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Photographic

Sdences
Corporation

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580

(716) 872-4503

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1980

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I, , ' , • ■

the loest cfniiprcmiise that could he eftected. Moiinvvhile the sense of
responsibility for results was lost. In the lai'gt;st cities, where the
evils of inetiicieiicy have l»cen most severely felt, the present tendency
is to lodge with the mayor the power to aj)point, or at least
nominate all the executive officers of the city. It is doul)tfiil whether
a high degree of efficient a(h)iinistration can so well he obtained in
any other way. If this powei-, so lodged with the mayor, is made a
part of a consistent sy.stem by which the rcsponsibilitj' goes with the
power with ecjual step, tln' dangei's to the city resulting from the
system are really less than those which How fiom other methods. Power
without resp(msil)ility is always dangerous; but power, with respon-
.sibility to a constituency which can readily call it to account, is not
dangerous. It is the first recpiisite to efficient administi'ation. A city
is not so much a little state as it is a great corporation. So long as
we can look to our provincialiind federal governmentsito protect us in our
liberties as citizens, we need have no fear in forming our city govern- .
ments for the purpose of doing efficiently the work that a city govern-
ment ought to do. The system prevailing in Brooklyn, N. Y. , f<n' join-
iiag responsibility with power, seems as nearly ideal as any that we
have heai'd of. The mayor is elected for a term of two years, and takes
office on the first of .lanuary. The great administrative departments
of the city are carried on for him, for one month, by the appointees of
his predecessor. On the 1 st of February it l)ecomes the duty of the mayor
to appointor confirm, without confirmation by the common cov.ucil, all
the heads of executive depaitments. These ajipointiut-nts are made oi-
ratified for a term of two years, so that each incoming mayor enjoys the
opportunity of making an administration in harmony with himself. Un-
der these conditions, an administration is formed foi' which the mayor not
only should l)e willing to be responsible, but for which he must be respon-
sible. It is a fact worthy of note, that few heads of departments have
changed with change of mayor. In practice, the people of Bi'ooklyn
understand that for all administrative failure, in any part of the city
goverment, the mayor is finally responsible. Complaint, naturally, is
made first to the head of a department. If the complaint involves the
head of a department himself, it is made to the mayor. If the
mayor corrects the evil, that, of course, is the end of it. If he does
not, he makes himself directly responsible for it. When a new mayor
is to be elected, canvass is conducted admittedly upon the theory that
the outgoing mayor, so far as the people are concerned, is responsible
for all the acts of hia administration. Naturally this makes a long line
for the mayor to defend, and conspicuous failurs is pretty certain to re-
ceive an emphatic verdict. There may, indeed, be poor administration
\inder this system, but there cannot be poor administration for
which nobody is responsible. The remedy is understood, and can

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1)0 applied at Mill by the people of the city. It was contended
by the commission apj)ointe<l by (lov. Tilden to report upon the
goveinment of cities, "That there should reside, in the hands of the
governor, for safety's sake, the power to remove a mayor." Theic can
1)6 no serious objection to this reserved power of removal. Practically
it would be resorted t<i very infrequent if at all. But by all means let
it exist, if it will satisfy us to make a strong executive. Until some
such systeni is had, of concentrating in tlie executive head of the city,
power and responsibility equal to the demands of the situation, it is
useless to expect a tiuly ethcient city government. The second condi-
tion of efficient administration is that executive woT-k should Ije com-
mitted to one man. It seems strange that among so ])ractical a people
as we are, it shouhl be necessary to emphasize this j)lain truth. Yet there
is scarcely a city which does not violate, in its city government, the dic-
tates of this maxim, which sums up the whole testimony of human ex-
perience. The old Ronuvns, when they had five a(pieducts, jjlaced every
one of them under the charge and supervision of a single man. Our fore-
fathers placed each of the executive depaitments of the general govern-
ment in the care of a single ofHeer. Who supposes, for a moment, tliat
the post office system of England for instance, could have been developed
to its present condition, except along the line of administration of ex-
ecutive work by single individuals? All the great interests affected by
the Finance Department are comitted without hesitation l)y civilized
nations to a single Finance Minister. Yet when it comes to the
cities, and the small concerns, comparatively, which are affected by
them, we appear to be afraid to lodge the administration of the depart-
ment of city works, or the fire department, oi' the police department
in single heads. If human experience teaches anything with greater
emphasis than executive work to be well done should be connnitted to
one man, it teaches that the feeblest of all forms of administration is
bycommittee. Y'et, in our city — in most cities, the committees of the
common council are practically the executive arm of the city govern-
ment, the nominal executive having but little inherent power. Our
city, therefore, must not expect to attain to a high degree of efficient
administration until they will commit to a single head each of the
executive departments of the city. The principle of personal respon-
sibility on the part of one n\an to his superior must permeate the de-
partments from top to bottom before it becomes resonable to expect any
high standard of efficiency. There may, indeed, be failure of executive
work under these conditions if the head of a department be in fact a
poor executive, but the mayor ought to be given the right not only to
practically appoint his heads of department, but a similar power to
cause their removal, so that when experience has demonstrated any
appointment to have been a mistake, he can remedy it, and so properly

-•>i

))C lield re8jK)iisil)le at every iiioinent for etiicicnt iulininistration iu
all parts of the city governnieiit.

