j lines; second,  whether  it  has safeguarded 'public interests in  keeping   taxation t> the the lowest point; third, whether it will have a tendency to stimulate  public   interest in muncipal affairs so that the self-seeing, dis-'¦ honest and incompetent shall  not   manage the affairs of the city, robbing the people in taxes and  debauching   the    morals of the community   by    failure   to administer the : laws. Mr. Nicholas the a told the story of the ' drafting of the charter.   He called attention : to     the     fact     that   although   the   char-iter,   in    substance,     was       printed       in ! all the papers, and although the call to   the hearing before the senator from this district was extensively published, lest than a  huu-dreJ persons gathered to  see   the   senator. Two gentlemen only had   appeared   before him to discuss the charter and its provisions. The speaker pointed out these facts to show that comparatively few citizens manifested the slightest interested in the charter.
Women Ought to Vote. "Either the people thought the charter as published a most perfect instrument,"   said Mr. Nicholas, "or they are   dead   to   theiri own interests.    If anything   in   the   world; could convince me that   women   ought   to j vote it is the fact that men, largely through 1 their own indifference, are not   more   thau half fit to govern themselves."       _,___
I    A MUNICIPAL LEAGUE",""
THE ORVTOR OF THE EVENING MAKES AN INTERESTING   ADDRESS.
P. N. NICHOLAS SPEAKS UPON THE CHARTER AND THE NEEDS OF A CITY.
I am asked to address this association
"The  Geneva Political Equality   Club"
I upon "Our City  Goverment and how it
is supported."      If I were addressing a
I political body I would be influenced  to
say many things that would probably be
out of place here, and yet I am not at all
sure that I am not addressing a  political
body, divided not perhaps on   the lines
that    to-day    separate    other    political
parties, but on lines none the less distinct
I     and definite.
i:         Before I consented to speak to you on
thcjcity cl*a.'-terl thir!:, maybe it would
iiarro-weu -w,!,<e for me  to have asked you
for a copy of your own charter, or for an
outline of the objects for which this or-
¦ ganization was fou nded.
!    I confess to be behind the times in that
i I do not know the goal at which you are
I aiming.   I have  bad a vague idea  that
Political Equality  was  an    euphemistic
term for woman suffrage.     If this be so,
and your idea is that someday the right
of suffrage will be extended to women,
i     and that when that time comes you wish
: to bo familiar with the machinery of the
government under which you live, and be
prepsired to exercise your right of franchise
.With intelligence, then  this movement is,
I think, a commendable one.
Taking this view of the aims and desires of this association I have a  proposition to make which will enable the mem-[   | bers to gain s6me practical experience  in j    'the actual working of our  city  govern-|     ment, and qualify them more fully for the exercise of the franchise when  they  take the government more or less into their own hands.
It has been proposed to form in the city a municipal league, entirely divorced from politics, the object of which shall be, so far as possible, to compel' the proper enforcement of the laws, to see that the public money is honestly expended, and by publishing the result of its investigations to let our public servants know that their proper acts are appreciated, and that their improper acis will not bo .^-.derated.
I see no reason why s- me or all of the members of r.his association should not become members of such a league, and serve with the men on the various committees. Perhaps such a league at this time is not necessary in viewofthepersonelof our city government perhaps the mem ow elecel or appointed are all honest, capable and efficient. But in times of peace it is well to prepare for war.
After picturing a possible condition of nfEa.li > In botn'j Caer -Executive- aud t'ollce Departments of the city Mr. Nicholas continued :
Now to turn from what might be to what is,.I wish to express my appreciation of our present police force, and especially for our Chief of Police, from whom I have not only a high regard but a feeling of personal friendship. I voted as Police Commissioner for four out of the five of the present forca. I believe they are honest and capable, and, under the stimulating influence of a proper public opinion, would not be excelled in the state for efficiency. I k.;ow what they have had to contend with. You may say it is the inuiflerence 01 wie Police Commissioners or laxity in the Poiice Court. These may be the immediate but not the primary causes. The primary causes are the laxity and indifference of public opinion. The stream will not rise higher than its source.
