1131

Date 1912-12-14

From 1131

a 8, Chinaware, corations. 1 Bt 100, for. 75 seeee es 100 ready-to-wear / ve a complete ' fs. Aviation 135 and 1.00 - 1.50 Co ae OOS lc SALE RE- LVERWARE. Days stern Canada would to be free from the me; natural procras- his health, but low- poisoning, the cause t removes all desire ves the patient tn a vegetable compound mployed. for full particulars. titute PHONE 44525. Efficien cy of ae tive, Referendum and Recall. ity System in St John, New Brunswick, Held Up Commission Favorite Plan Exercise Initia- An most of the cities which have adopted the comms hg been Tess than two years exper. and there Is no established unit of comparison by which to tabulate results, Every clty lias its own story. of deflelts wiped out, floating debts taken up, bonds retired, business methods Jong-standing nuisances abated, laws enforced, books bet sion system; fence of its operation; (One Of the best informed men on -matters of municipal government is Mr, F. J. Dixon, of Winnipeg, who has made a particularly careful and : chaustive study of the subject, Gov- ernment by commission. In a recent adress on this subject, at Leth- ing Mr. Dixon a peportea as Say- i: Mayor and gentlemen, as our worthy chairman has intimated, my suibjeet tonight is the direct commis- sion fotm of government for cities, we thp yinidiative, referendum and Nok I am not goltig to andertake tw foua lot of advice, or any- thi that descrip tin, Test r Id. the fate of the ee Th Phe story is told that in. the. ai days, when th missionari went to New Zealand, they managed to convert one Maori, aud. this. Maori, Was most active fi if Work. This missionary went away, and when he. returned he was yery anxious to see the convert, aiid he asked the chief where he Was. Oh, said the chief, we killed him; he gave us too much advice, In discussing this plan of commis- sion form of government, I do not Wish to be understood in any way As criticizing the men who may be at Present operating your system of gov- ernment here. 1 believe you have as as 00d a government in Lethbridge,and Probably better, than they haye in Many other cjties and towns in Can- ada, and I want it to be distinctly un- derstood that it is the syitem-that we Propose to change. We are not criti- clzing the men, There are, however, certain defects or deficiencies: in our present form of city government throughout this country, and proba- bly one of the reasons that you have a comparatively good government is that you ar still what may be called small city, and the government is consequently still close to the people. When the government is in close touch with the people it governs, it) makes for good governnrent; but as your city grows larger, you will find that the government gets farther and farther away from the people, and then you will begin to find some kind of trouble, For instance, in Manitoba We have found this out In respect to telephones; so long as the. telephones were in the hands of the municipality ) they were a public privilege, beduse every ratepayer had his eye oh the operation of the telephone system. The ratepayer was vitally and direct- ly interested and he knew it: He saw that there was nothing wasted. in connection with the work. But immed jately it was removed to a larger pro- vinelal sphere, he seemed to, lose all interest in it. It was then a govern- ment proposition: Ob, it does not matter, he sald. itis none of my business; we are going to get the benefit and. everybody will have: to pay: his share. That is why I say that the closer the government is to the people the better government you Beh. Irresponsibility. J may say that our present system, of government, viz.; of electing repre- ter kept, streets ly constructed, pi and play- venie introduced, speeches upon it, but, believe me, we haven't heard one syllable about it since, This all goes to prove that hile our servalit make great prom- ises, it-ig really a great difficulty to get them to do the things wo want them toid6, There is Just a possibil- ity that when it comes around election. tine: we may get some of require. No doubt many of you ate aware that last year in Wingtipeg we put fia Power plant at very) great expense, matter of two millon dpMwrsy an fact. Now, wheo they, were asking us to ote the money for that purpose: they promised. we should have 3-cent light, yet, when they first publighed. the rate, during the sumirir of A Year ako, it was 10 Gents per killowat hour. There was naturally some immediate trouble amongst the ratepayers. Oh, said the city council, you cannot have a 3-cent Fate, that Is perfectly ridiculous; we must charge 10 cents..But when it came around to election time they thought the people had been consid- erably abused, and they brought the rate down to 7 cents. But still the people refused to be satisfied. They said: We were promised