Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 71, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 December 1912 — Page 2 Advertisements Column 3 [ADVERTISEMENT]

HUE BUSINESS SYSTEM.OF GOVERNMENT 11! i FOR, INDItfiA CITIES PUBLISHED BY THE BUSINESS SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT STATE COMMITTEE OF THE INDIANA FEDERATED COMMERCIAL CLUBS.

v SERIAL NO. 3. The Board of Administration. In the Business System of Government for Indiana Cities the Board of Administration is the operating branch. Its functions are and executive. It consists of five departments, and at the head pf each is a Commissioner, one of whom is the Mayor. These departments are: Public Affairs. Public Revenue and Finance. Streets, Public Property and Improvements. Public Safety. Health and Sanitation.

The Mayor is ex-offibio head of the department of Public Affairs, and each of the other Commissioners is in charge of the department to which he is designated. The Board of Administration is not an elective body. It is appointed by the Board of Councilors, which board also fixes the salaries of the members of the Board of Administration. The Commissioners of Administration are appointed for terms of four years, but may hold office at the pleasure of the Board of Councilors, and in this way Ipng tenure is assured if the Commissioners give satisfaction.

All of the affairs of the municipality are in the hands of the Board of Administration. It passes the ordinances, subject to approval by the Board of Councilors, carries on all public work and executes the laws. It Is required to appoint a City Clerk, Police Judge and a City Attorney. It is empowered to create all other of-' flees and places of employment in the 1 executive branch, to fill the same by appointment and to fix the salaries of appointees, as well as to discontinue such offices and places (tnd dis- i miss such officials and employes. The Commissioners in their executive ca- ! pacity have all responsibility, but with abundant authority and ample powers to sustain and discharge that' responsibility, Yet, the entire Board of Administration and each member of it is immediately responsible to the Board of Councilors and may be summarily removed for stated cause: \ The Mayor and each Commissioner' is selected because of his special fitness and capacity for his place. The Commissioners enter office with no obligation but their duty to the city. Political influence did not place them ■ and it cannot remove them. Neither partisan bossism npr special interests can get anything of them. They must appoint, retain and advance subordinate officials and city employes' under a merit system enforced by a non-partisan board of Civil Service Commissioners, and franchises and other public grants and privileges must be approved by the Board of douncilors and finally confirmed by the people. Thus the Board of Administration is held strictly to its functions of managing pie affairs of the city. To continue in office the Mayor and the Commissioners must give efficiency of management. The tenure of their offices will depend not on what happens in an election, but upon their services to the community and the degree of satisfaction they create in the minds of the people. It is through the Board of Administration that results will be shown. It will operate in the field where the science of government and the sci- | ence of business can work .together,' each the complement of the other, and so render the service and achieve the ’ progress the people tax themselves to ! procure.

Long Tenure of Office.

In the Business System of Government for Indiana Cities the long tenure of office is a principle. It is only through continuing service that efficiency can be obtained and increased. Because of the uncertainties of tenure high grade men decline to enter public office. Indiana, among other states, has attempted to end the abuses of politics in the- government of cities by forbidding mayors, councilmen and other elective officials to be their own successors. This recognizes and admits that the curse of city government is partisan politics. The mistake was in trying to correct an evil by outlawing consequences instead of killing the root from which the evil grows. It has done no good to forbid officials the opportunity to make themselves more useful by larger experience. On the theory that all officials are bad and can do less harm in one term than in two, the tenure has been limited. The only result has been to keep cities under the management of inexperienced men. The Business System of Government lays the foundation for continuing service and the development of expertness in local affairs by a form of rule which at the outset prohibits any recognition of political parties and forbids their activity as such in city election. The elective officials are chosen by non-partisan ballot. They may be re-elected as the people want them. The entire operating branch of the government is appointed and it may hold office so long as its works command public approval. The spoilsman’s cry, “If office is a good thing, pass it around ” is silenced. Office is treated as a public trust, a public employment, not as loot. Results of the one-term tenure in Indiana disprove the claim that it can exterminate the evils of politics and ridicule the contention that the people need periodical opportunity to overhaul their government. The people need unremitting opportunity to

For further information address BUSINESS SYSTEM COMMITTEE, Fort Wayne, Ind.