The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-06-23

Legislative portion of the city govern ment is nevertheless universally deemed so important that all citizens ought to have voice in it's formation, the inven- tors of absolutism seem to assume that the executive department is so insignifi- cant that it's formation may be safely in trusted with one man.
 If, however, that is not their idea, and they do consider the executive branch of the city government the most important, 1t follows of necessity, since the people elect the state legislatures which create the charters, that, which they admit the competency of the people to decide what persons are best qualified to make the laws, they have small respect for the popular opinion as to what persons are best fitted for their execution. Now could anything be more ridiculous than this? Why, in the name of common
 sense, if it be competent for the people
 to elect the mayor, who is the head of
 the executive government, should 1t not
 also be competent for them or their rep
 resentatives to elect the subordinate
 executive functionaries. The answer of
 the oligarchists to this question would
 probably be that they only allowed the
 people to elect the chief city executive
 because they could not get the Almighty
 to do it for them. As Oliver Wendell
 Holmes says, an angel from heaven and
 a dynasty would be the ideal govern
 ment for any mundane community; but,
 since it is evident that the Omnipotent
 will not look after our civil government,
 does not the horse-sense solution of the
 to h Na, hot
 it would be wiser for us not to trust the
 formation of any branch of our city
 government to one mortal, but to rely
 upon ourselves, or upon the direct repre-
 sentatves of our respective wards.
 Now, the fundamental principle of all
 true Anglo-Saxon government is repre-
 sentation, or, in other words a goVern-
 ment by the people. Accordingly inso-
 far as you get away from the people
 you depart from representative govern
 ment. So, if you elect the mayor and
 give him the unconditional power of ap-
 pointments and the practically unre-
 stricted power of removal in the eXecu-
 tive departments, you simply trust the formation and conduct of the most inn
 portant branch of the city government
 to one man; and if he proves to be un-
 scrupulous and uses his great powers for personal and party ends, your only remedy is to wait for another election and then try to prevent his serving
 second term; for, although the Wayor Is said to be, under the new system, direct
 ly responsible to the people, his only re- sponsbility for maladministration seems to be the danger of not being re-elected.
 Such scheme of executive government
 is as you can plainly see, not govern ment by the people; it is absolutism, pure and simple, and contrary to funda-
 mental principles of Anglo-SaXon de- mocracy. Surely one man who belongs to one class of society is not likely to come anywhere near appointing eXecu- tive functionaries who will be accepta- ble to the great majority of good citi- zens. For instance, if New York city should choose a mayor from sluns side the executive departments would un- doubtedly be made up, for the most part, of inhabitants of the east side This would not be a government by the city of New York; it would be a government by the sums. But, should the people or the aldermen who represent the several classes of the people. elect the members of the executive departments, then you have an executive government which | would come much nearer to representing all classes of citizens.
 This idea of absolutism is not new On the contrary, it is the characteristic of the most primitive governments. The | absolutism of a government is always al tn ha 1 r. n D. generation of the governed. A people | who govern themselves are always high Iy civilized. It is true that, since the | popular government is human, it is | bound to have it's faults. You cannot expect to have a government of the peo- | ple by the people and for the people that | will be any better than the people them selves. On the other hand, a despotic | government is just as human and much | more selfish. Most of us are convinced | that popular government is the safest l and the best; and most of us have suf- ficient knowledge of history to know that, with few exceptions, men who have possessed great and unrestricted | political powers have abused them shamefully.
 The excuse tlleIeu lul lillS IllltlcClitll- century oligarchy is the claim of its be- ing a responsible government, govern nent which is an executive unity there by affording a mayor great opportuni- ties for serving the community to some should he happen to have wis dom and be so disposed The friends of these new-fangled city charters rave q bout executive unity. They claim that l city can not be well governed unless the executive departments are composed of individuals whose idea of city govern nent coincide with those of the mayor of individuals who to speak the truth are the mayors tools.
 In regard to the responsibility of this l bsolute government it is not necessary to speak at length It is not clear that t would be far better for the people in- stead of imagining a mayor to be re- ;ponsible for the character of the exec- ltive government, to be responsible for t themselves; since the mayors respon- ,ibility can only be his danger of not be- ng reelected?
 Now, for the basis of their executive Unity, which is the main principle of heir government, these champions of despotism have betaken to our national constitution, md blindly and dangerously exaggera- ed and perverted it's most doubtful fea- ure. The great appointing power vest d it's most doubtful feature. The great ppointing power vested in the president -I@. l