The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1909-12-22
THE REDEMPTION OF BOSTON:
NO GRAFT THERE ANYMORE
Man Who Framed New Charter Says
That Graft viii Never Be Pos
sible Again

sible Again
Harvey S. Chase is a doctor of sick
cities.
Chase has had big part to play
in forming the remarkable new char
ter of Boston.
Il know city graft when | see it
And Boston's new charter will make
graft impossible" he said. "Munici-
pal grafters can't work in Boston
now"
"Whv7'
Because we've got the white light
turned on every city official every
minute of the time"
But suppose his party stands up
for him, even if he is a 9rafter7'
There won't be any party in Bos-
ton. Our new charter says there
shall not be any primary election or
caucuses in Boston hereafter"
How can you choose candidates
without primary elections?"
Wipes Out Party Lines.
"All citizens who want to be a
candidate for any office gets his name
on the ballot by petition of 5000 cit
liens. No one can tell what party he
belongs to or what his opinions are"
Tremendously large ballot" was
suggested.
mo. We have only the mayor, nine
councilmen and five school board
members to vote for. We cut down
the size of the council in our new
charter and gave the mayor more
power than formerly. 1t makes him
a very responsible man now"
Central Power the Best.
But is it best to trust one man with
so much powerY
"Centered power we found the best,
provided there is publicity of all the
mayors acts. He appoints department
heads of the city, without consent of
the council, provided the civil service
board of the state passes favorably on
the qualifications of the appointee.
Every department head must be
an expert. Thus the parks, roads.
buildings, pavements, sewers, etc, are
all under experts, who are under the
mayor. He can remove a department
head whenever he pleases. If the
streets. parks or sewers are bad. 1t Is
the mayors fault"
But what can you do to the mayor
if he is to blame?"
Twenty Years a Mayor.
After two years. if he is not capa-
BILE. we can have a special election
by petition and remove him. naming
another one. If he is a good mayor
and we like him we don't even have
another election. A good man might
be NAV or of Boston for 20 years. with
out having to go to the polls for re-
election, if the people liked him well
enough.
An explanation was asked.
well. at every state election. two
years before the mayors term is up.
we put on the ballot. Shall Boston
hold an election for mayor two years
from now?' If the people like the
present may or they will vote no. and
that means that the mayor shall re-
main in office and the question won't
come Nd again for four years. until
the next state election, though the
citizens If he should suddenly turn
bad. might remove him any day by the
recall
What does the city council have
to do"
Mayor May Veto.
"All city business originates with
it. more or less. The mayor has the
right to veto everything it does. Yet
it has the right to call the mayor he
fore it and question him on anv mat
ter il pleases.
THE best thing about our charter
l think, is that it keeps the white
light of publicity on every official. For
Instance. the mayor has to issue lit
: 10 ! Nd
All contracts, resolutions. orders
everything the mayor signs or does
IS reported in this paper.
"hTen every meeting of the coun-
ell must be public. Not even a COM
mittee can hold a secret session"
They'll Find Graft.
"Rut how does all this prevent
grating? How can you tell that
graft is not going on?"
"Well, we discovered that no city
can be clean of itself. 1t has to have
outside help. This applies to every
city in the United States. So we call
ed upon the state of Massachusetts to
help us. We provided for a finance
commission of five members, to be
appointed by the governor. The duty
If this commission is to inspect the A.
nances of the city regularly"
suppose they get lazy?"
We'll, the inspection is so simple
that even a lazy man can do 1t. I'm
der the system. graft will come to the
surface every time; it's as easy to
see it in a report as a chunk of coal
in a snowbank. 1t can't be hidden"
Police Out of Politics.
BY the new charter the police are
out of politics. The policemen are
state officials. appointed by a state
official. who is not even a resident of
Boston.
No citizen can now evade a police
man by saying, "Pll have you broken
for this"
A policeman need rot fear the loss
of his position so long as he does his
duty.
The city gives money to the state to
pay policemen.