The San Francisco call., 1898-03-03
A LESSON FOR FREEHoLDERS.

TT HE Board of Freeholders engaged in preparing
 charter for this city may if they choose, obtain
 inspiration by studying the governmental ex- pertinent now being tried in Greater New York AL though the charter under which New York was con sodated with Brooklyn and adjacent cities has been III operation only about two months, the people are already becoming tired of it. While the instrument was in course of preparation the politicians at Albany declared that of milk and honey would be ushered III the moment their work was finished The project was carried through the Legislature mainly on the theory that it would cheapen and render eff cient the old government with which nearly every body was thoroughly disgusted
 As things have turned out, however, the public has been grossly deceived Instead of having been cheapen- ed the government of Greater New York has been more expensive than In order to keep the ap- propriations down Mayor Van Wyck has been com pelled to recommend that many offices created by the charter be not filed It has been shown that the borough system, out of which the charter rnakers de- clared that heavenly government would surely pro- ceed, IS going to cost many thousands of dollars more than was expended upon the local governments which it has displaced. Each of the five boroughs now comprising Greater New York has its president, with salary of from $3ooo to S5ooo year, and ac cording to all accounts one of them has thing to do. All the borough boards have engineers, ares, clerks and superintendens in abundance. The salary roll thus created promises in the future tc swamp the taxpayers
 The cost of legisating for the city has been increased enormously The Municipal Assembly consisting of eighty nine members has salary roll of SI73,ooo per annum which is double what 1t cost to maintain all the local councils displaced by it. Moreover, this assembly has real authority. Its
 time far has been consumed in passing silly reso- for black stands The real source of political power is still at Albany and the officials of the city for two months have done nothing but suggest bills for the amelioration of the evils which constantly being developed the charter IS examined and enforced. It IS said that over one hundred amendments pending in the Legislature designed to change the charter and interfere with some local function. The larger of home rule" promised by the politicians who conceived consolidation is therefore shown to be farce.
 The of all the trouble is said to be the fact that the Charter Commission authorized to consoli- date the municipal governments about Manhattan Island attempted frame an entirely new system of government. The members of that body as one Gotham paper remarks shut their eyes to the teach ings of experience in municipal government the world for the past half century and took the po sition that the mere act of consolidation would so transform human that what had failed utterly in the past would succeed here in the future" The commission abandoned simplicity and adopted plexy, set aside experience and adopted theory, flew from existing evils to others they knew not of, and produced muddle and befuddement everywhere
 There is lesson in all this for the local charter makers There is thing the latter should ever bear in mnd Consultations and charters, like houses into being slowly They made by laying stone upon stone and brick upon brick and by carefully measuring each and holding a plummet against each wall. builder who abandoned perience in constructing edihce would be counted crazy. Yet in making laws men unhesitat ngly adopt the theories of cranks and regard the idle imagnings of politicians as the wisdom of the learned.
 The Flan11eY murder trial is certain to attract in