The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-11-07
On The Commission Plan


expression concerning the commission:
plan of city government for which all
enabling act is now before the Illinois
legislature. backed by a number Of the
cities of Illinois:
II any one thinks Chicago Is making
radical demands from the legislature
by inserting the recall and the refer
endum in new charter bill a compari
son with the demands Of interior Iii
nois cities will make our wishes seem
conservative
Senator Barr has introduced a bill
allowing any city in the state to intro
duce the commission form of govern.
ment II its electors care to. The
measure is an enabling act only. It
merely enlarges home-rule powers TO
a point where the entire fundamental
form Of municipal government may be
changed by popular vote. II is desir.
ed to let any Illinois city. il 1t chooses.
duplicate the experience OF such cities
as Galveston and Des Moines in q
commission form OF government.
Springfield, Peoria, Joliet and some
other Illinois cities have taken up tho
commission idea. Their representa-,
tives have held conferences. Senator
Barr. who halls from Joliet. had an
original bill in the interests of tia.
city alone. but has lately put in an
amended bill with features applicable
to the whole state.
The most radical feature OF the
Barr bill in its political aspect, is the
wiping out OF partisanship 1t purely
municipal elections. Chicaso.s chart.
er bill abolishes the party circle from
the ballot at municipal elections. but
retains the party column. 1t also abol.
ishes party primaries which il the fin
ishing touches In the death kuel OF
rule by partisan bosses.
The commission bill allows all yot.
ers to participate at 4 single primary.
The names of all candidates are on
the same ballot, without party desis.
nation. The two candidates receiving
the highest number OF votes are the
nominees on the official election bal.
lot. no other naems being printed
thereon. II more than one person -
to be elected to an office the nominees
are the four or more highest vote get.
tiers at the primary.
Another fundamental feature. Of
course. is the recall. This. toesther
with the initiative and referendum.
which are also features OF the COM
mission bill. take away the last YES.
tiEe of responsibility for government
from any one but the voters themsel.
YES. The latter not only retain thu
power to Gust unsatisfactory officials.
but retain an intimate supervision ov-
er all legislation. II they want 4 law
passed. and their officials refuse to
act. they repor. to the initiative. II
laws are passed that they deem un.
safe they correct the errors through
the referendum.
Thus far the spread Of the commits.
sion idea in municipal government has
been confined to the comparatively
smaller cities. The reason is obvious.
In city of the first cIass-like Chi.
cago or New York for instance-the
necessary multiplication of separate
commissions might prove unwieldy.
In the smaller cities all functions of
government can be embraced In less
than half a dozen commissions. That
! accounts. doubtless. for the practical
I results obtained by such cities az Des
Moines. The first year OF the Iowa
capitals commission government has
put the city on q sound financial basis
and abolished useless offices.
While the commission form of city
government may seem q radical de.
pGrture. It is not entirely new. The
local government At Washington. ID. c.
has been practically q commission
government for many years. When
western cities began to adopt the plan
they introduced special features ap-
| plicable to modern conditions. And il
is notable that each city adopting the
plan seeks improvement over any OF
| its predecessors.
Senator Barrs commission bill ex-
presses the collective wisdom OF mod
ern American municipal science. And
its first blow Is at the rule of the DO
litical boss. II begins by making II
impossible for professional politicians
to control municipal offices. And It
keeps both legislative and executive
functions within the peoples continu-
Gus supervision.
The legislature is not asked to ap-
prove or disapprove the commission
form OF government But its grant os
power is needed to give municipalities
the right to adopt it.
| Halloween.
From the Philadelphia Press
The origin Of no religious holiday
has been 30 completely forgotten in its