The herald., 1894-10-13
CITY CHARTER CHANGES.

CoE coAAo siAo punt u CoAAlttoo "a
the council has been at work on pro-
posed revision OF the city charter. AS
soon as it is completed, and the work
seems to be drawing to q close. the re-
vision will be laid before the whole
council. and upon its receiving the ap-
proval OF that body, it will be submitted
to the people for their acceptance or re-
lection.
The work of the committee has been
long ana arduous, and its members are
entitled to good deal OF credit for the
earnestness and zsal with which they
have applied themselves to the under
taking. Their labors have been mate.
rally assisted by the corporation OF a
joint committee of twelve citizens, three
from each OF the following organiza-
tions: Chamber of commerce, board of
trade, Citizens league and Merchants'
association. These gentlemen, actuated
by no other motive than that OF the
general public good, prepared form of
revision, which was submitted to the
organizations we have mentioned, and
was, after a careful consideration,
adopted by them. During the past six
weeks this COMMITTEES of citizens has
been holding frequent and protrscted
meetings with the council committee
for the purpose OF considering and ana
lying in detail every clauae OF the pro-
posed revision, and harmonizing. as far
ha hok iot
between the plan offered by the COM
mercal bodies and that outlined by the
council. 1t is given out that the points
OF contention, which at the outset were
many, are now reduced to very few,
and these are largely questions OF detail,
rather than matters OF actual principle.
The general plan OF the revision as
thus far determined upon is in the line
OF business administration OF the city's
affairs, rather than political one. The
committees have assumed-and we be-
lieve the majority OF the voters will
agree with them-that a much larger
percentage OF citizens are interested in
having the city's sffsirs managed with
economy, honesty and good judgment.
than in the success at the polls of any
particular party or faction OF a party.
For one man who Ia an offios-seeker or
professional manipulation Of votes, there
are five hundred who care nothing
about patronage or influence, but desire
an honest and capable police force, a re-
liable fire department.. an economical
and businesslike ad administration in all
OF the city offices and non-partisan
management OF the schools. In 30 far
as the proposed changes are in accord
with their principles, we beleve the re-
vision is likely to meet with the ap-
proval of the average citizsn; and, in 30
far as il departs from these principles it
is likely to fail.
In the past twenty years, and notably
in the last five years, great changes have
taken place in the methods of govern
ment in many OF the leading American
cities. and they are almost without ex-
ception in the line of increasing the re-
sponBibilty OF certain few officers, who
are answerable directly to the people.
In an excess OF zeal to prevent the mis-
behavior of any individual in Office, the
makers OF city charters have in many
cases 80 divided up aud scattered the re-
sponsibility, that when anything goes
wrong the people are unable to discover
the source OF the mischief. IL is stated
that the proposed revision gives greatly
increased power to the mayor in the ap-
pointment of various subordinate oAic.
ials in the city government. giving him
also the right to remove them at will.
This method has been tried in many
older cities with marked SUCCESS. 1t is
the method that is in vogue in the man
agement Of large business enterprises all
over the world. and the government of q
city is little else than the management
OF great business.
An important point in the discussion
OF the revision has been with regard to
the street supsrintendent's Office. Il