Lowell Sunday Telegram as owing
thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes
accrued through his building wrecking
operations, and his pay as mayor, at



48



NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW



[January



the insistence of the Telegram, was at-
tached last April by the city treasurer
and tax collector, and is still so at-
tached every week.

But again, on the credit side of the
ledger, we find that three of the new
councillors were absolute newcomers to
politics, namely Clement, Howard, and
Scott, and another had never held elec-
tive office before, namely Condrey.
Clement, in fact, espoused a cause sup-
posedly the equivalent of political
suicide when he ran on a personal plat-
form calling for a manager from afar
and a pegging of the council salary at
not in excess of $2,000, rather than the
top of $4,000 allowed by law. He was
elected very handily.

What is really astonishing and like-
wise indicative, at least to this writer,
is that more of the present council
(thirteen of the fifteen ran) didn't get
in, and that all the old-timers, includ-
ing four former mayors and innumer-
able and consistent also-rans, faded
early out of the race.

Effective Voting under Difficulties

It adds to the amazement of the ob-
server to remember that the Lowell
voters put these men into office under
the most difficult of conditions. The
near-fatal thing was the absolute lack
of anything resembling a citizens' com-
mittee, as formed in other cities, for
the advancement of a good government
slate. Attempts to form such a com-
mittee were made in Lowell all during
last summer and fall. They failed be-
cause of old-fashioned political think-
ing and downright fear.

With 100 candidates in the running
for the nine Council seats and 31 for
the six School Committee posts, the
voter was presented with a truly for-
midable choice. Worse, there were defi-
nite and powerful drives to put stooges
into office.

The Sunday Telegram attempted to



assist by short factual biographies of
the candidates repeated in several is-
sues in the weeks before election, and
compiled from information gained from
questionnaires. Some 70 per cent of the
candidates responded to the question-
naire; the 30 per cent who didn't had
little to report anyway.

In the absence of any local good gov-
ernment slate chosen by a representa-
tive committee, this writer made bold
on Sunday, October 31, with the election
two days away, to publish his own per-
sonal choices for Council and Commit-
tee in a special story. He named four-
teen choices for Council and nine for
School Committee. Seven of the nine
councillors elected were among these
choices and four of the six school com-
mitteemen. This is presented not to
claim credit for the results but to
underscore the writer's belief that the
voters used the freedom of the new
system with discrimination and grati-
fying effect.

Only 2.9 per cent of the ballots cast
for council were invalid or blank 855
out of 29,541 and 4.7 per cent of
those cast for School Committee
1,375 out of 29,559.

Still more remarkable is the fact that
the large number of candidates did not
prevent most of the voters from mak-
ing their votes effective in actually
electing councillors. With 100 candi-
dates to choose from nearly half the
voters picked candidates with enough
popularity to win as their very first
choices 13,514, or 47 per cent of -the
28,686 valid ballots and the others
marked enough choices so that 83 per
cent 23,867 out of 28,688 helped
elect someone for whom they had voted.

In the School Committee election, to
which less attention was paid, the
record of effective voting was not quite
so good but still creditable. Of the 28,-
184 who cast valid School Committee
ballots, 11,517, or 41 per cent, saw their



1944]



NEWS IN REVIEW



49



first choices elected and 21,487, 76 per
cent, helped elect some choice to the
Committee.'

Lowell is off to a good start, but we
cannot afford to be complacent. Politi-
cal attacks on the new system may
confidently be expected, and in the
next election, with less novelty to focus
public opinion, we could not expect
with so little effort to get such good
results. The only safe course is to form
a strong, militant, and ever-working
citizens' committee. There is no other
way to be sure of holding the ground
gained, none certainly by which to
progress farther.

FREDERICK W. MAGUIRE, Editor
Lowell Sunday Telegram



Cincinnati's Charter Committee
Reverses Downward Trend

EDITOR'S NOTE. The writer of this
article, Mrs. Elizabeth Reid, grand-
daughter of Governor Judson Har-
mon of Ohio and widow of the dis-
tinguished surgeon, Dr. Mont R.
Reid, is the first woman elected to
the Cincinnati City Council since its
membership was reduced from 32 to
nine in the charter revision of 1924.
She was elected this fall on the ticket
of the City Charter Committee, which
led the successful campaign for the
adoption of P. R. and the manager
plan of government twenty years ago
and has stayed actively in the field
as a municipal good government
party ever since. Mrs. Reid is a vice-
president of the Cincinnati League of
Women Voters and has been for four
years chairman of the women's di-
vision of the City Charter Committee.
She was supported for election by all
three of the city's newspapers.

