THE CITY
CITY CLUB.

N 1892 Mr. Boudinot Keith, a member of the City Reform Club, urged upon his fellow-members his conviction that the time had arrived for greatly enlarging the work of reform in municipal politics. Accordingly, a movement was set on foot to organize and incorporate a much larger and more influential body than the City Reform Club. Success in this would have been impossible but for the efforts of some man having the necessary ability and interest in the subject and able to devote his time to the work. In the slow development which has this year resulted in the complete overthrow of Tammany Hall, the time for the effort to organize such a body as The City Club had arrived in 1892. The opportunity was there, and the man was found. Mr. Edmond Kelly threw himself into the work with a devotion and an earnestness that left no doubt as to the success of the effort. In April, 1892, The City Club was incorporated, with a membership of some 500. The incorporators were: John Jay Chapman, Charles DeKay, William C. Gulliver, Edmond Kelly, Boudinot Keith, and W. Harris Roome. The articles of incorporation declared that the object of the Club was: "To promote social intercourse among persons specially interested in the good government of the city of New York, in securing honesty and efficiency in the administration of city affairs, "in severing municipal from National politics, and in procuring the election of fit persons to city offices; and to take such action as may tend to the honest, "efficient and independent government of the city of New York; and for these purposes to establish and maintain in the City and County of New York, for "the use of ourselves and such others above mentioned, a club-house, having a "library, a reading-room, a publication office for the distribution of the publi"cations of the Club, and such other appurtenances and belongings as are usual "in clubs and club-houses and publishing offices."

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In pursuance of this plan, a club-house is maintained at 677 Fifth Avenue; and a business office, at 27 Pine Street.

The Club adopted a declaration of its purposes, in which the following language was used :

"It will be one of the aims of this club to procure the nomination and elec"tion of city office-holders whose recommendation shall not be solely nor mainly "that they are faithful servants of either political party, but that they are fit for "the positions to which they are elected. Thus it is hoped that in time this test "of fitness will come to be generally regarded as of much higher importance in "municipal affairs than the test of party loyalty, and that, in this sense and to "this extent, municipal politics here may be severed from National and State "politics with appreciably beneficial results."

"As a club, this club is not intended to be anti-Democratic or anti-Repub"lican, but to be persistently, consistently, and impartially anti-bad-city-govern

ment, and nothing else. It has nothing to do with Tammany, as such, nor "with the Republican machine, as such; but it has to do with the administrators of our city government, as such, whoever they may be, and with the law, "system, and methods under and in accordance with which or in violation of "which that government is administered. It is expected that the Club will be "alert to discern and ready to criticise and fight dishonesty and inefficiency in "city affairs, in whatever party or organization they may appear. It is hoped "that its primary usefulness will be educational, that it will be surrounded by a "healthful and hopeful atmosphere producing a perceptible good effect upon "its members."

It will be seen that the very fundamental principle of the Club has been from the first that principle of non-partisanship in municipal affairs which is today generally accepted as the necessary principle in any solution of the problem of municipal government.

From the first The City Club recognized the necessity of rousing and informing the individual citizens upon the subject of municipal politics; and the most important work of the club has, therefore, been of an educational character.

The question of the best method of encouraging non-partisanship among the citizens and of giving form and effect to the essential principle of nonpartisanship, engaged the attention of the Club from the first. The possible formation of a municipal party founded upon the principles advocated by the Club was considered; but it was decided at length that the safer method to follow at the outset would be that which has become familiar to the people of the city in the system of Good Government Clubs. These clubs, now numbering more than twenty, and embracing a membership of some seven or eight thousand, have been formed through the efforts of The City Club. The rapidity with which the Good Government Clubs have increased in numbers and in membership is further evidence of the fact that the time had arrived for such a movement as was begun with the formation of The City Club. The general awakening which we have seen of late among the citizens of nearly all our large cities was beginning in 1892. The time was ripe for such an effort as was made; and, while the work of The City Club did much to crystallize and encourage that sentiment, it is not probable that such an effort would have met with any success two or three years earlier.

The work done by The City Club has been so varied that it is not possible to recite the details here. Undoubtedly the most valuable part of that work has been the organization and encouragement of Good Government Clubs. The City Club has always been active, however, in advocating legislation designed to improve the conditions of municipal administration, in opposing legislation hostile to the best interests of the city, in protecting the people from the schemes of politicians, in exposing abuses in the public service, and in advocating such changes in the state constitution as would be for the interest of New York.

The City Club has been a school for practical municipal reform. In the recent municipal campaign its members performed service as members of the Committee of Seventy and of the Good Government Clubs. Some served as chairmen or members of campaign committees; some, as watchers; some, as counsel on election day in the various Assembly districts.

The Club itself contributed to the campaign a pamphlet entitled "A Plain Statement of the Election Law as in Force in New York," which enabled watchers and others representing the reform movement, to obtain a practical knowledge of the election law which greatly increased the efficacy of their efforts. The Club also took certain steps which added not a little to the danger of perpetrating election frauds.

The Club printed and distributed over a million circulars advocating the seven following amendments to the state constitution as being valuable aids in the effort to secure permanent good government for the city:

An amendment providing that the merit system of appointment after examination shall be applied in the civil service of the state and of all divisions of the state.

An amendment providing that all local elections in cities shall be held in odd years; and an amendment changing the terms of office of the Governor and other state officers from three years to two years, so that all elections for state officers shall be held in even years.

An amendment dividing the cities of the state into three classes, according to population, and providing against the hasty passing of any law relating to one particular city.

An amendment requiring that all bills introduced in the legislature shall be printed three days before they are passed.

An amendment providing that mechanical devices may be used for voting at elections.

An amendment providing that no naturalized citizen may vote until he has been naturalized 90 days.

The fact that a large proportion of the voters were somewhat at a loss in deciding how to vote on the amendments, made it particularly desirable to present the chief arguments in behalf of the amendments most important to the city of New York, and renders it not improbable that the circulars of The City Club procured for these amendments the small majority by which they were carried in this city. It is true that they received a large majority in the whole state; but an adverse vote in New York City would have made it possible for politicians in the legislature to contend that the city did not want the amendments, and so to make trouble in the enacting of necessary supplementary legislation.

The City Club realizes that the recent inspiring victory is not the end of the war for municipal reform. The old evils will re-appear,—sometimes, perhaps, even among those who have been accepted as representatives of a sentiment which they outrage. The Club will, therefore, seek to strengthen itself, and to increase its activity, so that it may continue the work of building up such a public sentiment that none but honest and able men, pledged to administer the city government upon non-partisan lines, will find it possible to command the votes of a majority of our electors.

For the immediate future, the Club has adopted a plan of work which contemplates paying especial attention to the following objects :

1. The punishment of crime against the election law.

2. The organizing of a trained body of watchers at the polls, through the Good Government Clubs or otherwise; and the securing of election officers more competent than those now employed.

3. The preparation and advocacy of such legislative measures as may be needed to facilitate improvements in our city government.

4. The building up and extension of the system of Good Government Clubs. 5. A particular inquiry into that branch of the local government having to do with the administration of criminal law.

In this work, the Club invites the co-operation of all citizens who believe that the best interests of the individual as a member of the community should be the ultimate consideration in the administration of municipal affairs.