The San Francisco call., 1898-05-10
FALLacIES OF THE CHARTER.

| r. ts said hv the advocates of the new | charter that: "We have now a governing | body of twelve members, and 1T we multi | ply 1t by ten, you get 120 of the same kind | You take them from the same source ana must have the same result. But, IT we divide the number by two or twelve, you will still have six or one, also or the same kind. You take them from the same 1 source and must also have the same re- suit. If the source of power is corrupt, you simply concentrate corruption by re- duciug numbers Now the fact is, there is not single instance where large pow CTS have been conferred upon a Mayor, | as in Brooklyn. Boston, Cleveland, h.
 dianapolis, Quincy. Cincinnati, ana other cities in which that power has not been abused as often as any power poSSeSSeQ 1 by Supervisors, and the experience or many cities has proved that it is easier 10 elect a bad Mayor than a bad Board of Supervisors, some of whom are certain
 to be honest. All the machine has to do election of a Mayor, which 1t does with uniform success, except under condiCons
 of unusual excitement, or when the ne MayGr 1S1;r excitement, Seth Low, was elected as model Mayor in Brooklyn. He was fol-
 wBo lSwed wers 9y of Boss N McLough lin For eight successive years the city
 suffered frightfully from corruption eX- Boston, Mayor after Mayor has been
 elected, only to disappoint the hopes or mun1Cipal r6lOrneIS. ILS puDiiS UOON "@0
 increased. employees were hired at more than the market rate or wages, ana the greatest frauds in executive contracts have been perpetrated by the Board or Public Works.
 In Cleveland. the concentration. of power has not brought about the application or
 business methods. In Cincinnati. Boss Cox still rules the Mayor; Philadelphia,
 under the Mayor and six or ms aPpolntees as heads of departments, has the worst government in the United States. This city has not had a good Mayor since 1887 Civil service rules are dead letter. The city is controlled by politicians, who live on patronage and are both corrupt and extravagant.
 trating charter admitted its failure, and /. states that local jobbing and caucus poli- 1 had a brand new charter of the San Fran | cisco type in 1891, which started up under
 ideal conditions. Sullivan, Denny and | Taggart have been the successive Mayors, and the last was reelected last year. 1 Civil service and charter ordinances have
 are filled for personal and partisan gain,
 and before election three times the need
 ed number of laboreDs were employed The Department of Public Works was in- vestigated, revealing gross ineficiency
 and corruption in contracts and the exc.
 has made wholesale removals and reap
 pointments in his own interest.
 Men are not trees, which by increased fruit. The fruit of associated numbers is altogether different from that of a
 snaiI nunDer or d slngle man. A large
 number discourages corruption. for 1t is
 more costly and difficult to buy 61 out of
 120 than out of 12 or 10 out of IS.
 When men act together in a corporate
 capacity their power is enormously in
 creased, while that of the individual is
 lost. This is the essential condition of all
 good government. The greatest feature
 in a city government is the appointing
 power In a corporate body. no one has
 personal power to appoint his friends and
 relatives or political associates. There is
 no patronage and politics cannot count
 on spells. Patronage is the food of
 bosses who cannot thrive without it.
 The elected "bosses'' barter their patron-
 age with Supervisors for more appro-
 priations and with outside ''bosses' of
 the Buckley stripe for electoral support
 Patronage is the main cause of corrup-
 ton and extravaganza, and is the curse of city government. It is perpetuated and
 extended in the new charter Under such
 conditions there is no promise of i'm
 provement, either in efficiency or econo-
 my. J. H. STALLARD.