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"•iSJfi&'V THE LAKE SH( later, no matter what they wish. Wilmette, in common with other vil- lages, started out with the village form of government, when conditions were decidedly different from what _they are today^Public_affaira in those days involved the expenditure of "'only small amounts, and the community was so small that every public matter was discussed fully between neigh- Violations of law ~were insignificant, and the necessary ^machinery of government so- smiple ^haT^TTew~Ticirf^~tim^~^>f-^«y--public ^Jofflcial every month was sufficient to :,3meet the public needs. isfi. Original Idea /Still in Force. ^|S ^.^ ^r •> The origThaTm^^ lllpitjf government provides a. legislative "department consisting ^)f six trustees, _presjded- over by a president, who is 2also„ thel^x^cunve upon whom rests the responsibility of seeing to the proper carrying out dfzthe ordinances ^oT^tIre~village=and-tlie-expendituFe of bjjc funds. ,'.'*'■•' to think this division of responsibility would be excellent. rtVToday we are getting along;; with an executive at $500 per year. The public affairs of thejrillage dO not receive thelitfen^ tion which the affairs!of a business corporation of equal size would re- ceive because no man is paid a salary which justifies a really broad minded and competent man giving it his full bors ana any action whfch wasiaken--Hin«-and-attention^aJidjnakinj^ajeal ~w^^te-result-Of_the_ combinedTjudg-' study of the needs of the village. One ment of everyone good maTT^onrna living salary--eould-f give this village an administration that we would be proud of. Fnr niany^'ears--the-president re- ceived a salary of five hundred dollars clerk at $300 per year, a treasurer I at $500 per year, a superintendent of -public works at" $1,200 per year, a -yii^ lace collector at $1000 per year- an assistant•.:_ai_$_900_per" year and a large ;M corps of employes in the police de- »• part ment, the street department, etc.; '<■-■;' etc. • .' Village Spends $150,000 Annua4+yv The^ village expends prdinarily in ^excess of $150^)00 per-year, ofwhic"h probably less- than one-third comes ..from general "taxes. The board ofi ~--Why Not Business Manager? ..__"- At a meeting of the plans commis- sion of Wilmette, held recently, an • >xtract from an exhaustive report on the results of the commission form of Toverhinerit in other cities was read, liuwhich'the .statement was? made that to make the commissionJ^nn^)f_gov- •^rnment effective the commission must select a business manager. Now, iilhejiighest efficiency under the com- nH^sion form-canumlyllbe'."obtained by i business "manager, why install the commission format all with._a.ll its ■umbersome. machinery? The present a year. In addition, we have a vtnwgezi^Ja4Stiittx>jney says we cannot legal 'y employ -a business manager. Be hat as itTnilyT^maTiy villages are now Joing iU^ml U' we oannoi do it prop- erly in any other way, we can at 'east elect as president of the village i man ^yho will agree to act as busi- ness manager and who will give the; l'age his entire time. In this way, t livist wi'piih get an effective sys- . '---'"-'T-Hfifl^tf^IV.- *m.i4 ; Thei'f^s : an- old -saying that "A| r\- broom sweeps clean," and there i no doubt that the installation--of i±i_£mnm issLion^c)im;:j>f_^)vernment a Iegisrniive~b6dy. a body before which§S'oul,d arouse pubTTF^sentiTin-nF ami, every little-/complaint is taken andff" r a".'time at least, we cOUld hope for Ltbeli^44«w*~is-<^n^ume^ improvement in some lines and t"rti srees 1i a s- ^ecofiM^n rrafTdl7Tmv=KF ^'matters which are not legislative in j <^<>re puffiic Intere.sTTn-village aTa+rs. • v any .sense. - , V, _.-___ " "|"'.Th" diseussion^whicli an election is to bring will, of itself, be bene- 1 a tr.-rl r\ r^mff+meht--olHrftV^SllH-t is in TlTT^lTainlsTTrTr^'ilia '.rc^rmrnr v-j£^'^ "1U^ who is paj(F $200' per year in sahiry ' '^mrlll be; gi'tul to have the~eleetion. "Tnul severai-^housnml dollars in fees,=]=Ji oiclur for the -public to iiUorm^ftself largely from special assessment cases. | '.ui^jllagj'••affairs^. The adoption ""of A number of years ago Highland iilu'_ direct prinijiry f in. llUniuiL~_baii4. JPaj^jchanged fronrTh^^vTTTal^TToThT^^ tJ of government to the city form in 'or inieTTrTjf-rAl^tmg-^fte^ ihe men in cilice' atul'not on the sys- ^-,^___-Hire One Good Man?'^7n:v"i% rary public interest nor new laws 3: -Jorder to seem re greater efik4t^ey7^md4^-^ xluinjfe^^eo^ g^nowTKts agjijTTjlgnrgeaVro^ftT^ ;tking_o.f. good laws and1-he en- sion form, by rT^mr~(^"tT»7rTity^£bTi« V; 'proving unsatisfactory. We are now .