THE SUNDAY OREGONIAX. PORTLAND, MARCH 28, 1900.
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ke Clory of the Canqaered, by Susan Gla
PU. $1.50. Fredorick X. iitokes Co..
New Tork City.
Residents ot Chicago are Indignant,
Eenerally, when critics persist in re
ferring to that city as a busy mart I
of trade remarkable for. the poor pigs 1
whose lives are lost In its packing- ;
houses, a place where trade Is spelled
with a capital "T," and where, amid j
the ceaseless roar and terrifying bustle I
of a mighty city there is only one '
mgan measured by the dollar mark.
There residents are also popularly
supposed to shed tears in secret if one
dares to refer, slightly, to the Uni
versity of Chicago.
Now. here comes Susan Glaspell, who
In a novel of mystical sublimity and
lofty range takes Chicago as her back
ground, but speaks ' of Chicago the
educated, and makes the principal
characters members of the faculty of
the University of Chicago. The story
has a tremendous heart throb, for it
pictures principally the life tragedy of
IJr. Karl Hubers, one of the professors
at the university mentioned, who in his
seal to discover a cure for cancer is
unfortunate enough to receive into his
eyes a deadly poisonous germ by which
he loses his eyesight. '"The Glory of
the Conquered" is also a splendid love
story, one of the grandest In recent
years. There isn't a cheap note in it,
and the fine, poetic picture winding up
the higher plane of philosophy reminds
one of George Eliot and her very best
work.
Miss Ernestine Stanley Is the daugh
ter of a famous scientist and she has
unmistakable talent as a painter, when
she and rr. Hubers fall in love with
each other. Dr. Hubers is 39 years old,
and his one particular chum Is Dr.
Murray Parkman, 60 years old. a sur
geon of note. Dr. Hubers has a ousn.
Miss Georglna McCormlck. who is de
scribed on page 13 as "redheaded" and
"freckled." Possibly "red-haired" is
meant. Miss McCormlck is a happy-go-lucky
newspaper woman, with an
eye for seeing tne humorous, lively
side of things, and she Is as good as a
tonic. She believes in what is known
as "the joy-of -living stunt." "When Dr.
Karl Hubers and his bride come home
from their honeymoon trip the faithful
Geargina is there to make them feel
at ' home, and this is one of her
speeches:
This function will mtki a nice little
Item for our society girl. Usually, she dis
dains people who do not live on the Lake
Shorn drive, but she will have fo admit
there la a enap in this "Dr. and Mrs. Karl
l.udwlg Hubera." newly returned from for
eisn shores, who entertained last ntfht at
a book dusting; party. Those present were
Xr. Murray Farkham, eminent surgeon, and
Mls Georg-lna McCormlck. well and fa
vorably known in some parts of the city.
HiiK-bestlm nd other athletio games were
Indulged in. The hostess wore a beauti
ful rufned apron of white, and kindly pre
sented her uest with a kitchen anron of
blue. Beer was served freely during the
evening.
One of Mrs. Hubers' thoughts: 'This,
too. wa Chicago who had fought Its way
through criticism and Jeers to a place in
the world of scholarship. People who
knew what they were talking about did
not laugh at the University of Chicago
any: more. It had too much to its credit
to be passed over lightly. Men were
doing things here, and here were ideas
in embryo. How would they develop?
Where would they strike? What things
now slumbering here would step, robust
and mighty. Into the next generation?"
One of Mrs. Hubers" favorite bits of
bronse was a copy of Mercie s "Gloria
Vlctis." a picture-Idea of a defeated man
being borne aloft by a woman. She called
it "the very essence of Christianity."
Here is her principal irord-eermon on tnis
topic: -
The keynote of It Is that stubborn grip
on the broken sword. I should think every
fighter should love It for that. And It Is
more than the glory of the good light. Itl
is the glory of the unconquerable will. Look
at the woman's facel The world calls bim
beaten. the knows that he has won. I
see It from bshlnd the world's battlefields,
way back from the first I see them all.
and I see that the thing which, has shaped
the world Is not the success or failure of
Individual battles one-half so much as It
la this wresting of victory from defeat, by
simply breathing victory even after the
sword has been broken In the. hand. What
rail victory and defeat and Incidents
tnlnga Individual and temporal. The thing
universal and eternal. l the immortality
vt tile aplrit of victory. Why. every time
lilt 1- . ft "i. 41 I
0 yr-r
01R ... Las.. i
ste.Fiee.-eJo.si n.voa v
- knov?.tbe - IiKe - RO more;
o -OMAR KHAYYAM
I look at that grip on the broken sword, I
can leel-the -worm take a bound ahead!
