Skip to main content

Full text of "National municipal review"

See other formats 


From  the  collection  of  the 


o  Prelinger 

i     a 

Uibrary 


San  Francisco,  California 
2007 


NATIONAL 
MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


1922 


VOLUME  XI 


JANUARY, 

FEBRUARY, 

MARCH, 

APRIL, 

MAY, 

JUNE, 


1-  42 

43-  60 

61-  94 

95-124 

125-156 

157-178 


JULY, 

AUGUST, 

SEPTEMBER, 

OCTOBER, 

NOVEMBER, 

DECEMBER, 


179-228 
229-254 
255-304 
305-350 
351-400 
401-444 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 

261  BROADWAY 
NEW  YORK.  N.  Y. 


Bound 
Periodical 


NATIONAL 
MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


VOL.  XI,  No.  1 


JANUARY,  1922 


TOTAL  No.  67 


VIEWS  AND  REVIEWS 


Revision  of  the  Pontiac  manager 
charter  was  defeated  on  November  30 
decisively  after  a  hot  campaign. 

In  accordance  with  the  law  passed 
by  the  last  legislature  Governor  Miller 
has  published  the  names  of  those 
chosen  as  members  of  the  New  York 
City  charter  commission.  One  of  the 
fifteen  is  Prof.  Howard  Lee  McBain, 
a  member  of  our  advisory  editorial 
board  and  a  former  associate  editor. 
The  commission  is  to  report  to  the  leg- 
islature recommendations  for  changes 
in  the  charter. 

* 

The  Council  at  its  meeting  on  Decem- 
ber 12  elected  Mr.  Carl  H.  Pforzheimer 
of  Harrison,  New  York,  treasurer  to 
to  succeed  Mr.  Vanderlip.  Mr.  Pforz- 
heimer is  a  man  whose  interest  of  gov- 
ernment has  come  through  active  efforts 
for  businesslike  practices  in  the  admin- 
istration of  the  city  in  which  he  lives. 
The  League  appeals  to  him  as  worth 
while  and  we  are  highly  gratified  that 
he  has  seem  fit  to  accept  service  with  us. 

We  are  sorry  to  lose  Mr.  Vanderlip 
who  has  served  us  so  happily  for  the 
past  two  years,  but  many  other  press- 
ing matters  compelled  him  to  withdraw. 


During  the  year  1922,  voters  in 
Chicago  will  take  part  in  four  elections 
and  one  primary.  They  will  be  com- 


pelled to  register  twice,  once  before 
the  primary  and  once  before  the  gen- 
eral election.  Each  voter  will  be 
expected  to  cast  a  ballot  for  the 
election  of  about  fifty  different  officials 
during  the  year,  exclusive  of  the 
primary.  Can  you  beat  it? 

* 

The  veteran  preference  amendment 
to  the  New  York  constitution  was 
defeated  at  the  last  election  by  400,000 
votes.  The  amendment  to  increase  the 
salary  of  legislators  to  $3,000  per  annum 
was  soundly  beaten.  The  literacy  test 
for  voters  and  the  Westchester-Nassau 
County  optional  government  amend- 
ment were  both  adopted. 


The 
Civil  Service 


The  annual  report  of  the 
federal  civil  service  com- 
mission just  issued  sharply 
raps  the  veterans'  preference  act,  which 
requires  that  all  veterans  with  a  rating 
of  65  be  certified  for  appointment  be- 
fore all  others  regardless  of  the  rules  of 
appointment.  It  operates  largely  to 
exclude  all  thus  not  preferred  from 
appointment  in  the  ordinary  clerical 
grades,  but  the  immediate  effects  are 
not  so  deleterious  as  they  will  be  when 
the  average  age  of  the  veterans  passes 
the  expectation  of  efficiency.  Many 
unqualified  persons  are  selected  in 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[January 


preference  to  the  qualified  with  the  re- 
sultant creation  of  a  privileged  military 
class. 

The  commission  is  gratified  by  the 
new  system  of  choosing  presidential 
postmasters.  From  May  to  October, 
1921,  of  877  nominations  made  to  the 
senate  426  were  through  promotion  or 
transfer  from  the  classified  service. 
The  others  were  chosen  from  the  three 
highest  eligibles  furnished  by  the  com- 
mission. President  Harding's  executive 
order  of  May  10,  1921,  following  out 
in  spirit  Wilson's  order  of  1917,  thus 
establishes  the  position  of  expert  post- 
master. 

The  extension  of  the  merit  system 
to  cover  the  4,185  deputy  collectors  of 
internal  revenue  is  urged  as  an  econo- 
my to  the  service  and  an  incentive  to 
efficiency. 

And  finally  the  commission  calls 
attention  to  the  need  for  an  employ- 
ment system  in  the  civil  service. 
Government  service  no  longer  attracts 
the  best  students  of  the  schools. 
Some  schools  report  that  they  advise 
their  students  to  stay  out  of  govern- 
ment service. 

If  you  are  interested  in  a  civil 
service  of  which  Americans  can  be 
proud,  we  suggest  that  you  keep  an 
eye  on  the  post  office  department. 
The  first  steps  toward  making  the 
post  office  a  desirable  occupation  for 
self-respecting  men  have  already  been 
taken.  We  expect  to  publish  an  arti- 
cle on  the  subject  in  our  March  issue. 

* 

The  long  expected  has  hap- 

FirstFederal    P61"*1'      At    kst    &  bud^et 
Budget        nas  been  presented  to  con- 
gress of  which  the  respon- 
sible officer  in  charge  could  say: 

It  is  to  be  expected  that  since  the  preliminary 
estimates  have  been  made  under  pressure  by  the 
Executive  for  proper  retrenchment,  where  con- 
sistent with  efficiency,  it  will  not  be  necessary, 


as  heretofore,  for  congress  to  make  radical  cuts 
upon  the  estimates  of  the  budget  with  any 
uncertainty  as  to  what  will  be  the  result  as  it 
effects  efficiency. 

Although  the  sentence  structure 
might  be  improved,  there  is  a  wealth 
of  meaning  behind  this  statement  of 
General  Dawes.  It  implies  that  the 
estimates  of  the  fiscal  needs  of  the 
country  for  1923  are  to  be  taken  at 
their  face  value;  something  that  no 
living  congressman  has  ever  been  able 
to  do.  The  reference  to  executive 
pressure  suggests  that  this  has  been 
attained  at  cost  of  long  effort  with 
department  heads,  bureau  chiefs  and 
the  like.  The  implication  is  that  the 
President  will  defend  his  budget.  In 
the  light  of  state  experience,  it  is  one 
thing  to  submit  a  budget  and  another 
to  have  it  passed,  as  the  President 
doubtless  knows. 

Two  phases  of  General  Dawes'  re- 
port are  of  special  interest  to  political 
scientists.  He  condemns  continuing 
appropriations.  The  habit  of  contin- 
uous appropriations,  he  says,  is  an 
encouragement  to  lack  of  scrutiny  of 
the  work  of  a  department  by  the  head 
and  an  encouragement  to  shiftlessness 
on  the  part  of  subordinates.  The 
League's  model  state  constitution 
agrees  with  General  Dawes. 

The  other  matter  of  interest  is  his 
prompt  recognition  of  the  importance 
of  the  administrative  organization 
behind  the  budget  if  it  is  to  mean 
anything.  General  Dawes  complains 
that  the  President  gives  no  time  to 
routine  business  and  the  several  de- 
partments are  run  as  if  each  were  an 
independent  authority.  No  central- 
ized purchase  or  sales  machinery  is 
operative.  Administrative  heads  are 
selected  with  little  reference  to  business 
qualifications.  A  mere  budget  system 
will  not  put  more  business  in  gov- 
ernment. All  will  agree  with  this. 


THE  RECALL  IN  NORTH  DAKOTA 


BY  DORR  H.  CARROLL 

Former  Chairman  of  the  North  Dakota  State  Council  of  Defense 


As  usually  occurs,  the  measures 
which  the  progressives  fight  for  and 
secure  over  the  agonized  protest  of  the 
conservatives,  are  first  used  by  the 
conservatives  as  .weapons  of  offence 
against  those  who  fashioned  them. 

The  recall  of  officials  was  a  measure 
initiated  by  the  progressive  element  in 
North  Dakota  after  a  long  and  vigor- 
ous campaign  for  that  and  other  meas- 
ures. It  was  first  used  to  recall  Gov- 
ernor Lynn  J.  Frazier,  Commissioner  of 
Agriculture  John  Hagden,  and  Attor- 
ney General  William  Lempke.  These 
men  were  elected  by  the  Non-partisan 
League  and  constitute  the  state  indus- 
trial commission  which  has  charge  of 
the  state-owned  enterprises. 


DIFFICULTIES      OF      STATE-OWNED 
TERPRISES 


EN- 


These  enterprises  consist  of  the  state 
flour  mills,  state  terminal  elevators  and 
a  state  home  builders'  association. 
The  commission  also  has  charge  of  the 
Bank  of  North  Dakota.  This  last 
named  enterprise  has  been  in  opera- 
tion for  nearly  two  years,  and  has  paper 
profits  of  $153,000,  on  a  capital  of 
$2,000,000  paid  in  in  the  shape  of  a  de- 
posit of  state  industrial  bonds.  The 
other  enterprises  are  not  in  operation 
to  any  great  extent.  The  home  build- 
ers' association  has  sold  some  bonds 
and  has  made  some  loans  to  builders  of 
homes,  but  the  vigorous  fight  against 
the  operation  of  the  enterprise  has 
made  financing  of  its  bonds  and  mort- 
gages quite  difficult,  and  progress  has 
been  slow.  One  of  the  state  mills  was 
operated  at  Drake  and  made  some 


money  in  the  production  of  flour,  but 
the  mill  extended  a  considerable  line  of 
credit  to  the  Consumers'  Stores  Com- 
pany, a  concern  operated  something 
on  the  Rochdale  system  of  co-opera- 
tive stores.  This  concern  was  not  a 
success,  and  its  failure  resulted  in  the 
suspension  of  any  large  operation  by 
this  mill  for  the  present. 

The  vigorous  fight  against  the  state- 
owned  industries  by  the  press  opposed 
to  the  Non-partisan  League  measures, 
the  continued  summer  drouths  and  the 
general  financial  stringency  combined 
to  make  the  inauguration  of  new  busi- 
ness extremely  difficult,  even  though 
it  may  be  fundamentally  sound.  In 
addition  to  these  conditions,  some  very 
serious  mistakes  were  made.  Some  of 
the  money  of  the  bank  was  used,  by 
legal  means,  it  appears,  to  finance  the 
fortunes  of  those  friendly  to  the  people 
in  power.  Some  of  the  loans  made 
were  criticized  as  not  good  business. 
There  were  also  a  number  of  appoint- 
ments which  were  patently  political 
instead  of  business  appointments. 

The  most  serious  error  in  the  opera- 
tion of  the  bank  was  the  nature  of  the 
business  which  it  undertook.  The  rea- 
son for  the  initiation  of  the  state  enter- 
prises was  to  relieve  the  North  Dakota 
farmer  of  his  dependence  upon  capital 
and  business  outside  the  state  for 
financing  his  various  enterprises.  Farm- 
ing and  stock  raising  do  not  tend  to  cre- 
ate great  business  and  financial  centers 
and  the  state  of  North  Dakota  has  no 
large  city  within  its  borders.  Fargo, 
the  metropolis,  has  a  population  of  only 
25,000  and  Grand  Forks  and  Minot, 
the  two  next  in  size,  have  but  25,000 


4 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[January 


together.  Thus  the  farmer  desires  a 
state  institution  of  finance  which  will 
be  available  to  assist  him  in  his  legiti- 
mate business  needs.  His  crops  are 
annual  and  he  has  no  monthly  pay 
check.  So  he  needs  long  time  credits. 

The  management  of  the  Bank  of 
North  Dakota  made  the  error  of  legislat- 
ing all  the  state  moneys,  county  moneys 
and  municipal  funds  into  the  bank, 
and  then  loaning  these  funds  (many  of 
which  were  in  the  nature  of  quick  liabil- 
ities) to  home  builders,  long-time  farm 
loans  and  to  the  enterprises  of  terminal 
elevator  and  flour  mill  construction. 

An  initiated  law  passed  by  the  people 
of  the  state  at  the  last  general  election 
transferred  the  power  of  placing  the 
state,  municipal  and  county  funds 
from  the  state  industrial  commission 
to  the  state,  municipal  and  county 
officers  who  originally  had  that  power. 

These  officers  were  in  a  large  meas- 
ure influenced  by  their  local  personal 
friends  to  remove  the  funds  from  the 
Bank  of  North  Dakota,  with  the  nat- 
ural result  that  when  the  bank  was 
liquidated  as  far  as  ready  money  was 
concerned,  there  was  no  money  to  con- 
tinue payment  of  the  demands  of  the 
local  officers  for  the  transfer  of  funds 
to  other  banks.  In  addition  to  this,  the 
general  conditions  and  vigorous  propa- 
ganda above  referred  to,  participated  in 
by  the  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis  papers, 
made  it  impossible  for  the  bank  of  North 
Dakota  to  realize  upon  its  slow  assets. 
The  general  business  of  the  state  is 
transacted  in  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis 
and  was  threatened  by  the  proposed 
changes  in  the  affairs  of  the  state.  In 
ordinary  times  and  under  ordinary  con- 
ditions these  assets  are  much  sought 
after  as  good  and  stable  investments. 

TACTICS   OF   THE   OPPOSITION 

There  were  two  elements  in  the 
forces  opposed  to  the  Non-partisan 
League.  One  element  was  for  pressing 


its  present  advantage  and  bringing  on 
a  recall  election  at  once,  relying  on  the 
discouraged  condition  of  the  farmers 
who  constitute  the  great  majority  of 
the  state  electorate.  The  farmers  need 
financial  assistance  which  they  do  not 
appear  to  be  able  to  obtain  now 
through  the  sources  offered  by  the 
present  state  administration,  but  which 
is  promised  to  them  in  the  event  that  a 
change  of  administration  is  had. 

The  other  element  was  for  waiting 
until  the  primaries  in  June  of  1922  for 
further  action.  This  last  element  was 
controlled  by  the  friends  of  Senator 
McComber,  who  has  been  accused  by 
some  of  the  members  of  the  Inde- 
pendent Voters'  Association,  the  anti- 
League  organization,  of  being  in  an 
offensive  and  defensive  alliance  with 
the  leaders  of  the  League.  The  reason 
for  their  position  was  the  fact  that  the 
logical  candidate  for  the  governorship 
was  R.  A.  Nestos,  of  Minot,  who  came 
close  to  beating  the  Senator  in  1916, 
and  who  represents  the  progressive 
Republicans  of  that  time.  Apparently 
the  Senator  is  not  desirous  of  letting 
the  power  of  the  governor's  office  go  to 
one  whom  he  appears  to  consider  as  a 
political  enemy  in  his  own  party.  In 
the  event  that  the  action  was  delayed 
the  Senator's  friends  appeared  to  con- 
sider that  a  better  opportunity  might  be 
had  for  a  candidate  of  a  more  friendly 
character.  Supporting  this  position 
were  many  who  thought  the  best  inter- 
ests of  the  state  were  not  served  by  so 
many  elections,  and  who,  though  op- 
posed to  the  League,  were  of  the  opin- 
ion that  the  various  elements  which 
compose  it  were  in  the  process  of  dis- 
integration. A  victory  at  the  June 
primaries,  therefore,  was  considered  a 
foregone  conclusion. 

SUCCESS   OF   THE   RECALL 

The  element  for  immediate  action 
prevailed.  Nestos,  who  is  of  Scandi- 


1922] 


HOME  RULE  FOR  TWO  NEW  YORK  COUNTIES 


naviand  escent,  and  who  has,  as  state's 
attorney  of  Ward  county,  made  a  great 
reputation  as  a  vigorous  officer  for  law 
enforcement,  was  nominated  at  a  con- 
vention called  to  discuss  men  and 
means  for  the  overthrow  of  the  present 
administration.  On  November  8  he 
was  elected  to  succeed  Governor  Fraz- 
ier,  who  was  recalled.  The  initiated 
measures  directed  at  certain  of  the 
state's  new  enterprises  failed. 


Two  things  are  worthy  of  note.  The 
character  of  Governor  Lynn  J.  Frazier 
is  conceded  by  all  fair  opponents  of  his 
economic  ideas,  to  be  above  reproach. 
And  R.  A.  Nestos,  his  opponent,  also  a 
man  of  high  character,  has  always  been 
very  progressive  and  promised  the 
voters  of  the  state  that  if  elected  he 
would  give  the  state  enterprises  a  fair 
trial  under  the  operation  of  competent 
men  who  understand  such  businesses. 


HOME  RULE  FOR  TWO  NEW  YORK 

COUNTIES 

BY  ROBERT  MOSES 

Secretary,  New  York  State  Association 

Westchester  and  Nassau  counties  have  been  granted  a  measure  of  home 
rule  by  means  of  a  constitutional  amendment  adopted  last  election        :: 


AT  the  election  on  November  8,  the 
voters  of  New  York  adopted  a  consti- 
tutional amendment  looking  towards 
improvement  in  county  government  in 
that  state.  Under  the  present  constitu- 
tion county  boards  of  supervisors  are 
established  with  administrative  and 
legislative  powers  delegated  by  the 
state  legislature  and  also  with  power  to 
appoint  all  county  officers  not  elected 
by  the  people  or  otherwise  appointed. 
Town  officers  must  be  elected  in  the 
towns  or  appointed  by  local  authorities. 
It  will  be  seen  that  there  are  just 
enough  limitations  to  prevent  setting 
up  a  modern  consolidated  government. 

The  new  amendment  passed  the 
legislature  of  1920  and  passed  a  second 
time  at  the  last  session.  It  simply  em- 
powers the  legislature  to  provide  new 
forms  of  government  for  Westchester 
and  Nassau  counties  subject  to  the 
approval  of  voters  in  each  county  by  a 
referendum  vote  at  a  general  election  in 
an  odd  numbered  year.  Thus  no  new 
form  of  government  may  be  approved 


in  either  county  until  the  fall  of  1923. 
The  plan  adopted  may  include  the 
transfer  to  the  county  of  town  func- 
tions; must  prescribe  the  manner  in 
which  the  county  may  revert  to  its  old 
type  of  government;  and  shall  not  take 
from  the  legislature  the  power  of 
amendment  or  modification. 


PLANS    PROPOSED    FOR    THE    TWO 
COUNTIES 

As  a  part  of  a  campaign  for  the  adop- 
tion of  the  Nassau- Westchester  amend- 
ment, the  New  York  State  Association, 
a  state-wide  civic  organization,  which 
absorbed  the  old  County  Government 
Association  and  its  program,  published 
at  the  request  of  citizens  and  organiza- 
tions in  the  two  counties,  bulletins, 
presenting  types  of  kinds  of  govern- 
ment which  might  be  set  up  under  the 
Westchester-Nassau  amendment . 

In  the  case  of  Nassau,  the  State  As- 
sociation has  suggested  a  form  of  gov- 
ernment under  a  supervisor-at-large 


6 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[January 


and  board,  similar  to  the  statutory  plan 
suggested  in  1916  by  the  Nassau  county 
commission  appointed  to  suggest  im- 
provements in  local  government,  but 
advantage  has  been  taken  of  the  re- 
moval of  constitutional  restrictions  on 
the  transfer  of  town  and  other  local 
functions.  In  the  case  of  Westchester 
several  alternative  plans  are  proposed, 
all  involving  administrative  centrali- 
zation but  differing  as  to  the  form  of 
overhead;  variations  of  the  commission, 
county -manager  and  supervisor- at  - 
large  types  of  government  being  pre- 
sented. These  plans  were  printed  to 
give  some  indication  to  voters  through- 
out the  state  of  what  can  be  done  under 
the  proposed  amendment.  They  have 
no  authority  other  than  that  which 
naturally  arises  from  following  the 
recommendations  of  an  official  local 
commission,  the  materials  and  debates 
of  the  constitutional  convention  of 
1915,  the  experience  of  students  of 
county  government  in  this  and  other 
states  and  the  methods  adopted  by 
cities,  states  and  the  federal  govern- 
ment in  securing  responsible  and  eco- 
nomical administration. 


PRESENT  CONDITIONS  IN  THE  TWO 
COUNTIES 

The  political  and  geographical  con- 
ditions in  these  two  counties  are  radi- 
cally different,  though  the  counties  both 
adjoin  New  York  City  and  must  trace 
their  growth  and  the  obsolescence  of 
their  county  governments  to  this  factor 
of  location.  Nassau  geographically 
and  politically  is  a  much  more  compact, 
homogeneous  and  evenly  settled  com- 
munity than  Westchester.  Nassau  has 
only  three  townships  and  one  small  city. 
Westchester  has  twenty  townships.  It 
has  three  large  cities,  one  of  over 
100,000  inhabitants  and  many  large 
villages  in  the  south,  and  in  the  north 
a  purely  rural,  thinly  settled  territory, 


composed  of  hills,  lakes,  forest  and 
some  agricultural  land. 

Both  Nassau  and  Westchester  are 
overwhelmingly  Republican.  The  po- 
litical leadership  of  Nassau  has  its 
headquarters  in  the  board  of  supervis- 
ors and  consists  of  an  old-fashioned, 
unintelligent  ring,  living  on  road  and 
other  patronage,  and  principally  en- 
gaged during  the  last  two  years  in 
dodging  indictments.  This  machine  is 
rapidly  losing  its  grip  on  the  county. 
The  political  leadership  of  Westchester 
is  in  the  hands  of  business  men  and 
lawyers  of  considerable  means  and  of 
conspicuous  intelligence  and  shrewd- 
ness. Subject  to  continued  control  by 
the  party  they  probably  want  the  best 
form  of  government  attainable. 

Both  county  governments  suffer 
from  irresponsible  chief  executives  and 
from  scattering  and  duplication  of  ad- 
ministrative activities.  The  county 
supervisors  act  as  representatives  of 
the  towns  and  not  of  the  county  at 
large.  The  town  highway  and  public 
works,  health,  charities  and  commit- 
ment, police,  taxation  and  assessment 
systems  in  both  counties  are  inade- 
quate, unsatisfactory,  expensive  and 
not  properly  related  to  intelligent  and 
economical  planning  and  administra- 
tion for  the  county  as  a  whole.  There 
are  a  host  of  independent  elective 
county  and  town  officers  in  both  coun- 
ties who  serve  to  share  or  further  scat- 
ter administrative  authority.  Nassau 
is  the  only  county  in  the  state  which 
has  developed  an  independent  county 
road  system  under  the  exclusive  con- 
trol of  the  board  of  supervisors,  the 
entire  expense  of  which  is  a  county 
charge.  County  road  contracts  are 
not  usually  let  by  competitive  bids.  In 
order  to  avoid  state  supervision  and 
competitive  bidding  Nassau  has  not 
come  forward  to  get  its  proper  share  of 
state  aid.  In  the  case  of  schools  and 
health  in  both  counties  consolidation  of 


1922] 


NEW  REVENUES  FOR  CITY  GOVERNMENT 


districts  could  be  effected  without  con- 
stitutional amendment,  but  practically 
these  consolidations,  especially  if  a 
county  unit  is  the  aim,  will  naturally 
follower  go  with  consolidation  in  other 
fields. 


TALK   OF   CITY-COUNTY   CONSOLIDATION 

There  has  been  considerable  talk  in 
both  counties  of  setting  up  a  city  gov- 
ernment in  place  of  a  county  govern- 
ment. In  the  case  of  Westchester, 
this  suggestion  is  generally  restricted 
to  the  creation  of  a  city  out  of  the 
southern  half  of  the  county.  Probably 
no  constitutional  amendment  would  be 
required  for  this  purpose,  and  certainly 
it  is  not  contemplated  by  this  amend- 
ment. There  are  probably  almost  as 
many  opponents  of  city  charters  in 
these  counties  as  there  would  be  oppo- 
nents to  plans  for  annexing  the  counties 
or  part  of  them  to  New  York  City. 
The  arguments  against  creating  more 
overgrown  cities  seem  to  the  writer 
conclusive.  There  are  too  many  small 
villages  in  Westchester,  but  that  need 
not  necessitate  the  creation  of  a  single 


city  covering  the  whole  or  half  of  the 
county.  A  centralized  county  govern- 
ment will  leave  considerable  local 
powers  in  the  hands  of  the  cities  and 
villages,  but  will  undoubtedly  wipe  out 
the  towns  as  administrative  units. 
Administratively,  most  of  the  towns 
are  nothing  but  arbitrary  geographical 
areas  on  a  map,  pink  or  pale  blue 
lands  that  mean  little  except  for  pur- 
poses of  taxation  disputes  and  poor 
administration.  Cities  and  incorpo- 
rated villages  generally  have  a  real 
identity  and  significance  to  their  in- 
habitants, whose  powers  of  local  self- 
government,  where  the  unit  is  large 
enough  to  function  independently, 
should  not  be  abridged. 

