The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-03-17

went in under pressure of an extra 1 ordinary calamity. they have remained and if is stated that the prospect is they will continue for years They like the work and the people like the way they do the work. It Is said that while in Galveston formerly the office of alderman was a street joke or a disgrace, the office of commissioner Is high honor and has an absorbing personal interest," for its holder.
 This commission government began In September, 1901. It immediately re- organized the official force of the city. Throughout all departments the best available men were selected with the same care as for a private corpor- ation. This force is still the same The first mayor has died, but otherwise the administration has been as con- tinuous as that of business concern. There have been three elections since 1901, but the opposition of the poli- ticians and the old bum element has never been able to master over one- fourth of the total vote. In the three elections the outlay of the city club, backing the good government idea, has averaged only $350.
 Now as to the results. They are best summarized In quotation from a recent article in McClure's Magazine on the subject. Here Is the financial showing, and figures are the most pow erful argument:
 Financial Saving, One-ThIrd.
 Its brilliant success is best shown by it's financial record. This Is stated in few words. The commission found the city bankrupt, it has raised its credit to above par. It has saved Galveston one full third of her gross running expenses. The annual cost of the government of Galveston has aver aged $650.000- In the four and half years of commission government end ing February 2S, 1906, saving of at least 1,000.s00--over $220,000 a year. had been made in comparison. not with the vicious period of the ward alder men, but with the years of the general aldermen, following 1895.
 The government in the four and half years preceding the commission had incurred s250,000 of debt for current running expenses: the new government incurred absolutely no debt for this purpose. The former govern ment had had to its credit $425,00o more in assessed taxes than the new one. After making allowance for the ineficiency of tax collection under the old regime, the commission, during its first four and a half years, had saved the city at least $500,000, which 1t must have raised by taxes or added debt if the old administration had been in charge. In addition, the commission had saved $500,000 more. Of this, $200,- 900 was laid away by reducing the net debt by that amount, and $500, 900 was put Into permanent improvements which, if made at all, must certainly have been paid for by bonds if the former administration had been In charge. It might be objected that the slightly smaller population in the sec ond period. under the commission, would call for smaller expenditures. But this is not true. The second period has called for larger outlays-for all kinds of repairs after the storm, and for the extension of the clty's functions in every line, excepting possibly one--the fire department. And all this has been done under a slight average decrease in the tax rate.
 These results have been secured by straight. careful business methods, such as any man would apply to his own affairs. Great pressure and ingenuity has been used to add to the sources of revenue. An additional $30,000 has been secured in the four and a half years from a vehicle tax, not collected in the period before. Nearly $60,OOO has been secured from interest on city deposits which, by an extraordinary piece of carelessness. was given over previously to the city treasurer. Some $7,500 has been realized from taking over the costs which had formerly gone to the chief of police and the prose cutting attorney in the city court. The waterworks, at practically no increase in operating expenses, have yielded S115,000 more. And when the streets were rebuilt, the street railway paid its share of them-a matter of $40,O00 Added to this is a comparative saving in the four years and a half of ESQ., 900 and $40,000 in the police and fire departments. from reduc ion in sala- ries and force, and nearly $4O.000 from the cheaper operation or the electric light department
 But the one source of immediate income, where the greatest gains over the preceding government have been made have been the collection of taxes Nothing could have been looser than the methods of collection under the ward aldermen regime. Delin- quent taxes were let go not merely for a few years; a great share of them were lost forever. In 1897, ater the reform government of 1895, $115,000 was marked off the city's books at one time; since then. sums probably equally large have The government of the general alder men collected taxes better than its predecessor, but it, too, was making large losses. In its first TOUT and half years the commission collected $9O.000 more in back taxes than the
  responding time. The showing in cur rent taxes was even more striking. Although the commissions assessments were $425,0 ,0OO less in the period, its collections were within $175,O0O as much as those of the administration before a gain of $250,0UO. There Is no miracle aboct all this. It means simply that for the first tnne Calves ton Is operated by business men on business basis. Every possible corner of the city's operating system is now being watched with care, both to in crease income and decrease running expenses"
 These financial results are amazing, but physcial and moral results are not table A great sea wall, seventeen feet above the level of the Gulf and four and a half miles long has been built. It cost $4,200, ,000. Of this the county of which Galveston constitutes eigthy per cent. in a financial way, furnished S1,500, GOO. The State of Texas remit ed State taxes for seventeen years and allowed the sum of them, $2,000,O0, to be used for raising the city's grade to the top of the sea wall. The bonds of the city fell to sixty after the storm, but now are above par in spite of the tremendous outlays and of the fact that the old bondholders were persuad- ed to remit half their interest for five years.
 h the enforcement of the law and the upbuilding of moral tone great progress was made. Galveston had been an open town. Sailors from all over tho world and the eXcursionists from up the country had made 1t