When the novelist leads up to the
fateful time when Dr. Hubera flnrta that
his eyes have become inoculated wih the
must, violent germs Known to pathology,
it ' is as if a great tear were shed, so
berfect is the hidden art. Dr. Hubers, at
first, kept the terrible secret to himself.
At last the moment comes when he must
tell his wife what has happened.
"I want to tell you something, dear,
something that will hurt you very much.
I never wanted to hurt you; I cannot help
it now" when he had said that, and
she, with quick response to the sorrow
in his voice, has knelt beside him, her
arms about his neck, something the feel
of her arms, the knowing there was some
one now to help him swept away the
words and his broken hearted cry had
been: "Oh, sweetheart help me. I'm
going blind!" . . . And when at last she
began to sob sobbing as he had never
heard anyone sob before all his heart
was roused for her, and he patted her
head, kissed her hair, whispering: "Little
one, little one, don't. We'll bear it to
gether some way."
Sacrifice is the keynote of the picture,
also redemption. For Mrs. Hubers be
comes her husband's "eyes" in his labora
tory, and eagerly prosecutes the research
to find the remedy for cancer. The con
clusion is a thrilling one, but if! would
not be fair to the authoress to quote
more, nor to tell of the after days when
she comes to live for a while in a little
town, name unknown, on the Oregon
Coast.
Bartholomew de T.aa Caaa. Bv Francis
Augustus MacNutt. Price, $X50. Illus
trated. G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York
City, and the J. K. Gill Company, Port
land. The ordinary student of history has
probably only paid casual attention to
the patriotic, self -denying priests who
helped Spain win South' America, and
has been accustomed ordinarily to
gauge Spain's achievements on this
continent by the measure of Colum
bus, Don Nicholas de Ovando. Velas
quez, De Soto, Cortes and other great
captains who worked by conquest in
empire-building.
What of the missionary priests who
left the comforts of sun-kissed South
ern Europe, to pierce the Jungles of
Cuba. Yucatan, Venezuela, Honduras,
Hlspaniola, etc., to convert the natives
to Christianity and in so doing often
lost their lives? One of these early
missionary-priests was the Dominican
friar. Bartholomew de Las Casas, after
ward Bishop of Chiapa, about whom
Mr. MacNutt has written instructively.
His book is a handsome, well-printed
one. of 472 pages, is finely illustrated
from several old engravings, and forms
an ideal addition to Americana. . Mr.
MacNutt is a recognized authority on
such a subject. He has been since his
boyhood a devoted student of Spanish
literature, and was initiated Into Spanish-American
history under the schol
arly direction of the late Abbe Fischer,
some time confessor and chaplain to
the Emperor Maximilian, of Mexico.
Mr. MacNutt came recently into fa
vorable notice through the excellence
of the literary portrait he gave in his
"Letters of Cortes."
As Mr. MacNutt writes of De Las
Casas, the latter appears to be a great
reformer, orator, administrator, priest,
theologian a forerunner of Wendell
Phillips and Abraham Lincoln, in de
nouncing the crime of slavery. He was
also a. rectifier of social abuses, and
none of the early Spanish frairs was
more bitter or more earnest than he,
in denouncing the voluptuous excesses
practiced by wealthy Spaniards against
poor. Ignorant Indians.
Bartholomew de Las Casas was of
French extraction originally and was born
in Seville in 1474. He was a growing
youth when news came that Columbus
had discovered America, and Las Casas'
father accompanied Columbus on the
latter's second voyage to this conti
nent. The boy Las Casas caught the
adventurous fever and he first reached
the American continent at Hlspaniola
in the expedition of Don Nicholas de
Ovando. in the year 1502.
In speaking of the natives he had
found on landing here, Columbus said:
"They were well built, with good fea
tures, beautiful eyes, but with hair as
coarse as a home's mane. Their com
plexion was velir.wl.sh. and thev had
their faces painted. They were entirely
mmm ,"
1 1 .fe
naked and neither carried weapons nor
understood the use of such things."
