El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-05-13

OR SOME years it was argued
that the commission form of
government might work well
IN cities having less than 100000 in
haoitants, but that it would probably
prove failure in large cities But the
experience OF the past year or two
demonstrates that it works out as
Wen In a metropolis as it does in
small town. As now constituted the
BOARD OF estimate of Greater New
york is regarded as an approximation
Oh the commission. and most people
mink that board is justifying its ex-
istence With such cities as Pitts
Durg getting ready for commission
government, and Buffalo having al
ready adopted the idea, it will not be
iong before the plan will have had op-
poIIuhlty TO prove its merits in cities
oI al sizes How much of the attend
ing success is attributable to the plan
itself, and how much is 10 he credited
20 the aroused public sentiment and
the awakened spirit of good govern
lnent, Is a problem which does not
Can Tor solution here. But the rising
toe OF good government sentiment in
sucn cities as Chicago, Denver. Nil
waukee and st. Paul shows that other
ihhuences are also at work for pure
municipal politics.
Many Smaller Cities Try 1t.
In many of the states the laws give
clties the privilege of adopting the
commission form of government If
they desire to do So Perhaps three
iourths of the cities and towns which
nave adopted it have a population of
less than $4,000, and many of them
nave less than half that many. Kan
sas, Texas, Illinois, Oklahoma Iowa
and California, with a total of about
20 cities having the commission form.
ranked, few months ago in the order
named, Kansas with % and Texas with
10 In nearly every case the friends
OF the system feel that great success
mas attended the change. Washington
ana New Jersey recently have been
added to the list of states whose cities
may adopt this form of government.
and 1t will be but short time until
more than half the states will have
given their sanction to the new sys-
tenn
Record of Six Months.
nen 1t is recalled that the past six
months have witnessed the adoption !
or installation of the system in nearly
% cities and towns and that this rep
resents approximately one-third of the
whole list of commission governed cit
movement is spreading. But the rea-
son Tor this is the success that has
attended the installation of the plan. /
Such cities as Galveston, Dallas, Hous- !
ton, Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Leav-
enworth, Lynn, San Diego and Haverill
nave been visited by legislative COM
mittees, lawyers, hard headed busa-
ness men and students of political
science Almost without exception !
they have declared the plan works /
Wen where 1t has been tried and that +
on the showing made they believe it I
VIII work well in their on communi- |
ties
There are many variations of the
general form of commission govern
ment in the smaller cities of the
country In High Point, North Caro-
lima, the mayor has a veto but he has
no vote In Corpus Christi, Texas. !
Lewiston. Idaho, and numerous other
cities. the mayor can vote against a
proposition, and If it carries he can
veto 1t. and afterward he has the DOW
er to vote against overriding the veto. /
Usually the veto is lodged in the peo-
pie. through the referendum. In
huntington, West Virginia, there is a
citizens board of 81 members, in
which the right of the veto is vested
In all the larger cities the commits
sion IS small rather than large, and
there is always an odd number of
commissioners. But in some towns
here is a desire to have the boards
bipartisan, and this is accomplished
~ having an even number of commits
'ioners- In Huntington and Bluefelds,
vest Virginia, the commissions consist
If four members Usually the munich
'alities prefer a small commission to
| large one, on the ground that action
an be secured more quickly A Cedar
tap1ds real estate agent wanted a plat
II subdivision. He got it in -
lours- A year before. under the old
system, it required six months An
Independent telephone system wanted
! new franchise to put its wires un-
foreground. 1t took ten months to
ret report through an old council
nd only a few days for action in the
ase of the commission +!
Seldom Return TO the Old.
Smaller cities are adopting the new .
cheme OF government more rapidly =
han are the larger ones, nearly every |
week recording some new addition to
he list. 1t has been found that about
wo out of three towns voting on the
hange adopt the commission form.
Ip TO date no city that has tried the
ew system has reverted to the old
orm of municipal government, al
hough in a few places the commits
toner's have not justified the hopes of :
uestion was answered by Richard