The Ocala evening star., 1911-05-26
OCAlA WANTS NO OLIGAUCHY

Birmingham, Ala, has foated 100000 |
municipal bonds al 34 per cent, the |
lowest rate the city has ever secured. |
This IS said to be because il is under /
commission government, and capitalists t
impressed with the business admins /
tration are not afraid TO invest in the |
bonds-Orlando Reporter-Ssar
Ocala ought 10 get on the commits
sion form Of government band wagon
at Once-Banner.
Commission government Is only an
expedient. and a doubtful one at that
1t is undemocratic and reactionary; II
is excusabIe only in extreme cases and
then only temporarily. 1t is subversiVe
of popular government, tending to take
the control Of public affairs from the
people and lodge il in The hands Of
favored few.
There are some eities-Galveston for
instance-where gang rule sometimes
becomes so open and defiant, where the
better element is so helpless, that 1t Is
necessary for the state government TO
take charge; but while this has worked
well for ten years, we doubt that il Will
for twenty or thirty, and IL il is con-
| tinued for a hundred, the last state of
/ that city will be worse than the first.
| OF course, any good business man
can run the affairs of the town better
than a mayor and councillor a while.
But just as sure The control OF
town is put in the hands OF one man, or
of few men, who are not subject to
election every year or so, the power Will
| be abused-the men in power, not re-
sponsible to their neighbors, will begin
to feel themselves a superior class and
act accordingly, their abuses will be-
come as great as those of gang rule and
harder to shake off.
| 1t is necessary for the people to at
tend to their own affairs. If they turn
over the control of their municipalities
to commissions, the commissions will
become rings and cliques and the peo-
pie will lose the interest in public af-
fairs that is the life blood of good gov
ernment. 1t is better for them to put
up with some graft and much blunder-
ing than surrender rights which can
only be recovered by revolution.
We do not see why Ocala needs a
commission government. 1t might be
better governed-it could be governed a
great deal worse. There Is no room
for graft. The members of the council
work for nothing-it would be a rash
man indeed to say that the city officers
do not earn their salaries. The coun-
Gil is composed of representative busi-
ness men. Their meetings are open tc
the other citizens, who are always
given an hearing when they have any
thing to say either about public mat.
ters. or the bearing of public meas
ures on their private affairs. If there
is any misgovernment in Ocala, it i:
the fault far more of apathy amons
! her citizens than lack of intelligence
and honesty among her officials. Their
e are occasionally vague inuendos o
4 misgovernment, but no one comes ou
\ with definite charges. The Star ha
t space for anyone who wishes to do so
e There is no wrong in the city that can
, not be corrected by the votes of tn
K citizens. And the citizens had bette
h bear wrongs that they can always cor
8 rect, than saddle themselves with
e paternal government.
A commission form of governmen
n for Ocala would mean putting city af
s fairs in the hands of fewer men. n
:, more able and honest than those VIII
t manage them now, but who could de
# vote more of their time to them. TheS
e men might look after the city inter
: ests, and they would probably ais
n look after their own. There woul
n be less check on them than there
e on officials under the present system
n and there is reason to believe the
= would suit the mass of the people a
rf well. They could not be turned ou
IS of office easily if they were arbi
il trary. and they could not be detecte
a so easily if they were dishonest.
l. Last, and not least, the Star believe
-e that the people of Ocala are sufficient
ly intelligent, sufficiently American
= to govern themselves. They are ir
n telligent and honest, if not so numer
Is Gus, as the people of New York c
" Boston, and it would cause a good
st sized revolution to try to put either
those cities under commission govern