At  any  rate,  even  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  extreme  centralizationists 
who  favor  city  charters,  the  consolida- 
tion of  the  field  of  county  and  town 
government  outside  of  cities  and  in- 
corporated villages,  must  be  regarded 
as  a  long  step  in  advance.  The  amend- 
ment means  that  the  next  two  years 
will  see  the  formulation  of  plans  and 
the  making  of  experiments  which  will 
be  of  interest  to  the  whole  country. 


NEW  REVENUES  FOR  CITY  GOVERNMENT 

REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  ON  SOURCES  OF  REVENUE,  NATIONAL 

MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE 

BY  LUTHER  GULICK 

Chairman  of  the  Committee,  New  York l 


DURING  the  last  few  years  average 
city  tax  rates  have  about  doubled. 
The  latest  figures  for  the  entire  United 
States  are  for  1919,  and  show  an  aver- 
age city  tax  rate  of  $21.50  a  thousand 

1The  other  members  of  the  committee  are: 
Dr.  Robert  Murray  Haig,  New  York;  Harrison 
S.  Keeler,  Chicago,  111.;  Miss  Mable  Newcomer. 
Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y.;  A.  C.  Pleydell,  New  York; 
Prof.  Wm.  A.  Rawles,  Bloomington,  Ind. 


as  compared  with  $11.50  in  1909,  an 
increase  of  87  per  cent.  Some  compu- 
tations made  recently  covering  cities 
in  New  York  State  indicate  a  greater 
increase  during  the  ten-year  period 
ending  in  1920.  This  rapid  increase  in 
the  taxation  of  real  estate  has  produced 
a  vociferous  revolt  on  the  part  of  real 
estate  interests.  The  chorus  of  com- 
plaint has  been  swelled  by  many  other 


8 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[January 


groups  upon  whom  the  burden  of  in- 
creasing taxes  has  also  fallen.  As  a 
result  the  executive  and  legislative 
authorities  of  our  national,  state  and 
city  governments  have  a  mandate  from 
the  voters  to  call  a  halt  to  increasing 
tax  rates  and  to  readjust  the  tax  bur- 
den through  the  development  of  new 
sources  of  revenue. 

Ribot,  the  French  finance  minister, 
once  said  that  it  was  the  end  of  taxa- 
tion to  get  the  most  feathers  with  the 
least  squawk.  We  may  say  that  dur- 
ing recent  years  the  harvesting  of  the 
feathers  has  been  attended  by  a  grow- 
ing squawk. 

This  demand  for  reduced  taxes  and 
for  new  sources  of  revenue  is  nothing 
new,  nor  will  it  disappear  as  a  result  of 
anything  we  may  say  or  do.  It  is  one 
of  the  eternal  problems  of  democracy. 
It  is  as  much  a  sign  of  political  vitality 
as  the  heart  throb  is  of  physical  life. 
The  Committee  on  Sources  of  Revenue, 
therefore,  has  no  illusions  as  to  the 
possibility  of  "solving  this  problem," 
if  we  may  borrow  the  term  from  some 
of  the  cocksure  reformers  who  are  at 
large.  The  committee  does  believe, 
however,  that  there  are  a  number  of 
specific  matters  which  do  demand  spec- 
ial consideration  at  the  present  junc- 
ture. The  committee  has  therefore 
made  no  effort  to  prepare  an  encyclo- 
pedia of  sources  of  taxation  or  to  fin- 
ish a  standard  made-to-order  suit  of 
taxation  overalls  in  the  thought  that  it 
can  be  fitted  to  every  city.  We  have 
sought  rather  to  center  attention  upon 
what  seems  to  us  to  be  the  six  most 
pressing  problems  of  local  taxation. 

RELATION   TO   STATE   TAXATION 

First  is  the  problem  of  the  relation 
of  state  and  local  taxation.  In  view  of 
the  fact  that  there  cannot  be  a  complete 
separation  of  the  sources  or  of  the  ad- 
ministration of  state  and  local  taxation, 


we  believe  that  the  broad  outlines  of 
municipal  tax  and  revenue  systems 
must  be  determined  in  the  light  of  the 
national  and  state  tax  systems,  and  that 
the  model  tax  system  of  the  National 
Tax  Association  is  satisfactory  in  this 
regard,  though  we  wish  to  urge  that  in 
its  practical  application  the  needs  of 
the  cities  be  recognized.  The  tendency 
has  been  for  superior  political  units  to 
seize  upon  the  most  available  sources 
of  revenue  at  the  expense  of  the  cities. 
Local  government  is  doing  more  than 
five  times  as  much  work  as  state  gov- 
ernment, and  except  for  the  abnormal 
expenses  of  the  world  war,  our  cities  are 
spending  more  money  than  the  federal 
government.  The  most  intimate  serv- 
ices that  government  is  rendering  to 
citizens  are  furnished  by  the  cities. 
The  protection  of  health,  free  educa- 
tion, police  and  fire  protection,  streets, 
sewers,  water  supply  and  the  many 
other  necessities  of  modern  urban  life 
are,  primarily,  city  services.  The 
Committee  on  Sources  of  Revenue 
wishes  therefore  to  urge  that  the  exten- 
sive and  legitimate  needs  of  the  cities 
be  given  adequate  recognition  in  the 
distribution  of  revenues  collected  by 
the  states  through  the  personal  and 
business  income  taxes  provided  by  the 
model  tax  system.  (Mr.  A.  C.  Pleydell 
does  not  agree  with  the  committee,  as 
he  feels  the  extension  of  income  tax 
legislation  is  undesirable.) 

BUSINESS  AND   LICENSE   TAXES 

The  second  problem  we  wish  to  call 
to'your  attention  is  that  of  the  business, 
occupational  and  license  taxes.  During 
the  last  few  years,  cities  in  their  search 
for  more  revenues,  particularly  in  the 
south  and  west,  have  adopted  many 
sorts  of  special  business  and  license 
taxes.  The  Boston  Committee  on  New 
Sources  of  Revenue  has  even  gone  so 
far  as  to  urge  a  municipal  retail  sales 


1922] 


NEW  REVENUES  FOR  CITY  GOVERNMENT 


0 


tax  on  the  theory  that  such  a  tax  is 
more  direct  than  the  tax  on  real  estate. 
This  committee  believes  these  cities 
are  on  the  wrong  track.  We  believe  the 
Boston  proposition  is  utterly  wrong. 
Undoubtedly  (1)  genuine  regulatory 
licenses,  (2)  charges  which  compensate 
the  city  for  special  services  rendered, 
(3)  fees  for  privileges  and  (4)  fines 
should  be  increased  to  meet  the  new 
costs  and  the  shrunken  value  of  the 
dollar,  but  the  levying  of  so-called 
business  license  taxes  on  every  pro- 
fession or  type  of  activity  that  can  be 
found  in  the  dictionary,  especially  with 
the  types  of  gradation  commonly  in  use, 
is  undesirable.  A  much  fairer  method 
is  to  adopt  the  personal  and  business 
income  taxes  recommended  in  the 
model  tax  system. 

SPECIAL  ASSESSMENTS 

Our  next  point  deals  with  special 
assessments.  This  committee  has  made 
a  careful  study  of  the  subject  of  special 
assessments  during  the  past  two  years. 
We  find  that  a  great  many  cities  are 
still  financing  their  permanent  public 
improvements  by  bond  issues  and 
taxation  instead  of  by  special  assess- 
ments against  the  land  that  is  directly 
benefited  by  the  improvements.  We 
find  also  that  very  few  of  the  cities 
that  have  adopted  the  policy  of  special 
assessments  are  following  a  consistent 
and  businesslike  policy.  We  believe  in 
the  policy  of  special  assessments.  A 
much  larger  share  of  the  cost  of  public 
improvements  should  be  borne  by  the 
property  benefited  than  is  now  the 
rule  with  a  corresponding  reduction  of 
the  share  to  be  financed  by  general 
taxation.  The  committee  has  prepared 
a  report  of  some  detail  on  the  subject 
of  special  assessment  administration 
which  will  be  printed  in  the  near  fu- 
ture as  a  supplement  to  the  NATIONAL 
MUNICIPAL  REVIEW. 


SIGNBOARDS 


There  is  no  need  of  urging  upon  mem- 
bers of  the  League  the  levying  of  taxes 
upon  signboards.  There  is  now  ample 
justification  and  legal  precedent  for  lev- 
ying taxes  upon  signboards,  not  merely 
for  the  revenue  which  such  taxes  would 
produce,  but  also  for  the  control  which 
such  measures  may  give  over  outdoor 
advertising  which,  when  utterly  un- 
regulated, is  dangerous,  offensive  and 
unsightly.  Signboard  taxation  should 
recognize  that  it  is  not  so  much  the 
size  of  the  sign  that  governs  its  tax- 
paying  ability,  as  its  strategic  location, 
and  that  signboard  taxation  should 
therefore  bear  some  relation  to  the 
earning  power  of  the  sign.  This  can 
be  done  either  (1)  by  determining 
rates  according  to  fixed  zones,  as  in 
Baltimore,  (2)  by  regulating  rates  to 
the  unit  foot  value  of  the  street  or  (3) 
by  taking  a  certain  percentage  of  the 
rental  value  of  the  sign.  Such  tax  pro- 
visions should,  of  course,  be  coupled 
with  directly  regulatory  features  and 
the  prohibition  of  certain  types  of 
signs. 

TAX   LIMITS 

We  do  not  believe  in  tax  limits. 
With  very  few  exceptions,  tax  limits 
have  not  worked  satisfactorily.  In 
most  cases  they  have  not  actually  lim- 
ited taxation.  Tax  limits  have  encour- 
aged unsound  bonding.  Tax  limits  are 
contrary  to  principles  of  municipal 
home  rule.  We  believe  that  cities 
should  be  given  an  opportunity  of 
deciding  for  themselves  what  services 
they  need  and  how  much  they  are  wil- 
ling to  spend  for  them.  We  believe 
the  only  effective  method  of  securing  a 
restriction  of  tax  levies  without  ham- 
pering municipal  services,  encouraging 
unsound  bonding  and  robbing  cities  of 
their  rights  of  self-determination  is: 
first,  through  the  establishment  of  a 


10 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[January 


comprehensive  and  binding  budget  sys- 
tem which  will  bring  to  the  attention 
of  the  voters  the  costs  of  the  services 
which  are  demanded  of  the  government 
and  the  methods  by  which  these  costs 
are  to  be  met;  second,  the  enactment 
of  a  complete  bonding  act  which  will 
prevent  unsound  bonding;  and  third, 
the  wide  distribution  among  the  elec- 
torate of  the  direct  tax  burden  as  is 
provided  by  the  model  tax  system. 
(Mr.  Harrison  S.  Keeler  and  Mr.  Wil- 
liam A.  Rawles  do  not  agree  with  the 
committee,  as  they  feel  that  in  certain 
instances  practical  considerations  make 
it  necessary  to  retain  tax  limits.) 

THE     ASSESSMENT     OF     PROPERTY     FOR 
TAXATION 

The  views  of  this  committee  on  the 
subject  of  the  assessment  of  property 
for  taxation  have  already  appeared  in 
published  form  in  the  supplement  of  the 
NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW'  pre- 
pared by  Mr.  Lawson  Purdy.  We  be- 
lieve the  essentials  of  a  good  munic- 
ipal assessment  system  are: 

(1)  Assessment  at  100  per  cent  of  market 
value. 


(2)  Tax  maps  showing  the  metes  and  bounds 
of  all  property  within  the  limits  of  the  taxing 
district. 

(3)  The  block  and  lot  system  of  indexing  prop- 
erty holdings  and  office  records. 

(4)  The  adoption  of  the  unit  foot  system. 

(5)  The  adoption  of  an  approved  depth  rule, 
corner  influence  rule,  alley  influence  rule,  plot- 
tage rule,  and  such  other  minor  rules  as  are 
necessary. 

(6)  The  preparation  and  adoption  of  a  stand- 
ard building  classification  with  unit  factors  of 
building  value. 

(7)  The  persistent  collection  of  all  information 
bearing  on  property  values  and  its  preservation 
in  readily  accessible  and  permanent  form. 

(8)  The   preparation   of   a  land   value   map 
covering  the  entire  city. 

(9)  The  publication  of  the  tentative  assess- 
ment-roll where  practicable. 

(10)  The  recognition  that  the  work  of  assess- 
ment is  a  year-round  task  and  is  therefore  to 
be  administered  by  a  single  permanent  appoin- 
tive official  whose  work  should  be  subject  to 
revision  on  complaint  by  a  quasi-judicial  board 
of  review. 

These  essentials  are  drawn  from  the 
working  methods  of  the  most  success- 
ful assessors,  and  their  adoption  in 
any  community  should  bring  about 
not  only  a  higher  assessment,  but  at 
the  same  time  a  fairer  assessment. 


MAYOR  COUZENS'   RE-ELECTION 

BY  A  NON-PARTISAN  VOTER 

Mayor  Couzens  was  re-elected  in  November  by  a  vote  of  almost  two  to 
one,  after  an  extremely  bitter  campaign.  He  is  a  dominant  figure 
among  American  mayors.  ::  : :  : :  : :  : :  : :  : : 


MAYOR  JAMES  COUZENS  of  Detroit, 
and  the  eight  members  of  the  nine-man 
city  council,  chosen  three  years  ago, 
who  were  candidates  November  8, 
were  re-elected  by  substantial  majori- 
ties. Thus  the  new  city  charter,  as 
administered  by  the  first  leaders  chosen 
by  the  people,  is  vindicated.  This  car- 
ries also  popular  reaffirmation  of  the 

1  September,  1919. 


whole  progressive  program  which  was 
launched  in  1915  with  the  reform  of  the 
election  system. 

MUNICIPAL    OWNERSHIP    THE    SURFACE 
ISSUE 

Only  a  small  minority,  even  in  De- 
troit, are  aware  of  the  inner  meaning  of 
the  recent  campaign  and  election,  when 


1922] 


MAYOR  COUZEN'S  RE-ELECTION 


11 


viewed  from  the  angle  of  practical  poli- 
tics. Behind  a  smoke  screen  of  propa- 
ganda, consisting  largely  of  personali- 
ties and  vilification,  there  was  done  a 
vast  deal  of  subterranean,  vigorous 
political  work,  under  the  leadership  of 
forces  which  have  been  opposed  to  the 
new  regime  in  Detroit's  government. 
By  these  forces  the  recent  election  was 
regarded,  at  least  before  November  8, 
as  "only  a  trial  heat,"  preliminary  to 
a  broader  movement  by  the  reaction- 
aries, two  years  hence,  to  return  to 
power. 

Publicly  the  issue  was  joined  over 
the  municipal  ownership  program  for 
street  railways  which  was  begun  with 
Mayor  Couzens'  election  three  years 
ago.  For  thirty  years,  or  since  Pingree 
was  mayor,  this  question  has  always 
served  as  a  major  issue  in  local  elec- 
tions. The  other  issue,  which  was  de- 
bated little  but  which  was  the  point  of 
attack  by  the  old-time  politicians,  cen- 
tered around  the  whole  new  regime  of 
government,  based  on  the  principle  of 
non-partisan,  at-large  elections  and 
centralization  of  authority  and  respon- 
sibility. Subordinate  to  these  two 
issues  was  that  of  "the  lid"  or  the 
policy  of  full  law  enforcement  begun 
in  1916  when  Mayor  Marx,  heeding 
public  opinion,  named  Mr.  Couzens,  a 
business  man  long  associated  with 
Henry  Ford,  as  police  commissioner. 
Mr.  Couzens  began  then  the  policy  of 
positive  suppression  of  all  violators  of 
law,  including  gamblers,  prostitutes, 
and  so-called  booze-runners.  His  in- 
dependence and  zeal  in  this  direction, 
naturally  more  prominent  since  saloons 
were  abolished  in  Michigan  by  popular 
vote  in  1916,  had  developed  a  consid- 
erable organized  enmity  among  the 
"wet"  or  liberal  elements. 

The  irony  of  the  situation,  which 
finally  defeated  the  opponents  alike  of 
the  mayor,  council,  and  municipal 
ownership  program,  lay  in  the  fact  that 


the  people,  at  the  polls,  had  previously 
and  repeatedly  endorsed  the  policies 
which  were  being  carried  out  by  the 
mayor  and  council.  The  old  city  char- 
ter, discarded  three  years  ago,  had  an 
entire  chapter  devoted  to  municipal 
ownership  of  transit  lines.  This  had 
been  carried  over  bodily  into  the  new 
charter.  On  assuming  office  Mayor 
Couzens  and  the  street  railway  com- 
mission named  by  him  proceeded  to  do 
what  no  preceding  may  or  had  succeeded 
in  doing:  draft  municipal  ownership 
proposals,  either  by  purchase  or  other- 
wise, which  the  people  would  approve. 
His  first  plan,  calling  for  purchase  at 
$31,500,000,  was  defeated.  His  second 
plan,  calling  fora  bond  issue  of  $15,000,- 
000  to  construct  new  lines  in  territory 
not  served  by  the  private  company, 
was  adopted  by  63.7  per  cent  of  the 
vote.  With  day-and-night  energy  the 
mayor  began  to  make  a  record  for 
construction  and  soon  had  cars  running 
on  a  few  stub  end  lines,  to  be  later  con- 
nected into  a  system  which,  either  inde- 
pendently or  in  co-operation  with  the 
private  company,  was  expected  to 
solve  the  problem. 

Despite  many  legal  battles,  which 
were  carried  even  to  the  national  su- 
preme court,  the  city's  case  proved 
gradually  to  be  established.  While 
money  was  being  spent,  there  was  also 
a  large  investment  of  city  funds, 
largely  by  bond  issues,  in  other  needed 
material  improvements,  many  of  which 
had  been  postponed  during  the  war. 
Inevitably  the  tax  rate  ascended. 
Where  a  total  of  $68,000,000  in  bonds 
had  been  voted  by  the  people,  and  the 
money  was  being  spent  for  the  new 
M.  O.  car  lines,  it  also  was  inevitable 
that  prevailing  business  depression 
should  offer  a  grand  opening  for  an 
assault  on  the  city  hall  with  the  cry  of 
"extravagance."  While  no  serious 
complaints  had  been  made  publicly 
against  the  nine-man  council,  its  mem- 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[January 


bers,  heeding  the  mandates  of  the  peo- 
ple, were  charged  with  being  "rubber 
stamps"  to  the  mayor. 

Though  not  a  politician  himself  when 
elected,  the  mayor  by  his  acts  had  made 
himself  so  strong  politically  that  there 
was  an  astonishing  dearth  of  candi- 
dates seeking  to  contest  the  position 
with  him  this  year.  Finally  Daniel  W. 
Smith,  previously  unknown  to  public 
life,  offered  himself  as  the  lone  contest- 
ant. In  the  primaries  a  third  candi- 
date, frankly  announced  as  a  Socialist, 
was  speedily  eliminated.  For  the  coun- 
cil positions  also  there  were  relatively 
few  offerings,  and  for  the  same  reason 
as  controlled  the  mayoralty  situation: 
the  administration  as  a  whole  had 
sought  to  do  as  the  people  had  ordered. 

MAYOR   CHARGED   WITH   BOSS   RULE 

Though  publicly  professing  his  alle- 
giance to  the  principle  of  municipal 
ownership,  Candidate  Smith  made  the 
issue  one  of  alleged  extravagance  in 
the  city  hall,  and  of  mismanagement  in 
the  municipal  ownership  department. 
His  chief  campaign  cry  was  "bossism," 
in  which  he  included  the  mayor,  the 
Detroit  News,  which  has  for  years  led 
the  municipal  ownership  forces,  and 
all  other  individuals  or  groups  that  by 
any  means  could  be  aligned  with  the 
mayor's  program.  Bitter  personalities, 
charges,  and  countercharges  featured 
the  campaign,  to  the  practical  exclusion 
of  intelligent  criticism  of  the  adminis- 
tration. The  short  and  ugly  word  was 
used  all  too  frequently,  but  chiefly  by 
the  mayor's  opponents.  Their  cam- 
paign was  cleverly  staged  and  managed 
by  a  former  newspaper  man  who,  oddly 
enough,  had  managed  Mayor  Couzens' 
campaign  three  years  before.  In  view 
of  Mr.  Smith's  recognized  lack  of  ex- 
perience in  civic  affairs,  his  public  state- 
ments consisted  chiefly  of  daily  articles 
printed  by  the  Free  Press  and  Journal, 


which  had  never  favored  municipal 
ownership.  It  was  on  details  of  the 
M.  O.  plan  that  attacks  were  made, 
and  there  was  a  general  cry  of  dicta- 
tion and  boss  rule  raised  against  the 
mayor,  the  News,  and  the  Detroit  Citi- 
zens League. 

Thousands  of  votes  were  cast  for  the 
mayor  because  of  his  vigorous  services 
for  municipal  ownership.  Thousands 
also  went  to  his  cause  on  account  of  the 
vague  and  foolish  attempt  that  was 
made  to  show  him  up  as  incompetent  in 
administration  of  city  departments. 
The  people  accepted  the  view  that,  as 
the  mayor  said,  he  had  only  sought  to 
do  the  public  will  and  do  it  with  whole 
heart.  Graft,  corruption  and  favorit- 
ism have  been  unknown.  On  several 
occasions  the  mayor  and  councilmen 
gave  an  account  of  their  stewardship, 
going  into  all  the  details  desired  by  the 
audience.  At  every  point,  even  in  the 
field  of  personalities  such  as  belong  in 
no  city  campaign,  the  final  vote  showed 
that  the  mayor  and  council  had  done 
their  duty  and  deserved  re-election. 

JOHN   C.    LODGE   RE-ELECTED 

Couzens  received  72,198  votes,  Smith 
38,895,  a  majority  of  almost  two  to  one 
for  the  mayor.  Eight  of  the  council 
were  returned  with  heavy  votes,  and  a 
moderate  labor  candidate,  who  de- 
clares himself  unpledged  to  any  single 
group,  becomes  the  ninth  man.  John 
C.  Lodge,  a  veteran  in  service,  was  re- 
elected  president  of  the  council  and 
ex-officio  a  member  of  the  important 
election  commission.  A  proposed 
amendment  to  the  charter  which  would 
restore  the  ward  system  of  elections, 
with  twenty-four  wards  and  twenty- 
four  councilmen,  was  defeated  by 
33,990  to  67,875. 

Besides  several  other  special  ques- 
tions submitted  to  vote,  all  decided  on 
the  basis  of  general  intelligence,  two  in 


1922] 


CLEVELAND  REVOLTS 


13 


particular  will  affect  the  municipal 
ownership  program.  An  ordinance  re- 
quiring the  Detroit  United  Railway  to 
vacate  two  trunk  line  streets,  where 
their  franchises  had  expired,  was  ap- 
proved by  72,268  to  36,353.  The  city 
also  was  authorized  to  utilize  trackless 
trolley  buses  as  a  part  of  the  street  car 
system. 

This  election  confirms,  apparently, 
the  municipal  ownership  idea  as  the 
permanent  policy  of  Detroit.  Already 
there  are  signs  that  the  D.  U.  R.  ex- 
pects to  co-operate  with  the  city  and 
gradually  cease  its  long  fight  against 
public  ownership  and  control.  In  the 
broad  civic  field  honesty  and  efficiency, 
as  well  as  courage  and  political  inde- 
pendence, have  been  vindicated.  A 


long  series  of  local  reforms  have  been 
supported. 

But  the  character  of  the  recent  cam- 
paign may  well  give  pause  to  possible 
candidates  for  the  mayoralty  two  years 
hence  —  as  the  campaigners  are  said 
to  have  planned  in  advance.  And  it  is 
fairly  certain  that  the  next  campaign 
will  witness  a  battle  royal  between  the 
majority  who  have  worked  for  better 
things,  and  the  minority  who  prefer  in- 
visible government,  ready  access  to 
city  contracts  and  jobs,  control  by 
politicians  who  have  party  connections 
in  the  state  and  nation,  less  iron  effi- 
ciency in  the  police  department,  and 
the  ready  promise  of  "low  taxes"  as 
bait  for  the  careless  business  man  who 
"has  no  time  for  politics." 


