The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1916-02-26
Commission Governed Cities

Auhu oSSNeoi va eiAv SouHNil- BONcrnadl
group of cities increased from 500 al
to $36.27 during the two years, and M
corresponding item for each indl ana |,
city increased. ~
The per capita net indebted - a
the eight cities having the NVdunc,
form in 1913 and the commission form
in 1915 increased from $27.7s in the|
earlier year to 1901 in the later In
five of these cities, taken separatelv
this item showed an increase. and ~
three a decrease.
Washington, ID. c., which came I'M
der the commission plan on June II
1878. by act OF Congress, was the FRS,
city in the United States to adopt per
manently this form of government
The application OF the commission plan
10 the capital OF the United States
grew out of the relation OF the Nation
al government TO the Federal city, andl
the capital was not at that time con.
sidered an example to other municipal
tiles in this particular respect.
The government OF Memphis, Tenn.
was conducted for a short time, begin
ming in 1879, in a manner analogous To-
that in which the government d COM
mission cities is now carilYd on This
action was taken because OK the ne
cessity of improving the sanitary con-
dition OF the city after severe cpl
demic of yellow fever in 1878, and be-
cause at that time It had incurred the
maximum indebtedness allowed iLhy
law. After Memphis had recovAed
from these difficulties, il was reincor-
porated with its original form OF gov
eminent. The commission plan was,
however, adopted later by vote OF the
people and become operative January
!, 1910.
The real beginning OF the movement
toward commission government in
American cities took place in Calves
ton, Tex, in 1901. A destructive storm
having overwhelmed that city in Sep
TENDER, 1900, and having left 1t pros
trate financially, as Memphis had been
in 1878, its government was placed in
the hands of a commission in the fol-
lowing year. The experience of Gal
weston under the commission plan was
such that In 1906 IL was adopted by
Houston, Tex. Three more cities OF
over 10000 inhabitants (the census sta
tistics relate only TO cities OF this
class) adopted the commission form in
the calendar year 1907, in 1908, s in
1909. in 1910, IA in 1911, IA in 1912,
20 i'm 1913, z In 1914, and in the early
part of 1915 In all, 81 cities OF over
10000, out of total OF 2O4, were OPP
Grating under the commission form OF
government during the period covered
by the bureaus forthcoming report
According TO the latest information
available, six more such cities have
recently adopted the plan by popular
vote. and in four OF them il has al
ready gone into effect. Thus there are
So cities of over 10000 which are gov
arned by commissions at the present
lime. These cities vary i'm size from
1880 inhabitants in Boise, Idaho, to
1850 In Buffalo, N. ", and are scat
erred throughout 81 states, in addition
% the District OF Columbia, ranging
rom Massachusetts, TO Washington
md from South Carolina to California
five Of them are in New England, 80
n other northern states east of the
l6 in northern states be
ween the Mississippi River and the
Pacific Coast states. I'm the Pacific
,oast states. and 90 in the South
The total population OF the So com
cities on February /, 1916, is
estimated at 7,677,OOO, or Al per cent
" the aggregate population OF the 1876
titles of 10000 to 100000 to which the
'ensus statistics relate. Confining the
igures to cities Of 10000 TO 100000
There are now operating under q
form So such cities, with
otal population OF 6,4sO0OO or As per
ent OF tho aggregate population OF the
S4 cities within these size limits.
During tho past 10 years the COM
mission plan has also been adopted by
many cities Of fewer than $1,000 inhab-
lauts. but the bureau has not lsscured
alta for such cities