Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1911-07-09
Originated in Galveston Eleven
 Years Ego,
7H RESULT OF GREAT FLOOD
How 1t Rebuilt the Town. Constructed tn. Sea Wall, Restored Credit and Scored Such a Success That 1t Is
 Now Spreading Throughout the Land
Bv LAMBS A. EDGER TON.


 .abuses, but when the limit is reached go after the evil without gloves. M Our municipal governments present a case in point. For generations we g have stood their rottenness. lnetlcien- cy. grafting and disgrace. Now they sare becoming so bad we can put up with them no longer. The result is iNi that we are eradicating the old sys- NsNtem root and branch and substituting gSs Sstherefor the commission plan of gov ssA ernment The old scheme had got |55s past the mending point. It had be- ss come honeycomDed with ward and # partisan politics. To ourselves il was Xa reproach. to other nations standing 8 joke It was d combination of Tam 59s many and Hinky Dink. The expo @8 sures in St. Louis. San Francisco. M Pittsburg and elsewhere only scratch, M ed the surface It was time for a K new deal. and the new deal has come. @SN Now the cities ot the entire land are & falling ove. each other ln their haste Eto try on the commission system. AM Wherever inaugurated it has worked M like d charm Everybody IS happy kSver it except the professional poit- Ahcians and the grafters.
 # The commission form of government S in America is only a trihe more than A$ ten years old. It started in 1900 as M result of the Galveston food. So stat, 8 gerng was the catastrophe that tie "a old form of government was unable 4&to meet the crisis Alderman McMas Eter proposed that the council resign III Wa body and call in business men and &eyperts TO deal with the extraordinal! W situation. This was done. \ conlnS sion of five WAS formed. two of tbeIn elected by the people and three al- pointed by the governor. AfterwarG the supreme court decided that the governor had 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 GalyeSton had the usual diScoura%ilig < history of municipal miSgovernmenl HAS d result she was i'll debt her bonds were below par and her treasury on the verge of bankruptcy. Cnder 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 penditureS kept within the revenues. { eity employees paid in cash. bonds < brought to premium. streets kept < eleaner sanitation improved. saloons s kept out of the residence districts. poli- < ties banished from the city hail. public H# Rambing abolished civic spirit aWak Pned and a condition of harmony and ]X prosperity begun such as Galveston had bever before known. In other words. he new government did better i'll the ace of the calamity than the old had lone in times of tranquility. One most significant fact is that. despite the ex' penditnres required 10 rebuild raise
 ld protect the city; the tax rate wax kept down lower than that of any arge city in Texas.
 To show the contrast between the pld Galveston government and the pew, public improvements had stopped lndef the forIner ring rule and public buildings were deteriorating, inanceS Were going behind at all aver fGe Of $lo0o9O every year. city enl- 4ioyeos including even SchoolteacherS. Hele paid ia scrip. ana Ile bosses. who were growing rich. had such a grip it Mas Impossible to shake them loose.
 All that iS now changed. The float ng dehl has been retired il sinking
 'lnd started. public Improvements are eom@ forward. bills are paid in cash Fhen due. and he political bosses paVt iet'one unpleasant memories
 hal these and other beneticent re-
 |n'tS are due to the commission SyS
 em "t government is proved by the
 ac' that other cities adopting the commission plan have had a like eX- berieilce
 Under what came to be known as the
 galveston plan each of the cOnm!s-
 loners took charge of some branch of
 ne city government. For this lie was
 espoiisible to the commission as
 Vhole and to the people. So success
 ui Was the system in the city of It's
 r1gin tha: other municipalities in all
 arts of the land began to study it
 Gith interest
 TO one who does not believe in uni
 ersal panaceas and cure-alls the
 Tking out of the commission form
 government is little less than mar
 eio'ls It has agreeaby surprised
 ntn its friends and enemies. Is il
 ne long looked for solution ot our
 lunlclpal government problems? An
 unqualified affirmative answer is al-
 lost too good to be true. and it is
 on cary to 20 that far, yet the more
 ne studies what has actually been
 ecoMnlished under the new system
 he more enthusiastic he grows My
 WI i.rpdicrien is that as snop as the pl'k of American cities rri.l:ze just
 Naae 'sas been achieved in the roln-
 nssst"n towns 'her. will hp snrh
 cramble ro make the experiment. for
 femseves that it will result in a vir-