The Portland daily press., 1897-04-30
THE PROPOSED CITY CHARTER.

Probably most Of our citizens are toler-
ably familiar with the proposed city char
ter which is to be submitted to the people
on the seventeenth Of May. inasmuoh as n
copy oft has been left at every home.
Its publication in full therefore Dy the
newspapers would seem to be superhuous
The really important changes in our
present. mode of govrnmeent which the
charter proposes are now very many. As
to some of them there will probably be
no difference of opinion. The change of
time of the annual municipal election
from the first Monday of March to the
second Monday of December, and the
substitution fof plurality for majority
will no doubt meet with universal ap-
proval. There are many obvious advant.
ages in having the municipal year COR
respond more nearly with the calendar
year; and as almost every officer of the
state and national governments is elected
now by plurality vote it is manifestly
absurd to retain majority requirement.
for the offices of mayor and aldermen.
The charter as drawn by the commission
proposed term of two years for the
Mayor but in the draft to be submitted
to the people the Mayors term is fixed
as now at one year.
The first Important change about
which there may be difference of opinion
is that which affects the City
Council. That body is now composed
Of 1.-TWO boards, the upper. or Board
OF Aldermen, which consists of
seven mem bers, one from each ward,
elected annually, and the lower, or COM
mon council which consists Of twenty
one members, three from each ward, also
elected annually. There is no difference
in the qualifications for members of these
two boards both are elected in precisely
the same way, and both represent precise.
~ the same constituency. The new
charter proposes the abolition of one of
these boards, the lower one, known as
the common council-and the enlarge
ment of the upper or, aldermanic board
to twenty one members, three from each
ward. At the first election under the
charter if adopted, three aldermen will
be elected from each ward. ono for one
year, one for two years. and one for three
years, but thereafter one alderman will
be elected in each ward annually to serve
for term of three years. The effect of this
arrangement will he that two thirds
of every board of aldermen after
the first will be composed of
men who have served one or two
years. and only one third of 1t made up
of new men. The advantage of this'.ar
rangement will be that it will secure
continuity Of management in city affairs
The abolition of the common council has
been objected to by some on the ground
that. it will remove valuable oheck on
legislation, and by others on the ground
that it abUlishes what has been useful
school for training men in parliamentary
procedure and legislative work. The en-
largement of the Board of Aldermen to
twenty-one membsrs removes both OBJ
jections to very large extent. The
check OF. twossadditional aldermen from
each ward Will be substantially as great
as thpt Of three counc1lDen, and the
mum Der of pupils who can study parlia-
mentary procedure and legislative work
under the auspices Of the city lis only
seven less annually under the arrangement
proposed chan under the existing one.
The new arrangement has these advsnt-
ages, that it secures greater continuity
of WORKMAN the present one, as we have
already pointed out, and that 1t assures
how -
fixes more clearly the responsibility
The next radical departure proposed
is in the method of selecting oyerseers
of the poor. Now they are elected
by the aldermen.and councilmen In joint
convention. They number twelve and
their terms are three years, so arranged
that third of the board is elected every
year. The new charter proposes to 1e-
duce the number to seven, and the term
to two years. Instead of being elected by
the city council they are to be chosen by
the people, one from each ward, and their
terms are to be sn arranged that
three of them shall go out each year.
The present method of election, or its
results, have given rise to considerable
complaint in the past, and doubtless the
proposed method. placing as it does the
care of the poor more directly in the
control Of the people, will prove more sat
isfactory. We question If there is any
considerable opposition to this in any
quarter.
The commissions draft of the charter
provided for the election of school
committee ON general ticket. That
plan does not appear, however, In
the draft to be submitted to the
people. In that the present method
of nominating and eleeting the school
committee by wards is left unchanged.
The proposition to elect three women
on the school board on general ticket
is not contained in this charter and will
be voted on MS distinct proposition.
In the commissions draft of charter
the Mayors power was good deal en-
larged. But in the pending draft the
Increase is comparatively trihing. Out