Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-10-21
MAY CHANGE IT.
Republicans Have Several Things in Mind With
 Regard to Charter.

\ u1nSS 1M I1luu W1tu
 Regard to Charter.
 :, The republicans of Waterbury are
 now considering some proposed
 changes in the city charter and after
 they get together on what they want
 it Is likely it will go through whether
 it happens to be 2 good thing or not.
 It is not generally known whether
 they intend to submit drafts of their
 plans to the aldermen or not, for it
 seems the aldermen have no power
 except to make appropriations, regular
 and special, and transfer money from
 one item to another, so that probably
 they will not bother the board with
 other things. One of the plans has
 reference to the department of educa- ltion and if some of the parties carry ,, their point Waterbury never again will
 see anything but republican school
 board. They want the members of
 that board chosen by the aldermen,
 which is hopelessly republican, and
 probably never will be anything else.
 Others suggest the appointment of the lboard in the same manner as the other
 city boards, the mayor to make the ap-
 pointments subject to the approval of
 the board of aldermen, but this is
 strongly combatted by the politicians.
 The more conservative element think
 the only reform necessary is, in the
 mehtod of election. They don't want the term of the whole board to expire 1 at the same time and argue that at 1 least two or more members should hold over SO that projects undertaken by one board might be carried along through several successive boards if necessary with full knowledge of
 the why and wherefore of what was
 aimed at when the first move was made.s Those who look at it in this way favor election by the people and let them make it democratic or republi-
 can as they see fit. There is a great deal of merit in this, though, to be sure, assuming that the town Is nor
 mally democratic, 1t would put the
 republicans in the ascendancy for two
 terms every time they happened to win an election, for 1t is quite likely that the holdovers would be from rhe
 successful ticket, unless the charter makers have a plan in mind by which the will of the people would not be slibverted by leg1s-
 lative enactment, and if the history of the past be any criterion by which one can get line on the fu Eturc, people may look for republican
 advantages in anything that is dons
 at Hartford.
 All this talk brings to mind the re.
 marks of Judge COwell who was A
 member of the board of education
 when the district committee was abol> ished. He regarded the proposition as a dangerous step, because he consid- cred it the preliminary step to putting the schools in control of political ma> nipulators who would be likely to use them for the furtherance of their own ends regardless of what effect theis conduct might have upon the educa. ton of the rising generation, and con. tended that when the school passed from under direct control of the cleo tors 1t would be sorry day for Wa terbury. Let us hope that the Judges worst forebodings are not going to come true so soon, if at all. If res forms are needed they should be made with a view to making the schools better, not to give one political party an advantage over the other The peo- pie Of Waterbury have chosen many bad men, but mayors and boards or aldermen have chosen public officials whose conduct has not reflected much credit upon themselves or anybody else. The farther you get away from the people the greater the danger of the abuse and any attempt to tanper with the school board, if such a thing be in contemplation, should meet with a sharp rebuke from every good citi- zen regardless of his political creed.
 While the officials are considering charter amendments they should bear in mind that few changes are need- ed with reference to taxation. What fairness is there in taxing property i'll thel second district for town school teachers while people or the outside contribute nothing to the salary of teachers in the inside district. Tn other words people on the Inside pay all the expense of educating their own children and also put up for a good share of the cost of the education of their neighbors' little folks. Is this equitable and uniform? The same | thing is true with reference to water. | The inside district built the water l works and maintains the system, but | just the same their water rents are the same as those of their neighbors l in the first taxation district who never 1 paid anything toward carrying that | burden and don't now. Is this fair? | The department of public works tried | to equalize things in that matter by | charging twenty-five per cent aud1- tional to water consumers on the out | side, but they found themselves head | ed off by a legislative enactment | which provides that the price of water must be uniform. It has been said that this was an oversight which | would be righted. Probably this was true, but inasmuch as the blunder was n money saving scheme for people who | cut quite a figure at Hartford it may De allowed to stand. Then, again, the city borrows money at 31a per cent | and charges citizens per cent. What | do you call this? Protectionl Why | should the city charge the taxpayers nearly three times as much as 1t can | get it for at a brokerage in New York | or Boston? We have also been told | that this is oppressive and will be at tended to in the near future, but the people have been complaining about 1t | fIy~