Morning journal and courier., 1890-06-03
our experience has been. in the one question

our experience has been, in the one question
Of economy, at least, highly satisfactory
Why then, Mr.. Fassett asks, ARE not equal
| ly satisfactory results obtained as regards
self-government in our large cities. One
remedy is suggested, to begin with, and that
is the separation of local from general cleo.
lions. After briefly considering the minority
representation play Mr.. Fassett gets at the
gist of his argument as follows:
But, on the other hand, the very best of
methods If badly administered will hardly
prove more satisfactory. Is not the radical
difficulty, after all, general apathy and prac-
tical Indifference to and ignorance of all the
administrative affairs of citiesa If SO, how
shall the public be srouseda How ahall active
interest and intelligent interference be made
to replace torpid inertiai =,
Bad government in cities consists general
ly in wrong uses of money and shows itself
for faulty administration in city affairs is
plunder of the city's moneys. But suppose
1t Is shown that the monetary arrangements
in certain cities are 80 complicated that
only few men understand them,
and none but experienced men can hope
to successfully master their details. Men
usually take no interest in what they do not
understand, and are unwilling to devote very
much effort to understand what, for the
time being, appears remote from their own
personal interests. So that where YOU have
maximum of complication in the fiscal af-
fairs Of any given city you are sure to have
the minimum of public interest in the same,
as we'll as the minimum of probability of the
summary detection and punishment of i'm
proper administration. Is not the first re-
form to be desired one of bookkeepingi Is
not the trouble in the counting room rather
than ct the coantera If mischief grows out
of apathy, and apathy out of ignorance, and
Ignorance out of confusion, is it not manifest
that application is the first reform.
There are thirty-two chartered cities In
the state of New York, ranging in population
from eight thousand to million and half.
There are no two of them whose charters are
alike. There are no two of them that have
the same methods of bookkeeping. There
are no two of them that pursue precisely the
same course in the assessment and valuation
of property for the purpose Of taxation. And
if there are any of them that pursue the
same policy with reference to the ownership
of plants for furnishing their people with
light, with water, with pavements, with
sewers, 1t is entirely from accident, rather
than design. Nor do any charters direct
how the city accounts are to be kept. As q
matter of fact, the legislature has not and
never has had anything that could be called
policy in regard to the charters which it
has granted to the various municipal
ties of the state. None of the sites of
| the state are under any obligation to report
their financial condition to any central state
authority, 80 there is no place ITO which an
| inquirer can go to obtain thorough going,
| reliable information with reference to the
| receipts and expenditures of any of the cities
| of the atate."
Mr.. Fasaett then speaks of the effort to
1rsy sc al L.
January 30 last on the introduction of res
olution for the institution of general in
quiry concerning the government of cities,
the condition of laws relative thereto and the
actual methods and conditions of admins
| tration of any city or any department or bus
| Ieau of any city in the state of New York,
| with power to summon and examine wit
| nessess, examine books and papers, hold
meetings, etc.
| The first work Of the committee was to
bring together all the general acts relating to
the government OF cities from each of the
states of the Union and to collate all the diff
ferent provisions of the constitutions of the
several states bearing upon the question of
| municipal government The next labor un-
dertaken by the committee was the collation.
of the various acts affecting the government
of cities which have been passed by the legis-
! lature of the state Of New York during the
| yearE 1880 to 1889 inclusive. The result of
| this digest is somewhat startling, for it shows
| that in these ten years, exclusive of en-
abling acts, no less than 1884 different
| laws have been enacted, changing or amend
ing the charters of thirty cities of this
| state. Rev York city leads the van with
800 amendments. Brooklyn follows next
with 1875. Then comes Buffalo with LAG.
Middletown closes the procession with only
one. These figures illustrate (and this is the
first time they have ever been publ1shed)
| the enormous amount of local charter-t1nk-
eripg that the legislature is called upon to
undertake from year to year; and it is only
| fair to estimate that very many OF the
amendments proposed perish between the
time of introduction and the adjournment OF
the legislature.
The next business Of the committee was to
send to the mayor of each Of the cities of the
state letter accompanied by list of forty
four interrogatories, which were confined to
questions touching the general framework OF
| the city government, the method OF raising
revenues, and the management and control
and the ex penditure of them. These inter-
rogetories, however, were not sent to the
mayor of the city of New York, for the
reason that the city differs 30 widely in many
important particulars from all other cities in
the state. The committee determined to
prosecute special inquiry into the admins
tration Of the government affairs of the city
| of New York. What the committee has thus
far done in New York is too recent to require
statement here. The city and county being
coterminous: the Investigation was begun oy
an examination into the affairs OF the sner-
IFS Office, as the result of which there are
pending at Albany proposals looking TOWARD
the abolition OF imprisonment Tor aeo 60, ana 81. q
complete remodeiling OF the sneTiHs once
which may results from the committees work
but 1t purposes, among otner tnings, 10 max
close examination into the entire nscal sys
tenn .! tne cltY' Win VIC" " untlSAn "n'
n ia also honed of the committee that. az
: ,.a.,t ae ;ts 1ators ,ene-slIv tbara nav h
placed upon the statute books provisions TO
uniform charters for cities of similar grade
Possibly, il such course seems feasible, q
amendment to the constitution to the sam