Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-12-26
THE OLD COUNCIL
PLAYS TRUE TO FORM
We Shall Soon Know Whether Its Sue
cessor Is Loyal to the Old or
the New System

the New system
| THE councilman who in voting to him
L sell and his colleagues the desks and
| chairs they have occupied remarked that
/ they were not Cheap skates" has not
proper appreciation of the relatively of
values.
If this is the best they can do in the
way of loot for their own profit they are
cheap, indeed, and are not doing justice
to the reputation Of the city. We have
! not been accustomed to expect such pet
tiness from the councilmen. In past
years the local legislators have risen to
their opportunities with proper appre-
citation of their magnitude. The so-called
gas scandal and the misnamed water
scandal are not forgotten by men of ma
ture years. They are called scandals
because, as a distinguished municipal
statesman once remarked, it is OCCASION
ally prudent to "pander to the moral
sense of the community. AS matter of
fact, they were notable triumphs for the
theory on which this and most other
cities have been governed for years"
There are innocent souls who think
serve the public. The public is served
occasionally, as accidents cannot be pre-
vented even by the wisest foresight, but
the sophisticated know that in practice
the primary purpose of city council is
to provide jobs for political workers SO
that the political machine may thrive.
City government exists for no other pur-
pose, according to this tandard, than to
benefit the politicians What strengthens
the organization increases the amount of
money it and its adherents can extract
from the taxpayers and raises the pro-
fessiona politician from poverty to
riches beyond the dream of the reformer
is that in which they are chiefly inter-
ested. Public office is private per-
quisite.
Under this system the legislators owe
allegiance not to the people who vote for
them but to the boss who gives them
their nomination. And the boss exploits
government for his personal profit. The
more thoroughly efficient he and his un-
derings are in the prosecution of their
purposes the more money he and they
make If there is not rake-off for
somebody in every sum appropriated,
then some one has fallen down on his
job
The local councilmen live up to their
lights. They apply the theory of the
system of which they are part and apply
it with considerable intelligence and
skill. When they are content with such
petty pickings as a secondhand desk
and chair they are laughed at by the
more skillful players of the game.
Philadelphia has lived under this sys-
tenn of government for many years
Those who know what has been going on
will admit that. there is no exaggeration
in the description of it in the preceding
paragraphs.
Outsiders with different ideals have
called our local system criminal con-
spiracy.
According to the best moral standards
this description is accurate and fitted
the case like the paper OIL the wall. But
for years we exhibited sort of shame
faced pride in the aptness of the charac-
terization. The government that we had
was the kind of government that we
wanted or we would have changed it.
The time came. however, when the people
decided that they wanted something diff
ferent.
There has been a new deal. A new
charter has been adopted, new leaders
have been brought to the front, the old
Council of 145 members has been abol-
ished and a small Council of twenty-one
has been created to take its place.
The new Council contains some men Of
the same type and the same ideals as
those who sat in the old Council. 1t
remains to be seen whether they have
sensed what has happened in the city, or
whether they will strive to serve the
people.
When they agree on the plans for
organization and on the methods they
will use in doing business we shall know
more about them. They can divide them
selves up into lot of little committees,
each of which must be "seen" before any
thing can be done, or they can decide to
do the greater part Of their business in
a committee of the whole, sitting in the
open.
The new Council is no larger than many
committees of Congress. 1t does not
need an elaborate meeting room with all
the fummery of a national or state leg
islature. The Council is really the board
of directors of the city corporation. II
can do it's business better and more ex.
peditiously if its members sit around a
large table and discuss the questions be.
fore them in an informal manner thar
if it plans for oratory and flubdubbery tC
impress outsiders with its Importance.
Those who backed the movement that
resulted in the revised charter and il
the election of Mr.. Moore and the small
Council are watching the preliminar,
moves with acute interest They ar,