The Wilmington daily Republican., 1900-03-29
NEW CITY
CHARTER.
William P. Bancroft Dis.
cusses Municipal Gov.
ernment Reform.
To tho Citizens of Wilmington:

10 tho Citizens of Wilmington:
i feel willing, while the subject OF tht
revision of our city charter Is under con.
sidcral ion. to ask the ntten ton OF those In
| terested to the very great Importance o.
ondeavoring to Gu courage by its provision.
non. partisan action, both on the part Of
tho voters ID nominating and electing city
officers and on the part OF the officer:
chosen.
L. seems to me utterly impossible to &C.
cura and maintain fairly efficient repre-
sentative city governments 50 long as voters
and officials allow considera' iGns Respect
ing national or saie political parties to
control their actions In regard to munici-
pal affairs.
10 this end-the promotion of non. par
tisan action-I would call attention esDe-
cially to two points-tho method OF maxi
ing nominations anu the form OF tickets
to be used In voting. In regard to these
two points, different bodies of students,
who have given much at ention lately to
euch questions, have arrived at tho same
conclusions
| The State OF Ohio has had commission
consisting of two eminent jurisCs-ono, by
| the way, Democrat aud the other Re-
| publican-druftng u new general law to
regulate the government of the cities and
| villages Of that state. Tho proposed code
Ia, believe, now before theil Legislature.
| They have proposed that all nominations
| of candidates for municipal offices shall be
| Inate by separate written petitions signed
| by not less than ten voters Of the district,
which pottlon shall bs filed with the pro-
| per officer between certain dates previous
| to the election. They provide that 'any
| voluntary political association or party
| may alter the latest date ut which tho
| officers may receive nOmina Ing petitions.
endorse any person nominated, but that
a. ,f,,I
! ion or party ut any time to make any
minatiOn whatsoever for municipal
Otflcs or to ebGOr,e any such nomination
until afler the time whom nominating pc
titiGns are to he received. The names of
tho nominees are to be printed upon the
ballot in alphabetical order under the
name or title of the Office, without any
other designation whatever, and the voter
il to put a mark opposite the name OF each
person Tor whom he votes.
Tho National Municipal League has for
two years beeU working on what is intend.
ed as a model form OF municipal corpcr.
ntiOE aat, At their annual NEE ting at
Columbus Ohio, few months since the
draft prepared was accepted.
In this insl rument it IL provided that
"Candidatos for elective city offices shall
be nominated by letilon signed by quail
icd vnlers of the city. The number OF
" hNh pUtitioh ohh'A w Ase'i-
mined by tho Council of the city, but no
more than 90 signatures shall be requi"et.
Such petition shall be fled in the Office
of he mayor at thirty days before the
date of the election; PROVIDED, however,
that In the case Of the death or Withdrawal
of any candidate SO nominated such PEE
tition must be fled within less period
than thirty days. The voter must vote
separately Tor each candidate for whom he
70. ..I,.tt inn = " h.il
the Council of the city:shall determine the
form of ballo 10 be used, but the names
Of all candidates for the same office must
bs prinI ed upon the ballot in alphabetical
order under the title of such office.
was present at all the pubic discuss.
ions during The annual meeting of
the league, and l did not hear from any
member word of dissent from these pro-
visions. English municipal affai $ are
MANAGED with wonderful efficiency as
compared with those OF our citie'. We
of On hear of tho admirable conduct of
those of Birmingham and Manchester,
and many Others do not seem to be much
If at all behind. Ny attention has been
called 10 those Of Bolton Englaud city
! believe of about. the same ize as ours.
We should be willing TO learn from them
and their sys ems of nominating and bal
loiing are similar TO those proposed by
Municipal League.
1t may bo supposed that tlis method OF
nominating re'uitsi in thore being a large
number OF candidates on tho tickets but
such is not the case. Tho English cities
are divided into large wards each OF which
elects three oouncIlmen for terms OF three
years, one being chosen each year. quote
the following paragraphs from Albert
Shaw's book Municipal Government in
Great Britain"
THE English methods OF nomination
and billoting as applied to parliamentary
elections have attracted no little attention
In the Uui ol Etntesi hnt tha working Of
these methods. and their advantages in
municipal affairs, have not become SO Ia
mliar to American readers Let me first
state the IS enLial features of he n0miua-
ting system. Al least nine days before
the elec ion the town clerk causes n, tice
to he cOnspicuously published, explaining
what vacancies are to occur ana how he
nominn'ions are to BIO made The names
OF candidates must be left az he clerks
ofiic', inscribed upon off cal blanks. II
week before thu election. Accompanying
each name must be the signature OF II pro-
poser ',econdor, and eight other c'ti.
zens. Only such persons as have been
nominated in this way may be voted for.
Nominations being all in, tho list is ut
once printed and coadpicuou,ly bullc-
tined.
The announcement contains tho full
names, residences istrent and numb,r),
and occupation Of Tho nominees, and tho
names of the proposer and s,conder In
each case If only one nomination hRs
been made in any ward, the nomination
IL itself the election, and the polls Will not
be openrd In the ward. This Is good
ana sensible system upon its face, but ex-
perience alone can tell US how my piece
o political machinery will actually work.
Ought this y5tem to be productive or
of many nominations or or lew. The
most ma ural inference would seem to DO
that its adoption would increase this mum
ber of candida es, since any ten mon may
secure for an eleven h man. the Gflicinl an
nouncement OF candidacy and the placing
of the candidates. name upon the ballot
papers.
''But this inference Is not Justified by
the facts. In recent mnntcipa! elections,
although party Issues have been inroduc-
cd to quite unprecedented extent and
the number Of ward contests have been
materially increased by the unwontad
employment of the occasion for testing
of reng, h on the home rule question, 1t
Ia nevertheless rrue that contests have
been confined to minority oil the wards
taking all the towns together This must
seem to the American observer a remark
able state Of things. l. means that, In
majority OF the wards public opinion had
in advance agrecd SO decisive y upon n
particular man that nobody was nnmin-
arei againsr him. and tho entire expense
and Il straCtion OF contest at the polls
was thus obviated."
William p. Bancroft.
Ten thousand demons Rnnw'ug away at
ones vltal- couldn't be nucn worse than