CLEVELAND  REVOLTS 

BY  CHESTER  COLLINS  MAXEY 

Western  Reserve  University,  Cleveland 

As  all  the  world  knows,  Cleveland  on  last  election  day  adopted  the  city- 
manager  plan  with  proportional  representation  to  go  into  effect  two 
years  hence.  : :  : :  : :  : :  : :  : :  : :  : :  : : 


NOVEMBER  8, 1921,  will  long  be  mem- 
orable in  Cleveland  as  the  day  of  the 
great  political  earthquake.  When  the 
charter  amendment  embodying  the 
manager  plan  and  a  council  elected  by 
proportional  representation  was  pro- 
posed last  spring,  it  was  greeted  with 
arched  eyebrows  and  suppressed  guf- 
faws among  the  "best"  people,  and 
with  a  roaring,  raucous,  horselaugh 
among  the  politicians.  "Doc"  Hatton 
was  peddling  his  nostrums  again!  A 
professor  in  politics!  It  was  to  laugh! 
And  in  order  to  provide  further  merri- 
ment the  dominant  political  organiza- 
tion framed  and  perpetrated  upon  the 
deluded  reformers  a  huge  practical  joke 
that  caused  "the  boys"  nearly  to 


choke  with  laughter.  Upon  the  filing  of 
the  initiative  petition  by  the  propo- 
nents of  the  manager  plan  the  clerk  of 
the  board  of  elections  suddenly  devel- 
oped a  conscientiousness  in  the  scrutiny 
of  signatures  that  postponed  action  on 
the  petition  until  under  the  law  it  was 
too  late  to  secure  a  special  election. 
According  to  the  scenario  a  "fadeout" 
for  the  reformers  was  indicated  at  this 
juncture,  but  the  reformers  refused  to 
fade.  Quietly  they  withdrew  the 
petition  and  set  about  the  circulation 
of  another,  and  when  this  second  peti- 
tion was  filed  it  was  discovered  that 
not  only  did  it  contain  nearly  twice  as 
many  signatures  as  the  first,  but  that 
each  signature  had  been  so  checked 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[January 


and  verified  that  there  was  nothing  for 
the  board  of  elections  to  do  but  certify 
it  to  the  council  and  nothing  for  the 
council  to  do  but  order  the  proposed 
amendment  on  the  ballot  at  the  general 
election  on  November  8. 

The  campaign  in  connection  with  the 
city-manager  amendment  was  quite 
devoid  of  the  spectacular.  The  sup- 
porters of  the  amendment  lacked  the 
money  to  attempt  anything  spec- 
tacular, and  the  opponents  apparently 
thought  it  unnecessary.  Mr.  A.  R. 
Hatton,  as  the  prime  mover  in  the 
circulation  of  the  petition,  naturally 
became  the  leading  champion  of  the 
amendment  on  the  stump.  Mr.  George 
B.  Harris,  an  attorney  of  prominence, 
was  in  some  way  elected  to  head  the 
opposition.  The  principal  feature  of 
the  campaign  was  a  series  of  joint  de- 
bates between  these  two,  which  cov- 
ered practically  every  section  of  the 
city  and  culminated  in  a  great  debate 
before  the  City  Club.  In  appraising 
the  effect  of  these  debates  it  may  be 
said  that  it  is  generally  agreed  that  Mr. 
Harris  made  about  as  many  converts 
for  the  manager  plan  as  did  Mr.  Hatton. 
Indeed,  it  was  characteristic  of  the 
campaign  that  whenever  the  opponents 
of  the  manager  plan  made  a  move, 
they  helped  the  manager  amendment 
more  than  they  hurt  it.  And  this  was 
particularly  true  of  the  hysterical  oppo- 
sition of  the  Cleveland  News  and  the 
skeptical  attitude  of  the  Cleveland 
Plain  Dealer.  These  facts,  however, 
were  not  apparent  until  the  closing 
days  of  the  campaign,  and  even  as  late 
as  a  week  before  election  day  many  of 
us  who  should  have  known  better  were 
of  the  opinion  that  the  manager  amend- 
ment had  only  an  outside  chance  to 
win.  Consequently  there  was  universal 
astonishment  when  the  official  returns 
showed  that  it  had  carried  by  the  con- 
vincing majority  of  19,684. 


CHARTER     AMENDMENT     CONTAINS      NO 
COMPROMISE 

The  city-manager  amendment  itself 
deserves  a  special  article.  It  is  remark- 
able in  every  way — remarkable  for 
the  way  it  was  drafted,  remarkable 
for  what  it  contains,  and  remarkable 
for  what  it  accomplishes.  What  the 
amendment  actually  does  is  to  repeal 
all  but  the  first  two  sections  of  the  ex- 
isting charter  of  the  city  and  to  add  to 
these  two  181  additional  sections  which 
in  reality  comprise  an  entirely  new 
charter  for  the  city.  Perhaps  it  were 
better  for  the  present  not  to  go  into  the 
history  of  the  drafting  of  this  new 
Cleveland  charter,  but  it  should  be 
said  that  so  far  as  the  writer  knows  it 
is  the  only  municipal  charter  in  the 
country  every  word  of  which  was 
drafted  by  experts  and  that  is  totally 
devoid  of  any  compromise  on  grounds 
of  political  expediency.  It  is  as  thor- 
oughgoing and  consistent  as  knowledge 
and  experience  could  make  it.  It  pro- 
vides for  a  council  of  twenty-five  mem- 
bers elected  by  the  Hare  system  of 
proportional  representation.  The  city 
is  divided  into  four  districts  for  the 
purpose  of  electing  members  of  the 
council,  the  districts  electing  seven,  five, 
six,  and  seven  members  respectively 
by  the  proportional  representation 
method.  The  disparities  in  member- 
ship between  the  districts  are  ac- 
counted for  by  disparities  in  popula- 
tion. The  primary  object  sought  in 
laying  out  the  districts  was  not  equal- 
ity of  population,  but  social  and  eco- 
nomic homogeneity.  The  council  is 
required  to  appoint  a  city  manager  as 
the  chief  executive  officer  of  the  city, 
and  it  is  provided  that  the  manager 
need  not  be  a  resident  of  the  city  or 
state  and  that  he  shall  not  be  a  member 
of  the  council.  The  manager  is  given 
power  to  appoint  administrative  sub- 
ordinates whose  appointment  is  not 


1922] 


CLEVELAND  REVOLTS 


15 


otherwise  provided  for  in  the  charter. 
All  such  officers  and  employes  are  made 
immediately  responsible  to  the  man- 
ager and  may  be  discharged  by  him  at 
any  time.  The  council  and  its  com- 
mittees are  specifically  forbidden  to 
interfere  in  any  way  with  appoint- 
ments by  the  manager;  and,  except  for 
the  purpose  of  inquiry,  the  council  may 
deal  with  the  administrative  service  of 
the  city  only  through  the  manager. 
The  amendment  provides  for  the  crea- 
tion of  the  several  administrative  de- 
partments and  prescribes  their  pro- 
cedure somewhat  in  detail.  Elaborate 
budgetary  provisions  are  included,  and 
the  same  is  true  regarding  civil  service, 
franchises,  special  assessments  for  pub- 
lic improvements,  and  many  other  sub- 
jects. It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  NA- 
TIONAL MUNICIPAL  REVIEW  at  a  later 
time  will  find  space  for  an  exhaustive 
analysis  of  this  extraordinary  docu- 
ment, which  becomes  operative  on 
January  1, 1924. 

KOHLER   ELECTED   MAYOR 

The  second  great  surprise  of  the 
Cleveland  election  was  the  mayoralty 
contest.  When  Fred  Kohler  an- 
nounced his  candidacy  early  in  the 
season,  the  "best"  people  held  their 
noses  and  the  politicians  winked  ap- 
preciatively. Fred  Kohler  was  not  un- 
known in  Cleveland.  Under  Mayors 
Tom  L.  Johnson  and  Newton  D. 
Baker  he  had  been  chief  of  police,  and 
Theodore  Roosevelt  in  an  exuberant 
moment  had  called  him  "the  best  chief 
of  police  in  the  United  States."  But 
owing  to  certain  erotic  indiscretions, 
charges  of  gross  immorality  and  con- 
duct unbecoming  to  an  officer  had  been 
preferred  against  him,  and  he  had 
been  tried,  convicted,  and  dismissed  in 
disgrace.  Immediately  he  sought  vin- 
dication in  the  political  arena  and  be- 
came a  candidate  for  various  offices 


without  success  until  1918  when  he 
was  elected  county  commissioner.  He 
was  re-elected  to  the  same  office  in  1920 
by  an  overwhelming  majority,  and 
thus  was  encouraged  to  try  for  the 
mayoralty  in  1921.  The  Republican 
organization  decided  to  back  the  in- 
cumbent, Mr.  FitzGerald;  the  Demo- 
cratic organization  backed  E.  B.  Hase- 
rodt ;  and  Kohler  with  four  others  stood 
as  independents.  The  Cleveland  char- 
ter with  nominations  by  petition  and 
the  preferential  ballot  was  intended  to 
favor  the  independent  candidate,  but 
no  candidate  without  the  support  of 
one  or  the  other  of  the  party  machines 
had  ever  been  elected.  With  the  field 
divided  among  seven  candidates,  it 
looked  like  a  sure  thing  for  one  organi- 
zation or  the  other.  Two  things,  how- 
ever, were  overlooked  in  this  reckon- 
ing: (1)  that  the  people  of  Cleveland 
were  disgusted  with  machine  politics, 
and  (2)  the  unique  campaign  conducted 
by  Mr.  Kohler.  Mr.  Kohler  absolutely 
refused  throughout  the  campaign  to 
make  a  speech  or  public  address;  he 
announced  no  program  or  platform;  he 
did  not  deny  past  misconduct  or  seek 
to  extenuate  it ;  he  simply  insisted  that 
his  record  for  efficiency  and  integrity 
was  above  reproach,  adorned  himself 
with  his  Rooseveltian  decoration,  and 
promised  to  give  Cleveland  "the  best 
administration  it  has  ever  had."  To 
get  into  contact  with  the  voters  he- 
used  a  method  that  was  completely 
baffling  to  the  opposition.  Having  de- 
veloped unusual  powers  as  a  pedestrian 
during  the  years  that  he  served  on  the 
police  force  as  a  patrolman,  Kohler 
undertook  to  make  a  house-to-house 
canvass  of  the  city.  Exactly  how  many 
homes  he  visited  in  his  solicitation  of 
votes  is  known  only  to  Kohler  himself, 
but  it  is  certain  that  he  managed  to  get 
over  practically  all  of  the  ground  that 
he  deemed  important.  This  type  of 
campaign  was  especially  disconcerting 


16 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[January 


to  the  other  candidates  because  they 
had  no  means  of  measuring  its  success, 
and  the  inroads  he  was  making  upon 
their  strength  were  not  apparent  until 
straw  votes  near  the  end  of  the  cam- 
paign showed  unmistakably  that  it 
was  a  case  of  Kohler  against  the  field. 
The  election  returns  showed  Kohler 
leading  from  the  start,  and  although 
he  did  not  secure  the  majority  of  first 
choice  votes,  nor  the  majority  of  first 
and  second  choice  votes  necessary  to 
election  under  the  "Mary  Ann"  bal- 
lot, neither  did  any  other  candidate. 
Then  under  the  charter  it  was  neces- 
sary to  count  all  choices,  and  Kohler 
was  found  to  have  a  clear  plurality  of 
all-choice  votes,  and  was  therefore 
elected. 

A   MACHINE   DEFEAT 

Some  have  chosen  to  interpret  the 
election  of  Mr.  Kohler  as  proof-posi- 
tive of  the  utter  depravity  of  municipal 
politics,  but  penetrating  observers 
will  not  so  construe  it.  Kohler 's  two 
leading  opponents  were  hand-picked 
machine  candidates  with  no  conspicu- 
ous personal  qualities.  Of  the  inde- 
pendent candidates  only  Kohler  and 
one  other  could  be  taken  seriously,  but 
the  latter  entered  the  campaign  com- 
paratively unknown  while  Kohler  was 
probably  the  most  widely  known  indi- 
vidual in  the  city.  Aside  from  the  mat- 
ter of  private  morality,  Kohler  had 
achieved  a  reputation  in  public  life  for 
rugged  honesty,  efficiency,  and  inde- 
pendence, and  he  was  elected  because 
of  this  reputation  and  in  spite  of  the 
blot  on  his  private  life. 

In  addition  to  these  two  outstanding 


matters  the  voters  were  called  upon  to 
elect  a  chief  justice  and  three  justices 
of  the  municipal  court,  to  approve  or 
reject  two  bond  issues,  and  to  vote 
upon  three  amendments  to  the  state 
constitution.  It  is  to  the  credit  of  the 
electorate  that  three  of  the  four  men 
elected  to  the  municipal  bench  had  been 
endorsed  by  the  bar  association  and 
other  civic  bodies.  Civic  organiza- 
tions had  urged  the  defeat  of  both 
bond  issues,  but  the  voters  decided  in 
favor  of  issuing  bonds  for  the  construc- 
tion of  a  central  library  building  and 
against  the  issuance  of  bonds  for  a  jail 
and  criminal  courts  building.  Consid- 
erations of  economy  were  allowed  to 
prevail  in  the  one  instance,  but  not  in 
the  other,  which  involved  a  great  com- 
munity service  in  which  all  were  inter- 
ested. The  three  constitutional  amend- 
ments, not  being  municipal  questions, 
require  no  discussion  here. 

In  conclusion  I  would  say  that  this 
election  was  a  most  inspiring  event  for 
those  of  us  who  like  to  believe  in  gov- 
ernment not  only  of  and  for  the  people, 
but  by  the  people.  Our  faith  has  been 
none  too  strong  at  times,  and  frequently 
we  have  been  tempted  to  fear  that  "the 
struggle  naught  availeth"  and  that  the 
labor  and  the  wounds  are  indeed  vain. 
But  Cleveland  has  shown  us  that  the 
people  will  rise  to  a  great  challenge, 
that  they  will  not  shrink  before  the 
big  and  constructive  task,  and  that 
they  can  deal  with  principles  as  well 
as  with  men.  And  if  Cleveland,  with 
her  800,000  people  of  every  race  and 
color  and  creed,  can  accomplish  such  a 
thing,  what  may  not  democracy  dare 
to  hope ! 


FREE  CITIZEN  OR  SLAVE  — WHICH1 


BY  J.  HORACE  McFARLAND 


A  VERY  great  apostle,  who  was  also 
a  very  great  man,  confidently  cited  his 
citizenship  nearly  two  thousand  years 
ago.  Humble  before  God,  this  citizen 
Paul  was  proud  of  his  civic  freedom, 
as  the  Roman  centurion  learned  whom 
he  checked  in  the  doing  of  a  wrong  to 
him  as  a  freeborn  Roman  citizen.  The 
soldier  who  had  purchased  his  citizen- 
ship was  apologetic  before  the  man 
from  Tarsus. 

With  this  illustrious  example  before 
me,  I  may  properly  inquire  whether  I 
am  a  free  citizen  of  no  mean  city,  like 
Paul,  and  if  not,  why  I  am  a  slave — 
for  in  democratic  America  I  must  be 
one  or  the  other  despite  the  thirteenth 
amendment  to  the  constitution.  Either 
I  am  a  self-respecting,  participating 
citizen  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
using  my  privileges  and  doing  my  duty 
as  a  free  citizen,  or,  neglecting  all  or 
part  of  my  privileges  and  duties,  I  am 
more  or  less  a  slave  to  those  whom  I 
permit  to  take  my  place.  I  wear  either 
the  toga  or  the  chain,  or  a  grotesque 
combination.  There  is,  there  can  be, 
no  intermediate  state  of  non-responsi- 
bility for  sane  persons  in  this  land  of 
equal  suffrage,  particularly  since  the 
nineteenth  amendment  to  the  consti- 
tution removed  a  long-endured  defi- 
ciency from  by  far  the  better  half  of 
our  citizenship! 

What  is  this  free  citizenship  which  I 
use  or  do  not  use?  What  are  the  privi- 
leges and  duties  that  determine  my 

1  President's  Address  at  Chicago  Meeting  of 
the  American  Civic  Association,  November  14, 
1921. 


standing  as  citizen  or  slave?    How  can 
I,  indeed,  be  a  slave  in  free  America? 

In  the  imperial  Germany  of  1914, 
voters  were  classified,  and  one  man's 
vote  in  Berlin  was,  as  I  remember  the 
system,  equal  to  the  votes  of  nearly 
four  hundred  other  men  of  Berlin  less 
highly  placed  or  paying  less  tax.  In 
the  United  States  one  man — or  now  one 
woman,  thank  God! — has  one  vote, 
and  only  one,  regardless  of  place  or  tax. 
Suffrage  is  equal  and  universal,  and 
no  one  else  can  legally  cast  my  vote, 
by  proxy  or  otherwise. 

But  if  I  do  not  cast  it,  or  if  I  vote 
without  knowledge  or  sober  thought, 
or  at  the  behest  of  a  boss,  my  vote  is 
wasted  for  the  good  of  the  nation.  In 
failing  to  vote  for  the  man  or  measure 
that  would,  apart  from  partisan  claims 
or  political  "bunk,"  best  advance  my 
country,  I  have  forged  a  link  in  the 
chain  that  can  enslave  me. 

This  is  true,  too,  whether  the  vote 
is  for  presidential  electors  or  for  gov- 
ernor, for  United  States  senator  or  for 
constable.  Each  time  my  vote  goes 
wrong — and  careless,  heedless,  partisan 
voting  as  such  is  always  wrong — I  add 
a  link  to  my  chain. 

II 

But  there  are  many  more  ways  to 
lengthen  that  chain.  Voting  opportu- 
nities come  but  once  or  twice  a  year, 
though  the  result  of  wrong  voting  may 
endure  for  many  years,  while  my  oppor- 
tunities and  duties  as  a  citizen  recur 
daily,  almost  hourly. 

Do  I  fully  realize  that  law  enforce- 
ment depends  upon  me,  a  plain  unoffi- 


17 


18 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[January 


cial  citizen,  in  very  many  ways?  Law 
is  defined  as  "a  rule  of  being  or  con- 
duct," and  if  the  law  be  one  enacted 
by  the  constituted  authorities  I  have 
participated  in  choosing,  or  if  I  am  in 
any  community  under  rule  of  so-en- 
acted law,  I  am  bound  to  observe  it.  I 
am  even  presumed  to  acquaint  myself 
with  the  law,  the  excuse  of  ignorance 
being  no  defense  should  I  violate  it. 
But  I  get  the  impression  in  these  times 
that  law  is  not  violated  unless  I  am 
caught  at  it;  or  at  least  that  is  the 
logical  conclusion  one  must  reach  who 
notes  the  easy  acceptance  of  successful 
criminality,  particularly  in  relation  to 
the  eighteenth  amendment! 

Reflection  convinces  me  that  to  be 
really  free  in  free  America  I  must  not 
only  myself  obey  the  laws  of  the  land, 
general  and  local,  but  must  assist  or 
support  the  officials,  my  servants, 
directly  charged  with  law  enforcement. 
If  I  see  a  murder  committed,  and  do 
not  do  my  utmost  to  prevent  it,  the 
law  justly  considers  me  with  suspicion. 
Am  I  any  less  under  suspicion  if  I  see 
the  town,  the  state,  robbed,  or  laws  for 
the  general  protection  violated? 

It  is  evident  that  by  neglecting  my 
plain  duty  of  allegiance  through  law 
obedience  and  law  enforcement  I  can 
add  many  heavy  links  to  my  chain. 

In  an  address  to  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in 
Washington  in  1903,  that  sturdiest  of 
free  Americans  whose  voice  is  increas- 
ingly a  clarion  call  for  good  citizenship 
though  he  has  passed  on,  said: 

We  see  all  around  us  people  who  say,  "Oh, 
well,  things  will  come  out  all  right."  So  they 
will;  but  not  because  there  are  men  who  are  con- 
tent to  say  that  they  will  come  out  all  right,  but 
because  there  is  a  sufficient  number  of  earnest  men 
with  the  root  of  righteousness  in  them  who  are 
bound  to  do  what  will  make  them  come  out  right. 

Theodore  Roosevelt  lived  his  right- 
eousness; he  never  wore  a  chain! 

Probably  in  no  way  may  I  so  effec- 
tively circumscribe  my  freedom  as 


a  citizen,  so  rapidly  lengthen  and 
strengthen  my  chain  as  a  civic  slave,  as 
in  neglecting  to  participate  in  the  inti- 
mate affairs  of  the  community  in  which 
I  live. 

Ill 

If  I  have  even  the  beginnings  of  pride 
in  the  community  in  which  I  live,  I 
want  it  to  be  attractive,  good-looking, 
even  beautiful.  The  first  unit  of  this 
attractiveness,  so  far  as  I  am  con- 
cerned, is  my  own  home.  I  am  not 
building  America  right  if  I  do  not  see  to 
it  that  my  front  to  the  world,  whether 
it  be  but  one  window  of  a  single  room, 
or  a  great  mansion,  is  harmoniously 
pleasing.  When  I  say  front,  I  do  not 
mean  to  imply  neglect  of  the  back — for 
many  a  bad  back  yard  becomes  easily 
the  front  of  neglect  and  disadvantage. 

It  is  the  associated  homes,  business 
buildings,  schools,  churches,  and  the 
like,  that  make  up  the  street  and  the 
community.  Until  the  aeroplane  be- 
comes the  conventional  and  preferred 
method  of  entrance,  we  will  get  into 
the  community  by  the  road,  the  rail 
and  the  water.  Rather  rapidly  the 
majority  entrance  is  coming  to  be  by 
road,  for  it  was  recently  discovered 
that  nearly  two-thirds  of  the  people 
who  came  to  Niagara  Falls  in  one  day 
in  August  came  by  automobile.  Every 
American  community  has  a  road  into 
it,  and  most  American  communities  are 
reached  by  rail,  with  not  so  many  as 
ought  to  be  by  navigable  water. 

In  any  case,  when  I  have  made  my 
home  good  to  look  at  as  well  as  pleas- 
ant to  live  in,  and  when  my  neighbors 
have  done  likewise,  there  will  be  a 
pleasant  approach  to  the  town,  by 
whatever  means.  But  my  fellow  citi- 
zens have  not  generally  done  this  as 
yet,  for  the  average  approach  of  an 
American  community  is  anything  but 
dignified  or  pleasant  or  indicative  of 
the  importance  and  public  spirit  of  the 


1922] 


FREE  CITIZEN  OR  SLAVE— WHICH? 


10 


people  whose  neglect  has  permitted  it. 
As  the  town  is  my  larger  home,  my 
duty  as  a  free  citizen  impels  me,  there- 
fore, to  consider  carefully,  and  with  a 
basis  of  action  back  of  my  considera- 
tion, whether  the  approaches  are  such 
as  I  am  willing  to  stand  for. 

The  street  itself  in  my  town  may  be 
a  pleasure  or  a  pain  to  the  passer-by. 
If  I  have  been  careless  about  my  home 
and  my  neighbors  are  likewise,  if  in- 
stead of  planning  for  a  beautiful  and 
convenient  and  dignified  street  I  have 
planned  for  the  last  possible  penny  out 
of  the  last  possible  square  inch  of  land, 
the  street  is  likely  to  be  painful  in  its 
expression,  and  when  thus  painful  I 
have  missed  my  sordid  aim.  Without 
any  exception  it  is  found  that  property 
values  are  immediately  enhanced  on 
those  streets  which  are  attractive  in 
themselves.  Therefore  if  I  neglect  to 
use  my  influence,  vote,  voice,  and 
opportunity  as  a  citizen  toward  having 
attractive  streets  in  my  home  com- 
munity, I  forge  another  link,  this  time 
made  up  of  financial  loss  and  civic 
shame,  in  my  chain. 

IV 

What  am  I  proud  of  in  my  town?  Is 
it  the  great  factories,  the  important 
places  of  business,  the  large  commercial 
blocks,  the  smoke  which  is  said  to  evi- 
dence industry,  the  billboards  which 
evidence  nothing  pleasant,  that  I  am 
proud  of  when  I  tell  my  friends  about 
my  town?  Or  do  I  tend  rather  to  boast 
about  the  beauty  of  the  town,  whatever 
it  is?  If  I  did  so  boast,  then  I  must 
have  been  thinking  and  acting,  so  far 
as  my  own  citizenship  is  concerned, 
toward  making  the  town  better  to  look 
at  by  influencing  associations  of  build- 
ings toward  a  civic  center,  for  example. 
I  have  been  anxious  that  the  churches, 
very  considerably  supported  by  the 
state  through  remission  of  taxes,  should 


add  to  the  attractiveness  of  the  town. 
I  have  considered  the  public  buildings 
associated  for  convenience  should  also 
be  associated  for  prideful  beauty.  I 
have  insisted  that  the  schools,  conven- 
iently situated,  should  be  architectur- 
ally good  and  should  provide  open 
play  space,  not  only  for  light  and  air, 
but  for  better  maintaining  and  build- 
ing the  bodies  in  which  are  housed  the 
minds  the  schools  are  presumed  to 
educate. 

I  am  usually  proud,  if  civic  pride  has 
stirred  in  me,  of  the  parks  of  my  town, 
if  there  are  any.  Sometimes  it  is  a 
shameful  park  that  I  show  my  visiting 
friend,  because  it  is  merely  a  little 
block  of  ground  with  a  few  bedraggled 
trees,  and  some  more  only  less  bedrag- 
gled junk  assembled  in  this  park  or 
square  because  someone  has  "wished" 
it  on  the  town  and  there  is  no  place  else 
to  put  it!  I  may  even  be  proud  that 
an  antique  or  modern  cannon  is  an 
adornment  of  this  public  place  belong- 
ing to  all,  overlooking  the  fact  that  the 
English,  our  civic  progenitors,  have 
hidden  in  a  museum  in  the  Tower  in 
London  their  middle-age  instruments  of 
torture  while  we  in  America  are  spread- 
ing them  as  ornaments  to  our  public 
squares ! 

