The herald., 1896-12-30

point will be his lieutenants, who have
| each their own following, and who Will
| be appointed because they have follow
| ing that is potent at a caucus and elec-
| ton.
| The proposed appointive power of the
| mayor will be better for those schemers
| who want the proposed appointive Of
| fees, which are now elective, because
| then they would unite in their efforts to
secure the nomination and election of
| their joint candidate for mayor. whilst
now each has to attend to his own indi-
| vidual candidacy.
The reason urged by some for giving
| the mayor such an autOcratic power viz
| that we then have one man whom
we can hold responsible for the proper
| conduct of city affairs, will amount to
| little or nothing with bad man, or the
| one of flexible or uncertain character,
who will be most certain to secure the
| office.
| What would the man who makes poll
| tics trade, or who is the nominee of
| those who do, and is smart enough or
| evil enough to get there" by the present
day political methods in vogue care for
all the responsibility any number Of
citizens might see fit to hold him to? He
would smile complacently and say:
Gentlemen, l am mayor for two years,
and shall run that department accord
ing to my own judgment and in a
way to subserve the ends for which
sought the position.
What we want in order to have better
city government is not a surrender or
remuneration of our right to choose our
public servants and create an autocracy
or semi autocracy. That is contrary TO
the genius of our republican institu
tions.
We want the utter destruction and
defeat of the present caucus system of
,ty1.o hxp
senting partisan organizations, and in
order to do that we must work on lines
that Will enable US to get nearer the
unanimous voice of the honest voters
who have no interest in nominations ana
elections but to secure the greatest pub
lie good.
Every man who has the right of suf-
frage ought to be educated up to the
fact that he is charged with a public duty
to exercise that privilege honestly and
intelligently both at the primary and
the election following the nominations.
And there should be a law (by constitu-
tional amendment if necessary that
every man having the right of suffrage
who should willfully neglect or refuse 20
vote at the primary or the election fol-
lowing it should be punished as and for
misdeimeanor, if not for a second offense
by disfranchisement. Then that large
non-voting class of honest citizens
would awaken to the fact that they, as
citizens. owe duty to their fellows and
the country by thus taking part in the
conduct and preservation of our system
of government.
There is no need for bad city govern
ment. If all good men will eschew poll
tics and unite heartily in the selection
of the best men for office, they can sue
ceed, for they outnumber the political
schemers and tricksters and others who
lyo n HI s,,
and elections business. If they will
not unite. but prefer partisan nomina.-
tions to those chosen for fitness only,
regardless of party why, then, we must
continue to suffer from maladministra-
| ton Of city affairs.
Again: All the evils sought to be
overcome by the proposed amendments
do not come from the offices sought to
be made app0intive by the mayor. The
major portion of the maladministratio
has its1root in the city council. member
ship in which is made elective by the
proposed amendments by the city at
large, and for q term Of four years
Now. If centering power in the mayor
be a remedy for the evils of city gov
ernment-by having one man to hold
responsible for city Administrations
why not go a. step further and simply
elect the mayor and let him appoint the
| city councilmen and board of education
| also. and then we will have responsible
| ity centered with a vengeance and au-
/ tocratic government complete?
First.-The making cOuncilmen elec-
| tive by the city at large is open to the
| objection that so long as city elections
| are run on partisan lines, the council
would be wholly Of one party, according
to whatsoever party is dominant, in
stead Of being, as now, composed of
persons; OF both parties.
SecQnd.-The wisdom of destroying
wardrepresentationis not apparent The
interests of each ward are more likely
| to be carefully looked after by a man
| nominated and elected alone by the
| citizens Of the ward in which he lives.
| Third.7-Fo1r years Is too long a term
to delegate authority to the best coun-
/ Gilman the voters may ever expect to
| elect. A short term will make them more
likely to strive to do what will recon-
mend them to their constituents for a
reelection, while to have a bad or OBJ
| jectionable man in that position so long
would be insufferably hard.
| While there are many other things
| proposed that by themselves would meet
| with merited Endorsement, those men,
| toned are so thoroughly Objectionable,
| opposed so utterly to the popular idea
of government by the people, that it is
| not worth while to consider them.
| L Will REMARK III passing, however,
| that while amendments were being pro-
| posed, it would have been wholesome
| idea if they had cut down the salaries of
| officers from 25 to so per cent, to corre
| spond with the remuneration these men
| would get in the activities Of private
| life. so as not to be a prize for so many
| persons to strive for.
| The mayors salary, for instance, is
$4,000 per year, over three and a half times
| more than the salary of each governor
| of three states of the union, 5000 more
| than the salary of the governor of the
| great state of Iowa, and of those of
two other states.
With the salary of the mayor lowered
to $500, there are many worthy citi-
zens who would willingly and worthily
fill that office, not for the salary, but
for the honor of the place and the good
they could do the city. 1t Is the opinion
of many that by lowering the salaries
we would have generally better class
of men in office and better service rem
dered. For, as it is now. men are all the
time striving for the offices, while the
office goes rot out at all to seek the
man to fill it.
What we w3nt is not so much al
amended charter (and especially not or
the lines proposed and hereinbefore
mentioned) as an honest recognition Of
the fact that the city government is a.
good as the voters make it. That sc
long as the good citizens. who honestly
desire better city government, remair
divided and stick to their party nomina
tions, made by the political bosses