a 3-cent rate and we mean to have it. There are- your specifications; built the plant under the estimated cost, and you must deliever the goods promised. The result of all this was that it came to a vote in the council just-one week before the elec- tion, They simply divided on the question, half and half, and the act- ing mayor at that time, a man who had opposed any reduction all along, looked around the gaileries, and, pausing for a few minutes, express- ed himself in favor of the 3-cent light and We got it just because the elec- tion was at, hand. Cobstant Control. Now, if We had control of the men lt the-tim , we would be in the po- sition that we would be able to get what we wanted-when we wanted it. Under the present system of govern- ment, although it is readily. seen that the people very rarely get what they desire, I am sorry to say that the reduced one, all-or many. Ue spirit and improvement in husiness ponating from bet* ter elyic conditions F, J. Dixon, you have) cleaner, public works more hones bulldings erected, additional. parks acquired, economies enforced or taxes All report a revival In pub. the ward system of municipal. govern- ment. There are a fow illustrations show- ing the deficiencies and defects of the Present shystem of government. I do not ask you to take my word for it, because Ican give you the words as the Englishman said, ef men who know what they are talking about. For Instance we have what is known 8 Fepresentative goverriment. Now, Lora Hugh. Cecil hag written a book upon Conservatism, and dealing-with the question of representative xovern- ment/and the referendum, he Bays The pretence is that the House of Commons represents the people. But im fact the peopi have neither the dominant voice in choosing. the House of Commons, nor any certain qpntrol over it once: it has been chosen, The People, have, In practice, only an op portunity of choosing between the party candidates submitted to their choice. The formidable fact is) that the highest authority of our immense and. unequalled empire lies alternate- ly in the hands of one or two knots of vehement, uncompromising and un- balanced men. The seriousness of the danger is one of the strongest arguments for what is call d the ref- erendum. Those, gentlemen, are the words of Lord Hugh Cecil with regard to re presentative government and the 9xs- tem of referendum. On the other hand Mr. Hobhouse kas written a book on Liberalism. You will see that I am taking stand- ard authorities. He also, as a Liberal member of the house, speaking on the question of referendum, in his book on Liberalism, says: The program of any general elec- tion is always composite, and-a man finds himself compelled, for example, to choose between. a tariff. reformer whose views on. education he approves and a free trader whose educational policy he. detests, The average man gives his vote on the question which he takes to be the most important in itself, and which he supposes to be the most corporations usually get pretty much all they want. The larger your cities grow, the while they dealt with a representa- that. And it wi men, the C. P. R. will not agree to that, have to change it, sentative ofthe great railroad or- heard. One alderman took t fioor and said: sentatives for a certain term, and giving them unlimited power during that term, makes for irresponsibility and inefficiency. That is to say, the Fepresentatives you elect are not re- isponsible to the people who are sup- posed to be their principals. It also makes for circumlocution, or a alfti- culty in getting things done. You ask your representative for a certain thing to be done, and he invariably refers you to someone clse; that man in. turn will refer you to a certain committee, and the whole business will be referred from one man (to ahother, and from one committee to another. All the time you are chas- ing around for something to be done, iid very frequently you fall to get anything whatever accomplished. For fistance, take the city of Winnipeg, with which Iam familiar. Last year e worked hard, and lout, of 28 can- didates running for office we manag- ed to pledge'24 of them for the single tax, It was no mere word of mouth, Dut pledged in Diack and white. But what happened? When they were elected to office they did not move a single step. We had to get right after them with a petition. Our delegaticn went down to the legislative commit- tee and harried and drove them un- til at last they consented to ask the government for power to refer the matter to the people and take a refer- endum vote on the question, and when they sent their request to the government there was not a single mian Out of the whole counoll went down to speak on the request. In consequence the proposition was turn- ed down: And it was Just the same with the commission form of govern- ment; the