For Boston: the NBC

There is no mayoralty contest in Boston; everyone knows that Hynes will win today. The struggle is between the New Boston Committee, an organization set up to promote good government for Boston, and the All Boston Committee, set up to promote the interests of those who have been promoting their own interests for years. The prizes are the School Committee and the nine-main City Council, complete with the additional power that Plan A gives it.

Today Bostonians have an unusual opportunity to clean up their civic mess, thanks to a group of young men who, not satisfied with the mere election of a reform mayor and the approval of a reform charter, set up the NBC. Realizing that reform was impossible without an honest, efficient City Council and School Committee, they have threatened the old guard with permanent extinction.

The NBC's slate, however, is far from perfect. Five of the nine endorsees hold public jobs, and they have not given any indication that they will resign if elected to the City Council. Three are state representatives who will not be through at the State House for at least a year. The other two are in state-appointed jobs, with presumably indefinite tenure. It is possible that these five, if elected today, will have to neglect at least one of the tasks given them by the voters, if not both.

Moreover, the New Boston Committee's constitution provides for the least control possible by the membership at large. Although this was necessary under current political conditions, it is hardly an encouraging feature in an organization which soon may become the strongest political force in Boston.

But what the NBC offers Boston far outweighs its drawbacks. It has combined shrewd politics with idealistic plans to present the Boston voter for the first time in many a year an alternative to the corrupt and wasteful regime which has monopolized the city for so long. Growing out of the decaying remains of Boston's myriad sterile reformer groups, the New Boston Committee has renewed Bostonians' facing hopes in the efficacy of a popular movement for good government.

Win or lose, The New Boston Committee has done its city a great service.