The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1910-09-17

few alterations IN the Des Mones
plan, such as having the members Of
the commission elected for terms ar
ranged to expire in rotation, and for
bidding party nominations Grand
Junction, Colorado, added the. prefer
ential baHot. whereby the voter indi
Gates on the ballot his first. second
anl third choice. There are various
ways OF counting tho votes, and while
The one adopted In Grand Junction
i3 not the most scientific way, 1t re-
suits In 4 more accurate analysis of
public opinion than the plan Of straight
plurality elections The preferential
ballot makes a primary election need
less and thus saves expense.
The minOr variations Of tho commits
sion Plan are endless Except where a
state has adopted a general law cover
lug all cities of certain class, 1t may
bc said TINT no two cities have char
ter5 that are alike. Each charter re-
vision commission has reviewed the
work done in other cities and has sage
" nude IA few pet alterations I'm It. In
Galveston, for instance the mayor was
the chairman Of the commission: other.
wise lie had no special duties None Of
TIE members Of the Galveston comr.lis-
sion has specific control over any one
depafltncnt, although there has grown
UP the custom Of allowing each mem
Der to specialize In certain depart
mcnt, md before election 1t Is general
y understood which departments the
candidates expect TO interest them
selves ln All matters are decided by
majority vote. The members Of the
commission 0re paid nominal salaries
and are not expected to give oil their
time to the city and, in fact, simply
devote an hour or two a day to It,
Houston gave the mayor veto power
over the vote Of his four associates en-
the commission (he has never used IT.
mud allowed the mayor to make GER
tain appointments, paid the members
good salaries and demanded that The
commissioners devote all their time. to
the city. Each member of the Houston
commission becomes the active super
intendent of one of the five depart
ments. This feature has been rather
generally followed in other commission
governed cities.
An exact definition Of the commis-
sion plan Of government Is thus seen
70 be impossible. The only feature
wherein all these commission" gov
ernment coincide is the concentration
# all the powers of the city, both legis-
ative and executive, In single small
board.
Never In our political history has any
nf this nature been ex-
amined with such minuteness or by 80
many Investigators.
Ex-President Charles W. Eliot of
Harvard made n tour Of the commits
sion governed cities, or short ballot
.ities," as he prefers to call them. and
'eturned to Boston so enthusiastic that !
le was nble to win over the town to |
IN acceptance Of some Of the funda- |
mental features Of the plan. Another |
elaborate inquiry was made by com |
nittee Of the state legislature Of ILL |
lois, from which everybody expected |
hostile report. The committee, how
yer, reported strongly In favor of the
,lan, stating that everywhere they
ound that it had won the approval Of
he people who lived under 1t.
There have been many explanations
ffered for the undoubted relative sue
esscs Of the commission plan. The
bolition Of the wards, for example, Is
frequently quoted as an ample reason
or the relative success Of the new
Ian. But there are many cities in the
United States In which there are no
Yards. Galveston itself had none be-
ore the flood, her city council being
lected at large. Commission govern
nent Is very common way OF gov
rniug counties throughout the United
tates, and the plan there has not
cen conspicuous success. There
ave been many other elected commits
ions, such as the trustees OF the sani-
ary district OF Illinois. and they like
Use have never attracted attention by
heir superior efficiency.
Another loosely reasoned argument
used to promote the adop-
ion of the commission plan has been
he statement that 1t Is like busi-
ess corporation with its board OF d.
ectors." Like most catch phrases,
owever, this statement Is only partly
rue. TO be like q business corpora
ion the commission would have to
hoose business manager for the city,
rho in turn would appoint all subor-
mates and run the business OF the
ity subject to periodical review by
le commission. The commission plan.
oweyer Except In GalvestOn), actual
7 provides for the election Of depart
lent superintendents by the stock
olders--a form Of organization which
as no parallel in business practice.
Most Of the explanations are only
alf true, because they involve study
My Of the internal mechanism OF the
whereas the real differ
nee between the old and the new
aInes at the point OF contact between
G government and the people, as will
e explained in detail In later articles.