Evening star., 1949-05-30

have taken q particular Interest an tAas
bill because . we are 10 hare q city TOW
errnens. we want 70 have the best po&x.eas
oty government The esl provides fer Q
city council Of II mernoera nine Of whom
are TO be elected at large and for . city
manager. think those who have had 10
90 with municipal government have felt that
the city manager form Of government has
been successful. that 1t 10 sound IN principle
and that the principle o. o small eoune4
elected at large is probably the best method
OF obtaining the proper treatment Of the
legislative problem.
Safeguards In the Nil
: There Is. OF course. q danger in any city
government. Our experience throughout
the history Of the United States has 10;
always been very happy with city govern
nents. a city government Ia = small groNp
elected from among the people No great
attention is centerec on the character Of
those who are elected. Under the ward sys-
TEN very little attention Is paid 70 the char
aeter OF q man chosen from q small ward
10 be elected at large Ia an Improvement
because at least they must appeal 10 the
entire electorate. Therefore they must be
men Of some standing In the entire com
munity to be successful. BY that method
We obtain . better type OF men and we
center more public attention on those men
and on what they are doing. Still there u
danger. and always has been. think. that
q single group or sang may set control Of
q city and engage In some Of the practices
which We have seen In times past in various
American cities.
Under this proposal think We do what
We can TO avoid such . situation. In the
first place. the nine men are not elected
ut one time Five Of them are elected for
. <-year term. and four others are elected
2 years later. Still. they may oil be con-
trolled by the same party or by the same
organization. although believe that In an
election at large II Is likely that at least
one dissenter will be elected each time among
the total number Of those who are elected
no matter how large the majority for the
successful group may be.
I suggested-and think II Is q wise
provision-that there should be added 10 the
council two men appointed by the President
Of the United States The United States
Government certainly has q very special and
peculiar interest In the District Of Columbia
a situation which does not exist In any other
city In the United States. The Federal
Government has an interest In seeing that
the city government is satisfactory. think
the United States Government should have
q voice-thoueh not a prevailing voioe-in
the administration Of the city.
In the second place. the two men ap-
pointed by the President can act as watch
dogs in case the elective process does not
operate satisfactorily. Two men will always
be on guard as q minority II the group in
control starts In the wrong direction or at
tempts to do things which II should not do
Those two men can at least direct public
attention to what Is going on. and present
the views OF loyal opposition on municipal
problems. So I believe that that addition
assures council which viii be safe and upon
which public attention will be centered. a.
well IS council which will not be able TO
do things In secret or apart from the GEN
eral knowledge OF the people OF the COM
munity