South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1921-04-24
VsIhltdS Cites Marked Improvement
IN City Government With Manager
Selected for Ability, Not Politics

Intern relation Of political machies."
do you find that the political ma
chimes cease 10 exist under the
plan 2"
NO. mean that candidates can.
and frequently do. with without ma
chine support. that the machines are
beaten so often and 50 readily that
machine support is in many cases a
handicap. Where the voters do FOL
low leadership. they don't take pro
gram blindly. They easily see what
the leader Is Offering them. The plan
makes municipal politics a simple
one-ring circus which it is easy 20
keep track Of"
Just how" I asked
Through smplihcation and spe-
cializatiou. In the first place. It
simplifies the task OF the voter who
has 10 vote for a few men, instead
OF many. The usual commission
consists Of five persons, and every
voter can learn all he wants 10
know about FIVE persons whom ne
has 20 vote for. Secondly. IL simpli-
fies the task Of the elected official.
The man or woman who is elected 10
the council is not expected TO do ad-
ministrative work Of any kind, be-
cause all administration is vested i'm
the manager who is appointed by
the council. There is no need. there
fore. Of electing men Of special train
ing TO the council. You do not have
10 send engineers, or hnanciers. or
physicians 10 the council. because
the work of the council under the
manager plan is purely representa-
tive. The technical knowledge Of
the administration Of the city is sup
piled by the manager"
Us not that placing too much
power in the hands of one person p"
I asked
Not Too Much Power.
"On the contrary" replied Mr.
Childs. "Our present mayor and
council plan is really a system of
one-man power, because the mayor
has the power of veto and can over
ride his colleagues in the council.
Under the commissiOn-mana sys-
tenn nothing of the kind happens.
True, the manager actually operates
the whole administrative organiza-
ton. He has the power 10 practic-
ally make all appointments. This
seems like a lot of power. but one
thing must be kept in mind The
manager holds office at the pleasure
OF the council and can be fired at
any moment. This is bound to keep
the manager from losing his head in
using his administrative powers. Re
sponsibility and power are unified
and yet spread out more evenly and
equally The council is responsible
TO the people; the manager is re-
sponsible TO the council; the admin
istration officers are responsible to
the manager. There is lao one man
who swings a club both ways and
who has no club over his own head.
Everybody in the scheme has some
power. but as much responsibility in
return.
"Mr Childs." / said. 81 will grant
you that the commission manager
plan makes for efficiency because II
places administration in the hands
of experts who can develop a purely
professional interest in their work.
But how about the democracy Of the
plan? Does it not take out of the
hands Of the people tn election Of
their most important executive Of
fcer?"
1T does" replied Mr.. Childs, but
what of it,"
We'll. is not that a curtailment of
the peoples prerogatives?"
Not in the least" answered Mr..
Childs THAT is. if you take the
view of democracy which 1 call
realistic. The formal idea of de-
macracy lays stress on elections. The
more the people vote and the more
officers they elect, the more de-