If  I  happen  to  be  a  forward-looking 
citizen  as  free  of  chains  as  was  the 
great  American  whose  words  I  have 
recently  quoted,  I  have  done  my  part 
toward  securing  adequate  and  conven- 
ient recreation  for  all  the  people  of  my 
town,  and  at  least  an  acre  for  every  one 
hundred  people  is  in  developed  park 
use.  I  may  even  be  thinking  of  music 
for  the  people,  and  movies  for  the  peo- 
ple, and  a  possible  dignified  open-air 
theatre  which  is  to  take  the  place  of 
the  vulgar  and  outrageous  grandstand 
which  has  heretofore  been  the  American 
town's  way  of  celebrating  a  great  event 
by  the  perversion  of  pine  and  the  degra- 
dation of  the  colors. 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[January 


If  I  am  a  chained  citizen  I  have  ac- 
cepted without  effective  objection  the 
avoidable  industrial  smoke  which  coats 
my  collars  and  my  countenance  with 
carbon,  the  perverted  trees  which  carry 
a  network  of  wires  along  the  streets, 
and  the  billboards  which  sell  my  eyes 
without  recourse  or  profit.  It  is  with- 
out a  spirit  of  irreverence  that  I  per- 
vert a  Pauline  utterance  when  I  say, 
"Poles,  smoke  and  the  billboard,  these 
three;  but  the  worst  of  these  is  the 
billboard!" 

I  know,  if  I  have  begun  to  shake  off 
my  shackles,  that  economic  conditions 
and  an  awakened  public  interest  are 
rather  rapidly  forcing  most  of  the  poles 
off  the  highways,  the  wires  they  have 
heretofore  carried  being  much  more 
safely  sheltered  underground  to  the 
relief  of  the  forests  and  to  the  advan- 
tage of  the  corporations.  I  have  dis- 
covered that  most  smoke  is  wasteful 
and  can  be  avoided,  to  economic  ad- 
vantage, and  I  have  also  discovered 
that  it  is  not  necessary,  morally,  le- 
gally or  financially,  to  endure  the  smoke 
disadvantage. 

But  have  I  yet  waked  up  to  what  the 
billboard  does  to  me  and  my  children 
and  my  friends?  Do  I  realize  that  it  is 
altogether  unethical,  altogether  con- 
trary to  the  theory  that  I  am  my 
brother's  keeper,  to  have  a  blatant 
sign  desiring  to  sell  me  something 
thrust  upon  me  wherever  I  go?  I  ad- 
mit that  advertising  is  a  vast  force, 
and  an  important  and  indeed  necessary 
force  in  the  world,  but  I  do  not  admit 
that  I  must  submit  to  its  seductions, 
or  in  my  case  to  its  repulsions,  on  the 
billboards  seven  days  in  the  week, 
twenty-four  hours  in  the  day,  under  the 
modern  brilliantly  lighted  intrusions 
that  our  great  cities  permit.  I  am  com- 
ing to  believe  that  when  we  are  all  free 
of  chains  of  custom,  when  we  have  done 
some  thinking  for  ourselves,  we  will 
make  the  merchants  realize  that  the 


conventional  billboard  is  a  definite 
and  complete  instruction  not  to  buy, 
and  then  the  billboard  business  will 
disappear.  Meanwhile,  as  a  free  citi- 
zen I  shall  want  to  press  against  the 
billboard  intrusions  everywhere  and 
all  the  time,  in  the  city  where  the  sky 
sign  makes  a  great  highway  look  like 
illuminated  hysterics,  in  the  country 
where  noble  scenery  is  subordinated  to 
the  demands  of  the  tire  merchants,  and 
even  in  the  lovely  tree-decked  village 
where  some  enterprising  national  law- 
breaker has  "sniped"  his  tobacco  signs 
and  his  stove  slogans  over  everything 
into  which  he  can  drive  a  nail. 


If  I  have  shaken  off  my  chains  and 
am  again  a  free  citizen  enlightened  by 
what  I  have  had  to  do  to  be  free,  I  am 
looking  beyond  the  community  through 
the  county  and  the  state  as  my  con- 
cerns to  the  nation,  which,  after  all,  is 
my  greatest  eventual  concern.  I  may 
be  working  with  neighboring  communi- 
ties toward  county  parks  for  the  gen- 
eral good,  and  this  I  say  even  if  my 
community  is  a  farming  community, 
for  I  believe  that  more  baseball  and 
more  tennis  would  increase  the  pro- 
duction of  wheat  and  of  milk  through 
the  strengthening  energies  of  the  farm 
men  and  the  farm  women. 

I  will  be  thinking  in  terms  of  state 
parks  for  the  honor  and  glory  of  my 
commonwealth.  I  shall  want  to  have 
great  memorials  peculiar  to  the  state 
preserved  for  all  time  as  precious  pos- 
sessions, and  I  shall  insist  also  that  the 
larger  recreational  use  not  practicable 
for  the  community  is  served  in  the 
open  areas  for  camping  and  living  next 
to  nature,  that  only  the  state  can  prop- 
erly provide. 

Then  I  will  begin  to  sing  truly,  and 
not  perfunctorily,  the  national  hymn.  I 
will  love  the  rocks  and  the  rills,  and  pro- 


1922] 


DEADLOCK  IN  PUBLIC  UTILITY  REGULATION 


21 


tect  the  templed  hills  that  have  wisely 
been  included  in  the  national  parks.  I 
will  protect  them  against  the  selfish 
interests  which  want  them  for  any 
purposes  other  than  those  which  serve 
every  citizen — recreation,  education, 
enlargement.  I  will  insist  that  the 
Yosemite  and  the  Yellowstone,  that 
the  glaciers  and  the  big  trees,  that  the 
mountains  and  the  valleys  now  in  the 
national  domain  be  held  and  developed 
as  a  sacred  trust  not  only  for  me,  but  for 
mine  that  are  to  follow.  I  will  resist 
with  my  vote  and  my  money  and  my 
voice  the  insidious  attacks  of  those  who 
for  selfish  interests  would  destroy  or 
diminish  the  glory  and  the  usefulness 
of  these  items  of  patriotism  I  have  sung 
about. 


Yes,  I  may  even  insist  that  some 
time  before  the  voice  of  Niagara  is 
wholly  stilled  or  substituted  by  the 
roar  of  the  turbines,  that  that  greatest 
glory  of  God  on  the  western  hemisphere 
is  to  be  kept  as  His  spectacle  and  not 
as  a  great  workshop. 

Is  all  this  a  dream,  a  phantasy?  Not 
at  all.  No  item  has  been  mentioned 
which  is  not  my  responsibility  and 
yours.  Nothing  has  been  discussed 
which  is  not  within  my  privilege  and 
my  responsibility  as  a  citizen.  The 
determination  of  my  relationship  to 
these  things  and  to  the  others  which 
will  occur  to  the  mind  of  thoughtful 
men  and  women  is  in  the  last  analysis 
my  own  determination  as  to  whether 
I  will  be  a  free  citizen  or  a  slave. 


DEADLOCK  IN  PUBLIC  UTILITY 
REGULATION 

IV.  THE  CHARACTER  OF  THE  COMMISSIONS,  AND  WHAT 
SHOULD  BE  DONE 

BY  JOHN  BAUER,  PH.D. 

Consultant  on  Public  Utilities,  New  York 

For  the  present  at  least,  regulation  will  be  found  more  desirable 
than  public  ownership  or  service-at-cost.  But  partisan  politics  must 
be  driven  out  and  the  personnel  of  public  service  commissions  improved. 


IN  previous  articles,  the  writer  dis- 
cussed the  failure  of  public  utility  regu- 
lation to  develop  sound  financial  poli- 
cies, to  provide  an  adequate  machinery 
for  proper  adjustment  of  rates  upward 
or  downward  according  to  changing 
conditions,  and  to  determine  and  en- 
force economical  methods  of  operation. 
Regulation  has  thus  permitted  the 
continuance  of  higher  operating  costs 
and  higher  rates  than  necessary,  and 
has  helped  to  bring  about  financial  im- 
pairment of  the  companies. 

The  catalog  of  sins — particularly  of 


omission — is  great  and  the  question 
naturally  arises  whether  regulation  has 
not  been  such  a  failure  that  the  com- 
missions ought  to  be  abolished  and  the 
policy  of  regulation  abandoned.  While 
no  conclusive  answer  can  be  made,  for 
it  depends  predominantly  upon  per- 
sonal point  of  view,  to  the  writer,  who 
has  tried  seriously  to  avoid  bias  and 
to  keep  in  mind  only  the  requirements 
of  economical  service  at  the  lowest 
possible  rates,  it  seems  a  hasty  and  un- 
due conclusion  to  abandon  regulation 
altogether  because  there  have  been 


22 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[January 


grave  deficiencies  and  failures.  The 
chances  of  removing  the  difficulties 
appear  much  better  than  the  estab- 
lishment of  any  other  general  policy  of 
protecting  and  promoting  the  public  in- 
terest in  the  various  important  services. 

ALTERNATIVES   TO   REGULATION 

Regulation  has  become  established 
as  a  general  public  policy  toward  utili- 
ties. In  the  first  place,  it  would  be  ex- 
ceedingly difficult  to  bring  about  an 
abandonment  of  a  policy  which  has  so 
thoroughly  become  a  part  of  our  ac- 
cepted legal  and  public  points  of  view. 
Second,  it  would  be  still  more  difficult 
to  substitute  another  plan  with  the 
hope  of  universal  acceptance  to  meet 
squarely  the  requirements  of  economi- 
cal service  at  reasonable  rates.  There 
are  only  two  general  policies  which 
might  be  considered  as  alternatives  to 
regulation:  (1)  direct  municipal  or 
public  ownership  and  operation,  and 
(2)  operating  contracts  between  munic- 
ipalities and  companies.  Space  pre- 
vents an  adequate  discussion  of  either 
alternative,  and  we  may  confidently 
assume  that  the  utilities  cannot  be 
turned  over  to  the  companies  as 
strictly  private  enterprises  without  any 
regulation  or  control  for  public  pur- 
poses. 

There  are  many  pros  and  cons  in  re- 
gard to  public  ownership  and  opera- 
tion. All  arbitrary  constitutional  and 
legal  restrictions  should,  of  course,  be 
removed  so  that  every  municipality 
would  be  free  to  determine  for  itself  its 
own  policies.  If  any  city  wishes  to 
undertake  direct  municipal  ownership 
and  operation,  it  should  not  be  pre- 
vented, but  it  must  be  able  to  finance 
the  proposition,  and  all  private  in- 
vestments must  be  reasonably  safe- 
guarded to  make  impossible  any  real 
confiscation  of  property. 

At  the  present  time,  however,  it  is 


exceedingly  doubtful  whether  this  pro- 
posal could  be  carried  out  in  many 
municipalities,  because  of  the  political 
and  financial  conditions,  also  because 
of  apparently  unfavorable  public  senti- 
ment. While  undoubtedly  there  are 
places  where  it  would  succeed  and  un- 
der the  particular  circumstances  would 
offer  the  wisest  course  for  the  commu- 
nity, as  a  universal  proposition  it  cannot 
be  confidently  offered  to  replace  regu- 
lation. To  anyone  acquainted  with 
municipal  government,  it  is  clear  that 
before  satisfactory  public  operation 
can  be  reasonably  expected,  with  effi- 
cient management,  we  must  not  only 
have  a  great  change  in  public  senti- 
ment, but  particularly  a  thorough- 
going reorganization  in  governmental 
form  so  that  the  officials  charged  with 
administrative  responsibility  will  be 
selected  for  their  technical  or  profes- 
sional ability  and  not  because  of  their 
political  connections. 

The  second  alternative, — special  op- 
erating contracts  between  municipali- 
ties and  companies, — has  not  been  ex- 
tensively tried  to  justify  much  of  an 
opinion  as  to  its  reasonable  expecta- 
tions in  conserving  adequately  the 
public  interest  in  the  utilities.  The 
service-at-cost  contracts  between  a 
number  of  municipalities  and  street 
railway  companies  have  not  proven 
such  an  unqualified  success  to  recom- 
mend them  as  a  general  policy  for  the 
country  at  large.  Such  agreements 
may  serve  excellently  in  particular 
circumstances,  especially  where  the 
cities  are  in  a  sufficiently  powerful 
tactical  position  in  negotiation  to 
force  from  the  companies  reasonable 
terms  for  the  public.  Frequently  if  not 
usually,  however,  the  companies  are 
entrenched  with  such  special  privi- 
leges that  they  have  the  advantage  in 
negotiation  and  are  able  to  exact  un- 
duly favorable  terms  for  themselves, 
especially  if  the  cities  are  seriously 


1922] 


DEADLOCK  IN  PUBLIC   UTILITY  REGULATION 


determined  upon  a  cost  of  service 
agreement. 

Personally,  I  feel  convinced  that 
there  is  no  single  way  which  leads  to  a 
universal  solution  for  all  the  cities  un- 
der all  circumstances.  In  some  in- 
stances direct  municipal  ownership  and 
operation  will  be  appropriate  and 
should  be  adopted.  In  other  cases,  the 
service-at-cost  plan  will  be  practicable 
and  will  meet  excellently  the  particular 
situation.  In  general,  however,  not 
only  are  the  political,  tactical  and  op- 
erating conditions  unfavorable  for  the 
universal  introduction  of  these  alter- 
natives, but  there  is  the  extreme  diffi- 
culty of  deliberately  bringing  about  a 
country-wide  reorganization  and  intro- 
duction of  a  new  policy. 

Let  me  emphasize  that  the  advan- 
tages of  regulation  are  its  actual  coun- 
try-wide existence  and  its  fundamen- 
tally sound  purpose  of  conserving  the 
public  interest  within  the  limits  of  pri- 
vate rights .  Moreover,  it  is  clothed  with 
all  the  force  of  the  police  power,  which 
may  override  private  pretensions  and 
mere  obstruction  for  the  public  good, 
provided  there  is  no  undue  confisca- 
tion of  property.  If  vigorously  and 
intelligently  exercised,  it  can  effec- 
tively dispose  of  unjustified  claims 
and  demands  which  would  stand  as 
almost  insurmountable  obstacles  to 
the  introduction  of  successful  munici- 
pal ownership  and  operation  or  desir- 
able service-at-cost  plans. 

THE  DANGER  OF  EXCESSIVE  VALUATIONS 

If  a  city  were  to  proceed  directly 
with  an  announced  policy  of  municipal 
ownership  and  operation  or  the  intro- 
duction of  a  service-at-cost  plan,  ex- 
cept under  unusually  favorable  cir- 
cumstances, it  would  be  compelled  to 
recognize  undue  valuation  of  the  prop- 
erty and  thus  immediately  handicap 
the  success  of  the  undertaking.  Even 


if  it  could  acquire  the  property  through 
condemnation,  it  would  almost  cer- 
tainly have  to  pay  excessive  amounts 
not  only  for  the  physical  plant  and 
equipment,  but  for  the  franchises  and 
the  right  to  operate  which  usually 
represent  no  investment  and  would 
not  be  allowed  any  value  under  effec- 
tive regulation.  Similarly,  in  bringing 
about  a  service-at-cost  contract,  it 
would  usually  be  compelled  to  recog- 
nize a  greater  valuation  on  which  a 
return  would  be  allowed  than  is  just 
to  the  public.  This  has  been  the  re- 
peated actual  experience,  due  to  the 
eagerness  of  the  city  to  proceed  with 
a  particular  plan  which  the  companies 
are  not  compelled  to  accept.  The  city 
would  usually  be  at  a  disadvantage  in 
the  negotiations,  and  the  companies 
would  profit  accordingly. 

PRACTICAL  ADVANTAGES  OF  REGULATION 

The  chief  advantage  of  regulation, 
therefore,  is  not  only  its  universal  ex- 
istence, but  vested  with  the  police 
power  it  is  able  to  impose  directly  upon 
the  companies  what  it  itself  deems  to 
be  desirable  or  necessary  for  the  public 
welfare.  If  vigorously  pursued  and 
based  upon  clear  understanding  of 
what  is  desirable  and  necessary  for 
permanent  public  policy,  it  can  directly 
without  negotiation  eliminate  all  unjus- 
tified claims  of  investors,  establish 
outright  the  amount  of  the  investment 
upon  which  a  return  is  allowed,  and 
otherwise  fix  the  terms  for  proper  serv- 
ice at  reasonable  rates.  The  valuations 
thus  fixed  are  conclusive,  subject  to 
review  by  the  courts,  whether  they  are 
satisfactory  to  the  companies  or  not, 
or  whether  they  would  be  acceptable  in 
negotiations  for  a  municipal  ownership 
or  service-at-cost  contracts.  Similarly 
in  other  matters  affecting  the  public 
interest,  intelligent  regulation  can  cut 
through  all  technical  obstacles  and 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[January- 


pretenses,  look  only  to  the  realities  of 
the  private  rights,  and  fix  such  terms 
and  conditions  of  service  as  are  reason- 
able. This,  let  me  emphasize,  would 
be  achieved  through  the  exercise  of  the 
police  power  as  an  act  of  sovereignty, 
and  not  through  negotiation  for  pur- 
chase or  contracts  involving  the  use  of 
the  properties.  This  is  the  funda- 
mental ad  vantage  of  regulation  as  a  uni- 
versal policy  over  alternative  methods. 
If  oa  the  one  hand  regulation  has 
the  advantage  of  existence  as  a  general 
policy  and  has  the  power  to  cut  through 
arbitrary  obstacles  raised  by  private 
interests  against  public  requirements, 
but  if  nevertheless  it  has  signally  failed 
in  carrying  out  fundamental  public 
purposes, — is  not  the  more  promising 
course  to  modify  and  invigorate  regu- 
lation to  make  it  an  effective  and  work- 
able proposition  rather  than  turn  to 
other  ways  which  in  most  instances  are 
probably  blocked  with  even  greater 
difficulties? 


THE   POLITICAL   CHARACTER   OP   PUBLIC 
SERVICE  COMMISSIONS 

The  outstanding  difficulty  of  regula- 
tion is  one  that  can  be  remedied  to  a 
large  extent  if  there  is  a  moderate  pub- 
lic opinion  reasonably  well  organized 
to  bring  pressure  upon  the  appointing 
power  of  the  commissions.  With  com- 
paratively few  exceptions,  the  commis- 
sioners have  been  appointed  not  for 
their  understanding  of  the  problems 
and  methods  of  regulation,  but  because 
of  their  political  connections  and  party 
services.  Moreover,  political  factors 
have  become  increasingly  powerful 
since  the  earlier  commissioners  were 
appointed.  The  commissions,  with  few 
notable  exceptions,  have  had  little 
interest  in  their  responsibilities  and 
have  not  understood  or  even  been 
aware  of  the  problems  confronting 
them.  They  have  been  more  eager  to 


forward  their  personal  political  con- 
nections and  to  support  the  strategical 
movements  of  their  party  organizations 
than  to  study  the  requirements  of  reg- 
ulation and  to  establish  suitable  ma- 
chinery and  methods  for  the  purpose. 

Because  of  the  political  connections, 
the  commissioners  have  not  only  had 
little  interest  in  their  responsibilities 
but  have  often  if  not  usually  delib- 
erately dodged  them  in  order  to  play 
safe  with  political  consequences.  They 
have  simply  followed  the  characteristic 
political  course  to  take  no  positive  ac- 
tion that  can  be  avoided  and  might 
cause  opposition.  To  safeguard  their 
political  connection,  their  chief  concern 
has  been  to  dodge  responsibility  and  to 
"pass  the  buck."  This  fact  has  further 
resulted  in  preventing  men  of  real  abil- 
ity from  accepting  appointments  and 
has  gradually  bound  the  technical  de- 
partments with  red  tape,  transforming 
them  into  traditional  governmental 
bureaus  interested  largely  in  self  pro- 
tection rather  than  in  serious  and 
vigorous  public  efforts. 

Personally  I  have  been  closely  ac- 
quainted with  the  technical  depart- 
ments of  one  of  the  leading  commis- 
sions of  the  country.  I  know  the  abil- 
ity and  zeal  that  characterized  the 
original  staff  and  I  know  how  these  fine 
qualities  have  been  "red  taped"  by 
repeated  frustration  of  effort.  The 
sham  of  successive  reorganization  of 
the  commission,  the  obvious  insincerity 
of  every  new  lot  of  appointments,  and 
the  inevitable  injustice  incurred  by  the 
technical  men  through  numerous  and 
changing  political  appointees,  have 
gradually  driven  many  of  the  best  men 
from  the  service  and  have  reduced  most 
of  the  rest  to  mere  job-holders.  The 
decadence  of  the  personnel  and  spirit 
of  this  commission  is  a  depressing  fact 
to  anyone  who  knows  the  history  and 
is  interested  in  sound  public  policy  and 
administration. 


1922] 


DEADLOCK  IN  PUBLIC  UTILITY  REGULATION 


25 


ELIMINATE      PARTISAN      APPOINTMENTS 
AND   REMOVALS 

Now,  why  is  it  not  possible  to  have 
the  commissions  appointed  for  their 
ability  to  serve  and  to  retain  them  as 
long  as  their  services  measure  up  to 
their  responsibility?  The  positions  are 
quasi- judicial  in  character  and  if  prop- 
erly filled  require  profound  understand- 
ing of  public  policy  and  technical 
detail  of  procedure.  We  succeed  moder- 
ately well  in  the  appointment  of  judges, 
requiring  the  requisite  ability  even  if 
political  considerations  are  not  entirely 
eliminated  from  the  selection.  Why 
cannot  the  same  standards  be  applied 
to  the  appointment  of  commissioners, 
with  the  same  continuity  in  office,  rais- 
ing the  positions  above  the  spoilation  of 
sheer  partisan  appointments? 

This  is  the  necessary  reform  if  regu- 
lation is  to  be  made  effective.  It  must 
precede  the  establishment  of  sound 
principles  and  workable  methods.  The 
right  men  can  be  found  if  they  are 
chosen  for  their  ability  and  are  given 
a  free  chance  to  serve.  Most  of  the 
commissions  have  had  technical  men 
whose  ability  should  have  been  recog- 
nized by  promotion.  Moreover,  in 
spite  of  the  political  control,  high-grade 
men  have  been  appointed  repeatedly 
who  took  their  task  seriously  and  pro- 
ceeded to  perform  their  public  duties 
conscientiously.  These  men  should 
have  been  left  in  their  positions  to  con- 
tinue their  services,  but  almost  invari- 
ably with  a  change  in  political  adminis- 
tration, they  have  been  removed  from 
office  and  succeeded  by  new  partisan 
appointments. 

The  decadence  of  the  commissions 
and  the  poor  opinion  that  has  come  to 
be  held  of  appointments  is  probably 
due  more  to  the  removal  of  men  with 
proven  ability  and  conscientious  serv- 
ice than  to  the  original  political  factors 
determining  the  appointment.  Politi- 


cal removal,  therefore,  has  undoubt- 
edly been  even  a  more  serious  evil  than 
political  appointment.  But  the  two 
have  gone  together  and  have  worked 
cumulatively  for  the  degradation  of  the 
commissions. 

The  elimination  of  politics,  or  the 
greater  portion  of  it,  both  from  the 
appointment  and  the  removal  of  com- 
missioners is  entirely  feasible,  if  the 
need  is  clearly  comprehended  and  an 
effort  is  made  by  comparatively  few 
non-partisan  interests  well  organized 
to  secure  publicity  and  bring  pressure 
upon  the  appointing  power.  For  ex- 
ample, the  Municipal  League,  acting 
with  local  civic  organizations  and  en- 
listing the  support  of  a  few  progressive 
and  influential  newspapers,  could  prac- 
tically prevent  the  filling  of  commis- 
sionerships  with  mere  politicians. 
These  forces  could  bring  about  the 
successful  reappointment  of  good  men 
and  could  compel  the  recognition  of 
merit  by  appointments  from  technical 
staffs.  While  not  reaching  directly  the 
masses  of  voters,  they  could  bring  about 
intelligent  and  forceful  public  opinion, 
which  comparatively  soon  would  place 
the  commissionships  in  a  proper  exalted 
position  and  prevent  their  descent  into 
the  sloughs  of  party  politics. 

DIVERSE  RESPONSIBILITIES  COMPLICATE 
REGULATION 

There  is,  however,  another  non- 
political  feature  of  the  commission's 
work  which  nevertheless  tends  to  pre- 
vent aggressive  action  and  which  there- 
fore should  be  clearly  understood  and 
intelligently  provided  for.  The  com- 
missions form  an  unusual  combination 
of  legislative,  administrative  and  judi- 
cial functions,  and  in  this  extraordinary 
combination  they  represent  on  the  one 
hand  directly  the  interest  of  the  pub- 
lic, while  at  the  same  time,  they  must 
pass  on  judicial  questions  affecting  the 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[January 


rights  of  the  companies.  In  fixing  rea- 
sonable rates,  or  in  other  matters,  they 
must  represent  directly  the  public  in- 
terest, but  they  must  also  regard  the 
equities  of  private  investors.  In  other 
words,  they  must  appear  both  as 
council  or  prosecuting  attorney  for 
the  public  and  act  as  judge  in  the  pri- 
vate interests  that  are  affected. 

