The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-10-08
MUNICIPAL MANAGEMENT.

Unquestionably the best authority on
matters pertaining to city government
and its problems In this country is the
Municipal Engineering Magazine Its
opinion on any phase of municipal
management outweighs all the opinions
of all the politicians, because it has no
one to serve but the public The dis
cussion of the Galveston plan in the
current number of the magazine is,
therefore, of unusual interest and
value. For years the magazine has
contended that the municipality is sim
ply a business organization which
should be conducted on business prin-
ciples and removed as far from parti-
san politics as possible.
Its conclusion is that when conditions
become so bad in a city that there
must be a change some plan is devised
and the city has the Indianapolis plan,
the Galveston plan, the San Francisco
plan devised to meet the emergency.
Then so long as the plans are operated
on business principles they are sue
cessful. but when politics gets hold
again the plan is limited in success and
its efficiency is in inverse ratio to the
efficiency of the checks put upon the
administrative officials.
The Indianapolis plan, which is in
vogue i'm all the Indiana cities of large
s.ze. operated we'll in its place of origin
because the people kept firm grip on
lis administration, and in the judgment
of the magazine, it has a better chance
for future success because the people
can get hold of the management any
tune they wish. Further. it's provisions
es.able comparatively small body of
Influential citizens to prevent munich
pal disaster through mismanagement
Like every other business organiza-
ton. the city is served as well as its
stockholders, the voters, desire. If
they as a whole do not know what
they want or what is good they are at
the mercy of the self-seeking men who
play politics for the purpose of con-
cealing the real issues and putting up
those which will take the voters eyes
The remedy is education. Meantime,
the palliation is to be found in thor
ough checks upon the action of the
city's chosen representatives and the
localiZing of responsibility so that no
one can escape the consequences of his
wrongdoing or mistake by shifting
ii upon other shoulders.
Thus the mayor, in Indiana. is re-
sponsible for the administration. If
any of his appointees fail in their duty
he can remove them. Whether he does
or not he is responsible for their acts.
He can do nothing if the council re-
fuses to give him the funds, but he is
responsible when he is given the funds
to spend. The council has the right to
investigate and publish the results. In
fact, the voter and taxpayer has more
power to influence the operation of the
municipality than the ordinary stock
holder has in a business corporation.
If he does not exercise it he has him
self to blame. Clearly, the smaller city
can be better governed than the larger
city. actually it seldom is. Various in
vestigators have reported that the mu-
nicipality is less subject to the infiu-
ences of graft. favoritism. petty poll
tics than the average corporation and.
in proportion to the sums of money
handled, is better administered, if not
quite so economically. When we want
better government we can have 1T.
The English city is really operated