The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-07-19
Wilson Tells The
 Poor How To Rule
Says Commission Government
 Means Their Happiness

1
 You have an elected Street and
 Water Board and you have an ap- pointed Finance Board; yet the
 streets of Jersey City are far from being in an ideal condition" said Dr. Woodrow Wilson, Governor of New
 Jersey recently in speech made in l the Jersey City High School on the
 subject of commission government.
 The Governor put emphasis on the | assertion that successful government | cannot exist unless 1t is so unified l that there cannot be antagonlsm be- which he made special reference. H. l O. Wittpenn, Mayor of Jersey City, | also spoke vigorously in support of commission government. asserting # 1 is the only form possible that gives ] the people a real chance to protest | successfully against injusticeS Cheers, whistles and hand clapping 1 that lasted five minutes greeted Gov
 ernor Wilson's appearance on the | stage in the school auditorium, and gathering remained standing through l out the welcome.
 ] "Commis sion government is an easy thing to talk about" said the | Governor at the start of his speech, | for it is an easy thing to under
 
 men will be selected by the people to | do the peoples work. You can watch | five men, whereas you cannot watch twenty-five; that's about the sum and l substances of it. Moreover, comm1s- sion government is not a personal fad best governed cities in the civilized world are ruled under systems Simi- lar to this commission plan.
 'I have just returned from pleas ant trip through the hospitable State of Kentucky. On the way back we stopped in a little city in West Vir- ] ginia, and a man there told me it had increased in population in the last five years in greater proportion than almost any city in the United States. When T. asked him why, he answered.: We have had commission government here for five years. The people in this town are happy and the taxpayers get what they pay for That city's experience has been the experience of every other city where piled.
 ''The great advanta~e Tn .srnmis- sion government is Mz$ ce,er you have got your five men you have also ty--the recall. You can stand with your watch in your hand, which the commission closely and when the bat tie goes wrong you can. call Time! " Governor Wilson said a paper was handed to him when he arrived m Jersey City in which was stateme ent purporting to come from the Demo- cratic City Committee, which is op- posed to commission government. A paragraph to which the Governor wished to take strong exception was one asserting that Jersey City had the Bunstead Commission in 1871 and as result almost had gone into bankruptcy. Governor Wilson show ed that the Bunsteah Commission provided for a Mayor. with all the present Mayors privileges: a Board of Aldermen; Board of Councilmen, and at least three other boards.
 "I call on those gentlemen to re- tract that statement" said the Gov ernor. ''It is a sad pity-and speak men try to mislead the voters of a great city in such fashion as that. Personally am not committed to any halfway measures on this subject. I thank God I am in pretty good health and I mean to stay in this fight un- til it's finished. And I don't need an organization back of nae; I ask only for the trust and confidence of my fellow citizens
 Tt Is well known that the poor men in this country are in a major ity, and yet 1t is peculiar that they have the least to say about govern m erlt Now I'm not going about with blood in my eye for the rich men for l know many rich men who have permitted me to associate with them but I am trying to get the control of government in the hands of that ma jority of poor men. Government is the poor mans only defense; the rich man with means for everything can care for himself under all circum- stances. The poor man can't always Jo fbo% las re an n lie office who are in sympathy with him." V
 The Governor told of many times when @ poor woman had come to him to seek redress for a wrong af- ter she had failed to get the ear of the Prosecutor of the Pleas.
 'eBut I'm helpless in such matters he said, 'I can't take action and I can't remove a Prosecutor. I can't even remove a Sheriff in a certain county if he will not empanel an honest jury.
 The Governor said he wanted his hearers to get one thing fixed firmly in their minds-the difference be- tween the words elect and select.
 ''It is worth nothing" he said, ''to have the right to elect governing body unless you have also the right to select the individual men. More over, I would not trust the most hon. est committee in the world to sup pldnC the people Iu0kIlS0lVGS III tIl0 selection of the men to govern the people. This commission govern ment is thing that will work toward breaking up the real curse of our present political systen-the under standing that exists between the ma- chimes of two political parties; the splitting up of office because of mu- tua1 advantage to the parties"
 Governor Wilson emphasized the fact that the commission government is something that easily can be chang ed, so far as the personnel of the commission is concerned.
 '"The only way to learn to live, he said, lis to live as you please and then take the consequences. After you've got in, if the water is too cold, you can come out. But I want to predict one thing; that is that poll itics gradually will grow to that stage where the people all over the United States some day will actually be governing themselves"
 Dr. Wilson closed his speech by referring to the advantages of pub- licity.,
 There will be nothing done in the dark under commission form of government" he asserted, flor the Walsh bill provides that public record of every governmental detail shall be made. That's the best thing aboutil commission government. For none of us is so honest as to be Justified in boasting about it. and many men