Now while I have outlined a possible . state of affairs which would make the formation of a Municipal League almost a necessity, I want to say that I think that the City is to be congratulated upon most of the appointments already made. The B'Kird of Public Workshasappointed as Superintendent Mr. Seybolt whose fitness is acknowledged by all. The Board of Health has appointed Dr. Bishop as Health Officer, a physician eminently qualified for the work, and the Board of Charities has appointed as Poor Master. John Jordan, than whom for the place there is no better man for the place. The Mayor in appointing Mr. Hofmann as assessor, has I tnink chosen a man with as large a combination of honesty experience and " gray matter " as any man in our city. I have had a great deal to do with him in the framing of the charter, and I speak from my personal knowledge of the man. Our cicy is well equipped in officers, our charter is, I believe, a good one and a source ot public sentiment will stand behind our City Government. There is no reason why our condition should not be immeasurably improved.
Now with a municipal league divided up into committees to whom were given different departments, for investigation, not only in criminal mactors but in civil, Committees which have the courage to present to the grand jury for indictment, those officers, if any, who were derelict in their duty, or were dishonest in the man-agment of the trusts committed to them; who would prepare for the public preq-from time to time statements of lacts touching the managment of the different departments: I say with such a league efficiently managed, we would, secure a batter service than we are likely to get if we take everything for granted and believe that the things which do noi appear on the surface do not in ta.ee exist.
My idea would be to engage in the prosecution, not of the so-called criminal class, but in the prosecution of thos officers charged with the duty of preventing crime, who knowingly allow crim' to e.dst; and in civil matters to secure indictments for dishonesty and exposure for inefficiency. To ascertain what city officers, if any were directly or indirectly interested in supplies furnished the city, which by the charter is made a 1 misdemeanor, and when the facts were ascertained publish them with the names of the guilty parties. Now all these matters, though they are far from pleasant, I think the members of this association are as capable of investigating as the men, I do noc say I think it is their duty to do it. any more than I think
¦ ¦¦I               IMMII^—I
it is their duty to vote, and yet, they, are matters which enter into every day municipal life, and do not take the |i strength of a man to perform, and they are some of- the very many disagreeable things of life which go with the privileges of full citizenship. And when such a league is formed, as I believe it will be formed. I shall be very glad to present the names of any or all the members of this club for election. Maybe you will all be black-balled, but no matter; you will have done your duty in offering to bear your share in the burdens of citizenship, and I will have done my duty and will have taken pleasure in having presented your names and in having voted for you.
To turn to the real subject in hand tc-J night. I ought to say that 1 was not origin-1 ally selected to speak co you, and only consented to take Judge Mason's place because he requested it, and because n y refusal would have entailed upon him not only the effort of speaking here to-night, buJ also a preparatory study of a long and somewhat complicated statute, with which from the circumstances of the c; se| I was already somewuat familiar.
It is now somewhat over a year since I was engaged in framingthe charter which' on the first day of January constituted us a city of the third class. "Whether that I change will enure to our benefit depends not on the change of name, but upon vhether,
First: Our charter is elastic enoush or broad enough to allow growth and development along proper lines.
Second: Wiiother ic has safe-guarded our interests in ke'eping taxation to the lowe-t point compatible with public safety and public comfort, and
Third: Whether it will have a tendency tc stimulate public interest in municipal affairs so that the self-seeking, dishonest and incompetent shall not manage the affairs of the city, robbing tho.'[people in taxes and debauching the morals of the community by failure to administer th« laws.
If, as I say, the new charter does provide the machinery, and if the people as citizens and not as politicians insist on their rights and privileges under it, then our new condition will bj a blessing, otherwise a curse.
It is said that " A beetle is a beauty in the eyes of its mother," and so having aj paternal interest in the city charter, I! also may be blind to some of its defect, but if these detects are pointed out to me I shall be very glad to help remedy them, rather than belittle them to try to cover them up.                                                    '
Some of you possibly have read thei charter through, but if so it was surelj from a sense of duty, as it is not lighf reading, and cun hardly be • graspmhmi-if whole by one unfamiliar with legal? phraseology, or unacquainted with muni-oiial machinery.
