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Show : . ti Id l -iJ ll bi'JLi!)) -Li W B.'Shephens, then tooy up the tills seriatim and explained them briefly. By the terms of the bill, as explained by Mr, Smith, all city offices are abolished, including the five holdover members of the City Cooneil. The Board of Trustees Trus-tees shall organize, elect a chairman, administer oaths .and ; the like. Two shall . constitute a quorum .to do business. busi-ness. If a vacancy shall occur tin the board, such vacancy shall be filled by appointment by the board; and ia ease the two members cannot agree the Auditor Au-ditor shall ait as a member of the board for the purposeVof filling the vacancy. va-cancy. The Board of Trustees shall meet as a Board of Equalization. The Board -of Public Works is abolished. The Trustees shall hold. five meetings , a week, two of which shall be held in the evening. . . Mr. Beret Speaks. ' The first person to take the floor was Attorney Everett ,.Berer, who spoke in favor of the bill. He declared tha he desired to make a statement of his observations ob-servations in the city of Washington, which he declared was one of the best ruled cities in the world. He declared that he thought it wonld be ' a great honor for a person to give his best services ser-vices to the interests of a city. He was. followed by Frank B. Stephens, Ste-phens, one of the prime movers for the bills. He asserted that he knew a great deal of what was done in the City Councils and the inner workings of the city. He declared that' if a person per-son allowed his business to be conducted con-ducted in the same manner that the city business is -taken care of-, the business would not last very long; v Before the special municipal committee com-mittee of the House of Representatives Jat evening a meeting of the citizens was held for the purpose of ascertaining ascertain-ing sentiment regarding the "Galveston "Galves-ton idea" of municipal government. The meeting was held In the House of Representatives hall and was presided pre-sided over by Representative . Critch-low, Critch-low, who Is the father of the fire and police commission bill. - V '. 'A number ,of persons tried to burn, each other up with questions and personalities. per-sonalities. Probably the most convincing convinc-ing talk against the measure was jrlven by Councilman F: 8. Fernstrom. The Be v. Frank .Fay Eddy accused Speaker H 8. Joseph as acting as counsel for the City Conncil because he endeavored to ascertain what benefit bene-fit the plan would be o the city in dollars and eents. - : Orson Hewlett, who has been one of the strongest workers for the tyll, was put to rout by Speaker Joseph in the questions asked. CoL JL A. Wall declared that the passing of the bill would be a "dreadful "dread-ful mistake." Frank B. (Stephens made a strong statement in favor of the bill and other oth-er persons who spoke in favor of the new, form of government being established estab-lished were Orsoh H. Hewlett jEverett Bierer,' Murray Schick, Clint B. Leigh and J. H. Preece. 'Benner X. 8mith was invited to explain the scope and . plan of the bill. In explaining the measure, Mr. Smith said: "The bill provides ., for three trustees and an auditor to be elected by the eity at large. These will be elected -next fall, and take office at noon on the first "Monday ia January, 1903. All other officers ' in the eity are made appointive, and the appointments shall be made by the Board of . Trustees, or Commissioners. They shall each receive an annual salary of $5000 and each is required to give a bond In the sum of (20,000 for the faithful performance of his duties. The Auditor shall receive an annual salary of (2500 and give a bond of $30,000. The term of office shall be two years." Mr. Smith, at the suggestion of F. Quesctlon of Besponslblllty. . ' Besponsinbility, he declared, sobers men. and put -a man in a responsible position and his best efforts will be secured. se-cured. Continuing he said: . "Under this bil there will be a better bet-ter class of men generally employed, from whose effors we. will get the best and most effective work. "In Washington, where the commissioners commis-sioners are appointed, the conditions are ' different. In Galveston the appointment ap-pointment of the commissioners was unconstitutional un-constitutional They are elective there now, by the city at large. "I do sot claim for this bill that it will take the eity government out of politics altogether. The commissioners will be nominated by political parties, but they will be responsible to the whole people. In advocating this