The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-07-13
PORTLAND, ME-, IS UNDER MANAGER Word Of Chief Executive Is Law In Every
 Respect

PORTLAND, Me, with its popula- tion around 10000, believes it has solved the problem of municipal gov ernment, says Boston Globe. The solu- tion, which time will prove right or wrong as far as that city is concerned, is to throw politics and politicians over board and hire an executive to run the business of the city as he would run any other big corporation.
 Since December Portland has been paying a New Jersey engineer, Harry A. Brinkerhoff, $1O,O00 a year to hire and fire its department heads and get value received. Mir. Brinkerhoff is a grizzled, bluff executive who has been judging men all this life by the specifi- cations they submitted and the way they carried them out. He smokes his black briar pipe in the office where mayors used to sit and lets Portland know he doesn't care whether mans a republican or q democrat so long as he can produce the goods. He had never been city manager anywhere else.
 You could stay in Portland week and never hear the changed status men, tioned. Quizzed about it, both those who advocated and those who opposed the city manager charter, adopted last fall, say things are going smoothly, and that Portland will certainly give the new way every chance:
 Most cities where the plan has fallen went only half way" he said the other day. Portland went all the way. 1 could call in the chief of police tomorrow and tell him he's through, and he'd be through. He wouldn't even get a hearing. That may be pretty dictatorial, but it's the way any busi- ness man wOuld run his company.
 Il have absolute authority. But the council can fire me any day it isn't satisfied with my administration. The only difference between my status and that of the cief of police is that they'd have to give me a hearing.
 Citizens the Stockholders
 ''The city manager plan means that Portland is a corporation. Her citizens are the stockholders. The council of five elected last December are the board of directors. I'm the general man. ager. It's up to me to run the busi- ness. But l can go to the council for policies and advice.
 II think my best qualification for the job is that l have never had any po- litical experience at all.
 The beginning of Portland's business administration goes back 15 years. First few business men began to talk about it, then the chamber of com merce, then one newspaper. They fol- lowed the success of Dayton and other western and southern cities with city managers. By seven years ago the move ment had gained enough headway to give the politicians concern.
 Then the war shelved it. In 1921 leg islative permission for a vote on the new charter was obtained. Portland de- feated it by one hundred votes. The next year was an off-legislative year. In the interim the new plan was we'll agitated. A non partisan league of a citizens committee of 100 sponsored it energetically, and it won by about 5000 votes.
 Business Men Backers
 The deciding impetus that put it over, leaders in the movement say, was "the perfect example of administrative ineptitude," by which they mean bad government, of the last crowd in the city hall. It was distinctly a business mems movement, though they soon got the home owners with them. And Port land is a city of home owners. Previ- Ously Portland had cumbersome gov enment with board of nine aldermen and 2 councilmen.
 The immediate accomplishment of the new nonpolitical plan was to abolish ward lines and junk ward ma cines. The two outstanding things that Manager Brinkerhoff's administration has begun on are: getting somewhere in street work and reassessing the city. There is a striking absence of hangers on in the city hall. Few heads have come off, but the new manager seems to have an understanding with his sub Ordinates; they're working for him, and nothing else matters.
 The tax rate is going to be lower by about 40 cents this year. That is one of the most popular announcements the new government will make. Nobody seemed to think it could happen"