GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE CONTROL OF PARKS 425 



that certain functional activities of a park department are handled by other 

 executive departments of the city, thus preventing duplication of executive 

 machinery. 



On the other hand, the plan has certain undesirable effects in relation 

 to the government of parks, (a) While there are, of course, examples of a 

 commissioner being reflected period after period because of efficient service, 

 there is no assurance that a commissioner whose tenure of office is from 

 two to four years will be reflected or that his successor will carry out his 

 policies. Hence it is exceedingly difficult to follow a specific plan through a 

 long term of years. (&) It is improbable that a commissioner will be elected 

 who has any technical knowledge of park functions, although he becomes the 

 chief executive officer of the department. Hence a trained park executive 

 will find himself under the executive control and direction of an untrained 

 superior official. Moreover, his tenure of office will be very uncertain since 

 a new commissioner will desire to appoint his own executive staff. In some 

 commission governed cities the commissioners are elected at large and do 

 not stand for specific positions in the city government, the assignment being 

 made after election. Very often, therefore, people have no way of judging 

 qualifications of the commissioner who will have charge of parks. In some 

 cities, on the other hand, specific positions are announced by the candidates. 

 (c) In practically all commission governed cities the commissioner in charge 

 of parks has many other duties and responsibilities. Under such conditions 

 it is next to impossible to develop and carry out any comprehensive, ade- 

 quate community-wide system of parks, (d) It often happens that the 

 commissioner elected does not have influence enough to focus public opinion 

 sufficiently to carry out any comprehensive plan for parks, or because of 

 the short tenure of office or other causes cannot conduct an adequate edu- 

 cational campaign, (<?) The administration of parks is primarily a social 

 service function and the governmental performances involved are quite 

 different from those entering into municipal functions primarily fiscal in 

 nature, such as water, light, and sewage disposal. It is unwise in the long 

 run to intrust to a single individual, especially to an official with other 

 functions to perform, a responsibility so varied in its nature as a park 

 system. 



3. Federal plan of municipal government. What has been said about the 

 merits and demerits of the government of parks by a commissioner applies 

 equally to their government under the modified form of the commission 

 government plan known as the federal plan. There is, however, this vital 

 difference: the mayor can, if he wishes, appoint a trained director or com- 

 missioner in charge of the department of parks a condition that rarely 

 prevails under the elective system of the pure commission form of govern- 