. When he landed here. Las Casas was
only a licentiate, 28 years old, and it
may' be assumed that he first busied
himself taking care of his father's
properties on . the island. It was in
1510 that the young churchman heard
a sermon preached by Friar Pedro de
Cordoba, and It is evident that the in
spiration he derived from this dis
course influenced him. to take up the
cause and become the" advocate of the
helpless native, hunted like dogs, by
the Spaniards, so that-they might be
forced to reveal the location - of gold
mines and buried treasure. Las Casas
was soon afterward ordained a priest,
and then began that marvelous hu
manizing career of protest against
wrong, a career which brought him
the reproach that he was an enemy to
bpaln. However, to the credit of the
Catholic Church, he was supported by
it, and he won over his traducers. In
one of his memoirs he says:
One of these Impious and infernal bandits.
called Juan Garcia, when ill and near death,
had under his bed two loads of Idols, and
he commanded an Indian woman who served
him to be very careful not to exchange
those idols for fowls, but each one for a
slave, because they were very valuable.
And finally with this testament and occu
pied with this thought, the unhappy man
died. And who doubts that he ! in
hell?
All his life as a prlert. Las Casas
spread the doctrine that the Catholic
Church held that the Spaniards' con
duct toward the conquered peonies, in
robbing and murdering them, wa con
trary to the law of Jesus Christ and nat
ural right. When about to die. La Casas
wrote: "... I believe that because of
these impious and ignominious acts, per
petrated unjustly, tyrannously and bar
barously upon them, God will visit his
wrath and ire upon Spain for her share,
great or small, in the blood-stained
riches, obtained by theft and usurpation,
accompanied by such slaughter, and anni
hilation of these peoples, unless she does
much penance.
That this was a prophetic warning
which eventually came true, history is
the best witness. La Casas died in Madrid
in 1566, in his 92d year.
Infatuation. By Lloyd Osbourne. Illus
trated. Price. $1.50. The Bobbs-Merrill
Company, Indianapolis, Ind.
What would you think of a girl who
has a millionaire father, and refuses sev
eral weathly lovers to marry a cheap ac
tor who drinks more whisky than is good
for him?
Tet this is what happened to Miss
Phyllis Ladd, who lived in Carthage, an
Industrial town in the Midcle West, and
th9 residue of it all is a compelling,
moving story showing the marvelous
power of a good woman in making a real
man of whit passed for one: The reader
instinctively takes off his hat to Miss
Ladd, life-saver. The novel is highly
creditable to Mr. Osbourne. who was a
stepson of the late Robert Louis Steven
son. When young Mrs. Ladd saw that the
actor with whom she had eloped and
married was a spendthrift, that a career
of stormy scandal had preceded him, and
that her god had feet of clay, she still
remained the wife in love. This is how
the novelist describes her:
Phyllis was one of the chosen few In
whom the capacity to love was Inordinate.
Her one thought was to make herself in
dispensable to the man to whom she had
given herself. Adair was the last thing In
her head at night, the first at dawn. Hardly
was there an act of hers in. which his per
sonality was not a contributing factor. Her
Insatiable ambition wasvto please, and de
light him, and her brain was ever busy to
find fresh ways, and improve on the old.
- It will be asked, was Adair- worthy
of so supreme a devotion? Is It not enough
to answer that he was not altogether un
worthy? There was a lot of human clay '
In the creature, and while Phyllis was ex-
ertlni
the altar fires aflame, he was content to
.... - -"-'J vuuk 1 IV. IVWW
look on laally. and. man-like, take things
for granted. Had she been no better, their
love would have run the .ordinary course,
and perished fast enough on the rocks of
habit and society. Adair's spiritual side
waa all but dormant. He was encased In
materialism as stoutly aa some of us In
fat: whatever gropings he had toward
higher things were all In the direction of
the stage. Feelings he could, not initiate
himself he took here ready-made, and
showed almost a genius in their compre
hension. e presented a paradox of one
who could admirably "get into" any writ
ten character, and yet who was wholly un
able to "get into'' his own.
