Omaha daily bee., 1902-04-19
curNcLLMAN LoREcKs PLAN

COUNCILMAN PLAN.
Councilman Lobeck has evolved q
plan for recognizing the municipal gov.
eminent of Omaha, which he presented
in elaborate form at the meeting of the
Douglas County Democracy. According
to Councilman Lobeck, our city govern
men is a one-man machine which would
work much better II 1t were converted
into a nine-man machine.
AS a remedy for present conditions
Councilman Lobeck would take the
power out Of the executives hands by
making all of the members of present
appOintive offices elective. He would
elect the city engineer, city attorney,
building inspector, health commissioner
and incidentally also, perhaps, the presi-
dent of the park commission and thus
make the legs and arms of the municipal
body polite independent Of its head,
He would abolish the fire and police
commission and vest its powers and
duties in the city council, thus saving
the taxpayers about $4,000 per year.
Mr.. Lobeck's plan has had a fair trial
in Omaha as well as in other cities and
has everywhere been discarded because
it divides responsibility, creates friction
and destroys discipline in departments
Of the city government that should as
far as possible be harmonious. The ex-
perience of American cities has favored
the One-man machine as against the
many-headed city government, in which
each officer is answerable for his con-
duct only to himself. Experience in
Omaha, as everywhere else, has shown
also that elective officers are in no
respect superior to the appointed officers
either in character or competency.
Turning over the control and manage
ment of the fire and police departments
to the city council might save the tax
payers several thousand dollars a year,
and then again it might not. 1t would
not give us more efficient fire and police
protection, it would not give us a better
grade of firemen or policemen, nor would
it tend to improve the standard of the
men elected to the city council. On the
OAAN uA IL NOuAh liz liQhOI utuA
ers to take an active hand in the election
of councilmen and make the councilmen
simply an of the breweries and
saloons. Every councilman would claim
the appointment of his proportion of po-
licemen and tiremen and political ward
heelers would tag at the heels of every
councilman whenever there was a va
cancy in the police or fire department.
If cOuncilmen were members of the ex-
else board councilmen would expect to
sample all the beer and whisky ON tap as
a privilege and the periodic jangle and
wrangle over liquor licenses would not
only demoralize the council but dis
grace the city.
Mr.. Lobeck, of course, anticipates that
all cOuncilmen enjoying these special
privileges would always remain above
temptation, but there is ground for fear
that some might be tempted to keep
their hands closer to their coat tails
than ordinary etiquette would warrant.
at any rate, the exercise of police COM
mission powers would not improve the
breed of councilmen or protect the com
munity from scandal.
Mr.. Lobeck has been in public life
long enough to know that the voters
who infict upon the community a bad
one-man machine would just as readily
intict upon it a bad nine-man machine.
He ought to know that the stream never
rises above it's source and he should
know that we must first purify the
source before we can expect a clean
stream. The trouble with municipal
governments is at the bottom and not
at the top.