Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1924-03-20
More Favorable
Words on County
Commission F orm

Office of Journal Publishing Company
Grantsburg, Wis. Mch. 14,1924.
Dear Mr.. Richards Have just got
around to reply to yours of Feb. %
inquiring as to how our Commission
Form of Government works ut.
We have had the system only since
last June. So far, can say unqualified
ly, that it is a great improvement over
the old system of county board.
The argument that towns are de
prived of direct representation is not
sound. 1t is not true that a township o.
not more than six miles square, with
population of 100 or 200, has the
same voice in the taxing of the coun-
|ty as a whole, as the township with
perhaps thousand people In other
words, the town with 1000 people has
no more. to say as to the amount OF
taxes that shall be levied and how
this money shall be spent, than the
township with 100 people. The county
board system is taxation without re
presentation or unequal representa-
ton of the most fragrant kind.
All other appointments, congress
sional and legislative districts are bas
ed on population; the county board
system is based on territory regard
less of how many taxpayers or resi-
dents are in a town.
Furthermore, under the county
board system, the affairs of county
are administered from the narrow
viewpoint of each particular chairman
for his own town. The welfare of the
county as whole is entirely lost
sight of. We have had evidence Of
this in the past, and an improvement
even during the short time that the
commission system has been in opera
ton here Again, in every county
board two or three members are the
real board and the balance of the mem
bers merely follow the advice of the
bell wethers. When it comes to
shouldering responsibility for any Of
fetal action, then each one shields
himself behind the other and it is
hard to fasten the blame upon anyone
in particular
Under the commission system Of
three or five, any taxpayer can go tC
them, talk over a proposition, point
out the advantages or disadvantages.
and whatever action the commission
sers take, their responsibility can be
easily located, and they are much
more particular as to what action
they take on public matters, than are
county board members
Again, under the county board sys
tenn the entire business of the coun
ty is done by committees of three,
the same as we do with commission
ers. Often the several committees do
things that the county board as a.
whole does not approye>of, but the acs
ton has been taken, the money often
spent, and there is nothing for the
county board to do when it meets
but to accept the action of the com
mittees.
All our bills are O. KID each month
when every thing is fresh in the
minds of everybody concerned. AL
purchases receive much more careful
attention than when the county board
did business. A case in point:
A certain machinery concern has
local agent in this county In the past
this agent managed to get orders sc
easily that representative of similar
concerns hardly took the trouble t
come here to try to make sales. This
year when the commissioners became
the highway committee, as they dc
under the Jaw. machinery men were
wondering if it would be worth while
to come here to solicit business, since
in former. years the orders had gonq
to the local agent. The commission
ers invited competition and number
of agents were present when it came
to buying, and the result was that the
orders were given to the outside
agents as it was found to be to the
county's financial advantage.
Stop and consider for a moment, is
there a going concern anywhere that
would run it's business in so slipshod
manner as county business is con
Quoted under the county board system
One checkup a year, no careful inspec
tion of bills contracted, purchase
made in haphazard way, etc. If a
creamery, telephone company, or any
other concern did business in such a
way it would be bankrupt within the
year
The fact that only few states in
the Union, three of four, am inform
ed, are working Under the county
board system is sufficient evidence
that the commission system is the
right one Minnesota years ago had
the county board system but changed