Here Is one experience Phyllis endured
with her ootor-husband:
She was roused by the tramp of many
footsteps on the stair outside, and a con
fused bumping, scuffing sound, accompanied
by a hoarse murmur, of voices. With a
horrible premonition she ran to the door
and opened It, giving a cry as she recog
nized Adair being supported by two com
panions. His face was swollen and dis
colored: one eye waa closed In a rim of
crimson; his mouth was dripping blood;
sawdust and whisky befouled his clothes,
and a stench of vile whisky exhaled from
him like a nauseating steam.
More fool she, to live with such an out
cast? Wait! They were about to be cast
in the street for non-payment of rent
were in dire poverty, and the husband
couldn't get work. So to win the loser's
end of 100, Adair fought five savage
rounds with Kid Kelly, prizefigh-ter, and
after being nearly beaten to bits, was
knocked out. That 100 waa the Adairs'
salvation.
And it all comes right in the end. The
great lesson is given that, after all,
women are the power behind the throne!
and that every man, in a subtle way, re
flects some woman. Phyllis Adair has a
price, beyond rubies. She saves a lost
jsoul.
A word-picture is given of a dramatist
resembling Clyde Fitch.
The Perfume of the lady in Black, by
t,asion Leroux. Illustrated.
Brentano's. New York City.
1.50.
The publishers of this French novel
deserve appreciative mention for their
enterprise. In sending out the ad
vance notices, about one month ago
for "The Perfume of the Lady in
Black," the printed sheets were dain
tily perfumed. The nose understood In
a second what was meant. As a story
"The Perfume of the Lady in Black" is
so mysterious and able that the
reader's attention ig held like a vice
to the end. As in Leroux's - previous
novel, "The Mystery of the Tellow
Room," the central figure is that of
Joseph Routelabille, the young news
paper reporter and expert in crim
nology, who is shown to be the son of
Mathilde Stangerson and Frederic Lar-;
san. otherwise Ballmeyer and Roussel.i
A body too many" theory is cleverly
worked out, and the plot Is altogether
a remarkable one.
Katrine; by Ellnore Macartney Lane. $1.S0
Harper & Brothers, Jiew York City
It's Irish. .
"Nora." asks Katrine, "could you ever
have loved any but Dennis your first
love?"
"No," answered Nora. "To an Irish
woman the drame comes but the wance."
Home-making, a woman's triumph
through her musical gifts, and the win
ning of a man form the basis of a splen
did story, instinct with poetical Imagina
tion and sparkling with 'wit as a Jewel
does In the light. "Katrine" should fly
high.
The American Fields and Forests, by Henry
D. Thoreau'Vnd -others. J1.50. Houghton,
Mifflin & Co.. Boston, and the J. K Gill
Co., Portland.
An unusually good collection of repre
sentative sketches on nature -and - her
ways, by such eminent American writers
as Henry . D. Thoreau, John Burroughs,
John Muir, Bradford Torrey, Dallas Love
Sharp and Olive Thorne Miller. Illus
trated from photographs by Herbert W
Gleason. -..-.
The Planter, by Herman Whltaker. (1.50
Harper & Brothers, New York City.
Has all the marks of a great novel one
that ought to live when the tales of 1909
will have pleased the passing moment
and passed on. David Mann, a Puritan
youth from Maine, begins his life work
on a rubber plantation in Mexico, and
how he and Cbnsuela shape .their destiny
la p&uitea on an always attractive canvas.
JOSEPH M. QUENTIN.
' NEW BOOKS KKCEITVEU.
- The Cords of Vanity, bv James Branch
Cabell. $1.50. (Doubleday-Page.)
Eunnyfleld. by Louise Morgan Bill.' tt-25;
and Adventures in Field and Forest by
Frank H. Spearman and others, 60 cents.
(Harper's.)
A History of German Literature, by Cal
vin Thomas. $1.50. . Appleton's.)
The Story of Thyria. by Alice Brown.
tl.SH. (Houghton-Mifflin.)
Note These books were received for re
view through the courtesy of the J. K.
Gill Co., of this city: The Cords of Vanity,
A History of German Literature. The
Story of Thyrra. In American Fields and
Forests, and Bartholomew re Las Casas.
ENGLAND NEEDS FORESTS
Proposed to Furnish Employment by
; Planting 9,000,000 Acres.
LONDON, March 27. (Special.) Rider
Haggard believes that afforestation will
do' away with a vast amount of unem
ployment. In a recent address on this
subject he said that at last it had become
apparent to the minds of tne people of
this country, that something should be
done to repair the wastage of their
woods. The Royal Commission has found
that afforestation in this country was
both practical and desirable, and that It
ought to be profitable to the state.
