Large Council for City Government

Professor Joseph H. Beale, Jr., '82, of the Law School, spoke in the Living Room of the Union last night under the auspices of the Political Club on "Government of Cities by Commission."

Municipal government by commission will only be successful, he said, when a large proportion of the constituency has become interested, and when a good-sized and capable city council has been secured, to which the commission must be responsible. Then and only then can government by commission be introduced with real success.

Our present commission system of city government dates from the Galveston flood, when that city adopted it in her crisis. In Iowa the city of Des Moines has taken it up, and Newport, with a council of 200 men from her five wards, is a very successful example.

One of the great arguments of those who favor the commission of a few men is that the voter has a better hold on them, and that they can be more intelligently elected. The great body of voters are really ignorant of actual municipal problems, and the only true reform lies in some broadening method of getting the people into closer touch with the city business. The more members of the council, the better the government will be, because more voters will know of its actions. The New England town meeting is the simplest and best form, because of its extreme personal relations. The German cities have perhaps the best municipal government with universal but not equal suffrage. When we can substitute intelligent suffrage for their system of suffrage based on property, we will have a successful municipal government by commission.