Norwich bulletin., 1911-01-31
Government by Commission o--Some General Comments
 BY A CITIZEN
BY A CITIZEN

Under the laws of Massachusetts in ! cities where a school superintendent | is employed the school boards must ! serve without compensation for their services. The Haverhill charter pro-
 vides for school board of four mem
 bers chosen at large, each serving
 two years. and the mayor who is a
 member and the chairman ex-officio. | The board has entire control over the | school department. Indeed, no site | for a school building may be acquir- l ed no plans for construction or altera- tion be accepted or work upon such be begun, without the approval of
 this board. Unlike the members of l the municipal council, the members are unpaid, they do not give persoual
 and thorough consideration to their important department, and their ad- minfstration is a chamber administra- tion,-an administration determined by deiiberation and discussion rather than by observation. The municipal council. under the laws of the state, may expend for current expenses only 1 such sum as may be raised by a tax
 of SIP per $1,000 of valuation. This sum it appOrtions among the several city departments, and all departments except the school department are lin- ited to the amounts designated for
 them severa1ly. The school board may
 not be so limited; it may exceed the appropriation made for it by the council. In these respects,-serving
 without pay, giving no personal at
 tention. and being without check in it's
 expenditures,--it is, in & governm ent
 by commission an anomaly. It would
 be better to abolish the school board
 as an independent body, elect q com
 missioner who should be a member Of
 the municipal council to have charge
 of this department, and so bind it into
 conformity and harmony with the oth-
 CT departments of the city. Under
 such 8 commissioner the schools would be administered with greater effi- ciency and Sounder economy, and the
 recall, referendum and initiative would act as guards against the abuse of
 power and lack of progessiveness.
 A petition for recall, referendum or initiative must be signed by twenty five per cent of the electors voting in the last municipal election. In the last Haverhill election 6.612 votes were
 cast. Such q petition, then, must be signed by 1859 voters, each signature followed by the correct address as on voting lists. To obtain this large
 number of correct signatures would be a great task. A ten per cent. require ment (662 petitioners for Haverhill, for instancel, would be sufficiently large to prevent abuse of this measure
 and yet not be So large as practically to nullify the provision. The recall. reIefenuuIn ana 1nlllatlVS are LIc mea sures by which the control of their public servants is kept within the control of the people. It should be possible to set in motion with reason
 able ease such machinery as is need- ed for their exercise. If it be of ex-
 ceeding difficulty to exercise these
 rights, not only the gain obtained by exercising them is lost but their value as 2, restraint or as a stimulus. Men will consider their acts as public ser wants with much more care if for such acts they may be easily brought be- fore the judgment of the electors: they will consider only their own will CT desire if the means of bringing them
 to such judgment is practically im-
 possible The recall, referendum and initiative are essential to the success of government by commission; a fairly small per cent. of the voters as peti- tioners is essential to the practicabili-