Public Reform and Municipal Government.
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PUBLIC REFORM AND MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT. By Duane Mowry. REFORM implies a change of, and an improvement on, existing conditions; and the significance of a reformatory move ment is largely determined by the character of the forces which impel it. If the charac ter of these forces is narrow and selfish and hypocritical, the real value of the results ob tained will be doubtful, and, generally, un satisfactory. True reform, then, as applied to the public service may be somewhat loosely defined to be the best expression of an honest, per sistent and intelligent effort to improve the social, economical and political conditions of the country. The very idea of reform, there fore, carries with it the implication that exist ing conditions are not perfect, and that the movement presumes to be an attempt to better or improve those conditions. Indeed, it can be safely asserted, and without danger of successful contradiction, that that human government which, in its own estimation, has passed the crucial point of amendment, and has reached a stage in its life amounting to practical perfection, has already entered upon the broad yet silent road which leads to ultimate national decay. Even now it may be dangerously near the point of cer tain dissolution. Genuine reform in the af fairs of government, therefore, is the sure sign of certain progress in the State, and in its people. It is not probable that there will be much, material difference of opinion on what has already been said. It will be taken for granted that real reform is the index finger which points to the means whereby a better condition of human affairs, under govern mental dictation, is possible. A variance ' appears as soon as an attempt is made to
cause a reformatory movement to become operative, to pronounce, so to speak, adverse judgment on the present status of things, and to undertake to apply what is conceived to be the proper corrective, or to enter upon the study of the details which it is thought the existing conditions of public affairs present, for the avowed purpose of applying what is believed to be the appropriate remedy. It is not surprising that this difference exists, nor can it be regarded as unfortunate. For, in a representative form of government, the test of the intrinsic value of any political or economical tenet or dogma, or of an effort to improve the conditions which at present exist, must come after an examination has been made at the bar of public opinion, and its certain verdict rendered. To say that such verdict is not always just or right, is simply to say that majorities may sometimes be mistaken or wrong, and that human nature is not infallible. Now it is requisite to the advancement of the cause of public reform that those who participate in the movement come to it with clean hands and a thoroughly unselfish pur pose. One of the reasons why the average reform movement is so odious to the think ing masses comes from the fact that its friends are not genuine, and are acting from purely mercenary motives. It would be a lasting shame and an awful disgrace to give popular support to a measure that had for its chief champions and promoters those who were not sincerely imbued with its spirit, and who were seeking merely to hoodwink the public and to allay popular discontent and restlessness. The true reformer must possess qualities of the highest order of merit. He must lose sight of all mere
