Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1912-02-09

goeetes Of commission government In a
small eorporetion it is true the directors are
in positiops TO command the management
and are subtect TO the stoekholders' con.
troll. The meetings at which directors ere
elected aree attended by the stockholders
and they see to il that directors who will
carry ouFgs4 policies they favor are elected
and Their "a Comprehensive control IN the
stockhold But in the large corporation
this is M 4e case. The directors are still
perhaps &c as to the policy TO pursue
and they tpossibly in a position to man
age the BUSINESS efficiently but the stock
holders have lost their control Every cleo
ton in large corporation is preceded by re-
quests for proxies which often must be
changed almost into appeals The stock
holders do not exercise their rights or il
they vote for directors it is only for some
one who has been recommended as a rule by
the old directors. The directors in ordinary
circumstances are self perpetuating body
in fact no matter how popular may be the
basis on which their authority legally rests.
Unfortunately for Commission Government
this illustration if ii has any value at all
shows quite as much the dangers the
merits of the new scheme 1t shows that
commission government will work and work
finely If the people keep themselves in the
position of the stockholders in the small
corporation, but If they apathetic or if
they vote by proxy as many of us do in
fact when we vote the party ticket at cleo
ton day but do not attend the primaries
then commission government though it may
resent popular control Yes insist the
friends of the Wisconsin law, but you forget
the non-partisan primaries and elections
which the law provides man cannot vote
by proxy as you say he does when he votes
a party ticket. To this the answer is made
that we have yet to prove that city issues
of themselves are strong enough to main
tain sustained popular interest We have
only tried this reform for little over ten
years 1t has been tried out usually. in
places in which conditions bad and in
which a popular revolt was impending which
would have resulted in period of cleaner
government whether the form of government
we're changed or not. AS rule the worse
the conditions to be remedied the more sig
nal the accomplishments. That this is the
case seems to show that perhaps popular in
terest rather than the system is the thing
which gives the new plan at least some of its
artness. AT least may reserve Judgment
as to the efficiency Of the scheme until we
see it working we'll in large number of
cities where popular enthusiasm has run
cold, at least where the enthusiasm fQrA
opinion unusually aroused Americans Ne
great confidence in machinery-in social and
political as well as in industrial affairs, but
this machine is so new that it is too soon
to claim that it is one which experience has
demonstrated is sure to cure all our munic-
ipal ills. Centralized responsibility and ac
c0untablity we must have, but to whether
this is the only or the best means to
secure il we may still disagree.
Alternative Proposals
Perhaps we may secure all the advantages
Of commission government by some other
means while we avoid its possible dangers.
less militant but no less well thought out
plan for improvement is that proposed by the
National Municipal League in 1909. Instead
of concentrating power in commission, this
plan proposes TO concentrate 1T IN the mayor
for the carrying out of all city powers and
i'll the council for determining city policy. 1t
would outline sphere of action for the city
similar to that given the state in the Fed
eral Constitution. The local government
would then be standing its feet with
out fear of interference or hope of help
from the State Legislature. This is the OBJ
jeet aimed at in the Home Rule bill, which
became Chapter 476 of the laws of 1911.
and Joint Resolution 70 for amending the
State Constitution passed by the Legislature
of 1911, to be passed upon by the Legisl1
ture next year claws 1911, it. Res 73l,
and then submitted to popular vote: In ad-
ditiOn q thorough system OF civil service
would be enforced, in recognition of the fact
that much of the business of the city is adj
ministrative, n0n-partsan business in which
skill and experience should be the first con-
sideration. AT the same time many of the
elective officers would now>be done away with
IN favor of men appointed usually under
civil service, The public servants would be
guaranteed that the civil service Would be a
career This scheme recognizes -the value Of
trained service by protecting it by civil serv-
ice laws thing not included, 1t may be
noted, in the Wisconsin comnlssi govern
nent law which aims to throw the entire re-
sponsibillty OF selecting good servants on
the commission. Such plan, too, it is in;
sisted, is that secures responsibility to
an extent commission government does not. (
Even with a board of three it may nok ,bR
known which one is responsible for a eertafn
policy, especially when rs in the Wisconsin
law secret meetings of the council are evil
IDENTIFY to be allowed Ii responsibility ISL
the ideal then concentration Of responsi
bility in n commission of three is better than
in mayor and council and giving al
the responsibility to a mayor ratherr than a
commission would be a still better ekpedient.
From the legislative side, too fheye would
be, SO the advocates of this plan maintain. |
an advantage over the commission form OF
government in that with somewhat larger
body of men there would be a. reflection Of
the different phases of public opinion more
nearly accurate than is possible with a small
board. But it would not bring us to the
condition in which the council would be so
large as to be unwieldy and the powers of
the individual small that the office would
to attract candidates and the atten-
ton of the alderman's constituents
The fault of council government in the past
has not been due to the council organization
but to the fact fhat have never had a
good municipal corporation law. The city
has never had field of its own to cultivate,
but was constantly subject to the interior
ence of the state legislature. The egisla-
ture limited so closely the powers granted
to the city that its government was not in
teresting, those in office remained there from
sense of duty without enjoying substantial
power, honor or reward, and finally in most
Of cities the council was 50 large-in
Madison, for example, we have twenty alder
men, two from each ward--that what small
power the city did have was so split up that
it made the offices even less attractive than
would otherwise have been the case
Now all this that we have said as to com
mission government and the proposed alterna
tive is general 1t touches only the gen.
eral features of commission government and
does not cover the pecuarities of the Wis |
consin law which in fact is not only com
mission government act but one which pro-
vides for commission governed cities munic- |
ipal referendum, initiative and recall These |
are not a part Of commission government
they could have been provided by separate
general law and to discuss them would lead us
from the subject primarily in hand. Their |
value in city government is their value in
state government and what we would think Of
them in the place we would probably
think OF them in the other