Arizona republican., 1907-01-11

ostracized at first for his diagnosis of
 the disease There gre no epidemics of
 yellow fever in Galveston now. Three
 caseS came in on steamers last year.
 They were taken fin screened ambu-
 lances to screened ward in the hos pital where pr. Truehart himself at
 tended them. The steamers were fu-
 migateo and brought to dock. That
 was all. There was not even alarm.
 although the health physician. accord
 ing 10 his policy. promptly took the
 public into his confidence The yellow
 fever mosquitoes have been hunted out
 of Galveston, so far as human agencies
 can hunt them. "They breed where you can get at them always" says Dr.
 Trueheart. "The Stegomyia fasciata is
 as domestic as a barnyard fowl" The
 cisterns are screened. the stagnant wa
 ter drawn Of, the cesspoOls regularly
 cleaned and treated with chemicals.
 And with the mosquito has gone the
 hOuse-fiy, killed to a large extent
 at its breeding places. There is not
 only protection Afrom yellow fever:
 there are fewer deaths from typhoid
 and diphtheria. With her water sup ply, her new sewers. and her health ! department. Galveston is emerging from conditions Of medievalism to the status of a modern city. She is not only administered economically: she is
 a place where men and women are
 leading longer. better. and happier l lives
 Galveston. in short. Is now beginning to reap the results of five years of clean, able city government. She was desperate and bankrupt; now her credit is good. She was unclean: now
 she is clean; she was town of vice and license; now she is orderly. Un- paved streets are well paved, there are good sewers where formerly there were none. there is an ample water supply in increasing use. The city is protected from future danger from flood. But good government has meant indirectly industrial and commercial prosperity. Property which fell dead. with no buy CTS, after the storm. has reeained its former value. and in sections has ex- ceeded it. In two years mo-e, when the grade rising is cleaned up. a much larger increase will undoubtedly take place. The city is prospering in a business way as it never did before. The fine beach and sea wall are being rapidly developed to entertain the growing excursion trade with a big amusement village But most impor- tant of all, the shipping from the port Is increasing tremendously. It mas trebled since 1900. and Galveston is now the second city in the United States in point of the value of its ex- ports. The government of the town did not of course. cause all of this growth. but the conditions it brought about were a great factor. For good govern ment is not merely a mechanical. rou- tine. negative thing; it is a strong, positive agent, which takes hold on the far future in any city which is fortu- nate enough to possess it.
 THE COMMISSION, AND THE
 PEOPLE.
 The story of the Galveston Commits sion can not stop. however. with the simple statement of methods and re- suits. There remains another ques- tion-a very important question-to be The attitude of the people of Galveston. It is the prevalent fash ion to find common cause for all forms of civic misfortune in the indifference of the individual citizen The doubt arises: Do the citizens of Galveston appreciate their government pr is the Galveston system, started with the impulse of great public need, des- lined to pass down by gradual degrees 10 that region of chaos and despair where, according to current belief. all good governments are ultimately bound 10 go? The answer to this is best hx-a .f .aI elections.
 Fortunately. the better and worse clements divide themselves quite clear y in Galveston politics. The place is, )f course. strongly democratic; so strongly that it would be idle for the republicans to nominate ticket in the ,ity election. In the earlier days muni- .ipal candidates and factions arose out ,f the single party, largely through personal ambition. Since the reform -ear of 1895 however. the division of ,ity contests has been along a different inc. In that year the Good Govern nent Club was formed. which-contin- led since under other names-has brought out for the better class of citi- ems a municipal ticket of their own. Broadly speaking. the city elections, ince 1895, have been fought out be- ween the citizens who want clean ad and the politicians and heir followers. The Citizens Club has cen a most important influence in the eforms and political progress of Gal eston. It has taken the disagreeable ask of campaigning entirely out of the and of the candidates, an arrangement which has had much to do with the uccess of the city in securing its high lass of officials.
 Under the old form of government he City Club-as it is now called-had
 period of hard work at election time. n 1899 1t lost it's mayor. and nearly )st control of the aldermen. But there as never been a question of success nce the inauguration of the Commis- ion system. In 1901, the first election, here were only two members of the oard to be chosen by the people lree, including the mayor. being nOm- lated by the governor of Texas, ac- Drding to the provisions of the origin charter. In that first contest the opposition divided a little yer 20 per cent of the votes between lem In 1903. the criminal courts of exas having declared the nomination commissioners by the governor to cffttttfoual tba of