The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-03-20
BOB HA|GHT GIVES EXPERT TESTIMONY
ON COMMISSION FORM Of GOVERNMENT
Former Missoula Newspaper Man Tells the Folks Back
Home How Well the System Works and How Much Good
It IS Doing in the City Where He Reported Proceedings
Every Day the Council Met.

appointees in city affairs, and the i'm
mediate publicity of all official action
taken on behalf of the city.
THE commissioners Of Missoula
| consist of a mayor and two council
men. The mayors department is par
ticularly that of city finances; those
of the councilmen respectively the
policing and fire protection. on the
one hand, and public works and
streets on the other. Commissioner
Price has charge of the department of
streets and works, including the city
engineers office. The commissioner
of public safety acts as chief Of po-
Ice. and has direct control of the fire
department.
During the year and a half of this
form of government, the principal
streets of the city have been paved,
an admirable street light system in
stalled and other similar improve
ments carried out, all at the request
of the taxpayers Immediately involved.
In every case where a public work
has been carried out, or an improve
ment district formed for street work.
TAXPAYERS interested have been called
in mass meeting. have consulted, and
then have given their consent to the
work. The negotiations looking to
contracts for work have been public,
and the citizens have been asked to
be present and consult at the meet
ings where the contracts We're con-
sidered and let. They have respond
ed generally, and it has been a matter
of ordinary occurrence to have a
,I,,,-,;t{-, - ,,t;,1~ $1,000 -. A..
meetings to consult with the COM
missioners. The result has been an
added confidence in the municipal Of
f~icers, and lack of discomfort at their
public actions.
"Missoula has had a history Of tur-
bulent and troublesome politics and
has been the battle- ground of. some
Of the most bitterly fought political
contests of the state. Yet the. two
city elections under the new system
thus far held have been as nearly
non-partisan as they could well be,
and partisan politics has not entered
into the criticisms of the a~dministra-
ton at any stage.
The present mayor, James NJ.
Rhoades, had incurred the enmity Of
one man having negotiations with the
city a few months ago. and their quar-
rel resulted in the sending out of re-
call petitions against the mayor. SO
far as could be learned after several
weeks, not half a dozen people all
told, signed the petitions The two
other commissioners, who are OPP
posed to Mayor Rhoades on national
and state political issues, each signed
and published a statement at the
time, assuming full joint responsible
ity for all actions taken by the mayor
in city finances, which might have
been urged against him.
1T is this straightforward publicity
in governmental affairs, which, it
seems to me, is one of the greatest
advantages of the system. It leaves
but little room for the play of petty
politics, or of undetermined political
opposition.
The three men who run the city's
affairs, are continually more mindful
Of their responsibility to the people
than any city officers I have ever met
with before, and the city's affairs are
better understood by the ordinary
man on the street, to the slightest de-
tail, than in any city in which I have
ever before resided. If good does not
come of it, it is c~hargeable to the
mass Of voters, not to the system, In
my opinion