The Hawaiian gazette., 1917-02-27
THE ADVERTISERS SEMI-wEEKLY
Centerinq Responsibility

1.-The one chief fault Of the present municipa
j system Of government is that under it ther
Is no fixed responsibility upon anyone for anything
That this is the case cannot be denied That it I
an undesirable condition must be conceded. Tha
this lack OF responsibility has resulted in the great
er part of the breakdown of the present system o
city government has been demonstrated so ofte1
by so many that few will be found at this tim
willing to take up the contrary for debate
The chief gain to be secured through the adopt
ion OF commission form Of government lies in tina
under such system there is fixed responsibility
individual responsibility and Individual credit TO
the proper performance or individual blame for tn
neglect of specific duties. We do not believe tina
any who have studied the matter of modern mum
cipal charters will deny this
The outstanding feature of the proposed new
charter for Honolulu, as drafted by the charte
convention and presented to the legislature, il
that it concentrates the executive duties of the civic
government in few hands, specifies for each com
missioner his duties, powers and prerogatives anC
provides that each such commissioner shall bt
clothed with the full power and saddled with thu
full responsibility in his particular department. He
is responsible to none but the electorate, who hold,
over him the power of the recall.
1t is true, as pointed out by the critics of tn,
proposed charter, that the ballot provided is no
the short ballot" if by "short" is meant the tota
number of names thereon, because in addition tc
the commissioners the charter provides for mayor
and board of six supervisors. As a matter Of
fact, even though not of arithmetic, "short bal
lot is provided, because the number of important
Offices is cut down by more than onehalf over the
present system.
1t ought to be obvious to anyone studying the
proposed charter that the various commissioner:
..,tx - tba f,,I1
power must of necessity be men of technical and
professional training To limit Office holding to
such, under the present electoral conditions, would
be an injustice to the greater number of electors
and men eligible otherwise for public Office. The
injustice would be so patent that no Legislature
would dare enact charter measure so limiting
the number OF elected officials. Hence the nclu-
sion of board of supervisors with Legislative
powers only. ".. "
For all practical purposes, the proposed charter
will give Honolulu. commission form Of govern
Inent. with pfactcallysall the advantages of that
system. 1t provides for as close an adaptation OF
the commission form as is possible under the cir
cumstances. 1t is certainly a tremendous step
forward as compared to the present nondescript
municipal government, with the authority and
the responsibility SO diffused that passing the
buck" is the main business of Our elected officials
professional politicians and the other imaginary
bugbears Of the "holier than thou" set
No matter under what form of government we
may live, good men have to be elected to Office
to secure good government. -. r
There is no more reason to suppose that short
ballot" will of itself produce these good men than
there is to suppose that the proposed charter,
which provides for supervisors we'll COM
mssoners, is going to eliminate these good men
from the responsible offices.
AS a matter of fact is it not more reasonable
to suppose that competent men to be found
more easily for the commssonerships when there
are six or seven other places to be given to other
aspirants who may be politically strong but not
fitted by education and training for the executive
positions?
Honolulu is not Berkeley nor at all comparable
to a majority of the mainland municipalities where
the commission form and the city manager plan
found acceptable to the majority, and it is
folly to attempt to put into force here what any
one who knows conditions realizes is now impossi
Bile. ~. '..... ....-
Let us get the best and then work for
something better. Do not scorn the half loaf; il
is all we can get at present.