The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1912-08-31
COMMISSION
GOVERNMENT,


ment." The metropolitan press an
nounced the tesu't as being 1900 for
aud 222- against.
The above Interrogation means
Has New Orleans adopted the true
COMMISSION Form of Government!
The papers announce, Next step -,
providing FOR Primary to nominate
the Five Commissioners on October
lst
The Statce Of the 10Th instant, in re
viewing the Sore bill. before the 1917
Legislature, declares: ut contained Il
provision for a nonpartIsan ballot,
which, if enacted into law, would
have cHcctuaIly wiped out Democratic
lines in New Orleans and ncgatived
the primary law"
The nonpartisan feature was dis
tinctly obnoxious to the country mem
beers Of the House. who recorded their
objection TO legislation Of this charac-
ter by promptly cutting it out OF the
original draft of the Genera, Commits
sion Government bill of Mr.. Powell OF
Calcasieu. y
In another paragraph in the same
article printed In the States, IL found
the following language -"Scnator
R,,ncs of Orleans agreed to introduce
this measure, but he insisted on
amendments eliminating the nOnpar
tisan feature and the preferential hal
lot"
Has New Orleans, in the light OF the
n
mission Form of Government?
Beyond the fear Of being successful
ly challenged we declare eMphntical-
" that the City of New Orleans has
not adopted a Commission Form at
Government worthy Of the hope that
L will bring relief from existing ills.
Whatever success or betterment in
the handling Of municipal affairs may
come 10 the Crescent City. through its
new mongrel. partisan, factlOnal form
Of government, will he due more to
the honesty, integrity and patriotism
Of the individual oiliccholder than to
their form Of government.
Atrnc Commission Form Of Govern
ment employs no primary election TO
determine who shall be the candidates
for the several offices. Primaries. in
the first place. are absolutely unneces-
sary The general election, to fill the
Offices. accomplishes all and more
than could the Primary. and at no
greater expense to the City or candi-
date.
Party primaries are more reprehen-
sible. because they deny the right Of
large number Of citizens and property
taxpayers to participate IN deter
mining who shall be privileged to
seek office; because they encourage
factionalism, and factionalism lives
principally upon the hope OF reward;
because a partisan spirit Is encourag-
ed by them. and 4 partisan spirit, in
municipal government. has, as its ex-
cuse for being, the protection and ia
vOring of its own members regardless
Of public sentiment; b. canse through
it's operation it imposes taxation with
out full or equal representation upon
citizens; because, as applied to NUM-
cipal governments, they are undemo
cratic -"DemOcracy. Government
by the people; form Of government
IN which the supreme power Is retain
ed and directly exercised by the peO-
pie. Webster; because they breed
discomfort and through their ultimate
results invite constant unrest, polite
al lamentations, and unworthy efforts
NJ partisan recalls.
We see these results in the very re-
cent history, and the present history
making acts, of Shreveport. which
city Is promising the very dramatic
of a scmiannual recall
elections practice calculated to
bring discred,t upon the Commission
plan, the virtue Of the recall, and
even upon popular government
Des Moines, Iowa, Republican
city, the capital Of a Republican state,
has n model Commission Form OF
Mayor Jas. X. Hanna,
Of Des Moines, writing about the Com
Form of Government, as ap-
piled in that city. says
1.-THE Commission form OF govern
mcnt abolishes ward lines, party poll
tics and the old division of city OfIic
ers into legislative. executive and Judi
cial departments. In place Of this II
4 hoard, consisting of the
mayor and four mmissiOners. who
the affairs Of the city Just M a
board Of directors manage the business
of a bank or any large corporation.
who are invested with all the powers
Of city gOvernme mt and who are elect
ed BY the people Of the whole city,
but without any party designation.
mon labOrers are selected under civil
service rules administered by a Civil
Service Commission, and are remOva-
hle only for misconduct or lack of at
tention to duties. or activity IN polite
al matters"
amy citizen who can secure the sig
natures Of twenty five voters vOuching
for his character may become a candi-
date for mayor or iss!Oner
From among these candidates the two
receiving the highest number Of votes
tor mayor in the primary become can
didates for mayor in the final election,
and the eight receiving the highest
come the final candidates for commits
While Des Moihes employs the pri-
mary, thereby using two elections
where one could serve the purpose
better, the fact remains that this pri-
mary ~ not designed for the purpose
81 petPttuat'ng the Republican party
1t Is nonpart'san and open to every
qua'ihed elector of whatever party
creed. '
The town Of Grand Junction, Colora-
DO, dominates candidates for Office IN
much the same manner as employed in
Des Moines. The Is signers of nomi-
nation papers IN behalf of any would
be candidate must certify under oath
that they individually believe their