New-York tribune., 1909-03-09
THE NEW CHARTER.


Ia its most important aspects the work Of
the Charter Commission has been, like that Of
the Statutory Consolidation Commission, one or
sfmpiiication bringing order out Of chaos In
the existing laws applying 10 this city. The
present charter is thing Of patchwork and
amendments. full of rPdundancies. obsolete sec
1ions and provisions that properly belong in the
Penal Code of the state. The proposed chartef
contains only those fundamental provisions es-
Sential 10 the structure of the city government
Roughly. the present charter might be com
pared to such a cungomerate as would result
if the constitution and statutes of stale were
indistingushably mingled. The preparation of
the new charter has been like extracting
constitution from such a mixture 1t is seventy
five thousand words long. while the old charter
contains over five hundred thousand ont OF
what is left of the old charter the commission
is extracting an administrative code, to be OF
about the same length as the charter JUST re
ported and to contain the laws affecting th'
city government of a less substantive character
than that fundamental element put into the
new charter. 10 give greater measure OF
home rule 10 New York. and To avoid the neces-
sitv of constant recourse to Albany. it is pro
posed 10 confer on the city council the author
ity 10 amend this code in certain respects This
part Of the commissions work unquesuonably
was greatly needed and appears 10 have been
well done. so far as can be judged. without an
extended study.
But the commission was not confined 10 the
mere simplificatinn Of the citys charter 1t hau
the authority 10 recommend such changes N the
structure of the city government as in It's opln-
ion seemed 10 be necessary. This power II mas
rsed with moderation. Compared with suggeS-
tions made in Boston and Chicago, the proposed
charter is a conservative instrument Nothing
radical or experimental is recommended. Every
suggestion is in harmony with the structure OF
the city government as it stands to-day; indeed
for the most part that structure is untouched III
any essential particular We find in the report
no such disposition that exhibited by the
Boston Finance Commission 10 condemn tbe
whole existing municipal system as an incur
able failure and TO Try to attain good govern
ment by radical departures. Errors OF detail
are corrected or an attempt is made TO correct
them. but the general plan remains the same
Whether the changes suggested would result III
an Improvement in the city government can
be learned only from experience. Many similar
changes. which seemed in the past equally well
considered. have proved disappointing in prac-
tice.
The most considerable alteration proposed is
the taking away from the Borough Presidents
Of their administrative functions The Borough
Presidents have proved such failure i'll ali but
regret to see them lose their present power over
streets and buildings. To take over the admin
iStrative functions a new department Of build
ingS. charged with the duties Of the five super
intendentS of buildings ROW named by the Bor-
ough Presidents. and a department or
street control. with all the power over the
streets now exercised by subordnates Of the
Borough Presidents. together with the duties
of the nreSpnt Street Cleaning Department, are
10 be created Unified control Of the streets is
epinenfIv TO be desired The Borough Pres-
cents in the future charter viii he simply lnem-
bers of the Board of Estimate and Apportion-
ment whose functions are 10 he considerably
augmented 1t will have under it various i'm
portant bureaus including a new central pur-
chasing bureau and new town planning bu
reau. in this way ii is hoped to keep the Bor-
ourh Presidents out of mischief and to improve
the great business executive committee Of the
city bv providing it with members who can give
a their time 10 IFS work.
To guard against financial abuses such aS
now exist the new charter states explicitly the
items for which provision should be made i'm
The budget and those for which, exclusively
provision may be made by the sale of corporate
stock. Rules are land down, also, for the calcu
Iation of the debt limit. If adopted they would
apparently wipe out Whatever margin the city
now has il they did not put it over the limit.
They seem unduiy severe under the circum-
stances It is hoped by the commission that the
city NAV obtain good councilmen 10y paying
,,othing for their services On this point. Ger
tainlv il is rash to be optimistic.