The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-28
WEATHERLY MAKES
ABLE ADDRESS TO
ALABAMA ALUMNI
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800 cities in the United States have
adopted it and not single one so far
has abandoned 1t. 1t is proving sue
cess 1t has remedied practically all
of the evils of the old aldermanic sys-
tenn, which became so vicious through
it's lack of representation, its lack Of
responsibility and its lack of power to
remove an alderman who proved faith
less to the cause for which he was
elected.
Nevertheless, In my experience
have come to believe that there are
some defects, which, of course. in the
course of time will be remedied one by
one. One of these defects at present.
however and one which | think is prob
ably of the most Importance, is the
lack of coordination. 1t appears TO
me there is not enough solidarity.
One Man Government
Il am a believer in a one-man gov
ernment, in concentration of power IN
as few hands 1t Is possible to do so
with at the same time a direct respon-
sibility to the voters who can recall the
government heads when they see hit
In Sumpter, S. c., they have what It
appears TO me to be an Improvement
over commission government in Ala
bama. They have mayor, with two
other commissioners VINO ACT as "A DOdIu
of aldermen These three are the fig
ureheads, with one man as the eXecu-
tive head and the three together elect
what they call a city manager, who is
an expert and runs the whole works.
"The modern city government must
be a government of experts. 1t must
be a government with a man who has
technical knowledge and experience at
the head of each of the departments.
nth nd a a 4
cannot be elected. People are not go
ing to vote for an expert, because they
haven't got the time nor the means by
which to find out whether or not he
is an expert.
And therefore the whole matter mas
got to come down to this. You have to
elect vote getter as the head of the gov
ernment a man who has public speaking
ability, good presence, a good record
for honesty and intellectually and efff-
cheney and then that man or two or three
men must go and name a body of eX-
perts to actually run the government and
he responsible to them who in turn are
responsible TO the voters.
Ten Civic Leagues
| In Birmingham We have 10 civic
/ leagues whose sole object as far as hay c
ever been able to find out lis to arouse
public interest in what the city govern
ment is doing, keep the voters alive to
what is being done with their money
| with their streets. with their parks, Will
tlieir water. their street car systems an
the thousand ana one other things thai
come up in every city.
| Il believe the next quarter of century
| will see the greatest development in mu'
nicipal government that history has evei
| known and | believe that commission gov
| eirment as we have it In Alabama toda,
x..t1 60 l..t II.
solid basis upon which that ideal govern
ment will be orga nized and formed. WI
| will make our present commission gov
ernment in fact what it Is today in the
ory.
New things are happening these day
| which we never would have accepted Ni
few years ago The whole world Is un
| dergoing a dynamic change in Its soHla
and political fabric. Those of us VIII
adopted the constitution of 1891 iemembe
well the fight We made to keep woman
| suffrage out of the constitution Bu
| things have changed since then and be
leve that the time is not long whe
woman's suffrage will come and come L
stay. Commis ission government is anothe
| OF the new things, but 1t has alread
come. And like woman's suffrage, De
lieve it has come 20 stay.
Civic Activity
There is nothing in our new govern
ment which counts for more than the ac
| tiyity of civic societies. IL is rather dis
| comforting to the commissioner in ques
! ton. as know from experience, TO e.
| through some of the experiences an,
| criticisms which arise from these organi
| cations. But it is the best thing for th'
| government and the official should b'
able to take it phiosophicaliy. II he can
! he isn't fit for the place.
| I'm right here to say that it's q funn,
9eeling you get when after you hav'