The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1911-07-26


ltions of the country for copies Of
the admirable address of the Hon
James Bryce, British ambassador tc
Washington on THE Government oi
British Cities issued in pamphle
form by the City club. The address:
in question which was delivered re.
Gently at a dinner of the club before
a distinguished audience interesting.
ly reflects conditions here and abroad
and is regarded as one of the hes,
Papers on the subject of city govern
ment that has been written for some
time. Speaking of the government
OF American cities, he said: Your
administration is becoming more and
more of a business administration
certainly in this city, than ever be-
fore, and that is generally true OF
cities all over the Union. Every
where men are coming to see the
Importance of fixing responsibility
upon definite persons. That is the
meaning of the tendency to adopt the
commission form. In that respect
your forms of government are far
better over the country at large
than they used to be-"
1T is often said that business en-
ters too much into politics--tna, Is
to say, the interests" as they are
technically called the men, and es-
pecially the CORPORATIONS of great
wealth, are too frequently trying to
manipulate polihics for their own
purposes and to use their power over
political bodies to enrich themselves.
THAT may be true, and, of course, in
parts Of the country it has been
Itrue, where railroads, for instance,
have practically gained the control OF
whole states. But it is also true that
upon politics. there lis IA sense in
which cities have thought too much
of themselves as political bodies ano
too little of the business of their
work"
Adverting to the question Of mu-
nicipal government in England, he
added: "A country lives by its ira
dtions. In England we are exposed
to and have faced, successfully So
far. great number of risks and
| temptations which have overcome
ply because custom has fixed stand
ards from which men fear to depart.
| If it were not for our traditions I
don't know what would become of us.
We are living under the shadow OF
! the past. We seem to see the ma
iestic figures of the past rising above
us in our House Of Commons and
House of Lords, reminding us of
what they were, of the standards OF
public duty that they tried to main
tain, and telling us in voiceless ac-
cents that we must live up to the
standards. and preserve the tradi-
tons they have bequeathed to us"
Our municipal governments and
our cities have grown very slowly
| for centuries. None Of our cities
not even places like Leicester and
Northampton and Aberdeen and
| Cardiff which has been increasing
very rapidly, some of them doubling
! within the last thirty years-none
, of them has grown with anything
| like the speed with which cities grow
in the United States; and when
growth is very rapid. all sorts of
| the people to grapple with whereas
when cities increase more slowly, as
| they usually do with us, there is
always time to look about and antic-
ipate trouble before it actually ar
rives. And that is still more that
case when you reflect that whereas
here q very large part of the growth
| OF your cities has been due to the
coming of immigrants from other
countries, many of whom are not
familiar with your institutions, in our
case our population is almost entire
lily ome-grown. 1t is a homogeneous
population. accustomed to the same
traditions. habits and ideas"
Both among the rich and idle and
those who would like to be, the pub
lication last week of the pesthumous
ARA gnment Of American women.
written by David Graham Phillips,
the author shortly before he was
shot and killed by a crazy youth
Trom Washington. D. C., several
months ago. as the former was
emerging from the Princeton club. in
inns cllN. mas pTONohtu FEMININE
tempest in a teapot. AS the writer's
most caustic and incisive shafts were
directed against the leisure-loving
married woman. it is that class which
lis protesting most vehemently against
/ the picture (Which they say is an
extrava CANT caricature) that Phillips
drew Of them. The criticism they
say is grossly unfair and colored by
| the morbid Imagination Of the au-
thor, who being a confirmed bache-
| lor they naively suggest depended
upon the most superficial OF obser-
ystions instead of actual experience
for his material.
The article begins by stating that
we have to face in America a much
more serious domestic problem than
| is presented by divorce. This
problem" saws the Phillips article,
lis the rapidly widening gap between
the American man and the Ameri-
can woman in sympathies. tastes,
ideals. Every foreigner who comes
to inspect us is struck by it, is
amazed that the beautiful. graceful.
utility -abhorring Amer.esn woman.
aristScratic in all her ideas. she uld
be able to get along st ali with the
hardw orking. common American
man.
l..