Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

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November 18, 1922 RECORD AND GUIDE 645 A Stumbling Block in Charter Revision After many months, of quiet work, unheralded by press agents, the commission appointed by Governor Miller to revise the City Charter made public this week a report of its progress. The Governor's Commission has prepared a document for the future direction of municipal activities which is described by its propo¬ nents as a Home Rule Charter, but which immediately drew the fire of Comptroller Craig. This does not necessarily signify, of course, that the commission's charter is no good, but the prompt attack made upon it by so important an official of the City Administra¬ tion does signify that the path for early revision of the existing charter is not yet cleared. The absence of two members of the commission from Tuesday's meet¬ ing, and the request of another member to be excused from voting on a division called for by Comptroller Craig, seem to demonstrate the fact that vital differ¬ ences of opinion exist in the minds of the charter re¬ visionists. This development is bound to prove dis¬ appointing to all who had hoped that a new charter, workable and satisfactory in its main aspects, would be adopted with practical unanimity and be ready for presentation to the new Legislature which will meet in Albany in January. The results of the recent election probably are re¬ flected in the week's developments. The shadow of politics seems cast over the situation. It is only fair to believe that the men who have been working for nine months on the problem feel they have been labor¬ ing for genuine Home Rule in the new charter, and quite as earnestly as those who express dissatisfaction with the result. The trouble probably lies in the fact that Home Rule is a difficult principle to define,—what one group regards as Home Rule does not square with the view of another group. Then, too. Home Rule has come to be regarded by many politicians as a useful smoke screen with which to obscure the purposes they are striving to accomplish. Enough has come out, following Tuesday's meeting of the charter revisionists, to indicate that the traction problem is playing a very important part in the deliber¬ ations of the commission. In a way this is unfortunate, because there are many important points aside from the city's traction policy which must be considered in the work of charter revision. If the commission could agree on plans for the scrapping of useless city depart¬ ments and bureaus, abolition of duplicated county offices, and increased efficiency and reduced expendi¬ tures through various consolidations of offices and the firing of many unnecessary employes, a great step toward charter reform would be taken. This done, all hands could then concentrate on the difficult task of finding the proper solution of the traction problem. But, as long as the traction problem continues to hold first place in. the minds of charter revisionists the pros¬ pects for genuine charter reform continue discouraging. Upon Governor-elect Smith now rests the chief re¬ sponsibility, not only as to solving the traction muddle, but also as to the ultimate fate of charter revision. Fortunately, he knows New York and he knows the city government from the inside out, so that when the new Legislature meets he will be expected to point the way which Father Knickerbocker may safely follow in seeking relief from the existing perplexities. Common Sense Solving the Coal Crisis Clamorous advocates of municipal, state and federal ownership and operation or control of public utilities, railroads, the meat industry and crops, and those who would like to have Congress pass a bill providing each family in the land with a sewing machine and a radio outfit at public expense might do well to consider what has been accomplished by co-operation between gov¬ ernmental agents and representatives of business or¬ ganizations in effectively solving the menacing situation due to the almost total suspension of coal mining for five months this Summer. The Chamber of Commerce .of the United States, which has adequate machinery for obtaining accurate information on matters affecting the industrial welfare of the community at large, is author¬ ity for the statement that the coal crisis has passed and that the solution of the very difficult problems resulting from the strikes of miners and railroad shopmen was found in the participation of officials and business¬ men in a campaign for quickening the natural processes of trade, production and distribution, the balancing of demand to supply by self-restraint, and by the dis¬ semination of accurate information which guarded against undue apprehension on the part of the public. The Chamber of Commerce calls attention to the fact that "these natural processes, if they can be set in motion, can be relied upon as remedies far more effec¬ tive than rigid legislation and regulation, and therein lies the great value of this effort and of the large scale demonstration in this case." Although clothed with autocratic powers, the Federal and State Fuel Administrations have not resorted to force except in a few individual cases in bringing about an orderly and speedy adjustment of prices at mines and retail depots, and of distribution. That they had power to enforce their program no doubt made it effective with the comparatively few recalcitrants who would have liked to profit at the expense of the public. But they prevailed generally by the use of moral force in securing stability of prices, efficient handling of the dis¬ tribution of coal by tlie railroads and equitable deliveries to such widely-diverse consumers as are represented by the people in the regions served by shipping on the Great Lakes, who must fill their bins before ice closes navigation, and the bucket buyers on the East Side of New York City, who have no bins to fill nor money to buy by the ton. It is, of course, still necessary to be economical in