The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-02-02

Importance as Marion and member
Of the committee which has this bill
under consideration has agreed to ac-
cept an amendment to the bill in
cluding Marion In that list, provided
Representative w. T., Smith shall
make the move to amend. Mr.. Smith
Is giving this question serious
Thought, and has signtned his willing
ness to meet with the committee on
the eleventh of this month and Sc
cure the amendment, provided the
people of the city want the change
The business men Of the city If they
think favorably of the plan, should
see Mr. Smith or write to him rela-
tive to Bhe matter and give him such
encouragement or discouragement as
they think best.
Under the present system, the re-
sponsbblty is too widely divided
Whenever something in the city's
affairs is done and the people do not
approve It is difficult matter to fix
the responsibility. Some blame the
council, some criticize the service
board, others lay It at the door Of
the safety board and almost every one
agrees That 1t is the fault of the
mayor Under the provisions of the
Paine bill, the responsibility will he
easily placed with the mayor and
under these conditions II is not fair
to ask him TO attend TO the duties Of
police judge. Under the operation of
the Paine bill, the office of mayor
should be filled by the very best busi-
ness man i'm the city. The mayor
should be a man who has the very
best interests of the city at heart.
The office, provided the duties CT po-
Ice judge are removed will carry
with it more OF honor and dignity.
The mayor Of city like Marion
should be a mon Who is capable Of
boosting the interests Of the city in
providing new enterprises and new
industries. He IS TO be the real head
of the city government in all of its
departments and 1t is therefore neces-
Sary that he he the very best man
VINO can be secured for the place.
But with the task of having TO set
tie all kinds of petty troubles and
dabble in the dirty work which comes
up before police judge it will be
impossible to secure the best man in
the city to take the office.
The first consideration with many
will be the expense which would
come with such change. The Paine
law removes the two members of the
board of public safety and the three
members of the board OF public serv-
ice and substitutes two directors.
This will undoubtedly mean saving
in the salary list. The saving would
probably not be sufficient to pay the
salary of the police Judge, but itwould
go a long way In Jnat direction. Then,
too, the mayor being given his whole
time to direct the business interests
of the city would doubtlessly mean a
great saving in years. time, so
that in reality the new system would
be no more expensive than under the
present regime, and it is indeed prob
able that the city would be very
much better off because of having the
mayors hands free to look after its
business to better advantage. After
ALL the little added expense in the
city government should lot be con-
sidered for a moment. If the inter
ests Of the city as a whole are to be
more carefully cared for, then the
little added expense, II there be any,
should not be considered.
Lb0ing Marion out OF this last rut
which tends TO keep her in the viii
.ase class, giving the mayor free
hand to look after the cty's bust
ness, giving him the time 10 act as
the perpetual booster concentrating
the responsibility for the city gov
ernment and securing the very best
man for mayor are surely consider
alton sufficient to offset any objec-
tons which can be made to added
expense. MariOm now has the Op
portunity to secure all OF these things
and secure them speedily. All cit!-
zens, who have the city's interests at
heart should express their opinion %
Hon. w. T. Smith, so that he may
know whether he is really repre-
sent!ng the people Of his home city
I'm the move Whirh he is sprfOugIV