THE CHAIRMAN: I now have the pleasure of introducing to you the Secretary of the League, Clinton Rogers Woodruff, Esq., of Philadelphia, who will deliver his annual address on the "Advance of the Movement for Municipal Reform."

Mr. Woodruff then delivered his address on the "Advance of the Movement for Municipal Reform." (See pages 101 to 115.)

THE CHAIRMAN: I take pleasure in introducing George W. Guthrie, Esq., of Pittsburg, who will present on behalf of the Committee on Municipal Program, appointed at the Louisville Conference, in May, 1897, the report of that Committee.

Mr. Guthrie then presented the Report of the Committee on Municipal Program. (See pages 1 to 25.)

THE CHAIRMAN: Mr. George Burnham, Jr., of Philadelphia, Treasurer of the National Municipal League, will now present his report as Treasurer.

Mr. Burnham then made the following report:

INDIANAPOLIS, November 30, 1898.

To the Executive Committee, National Municipal League:

GENTLEMEN: I beg to report, for the period beginning May 5th, 1897, the time of our last annual meeting, and ending November 30th, 1898, receipts and expenditures as follows:

Inventory, November 30, 1898.

69 Minneapolis and Cleveland Proceedings, bound

While our finances appear to be in satisfactory condition, our balance having slightly increased since my last report, with no audited bills remaining unpaid except the last installment of fifty dollars on the Louisville Proceedings account, it must be remembered that our annual meeting is six months later than usual, and, as a matter of fact, we have been encroaching on this year's revenues to pay last year's bills. Our activities are increasing, entailing larger expenditures for postage, stationery, clerk hire, etc., while our contributing membership does not grow in the same ratio. A special effort should be made during the coming year to largely increase our membership.

Respectfully submitted,

GEORGE BURNHAM, JR.,

Treasurer.

After further announcements by Evans Woollen, Esq., on behalf of the Commercial Club, and on behalf of the National Municipal League by the Secretary, the meeting adjourned until 8 P. M.

Wednesday, November 30, 1898, 8 P. M.

The Conference met pursuant to adjournment in the Assembly Room of the Propylæum. Clinton Rogers Woodruff, Esq., of Philadelphia, was introduced as Chairman.

THE CHAIRMAN: We have met this evening to listen to an address on the general subject in which we are interested by one who by his life and works has shown the greatest devotion to the cause of higher civic standards; one who has in every line of activity shown his deep interest in all that pertains to the welfare of his fellow-men-Mr. Samuel B. Capen, President of the Municipal League of Boston, who will address you on "The Closing Work of the Nineteenth Century."

Mr. Capen then delivered an address on "The Closing Work of the Nineteenth Century." (See pages 116 to 128.)

THE CHAIRMAN: I take pleasure in presenting to you one who needs no introduction to an Indianapolis audience from me-Hon. William Dudley Foulke, of Richmond, Indiana, who will offer a few remarks on the work of the Committee on Municipal Program and incidentally on the subject of "Proportional Representation and Municipal Reform."

ADDRESS OF HON. WILLIAM DUDLEY FOULKE.

The spirit of reform is in the air. We have been suffering in this State from some very grave abuses in our counties and townships, as well as in our cities. Contracts have been made for court houses, bridges and jails which are nearly always extravagant, often unnecessary and sometimes corrupt. The poor farm has been managed in many townships in a way that increases pauperism, and aids the political ambition of the commissioners who spend the money. Some reform is necessary from the ground up-one that will recreate the system.

A commission is now at work perfecting such a reform. The Na tional Municipal League not only offers valuable suggestions, but fills the air with the electricity of the reform spirit. It gives us an jaspiration for good work, and an inspiration to higher civic duty. Not only that, but I thnk that a great many people in Indianapolis feel that the time is not only opportune for our purpose, but that the place is well adapted for your purpose, because the Indianapolitans have a city charter of which they are proud; and, although the administration of it may still leave something to be desired, yet still he thinks he can give you points in the manner of constructing a statute, whether he can in the manner of administrating it or not. Even in that I suppose Indianapolis would rank very well with the great cities of this country. I understand that there are some very grave evils here at the present time, but the citizens of this town believe that the heart of the community is still sound. Indianapolis has not yet been cursed with yellow journalism; the newspapers of this city are clean and honest, and I believe that the editors of these papers in the main actually believe what they put into their editorial columns. These newspapers have done very much to improve and very little to debauch public sentiment. I think that that is an evidence not merely that there is a good teacher of civic life here, but also that the requirements of civic life are such as to demand it, for I believe that if there was a demand for yellow journalism it would not fail to appear.

