erior 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.
The running expenses of Galveston under the commission plan have
been reduced one-third. In Houston it costs $12,800 a year less to
run the water and light plants than formerly, while by a combination
of work in the different departments there is a saving of $9,000
annually. In Cedar Rapids, since the adoption of the commission
plan, there has been a reduction in the paving contracts let of ten
and one-fifth per cent, in sewerage contracts, fourteen and
two-sevenths per cent, and in water contracts, twenty per cent.
Immediately after the adoption of the commission plan in Des Moines
the annual cost of each arc-light was reduced five dollars. Reports
from all the cities using the commission