The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-09-17
VOTE BACKS UP PLAN
STRAW BALLOT FAVORS ADOPTION
OF THE CHARTER.
Open Meeting in Commercial Club
Room Last Evening and the Pro-
posed New Law for Mankato's
Guidance Was Discussed Freely;
Not Much Opposition Developed to
the Commission System.

adjournment, took a straw vote on the
new charter, resulting in forty-one
votes being cast in favor of it, and
two against it. This is an indication
of how the business men feel on the
matter. They pay the bulk of the
taxes and feel that the city's business
ought to be conducted in a more mod
em and busnesslike way than here
tOfore.
The meeting was well attended, some
sixty or seventy being present but
when the vote was taken a number
had left, or the vote in favor would
have been much larger. President Ny
quist presided, and first called upon
Judge Cray to speak.
Faults of Present Charter.
Judge Cray said that he had been
considerably interested in charters for
fifteen or twenty years past. The
present charter was drawn by the
then city attorney. The speaker had
been requested to assist, but the time
was too short to get creditable char
ter and he had declined. The city at
tornev had done the best that he could
in the time allowed, but the job was
a very poor one. The charter is
mass of contradictions, and cannot be
understood. Whole lines have been
dropped out of the original context.
The city has run along under it be-
cause it has had to. The speaker had
been interested in dozens of lawsuits
uiSin N
the charter, but he did not understand
the charter yet. In the Broad street
paving case he had found that it was
unjust that city property and street
intersections were not taken care of by
the city. He had appointed two char
ter commissions, but both charters had
been defeated, although they were
good charters.
The new charter provides for the re-
call system. City officials can be I'M
peached and removed now, but it is a
long and expensive matter. The plan
adopted by the present charter COM
mission provides for an appeal to every
man. and the sense of common justice
on the part of the public rs almost
always right 1t is a tribunal proved
by three hundred years to be safe
one. The present commission has had
the experience of the previous commits
siOns to assist it.
Nearly all of the provisions OF the
new charter are i'm the present char
ter. but they are broader and more
carefully written, and some desirable
things that the people have been wish
ing for have been added. The only rad
zeal departure from the present charter
is in the elimination of ward bound
aries and politics. The new charter
is one that ought to appeal to every
thoughtful person.
Very Few Defects.
When the matter came before the
legislature last winter, of allowing
cities to adopt the commission form
of government, there was opposition at
first, but when it became understood,
all opposition vanished and the bill
passed unanimously. Every city which
has voted on the commission plan thus
far, with one or two exceptions, has
adopted it, and it is now up to Man
served without pay, and has no in
terests to subserve, the members hav-
ing been selected from all parts of
the city and all walks of life.
Judge Cray said that he had read
the new charter four times from be-
ginning to end, and he would like to
see it adopted, and would like to see
Il LII - 0F.
under it. He was willing to trust
tn public to do this, every time. If
the city could go ten or twelve years
under the new charter, he thought that
taxation could be reduced at least fifty
per cent. Present conditions are not
the fault of the present officials, but
of the present charter. The different
funds ought to be kept intact.
No Member Sought Appointment.
c. E. Wise said that no member of
the charter commission had sought APP
pointment on it, as it was a thankless
Job. The members had been chosen
from all parts of the city, and from
all nationalities and religions. He had
been asked why the commission had
adopted the commission plan. Two
charters following the present plan had
been voted down, and it was thought
that there must be some good reason
for this, and that this must be that
they were too nearly like the present
charter But the main reason was
that the commission investigated the
commission plan thoroughly, and found
that it was praised by all, and that not
a city that had adopted it was willing
to 60 back to the old plan. 1t was. a
plan that brings the government of
the city closer to the people, and one
that eliminates a lot of red tape, and
gets right down to business. 1t has
reduced taxation and got more returns
for the money. The commission had
tried to give Mankato the very best
charter that it could.
One of the Strongest Features.
The feature allowing special assess
ments to be paid in ten annual in
stallments, at not to exceed six per