The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1913-10-02
WHY COMMISSION
FORM IS BEST

versally conceded that the commits
sion government is a modern i'm
provement over the old form Of al
dermanic and mayoralty whose pow
ers SO often distressingly conflict. 1t
is also pretty generally the case that
the powers that are, that the :
Gals who hold the reins of govern
ment for the time being, oppose the
adoption Of the new plan, but l am
glad to note that in the present in
stance in Lakeland there are some
happy exceptions to this rule. How
ever, those who oppose it can pref
ty generally be traced to the influ-
ence of some of our city officials.
There has not yet been advanced
any good argument against the com
mission government. 1t has been
said that it would increase the run
ming expenses. Yes! it would in
crease the current expenses of the
administrative division of the NUM-
cipal government by the addition of
an experienced expert business man.
ager who would assume the active
executive management of the bust
ness of three million dollar cor
poration. On the other hand the
amount of saving as result of the
constant activity and supervision of
the manager would exceed the
amount of added expense nine times.
II the tax payer Of Lakeland will
take the trouble to investigate this
fact under a practical test of the ex-
penditure Of the peoples money re-
Gently the above statement will be
substantiateh. 1t is well-known
fact in Lakeland that recently when
the sand and old paving was being
removed by teams to make way for
the new paving, the mixed sand and
clay was hauled to one Of our streets
and cast there as kind Of paving
and was graded for the purpose of
paving that street. That within
few days after that Job was complet
ed the excavating machine came
along over that same street digging
deep ditch for the laying of the
sewer pipes, and the clay that had
been hauled there for paving pur-
poses was mixed with the sand OK
cavated and after the sewer was
laid the clay and sand was mixed
to?ether, which raised the streets
higher than the sidewalks to the in
jury OF the abutting property owners
and q short time thereafter the clay,
sand and all was hau;ed away from
that same street to other streets to
make way for the paving OF the same
street where the sand had been
hauled to.
The commissioners do not have to
employ the services Of an expert
manager and it is up to them to fix
his salary. None of the present en-
ployes of the city would be deprived
Of their positions such as the police
force, tax assessor and collector, SUI
perintendent Of the light and water
plant and any others that might
from time to time be necessary to
carrying on the business of the city.
, The manager would simply assume
the executive authority Of the COM
missioners in actively overseeing all
branches OF work and OF public i'm
provements with recommendations
to the commission from whom he
would receive Instructions. They
would have the right to discharge
for inefficiency and employ another
at any time. In other words the
whole idea OF commission govern
ment Is not so much to centraliZe
the power, which is In fact an ad-
vantage, but it is for the purpose of
placing some competent person in
the direct supervision of the bust
ness of the city, and relieve council
men, aldermen and commissioners of
the necessity of leaving their places
of business and going out to attend,
within their few spare hours, to the
citys business. w c have never had
a councilman and never want one
who has not a business of his own
and who is not a successful business
man, and it Is reasonable to say that
business men OF affairs who have the
responsibility Of their own finances
will not give the constant care and
personal attention to the city's af-
fairs as an expert experienced man.
ager who was paid to do that work
and was not allowed to engage in
any other business, and who also
would constantly face a discharge
and removal for inability and inef-
ficiency.
II 1t is true - q general PROPOSE