The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1892-03-26
THE CITY

, suing fiscal year. AZ hie' t"o"s"' "'
election would appear to be simply ont
} of those little events which com n &c
= in the history OF municipality ano
!, which should not create more than 6
momentary ripple upon the surface OF
the current of city affairs. Usually in q
young, growing, prosperouscity a munich
pal election does not. In the hurry and
hustle and mental labor incident to the
establishment and conduct of Their
several businesses men are prone to lose
sight Of municipal matters and are too
ready to confide them to almost any one
who is willing to accept the charge. This
indifference or carelessness often bears
very bitter fruit to taxpayers in the
shane of an onerous taxation which they
cannot escape.
The history Of the indebtedness OF
cities is a profitable study for taxpayers.
1t will be learned that no municipality
plunges deeply into debt at its birth. 1t
is acquired by accretion, or rather by a
seemingly natural growth. An incon-
slderatc or indiscreet municipal body
permits a leak here and another there.
A. third one is not guarded against and
| others follow from force of habit. Sue
cessive municipal bodies founder among
the treasury drains thus made or per-
mitted by their predecessors, unable
to stop one without enlarging another.
and then is witnessed the spectacle of a
city running in debt to get out of a debt
| which. like a veritablc 'Old man OF the
sea-" weighs down the energies of its
people and checks their prosperity as a
body.
The door is now open for the boodier.
Rings are formed and by Il system Of
packing ward meetings and city conven-
tons a coterie Of p~ap-suckers are fas-
tened upon the purse-strlngs of taxpay-
ers. Contracts and jobs are let to favor
ties and their enormous profits find their
way to the pockets of the select few
through IA c~unningly devised method of
addition. division, and silence. The PEG
pie finally become aroused. They hurl
the lecches from power: prosecutions
and expensive litigations follow: the least
guilty are caught in the meshes of the
law while the shrewd leaders escape the
net and with well-tilled Golfers retire to
private life and become honored and re-
spected citizens. The people find a
bankrupt treasury: an enormous munich
pal debt hanging over them: creditors
clamorous for payment; the value of the
city's securities greatly deprecated, and
a general arrangement of public affairs,
from all OF which it takes years of high
taxation and rigid economy to ecover.
In view of the history Of many eastern
cities it can not be said this picture lis
Oy%erdrawn.
The primary cause of all these evils
named is directly traceable to lack Of in
terest upon the part of the people in
their city elections. AS a rule they
Welded to party pride and party preiu-
dice in the selection OF their city officers
and sacrificed their own as well as their
neighbors interests upon the altar of
partisanism. Their interest in the cleo
ton did not extend beyond voting their
party ticket. The character Of their
party's candidate or whether he had any
character at all cut no figure in
their choice of men. IT the candidate
came before them bearing the creden.
tials of their party's convention they
shut their eyes to all else and voted the
and iobbing followed, only to be nc
cceded by a repetition of party voting at
the next election. Thus jobs followed
jobs. corruption was added to- corruption,
debt was piled upon debt and the gov
eminent of the city became rotten and a
stencil in the ~nostrils of honest men.
And all this was the inevitable result of
lack of interest in ward and convention
meetings and in elections.
The corruption existing in many cities
has become SO notorious that it is found
difficult TO persuade honest. conscicn-
tious men to accept responsible positions
in their government. They fear that the
faint of fraud which seems to cling to
the skirts of many men of ack:: owledged
integrity who have colne in official con
tact with those whose honesty the world
has reason to doubt. will bcsmirch their
own fair reputation. Therefore many
men untitled by education a~ndlbusincss
capacity and lack of conscience are
voted into offices whose duties demand
the exercise of "A conscientious regard for
the interests Of the whole community to
discharge properly. The remedy lies in
wedding out the untrustworthy and sup.
plying their places with men in whom
IA Y -paycrs and citizens generally place
implicit confidence.