The Portland daily press., 1899-01-31
HOW TO ASSURE GOOD GOVERN
MENT.


MENT.
Now that we are on the threshold OF q
municipal campaign II lie good time 10
impress upon citizens some of the rsquis'
ties for securing good government. All
will agrse that we cannot have good gov
eminent without good men in of1oe-and
by good men we mean not merely honest,
well meaning mon, but men Of ability,
of knowledge and Of sufficient strength of
will to render 1t extremely unlikely that
they can be either ooeroed or persuaded to
subordinate the general welfare OF the
people TO any other consideration. There
are certain elements in every community
which do not desire to see the control Of
public affairs In the hands of men OF this
stamp. Some Of them have interests which
may be more OF less affected BY municipal
legislation, and their first concern Is to
see that the city ofices are filed with
men who can be depended upon to take
no action which will affect those interests
unfavorsbly. Sometimes they 60 further
and undertak, to pack tine municipal
oflicss with men who will agree, not only
not to legislate In way that may I'M
favorably affect their interests, but
also to legislate SO as to affect them
favorably. that Is with men who will
give their interests precedence to the
public interests This element Is not
large in numbers, but It is always exceed
ingly active and 1t generally manages to
draw to its support another element
which cares very little what kind Of men
I'LL the offices or what kind of government
we have. 1t IL working for private ends,
and therefore ms q rule works harder and
with more astuteness than the much
larger element that has no personal axes
to grind and no interest In the govern
ment except to see that IL is honestly and
capably conducted and that 1t promotes
the general welfare. This selfish element
depends for its success upon its own hard
work and the Incidence of the unselfish
element. 1t carries on its campaign in
the dark lest the other element may be
aroused, and 1t is frequently at work the
hardest when IL seems to lie doing the
| least Hurrah and noise never enter into
Its campaign. 1t does not hunt with
brass bands. Its aim Is to lull its oppon-
snts into a fulss sense of security. 1t Is
part Of its game to inspire over
confidence in its ndversaries. Therefore
il is not loud in Its claims, and not In
frequently, with.that end In view, 1t will
itself appear gloomy and depressed.
| The price of good government is as
much vigilance and as much work. on
| the part o! the people who desire 1t as
the people whose first consideration is not
good government will exercise and put
forth With equal vigilance and equal
work the friends of good government will
always succeed except in the rare cases in
which they are deceived In their oandi.
dates, for they are always in the large
majority. But equal vigilance and equal
work on their part are rare. Because
they are the majority they are prone to
assume that 1t will not be necessary to
go to the oauouses and when the votes are
counted it is not unfrequently found that
so many of them have staid away that
their better organized and better Differed
opponents, though fewer In numbers,
have won because they have made every
one of their votes tell Nine-tenths of
the trouble with municipal government
the country over has its origin in the
Indifference or incidence or both of the
classes who really desire good government
but will not put themselves to the
trouble and Inconvenience to get 1t. The
prospect of being crowded little. or
having to breathe little tobacco smoke
never keeps away from the caucus any of
the people who have axes to grind, but it
frequently is sufficient to keep at
home the man who has nothing at stake
except what is covered by the phrase
general welfare. Let the people whose
only interest in municipal government is
to see that it is honest and capable mani
fest us much vigilance and activity ms
those who have another interest-aye let
them manifest half as muoh-and we
| shall rarely have anything but what the
great majority of the people desire.