The sun., 1901-01-07
MONDAY, JANUARY 7, 1901.
THE PROPOSED CITY cHARTEF

gard to this much advertised scheme of
criticisms of this effort will be sustained
and that he general judgment about 1t
will be that its makers have been striving |
for effect of a superficial rather than of |
practical kind.
In brief it proposes a city of five wards, |
divided as are the legislative districts; a
city council of fifteen members, five elect
ed as councilmen at large and ten, two
from each, by the electors Of the wards.
The departments of the city government
to be five in number, and each to be
presided over by a chief appointed by
the mayor, and responsible to him for the
proper discharge of his duties. The Off
cial terms to be four years. The salaries
of the mayor and chiefs Of departments
to be $4,000 u year.
The apparent changes are in the sub
stiution of departments, and department
chiefs for the commissions; the creation
of an official board composed of the
mayor and chiefs of departments, and the
increase of the official terms from two
to four years; the consolidation of the
Street and Sewer Department with the
engineering department, the collection of
city taxes with the disbursement Of city
funds in one department, and the consoli,
daton of the assessors and auditors oiii-
ces in another. The need Of reform i'll
the system of assessing and collecting
city taxes is apparent and almost any
system that will change the present one
will be an improvement. The general i'm
preston of the need in that particular
is the adoption of some system of ac-
counts that is comprehensive, accurate
and OF which the books and records are
public property and always available for
public use and reference. The water de-
partment is to be known as the depart
ment of water supply, and the police de-
partment as the department of public
safety.
The radical changes proposed are those
relating to qualification Of officers the ap-
appointments, and the plan for munich
pal elections. The object Of these pro
posed changes is the elimination Of poll
tics from municipal affairs. Upon this
subject Section Z Of the proposed new
charter says:
Every elected and every appointed Off
Ger SHALL before entering upo! the dis
- charge OF the duties of his office, take anc
subscribe to an oath or affirmation that
he possesses the qualification required
by law for his Office that he will support
the Constitution Of the United States anC
the Constitution of the State of Della
ware that as an officer OF the city he vii
act in accordance with what he shall oe
lieve will be best for the interests Of the
city and its habtants generally, IL
diverse from those of any political parry
that he will not as an officer of the city
join i'll any caucus or conference confined
to members of any National or State pn
litical party, nor be bound by Il decision
of any such caucus or conference; an'
that he will perform the duties OF hi
office with fidelity and according to th
best of his ability. And every electe,
officer shall, as an addition to the oatl
or affirmation above prescribed, swea
or affirm that he has not directly or in
directly paid, offered or promised to pay
contributed, offered or primsed to con
tribute any money or other valuabl
thing as consideration or reward 70
the giving or Withholding of a vote at tn
election at which he was elected to sal
Office
In the same line in Section Sc it says
All appointments of subordinate OIL
GERS, clerks and employees in the severa
departments shall be made by the execr
tive board Except in so far as it sha
lie deemed desirable that members Q
various political parties shall be engage
in the service of the city, members c
the board shall not allow any considers
tons respecting the affiliations in that n
spect OF persons proposed for office t
affect their actions in making appoin
ments. The board shall prescribe rule
, for ascertaining the comparative fitnes
Of applicants for the various position
in said departments, for the appointmer
of those found to be the best fitted, an
for the suspension or removal OF any on
who may fail CT refuse to properly d
charge the duties Of his position.
There are in these two sections su,
gestions Of an attempt at the impossible
Municipal politics is, after all, politics
and the effort 10 eliminate partisan pm
pose and preference from it is an q
tempt at the impossible. We hold that
be true so long as the masses of either
are to be interested in it, The roquir
mcnt of section of the proposed eharte
that each officer make oath =
act iii accordance with what he shall b
licve will he best for the interests Of IL
city and it's inhabitants generally,
diverse from those of any political part
that he will not as an Officer of the cit
Join in any caucus or conference co
fined to any national or state polite
party, nor be bound by decision of NJ
such caucus or conference" y
demands what scarcely any man wi
could be elected by general vote of Il
people could honestly subscribe to III
political divisions of the people are mad
The elections will be between Democra
and Republicans, and these people a
Democrats and Republicans because th
believe that a distinctly Democratic
Republican administration of public q
fairs is-according as they may be Dem