The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1909-01-16
A BUSINESS MANAGER.

In every city that has been blessed with "new"
system of government to supersede that wlcIl they
hat before, the new system is touted as the 81
monpure solution for all municipal troubles Take
Galveston, where they have the Galveston idea,
through the whole list of cities down to Des Moires,
and the people of those cities seem almost unani-
nous in their approval of the new system. The
unanimity with which these various schemes meet
with the approval of the people suggests that al
most any system is better than the generally in
use in the cities of the nation. Be that as it may,
it has remained for the city of Staunton, Va, TO
come forward with the latest and, of course, the
best solution of reform in municipal government.
Just how the thing could be accomplished without
a new charter is not clear certainly the scheme
could not be worked in Salt Lake without new
charter from the state.
Staunton has not done away with the mayor,
the council, any other public officer In fact.
instead of abolishing any of the elective offices,
they have added another appointive ofice-that of
business manager. The business managers duties
many and manifold; he buys all supplies for the
city, and makes all contracts for work to be per-
formed and suggests needed legislation to the may
or and council. His duties are such as are per-
w.
ness corporation and he submits reports quarterly
to the mayor and council, who act as would the di
rectorS of any easy-going corporation and usually
approve all the things done by the business man
ager. 1t may seem to be a confession of inability
the part of the mayor and councmen to thus
delegate the whole power of the city administration
to one man. but it is said to result in an economical
administration of the city's affairs. For instance
under the old system, granolthic pavement cost 81
yard, while under the regime of the business
manager the cost is but II cents. Other things
said to be secured to the taxpayers at an al
most equally reduced cost. And the people of
Staunton seem to be satisfied, and are advertising
the new system as the "Staunton idea"
One result of this experiment is that it is made
clear that about all the cities of the land need to
give them an economical administration is to put
the business of the city in the hands of honest and
capable men and not tie them down with restric-
tions which hamper them in doing their work The
objection to it is, of course that the business
ager might turn out to be a scoundrel and his posi-
ton would permit him to rob the city of far
larger amount than a half dozen petty grafters
could in the council If he did turn out to be a
thief however. there would be no difficulty in prov
ing the charge.
In casting about for new scheme of govern
ment, it should be remembered that no system
however perfect, will work by itself. There must
be of integrity and business ability back of the
system or nothing can be accomplished. Indeed,
it is probable that the system of government in
vogue in most of the cities of America at the pres
ent time is not so deficient as its administration.
Sometimes the wrong men are elected to office
men who may be honest and inefficient or men who
may be dishonest and inefficient, too. That is only
natural where politics is permitted to enter into the
administration of affairs that are essentially bust
ness matters
However, we cannot feel that the solution of the
municipal problems of Stanton is final The good
results already accomplished are hardly likely to
continue indefinitely. For the mayor and council
men play politics successfully if they have
no patronage to dish out to their hungry constit-
uents. But they have the right idea in this, that
the city needs business administration and is get
ting it now, even if the good thing may not last
always. That is what all American cities need
How to get it is the perplexing problem With a
new system of government must come different
kind of men from those who have made a new
system necessity.