Evening journal., 1912-05-07
PEOPLE GET CHANCE
UNDER NEW CHARTER

Editor of TIE EVENING JOutstNA'-'
sir Another reason why the pio-
nosed form of government Tor WI
mington now under discussion is pe'-
ter than the pure Commission form,
is because under the proposed charler
Tho neople are required to do oniy
What thev are capable Of doing Wen
while under the Commission form
tbe neople are required to do, What
thew can do we'll. only by chance. Ley
ne iliustrate Under the proposei
charter the people are required 10
elect q Council. whose chief powers
and duties are to legislate and raise
revenue. Under the Commission
eoverumcnt the people elect couu-
cil. ;hat must not only perform the
above duties, but must also be good
executives and administrators. ] con-
tend that it is by mere chance, II the
peopie shall elect good executive or
administrative officers Candidates
for municipal Offices heretofore have
received their chief support because
of their Affiliations with one or the
other of the two national politlcai
parties. and their personal popularity.
With tho political emblems removed,
and independent voting Increased,
there will he a more discriminating
choice of candidates under the pro
posed charter Candidates Will still
be elected largely because Of their
personal popularity, or because they
represent the political views OF their
supporters. or for many other reasons
of a similar character which the
voters can easily ascertain IN the
course of a campaign. But I sub
init. that the masses Of voters can not
intelligently vote and elect a candl-
date for his executive or administra-
tive ability because they have no
means of adequately ascertaining or
Judging of those qualifications of n
candidate I'm a campign, We might
discuss a mans tendencies as a pro-
ieressive or reactionary whether his
views coinsided with those of Re-
.publicans, Democrats, Socialists or
Single Takers; but could we, or
would we. discuss openly whether or
not candidate had such business ex-
.perience or administrative ability as
would fit him, for instance, for the
responsible head of the department of
public works?
A very small minority who knew
the candidates personally. could vote
intelligently as to whether or not the
candidate met these requirements but
il would be practically impossible 10
enlighten the great mass of voters on
this subject Unless the voters. by
chance, happened to elect a good ad-
ministrator to the head of some im-
portant branch of city government
the chances are more than equal that
they would elect a man who might
fully represent them as legislator
or representative OF their political
thought. but who would be the rank
est failure as an administrator Now
imagine a thoroughly incompetent adj
ministrator elected the head of ths
department of public works under the
proposed charter. If that Office were
elective. Even though he might not
himself be corrupt. would he not
waste and fritter away the more than
one-half million dollars which this
department would spend annually
without plan or reason for the ex-
penditure. Is II nit better TO con.
fine the duties of Council to purely
legislative and tax raising measures
In which II exercises the chief pow.
ers of local government entrusted tC
II by the people, and create machinery
for the selection of administrative
officers. by which you are enabled tc
get the best expert service and ad-
vice which the positions demand. and
for which the city Is willing to pay
For you must remember that these
administrative officers are selected BY
the elected representative Of the peo-
pie. the Mayor.
Again, the experience Of western
cities that have adopted the "Commis
sion" form of government. is that the
expert administrative officers whom
they need and want. will not indulge
in an indiscriminate scramble for Of
fee at popular election They nov
have employment with private per.
sons or corporations, based solely OF
their qualifications to I'll the posi-
tions which they occupy. Many o
them are patriotic and public spirited
enough to want to serve the people