The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-31
THE CITY ELECTION.

THE CITY ELECTION.
There are not many voters in Indianapolis
who do not pay more or less property tax.
She possesses a proprietary population in
larger proportion to the whole population
than any city of her size in the Union, we be-
lieve. A larger proportion of her voters, there
fore, have cash interest in the prudent and
honest administration of city business. Yet
we have not always had an honest administra-
ton, and frequently not prudent one. Debts
have been made that annually tax us for in
terest, and the money went for nothing, Or
worse. Sometimes it went in jobs, worse
than waste by the amount of rascality they
involved. We made a costly tunnel, and
gave it away, virtually, to a particularly IL
liberal monopoly. We improved needless
streets and sidewalks by the mile, to give
work to pet contractors, who understood cad
dition, division and silence" They grew up
dog fennel and rag-weeds till the gravel of the
roadways and the brick of the sidewalks were
hidden as completely as the tile paving of
Nineveh. We built the Eddy street culvert,
for some thousands of dollars, and the Job
arinestreet culvert, for other thousands of
dollars, and it was never used by any wagon,
horse or wandering hog till it was washed out
by another freshet. We built bridges to sag
or break. We borrowed money at big interest
to do all this jobbing with. We had anything
but prudent or honest administration when
these things were done. (Which, as the old
saying is, nobody can deny"
Now all this loss, ard folly, and useless bur
den of business and property could have been
saved by 1.-THE of the care that every sane
man shows in the management of his Individual
property. We had only to put in the direc-
ton Of city business the same kind Of men
that we would have trusted with our private
business if we had needed help in it. We
didn't do it. We have rarely done it, and
now is good time to begin. City affairs have
not been greatly mismanaged for some years,
not since the era of Democratic ''reform" ten
years ago, when the city tax went up to $3.50.
But they are falling into lines running more
and more nearly parallel with the old jobbing
ruts, and it won't be long till they run to-
gether and 60 on as before TO prevent it we
want the best class of men in the city in the
Council-men of business experience, of gen
eral information and unimpeac liable honesty.
In one word, we want no more men of the
Bowling pattern, or of the pattern Of the men
who palter with his crime and insult
the intelligence of the city. A very safe
rule-with occasional possible exceptions-is
to beat every man who owns saloon or is
put out by saloon influence That is a reck-
less influence when it is not worse. We want
an honest or serviceable influence to control;
one to raise the saloon tax and make the
cause of evil bear its burdens.
DIR. Andrew White, late minister to Ger
many, says only what is VIGOROUSLY true in
saying that the municipal governments of
Europe are invariably and incomparably bet
ter than ours There probably never was so
much corruption, ignorance, fraud and abuse
in any civilized government on earth, general
or local, as in the city governments of the
United States. Our State governments are
almost uniformly honest, decent and digniied.
Our county governments are not often bad
Our school direction is rarely mismanaged in
honesty of purpose, at least but our munich
pal governments are rarely pure or respect
able, and very often the councils are the most
atrociously and defantly corrupt bodies that
can be assembled on the planet. We can
remedy all this in this city by keeping in mind
that the Councils business concerns every
household nearly as closely as its own econ
omy The Coun cilhas good deal to do with
every family. 1t makes the streets, rules the
markets, preserves order, protects property,
suppresses fires keeps down nuisances, pro-
tects health, and taxes US more heavily than
all other administrative agencies together
The Council has the most to 90 directly with
the citizen, costs him the most money and
should be made Of the best men. We haven't
got them now; but now is the best possible
time to get them.
One Of the many contemplate things