Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1907-09-20
HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR GRAFT
OF CITIES
"sRIsERs THE GUILTY." SAYS
FORMER MAYOR
Jannes M. Head of Boston Lays Blame
for Corruption to Corporations.
others Speak at Con-
vention

sions of the eleventh annual convention
of the American League OF Munlcipali-
ties were devoted almost exclusively &c
the discussion of Municipal Government
by, Commission VS.. Mayor and Councii,
James M. Head of Boston, formerly
mayor of Nashville, Tenn, heartily ap-
proved of the new Des MONIES commas s
ST., charter for commission government.
He said in part: -
awe NAV as we'll enter into this DIS
cuseion with the distinct understanding
that there is and can be no such thing
as nerfect form of city government so
long as II has to be administered py I'M
perfect men.
emo matter what the form OF city gov
eminent may be- its efficiency Will De ue-
termined very largely by those entrusted
with its administration. All that any Oh
us can hope to do is to approximate the
ideal as near as possible with the ma
terial we have to deal with.
..The highest ideal ever yet expressed
OF any form of government Is that IL
should he a government of the people,
bv the people, and for the people, and
as we approximate that standard we ap-
nroach nearest to our ideals of perfect
form of government. whether 1t be Tor
the city the state, or the nation.
Follow England
"outside of New england all our city
governments have partaken more or less
of the English ideas of government con-
sisting of legislative, executive ana 1u-
didical department, with the Legislative
department divided into two branches cor
responding to the English house of lords
and commons.
s'The absurdity of attempting TO ap-
Of
cities seems never to have occurred 10
our sturdy ancestors, though l venture
the prediction there is not city OF
ficiaI present, here today where sucn
system still prevails who does not
appreciate its inefficiency, and who
would not abolish it If he could. In
many cities, however, the two branches
of the city council have been abolished.
Another glazing absurdity under
which our city governments nave
labored is the idea that our cities are
mere branches or arms of the state
government and have and can exer-
else no powers except as the state
legislature may from time to time per-
NIT This idea entirely ignores the
cardinal doctrine upon which all our
governments are based-the doctrine
of local self-government- and places
our city governments practically under
the control of men who do not reside
in the cities, and who know absolutely
nothing of their local needs and re-
uuirements. These are radical defects
in the present organization of our city
governments. which should be cor
rected as soon as possible.
Franchises the Root
"The real cause, however, which has
made our city governments such Sig
nal failure has arisen within the past
fifty years, long after our present
lished. refer, of course, to the duty
which has devolved upon our city gov
ernments of granting franchises to
public service corporations
There is not an instance where city
government has finally BROKEN down,
where city officials have betrayed their
trust, where this rottenness, incom-
potency and inefficiency in the admin
istration of city affairs cannot be
traced directly or indirectly to the per-
nicious influence of the public service
corporation. 1 know this is a broad
statement: know that whisky gamb-
ling and other evils have contributed
their full share to the corruption of
city politics, but not an instance can
be found where these influences alone,
and unaided by the so-called respect
able backing of the public service cor
poration boss have ever for any length
of time successfully prevailed against
the better element of the community,
or succeeded in debauching an entire
city government as public service cor
porations have done, when united, as
they always are, with these other cor
rupt and demoralizing influences.
West Leads
"a few extreme western states have
within the past few years dane more
to advance the cause of better city gov
eminent than has been accomplished
by all the other states put together.
They have done this by granting to
cities the right to frame and adopt by
a vote of the people charter for them
selves, and to have and exercise self
government in all matters of a purely
local character.
IF with this power the cities of
those states do not have good city gov
eminent they have no one to blame but
themselves; and sooner or later you
may rest assured they will have good
city governn1ent-at least they will
have just as good government as they
want and are capable of maintaining,
and that will be infinitely better for
them, whatever it may be, than the
very best government that could pos
sibly be framed for them by someone
else.
TT took four years of war to prove
to our own satisfaction that human
slavery was wrong, and should be abol-
ished even at the cost of coniscating
$4,000, 900, 900 worth of property, the de-
struction in war of twice as much more
and the sacrifice of more than a million
precious lives
Ruefs the Result
THE problems of municipal govern
ment will be solved without any of
these sacrifices, and only at the trouble
and expense of convicting a few more
Schmitzes and Ruefs for their betrayal
of the public confidence, which, when
followed with the conviction of the
heads of the public service corporations
who bribed these officials to betray the
trusts which had been committed to
their keeping, will point the way to
prevent a repetition of these crimes
against society and city government
while we have convicted few of the
corrupt officials and an occasional politi-
cal boss we have still failed to convict the
real criminal who is responsible for all
our troubles-the bribe-giver.
ut is none the less true, however, that
the punishment of all these malefactors
"A