tive plans were laid for the celebration
of the League's 50th anniversary.
* * *
The Iowa Taxpayers Association has
had a double celebration. October
marked the beginning of the Associa-
tion's tenth year of service and also
the one-hundredth consecutive month
of the issuance of the Iowa Taxpayer.
* * *
Budgets
"When is a budget not a budget?"
asks the Philadelphia Committee of
Seventy as the time approaches for
the City Council to prepare this most
important document. "For years," says
the Committee, "the annual budget of
the city of Philadelphia has been ar-
rived at by financial 'sleight-of-hand'
instead of sound business judgment. It
has, in fact, been a hodge-podge of
imagination, guesswork and wishful
thinking." The Committee points out
the many things the Council can do to
make the budget a sound document.
"It's time for every voter in this city
to take an active, intelligent interest in
the budget and so force Council to
give Philadelphia practical, business-
like financial management."
* * *
Democracy in the Schools
Results of an investigation made by
Earl C. Kelley, associate professor of
education at Wayne University, of the
extent of student participation in
school activities, have been announced
by Richard Welling, chairman of the
National Self Government Committee.
The inquiry covers 470 schools from
elementary through college level in 44
states, the District of Columbia and
the Canal Zone. It was intended to
show the progress made by students in
1944]
NEWS IN REVIEW
627
"learning democracy by living it."
Dr. Kelley reports that frequent in-
stances of "lack of faith" in the ability
of students to manage their own affairs
are revealed by the study. Replies to
the questionnaire suggest that some
teachers and principals are over-zealous
in their supervision. Warning that
"nothing, kills cooperative living so
quickly as lack of faith of one part of
society in another," Professor Kelley
points out that the over-supervised
student council often discourages
young citizens from any desire to par-
ticipate.
Student activities, the survey finds,
vary from maintaining order and
cleanliness in classrooms, lunchrooms
and playgrounds to managing extra-
curricular activities, scholastic finances
and assembly programs. In all, 36 sepa-
rate projects were undertaken by stu-
dents.
Dr. Kelley regards the sentiments
expressed and the tone of the re-
sponses as "encouraging." Many of
them reveal great faith in the capacity
and understanding of youth.
* * *
Fire Prevention
The Junior Chamber of Commerce of
Portland, Oregon, observed fire pre-
vention week by reminding Oregonians
that fire prevention is not a matter to
be confined to a single week but is a
continuing civic responsibility through-
out the year.
* * *
Postwar Planning
The National Civil Service Reform
League has established a National
Committee on Postwar Civil Service
Problems. Dr. Harry Woodburn Chase,
chancellor of New York University, is
chairman. Subcommittees will study
three major phases of postwar civil
service: (1) demobilization, reorgani-
zation and readjustments of personnel
in the national, state and local govern-
ments. Dr. Leonard D. White of the
University of Chicago, president of the
American Political Science Association,
is chairman; Dr. Edgar Dawson, pro-
fessor emeritus of history and social
science at Hunter College, New York,
is secretary. (2) A reasonable and
sound program of preferences for
veterans in the civil service; President
Robert L. Johnson of Temple Univer-
sity is chairman; Albert Smith Faught,
Philadephia attorney, secretary. (3)
Employer-employee relations in the
government services; Winston Paul,
chairman of the Board of Huyler's, will
act as chairman; Herman Feldman,
professor of industrial relations, Dart-
mouth College, secretary.
"A Citizens Workshop on Postwar
Planning" is what the Albany (New
York) City Club terms a series of seven
Monday evening meetings presented
by its Municipal Committee. Speakers
include representatives of the New
York State Postwar Public Works
Planning Commission, State Bureau of
Planning, State Division of Housing,
the Regional Plan Association of New
York City and planning commissions of
other New York cities.
* * *
Citizen Participation
The Oakland Citizens League (Ponti-
ac, Michigan), investigating the per-
centage of voters taking part in the
election of party delegates to county
political conventions, finds that "of the
registered voters who did bother to
participate in the primary less than 54
per cent made any attempt to in-
fluence their party by voting for dele-
gates." Less than 46 per cent of the
certified delegates actually received the
required minimum of ten votes. Where
candidates failed to receive the mini-
mum or where there was no candi-
date at all delegates were appointed
628
NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW
[December
by party committees. The League
comments :
"People generally realize good gov-
ernment depends on able and conscien-
tious public servants and that such
public servants come only through
good candidates. They do not seem to
appreciate the fact they cannot have
good candidates to choose from unless
the political parties select worthy
nominees for state and national offices
at their state and national conventions.
