The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1901-03-08
MUNICIPAL
GOVERNMENT.
The S. s. Club Discusses How |
Can be improved.
MayOr F. Nj. Currier Reads an Interest
ing Paper on the Subject in
General.

The Social Science club devoted its
meetingTuesday evening to discussion
of municipal government problem, the
subject for the evenings paper being
Chow Can We Obtain Better Govern
ment in Our Smaller Cities. Mayor
F. M. Currier read very interesting
paper upon the subject. The greater
portion of his paper was of a histori-
cal nature, reviewing the various city
government in the old world and in
this country, and the progress which
has been made, There is no system OF
American government. he said, that
has caused such dissatisfaction as the
government of our cities, and this
condition was due in part, he thought,
to the imperfect performance OF num-
erous and important duties which In
a new country like ours, the cities
have been obliged to assume. The
work of American cities, he thought,
has been greater perhaps than those of
European cities, out only on account of
the newness of thecountry, which makes
it necessary to do what had to be done
at once, but also because of the will
ingness and eagerness of the American
people to make immediate use of any
invention which would increase their
comfort or save their time. The very
general use of the streets in cities for
the distribution of water, heat,
gas and electricity has vastly increased
the burdens which have been imposed
upon American cities. But he called
to mind the fact that it must not be
forgotten that European cities had had
to deal with this same problem of new
inventions and modern Improvements
also. But the fact remains that our
cities are not as we'll governed as are
the cities of Europe.
He then followed with quite an ex-
tended historical sketch of the pro-
gress of municipal government, fol-
lowing through the various depart
ments and the changes and progress
which has been made. He dwelt upon
the various changes made in the shift
ing of responsibility in the matter of
government, from the council to the
mayor, and to different departments in
the meantime, and the failure that
resulted in securing the relief expected
therefrom. The changes that were
made to the different form of govern
ment or the manner of locating re-
sponsibility, generally resulted in dis
and often he said left the
people in worse shape so far as NUM-
cipal government was concerned than
they were before the change was made.
One of the most prolific causes of
trouble in American cities, he thought,
was the spoils system. All too often,
he said, in our cities the words
"boodle' and alderman" were al
most synonymous in the public mind
but he added that it should not be for
gotten that this has been made possible
from the fact that our population is
more tiuctuating and cosmopolitan than
that of European cities as rule. Then
he called attention to the fact that
methods of electing city officials were
different here than in Europe and he
followed with an extended account of
the German method, whereby the
voters were divided into groups &C
cording to the amount of taxes paid.
He did not advocate such a scheme for
America, and did not know that their
system would be compatible with
American form of government, never
theless there are some very commend
able features about the German sys-
tenn. The three groups of voters he
referred to, each pay one-third of the
taxes of the city, and each elect a
member of the city council, so that
each class has equal voice in that body.
These members serve for term of six
years and receive no pay for their ser
vices The position is deemed great
honor and the places are filled by some
of the leading and most distinguished
citizens of the various cities A citizen
is subject to heavy penalty for refus-
ing to serve if called upon by his fell
low citizens. The mayor of German
city is a highly trained expert in
municipal affairs and is selected by the
council In closing Mr. Currier said !:
have stated that the spoils system
was a prime cause of corruption in
our cities and this fact is so obvious
that 1 will not enlarge upon it; how
ever the great fundamental cause of
misgovernment in our cities is the
popular sentiment of ''party loyalty. -
Any public official is subject to more
or less temptation as a matter of
course, but if in addition to this he
believes that his party interests are
paramount and also knows that his
constituents expect that he will obey
the boss of the machine because party
success at the polls demand it, is it
any wonder that the average man
makes up his mind that he cannot
serve two masters and therefore
neglects the one who means least to
him. His first duty being to his party
or his 'boss'' something else than his
duty will answer for the people. There
creeps into the mind of many good
man the idea that public, as distin-
guished from party affairs are unim-
portant. 1t is difficult here to restrain
the desire to illustrate the many evils
in municipal government which are
born of this abortive view.
Not all of the cities administrative
and legislative faults are due to bad
charters and dishonest officials. In