The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-04-21

sion elected in the Iowa city was rep
resentative, and his enumeration of
the vocations of the commissioners
bears out his contention. That the
laboring men of Dubuque, including
the union labor workers, consider the
city manager form satisfactory is in
dictated by the fact that the chamber
of commerce secretary cites the heads
of the Dubuque labor organizations
and the labor representatives on the
commission as references as TO the
success of the new government there.
1t appears that the principal griev-
ance of Dubuque under the old form
of government was the tax situation.
When the first city manager was Sc
cured in April, 1920, investigation of
the records showed that delinquent
taxes in the city amounted to s550,000,
and that the floating debt was more
than 100000 These facts had been
previously unknown to the general
public.
Clear Up Old Bills.
A unique method of clearing up the
major portion of this delinquency was
worked out A Citizens Investment
company was organized under the dl-
rection of the chamber of commerce
for the purpose of buying up the titles
to these delinquent taxables.
Most of the delinquency was cleared
up and conditions are now such that
there seems to be little danger of
further delinquency.
While the adoption of the more
businesslike and efficient form of gov
@ 6naS not a1wavS lower the
tax rates, taxes are in reality reduced
in most instances, the advocates of
the city manager plan aver, because
there is greater return to the citi-
Zens for the taxes they do pay.
This feature is declared by Mr.. Cas-
sat to have been the item which led
the laboring men of Dubuque to
champion the city manager system.
Cites Economy.
Mr.. Cassat states that he wishes to
express" unqualified approval of this
type of government for two reasons;
namely, economy and efficiency. Du-
buque voted in January, 1920, to adopt
the city manager form of government
under the Iowa law. The plan went
into effect April 1. A city council
was elected consisting of five commits
sioners from the city at large and the
election was put on a non-partisan
basis, representative men being chos-
en- for the positions. One is retired
rh~s;"i"" and canitalist: one is rep
resentative of union labor, being en-
~. ,u d, The railway shops; one is "a
manufacturer. one a banker and the
fifth retailer and wholesaler"
= he letter further states: Favor
itism has vanished The city's bust
ness is being run like a corporation
with an efficient manager at the head
and it becomes more popular in Du-
buaue every month City employees
who feared the loss of their jobs at
first are absolutely in favor of the
city manager plan. Those of them
who are efficient are getting better
pay and they have someone over
them who keeps the machine running
smoothly. -. We are reducing
our bonded indebtedness, we are get
ting more done for the same amount
of money and the city hall affairs are
an open book for any interested citi-
zen who wishes to inquire about any
thing
Mr.. Edward Schrempf. president of
the labor congress of Dubuque, and
Thomas Gabriel labor member of the
council, are given as references as to
the plan by Mr. Cassat.