The Delta independent., 1913-08-08
TOPEKA CAPITAL LAUDS NEW
COMMISSION GOVERNMENT

In a recent issue the Kansas CITY
journal devotes two-thirds Of column
of its editorial space to criticism of
the commission form of government in
cities and towns.
1t calls the commission form of gov
ernment fad and pronounces it a
failure.
Undoubtedly the enthusiastic advo-
Gates of this form of government have
claimed too much for it. 1t was assert
ed that it would effect a great saving
in the cost of administration. That has
not proven true here in Topeka, ap-
parently The expenses have increased
However, it is not fair comparison
to measure the present expenses of
conducting the city government with
the expenses of ten years ago, because
expenses generally have increased
form fifteen to twenty per cent and
county and township expenses in even
greater proportion. Also it must be
kept in mind that the cities named in
the Journal editorial have all grown
rapidly since the commission form of
government went into effect, and with
the growth of the cities have necessar-
lily come greater expenses. 1t has been
an era of street paving and lighting,
improvements which are needed and
which the people want and will have,
but they cost a great deal of money.
There is only one fair way to make
a comparison, and that is to compare
the governments now which have the
commission form of government with
those which have not. If the compari-
son of present conditions shows that
the cities remaining under the old
form are generally more prosperous
and more efficiently and more eco
nomically governed than the cities
that have adopted the new form, then
the old-form advocate has the best of
the argument but to simply assert that
it costs more to run a city or town now
under the commission form OF govern
ment than it cost to run the town ten
years ago under the old plan proves
nothing, even if the assertion is true.
One thing is certainly true, the busi-
ness of the city is transacted more
promptly than it used to be perform
ed under the old plan. Then there
were two councilmen elected from
each ward. They all gave most of
their time to their own private affairs.
and usually met once a month to
transact the business of the city. OF
course the mayor could call a special
meeting of the council, but he did not
do 1t unless he believed the matter
to be considered was Of very special
Importance Ordinary matters had to
wait over from mocth to month until
the city council met in regular session.
Under he commission form of govern
ernment the commission is in session
every day and ordinary matters are
promptly disposed of.
Another commendeble feature of the
commission form of government is
that it has very nearly eliminated par
tisan politics SO far as city elections
go. The private political opinions OF
. the present commission may have cut
, some figure in the election, but we do
, not think 1t cut great deal OF figure.
. and two other Democrats were elected.
, This spring both candidates for mayor
were Democrats. Two Democratic
, members of the former commission
were defeated along with the former
Democratic mayor, but it is not likely
, that the politics OF either the winning
or defeated candidates Influenced a
great many voters.
! So far as Topeka is concerned there
is very little talk II 6 ,ing back - the
old form of city government. While
the people no longer expect that the
city government will be conducted at
, less cost than before they believe that
the public business is done more
promptly and efficiently than 1t would
be done under the old plaE.--To. eka
Capital.