Arizona republican., 1907-01-11

TJCLE:
 8 Five men about a lang table-a pres
 ident and four managers of depart
 ments-gOvern the city of Galveston
 Tex. This board is now five years old
 2t is probably the most direct and sim
 pIe city government in the world. More
 than that. it is a revolution in local
 government in America; for it is or
 sahized Oa entirely new lines-the lines
 Of business corporation. Till now we
 hare assured ourselves: "A city is q
 business corpoTarion'-andI run it with
 q isSisiatare.
 The Galveston Commission govern
 men: has net only been a startling suc-
 cess in that city. but it is being aGop-
 led with great rapidity throughout the
 Southwest. The two largest cities in
 Texas have already taken it up. and
 within two years it is believed that
 every city of consequence in the state will have done so. From these-if its
 success cOutinue-it must find its way north to the region of great cities.
 The new idea was born of a tremend-
 ous disaster. On the Sth of September,
 1900, the great storm came down on Galveston. and all but tore her from the map: .One-sixth of the population was drowned. one-third of the property was destroyed in a night. The municipal ity itself was ruined-paYed streets washed away lights blown down, city buildings wrecked. And worse than all there was no money. -payers-the ma rif Of rnarr1--nnTrl6 their taxes then. The credit ot the city was gone. Her bonds went down at once to sixty. Yet millions must be spent in public works to keep the city in existence. Thousands of people were hurrying away. To retain her population the city must have the as- surance of protection from a repition of the disaster.
 Those were the days when good gov eTnment was no pretty theory in Gal weston It was a great serious desire. The community loOmed big; the in tiividUal seemed very small For the community was the only hope. Unless it could reorganize and go on, the in siiFidual was ruined. There was in the city C body known as the Deepwater Committed. formed to secure national asarepristions for deepening the city's hsFboT. Its fifteen members are be- lieyed to have represented. in one way ger another, nearly half the property of th. place. Without delay. although it had never before concerned itself with municipal matters, this organization look affairs into its own hands. It planned ways and means of raising Gneney, of satisfying creditors. of build ing ps3blic works, and it especially con- sidered the formation of some agency lG ;ake over the management Of the ruined city-a strong. responsible. cen traiiEed city government which would really govern. Now there were two systems which the city would certainly h"t adopt. She had tried them and found fhefa wretched failures. The fif,: was government by a mayor and EaFd alderman; the second was gov RTti'neh, by a mayor and board of aldetrnen elected at large
 WARD ALDERMEN-A VICIOUS
 SYSTEM
 Galveston inherited. together with ihs other cities of the United States, the usual system of dividing its terri tory. into artificial districts. each of "a hich elected its representative in the l rity council Until 1895 she was ruled !. by. the ward aldermen. who constituted by far tine strongest branch of her gov ! It was impossible to elect , really. representative men in this body. | lts members represented, not the city. | but the ward; and the ward, in the | great majority of cases could be ] almost certainly manipulater by | the worst type of politicians. | The aldermen had the distribution of . he patronage and improvements. They 1. divided them among their wards. Each | alderman had the naming Of his own . election officers The ward alderman l lad Galveston. as he has most Ameri- an cities, securely organized. It was . disgrace, but it could not be correct ,d. Citizens went about their own business and disregarded it.
 In 1893 Dr. A. w. Fly. a big, aggres- i've. popular physician. was elected mayer of Galveston. The city council vas then, and had been for several ears. in the control of the Eleven. This assortment was made up as fol- cws: one saloon keeper. one bartend- r. oTss dEaymsh. two wharf laborers, me sSegro politician. one journeyman l:fntsf. one retail butcher. one retail ,roesr one curbsrOne real-estate brok- r- sre political agent for a railroad T SisE never existed save on paper. Sar started Immediately between the 'faroJ sad his aggregation. The Elev- f aseTroce more than thirty vetoes ot hs mayor in two years. The mayor, n ;lfss part. decided in 1895 to have an Ssrilisation of the city's books. Being .fUssd an spprOpriaton for this by the ;ieTea h. paid for the work out Of his vi. pocket.
 Y took four lbookkeepers four months e Qnsnarl the thing. The whole sys- em was honeycombed; the city had cen exploited right and left. But far lore astonishing than that was the bsolute batbafic crudeness of the af- air, The losses from a defaultins ex-