El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-05-02

M towns, realizing that the cum
bersone methods of municipal
administration OF the past are no
longer adequate to meet the growing
problems of city government, have
adopted the commission plan of con-
trolling their affairs. Scores of other
cities and towns are considering the
question, and it is estimated that within
five years at least five million Ameri-
can citizens will be residing in COM
mission governed territory
The great number of problems that
have arisen in city administration were
met and solved in Europe almost gen
GRAFTON before America awoke to the
reed for Improvement With their gov
ernments widely diverse in the de-
tails of administration, with their peo-
pie differing in their national charac-
teristics, the cities of England, Holland,
France and Germany all were able 90
hit upon some basic principles that pro-
duced the same good results wherever
tried
America Slowly Falls in Line.
But in those days America was an
agricultural nation and municipal af-
fairs possessed interest for but few
people. Today lit is different, for one
person out of every three in the repub-
lie lives under municipal government
of one kind or another. The wonder
full growth Of the American city has
brought with it vast expenditure Of
money Not only has the growth Of
expenditure been caused by the expan-
sion of the cities Of the country but
by the multiplication Of the activities
in which these municipalities engage.
In the old days cities bothered little
with the problems Of the community.
II they enacted the laws, maintained
order, and collected the taxes. that was
enough. The science Of public health
was in its swaddling clothes, and it had
not brought in its train sewerage sys-
TENS, water works systems, garbage
disposal systems, city health offices,
hospitals, asylunls, and a dozen other
activities which are now engaged by
every important municipality, and which
have swelled the per capita ,expendi-
ture to surprising degree. A hun
dred years ago the per capita expendi-
ture in New York was two dollars; to-
day il is $25 Ann Arbor, Michigan.
spends five times as much per capita
today as New York spent when it had a
population four times as great as Ann
Arbor This per capita expenditure has
been growing in recent years In 1902
the per capita expenditure for all the
cities in the United States having
population of 10000 was $685. In 1908
it was 1851, and in another year it
likely will touch the $50 mark.
Costs More in America.
The government Of American cities
is not as economically conducted as that
Of European cities. This is shown by
statistical data of undeniable accuracy.
London has a population 40 percent
greater than New York, yet New York
spends more by some 80 percent on her
city government than London Joseph
Chamberlain once studied the relative
standing of city administration in
Boston, Massachusetts, and Birming-
ham, England. He concluded that Biz
mingham spent much less per capita
for her government than Boston, but
had a much better government OF
course. the statistics Of relative costs
of municipal administration in Europe
and America are not 10 be compared at
face value. It must be remembered that
everything that enters into mun1e1pal
administration in Europe is cheaper
than it is in America But of course
this does not explain ell the difference
Seeking an explanation Of this differ
ence, one finds large part of 1t in
the activity of the CRATER. He plies
his trade so generally and so persist
emily that his elimination is one of the
greatest problems OF the present day.
Where there is one dollar OF municipal
waste there are many of municipal
graft. and the reports of the good gov
eminent organizations are TO the Ell
feet that charges of graft are more ire
ouent than ever before Whether 1t Is
due to the activity of the CRATER or to
that of the exposer Of graft, is ques-
ton the answer to which probably de-
ponds on the point Of view
one New York Instance.
Some time since, mayor Gaynor OF
New FORK. discovered that the commits
sioner of accounts had passed bill for
a dozen / y inch valve wheels at $3.50.
He sent out and duplicated them at six
cents each. He instructed the commits
sioner to report the purchasing agent
and the prison warden who were re-
sponsible. TO the grand jury At another
time there was an exhibit of articles
which had been paid for at graft prices
Each article bore two tags-one show
ing the graft price and the other the
open market price There were tin
dippers which had cost $500 a dozen,
with the market price so cents dozen;
wiping clothes which were bought at
$40 hundred pounds, while the market
price was $500; galvanized boat cleats
which cost the city $3.50 each and the
Individual 80 cents each. There was
record of $500 for the rent Of a motor
car for q month: of a measuring bin.
alleged to hold a hundred tons of coal
when it held only so; of 100000 pounds
of meat, $4,000 pounds of poultry and
100000 pounds of forage rejected by an
inspection board after city officials had
accepted it. These instances might be
duplicated the country over. The ex-
ploitation of the municipality for pri-
vate ends has grown so widespread, and
every weapon has proved SO Ineffective
that the leaders of the good city gov
eminent have at last turned 10 the
commission plan as the one remedy for
this greatest of municipal ills.
May Solve Graft Problem.
That il will prove successful in the
solution of the problems of waste and
graft, one can well believe when he con-
siders the results that have follow ed it
to date But its best friends advise a
not too hasty verdict They assert that
the prime essential to good municipal
government is the alertness of the
voter. Under the old aldermanic system
there were always such multiplicity
of candidates and issues, and such diff
ficulty in fixing responsibility, that the
citiZenry sometimes was aroused, only
to fall asleep again. With few candi-
dates, few issues, and few officials it is