St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1911-07-12
CITY GOVERNMENT
BY COMMISSION
Originated In Galveston Eleven
Years Ago.
RESULT OF GREAT FLOOD.

How Il Rebuilt the Tewn. Constructed
the Sea Wall, Restored Credit and
Scored Such q Success That II L.
Now Spreading Throughout the Land.
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
case In point. For generations we
have stood their rottenness. inedicien-
CT, grating 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
eminent. The old scheme had got
past the mending point. 1t had be-
come honeycombed with ward and
partisan politics. To ourselves it was
a reproach. to other nations a standing
joke. It was combination Of Tam
many and Hinky Dink. The expo
sures (, In Sc. Louis. San Francisco.
Pittsburg and elsewhere only scratch
ed the surface. e was time for
new deal. and. the new deal has come.
Now the cities of the entire land are
falling over each other in their haste
to try on the commission. system.
Wherever inaugurated it has worked
like a charm. Everybody Is happy
over it except the professional polid
clans and the grafters- sac. 49,
The commission form OF government
/ T. D. I'D %hova
ten years old. It started In 1900 as
result OF the Galveston food. Sostag-
gering was the catastrophe that the
old form Of government was unable
to meet the crisis. Alderman McMas-
ter, proposed that the council resign In
a body and call In business men and
experts TO deal with the extraordinary
situation. This was done. A commits
sion OF i've was formed. two of them
elected by the people and three APP
pointed by the governor. Afterward
| 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 80 nearly swept her OF the map
Galveston had the usual discouraging
history OF municipal misgoyernment.
As result she was In debt. her bonds
were below par and her treasury on
the verge OF bankruptcy. Under the
commission system the city was re-
built, the grade raised several feet. the
streets repaved. retaining sea wall
constructed. the debt cut down. ex-
penditures kept within the revenues,
city employees paid In cash, bonds
brought to a premium. streets kept
cleaner, sanitation improved, saloons
kept out OF the residence districts, poll
tics banished from the 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 the calamity than the old had
done in times OF tranquility. One most
significant fact is that, despite the ex-
penditures 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 had stopped
under the former ring rule and
public buildings were deterioratdng
finances were going behind at an aver
age of 100000 every year. city en-
ployees, including even schoolteachers.
were paid in scrip. and the bosses. who
were growing rich. had such a grip 1t
was impossible to shake them loose.
All that is now. changed. The float
Ing debt has been retired. a 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 benehcent re-
suits are due to the commission sys-
tenn OF government is proved by the
fact that other cities adopting the
commission plan have had like ex-
perience.
Under what came to be known as the
Galveston plan each OF the commits
sioners took charge of some branch of
the city government For this he was
responsible to the commission as a
whole and to the people. So success
| full was the system In the city OF its
origin that othe. municipalities in all
parts Of the land began to study 1t
with interest
To one who does not believe in uni
versai panaceas and cure-ails the
working out OF the commission form
| OF government is little less than mar
velous- 1t has agreeabIy surprised
both its friends and enemies. Is it
the long looked for solution OF our
municipal government problems? An
unqualified affirmative answer is al
most too good to be true. and it is
too early to go that far. yet the more
one studies what has actually been
/ accomplished under the new system
the more enthusiastic be grows. My
own prediction Is that as soon as the
bulk of American cities realize just