Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-02-21

PETERSBURG, Va, Feb. IS. -
When st. Paul said II am citizen
Of no mean city" he inspired many
thousands Of Americans IN many
hundreds Of cities to express their
pride in their own home towns. and
may be said to have furnished a
model for that enthusiastically
American product. we know as 'the
booster In hundreds OF American
cI:ies the booster meets the traveller
az the r*ilway station ready to show
HIN the sights and impress upon
him the excellencies of "our town" ="
But all too often even the booster
has been quiet when the visitor has
asked about the city government.
.and has been forced to evade direct
questioning by an alibi: You know
how it is, these politicians get hold
Of the city government and what
can you do?"
That isn't true in Petersburg, and
it isn't true in the great majority of
the cities and towns that have
adopted the city manager form Of
government. Here in Petersburg,
and the same thing is true in other
city manager cities, the local boosto:
talks first about the city government
and is proud of it, and tells what it
has done, what it is doing and what
it hopes to accomplish, exhibiting
quite as much pride in the municipal
administration as in the fact that
Petersburg is the biggest trunk and
bag manufacturing center in the
United States. or that 1t has the
largest export cigarette business or
that it has an extraordinary wealth
Of historic lore.
1t may be worth while to outline
the history Of this newest movement
in municipal government that IN so
many places has changed not only
the government itself from a happy
go-lucky plaything of the politicians
into an efficient business administra-
tion that is the pride of the people.
The form of city government IN
America, speaking generally, was
imported from England along with
the English titles of mayor and al
d de,rman and councilman. Until the
democratic revolution led by Andrew
Jackson in the second decade of the
nineteenth century the English
model was deemed efficient, but
then, while the form was retained,
the suffrage was extended and the
mayor who had 1-een selected by the
aldermen became an elected official
and the administrative head OF the
citv became enmeshed in the coils OF
practical politics. The cities grew
in population and in
number, and "city politics" often was
synonymous with corruption and DIS
honesty. So generally was the truth
of this unhappy condition recognized
that when 1856, James Bryce wrote
''The American Commonwealth" he
felt compelled to say that municipal
government was the one conspicu-
Gus failure in American life. Thirty
wears later the same great commen-
tator, then Viscount Bryce, found
himself unable to change his mind,
but he did say that the new expert
ment of the city manager offered
hope Of changing this one conspicu-
Gus failure into success.
Modelled Upon Business Corporation
The new form of government is
modelled upon that most typically
American orga 2i:Rtion, the business
corporation. The voters are stock
holders. They elect the members OF
the council or the commissioners,
who are the directors. These direc-
tors control the policv of the corpor-
alton and they select city manager
Wa Is the general manager OF the
corporation, the executive head Of
its administrative affairs. The ma
chinery then functions just as does
the machinery of any private busi-
ness corporation.
The first departure from the es-
sentially traditional form of city gov
ernment in America came as the re-
suit of the great Galveston disaster
when a tidal wave engulfed a city
drowned thousands of people, and
destroy millions of dollars worth
of property. The old form of gov
ernment was not able to cope with
the situation ana a committee of
business men took over the city af-
fairs. Their administration was so
successful that at the next legisla-
ture the city obtained a new charter
and the Galveston Plan, or Commits
sion Form of Government, was
launched.
Under the Commission plan the
people choose a small number, usu-
ally three or five, commissioner
These collectively form the legisla-
tive. or policy-dil Getting, body of the
city, while severally each is the head
of particular branch of the admin
sstEatiQa-~eowmissiops Rc 9jpapce.