majority of them declared themselves in favor of it previous toy the election, and in fact made great/ and they sald: Then we will) ary legislation, but 1 might: say- They Were Very same holds good inmunicipal atfai gentle and very.polite to that repre- yon may agree with one candidate likely to comie up for immediate set- tlement. But he is always Hable to find his expectations defeated, and a more valuable are the privileges, andy parjiament which is in reality elected the more time and money will the on ong issue, may proceed to deal huge corporation spend in their en- with quite another. I regret that so deavor to get them. I remember one inany Liberals should have cidsed the time going down to the city councill door on the referendum. There are in. Winnipeg, on a delegation in re-) measures of urgency, measures of gard to: the matter-of free speech, fundamental: import, above all, meas- and we stood there for over two hours ures which. cut. across the ordinary waiting the pleasure of the councill jines of party, and with which in con- sequence, our system is impotent to tive of the . P. Ry And it was Mr. deal, and on these the direct consul- So.-and-So this, and Mr. So-and-So tation of the p ople would be the Oh, but: gentle-) most: suitable method of solutign, :. lt; That is n reference to parliament- on one thing, and with another can- poration, and. after two hours they qigate on some other matter, but you suddenly remembered that there Wa8/ fing you often have to vote for a man the delegation of the ratepayers to be you do not care for, and perhaps for immediately , poor administration, in order to get move that/some measure that you particularly we adjourn, and adjourn: they did. gesire, Under the system of direct That was the treatment meted out tO/tegisiation the measure and the man us, as delegates of the ratepayers, would be separate and distinct, and Waiting tobe beard on a matter of) yoy could get:Both the-man you want ital importance to. the. ratepayers) ana the measure you desire. whose servants these men were after waiting two hours for chance to express to those servants the wishes of those who should rightly occupy the position of the dictators. And that 8 the treatment the rate- payers get under the present system fof municipal givernment. We are very anxious to change all that. That is the kind of treatment that is con- tinually being meted out to us, and yet they-have the nerve to come be- fore us at election time and tell us they are once more appearing before us and hope they have retained our confidence and will once more be re- turned to office so that they may serye, the people in the futute as they have in the past. Now I venture to say that thete are a large number of us who have no desire to be served in the future as we have been served in the past. In the past we have been served with all these promises before the election in the future we wish to be served with deeds after the elec- tion, and that is why we are asking for the direct system of legislation, with the initiative, referendum and recall Ward System Bad I am very pleased indeed that here you have never had the ward system, because it is a very bad thing. Down in Winnipeg, I know one. alderman who said: I have represented you now for four years, Ihave got all I wanted to get. I have a bridge in our ward, and a street paved past my own property, and T think T will retin That Is the way he had pledged hint self, and that fs the usual pledge ip These are the words and the ex- pressed view of men whom I think can be Tegarded as. standard authori- ties upon the question of representa- fivel government. They admit the need for a change, and I want to say to you that in: the passagesI have read you have: the words and opin- fons of men in authority of men who realize the defects in the present gystem, dnd desire to. show them- lt;te- the world. Oh, some people say, why bother about changing the sys- tem? All you have to do s to change the men get better men. But that fs quite a difficult Job, you all know, at election time, All of you realize that at times of election, no- matter what the private life of 8 man may be, his friends turn out and say what a fine fellow he is, and the chances are he is quite different from the re- Presentations that are made to you. I remember one time, when a large meeting was being addressed in one Of the cities of Texas, and a couple Of negroes came around. One of the negroes sald to the other: Golly, that man must be a very clever fel- Yow. I don't know what his name Is, but he certainly recommends himself most highly. And there is a tend- ncy to do that ever in these West- ern Canadian cities. I remember being fn a little western city not a thous- and miles from here, which we will call Coalville, and there was a man running there for mayor. He opened Bis-address