The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-03-17
GLASS READS PAPER ID THE THIRTEEN" Discusses Municipal Govern
 ment By Commission HE SAYS SYSTEM IS BAD Reviews Plan Adopted In Texas and New England in Managing the
 Affairs of Municipalities.
 Lows Idea.
HE SAYS SYSTEM IS BAD

The paper herewith was read a few dars ago before "The Thirteen" a social and literary club of this city, by MT. r. P. Glass, one of it's mem- bers. Mir Glass in presenting it to the club disclaimed any originality for the paper insisting that it was merely a sort of summary or compond of facts gathered from several sources. "The Thirteen' however, was so impressed with what seemed to be the value of the paper as to request unanimously it's reproduction in the columns of the Advertiser and also of The Birmingham Age-Herald and the Mobile Register. The paper was entitled Municipal Gov ernment by Commission" and is given in full.
 In an article on municipal government, Hon. Seth Low. a Student and scholar, who has had abundant experience as municipal executive, has this to say
 .'Attention is asked to the form of organization under which cities in the United States may hope to realize the best results in the conduct of the affairs committed to them. It is pro- posed to speak in particular concerning the financial and executive sides. All efforts to secure a common council com posed of men who by character and ex- perience are competent for the duties which ought to be committed to them thus far have been singuarly unsuccess- ful. Aldermen have been elected on gen eral tickets, on district tickets, and on ward tickets. They have been elected to serve without pay and with pay, but under no system have satisfactory re- suits been permanent achieved. Honor able exceptions there always are, but speak of the bodies as a whole. It is easy to say that better results might be achieved if the representative were not compelled to reside in the district he rep resents but it Is not easy to point out an effectual remedy for the restrictions which this demand imposes in the pres ence of American political habits.'
 There can be no successful denial of Mir Lows assertions. American muni- cipal government Is notoriously bad. It is true of small cities, it is true of larger cities, it is conspicuously true of the largest cities. And it has been generally true of the bulk of our cities for tho three quarters of century Occasionally there is spasm or good government somewhere, but 1t soon passes off, and the normal condition of ineffciency or rottenness reasserts It. self.
 Where the Curse.
 Surely there is a cause for this extra ordinary failure of popular government. May not the cause be fundamental? Is our familiar municipal system radically wrong? Why does 1t not uniformly att tract to its offices the highest class of men? Why is 1t frequently remarked that when a irts class man gets into a that when a first class man gets into petent or dishonest? Why is it that the same voters who elect able and clean men to the highest offices in the state and in the nation will frequently put grafters in city positions? There must he some adequate answer to all these questions.
 MT. Low, scholar and student and ex- perienced executive, does not seem to have hit upon a practical solution. But nevertheless the solution seems to nave been found in that Nazareth Of all that is supposed to be touch in citizenship and of disregard of government-Texas Possibly this has been because extreme situations demand radical remedies. It may be the old story of necessity being the omther of invention.
 Texas cities have turned to government bv commission as the solution Of all municipal ills, and though their eXperi- ence does not go back over six years an abundance of evidence Is at hand to warrant their enthusiasm over thelr dls- covery.
 Government by commission is not new thing by any means. New England's system of town government by select man is the same idea in the germ. The United States government more tnan thirty years ago, in it's dilemma over the wretchedness of Washington under negro rule. and the political danger Of con- fessing the failure of the negro as voter, adopted the eXpedient to turning over the affairs of the Dlstrlct ol ool- umbia to a commsison
 Familiar Here.
 To us here in Alabama, government by commission is entirely familiar. me disastrous effects of negro rule long A ogtaught us the necessity of putting the affairs of many of our Black Belt counties into the hands of commissions annointed by the states chief executive. Here in Montgomery county we still have this method of administering our finan- cial affairs And our state has even gone into the province of municipal gov ernment with this expedient for the re- lies of desperate situations. The city of MobiIe was for some years in the hands of a commission, in order that the tan gle of its finances might be strengthened
 
 out
 Nevertheless the plan of wiping out municipal legislatureS~ and concentrat- ing the powers of city government In the hands of a few men, as a funda- mental and permanent Improvements IS a comparatively recent development Of the commission idea. And just as other radical governmental changes, like the dispensary, have first taken root in the conservative south, so with the idea of municipal government by commission, Texas has taken the lead in this matter. The tow largest cities in that state, Galveston and Honston, have already adopted it, and the statement Is. made by good authority that within the next two years every city of consequence in Texas will follow suit. There must be great good in tEis change. if it is gain ing round so rapidly in one state. What 1t Means.
 Exactly what then. is this municipal government by commission? In few words it is the concentration of all eN- ecutive and legislative power in the hands of d few mem usually five, either appointed by the people under new charter from the legislature There IS no city council in the ordinary sense There is no board of aldermen to de bate and delay over measures for a l mayor finally to veto. or to hold up for consideration or adjustment. Virtually the organization of a big business is reprodrc ced in city affairs The mayor