Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1913-10-28
With but Few Elective Officers in Whose Hands
the Responsibility is Centered, and the
Public Eye is Upon Them
PLAN HAS PROVED BENEFICIAL WHEREVER TRIED
Aberdeen Freed Itself from Party Politics OnIy
to Find Itself tldmpered by Ward
COunCiImdniC System

plan in effect, Jan. 1. 1908. The city
has been put on cash basis, pays its
bills every Wednesday morning, TAX
ing two per cent discount for cash.
Bonded indebtedness reduced by $685.
900 net. The city's net inventory has
been increased from $453.168.43 Jan
1. 1918, to $s7S,SO6.24 Jan. 1, 1911.
The police and fire departments rad
ically improved in efficiency and
equipment. The amount of public i'm
provements during the first three
years under the commission plan
have been more than that installed
during ten years of the city's previous
history. These include among other
items the building of reinforced
concrete bridge $50 feet in lenght and
the purchase of an island lying in the
heart of the city, to be used as the
city's civic center.
Leavenworth, Kan. - Commission
plan in effect in 1908. The commits
sion has reduced the bonded indebt-
edness by $112,95O, while the tax rate
has remained stationary. Kansas Is
prohibition state, but LeavenwOrth
has always defied the law and allow
ed the saloons to exist, subject to
periodical fines which brought In $780,
900 year. The commission closed
the saloons and disposed of this ille-
gal revenue without disturbing the
tax rate. Over 100000 was spent n
special improvements the first year
as against an average of $4,000 In
previous years. In the first two years
under the new system six miles of
street were paved as against IL miles
in the preceding 25 years.
Colorado Springs, Colo. - Commits
sion plan in effect 1909. Results
have been most evident in appoint
ments, which have been put ON the
basis of merit instead of party affili-
alton. The mayor went outside of
the city to select as fire chief man
who had made an excellent public
record, but who had been dismissed
sons
Berkeley, Cal. Commission plan
in effect 1909. Interest in public af-
fairs has been greatly increased. Ad-
ministrative matters are more widely
discussed on the street than ever be-
fore. The idea of the old line politi-
cal divisions, which always dominated
the city, seems entirely to have dis
appeared in municipal affairs. The
city is overwhelmingly republican
but socialist was elected mayor in
1911.
More remarkable than the fact that
nearly every one of these cities has
bettered it's financial condition-the
surest proof of efficiency-is the fact
that in no commission governed city
has there yet been reported a single
serious allegation of graft. Any in
stance of graft, whether proved or
merely alleged, would have been
seized upon triumphantly by the ene-
mics of this form of government and
magnified and exploited to the ut
most, but thus far the objection have
perforce been mainly theoretical.
A type of these theoretical objec-
tions has been the frequent statement
that the commission plan is "un-Amer-
ican." Yes. thank heaven! A city
government in which graft is not even
suspected is decidedly un-American.
1t looks like the splendidly admin
istered cities Of Europe. The sooner
we can Americanize this un-American
thing the better.