Show t r Galveston Storm Results In hi Seventy five Cities Adopting Commission f t J I rJ f 1 i r Ja IS L I IJ IH J if fi 1 io J V 11 4 jf t f H r rt t t y jv 1 Q i fri iii iiiI iiiI r r I I I 4 j y I I 1 k H gf M Y A J furl r L 1 JOHN F 1 M I HAS MOINES t tCo Co IN 7 t OT hRS K N L HA 17 M RY I t I DES MOINES PLAN BOILED DOWN Five commissioners only elected officials govern city Mayor a 3 commissIoner has hILS voto In commission or council but no veto I divided Into five departments each cach commissioner t heading one oneAll I All Important franchises referred by law directly to vote voto of at people All ordinances subject to vote voto of at by I Any commissioner subject to recall and removal by voto of at people on petition 1 All city officials such ns as treasurer police judge prosecutor appointed by commissioners Civil board or of three appointed by commissioners to pass upon I all applications for tor empl ment In city departments Election absolutely nonpartisan personality not politics counts Direct primary for tor nomination ot of candidates who must get sl signa signatures ll tures ot of voters oters to run Two men receiving highest vote voto for mayor put on ticket eight men receiving highest vote for councilmen put on ticket only one ticket In infield field at general election Heavy Honn penalty for candidate ote making any promise of at job or other reward for tor support ot at primary prima or election By ARTHUR J BRINTON RUE as i truth itself is 16 tiro tho an ancient dent adage Its an ill 11 wind TRUE T that blows nobody good Here Is an Intimate application tion or of the adage which belongs to the tho vital news of tit da day The Tho ill III wind which wrecked the tho fair Island city ot of Galveston on the ot of September Sep September 1900 seas directly responsible for a reformative movement In municIpal municipal government that has hal revolution revolutionIzed the tho executive administrations ot of nearly nearl American cities It Is sweeping over the United States with something or of the force and swift swiftness swiftness ness or of that West Yest India hurricane which leveled Galveston to the tho sands destroyed to lives and more than houses In that city alone alono and wrought an incalculable loss or of life and property on the tho main maln mainland land or of Texas This movement Is known IS as the I commission method of city govern government government ment Originally It was called the tho Galveston Idea Having g greater and efficiency with the tho thoi i passage of a few tew years ears It Is best known now as the tho Des Moines plan Tho very latest news from the reform storm Is that It Is about to be put oft at Buffalo A bill Is pending bo be before fore foro the general assembly of New York which If passed will permit Buffalo the tho population of which was estimated at on Now New Years day to vote voto on the tho adoption or of the tho commission form or of government This bill In incorporates the thoo vital features of the tho Des Moines plan and adds distinct and almost startling Ideas The rho present writer arrived In Gal Galeston eston on tho first relief train from Houston after the tho hurricane of at 1900 Ho spent a week wook In the tho stricken city almost overwhelmed with the horror ot of the disaster Yet now ho enjoys the privilege of pointing out just how that most stupendous of American ca catastrophes Catastrophes has ha worked It appears for forthe the tho good ot of American homo home govern goern government ment It Is difficult to refrain from quoting Cowper right hero God moves In a mysterious way His wonders to perform He plants his footsteps on the tho sea And rides upon the storm Prior to the tho storm Galveston was governed conventionallY There Thero was WILS WILSn wasa n a mayor maor with fourteen aldermen elect elected elected ed from seven wards City officials such as treasurer auditor police judge I and prosecutor were elected by popular popular lar vote The Tho government t I had plunged the city Into n a debt ag aggregating with the tho municIpal municipal borrowing power practically ex exhausted exhausted hausted Graft was WILS considered there thereas as In man many other cities a convention conventional al crime to be laughed at and looked over Then came camo the tho calamity which decimated the population about one fourth by sudden Budden death and ana another fourth by b flight At the tho first meeting ot of the city council after the storm while the tho uncounted and unidentified and dead were lying In windrows or being burned In trenches and the wreckage of homes and busi business business ness houses was plied piled In a four mile swath fifty feet high along alma the eastern and southern parts ot of the tho city Alder Alderman Alderman man McMaster arose and addressed his colleagues It strikes me and I believe we are all ot of one mind that wo we are up against one ano or of the tho most momentous propositions propositions that any city ever eyer had to face rho rhe resources of the tho city are nearly exhausted Tile Tho mayor maor and the tho aldermen alder aldermen men have been elected from the different differ different ent walks of lifo life without any Idea that such n a calamity would visit Galveston and without any an Idea that such ques questions tons would