The next element in efficient administration on tlie part of a eity
government is that it should work togetlier. The })olic!e dopaitment,
for example, touches in its daily duties the dcpailiiient of city works,
the healtli de))artment, the fire department, and the l)nilding depart-
Uient. 'i'lie ordinances aft'ecting all these departments dejjend for their
enforcement up(m the efllciency an.t co-operation of the ])olice. The
failure to co-operate with one anotlier, so fre(juently fouml in the ex-
ecutive lieada of departments s])rings in the main from the absence of
any tie compelling tliem to lealize a common resposihility. Tliey are,
indeed, officers of the same city, but that is all. His department is his
business, and nobody else's. If they are nominated by the mayor and
confirmed by the council, such ajjpointmcnts usually involve the
feeling that they represent this or tliat personal interest. The
idea of a common responsibility to work together for the public
interest nevei' pi'csents itself undei' such conditions. It hapj)ens,
theiefoie, that city governments often are loose ends, very much
as the planets M'ould be if the law of gravitation were suspended.
Collisions in the heavens would not be more certain in tlie pi-esenee of
such a suspensi(m of the law of gravity, than conflicts between depart-
ments are ceitain in a city government which is lield to no conmiou
responsibility. This element of i-cs])onsibility to a conunon head can
only be effectively obtained through the appointment of all such offi-
cials by the mayor of the city. This relation gives to a city govern-
ment precisely the element which is needed a responsibility to a com-
mon head Avho is himself iesponsil)le to the people of the city. A gov-
ernment so ordered, as compared with a government in which the heads
of departments feel each one independent of all the others, would pre-
sent precisely such a result as that which so fiequentl3' is seen upon the
football field, where a fifteen which is in the habit of playing together
♦lefeats a fifteen made up of better individual players who liave not
been in the habit of playing together.

The same conditions which result in the higest degree of efficiency
happily result also in the gi-eatest measuie of popular control. It would
be impossible to get the judgemenf of the people at the same election
upon all laws of the legislature. In the same way, it is impossiblo for
the people of a eity to discriminate intelligently as to many officials at a
single election. To tell the people that they must elect one officer this
year and another officer next year, and still another officer a third
year before they can get control of even a single department of the city
government, is <"o enter upon at ask which is hopeless from the beginning.
To tell the peopl ; that they must choose a good mayor, because the

■M.^-'<.AAi. - —J-

mayor will (U;lui'iiiine the (jhanuitef of the (;ity govei'iinicnt in all it^t
pai-ts, is to inaUc a j)ro|)OHitioii wliidi i« ua.sily uiidei'Htood and easily
a(;tc(l upon. Wlii-ii flio wliok' cliai'actoi' of llu' fity govt'i-umi-ut is at
issue, the newest eiti/en ean l)u inade to appi'eciate its importance ; ami
when the fluty devolving up<in him is simplj' to make choiee between
two names or thiec', he is entii'ely competent to disehai'ge that <luty
intelligently. As a eonse(|iienee, a eity government whieh is organized
u])on tile line of direct responsiKility of all its parts to the niayoi', and
through him to the ])eople, is precisely that torn) of government over
which the people of the city can exercise the most complete control.
The recpiisites for efficient administi-ation and j)o]»ular control, there,
foi'e, go hand in hand.

Honesty.
A system of city government, no matter how good, does not purify
human nature, and care must he taken to kee[) comparatively clear of
the "ward j)olitician,"" the "machine." Kternal vigilance i.s the ])rice
of good government in any city under any form of nmnicipal adminis'
tration. Halifax so far has been exceptionally fortunate in having
oiKcials of the sti'ictest ))robity.

T]\ti honesty of a city government de])en(ls u])on the character of the
men of which it is composed. These men must bo not simply hone.st in
the negative sense that they will not l)e dishonest, but they must be
aggressively honest in the sense that they will not wink at dishonesty
in others. They niU.st also be men of strong pails, ca])able of resisting
hnmense ]n'essui'e from outside. "Wheresoever the carcass is, thei'c the
eagles will be gathered together," and so long as oui' cities are making
large disbursements, not only for current work but for pennanent
improvements, it is certain the city officials will l»e suriounded
by men who seek to profit at the expense of the city. Experience
and common prudence demonstrate the importance of publicity
and clearly defined methods as to all official acts involving the use or
appropriation of m )ney, but back of all such safeguards must lie the
sense of personal responsibility on the part of tiie olKcial. Happily the
same system which leads to the greatest efliciency and the greatest
measure of popular control gives also the greatest security in the di-
rection of honesty. When responsibility is personal and cannot be
shared with or put off upon others, an official is compelled to watch his
steps with far more care than when all action depends upon the result
of so many officials that no single one is responsible. Again, when re-
sponsibility is personal, the praise for well-doing is persc-'nil, as well as
the fear of punishment. Sometimes it would seem as if too little ac-
count were made of the better side of human nature in our attitude to-
ward all public officials. The inspiration to the best work surely is found,

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mi the part of officials as woll ai on tlic piii-t of private citizens, in tlu;
recognition l>y others of work lliiit ilesi'ives reei>!.Miition. Sueli re'eog-
nition it is inii)ossil)le to expect wiien lesponsiliility and power are hotii
divided and sliared.

