The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-05-21
WILSON SPEAKS ON COMMISSION PLAN Is More Than Mere Change
 in Government IS BECOMING POPULAR Most Conspicuous Feature Is New Way of Establishing Popular
 Control and Giving People
 the Supreme Power


 rink in support of the commission form of government.
 | Governor Wilson said in. part:
 "No single movement of reform in oui governmental methods has been more significant than the rapid adoption oi the so-called commission form of gov ernment in the cities of the country The rapid spread of this reform has beer extraordinary. In almost every state cities are now to be found which have adopted the new form of government and everywhere so far as I have beer able to learn, the results have been ad. mirable and the cities which have made the change have congratulated them selves upon 1t.
 "The most interesting thing about the reform Is that 1t has @ very much wider significance than a mere change in the form of city governments would have There are principles involved In the change which 1t Is very interesting to see coming rapidly into recognition principles which only few years ago would hardly have been willingly con ceded in any quarter in. America.
 For one thing the most conspicuous feature of the new form of city govern ment negatives the greater part of our practice hitherto In trying to establish popular control. Until he began this new movement of reconstruction in city government it was the. commonly ac- cepted doctrine in America that the way to make the people supreme was to make ~I1 l, f~xx appointive offices as possible and to put every choice for office, whether the office were great or small, In the hands of the people. We now see that that was exactly the way in which not to make popular control effective. I suppose Ithat there is not single voter who has ever voted a ticket with more than 10 or 15 names on 1t who will not admit that he knew absolutely nothing about most of the persons he was voting for and cared very little about them. Moreover, 1t has become obvious to any body who knows anything of the practi- cal operation of politics that the poli- ticians who make up the long tickets with scores of ma mes upon them feel that they have perfect control of all the nominations except those for few con SPlCuOuS OulCeS. lnev OIten Icol tildt |they have to be careful about nomi- nation for governor or for congressman or for mayor or for judge, but beyond these few conspicuous offices they can Fdo what they please, depending upon the more or less excellent and well known name to pull the rest of the ticket through. This means, of course, that they put up for genuine election lone or two men and virtually appoint k h rae fo off fa VI hoc 10 of the inner circle" of the political ma hcfiine can tell you anything about the nominees on a long ticket or what their nomination signifies and Is meant to accomplish The small talk of politics is full of stories thought to be amusing of how long tickets can be manipulated and all sorts of persons smuggled In at the pleasure of party managers.
 Tt is evident upon the face of it that this Is not process of selection or election either on the part of the peo- pie. It Is process of appointment at the hands of the political manager It has become an exiom among those who understand practical politics that If you give the people something to do which they cannot do you virtually take 1t away from them. It is as impossible for the people to select a miscellany of officers to serve them in posts big and little as it would be for the head of a great business to select the whole body of his employees down to the boy who sweeps out the office. I he only way In which he can make his business effec- tive Is to put these matters in the hands of responsible superintendents whom he must hold answerable for anything that goes wrong and for the inefficiency of their subordinates.
 The very fact that they are almost everywhere adopting the commission form of government for their cities shows that the people have at last dis covered this Fundamental thing The central feature of the commission form of government is the very short ballot containing not more than five or six names, the names of the commissioners who are to be held wholly responsible for the conduct of the government of the city, who are expected to choose their own subordinates, organize the various depa rtments of the city gov ernment under their own immediate direction, and give the people wha, they demand-a businesslike, non partisan, economical, efficient govern ment Five or six men the people car watch and hold responsible. More than five or six would escape their notice and would constitute crowd which they could not follow with their ap- plause or their censure.
 "The second thing manifest in the new form of government Is that 1t abandons the idea with which we SC long deceived ourselves. that city gov ernment Is practically a state govern ment in small, which must have its carefully separated executive and leg islatiye branches. Of course. there Is an analogy between the power of city council to pass ordinances and the power of state legislature to pass statutes, but the ordinance making power Is rather regulative, not legisla- tive. and the city Is a great adminis- trative organization of state. Hither- to, moreover, we have not been content with drawing careful lines between executive and legislative action in our city governments. We have sought to multiply checks and balances as elab- orately as possible. It has been a favorfte device to set up independent boards of finance which should have control of the moneys of the city and determine how much the various de- partments of the city should be per mitted to spend. We have had water boards and gas boards and boards of public works and boards of every kind. each with its independent set of powers. each with it's independent derivation from the votes of thefpeople, and have seemed almost of set purpose to multi ply the clogs and jeaIousies and pull
 LOST-STRAYED-STOLEN
 Tf4f Hs sfv W So nick cd ,iS 3mSY 6r6TS