On the other hand, a few outstanding men served Wichita under aldermanic government. Finlay Ross was mayor from 1897-1900 and from 1905-1906. "Few men if any, had the welfare of Wichita more at heart than Finlay Ross. To the day of his passing he followed civic affairs with the greatest interest and frequently made excellent suggestions. Riverside Park is a lasting memorial and monument to his love and devotion to Wichita."

Of B.F. McLean, mayor from 1901-1904 and city commissioner from 1921-1924, his pastor said, "During forty-three years I never knew him to do a wrong deed." He was noted for his generosity, fairness and ability. Unfortunately, the influence of a few farsighted and honest men was not sufficient to counteract the "honest graft" and general civic demoralization of the period.

Particularly objectionable conditions existed the last ten years of aldermanic government. The aldermen elected to the council were elected two from each ward and not the whole city. This resulted in trading among the aldermen. Improvements became costly and frequently unnecessary. Graft became rampant. Of the twelve aldermen, at least five or members of their families held contracts with the city. They voted themselves the contracts. James Burton arranged to give paving contracts to his son; A.J. Waddell, a carpenter, built the forms for the laying of the pavement; James Rice, a bricklayer, built the manholes to the sewer pipes; J.Y. Baghy, furnished feed to the fire department and W.F. Schell, a nursery-men furnished all the necessary shrubbery and trees to the city. These men were all city aldermen, holding office, for the most part, during the last ten years of mayor-council government. Schell and Waddell also had sons at this time were inspectors for their fathers' work. As chairman of the park department, Mr. Schell had to approve his own bills. Wichita still laughs at the story of Mr. Rice building his sewer manholes so much under specification that he was physically unable to extricate himself from one he was building. A Beacon photographer found him in his plight and played the story to the limit. Mr. Rice resigned.

The great amount of paving that was necessary at this time resulted in an enormous loss to the city through inefficiency and graft. As Mr. J.H. Graham looked back to this period when he was mayor and into a situation about which he could do nothing but protest, he remarked that the "men were products of the times. In a sense it was a sort of 'honest graft'. While absolutely illegal, no one was interested enough to prosecute."

Another problem which caused the early city fathers of Wichita many an uneasy moment was the prohibition question. Kansas by 1908 had long been dry but the employment of a police chief who would enforce the law was another question, particularly when the council was seven to five wet and consequently not interested in rigid enforcement. The mayor, J.H. Graham, however, was an ardent dry. When Alderman Rice resigned, Mayor Graham appointed a dry, making a balance between those for and against the prohibition issue. Then in Mr. Graham's own words he "played some politics." He sent the street department into a district where an alderman lived who was a wet and also seeking reelection to the council. The great improvement in the streets which was helpful in the alderman's campaign for reelection gratified the alderman so much that he offered the mayor his assistance at any time. The mayor asked him to be thirty minutes late at the next council meeting. As a result a new prohibition ordinance passed by a vote of six to five. For a time this ended a bitter aldermanic battle which had been prolonged for months.

Every council meeting was a word battle. Aldermen displayed an amazing degree of pettiness and prejudice in their discussions of certain issues. At some meetings nothing was accomplished. Furthermore, aldermen seldom held office more than a term of two and city officers changed almost every year. Mr. Graham stated that he had to appoint three city engineers before he found one that was honest, namely Bert C. Wells who held this position during the latter days of aldermanic government and throughout the period when commission government was in effect.

The police department was another source of disharmony and criticism. Mayor Graham dismissed one chief, Bedford Wood, because he felt he was too lenient with the bootleggers. He then appointed a two-fisted Quaker, (page missing)

It is interesting to note that only two officials of the mayor-council government held their offices in the subsequent commission government of 1909-1910. They were the fire marshal and the police matron. Every other city official was supplanted. Mr. B.C. Wells, city manager, first became an employee under mayor-council government as assistant city engineer.