KcoNOMv wrriiotT I'ausimosy.

It is reasonable and a wise ])recantion tliat tiie power of purse should
not he given to the executive <le])artnient, whiiih, however, necessarily
must administer and largely (muiIioI expenditures.. Tlie approjjriations
for each department are [)laced upon the hoolvs of the pi'o))er oHici'i'
to the credit of tliat depariiruuit, and all nirreiif fix/x'iidi/itrex on ac-
count of salaries and the like are made without furthei' action hytheeoun-
eil. Special items, like an increase of the jjolice force, or tlu! construction
of a building, must he voted hv the council, even though the sum haslteen
placed in the estinuit(!s spe(Mtically foi' that purpose. In other words,
the niayoi', while he is armeil with comj)lete ])owers of administration,
does not control the purse strings, either as to deteiniining the amount
of money to be under his control, nor as to the use of the money, ex-
cept in current ways, after it has been appropiiated. Our juesent
<lependency on the legislature to boriow moncj' is a wise provision.
An appeal to the legislature for authority to l»oirow involves publicity.
It t.akes time to obtain it, and publicity and time are all that is needed
.^to prevent the passage of measures wliieh are generally felt to be
dangerims or ba<l. Publicity and time, on the other hand, tell in favor
of measures which carry their own argument with them, or which are
capable of l)eing sustained by argument, "^riie experience of cities in
dealing with legislatures has denuMistrated, however, the importance of
insisting up(m the following points : First, that the legislature shall
not pass maiulatory laws compelling a city tft spend money which it
may not wish to spend. All such laws should c(mvey simply the au-
thority to Itorrow or to spend, ami the responsibility of acting under
that authority should be lodged in the pi'o])er city authorities,
so that the people of the city may hold their own ofticers responsible
for action under the law. Experience has further taught the imjjort-
ance of this point, that when special work is to be undertaken by a
city, work for which its ordinar}' organization is nut well adapted, so
that it becomes necessary to create new agencies for the purpose, the
selection of the man or men to whom such special work is committed
should be lodged with the city authorities, •subject to the same con-
ditions of constant responsibility as are the usu'al administrative
<lepartments. A commission named by the legislature is a Provincial
body, ai.d is responsible to no one except the legislature of the province.
Not even the Governor-in-Council can call it to account. Commission-
ers named by the city, on the other hand, even though they be named

lor a special purpose, may l)e made lesponHiltlo to tlie mayor, and
through liim to the cominunity wliose funds they are handling. In
general it may he said that the constitution of the conunon council of
a city is the great unsfdved problem of to-day. It seems clear tliat,
whatever else is done, the power of interference by the legislative l)udy
with the executive, in any wtiv, shoidd be reduced to a minimum.

FoKKsniiiT AND Civic Coura(ie.

It seems pi-obable that the form of organization which has been sug-
gested in this {)aper, that is, a city government in wiiich the uuiyor Ih
the real head ratiiei- than tlie nominal head oidy, will tend to sijcui'e
tiiese good (pialities more genei-ally tiian they have appeared in con-
nection with city governments in tiie pfist. Undei' such an organization
the mayor feels the ins])irati(m of the great city behind him. He occu-
pies a position where, for the moment, he embodies the aspirations and
hopes of the connnunity as such. It is natural for one so placed to
look forward, as well as to consider matters of current administrations.
The powers which are entrusted to the mayor in such a case invite the
service of the l)est men in tlie city. It is worth while for any citizen to
be mayor of a city, with such powers and opportunities, Tlie system,
therefore, tends in the right direction ; but aftei all, the main hope lies
in the public spirit of the people themselves. They must have an
intelligent pride and interest in the future of their city, so as to deiufiT)i} .
for it from their officials not only good current care, but also wise pro-
vision for the future. This is the foundation upon which all hope of
better city government must ultimately rest. The voters of a city
must be kept informed as to its needs — In this respect our newspapers
have been sadly wanting. It will be noticed with regret, by those able
to judge, how very few civic issues are state<l faithfully by our news-
papers, viz, where the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth
is plainly told. — That a large public spirit may be encouraged three
things are essential. First, that citizens shall believe the city govern-
ment is easily within their control. Second, that the voice of the
rate payer shall ' be fully and intelligently declared at elections.
Third, that their natural pride in their city shall be fostered by every
means which can develope in a population civic courage and a high ideal
for their city. So long as the people feel that the officers whom they
elect have little power to do harm, even if they can accomplish little
good, elections necessarily tend to become purely and simply strifes iov
office. Let them feel that vital consequences to the city are at stake
in the issue, and the citizens will become influential in their demand
for the choice of good men, precisely in proportion to the seriousness
oi the results which they believe to be involved.