The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-18
THE cosaMIssIoN PLAN.

The Form, Of Government Fsecently
Adopted ~ Dcs Moines.
Editor The Advertiser:
article some few months ago commend
ing the commission form of govern
ment adopted by Galveston and Hous-
has adopted a very similar plan. Our
present form OF municipal government
Is too penderous and expensive. II
has many defects. The Galveston idea
while II may be modified and perfected
IN some of its details. in its main fea-
lures 1t Is the coming form OF munici-
pal ssnsaon sane Is ines that has
made the business corporation such a
power for development and such an eff
flcient instrument for accomplishing
have to come to something like this
In MONTGOMERY. / clip from a recent
magazine the following brief outline OF
the pes Moines plan:
Moines plan Of municipal government
win be observed with interest by the
refornler and the CRATER alike-the
and missiviRg. II the plan proves
success. the pernicious activities OF the
ward politician win cease and he will
pass away as otrales and others OF like
predatory habits have done. Briefly
stated, the plan Is to place the nluni-
cipality on the basis OF business cor
poraticns. oy committing its affairs to
to Be selected without regard to poiiti-
cal parties. They are to be paid ade-
quate salaries for their services. and are
given ample powers to secure efficiency
! simple method OF removal from Of
fsithfuIness Under It's nav charter
a ire ~ IA aAnnfniaferai Nv a Ma vor and
four .councilnen, each of whom is made
the head OF one OF five departments,
with plenary executive and adminlstra-
the ofieers In the several departments
are to be appointed by the Council by
majority vote and may be removed at
any any time BY majority vote, except
pyin9 subordinate positions are to be
governed by ctvfl service rules, The
Council is authorized to grant fran
grant OF q franchise Is 70 be operative
until It has been submitted to popti-
lar vote at an election ordered tor the
purpose: 4 majority OF the votes cast
franchise. Ordinances enacted by the
Council are not to be subject to veto
by the Mayor. blu he or two OF the
Councslmen must sign them. They are
not to take effect until ten days after
their passage. and during the ten days
they are subject to protest and refer
s sade with Js4sns fo sanst s or
signed by rs per cent of the voters Is
filed within ten days after its passage.
such ordinance must be submitted to
vote Of the people and REQUIRES. a ma
Jority, vote to sustain Il. It Is also
provided that II % per cent Of the
voters petition for the. passage Of an
ordinance. the proposed measure shall
be submitted to the voters. The Mayor,
and Councilmen are to be nominated at
a primary election. the names of the
candidates for Mayor and Councilmen
respectively being printed in alphabeti-
cal order on the ballots. The two can
didates for Mayor and the eight candI-
dates for. Councilmen receiving the
highest number of votes are to be the
nominees. The nominations are all to
be made from the city at large wards
are abolished) and without any desig-
nation of political parties. and the
nnal elections are TO be conducted In
the same manner. At any time. on a
petition signed by IS per cent of the
move the Mayor ands Councilmen Of
any of them. This plan seems to be
admirably designed to secure a compe-
tent administration, because the sala-
rles VIII induce capable men to. under
take the management Of municipal at
fairs as a business and not for the
pickinEs that they may be able to
get out. of II, and the provisions for
all times. The requirement of the sig
natures of 2b per cent of the voters In
case of petition for q referendum
would seem to be scarcely practicable
one ana experience will probably per-
feet It, At any rate. 1t aims In fairly
practical way to give a system Of mu-
nscipal government under which hon.
personnel of the city Officers, and by
which the temptation to corrupt prac-
tice is largely removed" Citizen.