Pueblo Surely Needs It (1911)
Volume LXIX Number 123 All Editorials, Unless Otherwise Signed, by R.M. M'Clintock, Editor
Pueblo Surely Needs It
"IF ANY CITY in the United States need the commission form of city government that city would certainly seem to be Pueblo. For several years the city's finances have been growing constantly worse. All administrations of both parties have seemed unable to stop the leak. In fact, no one seems to have a very definite idea of what the trouble is, - why Pueblo's expenditures should constantly run ahead of her income or why such a high tax should be necessary. Certainly the city's improvements do not justify the big expenditures."
"There is a growing conviction that the trouble is not so much in the character of the officials as it is in the form of the government which breeds laxity and carelessness in administration, and which makes it impossible to locate responsibility. The mayor, of course, is usually blamed, but the mayor, under the present system, has but little to do with the administration of the city's affairs. His hands are tied."
"The Chieftain believes the blame for present conditions rests directly upon the people. If taxes are high, and if the city's money is extravagantly expended, the fault is the people's. They decide what the city's government shall be. It is a perfectly easy matter to substitute for the present inefficient & expensive system a system under which efficiency and economy will rule."
"The people of Pueblo will have the opportunity on April 4 to say whether they desire a continuance of the present regime of high taxes and divided responsibility, or whether they will install a new system, under which it will be possible to place the responsibility for every ordinance and every expenditure and under which it will be possible to effect great economics in municipal government."
"Every person who considers taxes in Pueblo too high certainly ought to vote for the adoption of the commission system of government."
Two Excellent Features
"There are two excellent features of the commission form of government as adopted in Des Moines and most other cities that have adopted this modern business system of municipal government, that should certainly be adopted in Pueblo also if the city votes in favor of the system."
"Another excellent feature of the commission system is the publication, at stated periods of all the transactions of the commissioners. Publicity is one of the greatest possible deterrents to extravagance. Even graft itself quails when confronted with the necessity of publishing its proceedings. There cannot well be too much publicity in municipal affairs. The letting in of the light drives out darkness. Newspaper and printing bills amount to a good deal, of course, - but they save tenfold more than they cost."
"Civil service for all employes and publicity of all transactions will go far in themselves to make Pueblo's government efficient. Yet they are only two of the business-like features of the commission system."
COUNTRY IS WITH TAFT
"President Taft has at least given official notice that there will be an..."
Pueblo Surely Needs It
"IF ANY CITY in the United States need the commission form of city government that city would certainly seem to be Pueblo. For several years the city's finances have been growing constantly worse. All administrations of both parties have seemed unable to stop the leak. In fact, no one seems to have a very definite idea of what the trouble is, - why Pueblo's expenditures should constantly run ahead of her income or why such a high tax should be necessary. Certainly the city's improvements do not justify the big expenditures."
"There is a growing conviction that the trouble is not so much in the character of the officials as it is in the form of the government which breeds laxity and carelessness in administration, and which makes it impossible to locate responsibility. The mayor, of course, is usually blamed, but the mayor, under the present system, has but little to do with the administration of the city's affairs. His hands are tied."
"The Chieftain believes the blame for present conditions rests directly upon the people. If taxes are high, and if the city's money is extravagantly expended, the fault is the people's. They decide what the city's government shall be. It is a perfectly easy matter to substitute for the present inefficient & expensive system a system under which efficiency and economy will rule."
"The people of Pueblo will have the opportunity on April 4 to say whether they desire a continuance of the present regime of high taxes and divided responsibility, or whether they will install a new system, under which it will be possible to place the responsibility for every ordinance and every expenditure and under which it will be possible to effect great economics in municipal government."
"Every person who considers taxes in Pueblo too high certainly ought to vote for the adoption of the commission system of government."
Two Excellent Features
"There are two excellent features of the commission form of government as adopted in Des Moines and most other cities that have adopted this modern business system of municipal government, that should certainly be adopted in Pueblo also if the city votes in favor of the system."
"Another excellent feature of the commission system is the publication, at stated periods of all the transactions of the commissioners. Publicity is one of the greatest possible deterrents to extravagance. Even graft itself quails when confronted with the necessity of publishing its proceedings. There cannot well be too much publicity in municipal affairs. The letting in of the light drives out darkness. Newspaper and printing bills amount to a good deal, of course, - but they save tenfold more than they cost."
"Civil service for all employes and publicity of all transactions will go far in themselves to make Pueblo's government efficient. Yet they are only two of the business-like features of the commission system."
COUNTRY IS WITH TAFT
"President Taft has at least given official notice that there will be an..."
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