Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-18
TOO SOONFOR
COM MISSION
GOVERNMENT
REVISI0NISTS WILL DISCUSS
SUBJECT FURTHER
LAY DIES MoINEs-eALVEsToN
PLANS ON TABLE
Commissioner Call Resigns After
Urging Importance of Preserv-
ing the Recall in Any
Charter

government.
The unanimous opinion OF Commls
sioners Works, Finlayson, Lissner
Murray. Fennessey, Washburn anC
Fishburn was that the action had bet
ter be deferred for some time. Mr.
Luckenbach remained for the early
session, but was excused because o.
indisposition.
Commissioner Joseph H. Calls resig'
nation was accepted with regret after
Mr.. Call wrote the commission that he
felt he was out of accord with the
majority.
The commission then took up the
question of the evening, the commits
sion form of city government.
Vested in One
Commissioner Frank Finlaysor
opened the discussion by saying that
the principle of the commission plan
was that, to a large degree, the ad-
ministrative and legislative functions
are vested in one department.
Personally he thought plan could
be devised without slavishly following
the Galveston, Des Moines or other
ideas. Personally he rather favored
the idea of letting the city auditor be
chosen directly by the people.
zone reason 1 favor commission gov
ernment is that it induces more sim
plicity, said Mr.. Finlayson. Com
plexity of government plays into the
hands of the bosses.
LAS it is now, responsibility is shift
ed. 1t could not be under the COM
mission PLAN"
Mr.. Washburn suggested that the su-
pervisorial plan had worked well in
Los Angeles county, and possibly it
would not be necessary to go far from
home to get at some form of commits
sion government if that is wanted.
Lissner's Views
Meyer Lssner urged the commission
plan as the best one. He pointed
out that in the case of city assessor or
city attorney, for instance, each should
be absolutely Independent of the city
council
MY impression is that under the
present circumstances these two Of
ficers should be elected directly"
John Murray said both Messrs. Fin
layson and Lissner did not give
definite points of view, as the commits
sion did not know the details of the
plan.
81 object to the general tendency of
the commission PLAN" he said, though
house of commons, which is recognized
as a democratic body. The commits
sion plan, however, centralizes govern
ment in the hands of the few.
''The public speaks plainly Of us, so
1 will speak plainly when 1 say that
the commission plan emanates from
the silk stocking elements of other
parties.
"These men grow ticklish about GER
tain officials. Mr.. Finlayson says the
auditor should be elected. Mr.. Liss-
ner says the assessor and city attor-
ney should be elected. Why not let
the people elect all of the officials then?
Put it in the peoples hands.
Would Double Council
THE city has doubled in size and 1
don't see why we can't double the size
of the council. Why not put all the
powers in the hands of these men. Let
us pay them well for their work.
shy at putin government in the hands
of few men,
Mr.. Mead said he had two primary
objections to government by commits
sion in Los Angeles.
II believe in leeping the legislative
and executive departments separate"
he said. 1--WE get better government.
There are too many duties to per-
form in a rapidly growing city like
Los Angeles for five or seven men to
divide the work between them 1t
may be all right for a small city to
have commission government. 1t
would do say, in San Jose. Yet the
water department of Los Angeles has
more business in a year than all the
municipal business of San Jose.
Mr. Lissner proposes to add to the
duties of our nine councilmen here
(after admitting that they are over
worked at Mondays SESSION. the tre-
mendOus details of the police, fire, park
and public works departments 1t
won't do.
Mead Recalls the Past
1T has been conceded that our COM
missioners have done better work since
the mayor appointed them than when
the council did it,
THE government we had from 1883
to 1902 would probably not be improved
under a Des Moines-G Galveston scheme,
for the dominant elements would con-
troll it, as bosses formerly controlled
our councils.
Retired business men are available
for the smaller commission positions
men who work for civic pride and not
for salary-and as long as they are
we find they work well. The combi-
nation of sor'e e councimen at large and
some big wards will give the minority
a chance.
For instance, we might have a board
of estimates to take away some of the
duties of the council, consisting of the
auditor, assessor and chairman of coun-
Gil llilduCe COHlIllllee, perhaps. IneSe
could fix the tax rate and advise on
appropriations, thereby relieving the
councils work a bit
"If we undertake too radical a de-
parture the voters may not approve
our work. If we take entirely the
views of these theoretical college pro-
fessors, who are not always practical
men, we will bring our work to naught
without remedying the glaring evils in
our present charter"
Chairman Asks Time
Acting Chairman Works said. as a
member of the subcommittee on COM
mission plan of government. he hoped
the question would not be settled now
I'm trying to keep my own predic-
tions in the background till I get more
light, and / would hesitate now in
belni: tied down." said he.
The commission then decided to ta-
BILE the proposition.
Why Call Retires
'I realize the fact that I am not in
accord with the majority of the char
ter commission concerning changes in
the charter" says Mr.. Call in his let
ter of resignation.
II am not in favor of appointing a
committee to frame an entire new