The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-04
REFORM IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

1t is to be hoped the Legislature will give
early and favorable consideration to meas
ures that may be introduced looking to re-
form in township and county government.
The consideration should be favorable be-
cause it is beyond question that reform is
needed, and it should be early in order that
the best measure possible may be framed
and passed within the limited term of the
session. No person at all conversant with
public affairs and government can doubt
the need of such a reform. During the last
thirty years Indiana has made great prog
ress in many respects, but her methods of
township and county government have re-
manned practically the same. There has
been great improvement in the administra-
ton of state affairs, in the management
Of the state institutions, in prison manage
ment, in the treatment of the dependent and
defective classes, in our public schools in
short, in everything except in township and
county government. The state debt has been
steadily reduced, while local Indebtedness
has steadily increased. Defects and abuses in
state government have been exposed and re-
formed, While those in local government
have continued without any attempt to re-
form the system and with no check but the
personal honesty of individuals in office If
this has been a sufficient protection for the
people in majority of cases it has failed
in great many. The laws have been tink-
cred and patched, but the system remains
the same. A system that is inherently de-
fective and that almost invites extravaganza
and dishonesty is sure to be taken advantage
of by a certain percentage of the officials
administering it. There has been no time
in the last thirty years when all of the
township trustees and county commissioners
in Indiana were honest. capable and faith
full. During that period many scandals in
local government have come to light, and
no doubt a much larger number have been
kept covered up. In many counties at diff
ferent times and in some counties for years
together local rings have existed, embrace
ing county and township officials, whose
members have systematically robbed the
people for the benefit of themselves and
their friends. A system that invites or per-
mits such abuses should not be allowed to
continue a day longer than is necessary to
devise a better one.
Notwithstanding the known defects of the
present system and the abuses under it,
there viii be opposition to any change This
viii be due in part to a natural feeling of
conservatism, which hesitates to change es-
tablished usages and methods, and in part
to the interested opposition of those who are
profting, or expect to profit, under the pres
ent system. The first sentiment is entitled
to respect, but it should not be allowed to
stand in the way of progress; the other
simply emphasizes the necessity for reform.
When a few hundred township trustees en-
ter their protest against a movement in
dorsed by the state conventions Of both
political parties, and when a county at
torney sends out a circular letter urging
county commissioners and attorneys to raise
a fund to defeat the movement. it is high
time for the representatives of the people
to unite in its support.
An attempt will be made to create the
impression that the movement for reform
seeks to take local government out Of the
hands of the people. On the contrary. it
seeks to give the people more direct and
effective control of their own affairs than
they now have. Under the present system
county commissioners and township trus-
tees have in certain directions, unlimited
and arbitrary power. The proposed reform
would limit and define this power and de-
post portion of it in advisory boards
elected by the people and taking instruc-
tons directly from them Under the pro-
posed system county commissioners and