Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-01-09
VOTERS ALONE CAN MAKE
A SMALL COUNCIL BOSS.PROOF
Philadelphia and Chester Are Showing Again
That Political Reform Must Begin in
the Conscience of Citizens

TIE SOUsCienCc VI Siihcho
CERTAINLY the suggestion Of a small
Council of nineteen salaried mem
bers, advanced by the committee or
charter revision as a basis for the pro
posed new charter for this city, repre-
sents an improved conception Of admin
istrative machinery. If a candidate were
to be thus isolated from the party mob
and subjected to the collective and con-
centrated scrutiny of a vastly increased
and various-minded constituency, he
would, as they say, have to watch his
step.
He would keep better company. 1t is
easier to watch nineteen officials than
1874.
The proposition happens to be made
at a time when, in this city and in neigh
boring communities, we are witnessing
new proof of the mighty disdain in
which the average political boss holds all
ordinary formulas and legalisms and
taboos and restrictions.
A small Council would represent a vast
improvement in the municipal machinery.
But what is to be done with the improved
machine? The best devilwagon ever
made can take you either to the opera
or into a ditch with the same facility.
After any frank analysis it has to be
admitted that the voter is the municipal
chauffeur.
Reform has usually failed in perma-
nency because it has not truly touched
the conscience of the electorate. In a
community that permits such a riot Of
cynicism as we have just been witnessing
in the police department under a Ware
Smith Wilson direction, the issue lies far
deeper than any merely legal method
can go. Almost everywhere in this part
of Pennsylvania political cynicism has
spread like a disease. There is our own
City Hall, of course. And there is
Chester.
Chester is passing through a time of
police Encouragement and political de-
basement reminiscent Of our own darkest
days.
Chester is a place Of magnificent
opportunities for forward-minded men. 1t
has ar opportunity to grow and spread
under the stimulus of modern industrial
needs. Magnificent things might be done
for its population and for its future if it
were under the direction of constructive
and imaginative minds. Nowhere in
America, perhaps, is there a city that
could nrnEt mora 1arnnl,, .hn. lko.t,~
under a scientific and humanized admin
istration. And yet Chester is in the
hands of petty bosses. Its politics smell
Of stale beer. It's political destinies
seem to be directed from the back rooms
of saloons.
Here again everybody will say "thc
bosses!'
Yet there are times, in Philadelphia
and in Chester and everywhere else,
when a man who is forever s~narling at
the bosses seems no wiser than a man
who curses his own reflection in a mirror.
For the bosses usually give the people
what they seem to want or insist upon
having, They are always within reach
Just as the Mayor and the Wares are
within reach-whcnever an indignant
pubic wishes to go after them. 1t is
not likely that Mayor Smith would have
permitted the return of Superintendent
Robinson If he feared any unpleasant
results Of an official act altogether fla
grant and almost insulting to the general
intelligence of the community. If men
like Mr.. Smith and Mr.. Ware are forced
to accept a small Council, they will
unquestionably set about multiplying the
possible reform by turning the
municipal machinery to their own uses.
II they can manage to misguiie and
bewilder and battle the public under one
form of administration, they are not
likely TO avoid trying the same game
under other circumstances. That is
where the FACTOR of the voters con-
science comes in. The boss deals with
the general consciousness-or uncon-
sciousnoss-of the voters. Leaders for
decency must learn to do likewise sue
cessfully.
Here, perhaps, is the explanation of
the persistent failure Of reform in Phil
%adelphia. The reformer too often puts
his faith in legalistic forms, repressions
and restrictions. In many past efforts
for a larger Righteousness in municipal
affair." the rcformers depended on two
battle cries. They promised "a strict
business administration" or good book
keeping"
Strict business administrations and
good bookkeeping are we'll enough. But
these are dry words. They do not touch
any ones imagination, and in every voter
is the knowledge that a strict business
administration and good bookkeeping dc
not necessarily represent the ultimate
ends of life or citizenship.
There are greater desires hidden AVA
in most people. The reformer mus
articulate them, Probable tho absoro,