Citizens overlook the further fact that
the quality of candidates depends on
the quality of the delegates who nomi-
nate them and that these delegates
come from the county conventions sup-
posedly elected by the people."
Figures published in the Wisconsin
Taxpayer show that only 25 per cent
of the state's "potential voters" cast a
ballot at the 1944 primary election for
nomination of governor.
* * *
Radio
The Metropolitan Evening League of
the New York City League of Women
Voters is broadcasting its monthly
meetings over WEVD. Meetings are
held at the broadcasting studio and
are open to the public.
The text of each of the weekly "Tax-
payers Meeting of the Air," broadcast
every Tuesday over five local New Jer-
sey stations Newark, Asbury Park,
Atlantic City, Trenton and Bridgeton
- is being printed and distributed
through the state by the New Jersey
Taxpayers Association, under whose
auspices the broadcasts are conducted.
* * *
Machine Accounting
The county budget and finance com-
mittee of the Seattle Municipal League
has sent out a questionnaire to large
counties throughout the country in-
quiring about their use of machine
methods to collect taxes. Information
is asked on methods, costs, amount of
equipment and other facts for com-
parison with the procedure of the King
County Treasurer's office.
# * *
Research Committees
Listing its committees with their
chairmen in its weekly Bulletin, the
Chicago City Club asks its members to
"sign up" for active work on at least
one of them. Committees study such
subjects as city planning and housing,
constitutional revision, education, pub-
lic health, public personnel, taxation
and transportation.
* * *
Election Activity
Much of the literature of civic groups
issued during October and early No-
vember dealt with elections candi-
dates and issues on local, state and na-
tional fronts. Voters' directories were
issued by the Seattle Municipal League,
the Citizens Union of the City of New
York, the Minneapolis Research Bu-
reau, the Citizens League of Cleveland,
Detroit Civic League, Oakland Citizens
League, and the Civic Club of Allegheny
County. Some made recommendations,
others merely listed available informa-
tion regarding candidates.
Many organizations debated or
worked for or against constitutional
amendments and other ballot ques-
tions. The Seattle Municipal News car-
ried a series of analyses of the five
statewide measures on the Washington
ballot, giving arguments pro and con.
The Oregon Voter made recommenda-
tions on measures before the voters of
that state, as did the Cleveland Citizens
League on both state and local meas-
ures. The Portland City Club devoted
several luncheon meetings to discus-
sions of Oregon measures. Its Bulletin
carried the reports of club committees
which had studied ballot questions.
The California Taxpayers Associa-
tion, in its monthly publication The
1944]
NEWS IN REVIEW
629
Tax Digest, analyzed the various ballot
proposals before California voters, as did
the Los Angeles Town Hall in its Re-
port on Proposed Amendments to the
Constitution, Propositions and proposed
laws, Los Angeles Government Re-
search, Inc., and the San Francisco
Bureau of Governmental Research.
State and local ballot measures also
received the attention of the Baltimore
Citizens League, Lowell Taxpayers As-
sociation, Springfield Taxpayers Associ-
ation, and the Citizens League of Port
Huron.
State Leagues of Women Voters,
stressing the importance of the Con-
gress elected this November, published
the voting records of U. S. Senators
and Congressmen.
The City Club of Chicago made a
strong plea for volunteers to act as
watchers at the polls. It announced
that "men and women who have the
welfare of their state and nation at
heart are needed to serve." "The one
effective way which has been found to
combat election fraud," said the Club,
"is for honest, disinterested citizens to
serve as watchers in precincts where
there is reason to fear that election of-
ficials may be incompetent or dis-
honest."
The Voting Booth
No Place for Meditation
The King County voter who enters
the booth November 7 without know-
ing how he intends to vote undoubted-
ly is in for a very confusing two
minutes.
