The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-02-21
MR. NEwHousE's VIEW.


organizations in this country is the
staff directed by Samuel Newhouse in
/ his large and varied enterprises. He
! has a general manager. d staff expert.
mine managers for each of his proper
/ ties, and under them subordinates
trained for their specific departments.
! These men are retained in service 50
/ long as their work is satisfactory; they
are given powers commensurate with
their responsibilities. they are we'll paid
and they are under obligations TO no
one but their chief.
Much the same general plan of Or
ganization is proposed for the city of
fore the legislature. but Mr.. Newhouse
! is quoted as opposing the measure. al
though the men who quote him fail to
state his specific objections. So far the
opposition generally has failed to give
detailed reasons for fighting the meas
urc. partly because there is no argu-
ment against it as a business PROPOSE
ton that does not apply with greater
force TO the present system; partly be-
cause the most active opponents do not
care TO give their real reasons. In NJ.
Newhouse's case the public would like
to have his views more fully because
il has faith i'm his public spirit and in
his disinterestedness, and his judgment
would carry more weight than the
opinion Of the politicians who are the
bitterest foes of the proposed change.
One objector calls the new plan q
move to put the city in the hands of
guardians as though the nomination
ana election of officials by the people
under the Galveston arrangement diff
fered in principle from the nomination
ana election of the present officials.
The only difference is III the number
of officials. and i'm their choice by the
city at large instead of by municipal
wards.
Another argument advanced is that
the new plan would offer greater oppor-
tunities for graft. As a matter of ex-
perience there is more graft where the
authority and responsibility are divided
among number of men than where
a few control and are held accountable.
Without knowing the facts, it is fair
presumption that Mr. Newhouse does
not have his purchasing done by a
dozen or fifteen men, but that he has
one man who. is responsible. His gem
eral manager has full authority to do
business. not a dozen. committees; his
mine superintendent have power to
superintend without consulting half a
dozen other people within their juris-
diction He does not delegate a COM
mittee TO inspect and report on new
properties. nor does he expect a man
to get results in any department unless
he is given the authority that ought
always to go with responsibility.
II a plan of city. government is 10
be defeated because there is a chance
for graft. then hope of any efficient
government is at an. end. Salt Lake
has been comparatively free from
crocokedness in public places, and such
crookedness as has occurred has been
due quite as much TO the cumbersome
form of government as to the slip-shod
methods of administration generally
and the lack Of responsibility in any
one official Every student of modern
municipal government as a science
agrees in the opinion that the multi
plicitv of officials. the division of au-
thority and the inability to locate re-
sponsibility for incompetence or dis
honesty are the chief faults of the
present systems. The tendency wher-
ever changes have been made has been
toward a simplification of government.
a concentration of authority and a
stricter accountability for official acts
That is the intention of the Galveston
plan and it is one of the reasons why
the politicians OF both the Republican
and American" parties agree for once
in their opposition TO a measure Of
public interest