El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-05-06

directly out of the flood. Today the
outstanding bonds OF Galveston amount
TO $4,430,000. 1t follows that Calves
ton has been able to pay out q total of
nearly three million dollars in nine
years, over and above the ordinary
current expenses. Add to the public
improvements the expenditures of the
individual citizens, with the amounts
contributed by the county of Calves
81 006 per capita With all its splen-
did showing Galveston has been able
TO make it on q tax rate of s1.69 on the
800 of valuation.
The Galveston system has none of
the innovations that have been added
by cities which have more recently
adopted the commission plan. It has
neither the initiative, the referendum.
the recall, the civil service, nor the
non-partisan election plan. 1t simply
wipes out the old ward lines. makes
the city the unit of representation, and
puts ITS affairs in the hands OF five
commissioners. who are elected by the
people at large. One Of these is chair
man Of the board, with the title Of
mayor president. The other four are
placed at the heads of the four re-
naming departments the mayor presi-
dent heading the fifth. Tt is generally
understood beforehand which depart
ment each commissioner will head The
board possesses all the authority OF
the usual city council.
business Men In Charge.
Galveston, unlike many other COM
mission governed cities. does not re-
quire ITS commissioners to give their
whole time to the work of the city.
They are required to have fixed hours
at the city hall, but otherwise are
free to engage in private business.
This, say the people OF Galveston, en-
ables them 10 command for their city.
government the abilities of the best
and most successful business men.
Their commissioner of finance and
revenue, for instance, is president Of
four large business concerns, includ-
ing one of the leading banks of the
city. It would take thousands of dol
lars to command the exclusive services
of such a man, yet Galveston gets
them for $1,000.
The city has shown a remarkable
fidelity toward the men who have IA
. bored so successfully in its rehabilita
ton Most OF the commissioners have
been reelected with each recurrin g
election 1t is true that mayor Landes
was defeated at the last election. and
it is claimed that his opponent had all
the wfde-open element behind him.
But the new mayor was a judge on
the bench. one Of the most widely
known secret order men in that coun-
try and a mixer of the most engaging
type. But that Galveston still is ken-
joying the same wise and benefit Int
municipal rule that has characterized
the past decade is attested by everyone
who knows conditions there.
1t was only a year or two after
Galveston began its commission ex-
pertinent that the whole world was
consid ering the phenomenal success
that had characterized the efforts to
rehabilitate its finances. rebuild its
destroyed distTictA and restore conf
dence in its future This led other
progressive cities to study the Calves
ton situation, and today the millions
of urban residents who have been in
troduced to good city government by
reason of the expansion Of the Calves
ton idea feel that the storm was per-
haps a blessing in disguise
Galveston attributes most OF Its
splendid rise from threatened oblitera-
ton to the wisdom OF the men who
have constituted its governing body
But outsiders assert that some OF il.
at leass. is to be attributed to the
public spirit that was engendered by
the flood. The city is well content
with its present situation, and cares
nothing for the new features that oth-
er cities have engrafted onto the COM
mission plan Under its simple system
the city has recovered itself thorough
IL, and stands today with its face to
the future, with the prospects OF q
growth that will, In the future, make
it one of the most -important CONNER
cia1 centers of the south.