The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1917-03-23
Shall A Commits
sion be Chosen
to Frame A
Charter.

will be held in Hamilton at which
the voters will be asked Whether
a Commission shall be chosen to
frame new Charter for Hamilton.
AT the same time on the same
ballot will be a list of 40 names of
Hamilton men of whom Is men are
to be chosen to frame the Charter
if the majority of those voting de
eide that a new Charter should be
framed These Is men will then
frame the Charter They are to
receive no payment for this work,
and as soon as the new Charter is
framed their work is done, and
their authority ceases. After the
Charter is framed by these Is men
it will be submitted to the voters
for adoption or rejection, SO that
every voter will have chance to
say whether he is satisfied with the
new Charter before it goes into eff
feet.
This second election on voting
whether the new charter is to go
into effect will be held as soon after
the men are done framing it as pos
sible, probably at the August prim-
airy election. If the new Charter
then carries the new officers under
the charter can then be elected
The question naturally arises
why should we vote for a new
Charter. What advantages has it
over our present form of govern
ment2
The present form of government
was framed by the State Legisla-
ture The new form will be framed
by Hamiltonians and adopted by
Hamiltonians. This was not pos
sible before 1912 when the voters
of Ohio wrote the Home Rule pro
vision into the State Constitution
allowing the voters of a city tc
frame their own form Of govern
ment if they wish to-
Under our present form Of gov
ernment every act is prescribed b,
the State Legislature, under tn,
new form every act will be pre-
scribed by the people of Hamil
ton, if they wish changes mad,
in the Charter after it is adopted
, they can make them by the us'
of the initiative, and do not hav,
to appeal to the State Legislature
, for any and every power they de
sire to exercise.
The new Charter will be essen
TALLY a Home Rule Charter. |
t can give the city government tn,
$ power to do anything it desires no
prohibited by the general laws o
the State, while the present form
of government only allows the city
to do things expressly granted BY
the State Legislature The liv,
progressive cities of the state ant
nation, which are moving toward
municipal ownership and broade
powers of the City government ar,
all adopting the new Charters.
There are now over 45O cities il
the United States acting unde
Home Rule Charters, varying il
size from villages of 1900 to cite,
like Buffalo with 500, 900 popula
ton. Altogether more than tel
million people in the United State,
are now living under the new form.
Of Commission or Commission Man
ager governments
What are some of the things W.
can secure under a Home Rul,
Charter which we cannot secur,
under the present form of govern
ment in Hamilton?
We can secure more power 70,
the people, We can have the re
call of public officers by the people
We can have broader provisions re
garding the franchises of street rail
ways and other public utilities
In Ashtabula for instance the pro
visions regarding franchises are
very broad. The public service
corporations must file annual re
ports with the City Commission
stating what wages they'are paying
their employees, and complete re
ports of their income and expenses
All franchises are for limited terms
with the provision that the city
may purchase the property of the
corporation at fair price if the
city wishes to adopt municipal
ownership. The adoption of fran