These  are  rather  incompatible  re- 
sponsibilities which  for  the  most  part 
are  avoided  in  our  system  of  law.  In 
rate  cases  the  public  and  private  inter- 
ests, of  course,  have  been  antagonistic, 
and  under  our  general  system  of  law 
each  party  would  have  been  expected 
to  present  its  claim  before  a  judge  who 
has  no  direct  interest  in  either  side. 
The  commissions,  however,  are  ex- 
pected by  the  law  to  represent  actually 
the  public  and  to  pass  judicially  on  the 
antagonistic  claims  under  considera- 
tion. This  is  often  a  difficult  and  em- 
barrassing task,  which  naturally  would 
make  men  hesitate  to  proceed  too 
vigorously  with  public  responsibility. 

In  a  large  measure,  however,  this 
conflict  of  duties  is  inevitable  and  for 
that  very  reason,  the  highest  class  of 
ability  is  needed  on  the  commissions. 
They  simply  must  have  men  with  un- 
derstanding and  personal  force  to  carry 
out  their  difficult  responsibilities .  They 
have  no  place  for  persons  brought 
up  and  skilled  in  the  game  of  "passing 
the  buck."  Their  job  is  to  protect  and 
advance  the  public  interests  with  jus- 
tice to  private  investment,  and  they 
must  be  adequately  equipped  to  carry 
out  this  complex  duty. 

While  these  inconsistent  responsi- 
bilities are  inevitable,  their  influence  to 
slow  down  action  must  nevertheless  be 
recognized.  For  this  reason,  perhaps 
not  consciously  expressed,  the  larger 
cities  often  appear  by  counsel  before 
the  commissions  to  press  actively  the 
public  rights  in  rate  cases.  The  com- 
panies invariably  are  represented  by 


counsel  not  depending  upon  the  com- 
missions to  act  without  such  appear- 
ance. The  development  of  the  corre- 
sponding municipal  representation  by 
counsel  has  followed  a  natural  tendency 
and  should  be  greatly  extended.  The 
cities  as  such  have  no  quasi-judicial 
responsibilities,  are  in  closer  touch  with 
public  opinion,  and  will  therefore  press 
more  energetically  the  public  needs, 
compelling  the  commissions  to  take 
more  speedy  and  positive  action. 

But  in  spite  of  desirable  municipal 
appearance  before  the  commissions, 
these  bodies  cannot  be  freed  from  their 
conflicting  responsibilities.  To  carry 
out  their  larger  duties  they  must  con- 
stantly make  investigations  into  serv- 
ice and  methods  of  operation  and  work 
out  principles  and  methods  to  forward 
the  public  welfare.  They  are  essential 
as  expert  bodies  to  determine  the  facts, 
formulate  desirable  public  policy,  and 
to  carry  it  out;  in  this  they  must  act 
directly  for  the  public  with  judicial  re- 
gard for  private  rights.  Consequently 
they  must  have  the  highest  grade  of 
personnel,  endowed  with  requisite  un- 
derstanding and  zeal  to  carry  out  their 
responsibilities  into  vigorous  public 
action. 

With  the  proper  commissions,  under- 
standing the  problems  and  eager  to 
work  them  out,  the  difficulties  of  regu- 
lation would  soon  disappear  and  the 
existing  deadlock  would  naturally  dis- 
solve. The  laws  are  for  the  most  part 
adequate  and  they  can  be  amended  if 
there  is  need.  Also  the  requisite  tech- 
nical knowledge  exists,  if  only  the 
commissions  had  it  and  translated  it 
into  progressive  action. 

The  chief  immediate  task,  with  prop- 
erly equipped  commissioners,  is  to 
provide  a  mechanism  for  continuous 
rate  making  and  to  restore  the  solvency 
of  the  companies.  This  is  a  tremen- 
dous job,  and  yet  it  could  be  easily 
enough  accomplished  if  intelligently 


1922] 


A  REVIEW  OF  CITY  PLANNING 


27 


undertaken  and  vigorously  pressed.  It 
requires  first  of  all  the  valuation  of  the 
private  property  devoted  to  the  public 
service  and  the  determination  of  the 
private  rights  as  to  future  returns. 
These  matters  should  be  settled  once 
for  all  in  every  case,  so  that  in  future 
the  facts  would  be  constantly  shown 
by  the  accounts  and  it  would  be  a  mere 
arithmetical  task  to  fix  the  necessary 
increases  or  decreases  in  rates.  But 
this  requisite,  together  with  others,  has 
been  discussed  in  previous  articles  and 
need  not  be  further  considered. 

Proper  regulation  is  a  tremendous 


responsibility,  but  it  can  be  carried  out. 
It  requires  understanding,  public  vis- 
ion, justice,  common  sense  and  forcible 
resolution  and  enterprise.  Men  with 
those  qualities  are  available  if  we  in- 
sist upon  their  selection.  The  rest  is  a 
matter  of  investigating  facts,  deter- 
mining policies  and  providing  adequate 
machinery  and  methods  to  carry  out 
the  public  purposes,  without  injury  to 
private  rights.  All  this,  to  be  sure,  is 
the  essence  of  successful  regulation,  but 
it  can  be  achieved  readily  enough  if 
only  we  have  the  right  personal  quali- 
ties on  the  commissions. 


A  REVIEW  OF  CITY  PLANNING  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES,  1920-1921 

BY  THEODORA  KIMBALL 

Librarian,  School  of  Landscape  Architecture,  Harvard  University;  Hon.  Librarian,  American 

City  Planning  Institute 

The  annual  review  by  Miss  Kimball  reflects  increasing  actirity  in 
city  planning  and  zoning.  For  example,  more  than  thirty  states  now 
have  laws  relating  to  some  phase  of  city  planning.  : :  : :  : : 


IT  is  gratifying  to  the  writer,  as  to 
all  those  actively  interested  in  city 
planning  in  the  United  States,  that 
there  is  far  too  much  news  of  progress 
to  be  compressed  into  the  space  of  a 
brief  article.  Ten  years  ago  the  term 
"city  planning"  was  little  known  and 
less  understood.  In  the  last  year  or 
so,  Ohio,  Illinois,  Indiana,  Michigan, 
Minnesota,  Missouri,  Kansas,  Texas, 
Tennessee,  Connecticut  and  Rhode 
Island  have  passed  laws  relating  to 
city  planning  and  zoning. 

The  Massachusetts  legislature  will 
shortly  be  asked  for  a  field  secretary  for 
the  division  of  housing  and  town  plan- 
ning l  in  the  state  department  of  public 
welfare.  The  Ohio  State  Conference 
on  City  Planning  has  an  aggressive 

1  First  Annual  Report  for  1920. 


legislative  program,  adopted  last  Octo- 
ber, to  secure  a  comprehensive  series  of 
laws  for  Ohio. 

The  Realtors  of  California  have  been 
leading  an  educational  campaign.  Port- 
land, Oregon,  announces  a  successful 
gift  campaign  initiated  by  the  mayor's 
proclamation,  which  secured  150  dedi- 
cations for  streets  and  parkways  from 
public-spirited  citizens  in  accordance 
with  the  city  plan  commission's  major 
street  plan. 

To  single  out  a  few  "high-spots"  in 
individual  municipalities,  Philadelphia 
carried  its  $33,000,000  loan  ordinance 
forpublic  improvements  fourtoone  and 
can  point  with  pride  to  a  remarkable 
precedent  in  the  Fairmount  Parkway; 
Cleveland  approved  by  an  overwhelm- 
ing vote  the  tax  levy  for  the  ac- 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[January 


quisition  and  improvement  of  park 
lands  by  the  Cleveland  Metropolitan 
Park  Board,  and  has  added  another 
unit  to  its  civic  center;  and  Chicago, 
St.  Louis,  and  Detroit,  each  with  an 
exceptional  number  of  projects,  are 
marching  steadily  on  their  well-blazed 
ways.  Los  Angeles  reports  that  city 
planning  has  been  put  into  all  the  high 
schools,  the  University  of  California, 
and  the  University  of  Southern  Cali- 
fornia. Universities  in  several  other 
states  are  offering  extension  lectures  on 
town  planning  topics. 

PUBLICITY  METHODS 

A  considerable  number  of  cities  have 
recently  introduced  or  are  about  to 
begin  the  study  of  city  planning  in  the 
public  schools,  among  them  Johnstown, 
Akron,  Cleveland,  Detroit,  Decatur, 
and  Omaha. 

Two  cities,  besides  the  ever  active 
pioneer  Chicago,  are  conducting  edu- 
cational campaigns  among  their  adult 
citizens,  which  deserve  special  mention: 
Pittsburgh  and  Cleveland.1  These 
cities  have  distributed  leaflets  and 
fliers  well  calculated  to  attract,  hold, 
and  enlist  their  voters,  by  clever  car- 
toon, succinct  statement,  and  reasoned 
argument.  Two  committees  of  the 
City  Planning  Conference  which  re- 
ported at  Pittsburgh  had  reference  to 
publicity  methods:  one  on  moving 
pictures,  and  the  other  on  the  airplane 
in  city-planning  work. 


RURAL  DEVELOPMENT  AND  THE  GARDEN 
CITY  IDEA 

An  opportunity  for  a  great  national 
demonstration  of  agricultural  com- 
munity development  on  sound  lines  is 
set  forth  in  Mr.  Thomas  Adams'  report 

1  Note  especially:  "The  People's  Business  in 
the  Fifth  City"  and  "Zone  Plan"  (Cleveland) 
and  "Progress"  (Pittsburgh). 


on  the  proposed  farm  city2  near  Wil- 
mington, North  Carolina.  Under  the 
leadership  of  Mr.  Hugh  MacRea,  agri- 
cultural colonies  have  already  been  suc- 
cessfully started  in  this  region.  The 
first  convention  of  the  Tri-State  De- 
velopment Congress  (Michigan,  Minne- 
sota, and  Wisconsin)  included  rural 
community  planning  in  its  program.3 
Senor  C.  Montoliu  has  prepared  a 
unique  report  for  the  single  tax  colony 
at  Fairhope,  Alabama.4 

A  plan  of  great  interest,  adapting 
the  garden  city  idea  to  an  existing 
American  town,  is  Mr.  John  Irwin 
Bright's  for  Coconut  Grove,  Florida.5 
This  proposes  a  "productive  park  strip  " 
owned  by  the  municipality  surrounding 
the  heart  of  the  town.  The  plan,  dis- 
cussed by  Mr.  Thomas  Adams,6  seems 
less  feasible  under  present  American 
conditions,  than  Mr.  Adams'  new 
proposal  to  substitute  "agricultural 
wedges"  for  "zones,"  following  a  dis- 
cussion at  the  Baltimore  meeting  of  the 
American  City  Planning  Institute  last 
winter. 

REGIONAL   PROJECTS 

Several  noteworthy  examples  of  re- 
gional planning  are  in  progress.  Mr. 
Olmsted  and  Mr.  Comey  have  made  a 
survey  of  the  Main  Line  District  of  the 
Philadelphia  region  and  prepared  a 
comprehensive  plan,  including  a  metro- 
politan park  system,7  in  a  report  to  the 
Main  Line  Citizens'  Association. 

2  Farm  Cities  Corporation  (Wilmington,  North 
Carolina),  Publication  No.  2,  January,  1921. 

3  Report  of  Proceedings,  St.  Paul,  1921. 

4  See  American  City,  April,  1921;  also  report 
in  Enclaves  of  Single  Tax,  by  Fiske  Warren. 

8  Journal  of  the  American  Institute  of  Archi- 
tects, April,  1921. 

6  Journal  of  the  American  Institute  of  Archi- 
tects, October,  1921. 

7  Brief  digest  and  park  map  reproduced  in 
City  Parks  Association  of  Philadelphia,  com- 
bined   thirty-first    and    thirty-second    annual 
reports. 


1922] 


A  REVIEW  OF  CITY  PLANNING 


The  city  of  New  York  in  co-operation 
with  surrounding  municipal  and  county 
authorities  is  planning  a  highway  sys- 
tem for  the  whole  metropolitan  area, 
with  the  special  advice  of  Mr.  Nelson 
P.  Lewis.  Most  important  of  all  to 
our  national  economy  is  the  port 
treaty  recently  signed  between  the 
states  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey  and 
approved  by  the  federal  government 
to  encompass  the  comprehensive  de- 
velopment of  one  of  the  great  port 
areas  of  the  world. 


COMPREHENSIVE   PLAN   REPORTS 

General  plan  reports  have  been  is- 
sued for  seven  cities:  Hamilton,1  Ohio; 
Decatur2  and  Joliet,3  Illinois;  New- 
ton,48 and  Gardner, 4b  Mass.;  Bristol,5 
Connecticut;  and  Jersey  City.6  Most 
of  these  reports  show  keen  appreciation 
on  the  part  of  city  planners  of  the  im- 
portance of  "selling"  the  plan  through 
an  attractive  form  of  publication.  The 
folio  size  and  handsome  illustrations  of 
the  Newton  plan  distinguish  it.  The 
Jersey  City  report  is  also  fully  illus- 

^he  City  Plan  of  Hamilton,  published  by 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  1920,  Harland  Barthol- 
omew, city  plan  engineer. 

2  The  Decatur  Plan,  made  for  the  City  Plan 
Commission  of  Decatur  by  Myron  H.  West  of 
the  American  Park  Builders,  1920. 

1  City  Plan  of  Joliet,  ,by  Edward  H.  Bennett 
and  William  E.  Parsons,  assisted  by  H.  T.  Frost, 
published  by  Joliet,  City  Plan  Commission,  1921. 

4  •  Report  of  the  Planning  Board,  Newton, 
Massachusetts,  September,  1921.  Combined  an- 
nual reports  for  1919,  1920,  and  1921,  including 
a  special  report  upon  a  system  of  thoroughfares, 
parks,  and  playgrounds,  by  Arthur  A.  Shurtleff, 
and  a  zoning  plan  and  ordinance,  prepared  by 
John  P.  Fox. 

4  b  Report  to  Planning  Board,  by  Kilham, 
Hopkins  and  Greeley,  1921. 

s  Local  Survey  and  City  Planning  Proposals 
for  Bristol,  Connecticut,  by  John  Nolen,  1920. 

1  Jersey  City  Development  Plan,  prepared  by 
direction  of  the  Board  of  City  Commissioners  of 
Jersey  City,  1920,  by  a  board  of  engineers. 


trated.  The  Joliet  report  contains 
some  fine  renderings  in  color.  Of  spe- 
cial interest  in  the  Hamilton  plan  is  the 
section  "Legal  powers  affecting  the 
city  plan  of  Hamilton,"  by  Alfred 
Bettman,  Esq.,  of  Cincinnati. 

The  Wheeling,  West  Virginia,  Im- 
provement Association  has  issued  some 
abstracts  of  reports  on  several  phases 
of  a  city  plan  for  Greater  Wheeling.7 
Kansas  City,  Kansas,  has  had  valuable 
advice  from  Mr.  Thomas  Adams8  as 
to  its  future  development.  The  com- 
bined annual  reports  for  1919  and 
1920  9  of  the  City  Parks  Association 
of  Philadelphia  is  a  live  publication, 
stimulating  to  read,  and  an  object  les- 
son of  what  energetic  foresight  can 
accomplish. 

The  single  volume  containing  the 
annual  reports  for  1915-1920  lo  of  the 
Providence,  Rhode  Island,  city  plan 
commission  shows  zoning  undertaken 
and  realization  by  a  wide-awake  com- 
mission of  the  need  for  a  comprehensive 
plan.  The  broad  scheme  in  prepara- 
tion for  St.  Paul  is  described  in  the  En- 
gineering News-Record  for  November 
3,  1921.  Many  other  cities  have  plans 
in  preparation.  One  regarded  with 
especial  interest  is  Springfield,  Massa- 
chusetts (Technical  Advisory  Corpora- 
tion and  Olmsted  Brothers). 

The  City  Club  of  Portland,  Oregon, 
has  issued  u  through  its  city  planning 
bureau  (E.  T.  Mische,  chairman)  a 
tentative  City  Plan  of  the  West  Side 
Flat. 

MAJOR   STREET    PLANS 

Portland's  city  planning  commission 
issued  in  January,  1921,  its  Major 

I  Morris  Knowles,  Inc.,  consultants,  1920. 

•  City  Planning  and  City  Building  for  Kansas 
City,  Kansas,  presented  in  report  of  Thomas 
Adams,  and  in  address  of  A.  D.  Albert  at  annual 
meeting  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce,  1940. 

•  Slst  and  32d. 
10  2d  to  7th. 

II  October,  1921. 


30 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[January 


Traffic  Street  Plan,  Boulevard,  and  Park 
System,1  Charles  H.  Cheney,  consult- 
ant, showing  careful  original  study  and 
also  reference  to  previous  city-planning 
work  in  Portland.  The  Cleveland 
Thorqfare  Plan 2  came  out  in  the 
spring  of  1921,  excellent  as  publicity 
material  as  well  as  thoroughly  studied. 
The  method  of  preparing  the  Major 
Street  Plan  of  Pittsburgh 3  is  [worthy  of 
note.  A  sub-committee  of  the  Citi- 
zens' Committee,  with  Messrs.  F.  S. 
Bigger  and  Harland  Bartholomew  as 
experts,  thrashed  it  out  patiently  so 
that  it  represents  to  an  extraordinary 
degree  a  consensus  of  opinion. 


CONTROL  OF   STREET   SYSTEMS 

The  enforcement  of  a  major  street 
plan  and  the  regulation  of  street  loca- 
tion in  residential  subdivisions  have 
continued  subjects  of  live  interest. 
The  January,  1921,  meeting  of  the 
American  City  Planning  Institute  was 
largely  devoted  to  it,  and  the  subject 
was  again  debated  at  Pittsburgh  in 
May.4  Mr.  Frank  B.  Williams'  arti- 
cle, "Enforcing  the  City  Plan,"  in  the 
REVIEW  for  July,  1921,  is  important. 
The  city  of  New  Bedford,  Massachu- 
setts, has  an  unusual  and  practical 
method  of  dealing  with  plats,  the 
mayor  and  alderman  constituting  a 
board  of  survey.  Rochester,  New  York 
York,  has  issued  revised  platting  regu- 
lations. 

SPECIAL   STUDIES 

A  report 8  of  considerable  interest 
comes  from  the  Minneapolis  Civic  and 

1  Bulletin  No.  7  of  the  Commission. 

2  Cleveland  City   Plan   Commission,   Robert 
H.  Whitton  and  Frank  R.  Walker,  advisors. 

3  Issued  by  the  Citizens'  Committee  on  City 
Plan,  September,  1921. 

4  See  Proceedings  of  the  National  Conference 
on  City  Planning,  Pittsburgh,  1921. 

6  Issued  in  mimeographed  form. 


Commerce  Association  on  street  illumi- 
nation, and  contains  a  systematic  anal- 
ysis of  street-lighting  problems.  A 
special  park  system  report  for  a  small 
lowan  city  is  that  for  Ottumwa  pre- 
pared for  the  park  board,  1920,  by  Mr. 
L.  W.  Ramsey. 

A  study  of  the  Newtown  Creek  Indus- 
trial District  of  New  York  City,  put  forth 
by  the  Merchants'  Association,  1921, 
shows  the  marked  port  terminal  ad- 
vantages of  a  still  undeveloped  district 
close  to  Manhattan. 


PORT  TERMINAL  DEVELOPMENT 

Undoubtedly  the  most  important 
city  planning  document  of  the  year  is 
the  Joint  Report  of  the  New  York,  New 
Jersey  Port  and  Harbor  Development 
Commission.6  After  an  exhaustive 
study,  the  commission,  created  in  1917 
of  eminent  engineers,  has  presented  a 
comprehensive  plan  and  recommenda- 
tions for  the  development  of  the  whole 
waterfront  area  of  Metropolitan  New 
York.  The  commission  sees  the  port 
problem  primarily  as  a  railroad  prob- 
lem, and  believes  that  the  carrying  out 
of  its  comprehensive  plans  would  go 
far  towards  reducing  the  high  cost  of 
living  not  only  locally,  but  in  all  parts 
of  the  country. 

Subsequent  to  the  inter-state  com- 
mission's report,  there  has  been  issued 
an  independent  report,7  with  different 
plans,  by  a  New  York  City  special 
committee  headed  by  the  chief  engineer 
of  the  board  of  estimate  and  apportion- 
ment. 

An  inland  waterway  report  of  impor- 
tance in  the  development  of  the  lake 
port  of  Chicago  was  made  in  1920  by 
Mr.  Van  Vlissingen  to  the  City  of 

6  Published  in  1920,  with  maps,  plans,  illus- 
trations, etc. 

7  Preliminary  Report  concerning  the  Brook- 
lyn-Richmond Freight  and  Passenger  Tunnel, 
October  15,  1921. 


1922] 


A  REVIEW  OF  CITY  PLANNING 


31 


Chicago  Committee  on  Harbors, 
Wharves,  and  Bridges.1  It  advises 
favorably  as  to  the  feasibility  of  devel- 
oping Calumet  Harbor  as  a  public 
terminal  on  the  Lakes  to  Gulf  water- 
way system. 

RAILROADS 

Two  cities  making  progress  in  solv- 
ing the  railroad  problem  are  Dallas  and 
Los  Angeles.  Dallas  has  already  ac- 
complished much  in  track  removal  and 
elevation,  according  to  the  plans  made 
by  Mr.  Kessler  and  the  late  Mr.  John 
F.  Wallace,  and  promoted  by  the  Met- 
ropolitan Development  Association.2 
The  railroad  commission  of  California 
ordered  on  April  26,  1921,  the  Plaza 
Union  Terminal  Station  for  Los  Ange- 
les to  be  proceeded  with.  The  exhaus- 
tive report s  of  the  chief  engineer  of  this 
state  commission,  published  in  1920, 
is  the  basis  of  procedure.  It  should  be 
noted  that  the  California  railroad  com- 
mission is  an  important  city-planning 
agency,  and  one  with  exceptional  pow- 
ers to  produce  results. 

RAPID   TRANSIT 

The  St.  Louis  city  plan  commission 
has  published  another  of  its  series  of 
special  studies,  dealing  with  The  St. 
Louis  Transit  System,  Present  and 
Future.4' 

The  transit  commission  of  New  York 
City,  appointed  under  the  acts  of  1921 
to  relieve  the  intolerable  situation  in 
New  York,  has  issued  a  statement  and 
outline  of  plan  of  readjustment  for  the 

1  Plan  and  report,  Lake  Calumet  Harbor, 
1920. 

1  See  Engineering  News-Record,  October  20, 
1921. 

*  Report  on  Railroad  Grade  Crossing  Elimi- 
nation and  Passenger  and  Freight  Terminals  in 
Los  Angeles. 

4  Published  1920,  Harland  Bartholomew,  con- 
sultant. 


New  York  City  street  railroads,1  prom- 
ising to  publish  shortly  a  general  plan 
for  building  the  new  lines  immediately 
required. 

A  recent  report,8  prepared  by  the 
city  engineer  co-operatively  with  other 
officials  of  Seattle,  proposed  a  rapid 
transit  down-town  subway  loop  for 
Seattle  to  provide  for  future  growth. 
A  rapid  transit  belt  subway  is  under 
construction  at  Cincinnati  at  remark- 
ably low  cost  owing  to  the  exceptional 
topographic  opportunities. 

HOUSING 

The  United  States  Senate  committee 
on  reconstruction  and  production  7  in- 
cluded in  its  report  a  recommendation 
for  the  establishment  in  the  department 
of  commerce  of  a  division  "for  the 
gathering  and  dissemination  of  infor- 
mation as  to  the  best  construction 
practices  and  methods,  technical  and 
cost  data,  and  matters  relating  to  city 
planning,  etc.,  in  order  to  encourage 
standardization  and  improved  building 
practices  throughout  the  country."  A 
division  of  building  and  housing  (under 
the  bureau  of  standards)  has  been  es- 
tablished, with  Mr.  John  M.  Gries  as 
chief,  and  advisory  committees  on  build- 
ing codes,  plumbing  (sub -committee), 
and  zoning  have  been  appointed  by 
Secretary  Hoover.  The  division  is 
succeeding  in  securing  co-operation 
from  the  producing  industries  which 
looks  towards  a  decided  improvement 
in  the  housing  situation. 

Mr.  Veiller's  revised  Model  Housing 
Law  of  1920,  with  its  many  material 
changes,  and  Mr.  Leifur  Magnusson's 
Housing  by  Employers  in  the  United 
States,  long  delayed  in  appearance  as  a 
bulletin  8  of  the  United  States  bureau 

•September  29,  1921. 

•  Unpublished. 

7  66th  Congress,  3d  session.  Report  No.  829. 

•  No.  263,  October,  1920. 


32 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[January 


of  labor  statistics,  are  both  important 
to  city  planners. 


