The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1910-09-17
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What the Commission
Form" Is

7gE He spread Of this movement Is
"a all The more striking because
81 1t was begun entirely by nc
cident. Galveston, Tex, after
the great food Of 1900 was practically
wiped ont So much progressive and
constructive work was demanded OF
the city government that the old sys
/. TEN Of a board OF aldermen and The
usual string OF independent elective
officers broke down 4 group of busi-
ness men petitoned the state govern
4 and replace 1t temporarily with a
commission of five men. This was
done, and the whole city was put un-
der the control of five men. three Of
whom were appoiptees Of the gov
erHOr This was where the term
Commission" originated, and the
name for want of better descrip-
i ti0n has stuck to It ever since. al
4 though the board Is no longer com
! misslon" in the true sense of the word
at all
This commission In Galveston was
able to make decisions aud get things
accomplished In half the time that it
took the old board Of aldermen to get
d resolution referred TO q COMMITTEES
The commission planned and built q
sea wall to protect tho city against
further floods, raised The ground level
of large part of the town, got the
city government running again Mt one
third less annual cost, made n number
of important improvements and ut the
same time reduced the debt and the
tax rate.
After two years. during which the
politicians were finding precious little
to 90, the commission was made en-
tirely elective by popular vote. much
to the dismay OF many good persons
in the town, who had been much
pleased with the practical success Of
the governors commission. Their
fears, however, proved groundless, for
the people proceeded to elect the same
commission and have continued to do
IT at every election since Except by
death there has been only one change
in the personnel Of the commission
since the beginning.
Galvestons claim that it was the
best governed city In the United
States made Houston jealous. and aft
er few years this city petitioned for
similar government and was grant
cd 1t. Dallas, Eel Paso, Denison, Waco
and Austin have since then followed
suit. leaving San Antonio, now the
only important city in the state which
has not adopted the plan.
A few years after Galveston first be
gan to attract attention some civic
workers in Des Moines began to study
the subject of popular government In
fundamental fashion. They devised
what has since become known as the
''Des Moines plan," which Is simply
the commission form of government.
with certain interesting additions.
recall and nonpartisan primary. BY
the terms of the initiative provision a
certain number Of people are permit
ted to present petition to the com
mission demanding the passage of a
certain ordinance, and IL the commits |
sion sees fit to refuse the request the |
matter must be settled by popular |
vote By the referendum provision GER
tain matters, particularly the granting |
of franchises to public utility corpora
tons, must be approved by popular
vote before they become law. BY the I
terms of the recall provision, the pres
entation Of petition containing a |
certain number of signatures may |
force any member of the commission /
to submit the question of his continu
ance In Office to q new election i'm
The nonpartisan primary |
is simply an eliminating election. All (
are nominated by petition
mo party labels), and the leading ten
on the ballot for the final cleo
ton.
Ut VI tlIe t'ditg
symbol and column from the ballot, Is
4 highly significant and characters
tic feature Of the commission form Of
government 1t excludes the political
machines from a great strategic ad
and leaves independent can
didates on an exact equality with
those proposed by the organizations.
The ballot Is simply list OF names
with square opposite each. and the
voter Is instructed to vote for FIVE"
Instead of having a ticket ready made
for him, each voter makes up his own
ticket. The fact that only five men
are to be selected makes this task sim
pie, and there has been found to be
no difficulty about 1t In practice. This
Short Ballot, which the voter can vote
without the guidance of political ex.
Derts, Is the central and vital fea.
,ure Of the commission plan.
The publicity attendant on the In
,talIation Of the new government ir
Des Moines gave the movement new