The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1909-06-20
A REGENERATION At TULSA
ONCE BANKRUPT CITY OUT OF
DEBT AND A STATE MODEL.
WORKING ON CASH BASIS.

Tulsa. Ok. June l9.-1hrcc months
ago. with the eyes of every other city
in Oklahoma upon this place, Tulsa
iuauguratcd the commission form of
government with a corps of officials
elected on nou-partisan ticket Ever
since Tulsa had been a city it had
been governed under the aldcrmanic
system. and the change from the alder
manic to the more modern commits
sion form of government was the re-
suit Of demand for an economic.
busiucss.hkc administration OF the
city's affairs with partisan politics
barred. which would make the ctcdit
Of the city equal to that of other
cities Of the country
I'm short Tulsa would eventually
have gone bankrupt under the old
form of government Instead of suf-
ficicnt revenue form the usual sources
being provided to administer 'hc city
government it had become necessary
the last three years to supplement
this supply Of revenue by bond H.
sues. city warrants were practical.
ly worthless.
If person had claim. say Of tlun.
against the city. il was customary To
issue the creditor a warrant for 500
as he would nave to carry this war
rant six months or year iu all prob.
ability If he did not care TO scalp It
az runous rate of interest. Upon
the face of these warrants the city
paid t per cent interest and upon
the actual amount of the debt be-
tween is and ~ per cent. To Illus
trate the straits to which Tulsa was
driven in the school year of l9070S,
pick Borden. proprietor of the big
gest gambling house here 'stakcd"
the city to the amount OF $4,000 upon
which he drew Is per cent to help
carry on the city schools.
No sooner had the first legislature
enacted a law which provided for spe-
cial charters in cities of the first
class than there was "A demand here
for a commission charter, modelled on
the Galveston plan.
Soon a proposition as to whether
the city would adopt a special char
ter was put to "a vote of the people.
1t carried by large majority. \
commission charter was then drafted
which provided for only six elective
officials, mayor, four commissioners
and city auditor. To these six Off
cials was TO be intrusted the admins
tration of the affairs OF the city, with
proviso in the charter than any or
all of them could be recalled for
malfeasance in office upon petition
signed by 80 per cent of the voters.
The charter was put to vote OF
the people July 3 of last year and II
carried.
For months Governor Haskell with
held his approval of the charter but
finally, last January. he gave 1t his
, official Endorsement and authorized
/ the election of the first set of Off
I cials under the new form of govern
! ment. The election was held Febru
5 airy Is and with the exception of one
, commissioner and auditor non-parti
san ticket defeated a straight demo
$ cratic ticket.
. Wban tho naw admiuist ration wal
inaugurated March /, it faced an out
, standing bonded Indebtedness for cur
rent running expenses of approximate
ly $4,000, a depleted treasury AM
!, every source of revenue exhausted
The new officials were under BON
not TO run the city one cent in deb
IT for current running expenses and
behooved them to get busy. First a
occupation tax was devised. Refresf
80 ment places hitherto running wid
% open and paying nothing to the cit
s, were forced to pay tax of 500
s. k.onth, a dog tax for the first tim
a a systematic collection of poll tax wa
,r provided for.
r. Again a cut was made in the rl
ming expenses of the various depar
ments. The fee system, the financii
ruin of many cities, was abolished.
-. system of bookkeeping was installe
- in every department which absolntel
prevents graft in large or sma
amounts. In the selection of en-
IL ployees those were taken who shove
e. fitness and not one was employed
ID payment of political debts, for n
Ia new administration had none to pa
al Tulsa now has the best police and I'll
:. department in its history, and, q
though much larger than year ag
is costing the city but little MOI
er money than when half the presel
II. size.
ont nf dahf '