Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1901-01-09

branches of government"
The next speaker was Mr.. j. V.
Welsh. He said the great trouble with
our present system lies in the fact
that the responsibility of our city
government is not well placed.
For example" said Mr.. Welsh,
"the Board Of City Commissioners is
in charge Of the police department,
yet when anything goes wrong, the
blame Is shifted onto the Chief of
Police. The same is true in the Fire
department. l believe it would be
step in the right direction to remove
the police court from the jurisdiction
of the Mayor. Officially, the Mayor is
an insignificant person. 1t is gener-
ally conceded that a lawyer makes
the best Mayor, because he makes the
best police Judge. By removing this
duty from the office, you throw
down the bars and open large field
from which TO select mayoralty tim
Der. In that way, a business man
who has made success of his own
private enterprise and whose character
is above reproach could be elected to
that office. l never liked the idea of
the Probate court having anything to
do with municipal government MS q
matter Of principal. l never had any
confidence In a non-partisan govern
ment unless it be by partisan people.
BY that l mean a body of citizens,
who would arise above party pre-
judices and turn down any mistakes
they had previously made"
Attorney S. G. Rogers said he was
n member of the committee that
drafted the Youngstown-Akron act.
AT that time, the peiple Of Youngs-
town We're loud in their praise of the
idea," said Mr. Rigers. at had worked
all right in Youngstown and has con-
tinued to do so until recently. The
Commissioners of Youngstown got out
and superintendent all improvements
and seemed to carry out the letter of
the law. But we made a mistake at
the very beginning. It seems that our
Commissioners got the idea that they
were to sit in their Office from 8
a. M, until p. m., and hire some one
to look after their work for them. So
the law became odlous to citizens at
its very inception and has become
more so as the years have passed.
What was originally intended to be a
non-partisan board, free from all
politics, has degenerated into a politi-
cal machine. We did have Probate
Judge who appointed good men to
the Board and then kept his hands
off. With the present method of do
ing business 1t is different. Upon the
very heels of riot, the City Cim-
mssioners have appointed men to the
police force, whom they did not know
and who were morally unfit to pre-
/ serve law and order. Taxes have gone
up until there seems to be no end to
taxation. That is our condition to-
day.
The greatest difficulty in the way
of securing reform is the politicians
Both political parties want to he
benefited. / believe city should
have Home Rule. Let the legislature
keep It's hands off, except to enact
such laws as will preserve the wei.
/ fare IL the entire state and to pre-
vent one city from encroaching upoi
| the rights of another. The City Coun
Gil should be duty bound TO honor q
petition containing certain number
/ of slgpers and submit the question tC
the people and let them pass upon
its merits. This would be vital
check upon every public official"
Judge Il. W. Stuart was to have
discussed the subject, but was unable
10 be present President Keller calle
for volunteer speakers and Judge j
A Ilohler responded, lie said he re