in this Way: Mr. Chair- wanjand fellow leetors of Coalville, soiherbersons fiave been insinuating thag 1/am hot a fit. man to..gecupy the mayor's chair. : I hate to aik About myself but I am a maw Amongst men, andithere s not angth gr man-tn the whale of Coniville-any. better than. I amie) Yam: inclined to thinx that was B pretty. tall order considering that the man was talking about himz.1f, bat it 1s a fair sample uf what we get st election time, and udder the ciretinstances we do the best we can Amfctry to choose the: sesscr evil, and between then and the ex: election we Wonder whether we have succeeded OF not. In the mat- ter of the selection of our cindidates Tam inelined tg think we are very siinilar to the Old lady who was brought befor Mr, Plowden, Mr, Plowden was teyitis notorious bur- glar, and the Indy, who was the wife of the burglar, Was put in the witness box. Are you the wife of this bur- glar? asked Mr. Plowden, Yes, sir, answered the old lady. And did you Imow he was, burgler before You married him? Yes, sir. Then, sald Mr, Plowd p, however aid you come to marry burglar? Well, sir, replied the Ia4y, I was getting old, and I had choose between a burglaF and a jer. But the diftioulty under the extst- ing system Is not only to elect good men, but In keeplfig them good after they have been elected. And that is one more feasom Why we want the initiative, referendum and recall. These ire of. defects. Now, what is the cause? I contend the cause is-this, that we give our repre- sentatives altogether too much, power. No man, no matter how good he is, can be safely triisted with absolute ower, That has been the trouble right down through all the ages too much power in the hands of a few in- dividuals. Power has a corrupting in- fluence; there is always a tendency for the person holding the power to. migsnse-it.. I think it was) Abraham Lincoln who once said: There is no man fit to be anbtlier man s master, and certainly there is no man fit to be the master of a community. Your representatives are your . servants, and the, people themselves are the masters; and the people must reserve to themselves the right to instruct those representatives, and, If neces sary, to discharge them, without bay- ing to wait for the expiration of their term of office, and in order to do that 'T say we must Keep: the power in the hands of the people. Let us see how our private busl- nesses are run, Have you any busi- ness man in this. elty. who would en- gage a man for one year and say to him: You are absolute manager of this business, I am through with it. You can do just as you please, I won't Interfere with you. You can just run the business any Way you* like. If he did that what would be the re- sult? And supposing he-said: I will reserve the right tO fire you at the end of your year, and engage anoth- er man on exactly the same terins. You surely would say the man was crazy, and you. would certainly know that he was heading for the bank- ruptey court. Any man who will give another man am absolute power of attorney over his property is head- similarly any community doing the same thing is heading along the same course. But in private business we find that no such con ition of affairs exists. The agent is always responsi- ble to the principal; that Is the point taken in every court of faw. The agent must obey the principal, and the principal reserves the right to in- struct his agent and exercise super- vision and jurisdiction over him. In the same way, as I said before, you sould reserve the right to instruct your council. They ake the:men who fepresent you as your agents, and as the-principals you should exercise the right to discharge them f they do not possess the brains you wish them to Introduce into your public affairs and business. That is the things that commands efficiency in private enter- prise, and if you exercise that right it will also command efficiency in your public affairs. It is simply a question of putting im a business sys- tem and keeping the power in the hands of the people. Origin of System. I'will refer now to the origin and growth of the commission form of government, as it is called. It was iscovered accidentally, In very. much. the same way as the law of gravita- tion, You have no doubt,.most of you, heard the story of Sir Isaac Newton and the apple. The apple accidentally struck him on the head, and from that simple incident he finally came to his conclusions on the law of gray- itation and gave them to the world. And with this commission form of government, Down in Texas they had a series of very serfous mishaps. What with hurricanes and earth- quakes the town was practically wip- midst, three men Were commissioned to run the town. The temporary sys tem worked out so Well that the cit? plan, the commission plan. We won't go back to the old plan any more, and