Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-11-25
Richmond's Eyes Arc on Its Mayor

kicllmond'S Eyes Are OH Its Manor
M ATOR AINSLIE and the Council seem
if1 to have reached an impasse. The for
MGR is cropping more or less blindly in his
efforts to select men for the new city director
ships provided under the amended charter
because the salaries to be paid have not been
determined Meanwhile the Council hest
Ntates TO fix the salaries until it knows what
sort OF men the Mayor has in mind for the
jobs. In other words. the Council is willing
to pay big salaries to big men. or little. sala-
ries to little men, but it wants TO know be-
fore acting what caliber of brains it is pur-
chasing. Whatever the solution, and whether
the Mayor or the Council acts first. the an
swer must be written or before December
10. that being the time 1imit fixed by Council
Richmond awaits the announcement of the
names OF those who to head the four de-
partments in the full realization that as they
aee competent or incompetent there will be
success or failure for the new form of mu-
nicpa government. The Mayors appointees
will have it within their power to make or
mar it, and he. too, must know that
his whole political future is at stake, for
the voters and rightly so, will hold him re-
sponsible for the manner in which the new
system functions. That the system itself is
fundamentally sound there can be no ques-
ton, but no machinery, governmental or
otherwise. is better than the men who epc-
rate it. and the Mayors appointees will bring
TO perfection ruin Richmond's new ma
chine according to their measure of ability.
Let the Mayor he swayed from the path OF
judgment by the considerations Of petty pol
itics that has been Richmonds bane in the
past and brought failure and death to the
Administrative Board. select men of mediocre
talent by reason OF political eSpediency, and
the charter will have been amended to no
good purpose The old system might just
as we'll have been left undisturbcd. But let
him name for the positions within his gift
men Of broad, sound mind and business ex-
perience; men who are not attracted to pub
lie Office because the pay is greater than they
could hope to earn in private life. but because
OF their real desire to serve and Richmond
will have government better. more progress
sive and more economical than it ever has
has had before.
1t may be taken for granted that the city
cannot afford 10 pay TO the director of public
safety salary large enough to compensate
the kind of man it demands and must have.
There are in Richmond men most admirably
fitted for the discharge of the duties of that
responsible position if they but can be SC
cured. Any one of them perhaps, Is earning
more money in private life than the city will
be- able to pay He must be actuated, there
fore, by his love for Richmond, his desire to
be OF assistance to his felow-townsmen, and
his willingness to make Il heavy personal sac
riticc in the public interest. This is the sort
of man wanted. the sort that is demanded
the Mayor select. For any other kind the
smallest salary that Council could fix would
be too much.
During the mental disturbances incident to
the influenza epidemic and the coming Of
peace, the citizens in large measure have lost
sight OF the fact that the amended charter
Will go into effect January /, and that
the vitaly important appointments are to be
made within three weeks. But never for an
instant have the politicians lost sight of the
Facts, and, under cover, of course, they are
making desperate campaign to land" some
OF the faithful in the coveted positions. They
will hardly succeed in face Of the full strength
OF Rlchmond's progressive citizenry, which
made the new system possible, but it is well
TO be awake to the possibilities and to re-
alze that the forces which would defeat the
civic good for political and material ends
must be vigorously combated and defeated