Tenure of office under mayor-council government was much less certain than under commission government. A change in administration in the former brought almost a clean sweep in office-holders, while under the latter, some of Wichita's present city officials first held office.

Such an improvement did not prevail in all departments, however. The police department had more serious charges hurled at it than ever before and perhaps with some justification. The incumbents of the chief's position changed rapidly. In 1909-10 there were two different chief appointed; in 1911-12 three men held this office. Only one chief was appointed for 1913-14 but there were three assistant chiefs during this time, a factor indicative of the disharmony prevalent in the department and the poor organization maintained by commission government. During 1915-1916, there were again two different men who served as chief. The manager form was adopted in 1917. Charges of protecting the criminals, no law enforcement, particularly in regard to the liquor issue and graft were hurled at the police department. Undoubtedly there was considerable basis for these charges, especially in regard to the wet-dry issue and needless to say, the rival newspapers made the most of every opportunity to attack or to defend the various police administrations.

Under the new commission plan of 1909, there were five commissioners, including the mayor. Four of these commissioners took over the supervision of finance, water and light, street and public improvements, and parks and public buildings respectively, while the mayor was left the fire and police departments. The salary of the mayor was set at $2500 and that of commissioners at $1000. The new mayor, Mr. Davidson, appointed his first chief of police Mr. Frank S. Burt. Chief Burt had held this office from 1896-1898 from which he was dismissed by Governor Leedy and Wichita was protected by a state police commission. He also held this office from 1901-1905. Mr. Burt was thus an experienced man whose policy during his third appointment was particularly unfortunate. It became one of protecting bank robbery gangs in return for which he obtained protection of Wichita from them and their activities. One of these groups was the Callahan gang. Burt became a fence for them, selling their stolen stamps to the president of one of Wichita's largest banks, a Mr. Naftzger. By this time the postal authorities had made an investigation and were ready to prosecute, Chief Burt turned states' evidence and was pardoned by President Taft while Mr. Naftzger was fined $10,000 and sentenced to a term in the Lansing penitentiary. Such a scandal reflected so seriously on Mayor Davidson that he was not considered a candidate for reelection and in addition it destroyed a rather widespread sentiment on the part of many Kansans to elect him for the governorship.

A Civil Service Commission was established by ordinance upon the advent of the new commission government in 1909. It was this commission's duty to examine and receive applicants for all positions except the city clerk, city attorney, members of the fire department, chief of police and other administrative heads. Included in the group for which candidates were to be recommended were police matron, assistant city clerk, mayor, milk and plumbing inspectors, etc. The commission was required to recommend two candidates for a vacancy but the system operated as a merit system in name only. There were exceptions to this rule, however, Mr. P.L. Brockway, the city engineer, was selected assistant city engineer in May, 1909, upon the recommendation of the civil service commission. With the passing of commission government, the civil service was abolished.

J.H. Graham was returned to the mayor's office in 1911 to succeed Davidson after an election in which Graham opposed A.K. Blase, a socialist candidate. Graham received a majority of 3,026 of the votes cast. The opposition to the Davidson administration was so bitter that only one of the four commissioners of that administration, N.J. Roetzel, was returned to office.

Graham's administration was short lived, lasting from April, 1911 until September 1911 when Mayor Graham was recalled. Graham, honest and straightforward, had engendered a dislike by many because of his views on prohibition. The election of Graham had been supported by the Beacon and had been bitterly opposed by the Eagle which had supported A.K. Blase. Within two months of Graham's election, the Eagle was circulating petitions for the recall of Graham and Commissioners Leach and Campbell. Picking out the men they thought it would be easiest to defeat, the Eagle attempted to crystallize public opinion against the city administration on the issue of the purchase of a municipal water plant. A sufficient number of names were obtained by the Eagle supporters, led by Sam Hamilton, an Eagle employee, and a special primary election was held on September 18, 1911 to nominate candidates whose names would be placed upon the recall ballot for the special election to be held on September 25. Dr. E.E. Minick and A.K. Blase were nominated by 4,524 and 2,946 votes respectively. Four men were nominated for the commissioners' positions. The names of these six men and the names of the men to be recalled were placed upon the recall ballot. On September 29, the commissioners canvassed the votes of the special election with these results:

