The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1908-10-14
BY HARRY G. FARMER.
Special corrsspeadeucs to The Pre-.

special Correspcndeuce to The Pres!
DALLAS, Tex, Oct. 14.-This
city, like Galveston, has abolished
aldermen and graft, and in theil
place substituted honesty. economy
and a popular form of government
Here, as In Galveston, the commits
sion plan" is an unqualified sue
cess.
Success? How can one tell in sc
short time? 1t is onl VIC months
since the Dallas experiment began
Quite true. And still | say that
what Dallas has is SO much better
than what it had. and so much bet
ter than aldermen and city admins,
trations as | have known them Il
served my apprenticeship in cover
ing Chicago's city counciD-it is so
much more honest, so much more
efficient, so much more what the
people want-that it would be a
waste of time to draw comparisons
between the old and new.
In this city, as in Galveston, the
aldermanic form of government
had broken down. insufficient
water, neglected pavements, high
priced gas, telephone monopoly
and poor street car service were the
outward manifestations of a system
honeycombed by corruption and in
efficiency. Taxes were nupaid, the
public money mysteriously disap-
peared, the city's bills piled up;
and when the commission finally
took hold there was an overdraft
on the city's bank of nearly
100000.
An investigation of the tax col
lector's books showed how things
had been going. License taxes
amounting to some $4,000 had dis
appeared. The only record of tax
collections of this sort were certain
stub books" and If these books
were lost so was all official record
of the funds. The commission re-
covered this particular defalcation
from the collectors bondsmen, and
a new system of accounting was
installed.
In the few months during which
the commission has been in power
it has reduced the floating debt by
more than half, it has begun the
of a new water works,
it has started action to reduce the
capital of the high priced gas
it has granted fran
chise to a competing telephone con-
Germ, it has improved the city's
lights and pavements, decreased ex-
penses, increased revenues, mar
keted half a million dollars worth
of the city's bonds at 95. bearing
interest at per cent, and gener-
ally has convinced the people that
the city's business is being run as
it should be run.
do you like this commission
plan?" To this inquiry the average
man on the street will answer:
Fine"
The Dallas plan is similar in it's
general character to that of Calves
ton. There are four commissioners
and mayor, and they are to the
city what the directors and general
manager are to private business.
They divide the work among them
selves, and each man is responsible
for all that happens in his depart
ment The commissioners hold
formal and informal conferences,
and majority vote is fnal. The
mayor receives a salary of $4,000 a
year and the commissioners are
paid $4,000 each. One of the re-
quiremenst of the charter here is
that mayor and commissioners
shall give all their time to their
public duties. This is not required
In Galveston.
In one respect the Dallas plan
differs fundamentally fro mthe pat
tern laid down seven years ago in
Galveston, namely, in the addition
to the plain commission plan, of a
provision for the initiative, the ref
erendum and the recall. Perhaps
the simplest explanation of this
feature will be found in brief ac-
count of the first occasion on which
the law was actually tried.
The circumstances were these:
An independent telephone concern
had applied for a franchise, and
their application had been granted
by a divided board. There mem
bers were In favor of inaugurating
competition; the other two favored
monopoly under proper regula
tom The old telephone concern.
fighting under cover, aroused senti-
ment enough TO secure petitioners
in sufficient number to call for the
reference of this franchise to
popular vote, which was accord
ingly had. The result was over
whelming In favor of the granting
of the franchise.
Here, then, is the answer to the
question, What il commission