The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-07-29
Why Try Commission Government?

The commission form of government for municipalities is being tried in Gal weston. Houston, Dallas, Des Moines and a few other cities, and bill has been introduced in the Alabama legis- lature seeking to substitute a commits sion for the aldermanic system in the large cities of the state. The Age Herald is opposed to the commission plan.
 The commission has long been a hobby with theorists and would-be re- formers. Twenty-Five or thirty years ago academic writers on government advocated the commission project and discussion was carried on in maga- zine articles in which a commission not only for cities but for states was urged. But not until Galveston was thrown into a chaotic condition as a result of the flood which swept that city September B. 1900, had a com mission government been tried as a permanent institution. It is said that a majority of the people in the cities of Texas now under autocratic rule are satisfied with their system. But are they? Be that as it may, condi- tions in the prosperous cities of Ala bama at this time do not call for such radical change in municipal machin- cry as Is sought by the commission bill.
 A great many good men are always quick to favor anything new. The com- mission proposition may, and doubt less does, appeal to the imagination. To those who do not look at the ques- tion in all its practical bearings 1t may seem we'll nigh ideal. A few success ful business men contend that because banks, railroads and other corpora tions are managed with economy and with profit to their respective stock holders, then cities and common wealths could be equally well adminis- tered If city councils and legislatures were supplanted by commissions an swering somewhat to executive boards. But the cases are not parallel. City governments are of the people, wheth- CT they be entrusted entirely to com mission or whether the representative council or aldermanic board be re- tained as the law-making branch, and therefore belong to the realm of poli- tics. And a commission, with its ex- tensive patronage, can so entrench It. self in power as to make 1t next to impossible to dislodge its members, even If they were not giving honest or efficient service.
 It is needless to say that no Ameri- can city of large size has been without its graft scandals. New York, Phila- delphia, Chicago and San Francisco have reeked with corruption. But would these particular cities have been safeguarded by a commission? The probability is that conditions would have been even worse under a com. mission than under the aldermanic system
 The best thing that can be said about the bill now pending at Mont. gomery is that provision is made for referring the commission plan to the voters before 1t could become effective. Should the measure be adopted by the legislature, a campaign in Birming. ham, in Montgomery and in Mobile would be in order. The voters. after duly considering the proposed change of government, would decide for them selves. But the Age-Herald, being now opposed to the very principle of substi- tuting a commission for the good old American institution known as the City Council, with ward representation believes the legislature would act for the best interests of the people by TO jecting Mir Urquhart's bill