OCR Text |
Show THE GALVESTON IDEA. ! The pugeestion has been made that the people of Salt Lake City Ik. perm ii led to vote 44 Yes" or '"No" on the proposition to change the present system sys-tem of city government to the commission system as in vogue in Galveston, Tex. Divested of nil partisanship, an expression of the desires of the people would be afforded by the consummation of this movement, and the next legislature would have the expressed will of the people for or against the change in any legislation affecting the charter of tin; city. Some Democrats, v some Republicans, I some Americans, some Socialists oppose the change, I while others of all parties favor it. With the op- ( portunity to say what they want, the people become be-come self-governing. They are not bound by any party ties nor by friendship to any candidates, ) It is simply a question of whether to continue in (the same line as at present or to change to the commission system. It. is not necessary to point out the deficiencies ;f the present system except by comparison with .he accomplishments of the Galveston system. The people of Galveston and Houston are satisfied with he change, or at least do not contemplate return J I g to the old order of things, while the peoples, of J nearly every city under eouneilmanic government I 1 ire dissatisfied and vent n change of some kind, I for better or worse. They realize that it couldn't I j :e much worse. I j Toe requiremtmU of good government are liou- esty and efficiency. When thebe things enter into the administration of municipal affairs the result is good government. Legislation cannot make men efficient, and honesty can only be approximat-j approximat-j cd by providing severe penalties for dishonesty in the public service. Ward politics, saloon politics, church politics, or any other kind actively employed em-ployed to secure the election of men favorable to any cause inimical to the public welfare will never ! result in good government. Business principles, I a dollar's worth of work or material for every dol-; dol-; lar expended, and Christian morals, would elimi-j elimi-j nate nearly all the graft in public affairs. But how ) to get these things under the present complex political polit-ical system, with grafters on every hand and corruption cor-ruption tainting the whole public business, without with-out changing the whole system' of elections and i methods of doing public business, cannot be point-I point-I ed out by the most bitter opponent of the Gal-j Gal-j veston idea. Plainly the commission government j oilers a change, and all should welcome it. Other j j towns have tried it and have benefited by it. We j ! have heard of no towns that have suffered by it. I If there are such, the opponents of the change j should enlighten the public concerning them. Until Un-til such failures are pointed out. the advocates of the proposition seem to have way the best of the argument. ' |