The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1910-09-06

n form of government for their town.
mere desire to be abreast Of the
times and to show the world that they
were progressive and enterprising. In
some eases the plan met with vigorous
opposition. sometimes with a complete
lack of interest, while In some cities
1t carried by an overwhelming vote.
Colorado Springs and other cities made
few alterations in the Des Moines
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
entail ballot. whereby the voter indi-
Gates on the ballot bis first, second
and third choice. There are various
ways Of counting the votes, and while
the one adopted in Grand Junction
is not the most scientific way, It re-
suits In a more accurate analysts Of
public opinion than the plan Of straight
plurality elections. The preferential
ballot makes primary election need
less and thus saves expense.
The minor variations of the commits
sion plan are endless. Except where
state has adopted general law cover
ing all cities of certain class, 1t may
be said that no two cities have char
terS that are alike. Each charter re-
vision commission has reviewed the
work done in other cities and has sage
ly made few pet alterations in it. In
Galveston. for instance the mayor was
the chairman of the commission; other
wise he had no special duties. None of
the members of the Galveston commits
sion has specific control over any one
department, although there has grown
up the custom of allowing each MEM
Der to specialize in a certain depart
ment, and before election it is general
ly understood which departments the
candidates expect to interest them
selves in. All matters are decided by
majority vote. The members of the
commission are paid nominal salaries
and are not expected to give all their
time to the city and, in fact, simply
devote an hour or two day to 1t.
Houston gave the mayor veto power
over the vote Of his four associates on
the commission the has never used IT.
and 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 Ave depart
ments. This feature has been rather
generally followed in other commission
governed cities.
An exact definition Of the commits
sion plan Of government is thus seen
to be impossible. The only feature
wherein all these Commission" gov
ernment coincide is the concentrate ton
Of all the powers Of the city, both legis-
lative and executive, in a single small
board.
Never In our political history has any
phenomenon of this nature been ex-
amined with such minuteness or by so
many investigators.
Ex-President Charles w. Eliot of
Harvard made tour Of the commits
sion governed cities, or short ballot
Cities" as he prefers to call them, and
returned to Boston so enthusiastic that
he was able to win over the town to
an acceptance of some of the funda-
mental features of the plan. Another
elaborate inquiry was made by COM
mittee of the state legislature of Illi-
nois, from which everybody expected
hostile report. The committee, how
ever, reported strongly in favor Of the
plan, stating that everywhere they
found that it had won the approval of
the people who lived under it.
There have been many explanations
offered for the undoubted relative sue
cesses of the commission plan. The
abolition of the wards, for example, is
| frequently quoted as an ample reason
| for the relative success of the new
plan. But there are many cities in the
United Stntes in which there are no
wards. Galveston itself had none be-
fore the flood. her city council being
elected at large. Commission govern
ment Is very common way of gov
erning counties throughout the United
States, and the plan there has not
been conspicuous success. There
have been many other elected commits
sions, such as the trustees of the sani-
tary district Of Illinois, and they like
wise have never attracted attention by
their superior efficiency.
Another loosely reasoned argument
frequently used to promote the adop-
ton of the commission plan has been
the statement that 1t is like busi-
ness corporation with its board of di-
rectors." Like most catch phrases,
however, this statement is only partly
true To be like business corpora
ton the commission would have to
choose business manager for the city,
who in turn would appoint all subor-