The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-12-17
Exclusive Service The Survey Press
 PttraauA

(Exclusive Service The Survey Press Bureau)
 To sneak of a national municipal work" seems to some a contradiction or terlns'
 hut it is only apparent. It requires but a
 moments reflection to realize that the
 municipal worker in any one city should
 know what the municipal workers or
 other cities are doing, that the eXperi-
 ence of all should be at the command or
 each TO serve this end has been the
 aim of the National Municipal league
 from it's inception in 1894
 Tie National Municipal league has been
 an oren forum for the prompt and sym
 pathetic discussion of all phases or the
 city problem and for all proposed rem
 edies, a careful investigator of the facts
 as a precedent to the formulation of pol
 icy, a clearing house of information, and
 a factor in the development of an intelli-
 gent and effective citizenship.
 From the beginning the league has given
 the widest latitude to discussions, fbut
 has not submitted itself to any line of
 policy until after the most painstaking study and investigation. Many an all. | leged panacea. has been exploded when | subjected to the test in the leagues an
 nual meeting while many an earnest l but timid effort has been developed and strengthened. 1t is because of this min- , gled breadth of interest and caution that I
 among the leading reform organizations
 of the country and among educational so- cieties by the Engineering News. This | publication began a thoughtful review or recent federal and state collections of uni form municipal statistics in this way.
 Thanks to the National Municipal
 league, the Congress of the United
 States, acting through the bureau of
 census, and a number of state legIsla- lures, acting through various adminis- | trative departments, there is now being
 brought together year by year, an in- creasingly large and valuable collec- | tion of municipal statistics. Following | more or less closely the classification
 of the National Municipal league, these
 municipal statistics are sufficiently uni form to afford work as been needed I but lacking for so long time; that | Is, means for comparing some of the many activities of our cties.p
 | Not only in the realm of municipal ac | counting and statistics has the league done important constructive work, but
 in the field of charter revision in all | it's several phases. in 'nomination re- | form, franchise policy and civic educa- tion, the league has made important contributions of widespread usefulness. Because the secretary of an organization is perhaps "too much in the woods to see the trees" and so cannot always de- scribe its work in true perspective, I am apt, when writing of the league, to quote pretty freely from what others have said of our work. Tn commenting on the in- fiuence of the leagues now widely known Municipal Programme" which consists of a municipal corporations act and a series of constitutional amendments de-
 signed to give effect to the leagues pol icy of municipal home rule and a simp,i- fled form of effective city charter. Dr.
 Delos F. Wilcox, the franchise expert of the New York public utilities commits sion, and the author of 'rhe American City," has pointed out that while the programme has nowhere been enacted into law as a whole it's influence has been felt practically everywhere under the flag" It was published in full in Honolulu for the benefit Of the Hawaiian legislature. It was used by the Havana charter com mission and by the Porto Rican Philippine
 commissions. It has left marked traces in the new constitutions of Virginia and Alabama, and has formed the basis for sweeping amendment to the Colorado con- stitution, The charter commissions Of
 nearly 200 cities have used it; it has
 formed the basis for agitation for char
 ter reforms in as many more -'vi sf 'i-' 's
 Dean Delaney of All Saints Cathed- ral, Milwaukee, in commenting on the leagues policy, said that at first one is inclined to feel that social and po- litical reformers of the league type, are too easy going and optimistic but "one soon discovers 1t is all part of their method of social reform-the
 method of improving things by appre- citation: by believing there Is good in other mem by assuming that most peo-
 pie really want good government and that even the worst politicians have
 their good qualities. to which appeal
 can be made. It is the opposite ef the
 method of denunciation, the method of
 pessimsm." The method relies on the
 plain statement of the facts about mu-
 nicipal conditions and the inevitable conscience of the community"
 For the most part, the officers and directors of the league represent the young man elementH active opponents of the "new politics. based on theI principle of common sense and bus mess methods applied to the functions of local government and a proper re- gard for the welfare of the community as a whole. As individuals. giving proof, of the strictly non-partisan character of the league. they represent all par- ties, all factions. all interests. Many are republicans; others are democrats, some are Independents They represent the conservative and the radical ele- ments; they include high tariff pro- tectionists low tariff advocatess and free traders but without exception they are men who believe in taking part in public affairs; in giving con crete form and expression to their