Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1894-04-26
HENRY +. BLAKR,s PAPER

Henry T. Blake Of New Haven's board, OF
mark commissioners. The topic Of the |
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pspes .''.t -
ciPsa Government.
One OF the periodical missions OF QUIZ
city charter Is again in progress under the 1
charge Of an excellent commission, whose
members dessryedIy commend the public
49,. 81 o,,aa.nc. Th. oom,r,..,,r
s''ee" .ns - 80 ~ --
has invited suggestions ttom al VINO are
In the subject, and has given to
al, . nat,ant hearing. MANY of onr c.e.
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zens nave avaiieo Snemseives OF cue oPPo1-
tuntty thus offered to express their Views
with regard to various chanoes in our mn
nfo,n., .v.+sr, h,t .h. oh,.e .,,;. - A.
W.. 'A.e 'A.'- sepAo -
cussion mas Deen Wnetnsr non-psftlsan, OF
rather bipartisan commissions for the ap-
pointment and control Of subordinsts ex-
ecntive officials shall be abolished and
their power vested in the msyor, - the
personally respensfhle head of the city adj
ministration, the supreme source of official
It is q question of great practical Inn
portance-one upon which every infelh-
gent citizen OF New Haven should rehsct
and form an opinion. And this must pc
my apology for inviting your attention to
1t, as individuals, this evening. pre-
sumo you would not have invited me to do
so had you not considered the theme ap-
propriate and timely.
The tendency of the commission ia>sup-
posed to be favorable to the proposed
change, and perhaps the general current
of expression both orally and through the
public press has been in the same direc-
for few moments to some remarks on be-
half of those who hold the oppoeite view.
in the hope that if you differ from our
conclusions, as doubtless some of you will.
You will a. least be interested to know
what are the grounds of our opinions.
L presume we shall all agree that In Or
ganizing municipal government the OBJ
jeos should be not 60 much to form q ma
chine which will work we'll only under an
ideal msnsger-one man of q thousand
like Mayor Low or Mayor Hewitt-but one
which will tend to work well by its own
automatic qualities, even when superin-
tended by such average men as most
mayors are, and are likely to be; one If
aged by an operator who Is clumsy or bad.
Now, does the personal responsibility plan
fulfill these conditional In answer let as
refer to experience, which Ia abundant and
close at hand. New York. BROOKLYN and
Chicago are among the municipalities
where 1t has been practically tested for the
past few years, and If anyone were asked
to name the cities most conspicuous dur
ing that period for political cor
ruption and bad government these
are wont, probably, to ba the
6rst to be named. I say prob
ably, not certainly, because within
~ &c, Il
gentlemen, residents of Brooklyn, have
been publicly quoted "a declaring that the
government of that city under the person
al responsibility plan has been on the
whole extremely successful, and that no
one there would think for moment Of
charging It to any other. I shall not
question the sincerity of those opinions,
but will simply refer to facts too notori-
Gus to be disputed. Since the plan was
adopted Brooklyn has had three mayors
and has Just commenced on its fourth.
Under the administration of Mayor Low,
who was the first, the system worked salts
| factorily. 1t was new. The power of evil
| had not become fully organized. and Mayor
Low was a reform mayor in fact a. we'll a.
| in name. Since his time, however, that il
to say, under two mayors out of three, the
scandals and corruptions of the Brooklyn
city government have been prominent
newspaper topics and the frequent subject
of grand jury Investigations. Mayor
Chaplin, his successor. co-opersted with a
ring of politicians to make the city pur-
chase water company property worth
$175, 900 for ten times that price, and was
only stopped by the supreme court. Sim.
ilsr schemes Of plumber were, however.
carried through successfully. Under hii
successor. Mayor Body, corruption, ex
4 nd vii .1vra{~ kal
Year before last twenty-seven city Off
Gals were indicted for robbin9 thu
city treasury by corrupt and illegal
payment. The local taxes nave been enor.
mously increased. The condition of the
streets has been constant complaint. The
police force was notoriously inefficient and
q late writer to Harper's Weekly who ID
apparently we'll informed declared that
81, 300 GOO WAS annually collected by the
ring from saloon keepers for the privilege
of violating the excise laws. The fire de.
partment was go badly administered that
the insurance companies combined for self.
protection to raise the rates of insurance.
No one has ever denied these facts nor the
chiefly, to the use made by the mayor
of the appointing power. Both of
them, however, were men of high
standing and excellent character before
they were elected-men in whom it was
| believed that power could be safely re-.
posed. 1t has been claimed in favor of the
personal responsibility system that 1t will
| tend to insure the election of frst clasa
oitizsns to the mayorslity. Even If it were
go, the experience of BROOKLYN shows that
this affords no security against bad GOV
eminent. But can this result be relied
upon7 Mayors Grant and Gilroy of New
York city would hardly be regarded as the
very best type of its citizens. They were
we'll known to be Identified with the pro-
fesaional politician class of New York
the class which subsists on pub
lie plumber, yet they were elected
by maiorities of from so, 900 to 1000
voters, including q large proportion of the
wealth, intelligence, character and even
the civil service reform element of the
community. How-much has an elevated
sense OF personal responsibility their ad-
m1n1strat1ons and especially their exercise
of the appointing powera Mayor Gflroy
began by appointing John J. Soonnel chief
of tho fire department. Mr.. Sconnell's
record was notorious. He had been tried
for murder and acquitted on the ground