the
Forensic League of the State University of Iowa.

_Resolved_, That American Cities Should Adopt a Commission Form of
Government.

Mr. Clarence Coulter, the first speaker on the Affirmative, said:

It is not my purpose to picture the shame of American cities; that
is well known; but I am to consider only those evils due to the
present form of municipal government, an organization based on the
separation of the powers into the legislative, executive, and
judicial departments. The proper remedy for these evils will be
secured only by adopting a form which concentrates the entire
authority of city government in one definite and responsible body.

It is a significant fact, that during the last quarter of a century,
the tendency in municipal organization has been toward concentration
of powers. Certain of our cities have recognized the wisdom of such
action, but have unwisely attempted to concentrate only the
executive power whereas the real solution lies in concentrating all
governmental authority in one definite and responsible body.

New York City tried such a plan and it has failed; failed because
its separate legislative department has proved an obstruction to
effective action. Consequently, there has been a continual tendency
to deprive the council of all power, until today its only function
is to vote on franchises and issue certain licenses. So evident is
the imperative need of concentrating the legislative and
administrative powers in one body, that there is now a charter
revision committee meeting in New York whose great object is to
consider the advisability of entirely eliminating the separate
council, and creating in its place a small commission possessing
both legislative and administrative authority. Practically the same
condition obtains in the city of Boston.

What is true of New York and Boston is equally true of scores of
other cities. Memphis tried for years to reform her government with
an isolated council. Today she is clamoring at the doors of her
legislature for a commission charter. Within the past two years more
than a dozen states have provided for a commission form of
government, while within the past year more than a dozen cities have
actually thrown away their old forms and assumed the commission
system.

The success of a separate legislative body in