The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1910-08-11
Grrmmt @Mthman.
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.

The statement made by James
Bryce, now British Ambassador at
Washington, in 1893, in his American
Commonwealth" that there is no
denying that the government of cities
is the one conspicuous failure of the
United States" was an unpalatable
truth. The story is a shameful one,
and not all of it has yet been told.
Under the label of Republican or
Democrat votes have been cast for
men to whom the party name meant
simply an opportunity for plumber.
In the natural process of evolution
conditions have improved in many in
stances, but the problem still is a
difficult one.
To remedy the situation the COM
mission form of government has been
devised. This method of giving large
powers to a very few commissions
has been tried with conspicuous sue
cess in Galveston, Houston, Dallas,
Des Moines, and other cities.
Commenting on this subject the
New York Evening Post says:
THE extinction of graft is a COM
mon feature of the story in all these
cases; but no mistake could be great
er than that of supposing that preven-
ton of robbery of the city treasury is
the beginning and end of the reform
OF municipal government, whether eff
fected by the commission system or
otherwise. This of itself would, of
course. be a great thing; but under
the old regime the most deplorable
injury to the public welfare-aside
from the purely moral aspect of the
materials come from the neglect of
magnificent opportunities due to the
devotion of the men inside politics
to the work of footing the people and
the devotion of the efforts of good
citizens to the task of checking the
1ooters Under the commission sys-
tenn of efficiency and. responsibility
we hear of municipal credit reestab-
lished. great sanitary improvements
installed, buiness enterprise promot-
ed, splendid park extensions effected,
and so forth-all this in a remark
ably short space of time, and without
any increase of taxation. What such
change in the spirit and character
of city government may mean to the
happiness of the people in the course
of a generation or two, may easily be
conjectured and moreover we have
only to look at the progress in beau
ty and comfort of the German cities
which have long enjoyed government
of the highest excellence to have ocu-
lar demonstration of its possibilities.
Whether form of government
which does we'll for city of $4,000 or
100000, with a comparatively homo
geneous population is equally adapt
ed to a great metropolis of cosmopol-
itan population and with problems
far more complex and formidable, is
of course, an open question. Inc eX-
perience of Des Moines or Houston
though valuable, is not conclusive
and there is reason to expect that
much larger cities will before long
be furnishing us with experiments
on greater scale, and presenting
more difficulty But it is not merely
upon the question Of the adoption OF
the commission plan that these ex-
periences throw light They bear on
the more general question OF the non
esty and efficiency that it is possible
to secure by proper distribution OF
responsibility, and on the still broad
or question of the benefits when tne
attainment of such honesty and emil
cheney can bring about. The expert
ment which Mayor Gaynor is now car
rying on in this city is OF essen1all!
the same nature. He has cut loose
from many vicious TRADITION ano
precedent, and gone right to the
of
and efficient administration in one
direction after another. what we
need is to have that sort Of thing car
ried through the entire vast organ.
cation of our city government, ano
made a permanent part of our NUM-
cipai order"
The commission form of govern
ment, judged by results, has much
very much, to commend it. There is
one phase, however, that must not be
overlooked. 1t establishes large
Capitalization of power, electing few
men, giving them almost autocratic
authority, and holding them RESPONSE
BILE for results. Long ago it was as
serted that a benevolent despotsn
was the best form of government. The
theory has not been generally &C.
cepted, however, the difficulty being
to keep the despotism benevolent. If
there is any trouble with the COM
mission form of government it is that
1t is not essentially republican
form. 1t concentrates the power in a
very few hands rather than making
THE more important offices elective II
would appear, then, that the fewer
the elective offices, the better the re-
suits obtained
1t is not pleasant to think that the
government improves as it is removed
farther from direct popular choice
because that theory, pushed to its
logical conclusion, leads to aristo-
cratic and monarchical rule. 1t is
more business like, it is true, but bus
mess operations are not always run
upon strictly democratic principles
The question is whether it is better
to elect as few officials as possible
delegating most of the authority to a
few individuals, than to elect as many
officers as We need, compelling the
electorate to work out its own saliva.