bill I am not doing it in criticism of the present administration or other administrations. adminis-trations. It is the system that is wrong, and as we think, can be improved im-proved upon." Speaker Harry S. Joseph asked Mr. Stephens if he had any experience of the Galveston bill, to which Mr. Stephens Ste-phens replied that he had not: only what he had heard and read. Mr. Joseph Jo-seph asked if he had any documents to show its success. -'Mr. Stephens said there was an article in McClure's magazine setting forth its success. Questions are Asked. Mr. Joseph asked: 'Do you think a commission of five,, one from, each municipal mu-nicipal wardr practical!" "I think, five unnecessary. I think the people will want efficient men, and three are sufficient. Party politics, in my opinion, will eut bnt little figure." "Don not think that there is danger in electing these men, as you suggest, that they might all come from one part of the city!" "I don't think, if that were the case, that it is a danger. This is in the hands of the people." "How much money would this plan savet" Mr. Joseph asked. "I don't know." If yeu will tell me how much is wasted, I might give you an idea of how much could be saved." In answer to further inquiries, Mr. Stephens said that he preferred three men to five, as by paving them a good salary, the best results would be obtained. ob-tained. . his views, but said the matter had bnt recently come to his attention and he had not had an opportunity of studying it He thought it was perhaps too much' of an experiment to be adopted here. If the trustees were to be elected, he could not see where conditions condi-tions could be bettered over what they now are. A. Richter. as a taxpayer, spoke earnestly against the proposed change, saying he thought it would be detrimental detri-mental to the interests of the city. Charles Baldwin spoke in favor of the plan, saying that three men at good salaries, as proposed, would give a better city government than exists- at present. B. E. CaHister opposed yhe measure unless It were v amended to make the trustees elected by wards. Dr. T. B. Beatty spoke briefly in advocacy ad-vocacy of the Galveston plan. Fernstrom on the Floor, Councilman Fernstrom then took the floor. He said: "We cannot compare the Galveston government with the City of Washington Washing-ton because Uncle Sam has a -greater treasury to draw from than any city in the United States. The supervision of the city is directly under the supervision super-vision of the Congress all the time. There is a committee set aside to look over the accounts and check up the accounts of the city. "Now, we desire to put the control of the city into the hands of three men. How do we expect to get anything extra when the same people nominate you and mef Suppose this thing goee wrong like you and me, and we are puting three men in absolute trust of the entire city. "The three men have. the power to appoint an attorney so as to get an opinion that suits them. They can appoint ap-point a recorder that will record only what they want recorded, and a treasurer treas-urer who will do what he is directed to do. Puta an Interrogation. "Now suppose than an auditor wants an opinion, ne will have to go to an attorney appointed by the commissioner commis-sioner who will favor the persons appointing ap-pointing him. "You are iust working on theories. It is a nice theory. ."V cannot get any better government govern-ment or any worse government than the people give themselves." "Don't you pass on things you don't know anything about!" asked Mr. Stephens. . , . The question was scarcely asked when Mr. Fernstrom replied. "I think I did on some franchises that you drafted." . "The three men are to be elected at large," he continued. "Now when it comes to a eity like Salt Lake City with ita varied interests this is impossible. im-possible. . . "There are so many interests here that if will be impossible to get along without favoritism.. There will be certain cer-tain sections favored. Makes a Machine. . . J "If you allowed the commissioners .to make aU the appointments they will make one of the greatest machines, or else it will be . because they do not know how. I eannot see it any other way. You are running after a shadow to curtail the rights of a citizen." City Couhcilmen J. H. Preece gave hearty indorsement to the Galveston plan. .Col. E. A. Wall thought the proposed pro-posed experiment a dangerons one, although al-though he recognized some feature of merit in it. He thought, however, it was getting away from government by tb people. ' W. S. McCornick was asked to give |