The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1927-05-13

same. This task Is an ardous one,
it is not renumerative, and often
lacks commentator. But it cannot
fail to bring satisfaction TO the civic
organization when once they see
their policies being put into success
full operation.
What is the first requisite policy
that we may apply to all branches OF
our local government? The answer
coming from all the best authorities
is, the budget system. What Is the
budget? The budget rs an instru-
ment devised to- give the direct rep
resentative Of the people control
over administrative officers. Four
facts concerning the budget are ap-
parent to all who have made a study
of its functions.
First: That budget should be
formed for each fiscal year and
should be prepared and adopted pre-
vious to commencing the years
business.
Second: That the taxpayers should
be given hearing on all proposed
budgets and that their Opinions
should be given earnest considera-
ton before the adoption.
Third: That budget once adopted
should be carried out in its entirety
as closely as is humanely possible.
Fourth: That the responsibility
should be definitely fixed for the car
rying out of the budget, and that
this responsibility once fixed should
not be tempered with as to admins
trative details.
The problem confronting the civic
association is that of educating the
people to demand from their elected
officials strict adherence to such
system. This can be- best accomp-
lished by showing plainly the pre-
sent status of local public affairs
and the possible benefits to be de-
rived from the systematic carrying
out of the same. We find that the
local press in most cases Is willing
to grant US any amount OF space
that may be necessary to present our
| Recommendation to the public. In
Hibbing we have been very success
full in creating favorable public
opinion for desired changes in doc Il
| policy through the columns OF tn"
press.
The fact that we are stresslns
most alphabetically at present is that
the elected official should appoln.
| competent, honest, and efficient Az
ministrative officers to- carry out the
administration and that they should
not NEEDLE with any of the detail
affairs of any department.
Our civic organization in H1bblng
is composed of fifteen members and
they have proved to be very far
minded and representative group
EARLY in our activities it was de-
cided to form the body into five COM
mittees, each committee to have Ger
tain phases of local government for
their especial investigation. These
committees were designated as %
Public affairs, (2) Finance, 90 Pub
lie Works, (4) Public Safety. (o)
Public Utilities. Through the dis
cussion ond consideration of the re
ports from these committees we were
able to make much more rapid pro-
gress than would have been possible
had each Individual member under
taken ito cover the field nd l think
that the results have been moce
logical.
We find that it is true that the
public generally is very receptive to
proposals for more efficient gover'i.
ment, once they are shown to their
own satisfaction that the policy ad-
vocated is sound and impartial. To
illustrate, it has been the policy in
Hibbing for a number of years to
handle the employment of common
labor on the two weeks system. This
plan was known as the "two weeks
on and the two weeks off system
and was supposed to be the only
practical arrangement to take care
of the winter unemployment situa-
ton that occurs each year. This
system was not only unsound but it
was pernicious and was subjected to
all possible forms of abuse, yet it
was a task requireing unlimited ef-
fort to make the people realize its
fallaey. I think that it is safe to
state that it's discontinuance has been
accomplished and that, largel (,
through the publicity that was given
it's faults by the Hibbing Civic Coun-
Gil. And again when the public was
given the information that in 1872 +,
the cost Of maintaining the 62 miles
of unpaved streets and alleys in Hib-
bling was $1,000 per mile viii: l
amount was considered more tina 1
double the amount that should be
necessary for this purpose, they
made emphatic protests. But pre-
vious to the publicity given this fact
tie total amount expended in this
department had not been noticeabty
criticized. And it is safe to say that
1927 will see this amount drasticallJ
reduced notwithstanding that the
same personnel remains in that de-
partment. Because it is fact that
especially in Northern Minnesota To-
cal government is directly influenced
by and very sensitive to the will of
the voter. It only remains for the
opinion of the majority TO be direc-
ted along the nnes of more efficient
policy, to have our local government
almost immediately reflect the
change in the administration of local
affairs.
81