arise Then Ihen Alderman McMaster proceeded bluntly to suggest the resignation or of himself and his colleagues and also the mayor and the creation b by state au authority authority of a commission of at three or five men to tako absolute charge chargo of city elty affairs and save the municipality from n a threatened receivership Out of this suggestion grow grew a public meet meetIng meeting Ing called by n a hundred citizens more or less prominent and at that meeting a committee was appointed which pre prepared prepared pared n a now new charter and submitted It to the tho Texas for ratifIcation tion The measure Was enacted Into law sustained almost unanimously by public sentIment It provided for the government or of Galveston by five commissioners com commissioners missioners Two were to be elected by bythe bythe the people The Tho other three one ot of whom was to be mayor to be appointed ap appointed pointed b by the tho governor Thus came camo about the tho first government by commission com commission mission In an any American city The commission with the cooperation cooperation tion ot of the tho people raised Galveston out or of the slough ot of despond restored her credit rebuilt her homes and houses ot of business and won the tho respect re respect ot of the World Literally Lite rail the new deal In municipal management lifted the tho city out of the depths by buIlding a safe safo sea wall and filling In n behind It so 60 that the tho level of the tho ground was raised to n a point from which tho town can laugh at future futuro West Vest India hurri hurricanes hurricanes canes In the tho autumn of 1 1905 05 a wealthy business man ot of Des Moines James G 0 Berryhill accounted n a millionaire made a 3 trip to Galveston to study con conditions So favorably impressed was Mr Berryhill with the achievements and promises ot of the now new Idea In mu municipal municipal government that upon his ro re return turn home he submitted a report Nov 17 at a public meeting In the tho Y M lt MC C A auditorium In Des Moines In which ho he urged that his city take steps toward reform In civIc affairs by adopting a form ot of government based upon the tho Galveston Idea with Im Improvements improvements suggested by obvious con conditions Out ot of that su suggestion grew the tho Des Moines plan Mr Berryhill being tho father ot of the tho movement Alderman McMaster ot of Galveston however must remain the Adam of the tho Idea for commission government The Tho lawn Iowa legislature passed a meas uro drawn up subsequent to this Berry BelTY Berryhill hill meeting which permitted cities of the first class to vote upon the adoption tion ot of the commission form torm ot of govern government ment Des Moines the state capital first adopted the new deal Then Ce Cedar Cedar dar Rapids and Keokuk followed The lawn Iowa law lass provides for the elec election tion of five commissioners by popular vote to serve two years ears These are the ani only officials In n the city They appoint or superintend the appointment ap appointment of and employees FoUr M bf th the men are call called ed councilmen The other Is called the mayor mayot But ho he Is s n a commissioner just Uko lIko the rest and Is a member ot of the tho council over which ho presides The mayor maor votes just ILS as the other councilmen do He Is denied the tho pow power er ot of veto Tho city government is divided Into five departments ono one commissioner being superintendent of each Under the tho present Des Moines administration the first since the tho com commission commission mission law went into effect Mayor A AJ I IJ J Mathis Is superintendent ot of the de department department ot of public affairs Council Councilman I Iman man Charl Charles s W V accounts and finances Councilman John L Hamery public safety Councilman John Mac lIac MacVicar Vicar streets and public improvements Improve I ments Councilman John Wesley Ash parks and public property I i Partisan polities politics appears to bo be di divorced divorced absolutely l from city elections and administration under the tho new form torm The law requires a direct primary primary mary for nomination ot of candidates Tho two highest candidates for mayor are put on the tho regular election ticket w th Instructions to vote for tor one The Tho eight highest candidates for council councilmen men are put on the ticket with In Instructions instructions to vote tel for four Only one ticket Is In the held field Personality not politics Is what counts Des Moines Is Isa isa a strongly Republican city yet Mayor Mathis Is a Democrat Councilman Ash was n a coal miner Councilman had served twice as mayor I under the old regime and has been president of the tho League of at American Municipalities The Tho mayor receives and the tho councilmen each n a year ear and the they must keep hours and attend to business Tho Iho Buffalo proposition provides for tor votes on first second and third choice CITIES NOW GOVERNED dY COMMISSION Nearly seventy T clean In Inthe the tho United Stites now are aro gov governed governed under th the system A At the tho first of at the year the list of cities so governed was compiled being the tho most nearly nearl completo lI t tup up to date Houston Palestine Waco Fort Worth Austin El EI Paso Dallas Dent Deni Denison Dentson