The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1910-09-13

I'M automatically produce good
n " government. But forms can
be devised that will automat-
ically give, popular government. The
peoples will can be baffied or facili-
tated by the form of government. The
peoples work at the polls can be made
obscure, complex and difficult, or 1t
can be made clear, simple and easy.
Under the commission plan, with its
short ballot, the peoples work is very
clear, very simple, very easy. And
that Is all the secret there is to the
success of the plan.
In theory citizenship is the business
OF every citizen. But In our old style
city governments effective citizenship
Is one of the learned professions. To
vote intelligently a citizen must 'go
into politics" That means work, and
the average man can't afford to do
much unpaid work. So politics be-
comes dominated by few men, and
the people at large helplessly leave
the bulk Of the ticket TO the party poll.
ticians to do as they please with.
In our old fashioned city govern
ments, we have committed two seri-
Gus errors.
First, we have scattered the powers
Of government among so many petty
officials that it is quite impossible for
the people to watch and control them
all.
Second, we have subdlvided the
power in such small fragments that no
single part is really worth watching.
A member Of the city council, for in
stance, under the old form of govern
ment, has so little power that IL is
really not WORT while for the people
of the town to become agitated over
the question Of who shall get the job.
The typical old style city govern
ment Of this country consists of a
mayor, with fairly large power,
string of minor administrative Off
cials also chosen by popular vote, and
n council which sometimes consists of
two legislative bodies. The feature OF
this plan is the distribution of power.
based on our ancient fear of kings
We have always had a superstitious
dread Of giving to any elected official
power enough to do anything for us
without getting the consent of several
others. We have overlooked the fact
that to make the former official obey
our wishes we had also to exert stimuli
taneous compulslon over the latter,
whose consent he needed, and that
popular control became thus anything
but the simple matter 1t ought to be.
The politicians can always get their
own way II they make the council
large enough. A council OF fifteen men
might occasionally feel personally the
pressure OF public opinion, but triple
the size of the council, and the individ-
ual members become so insignificant
and publicity 80 subdivided that each
member Is safely 'lost in the shuttle"
Those who promoted the idea of hav-
ing a host Of elective officials in the
government have always taken It for
granted that there was something
democratic about this procedure. De-
mocracy, however, does not consist In
electing everybody, but In controlling
everybody. The mayors office boy,
for instah,e. may be appointed by the
mayor. or elected by popular vote. He
is a public servant, but there Is moth
Ing democratic In electing him when
he can just as well be appointed The
vital thing Is that he shall be CON
trolled by the people. and If he will
be under better control through APP
pointment than through election, 1t Is
more democratic to appoint him.
The commission plan OF government
is based on no false idea that the peo-
pie want TO e.cct everybody. 1t gives
the power TO FIVE men, who thereby
become consplcuously responsible be-
fore all the people OF the city Each
one OF them Is important enough to
make II worth while for the citizens TO
Inquire concerning his record and
character Each candidate for the Of
hce can attract crowd to hear him
speak, whereas an old time councilman
would have been utterly unable to get
a hearing before the people. There
are not 80 many OF these officials but
what every citizen can find out about
all OF them and vote intelllgently on
election day. There are not 30 many
as TO cause citizen to depend upon
tickets put together for him by pollt
ical specialists. Each citizen can and
does make up his own ticket aud the
function OF the professional ticket
making machines is thereby entirely
disposed OF.
III the commission were composed OF
ten men instead Of FIVE the list of
names would be longer than the aver
age citizen would be likely to remem-
Der for himself, and we should see
natural grouping of candidates and
their election by groups instead OF
singly. Some good government asso-
citation" or some party machine, even
on a nonpartlsan ballot. would be sure
10 advertise tickets for the guidance OF
the voters, and In accepting these tick.
cts the people would be sharing their