AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 2975, 12 June 1899, Page 4

AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS.

American institutions, or some of them, received a severe handling at the School of Economics, when Mr Sydney Webb delivered his third lecture on the subject. Dealing with the municipalities, he said they were generally left out m the history of the English constitution, but the day would come perhaps when they would be regarded as the most important part, while the Privy Council would be relegated to a foot-note. Municipal government was utterly corrupt m America. All who went into it went mto make money out of it. They did not pillage the city treasury, but levied blackmail on the business community. There were, however, departments which were il out of politics." That is to say, pure ; to wit, the fire brigade, and the waterworks. Corruption was aa rife m the little cities as m the big. Tammany was no worse than the Republican organisation m New York, only it had a name that had caught on, and the Republican organisation was nameless. The Irish and Germans were not to blame for all this. Corruption was quite as rampant before their arrival. The purest city m America was the Mormon town of Salt Lake City. One must not imagine the boss was a wicked man. He did not go m for robbing the poor, but for doing good to the poor at the expense of the rich. His attention to the electors m his ward was unremitting. Tammany was worth a turkey to the meanest elector at Christmas. There was no delusion about it. The people regarded their •' bosses " as the friends of man, and wished to see them m power. They were a sort of nineteenth century Robin Hoods. The Americans were trying to reform their cities by remodelling them. Certainly the present form of procedure was inconceivably clumsy, two Houses of Representatives with an autocratic Mayor. The Executive and Legislative functions were equally sharply divided. We m England believed m uniting them as closely as possible, i.e., m the Cabinet, " which is not only the fount of legislation, but through the Minister has also to carry it out. Legislation had to do everything m America, even to placing an electric lamp m Street No. 93 m Philadelphia. What was wanted m the American Constitution was a reform of procedure, the delegation of tower to .subcommittees. American reformers were inclined to setting up one man government, to make someone responsible. - This municipal dictator, if a strong man, was a success ; but it was no democratic government. Americans looked on the government by Tammany as government by a syndicate, which saw that the robbery was not too widespread or flagrant. There was no speculation of the city funds, but an elaborate system of backsheesh from the rich and from corporations. The cause of all this lies m the character of the American. He does not believe m Government. He has not an Englishman's delight m governing, he goes into politics to make it pay, and he cannot conceive anybody doing anything else. He is the '• economic man " m person. Working for the public without fee is absolutely indecent, and finally, by a sort of intellectual protestantism, he believes m the right of private judgment and the capacity of the meanest clerks to solve the most difficult problems. Naturally he has a sovereign contempt for the experts. In conclusion, . Mr Webb said the American individually was the kindest, the most considerate, the most polite individual living, but collectively he was not yet a success.