The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-08-07
NOT A VALID CRITICISM.

Inc admirable work Of the district
bench in the selection of a charter
commission is so invulnerable to criti-
| disooverable, even to the enemies of
charter reform, is of character which
shows that the person who offers it has
no conception of the place of this body
in our municipal life and the work
that it is set to perform. This plaintive
note is emitted by that eminent states
man and reformer, the Hon. Henry
Johns, and conveyed to the public
through the medium of that organ Of
progress and enlightenment, the st.
Paul Dispatch. Mr.. Johns is aggrieved
because Sc many of the members Of the
charter commission reside in the Sew
enth ward. 1t is clear to his judicial
mind that the judges should have Sc
lected one representative in each of the
wards and the remainder at large, so
that every section of the city should
be equally represented. If they had
done this they would have shown them
selves incompetent, not merely to ap-
point a charter commission under the
| law, but to hold the places that they
now fill so creditably. For any man
whose conception Of the constitution of
a commission to frame a new charter
is that 1t should be made up of ward
representatives on a par with the board
of aldermen is not a subject for argu-
ment, but for pity. 1t IS allowable to
have ward representation in the city
ferent import to different sections
have to be acted on from time
to time. Even with that reason for it,
! the ward system is becoming more and
more unpopular with the evil results
! that flow from it, such as we have
seen in the discussion of school
| finances.
But in the framing of a charter ward
lines have absolutely no place, and the
local divisions of the municipality dis
! appear. There is nothing in the char
| ter which does not apply to the whole
body of our citizens. 1t is no more i'm
portant to the Eighth ward or the First
or the Sixth, or any other, that it
should be represented on this commits
sion than it is that one of these petty
divisions rather than another should
be the place of residence of a member
Of congress. By no possibility can any
question come before the charter COM
mission in which the interests of one
section in the city will be considered
as distinct or separable from those of
all the rest. What we want in MAX
ing up charter is the best thought
and ripest experience that can be ded-
icated to the work If the men pos
sessing those qualities should chance
to live in. the same ward, on the same
street and in the same block, it would
be absolutely immaterial as long as the
public will secure the benefit of their
counsel. .t >.
There is nothing pettier in politics
than this small local jealousy of our
minor civil divisions, unless it be the
caliber of the people who would intro
duce it into a great general work like
the framing of a charter. A poor ex-
cuse is not always better than none.
and the excellence Of the work which
the people have so far accomplished by
their charter petition and the action Of
the court needs no stronger proof than
the fact that we have to go to Mr..
Henry Johns and to the pothouse ward
argument to find even the appearance
Of tangible fault in it.