ZONING 

Zoning  has  taken  the  country  by 
storm.  Some  of  it  is  being  done  in  ad- 
vance of  even  preliminary  comprehen- 
sive planning.  It  is  expected  that 
Secretary  Hoover's  advisory  committee 
on  zoning,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Lewis, 
Olmsted,  Bassett,  Veiller,  Moses, 
Knowles,  Ihlder,  and  McFarland  will 
promote  a  sound  knowledge  of  what 
zoning  is  and  what  steps  should  be 
taken  to  secure  its  advantages. 

A  comparison  of  recent  compiled 
lists  of  zoned  cities  shows  that  nearly 
fifty  have  passed  zoning  ordinances 
and  that  about  twenty  states  have  en- 
abling acts.  Probably  a  hundred  cities 
have  zoning  plans  started,  under  way, 
or  almost  completed.  The  very  val- 
uable pamphlet  by  Mr.  Bassett,  The 
Board  of  Appeals  in  Zoning,  gives  a  list 
with  dates  of  the  state  and  city  laws, 
as  an  appendix  to  its  lucid  statement 
of  the  workings  of  this  important  piece 
of  mechanism  in  the  administration  of 
a  zoning  ordinance.  This  pamphlet 
brings  up  to  date  Mr.  Bassett's  supple- 
ment to  the  NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  RE- 
VIEW for  May,  1920.  The  October, 
1921,  Supplement  to  the  REVIEW  gives 
more  compiled  information  on  The  Law 
of  Zoning,  by  Mr.  Herbert  S.  Swan. 

Any  detailed  analysis  of  zoning  prog- 
ress for  1920-21  would  be  impossible  in 
the  scope  of  this  present  article.  A  few 
of  the  printed  reports  which  may  be 
secured  and  examined  may  be  men- 
tioned,— for  Pittsburgh  *  and-  Evans- 
ton2  (Bartholomew),  Cleveland3  and 
Dallas4  (Whitten),  East5  and  West 

1  Issued  by  Department  of  City  Planning. 

2  Zoning  Ordinance,  1921. 

'The   Cleveland   Zone  Plan  (tentative),  re- 
port to  the  City  Plan  Commission,  1921. 
4  Proposed  Zoning  Ordinance,  prepared  by  the 


Orange,6  New  Jersey  (Technical  Ad- 
visory Corporation,  Ford),  Cliff  side 
Park,7  New  Jersey  (Swan),  and  San 
Francisco 8  (City  Planning  Commis- 
sion). The  second  annual  report  of  the 
Buffalo  city  planning  committee  of  the 
council  (Harry  J.  March,  engineer) 
deals  largely  with  zoning.  The  Omaha 
ordinance  (Bartholomew)  has  not  been 
published. 

Zoning  has  been  in  operation  in  New 
York  for  five  years.  A  striking  effect 
of  the  zoning  regulations  is  the  far 
greater  average  of  picturesqueness  in 
the  high  buildings  erected  since  1916. 
More  imagination  must  go  into  their 
design,  and  thus  to  the  city,  through 
the  exercise  of  the  police  power  for 
welfare  and  safety,  has  come  a  new 
source  of  beauty. 


CIVIC  ART 

A  publication  that  brings  forcibly  to 
mind  the  advance  in  civic  art  in  the 
last  generation  is  the  new  Catalogue  of 
Works  of  Art  belonging  to  the  city  of 
New  York,  published  by  the  art  com- 
mission and  covering  the  works  ac- 
quired since  its  appointment  in  1908. 
The  well-chosen  illustrations  stand 
proof  of  the  great  service  which  art 
commissions  may  render  to  our  cities 
and  the  pleasure  which  well-designed 
outdoor  statuary  and  monuments  may 
bring. 

That  we  should  not  be  afraid  to 
work  consciously  for  organic  beauty 

City  Plan  Commission  and  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  Metropolitan  Development  Asso- 
ciation. 

8  East  Orange  Commission  on  Building  Dis- 
tricts and  Restrictions.  Tentative  Report, 
November  12,  1920. 

8  West  Orange  Commission  on  Building  Dis- 
tricts and  Restrictions.  Tentative  Report,  June 
1,  1921. 

7  Zoning  Ordinance  and  Building  Code,  1921. 

8  Approved  October  3,  1921. 


1922] 


A  REVIEW  OF  CITY  PLANNING 


33 


in  city  planning  was  the  plea  of  Mr. 
George  B.  Ford  at  the  Pittsburgh  city 
planning  conference.  In  a  reaction 
from  the  esthetic  emphasis  due  to  the 
real  source  of  our  American  city  plan- 
ning movement  —  the  World's  Fair  at 
Chicago  —  we  seem  to  have  swung  too 
far.  We  have  now  a  chance  to  refresh 
ourselves  at  the  fountain  source.  In 
Charles  Moore's  Daniel  H.  Burnham, 


Architect,  Planner  of  Cities,  just  pub- 
lished,1 we  have  revivified  the  work  of 
American  artists  in  producing  a  beau- 
tiful "white  city"  out  of  ugliness  and 
seeming  impossibility,  and  in  adapting 
to  the  twentieth  century  the  nobly  con- 
ceived but  neglected  plan  of  our  capital 
city.  The  book  is  a  great  contribution 
to  the  cause  of  all  civic  art. 

1  Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  1921.    2  volumes. 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


I.    GOVERNMENT   AND  ADMINISTRATION 


St.  Paul  Votes  on  New  Charter.— On  Decem- 
ber 29,  St.  Paul  will  vote  on  a  new  charter  to 
replace  the  present  commission  form  of  govern- 
ment. The  new  charter,  to  which  the  St.  Paid 
Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  and  other  organ- 
izations are  opposed,  provides  for  a  mayor  and 
council  of  fifteen.  The  mayor  has  the  power  to 
appoint  and  remove  the  various  administrative 
heads  and  boards,  but  a  separately  elected  comp- 
troller prepares  the  budget  under  the  supervision 
of  the  board  of  efficiency.  The  executive  func- 
tions are  thus  divided  in  a  manner  which  cannot 
but  result  in  confusion. 

The  board  of  efficiency  is  appointed  by  the 
comptroller  and  is  designed  to  be  an  agency  of 
continuous  investigation  and  survey  into  the 
administrative  departments. 
* 

Kansas  City,  Missouri,  to  Have  Charter 
Commission. — At  a  special  election  in  November 
in  which  less  than  20  per  cent  of  the  registered 
voters  participated,  the  proposition  to  revise  the 
city  charter  was  carried  by  a  small  majority. 
Two  tickets  for  members  of  the  commission  were 
in  the  field — the  "boss"  ticket  and  the  "anti- 
boss"  ticket.  All  but  one  of  the  "boss"  ticket 
were  elected.  A  number  of  these  stated  after  the 
election  that  they  are  opposed  to  any  material 
change  in  the  charter.  A  statement  of  the 
Kansas  City  Public  Service  Institute  advises 
the  advocates  of  city-manager  government,  who 
have  been  active,  that  there  is  strong  possibility 
of  winning  over  a  sufficient  number  of  the  char- 
ter commission  to  secure  the  submission  of  a 
manager  charter. 

* 

The  San  Francisco  Zone  Ordinance. — The 
San  Francisco  zone  ordinance  was  passed  Octo- 
ber 3.  Its  restrictions  are  all  upon  the  use  of 
property,  practically  no  limitations  upon  the 
height  or  area  of  buildings  being  provided  for. 
It  divides  the  city  into  first  and  second  residen- 
tial, commercial,  light  industrial,  heavy  indus- 
trial and  unrestricted  districts. 

The  first  residential  district  is  intended  for 
one-  and  two-family  houses,  a  two-family  house 
being  allowed  in  it,  however,  only  on  considera- 
tion that  at  least  5000  square  feet  of  open 


space  remain  upon  the  lot.  From  the  heavy 
industrial  district  are  excluded,  on  the  one  hand, 
all  residences  except  that  of  the  family  of  a 
watchman,  and,  on  the  other,  a  few  of  the  most 
objectionable  industries,  such  as  abattoirs  and 
glue  factories. 

There  is  a  provision  for  the  investigation  of 
amendments  to  the  ordinance,  and  changes  on 
the  boundaries  of  districts,  and  for  hearings  on 
such  matters  before  they  are  passed,  but  there 
is  no  requirement,  in  such  cases,  for  more  than 
a  majority  vote,  on  protest  of  property  owners 
affected  by  the  change;  nor  is  any  board  of 
appeals  created. 

FRANK  B.  WILLIAMS. 
* 

The  Elections. — As  everyone  knows,  Mayor 
Hylan  was  re-elected  in  New  York  for  a  four-year 
term.  The  combination  of  Hearst  and  Tam- 
many proved  invincible.  The  opposition  was 
unable  to  strike  a  popular  issue,  to  discredit 
Tammany,  or  to  convince  the  people  that  they 
had  no  designs  on  the  five-cent  fare.  Hylan 
talked  the  old  patter  about  the  interests,  the 
traction  trust,  etc.,  and  got  away  with  it. 
Tammany  won  every  place  on  the  board  of 
estimate  and  every  contest  for  borough  offices. 

Mayor  Couzens'  victory  in  Detroit  is  de- 
scribed elsewhere  in  this  issue.  It  was  a  clean 
case,  in  which  the  people  returned  a  public 
official  who  has  been  determined  to  the  point  of 
ruthlessness  to  follow  out  the  mandates  of  his 
people. 

In  Indianapolis,  Samuel  L.  Shank,  Republican, 
was  elected  mayor  by  the  largest  plurality  ever 
given  a  candidate  for  that  office  over  Boyd  M. 
Ralston,  Democrat. 

The  Cleveland  election,  which  was  a  real 
surprise  to  out-of-town  observers  is  discussed  at 
length  in  this  number  of  the  REVIEW.  Fred 
Kohler  was  elected  mayor  for  two  years  over 
W.  S.  Fitzgerald,  the  present  incumbent,  and 
five  other  candidates.  Cleveland  uses  the  pref- 
erential ballot,  and  it  was  necessary  to  count  the 
third  choice  ballots  to  determine  the  winner. 
Upon  the  expiration  of  Mr.  Kohler's  term  of 
office  the  city-manager  plan,  adopted  by  a 
decisive  majority,  will  go  into  effect. 


34 


1922] 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


35 


Cincinnati  elected  the  regular  Republican 
candidate,  Mr.  George  Prescott  Carrel,  in  a 
campaign  featured  by  no  issues.  The  opposition 
raised  the  issue  of  absentee  bossism,  but  the 
Republican  administration  had  been  free  from 
scandal  and  had  undertaken  no  constructive 
program  to  run  the  risk  of  arousing  opposition. 
It  had,  moreover,  favored  the  traction  interests, 
and  its  aggressive  attitude  towards  a  firemen's 
and  policemen's  strike  had  gained  the  support  of 
the  business  element.  Under  such  circum- 
stances the  Democrats  and  independents  were 
unable  to  defeat  a  smoothly  functioning  ma- 
chine. 

* 

Efficiency  Ratings  in  the  Federal  Service. — 
It  has  been  generally  recognized  during  the  past 
ten  or  fifteen  years  that  a  sound  wage  and  pro- 
motion policy  in  large  organizations  depends  on 
a  satisfactory  system  of  efficiency  rating.  A 
review  of  civil  service  laws  for  both  large  and 
small  jurisdictions  will  accordingly  reveal  that 
some  provision  is  almost  always  made  for 
establishing  a  rating  scheme. .  But  in  recent 
annual  reports  as  well  as  by  personal  comments 
of  those  acquainted  with  civil  service  admin- 
istration they  are  very  generally  condemned. 
For  instance,  in  the  survey  of  the  Washington 
service  made  by  the  Reclassification  Commission 
in  1919  not  a  single  instance  of  a  satisfactory 
rating  system  was  found.  Because  of  the  ill- 
success  of  what  may  be  called  the  pioneer 
efforts  many  former  advocates  of  efficiency 
ratings  have  become  disheartened. 

Therefore,   it   is  a    most    hopeful  sign  that 


President  Harding  recently  issued  an  executive 
order  empowering  the  Bureau  of  Efficiency  to 
establish  and  help  operate  a  uniform  system  of 
efficiency  ratings  for  the  departments  and  inde- 
pendent establishments  in  Washington.  This  U 
to  be  done  in  co-operation  with  the  heads  of 
various  organizations  and  with  reference  to  the 
work  requirements.  On  account  of  the  many 
types  of  work  represented  provision  is  duly  made 
for  as  many  different  schemes  of  ratings  as  the 
circumstances  require. 

The  system  proposed  will  not  alone  make 
possible  the  recognition  of  merit  in  the  form  of 
salary  increase  and  promotion;  it  will  also  go 
a  long  way  toward  settling  the  "back  door 
problem"  that  perplexes  so  many  honest  admin- 
istrators. For  it  is  specifically  provided  that 
ratings  shall  be  determined  "below  which  no 
employe  may  fall  without  being  assigned  to 
other  duties  or  demoted,  or  both,  or  dismissed 
for  inefficiency." 

Assuming  that  the  Bureau  of  Efficiency  will 
recognize  the  futility  of  set  formulae,  blanket 
schemes  and  self-operating  systems  that  are  the 
chief  cause  of  the  present  state  of  discourage- 
ment, President  Harding's  order  should  give  re- 
newed impetus  to  the  movement  for  developing 
workable  systems  of  efficiency  ratings.  The 
conditions  for  success  are  prescribed  in  the 
Executive  Order.  They  are  (1)  uniformity  in 
the  system  itself  and  in  the  operation  of  it  by 
means  of  active  co-operation  between  a  central 
agency  and  the  departmental  heads;  (2)  diver- 
sity in  actual  rating  schemes  because  of  types  of 
work  involved.  W.  E.  MosiiEB.1 


II.     CITY-MANAGER  NOTES 


Manager  Government  for  Philadelphia. — 
The  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  of  Philadel- 
phia has  attracted  wide  attention  by  its  report 
outlining  what  Cleveland's  new  charter  would 
mean  to  Philadelphia,  should  the  latter  city  see 
fit  to  adopt  it. 


C.  M.  A.  Officers  for  1922. — At  the  annual 
business  meeting  in  connection  with  the  conven- 
tion at  Chicago,  November  14  to  16,  C.  M. 
Osborn,  manager  of  East  Cleveland,  was  elected 
president  for  the  coming  year.  Charles  E. 
Hewes  of  Long  Beach,  California,  R.  W.  Rigsby 
of  Durham,  North  Carolina,  and  Fred  H. 


Locke  of  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan,  were  chosen 
vice-presidents.  Harry  H.  Freeman  was  elected 
executive  secretary  succeeding  H.  G.  Otis. 


Some  Results  of  Recent  Elections. — Pontiac, 
Michigan.  Revision  of  the  Pontiac  city-man- 
ager charter  was  defeated  on  November  SO  in 
one  of  the  heaviest  votes  ever  cast  in  an  election 
of  purely  local  interest.  A  total  of  5,666  vote* 
was  cast,  of  which  2,264  was  for  revision  and 
3,402  against  it,  a  majority  of  1,138.  A  spirited 
campaign  against  the  city-manager  charter  was 
fostered  by  the  Workingmen's  Voters  League, 

i  National  Institute  of  Public  Administration. 


36 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[January 


although  local  politicians  were  said  to  have 
directed  the  effort  to  change  the  government 
under  cover  of  this  organization. 
* 

Otsego,  Michigan.  At  a  special  election  held 
in  Otsego,  Michigan,  December  6,  two  amend- 
ments designed  to  abolish  the  position  of  city 
manager  and  increase  the  number  of  commis- 
sioners from  three  to  five  were  decisively 
defeated.  Upon  the  proposal  to  abolish  the 
position  of  city  manager,  161  voted  "Yes," 
while  381  voted  "No."  The  proposed  amend- 
ment to  increase  the  size  of  the  commission 
found  185  supporters,  while  303  expressed 
themselves  as  favorable  to  the  smaller  number. 
* 

Grand  Junction,  Colorado.  At  the  November 
election,  Grand  Junction  adopted  an  amend- 
ment to  its  city  charter  providing  for  the  city- 
manager  plan.  The  vote  was  1,148  for  and 
560  against. 

* 

Pueblo,  Colorado.  On  the  same  day  that 
Grand  Junction  decided  to  change  to  the  city- 
manager  plan  another  Colorado  City,  Pueblo, 
refused  to  accept  the  plan,  a  majority  of  728 
being  registered  against  it.  Unofficial  tabula- 
tion of  the  vote  put  it  at  2,778  for  the  proposed 
change,  and  3,506  against  it.  This  vote  was 
said  to  represent  about  50  per  cent  of  the 
registered  voters. 

* 

Bay  City,  Michigan.  At  a  special  election 
on  November  15,  four  new  members  of  the 
commission  were  selected  to  take  the  place  of 
the  four  recently  recalled.  As  a  result  of  the 
upheaval,  City  Manager  H.  W.  Stickle  has 
resigned  his  position.  The  old  political  gang 
are  now  in  full  control  of  the  government,  and 
reports  are  that  offices  are  being  distributed  to 
the  "faithful." 

* 

Altoona,  Pennsylvania.  Opponents  of  the 
city-manager  government  in  Altoona  captured 
two  seats  in  the  council  at  the  November  election, 
defeating  two  councilmen  who  ran  for  re-elec- 
tion. The  successful  candidates  ran  on  a 
combined  Democratic-Labor  ticket.  It  is  re- 
ported that  the  mayor,  for  political  reasons, 
has  aligned  himself  with  the  Labor  party,  and 
the  next  council  will  have  a  majority  of  one 
against  commission-manager  government. 
Rumor  is  current  that  the  position  of  city 
manager  will  be  abolished  after  January  1. 


Jackson,  Michigan.  On  November  8  the 
people  of  Jackson  voted  to  retain  the  manager 
form,  but  decreed  that  a  commission  be  chosen 
to  revise  the  charter. 

* 

Labor  and  City-Manager  Plan. — E.  A. 
Numa,  editor  of  the  Dayton  Labor  Review,  says, 
"Dayton  has  operated  under  the  city-manager 
form  of  government  for  the  past  eight  years, 
and  in  that  period  labor  has  had  a  square  deal.'* 

The  Portsmouth,  Virginia,  Central  Labor 
Union  has  gone  on  record  as  a  body  opposing 
any  meddling  with  city-manager  government 
until  it  has  had  full  time  to  demonstrate  its 
defects  or  virtues. 

* 

New  Appointments. —  New  London,  Connect- 
icut. 3.  E.  Barlow,  formerly  city  manager  of 
Dayton,  Ohio,  has  accepted  the  city  manager- 
ship of  the  first  Connecticut  city  to  adopt  the 
plan. 

Benton  Harbor,  Michigan.  Guy  Tyler,  for- 
merly city  auditor,  has  been  appointed  city  man- 
ager at  Benton  Harbor. 

Sherrill,  New  York.  C.  B.  Salisbury  has  been 
appointed  manager  at  Sherrill,  New  York,  suc- 
ceeding S.  E.  Northway,  who  recently  resigned. 

Manchester,  Iowa.  Ralph  Milroy,  who  was 
assistant  to  City  Manager  Thomas  Wilson,  has 
been  appointed  by  the  council  to  succeed  Mr. 
Wilson. 

Stratford,  Connecticut.  R.  H.  Hunter  has  been 
appointed  town  manager  at  Stratford,  Connecti- 
cut. Mr.  Hunter  was  formerly  manager  at 
Ambridge,  Pennsylvania. 

Morganton,  North  Carolina.  O.  B.  Lackey 
of  Washington,  D.  C.,  was  elected  town  manager 
of  Morganton,  North  Carolina,  to  succeed  T.  O. 
Cannon,  who  recently  resigned  to  take  a  position 
with  the  state  highway  department. 
* 

Manager  Form  Being  Discussed. — Interest  in 
the  city-manager  plan  is  being  evidenced  in  a 
number  of  cities  over  the  country,  notably  Knox- 
ville,  Tennessee;  Parsons  and  Lawrence,  Kansas; 
Waterloo,  Iowa;  Marion,  Indiana;  Hattiesburg, 
Mississippi;  Three  Forks,  Montana;  Cherokee, 
Iowa;  Savannah,  Georgia;  Sapulpa  and  Tulsa, 
Oklahoma;  Bartersville,  Ohio.  The  city- wide 
congress  of  Baltimore  has  declared  in  favor  of  a 
single  chamber  council  with  a  city  manager  for 
Baltimore. 

HARRY  H.  FREEMAN. 


1922] 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


37 


III.    GOVERNMENTAL   RESEARCH  CONFERENCE   NOTES 


New  Orleans,  through  its  city  council,  haa 
established  a  municipal  survey  commission, 
empowered  and  financed  to  make  recommenda- 
tions concerning  all  departments  of  the  city 
government.  Mr.  J.  E.  Edmonds  is  secretary, 
with  offices  at  601  Sewerage  and  Water  Board 
Building. 

* 

The  Detroit  Bureau  has  secured  the  part-time 
services  of  Prof.  L.  L.  Thurstone  of  the  Carnegie 
Institute  of  Technology,  for  the  development  of 
appointment  and  promotional  examinations  for 
police  officers. 

* 

William  H.  Nanry  has  been  appointed  director 
of  the  San  Francisco  Bureau  of  Governmental 
Research,  vice  Paul  Eliel  resigned.  In  October 
the  publication  of  The  City  was  resumed  as  the 
organ  of  the  bureau. 

* 

The  Kansas  City  Public  Service  Institute  has 
issued  a  report  on  a  study  recently  made  of  the 
tax  bill  method  of  paying  for  public  improve- 
ments. In  this  they  suggest  a  change  to  the 
special  assessment  bond  method,  asserting  that 
the  property  owners  would  be  saved,  thereby, 
10  to  25  per  cent  on  all  special  assessments. 

The  Institute  has  also  issued  a  report  of  a 
study  made  of  Kansas  City's  sinking  funds, 
their  present  condition  and  effect  of  proposed 
bond  issues  on  the  tax  rate  for  debt  purposes. 


The  Taxpayers'  League  of  St.  Louis  County, 
Minnesota,  has  issued  a  memorandum,  regarding 
the  collection  and  disposition  of  refuse  in  Duluth. 
Its  purpose  is  to  bring  before  the  householders, 
city  officials,  and  members  of  various  civic  com- 
mittees, many  of  the  essential  phases  of  the 
problem  of  refuse  collection  and  disposition. 

* 

The  Training  Work  of  the  National  Institute 
of  Public  Administration  commenced  on  Septem- 
ber 19.  Seventeen  formal  courses  are  offered 
this  year  for  men  who  are  planning  to  enter  city- 
manager  work,  governmental  research  work,  or 
civic  work  in  general. 

The  National  Institute  of  Public  Administra- 
tion is  carrying  on  the  reorganized  work  of  the 
New  York  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  and  the 
Training  School  for  Public  Service  and  is  laying 
particular  emphasis  on  the  development  of  its 
educational  program. 

During  the  past  summer,  the  Institute  com- 
pleted a  survey  of  the  city  government  of  Salem, 
Massachusetts,  for  the  Salem  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, and  is  now  engaged  on  an  extensive  survey 
of  the  city  government  of  New  Orleans,  Louisi- 
ana, for  the  municipal  survey  commission.  The 
Institute  is  also  furnishing  technical  consultant 
service  to  legislative  committees  in  the  state  of 
New  York  and  in  New  Jersey  and  to  the  federal 
post  office  department. 

ROBERT  T.  CRANE. 


IV.    JUDICIAL  DECISIONS 


Contagious  Disease  Hospital  Not  a  Nuisance.1 
— The  San  Diego  Tuberculosis  Association  was 
formed  for  benevolent  purposes,  and  for  several 
years  had  owned  and  operated  a  hospital  for  the 
treatment  of  tubercular  patients.  The  city  trus- 
tees of  East  San  Diego  passed  an  ordinance  de- 
claring every  hospital  for  the  treatment  of  con- 
tagious or  infectious  diseases  within  the  city 
limits  a  nuisance,  and  making  the  maintenance 
and  operation  of  such  a  hospital  a  misdemeanor 
for  each  day  it  was  so  operated.  The  municipal- 
ity began  action  against  the  association,  charging 
the  violation  of  the  ordinance.  On  removal  of  the 
case  to  the  supreme  court  of  California,  it  was 
held  that  the  maintenance  of  such  a  hospital 

*  San  Diego  Tuberculosis  Association  v.  City  of  East 
San  Diego,  200  Pac.  393. 


within  the  corporate  limits  was  not  necessarily 
dangerous,  and  that,  therefore,  the  ordinance 
was  unreasonable,  and  so  not  justified  as  an 
exercise  of  the  police  power. 
* 

Personal  Liability  of  Officers.2 — In  an  action 
for  damages  by  a  landowner,  whose  crops  were 
flooded  through  the  negligent  maintenance  of 
drainage  ditches  by  the  trustees  of  the  drainage 
district,  the  court  held  that  the  liability  was 
personal,  as  against  the  trustees,  and  not  as 
against  the  drainage  district.  The  evidence 
showed  that  the  trustees  knew  of  the  defective 
conditions,  prior  to  the  flooding,  and  that  it  was 
their  duty  to  repair  the  ditches,  and  to  prevent 
the  injury  to  the  landowners. 

