In Houston the government was both inefficient and dishonest.  For years the annual expenditures had exceeded the income a hundred thousand dollars.  The city adopted a commission form and a four hundred thousand dollar floating debt was paid off in one year out of the ordinary income of the city.  At the same time the city’s taxes were reduced ten per cent.  In the health department alone there is a saving of from $100 to $150 per month, while a combination in the operation of the garbage crematory and pumping station saves the city $6,000 annually.  These results have been accomplished under a commission plan by the application of common, everyday business principles.

Galveston adopted a commission plan, and although its taxable values were reduced twenty-five per cent by the storm of 1900, yet within six years its commissioners not only put the city on a cash basis, made improvements costing $1,000,000 annually, but actually paid off a debt of $394,000 which had been incurred by the old council, and all this was accomplished without borrowing a dollar, issuing a bond, or increasing the rate of taxation.  Other cities which have adopted a commission plan are accomplishing equally as beneficial results.  Hence, we maintain that the commission form of city government is superior from the standpoint of efficiency in administration.

The commission plan is superior in administration for it is adapted to the city’s financial problem.  The same body of men are held responsible for the levying and collecting of taxes and for the spending of the money.  This is desirable because the administrative body which is to spend money knows, accurately, the city’s need of revenue.  They are in a position to know; it is their business.  A legislative body, whether council or a board, cannot know the city’s needs for money without getting the facts from the administrative body.  F.R.  Clow says the council does not pretend to know the city’s revenue problem and they adopt the recommendation of the administrative departments.  The Negative’s system of division of powers simply divides the responsibility between the legislative and administrative departments for the thing which in fact has been done by the administrative department itself.  Since the administrative department really dictates the budget, it should be held directly responsible for it.  Therefore, we contend that the commissioners, knowing best what the budget should contain because as administrators they know the city’s need for money, are the body of men preeminently fitted to handle the city’s budget.

The commission plan is adapted to the city’s financial problem because it fosters economy.  Economy is the result of understanding.  The commissioners knowing the city’s government, not from the administrative side alone, but from the legislative side as well, are in a position to economize and in practice they have done so.