Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1911-08-19
CITY GOVERNMENT BY COMMISSION Originated In Galveston Eleven
 Years Ago,
 RESULT OF GREAT FLOOD.
How 1t Rebuilt the Town, Constructed ths Sea Wall, Restored Credit and Scored Such a Success That 1t Is Now Spreading Throughout the Land.
By JAMES A. EDGER TON.

Americans are long suffering under abuses, but when the limit is reached they go after the evil without gloves. Our municipal governments present case In point. For generations we have stood their rOttenness, inetficien. cy. grating and disgrace. Now they are becoming so bad we can put up with them no longer. The result is that we are eradicating the old sys- tenn root and branch and substituting therefor the commission plan of gov ernment The old scheme had got past the mending point. 1t had be- come honeycombed with ward and partisan politics. To ourselves it was a reproach. to other nations standing joke. 1t was a combination of Tam many and Hinky Dink. The expo sures in St. Louis. San Francisco. Pittsburg and elsewhere only scratch. ed the surface. It was time for new deal. and the new deal has come, Now the cities of the entire land are falling over each other i'll their paste to try on the commission system. Wherever inaugurated it has worked like charm. Everybody is happy over it except the professional politi clans and the grufters.
 The commission form of government in America is only d trifle more than ten years old. It started in 1900 as result of the Galveston flood. So stag gering was the catastrophe that the old form of government was unable to meet the crisis. Alderman McMas- ter proposed that the council resign ill body and call in business men and experts to deal with the extraordinary situation This was done. X commits sion of five was formed. two of them elected by the people and three ap- pointed by the governor. Afterward the supreme court decided that the governor tad no right to appoint. and all the commissioners were elected. Prior to the hurricane and tidal wave that so nearly swept her off the map Galveston had the usual discouraging history of municipal misgovernmeul AS d result she was In debt. her bonds were below par and her treasury on the verge of bankruptcy Under the commission system the city was re built. the grade raised several feet. the streets repaved. a retaining sea wall constructed. the debt cut down. ex peuditures kept within the revenues. city employees paid in cash. bonds brought to a premium. streets kept cleaner sanitation improved. saloons kept ou, of the residence districts. poii- tics banished from the city hall. public gambling abolished. civic spirit awak ened and a condition of harmony and prosperity begun such as Galveston had never before known. In other words. the new government did better in the face of the calamity than the old had done in times of tranquility. One most significant fact is that despite he cx penditures required to rebuild. raise and protect the city. the tax rate Wa' kept down lower than that ot any large city iu Texas
 To show the contrast between the old Galveston government and th.. new. public Improvements had stopped under the former ring rule" and public buildings were deteriora ting finances were going behind at an aver age of S100.0O0 every year. city em pioyeeS including even schoolteac hers were paid in scrip. and the bosses, Who were growing rich. had such grip il was impossible to shake them loose.
 All that is now changed The float ing debt has been retired. a sinking fund started. public Improvements are going forward. bills are paid in cash when due. and the political bosses have become unpleasant memories That these and other beneficent re. suits are due to the commission sys tem of government is proved by the fact that other cities adopting the commission plan have had like ex. perience
 Under what came to be known as the Galveston plan each of the commits sioners took charge of some branch of the city government. For this he was responsible to the commission as a whole and to the people. So success full was the system In the city of it's ori.:in that other municipalities in all parts of the land began to study 1t with interest
 To one who does not believe in uni verSa panaceas and cure-alls the working out of the commission form of government is little less than mar velous It has agreeably surprised ho'h it's friends and enemies. Is it the long looked for solution of our municipal government problems? An unqualified affirmative answer is al- most too good 10 be true. and 1t Is roo carly to go that far, yet the more one studies what has actually been accomplished under the new system the more enthusiastic he grows My avn i'rediction is that as soon as the ou of American cities realize just what has been achieved ip the com mission towns there will be such q >, ramble to make the experiment. fo, |! amselves that i, will result in vir 'ual municipal revolution.