Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1910-10-04

<, ta>nlun that ntie. city t> E,.tft1 gov
 rfiI"d tiiHIl anni her Nov trt i4.t'SS
 'ais,it inr dillrullN rt nlaN!u- r..i lHIri.>oIi> there ls nothing I!lnle certHI1
 .lHlI the fact that WlI.lht'r The "om hiS>lOn form ui gov t.rlIntnI Is .t.. IGpa ior:n or not. it i> better than ih" forms uf government which preceded II Ill the various cities
 Toe total list of cities which POW have the commission form of govern ment numbers siXty-eight Many olh CTS have voted in favor of it and are waiting for legislative action Of these sixty-eight. however many are of very small size Some of them, in fact. are mere villages and do not preSenr the problems that city does Adoplin. 25.0}o as minimum population for :. true city. the list runs as follows:
 MaSSac huSettS Gloucester, Haver. bill.
 TenneSSee- Memphis
 Iowa - Burlington. Cedar Rapids Des Moines. Sioux City.
 kansas-Lea venworth. Wichita. To peka.
 Missouri-St. Joseph.
 TeXas-Austin. Dallas. Fort Worth Galveston. Houston. Waco.
 Of these seventeen cities nine have had tie plan in actual operation so short time-a year or less that ac s\f hn .,f the new regime as compared with the old is not yet possible All rela ble testimony regarding the commission plan must therefore be based on the remaining eight cities.
 Brief as the trial has been. the evi- dence nevertheless is startling In every one of these cities there had been waste. some corruption and much inefficiency. In all of them par ty machines had been in complete con- trol and had been maintained in run. ming order at the public expense through political favoritism in the making of appointments. How much the gangs cost the cities was reveal ed when the government passed into the hands of men who. having obtain ed office without the help of the gangs could afford to ignore them.
 Galveston's experience has already been described.
 loucester-Commissio plan in eff. feet 1909. The first years report showed all bills paid and a reduction in the city debt of $1S.OOO It is claimed that the roads and streets have been better kept at $6,OOO less annual expense. The city bookkeeping has been reformed. and the commis- sioners point to reduction in the ex- pense of caring for public property It is still too early to demand much in the way of tangible results.
 Haverhill-Commission plan in effect in 1909. The first years report un der the new plan showed saving of $97,9OO in running expenses. When the commission took hold the financial status of the city was very bad. It had reached both its debt limit and tax rate limit and was steadily fall ing behind in its payments. Appeals were being made to the legislature for an extension of the tax rate limit, but this extension has now become unnec- essary. In addition the city has voted no license, the revenue from the sa looms being no longer needed The commission has been fighting a big battle against the gas and electric light monopolies to obtain lower rates for the city and for private consumers and has obtained from the people per. mission to resort to municipal owner ship if necessary. There was fierce political opposition to the commission at the expiration of its first term. bui fl was reelected. Party lines i'll nav. -c-A1n. which was formerly a Republic an city, have been completely broken The commission consists of two Dem ocrats, two Republicans and So- cialist.
 Cedar Rapids, Ia.-Commission plan in effect in 1908. The commission has reduced the tax rate and the debt, while making certain big improve ments, such as the requirement of 8 big island in the river, out of current expenses instead of bond issues. Tho island is for municipal buildings in a handsome park setting, in accordance with 'city beautifup plan devised by an expert The police and fire department forces have been enlarged despite the reduced tax rate.
 Des Moines, Ia.-Commission plan in effect in 1907. In its first year the commission saved $1S4.OOO in running expenses, as compared with the pre- vious year under the old government. It made better bargains for the city in electric light charges, obtained inter- est on city deposits for the first time. cleaned streets and alleys better. (the alleys had formerly not been cleaned at alp and wiped out the 'red light dis trict," the effect of which has since been shown in reduced crime. A sys. tenn of periodical fines which were practically licenses levied in this dis trict formerly brought in huge year ly revenue and the financial results above noted were obtained despite the ceasing of this illegal income.
 Leavenworth, Kan. = Commi issiou