Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1913-09-21

~ ,le A-44IDT4llut az WI-"H l4lt'llilE
there " ere not less than 1000 Of At
lsnts's most representative people.
Tie charter tina: lad been pro
lided bv the committee was thorough
ly discussed and. with but one dis
-euiirg voice. was adopted as the
sense OF that large mass meeting that
The Council pass Il up tu the vote OF
The people. together with any other
.hartar that tAe CITY Council oT any
other body of men I'd EIl desire TO
place before the people
Says Ring Was at Work.
During all this time a E-tie body
VI the General Council We're meeting
70 a back room Of one Of our Office
buildings and preparing a charter TO
suit themselves and TO pe-petuate a
few men III Office. Their Uork had
not received any open official sane
ton. nor did they take the public into
heir confidence. and nothing was
known Of their proposed charter I'M
til the committee Of 70 had made their
report to the General Council
Then the people charter was
thrown into the Wastebaske' and
substituted by the charter that had
been provided 10y little click ~ men
in a back room. The matter was
further presented to the people by
means of a postal card vote. de-
handing Of tho General Council ths'
all proposed charters be referred to
hem to pass upon, that they might
select the one they desired. In that
postal card vote there were 5,53l pos
tai cards returned demanding the
light to vote.
This met with the same response
rom the General Council as past eff
forts Of this kind had met before.
one Alderman expressed II upon the
council floor that the people could
not be trusted that the people did not
snuw what they wanted. that they,
the Council knew what the people
need, and that they would give them
that they thought best
THE number Of people vino eN-
pressed themselves as desiring a
vote on the charter question at that
lime is considerably more than half
Of the registered voters who viii be
uuallfed to vote on the gath or this
month.
SAYS People Will DIsapprove.
Il can not conceive that the people
of this city win be disposed 10 APP
nrove such actions The adoption Of
that charter means ring rule to At
lauta tor years to come and the pe0-
Ole should not be deFellct In their
DUTY I'm turing out 10 the polls ana
burning such work so deep that X
viii not be attempted again. II the
people do see 1T to act adversely to
The adoptiun Of that charter on the
e4th ~ this month, it Is my purpose
10 again. the first Of next year make
an attempt to get genuine charter re-
form Tor the City Of Atlanta
Il propose Tor the next effort in That
Emo to he done in a way that VIII
give the people an opportunity to vote
upon the very best charter that can
be gotten up. both upon commission
form and "a representative form OF
government My idea is. that this
should be done by the appointment OF
a committee Of say, about 20 nrst-
class representative people, all OF
commission government taith, win
Instructions TO get up commission
form OF government ny 10 the very
latest date Then, that a like com
mittee Of first-Class representative
citizens be appointed, every one oil
that committee to be of the repre-
sentative government type. Let each
one OF those committees go gu ana
get up the very best charter possible
along the lines of their belief. Neither
committee will he hampered by MIX
gure of different thoughts, but All OF
aGive the People a Chance"
The result will be the best charter
possible OF that kind, With such
committees as that appointed there Is
no reason TO believe that Atlanta can
not secure one of the very best char
ters that can be gotten together
When the different committees nave
done their work then ] suggest that
10th charters, the commission form
and the representative form. be sub
nitted to the people, that they may
Moose the one which they prefer. II
would appear 20 me that this is thor
ouRhly democratic and representative.
Give the people an opportunity TO Sc
fect that which they prefer.
As said at the first Of this state
ment. the charter to be voted upon
next Wednesday was prepared IN
Officially by two or three Councllmen'
assisted by several other well-known
local statesmen. and presented at a
meeting of Council with motion that
II be adopted. Mr.. Claude Mason
moved a postponement for two weeks
FOR the purpose of having the city
clerk furnish each member with a
.opy. and, in urging his motion, stat
ed that all of the members OF Council
had not seen or read the charter. The
motion carried, and copies OF the
charter were presumably furnished
members OF Council. No copies were
Furnished the public, nor did the char
Ter appear in print.
some copies were lodged in the
CITY Clerks Office yesterday, Septem-
ber IS thus permitting its eXamina-
lion by the public for period OF hve
DAYS.
Power in the Council.
"I.y examination discloses very
interesting and we'll thought-out gen
tral scheme OF putting complete do
,uiujou over every department and
employee Of the CITY in the hands Of a
majority Of the City Council. Sub
stantially an rights and authority now
possessed by the public are taken
from il. every branch OF the city IS
consolidated and rounded out into one
COMPACT effective political machine,
TO Illustrate: Section "a provides
for the election by the people of the
City Attorney. City Marshal City
Treasurer. Building Inspector, Comp
troller. Recorder Clerk, Electrician
and Tax Collector.
at then provides: The Mayor and
General Council may declare vacant
the office of any Of the officials Of the
sity elected by the people for a fail
IRE 20 properly perform their duties
or FOR any other breach OF duty or
their part, al 20 be adjudged in tbs
discretion CT the General Council