The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1908-05-21
ANOTHER COMMISSION CITY.
Chelsea, Mass, Recently Devastated
by Fire, Will Try the New Plan.

Both theoretically and practically
government for commission appears
to have won out. Just night or SO
ago a local college, Hamline Univer-
sity, debated this question of COM
mission government with represen-
tatives from a Dakota school, and
the local college, having the advo
cacy of the old mixed system of mum
icipal government lost out; the
strength and vitality of the argu
ment appears to lie with commission
government And this debate is not
insignificant since it traces the trend
of thinking among young men, and
these young men reflect an investi-
cation into the best thinking and
the best practice of today.
And now comes Chelsea with an
nouncement that it will change it's
city government from the old system
of mayor and departments and
chambers to the new system of sin
gle commissioners with full RESPONSE
bility enjoined and accepted, says
the st. Paul Dispatch. Chelsea is
that Massachusetts town near Boston
which suffered almost humiliation
by fire a few days ago. Evidently it
is necessary that city suffer dis
aster If it is to waken to the new
possibilities of commission govern
ment. Galveston, rising from the
debris of its hurricane, was the first
to venture the adoption of govern
ment by commission. And Galveston
has risen, as the phoenix did not
rise, greater thing for the change.
Baltimore did not suffer sufficiently
iyo To hn of
organization to so radical an ex-
tent. And, contemplating San Fran
cisco, it is impossible not to include
that had this exterminated city but
been rebuilt on commission lines,
with full responsibility lodged in a
committee of it's FIVE chief citizens,
the disgrace of today and the con-
tinuing difficulties in the way of re-
Fbuflding would not have come. ao
But certain cities have adopted
the commission plan without fire or
earthquakes to advise them. The
Texas cities, which have followed
Galveston, have, of course, the in
fluence of Galveston to fall back on.
But, after all. the hurricane that
swept Texas cities into the commits
sion ranks occurred some eight
years ago, SO that sufficient time has
elapsed to make this experiment
something of test in quiet times
And while Des Moines did not suffer
fire or earthquake, it did suffer
something else, something more
threatening in the way of municipal
corruption, and the commission plan
was adopted for reasons of safety
more convincing even than those
which have animated Galveston and
Chelsea.
Perhaps the most significant thing
about the acceptance by Chelsea of
this new method is that the town lies
in conservative old New England
where the witenagemote transformed
into the town-meeting is still a
powerful idea. Where each man is
supposed to have an influential voice
in government, and of most monar-
chic power should be contrary to the
genius of New England people Evil
IDENTIFY, however, the argument does
not hold. And at least we are secur-
ing a sufficient number of expert
ments in different and varying parts
of the country to make a test of this
novel but apparently eminently
practical plan.