The Boise citizen. (Boise, Idaho) 1906-1910, 1907-02-22

Brand Whitlock, mayor of Toledo,
writes of Cleveland, the best governed
city in the United States in the Satur-
day Evening Post of February 23rd, and
the article is one that should be read
by every citizen who desires to keep
fully abreast of the progressive public
spirit of the day. We give herewith
extracts, but no friend of good govern
ment should overlook the entire article:
The atmosphere of the city hall in
Cleveland is different from that of most
city halls. There the visitor, having
heard that Cleveland is the best gov
erned city in the United States, will no
tice at first, perhaps, no outward differ
ence; the building is old and haggard,
the Offices are dim, the corridors dingy,
and through them hurry the throngs that
present feeting glimpses of the worried,
anxious face, lined with care or schem-
ing, that is typical of American cities
All at first is familiar and usual, but
the visitor bent on essentials and seeking
the meaning and soul of things, will note,
presently, the pervading influence of a
new spirit, renewing his faith in de-
mocracy and stimulating his hope of the
ultimate success of the great American
experiment. He will miss the low, cyrli-
cal tone of our political life, the dis
heartening conviction that here, in these
chambers, are going on the Vaccinations
of politicians, plotting to perpetuate
themselves in the enjoyment of those
privileges and perquisites we so long
have regarded as the right of politicians
and oficeholders; he will miss the sor-
didness and the squalor that have made
municipal politics at once the disgrace
and the despair of our cities; he will
miss the sense, one might almost say the
odor, of the machine, the boss, the
ward heeler. He will miss the influence
of practical politics.
But no, that, after all is just what he
will find. For Cleveland has learned,
as some other American cities have
learned. and as all American cities are
soon to learn, that practical politics, in
its late meaning, is not practical at all,
but most inpractical-if not wasteful,
extravagant, inefficient and corrupt-and
that the new politics in reality is the
only practical kind The old politics
the politics of the savage, wolflsh party,
with its machine and its boss, and cor
porate wealth and tainted money ever
standing in its shadow-was practical
only for the politician; and yet, not for
him either, considering what it cost
him in character and how wholly it rob
bed him of the best of life. The new
politics is practical for the people, who
are the city. The old politics regarded
public office as a privilege, or, as it was
cynicaliy phrased, as a private snap; the
new politics regards public Office as
responsibility, and no snap at all, but
a difficult, laborious, and yet, withal
inspiring job.
When the visitor enters these Offices
he will not hear men talking politics
wards, precincts, committees, conven-
tions and all that are not often spoken
of. He will hear instead talk Of the
city. For Cleveland has the city sense
that is, the consciousness of collective
effort, the new realization of civic
personality. In these Offices he will find
officials who are not so much political, as
municipal, experts. To be sure, the old
fashioned partisan, who thinks all is