Daily Kennebec journal., 1906-10-16
The Galveston Experiment.

government by commission must b
pronounced a success. 1t has worke,
so well there that several othe
southern cities are making arrange
ments to try the plan and severa
! northern cities are investigating it. !
distinguished British observer Jane
| Bryce has declared that 1.-The one con
spicuous failure of self government il
the United States" has been in tn,
large cities and it may be that thi
failure, which is hardly to be denied
has It's remedy in the sOmewha
! revolutionary system of a municipa
commission which Galceston has tried
A writer in the latest McClures
gives US interesting details of the
workings of this new plan. 1t was
born of the great storm of September
1900. In the critical period following
the old mayor aldermen form OF
government was found to be worse
than useless. A realization of this
and the paramount desire to obtain
concentration of authority and re-
sponsibility without hazarding every
thing on the choice of an all powerful
mayor, resulted in the evolution of the
municipal commission. 1t was, to be
sure, not entirely novelty. The
board of commissioners of the District
of Columbia doubtless pointed the
way. The government 'of English
municipalities offered models Of the
high Capitalization sought. The New
England town selectmen presented ex-
amples of small bodies of responsible
representatives chosen at large. But
more than any existing form of
government. the great modern business
corporation, with its maximum of
efficiency and its minimum of redtape,
served as an inspiration.
The Galveston commission is a body
of five men, at first partly appointive,
but since 1903 elected from the city
at large. 1t consists of mayor, or
for his office, and four managers or
directors, chosen without designation.
partments among themselves, choose
all the other officers of the city
rnU 1apiS1afa fnr h.a ..it nd
are responsible for the enforcement
and administration of the laws. A
ma jority vote of the body is final. The
mayor has no veto or appOintive
power: his authority is confined to his
and his vote as a commissioner. The
four departments are those Of finance
ana revenue, police and fire, streets
and public property, and wItcrworks
and sewers. In the time of her great
reed. Galvestons call to the service of
the city was answered by the choice Of
known citizens. Doubters declared
that the service of men of such high
standing could not be obtained in
ordinary times. Yet at the end of five
years. four of the original COM
missioners are still in office. the one
change being due TO the death of
Mayor Austin in 1905.
The measure of the commissions
success lies in its achievements, not in
tn" character Of its members. They
found Galveston bankrupt: today her
credit is above par, ana a saving of
onc-thir1 in the running expenses has
been effected. Simply by more
Efficient methods of collection. a
revenue almost as great as that
recorded before the storm has been
obtained from assessments S425.0O0
smaller. Extensive public improve
mentS have been carried on. and the
city has at the same time assumed
$l,5OO.00O of the cost Of building the
great sea wall. No less striking has
been the commissions method Of con-
ing with social disorders. Galveston
before the storm had the evil rcputa-
ton of being the most wide open"
city in the entire South. The COM
mission has succeeded in enforcing
midnight saloon closing. has abolished
gambling houses and policy shops. and
has regulated the dance halls The
reformed police force is able to
preserve better order than did force
one-third larger previously. Prior to
the disaster. the city poSScSStd no
public sewerage system, ami the
streets We're badly paved and lighted
only as the whim of the aldermen
dictated. Under The commissions
administration. a sewerage system has
been constructed. and the streets ar,
better paved and lighted than those of
any other city in the Southwest