Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-05-30
HE URGES CAUTION
IN ADOPTING RULE
Freie Zeitung's Owner Doubts
Good Results Under Com
mission Government.

Benedict Prieth, part owner of the
New Jersey Freie Zeitung, has ad-
dressed an open letter to Thomas
Walker, of the Clinton Hill Improve
ment Association, in which he sets
forth his views on Commission Gov
eminent for cities.'
| The letter follows in part:
Mr.. Thomas Walker, Newark, N j.:
Dear Sir-I beg to acknowledge
the receipt of your letter of the 26th
| inst, relative to the question of COM
| mission government for cities. When
l told you the other day that / was
| opposed to the innovation l did not
mean exactly what 1 said AS mat
| ter of fact, l am not interested in the
| proposition one way or another, as
| am firmly convinced that it will not
| improve things to any appreciable
! extent. A rather extensive study of
history and politics has convinced me
that nothing will be gained. by
change in the form of government so
| long as the people themselves remain
| unchanged.
Laws Not Enough
ITO change the people something
more than laws is required, something
which will not only act as a prohibit
| ton, but will do that which is vastly
more important, namely, instil in the
| heart of the individual a strong desire
| for justice, as well as loathing and
kcontempt for dishonesty of all kinds.
! Until this is done all the laws in the
world will not accomplish much We
| have had laws against theft and MUIR
| der since the very dawn of civilia-
| ton, but have they succeeded in les
senng these crimes? On the con-
| trary, they seem to be becoming more
prevalent than ever. As to changes
| in our scheme of government. the
same thing holds true. Our people
have been following many will O the
wisps of late. thinking that the saliva
| ton of the State lay in that direction.
| There is the initiative and referen-
| dunn, free trade, election of United
| States Senators by the people and
woman's suffrage, all of which certain
| classes of our citizens have seized
upon, thinking they were new. As
matter of fact, none of these are new.
as any student of history can tell you.
They have all been tried at different
! times and in different parts of the
| world and with varying success.
! What worked we'll thousand years
ago in a State composed of a homo
geneous population may be dire
| failure today in heterogeneous COM
munity Comparisons are odious,
especially in such cases, and there is
no more logic in comparing the now
and here with the bygone and else
where than there is comparing black.
with white.
From what l have seen our citi-
zens do in the past, / have no great
hopes that they will make better
choices when they have an opportun-
ity of electing commissioners to adj
minister our community, than when it
was matter, of electing Mayors and
aldermen.
Results Are Disappointing.
Under the present system our cit
liens have the greatest possible OPP
portunities of expressing their will
All political parties nominate their
candidates at primaries. which are
free for all. When each party has
made its choice the people have an
other opportunity of selecting the
best men. The primary laws under
which we nominate our elective city
officials were given us by the New
Idea Republicans. We were assured
that all that was necessary to bring
about the political millennium was the
enactment of the proposed laws. Well,
we have had them now for several
years, but the results evidently do
not come up to the expectations of
the reformers, who alone of all po-
lItical parties. deliberately seek to
nullify the will of the people by nom
mating for position men who have
been repudiated by the people at the
polls. That's the way of the average
reformer. He makes the rules of the
game and abides by them as long as
things go his way. When things go
against him he refuses to play
IF the people fail to nominate and
elect the best man it is the fault of
the people, and not of the system
What reason have we to assume that
the people will choose more wisely |
when 1t is a question of nominating
and electing commissioners? l see
nothing on which to base such
honas