The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-04-07

Geo. B Winship in Grand Forks
Herald: National City, Cal. Feb. 23.-
/ observe from the Grand Forks pa
pers that the periodical activity Incl
dent to elections and the discussion Of
I~olitics has set in, and that the COM
mission plan of municipal government,
democratic, progressive and bull moose
conferences, state and federal patron
age, and various other topics and ac-
tivities are being threshed out with
the usual vigor and t~horoughness
characteristic OF North Dakotans.
These discussions are nationwide; al
most every municipality in the coun-
try is endeavoring to better conditions
and improve it's system. Right here in
San Diego the movement is on. The
commission system has been in opera
ton here for six years and is general
ly satisfactory, but there is still room
for Improvement. A citizens commit
tee of twelve, appointed by the mayor
and city commission. has been at work
for two months on a plan which they
will soon be ready to recommend for
adoption by the taxpayers. Appar-
emily this committee has acted on the
theory that a municipal corporation,
like a railway, manufacturing, or any
other corporation, is in existence to do
business a efficiently n as econom-
ically as it can be done. and that the
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important to its stockholders, the tax
payers, as the business Of any corpora
ton is to its shareholders. Acting on
his theory, the citizens committee
has worked out a plan which adheres
closely to the system Of business cor
porations. They will recommend that
the city employ a general manager,
and that a mayor n city council,
composed Of five commissioners, shall
be elected by popular vote. The idea
Is, practically, to adopt the same sys-
tenn carried out on all the rtranscon-
tinental railways; first, the president
Of such corresponds to the mayor of
the city and the board of directors to
the aldermen, and under them the
general manager, who carries out the
policy of the board Of directors, under
their authority-they being RESPONSE
BILE to the people who are the real
bond or shareholders. With a proper
system of auditing, the committee as
sert, there can be no graft or dishon-
esty in the working of this system
without being detected by the share
holders. The committee reason that
the mayoralty Of a city is supposed to
| be a position Of honor-it is the high
est honor any city can bestow on any
popular citizen. The honor being the
only reward, or nearly SO, in very
many cases, it Is generally given to
CdiuludLeS OIL nuepetluSu IuSdLllS. Ile
majority of men in that financial state
are not qualified to give the city's az
fairs the technical knowledge that
would be necessary. Therefore a gen
eral manager is required who is com
parativeiy permanent and has the de-
tails of the city's business at his fin
ger ends. The committees report will
soon be submitted to the people for
ratification or rejection.
There appears. to be a general
awakening throughout the country in
the matter of more efficient and econ.
omical administration of public af-
fairs. And it is high time that such
an awakening took place At the rate
taxation is increasing and the peoples
money is being spent, it will not be