The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1914-02-12
The Vote on Commission Form.
Majority against form SIS.

Commission form OF government is
not for Kenosha-at this time. The
electors of the city and there were
more than 5000 of them at the polls,
voted decisively against the adoptlon
Of the new form of government oD
Tuesday, the majority against adop
ton being SIS. The vote was more
than thousand short of the vote cast
at the last municipal election, but at
that it was large vote considering
uality to the campaign. While the OPP
ponents of commission form are glory
ing in"their triumph and are holding
the vote on Tuesday as complete
rout for the proposed change in gov
ernment the men who espoused the
cause are in no way cast down. Not
)ue Of these men hal expected the
commission form to win as they felt
that commission was largely matter
Of education and that it would. prob
ably take couple Of elections in Ke,
uosha before the people would be able
10 see the need Of new municipal
dress for the city.
There were lot of things contribut-
ing to the defeat of the commission
form in Kenosha. In the first place
the movement was i'll started The adj
mnistration now in charge Of the af-
fairs of tic city had not been unpop-
nlar 1t had been progressive and as
economical as could be expected with
amy growing city. The petitions were
delayed too long for signatures and
many people who had been favorable
to commission in other years grew
mkewarm on accoutn of lack Of action.
The friends of the commission form
had no organization and a little hand
FIJI of men were called upon to
shoulder the responsibilities Of con-
Quoting the campaign. There was no
money for hall rent, to pay speakers or
to circulate printed matter and in fact
the entire campaign was carried on
with an EXPENSE of less than $3.50.
With the first mention of the com
mission form it attracted the bitter
opposition Of the saloon element in the
city. 1t was declared from the start
that commission form was mild
form of prohibition. The story was
circulated that the adoption of the
adoption of the commission form meant
''blue laws" for the city closing
down Of everything that is now open
in the city. The old "personal liber-
ty' argument was brought into use
with telling effect and early in the
campaign it became certain that the
entire saloon element of the city was
united against the proposition. A.
united saloon element in Kenosha is an
element that is very difficult to defeat.
An analysis Of the vote is unneces-
sary to tell why commission form was
defeated, but it shows some interest
ing facts. The people in the small
wards on the north side of the city
saw in the adoption of the commission
form a slipping Of minority rule in
kenosha and the men who were ac-
i've in these wards used this argu
ment with great effect They declared
70 the voters that the adoption of the
commission form would take from the
north wards the balance of power and
change that portion of the city into
territory which would be governed
by the south wards The truth or
falsity of this argument matters not
lit worked. The overwhelming vote
against the commission form in the
north wards showed the effect Of the
argument.
The second ward alone stood firm for
the change in government. Here a
vote OF i73 was registered in favor of
the commission form against 81 who
sad nay Both of the precincts OF
the third ward showed active work for
the commission form and the total ma
JOgity against the commission in the