Middletown transcript., 1894-07-07
MAYOR SHORTLIDGE

reluctance, that 1 assume the duty oi
placing before your honorable body in a
formal message my views which follow oi
the policy and government of the city ot
Wilmington. should probably never
have presumed to take this step If 1t had
not been for the urgent encouragement OF
, many thoughtful and judicious citizens who
cslieve with me that our entire system OF
public management is largely founded upon
grave error and the conduct thereof neces-
sarily clumsy, costly and inefficient ap-
preciate the difficulty experienced every
where in the government of cities, and there
is no Municipality whose policy would care
to recommend in its entirety to the citizens
Wilmington.
Wilmington has been growing at a tre-
mendous pace; its increase in population as
we'll as in substantial material things
jumped forward so per eentum in the last
cesus decade, between 1880 and 1880; and
this marvellous growth, which was more
like that of Western Community than of
one on the Atlantic coast. Is probably one
VI IHC pOtCIlt CducCS Va Jul lhuulC W pIOs
vide for ourselves an adequate and salts
factory system of municipal government.
But there is lull in this growth. Whining
ton, like the rest of the country, is prscti-
calIy at a standstill. The bulk of Its capi-
tai and one-half of its working population
are in idleness Business men, as well as
the laborers of the community, are under
| going period of enforced leisure and they
are in position therefore to give some at
tention to the theory and practice of their
local government
believe that the people of Wilmington
are capable of governing themselves; and
| believe that nearly all our evils and mis-
directions of government have sprung from
the effort so successfully made in recent
years 10 control many of our local affairs
by legislation at Dover. The American
theory of local selfGovernment has been
subverted in respect to nearly every impor-
| tant function of this community, and the
power thus wrongfully taken from the
citizens of Wilmington has been persistently
| aud notoricusly abused i'll every instance
| where appointment to Office has accom-
panied the change Of system. / wish to
| emphasize my opinion at this point that
the creation of two of the Wilmington
| commissions by legislative enactment has
brought into public life and into great use-
fuiness a number of capable and public
spirited men; but 1t goes without saying
that there Is not competent man in con-
troll of the commissions to-day who could
not have been placed there by the almost
direct action of the people, Wilmington
elect its representatives under O system of
absolute local or self-control: and 1t is
matter of history that wherever these
legislative changes have placed our power
into the hands Of the governor. the result
has been injurious, and, in seversl instances,
disgraceful to the community. The crea-
ton of the Police Commission has not only
been gross violation of the principle of
local seif-government, but it has been at
tended from the first by scandals, by cor
ruption, by violence and by a shameless
abuse of power. 1t should never have
been created. Neither in Its inception nor
in its execution was the public interest con-
sidered.
am not ignorant Of. not Indifferent to,
the ostensible reasons which led many good
men in this city eight yearsag to deprive
Wilmington of local self-government and
place the expenditure OF our vast sums of
money, aggregating millions during that
period, into the hands of autocratic
commissioners. Your honorable body did
not always execute its trust with that wis
dom and integrity which have characterized
it during the last five years. But the change
then made did not correct the evil at its
root which was even at that time due to o
fundamental violation of the rights of the
people. By asystem of gerrymander which
which was introduced ten years before the
people of Wilmington were deprived of
local self-government. A minority of the
people of Wilmington were deprived of
local selfgoverDment A minority of the
people were given majority Of power, and
thus by legislative example, fraud at the
polls and mismanagement of affairs were
suggested, encouraged under the forms Of
law. 1t was only after these evils, inspired
by responsible members Of she community
for partisan ends, became uubearable that
the effort wss made By further restriction
of the rights of the majority of the tax
payers, to curb the power of the polluters
of ballot boxes and and of the misusers of
public money.
The people are capable of governing
themselves, and whenever we shall be en-.
abled by wise and honest legislation to re-
turn to the old-fashioned and American |
system of allowing them to choose by o |
full and untrammeled ballot. under a fair |
and equitable division Of the city, all of
their officers the wrongs and evils of which |
measure be removed. u should be our
purpose in every honorable way to bring
about that wholesome result. Nothing |
short of popular control in every particu-
lar and to the fullest extent will give Will |
mington an administration that is adequate |
to its growth and Importance.
1t is very gratifying to acknowledge that |
the city is in excellent condition in respect |
10 three great factors Of the community, |
namely, the streets. the water supply and |
the fire department. The streets and the |
sewers under them have undergone great |
change for the better during the last few |
years Wilmington has made true progress
in these particulars. and is is grave mis-.
fortune that the conditions of the times are
such that this work cannot be carried for.
ward indefinitely. Wilmington has main-
tained itself bravely in the face of the in
dustrial disasters which have swept over
the country during the current year. The
people have paid their taxes with heroic
sacrifices, and City Council is to be con.
graduated and is deserving Of the gratitude
of the community that, Notwithstanding |
the increased demands for money over
which your honorable body has no control,
the tax rate has not been increased, but re.
mains at the former rate of $i.50 per 500.
1t will be ifinitely harder to meet tho taxes
for 1894 than it was for those OF 1893. Idle