The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1920-04-30
MEMBERS 70 CONTROL.
They Will Have Charge of
New Civic Body
QUESTION IS ANSWERED
Democracy In Elections Keynote
Mankato's Proposed
Organization


Having told the citizens Of Man
kate this week why Mankato should
have Civic Commercial AS
ISOLATION, what it will do and how
it will be financed, the executive COM
mittee this evening makes the ans
wer below to the fourth leading ques-
ton which has been asked within
the last few days: Who is going to
run it,"
The answers, the committee feels
have laid before the people of Man
kato the successful principals of the
new Civic Commercial Association
which will result from the member
ship campaign of next week.
who is going to run the Civic
and Commerce Association of Man
kato?"
The members are going to run it
In the modern Civic and Commerce
Association of Mankato, the organi-
zation Mankato will have at the end
of the campaign every member is on
an equal footing. Each pays the same
dues, each has one vote only, each
has the right to nominate for Office,
each has as loud voice as any other
in making the program of work and
each will be called upon to exercise
all these rights.
The Representative Control
Under the old plan, nominations
were made by committees, commit
tees were named by the president
alone or consultation with the sec
rotary, and quite often the program
of work, if there was one, was built
by one or two individuals. Naturally
this system led to lone man" control
or control by small group. The mem
Der who felt he was one OF the OBJ
scure majority was too diffident to
come out of the background and pre-
sently after joining he substantially
withdrew and in year or two stop
ped paying dues. He was mot inter-
ested."
The Civic and Commerce ASsocia-
ton will be conducted along the new
plan-the boiled down result Of doz-
ems of experiments Of insisting that
the members, all the members, shall
say who shall hold office and be di-
rectors, and what planks shall com
pos the platform or progress of work
1t is a fundamental principal of the
organization that the full membership
snail uiTcCl thc tuOuSnl dHu lhc vi
the chamber.
Democracy In Elections.
The election of the new officers
and directors will take place at once
upon the completion of the member
ship campaign. The election machin :
cry is of the simplest character. Each
member will be provided with bal
lot bearing the name of every mem
Der so arranged so that he may vote
for whom he chooses for the various
offices to be filled. A complete print
ed list of the members will be a part
of the ballot. The man elected 10 an
office will be the one receiving the
largest number of votes for the Of
fee indicated.
This is democracy reduced to its
simplest form. Fitness, in the opinion
Of his fellow citizens, will alone de-
termine whether a mn shall re-
ceive an office. Ability and willing
ness to serve his community will
alone keep a man in office once he
has been elected to it, for it is ap-
parent that any officer or director
who fails to measure up to the ex-
pectations of his fellow members will
not be re- elected.
How the committees will be chosen
was explained in the answer to the
question of what the Civic and Com
merce Association of Mankato can
do.
The Members Forum
Under the new plan the Members
Forum will be an important feature
Of the Civic and Commerce Associa :
ton of Mankato.
1t will be the medium of communi-
cation between the citizens and di-
rectors and the membership. 1t will
frequently hold public meetings,
bringing the membership together to
invite the presentation and discussion
of new projects. 1t will check up the
progress of the work of the commit
tees. 1t will bring specialists and
speakers on important subjects to the
chamber to assist the community to
the solution of it's problems. 1t will
be the dynamo which will give mo
rganization.
The members forum organization
is so planned that it reaches by dis
tinct groupes the individual mem
berhip as a whole. 1t is an organiza-
ton within an organization and is
responsible for the efficiency of the
chamber and it's financial standing.
1t is needless to say that this mem
bers' forum is made up of all the
most progressive and ready workers
in the organization.
The whole purpose of the Civic and
Commerce Association of Mankato,
first and last, is to bring together the
most responsible and capable men
and women Of the city and to keep
them at work. Through frequent
meetings, the acquaintance of each
individual member is broadened
friendships established, and there
grows up confidence and optimism
which are the two Intangible but com.
polling forces which carry a COM
munity forward.