The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-05-29
GOVERNMENT BY AuTocRAoY.

\
/, ment, to do practically rs he chooses
uncontrolled from any source. Each
one OF the commissioners is supreme
in his own department, not to be in
terfered with mt all, OF course, there
is back of that the remote remedy of
"recall, - whereby an official may be
oustcd from office. The commission rs
u whole is also subject TO the restric-
tions usually put into the corporate act
with regard to the granting of fran.
chises. aud so far as the initiative and
referendum, it provides for that popu,
lar interference and Judgment.
The tendency in all these forms is
away from democracy and toward the
exercise Of arbitrary power The latest
development in this direction is in
Staunton, Virginia it was found there
that the State constitution absolutely
forbids any such thing rs commission
form of government for municipalities.
Accordingly, the next thing to do was
TO undertake TO get around the consti-
tutional prohibition. There was no
thought of giving up the scheme he
cause il was unconstitutional: but the
constitution must be cvaded, and so
new formulation of the commission
idea was put into effect, This new idea
was 10 havo commission of one, in
place of four or five This one is called
the general manager, aud in him il
vested all the public business of the
city. He is responsible for everything
that goes on, takes charge of the pub
lie improvements makes the public pur-
chascs, and has reduced the public af-
fairs of the city to personal business
lines EXtravagant laudations of the
good things brought about by Mr..
Charles E. Ashburner, General Manager
of Stanton, arc printed. Everything
that the commissioners Of other cities
have done either Individually or col
lectvely, he has done perfectly as gen.
eral manager. The same redemption
of the city affairs from waste and from
ineficiencv that is so much heralded
as the work of the commission form
of government, as reported by its re
suits in other cities, is also claimed as
the result of the general manager sys-
tenn in Staunton He has cut down
expenses, he has advanced public i'm
provements, he has saved large sums
of money in various directions, and has
made of the city place Of purity and
desirability in place Of n slipshod, run
down municipality.
We imagine that there would be the
same difficulty in Utah as in Virginia
in the enactment of q constitutional law
that would provide for a commission
form Of government. Our State Consti-
tuition is, in some of its clauses, eX
pressly prohibitive of commissions do
ing municipal work, and the general
tone of the constitution is distinctly
adverse to the taking away from the
people the direct management of their
own municipal affairs.
And vet. if there is any genuine de-
sire here for a movement in favor of
an autocratic form of government,
which the commission form apparently
is, and which the Staunton form of gov
ernment indisputably is, then it seems
to us that the way is open through
comparatively slight changes IN the old
forms as contemplated in the consti-
tuition and now provided by law. All
that is necessary is to take away some
of the restrictions on the Mayor, dis
connect the Council altogether from ad-
ministrative and executive functions,
give the Mayor a free and untram-
mecd hand in the appointment of Off
GERS, and let all the municipal officers
be appointed by him, not elected. IL
would be necessary, probably. under our
system, TO have council for the pur-
pose of levying taxes, but the Mayor
through his various appointees could
paw out the public money under ordi-
nances and under the laws. If we wish
to get at the arbitrary form of com
mission government, which that sys-
tenn seems to require, 1T can thus
be done under our present laws with
out copying from the outside. In fact,
if we do copy from the outside, we are
liable to run counter to our own State
constitution. If it is thought best to
adopt the "recaIl.' that would incor-
INTO llle HluDltlIldl iNiiil VI HoN-
crnment an element of speculation, and
would probably foster the election to
office of persons who are willing to
take chances on that proposition, The
initiative and referendum could be in
cluded. and also the control by popu-
lar vote of franchises
Inasmuch as the agitation for some
form of commission government will
probably continue, it is well for the
public to become acquainted with ali
new ideas on the subject. This Staun-
ton proposition has carried the arbi-
trary form rather further than has
heretofore been reported. But we can
get this arbitrariness here by vesting
all administrative and executive func-
iions in the Mayor, confnlng the Coun-
ell to mere legislative purposes and
the levyng of taxes. But in no case