Amerikai Magyar hirlap = American Magyar journal. [volume], August 05, 1920, Image 2

About Amerikai Magyar hirlap = American Magyar journal. [volume] (Youngstown, Ohio) 1911-1942

Image provided by: Ohio History Connection, Columbus, OH

                
Fórmer Mayor Harry L. Davis
of Cleveland, in Special
Article for This Paper,
tellt
tfot* tAe Average
Citizen Is Remiss in His
failure to Take an Interest
in Municipal Affairs, and
Points the Way, Based On
Cleveland's Example, to a
v Co-operation That Means
Progress for Every Town.
BY HARRY L. DAVI8,
Former Mayor of Cleveland^
Municipal gov
ernment in Amrr
ica might be im
measurably im
proved were it
possible always
to enlist the
earnest co-opera
tion of the busi
ness men of its
cities.
The pity ©t it
all is that the
greater & man's
cumulative. influ­
ence becomes, the more wealth and
power he manages to acquire, £he
more exalted his position in the pub-,
lie estimation, the mote loth he is to,
put his hand to the wheel.
Almost without exception it is the
rile that the men who loom largest
In the average City's industrial, com
mercial and financial spheres are the
men who keep farthest away from
the city's official life—will have
none of it.
This is as unfortunate as it is true.
För the welfare of the city very in
timately affects the individual wel
fare. Confronting every man is a
civic duty and responsibility that
cannot be denied. One's civic con
sciousness should inspire to
exert himself however he ihay for
the city's best interests, for the com
mon good. Doing less than this is
not being true to your city.
You Have Responsibility.
Never lose sight of the fact that
you are just as much responsible for
the good government of your city as
any man in the municipality. That
some other fellow may be in office
matters not Either you helped put
him there or you permitted his elec
tion through indifference. You and
thousands of others like you.
If a public official fails In doing
his duty it is partly your fault. You
could make him do the right thing if
you would. Public officials are all
alike. They hold their positions by
the suffrance of the people. They
tr&nt to do what the people say—
they can be made to do it. So if
things go wrong and stay wrong the
people are not wholly blameless.
Cities usually get the kind of gor
iprnment they want, the kind with
Which they are satisfied. Public of
ficials, a finger on the public pulse,
give the people as nearly as possible
what they demand. There is no use
trying to deny this. You all know
that it is true in your town as else
HFfcere. There are few exceptions.
Most public officials desire to
please their constituents first next
•the fellows who opposed them, if
possible. Most erf them are open to
suggestions are willing to listen to
any man for whom they enjtertaiti
the least bit of respect. Not infre
quently it happens that mighty ac
,©ap table pointer^ trickle in from the
iinitside.
It might be well for yo*l to tecome
better acquainted with your mayor
or your city manager, as the case
may be.
Personally I have always found it
good policy to keep in as close touch
possible with the men of affairs
in my city.
Very early in tay aűministration
mayor of Cleveland I decided to
,take them into a quasi-partnership
in the conduct of the public business.
You Are an Assistant Mayor, No Matter Who
The Man Is Who Sits in the Mayor's Chair
It was one of my moBt' fortunate,
most helpful decisions.
When the question ef building a
Public Hall of sufficient capacity to
mpet every demand of a city of a
million people first arose I appoint
ed a committee of 100 business men
to confer upon the plans and the sit
uation to be met. Every phase of
the proposition was gone into thor
oughly not the slightest detail of
importance escaped earnest and
careful consideration.
The result was thát the building
as finally determined upon will be
one of the most complete and mod
eroly equipped halls of its kind in
the country. The auditorium will
seat in excess of 12,000 persons. A
smaller concert hall will seat 2,700.
It is equipped for exposition as well
as convention purposes and will
eventually play an important part. in
making Cleveland one of the fore
most convention towns in America.
There has been no word Of criti
cism the people got what they
wanted.
How We Apologized.
Then there was the case Of«the
much-needed union station. The old
ark down on the lake shore, which
Cleveland overgrew twpnty yeats
ago, needed to be replaced with a
new ai^ modern terminal. Every
body agreed to that. But. nobody
seemed to know how to go about get
ting it replaced.
If the problem has been solved
once on paper, it was solved three
dozens of times. I suppose that if
all the* fine perspectives that have
been drawn of the various union sta
tions projected in the past decade by
the people or by the railroads or by