If the full scheme suggested by the
commission that 9,000,000 acres should be
afforested for 80 years at the end of that
time the state should have a property
worth over 12.500,000.000, that amount be
ing nearly 500.u00,000 in excess of the cost
Incurred in creating it.- allowing 3 pet
cent compound interest upon the cost. At
the end of that period the state should
have an income of tS5,O00,000 or $90,000,000
a year clear profit. In case the state con-sidered-this
too large a scheme, they had
prepared another, providing ' for 6,000,000
acres.
In addition to the employment thus di
rectly afforded, such a scheme would give
employment -to kindred industries to an
extent Impossible to calculate. It would
also ,be of great benefit to small holdings
and eventually give employment to at
least 90,000 men.
"VACHER" CRIMES REVIVED
1 "v
French Countryside Thrown Into
Panic by Brutal Slurderer.
PARIS, March 27. (Special.) Worse
than the crimes of Jack the Ripper were
those of which a certain man, Vacher,
was accused some years ago. He made
it a point to assault and kill all the
shepherd girls in the country, and now
a similar crime is reported from the
parish of Saint Peary, near Valence,
where a young woman aged 28 was found
strangled in a vineyard. She was the
wife of a day laborer at Saint Peary and
seems to have been lured to the vineyard,
which is a short distance from the vil
lager by the same criminal monnmnnlnf
After strangling her t death the mur
derer cut up all her clothes with a knife,
making bits of everything and scatter
ing them about. The corpse was found
in the morning by the oronrietor of th
vineyard, who at once informed the au
thorities, but the only clew left by the
criminal was a white handkerchief and
a packet of cigarette papers.
The inhabitants of the district, which is
near the one where the notorious Vacher
accomplished his exploits, are now won
dering whether they are to be terrorized
bv a similar manioc -iroi,- ,i
executed, was convicted of seven mur.
ders and was, said to have committed 23
in an.
H?e nitlke'h "le to He down in green pastures; he leadeth tne beside the
till waters." Psalm XXUI 2.
The quiet of the pasture lands !
There all the grass is green and sweet, -And,
whisperless, it understands
The gentle pressure of our feet;
There dandelions thickly spread
In wondrous arabesques of-gold
- As though the stars from overhead
- .Upon earth's bosom had been rolled.
The violets laugh at the sky
An echo of the, dreaming blue;
The voiceless breezes wander by
To thread the blossom paths anew;
The early bees in search of sweets
Seem all a-tiptoe in the air,
Each wing is' noiseless in its beats
As through the soundless day they fare.
The wild rose in its cloister nook
Is shielding yet jts Summer blush;
The trees beside the lazy brook t
Sway softly in .the morning's hush;
The scattered clouds of white go by
Like sunkissed sails far out at sea
The argosies that journey high
To whatsoe'er their haven be. '
The quiet of the pasture lands!
Where newborn flower, leaf and vine
Seem to be Spring's cup-bearing hands
" - That offer us her amber wine ;
Where filmy veils of mist uproll
On sights that halt and hold us long
There, in a chord that thrills the soul,
The very silence sings a song!
(Copyright. WW, by w. o. Chapmaa.
Portland's
I . No. 1 Commission Plan as Viewed by ; American Cities That Have Adopted It. : V-1
BY GEORGE . A. THACHER.
TH
8
HE proposed new charter for the
city of Portland, which has been
ubmitted by 14 members of the
charter commission. raises a good
many questions which in a broad sense
can be included In one. . ' " -;
Does the new . charter Involve a
theory of reform to be imposed upon
the citizens by a few men. or do these
14 men represent a large majority of
citizens, who Insist - upon correcting
certain evils In the present form ; of
government? , .