On November 2 Cincinnati held its
tenth P. R. election. There were
twenty candidates in the field, nine
organization Republicans, nine candi-
dates of the independent City Charter
Committee, and two unattached inde-
pendents. The Republicans based their
entire campaign on national issues al-



though there are many problems of
pressing importance in Cincinnati. Dur-
ing the middle of the campaign, the
City Manager, Col. C. O. Sherrill, an-
nounced his intention of resigning on
January 1. It was obvious that this
election would determine which group
would choose the next manager, and
the Charter candidates campaigned
largely on that issue, with emphasis
also on the need of a new city plan.

The results of the election were in-
teresting. The Republicans won five
seats in the new Council, the Charter
candidates four. The significance, how-
ever, is that the Charter Committee re-
versed the downward trend which has
persisted throughout its existence. In
each election heretofore it has received
a smaller percentage of the first-choice
vote than in the previous election. In
1941 the Charter candidates totaled 32
per cent of the vote, but in 1943
jumped to 40 per cent without the top
vote getter of 1941, Charles P. Taft. It
seems reasonable to assume that a
great many voters realized the many
problems facing Cincinnati as a city, .
and voted on the municipal issues
rather than on national ones. Cincin-
nati is very Republican on national
questions and was, in fact, the only
large city in the country carried by
Willkie in 1940. Of the four Charter
councilmen elected in 1943, two are
Democrats and two independent Re-
publicans, so that on national lines, the
Council has seven Republicans.

One argument which is often heard
against P. R. is that it tends to split
the major parties and, by representing
small groups with selfish interests,
makes cohesive action impossible. Cin-
cinnati has had P. R. for twenty years
and in that time has elected un-
attached independents only four times
and never more than one at any elec-
tion. In the last two elections no such
independents were elected, and the two



50



NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW



[January



original municipal parties made up all
of both councils.

The 1941 Council was composed of
five Republicans and four Charterites,
but due to the resignation of Charles
P. Taft and his replacement by the Re-
publican majority, the Charter Com-
mittee went into this campaign with
only three incumbents, the Republicans
having six. The only change in the
personnel of Council resulting from the
1943 election is that the "writer re-
places one of the present Republican
majority and returns the council to a
five-four division rather than a six-
three.

The ninth councilman reached his
quota without needing transfers from the
last candidate to be eliminated, and 77
per cent of the voters saw their first
choice elected. Ninety per cent of the
voters helped elect someone, though if
the figures were available they would
undoubtedly prove that a much larger
percentage saw someone for whom they
voted elected. The invalid vote was
4.87 per cent, including blanks.

The new Council will have many
vital problems before it, the first one
being the appointment of a city man-
ager. The Republicans with their ma-
jority have, of course, the responsi-
bility, and have announced that the
Charter councilmen will not be con-
sulted, on that issue at least. The
Charter Committee with its minority
of four will be in a strong position,
and if the Organization misuses its re-
sponsibility the results of the 1945 elec-
tion may well return the Charter Com-
mittee to control.

ELIZABETH CASSATT REID
Cincinnati City Council



Good Government
Continues in Honkers

In Yonkers, which adjoins New York
City on the north and has a similar



cosmopolitan population, the results of
the P.R. election this fall were gener-
ally acclaimed. The only dissent to be
heard was from politicians of the old
school.

In a long editorial entitled "The
People Approve Good Government"
the Yonkers Herald Statesman of No-
vember 9 rejoiced that "the Yonkers
electorate has proved that it recognizes
good government when it gets it" and
"that they understand and like the
special system of voting for Council
by proportional representation."

