Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-03-10
WHAT CAN BE DONE
WHEN YOU WANT To Do 1T
Detroit Has Shown the WAY in Which We
Can Follow if We Have the Nerve to
Srrap Outgrown Things

Can Follow IL We Have the Nerve TO
Scrap Outgrown Things
/ once more we commend to the atLen-
~ tion Of every one interested in the
! beuelment Of Philadelphia the series Of
articles appearing on this page in which
/ Mayor Couzens, of Detroit, describes the
! successful housekeeping methods Of that
city.
II took Detroit only three years to
wipe out the old abuses and make new
start. 1t reformed the election laws
under which the corrupt politicians had
been defeating the will OF the majority.
1t secured change in the statute per-
hitting the election of d charter revision
commission by wards by inducing the
Legislature TO authorize the election Of
commi >sion of nine on a general ticket;
and it forced the old Board Of Aldermen
to put the subject Of charter revision up
so the voters. The voters decided they
wanted the charter revised. They elected
the commission of nine. The commission
drafted a modern charter and the voters
ratified it.
The new charter provides for City
Council Of nine members. not elected by
wards nor by districts, but on a general
ticket. This Council takes the place Of
the old Board Of Aldermen Of forty-two
members. chosen two from each ward.
And the Cuuncilmen receive salary Of
$4,000 and meet every day. Besides the
Councilmen. only three officers are
elected. They arc The Mayor, the City
Clerk and the City Treasurer. All the
others are appointed by the Mayor. and
all except the heads Of departments, their
deputies and confidential secretaries are
appointed from an eligible list prepared
by the Civil Service Commission.
4 complete revolution in the manage
ment of the affairs Of the city has taken
place in an incredibly short time. The
city is alert and facing the future, It
has nearly doubled in size in the last
eight years and now has an estimated
population Of $4,000. The 400, 900 new
citizens who have taken up their resi-
dence there are not bound by any sort of
| ties to the old forces which have been
| dethroned. They wanted better things
/ and they did not care what became Of
| the political leaders who had built up an
| organization through years of arduOus
| effort And the political leaders could
not go to them and demand support on
| the score Of past favors. The whole
| subject was considered on its merits,
without regard to the effect upon any
thing except the good of the whole COM
munity.
This is what happens in young and
| growing city facing the future. The at
tention of Detroit is concentrated on the
great things that it is to do instead of
on the great things which it has done.
! The complacency Of the old man who
devotes his time to pleasant contempla-
! ton of the obstacles he has overcome
and to amable chatter about his achieve
ments is fatal to growth. Such a man
has passed beyond the period of accom-
plishment And any city which gets into
| similar mental state will stagnate,
while its more alert rivals will get the
population and business which properly
| belong to it,
Philadelphia has for years been IN the
state of the old man proud of his past.
There are encouraging symptoms now
manifest that it is renewing its youth