In that two minutes (the time
usually allowed for voting) he will cast
his ballot for 37 to 41 officers and six
to nine pieces of legislation, the num-
ber depending on his precinct. This
means that he will be swinging levers
or marking X's faster than one every
three seconds a brisk pace even for
the person who has studied the ballot.
Seattle Municipal News
Proportional Representation
Edited by George H. Hallctt, Jr.
(This department is successor to the
Proportional Representation Review)
P. R. Victories
in Three Cities
An Oregon City Pioneers
Repeal Attempts Repulsed
QN NOVEMBER 7 the city of
Marshfield, Oregon, (1940 popula-
tion 5,259) adopted a new charter pro-
viding for proportional representation
and the city manager plan by a vote
of 976 to 873. At the same time it
changed its name to Coos Bay.
Readers of this department will re-
member that a similar charter for a
proposed consolidated city of Coos Bay
was submitted a year ago to the voters
of the neighboring cities of Marshfield
and North Bend. Marshfield voters ap-
proved it but the smaller city of North
Bend turned it down. In view of the
expression in Marshfield steps were
taken to submit the new plan of gov-
ernment to its voters separately, with
the expected favorable result.
Under the new charter six council-
men and a mayor will be elected from
the city at large for terms of two
years at the regular election next fall
and every second year thereafter. The
councilmen will be elected by P. R. on
separate nonpartisan ballots under
rules based on those in the Model City
Charter of the National Municipal
League. Only ten signatures are to be
required on a nominating petition.
The mayor will be elected separately
by the Hare system of majority pref-
erential voting under rules which cor-
respond so far as possible to the P. R.
rules for the Council. Fifty signatures
will be required for nomination.
Vacancies in the Council will be
filled by a recount of the ballots cred-
630
NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW
[December
ited at the last election to the member
whose place has become vacant, as in
Cambridge, Lowell, and any other
Massachusetts cities which may adopt
P. R. as part of "Plan E." If the
mayor's office becomes vacant, it is to
be filled for the remainder of the term
by vote of the remaining members of
the Council.
The mayor will have no administra-
tive duties. He will serve as president
of the Council with a vote but no
power of veto. He and the six council-
men will be the only officers elected at
the polls. The Council will appoint a
city manager and a city judge for in-
definite terms and all other officers will
be appointed by the city manager. All
appointive officers will be subject to re-
moval by the appointing authority.
Next year's election will be the first
public election to be conducted by
P. R. in the state of Oregon and the
second on the Pacific coast. 1 Oregon
is the only state which mentions P. R.
in its constitution, having had a speci-
fic authorization ever since 1908, but
this is the first time it has been
adopted.
Hamilton Repels
Fourth Attack on P. R.
A majority of the voters of Hamilton,
Ohio, are still satisfied with P. R.,
which has helped this once machine-
ridden city to maintain a high level
of nonpartisan public service ever since
its first P. R. election in 1927. The vote
on November 7 on a proposed charter
amendment to repeal P. R. and substi-
tute nonpartisan election at large with-
1 Sacramento elected its city council
by P. R. in 1921 with strikingly good re-
sults, but before the second election was
due the California courts declared the
system unconstitutional. Two constitu-
tional amendments to remove the legal
barrier were submitted to the people of
California by the state legislature in
1932, but narrowly failed of adoption.
out primaries was 10,709 against repeal
and 8,042 in favor.
This was the fourth attack in Ham-
ilton on P. R., which local old-line
politicians and friends of good govern-
ment alike recognize as the heart of
the city's manager plan charter. One
such attack was repulsed at the polls
in 1929 and two more at separate elec-
tions in 1933. These votes, all by sub-
stantial margins, discouraged oppo-
nents of P. R for a long time, but this
year, with many new voters brought
in by the city's war industries, they
decided to try again.
The defense campaign was led this
year by a steering committee appoint-
ed by the Hamilton Nonpartisan Coun-
cil Committee and headed by Mrs.
J. Joseph Marr, president of the
Women's City Club, which had played
a large part in the charter's original
adoption. Mrs. Marr writes, in part:
"In my opinion this amendment was
brought about by the following causes:
"That the charter group in Hamilton
was almost completely disintegrated
and unorganized. As you know, we have
no Charter party in Hamilton. The
only organization of any kind relating
to the charter is a nominating com-
mittee, known as the Hamilton Non-
partisan Council Committee, which,
nominates candidates for council. As
shown by the election, the people of
Hamilton are satisfied with their char-
ter and protect it, but they are not
organized. Neither do they respond
greatly to any meetings called by the
nominating committee. There has been
in Hamilton during the past few years
a lack of interest shown by those for-
merly connected with the charter
group.
