The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-03-06
AN ArrRAorIrn rHEoRr.

coming decidedly interesting. When i : was discovered that the old charte
 wasn't even punctuated properly ana
 that it was provocative of deals" thu
 demand for document that should bc
 properly punctuated and should discour age deals was said to be urgent. If il
 wasn't urgent it was urged skillfully
 and consistently. The result was a
 document that is punctuated with
 some propriety and that is said by its
 promoters to be as deadly to deals as
 Rough on Rats is to rats.
 There has been much solemn and
 learned hullaballoo over the new docu-
 ment and some that is not very solemn
 or very learned. But the affair has
 reached point now where it is possi-
 ble to partially understand it.
 In favor of the new document are
 those who believe that "one man
 power'is better and safer in govern
 ment than ten men power" Their theory is that a real nice man cam be
 elected mayor. He will appoint real
 nice men to do the city's work and all will be we'll If it isn't all we'll,
 they say we can fire out the man l who ought to have been real nice and put in another man who will be- This
 theory is attractive and could, we pre-
 sume, be made practical if the voters
 would be real nice and do their duty | in a real nice way. But if they should
 be mean and choose a man to govern
 them who wouldn't be real nice and
 who would occupy himself in building
 up mean machine the one-man power
 theory would receive a bad setback,
 and the voters would be blamed for not being different just as they are blamed now for not attending to things. It appears to be believed by the one- man power theorists that the source of government would be radically changed by a change in the plan of government and that Responsibility with a very large R would develop rapidly in the man and in those who would give him his power. Perhaps 1t would.
 We shall not assail the one-man pow CT theory. It is attractive and it is a change. But we notice with interest that it has the hearty approval of gen. tlemen whose zeal for the interests of the corporations they serve is only ex- ceeded by their interest in good govern ment. These gentlemen see in the new charter glorious things for New Haven. One of them has been so impressed by what he sees that he has been willing to confess sins committed by and with | the advice and consent of the old char ter and he looks forward with hope to a | time when we shall have such char | ter that neither he nor anybody else | can sin under it, even if so disposed | And he and all of us are solemnly as- sured by distinguished legal gentlemen that it will not be possible for public officers to sin under the new charter. If they should happen to they can be held Responsible, "pussonally Respon- sible," as the man who wants to be to Dahomey says. We hate to cast any shadowy reflection on the path way of repentant sinner, and we do not wish to be too particular about the antics of legal gentlemen But if some 1f the stringent laws which are prop ed were in full operation it would be inter- esting to read in the book of record what and whom some of those who have tailed on to the one-man power theorists represent Is it possible that l t has crossed anybody's mind that one nan can be more easily and economical y controlled than twenty? l We further notice that the one-man 2 bower theory has the hearty approval # both the noblest and the ignoblest . Democrats in New Haven. The Demo- I rats of this city are more united in c his matter than they have been since hey last voted for Cleveland and Re- / orm. It cannot be the cohesive power fl f the public plunder which they see in s he new charter that unites them It ' annot be that they see in it the proba- fl ility of a Democratic perpetual motion machine. An, no. And also certainly ot. All the Democrats of New Haven yant is good government. They be- tt eve in the one-man power theory, sl nd they will join anything or any . ody that gives promise of Reform, T lst as they joined Cleveland. The Re s, ublicans who see in the new charter q 1e complete squelching of the Repub- can party here are reactionary and st artisan. They should be willing for T., le good of the city to let the Democrats ave one-man power and be the man. U