Of course, crime is not absent in this community; but still it is not as prevalent nor as obtrusive as in many of our large cities. Now you

may say that this is due to the character of its citizens; and that is in large measure true. But at the same time the machinery of government has a great deal to do with the making of the character of its citizens, and it is to establish a governmental machinery that will stimulate good citizens and suppress bad ones that the League has been organized. The Kokomo "Tribune" said that if we wanted to reform a township government we must elect good trustees. The great trouble is to tell how to create a public spirit that will demand good trustees. I do not think the virtue of honesty would be cultivated to the highest degree by putting a man in a baker's shop when he knew his family was starving. I do not think the virtue of township trustees is enhanced by giving them the power to levy a tax, then allowing them to distribute that money, and then allowing them to audit their own accounts, and that sometimes on the eve of an election in which their own re-election is a factor.

I heard a man say not long ago that temptation was a good thing, because it tended to the upbuilding of character. Now, if you can be sure beforehand to offer a man just so much temptation as he would resist, I admit that temptation is a good thing; but we do not know how much temptation the average township trustee will resist.

A Model Charter has been submitted to the League this afternoon. I have looked over the introductory portion of it quite carefully, and I should like to call your attention to what seemed to be a few of its most salient points. First, in regard to the framework of the government. Now, a good many persons say that municipal government is purely business. I take it that it is something more than that. I take it that it approaches to our general political institutions, though different in the objects on which it exercises its functions. The State protects us against lawlessness, and so does the city. The State has laws in respect to the acquiring of new territory, and the city also has its laws on this subject. That is a quasi-political function, but it is a function of an entirely different character from the question of tariff or of national expansion; and it seems to me that it is putting a round peg in a square hole to elect a man who is in favor of the city control of the gas wells because he is in favor of retaining the Philippine Islands. In other words, it does not seem to me to be a logical basis of city politics that men shall be chosen on account of their national politics. To make city politics alone the reason for the choice of the City Fathers is the course that should be adopted. Let us see whether this can be done.

In the first place, I want to consider the first vital recommendation made in respect to the division of the powers of the city government. These powers are quasi-political. The analogies of national politics prevail to a certain extent, and we have learned by the experience of ail the civilized world that the duties of the executive ought to be kept separate from the duties of the legislative system. That would be true

even if the city was purely a business concern. We know that in conducting the affairs of a bank you have different men to represent the different parts of the business; and experience has shown us the desirability of putting the executive power where strength is needed, in the hands of one man, and leaving the legislative power in the hands of many persons who are elected by the stockholders.

In regard to the administrative duties of the government the analogies of our national politics again hold good. The people vote only on the chief officers; the subordinate officers, the department clerks, those who carry on the great machinery of administrative duties, are appointed by the higher powers of the State. In accordance with that same idea, it is proposed in this Model Charter that the two duties shall be kept distinct, the legislative duties left to the Council, and the administrative, as far as possible, left to the Mayor, who shall appoint as his subordinates the heads of the different departments.

I think, if experience has shown anything in city government, it bas shown the advisability of keeping these functions distinct. Now, the first thing that comes up is in regard to the election of the Council. They are the legislative body. It is their duty to levy taxes, to determine the general policy of the city; the Mayor is the executive officer. How, then, is the Council to be chosen? At the time our national constitution was adopted the one legislative body was made to be a check on the other. The tendency of modern thought is to concentrate the legislative powers in the hands of one chief body, as England has done in the House of Commons, and it is not desirable or necessary in the city government that there shall be more than one body to dis charge the legislative function.

Now as to the way in which this Council shall be elected. The present system has been by dividing the city into wards. That has a very great disadvantage. In the first place, the smaller the constituency which a man represents the smaller the man who represents it. Let a Iman be a Senator from a whole State and the probabilities are that he will be a better representative than when he only stands for a district. We find the larger the constituency which a man represents, other things being equal, the larger the man that represents it. One of the curses of city government is ward politics, because of these little subdivisions of constituency. We eliminate ward politics by eliminating the ward. Therefore, I think it is a wise suggestion that the members of the Councl be chosen from the entire city. If you take them from the entire body of the city, however, you are bound to have as a result, if the entire Council is elected at one time, that it will be all Republican or all Democratic, and if elected at three consecutive elections, you will be sure that at least two-thirds belong to one political party. Therefore, it is suggested that there should be submitted to the voters of the city, upon the request of a certain number of the inhabitants,