CITY GOVERNMENT

Maoriland Worker, Volume 10, Issue 422, 9 April 1919, Page 3

CITY GOVERNMENT

c , j THB COMMISSION SYSTEM. f7 " . The American people avo eeelpng I simplify • their city governments and, l •make a few elected offioer_ responsibl r to the voters for .the right conduct o 1 municipal affaire, say s Professor Charle c A. Beard, Director of the New Yor] 3 Bureau of Municipal Research, in aj - article on municipal democracy i\ America. Perhaps the' most eignificant chang nas been the complete abandonment b; more than 300 cities of the traditiona 3 form of oity government by "Mayor ant . Council," and the substitution of wha' 1, is called "commission government." Th< 3 new form of government originated ii Galveston, Texas, after a great 6torn 1900, which destroyed a large part ° ,' f .he city and nearly' 6000 inhabitants ' For a time the administration of th* •• city was paralysed, and the politician 1 'vho had been conducting affairs in « ' wasteful and inefficient manner were un ■ | able to cope with the problems of re i construction. A committee of citizens i chosen to formulate a new ohartei 3 drafted an instrument which vested tin r entire government in the hands of n^v men, called "commissioners." Thes . men, elected by popular vote, take th' t place of the old mayor and council, an< , the management of the entire city— ' the making and enforcement of Jiws- ■ ; is placed in £heir handfi. ~... .. . ; . Tho new government jy roved to Ibe 6* effective' in carrying on municipal; busi *" ness that it was rapidly adoptfce d " other cities, until to-day at leant S0( '■ cities have the commission system. Th< plan varies somewhat from city tfo city • but the fundamental principle /is th< , same everywhere—the concentration c; i the legislative and executive potf|_r oi , <he city in the hands of a few men. I usually five, elected by the voters. Ia ;,' the greater cities—-like Chicago, New I York, and Philadelphia—the old plan lof government by mayor and council I stil lobtain's. In those cities the mayor iis elected by popular vote, and th« council is composed of members elected from the several wards or districts Into i which ttoe city is divided. Philadelphia even continues the ancient practice oi having a council of two houses, modelled after the legislatures of great nations, still obtains. In those cities the mayor and council plan, -the mayo renjoys the power of appointing the heads of city . departments.