It Is often asserted that feelings.
ideals and men who represent them
ar directly responsible for revolutions,
but there is another explanation which
takes the reformer off his pedestal,
and that is that the . activities and
conflicts of large groups. Inspired by
seuiati motives or great calamities, are
the moving forces. Very : likely feel
ings, Ideals and . knowledge (soul
stuff) represent society Itself when in
stitutions become facts, but the activi
ties of groups bring about changes. -
In city government, to go back to
June 21, 1783,' the mutiny of the un
paid Revolutionary Army In Philadel
phia was not only considered an Insult
to the -Nation's dignity by Congress, j
but Congress was scared Into an ad
journment and met some days later
at Princeton. The Pennsylvania au
thorities would not attempt to protect
Congress, and so when the District of
Columbia Government - waa created
Congress decided to take charge di
rectly to avoid any recurrence of the
disgraceful scenes. In the course of
the . next hundred years popular gov
ernment in Washington became a scan
dal, and in 1874 Congress appointed a
commission of four men to govern the
city. In 1878 the plan was changed
slightly, and a commission of three
men with practically the same power
to legislate as is given to commis
sions in states where municipal com
missions rule was adopted.
There Is one very. Important dif
ference, and that is In Washington the
members of the commission are ap
pointed by the President, who has "the.
power of removal. It has been often
claimed during the past generation
that Washington has the best , govern
ment of any city In the country,- but
I am informed , by John B. Daish, a
lawyer in Washington, who is a mem
ber of the American Political Science
Association, that "the difficulty with
our form of commission government is
that It is Irresponsible and irrespon
sive o the citizens." He says: "You
must discriminate between a commis
sion form of government where the
commissioners are appointed and the
commission form of government where
they are elected. The former, as Is
the case here, are responsible to no
one save the appointing power; the
latter are responsible to the electors
who vote for, them." He adds that In
recent years the choice of commission
ers has depended upon "pdlitical pref-
Proposed New Charter
i - - - i
erence,". two ex-newspapermen being
i present Doard. One member is
selected from the engineer bureau- of
the Army. I learn from another source
that the commission, government Is
being investigated with the possibility
of . the number of commissioners being
increased. '
In Galveston, in 1S95, the city adminis
tration was changed to a Mayor and
Board of Aldermen elected at lange The
business of the 'city was done by sub
ordinate committees or boards. At the
time of the storm in 1901. which wrecked
the city physically and placed it in such
desperate straits financially, the Board
of Aldermen proved to be helpless. The
ideaof a small' executive nd legislative
board was suggested and adopted as a
measure of necessity.
It has proved a great success in the
opinion of the people of Galveston, 'and
has been adopted in other cities. The
number of commissioners is four : and
each -one is at the head of one of the
four departments of Finance -and Reve
nue. Police and Fire, Streets and Public
rroperty, waterworks and , Sewerage.
The Mayor Is general director and' pre
siding officer, but has no power in making
laws or directing executive policy, except
to the extent of his vote.
The idea, which ia mentioned here in
Portland in regard to the new charter,
that representative men cannot be had.
ui9um in vraiveston. There have
been few changes in the 'commission in
eight years. H. A. Landes. a veteran
wholesale merchant has been Mayor
since 1905. . He . has most courteously re
sponded to a letter from me in regard to
the working of the plan of making such
officers as City . Attorney, Police Judge,
Auditor and Treasurer appointive, in
stead of elective. In his letter, which I
quote, it will be seen that he, naB no
doubts upon the subject. . ' . ;
Mayor Landes' Letter.
Tf it is the desire of your people to re
move completely all political Influences from
your municipal government I would strongly
urg that yotj make the Mayor and com
mlssioners only elective, for when you pass
this point you Inject to a very-' considerable
extent politics in your city government.
The position of Attorney Is an important
one to a municipal government and he
should be In perfect accord with" every mem
ber of your city board, and when the re
sponsibility of nominating an Attdrney Is
up to the Mayor and his associates the
people can rest assured that the very best
material, for this as well as : other posi
tions, will be appointed, and again, when
these offices are made non-polltlcal- and
the fact is known, men will, consent to
serve who would not do so under other con
ditions, and this same thing, will apply to
the -h-eads of every department -in your city,
government. Tour people will have fully
discharged their duty hen they have. cho
sen and elected the Mayor ' and his asso
ciate commissioners or Councllmen, 'with
whom , you can -intrust -all other matters.
This Is the Galveston plan, and during the
past seven years the results and what ias
been accomplished have been without a par-alell-ln
municipal government.'
Yours truly.