"That the people have had the char-
ter and the good conditions in the city
that resulted from the form of govern-
ment for so long that they accept them
as a matter of course and are no longer
1944]
NEWS IN REVIEW
631
aware of the fact that they have had an
almost unprecedented long period of ex-
cellent government. The bonded indebt-
edness of the city has been reduced
$2,000,000, or about $100,000 per year.
In September of this year we received
a reduction in our electric rate. Our
electric and gas utilities are entirely
paid for and the service with which
they are maintained is excellent. We
have one of the lowest tax rates for
cities of comparable size in the state
and are due for a further reduction
of about 25 per cent in 1947, when our
flood control should be paid for. The
city has not borrowed from banks in
approximately twelve years. Contrast
this with the record under the old
form of government and I think we
have done pretty well.
"We believe that the opposition to
P. R., the backers of the amendment,
were definitely political, and this was
a good time to present such an amend-
ment because of war conditions (we
have had a fair influx of new people
unacquainted with the city's history),
the fact that everyone is very busy,
this being a factory town, and that
more than ten years have gone by
since the last attempt and people who
clearly remember the city as it was 25
or 30 years ago are no longer so nu-
merous as they once were.
"As to the factors contributing to
the success of the election, I believe
they would be as follows:
"First and above all, the inherent
good sense of the people.
"Second, the determined stand of the
Women's City Club with its 800 mem-
bership. The women of Hamilton seem
to be charter conscious, mainly, I be-
lieve, through the efforts of this club.
"Third, the efforts of the newspaper,
the Hamilton Journal-News. It was faith-
ful in its editorials and news comment
and never failed to present any new
aspect of the situation that might oc-
cur during the campaign.
"Fourth, a little known and unsung
source of part of our success was the
cooperation of our schools. The higher
grades conducted P. R. elections, count-
ed the ballots and recorded the results,
but it was, of course, kept non-political
and was given on an educational basis.
"Labor in this city has always been
believed to be for the charter and
P. R., and since Hamilton is predom-
inantly labor I believe that it stood by
us this time. While the unions and
their leaders would make no definite
stand, such individual labor people to
whom I talked seemed to feel that
P. R. was their only chance to have
a councilman to represent them.
"There is a newspaper in the city
published and subscribed to by col-
ored people. This newspaper came out
in favor of P. R. and I believe helped
a very great deal to counteract the
opposition in the Second Ward, where
most of the colored people live. We
lost this ward but believe that we
would have lost it by a larger majori-
ty had we not had the support of the
Negro voter, since this ward also con-
tains some active opposition to P. R."
Mrs. Marr also pays tribute to an in-
tensive advertising campaign worked
out by Francis Gerhart, advertising
manager of the Champion Paper and
Fibre Corporation; to Walter J. Mill-
ard, veteran P. R. campaigner and field
secretary of the Proportional Repre-
sentation League, who made two trips
from nearby Cincinnati for a Women's
City Club meeting and a talk on the
radio; and to the information and lit-
erature sent by the National Munici-
pal League.
The Cincinnati Post, congratulating
the people of Hamilton editorially on
November 9, quoted a significant para-
graph from an earlier editorial in the
Hamilton Journal:
632
NATIONAL MUNICIPAL REVIEW
[December
P. R. will always put a minority
representation in Council. P. R. isn't
like the old form of balloting. It
won't let POLITICAL GANG CON-
TROL take over a city without hav-
ing somebody on guard. So let's re-
member WHO doesn't want P. R.
and WHO is fighting to get P. R.
out of the charter.
Long Beach Overwhelms
Reactionary Charter
The "politicians' charter," described
in this department in October, propos-
ing to repeal P. R. and the city man-
ager plan before they go into effect a
year hence, was rejected by the voters
of Long Beach, Long Island, on No-
vember 7 by a vote of 3,168 to 1,935.
