Cedar Falls gazette. [volume] (Cedar Falls, Iowa) 1860-1895, 1869-08-20

A. the next session of the legisla~
ture approaches the management of
county affairs under the present sys-
tenn of supervisors is becoming asub-
ject of general discussion. The
Davenport Gazette of q rccer% Ga.s
gives the following sensible observa-
| tons:
1.-THE Supervisor system has now
had nearly ten years trial i'll Iowa
and the general verdict of the people
is rather adverse to its sufficienCy.
Still, the changing of the entire sys-
of county legislation is measure too
important to be entered upon merely
as an experimental seeking for even
a necessary Improvement. The
Commissioners system and the Coun-
ty Judge system have each already
had trial and been condemned. AS
no new system is proposed, we have
now to decide whether to adopt that
which has fewest defects, or by judi
cious combination of the best quail
ties of each, and the exclusion, as
far as possible, of the defects of al,
to construct a system that shall con.
| tain the reform desired. The Com
missioner system is Objectionable
chiefly because all parts of the coun-
ty are not equally represented. The
! choice Of Commissioner being invari-
bly, controlled by the cities and
towns. The same objection applies
to the County Judge system. la a
word, each of these systems places
the affairs Of the county at the mercy
of too few men. Per. contra, the Su.
porvisor system is objected to because
the number of its members makes
the Board too unwieldy and slow in
its operations.
1t is urged that under the Super
visor system, the representation of
the valuations and population of the
county is unfairly distributed. This
latter fact is cOnspiciously shown in
counties which include a town or
city of the first class In Scott
county the Board is composed of
eighteen Supervisors, of whom, the
city of Davenport with four ninths
of the entire valuations, and more
than one half of the entire popula-
ton OF the county, sends four MEM
bers, less than one-fourth the en-
tire number. This of course, leaves
the taxable interests of the city en-
trely at the control of the members
of the rural districts. The manner
in which the assessors valuations of
country lands are constantly kept at
much lower ratio of market values,
than is allowed i'm city valuations,
and also the manner i'm which tie
general bridge fund is distributed, |
show that the gentlemen from the |
interior fully understand their pow
er and are not slow in applying it.
But If these are the principal de- |
fects of the Supervisor system, the |
remedy is simple. / all first class
counties were divided into districts, |
each containing II population of not |
less than five thousand, and that |
number made the standard of repre-
in the Supervisor System, |
the Board would be reduced about |
one-half i'm the number of it's mem
bers, and the more popul0us portions
of the county would have fair ra-
ito Of representation. If, in addi-
ton to this, the term, of office were |
extended to three years, so that the
Board would never contain more
than one-third in new members, the
Board would certainly be in much |
better working condition and the
of county affairs be
more satisfactory to the Taxpayers"
-.