The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-10-01
lie case squarely before all the peo-
Strength of the Plan.

lple.
Strength of the Plan.
The campaign and its outcome dem
onstrate the strength of the commits
sion idea in its appeal to the people.
The politicians have no arguments to
present against it. They produced none
at Mankato. The commission method
of handling eity's business is so
common senselke and practical COM
pared with our Anticipated systems
that it appeals at once to those who
stop to think and have no axes to
grind It's superiority was emphasized
by the dearth of argument there is
against it.
The politicians in Mankato seemed
to see the handwriting on the wall.
They did not make fight on the
plan itself They simply SPARED for
time and that is all they got. The
same charter will be submitted to
the voters again and undoubtedly will
meet with better fate than was the
case yesterday.
Minneapolis Journal: If the people
of Mankato have lost the new COM
mission charter, they have at least
found an issue There is no question
that the present ward system of rep
resentation ought to be broken up.
The attempt to accomplish this seems
to have been thwarted by the liquor
interests, which were well satisfied
with their control of things under
the ward system and which feared the
effects upon themselves of the con-
centrated responsibility of the new
charter. The best interests of Man
kato thus sustain double rebuff. The
ward system ought to go. The saloon
as a controlling factor in city politics
must 60.
The people of Mankato ought to try
again, and beyond question will do so.
The issue is now clearly defined, and
Oh the next attempt they will keep IN
mind these two things as their objec-
tive-to abolish the ward system, and
to break the power of the saloon in
politics.
Were Over Confident.
st. Paul Dispatch: That overconfi-
dence caused the defeat of the COM
mission plan of government at Man
kato yesterday is the opinion of Gov
ernor A. O. Eberhart. He cannot lay
it to any other cause.
added to this" said Governor Eb-
erhart, who returned from Mankato
today after casting his vote for the
new order of things, "vOters in the
outlying wards got the idea that the
Fourth and Fifth wards, which are the
centers of population, would control
things, and they slaughtered the new
charter numerically.
Ward meetings held prior to yes
terday's election" continued Governor
Eberhart, gave every indication that
! the commission plan would prevail
Straw votes taken invariably showed
large majority for the new form
of government and it was this that
did the business Those behind the
movement, confident of victory, took
no precautions to remove the errone-
GUS idea that existed in the outlying
wards, and the result was defeat.
cannot attribute it to anything else .
Governor Eberhart gave no opinion
as to what the future would be in
the matter. He supposed that the
project would be revived, but as to
no rafr
to hazard guess.
Popular Apathy About Good Govern.
ment.
Minneapolis Tribune: The city OF
Mankato was provoked to try to get
the commission form of government
by a typhoid epidemic due to badly
controlled municipal conditions. The
attempt was defeated because politi
clans interested in maintaining those
conditions made certain people believe
that the liquor traffic would be more
restricted under commission form OF
government.
Here is an admirable illustration O.
the discouraging difficulty of interest
ing the popular electorate in the gen
eral question of good municipal gov
eminent. The commission plan was
considered on it's merits by neither
side. Probably it would have giveI
the city better sanitary police. Thai
is much, but it is rather narrow
basis on which to agitate for per
manent change in form of government
That form is no more favorable t
prohibition than any other, unless