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Show Smoke from the Weekly Pipe FOR half a year Salt Lake has been under the rule of a city commission, com-mission, a device of modern politics, poli-tics, a distinct experiment in Utah. For six months the people have had opportunity to watch the operation of this new system of control, this new method of administration of municipal affairs. During that time the citizens of Salt Lake have seen the civic knife at work upon the operating table with some of the old practices strapped down and undergoing the shock of losing an appendix or a few gallstones, the removal of which seemed necessary for the general uplift. up-lift. You will remember that when the new administration took hold of the city's affairs it stood about as much show of getting by without protest as a Roosevelt delegate in the mountaiu region of Tennessee. The form of procedure was a radical departures from the old method and with it came a number of radical changes which were added to from time to time by tho commissioners who were Blncere-ly Blncere-ly living up to their promise to give tho people .a change. Bach new departure de-parture was applauded by some and condemned by others. It is the rule that all radical changes are first met with a challenge; later, if their operation oper-ation seems beneficial, they overcome opposition; if they are failures the people are quick to see tho weakness and to condemn it. It was natural to suppose that this new hody of men, coping with a sllua tion strange to them, would make some mistakes; it was reasonable to believe that they would make some headway in the fight to eliminate much of the municipal disorder into which they waded on the first of the year. They are honest men, sincere men, willing and anxious to make good, and being possessed of a fair degree of intelligence they have spent all of the time for which they are paid in solving the questions that con fronted the whole city. The city commission made a good start in the reorganization of the lire department, putting at its head a firo fighter and organizer who has brougni order out of chaos and raised the standard of the department until It is a source of pride. It is now one of the boasts of Salt Lake that the fire department is on a par with that of any city of this size in the Union, and far better than most of them. Tho judgment of the commission in appointing ap-pointing Mr. Bywater as chief Is now generally sustained by those who have seen the improvement wrought by the new chief. The standard of the police department depart-ment has been raised, and that wing .of tho city service, more prone to error er-ror than any other because of the peculiarity pe-culiarity of Its business, is In far better bet-ter shape today than when the old ad ministration walked out Mr. Grant Is not an experienced policeman, and he made many mistakes at the opening open-ing of the year. He wouldn't bo human hu-man if he isn't making mistakes w- tsmamMmmwvBamBmammm&uMwmBmmmmmmmBmmmmmmam day, but he has overcome a bad spirit among the men and is directing his department with more effectiveness. The other departments of city government gov-ernment show an improvement over tho old form. It may be bad for tho politician, but it is good for the taxpayer. tax-payer. No immediate results may be felt by the man who pays the taxes, but ultimately he will not suffer If the pace is kept. The high-salaried officials of-ficials who are handling municipal affairs af-fairs are constantly growing more effective ef-fective and men who are specializing in certain lines of municipal pursuit are. giving all their energies, all their talents and all their time to work that heretofore has been allowed to skid along on the oiled bearings of a party machine. It must be a source of gratification to people to know that the city commission com-mission is taking orders only from itself. it-self. Several attempts to involve that body in a rumpus with politicians have proven futile. The publication of fakes for the purpose of discredit ing one officer or another has been handled in a dignified way and all efforts ef-forts to got the commissioners excited over printed fables have failed utterly. If the city commission has accomplished accom-plished no more than this, it has thoroughly thor-oughly established the fact that it is not owned, operated or controlled by any set of unscrupulous politicians or by any newspaper. We expect to criticize, crit-icize, from time to time, not in the hope of destroying, but with the desire de-sire to point out errors in a friendly way and point a remedy, if one can be found, at the same time. It Is not expected that any sane person will indorse every act of the city administration; adminis-tration; neither is it to bo supposed that any fair-minded person will con stantly find fault. But It is easily H fotind that in the last analysis the city M commission is doing its share, learn- jH ing something from every mistake and H never committing the same error H twice. H jB Tho supreme court says that Thome H and Riley will have to die. These H young ruffians who murdered a mer- H chant in cold blood have been taken H care of by the state for some time, jH have prospered by the law's delay and jH have waxed fat on legal technicalities. H Hasten the day of the execution and B put an end to the suspense. May We H not also expect pretty soon a ruling H on that other phase of the Thome- H Riley case which involves a matter of H contempt of court? IH o H Perhaps tho reason for the "sklmpl- H nesB" of those street gowns Is that H most of the material was required to H trim the big hats. H H The Missouri apple crop is said to M be the biggest and best In years, but H Eve had offered Adam Primus Ho- H mo another apple. H "Nix on that temptation stuff!" said H Adam. jH "Boohoo!" sobbed Eve. "You are H still mad because we left the farm." H "No, I'm not sore about losing H Eden Acres," said Adam, "but I don't M propose to be stung twice on Ben H Davises!" H v H Young America is becoming con- M vinced that the Fourth of July is act H aside for the observance of heavy M weight prize fights. H San Francisco will now furnish em M ploy merit to the thousands of profes- IH sional world's fair commissioners who M have been out of a job since the close m of the Alaska-Yukon exposition. H |
