Arizona republican., 1915-04-06
THE ENEMIES 0F CHARTERS
 OPPORTUNITY
Advantage Taken By Them of the Mess Commission Has Made of 1t to ASsail and Destroy Commission Manager System
By Dr. William c. Gillespie

To the Republican, Sir:
 The city of Phoenix is at q very critical stage of development in it's progressive form of city government. great deal is at stake in the bat tie of ballots in the proposed recall of three city commissioners, and in the large number of amendments to he charter
 The bitterness engendercd by the injection of the question of removal of tine former city manager and the subsequent recall of the commission the real fight being waged on the city charter. and is largely obscuring that real matter of vital interest to the citizens of Phoenix.
 Aside from the immediate personal friends of the commissioners and the former city manager, just what in dividuals shall occupy those positions is of minor consideration to the wei fare of Phoenix in comparison with the preservation of the charter itself provided the occupants of those p0- Sitions are of sufficient honesty ar,. efficiency to conduct the affairs of the city to the full measure of the city's best interests.
 The commission form of govern ] ment, with such notifications as are necessary to meet such local con- ditions as are peculiar to the city 1 in which it is applied, has beyond question proven great step forward | in modern municipal government wherever commission governments have been given a fair trial T'le establishment of an independent city ] manager to execute the will of the commissioners was another step for | ward in the advancement of commis- i sion government, and has not vet been proven fallacious theory. .le- spite some friction developing in in I diNidual instances.
 About year ago Phoenix discard . cd the archaic, cumbersome, ineffi- cient and Irresponsible government by mayor and city council. and substituted the commission and city manager This change was distaste- ! protited under the old form of gov ernment, and to very large clc- mcnt whose interests were not af- fected visibly one way or another. but who would rather do things the way Methuscla did than risk any kind of change.
 1 These combjped elements proceeded to knock and criticize and cuss Be ing human both the board of com missioners and the manager naturally made some mistakes more or less serious in accordance with the in- dividual views of those who looked on. and the result is il has opened up a splendid opportunity for the enemies of the charter to put it out of business. while apparently fighting something else.
 This opportunity is rendered all the more advantageous because ro charges of dishonesty or corruption has been brought or circulated lagainst either the commissioners or the city manager, and the frineds Iof neither side have been compelled to defend any charge except that ci inefficiency. Therefore a grcat number of voters not personally aI- lied with either side in the fight lover the city manager will in the usual off hand, careless way, decidc "Oh well. the trouble is in the foo charter-change it and everythine will be all right" Thus they vii
 unsuspectingly hand over to those who are fighting the charter fol personal gain the very thing they arc fishing for, and we step right back into tne possibility for dominati ior by the element whose undesiraoiliay y made the first change of government necessary.
 The mere fact that five homes,
 men fell out with one other honest
 man does not prove to the least de- gree that the city manager form
 of commission government is fail ure. It does not mean that five oth- CT honest men, and another hones
 man of their own choosing cannot do what these failed to do
 Changing the city charter is fl
 more serious matter than changir; the men who are to administer tic Icity'S government under that char
 ter. This is proven beyond argu-
 ment by the mere fact that charter. ,are adapted to last for years unt lthe progress of civilization teache. us wiser methods of government
 while the mere holders of office ur- der that charter are subject tc 1change every two years, with ever
 earlier removal if they fail to mall, good
 Now. the only thing proven so fai
 by actual facts and developments ir
 Phoenix under the city manager sys-
 tenn is that somebody has failed t.
 make good under an instrument ol government which makes it possible to make good.
 The common, horse-sense answei is Retain the form of government that has not failed and overhaul
 the machinery that has failed" The commissioners were put into offic.