The independent City Manager
League ticket elected three out of five,
the same three who chose City Mana-
ger William A. Walsh and have been
controlling city policies since Thomas
B. Sheridan, independent Democrat,
was chosen in a P.R. vacancy recount
a year ago last summer. Curtiss E.
Frank, a law associate of former U. S.
Solicitor-General Charles Evans Hughes,
Jr., led the ticket with a full quota
of first choices. Mr. Frank was on the
Republican as well as the City Mana-
ger League ticket. Next to reach the
quota, both on the same transfer, were
Mrs. Edith P. Welty, City Manager
League independent Republican, and
Mr. Sheridan.

The last two elected were both regu-
lar Democrats, Vice-Mayor James A.
Sullivan and John J. Whalen. Mr.
Whalen, a business man with a good
reputation, replaced Mayor Benjamin
F. Barnes. Mr. Barnes was elected two
years ago on the City Manager League
ticket, but promptly joined forces with
the Democratic organization members
to turn their minority into a tempo-
rary Council majority in return for
their support of him for mayor. 1 This
year Mr. Barnes was on the regular



x The mayor is not the chief executive
under the city manager plan, but the
president of the Council and ceremonial
head of the city.



1944]



NEWS IN REVIEW



51



Democratic ticket, but was defeated.

All five of the Councilmen-elect
reached the quota sufficient for elec-
tion before the last candidate was de-
clared defeated. Under a charter
amendment adopted at the same elec-
tion the quota was' calculated from the
vote actually cast as in most other
P.R. cities instead of being fixed arbi-
trarily in the charter at 10,000.

The five Councilmen were chosen
from a total of only twelve candidates:
four City Managerites including one
also on the Republican ticket, two oth-
er Republicans, five on the Democratic
ticket, and one American Labor party
candidate.

All the results secured at the original
count were subject to adjustment
when a few ballots came in from sol-
diers overseas. Fortunately the margin
by which each candidate was elected
or defeated was large enough so that
there was no chance of any change
being made in the order of defeat or
in the candidates elected. Figures in
this article are those for the original
count without the soldier vote adjust-
ments.

A Recount for JVIayor

For the first time in any public elec-
tion the regular P.R. ballots for Coun-
cil were recounted according to the
Hare system of majority preferential
voting to determine the people's
choice for Mayor. This was done un-
der a second charter amendment draft-
ed by a charter commission last sum-
mer 2 and adopted on the same day as
the voting for Councilmen. It resulted
in the selection of Mr. Frank over the
Democratic leader, Mr. Sullivan, by
just about the same three-to-two mar-
gin that the City Manager League will
have over the Democratic organization
in the Council. The final vote, after
the lowest candidates had been dropped
one by one and all the ballots had



been sorted into those that preferred
Frank to Sullivan and those that pre-
ferred Sullivan to Frank, was Frank
21,688, Sullivan 14,906. The other vot-
ers had expressed no choice between
the two.

Mr. Sullivan, as the runner-up, auto-
matically became Vice-Mayor. The
amendment was deliberately drawn
with the idea of making the leader of
the opposition normally the Vice-
Mayor and so inviting the cooperation
of majority and minority so far as it
might prove feasible.

Since the first step of the mayoralty
recount is to sort out all the Council
ballots according to their earliest
choices for any of the five elected
Councilmen, this method gives a valu-
able piece of information not hitherto
available in P.R. elections, namely how
many voters saw at least one of theii
choices elected to the Council. In
Yonkers this fall the number was 96
per cent of all who cast valid ballots.
The variety of representation always
secured under P.R. is such that even
those who do not technically help elect
anyone usually see someone they ap-
prove elected by others. 3

The 44,354 Council ballots were
counted in three days by a bipartisan
force of about fifty counters under the
direction of the editor of this depart-
ment. An extra day was required for
the election of the Mayor.

There were 41,872 valid Council bal-
lots, 2,048 invalid and 434 blank. Thus
the invalid ballots constituted 4.7 per
cent of the ballots marked. Of the
valid ballots 27,091, or 65 per cent, saw
their first choices elected; 34,895 or 83



'See this department for September.



8 The only other election for which
comparable figures are available is the
Ashtabula, Ohio, P.R. election of 1919.
The ballots in that election were special-
ly examined after the election was over,
and it was found that 86 per cent saw a
first or second choice elected, 91 per cent
saw one of their first three choices
elected, and 93 per cent some choice.



