The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-05-21
WHY DENVER QUIT
COMMISSION RULE
Finds That It Leads 10 Woo.
lcct, Waste and Lack
Of Initiative.
REBCKED MAYOR BACK

population has after four years ,ria, -
commission government repudlated ira,
form Of administration and again a..
sumed the old mayoral system by H..
reelection OF Robert W. Speer TO ,bs
office OF Mayor.
The revcrsion from the commiss,o,
government demonstrated that the IN.
t%elligent voters decided that municip,l
government is primarily a business Ana
an economic problem, not a poli,.cal
problem to be handled by politicians
dreamers and reformers.
There are many psychological rea.
sons that helped bring about tho revet.
sion. but the economic problem was the
basic reason. The test OF four years
under the commission form has shown
a constant increase annually In the cos,
Of administration with little or no money
| going for permanent Improvements.
The "headless' commission form, with
five different departments. caused TOO
much divided authority and divided In.
! ~terests. The lack of crntralizatn on, with
each department head trying to ge, the
most he could for his department, was
like five horses pulling In different dlrec.
tons or Ike the stockholders of a COM
pany electing a board OF nvc directors
and ncglecting to pick a chairman.
No department head showed much re-
gard for other departments and II was
a case OF 1.-THE devil take the h%indnos,"
Nominally one OF the department heads
was made mayor by courtesy, but his
authority was practically limited to the
desires and wishes of the other depart.
ment heads and his duties were largely
clerical.
Cohesion Was Lacking.
This division Of authority or lack OF
sart ~ izatipp made II almost llnpOSsi.
BILE to plan expenditures Of city funds
along "A general Improvement line or do
any corrosive constructive work.
The commissioners OF Denver were
simply "A mediocre lot of men they were
neither good nor bad. but Indifferent TO
the welfare of the city as a whole. Had
there been some man of strong persou-
ality and executive ability ii,tiHg the
mayors chair it is probable that Dem
YER would have given the commission
form at least a few more years trial,
The Commissioners methods OF eXiend.
lures made for e~NtraNagances ana There
was a lack of initiative.
All of the city revenues Went SIMPLY
for maintenance. with the cost OF mani
tenance mounting up each year Inc
adoption OF statewide prohibition by
Colorado last January spelled an annual
loss OF about 100000 ia saloon Licenses
to Denver and "A consequent increase v'
that amount In taxation. While not re-
sponsible for this loss of revenue me
commission incidentally received much
uniustihable blame for the increased
taxation.
Fol several years Denver has been
the melting pot for many governmental
reforms. The city has largely been con-
trolled by a set of men who pad little
or no taxes and who earned their lIve.l-
hood as reformers. not by he sweat u
their brows bu; by the abuse they could
heap on Denver officials and Denver
property owners one Denver news
paper of the yellow typ has been
foremost in hat kind u tactics and TIE
recent election Vas ,ars,iS q 4'"t'ne -
that newspaper, Ii wagtd Il campaign
. ut vlliication against Sft.' ..irs.hg
him with graft. ballot ho> S,Ifius d..
"~crowbar!sm" during his former admin
ls,ratious. They predicted that II he
were returned to Office It; would resut
in a saturnalia OF crime. red light d.
tricts. political corruption, graft and a
'czarlike' form Of government
Spe-r ana rnoId.
About -four years ago the people n
! Denver administered what they fe.t Wa
a singing rebukc TO Mr.. Speer a..
elected Henry Arnold TO the position %:
Mayor. MIR. Arnold went INTO oTte
under the greatest wave Of popularity
ever accorded any mar in Denver. ~
4 candidate Tor Mayor lie carried every
precinct IN the city except one !N
months after he assumed Office he ,s'
every precinct IN the city BY = large
majority than he had previously car
ried II, and the city swung 10 d com
mission form Il government.
No other man IN Denver to-day cou,'
have probably appealed SO strongly %
the taxpayers and voters for a reNr'so'
TO the mayoral form as Robert W spee'
I His ability AS an expert c!ty nltNaSt
Is now fully recognized in Denver a.
the constructive work he accomplish
while he was for eight years Mayor y
the city was his strongest recommends
ton for reelection.
Speer was Of the boss type OF Mayor
bu, of the hardest working kind
The u detail of civic govern
ment was submitted 10 him for his ap-
prevail or disapproval. but lie accom-,
plished big things in a big Way sn9
practically all the big civic improve
ments that Denver has to-day were
| initiated and completed by HIN ~
built the municipal auditorium, the PUB
lie baths, laid out and practIca'ly ."1'
pleted the boulevard Il publ I''"'
system. built the first ~playgrou" !r. Ca
tablishei "A municipal band VIII gave
free sunday concerts during w.''r'- 81
the auditorium. decorated tho .'F '.
holidays aud during biz convcn''0's o''
tabllshcd bathing beaches In n" pfS
II did many other things for lie We
fare and amusement Cf the pcor',
Further during periods ~ t't~'a
= stress he planned municipal W.rt
give employment to the ule"r.'yei
Naturally All these things iucrtt-. 'tN-
alton, but the Increase was pa WI
little complaint. FOR the people Doe "'"t
they We're getting their money worn
In short. the citizens Of perNe- have
come TO think that they got r.re ~
their dollar under mayora. fnrm tAA5
under commission form of government