The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-08-29
CITY MANAGER PLAN
How The Dayton Charter Excels The Galveston DeS MOineS
 Commission Plan
CThe Out1ook.)

CThe Out1ook.)
 In a number of ways this charter is superior to the GaIveston-Des Moines commission plan In the latter each member Of the council or commission
 assumes individual supervision of g. city department. such ''finance.'' 9 public safety or parks and public
 property Each commissioner there fore acts in a dual capa city-aS a member of the board and as de- partment head. The commission, us- ing it's own members as agents for the
 execution Of municipal policies, repeat
 edly finds it necessary to order by a majority vote the doing of certain
 things to which the commissioner who
 must execute that order is opposed
 The commission thus is compelled to
 work through an unsympathetic agent who is not amenabIe to discipline.
 Another difficulty in the commission plan comes from interdepartment log rolling. A commissioner desiring of
 getting hiSsS own way in his own de- partment will refrain from criticism of the conduct of other departme ts or will assent to the proposals of other commissioners as a price for their as
 sent to his own. In the case of San Diego, Cal, this has gone so far as practically to create seven city govern ments. In Passaic, N. J., Wichita, ' Kas., and elsewhere, it has even been asumed that this was the intention of the plan, and commissioners have re- sented the control of the commission. Good teamwork is difficult under these conditions, and the stories of friction which are reported from commission governed cities are usually 5traceable to this feature Of the plan.
 The attempt in the commission plan to induce the people to choose men of suitable administrative training and capacity, who will be competent to di- rect a modern city department, has not been successful. Switchmen, bar bers and laborers, who earned perhaps S7O a year in private life, have been brislz1y elevated to positions that called for men of the type who could earn $5, GOO a year.
 The interest of the people is almost wholly in representation. They want their kind'' of men at the City Hall. The labor element, for instance, insist upon e1ecting spokesmen. of their own sort, and the result is the selection of a. board which is a fair mirror of the population, including men from every rank and station. Needless to say, such popular represent ntatives may be excellent as spokesmen for their con- stituents, but as executive officers they are bound to fail, for lack of educa- ton and training. The administration of a modern city is expert business something more than common sense and honesty is required But execu- tive ability is not obtainable through the processes of popular election. In deed, to put upon the ballot offices which require technical training for their administration is an interference with the free expression of democracy, In effect the Ga1veston-Des Mofnes charter says to the people: Restrict your choice to men who are competent to earn high salaries at technical and executive work; men who are compe- tent to organize and direct a consider able force of public servants; men, in fact, who are of the class that wears kid gloves and is accustomed to work in an office.'' In the commission gov erned cities the people have gayly kicked over this requirement., and, ex- celIent as the commission governments are in the pronptness of their obedi- ence to public opinion as distinguished
 from boss opinion. they have made no signal contribution to the science of city engagement.
 These faults of the commission plan have been pointed out for some time 1 in academic circles. The national | municipal league criticised these fea- lures in a report issued two years ago l in which it characterized the commls- | sion plan as a. transitional and not n
 uItirn ate, form of city government. | The Dayton charter, which attaches 1 the city manager feature to the com l mission plan, answers every one of | these cr1t1c1SfnS. Tn DayGOn l110 pSO- pie will be free to select their repre- sent lives from all ranks of the com
 munity, regardless of special training or administrative skill, for the commis- sion or council will have no executive duties whatever. No city department
 need be at the mercy of the amateur | ishness of some novice drawn from the
 ranks of the citizenship. A fairly per
 manent Civil Service. headed by a
 manager who is also comparatively 1 permanent, will give expert obedience l to the demands of the representative | body It will be a. stable, single-head- l ed administrative establishment in stead of the transient, fve-headed ad- ninistration of the commission plan.
 The members of the council will have l no temptation to play favorites among l the departments, and the unity of gov 1 ernment from top to bottom will be i complete