so they retained their commis- sioners and started the commission form of government. But they hadn't then the referendum and recall and all the other latest improvements. Des Moines was the next city, and the commission form of government adop- ted by that city is always called the Des Moines plan, because they adop- ted the referendum and the recall in addition to their commissioners, Des Moines put this system into vogue four years ago, and since that time over two hundred ofties of the Uni- ted Stats have adopted the commis- ston form of government, a fact which is in itself excellent proof of the ef- ficlency and popularity of this- pate ing for the bankruptcy court, and ed out, and while chaos was in their izens said: Why, this is the only Hloular fori of goverit in that it as sored wo rapide Min, we haye the city of St. Joka, N. B.)op- rating-under the commission form of government, the only. elty in Can- Ada so operating at, present time. The people of Vi in favor of Jt, and it in that city on ihe of January hext year. Now, I with to call at- tention here to a few f the princi- Dal points in the: St. John, chart because It Ia really an excellent cha: ter. It is based on the Des Moines plan, but tis operating in Canada, and for that reason ig of more in- terest to us. We will take the first clause: The whole clylc government of the city of St. Jobin, and the ad- ministration of the fiseal, pru- dential snd municipal affairs of the city, shall continue to be and shall. be vested in the common council of the city of St Jobn, which shall be comprised of the tayor of the city of St. John And four aldermen, each of whom, shall be a commissioner as pro vided in the: fourteenth section of this act and who shall be elected as hereinafter provided. In this act the expression coms missioner shall be equivalent to and shall include aldermen un- Jess the context otherwise. re- quires, I may say they have adopted the system of prelfminary election, If they have more than two candidates in: the field, they take the two men who have the highest vote, and these two. men run fn the final. election. That has been improved upon by means of the. preferential ballot. On the ballot the voter marks his first, second and third choice on election day, und that is mathematically cor- rect. The improved method does away with the expense of the prelim- inary election, and gives a result which is an absolute reflection of the opinion of the voters. The Distribution It may, intetest you to know the various departments of affairs in St. Jobn, how the commissioners are dis- tributed into those departments, and the salaries paid to them: .. The salary of the mayor and of each of the commissioners shall be three thousand dollars per year. The mayor shall be requir to to give such time. to the du ties of his office as may be re quisite for their efficient dis- charg : Each commissioner shall devote the whole of his time to the service of the city, and he siiail not, while a member ofthe council, be actively engaged in any other business, trade, call- ing or profession. The salaries of the mayor and commissioners. shall be paid fortnightly. For the more efficient adminis- tration of public affairs, the com- mon counel shall organize the following commissionership: pdopted 4, Finance and public affairs. 2 Public safety, Including fire, police, lghis, market, and public buildings. 3, Public works, including the streets, highways, squares, parks, playgrounds and public recreation grounds. 4. Water and sewerage. 5. Harbors and ferries, public lands. f The mayor shall always be the commissioner of finance and pub lic affairs; and the council shall at the first regular meeting after every final election, select the commissioner to have charge of each of the other departments, but, such gelection may be chang- ed whenever, t shall appear that the public service will be bene- fitted thereby. Each commission- er shall be responsible to the council for the efficient adminis- tration of the services entrusted to. his department. The Recal. Now, With regard to the recall in St. John. This is the clause in their charter covering the recall: The mayor oF any commission- er may be removed from office at any time by the yoters qualified andentitled to vote at civic elec- Hons, and the procedure to effect his removal shall be as. follows: A petition signed by duly qual- ified voters, entitled to vote and equal in number to not less than fifteen per cent. of the total nim- ber of persons who voted at the final election thet Inst held, de- manding an election of suc- cessor to the person sought to be removed, shall be filed in the office of the common clerk. Such petition shalf Contain general statement of the grounds upon which the removal is sought. Covering the question of the Initia- tive we have the following ctause