Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1913-11-14
Commission
FORM LAUDED
{. R. Woodruff, Before Ma
tional Municipal League,
Tells Of Advancement
PLAN GAINS POPULARITY
Noted Philadelphian Show.
Growth Of Galveston Idea
in Annual Review

TORONTO, Nov. IA factor in re-
cent municipal advance, said Clinton
Rogers Woodruff, of Philadelphia, to-
night in his annual review before the
National Municipal League is the real
ization that municipal administration
is business for permanent experts
and not for politicians placed in tenn
fortunes of the ballot Mr. Woodruff
is secretary of the league, which be-
gan tonight its nineteenth annual
meeting.
"The city manager plan," he said
sis an evolution of the Galveston idea
In short, it constitutes natural an
effective solution Of governmental
forms under American conditions"
Regarding public control of public
utilities, Mr.. Woodruff said:
"The question is not shall there
be public control or none, but as to
the form of that control. 1t is now
generally conceded that public utili.
ties, and chief among these are mum.
cipal utilities, must be carefully su.
pervised and controlled so that the
rights of the communities and of the
users may be adequately protected
That is municipal advance"
Mr.. Woodruff spoke of recent expe-
yiments in selling municipal bonds
lover the counter as evidence of in
creased interest by citizens in muni-
cipal management
The commission form of city gov
ernfent, he continued, although first
trieu only thirteen years ago, has lost
Its novelty as an experiment, and the
idea has gained in popularity with re-
markable rapidity.
"Nonpartisanship." he asserted.
@'has been the aim of the newer forms
of government. 1t has been promot-
ed by ignoring party designations on
the ballot and eliminating the party
ticket and the machinery by which it
has been brought forth.
Municipal home rule has been max
ing great gains within the last few
years. Nonpartisanship, the direct
election of federal senators and mum
icipal home rule. all represent num-
icipal advance of the most effective
kind. in that they place municipal af-
fairs clearly on their own basis"
1t is a perfectly safe assertion thai
ninety-five per cent Of the citizens of
Aberdeen want something better in
the way of city government, yet quite
a number when the commission plan
is urged say they want something
still better, would prefer the city
manager plan. and so on.
No one claims that the adoption oi
the commission form would result in
an automatically perfect city govern.
ment. nor alleges that this, like all
other systems is not capable of i'm
provement and will be improved. It
has been observed that this demand
for something better" comes largely
from the numerically small element
which desires no change from the
present unwieldy. nobody-responsible
plan.
1t is matter of common know
ledge and can be demonstrated by any
person who will examine the records,
that more than 100000 has been alb
solutely watsted in the government
of Aberdeen within the past five years.
1t is equally plain that 1t is an i'm
possibility to fix the responsibility for
this waste with any degree of cer-
tainty. For instance, the electric
light contract that was entered into
little over year ago, who's to
blame? Echo answer, we do not
know. Somebody blundered, II the
present attempt of the council to abro-
gate it Is any sign, and most likely
without knowing they were doing so.
It was the direct result of 13 men on
the job few hours a week. Had it
occurred under commission of three
men, their names would now be oc-
cupying the center of the stage, and
big headlines in the newspapers. This
instance Is one of hundreds that
might, and will be. cited, instances
that cause the taxpayer to pay $1.00
for SO cents worth of government.
1t is a clean cut proposition-busi'
ness or bungling. Shall Aberdeen be
administered as a business concern,
or as a sort of side line for the ward
politician? The tax issue that is now
being fought out places this matter
squarely before the people. and stern
necessity demands the employment of
business methods in city government.
Shall Aberdeen continue bungling its
municipal affairs or place the admins.
tration Of the city on q purely busf'
ness basis? The answer Is up to
YOU.