The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-02-07
OUR CITY CHARTER.
MAS MEETING COMMITTEE HAVE
ACTED.
Yesterday the Committee Forwarded
to Our Legislators q Bill for the
Amendment ofthe City Charter-They
Also Sent a Letter of Explanation.

the 18th Of last month at the court
house, a committee was appointed to
draft a bill amending the city charter,
IN accordance with resolutions adopted.
Yesterday the committee forwarded
such a bill to our two representative
Hon. NJ. S. Willard ard Hon. Geo.
Rountree, accompanied by the follow
ing letter:
Wilmington, n. c., February 2.
Messrs. George and NJ. S.
willard, House Of Representatives,
Raleigh, u. G..
members of a committee appointed alta
meeting of the citizens of Wilmington
heId in the court house on the 18th day
OF January, 1899, for the purpose of
carrying into effect the resolutions
Passed at that meeting, a copy of which
IL herewith enclosed, beg to submit
to your consideration the enclosed bill
as an act to be passed by the legisla-
ture for the amendment Of the char
ter or the city Of Wilmington.
the proposed amendment is based in
it's general scope upon the act already
introduced by Mr.. Rounaree. 1t diff
fers from 1t chiefly in this:
/. This act provides that the board
of audit and finance shall be elected
by the respective wards of this city
instead of appointed by the governor.
1t seems to us that it does not admit
Of argument, after the remarkable
campaign and revolution in this city,
which the citizens Of this county re-
garded as resulting in the complete
elimination of Russells hand or in
fluence in the administration Of our
city affairs, that it is the duty Of the
democratic representatives from this
citV in a 1aTpncpotic lapiCla tnrp 10 app
to it that the power of appointment
of this board is taken out Of the hands
of the present governor. If two years
hence the governor is a democrat who
would respect the recommendations Of
our ward meetings or primaries, it
would be easy enough to have the law
changed back to it's present shape in
regard to these appointments. We be-
lieve hat we give expression to the
views of nine-tenths, if not the entire
sentiment of the democrats here, with
comparatively few individual excep-
tons, in saying that it would be a re-
Election upon the and intel
ligence Of the white citizens Of this
community to eliminate from any pro-
vision of a primary law the privilege
of the citizens to recommend, if the
appointment is to remain with the gov
ernOr, the persons who shall constitute
the members of the board of audit and
finance. AS you know, these recon-
mendatiOns have been made by the
democratic white citizens Of this COM
munity since the creation of the act
in 1877, and, as we are informed, with
one exception only, and hat in an in
dividual case, the democratic govern
ors have invariably appointed the per-
sons recommended in our primary
meetings by the citizens. We have no
assurance, however, that the present
governor would respect such recon-
m~endations, and we believe therefore
that it is proper that for the present,
at least. that the power of appoint
ment should be taken out of the gov
ernOr'S hands and placed in that of the
white citizens of the respective wards.
The people in this community can trust
themselves to elect proper men better
than our experience j~ustifies us in
trusting the present governor, whose
Who'll past influence in this commune
ty has been hostile to it's best citi-
zenships and material advancement.
.. This act provides, as to the pri-
mary law. that the candidate to be
voted for shall be selected by the ma
jOrity of all the votes cast in the pri-
mary; and not by a plurality, as pro-
vided in the bill by Mr.. Rountree; and
that at the primary the citizens voting
may also vote for the nominees of their
party for the offices of mayor, city
clerk and treasurer, city attorney and
OJnG1 Oh the executive OlllCldfS VI llt
city to be presented to the board of al
dermen as the candidates of the party
for such offices. 1t provides for a Sec
Ond primary, in case no one is nomi-
mated in the first.
We believe the solution of our differ
ences lies in a complete primary sys-
tenn by which these may be decided by
the majority vote of all of our demo-
cratic citizens participating in the pri-
1onrX- EI-oCNy n will have To how
to majority rule. 1t will force men who
stand for these offices to seek the ap-
prevail of the majority of their own
party, thus enabling the public to scru-
tinize their character, record and fit
ness, and it will eliminate the trades
and combinations in the selection of
aldermen which have formed roun
these city offices, and caused irritation
in public affairs, and result in the Sc
lection of aldermen, not because they
are running in the interest of any man,
but because of their recognized capaci-
-ty and fitness to look after the fiscal
interests Of the city. Either We must
select our candidates by a plurality
vote in these primaries or provide for
a second primary, in case there is no
nomination in the first, at which the
two highest men running for an Office
in the first primary are alone to be the
candidates in the second primary, if
necessary 10 De ueIu. ouA iAo
is that in the operation of such a prl-
mary system in South Carolina 1t has
seldom become necessary to hold the
second primary, but the fact that II
may be held tends to concentrate the
votes of citizens upon the two leading
candidates, since, for a candidate tc
indulge any hope of a nomination ne
must either come out Of the first prl'
mary with a sufficient vote to noml-
nate or a sufficient vote to cause hin
to be one of two candidates in the sec
ond primary. Hence, the numerous
candidates which frequently WoulC
come into the field, when their friend:
realize they could expect neither to b'
nominated or stand a chance of being
run in the second primary, would droI
out of the race and their follower
vote for leading candidates.
The other provisions of this act re