St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1908-01-01
XII.

~ Rl1lClSM Is maze by those VINO
a for various reasons are opposed
49, to public ownership that elect
ed officials cannot be expected
to possess the detailed technical knowl-
edge and the experience necessary to
the proper administration of such COM
pick and diversified enterprises as
street railways gas works, electric
lighting and power plants. the erection
and supervision of dwellings and cot
tages and the numerous other under
takings assumed or in contemplation
by the municipalities of Great Britain.
Next to the fear of Offering added OPP
portunity for official plumber this is the
more quoted argument made against
the system by those who discuss and
write of it in the United States.
Such a plea is rarely made in Eng
land and never in Scotland even by
those who have most reason to call a
halt on any extension of the field of
public ownership | talked with scores
of business men and large property
owners. and it is only the simple truth
to state that without exception these
men asserted that no such charge was
even entertained by the responsible
element of the community.
1t is difficult for an American to COM
prehend the possibility of municipal
legislative and executive body actuated
solely by an intelligent desire to so
administer affairs as to safeguard and
promote the common interests Of citi-
zens and taxpayers.
The British taxpayer selects his al
derman or councillor with the same
care and with the same object in view
that actuates him when he has vote
for the choice of directors in a private
corporation. He looks for man who
possesses judgment, ability and unim-
peachable integrity He does not de-
mand a man who necessarily has an
exact technical mastery of all Of the
details pertaining to the undertakings
he will aid in supervising. Neither
does he insist that the director of a
railroad in which he is a stakeholder
shall be able to regulate the executive
work of the general manager Of the
system.
An Englishman seldom seeks higher
honor than an election as alderman In
the town or city Of his birth. As a step
ping stone to this great distinction he
must first serve as councillor, and one
must stand high in a parish before he
may hope to be chosen councillor From
their number the councillors elect one
third of their n nmbers to the exalted
Office of alderman, and if an alderman
lives long enough he is certain to be
come mayor or lord mayor Of his town
or city.
Not until a man has acquired a COM
petenCe of this worlds goods does he
aspire to civic honors in Great Britain.
The man who at the age Of forty five
has won a modest fortune must hold
himself in readiness to retire at the call
of his neighborS or to surrender large
share of his time to the service Of his
community. There are scores of Off
cial positions he may be called on to
fill, but in none of them will he receive
one penny of salary, nor need he ex-
pect any material benefit or business
prestige from the holding of such an
office.
Mayors, aldermen, councillors, trus-
tees and other elective officials in Great
Britain serve absolutely without pay.
The majority of these men devote a
large share of their time to the cities
which have thus honored them. They
enter into this executive work with as
much or more enthusiasm as was for
merly displayed in the amassing Of pri-
vate fortunes. They take a pride and
delight in mastering the details per-
tanning to the committees on which
they are placed and gradually develop
until they are capable Of taking charge
Of any branch of the municipal service.
| would that every careless American
citizen could witness a session of the
city council Of Manchester, which is of
q type common in Great Britain. The
members Of this distinguished assem-
bly, are in fact as well as in name "the
selectmen" of their city. They are not
placed in these positions Of honor be-
cause Of d purchased popularity, with
groups Of partisan ward heelers; they
do not owe their elections to nomina-
tons dictated by corporations in need
of their services They are the repre-
sentatives of their city.
When they meet the galleries are not
filed with a horde of office seekers No
lobby turks on their flank. The papers
which record the proceedings do not
fame with headlines or bristle with
editorials denouncing the --latest alder
manic steal"
There are men in the Manchester city
council whose heads are white from
forty or more of years spent in unpaid
and unselfish service to the city of their
birth or adoption. The dean Of the
council is Alderman King, who was
elected councillor in 1856 and made al
derman eleven years laters He has
served as lord mayor, and in two years
from now he will celebrate the compile
ton Of a half century of official life. The
average time served as councillors by
the twenty six men who now are alde~.
mer is eleven years. In that length