Evening journal., 1912-01-27
A Call on the City Council
BY The REV. r. L. JACKSON

| "A Olty council, IN the eyes OF the
average citizen, is a suspicious con-
Germ. Those who visit it in their
own interests, or in the interests Of
their clients, are looked upon as
lSnaves, While those who so simply to
look on are considered fools. The
former-need a thorough moral fumi-
cation on emerging; the latter an
examination into their mentality to see
if it is all there. A short time ago
/ paid a visit to our City Council, sim
ply to look on. My mentality is,
therefore, in question, and am await
ing the arrival Of the alienist.
When | told a friend of my inten-
tion to look I'm upon the city's law
makers, he replied, in the cynical man.
ner OF the average citizen: you are
wasting you- tbnei" Notwithstand-
ing his discouraging remark, / went
and saw what there was to be seen,
and what's more, l came away feeling
that | had speft a profitable evening.
This was als) the feehng of the
young men who were with ne. They
were as Interested ana rs satisfied as
If it had becl minstrel show they
we're taking in. not that 1. bc-s any
resemblance 20 such 4 thing very far
from it. Il was meeting Of earnest,
dignihed men in behalf of the interests
of Wilmington, dry and dull enough
to the man who Graves vaudeville
every time he goes out OF an evening,
but intensely interesting to the man
who concerns himself with municipal
affairs
Having heard politics and the City
Council always mentioned in the same
breath since coming to Wilmington,
tried my level best to get a first
class Whit of the former while sit
ting in the Council chamber Whether
the weather was too cold or my OIL
factory nerve was temporarily out Of
order, or whether there we're none 10
be smelled, I do not know. At any
rate, came away minus the sensation.
In a Conversation with a member of
the honorable body a few days subse-
quent to my visit, Ca man whose 4Grd
I have no reason to doubt) I was n-
formed that they were doing their level
best to eliminate politics from their
deliberations, and, in his judgment
were meeting with success. This is
very gratifying news. More success
TO them. AS to the personnel of the
present Council, my knowledge is toe
meagre to enable me to venture any
thing positive or comprehensive.
am told by some of "the Oldest inhabi-
tants" that years ago the most promi-
nent and influential men of the city
were in the City Council. No doubt
this is to be taken cum grano sails
1t is safe to say that we have Just as
honest and capable men in the Coun-
ell today as there were in "the good
old days" I am not one who believes
that the present generation of city
fathers is the inventor Of civic cor
ruption. II sometimes looks as II
they had imported on the invention Of
their forebears and had taken out a
few more patents. But let us give the
devil his due and not saddle It all on
our contemporaries. But when all
this has been said, one misses in a
body of the representative character
City Council is supposed to be, tho
broadest and highest type of disinter-
ested citizen. We may have a few
such, but why not more? Who is to
blame?
There are three classes Of citizens
in Wilmington who are contributing
nIkle OF nOlUlNk 10 iNt CITY > WtlluIt
There are those who do not realize
that Wilmington is no longer a coun-
try town; there are those who, to some
extent, realize that IL is no longer a
rural place, but who want to live i'm il
as II it were. and thirdly. there is q
large class who realize its urban char.
acter but who are too selfish and lazy
to do their part to enable it to play
its role as such.
We are soon to be treated TO sundry
installments of the work OF the new
charter commission. Suppose the best
charter that can be devised by humai
wisdom is adopted by u.s. VIII it dc
away with the necessity of vigilant
self-sacridcing civic interest on th'
part Of our citizens? DR. Charles
Parkhurst says; 1T is as much The
duty Of a Christian 10 love his tow
as Il is to love his God and as muci
his duty 10 serve his town as TO sarvi
his Cod" Taking my enc from him
I contend that no man is complet
all-round Christian who does not Il
some way contribute 10 the material
political aud moral welfare Of the ciC
he lives in. Such contribution ma.
cost him something. but let him re
member that the Christ whose nam
he bears gave up wealth, case, pOpu
sarity and life itself in behalf OF hi
fellow men