The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-12-18
c. s. CHlTTENDEN.
Select Councilman OF the Ninth Ward.

-. u. ST1Il ENOEN.
Select Councilman Of the Ninth Ward.
Editor of The Tribune
Sir: The kind invitation, individual
and general, that you extend to a dis
cussion of the second-class city change,
now impending. leads me to say word
more on the subject, more especially to
dissent from q view which one hears
generally expressed on all sides. and
that is that in the hands of good men
any system of government Will work
we'll. Now. it seems to me this is
scarcely an accurate view. The Chi
nese lose four-fifths of their revenues
by peculation and the United States
thirteen cents on the thousand dollars,
yet the Chinese business men are con-
sidered far and away more reliable
than the American, and every JAPAN
ese bank has Chinaman for cashier.
The difference is in the system. Sys-
tens are tools, and the best of men can
not carve a cameo with an axe. A sys-
tenn of city government organized to
produce evil results will not produce
good results in the best hands, and 1t
will never have even the chance for
such trial, for it passes naturally into
unScfuDulOuS nandS.
This second:class city charter vio-
lates the first principles Of successful
government. 1t divorces power and re-
sponsibility. If there is one system that
has been a total and disastrous failure
through all history it has been the Civ
ing of legislative bodies any other
power than that of legislating.
Alcibiades' plan of accepting large
brlbes and giving small ones ruined
Athens eventually. The continental
congress was hopelessly incompetent in
war and peace. because it added eX-
ecutive to Legislative functions. The
moment the powers We're divided by
the constitution the country changed
as if from night to day.
The carefully devised plan of the
constitution to select the executive bv
temporary body of delegates has been
swept aside and practically ignored by
the good sense of the people, who have
insisted on personally selecting their
executive. Can any one doubt that the
method of electing senators, in spite of
the weighty reasons in it's favor. will,
through legislative incompetence, fin
ally come to the direct vote of the peo-
pie. at least in the primaries?
The secondclass city reduces the
mayor to nOnentity and places the
choice of the executive powers to the
councils, Legislative body fit only for
law-making, and none too we'll equipped
for that Is 1t not a certainty that, as
in Pittsburg. tales of malfeasance and
corruption will follow, tales of dupli-
cate school houses costing hundreds of
thousands within a few yards of each
other, Of more than 300 young men in
one ward put on the city payroll at
one time to insure the carrying Of the
ward for the boss. of ring grip so tight
that a ward goes 1900 for Mckinley
and unanimously for a Democratic
councilman, and the viciousness of the
system is so perfect that no vote of the
people can possibly change it for the
better? The system is wrong; the
source of power is so hidden that the
people can not find it to hold it respon-
sible on election day.
Mr. Duffys letters show it's results
clearly in added taxation and inefficient
administration. but they do not show
the effect ON the plain people in depriv-
ing them of the educational effect of
a fair and effective vote and inculcat-
ing anarchy as the only efficient means
of righting wrong. The rapid changes
in business conditions are confronting
our city with grave changes. The loss
Of our iron works, the extinction of the
individual coal operators, the forma-
ton of through lines of traffic from
New York to Hong Kong, which leave
us aside--all these point to changes
that can only be met by intelligent, un-
selfish effort and by a municipal pride
and devotion that we have never vet
shown.
This city must be made the best edu-
cational and residence center in this
part of the state. 1t should draw in for
a hundred mile radius all the accumu-
lated wealth in the smaller towns that
seek comfortable living and educa-
tional facilities, hut to do this requires
good city government. In my judg-
ment this is possible with our present
city charter; it is impossible with the
Pittsburg concern. The ills we have
we know. and we know how to cure.
A law holding primaries and personal
registration at the same day and place
will weed out the one-third tramDs,
buns and transients that now pad our
registry lists and pack our primaries.
of the third class. as city of the sec
ond class. never.
A leading spirit of Pittsburg is re-
ported as answering the query whether
this winter would bring any improve
ment in legislation for that city by say
ing that they contemplated no new leg
islation, they expected to be busy
enough keeping those Lackawanna peo-
pie from upsetting things. am as
sured that by little determined effort
we can get the limit of third-class
cities raised, probably without oppo-
stion. If so, | feel that we should
make the effort, for the share of the
individual in municipal government is
immeasurably greater under the third
than under the second-class charter,
and ! am convinced that, as for us
Scrantonians, I'VE desire to remain a
free people,"