Omaha daily bee., 1909-05-05
Iowa
COMMISSIONERS 0UARRELlNC
Galveston Plan of Government is
Strained in Des Moines.
PATRONAGE CAUSE OF DIssENsIoN
MRcNicar and Hnmery, the Two Mem
hers About whom the storm Gem
ters, and PcrsonaIitic Are
Freely INDUCED In.
(From a SAD Correspondent.O

100 NANR - stNNAAA AA..
commission form of city government is said
to be on the point Of breaking down in
Dcs Moines. which city claims to be its
father, or at least to have Introduced it in
the north. and all because Of the dispo-
sition Of the members Of the city commits
sion to be quarrelsomc. The council was
made up, in the first place, Of discordant
elements and from the start there have
been quarrels and disagrecments one fol-
lowing the other. Upon first organizing y
deadlock occurred over the selection of a
chief OF police. and lately a new cause of
turmoil came through an attempt to direct
the building Of a city hall. Members dis
agreed over what architect should he Sc
lected and this controversy has finally
broken out in the form Of open accusations
Of attempts at bribery and questionable
dickering with the forces Of corruption.
The fight is raging especially between
Councilmen and Hamery, but
it involves all Of them.
At a meeting held today the members in
dulged In the most disgraceful personal
attacks and called each other almost
everything they could think Of. Personal
encounters have been %norrowly averted
and there seems no way of getting the
belligcrents to agree upon anything.
Threats are now freely made by citizens
that the recall will be invoked for dispos-
ing OF the whole bunch.
Patterned After Iowa.
Members of the State Board of Control
are much clated over information to the
effect that the state of Illinois is on the
point of adopting the Iowa plan for the
management of the state Institutions and
that the bill introduced. and which has
been virtually agreed upon provides a
commission almost exactly like that in
Iowa. The chief difference, however, is
that the Illinois board will consist of five
persons at a salary of $500 each, instead
of three at $1,000 each. In Illinois there are
twenty institutions to go under one man
agement and in Iowa only fifteen. A COM
mittec of the Illinois senate visited Des
Moines and inspected the state board plans
last winter.
~OptOmetry Board Appointed.
Governor Carroll today appointed the
three optometrists to comprise the ma
jority of the State Board of Optometry.
There will be two other members who are
physicians to be appointed by the State
Board of Health. The three optometrists
named today are G. S Dunlap of Sioux
City. f. F. Renaud of Keokuk and James
E.. McMasters of Cedar Rapids. The first
two are republicans and the latter a demo-
crat.
Supreme Court In Session.
The supreme court is in session and will
begin handing down opinions tomorrow.
1t is expected that at this sitting the opin-
ion will be handed down on the Cedar
Rapids gas case, wherein is raised the
right OF a city to fix the price which a
gas corporation may charge for it's product.
The new State Board of Education will
hold a meeting at the state house here
Wednesday of this week for the purpose
of ~electing the three financial secretaries,
who are to be paid salaries of 5000 per
year each and who will have charge Of
the direct management Of the three edu-
c~ational institutions, the State Agricultural
college at Ames, the State university at
Iowa City and the State teachers college
at Cedar Falls.
Court Criticism Unjust.
II have little patience with this talk
about the supreme court" said Senator
Gilliland, while in the city. 1T seems to
me that the criticism is without any force.
Take. for instance, the criticism I'm regard
to the Judges having rooms in the capitol.
The fact is that these private rooms are
absolutely necessary II the court is to do
its work with ease, and there is abundant
reason why it should be made possible for
a judge to remain in his room occasionally
all night rather than go to a hotel when
the nights work is done. As for the talk
Of employing relatives I'm confidential re-
%lation, that answers itself. In the case of
Judge McClain there is no doubt whatever
Of the regularity and legality of the act
of the Code commission in purchasing his
n naa 400 Ia. $500. 49,
Judge McClain is a wonderful worker.
capable o. II to '1s hours of labor a dav.
and that unless there is an accusation
that he has shirked HIS share of the labor
Of the court there is no ground for criti-
cism II he does not devote every one of
his hours to the task Of deciding cases.
Nothing could have been more inexcus-
able than the attack upon the court, which
has had no other effect than TO give
thoughtless persons an excuse for com
planning
Bridge Cases important.
In both the Dubuque bridge case and the
Nebraska bridge case, in which the rights
Of the travelling public are being looked
after by the attorney general, the state
is giving a practical Illustration of the
practicability Of having a counsel
deyoting his entire time to consideration
of matters affecting the rights Of the pub
lie In rate and similar affairs. Attorney
General Byers has taken up these cases
on relation of citizens Of the state acting
through the railroad commission, and II
successful in reducing the bridge arbitrary
at each place it will he worth far more to
the travelling and shipping public than the
cost of a counsel, Yet the ex-
actions at the bridges have been going on
for many years. Attorney General Byers
expects 20 comTel a change of policy at
these brtdses and may even make the
bridges free.