Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1910-10-05
III.

ut u, i~r,. t..dt N...-,..t ts,.il;,.. lca..y G.vt. popatt @ovcrt.,-u ,,. .n' peop.e's will c:u be l;;..4,',. "r fAr!& lated by ti!e ioH..! If GVHtrl..1t'l:i ie pee ,;.e $ work Ii; tie pOs.> c4a l." tli;id obss'ure complex and difficult. or t can be made clear. simple and e;iSs Under the commission plan. w.tA is short ballot. the peoples work is very clear, very simple. very easy, And that is all the secret there is to the success of the plan.
 In theory citizenship is the business of every citizen But in our old style city governments effective citizenship. is one of the learned professions To vote intelligently a citizen must 'ga the average man can't afford to dc much unpaid work. Sc politics be comes dominated by a few men. and the people at large helplessly leave the bulk of the ticket to the party poll ticians to do as they please with.
 
 ments. we have committed two seri- ous errors.
 First, We have scattered the powers of government among so Heny petty officials that it is quite impossible for the people to watch and control thcta all
 Second we have suhdivided the power in such snian fragments that no single part is really worth watching \ member of the city council. for in- stance. under the old form of govern ment, has so little power tha. it is really not wort while for the people of the town to beeopne >-it. t.tnd "ves tuu qutsII0n Or Wfo shall get the job.
 The typical old style city govern :nent of this country consists of a mayor. with fairly large power. a string of minor administrative off cials also chosen by popular vote, and a couneil with T:-h ] sometimes consists of two legislative bodies The feature of this plan is the distribution of power. based on our ancient fear of kings. We have always had a superstitious dread of giving to any elected official power enough to do anything for us without getting the consent of several others. We have overlooked the fact that to make the former official obey our wishes we had also to exert simul- taneous compulsion over the latter, whose consent he needed, and that popular control became thus anything but the simple matter it ought to be. The politicians can always get their own way if they make the council large enough. A council of fifteen m'n might occasionally feel personally the pressure of public opinion. but triple the size of the council, and the individ- ual members become so insignificant and publicity so subdivided that each member is safely Host in the shuff1e."
 Those who promoted the idea of hav- ing a host of elective officials in the government have always taken it for granted that there was something democratic about this procedure. De- mocracy, however, does not consist in electin9 everybody, but in controlling everybody. The mayors office boy. for instance, may be appointed by the mayor. or elected by popular vote. He is public servant, but there is noth- ing democratic in electing him when he can just as we'll be appointed. The vital thing is that he shall be con- trolled by the people, and if he will be under better control thron0h e"- yunrmenr rn;rn ,nrvdgn election. 1t ls more democratic to appoint him.
 The commission plan of government is based on no false idea that the pco- pie want to elect everybody. It gives the power to five men, who thereby become conspicuously responsible be- fore all the people of the city. Each one of them is important enough to make it worth while for the citizens to inquire concerning his record and character. Each candidate for the of fee can attract crowd to hear him speak, whereas an old time councilman would have been utterly unable to get . hearing before the people. There are not so many of these officials but what every citizen can find out about all of them and vote intelligently on election day. There are not so many as to cause a citizen to depend upon tickets put together for him by polit ical specialists. Each citizen can and does make up his own ticket, and the function of the professional ticket making machines is thereby entirely disposed of.
 If the commission were composed of ten men instead of five the list of names would be longer than the aver age citizen would be likely to remem- Der for himself, and we should see natural grouping of candidates and their election by groups instead of singly. Some good government asso- citation" or some party machine, even on a nonpartisan ballot, would be sure to advertise tickets for the guidance of the voters, and in accepting these tick cts the people would be sharing their power with the ticket makers.
 The Short Ballot.
 The commission plan succeeds there fore because it puts the power where the people can see 1t. The vital flea turo ls mt tho yno%ho6 nP or0o m nizo tion