The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-01-28
GOOD CITY GOVERNMENT.
ADDRESSES BY DR. NEWMAN SMITH
 AND PROT. MORRIS r. TYLER.

ties-A Revival of Local Patriotism
 Needed-The Police Departments Need
 of Political Independence.
 Good City Government" was the subject presented at the United church last evening. There was a large con- gregation present and the speakers were Professor Morris F. Tyler and Dr. Newman smyth. Professor Tyler's remarks were directed mainly at the idea of party politics entering into the management of municipal affairs. He said that the aims of municipal governments were wholly obscured in the present method of selecting munich pal officers. The question of whether man was fit for certain office did not enter into the consideration at all. He thought that 1t was entirely pos- sible for public officers to be selected for their special fitness for a. place. as in England public affairs were nan- aged in that way. So that there had been a practical demonstration of the feasibility and practibility of the plan making fitness first and party politics second. He thought that what was needed was revival of civic or local patriotism. He said that in England they had already developed distinctive type of municipal government which was certainly efficient and that in this country another type of government was being developed which in the end would be efficient besides being dis tinctively American. He. spoke of the excellence of the municipal govern- ments of Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham, especially of the latter city where, he said, they had fire department which prevented large fires a health department which stamped out epidemic diseases imme- diately wherever they appeared. Their streets are clean and well paved, and there is more of the necessities and luxuries of life for each citizen from the common fund than in most cities. And in spite of all this highly devel- oped condition of affairs the tax rate is not excessive. The way that all this had been brought about was because men who had aims ulterior to the city's good had not been put in office. Men were selected who were devoted solely to the business in hand. And so, he said, in this city a man should not be elected to mayor for the mere purpose of getting a nomination for congress. or with the idea of going to Hartford as governor of Connecticut. What is wanted is man who will be devoted to doing out common home business. He thought that as a practical means of bringing about the desired results in municipal affairs, an organization like political organization, but with different aims, might be formed. He also thought that the ward system should be done away with to a certain extent and that the methods of nominal tion should be changed.
 DIR, SMITHS REMARKS.
 After the thorough survey of munic- pal problems which MT. Tyler has just made, shall confine my remarks to two practical points, viz: What are the rea- sons why we do not have more local patriotism In New Haven, and what are some of the immediate problems of good government which should be taken up.
 New Haven is both one of the very best of cities, and also in, some respects it has been becoming one of the worse cities; and one great trouble has been that the good have not known what the bad elements were, and the bad had too little occasion to know how many good citizens there are. There is leaven enough here to leaven a civic lump of considerable size; but the trouble is that the leaven has been kept too much on the shelf, and has not been hidden in the lump. One of the first problems of practical citizenship is to put the good leaven where 1t will work through the whole political lump. If we are to find fault with any class for the prevalepce of low standards of civic life, and for political inefficiency, or corruption in municipal government, we should begin with ourselves, and first cast the beam out of our own eyes. Our fathers were all of them citizens of their own town; many of us have lived here, but have been only nominally citizens of New Haven.
 One hopeful sign of the times now is that men of intelligence are beginning to discover that the love of country begins at home.
 Some of the reasons why large num- bers of the best citizens have practioal- ly retired from municipal partnership, and ceased to take any active interest in the political welfare of their own city, are as follows: They have no leisure to attend to local affairs, or they regard 1t beneath their ancestral digni- ty to sit down at the same board with municipal publicans and sinners; or they have become philosophically con- vinced that American cities are swamp ed anyhow in popular ignorance and vice, so that they will leave the bosses to make what they can out of the masses, while they take to the secluded heights. But all such reasons are flat denial of patriotism. Education away from civic contacts and duties is false education. And the man who regards good government in our cities as hope- less betrays his own ignorance of the people.
 Possibly one local reason for the ab- sence of public spirit in New Haven is the fact that this city is like an ellipse with two foci the town and the college, rather than, as other cities, a circle with one center But the warfare between +o-,,v, a,,d erot,y,, ie hn Y,1oiiy a thinp of