son San Antonio Greenville Sherman Sharman Beaumont 10 ADes Moines Cedar Rapids Keokuk City Topeka To Topeka peka Co Coffeyville III c Leavenworth Wichita Independence Anthony Anthon MAS Her hill hili Gloucester Chelsea NORTH DAKOTA MIot Bismarck Mandan COLORADO Colorado Springs Grand Junction Enid Tulsa Bris Bristol tol Clarksville Rich Richard Richard ard CIt City Joseph SOUTH DAKOTA Sioux Falls Faits Lewiston NORTH lotte CALIFORNIA San Diego Berkele Berkeley Riverside NEW EW YORKMount Vernon for tor mayor maor It If a candidate gets a 3 ma majority of titled third choice votes over first or second choice votes for either ot of othis his two opponents he Is elected This Is a new wrinkle One or of m my Informants In Des Moines declares that not more mon than 1 per cent ot of the electors would vote against tro te commission plan On the other hand there thore Is considerable but this Is said to bl be chiefly among pull who have havo no chance for tor office I now I Government b by commission reduced to the tho ultimate analysis seems to 10 b bas bas I as close an approach to pure de li a small d remember as any theory ever put In practice anywhere Electricity as an American sur surgeons eons are arc discussing I and considering the use uso of electricity as an anaesthetic In surgical opera operations operations first used successfully Jan 24 21 at Hartford Conn b by a woman physician Dr Louise E of Parts Paris Dr n administered electric electricIty Ity to n a patient whose tots foes had been frozen necessitating the tho amputation or of four of them rho plan consists In sending an Interrupted current through tho affected part the tho rest or of the body not feeling the tho shock In the tho Hartford case CRe electrodes were applied to the tho nerves controlling the tho aff affected toes The man was blindfolded while his toes were being cut off He laughed and joked wl with h the tho doctors doctor he felt no pain whatever Some physicians believe bellevo that electrical anaesthesIa will supplant the tho powerful and perilous methods now In general use Land One Gallon an n Acre An eastern editor deeply deplores the tho recent transfer of acres or of land landIn In Texas for gallons ot of whisky ono one gallon per acre He writes stating that land has a peculiar Im hn Importance and dignity Whisky though It hath bath charms from some somo point ot of view Is highly objectionable from others and as a balance for Cor land In a abig abig big trade trado nothing could bo be less com comI I with the essential proprieties The Tha man who sells land for whisky makes malies a terribly bad bargain no mat matter matter ter how much whisk whisky he gets He could do so much good with the on one and can hardly help doing so much harm with the tho other that the trans transaction transaction action for tor a sensitive observer has an almost criminal air Men to Be Chesty Have Havo you ou heard the tho latest After Easter there thero will bo be a decided change In the apparel of fashionable men First of at all peg top trousers are arc doom doomed ed with the revival ot of what Is termed as the tho natural trousers These no ac according cording to the model appear to bl be a I medium between skin tight and amI bag baggy The sack or morning coat willi grow TOW shorter b by several inches j ty Inches will be the tho stylish st lIsh length i Shoulder padding like th tho peg eg top Is 15 also to become extinct and Instead of broad shoulders the dress dresser er will assume shoulders with witha n a hIgh chest lI ls means th that t what padding will still sUIi l maln will he be push pushed ed cd to the tho front giving tho weater a chesty chestn appearance The Tho Norfolk jacket will be revived In p popularity If the models have any anything anything thing to do with the selection of syles But the tho back will he bo gathered severely se sc verel verely and there must bo be at le least t three plaits on each side In front Then there Is another n ther new sack roat at Which has an Intersection oi of cloth of mar an inch WIde traversing the ho peak lapel Even the new fancy for spring has n a box effect It Is held to together I gether with buttons measuring five Inches 11 in circumference Another In Innovation innovation novation In the s sack ck suits Is a 11 ono one button sh shepherd plaid made mado up Into a single breasted coat which resembles Ute the coat n now w worn warn b by some somo of the militant suffragettes Embroidered waistcoats for tor evening dress will bo be shown ranging ng In c colors lors and white with dainty decora decorations decorations oi of needlework One waistcoat In particular seen on exhibition ree recently Is made mado In dark blue satin somewhat resembling a trellis for wistaria vines with flowers daintily worked out In light blue silk Polished black but buttons but buttons tons are to take tako the place of the old fashioned silk buttons on evening dress and amI shawl collars will plenty of while shirt bosom and waist waistcoat coa coat t Eleven States In Line Eleven states have 1110 passed laws per permitting cities to vote voto upon the adoption ot of the tho commission form of local goy gol i common commonly called the Des DesMoines Moines plan varying ar somewhat In each commonwealth These states are aro Tex I Ins ns as Iown |