The Portland daily press., 1897-01-01
The Proposed city Charter.
To the Editor of the Press:

To the Editor OF the PresS:
The proposed city charter is certainly
an Improvement upon the one we are
now living under and ought to be adopt
ed.
There are however a few changes
which might be made to its betterment.
The first is to abolish entirely the board
Of overseers of the poor and substitute
therefore a commissioner.
Iu the days of yore when Portland was
a town there were two boards, one of
selectmen and one of oyerseers of the
poor. At the pi esent time towns usually
vote to make their selectmen overseers.
The existence of the board of overseers
In Portland is the survival of system
which has been abolished in other de-
partments and should be abolished in
this Why should there not be commits
sioner for the depar TINT It of the poor as
well as for the fire department., or the
street, or police, or the department of
public grounds?
If 1T is better to iutrust the purchase
of supplies for the streets to one man,
who may be held responsible for any
abuse of his power, why not the purchase
of supplies for the aims house, or the out
side poor?
Is board of seven necessary TO superins
tend the poor farm while one performs
the same function in regard to Deering
parks
The legitimate duties of the overseers
of the poor are more strictly executive
than those of any other city department
officers, and they ought to be delegated
to one man precisely in accordance with
the rule that the executive duties of
each department are better performed
when under a single executive head.
The term OF the Mayor should not be
extended beyond one year. Under our
present charter the actual power of the
Mayor is very little. His influence In
the city government rests mainly upon
his personal character. In some years
the majority Of the aldermen and coun-
cilmen have reposed SO much confidence
in the integrity anf good Judgment of
the Mayor that they have readily adopted
the meas res and sometimes the men,
proposed by him. In other years the
Mayor has been simply the presiding
officer of the board of aldermen, a mere
ii cure head who has not welded any
power In the direction OF city affairs.
Under the proposed charter, however,
the condition of things is entirely differ
ent. Through his power of appointment
and removal without the consent of the
aldermen his actual power becomes very
great. his term of office ought therefore
to lie limited to one year.
Under the present charter there are
many valid arguments In favor of two
years term. but these arguments disap-
pear under the proposed charter. Under
that we commit without reserve the
largest portion of the administration of
city business to four or five men. We do
this because we can thus make the gov
eminent more efficient and in case of
decentralization call It's authors to
account. For this very reason the ac-
count days must not be too far apart.
1t is urged that we ought to have
government of checks and balances. The
great objection to the old charter is that
it contains too much check and too little
do something. have not heard 1t
charged or .intimatcd that there is or
ever has been large strata of corrup-
ton scattered over the city officials or
fathers. The general objection urged,
and with truth, against the presents sys-
tenn is that 1t does not give us adequate
returns for the money SPENT that 1t lacks
in efficiency. We can render 1T more ETH.
ciept in no other way than by taking
away some those checks in the executive
department and making 1T more auto
cratic. 1t is a choice of evils We are
like the dyspeptic who hates to eat be-
cause his food will surely distress him,
and IL he doesn't eat he will-fnre worse.
We dislike to give tho Mayor SO much