The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1900-10-29
out, We believe. By the voting on the
eighth Of November.
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.


The changes IN the city charter which
are suggested by the committee that
has had the matter under consideration
appear for the most part to be judioiOus.
They ara much less numerous than those
recommended by the commission that
considered this subject some years ago,
Tor the reason probably that the experience
we had with the former revision showed
that thorough and radical revision had
little chance Of being accepted, while
some notifications, not too numerous or
too radical might be got through. A char
ter constructed along the lines the COM
mittee recommend would undoubtedly
facilitate the transaction OF public busl=
ness and do something toward correcting
some OF the evils that crop out from time
to time under the present system. But
after all the main reliance for good gov
eminent must always be the Intelligence
and interest OF the people; unless we are
to substitute for our present system an
oligarchy or d9spOtism, No system Of
checks, no matter how ingenious, will
supply the place of, or render unneces-
sary, Intelligent watchfuIness on the
part Of the people. There is reason to
fear that some Of the changes introduced
into municipal governments have done
more harm than good by removing the
government farther away from the pub
lie, and thus weakening public interest
IN it. The town meeting where all the
people can assemble and discuss questions
and vote upon them is not practicable
Of course in pOpulCus communities, but
the greater the degree to which the aver
age citizen can be interested in the gov
eminent the greater will be its efficiency
and honesty. The trouble with most OF
municipal governments Is the proneness
Of thu men who compose 1t to be subser.
Went to special interests which make a
business Of bringing their influence to
bear This trouble would largely disap-
pear If the mass OF the people, who have
no interest IN the government except to
have 1t efficient and good, should bring
their influence to bear too. Unfortunate
" the average citiz5n is too much occu-
pied with his own affairs to give much
time or thought to the public business,
and the result Is that, except for
an occasional spasm, the government
falls under the influence and domination
Of men whose interests are net Identical
with the public interests, and who would
legislate so as to promote their own
rather than the public welfare. There are
in every community enough Of intelligent
citizens, with no axes to grind at the
publios expense, to secure good govern
msnt if they would only steadily exercise
their influence and power. The trouble
IS that a great many of them are indiffer-
ent the most Of the time. The boss
would soon find his occupation gone ii
there were a constant, intelligent inter
est in affairs OIL government on the part
of the great mass of the people, How
pOwerless he really Is when pub
lie sentiment is aroused is seen when the
people have one of their uprisings popu-
Iarly known as ''spasm." If there we
some way to keep public sentiment
aroused all the time the boss would soon
disappear, and the most Of the suscepti
bility to influence which Is frequent
! ground Of complaint against public OIL
Gals 2Woulds vanish. Apathy is at the
bottom Of almost all bad municipal, gov.
eminent, and no matter how good the ma
ohlnsry If the motive power of Intelligent
public interest is absent, it will not ruI
| we'll.