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Show oo THE NECESSITY OF THE RECALL. That the recall is essential to a city government which is limited to a commission of three or four men is the opinion of Dr. Charles F. Taylor, Tay-lor, editor of Equity, and the writer goes further to prove that where the recall is in effect it is seldom abused Mr. Taylor says: "It iB a municipal issue, rather than a state-wide one. that this proposition for the direct control of elected pub lie officials by the electors continues to make headway and to demand seri-cus seri-cus attention. It is true that at the last election, two states, Kansas and Louisiana, adoped effective amend ments for the recall up to nine. But the (act that liie itate-wide recall has, never yet been used nor attempted Roes far to reassure the conservative mind. This tends to make the state wide recall ; lou LnslBtent public issue. is-sue. "When it comes, however, to the question of placing a ennimisMon. con sistlng of a very few men. in charge i of the affairs of a municipality, S8 has been done in over 350 instances.' the conservative mimi is (cnfronted! with the laet that Mich concentration Of larse powers ma be dangerous unless possible control is reserved In the electorate by home workable method of enabling the electors to "nn-elecl." or recall, an official who may have proved unfaithful or incom petent. "The recall ar- s political InFt-n ment is exactly parallel to the right of dismissal in private employment. The power that elects a public servant ser-vant namely, the elec torate should i have the right to dismiss or "un-J elect" that servant whenever a ma ( jority is convinced of his Incompetence, Incompe-tence, negligence or dishonesty. "The existence of this fundamental right of the employer does not imply im-ply that continual change or servants 1b desirable whether public or private. pri-vate. On the contrary, 11 tends toward to-ward more faithful, responsible and efficient service. "A nation-wide investigation, made about a year ago. showed that of about 261 municipjlities possessing the recall, only twenty-seven had ever used It. As some of the twenty-sei en had used the recall more than once thirty-three actual recall elections elec-tions had been held In twenty of these cases the recall was successful, and in the remaining thirteen cases the official whs sustained These tacts demonstrate that the recall has not been abused, as only about one municipality in ten possessing thte power has ever used It The success of twenty out of thirty-three recall elections Indicates that the exercise of this power was jusnfied. On the other hand, the failure in more than one-third of the cases indicates that a recall election does not always mean a recall. As an example of one of the failures, in 1012 there was an attempt at-tempt to recall the mayor of Duncan Okla The vote was three to one in lavor oi me mayor remaining in oi fice. There Is record of eleven attempts to call a recall election, but they failed berause of an insufficient mini ber of signatures to tbe recall petitions. peti-tions. There have doubtless been other oth-er 6uch attempts, but the voters are reluctant to sign such petitions. Hence it is fair to conclude that a reasonably reason-ably faithful and competent official is in no danger from the recall "The following facts are evident-The evident-The recall h is neer he m r.hused. Objectionable Ob-jectionable officials have been re moved, and acceptable ones have heen put in their places The undoubted tendency of the exercise of the recall or of its mere presence in a city char ter or a state constitution, is to inspire in-spire a proper regard on the pari of officials for the Interests and wishes of the people." |