The daily monitor leader. [volume] (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1942-19??, 1945-02-27

lens of government, we might
not make so many stupid mis-
takes. At least they couldn't do
any worse. They might even
find the answer to war instead
of just suffering in silence when
their kids 60 down in battles
men set the stage for.
One fine lady said to me-:
Aren't we just as good as some
of these other cities which have
adopted the manager plan and
thereby solved problems which
had existed for many years UNI
solved?" My dear madam: If
you ladies will take hold of this
matter on Monday, March S, and
give the voters encouragement
and rouse them out, you will be
doing a service which will pay
dividends for many years to
come.
1t is a perfectly fair question
for women to ask: Why must we
read in the paper that our neigh
boring city to the north, Port
Huron, has the manager plan,
and has parking meters which
produce a revenue of $4,000 to
$4,000 a year and also solves
the downtown parking problem?
Doesn't it startle one to see that
Port Huron adopted an ordin-
ance which is patterned after
the u. S. Public Health Stand
ard which is the very Strictest
one to be found. And to enforce
it they have a full time milk
sanitarian and the cost is met
with funds from parking meters,
with quite a bit of money left
TO reduce taxes.
Another fair question for wo-
men to ask is: Why must we
read that in Kalamazoo before
the manager took office on July
/, 1918 the tax rate was kept
down by borrowing. The new
commission adopted pay-as-
you-go plan, and set an honest
tax rate. Since then the debt
has steadily decreased-and SO
have the taxes-but Kalamazoo
enjoyed good municipal services
and had many desirable i'm
provements. On Nov. /, 1887
Paul H. Todd, retiring mayor,
held $4,000 bond in his hand
while Arthur l.. Blakeslee, may
or-elect, touched a match to it.
BY this act the last evidence of
the city's bonded debt was de-
stroyed and Kalamazoo became
the first debt-free, pay-as-you-go
city over $4,000 population in
the United States.
1t is fair to ask, aren't we as
good as Hazard, Kentucky, popu-
lation 1921, which saved $1,000
a month or about one-fourth of
its annual budget of SAT, 900 in
its first year of council-manager
plan?
People aren't being unreason-
able when they ask: Aren't we
as good as Saginaw, Michigan,
population $4,000, which in the
fall of 1885 adopted the short
est, most compact municipal
charter in the country-less than
seven thousand words in length.
A stranger watching serious
Saginaw fire was amazed to see
extra fireman roll up in taxi
cabs. But careful study showed
this was the quickest and cheap
est way of bringing emergency
employees. Encouraged by its
"clean slate" under their new
manager plan, Saginaw soon
tackled new business" projects
such as slum clearance, building
up its Great Lakes port, and
planning a sewage disposal
plant.
Saginaw won first place in the
National Safety Council contest
as the city in its population
group which made the greatest
reductiC.. in traffic injuries and
fatalities. In 1910 SaginaW,s re-
cord won the promotion of Man
ager l.. p. Cookingham to the
bigger job of managing Kansas
City, Mo, after that city threw
off its notorious boss control.
Don't try to yell people down
who ask: Cant we get as good
as Teaneck, New Jersey, popula-
ton 25,130, which is considered
a model community, with a top
notch record of excellent serv-
ices, efficient fire and police de-
partments, and an ideal setting
for living 'the good life. It's
fire school, set up to train its
own fireman is only one ex-
ample of the community's lead
ership. Many other New Jersey
communities send their fire dc.