Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1907-02-24


 In the appointment of officers, ef- ficiency and honestly were alone con-
 sidered; political influence which had heretofore been an important factor
 in such appointments had lost it's ef- feet.
 On taking charge the commission government found an empty treasury
 city without credit employees paid in
 script, which was subject to large discount for cash, and floating in- debtedness rcnning back for several years. The personnel of the commits sion, together with the heads of de- partments, inspired confidence, and her credit restored to that it could go in the open market buy supplies on same terms and prices as our best merchants or Wealthiest citizens, and the outstanding scrip was being taken up with the surplus cash as it accum- mulated in our treasury.
 The result of the commission form of government met the expectation of it's most ardent friends, and was the pride of every patriotic and civic lov- ing citizen. Every detail had worked without any friction Or hitch until a drayman was arrested and fined SIC by our recorder for violating a sani- tary ordinance. The case was ap- pealed to the criminal district court, upon the ground that our whole city government was unconstitutional, hence the recorder had no authority whatever to impose a fine, and the ground for such action was that a majority of our commission being ap- pointed, the citizen was deprived of the right of ballot, guaranteed him by the constitution. The criminal dis trict court affirmed the verdict of the recorder, but the case was again ap- pealed to the supreme criminal court of the state, and to the great aston- ishment of our people that court by vote of two to one, pronounced our form of government unconstitutional, on the ground that our citizens had no vote voice in the election of our off, cers who were administering the gov ernment Later the supreme civil court held that the appointive feature was constitutional, thus our commits sion was constitutional in civil form, but had no police Jurisdiction There was but one thing to be done, and that was to apply to the legislature then in session and nearing it's close, for change in our charter, eliminating the
 appointive feature, which was the weak point as decided by the supreme court. We regretted to give up this feature of our charter, because we believed that the very best material for our city government could always be had by the appointive clause it contained.
 The emergency required quick ac- tion, and upon application of our board, joined by our citizens, the seemingly objectionable part of our charter was revoked, the entire elect i've feature substituted and in just two days this act was passed by both
 branches of the state legislature, signed by the governor on March 30, 1903, and election for five commits sioners under the new charter was ordered.
 Our city was again fortunate in get ting the consent of the original five commissioners to turn over their re- speetive offices, and all were elected by handsome majorities, and our city is today under the control of the same five commissioners and heads of de- partments, with the exception of May Austin, who died in November, 1905; City Attorney Scott, who died in January, 1904, and City Engineer Sias and Secretary Artz, pired terms were each filled as they occurred, as provided for in our char ter. which also provides that the term of the commissioners shall be two years, and election to occur on the second Tuesday in May every two years.
 The meetings of the board are held every Thursday evening at o'clock, and as the utmost harmony prevails, business at these meetings is held and dispatched in the same manner as that of bank or private corporation. The city hall is conspicuous by the ab- sence of politicians and place-hunters, as a simple request in writing from the humblest citizen addressed to the board meets with the same considera- tion as would the presence in person or by attorney of our most influen- | tial citizen.
 All purchases of contracts amount-