The record-union., 1891-11-03
THE QUESTION OF MUNICIPAL
GOVERNMENT.


says that such government has been the
field in which the least efficiency for good
has been exhibited, and where the
greatest possible evils have been de-
veloped
why is this SO ?'' is natural inquiry.
1t is not to be attributed to any general
degeneracy of the people, for at the same
time they have founded libraries, en-
larged educational systems, curbed the
liquor traffic, developed street improve
ment and made advances in sanitary reg
ulation. There is no reason to believe
that communities have frequently been
corrupt at heart, says Professor Eliot.
Perhaps with the qualification he at
taches, his conclusion is sound, but that
reservation admits very many instances
where the moral sense of entire large
communities has been inactive. appar-
emily paralyzed, and some of these in
stances are to be found in our own State.
A potential cause for municipal mis-
management Professor Eliot finds in the
retention of out-of date and old-time
methods in those matters that now de-
mand for successful administration a
large degree of knowledge found only in
the domain of applied science-as, in tax
ieyy1ng, drainage, control of corporations
that furnish city supplies, street trans
o. DOrT4tlOn- nTOTriGinn
ment, and similar matters that require
from the municipal administrators high
degree Of scientific training. That there
IS in this statement of the case a great deal
OF force, will be agreed to by everyone
who has had to do with municipal inn
proyement and reform, with officials
wholly ignorant of the commonest prin-
ciples Of physical science, and the under
lying strata of truth on which all reform
is builded.
how many politically y-chosen muni-
clpal officials know anything of the Incl
dence Of taxes as phase of political
economy? What do the most of them
know of political science, now so essen
tlal to be studied by all who lay tax bur
dens and duties upon citizens? The
forms of property, says Professor Eliot.
nave so changed in forty years, that a
theory of assessment working well in
1880 IS absolutely mischievous in 1890.
The beneficent management of water
supplies and Of drainage in a true system
is OF recent growth, has all been created
within fifty years. In the construction
OF highways, in paving, in lighting and
IN cleaning streets the new systems de-
mand high intelligence and good deal
OF technical knowledge. Our highways
and waIkways in American cities are
hithY, full of vicious matter, dried and
drying and blown about to be breathed.
while in Europe in most cities
cleanliness to the extreme is the
rule. This, because in monarchies
the power to direct is concentrated
IN the fewest possible number of
administrators, they having arbitrary
power, indeed, to carry out reforms war
ranted by intelligence, which most of
them have upon such subjects.
So, too, right management of com
panies selling light, heat, power, etc., is
all modern, very recent, indeed. Yet
Professor Eliot AYERS that not q single
American city has as yet dealt Justly with
these serviceable monopolies. In the
conservation of the public health there is
need for very broad scientific knowledge.
but as a rule it is confined to a small
board, OF crippled authority, and because
OF this the death-rate in American cities
exceeds the rate of leading European
cities OF like Importance. Democratic
forms OF government, in short, have not
been able to deal with the question of
public health properly, simply because
Of the Ignorance prevalent among our
municipal administrators upon that
topic. Nevertheless, as we have said,
and it is fact that Professor Eliot should
have noted in America very respectable
4ASS1 OA tOhAS duu CLUES nave
made. encouraging advances in sani-
tary reforms. We know, however,
precisely how it is in Sacramento, for in
stance The scientific man, the official
who informs himself well upon munic-
ipal health needs, and advocates PROPOSE
tions for its betterment, invariably meets
with discouragement from those who
cite the fact that for forty years we have
got along" and argue ''why not for
forty more?" They meet with bold pub
lie opposition from those who, ignorant
of'the sanitary laws that lead up to the
proposed reform, coolly demolish the edi-
ice of experience and scientific demon
stratlon, by advancing old worn and re-
spudiated theories, superstitions and ideas
that in the blaze of the intelligence of to-
day have no place whatever.
So the instances might be multiplied OF
municipal mistakes, because of adhesion
to old methods. Even in the realm of
the law the error runs, and men are
chosen to judicial positions not qualified
by learning or experience But in these