The Alaska citizen., 1914-04-27
THE COUNCILS SECRETS.

If the new city council wants 10
enjoy the confidence of the people
of Fairbanks it must refrain in the
future from trying to handle import
ant city affairs in secret When the
district attorney objected to the
conditions that prevailed in the re-
stricted district the council kept the
matter a secret, and had it not been
for the fact being made public by
this newspaper, the people of the
city would probably have never
known that any complaint had been
made concerning the place.
Members of the city council are
only the servants Of the people, and
are not the dictators OF the city
government. They have no moral
right to meet behind closed doors
with the idea Of keeping secret mat
ters in which the entire community
is interested, The day Of star cham
Der sessions is passing away and
now there is even a growing SEN
timent against secret meetings of
grand juries,
1t would not be right to say that
a secret session Of city council
is necessarily prompted by the de-
sire to do work In an underhand
way, but in nearly every such case
the public is apt to question such
meetings and to feel that they are
held either because there is being
something done that is not quite
honorable or that the majority of
the members are not manly enough
to meet public opposition in regard
to what they may find it necessary
to do.
The secret session is the strong
hold of political bosses to force
officials to carry out the demands
of their masters. In the old days in
San Francisco when Abe Reuf own
ed the board OF supervisors, he held
a secret meeting with them the eve
ming of their regular meeting each
week, and at these secret meetings
the city supervisors were given their
instructions Reuf never attended an
open meeting Of the board,
Scandals seldom result from open
and above-board action. A few years
ago the city of Portland had school
board that suddenly took a notion
to hold secret meetings. The mem
bers said that the reason of the
secrecy was to select teachers for
the next year, and it was declared
that if the meetings were public at
which the teachers were chosen the
members Of the board would not
feel inclined to talk against teach.
ers that they felt were not wanted
To this argument the friends Of
the teachers declared that the men,
bers Of the school board should
have enough moral courage to speak
their opinions in the presence Of
their opponents, and that the secret
selection Of teachers was unjust to
the teachers, inasmuch as they would
not be at liberty to defend them
selves against unjust criticism,
The two secret meetings held at
that time resulted in much trouble
for the board, for it developed later
that one teacher had been deprived
OF her position as the result OF an
unjust and unf0unded report con
corning her, that she proved to be
false later, and would have been able
to refute if she had known that she
was to have been charged
with the offense at The secret meet
ings. 1t also developed two weeks
after the meetings that the board
had raised the salary of the super
intendent from $4,000 to $4,000
year with the money that had spe-
cially been voted to raise the teach
ers' salaries. The newspapers took
the matter up and gave it thorough
airing.
At the present time the city char
ter of the city of Portland pro
hibits secret meetings on the par,
of the city council or any Of the
committees Of the council.
The city council OF Fairbanks is
composed largely Of business men.
and still these same businessmen
would object seriously II their own