Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-03-06
EDITOR
THE BUSINESS WAY.

~.
Proof upon proof piles mp that modern American
cities are coming TO the .shortballot form of GOV.
crninent-a point made strongly at the public hear
ing on the proposed city charter for Honolulu.
Latest in this line is an eloquent and vigorous arti
Gle in the current Review of Reviews. by H. $. Gil
bertson. Writing on Running States and coun-
ties on Business Lines he says
More than ten million American citizens resi-
dent in four hundred odd municipalities distributed
over forty-one states living under form Of gov
eminent which for. ten years has been providing a
workable formula for breaking up political ma
chimes and installing independent public opinion in
the seat of power. What is coming out of this
perience specifically for the cities involved need
hardly be rehearsed. The point is that beginning
with the first application of a principle of gov
eminent in the rather crude organization known as
the commission plan, American political thought
has been taking bold and unprecedented liberties
with the cherished theories of the Fathers And
signs are not lacking that commission government
las dynamic idea, not as a rigid formula) is to
be the thin end of wedge which is to broaden its
own meaning and force its way upward into the
large civic divisions.
Thus, at Dayton three years ago. commission gov
eminent took a deeper significance and direct
popular control but toward the enforcement of that
control through efficient administration. In the is
sue of this magazine for June, 1914 Mr. L. ID. Epson
described the operation of the charter of that
city. This instrument preserved the features of
commission government which involved the short
ballot and concentration of municipal powers in the
hands of single electice body. 1t abandoned how
ever the practise of undertaking TO secure heads of
departments by the elective process. Furthermore
enunciated the idea "a thoroughly radical one in
this country that the chief executive of the city
should be treated as an arm or instrument of the
governing body and be chosen by it with sole refer
ence to his professional qualifications.
1.-The charter was death blow to the vote getting,
goodfellow' tradition; it went even farther than
commission government in the way of simplifying
election issues: it paved the way for the expert in
city administration. On the strength of its new
charter the city fathers stunned the local politicians
by going outside the limits of DAYTON for their first
manager They thereby undermined the greatest
stronghold of the old order, the popular political
habit which conceiyes of local Office as local in
dustry rather than as public trust. They also
struck harmonious chord in the hearts of indepen
dent citizens everywhere
Commission government embodies in specialize
ed form the short ballot Several years ago definite
propaganda was started to explain this principle to
the American people From the beginning it was
tied up, for tactical purposes, to the movement
which had already begun to sweep through the cities
with such effect that it is safe to say that this prnc
pie has met with the passive approval of nearly
every really influential public figure in the country
including educators editors, party leaders and pub
lie executives In 1915 fourteen governors urged
upon their legislatures the enactment of short ballot
laws as applied to the state government"
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