The Irish standard., 1905-01-07
THE CITY ADMINISTRATION.


involved, there is but one course fo,
the new mayor to pursue and that Is
to follow out the promises that he
made during the campaign. The sup
preston of wine rooms and low the
alters land public gambling are all
things devoutly to be wished for by
every good citizen. There ought to be
n" difference of opinion upon Ties
matters. But, these things have been
so often promised in the past and so
seldom performed that we must be
parNloncd if we hesitate to believe until
convinced by performance. There are
no questions before the public today
that are more important than those of
municipal administration. These ques-
tons are all so intimately connected
with the home life of the people that
they become vastly more important
than questions connected with the
state or national government. The
home, the church and the school are
matters of the first importance to ev-
cry citizen. Even those citizens 10
whom matters concerning the home or
the school or churches have never come
are nevertheless equally interested in
their preservation. People are becom-
ing alive to the fact that they are not
getting all that they should out of their
municipal administration. But, i'm
portant as may be and doubtless is the
police administration of city, there
are other lines of municipal work of
equal or even greater importance. We
are not among those who believe that
the police administration of this city
has been most at fault in the past. The
omissions and faults of the police de-
partment have not been so glaring as
to effect any great number of our citi-
zens, but the scandals connected with
our council and with the heads of de-
partments of the city administrations
of the past have made Minneapolis an
example of municipal corruption. II
we may be allowed to use a phrase
without meaning anything in deroga-
ton to our present mayor, we would
like to say that what Minneapolis
needs more than "a Sunday school
mayor" is a strong man with the hon
esty, the courage and the ability to
put stop at once and forever to the
systems of public graft that have be-
come part and parcel Of the admin
istration of this city. We can not ex-
pect to have an honest and efficient
police force as long as we have alder
men who are now, and have been for
years, notoriously the tools of the pub
lie service corporations of this cit
The retiring chief Of police was. ne
doubt. right when he said that the
greatest difficulty in performing police
duty in this city came from the solicit
tations of men OF influence, men with
Il pull, who used every means in their
power to disregard and disobey the
ordinances of the city. We need Il
mayor who is strong enough to enforce
the ordinances of this city against the
man of influence as we'll as against the
proprietor of dive or the irresponsible
wretches who live outside the pale of
the society of good men. We are not
among those who are satisfied to be
blinded by a cloud of dust blown about
lax police control over the lower NOR
tails. We think it far more important
that men of influence who are disre-
garding the ordinances of the city, who
are stealing streets OF the city, who
are wasting the taxes gathered from
the working men should be compelled
to obey the laws. Other cities have
had mayors who We're big enough to
see these things and who have &C.
complished much for their communi-
ties. We hope that Mayor Jones is
one Of these men. Municipal reform is
a much larger question than the mere
question Of the suppression of public
gambling and open and notorious i'm
morality. But it seems that we never
have had any one at the head of the
city administration in this city who
appreciated the fact that there were
other fields for labor except the ques-
ton as to whether the saloon should
be closed on Sundays or whether there
should be public gambling or not Min.
neapolis is now large city; the nine.
teenth in population in this country. 1t
is Il large undertaking to properly run
municipal corporation with more than
two hundred thousand people con.
cerned in it. Such business calls for
managers of great ability and of great
courage and integrity. We have passed
the pioneer days. We should have dis
carded the pioneer methods long ago.
Mayor Jones has the opportunity to
make beginning. We shall see what
we shall see.
NEW MAN AT HELM.