The Connecticut labor news., 1921-05-27
The City Manager Plan

In order that both sides of the City Manager Plan suggested for New | Haven, and on which the voters will register on June IA, may be discussed, THE LABOR NEWS will publish
 the views of either side, without prejudice or taking any responsibility
 TOT the arguments contained therein. 1 Communications are, because of linn ' ited space, expected to be brief and
 to the point.
 To the Editor of The Connecticut l Labor News.
 ] Dear Sir:-There are one or two | things Tn your paper Ot last week to which l wish to call attention. On 1 the hrSt page you quote from the
 Dayton Labor Review an attack on
 the school board of Dayton 1 am ] not surprised at this attack or at the
 condition which exists in the Dayton l Department of Education because it
 is not at all under the control of the ] council or the manager of Dayton. The members of the Dayton school
 board are elected by the people at large apart from the other elective
 offices of the city administration. This is required by the Ohio state , law which makes the educational sys-
 tenn of Dayton a thing apart from and independent of the city government.
 n view of this you can hardly lay the
 shortcomings of the school board to
 the city government.
 A quotation IS also given in regard | to the city government in Los An geles, California, and according to all
 the records which I have in regard
 to the council manager form of gov
 ernment in the United States, Los
 Angeles does not have this form of government. The quotation states i that the manager was elected and there is no city manager city char
 ter, so far as 1 know, under which 1 the manager of the city Is elected. 1 What form of government they have
 .n Los Angeles 1 cannot say but 1 am sure it is not the council manager
 form which is in existence in so many cities in the country.
 l was disappointed 10 see that in your editorial you quote three or four
 words from one of my statements
 out giving the rest of what 1 said, try to show that I believe the council manager form of government will
 take the control of the government
 out of the hands of the people at ! large. What 1 said was as follows "The advantage of the plan however is not solely financial. It is a demo- cratic form of government.
 If by democracy one means die
 tatorship of the proletariat' then the city manager plan is not democratic. The ideal which it does serve is gov
 ernment by the whole people. l Glass government, whether 1t be
 by the business class or the working l class IS contrary to it's spirit; never l theless whenever organized labor has
 sought more definite representation,
 1t has been accorded.
 l For instance, in the first commits
 sions in Dayton, Dubuque, Sandusky, Springfield, O., and various other
 cities, there were representatives of organized labor. In fact, labor's lead
 ership was taken in on the ground floor and given voice in the fram- ling of the charter; condition which has been repeated in many cities.
 "Sandusky, O., elected a mechanic to its first commission. As a member
 of the council, he contributed his vau-
 able viewpoint to the joint discussion of municipal projects"
 l DONALD A. ADAMS.