The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-10-16
GREATER NEW YORK AND LITTLE
LONDON.

The great excitement and popular up
heaval which Greater New York is now
undergoing over the election of it's first
mayor is in striking contrast to the choice
of the lord mayor Of London The methods
are as wide apart as the poles, one be-
ing an extreme of universal suffrage and
the other a survival of medieval forms.
We all know what the election in New
York is-a hurly- burly of various political
parties, conventions, mass meetings. Tam
many proclamations, street parades, etc,
winding up with the final arbitrament of
popular suffrage in which the votes of pau
pers, criminals and illiterates count as
much as those of taxpayers, philanthro-
pists, millionaires and statesmen.
In contrast to Greater New York one may
say Little London, for the London of which
the lord mayor is head, the city proper, is
only square mile in extent-the heart Of
Greater London. The latter, with its seven
hundred square miles and seven million
residents has no executive head and no
centralized system Of government, and the
lord mayor has no jurisdiction outside of
sentatives Of what are called the hveried
guilds of the great city. There are eighty
of these, with an aggregate membership of
about $500. They are self-perpetuating So
cieties, and their membership is restricted
to men of wealth. They are simply close
corporations of rich and influential men in
terested in the water gas and transit sys-
g in
other privileged monopolies. There is no
popular election for lord mayor. When
the time comes for an election, once a year,
the liverymen, as the representatives of the
guilds are called convene at Guildhall
together with the retiring lord mayor, the
sheriffs and a lot of other dignitaries in
court suits and robes carrying maces
slaves and other badges of authority
Everything has been "cut and dried" be-
forehand, and it is known who is to be
lord mayor. He must be an alderman who
has also served as sheriff. The senior ex-
sheriff is the candidate usually selected
The aldermen are elected for life. They ar
range in advance who is to be lord mayor.
but custom requires that the crier read off
of all the aldermen who have served as
sheriff and who are therefore eligible for
the higher office. Then the representatives
of the guilds go through the form of nomi-
mating two of this number, and the sheriffs
retire and go through the form of electing
one OF the two lord mayor. 1t must always
be known in advance whether a candidate
will accept the Office, because, although
eligible in other respects, he may not be
able to serve as lord mayor. 1t is an ex-
pensive office. and only rich man can hold
1t. 1t costs the incumbent anywhere from
$4,000 to $4,000 a year in excess of his
salary and allowances. He is expected to
head every relief fund, subscribe literally
to everything, and entertain lavishly.
Probably no lord mayor ever comes out of
the Office at the end of year without be-
ing at least $4,000 poorer for the experience.
but he has had the honor and he is in
variably knighted. He is never reelected.
and on his retirement from the office he
nominally retains his seat In the Board of