1 confess myself to have forgotten many of the provisions in it. It was prepared by order of the Board of Trustees, under the direction of a committee, and the committee was authorized to employ certain counsel named in making the draft. It was prepared at the last under a good deal of pressure, and for several days we fed copy to three printing offices, reading proof and preparing new copy at the same time. The result was we were not satisfied with the first draft after it had passed to a second reading in the Senate and re-called it, for correction and change*, before the committee reported it. It was then reprinted and ordered ,;to a third reading, and still, on account of some clerical errors, was again .amended, re-Tinted, and then passed in its present form.
jfrior to all this, however, and before _ the charter was voted upon by the people ' of Geneva, it was printed in the village L papers and scattered almost broadcast ¦. among the paople.          '                       ,.™
> After it was voted upon, and before it ' w»j passed by the Legislature, thejSenator ' I from this distiict gave notice thathe would
give a public hearing in the trustee's room, and all were invited to come and say what they had to say for or against it. The call for that meeting was pnblished in our newspapers, and everybody knew of in. What was the result? A crowd of fifty or a hundred gathered to see the Senator. Two gentlemen only appeared before him to discuss the charter and its provisions. One opposed it because he was in the "annexed district"' and objected to being taxed, and as I remember it, that wos his sole objection to the charter as it stood, v z. its boundary lines. The other gem leman appeared by request of several laige tax-payers, and objected to it first becuis* it provided for the election at a time when a state election was being heid, and secondly because it did away w.th the tax-meeting. Mr. Raines said: "Gentlemen, your people have voted emplviric:illy for a city charter; the question thwi only is what sort of a charter do you '.witit ? " Kovv I do not say thao the objections made by the two gentlemen w.io appeared were not good objections irom their point of view. They were both lawyers and both I nresume had read the charter and under-sto )d it, and one of them I know had studied it quite carefully.
But what I want to call your attsntion to is the fact of a general lack of interest shown in the most vital of public affairs.
One would have supposed that after the first publication of the charter there would have been 50 or 100 men who would havo had intelligent criticisms or sugges-ion <o make. But no. Cne-third of the people voted against the charter because hey rtid not want a city, find two thirds voted for it because they did want a city. Probably very many voted intelligently either for or against, but the point I wish to make is that they did not t ;ke the trouble to give either the committee or the public the benefit of their ideaSj To this however there were exceptions which I will note.
The committeo which drafted the char-tor framed it very largely along the lines laid down by the Committee on Statutory Revision of the Legislature in their draft of a charter for cities of the third class. This is a permanent committee; and fcha draft of the bill they had prepared showed. not only painstaking skill in embodying most admirable general principles, but in matters of detail so far as they are applicable, covering every point that could possibly arise under the particular subject treated. In addition to this we examined more or less carefully the charters oŁ nearly every city of the third class in the state, .-tndofsome of those of the second class, taking from them such desirable provisions as had not otherwise occurred to us. The making of a charter at the present time is very muoh like the making of a modern dictionary. It is not;» matter of original research, but of collecting and collating the best things tbBi-other men have done, fitting thorn to thu situation, improving in details where you can, and also in adding such new matter as the conditions warrant. I think I can speak for Mr. Backenstose as well as for myself in saying that we are exceedingly jtnclebted to Mr. F. A. Malette and Mr T S. Hubbard for many valuable suggestions a id for much pains-taking care m reading and correcting the original draft. Mem-¦uers of the committee of the trustees, of course, from t.me to timer consulted with us, and sometimes against our will, directed us; but outside of these not a sound was heard nob a particle of interest shown. Either the people thought thj charter as published, was a most pei-;ect instrument, and if so the committee did not entirely agree with. them, or less they are a people dead—very 1 dead and alive to their own interests. If anything in the world would convince ma that women ought to bs given the right to vote, it is the fact thiit men, largely through their own indifference, are not, more than half fit to govern themselves. They will kick when something they don't like happens;    so will a male; and