52



NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW



[January



per cent (that is, five full quotas of
6,979 each) helped elect members to
the Council; and 40,211, or 96 per cent,
saw one or more of their choices
elected.

For Yonkers' effective and intelligent
use of P.R. the Yonkers Herald States-
man deserves a large share of the credit.
It did a fine piece of work in publi-
cizing the election method, the election
issues, and the candidates. During the
count it followed up with daily front
page stories, giving all the details of
the count as they occurred an in-
valuable educational help for the fu-
ture. And in repeated editorials, it
brought out the significance for good
government of the results achieved
and the part played by the election
method in securing them. On Novem-
ber 12 it analyzed some of the trans-
fers in an editorial entitled "How P.R.
Looses the Voters' Shackles," in which
it remarked: "P.R. guarantees voter
independence. And worse yet for the
political machines, the voters know
it does, and act accordingly."



Boulder Election
Uncontested

The fourteenth P.R. election of City
Councilmen in Boulder, Colorado, was
unique in the annals of American P.R.
elections, for only three candidates
presented themselves for the three
places to be filled. 1

The only other issue to be decided
at the election was a referendum on
an increase in the city's tax levy limit,
which was approved by a narrow mar-
gin, and the total vote was naturally
light the lightest since 1921.

On the first count L. W. Cumberford,
vice-president of the National State
Bank, who has been a member of the
Council under P.R. for eighteen years,



was elected with 472 votes and Elmore
Peterson, dean of the Colorado Uni-
versity Business College, a newcomer
to the Council, with 258. Councilman
Thomas J. Peyton, a local insurance
man, received 247 first choices, one
short of the quota, and was elected by
the first ballot of Mr. Cumberford's
surplus that was taken for transfer
That completed the election and no
further second choices had to be
examined.

The count was completed between
about 8:30 and 9:45 on the evening
of election. The counting staff con-
sisted of the seven Councilmen who
were not candidates, City Manager H.
C. McClintock, and seven assistants.



Other Elections
Next Time

P.R. elections were also held Novem-
ber 2 in New York, whose results were
discussed at length last month, and
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and To-
ledo and Hamilton, Ohio. The signifi-
cant results in these last three cities
have been held over till next month
for reasons of space.



1 Boulder has a Council of nine mem-
bers. It elects three Councilmen every
second year for a term of six years.



Alfred Gray
of England

With deep regret we record the death
on October 28 of Captain Alfred J.
Gray, formerly assistant secretary for
many years and more recently joint
secretary of the British Proportional
Representation Society. Captain Gray
was one of the foremost authorities
on P.R. He has been the constant
collaborator and invaluable assistant
of Mr. John H. Humphreys, who is
affectionately recognized in all quar-
ters of the globe as the world leader in
efforts for electoral justice as the basis
for democratic institutions. Captain
Gray's loss will be felt far beyond the
borders of his own country.



1944]



NEWS IN REVIEW



53



County and Township

Edited by Elwyn A. Mauck



Civic Group Urges
Reforms for Cook County

Cites Some Measures Needed
for Its Efficient Government

'T'HE Civic Federation of Chicago
has addressed the Board of Com-
missioners of Cook County, Illinois,
through its Bulletins urging upon the
commissioners a number of reforms in
county government. The following
recommendations are listed by the Fed-
eration as urgently needed at this time :

1. A department of maintenance
and operation, authorized by the Gen-
eral Assembly last year, should be
created immediately because it would
permit unification of equipment and
material orders, establishment of rov-
ing crews of skilled workmen to do
necessary repair work, centralized main-
tenance and operation of all county
elevators, and centralized supervision
of engineers, oilers, sewer men, watch-
men, and similar personnel.

2. A department of central services,
also authorized by the General Assem-
bly last year, should be created imme-
diately to centralize control of certain
mechanical office equipment now lo-
cated in the Switchboard Division, Cen-
tral Photographic and Blue Print Divi-
sion, Addressograph and Tax Machine
Division, and certain units in the Coun-
ty Auditor's office such as the Tabula-
tion Department and the Divisions of
Tabulation Control, Key Punch, Mach-
ine Accounting and Recordat.

