The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-12-07
IEIinanating ward Politics From Mus
 nEeiDaf Government.

MeNAEft@a aI4 G. ooahsry uhsTs that gs,n,as gHsra sp6iitios sifi the curse of our American cities, and there ts & &d,spositaon to set just as fas sssI aIwey " munlcipel geve5nment ss possible, On lcally declares that "while. home rule ass asS bssn sS Seia rs up so be model from that point of viawr-soTne- thing 1t might have been. in fact if the voters had taken interest enough ,t1 a lamentabie failures
 It must be admitted that there ~fs hardly an American city that has not inferior men in its municipal legisla- ture; with the inevitable consequence of a multiplication of municipal of acss and horde of place-hunters and
 The "ward system" has affected even the smaller cities of the country with these evils. until. as all know. 1t Is as rsprssentativs % men ea aaass eommunity s iss ts stand for a counciiunani position. The same men who make desirable mem. bers of important eornmerciai and financial bodies or who willingly serve on important civic commissions will not think of assuming the relatively more Important duties of a member oi council.
 This is not the experience of one eE a few cities. but of practically all And why Is 1t? The answer Is everywhere the same-ward politics.
 The same paper quoted ahowe goes Knows of no city in which the coun- ell has not been the worst stumbling block to good sovernment and in which
 n a g9Nssss Nsss. U T3 Jor s aoa Pssesass seaas of estimates has not been followed by great improvement in the condnct oi money"
 Ths new lass in municipal govern, satisfactory wherever 1t mas been tried ..-i. --5is to govern by boaESs either slscts. being cofstenIratsd in the lattsr's boards. ResponsibIlity is. therefore deflnltely placed. If !nattsFs go wrong the blame Is to be placed. Besides. Ii is far easier matter, where the raspon- sIbillty Is thus centered in 8 few. noi Sn.E .y sG ipaaos S, sstts ss ,S pie te a higher sense of duty In the Even New York city is joining the plan of eurtalllag the power or theiE Councils. It made some progrees in this direction a few years ago. but It now proposes to go even further ln
 
 gross exlraYagance and Ineineieney of It's city government. coupled with the fact that 1t nowihhs an annual budget Of S156,DD0, 900 and a debt which threatens to attain the size of the nar tional debt before very long, have aroused New York to q proper sense of the situation, and theFa are strong indications that new city charter will De demanded and sscpTed elSsnlhatlng, basis of representations; or, at least relegattng the council to the rear in munictnal aMairs.
 The Baltimore News. noting the con ttnued growth of the government by commission idea, cailsA attention to the fact that "The commission form of government in Galveston and else- Where-~hFought about by real emeF- gencias under which government by council broke down completely--has done much to make people believe that there is something radically wrong with a system of government that falls when 1t Is most needed and to do away with opposition to elimination of the council as an important wheel of the municipal machinery."
 Undoubtedly, those cities which have successfully eliminated the curse of ward politics" from their municipal affairs have furnished most valuable object lesson for those other cities which are still groping along in the old way.