Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-08-04

PEOPLE IN CONTROL

government. The columns Of tho
EVENING NEWS are open for a
free discussion Of this subject from
every angle. but letters written for
publication must bear the name and
address Of the writer as an evidence
Of good faith.
we fear that the author Of the
letter published today has a wron
conception of what commission
government is. In the irst place.
he seems to think that those back
Inc the new system expect the mill
lenrium to arrive oncs the change
takes place. This Is one Of the
greatest dangers Of the commission
form of government. People will
expect too much. As long as cities,
states and nations are governed by
human beings no government will
be perfect. No one expects to make
a model city out Of Perth Amboy
by merely changing the form OF
government. II that were possible
the change would have been made
long ago.
The only thing claimed for the
commission form Of government is
that It will make It easier and
simpler for those in authority to
advance the city's interests and
thereby benefit the taxpayers. We
believe 1t will do this and therefore
we heartily favor the adoption OF
commission government.
Our correspondent also seems to
think that because commission gov
does away with partisan
politics in municipal affairs the
commission will be self-appointed in
some way and will become self
perpetuating so hat the people will
10 longer control their W affairs.
AS a matter OF fact. commission
government gives the people more
direct control over their public af-
fairs than they have at present. In
the first place, the commissioners
are elected by the people-every
voter in the city has a voice in the
election of every one Of them. not
lust one man as is the case in elect
ing the present Board of Aldermen.
Anybody by getting a petition sign
ed may be a candidate. provided he
Is a citizen, and IL q majority Of the
people favor him he will be elected.
Once In ONCE he has certain duties
to perform. To be sure, he has sub
ordfnates to assist him. In fact.
most of the present city ohices will
be retained. but the n commits
eioner at the head OF the depart
ment under which the subordinate
woF&s will be directly responsible
to the people for the work of that
subordinate.
II the people are dissatisfied with
the wa any of the departments are
being handled a petition can be cir
culated, and il signed by a SUFFICIENT
number of citizens an election Is
called Immediately. sven though it
may be in the middle OF the COM
m~issioner's term. to determine
whether or not he should be ousted
and somebody else elected in his
place. If that is not directEOvern-
ment by the people we would like
10 know what is meant by the rule
Of the people. There can be no
self rule by a few in that. On the
contrary, the public officials are
constantly under the observation of
he people all the time and respon-
sibllity is so fixed that there is no
aance of escape.
We trust that u correspondent
hose letter we publish today. and
Ill others who may have views sim
.ar to his. viii read carefully the
sfticles thai are being published
tally explaining just what commits
sion government is and that they
tpiIl not let prejudices alone decide
he issue for them.
In the first page editorial today.
he third Of the series. we tell Of
some Of the experiences that ether