Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-04-02

DeS MONIES Is so muCn dlHVe LOudy
that it was the deadest of the dead,
by comparison, in those days. Still 1t
was a vigorous corpse and, possibly
due to relax action, kicked Justify at
everything proposed which might ben
eft the entire city rather than any
particular ward Nothing in the way
of public improvements was suggest
ed but litigation ensued: such a jangle
of injunction and mandamus writs. con-
tempt proceedings and damage petit
tons that the desired improvement
was lost track of in the discord. No
sooner was it proposed to demolish
the old court house which had done
duty for decades and was in a fair
way TO fall down of its own volition
and thus summarily end the discus
sion, than a wrangle ensued as to the
location of the new building, necessi-
tating special elections, law suits car
ried through from the district to the
( supreme court and the waste of time
and money, to say nothing of the cool
ing of the fires OF local pride and mu-
nicipal patriotism. Bridges which tot
tered precariously, so that young news
I
regular beats" to sit on the river
bank and wait for them to fall that
/ they might be eye witnesses to the
catastrophe, were allowed to stand as
monuments to municipal procrastina-
( ton and shiftlessness. Bfllboards and
/ houses of ill-fame were permitted to
/ line the banks of the river, regardless
of moral corruption or physical pollu-
/ ton; while the accumulated filth of
months rerosed serenely in unswept
alleys or, borne on the wind, carried
disease TO every quarter of the city.
I Looking back now, it seems as if there
was danger of the dead becoming so
/ decomposed as to be a breeding NOR
ass for the plague, both white and
black.
New Birth Saves.
In this crisis, Des Moines under
went a new birth; the saline solution
of solvency was injected into the
corpse. after which a dynamic dose of
decency was administered to the one
newly risen from the dead. News had
percolated into Des Moines of the sue
cessful working out of the commission
form OF government in Galveston,
Texas, where five business men ap-
piled business principles to city gov
ernment-after the great storm had
wrought havoc and left ruin and desc
Iation in its wake-building a new city
on the bleeding sands, erecting a sea
wall to shut out the pounding surf and
sending Galveston forward on the
track of prosperity until today it ranks
among the greatest seaports of the
world. If Galveston could be rebuilt
physically in the trail Of an awful
catastrophe, would the same plan be
equally eff1cacious in rebuilding a city.
physically and morally, before the
storm had burst? The experiment was
worth trying.
This is how Des Moines came to
abolish the old council style OF govern
ment with representation by wards
and to establish in it's place commits
sion of five members, elected at large,
without regard to wards, sectional
lines or party politics. The five men
took up their duties in April, 1908.
The work which fell to them was I'M
usually difficult. The broken down ma
chinery of the old government had to
be taken out and thrown on the junk
pile and the different parts of the
new governmental system had to be
made, put together and started in mo-
ton.
Key In Financial n ports.
To the outsider the best evidences
of the working out of the new system
it is really the first time any system
has ever been applied-are to be
found in the financial report of the
city at the end of the first year of the |
commission plan. On April 1, 1908, !
when the old ward government passed |
out of existence, Des Moines lacked /
$4,000 of enough money to pay its /
obligations for the year. In fairness
to the old administration it should be I
added that about one-third of this I
amount had been carried over from /
the previous year, but even then /
my-ward-at-the-expense-ofthe-city plan /
showed a deficit for the year of &c., |
200 On April 1, 1909, when the COM |
mission completed It's first year. the |
city had a working capital of $104, $50. |
Every department had kept within the |
budget, all bills had been paid and
there was a balance in the treasury in
stead of a deficit, only the third time
in over so years that this had hap
pened Adding the deficit of the last
year of the old administration to the
balance on hand at the end of the first
year of the new administration the
difference between the two systems is
found to be s1S4,O55 year. In this
it is important to state that
all the bonded Indebtedness of the city
of Des Moines today is the result of
the annual deficits which existed I'M
der the old plan of city misgovern
ment These deficits, due to extrava-
gance and waste, were allowed to &C
cumulate two or three years, when
bonds would be issued to cover the
floating debt AS a result Des Moines
is carrying today bonded indebted
ness of $4,000, upon which the tax
ora rauIirod tn nav animal in