The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1911-04-11
Senator Lafe Young Of Iowa Gives
Lecture on Des Moines Plan of
City Government in the
U. S. Senate.
GET MONEYS WORTH
Too Much Machinery In the Old Type
of City Government and More
Offices Than are Really
Needed.

WASHINGTON, April 11.-Senator
Lafayette Young of Iowa told the
senate all about the success Of the
commission plan Of government as
employed for the past three years in
his home city of Des Moines and adj
vised other municipalities to adopt tt
in the interest of efficiency.
I'VE have not reduced expenses,-
said he, but we have secured more.
for our money
Asserting that there Is entirely too
much machinery in the old type OF
city government and far more Of
ficers than the service demands, Mr..
Young told how Des Moines had
/ adopted the plan OF placing It's affairs
! in the hands of five commissioners
with generally gratifying results. The
commissioners were all elected at
the same time AID to them was In
trusted the duty OF selecting all other
j city officials
Each member OF the commission
il represents the head of bureau. The
work is divided up by themselves. and
not by law, as judges agree on their
divisions at the beginning of the ju-
diciai year. One commissioner has
. charge Of the public safety including
the Are and police departments An
, other has charge of streets and public
I buildings Another has charge of
! parks. Still another has charge OF
, public accounts. The mayor com
plains that he has not enough to DO
,..f.4 - I. AI,>
year and are expected to give all their
, time to the work
I'VE have cut out all boards and
+ commissioners, Mr.. Young went on.
I'VE never complain to paving inspec-
a tors. We complain to the commits
!. sioner having charge of the work We
= never go to the subordinate. We go
= to his boss. No commissioners is en-
! tirely independent in his department
The law does not give him a depart
:, ment His associate commissioners
could change him from one depart
= ntent to another.
! "Our city charter has the recall, |
!. indorsed the recall feature as ap-
;. piled to municipal governments; | do
not indorse it in wider field. We
have the initiative and the referen-
be beneficial in cities but wholly i'm
practicable in states
t. This system Mr. Young character.
,r ICES as the application O. business
common sense to municipal affairs,
A. and said:
C Governing municipalities Is bust
ness proposition and In no sense po-
~ litical Cut out the city hall Cut out
~ the city council Ninety per cent OF
all municipal functions are executive
and not legislative; yet every mum
l., icipal government has been organized
-, on the supposition that at least one
!, half OF the municipal functions were
~ legislative
~ Mr.. Young expressed the opinion
~ that every state and every commun
ity should have well-restricted pri
!, mary election laws One of his prin
cipal objections to the present polit
:. ical method o' conducting the bust
= ness affairs of the cities was based or
" graft and he told story illustrative
= of the operation of graft
The scene was laid in Arkansas Al
''e employe of a grain elevator discover
:. ed a knot hole in the lower part OF
~ bin He stopped up the hole with
~ cob and when night came he went b
stealth to the elevator and filled bag
Of grain which trickled out throug
the knot hole He then restored th
h'r cob Every night Of his life 70
dI twenty-five years he stole WACO
dy load of grain from his EMPLOYER, an
dy Mr Young said that when he died n
dy undertook to give that knot hole
his heirs in his will as part Of hi
ldy estate
ldy This" he said, illustrates III
ACCEPTANCE of the situation and th
Legitimacy of graft
6Nr