H. A. LANDES, Mayor-President."
Through the courtesy of E. R. Chees
borough, organizer, and member of the
city club of Galveston, I am aWe-to
quote from his account of the Galveston
plan:
Practical experience, extending over a pe
riod of six and a half year, has conclusive
ly proved, that the Galveston plan of city
government? by commission ia a complete
success.
There is nothing at all remarkable about
the Galveston plan, nor about the men that
are directing Its municipal government. The
city . commiHSibn is simply a board of direc
tors, elected at large by the qualified voters
of the entire city every two years. This
board is composed of live practical business
men, each fully recognizing the fact that
economy and business inethoHt, tint If i ..
should be employed in transacting the busi
ness affaire of the city.
The business that 1 being directed by these
m e mca, as agenis - ror tne citizens of Gal
veston, . can be briefly summarized as fol
lows: Furnlshltig ' the . people with bure.
wnolesome water, adequate sewerage, effi
cient ponce ana nre protection, well lighted,
clean and well-paved streets, .drainage, sani
tation, public hospital for the sick and i
careful management of the - city finances. .
The city of Houston. Texas, has had
a commission government for four vears.
The mayor has the veto power which the
mayor or Galveston does not possess. Mr.
Samuel Peterson.-, a lawyer of Houston, a
member of the American Political Science
as he did so. Miller raised the derringer
Association, and .formerly of the faculty
of the University of Texas, has written
me of the Houston commission, and I
quote orieuy from Ma letter:
I believe in Houston the Mayor has . more
power rhan In any of the other commission
cities, and the , present Incumbent, H. Bald
win Rice, - who' has been Mayor since the
adoption of the comralselon form, and will
probably be'" again re-eiected thia year, free
ly recognizee his :autocratlc powers. There
are four commissioners, but tw om fran
tically to-be In the position of members of
tne i-resiaent e taoinet at the present time.
Two of them failed to work In harmony with
wajur iwiu were renevea - or-tneir auttes,
though of course they still hold their offices.
Mayor Rice has the support of the busi
ness element, and I understand that the gov
ernment Is a big success from the taxpay
ers' standpoint. Expenses are kept down,
bond issues are- not favored, and yet improve
ments are going on all the time; not as
last aa eome enmusiastlc citizens desire, but
fast enough for those who have to pay the
taxes. .
There, are no elective officers other than the
iyor ana lour Aiaermen, as 'they are
called.
The great success of the commission form
government i oeiieve to De aue to thtl
power of the Mayor and the making of ad
mlnistrative officers appointive. There simply
is not any senee in having the people elect
a City Attorney, a City Health Officer, a
City Engineer, etc. Those who speak of this
as democracy oo not know what democracy
really ia.
- Mayor Rice declared that he would not be
a tanmoaw two years ago, put ne waa per
suaded to acoapt office a second time. Last
Summer he stated in public that he would
not be a candidate again, hut last Fall
a petition was numerously signed asking
him to run again, and he has consented
He has plenty of political enemies, but It
seems to me tnat the business element is
pverv, neiiniiiKiy lor mm. .we nave a strong
Bilious
Doctors all agree that an active liver
is positively essential to health. Ask
your oion doctor ahout "A'yer's Pills.
Alters
y ... . .
"How, are your bowels?" the doctor always asks.
He knows how important is .the question of con-,
stipation. He- knows that inactivity of the liver
will often produce most disastrous results. We
believe Ayer's Pills are the best liver pills you can
possibly take. Sold for over 60 years, . ' v
We have no secrets! .We pulhh '
the formulas of all our medic 3.
J. C. AYER CO., Manufacturing Chemistt, Lowell, Mat.
government, and the state laws nrohtMthna
gambllng, abd open" saloons on Sunitavs.
have certainly, been well enforced hei. "
while In Galveston and San Antonio there
same laws have been flagrantly . violated. ;""
The price of gas has been rtluce-d bv the
city to Jl per thousand. The police de
partment is effective. The fire department
needs improvement, but H may be mora a
matter of equipment than OX discipline. ,
Professor Falrlie. of- the . XJnUersityf '
Michigan," suggests ' that . as ..city . -attor ,
neys, controllers,, engineer and ' other
subordinate officers have no political
functions, they should oe appointed in'-,
stead of being elected. - He also thinks
that they should -be appointed for indef
inite terms and - subject J:o "rem oval for
causa. only in order that they may liecariie
more- efficient officers. --. - - .-- .