The proposal was defeated in eight of
the nine wards, in four of them by
margins better than two to one, and
carried only in the Second Ward,
which is the home of many city em-
ployees.
In spite of the national election the
charter fight was the talk of the town.
Five-sixths as many Long Beach votes
were cast in deciding it as in the presi-
dential contest itself. A Democratic
candidate for the new Long Beach seat
in the State Assembly who had been a
member of the offending charter com-
mission was defeated by the Repub-
lican leader, Joseph F. Carlino, who
vigorously attacked the proposed char-
ter, even though the city is overwhelm-
ingly Democratic and went for Presi-
dent Roosevelt by a vote of 4,117 to
2,023 for Governor Dewey.
The successful defense was led by the
nonpartisan Long Beach Citizens Union
and its energetic founder and chairman,
Albert A. Arditti, who also led the
campaign for the adoption of P. R. and
the manager plan a year ago. They
were supported by one of the two local
newspapers, the Long Beach Independ-
ent, and opposed by the rival paper
which receives all the city's advertis-
ing. The attempt at repeal was led by
the local Democratic organization and
its city administration, which was fur-
ther discredited by the indictment of
the city clerk on a charge of misappro-
priation of funds shortly before the
election.
The advocates of repeal centered
their attack on P. R., while the de-
fenders carried the fight to their op-
ponents with a thorough-going attack
on the proposed weak mayor and ward
council charter, which was defective in
form as well as substance. They did
not neglect the opportunity for further
education in the value of P. R. and the
manager plan, however, and ran a se-
ries of articles and talks on the benefits
secured in other places. Richard S.
Childs, chairman of the New York
Citizens Union and chairman of the
Council of the National Municipal
League, addressed the final campaign
rally.
The decisive nature of the victory
holds out a happy augury for the first
P. R election next year.
Baltimore Charter Commission
Considers P. R.
On July 17, 19 and 21 the official
Advisory Committee on Charter Re-
vision for the city of Baltimore, which
has not yet reported held public hear-
ings on proportional representation
and the manager plan of government,
proposals which are being actively sup-
ported by the Baltimore Citizens
League.
At the second of these hearings, New-
bold Morris, president of the New
York City Council, testified in support
of P. R. on the basis of New York's
experience with the system in four
municipal elections.
Baltimore needs P. R. as obviously
as any city. The Citizens Bulletin, pub-
lished by the Citizens League, gives
the 1943 vote by parties as Democrats
67,370, Republicans 50,452. Yet the 43
per cent Republican minority did not
win a single seat and the 57 per cent
Democratic majority elected the entire
Council.
1944]
633
County and Township
Edited by Elwyn A. Mauck
Optional Law May Now Be
Enacted by the Legislature
A T the November 7 election the voters
of Oregon adopted an amendment
to their constitution permitting the leg-
islature to enact a county manager law
under which counties may organize if
their voters approve. The unofficial
vote was 172,214 to 152,192.
The amendment is one of the best
optional form amendments to be found
in any state. It contains no reserva-
tions whatsoever. It reads: "Whenever
the legislative assembly of the state
of Oregon shall provide by law the
means and method therefor, the legal
voters of any county in this state by
majority vote of such electors who
shall vote thereon at any legally called
election, hereby are authorized to adopt
a county manager form of government,
and thereupon any and all of the
county offices, whether the same shall
be provided for by the constitution or
otherwise provided by law, may be
abolished and their powers and duties
vested in an elective commission and
a county manager elected or appointed
in the manner provided by law."
Constitutional elective officers which
the new amendment permits to be
abolished include county clerk, treas-
urer, sheriff, coroner and surveyor. It
is generally conceded that the council
in the new form of county govern-
ment will be given limited legislative
powers as cities now have.
Much of the credit for passage of
the amendment belongs to the Oregon
League of Women Voters which was
also largely responsible for securing its
passage by both houses of the legisla-
ture in 1943. There was no concerted
newspaper campaign for the amend-
ment but various individual editors
throughout the state were active in
pointing out the need for it. The City
Club of Portland also supported the
amendment. The Club's committee
which studied it asked that a commit-
tee be appointed to explore the sub-
ject of manager government for Mult-
nomah County.
Oregon becomes the eleventh state /