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Show MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION. ' A good deal is said in advocacy of tho Des Moines plan of city government govern-ment (which is practicnlty rejectod in Iowa, tho place of its origin) to tho effect that it will givo a business administration ad-ministration and that it will climinato politics from municipal elections. Neither claim appears to bo true, as springing from this plnn. On tho con-trar3', con-trar3', it violates ovory business principle, princi-ple, sends those afflicted with this form of government,' which they havo unwisely un-wisely adopted, flying lo tho legislature legisla-ture for relief. Thoro appears to be but one man in Des Moines who is satisfied satis-fied with this form of government, and ono papor. That is Mr. MncVicar, who has control of all tho public improvements improve-ments and is able to do things his own way without any opposition. Aud tho support ho receives is from the papor lo which ho gives the patronage of his all-powerful office. Tho other four commissioners, entirely eclipsed by Mr. MacVicar, rush off to the legislature asking that his powers be shorn or their own enlarged. a Looking at tho thing from tho common com-mon sense standpoint this is procisely the result that one would naturally expect ex-pect from a division of authority, such as is mado in this Des Moines plan of city government. It is inevitable that some one. either by virtue of his personality per-sonality or by virtue of tho extent of tho powers conferred upon him, will bo tho man of power and authority. And tho others, while nominally under the law his equals, will sink into insignificance. Logicall' tho idea of having five heads of tho city government and claiming that this fixos responsibility, is absurd. Tho wa3 to fix responsibility responsi-bility is to have a chief executive of tho municipal administration and givo him power to appoint subordinates that will do tho city work nccording to law and as the mayor wants it done. There should, of course, bo a. city council representing tho different localities lo-calities of tho city aud not elected on a general ticket, but by subdivisions of the city; this to conform to our theory of government, that the peoplo are tho ones to levy taxes upon themselves and to appropriate those taxes to the public pub-lic benefit. It is entirely incongruous for appointive officers to levy taxes or appropriate public mono". Thoso two functions should bo performed only by tho people's representatives. And wo aro inclined to agree with tho idea that it would be a good thing to enlarge tho mombership of tho council rather than to decrease it, and then confine tho business of the council to tho law-mak-iug function entirely aud tho levy and expenditure of taxation. The' executivo functions of the municipality should be in the hands of the mayor, who should bo entirely free from council control in the matter of his appointments, and should havo power lo select the best material obtainable, ob-tainable, and to dismiss unworthy or inefficient incumbents instant, without with-out the possibilit' of appeal. That is the w-ay to get official responsibility. re-sponsibility. Confine it in one man and have him an clectivo official, responsible re-sponsible to the people, tho man to whom all could go for any complaint in tho matter of public administration It is idle to require responsibility from any official without giving him power to do the things for which he is responsible. re-sponsible. We think it is entirely too late in tho legislative session now to get up auy form of municipal governmont for Salt Lake, or for any other Utah town. And it would be extremely unwiso to take anybody's crude experiment, especially es-pecially an experiment that is discredited dis-credited in tho State where it originated, origi-nated, and whore out of five-cities that have voted on the question of adoption Uiree have rejected the plan after seeing see-ing it in opration in the other two; and these two, moreover, appealing to the legislature to got. them out of the difficulties that tho plan has got them :into. We think the ideal situation for Utah would be for a committee of interested citizens who havo made something of a study of municipal problems, to get togother after tho adjournment of the Legislature and work to tho oud of getfiug up a general law under which all cities could incorporate, and provide pro-vide in that law that tho mayor should havo absoluto administrative power and that tho council should have limited legislative power and the solo powor to levy taxes and make appropriations. We bolicvo that there is sufficient of ability, earnestness, and integrity in this community to get up a system of! municipal government of our own that would be a pattern for all to follow. It is not a good idea to follow other people's peo-ple's patterns in this matter, and especially es-pecially it is a bad idea to take up patterns that others havo rojected, and undertake to impose them upon Utah cities whether those cities want those patterns or not. Wo believe the foundation of a successful suc-cessful muuicipal administration is in a proper public spirit among the citi-zens citi-zens of tho municipality, and wo do not believe -that any system of government 6hould bo forced upon any city arbitrarily. arbi-trarily. It should always bo a matter of odoption by tho people. In the suggestion sug-gestion embodied abovo for tho formulation formu-lation of a genoral incorporation law for cities, we would emphatically have included therein tho proviso that no city was to bo obliged to take that form of governmont, but should take it only upon tho affirmative vote of the citizen citi-zen residents therein. Theroby, and thereby only, could we expect to sec tho proper backing up of public spirit for any municipal government system that might be proposed. It is idle to oxpect tho peoplo lo rally lo the support of something they do not understand, do not bolicvo in, and havo mado no demand for. Aud the fact that tho peoplo do not understand under-stand this Dos Moines plan of city government, that il is .handicapped by reason of its rejection by Iowa citios nftor thoy havo soon it oporato in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, and the further fur-ther fact that Des Moines is appealing for relief from tho very system that is now proposod for us, ought to bo conclusive con-clusive in any rcasouablo mind against any attempt lo force that system upon Salt Lake, or any other Utah city. |