Perth Amboy evening news., 1911-02-03

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shows a great difference in the vari
Gus localities In the city. While
wards one, two and three are near
ly equally divided, wards four. five
and six covering the western and
northern sections of the city. prove
to be much larger, being double and
In some instances, three times as
large as the other wards. The sec
ond ward Is the smallest with 3,031.
while the fourth ward has 1884
and the sixth ward 9,033.
If the census should be taken OF
the voting population Of these same
wards, the result would be decided
ly different. The school census
would show us where this great pop
ulation is. 1t is almost impossible
to keep up to the demands for school
| buildings In the western and north
ern sections Of the city and the fig
ures submitted by the census bureau
shows why this Is SO.
With such a difference between
the populations of the several
wards, the idea of dividing or in
creasing the number of wards is
suggested. Under the present system
of government there is no doubt that
as the city grows the wards must
be added and Perth Amboy, with a
population of $4,000, is fast ap-
preaching the point where more
wards will be necessary.
In this connection it Is interest
ing to pause a moment and ask of
what use are wards, and Of what adj
vantage 1t Is to the citizens OF the
various sections Of the city to have
these subdivisions In the municipal
ity2 The new commission form of
government which Is growing SO
rapidly throughout the country, and
which is being strongly agitated in
New Jersey, does away with all
wards entirely, Under the commits
sion form Of government five men
are elected from the city at large to
handle public affairs. The entire re-
sponsfbiiity Of the government of
the city is placed In the hands of
these five men. They work for the
city as a whole and recognize no d.
vision whatever. This Is as 1t should
be. Every person interested In
Perth Amboy Is Just as anxious to
one section of the city grow as
another. If we have strangers VS.
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own ward merely. but take pleas
ire In guiding them about the city
pointing out the attractions of Perth
Ambcy as a whole.
We already have the commission
form of government In county af-
fairs. Under the old system a free
holder was elected from each ward
and from each township in the oun
ty, The result was that each member
of the Board of Freeh olders worked
hard to get as much as he could for
| his own locality, regardless of the
rest of the county. Today we have
| the five freeholders elected from the
county at large, uli OF them respnn-
sible for every section and much
good has been accomplished.
Why cannot the same system be
applied to a city government? We
believe every taxpayer would be far
better off and the city would make
far greater progress should five high
class business men be placed in
charge of the public affairs. Just as
any corporation would pick out five
high class men to take charge Of the
| affairs of its business.
Cities on all sides OF us are TAX
ing up this commission form OF
government idea, and the Perth
Amboy Board of Trade is interest
ed in a proposed bill which is being
drafted and will be presented to the
legislature at this session, giving
the city permission to adopt the new
system.
While little has been said about il
thus far In Perth Amboy, the idea
has been discussed in many circles
and is rapidly growing In favor
We believe q more thorough discus
sion would be helpful and nigh
lead to Perth Amboy adopting the
new system. Before talking abou'