Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1908-12-04
NEW CITY GOVERNMENT.
Popularity Of the Commission Plan.

from the Springfield R'mLI,,om O
Nov. 18th:
From down Virginia way come
interesting reports of u municipal
experiment that consists in placing
the business affairs of IA city under ;
business manager. Staunton, a Vir
glnla city of some II, 2,000inhabitants
has not tried the Commission plan O
government, but it has found relie
in another direction. The old form
of administration, embodied in {
Mayor and City Council chosen by
the voters, has been left undisturbed
but those officials, who are politically
responsible to a self-governing com
munity, have elected IA business man.
ager to whom they have turned over
all the purely business functions Ol
the city government. In his relations
to the city council. the business man
ager stands somewhat in the same re-
latlon that the general manager OF
a large corporation does to the board
of directors.
In StauntOn S case, the manager is
elected for a year. He presents re-
port every three months and he is
permitted to suggest new legislation
along the lines where he is active.
In making contracts for all municipal
work and in the buying of city sup
plies, he is given free hand, and the
results are already highly satisfac-
tory. The experiment began last
April, and the manager has shown
himself so efficient that his re.elec-
ton for a second term has been
determined upon. The Wnsh;ngton
Hr"id, to which we are indebted for
information, says: For one thing,
he was able to place contracts for
granolithic paving at Il cents a
square yard instead of the 81 the
council was paying prior to his ap-
polntment. y And there were other
matters in the disposal of which
Staunton business manager has
been able to save money for the tax
payers
Staunton could not help saving
money by such an arrangement. if
the business manager was honest
and capable and the city council pro-
tected him from the politicians. ANY
city could save money by the barrel
in doing the same thing. The idea
may not be new, for many municipal
reformers haye pointed out again and
again how extravaganza and waste in
city administration could be prevent
ed by giving municipalities the bene-
tit OF close and careful management
in their purely business affairs. The
desire for reform has led to the wide
discussion, and application in some
instances, of the Galveston and
Des MOlnes commission plans, but
evidently StauntOn is able to reach
the same end by the very simple de-
vice it has employed.
If legal obstacles are not present.
any American city may initiate
Staunton without changing its form
OF government, or depriving the vot-
ers OF their political control of the
local administration. The Virginia
city had City Council and Mayor
wise enough and free enough from
political obligations to undertake
the experiment, and undoubtedly the
mass of the citizens were public
spirited enough to support the Coun-
ellis policy. No more is needed any
where than the right sort of public
opinion to give city the best mu-
nicipal administration attainable.
Forms of government will adjust
themselves to the end desired if only
the people demand what is best.
At Convention of Mayors last
month in Omaha, the presiding Of
ticer stated that cities are in slavery
to party machinery which controls
the State, and which counts the
Legislature and the Executive as its
most important parts, and the Ont
t"ok commenting thereon, says:
Parties divided on Natioral and
State issues are not fitted to be the
contestants for the control of munic-
ipal administration. Those, there
fore, who are engaged in advancing
the cause OF sound city government
are agreed in attempting, on the one
hand, to weaken the hold of party
machinery upon city officers, and, on
the other hand, to concentrate in a
few individuals responsibility for the
efficient conduct of city business.
The Commissioners from Des Moines
and Cedar Rapids, each out of their
own experience, declare for the ef-
fectiveness of the plan in use in their
cities. An essential part, however,
of freedom from subserviency to
party politics, is freedom from Legis-
lative interference in purely munic-
ipal matters. The principle of home
rule for cities has found perhaps its
latest expression in Cuba, where an
Advisory Commission have prepared
project of municipal law which ex-
plicitly provides that jurisdiction
over all matters not vested in the
government of the State or in the
Provincial Councils or Governors un-
der the Constitution and the laws,
shall be vested in the municipal gov.
ernment Haverhill, Massachusetts,
has sought freedom from partisan
politics by board of four Alder.
men and a School Committee of four.
The Mayor presides over the Board
of Aldermen. On the primary bal
lots there shall be no party or pO.
litical designation or mark" But
two candidates for each Office can re.
ceive the nomination. Only those
two receiving the highest votes al
the primaries can be voted for, for
any Office, making it impossible for
members of third party to vote for
any one OF their own party nominees
This is a distinct virtue, preventing
party divisions in municipal elections
There is provision of recall. Fresno
I, Cal, is operating under law which
requires that all nominations fol
city offices shall be by petition, and
shall be printed on the official ballot
only under the caption. Inde
, pendent Nominations" The Govern
ment OF a city should be by men Sc