Any proposed new ordinance or by-law may. be submitted to the council by petition signed by duly qualified voters, entitled to vote and equal in number to not less than twenty per cent. of the total number of persons who voted at the final election then last held With regard to the referendum says: No new olfinance or by-law passed, by the council, except such as relates to tht, immediate preservation of the public health, safety or peace and which con- tains a statement of its urgenc; shall go into effect until the ex- piration of twenty days from the time of its final passage by the common council, during which time it shall be on file in the of- fice of the common clerk, open for public inspection. If during the sald twenty days a petition and signed by duly qualified yoters entitled to vote and equal iv number of persons who voted at the final lection then last held, and protesting against the pasa age of such shall be filed in the common elerk, such by-law shall be Buspends soing into operation, and itt AAll be the duty of the common-caun- cil reconsider-the same, and ff feis not entirely repealed the common council shall submit it to the.duly qualified voters of the city, (and gf course the major- ity would y the question.) Those, gentleningy are the salient features in the ghartef or the city of St. John, and I belleve it is a good tentions; but the initiative, tminate all such erroneous ideas, the representatives or: tid would g6 to Die pesple, und tr: to thent the Informition it fs 6 ally necessary they should have. The whole question js, whether or not you believe in the Rule of the Pep- ple, That, ifter alt, fe the tu mental question. 1 personally re. fuse to betieve thatin this democratic country any intelligent ager in the piphould be ruled. 1 believe of us are of the opinion for Democracy is More , We must go ee ou I want to say that in of the: battles our fathers won for us in spite * the fact practical charter, based on the ex- y9 nae fe iberty perience of other cities under the yng an a sah commission form of government. il ertien that our p i Some Results : With regard to results, I could quote you hundreds and hundreds of examples of the benefits:that have accrued from the institution of :one or other forms of commission gov- ernment but I will take the-privilege of reading some of the results from this well-known book upon the ques- fan. If you desire more specific, n- Btances, I can-give them to you, and I hope you wil) pardon me for read- ing 0 much, But I think you will admit that this is a serious business, and I want to give it to,you front the best authorities I can find on the sub- fect. 1 will just pead-to-ror-trom the book by J. Hamilton, called The Dethronement of the City Boss In this book Mr. Hamilton says: In most of the cities which have ad- opted the commission system, there had been less than two years of ex- Perience of its. operation; .and. there is no established unit of comparison by which to tabulate sults. Every city has fts own story of deficits wip- ed out, floating debts taken up, bonds retired, business? methods: introduced, long-standing nuisances abated, laws enforced, books better kept, streets kept clearer, public Works more honestly constructed, public. build- ings erected, additional parks and playgrounds acquired one, all or many. All report a revival in public spirit and improvement, in business Tesulting from better civi conditions. Concluding, Mr. Dixon remarked: When you have the initiative, you Will be able to tell your representa- tives just exactly what you desire. will get out and take the At the present thme the people are of government in your hands at ten in the dark, and are Kept in.the day. the Not by their own supe tive on fitty live, But by election and privilege. of Powers which the fifty re fifty men are really foo five have all the brains, Then five men rule, as now we But if the fifty have the mind, Why don t they take the reins? And, gentlemen, the Direct mission form of government is caly, Uaibs tie Tathiridee, or fe OPERA HOUSE MEDICINE HAT SPECIAL RETURN ENGAGEMENT OF Miss Verna Felton The Allen Players 5 - NIGHTS ONLY - 5 Commencing is Tuesday, Dec. 17th Entirely new repertoire of standard comedies and dramas z OPENING BILL READY MONEY A New Drama by James Montgomery ALTERATION SALE COMMENCING FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13th UNTIL DECEMBER 25th. We will sacrifice at 20 2s . Discount cent. Our fine stock of FUR OVERCOATS, SHOES, and SUITS, UNDERWEAR, CLOTHING, etc., in or- der to make room for extensive alterations. Nete address:

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Attribution Image 1131 (1912-12-14), from microfilm reel 1131, (CU1744598). Courtesy of Early Alberta Newspapers Collection, Libraries and Cultural Resources Digital Collections, University of Calgary.