Experience Has Proved It Good (1911)
"Not one solid substantial objection has been urged against the commission form of city government that will stand the light of investigation. The only objection that can possibly be made is that it give the people too much power over their own government. Men who make money out of exploiting the people don't like the commission form of government. They don't like to give the people too close supervision because they have schemes for their own selfish advantage that they don't want the people to interfere with."
"Nine times out of ten the men who object to the commission form of city government are men who stand to make something from the people through the continuation of the present system. When you hear a man or a newspaper or an organization preaching against the commission system, or say other feature of popular government, just make a quiet search of that man's connections and you will almost invariable find that he has acute corporation affiliation that gives him an interest in keeping the people from ruling."
"Or else he is a politician. Politicians as a rule don't like the commission system, because it absolutely does away with partisan politics in municipal elections. It destroys machines and thrown many an undeserving but clever politician out of a fat job."
"Men who are serving some interest, or politicians who want to preserve the machine and its rich pickings, are the two classes who object to the commission form of government. In so objecting, naturally, they furnish one of the strongest possible arguments for the system. It is pretty well understood that the corporations and the politicians grow rich off the people's money. They wouldn't object to a scheme that would allow them greater opportunities to annex wealthy. That they do most strenuously object to the commission system is proof positive to discerning observers that the commission system is a bad thing for hem. And, if it is a bad thing for them, is it a sign that it is a good thing for the people."
"Against the objections of corporations, servants and politicians stands out this one great and incontrovertible argument in favor of the commission system: that out of he now almost one hundred cities that have adopted the system, NOT ONE WOULD RETURN O THE OLD SYSTEM."
"There can be no stronger recommendation than that which comes from experience. The commission system is not a beautiful & impracticable theory. It has been tested in practice and found good."
"In the campaign that has now been begun in Pueblo, this argument should be kept constantly in mind, in answer to all the objections that will be used against the system by various interested parties."
"NOT ONE CITY IN THE UNITED STATES THAT HAS ADOPTED THE COMMISSION SYSTEM WOULD UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES RETURN TO THE OLD SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT. THE COMMISSION SYSTEM HAS "MADE GOOD."
~Pueblo Chieftain, 1911
"Nine times out of ten the men who object to the commission form of city government are men who stand to make something from the people through the continuation of the present system. When you hear a man or a newspaper or an organization preaching against the commission system, or say other feature of popular government, just make a quiet search of that man's connections and you will almost invariable find that he has acute corporation affiliation that gives him an interest in keeping the people from ruling."
"Or else he is a politician. Politicians as a rule don't like the commission system, because it absolutely does away with partisan politics in municipal elections. It destroys machines and thrown many an undeserving but clever politician out of a fat job."
"Men who are serving some interest, or politicians who want to preserve the machine and its rich pickings, are the two classes who object to the commission form of government. In so objecting, naturally, they furnish one of the strongest possible arguments for the system. It is pretty well understood that the corporations and the politicians grow rich off the people's money. They wouldn't object to a scheme that would allow them greater opportunities to annex wealthy. That they do most strenuously object to the commission system is proof positive to discerning observers that the commission system is a bad thing for hem. And, if it is a bad thing for them, is it a sign that it is a good thing for the people."
"Against the objections of corporations, servants and politicians stands out this one great and incontrovertible argument in favor of the commission system: that out of he now almost one hundred cities that have adopted the system, NOT ONE WOULD RETURN O THE OLD SYSTEM."
"There can be no stronger recommendation than that which comes from experience. The commission system is not a beautiful & impracticable theory. It has been tested in practice and found good."
"In the campaign that has now been begun in Pueblo, this argument should be kept constantly in mind, in answer to all the objections that will be used against the system by various interested parties."
"NOT ONE CITY IN THE UNITED STATES THAT HAS ADOPTED THE COMMISSION SYSTEM WOULD UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES RETURN TO THE OLD SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT. THE COMMISSION SYSTEM HAS "MADE GOOD."
~Pueblo Chieftain, 1911
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