The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-07-16

"City's muddle is result of system
 which is wrong" These nine words in 36-point type was the head under which
 MT Walter Moore in Tuesday morning
 paper proceeded to flay Birmingham
 commission form of government.
 Students of municipal government will doubtless agree that Mir. Moore's com
 munication is especially noteworthy noteworthy in that it is very clear and
 forceful exposition of the very miscon- ception which gave it birth The sys-
 tem," he said, lis contrary to our form
 of government. What would our fore
 fathers say to a government which com
 bined all executive legislation and judicial
 authority in one body of men Y"
 Right there is laid bare the heart of
 the fallacy. That argument means, if it
 means anything, that cities ought to be
 organized on the model of federal and
 state governments. That is to say. just
 as states are represented in the United
 States Senate, and districts of the state
 are represented in the lower house of Congress, so in the cities with their sep arate wards, let these wards be repre- scented by aldermen locally elected pre-
 
 does it follow that just as states are different and require different represen- ta tion in the National Congress and that as different sections of the state have in a degree different interests and require different representation in Congress- does it therefore follow that different wards of a city have different interests? The intrests of the city are one," says Dr. Lyman Abbott in his Yale lectures. | The city is a unit. If there is any dlt- ference it is a difference in classes, not | in localities" If this be true. then the analogy between the nation and the city | or the state and the city breaks down | the United States Congress is consti- tuted ought not and cannot logically be adopted in the scheme of municipal gov ernment. The main function of a city I is not legislative, anyway; it is adminis- | trative. Cities are primarily concerned with such questions as health preserya- | ton, public cation, fire prevention, l safeguards against mob violence, thieves and burglars; in short the whole matter | of supplying for all the inhabitants liv- | ing within the city's boundaries the mu- nicipal needs, conveniences and com- | forts through officers chosen by the quail l flied electors who act not for themselves, but as trustees, administering the trust committed to their charge for the bene- fit of the whole. The problem of Con- gress is what to do; the problem of Bir- nlingham is how to do it, and Birming- 1 hams problem is the problem of the mod ern city. The problem of national and state governments is to secure just and equal representation of varied interests; | the problem of the city is to secure | capable and efficient administration of | a common interest.
 | MT. Moore took fling at the old, time 1 honored topics of corporation batting and socialism. As to the former, he speaks | 'survigorousy" about getting outsiders l hooked and sticking knives between their | ribs. If evidence is the material out of 1 which proof is made it could scarcely be | believed that even MT. Moore would | claim proof for such a conclusion. As to | socialism, the application readily suggests