Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-06-02

treating of topics of the hour
Commission Government Old.
To the Editor of the Evening Star:
Tie truth of the saying that there
is nothing new under the ~ is exem-
plified in the present tendency towart
commission government of municipali-
ties. The evolution, or more properis
the involution. is but a modification OF
the first municipal governments il
America, which in turn We're patterned
after the English borough government
A bit Of history may be interesting.
The American municipal government
had its origin in the chartered Dor
oughs whicn were established in the
English colonies during the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries. The first
active municipal corporation in Amer
lea was New York, which was char
tered in 1868. and was made ar Eng
lish municipal corporation in 1865, after
it had passed from the control of the
Dutch to the English. The first mayor
was Captain Thomas Willett, of
Plymouth colony, where he had sue
ceeded Miles Standish as military com
mander.
The charter. however, was not grant
ed by the provincial government until
1856, and was of the same general char
acter as the municipal corporations of
England. Previous to this time there
had been charters granted, but the
governments never became active.
municipalities varied somewhat IN
detail, according to the vagaries of the
powers granting the charter or the
local needs. Philadelphia, Annapolis
and Norfolk were close, self-perpetu-
ating corporations, the aldermen and
councilmen being elected for life. In
no municipal corporations in the period
was the mayor elected by the people.
In the close corporations he was chosen
by the council, and in other places
named by the governor.
Much has been said at this time re-
garding the power of the mayor, and
in the transition of governmen the
question of his veto has beer much
mooted. lii the earlier. times the
mayor had no veto power, neither had
he the power of appointment. His
position was partially judicial, for in
the colonial times he. as we'll as the
recorder and members of the board of
aldermen, were justices of the peace.
In some places they held courts of
record at stated times. In many places
at the present time the town council
men are under certain conditions on
stituted a court.
Not only was the authority of the
mayor comparatively insignificant, but
the legislative authority OF the munich
palities was restricted in power to the
establishing of local ordinances not
repugnant to the laws of England or
of the colonies. So their powers con-
sisted mainly of passing police laws
and minor regulations.
The administrative functions were Of
especial interest to the small urban
settlement. The administration of the
militia, the poor laws and the lakes
Ntit llOl SupJt&A W H1dlllNiRdi toiLIOi
Thus the chartered city became de-
pendent upon the Assembly in the
eighteenth century. when other local
needs beside those enumerated in the
charter became necessary. For the
power of a city, even to the present
day, is only those specifically granted
in the charter and such other implied
regulations as are necessary to carry
the specified ones into effect.
1t became necessary to resort to the
legislatures for extensions of authority,
and soon the cities began to be donni-
mated to a greater extent by State
authority. In other words, the inde-
pendence of the city began to be lost.
and 1t became continually subordinated
to the legislature, even the right to
levy municipal taxes being for a long
time forbidden the cities and reserved
by the States.
Thus, through processes OF govern
mental evolution, the present forms of
municipal government have developed,
particularly in the East. So cumber-
some have they became that the in-
volution begins, and students of gov
eminent conditions seek TO return to a
modified form of the earlier municipal
governments. A. e. w.
Elizabeth, n. j., June l.