The Detroit times., 1913-09-30

thsls polltical @xietenee threatsns'
WsrV equally unanimous IN their %
! position 60 Il on The ground that !
placed NO much power IN the hand
Of foW men. 10 meet this argu
ment Dallas and other cities favorinl
the Galveston plan. added the recall
by which dishonest or incompetent
onlcials could be removed by vote o.
the people.
Initiative and Referendum.
Then came successfully the initta
tive and referendum. Through the In
| itiative the people may ~ any time
upon petition of specified number oil
voters. have an election upon any or
dinance they may propose. while Dy
the referendum they may upon peti
ton Of certain number OF voters De
mand that any ordinance passed by
the commissioners be submitted TO 9
vote of the people before becoming
q law. In many charters Qncludine
the one Joplin Is to vote on) the rel
erendum 10 made mandatory on al
ordinances granting franchises.
These various safeguards to retain
the final power In the hands OF the
people, have been used differently In
various localities. In some only the
recall Ia adopted without the initia-
tive or referendum. In others the
referendum Is provided without either
the recall or the initiative, while many
OF the later charters, including ours,
provide for all three.
There have been few protests
against the initiative and referendum
compared to the number against the
recall; the principal argument against
The latter provision being that II
placed . power In the hands OF de.
feated candidates or. . dtsgruntled
minority to constantly harass an ad.
ministration with recall elections.
Gut only in very few instances has
his contention proven well-founded
md In our proposed charter It will
,e practically impossible to institute
, recall election against any ofncial
Upon any trivial pretext or purely
3ersonal grounds, although easy
enough In case OF incompetency Oh
dishonesty.
Figures Not Necessary.
deem II unnecessary and super
| luous ut this late day. after all that
las been published during the past II
rears regarding the accomplishment
| ,nder the commission form OF gov
,rnment, to 60 into figures and stae
| stics Allowing the actual economy ane
| ,faciency that has been Effected, SUI
ice TO say that Il has 30 thoroughly
| demonstrated its superiority over tn
| PRESENT system that those who oppose
| automatically admit their lack o
] knowledge a. to its actual results I
| ) true that even under the commits
! ion plan q city may not be efncienti!
| Governed II the right men are no
| Elected to once. but the system itsei
.annot be held responsible for int
| SHORTCOMINGS of derelict omciais De
.ected BY the people themselves
This has happened In several In
| stances, but the people have beer
| luick to correct their mistakes ~
emoving the objectionable omciail
rom once, which they cannot az
,nder the present system.
II ID enough for any system u
:, know that Il II eflcient II the righ
men are put In control Of II. Expert
ence has amply proven that our pres
ent. council system is wOefuliy incl
fcient even when good men are eaeot
ed 70 once. for divided authority
shifts the blame and makes It I'm
possible for the people to locate o.
remove those actually responsible.
Opportunity For Good Men.
Under commission government thu
people not only have better oppor
tunity Of selecting good men for OF
nee, but Of seeing to It that they re
main good or get out. II also arouseI
= far greater interest among the PEG
| pie In public affairs when they car
vote for every elective oflicer Of theil
city instead Of only two councilmel
out OF 10 or 20.