Semi-weekly herald., 1912-05-27

.NfWPLAN
MIR. STEIN SUGGESTS FOREIGN N
WAY OF ONE RULER OVER
TOWNS AND CITIES
Mr.. Editor:

mr.. EDITOR.
| notice that our charter makers
want suggestions, and | offer this one
for what they think it is worth. My
reason for making any suggestion is
based on conversations | heard on the
street today. On every corner our
people are talking about the kind of
a charter we ought to have, and |
heard a great variety of opinions ex-
pressed. Some thought that we ought
to have five commissioners, others
thought we ought to have three, and
quite number thought that one
would be enough. l am one of the
latter and my reasons for thinking
SO are based on what saw while tray
cling through Germany where every
town has its own burgomaster, and
by the good accounts / have seen of
the successful working of the one man
system in Pretoria and in Johanns-
burg in South Africa. In all those
places the people are governed by ex-
perts, and why should we not have
expert government here? The only
reason seems to be that we are afraid
expert government would be incon-
sistent with Democratic government.
but that such is pot the case is proved
by the way they do it in Germany, in
the city of London, in South Africa
and in most of the cities in Europe.
In those cities the legislative power
and the administrative power are sep
arated. The laws or ordinances are
made by body Of councillors who are
chosen by a direct vote of the people
under preferential voting system
that gives every citizen proportional
representation. These councillors,
therefore, are experts, and besides
having power to make laws they have
the power to choose an expert to ad-
minister them. This administrative
officer is called the lord mayor in
some places and in other places he is
called the burgomaster, but within his
sphere he is supreme, and there is
never any conflict of authority. The
cities that have that system, therefore.
are managed in the same way that pri-
vate corporations manage their bust
ness, and the government is thorough
ly Democratic because the men who
make the laws are elected by the citi
zens under a proportional representa-
tion plan that gives every mans vote
equal effect.
Briefly the plan is as follows: ANY
man who cares to be a candidate for
councilman can have his name placed
on the official ballot by petition, and
in voting for them each citizen has a
first, second and third or more choice.
When the votes are counted If any
candidate has majority of first
choice votes he is elected. If no one
receives a majority, the candidate who
has the smallest number of these first
choice votes is declared "out of the
count" and his ballots are distributed
the other candidates in ac-
cordance with the further choices of
the voters as shown by the markings
on their ballots, and this process is
carried on until some one receives a
majority. This single transferable
vote gives every substantial body of
opinion proportional representation in
the election Of officers, and it has
given the best Of satisfaction wher-
ever it has been tried.
l think we ought to try 1t here.
By using it we could easily elect a
council of nine eminent citizens who
would serve without pay, and they in
turn could elect an expert to admin
lister the city's affairs at a fair sal
ary. In passing ordinances such
council would have the advantage of
deliberation and amendment, which we
can not have under the initiative and
referendum, but we should have the
right to recall them in case they ap-
point the wrong man to administer
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