The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-09-17
VOTE FOR THE PLAN
Continued From Page One.

with small salaries, but sufficient to
ensure good men running for office
and the salaries will be saved several
times over each year. All of the cleo.
tive officers are to be bonded. There
is no danger that the appointive Off
GERS will be paid excessive salaries
but rather than designate what these
salaries should be, the commission
thought that it would be wise to al.
low discretion.
The present charter is very loose
and has to be violated every day to
meet the necessities of the situation
The provision regarding saloons in the
new charter is the same as in the old
Put to Rout One Lie.
Mr. Wise took occasion to nail a
lie that has been sprung in some parts
Of the city to the effect that if the
new charter was adopted only prop
erty owners could vote He said that
this was a sample of the arguments
used against the new charter. Under
the new charter every voter could vote,
the same as heretofore, and he could
vote on many more things than he can
at present. He has much more voice
in the city government.
Last summer three men were dis
charged from office and disgraced, when
it was not the men but the system
that was to blame. The new charter
was not a Palmer charter, for the
other fourteen members of the COM
mis- bod I'll bor ri hn
did.
The eyes of the entire state were
on Mankato at the present time, and
this city would be judged according to
its action upon the new charter. The
latter involves advanced ideas. Mr..
Wise predicted that within ten years
the great majority of cities would be
operating under this form of govern
ment, because it was the best form
yet devised. He read what the city of
Houston, Texas, has accomplished under
the commission plan, and said that the
same thing could be accomplished in
Mankato, as there are no better people
ut Houston than in Mankato.
President Nyquist called upon those
opposed to the charter to speak, or any
Others who wished to ask questions.
Some Inquiries Made
w. w. Smith said that he had heard
it suggested that the charter commits
sion had had no authority and no
business to bring in an entirely new
charter; but that the present charter
should have been amended. He had
also noticed that the letters received
had all come from bankers and rich
men. He asked the commission wheth-
er it had had any communications
from the laboring class and how they
felt about it.
Chairman Palmer answered for the
commission and said that last winter
he wrote to the presidents of banks
in cities having the commission plan,
because they were conservative and
prudent business men and knew the
financial condition of their cities. He
had also received letters from jobbers
and lawyers, but there did not seem
to be any way to get in touch with
others.
No Poor People There.
Judge Cray answered the other ques-
ton by saying that the commission was
clearly acting within the limits of the
law when it had prepared a new char
ter. He said that he understood that
the reason why it had been unable
to get an opinion from poor people
was because after the commission plan
had operated a while in a city there
were no more poor people there.
Daughter.)
Gotfried Robel called for remarks
from Mayor Meyer, but the latter
said that he wished to be excused for
a while as he preferred to listen.
Mr.. Porter, resident of Guthrie.
Okla, who was present, was called
upon for remarks. He said that he
was originally from Texas and knew
many people at Galveston who had
been benefited by the commission form
of government. The city had been en-
abIed to do wonderful things and to
lessen the cost to the tax payers.
Guthrie was considering adopting the
plan, and it was only a matter of
submitting it for it to be adopted
practically unanimously. He thought
that Mankato would be greatly bene-
fitted by the new plan. While making
a change in charters, why not take
an up to date one, and not follow a
plan that was used thirty. years ago.
Oklahoma is conceded to have the finest
constitution of any state in the union,
because it is the latest and has the
most modern ideas. He would like to
see Mankato the first city in Mime
sofa to adopt the new plan of gov
eminent.
Let Mankato Be First City.
George E. Brett said that the city
must have this commission govern
ment If the city did not adopt this
new charter it would not recover from
the blow for twenty years. Let Man
kato be the first city in Minnesota
to adopt the new charter and have
the best form of local government. 1t
would not be five years before every
city of Importance in the state would
have the commission plan. Let every
body be enthusiastic and work for
it,