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Show Town Saves Cash; Keeps Elections Farther Apart WALKER VTLLE, Mont. The 1,629 inhabitants of Walkerville, a suburb of Butte, skipped an election elec-tion this year. It was not the first time. There have been just three town elections in the last 30 years. The money the community saved, about $1,100, has been earmarked for a new fire alarm system badly needed by the old mining community. commu-nity. The communityje system of government gov-ernment dates back to 1921 when Walkerville became the nation's first town to pass an election "because "be-cause it would just be a waste of the taxpayers' money. There was one primary candidate for each job that year. Since an election would settle nothing,, the town council decided to skip it. Petitions were circulated and the residents agreed. There still was no opposition at general election time. To round out the experiment, retiring re-tiring aldermen declared their seats vacant and reappointed themselves. them-selves. As the years went by the plan developed. When a mayor resigned or died, the council simply elevated its president to the job and chose a new alderman. It was eighteen years before Walkerville had another election. The next mayor died in office and the council appointefi another. The present mayor was elected in 1941 and again in 1947. Since then he has served without election. Now, candidates don't file unless there is opposition. Incumbents automatically retain their offices. |