New-York tribune., 1922-05-19
Miller Scouts
City Plan for
w estchester

CONTINUED from page ose)
plain to you ten years ago. when you
started this movement 1t must be still
advanced somewhat upon the road
when you have settled that fact, but !
have to admit that you have not ad-
! vanced very far, because it is one thing
to appreciate the necessity, and it is
another thing to determine the best
method of meeting 1t.
| II shall not undertake to tell you to-
night what that method is In the
| first place | have agreed to let you out
of here in time to catch your trains
home. In the second place, don't
| know.
Program Of Action Outlined
You have provided for a commission
| Of thirty-two to study that problem,
and the only way that | know of to
solve it is to have such n body approach
| it with open minds determined that
! regardless of all extraneous consdera-
| tions they shall courageously and fear
lessly adopt the conclusion which the
facts require. and then have that body
get all the light that it possibly can,
find out the experience of others and
devise plan. Then that plan will
have to be submitted to the Legislat ture.
then have to be submitted to the voters
or the county and you can then try it
on II they approve, and you will be
very fortunate if you find that in it's
fundamental it is sound, because YOU
cannot expect to devise a perfect plan
out of hand and untried.
But do not wish to discourage vou
because there is a field for great i'm
proVement. ! suggest that naturally
you start with your present system,
and you will modify it only to the
extent that you shall be plainly con-
vlnced that modification Yil result
IN an Improvement
L think when the constitutional
amendment was pending it was stvled
an amendment to allow a commission
form of government. Whether YOU will
declde on that or not | do not know.
frankly, am not much of believer in
COMMISSION government. That isn't to
say that some forms Of commission
government have not worked we'll. AL
most any kind of form of government
VIII work we'll if it is we'll manned
No Plan Self Cooperative
And ! want to tell you that you will
not be able to devise by any magic anv
new scheme that will work itself ii
VIII sun have to be worked by ind-
VlouaIs, your chosen representatives.
ana IN the last analysis whatever form
oi government you adopt you will get
Just as good government as YOU ought
to have or deserve, because in fhe
lnal analysis it rests with the peopIe
10 choose those upon whom thew wish
10 CONFER the duties of government
and as they choose wisely or illv. thoV
VIII receive good or bad government.
we can always find methods of i'm
Provement in our systems of govern
ment. | could tell you a great many
ways IN which believe that our svs.
tenn or state government could be i'm
proved. '''7
Il know that you can devise some
plan Tor dealing with your great prob-
lens better than your present one.
Now, 1t IS going to take time. You have
spent ten years and you have only now
reached the beginning of the effort.
lou VIII be very fortunate if you are
prepared to recommend to the next ses-
sion OF the Legislature plan. / should
think 1T quite remarkable if YOUR com.
MISSION should be able sufficiently to
study the subject to arrive at definite
conclusions between now and next
january, because the problem is so
complicated; it has so MANY ramifca-
tions that | advise you to go slow and
sure, and don't forget the human ele-
ment, because after all that is the de-
termlnlng factor in all governments.
Human Nature a Factor
"You can devise a system that on
paper appears to be beautiful, that
ought to work, but if you ignore the
traits OF human nature and the things
which influence human kind, YOUR svs-
tern, though beautiful in theory, will in
evlta6ly fail. And, therefore, it is that
ADVISE that you start as a foundation
with what you now have and build upon
that by reforming, by modifying, by
changing, by fitting in the functions of
your town governments and the county
so that they may be properly related,
so that the matters which must be dealt
with as county propositions may be
dealt with not by any number of sep
arate and isolated and dissocated
municipal or town governments but by
your county systems, and one of the
first things | fancy that this commits
sion Will have to do will be to decide
on where the separation should be be-
tween those things that are purely mat
ters pertaining to the township or to
the municipality and those things
which overlap into the county and
which can more properly be attended
TO by the county as a whole.
Now, have no doubt that thirty
two conscientious, intelligent and pa
triotic citizens of your county will be
able to work out some plan which will
undoubtedly be an Improvement Do
not expect it will be perfect. After you
have tried it year or two years YOU
will undoubtedly have to change it, at
least in minor details. Proceed on the
theory that this must be matter of
evolution. You cannot expect. except
by the slow processes of experience, to
work out perfect dystem.
81 trust that Nassau County will
undertake the same task--of course, it
Will. And ! expect that the rest of the
state will learn much from what YOU
do. You can expect sympathetic at
tention from Albany when you nave
worked it out, but Albany will not
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