The record-union., 1899-10-31

organization, has been instrumental in
bringing to public attention.
The Municipal Program is simply
an embodiment of essential principles
which must underlie successful munich
pal government, into a practical plan
for carrying them into effect in the con-
duct of American cities. 1t has been
drawn UP with great care, and is in
tended to present as nearly as human
thought and experience can conceive,
the ideal of American municipal gov
ernment, the ultimate aim towards
which municipal reform organization
may strive
The resolution to enter on this phase
of reform work was adopted at the
Louisville Conference in 1897 The.
step was taken in answer to a general
demand for leadership in such work,
and the League stepped in to fill the
want which it's own previous efforts
had created. BY the authority Of the
Louisville Conference the Committee on
Municipal Program, consisting of Hor-
ace E. Deming, Frank j. Goodnow,
George w. Guthrie, Charles Richard
son, L. S. Rowe, Albert Shaw and Clin-
ton Rogers Woodruff, was appointed.
AT the Indianapolis meeting last year
valuable report was submitted coli
tanning proposed constitutional
amendment and a Municipal Corpora
tions Act, which men whose lives have
been devoted to the study of municipal
conditions believe would bring into cx-
istence an adequate city government
with the least susceptibility to corrup
tion. This report has been carefully re-
vised and perfected by the committee
during the past year. and when finally
placed before the convention at Colum-
bus it will be in shape for study and
practical use.
While the discussion and adoption of
the Municipal Program" will be the
most important work of the coming
meeting, other subjects vitally connect
ed with the life and conduct of Ameri-
can cities will be presented by those
we'll calculated by study and experience
to speak on them, Each session will
have particular interest, and the IN
1uence of the conference, spread by re-
turning delegates and the distribution
of published proceedings, will be felt
all over the country. No other political
subject is of more Importance and IN
terest than the government of Ameri-
can cities. No other organization has
attempted to grapple with the question
on its broad basis, expect the League.
The progress and success of the Ma
tional Municipal League are unique in
the history Of similar organizations. It
came into existence to fill a recognized
need, and has grown in strength and
influence because under it's constitution
all organizations and individuals inter-
ested in bettering municipal conditions
could unite. 1t was organized in New
York in the spring of 1894, as the re-
suit of the First National Conference
for Good City Government, held in
Philadelphia in January of that year.
At the conference, which brought to-
gether men and women from all parts
of the country, who had long given
special thought to the government of
large cities, it was clearly shown that
the many and serious defects recog
niZed in American municipalities are
practically the same throughout the
country, and arise from causes which
are not of themselves temporary or
| local. The general situation was found
to be substantially identical in all large
cities of the Union, and to correct this
situation the National Municipal
League was fromed
| The League affords counsel and en-
couragement to all it's affiliated socie-
! ties; it in no wise controls their action,
for it recognizes the probability of hon
| est and reasonable difference of opin-
| ion among it's members regarding the
| most effective means to advance their
common ends. If its true character
| and purposes are understood it's utility
must be apparent to everyone in SYM
pathy with those purposes. 1t aims to
| embrace all associations of citizens
/ formed to improve municipal govern
ment; if such associations exist for yet
/ other laudable ends, or to advocate
| some one special measure of reform in
city administration, they are none the
| less eligible for affiliation. 1t brings
together, at frequent intervals, for CO.
| operation, instruction and advice ac-
credited representatives from all such
| societies, but their action, when assem-
! bled, binds even the societies sending
them SO far only as it may merit the
deliberate approval of their respective
governing bodies. Individuals are ac-
| cepted as associate members, and or
ganizations as affiliated members The
League was first made up of
sixteen municipal societies. Now
it takes in more than 100
and the cities represented in
clude small New England towns and
the thriving cities on the Pacific Coast !;
municipalities along the Atlantic Coast
and populous communities in the Mis-
sissippi Valley, cities on the Great
Lakes and the Gulf Of Mexico. With its
| constantly increasing membership the
National League exercises a power
which is already the dread Of corrupt
politicians and the hope of reformers
everywhere
| Through the League and its members
a renewed interest in citizenship has
been aroused. City after city has risen
against corruption and political Chi
canery and thrown off the yoke Of the
selfish, INSCRIPTIONS political leaders.
| Some Of these civic revolutions served
only for the time in which they oc-
CURED, but others have had lasting
effects. New York was swept by a
reform which receded at the next cleo
ton, and again the machine was
placed in power. Such reverses are
only discouraging to those who do not
appreciate the breadth Of municipal re-
generation now going on. The spas
modic appearance of a powerful reform
sentiment, first in one city, then in an
other, is but a small manifestation of
the deep current toward a purer, higher
form of government which has set in
among the American people The in
creased strength of the League, the