The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1900-12-20
SIxTY-SECOND YEAR.
OFFICIAL pAPER. XEKOSRA COUNTY
Civic LaxitY.

Civic Laxity.
sFGentlemen, you have the best mu-
nicipal government in the world and
the purest and the most fragrant. The
very angels envy you and wish they
could establish a government like 1t IN
heaven. You got it by noble fidelity
to civic duty. You got it by stern and
ever-watchful exertion of the great
powers with which you are charged,
by the rights which were handed
down to you by your forefathers, by
your manly refusal to let base men in
wade the high places of your govern
ment, and by instant retaliation when
any pubic officer has insnlted you in
the city's name by swerving in the
slightest from the upright and full
performance of his duty. 1t is you
who have made this city the envy of
the cities of the world. God will bless
you for it. God will bless you for it.
Why, the angels of heaven, when you
approach the final resting place, will
gather at the gates and cry out: "Here
they come Show them to the arch
angels box and turn the lime light on
them
In the above strain Mark Twain, in
an after dinner talk to a business
mems club in New York, talked
through the men of the club to the men
of the city, and, in fact, to the voters
of all cities where ma1administratio
of municipal affairs prevails.
The irony of the humorist hits the
mark square1y. Public 1axity in nu-
nicipa1 affairs is the first cause of bad
city government and all the evils re-
su1tant tflerefrom. Infdelity to civic
duty is the basic sin that is at the bot
tom of civic wrongs. Sitting on the
sugar barrel in the corner grocery and
expatiating on the shortcomings of the
administration will not right them.
Even a vote on election day will not
necessarily right them, unless sufi-
cient interest has been manifested at
the caucus and at the nominating con-
vention to put the right men on the
ticket and to get the people aroused
and out to the polls on the day that the
ballot is cast. Too many regard the
day of the city election as a day when
they are supposed to take their regular
annual walk to the polling place and
cast a good party vote. They don't
like to be asked by a friend if they
have been to the polls and have to
give a negative answer. That looks
lazy, or unbusiness-1ike, or negligent,
and few desire that kind of a reputa-
ton. Therefore they go to the polls,
probably, if they have no good excuse
for not going, and vote without know
ing who they have voted for ten min
utes after their vote has been cast. In
the course of the administration, most
OF them will find some good reason to
complain against the methods of the
governing body. Some will continue
to expatiate from the sugar barrel and
others will smile in quiet scorn and
murmur that it's ''awfu1,' or ''too
bad" But when the next campaign
rolls around, how many of them will
YOU see at the Caucuses, how many will
be out working to bring about desir-
able change of affairs, and how many
will you see down at the polls, bright
and early on election day, filled with
eagerness and enthusiasm for the
s'stern exertion of those great powers
with which they have been charged?''
When the men from the corner grocery
brush the sugar from their trousers,
and your estimab1e gentlemen lose
their sheer of quiet contempt in an ex
preston of set determination for mt
nicipa1 reforms, good city government
will be possible, and not until then.