*  Proper  v.  Sutler  Drainage  District,  etal..2OO  Pac.  664. 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[January 


Salary  Increases  During  Term  of  Office.1 — 
A  statute  prohibiting  the  increasing  and  de- 
creasing of  salaries  of  city  officers  during  their 
term  of  office  was  held  not  to  apply  to  officers 
having  no  fixed  tenure  of  office,  but  who  served 
during  the  pleasure  of  the  appointing  power. 
* 

Court's  Power  to  Interfere  in  Municipal  Em- 
ployment.2— The  chief  of  police  of  Seattle  dis- 
charged a  police  officer  for  the  stated  offense  of 
offering  to  release  from  custody  a  certain  prisoner, 
whom  he  had  arrested  for  gambling,  on  the  pay- 
ment to  him  of  a  certain  amount  of  money.  The 
civil  service  commission  confirmed  this  act,  and 
suit  was  brought  to  review  the  order  of  dismissal. 
The  question  that  came  before  the  supreme  court 
was,  "Did  the  trial  court  have  authority  to 
review  the  evidence  upon  which  the  chief  and  the 
civil  service  commission  had  acted  in  discharging 
the  employe?  "  The  court  held  that  under  the 
city  charter,  the  city  government  had  power  to 
vest  in  its  officers  the  authority  to  discharge  an 
employe,  and  that  no  court  had  the  right  to  re- 
view the  sufficiency  of  the  evidence  upon  which 
this  body  had  acted. 

* 

City's  Power  to  Restrict  Certain'  Districts.*— 
The  owner  of  certain  property  on  a  principal 
street  in  the  city  of  Kearney  commenced  to  erect 
a  gasoline  filling  station  for  the  purpose  of  sup- 
plying gasoline  and  oil  to  motor  vehicles.  There- 
upon, the  city  council  passed  an  ordinance 
restricting  such  erection  in  the  district,  covering 
some  thirteen  square  blocks.  Suit  was  brought 
to  test  the  validity  of  the  ordinance.  The  court 
held  that  in  the  exercise  of  police  powers  dele- 
gated to  a  city,  it  was  generally  a  matter  for  the 
municipal  authorities  to  determine  what  rules, 
regulations  and  ordinances  are  required  for  the 
health,  comfort  and  safety  of  the  people,  but 
that  this  action  is  not  final,  and  is  subject  to  the 
scrutiny  of  the  courts.  In  this  case  the  ordi- 
nance was  held  arbitrary  and  unreasonable,  and 
therefore  void. 

* 

Special  Assessment  on  Boulevard  Improve- 
ments.4— The  charter  of  the  city  of  St.  Louis 
permits  assessments  against  non-abutting  prop- 
erty in  the  case  of  widening  a  street,  but  prohib- 
its such  assessment  in  the  case  of  widening  or 

1  Bowers  v.  City  of  Albuquerque,  200  Pac.  421. 

*  Ford  v.  City  of  Seattle,  200  Pac.  568. 

»  Standard  Oil  Co.  v.  City  of  Kearney,  184  N.  W.  109. 

«  Albert  v.  City  of  St.  Louis,  233  S.  W.  210. 


opening  a  boulevard.  In  working  out  a  compre- 
hensive boulevard  scheme,  a  certain  street  was 
embraced  within  the  plan,  and  an  assessment 
was  made  by  the  city  on  certain  non-abutting 
property  for  the  benefits  received.  The  property 
owners  refused  payment  and  carried  the  matter 
into  court.  The  court  held  that  even  though  this, 
particular  portion  of  the  system  had  been  re- 
garded as  a  street,  it  was  a  mere  subterfuge  to 
avoid  the  charter,  by  continuing  to  regard  the 
thoroughfare  as  a  street,  and  that  it  should 
properly  be  classed  as  a  boulevard,  and  the 
assessments  were  held  void. 
* 

Citizen's  Right  to  Enjoin  Collection  of  Taxes 
and  to  Act  for  Others  Beside  Himself.6 — George 
Fairley,  acting  on  behalf  of  himself  and  all  other 
automobile  owners  in  the  city  of  Duluth,  was 
granted  an  injunction  restraining  the  city  of 
Duluth  from  collecting  wheelage  tax  in  excess  of 
the  amount  allowed  by  Section  352  of  the  laws  of 
Minnesota,  which  specified  that  municipalities 
in  the  state  could  collect  a  wheelage  tax  to  the 
extent  of  20  per  cent  of  the  amount  collected  by 
the  state,  as  a  tax  upon  automobiles. 

When  the  law  was  enacted,  the  city  of  Duluth 
was  operating  under  an  ordinance  which  gave 
the  city  the  right  to  collect  a  wheelage  tax  from 
all  automobiles  which  used  the  city  streets,  at 
the  rate  of  fifty  cents  a  rated  horsepower,  which 
was  considerably  in  advance  of  the  schedule  set 
by  the  state.  The  city  did  not  change  its 
ordinance. 

The  city  contested  the  injunction  on  the 
grounds  that  one  taxpayer  had  no  right  to  act 
for  others  in  a  matter  of  this  kind,  and  also  that 
no  injunction  which  would  tend  to  prevent  the 
city  from  collecting  needed  revenues  was  legal. 

The  lower  court  decided  that  the  injunction 
should  hold,  but  gave  a  certificate  for  appeal, 
stating  that  the  matters  contained  in  the  suit 
were  both  important  and  doubtful. 

The  supreme  court  of  Minnesota  sustained 
the  lower  court,  holding  that  in  cases  where  a 
common  interest  is  concerned,  one  citizen  may 
act  both  for  himself  and  all  others  so  situated, 
and  also  that  in  cases  where  a  large  number  of 
different  tax  collections  are  concerned,  the  col- 
lection of  taxes  may  be  enjoined.  These  two 
decisions  establish  precedents  in  this  state. 

The  court  also  affirmed  the  constitutionality 
of  the  state  law.  ROBERT  M.  GOODRICH. 

'  November  term,  supreme  court  of  Minnesota. 


1922] 


NOTES  AND   EVENTS 


39 


V.    MISCELLANEOUS 


Death  of  Noted  Town  Planner. — Hans  Eduard 
Von  Berlepsc-h-Valendas,  architect,  town  planner 
and  author,  died  at  Planegg,  Munich.  Bavaria, 
August  17,  19*1. 

Berlepsch-Valendas  was  a  Swiss  by  birth  and 
allegiance.  He  was  the  author  of  "Die  Garten- 
Stadt  Bewegung  in  England,"  "Die  Garten- 
Stadt  Munchen-Perlach,"  and  other  books  on 
town  planning.  His  cordial  hospitality  to  Amer- 
icans interested  in  town  planning  during  the 
period  of  more  than  a  decade  is  worthy  of  special 
mention  and  record. 

* 

The  Baldwin  Prize  for  1922. — The  William  H. 
Baldwin  essay  contest  for  1922  is  open,  as  here- 
tofore, to  undergraduates  of  American  colleges 
and  universities.  The  subjects  suggested  for 
this  year  are  (1)  Special  Assessments  as  a  Sub- 
stitute for  General  Taxation  for  Public  Improve- 
ments; (2)  The  Consolidation  of  City  and  County 
Government  within  Metropolitan  Areas;  (3) 
Municipal  Employment  Policies.  The  amount 
of  the  prize  is  one  hundred  dollars.  For  further 
information,  address  Prof.  E.  A.  Cottrell,  Leland 
Stanford  Junior  University,  Chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Prizes,  or  H.  W.  Dodds,  Secretary 
of  the  League,  261  Broadway,  New  York. 
* 

A  Citizen's  Bond  Committee. — Oklahoma  City 
and  Oklahoma  County  voted  on  large  bond  issues 
on  November  26.  In  order  to  get  popular  back- 
ing for  the  establishment  of  the  improvements 
which  the  bonds  will  pay  for,  the  city  commission 
organized  a  citizens'  bond  committee.  The 
committee  was  to  raise  its  own  finances,  and  in 
every  way  be  a  body  independent  of  the  city 
government.  The  main  purpose  of  the  com- 
mittee was  to  lay  before  the  people  full  informa- 
tion about  the  proposed  improvements  and  the 
bond  issues  necessary  to  finance  them.  The 
Committee  numbered  about  sixty  and  was  thor- 
oughly organized  to  cover  the  last  detail  of  the 
campaign. 

It  was  expected  that  such  an  organization 
would  go  far  toward  educating  the  citizenship  as 
to  the  needs  of  public  improvements  and  securing 
their  votes  for  them. 

F.  F.  BI,A<  HI.V. 
* 

City  Officials  Check  Up  on  Own  Work.— The 
mayor  and  council  of  the  progressive  city  of 
Flint,  Michigan,  wishing  to  be  sure  that  their 


departments  were  operating  to  the  best  advan- 
tage, recently  employee!  the  Institute  for  Public 
Service  of  New  York  City  to  make  a  study  of  the 
operation  of  all  the  city  departments.  This 
study  is  not  as  yet  complete,  but  by  pursuing  the 
method  of  working  out  the  results  in  constant 
contact  with  the  department  heads  and  the  coun- 
cil, many  of  the  recommendations  have  already 
been  put  into  effect. 

This  is  one  of  the  few  instances  where  a  city 
government  feeling  that  its  work  is  being  excep- 
tionally well  done  and  without  pressure  from  the 
outside  for  an  "investigation,"  has  adopted  the 
business  precaution  of  checking  up  to  be  sure 
that  nothing  has  been  overlooked  in  making  their 
operation  most  effective. 

GATLORD  C.  CUMMIN. 
* 

Ohio  State  Conference  on  City  Planning  at  its 
third  annual  meeting  in  Columbus  in  October 
adopted  a  legislative  program.  Bills  will  be  pre- 
pared covering  each  matter  and  their  passage 
urged.  The  subjects  of  legislation  are:  (1)  A 
constitutional  amendment  removing  the  50  per 
cent  limitations  on  the  appropriation  of  property 
which  may  be  included  in  a  special  assessment; 
(2)  a  statute  providing  for  regional  and  county 
planning;  (3  and  4)  statutes  concerned  with  the 
pktting  or  subdivision  of  land;  (5)  extension  of 
city-planning  laws  to  include  villages  and  to 
charter  cities  which  do  not  have  a  form  of  organ- 
ization providing  for  city-planning  commissions; 
(6)  an  amendment  to  the  present  zoning  law 
eliminating  the  clause  which  states,  in  effect,  that 
nothing  in  the  zoning  law  shall  be  construed  to 
permit  a  municipality  to  reserve  by  means  of  a 
setback  line,  a  strip  of  land  for  future  street 
widening  without  compensation  to  the  owner. 
* 

Spartanburg  to  Have  Plan. — The  park  com- 
mission of  Spartanburg,  South  Carolina,  has  en- 
tered into  an  agreement  with  John  Nolen,  town 
and  city  planner,  for  the  preparation  of  a  com- 
prehensive city  plan.  This  will  include  a  plan- 
ning survey,  general  city  plans  and  report  cover- 
ing: main  streets  and  roads,  with  typical  street 
sections,  giving  width  and  subdivision  of  same; 
right-of-ways  for  railroads  and  locations  for 
stations;  parks,  play-grounds,  and  other  open 
spaces,  with  location,  use  and  general  character 
of  development  proposed;  approximate  locations 


40 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[January 


of  districts  or  zones  for  various  classes  of  develop- 
ment with  proposed  restrictions;  and  locations 
for  the  principal  public  buildings,  especially  those 
to  be  grouped  in  one  locality. 

The  agreement  provides  for  consultant  serv- 
ices for  a  period  of  three  years,  and  the  prepara- 
tion from  time  to  time  of  design  and  construction 
plans  for  the  Spartanburg  park  commission. 

The  expenses  of  the  planning  work  will  be  met 
jointly  by  the  Spartanburg  park  commission,  the 
city  council  and  the  Spartanburg  Chamber  of 
Commerce. 

* 

Massachusetts  Celebrates  Eight  Years  of 
City-Planning  Progress. — Confidence  was  the 
keynote  of  the  eighth  annual  conference  of 
Massachusetts  planning  boards  at  Winchester, 
October  19.  The  value  of  continued  effort  was 
plainly  indicated, — first  by  the  attendance,  174 
members;  second  by  the  large  number  of  plan- 
ning boards  represented,  34;  and  third  by  the 
distinguished  character  of  those  who  came  as 
individuals, — three  mayors,  heads  of  two  state 
departments,  several  of  the  leading  senators  and 
representatives  of  the  state,  and  finally  by  the 
participation  of  the  speaker  of  the  house,  B.  Lor- 
ing  Young,  who,  referred  to  by  one  speaker, — 
pretending  to  jest, — as  the  "successor"  of  the 
governor,  opened  the  conference  in  his  behalf, 
and  proved  by  his  enthusiastic  handling  of  the 
subject  and  his  keen  suggestions  for  action  that 
town  planning  had  "got  to"  him. 

Many  conferences  meet  in  spite  of  the  disad- 
vantages and  the  discomforts  of  the  modern  city: 
not  so  this  one.  Its  setting  was  itself  a  revelation 
of  what  planning  can  do.  Few  municipalities 
can  show  so  many  of  the  town  planners'  dreams 
worked  out  on  the  ground:  a  town  center,  with 
dignified  public  buildings  informally  grouped  in 


a  delightful  setting  along  a  reclaimed  and  parked 
stream,  its  bridges  works  of  art;  adjoining  the 
center  an  extensive  playground,  replacing  a  dis- 
orderly railroad  yard  and  tumble-down  tannery; 
beyond,  a  metropolitan  park  skirting  the  charm- 
ing Mystic  Lakes  and  thus  preserving  and  en- 
hancing their  beauty;  connecting  all  these  a 
parkway,  with  trees  maturing,  leading  through 
and  above  the  town  to  a  metropolitan  reserva- 
tion of  wild  land  vast  enough  for  real  outings; 
within  its  borders  the  town  water  supply,  three 
attractive  reservoirs  on  a  forested  watershed 
without  a  single  residence  to  endanger  its  purity. 

Against  the  indiscriminate  erection  of  bill- 
boards Speaker  Young  presented  the  strongest 
possible  case,  one  against  which  the  billboard 
interests  have  thus  far  been  able  to  make  but 
little  impression,  in  their  efforts  to  secure  permits 
from  the  state  division  of  highways,  as  required 
by  the  new  law.  His  ten  points  will  serve  as  a 
foundation  for  the  arguments  of  each  city  and 
town  that  desires  to  be  heard  against  the  general 
granting  of  permits  for  billboards  in  its  area. 
They  are:  fire  risk,  harboring  of  filth,  hiding  of 
criminals  and  immorality,  wind  hazard,  danger  to 
traffic  from  the  very  fact  of  their  taking  the 
driver's  attention  from  the  road,  breeding  of  in- 
sect pests,  depreciation  of  taxable  real  estate 
values,  ugliness,  and  impairment  of  the  value  of 
public  improvements,  such  as  parks  and  scenic 
highways. 

ABTHUB  C.  COMET. 
* 

Error  in  State  Parks  Supplement. — Our 
attention  has  been  called  to  a  typographical 
error  on  page  599  of  the  State  Parks  supplement 
to  the  November  REVIEW.  The  date  on 
which  final  approval  was  secured  for  the  Bronx 
Parkway  was  1913  instead  of  1903  as  printed. 


NATIONAL 
MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


VOL.  XI,  No.  2 


FEBRUARY,  1922 


TOTAL  No.  68 


SPECIAL  ASSESSMENTS1 

ASSESSMENTS  FOR  BENEFIT  AS  A  MEANS  OF  FINANCING 
MUNICIPAL  IMPROVEMENTS 

BY  THE  COMMITTEE  ON  SOURCES  OF  REVENUE,  NATIONAL 
MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE2 

I.    INTRODUCTION 


IN  providing  certain  public  improve- 
ments, especially  in  municipalities, 
benefit  accrues  to  the  land  adjacent 
to  or  in  the  vicinity  of  the  improve- 
ments. This  benefit  is  usually  reflected 
within  a  very  short  time  in  the  en- 
hanced sale  value  of  the  property. 
Where  improvements  in  the  public  in- 
terest result  in  increasing  the  value  of 
adjacent  land,  it  is  becoming  more  and 
more  the  practice  for  the  government 
to  assess  the  property  owners  with  the 
cost  of  such  improvements,  the  levy 
being  made  in  proportion  to  the  bene- 
fit received.  Such  levies  to  defray  the 
cost  of  public  improvements  are  known 
as  special  assessments. 

Assessment      for     benefit      as      a 

1This  discussion  of  Special  Assessments  in 
American  cities  is  published  by  the  National 
Municipal  League  to  meet  the  demand  for  in- 
formation on  special  assessment  administration. 
It  has  been  drawn  by  the  chairman  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Sources  of  Revenue  with  the  aid  and 
counsel  of  the  committee  and  is  based  upon  a 
series  of  manuscripts  prepared  for  the  committee 
by  Mr.  Clarence  E.  Ridley  and  Mr.  William  A. 


means  of  financing  public  improve- 
ments is  not  at  all  a  practice  of  recent 
origin.  The  principle  was  applied  in 
England  as  far  back  as  1427,  when  cer- 
tain acts  provided  for  apportioning 
among  the  land  owners  benefited  there- 
from the  cost  involved  in  the  construc- 
tion and  repair  of  walks,  ditches,  gut- 
ters, sewers,  bridges,  causeways  and 
trenches  which  had  been  damaged  by 
the  inundation  of  the  sea.  The  idea  of 
special  assessments  was  introduced  in 
this  country  as  early  as  1691,  when  it 
appeared  in  the  provisions  of  a  province 

Bassett  of  the  National  Institute  of  Public  Ad- 
ministration, and  Mr.  William  C.  Ormond, 
President  of  the  New  York  City  Board  of  As- 
sessors. 

•LUTHER  GULJCK,  Chairman,  National  Insti- 
tute of  Public  Administration,  New  York  City; 
ROBERT  M.  HAIO,  Columbia  University,  New 
York  City;  HARRIS  S.  KEELER,  Chicago  Bureau 
of  Public  Efficiency,  Chicago;  Miss  MABLB 
NEWCOMER,  Vassar  College,  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y. ; 
A.  C.  PLEYDELL,  New  York  Tax  Reform  Associ- 
ation, New  York  City;  WILLIAM  A.  RAWLES, 
Indiana  University,  Bloomington,  Indiana. 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[February 


law  of  New  York.  The  important 
part  of  this  statute  was  copied  almost 
verbatim  from  the  English  Act  passed 
in  1667  and  re-enacted  in  1670  to  reg- 
ulate the  rebuilding  of  London  after 
the  great  fire.  Special  assessments, 
however,  were  not  generally  applied 
in  New  York  for  at  least  another  cen- 
tury, and  it  was  not  until  about  1813 
that  the  courts  recognized  the  prin- 


ciple of  such  assessments.  By  1850 
eleven  states  had  followed  New  York 
in  applying  the  principle  of  special 
assessments,  and  by  1875  fifteen  ad- 
ditional states  had  used  this  principle. 
At  the  present  time  the  principle  of 
special  assessments  is  accepted  in  every 
state  and  is  applied  in  some  form  in  a 
large  majority  of  the  cities  in  the 
United  States. 


II.     DISTRIBUTION  OF  COST  AND  METHODS  OF  ASSESSING 

IMPROVEMENTS 


DETERMINATION   OF  ASSESSMENT 
AREA 

As  the  principle  underlying  special 
assessments  is  that  of  distributing  the 
cost  of  public  improvements  in  accord- 
ance with  the  benefit  conferred,  the  de- 
termination of  the  extent  and  amount 
of  that  benefit  becomes  the  heart  of 
the  problem.  As  a  practical  matter, 
the  computation  of  the  benefit  con- 
ferred by  a  particular  improvement  on 
each  piece  of  property  is  greatly  facil- 
itated by  following  certain  general 
rules  for  determining  the  extent  and 
the  distribution  of  benefit.  So  far, 
such  general  rules  have  not  been  uni- 
formly adopted  over  the  country.  In 
many  places,  the  area  and  the  amount 
of  the  benefit  have  been  determined 
for  each  individual  improvement  by 
local  legislative  bodies  in  an  unneces- 
sarily arbitrary  manner  often  to  meet 
political  expediency  rather  than  to 
conform  to  the  economic  facts.  Sound 
practice  with  reference  to  the  deter- 
mination of  the  assessment  area  is 
discussed  in  this  report  under  each 
class  of  improvement. 

GENERAL   METHODS    OF    ASSESSMENT 

In  the  different  states  varying  stat- 
utory limitations  are  placed  upon  the 


plan  of  distributing  the  cost  as  well  as 
on  the  various  methods  of  assessment, 
yet  there  is  substantial  agreement  in 
respect  to  the  principles  underlying 
the  methods  of  measuring  the  degree 
of  benefit.  The  following  four  general 
methods  of  levying  assessments  are 
recognized  in  law: 

1.  Frontage. — Under  this  method  the 
assessment  is  spread  on  the  abut- 
ting land  in  proportion  to  the  front- 
age of  each  piece  of  land  abut- 
ting on   the  improvement.     The 
most  serious  objections  to  using 
it  alone  is  its  inelasticity  and  also 
the  fact  that  frontage  is  not  al- 
ways an  accurate  criterion  of  the 
benefit,  as  it  favors  deep  lots  at 
the  expense  of  shallow  lots. 

2.  Superficial     Area. — Under     this 
method  the  assessment  is  spread 
on  the  abutting  property  in  pro- 
portion to  the  area  of  the  land 
fronting  on  the  improvement  in- 
stead of  in  proportion  to  the  foot 
frontage.     The  inelasticity  of  this 
plan  also  makes  it  unsatisfactory 
for  use  alone.     Another  objection 
is  its  obvious  failure  as  a  proper 
index  to  the  benefit  as  it  favors 
shallow  lots  at  the  expense  of  deep 
lots. 

3.  Valuation. — Under   this    method 
the  assessment  is  distributed  in 


1922] 


SPECIAL  ASSESSMENTS 


proportion  to  the  assessed  valua- 
tion of  the  land  at  the  time  the 
improvement  is  made.  It  favors 
cheap  land  at  the  expense  of  dear 
land  and  fails  to  recognize  that  the 
present  value  of  land  is  due  to  con- 
ditions existing  before  the  im- 
provement is  contemplated  or 
completed  and  that  those  con- 
ditions may  be  completely  altered 
by  the  improvement. 
4.  Proximity. — Under  this  method 
the  assessment  is  distributed  on 
the  basis  of  proximity  to  the  im- 
provement, the  nearer  land  paying 
more  in  proportion  to  its  super- 
ficial area  than  the  more  distant 
land  according  to  certain  estab- 
lished ratios,  which  will  be  dis- 
cussed in  connection  with  the  vari- 
ous improvements.  While  this 
may  be  considered  a  variation  of  the 
superficial  area  method,  its  recogni- 
tion of  proximity  as  well  as  area,  dis- 
tinguishes it.  The  proximity  plan 
overcomes  the  chief  difficulties  of 
the  other  methods.  It  places  deep 
and  shallow  lots,  cheap  or  dear 
lots,  on  a  thoroughly  equitable 
basis.  It  has  the  further  great  ad- 
vantage that  it  is  applicable  to 
extensive  improvements,  the  effect 
of  which  reaches  beyond  the 
immediately  contiguous  land. 

EXEMPTION    FROM    ASSESSMENTS 

One  of  the  most  perplexing  questions 
with  which  municipal  authorities  have 
to  deal  in  the  distribution  of  special 
assessments  is  that  of  providing  for 
exemptions  granted  by  statute  or  or- 
dinance or  permitted  by  general  policy. 
In  many  cases,  particularly  where  the 
state  or  national  government  is  con- 
cerned, cities,  although  not  inhibited 
by  law  from  levy  ing  assessments  against 
property  owned  by  those  govern- 
mental units  or  by  private  institu- 


tions, are  unable  to  collect  the  assess- 
ments when  levied.  When  exemptions 
from  assessment  are  granted,  the  bal- 
ance of  the  assessable  property  must 
either  bear  the  additional  financial 
burden  or  else  it  must  be  distributed 
over  the  city  at  large.  In  either  case, 
the  situation  is  complicated  and  does 
not  readily  admit  of  an  equitable 
solution. 

It  would  seem  that  any  exemption 
of  property  from  special  assessment, 
whether  such  property  is  in  govern- 
ment or  private  ownership,  is  unsound. 
The  benefit  resulting  from  a  public 
improvement  inheres  in  the  property 
affected,  and  the  distribution  of  the 
cost  in  terms  of  benefit  conferred 
should  be  made  in  that  way.  When 
national,  state  or  city  property  is 
affected  by  any  particular  improve- 
ment, it  may  be  necessary  to  meet 
their  share  of  the  cost  out  of  the  general 
fund;  in  any  event,  the  adjustment 
necessary  should  be  a  matter  of  public 
record  showing  that  a  regular  assess- 
ment had  been  made  against  the  prop- 
erty in  accordance  with  the  benefit 
conferred.  In  the  case  of  private 
schools,  churches,  charitable  and  other 
institutions,  there  should  be  no  ex- 
emptions from  assessment. 