private enterprise were to be collect
ed and exhibited in one room, we
would have an architectural art ex
hibit of no mean proportions. We
talked about it, we quarreled about
it and we lawed about it—but no
union station project, ever was
agreed upon.
In the meantime, the city's busi
ness interests maintained at the top
of the hill above the dingy old shack
which has served so long as a ter
minal for a city ef nearly a million
HOW TttE PUBLIC TiAQL
that famous apology, painted in
great letters on a big bulletin board:
"Please do»t judge this town by
this depot"
Two years ftgtr our committee of
100 assistant mayors tackled this
time-old bone of contention and de
cided it was going to have real
union station this time or die in the
attempt. It didn't die* and they got
their depot. Through" their efforts
Cleveland voted up by a tremendous
majority a franchise ordinance giv
ing the Cleveland Union Terminals
Co. the right to erect a terminal on
the Public Square, adjoining the
Hotel Cleveland, that will rival even
the Grand Central and Pennsylvania
terminals in New York.
The structure will cost—building,
tutinel approaches and trackage—in
the neighborhood of $25,000,000.
Construction is already under way
the building must be in uSe within
five years or th.e .franchise will, be
forfeited. •.
During the period since the Smith
one per cent tax law became opera
tive all Ohio cities have suffered
more or less from the resultant cur
tailment of revenues. Cleveland per
haps suffered more than any other,
by reason of its greater taxing
strength and its accompanying tre
mendous expense of government.
When each succeeding year began
to increase tfie deficits as the city
expanded more tl.an it received in
taxes it was altogether natural that
criticism and charges of extrava
gance should follow. The average
citizen failed to understand the sit
uation fully.
Once again I took the men of af
fairs into my official family. A com
mittee of representative bankers,
chosen without regard to politics
but with every consideration of their
positions in the public confidence,
was appointed to make an unham
pered and thorough investigation of
the administration conduct of the
city finances. Every facility for a
most microscopic auditing of the
books, for an exhaustive investiga
tion of administrative methods and
accomplishments, was accorded
them.
Or. HOWARD I
A E I K A I A Y A S I A
TJSOTNSW CLEVELAND
UNION STATION
Their report was a most emphatic
indorsement of the administration
and a complete refutation of the
charges and criticisms that had been
made. And once again the people
were satisfied that £hey were getting
their money's worth.
The First War Bocird.
When the Worl^ War came along
and^it Jjecame apparent that Amer
ica műét take its part in the struggle
I once more called upon the public
for co-operation and assistance.
Cleveland's advisoVy war committee*
popularly known fis the Mayor's War
Board, wholly npm-partisan and
made up of more "than fifty of the
city's leading citizens, was the first
to be ap'pointed in the United States!
and served as a model for all similar
boards later organized,
The service rendered the city by
this committee was invaluable. Its
activities covered all the various
phases of war aids, reliefs, protec-
high class ability Or have accom
plished such tremendously effective
results. *,
These fóat fnst&ftées ef going on^
to the people am! corneandeerini
their active cD-op^MSon &re cited af
probably the rnost^' outstanding exi
am pies of What I have 'fo&cn able
do in this directtpn. They provdf
conclusively that tlje people will re*
spond when called upon, and will
function with exceptional loyalty, i
But the great trouble is that thf
people too often wftit to be draftedl
Too often they stand back and critiji
cize when they shpuld step up ani
suggest, volunteer and co-operate.
You can be of tremendous help t|i
your city if you will. It. is your dutyi
not the mayor's or the city marj*
ager's. He is merely your represent,
tative, your servant, more often th#
otherwise ready *and wllilng t#
»lease, -s,-
"V tii ni n i in I-,» i i .iy'.
Dr. M. E. HAYES
ííohs, ©rgániza^fftnfj, '*^iíd flnaiidngt -'^lij
It sponsored the War Chest and pro*
mated the campaign which raised
almost twice as much money as had
been expected. Virtually every ac
tivity iti connection with local War
work was under ifji irtUmatp direc
tion. No distinctively official board
could have
WISE & SUTHERLAND
TRANSFER
Dollar Savings & Trust Co.
X. B. BURGER, Mgr.
The Youngstown Glass & Paint Co/
140 EAST FEDERAL STREET
JAMES H. BERNARD COMPANY
662-664 Wüson Avenue Youngstown Ohio
A. L. & E. REES
The Dollar Savings & Trust Company of
Youngstown, Ohio, a le^nagyobl) takarékpéni
t4r Cleveland és Pittsburgh között. Ez a bank
most fiókot nyitott Struthersben. -V
DOLLAR SAVINGS 4 TRUST COMPANY
STRUTHERSI HÓKJA
N. PHELPS ST. YOUNGSTOWN,