The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1910-01-27

| interest of the maker of the muck to
leave it undisturbed, but it is to the
interest of the taxpayer that it be
stirred up, aired out and the men
who have made 1t forced to own it..
How long would the business of the
.muckraker" last il there was no
muck to rake. It is far better to stir
up the muck and air it out and locate
the cause OF its existence than to
leave it to shoulder and purify in
our political back yards. Why should
a man be called pessimist because
| he knows that the cloud is not all
"silver lining?" Why should a man
be called crank" because he wants
to turn things Alright? if for nothing
more than to try them, when there Is
no danger of making them worse?
Theories and pet policies are bad
enough in state and national politics,
but the injection of professional pol
| itics into municipalities has been
largely the cause of the unioing.
Anomalous as it may seem, that
which has been the most damaging to
national politics is the salvation OF
municipal government-namely the
business man. In national politics
his presence has been a blight and
canker. The advent of the business
man into state and national politics
has resulted in more graft and seat
purchasing in the last score of years
than can be laid at the door of the
professional for all our previous
American history. The cause for this
| is that there is a difference in states
manship and selfishness. The states
man has in view the general welfare
and the business man, by nature and
training, the personal good and profit.
AS instances of high prices paid for
seats, Clark of Montana. Guggenhelm
of Colorado, Mitchell Of Oregon and
Ankeny of Washington, may be cited,
along with many others. These men
have amassed fortunes and then pur-
chased a seat in congress with no
higher motive than to promote their
own interests.
/ On the other hand municipality is
a business proposition and must be
run on business principles in order
to succeed. For that reason profess
sional politics should have no part
nor lot in municipal government. And
right here is one of our greatest
American interests-how to apply
business methods to city government.
| The observer is now convinced that
business can not be applied to city
government with officers selected un-
der the usual system of ward poll
tics. And this is no reflection on the
men. but the defect is in the means.
The most efficient and honest cannot
do good work with crude tools. How
ever patriotic men may be they can
not, if we are to Judge from the past,
satisfactorily administer a city gov
eminent by perpetuating the old fos-
SLICED, moss grown methods Some
it is true, can because of devotion and
attention, persistence and patriotism
give better satisfaction than those
I who are less careful, more easily in
fluenced. less attentive. more selfish
and less patriotic. but the best can
not come up to their own ideals even
It is easy and natural to follow IN
the beaten rut Few men have the
courage to question precedent and
about the only lively moments theil
brains ever have is when they are
irving to devise some means. to create
an uproar in the gallery-and they
usually conclude that such can be
done best by doing what others have
done and thus being orthodox. We
are inclined to take things for grant
ed and think that because they exist
they have a right to exist. But the
principle of material evolution is ir'
resistable in it's onward sweep and
reactionaries will have to get out Of
the way, fall in line or be crushed.
AS in all other things, so in these
blessings often come disguised as g
calamity. An instance of this is wher
with one fell swoop from the angry
elements the beautiful city of Gal
weston, Texas, was almost wiped from
the map. This occurred on the 9Th
day of September, 1900, at which
time in less than ten hours 5000 peo
pie (one-sixth of her population
were cold in death and $1S,00O,O
(one-third) of her material wealth
was destroyed, her business was com
pletely paralyzed and her city gov
eminent demoralized
It was then that the we'll known
mother of invention came to the res
cue and as result of that hour OF
trial and pain little healthy think
ing upon the part of her business
men (what was left of them) and g
hard fought battle in the state legis
lature there was born into the world
the commission form of government