The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1910-01-24
BRINGING DEAD CITY TO LIFE
Continued from rage 2.

fr.I
though 1t is now very much alive Now ~
that Leavenworth is ruled by COM ~
mission it believes in advertising and
car les this standing want in met u
ropolitan papers: "
"WANTED-Partes to write for In !,
formation about Leavenworth, the
Host prosperous city in Kansas and y
the first city in the state to adopt h
the commission form of government
In eighteen months the commission
government has turned dead city h
into one OF the livest and most wide I
awake cities in America. If you want
TO know how 1t Is being done, write
the secretary of the Greater Leaven-
orth Club, Leavenworth City. Kas.'
\ Leavenworth turned to the commits
sion plan after it had been hit by
storm. Not a physical one. such as
swept over Galveston and brought the
commission idea into form, but NOR
al one which bade fair for time to
i be as destructive as the Galveston
4 wind and tidal wave. The storm broke
when the attorney general of the
safe closed the saloons and Topped.
eff the illegal revenue which had
The political leaders were demoraliz
ed They confessed they were unable
! 10 meet the ordinary running expenses
Of the city with revenue derived from
J direct taxation. No saloons. no mon I
ey. no money, no city government. I
VI hat was Ieavenworth scnie and
: dee Teplt, 10 do?
Once more the Galveston example
was sought and once more the plan
seemed feasible Leavenworh fired
The politicians bodily and in their
! place put five business men. one a
! Wholesale hardware merchant. anoth-
O. transfer and storage man, the
/ third lumber merchant the fourth
G {, soap manufacturer, the fifth a fur
. nitnre manufacturer. These men dis
d covered that in eight years the city OF
licials had collected from the saloons
Z snd questionable resorts more than
d $5SS. 600. They made the further dis
oovery that little or none of this mon
s es had been used to pay off the city
Q Indebtedness o. to make public i'm
pfovemcnts It seemed as though
I cleaning the Augean stables was a
II snap compared to the task OF these
:, they could They found the leaks
y and stopped them they found The
y weak places aud strengthened them:
they used the AK freely and official
;, heads fell at every meeting. What
: las been the result?
= l.eavenworih, long looked on as n
. dead city, last year ranked second in
. Kansas in growth of population In
r the first year of the commission gov
ernment, according to the assessors
hooks, s230000 was spent on new
/ buildings and improvements to old
y buildings. This was all invested by
local people. In the second year the
, ciiv paid off s22200 in bonds which
g. had been drawing interest for thirty
u seven years. With $4,000 less rev.
- enue per year than the old city gov
= ernment had the new government an.
y ncunces that II will require $4,000
II less to run the city next year than it
: had last year notwithstanding that
p better street lighting and sanitation,
= bOlce and fire protection are being
~ given. Mr.. Z. w GRANGER. the fist
- mayor of Leavenworth under the com
r. mission plan, knew inside of twenty
= four hours just about what the actual
o' running expenses of the various de-
- pa tments were. He found the city
paying eXorbitant prices for supplies
- - and at once advertised for bids for
'. everything. He visited the JAIL un-
=, announced, and ate with the prison
~ els. After the meal he cancelled the
y. ~ contract of the man who furnished the
=, meals and secured better food He
~ bought a supply of hammers and a
- small fountain of stone and. soon the
~ jail yard resounded with the tap OF
- hammers and the institution became
~ money maker for the city In pri.
~ vate business circles also there las
lnss been general quickening. A brick
=, factory that has been idle for years
~ -, now employing forty-seven men. A
~ rev factory is being built which will
- employ two hundred men, the contract
r for the building being held up until
q tie promoters saw that the proposed
q commission plan was adopted by the
n voters.
= What has been accomplished in
- Galveston. Des Moines and Leaven
" worth Is being unparalleled In score
OF cities which nave already nut the
'OlninloSfpl pau lntO WOTklUH opera
tie iions, the list which had adopted the
plan up 10 the first of last November
to Including fifty.one American towns
aud cities. representative among the
s. I1umber being such widely scattered
places as IIaverhill and Chelsea
Massachusetts, San Diego, California
he keokus and Cedar Rapids, Iowa;
iEColorado Springs and Grand Junction
at Colorado; 81. Joseph, Missouri: Kan
sas City, Topeka and Independence
p. Kansas and Houston, Texas. Moth
east. south and west, The idea is
mt spreading with remarkable rapidity
Over hundred other cities of pop
er ulation above 10000 are at present
corresponding with those which have
ut already adopted the plan, eagerly
seeking details of organization and
mt practical working out The prospects
are good for the Gabriel blast of civ
ne ic awakening sounding in another
half hundred cities within the next
,m two years. They have wakened al
ready to the point Of sitting up and