The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-03-24
FOLLOWING ARGUMENTS
 CHAMBER RECOMMENDS
 CITY MANAGER PLAN
(Continued From Pags One)

(Conttnued From PagO One) referendum and recall. In the main those cities best satisfied with their existing form of government are operated under the commi ssfon man ager plan. A very large proportion of the cities now under other char ters have the manager form under consideration"
 Local Referendum
 Referendum held in Birmingham among HOO citizens resulted as fol- lows: Favoring city manager plan, 62 per cent; favoring aldermanic plan, s7 per cent; favoring a change, 7s per cent.
 The report itemiges complaints against the commissioner form of government, claiming as follows:
 That salaries do not attract quali- fled men.
 That men elected consider thsm- selves as representatives of sections and are unfair to other sections.
 That tho tendency of each com missioner Is to build up his own fences.
 That administrative and legislative functions are combined in one body. That city employees are discharged after each election for political pur- poses only.
 Choatic Conditions
 Conditions at the city han arc chaotic for weeks before and after elections.
 Commissioners are appointed heads of departments without previous training or experience.
 Commissioners have withheld facts from the public or given misleading transformation to further their polit- teal ends.
 That there is woeful waste of time because commissioners as heads of departments must give lot of time, for political purposes. to most trivial causes and complaints.
 Dayton Satisfied
 City of Dayton, says the report has had city manager plan for eight years. Of 23 replies from letters to citizens Of Dayton, IS, or 7S per cent were in favor of the manager plan.
 Thirteen other cities in Ohio have followed the example of Dayton.
 Eighteen replies were received from Colorado Springs and all were found in favor of the present city manager plan. Eight of them, while satisfied with the manager plan, suggested certain notifications.
 Sacramento Saves Money
 A Sacramento, Cal, comment by a  port, was this: Sacramento in 1912 adopted the commission form of government, but this proved unsatis- factory though regarded as an im- provement over the mayor and coun- cil form. Last year Sacramento adopted the city manager plan. It will cost $123.00O less to run the city in 1922 than It did last year,
 Springfield. O., comment Is this: rwe unhesitaungly recommend the commissioner manager form of gov ernment as being the only ideal and satisfactory form of government
 These two comments and similar ones are from manager cities. Com ments from aldermanic and com-' mission cities from which opinions were secured, almost universally favor the city manager plan. Such replies were received from Macon, Ga; Utica, N. Y. Lawrence. Mass; Manchester, N. H.; St. Joseph. Mo-; Camden, N. J.. Toledo. O., and others. Conforming the commission form of government as unsatisfactory, the report recommends the city manager plan on the following lines:
 Committees Plan
 Mayor at s1,200 elected by city at large with veto power to be over thrown by two-thirds majority.
 Council of 10 members elected by districts, salary 5000.
 City manager, who shall be the ad- ministrative head of the municipal government, responsible for the ad-