The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1914-12-12
CHATTER CHANGES.

The city of Huntington was the first
city In the whole country to adopt a.
bipartisan form Of government, or a
government by two political parties,
and Huntington has been fairly sue
cessfM with its new plan which was
naugurated under the most favorable
Circumstances and with tho United
support Of the business and CONNER
cial examinations OF the city, the or
Civilizations OF bott the Democratic
and Republic n parns5, & we'll as the
two able newspapers OF the city rep
resenting the two parties.
There has been no charge Of graft
OF undue extravaganza in the city gov
er1ment and 1t must be admitted that
the city has made rapid strides in
development since the, old council
manic system was abolished Eve years
ago.
But now, after five years of trial
under the most favorable circum.
stances that could be conceived, where
the Officers were equally divided be.
tween two parties Of almost equal
numerical strength in the city, the al.
most unanimous opinion prevails at
Huntington that the charter must be
changed by doing away with the bi.
partisan form Of elections. There
have been a number of deadlocks IN
q eEBoard5 of Affairs during the past
fewsyears and the business of the city
has been seriously retarded thereby.
The Chamber Of Commerce has ap.
pointed a committee to revise the
charter and both Of the newspapers
OF the city advise a change. The pa.
pers are united In this effort and they
both agree that It would be a back.
ward step to go back to the old coun.
cflmantc system, but the commission
form5asm vogue at Huntington is to
he very greatly modified.
is our opinion that Huntington
madeia mistake in not securing a non.
Partisan form Of government in the
drst place, such as has been almost
Uniformly successful in hundreds OF
her cities of the country.
But there was that partisan feeling
there that exists In all cities and
nettherstde wanted to surrender the
MISUNDERSTANDING it was divided
equally between the two dominating
parties. It is surprising that under
thisEpolittcal trust system that Hunt.
inEtonshas Jared SO well. A govern.
ment by two parties with strong or
ganizahons is very apt to become
more tyrannical than a government
by pne party which might be brought
the bar Of justice by the opposi
ton for 4 bad administration, but such
punishment cannot be administered
when two strong parties unite to con
mol q city government.
The Fairmont charter was modelled
after the Huntington plan. The
Huntington people, however, made nc
shypocritical p%retension that their city
government was to be non-partisan
government as the politicians did in
Eafrmont. They came out openly and
frankly and admitted that It was to
be8Rsgovernment by the two dominant
parties and It has been such from
ths beginning. The ward heelers OF
Eafrmont finding that the people
almost unanimously had endorsed a
nonparhsan charter took the bl'parti-
san farce and labeled 1t "non.parti-
aan the most glaring piece Of decep-
don that was ever palmed of on a
long suffering, but patient commun-
f MSthe people of Fairmont had
BEEN given what they asked for in
lie drst place-a comparison char
faLFairmont today would have been
several hundred larger in population
andsWe would have had a satisfied peo-