• A.K. Blase 961
• J.H. Graham 4,428 (recalled)
• W.W. Minick 6,413

Mr. Leach was recalled too, but Mr. Campbell was not. The recall campaign was one of the bitterest that Wichita had witnessed. The newspapers exaggerated the most absurd issues. There was no real basis for their opposition. The entire fracas was the result of newspaper rivalry which has so often proved to be detrimental to the best interests of Wichita. However, the efforts of the liquor interests to remove Graham are not to be overlooked. It is interesting to note that on September 30, Mayor Graham and Commissioner Leach at their last commission meeting were assured of the confidence in their integrity on the part of the new commission.

Mayor Minick was badly defeated for reelection in 1913 by Judge W.J. Babb. The vote was 7,616 for Babb and 4,594 for Minick. Commissioner E.M. Leach who had been recalled in September 1911 was returned to the commission by defeating the man who had defeated him in the recall election by a majority of 137 votes.

Only one other administration served the city of Wichita during the period of commission form of government. O.K. Bentley, a lawyer, was elected mayor in 1915 and served until 1917 when the manager form was adopted. Babb had been defeated in the primary by 160 votes. The election was distinguished by a lack of the usual "mud-slinging" and bitterness which had marked previous elections. Mayor Bentley, on assuming office stated that he would be content if at the close of his term, his record was as good as his predecessor's. Bentley's administration was not outstanding in any way and Bentley had been characterized as being "constitutionally opposed to any change for the better" and as "too stingy to represent a progressive town." He was opposed to the city manager movement.

Viewing commission government as a whole, it was eminently more successful than mayor-council government. Apparently the evils of ward politics and much of the graft and inefficiency of mayor-council government as it had previously existed in Wichita were surrounded by a higher type of city official. Men such as L.L. Mayberry, superintendent of schools for twenty-five years in Wichita and a supporter of city manager government, have noted the vast improvement and the reduction of graft in city government by the adoption of the commission government. But Superintendent Mayberry stated that those commissioners did not understand their department because while they may have been perfectly honest, they were untrained in their fields. City manager Bert C. Wells, who was city engineer under all the commission mayors, has stated that there was no graft but that the commissioners were jealous of each other's departments. "They were five kings who went together once in a while for an attempt at determining policy. Usually three of the commissioners would combine against the other two at the expense of the departments of the two less powerful commissioners." The lack of coordination and cooperation was especially notable.

Commissioner Roetzel (1909-1913) said he could have made $100,00 in bribes during his term as commissioner of streets and public improvements had he chosen to accept them. It is generally agreed that a higher type of man was attracted to the city commission than had been to the earlier councils. Mr. Graham, a mayor under both the council and commission governments believed that this is shown by the personnel of the commissions as contrasted with the personnel of the councils. Such men as James Murry, who served the city as commissioner of streets and public improvements during commission government was later characterized by City Manager E.C. Elliott as the "most loved, most 'cussed' and most efficient employee the city of Wichita has ever had." Mr. Wells, on Murry's resignation from his post as director of public service, held under manager government, said, "We regret very much to have Mr. Murry leave the employ of the city. We have done everything possible to induce him to stay." This is illustrative of the type of man who served commission government, was regarded highly enough to be appointed temporary city manager in 1917, under manager government. These men with Mr. Roetzel, were civic statesmen under commission and present a striking contrast to their predecessors under council government.

A higher type of city official, increased tenure of office, the abolishment of ward lines in elections, a decrease in the size of the legislative body, and a limited centralization of official control in contrast to extreme decentralization are all factors in the great improvement of commission government over aldermanic government. The next step proved to be the movement for city manager government.

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