The herald., 1898-11-14

81 don't believe because he has been elect
ed to office a man is scoundrel. The diff
Guilty is in certain differences growing out OF
partisan influence and control, by which
men are led to do things which are not pa
triotic. Now, here is where the board OF
freeholders proposes to unite them. There
are certain elements not noted for altruistic
ideas, for honesty, or for public or private
virtue. The saloon element in politics will
stop at nothing. When the good people
unite on mayor they practically decide on
the character of his appointments. With
the council it is different. You elect your
councilman and he disclaims responsibility
for the acts of the body as whole. The
trouble is that fealty to the interests of
their wards compels them to avoid re-
sponsbility and the councilmen shift to one
another the responsibility of all their acts.
THE PEOPLES RESPONSIBILITY
"We propose to make the mayor RESPONSE
BILE to the public at large and if any failure
of his public duty occurs his responsibility
will be plainly manifest. He may have po-
litcal aspirations, may want to be elected
governor, senator, congressman, and the
higher his ambition the more likely will he
be to respond to the demands of his con-
stituency and the higher the grade of the
boards and commissioners over which he is
left to exercise the appointive power When
the people realize the Importance of the
duties of the mayor they will put up better
men. Realizing your responsibility as clti-
zens, civic patriotism will make you rise
above party lines and elect the best man for
mayor, no matter what his politics. BY
concentrating the power you will make your
individual votes tell better thanif scattered
through fifteen or more officials, whose ulti-
mate division of responsibility and public
acts you can not foretell.
"The modern municipality has developed
a parasite, an excrescence, denominated
the boss He is potent factor in the
molding of the destinies of a city. Los An
geles is yet city OF but 1000 inhabitants,
but the expansive influences of climate,
westward trend of empire, the inevitable
building of the Nicaraguan canal and a har
Dor at San Pedro will soon double the size
of the city. With this increase in municipal
growth will come the presence of the boss
We have him already in the wards, and if
the boss is an inevitable feature of our
future development let us have one of our
own selection in mayor. If he is untrue TO
public interests we can get rid of him; but
the present boss never moves away, never
dies, never goes out of office; he is always
on hand, statesman for revenue only
The prime object of municipal govern
ment is to have it as effective, thorough
and economical as possible. The Demo-
cratic theory of government was originally
framed to meet national and state needs,
but it does not work well in the government
Of LARGE rpnderD So
in all the large cities everywhere it is now
universally conceded that the democratic
theory of government by majorities has not
only proved dangerous failure, but that
it does not meet the public needs for good
and economical government; that its meth
DDS are a menace to free institutions; that
something should be done to better protect
the people; therefore, the proposed meth
DDS of the new charter cannot possibly re-
suit in any worse conditions. It is also con-
sidered safer to have the mayor alone make
all these appointments than to have the
council unite in so doing
FOUR YEAR TERMS
".All the members of the various boards
appointed by the mayor hold for four years
except the first boards appointed under this
ShoieSi iHS iuCHpClS u sut'i lliSl
so classify themselves that one member will
go out at the end OF one year, one ut the end
of two, one at the end of three and two at
the end of four years. This rule obtains as
to every board except the board of educa-
tion. The result ct this is thar after the
expiration of little time there will always
be majority of the members of each board
that will have had mora than one years
experience with the public business con-
Quoted by it, and thus the boards will be
practically continuous boards, and at no
time will an entirely new board come into
office. 1t is the experience of all men who
have held public office that the ;irst six
months to year is necessary to enable a
new member to famliarize himself with the
duties of his office. If all be new at any one
time then great loss must inevitably fall
upon the public until the officers have fa-
mliarized themselves with their duties
"The mayor las large powers over all Of
fcers in the matter of compelling their obe-
dient discharge of duty, and where they fail
to perform their duties he may bring the
matter to the attention of the council, who
can thereupon remove him for cause.-The
mayor appointing his successor.
COUNCILS POWERS
1.-The powers of the council practically re-
main the same as now, except that their ca
pacity to do ward politics is considerably
curtaled through vesting the power of APP
pontment IN the mayor; otherwise they ex-
ercise all powers now vested in them, and
good many other additional powers con-
ferred upon them by the charter They ex-
ercise all the legislative power, subject to
the mayors right of veto, and hold the
purse strings, and no appropriations or ex-
pendture OF money can be made except
with their consent. They also control and
direct all public works relating to streets
and sewers and all other matters not spe.
cifically imposed on the several boards.
This is the full extent to which they should
be vested with power.
INITIATIVE AND REFERENDUM
"The principle of the initiative and ref
erendum is adopted to a limited extent.
the council is compelled, wnen not
less than ID per cent of the taxpayers pre-
sent petition asking them to enact any
gwen ordinance, to either enact the ordi-
nance or submit it to a vote of the people
as to whether it should be passed The
council may also, and so may the mayor.
submit an alternative ordinance to be voted
on. 1t Is also made applicable so as 10
compel the question as to whether the city
Will purchase any large public utility and
issue bonds for the same, to be submitted
to vote of the people.
TAXES AND BONDS
Whenever the legislature, by gen.