3. The Federation congratulates the
County Board for progress achieved
toward the installation of the Depart-
ment of Purchases which also was au-
thorized by the General Assembly last



year. It urges that a board of standard-
ization be appointed now in order that
such board might begin immediately
to classify the requirements of the
county government regarding supplies,
material, and equipment, to standard-
ize the various qualities, sizes, and
varieties, and to prepare, adopt, and
promulgate written specifications des-
cribing the standards adopted.

4. The Federation recommends that
the position of superintendent of public
service be abolished since practically all
of his functions are being transferred
to the new departments.

5. The adoption of a position classi-
fication and compensation plan to be
administered either by a new agency
or by the Civil Service Commission is
urged on the County Board. The Fed-
eration warns, however, that unless
competent help is employed the plan
will be worthless.

6. It is suggested that the care of
dependent, neglected, and delinquent
children be transferred to the Chicago
Welfare Administration and similar
agencies in surrounding towns because
such action would result in no harm
to the children and it would permit
the county to adjust its precarious fi-
nancial situation.

7. And lastly, the Federation urges
that strictest economy be practiced by
the county, and in this connection it
recommends abolition of the highway
police force.



Supreme Court Interprets
Statute in 'Kickback 9 Decision

The Supreme Court of the state of
Washington has decided county officials
may receive "donations" or "contribu-
tions" from their employees, although
"rebates" constitute violation of the
law.

The Court rejected the argument of
(Continued on Page 56)



Books in Review



Edited by ELSIE S. PARKER



Constitution-Making in a Democracy.

Theory and Practice in New York
State. By Vernon A. O'Rourke and
Douglas W. Campbell. Baltimore, The
Johns Hopkins Press, 1943. xiii, 286 pp.
$2.75'.

This is a case study of a funda-
mental American institution, the state
constitutional convention. The discus-
sion is based on the experience of the
New York State Convention of 1938,
which provides an excellent opportun-
ity to make an analytical and system-
atic study. The volume begins with a
preliminary analysis of the theory and
practice of constitution-making, with
some attention to its historical evolu-
tion. Concluding chapters assess the
value of the constitutional convention
process to representative government
and suggest ways of strengthening it.



American Political Parties Their
Natural History. By Wilfred E. Bink-
ley. New York City, Alfred A. Knopf,
1943. xii, 419 pp. $3.75.

How did political parties first arise?
How were new parties germinated?
How did they grow? How did they
come to an end? These are some of
the questions which the author under-
takes to answer. The book traces the
formation of group opinion from the
making of the constitution down to
the present, and the coalescing of
group opinion into a political party
under the hand of the politician. It
contains much of interest on the kind
of statesmen and leaders which the
exigencies of party politics have
produced.



The Book of the States: 1943-1944.

Chicago, Council of State Governments,
1943. xii, 508 pp. $4.

This is the fifth issue of the standard



reference manual on the 48 states,
compiled and published biennially by
the Council of State Governments.
The book contains information on state
organization, personnel, dates of legis-
lative sessions, etc. It reports the news
about the states during the past two
years, with special emphasis on war-
time activities, the work of defense
councils, and federal-state cooperation
in the war effort. Over 50 pages of
reference material and tables are de-
voted to taxation and finance.

There are more than a hundred ta-
bles covering certain state laws, the
number and payrolls of state employ-
ees, distribution of major war supply
contracts, qualifications for voting, etc.

A roster of state administrative offi-
cers, classified by function, title, and
agency duties, and a bibliography on
problems of state government com-
plete the volume.



The Cabinet Politician. The Post-
masters General, 1829-1909. By Doro-
thy Ganfield Fowler. New York City,
Columbia University Press, 1943. xi,
344 pp. $3.75.

When a newly-elected President
chooses his cabinet he usually appoints
the chairman of his party's national
committee as Postmaster General.
How long has this been customary?
To what extent has the Post Office
Department been involved in party
politics? These questions and numer-
ous others are answered in this story
of the Postmaster General's office and
of the men who have filled it from
1829 down to 1909.

While primarily appealing to stu-
dents of American history and govern-
ment, especially those interested in the
civil service reform movement, the
book will also appeal to those interest-



54



1944]



BOOKS IN REVIEW



55



ed in the background of many of our