of power should reside in any one officer or department of the legal government and that appeals to the electorate should be upon as many matters and as often as possible, the downfall of extra-legal unpopular government will be imminent. CHAPTER XII THE MENACE TO UNPOPULAR GOVERNMENT OF THE COMMISSION FORM OF GOVERNMENT FOR SMALLER CITIES It took a flood and a hurricane which overwhelmed a prosperous city to reverse the popular convictions which lie at the basis of government in the United States. In 1900 Galveston was all but destroyed by the waters of the Gulf rising during a hurricane. Confronted with a great emergency in which quick and efficient action was imperative if the city was to be restored at all, the people abandoned the fear of kings and of centralized governmental power. The entire municipal power of government, executive and legislative, was vested in a single board of five commissioners. These were both the legislature and the executive. They made the ordinances and wielded the executive power through subordinate officers appointed by them. The governmental principle which was thus applied in the commission plan is the concentration of governmental power by the union of the legislative and executive functions of government in the hands of a few[9] who are controlled and prevented from becoming an unpopular government because they are subject to the electorate through elections at frequent intervals. The office of commissioner was made conspicuous and elections interesting. The population of Galveston was about 40,000. Hence the entire city was not so large but that a candidate might be personally known with a fair degree of ease by the electorate, and with the least possible expense make a personal canvass. It was, in short, a wieldy district. Hence the coming forward of candidates was increased to the maximum, and the need for a vote-directing machine practically eliminated. The maximum amount of thought and intelligence was obtained from the voter because his attention was concentrated on filling a few important offices. Excessive and artificial political ignorance was thus diminished. The ultimate result was a real expression of the will of the electorate through the representatives chosen and full power in those representatives to enact that will into law and also enforce the law thus made. In actual operation the results of applying this principle left little to be desired in Galveston. Here are the comments of a keen observer,[10] writing in 1911: