Norwich bulletin., 1910-03-24


 It got to point where citizens re- fused to pay their taxes. Now faith Wlthout good works Is dead. Dul not more so than a. government without taxes. This was in 1895. From 1895 to 1901 Galveston kept house under a mayor and board of aldermen selected at large under a new charter
 The objection to a government or this kind as usually administered is that responsibility cannot be fixed It IS a regular circumlocufion office. An alderman introduces matter, 1t Is referred to committed; reported to the board; the board passes it along to the mayor. and it may have to go all the way back again Anyway, this government worked badly, and when in 1899 the mayor and aldermen dis agreed, it didn't work at all.
 Then came the storm, and the city government was utterly unable to cope with a disaster of that sort. Galveston had deep water committee organized to handle its problems of navigation. for Galveston is 8 great gulf port, and there were able men on this committee. methods of relief, and they evolved a scheme of government suggested in part by the examples of Memphis aft- CT the yellow fever in 1878, and the government of Washington, D. C.
 Body of Five Men.
 The Galveston commission is body of five men, a mayor or general man.
 
 departments All power resides in the commission. A maority vote Of the body. is final. The mayor has no pow CT except his vote in the meeting over which he presides, and few minor de- tails. He is the general director of the affairs of the city in that way, and the board has to decide everything, for the members have no power to act ex- cept as the board gives them power. ]
 It is the ideal form of government of President Eliot, a board of five to sev- en men sitting around a table to plan everything. It also fulfls another test Put the right men in office and give them liberty to carry out their ideas unhanpered by useless restrictions.
 In Galveston they got the right men in office, and have kept them there ever since The results in 1906 were above par, the city government was run at a saving of one-third, amount ing to one million dollars. had paid $200,000 on debts. spent $300,000 on permanent Improvements. Great sums of money were raised by careful man agement and ingenious economies that no other form of government would have been able to resort to, new taxes laid, the water works yielded more money.
 Now as Galveston was a wide open town in Texas, cleaning 1t up was ticklish pob, but that has been done, ually entirely reconstructed. Streets have been cleaned up. In a single year s9,00O has been saved in street lighting and the lights placed where they belong. The city is gradually be- ing severed. Health regulations are strictly enforced and health regula- tions are doubly important in a south ern city.
 The mayor gets $2,o00 a year. the commissioners S1,200. The commis- sioners auot to themselves the various departments, which are finance and revenue, police and fire, streets and f0 y+ixc nd craze. The board says to the com missioner of each department what shall be done; he then advises and directs the superintendent of the de- pertinent he-represents in the board. The superintendent attends to the de- tails. This is essentially the form of organization in all the great railroads and industrial corporations today.
 Des Moines Plan.
 Des Moines divides her departments a little differently The mayor is head of public affairs covering Law, the police court, the library and the city civil service. The department of ac- counts and finances covers auditors, treasurer, license collector. market master. The department of public safety covers police. fire and health The department of streets and public improvements covers what its name denotes. Then there Is a department of parks and public property. Des Moines has initiative, referendum. re- call civil service. Salaries are $3,500 and $3,000 for mayor and councilmen respectively. The council has all the powers possessed by cities of the first class which are not enumerated in the charter.
 On March 2s an election will be held in Des Moines in which the issue will be between the street railway people
 Cedar Rapids has adopted the com mission plan with brilliant success. Eau Claire, Wis, is just starting 1t. In Des Moines the results arc said to
 Fifteen cities in Texas are under this form now, nine in Kansas, Bos- ton, Buffalo. Tacoma, St. Joseph and Memphis, with over 100000 population.
 Newport and Nswburyport Idea.
 There is another plan in operation Mass. A sa1aried commission to run the government with a large unpaid council representing the people at large to watch them. This council is supposed to meet once a year and lay taxes and appropriate money and take the place of the annual town meeting. The council is responsible for the rais- ing of the money and the commission Is responsible only for good manage ment.
 In 1908 Governor Draper of Massa- chusetts was authorized to appoint a of five to run Chelsea af- iCI tlAC Dy LIi6 cNt tfC pOWciS VI the mayor, aldermen and school board devolved on this commission. called the board of control. This board of control was to appoint a school board I of five. This board was established not only to govern Chelsea but to super wise its laying out and building up anew
 This is clearly commission mainly to supervise the rebuilding of Chelsea, but in 1912 the opportunity will be afforded of continuing the board of control if it is desired.
 The committee appointed to revise l the charter of Boston said: "No mu- nicipa1 charter can be self executing instrument of righteousness. If the | people want the kind of government l they have had the past few years, no | charter revision will prevent it. If, as | 1he commission believes, they desire | good government, the plan suggested | should enable them to get and keep | It."
 Direct Nomination.
 At the session of the National Mu- | 1icipal league at Cincinnati Nov. 16, | 1909, MT. Woodruff, the secretary, said | that the movements for commission | government and direct nominations |