The city of Chicago has made 4.he city
attorney an appointive officer-' and his
political -Importance has disappeared. That
ides of making these officers a part Crf the
eivil -eervice has been established- m the
Indiana municipal code, it also applies to.
most of the heads of departments in New!
York City..; ' , . . - . ,
He goes farther and save that Wiir-ii nnt.'
should not be limited to-residenes of the"
city, but should be. open to anyone.. In
xungiarm vacancies of borough engineer'
and town clerks' of fices; are advertised-!
In Germany a mayor of Berlin has been;
chosen because of his record in a smaller:
city. In Paris there is . an examination
for -offices in the public administration:
D. F. Wilcox, of the bnreacr'of- fran
chises in the public service commisslon'ot
New York, thinks that the merit "sybtem
is democratic, for It gives every citiaeii "
an equal, opportunity to participate- lit
the public service according to his fitnes-T
Ha adds that it Is economical aa well as
scientific. . i .- ..'.... ..;TJ,-
Professor Falrlie- points out that there.'
le one very marked tendency in all the!
cities in the country, and that Is to con-;
centrate under one management all thev
different departments of the city's busl-1
ness. In early days in America all citv
councils were single bodies, . but in the!
Nineteenth century the bicameral systen
was adopted in imitation-of the state and
National legislative bodies. , Many have
returned to the single body and a number
of states have provided for the commrsr
sion system where the legtslattve body Is
also the executive body. In Iowa the ree
Moines plan of a body of five comnils-,
sioners with legislative powers as well .as
administrative is giving good satisfaction. '.
Subordinate . officers are appointed, and.
the .recall makes the- commission respon
sible, to the people at all times.. Kansas;
likewise has. the commission plan, which'
Is in operation-in Leavenworth; " s 1
A" year- ago the stale of Mississippi:
passed a law providing for the commis
sion form of government in the cities tha
desired it. .In the large city, of . Boston;
where-the bicameral system exists, the
Boston Finance Commission, which- was
appointed in July of has Just com-'
pleted its work-in which it recommends
many 'important changes In .the city gdv-.
ernment. ' The Boston Journal-'of Decem
ber 24, 190S. say of the commission: '
"It favors more power for he Mayor,
a single legislative body Instead of the
present bicameral system, and the con
solidation and eystemization of depart
ments. Farther than lhat it goes and de
clares that the Mayor and Aldermen
should be elected, directly by the people,
without primaries and without party'
designation upon the city election ballots.
"In other words, while recognizing the
fact that the city of Boston cannot, for
some time, at least, be converted into a
strict business corporation from a seml
polltlcal corporation, the commission be
lieves as a result of Its own investiga
tions that the city can be run on a busi
ness basis and with only a minimum
waste of money due to an inevitable po
litical basis of the municipal corpora
tion." That brings us back tb the work of the
Charter Commission in Portland and
gives us an idea of the study of the sub
ject, which the members have been mak
ing during the past five months In their
efforts to devise a plan to remedy pres
ent evile. 1
The - first thing which Is obvious in
looking over the proposed charter is that
there has been no effort to propose
changes because they look like reform
and have been well received elsewhere.
At first blush, that seems to the student"
of political science to be a blunder, but
if. political science Is ah experimental
one, or In other words, is a matter of
growth, then there is evidently no use in
making changes until very large groups
of voters demand them in order to gain
some particular object. There is no de
mand in Portland that the Police Judge,
the Oity Attorney, the City Auditor and'
Treasurer be removed from politics and
placed in the civil service. Neither is
there any demand that the Park' Board
be reduced in numbers or abolished. There
Is a demand, however, that the city's
method of doing business be simplified
in order to get results. The commission'
proposes to secure this end by abolish
ing the Executive Board of 10 and reduc-"
ing the number of the Council from 15 to
six, placing one at the head of each ad
ministrative department, and allowing
the Mayor to vote with the Council, but "
depriving him of the veto power.
The Vice-President.
Puck.
Concerning government, he hath -
Not any say.
He pegs along his narrow path
In quiet way.
Ho foe lampoons "him for the mob;
No rival plots to get bis iob..
A speech at dinner .-sometimes he
Sedately drones;
And sometimes at a building bee
He cornerstones.
. But otherwise his utifih't- U nil:
He couldn't pass a dog-tax bill.
Pi s