The San Francisco call., 1898-01-15
Professor Jordan Saws They Are Due to Lax
 Methods.
He DisapprOves of the Gov ernnent of Santa Clara
 County.
San Francisco in His Opinion Is Also Managed on Too Extrava-
 gant Plans.

pr. David Starr Jordan, president of Leland Stanford Jr. University, de- livered a lecture at Metropolitan Hall last night on the subject. Manage ment of Cities" After going at length into the primary causes leading to the mismanagement of municipal affairs. Professor Jordan astonished the audi ence by his very candid expression of the way public affairs are conducted in Santa Clara County.
 T am not thoroughly conversant,"
 said he, with the municipal system of San Francisco. l am told. how
 ever. that it is too extravagant and
 that a half dozen merchants could, if
 given the contract, conduct the public
 affairs here for one-half or probably
 one-third what 1t now costs the tax
 payers. I have been informed that
 within the last seven years the cost of municipal government has been raised
 about 50 per cent in San Francisco
 without any corresponding advance in
 property or wages. l know little
 more however, about Santa Clara County. The management there is ir-
 responsible. I think the county Is
 prettier named than any other county in the State, but it seems to me the name of Santa Clara is a stench when
 it comes to municipal government. Professor Jordan said that he was of the opinion that municipal eXtraVa- gance was due to the present lax po- litical system. Good men go into of
 flee" said he, "and then they have to
 not only stand the pressure of their nieces and nephews who want places, but they have to look out for their po- liticaI packers. Their political obli- cations have to be paid and they are
 paid-out of the public pocketbook- These are visible costs, but the invisible costs are far greater. In Europe the
 people have to support and look out for their Kings and Princes, but the Kings and Princes are not near as costly as
 the local political boss. Office is not generally sought for the honor, but Tor
 the money that is in 1t.
 We have a sort of government by
 see-saw. If a Republican President
 doesn't suit all the Republicans, the dissatisfied ones vote with the Demo- crats at the next election, and out goes
 the Republican President. If prosper ity doesn't come with his fOur-year
 term, the dissatisfied Democrats go over to the Republican party, and out goes MT. Democrat. So it Is that we have a see-saw government. And the President isn't the only one who goes out. The people seem to think that if l the President is changed. so shall all ] the munlClpai OIIlCeTS or nlS pdTIlCuldT | political faith, and the slaughter goes l on. For this reason, I believe, we should have municipal elections sepa- rate from national elections. Then 1 there is our primary system. It is rot i ten from one end to the other While 1 I do not know just what would be the ! best means to remedy our municipal ! troubles I think that if more power l was vested in one man and he was held 1 directly responsible to the people We ] would experience a change for the bet i ter As 1t is. the officeholder does not | seem to be responsible to any one, and ] around him has grown up the spells | system-a system of extravagance The lecture given by Professor Jor- | dan last night was the first of a series l to be delivered under the management l of the lecture bureau of the Young | Mems Institute. There is already a
 large demand for tickets of admission l to the next address to be delivered | Tuesday evening, February l. by the l Rev. D. J. Mahoney, s. J. Father Ma i honey, who is one of the best-knovn | local speakers, has taken Christian
 Socialism" for his theme.
 In addition to the lecture last even ! ing, there were short addresses by p. 1 Hagan and D. V. Kelly. and vocal and | instrumental music by Professor g.
 Martinez Miss Amanda Corcoran and J. A. McAuliffe.