Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1911-08-09
CITY GOVERNMENT.
 BY COMMISSION
Originated h Galveston Eleven
 Years Ago,
RESULT OF GREAT FLOOD.
New tt Rebuilt the Town, Constructed ths Sea Wall, Restored Credit and
 Scored Such Success That it ,s Now Spreading Throughout the Land.
By JAMES A. EDoERToN.

By JAMES A EDGERTON
 Americans are long suffering under abuses. but when the limit Is reached they go after the evil without gloves. Our municipal governments present a case in point. For generations we have stood their rottenness. inetficien cy, grafting 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 meudlng point. It had be- come honeycembed with ward aud partisan politics To ourselves 1t WAS reproach. to other nations q standing joke It was combination of Tam many and Hinky Dink. The expo sures in St Louis, san Francisco, Pittsburg and elsewhere only scratch ed the surface IL was time for new deal. and the new deal has come Now the cities of the entire land are failing over each other in their haste to try on the commission system. Wherever iuaugurated t has worked like charm Everybody is happy over 1t except the professional po!lu clans and the srafters,
 The commission form of government in America Is only rifle more than ten years old. It started tn l9eo as
 
 geriag was the catastrophe that the old form 0f government was Uaatse to meet the crisis Alderman NeNas- ter proposed that the council resign in a body and eaH i'll business men and experts to deal with the extraordinary situation This was done. \ commis- siou of five was formed two ot them elected by the people and three ap- pointed by the governor. Afterward the supreme court decided that the governor had DO right 10 appoint. and al the commissioners were elected.
 Prior to the hurricane and tidal wave that so nearly swept her oil the map Galveston hdd the usual diSeoara sins history of municipal miseovernmeut <AS si iGSdAt SAG hsiS ktl tiSOAt tCi pptiN~ We're below par and her trea Sury on the verge of bankruptcy Under the commission system the city was re built the grade raised several feet. the streets repaved. retaining sea Watl constructed. the debt cut down. ex peuditures kept within the revenues city employees natd in cash. bonds
 
 cleaner. sanitation improved. saloons kept out Of the residence districts. poll- ties banished from tGe city hall. public gambling abolished civic spirit awak- ened and q 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 tue calamity than the old had done in times ot tranquility One most significant fact is that despite the ex penditnres required to rebuild raise and protect the city the tax rate was kept down lower than that of any large city in Texas
 To show the contrast between the old Galveston government and the new. public improvements lad stopped under the former ring rule" and public buildings We're deteriorating. finances were going behind II an aver age ot Sleo0oo every year. city em- ployees inejnd.nS even sehoolteae hers, l vere paid m scrip, and the bosses who were growing rich had such q grip # was impossible to shake them loose All that is now changed The float ing debt has been retired I 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 b.nefcent re suits are due 10 the commission sys tenn of government is proved by the fact that other cities adopting the commission plan hare had a like ex- perienee
 Under what came to be known as the Galveston plan each of the eommis- sioners took charge of some branch of the city government For this he was responsible to the commission as whole and to the people. So success ful was the system ln the city of it's origin that other municipalities tn all parts Of the land began 70 study 1t with interest
 To one who does not believe in uni versal panaeeas and care-alls the working out of the commission form CT government Is little less than mar veleus- It has agreed bly, surprised both its friends and enemies Is 1t the long looked for solution of our nuncipai government problems? An unqualified affirmative answer is al- most too good 10 be true and 1t is too early to 20 that far. yet the more one studies what has actually been accomplished under the new system tne more enthusta sttc he grows. My own prediction is that as soon as the Bulk Of American cities realize just what has been achieved in the com mission towns there will be such sfra nhie 10 make the experiment far 1T hArnseives that I, win result in a vfr. fuai municipal revolution.