
no Ward, allot three Aldermen to each. and
allow each voter to vote for three candidates,
for one thrice, Or for one twice and another
once, as he should see ct. This would enable
the minority in almost every instance to elect
one of the three If it chose to name but one
candidate and print his name thrice on each
hoIlnk Tiki Ia cnkhin~ lila tia viNinua