Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-02-22

| tors of departments in city administrations.
| chiefs should be sought, as we now appoint
heads OF departments in manufacture or edu-
cation. IL you want chief eng ineer for your
Fire Department, you will find where there's
such man and induce him to come to YOU
as you now do when you want bank cash
| Ter, n clergyman or an architect. You will
not think il necessary that he should now i've
i'll the city where he is to work You will
II axe it worth his while to come and live
there You will appoint him for good be
| havior. You will not turn him out at the
end Of the year, any more than you would
| your doctor.
THE GOVERNMENT OF LARGE TOWNS.
| Fortunately for us. our country is direc-
ted by the public opinion of the large towns
and small cities The editors of the large
| journals published in the large cities. sup
pose or affect to suppose, that the public
opinion of these cities governs the country.
But those who suppose this are wrong. 1t
is to be observed indeed, that these journals
themselves do not always--do not often
create the public opinion of the cities in
which they are printed. Their power
| which is great is exerted far away
| The traveller from the planet Mars who
wishes to see how America is now governed
will do well to go to some large town. gen
| orally a town with a city charter of popu-
lation not more than one hundred thousand,
perhaps not less than ten thousand He will
| find here that the directors of thought of
| invention of art and industry, are apt also
to choose to direct drainage, water supply,
| education and police. That is to say. the
directors of one-half the affairs of the town
choose to direct the other half In CONVEX
Sation with such leaders of opinion he will
find that they are also leaders of action and
of government They do not yet choose to
leave government to inferior hands. When
the town grows larger they are apt to do So
In such conversation the stranger from
the planet Mars hears such citizens say,
I'VE are going to do this or that, or I'VE
tri ed this and it did not work. We shall
now try that which succeeded in New
Utopia or in Little Crastis, and we think it
will do better That is to say, he will
find that the leaders lead in such COM
munity. 1t seems to be by accident, which
one can hope may be corrected in half
century. that such leaders do not now lead in
larger cities. When they do not it is sim
ply that they do not want to.
BETTER OR WORSE?
Whoever asks if the political future is to
he better or worse, really asks if men and
women are to be better or wors,. The foun-
tain rises as high as its source but it rises
no higher. Whether men and women are
improving is an open question. The Stats
tics can not be relied upon any more than in
other questions For there are questions of
the spirit involved, which no statistics can
measure. But it can be proved
L. That the bodies of men and women
are. ON the whole, more fit for the work re
qulred of them than they were fifty years
since. They are better clothed better
warmed, better housed better fed. In con-
sequence the death rate is less They can
run faster, can lift more than they could on
the average. They can draw and write
and sing better on the average. So much
has been gained on the physical side
,. 1t is even more certain, on the mental
side that men and women in America are
better instructed than they were 90 years
ago, more people can read and they have
more books to read. More p9ople can sing.
as has been said and they can hear better
music There are more schools and colleges
and they are better than they were. There
are large popular institutions such as the
Chautauqua and Columbian reading circles.
which direct the reading of large bodies of
people all over the land, and improve it,
so far as the education mind. and the i'm
provemcnt ofmental power depends on books
and teachers, there is certainly improve
ment
1t is hard to say whether on the whole the
average man has more mental power. But
comparison between the debates in Con
gress in 1910 and 1894, between the books
and newspapers of the same seems to init
mate that there has been some Improvement
in these lines. 1t is impossible to speak
with certainty.
The essential question is rs to moral or
spiritual advance. Are the men and women
OF America more manly and womanly
Are they less selfish and more determined to
live Tor the common good; The statistics
are misleading, because they cannot show
much but the record of convicted crime
Now the first result of an improvement in
the moral tone of a community would be a
more careful and complete administration
of criminal law. OF such an improvement.
the sign in the statistics would be simply an
enlargement in the number of criminals |
The exile from Europe of large |
numbers of criminals, ends in the confusion |
of our statistics as to convictions and i'm |
prisonments.
1t Is certain however, that there is less |
juvenile crime in the city Of New York |
than there was % years ago in proportion |
to the population. 1t is certain that the |
gifts for charity, for the improvement of |
towns and villages are very much larger |
than the increase of population. 1t is |
probable that the intemperance of 1894 is
less in proportion than that of 1910.
Churches do not find n failure Of interest in
religion: philanthropists find ready recruits
for any we'll favored enterprise of improve
inent or reform. All these are intelipiblr
indications of advance. But no person not
far gone in Pharisaism, asks in such dis
cussions, for visible or tangible signs of the
time EDWARD L. HALE.
Boston Mass