^ asked to adopt the commission form, Must Have Head. ■ SBSrffl^ Any large corponujonv\expend7nar jhe amount of; money annually which ^Wflniette^expendsT would undoubtedly^ be managed by a board of directors ^ jwho would lay out the general policy f0to be pursued. ^On the other lfand.lt ^^wonldjiaye an_^xjecutiye head; be his ;:.name president, general manager, or gfe|business manager, who would carry UsSout 'the general policy adopted by the S board. Corporations long ago dis- ^covered^-trbat some man" must be so ^.situated that his first attention, ■;: thought -anti best effort; will always be given to .the busihess of the corpo- ration Good judgment would seem to indi- cate that our village would be bene- ifltedLh>; foi]e^ng^what_Jias^ proved so successful inJJie_bjJsiness world". ~We ^cannot expect any of Our village offi- cials., on their present salaryr-+o make the^business of the village their first and only thought. The first thing in which Ui£_coni^ mission form seems to appeal to the pubTic is that th^imimUssjoners are efectedfrcMn the community as a whole instead ~o? froni ward«ras in a "clly.' Inasmuch as the village form of gov- ernment has' this system in the selec- tion of trustees, Wilmette will gain ^l^nothing" from this feature, which was --c ffhe^main reason for changing to the ;;g comnrissron form: in many cities where ip the con\missionSii:form has been i, adepted Referendum oh Franchicesr-^-r^f aig/The^ecpmlj^ason why the conmfis^ |f::""sion." form of .goyernmenFseemsTcTaiF pealr to many people is the fact .that all franchises must be submitted to a vote_4?f .the people before becoming effective,^ and all. ordinary ordinances may be recalled at any time within thirty days by a referendum vote, and, consequently, the public has a more jrhere^ certainly are good features in this provision, bUt™IT~Ihis be the ^nnly_reaaQn for adopting the-eommia ■ «'f>n f"r"y of p"»frnnietit it peems to ^me that we might be able to accom- *; pii^Umt^chajig^^witJioxit^aii^^ ^sion form, however, is the division of "responsibility, by whielt the-flve mem- bers or t&e "commission each are re- ] sponsible for one phase or division Pro- After giving the matter cori<ider- __!__2;'tudy and thought-. I am of the■[ ~jvf"1en tlvu-. in WHmette^t least. v»d .'V get better "TesTTITs To~\\ire cine, v ird man and'-pav him a living salary, nl hoM-him responsible fox the,.cojl-, '<" t of village affairs, than to select v<> men. none of .whom wilT give his '•rt.ire time to. public affairs, and who •in shift responsibility, if they choose, ully and completely as now. In other words,~a commission form >f government is, in" my opinion, a step ^Tckward, or_at~Ieast ^iot^in-the_dlrec-: '-"oh of the.■ geratest good to the public. W.e would pay-five men fully as much "■-"one pood man would cost, to whom •v could look for constant service. Thiinjjs^another old snying, "If you >iave one nian^ you Jhave .him, if-you Vive, two- you have]"'; half, a man, •nd if you have three^ you haveTSone Tall." This -merelylis an exaraplgjof precisely what I have been trying'."to -^•^ Let us think carefully before we -imploy_fixe_anen. to do Jsth&L_one, man •an do better, and retain the village Vl»rd as an advisory and legislative "'MVly, who, like a board of directors, ^ill seelhatjhejpresident, or business manager, or whateverTTe be calTed, is v.ept up to his duties and given proper, Hlvice and counser in all important /yatters. :Z~~Z '~- T ^ ^^7Tr~::" -^.s'^ William S. Freeman. ? THE OREHANS* CHRISTMAS, (conthiued from page 1) iappy With red-cheeked new dolls. Another happy quartette was enter- ' lined at the village movies and fitted "t with caps, shoes and other warm Jr thing. They-really-^wanted lace ' iioes, so they will have^ to geniie|y .. . , Mtton slioes exchanged. None of the _direc^rc^cemthe_government than^Hi^^^ant^ to home. A ,at. ISIIhfilpxessnQnne;-- til-eyed bov of ^letfeii "wrishedr-lie __ould stay a week," and he wanted lislriehdsT too. "But I have no room _2r.-;twe little^ovs^jijsl^hiistmas lady 4d-hinC- - Would Sleep on the Floor. . 's all right, we caff sleep n the floor," the little fellow answered The third and" most' important 'wpefuily. "Why, sometimes we just -c^a^ge~br6U^ht^ ahoUtHt>y^the eomnais----It_jt_the_dinner table and never peaTTir woroTr^ouIdn'l^Tou he-lone- ome? __________ -^?fov4 nevex^wtroM get Jdne^^evt oTllir bUlitoe^F^otthe-Trillage vided Wilmette were large enough so that the business of the village would take all the time of five good men to?superintend thesame,1 amincline«ii^^ring^vhisjweek's vacation^^ Shoes vnd I've just gotten enough good feel ig today to last a week," and his big, >rown eyes danced. His hostess says hose brown eyes haunt her, and the ittle chap shall come to stay with her