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

The charter that had been pro-
yided boy the committee was thorugh-
iy discussed and with but one dis
entinE voice. was adopted as the
sense of that large mass meeting that
Ine Council pass .t W 10 the vote ~
the people together with any other
'Harter that The Guy Council or any
other body of men might desire To-
place before the people
Says Ring Was at Work.
During an this time "a little body
pf the General Council were meeting
IN a back rpora Of one OF our office
buildings and preparing a charter to
suit themselves ana 60 pcrpetuate a
few men i'm office TheiF work had
not received any open official sane
ton, nor did they take the public into
their confidence. and nothing was
known Of their proposed charter un-
I'll the committee of - had made their
report to the General Council
Then the people, charter was
thrown into the wastebasket ana
substituted by the charter that had
been provided by little click II men
IN a back room. The matter was
further presented 20 the people by
means of "a postal card vote. de
handing Of the General Council tina,
all proposed charters bee referred Co
select the one they desired. In that
postal card vote there were 5.j3l pos
al cards returned demanding the
light 10 vote.
This met with the same response
rom the General Council as past eff
forts Of this kind had met before.
one Alderman expressed 81 upon the
Council floor that the people could
not he trusted. that the people did not
Ha.#T D. s.rH
the Council. knew what the people
need. ard that they would give them
what they thought best
'The number of people who eN-
pressed themselves as desiring 20
vote on the charter question at that
time is considerably more than half
Of the registered voters who viii be
qualified 20 vote on the gath 81 this
month.
Says People viii Disapprove.
Il can not conceive that the people
IF this city VIII be disposed to APP
prove such actions. The adoption OF
that charter means ring rule To- At
lanta for years TO come. and the peo-
Die should not be GerCllct I'm their
duty in turing out TO the polls and
Dm yinE such work so deep that u
win not be attempted again. II the
people do see at TO act adversely To-
The adoption of that charter ON the
.4th Of this month. 10 IS my purpose
20 again the first OF next year, make
IN ATTEMPT 10 get genuine charter re-
form for the city of Atlanta
Il propose fOT the next effort In that
I'ne 10 be done in way that VIII
give the people an opportunity to vote
upon the very best charter that can
be gotten up, both upon Mcommission
form and representative FORM OF
government MY idea Is, that this
should be done by the appointment OF
a committee Of, say, about 20 FIRST
class representative people, all OF a
commission government faith, with
instructions to get up a commission
form Of government up to the very
latest date. Then, that a Ike COM
luittee of first class representative
citizens be appointed, every one oil
that committee to be Of the repre-
sentative government type. Let eath
one of those committees go GA ana
get up the very best charter pusslhl"
along the lines OF their belief Neither
committee viii be hampered by mix
lure Of different thoughts, but AL OF
"Give the People a Chance"
"Thc result will be the best charter
possible og that kind. WITH sucn
committees as that appointed there Is
no reason to believe that Atlanta can
not secure one OF the very best char
ters that can lac gotten together
When the different committees have
done their work then ] suggest that
10th charters, the commission FORM
and the representative form. be sub
pitted to the people, that they may
choose the one which they prefer. II
would appear to me that this ls thor
oughly democratic and representative.
Give the people an opportunity to Sc
.ect that which they prefer
"As | said at the tirst of this state
nent. the charter TO be voted upon
next Wednesday was prepared un-
officially by two or three touUCtlmen,
assisted by several other we'll known
local statesmen, and presented az a
meeting of Council with motion that
{, be adopted. Mt Claude Mason
moved a postponement for TWO weeks
for the purpose of having the city
clerk furnish each member with "a
copv. ana. in urging his motion stat
ed that all of the members of Council
lad 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 iu print
some copies We're lodged In the
Nity Clerks once Yesterday. Septem-
Der IS. thus permitting jas eNamina
tion by the public for period OF I'VE
days.
Power in the Council
lis examination diScloses very
Interesting and well-thought-ou; gen
eral scheme of putting complete do
tniusou over every department and
.u,r10ype Of the yitv in the hands Of a