PUBLIC    IMPROVEMENTS    FOR    WHICH 
SPECIAL   ASSESSMENTS    ARE   MADE 

Public  improvements  which  have 
been  generally  recognized  as  work  for 
which  special  assessments  may  be 
levied  are  as  follows:  (1)  the  acquisi- 
tion of  land  for  street  or  park  purposes 
and  the  subsequent  opening  of  streets 
and  development  of  park  property; 
(2)  execution  of  city-planning  projects 
involving  the  widening  and  straight- 
ening of  streets;  (3)  the  improvement 
of  streets,  including  grading,  paving, 
and  repaving;  (4)  the  construction  of 
sewer  systems  and  sewage  disposal 


46 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[February 


plants;  (5)  the  construction  of  water- 
front improvements,  including  levees 
and  other  shore  protection. 

The  cost  of  bridges,  when  forming  an 
integral  part  of  a  street  improvement, 
should  be  included  in  the  assessment 
for  that  improvement.  Paying,  to 
some  extent  at  least,  the  cost  of  rapid 
transit  lines  by  assessment  on  property 
has  recently  received  consideration. 
Although  no  application  of  this  idea 
has  been  made  up  to  the  present  time, 
two  cities,  New  York  and  Philadelphia, 
have  included  this  method  of  financing 
in  plans  for  the  future. 

In  addition  to  assessing  for  the  public 
improvements  noted  above,  the  prac- 
tice is  followed  to  a  limited  extent  by 
some  cities  of  assessing  the  cost  of  cer- 
tain public  services  rendered.  Among 
these  are  included:  sprinkling  and  oil- 
ing of  streets,  removing  snow  from  side- 
walks, cleaning  roadways,  cleaning 
sidewalks,  repairing  sidewalks,  care 
of  street  parking,  planting  shade  trees, 
care  of  shade  trees,  cutting  weeds,  fill- 
ing in  lots,  park  maintenance  and  even 
moth  extermination.  The  universal 
application  of  special  assessments  to 
meet  such  services  is  undesirable  from 
an  administrative  standpoint.  In  most 
cases  they  would  seem  to  fall  more  ap- 
propriately in  the  group  of  municipal 
services  financed  from  taxation. 

The  particular  problems  arising  in 
levying  assessments  for  each  of  the 
major  types  of  public  improvements 
are  discussed  below. 


1.  STREET  IMPROVEMENTS 
OPENING  AND  WIDENING  STREETS 

The  plan  of  distributing  the  cost 
of  street  improvement  varies  with  each 
kind  of  improvement.  In  case  of 
street  widening  or  of  opening  a  new 
trunk  street,  the  total  cost  should  or- 
dinarily not  be  assessed  against  the 


abutting  property,  for  the  nature  of 
the  improvement  is  evidence  that  it  is 
called  into  being  by  traffic  demands 
outside  the  immediate  vicinity  and 
therefore  has  assumed  more  than  local 
importance.  Of  course,  if  the  owners 
of  the  property  on  either  side  of  the 
proposed  opening  or  widening  petition 
for  the  improvement  as  being  necessary 
for  their  convenience  or  to  accommo- 
date their  expansion  of  business,  or  if 
the  improvement  is  a  local  service 
street,  rather  than  a  trunk  street  there 
is  no  question  but  what  the  locality 
should  pay  part  of  the  cost.  If  traffic 
in  a  particular  locality  becomes  con- 
gested to  such  an  extent  that  it  is  ex- 
pedient to  widen,  extend  or  open  up  a 
new  street,  then  the  cost  of  such  im- 
provement should  be  distributed  be- 
tween the  district  so  benefited  and  the 
abutting  property  owners.  It  is  not 
uncommon  for  such  an  improvement, 
by  reason  of  its  strategic  location,  to 
be  of  very  important  general  and  of 
comparatively  little  local  benefit.  The 
equitable  distribution  of  the  cost  be- 
tween these  immediately  contiguous  and 
outlying  areas  depends  so  much  upon 
local  conditions  and  the  circumstances 
calling  for  the  improvement  that  no 
suggestion  of  value  can  be  made  here 
as  to  the  proper  allocation  of  the  cost. 

The  plan  of  distributing  the  cost 
must  be  determined  in  each  separate 
case  only  after  a  very  careful  investi- 
gation. It  is  well  to  add  here  that  in 
the  application  of  a  distribution  plan 
to  an  improvement  of  this  kind,  as  well 
as  to  any  other,  local  conditions  must 
govern  to  a  large  degree,  and  while  the 
application  of  the  method,  when  once 
the  plan  is  determined,  is  not  extremely 
difficult,  yet  common  sense  and  a 
thorough  understanding  of  the  method 
to  be  used  are  necessary. 

While  no  definite  plan  can  be  given 
to  govern  the  distribution  of  the  cost 
between  the  parties  benefited,  that  is 


1922] 


SPECIAL  ASSESSMENTS 


47 


the  degree  to  which  the  benefit  is 
general,  district  or  local,  it  is  possible 
to  outline  a  method  to  follow  in  spread- 
ing the  amount  of  assessment  to  each 
lot  or  parcel  of  land  once  the  plan  of 
distribution  of  the  cost  is  determined. 
It  is  safe  to  say,  however,  that  in  no 
case  should  the  entire  cost  of  acquiring 
a  street  in  excess  of  sixty  feet  in  width, 
which  is  the  generally  accepted  width 
for  a  local  street,  be  assessed  against 
the  local  property,  except  perhaps  in 
the  business  district.  It  is  true  that 
property  fronting  on  a  wider  street  is 
more  valuable,  yet  only  within  certain 
limitations,  for  after  a  street  has  reached 
a  certain  maximum,  additional  width 
does  not  necessarily  involve  additional 
benefit  and  it  may  if  too  wide  detract 
from  property  values.  In  cases  where 
it  would  be  equitable  to  assess  locally 
the  whole  cost  of  a  sixty-foot  street,  it 
would  seem  satisfactory  to  assess 
locally  25  per  cent  of  a  greater  width 
up  to  about  125  feet.  Some  years  ago 
in  a  paper  presented  before  the  Fourth 
National  Conference  on  City  Planning, 
Nelson  P.  Lewis,  Chief  Engineer  of  the 
Board  of  Estimate  and  Apportionment 
of  New  York  City,  recommended  that 
the  25  per  cent  of  additional  cost  begin 
at  a  sixty-foot  width,  and  end  at  one 
hundred  and  forty  feet,  thereby  mak- 
ing the  percentage  of  cost  which  would 
be  locally  assessed  as  follows  for  vari- 
ous street  widths: 

60  feet  100      per  cent 


70 

80 

90 

100 

120 

140 

150 

200 


89.3 

81.25 

75 

70 

62.5 

57.1 

53.3 

40 


In  the  case  of  street  widening  the 
same  plan  would  be  applicable,  that  is, 
if  the  street  were  less  than  sixty  feet  in 


width,  the  additional  expense  in  order 
to  make  it  sixty  feet  would  be  assessed 
locally,  while  for  any  additional  width 
the  above  table  could  be  used. 

In  blocks  of  ordinary  length  and 
width,  it  is  customary  to  include  in  the 
assessment  area  all  property  to  the 
parallel  middle  line  of  the  block.  In 
determining  individual  assessments 
within  this  area,  the  method  described 
later  under  "street  paving"  is  used. 

STREET   GRADING 

As  it  is  ofttimes  desirable  to  grade 
certain  streets  some  years  before  it  is 
either  possible  or  expedient  to  pave 
them,  the  question  of  paying  this  cost 
naturally  arises.  As  this  step  is  es- 
sentially a  part  of  the  preparation  for 
paving  the  cost  should  be  distributed 
and  the  assessment  spread  in  conform- 
ity with  the  policies  pursued  when  deal- 
ing with  a  pavement. 

STREET   PAVING 

There  is  probably  no  other  improve- 
ment in  the  municipal  field  which 
claims  so  large  a  share  of  special  assess- 
ment receipts  as  the  paving  of  streets. 
No  extended  argument  is  necessary 
here  to  emphasize  the  importance  of 
pavements  from  an  economic,  social, 
and  aesthetic  point  of  view.  Progres- 
sive cities  have  realized  this  and  have 
provided  well  paved  streets  financed 
largely  through  special  assessments. 

Because  the  benefit  accruing  to  the 
property  owner  on  account  of  the  en- 
hancement in  the  sale  value  of  his  land 
by  the  construction  of  a  pavement 
adjacent  thereto  is  often  far  in  excess 
of  the  assessment,  no  argument  is 
needed  to  justify  the  application  of  the 
special  assessment  policy  to  this  kind 
of  improvement.  The  points  to  be  dis- 
cussed here  are:  first,  the  determina- 
tion of  the  total  amount  of  special 


48 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[February 


benefit  to  be  assessed  and  the  boun- 
daries of  the  area  of  benefit;  and,  sec- 
ond, the  method  of  determining  the  in- 
dividual levies. 

In  arriving  at  an  equitable  distribu- 
tion of  the  cost  there  are  several  ele- 
ments to  be  considered.  In  the  first 
place,  if  the  street  is  purely  residential 
there  can  be  no  question  but  the  entire 
cost  should  be  borne  locally  regardless 
of  the  width  of  the  pavement  deter- 
mined upon,  provided  that  the  prop- 
erty owners  desire  a  greater  width  than 
would  be  essential  from  an  economic 
point  of  view.  On  the  other  hand, 
should  the  street  to  be  paved  be  a  main 
artery  of  traffic  or  develop  into  one  by 
reason  of  the  improvement,  then  it  is 
urged,  the  assessment  should  be  more 
general,  and  the  greater  percentage  of 
the  additional  cost  over  and  above  the 
width  required  for  local  use  should  be 
spread  over  the  district  benefited  there- 
by. It  might  be  that  the  additional 
width  should  be  provided  to  stimulate 
the  development  of  a  certain  district 
lying  beyond  or  at  one  end  of  the  pro- 
posed improvement,  in  which  case  the 
benefited  districts  at  both  extremes 
might  be  called  upon  to  bear  their  pro- 
portional share  of  the  burden  It  is 
obvious  that  local  circumstances  must 
govern  the  distribution  of  the  cost  in 
such  cases  as  those  mentioned  above. 

The  development  of  the  motor  truck 
and  its  use  for  interurban  freight  trans- 
portation over  the  city  thoroughfares, 
surburban  roads  and  county  highways 
has  produced  a  difficult  problem  from 
the  standpoint  of  special  assessments. 
Where  paving  specifications  are  ma- 
terially affected  by  through  truck 
traffic,  this  fact  in  itself  is  evidence 
that  not  all  of  the  cost  should  be 
assessed  locally  regardless  of  the  street 
width. 

Statistics  show  that  practically  three- 
fourths  of  all  cities  in  the  United  States, 
with  populations  in  excess  of  30,000, 


assess  the  cost  of  pavements  to  the 
property  benefited,  one-half  assessing 
the  entire  cost,  while  one-fourth  assess 
only  a  portion  of  the  cost,  due,  in  many 
cases,  to  charter  restrictions.  In  many 
jurisdictions  charter  restrictions  have 
been  adopted  that  serve  to  thwart  a 
sound  special  assessment  policy.  This 
is  particularly  true  of  the  restrictions 
placed  on  the  assessment  of  street  in- 
tersections and  of  the  arbitrary  per- 
centage limits  for  special  assessments. 
Street  intersections  are  as  much  an  in- 
tegral section  of  an  improvement  as 
any  other  part.  Consequently,  the 
absurdity  of  such  restrictions  is  ob- 
vious. This  is  typical  of  many  similar 
legal  restrictions  which  are  hampering 
the  free  use  of  the  special  assessment 
policy. 

To  illustrate  further  the  lack  of  uni- 
formity in  assessing  for  pavements,  in 
Boston  the  amount  cannot  by  law  be 
over  50  per  cent  of  the  cost;  and  in 
New  York,  it  cannot  be  over  50  per  cent 
of  the  value  of  the  property  assessed. 
On  the  other  hand,  in  Providence, 
110  per  cent  of  the  construction  cost 
is  sometimes  assessed  because  expense 
of  collection,  issuance  of  bonds,  etc., 
are  included;  for  Buffalo  also  all  of  the 
expense  is  assessed. 

The  methods  of  spreading  the  assess- 
ment over  the  area  of  benefit  are  simi- 
larly diverse.  Many  cities  are  spread- 
ing their  assessments  on  the  basis  of 
frontage.  This  method  may  be  justified 
as  long  as  all  lots  are  the  same  depth 
and  shape,  but  obviously  overbur- 
dens a  corner  lot.  It  is  entirely  inade- 
quate when  applied  to  irregularly 
shaped  lots. 

The  method  used  by  Seattle,  Wash- 
ington, should  be  noticed  in  this  con- 
nection. There  the  property  fronting 
on  the  street  is  divided  into  belts  or 
zones  parallel  to  the  street,  and  the 
cost  is  assessed  on  the  property  in  a 
stated  ratio  to  its  area  lying  within 


1922] 


SPECIAL  ASSESSMENTS 


49 


these  zones.  Forty  per  cent  is  assessed 
against  property  lying  within  the  first 
zone,  thirty  feet  wide  and  adjoining 
the  street;  25  per  cent  on  property  in 
the  zone  between  thirty  and  sixty  feet 
from  the  street ;  20  per  cent  in  the  zone 
bounded  by  lines  sixty  and  ninety  feet 
from  the  street;  and  15  per  cent  on  the 
property  lying  between  the  line  ninety 
feet  from  the  street  and  the  central  line 
of  the  blocks.  This  plan  is  a  step  in 
the  right  direction,  for  it  eliminates 
many  of  the  glaring  faults  of  the  front 
foot  method.  It  is  a,  crude  form  of 
the  proximity  method. 

A  more  complete  and  scientific  meth- 
od of  distributing  assessments  for  grad- 
ing and  paving  improvements  is  em- 
ployed by  the  city  of  Flint,  Michigan. 
The  plan  for  levying  special  assess- 
ments was  introduced  by  H.  E.  Terry, 
former  city  engineer  of  Flint,  and  was 
developed  to  its  present  form,  about 
six  years  ago,  by  W.  R.  Drury,  at  that 
time  office  engineer  in  the  department 
of  public  works.  The  main  elements 
of  this  plan  are  as  follows :  all  property 
lying  between  the  improvement  and  a 
line  midway  between  it  and  the  next 
street  is  included  in  the  area  of  assess- 
ment. The  amount  apportioned  to 
this  area  which  is  assessed  to  individual 
properties  is  determined  by  mathe- 
matical rules  which  vary  the  assess- 
ment on  the  basis  of  proximity  to  the 
improvement. 

Tables  have  been  prepared  running 
by  foot  intervals  to  a  depth  of  300  feet 
showing  the  amount  to  be  assessed  ac- 
cording to  these  rules.  (See  Reference 
No.  12).  In  spreading  assessments 
with  the  aid  of  these  tables,  the  deter- 
mination of  the  comparative  assess- 
ments of  long  and  short  lots  is  a  simple 
matter  and  irregular  and  triangular 
lots  are  handled  without  difficulty. 
These  rules  and  tables  resemble  those 
used  by  assessors  as  described  in  the 
National  Municipal  Review  Supple- 


ment of  January,  1920.  While  there 
are  cases  where  such  rules  cannot  be 
relied  upon  completely,  experience 
shows  that  they  do  serve  to  increase 
the  fairness  of  assessments  because 
they  eliminate  guesswork  and  discrim- 
ination in  a  large  measure. 

REPAYING 

Special  assessments  for  repaving  are 
by  no  means  as  universal  as  for  meeting 
the  cost  of  the  original  construction, 
yet  the  proper  distribution  of  the  cost 
is  no  more  complicated  than  in  the  case 
of  the  original  pavement,  and  if  the 
different  factors  enumerated  under  the 
discussion  of  pavements  above  are 
taken  into  account,  there  is  no  reason 
for  any  different  plan  of  assessment. 

It  is  true  that  the  reconstruction 
of  a  pavement  often  may  not  enhance 
the  value  of  a  piece  of  land  to  the  ex- 
tent that  the  original  pavement  does, 
yet  it  is  just  as  true  that  a  depreciation 
in  the  value  of  the  land  would  certainly 
result  if  the  adjacent  pavement  were 
allowed  to  get  into  such  condition  as  to 
render  the  property  less  accessible. 

Some  cities  are  not  permitted  by 
law  to  levy  a  special  assessment  upon 
the  land  benefited  for  a  renewal  pave- 
ment. The  costs  of  such  pavements 
must  therefore  be  distributed  through 
the  general  property  tax  rate  on  the 
basis  of  the  assessed  values  of  all  prop- 
erty. Such  a  policy  is  unfair  to  high 
priced  land,  to  improved  land  and  to 
the  owners  of  other  taxable  subjects. 

SIDEWALKS 

The  usual  practice  in  sidewalk  con- 
struction in  practically  all  American 
cities  is  to  assess  the  total  cost  against 
the  abutting  property.  In  most  cities 
the  property  owners  are  required  to 
pay  the  cost  of  construction,  repair  and 
maintenance,  and  reconstruction  when 


50 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[February 


deemed  necessary  for  public  safety  and 
convenience.  There  are,  however,  a 
few  exceptions.  For  example,  in  Bos- 
ton but  one  assessment  can  be  made 
against  property  owners  for  the  con- 
struction of  sidewalks.  This  means 
that  when  a  sidewalk  of  any  character 
has  once  been  built  and  a  portion  of 
the  cost  assessed  against  the  property 
the  city  must  forever  after  repair  and 
rebuild  when  necessary,  or  even  con- 
struct a  much  wider  walk  than  was 
originally  built. 

Such  a  provision  is  not  in  accordance 
with  accepted  practice.  It  shifts  the 
burden  from  the  land  owner,  the  one 
directly  benefited,  to  the  city  at  large, 
where  the  benefit  is  but  very  limited. 
As  a  general  rule,  property  owners 
should  be  required  to  construct,  main- 
tain and  rebuild  when  necessary  the 
walks  adjacent  to  their  property  and 
should  be  held  liable  for  any  injury 
or  damage  to  persons  or  property  as 
a  result  of  neglect  to  repair  or  maintain 
such  sidewalks. 

In  spite  of  this  general  rule  there  are, 
of  course,  cases  where  the  construction 
of  a  sidewalk  may  with  equity  be  borne 
in  part  by  the  city  at  large.  Where 
sidewalk  construction  forms  a  part  of 
a  street  widening  or  city-planning 
project  and  the  demands  of  pedestrian 
traffic  necessitate  a  material  widening 
the  work  would  hardly  be  construed 
as  conferring  a  strictly  local  benefit. 

CROSSWALKS 

In  some  few  cases  the  cost  of  cross- 
walks is  made  the  matter  of  independ- 
ent local  assessment.  A  crosswalk 
constitutes  an  integral  part  of  the  street 
section  in  which  it  is  located.  The  cost 
of  constructing  it  should  be  included 
in  the  cost  of  improving  the  street 
and  the  identical  method  should  be 
followed  in  meeting  the  cost  as  obtains 
in  the  case  of  the  street  improvement. 


BRIDGES 

Ordinarily  bridges  alone  are  not  con- 
sidered among  public  improvements 
subject  to  special  assessment.  Bridge 
construction  required  in  connection 
with  a  specific  highway  improvement 
may  be  considered  as  constituting  an 
integral  part  of  the  improvement. 
Where  this  is  done  the  cost  involved 
should  be  included  in  the  general  cost 
of  the  improvement.  In  some  cases 
the  widening  or  replacement  of  an  ex- 
isting bridge  by  one  of  more  substan- 
tial construction  might  be  construed  as 
conferring,  at  least  in  part,  a  local 
benefit.  Under  such  conditions  a 
portion  of  the  cost  should  well  be  dis- 
tributed by  special  assessment  over 
the  area  deemed  to  be  benefited.  It 
has  been  the  practice  in  New  York 
City  in  financing  certain  of  its  bridges, 
not  only  to  assess  a  part  locally,  over 
a  benefit  area,  but  also  to  lay  a  special 
assessment,  as  a  surcharge  of  the  tax 
rate,  in  large  areas  of  the  city. 


2.  SEWERS 

There  are  three  general  types  of 
sewers:  first,  there  is  the  sanitary 
sewer  which  disposes  of  waste  water, 
especially  water  carrying  polluted 
matter  commonly  spoken  of  as  "house 
sewage";  second,  the  storm  sewer 
which  carries  off  storm  water;  and 
third,  the  combined  sewer  which  per- 
forms the  functions  of  both  sanitary 
and  storm  sewers.  Because  of  the 
different  problems  arising  in  handling 
special  assessments  for  the  various 
kinds  of  sewers,  they  are  discussed 
separately  below. 

SANITARY   SEWERS 

There  are  different  types  of  sanitary 
sewers  in  a  complete  sewerage  system 
for  any  community.  The  simplest 


1922] 


SPECIAL  ASSESSMENTS 


51 


type  is  the  lateral  sewer,  sometimes 
spoken  of  as  a  service  or  local  sewer 
because  it  usually  serves  one  particu- 
lar street  and  its  benefit  therefore  is 
strictly  local.  The  next  in  order  is  the 
trunk  sewer,  usually  larger  in  size,  and 
into  which  the  lateral  sewers  discharge, 
provided,  of  course,  that  the  lateral 
does  not  empty  directly  at  the  point 
of  final  disposition,  which  is  rarely 
the  case.  This  sewer  may  also  furnish 
direct  connection  to  abutting  property. 
Then  next  comes  the  intercepting  sewer, 
which  is  a  still  larger  sewer,  and  as  its 
name  implies  its  function  is  that  of  in- 
tercepting and  collecting  sewage  from 
a  number  of  trunk  sewers  and  convey- 
ing it  to  a  point  of  final  discharge.  And 
finally,  there  is  the  relief  sewer,  which 
is  usually  built  parallel  to  an  old  sewer 
that  is  inadequate  because  of  growing 
needs. 

It  is  obvious  that  each  of  these  sewers 
presents  a  problem  of  its  own.  They 
are  therefore  considered  separately. 

LATERAL   SEWERS 

It  would  appear  that  inasmuch  as 
the  benefit  derived  from  a  lateral  sewer 
is  merely  local  in  character,  that  it 
ought  to  be  fairly  simple  to  determine 
the  method  of  levying  the  cost  upon 
the  property  benefited.  However, 
this  is  not  the  case.  If  one  will  sketch 
a  few  lots  with  their  multifarious  shapes 
and  sizes,  it  will  be  seen  at  once  that 
the  problem  is  difficult  and  is  made  even 
more  so  by  the  nature  of  the  improve- 
ments situated  on  the  lots.  To  illus- 
trate, two  lots  may  be  of  equal  front- 
age and  depth;  one  may  have  a  house 
built  in  the  center,  thereby  prohibiting 
the  construction  of  a  second  house 
without  tearing  down  or  moving  the 
present  structure;  the  other  lot  may 
have  a  house  built  upon  one  side  with 
the  idea  of  building  another  house 
upon  the  lot.  Since  this  new  house, 


when  built,  will  require  sewer  service, 
the  lot  is  benefited  more  than  the  lot 
with  only  one  house  which  has  but  one 
connection.  Again,  one  street  has  a 
sewer.  A  sewer  is  required  on  a  cross 
street.  The  corner  lot  is  already  served. 
It  can  use  but  one  sewer.  Certainly 
another  sewer  adjacent  to  the  property 
will  not  enhance  the  value,  or  render  a 
benefit.  Such  situations  as  these 
make  the  problem  of  an  equitable  as- 
sessment for  sewers  a  difficult  one.  To 
solve  these  difficulties,  assessors  have 
applied  many  apportionment  rules. 
It  is  evident  that  the  frontage  method 
of  assessment  favors  deep  lots,  and  the 
area  method  favors  shallow  ones,  so 
some  cities  have  combined  the  two  in 
order  to  secure  the  merits  of  both,  but 
unfortunately  the  drawbacks  of  the 
methods  sometimes  offset  the  merits, 
and  dissatisfaction  has  been  the  result. 
The  arbitrary  ratio  assumed  in  most 
cases  is  to  assess  three-fifths  of  the 
cost  on  the  basis  of  area  of  property 
sewered  and  the  remaining  two-fifths 
on  the  basis  of  frontage.  Another 
plan  used  to  a  very  limited  extent  is  the 
entrance  fee  plan,  that  is,  charging  a 
fee  for  connecting  to  the  sewer.  This 
is  unsatisfactory,  since  the  money  to 
defray  the  cost  of  an  improvement  is 
needed  when  the  improvement  is  made, 
or  if  deferred,  within  a  definite  period 
and  not  when  adjacent  property  is 
built  upon. 

On  the  basis  of  these  facts  it  would 
seem  necessary  to  consider  the  entire 
cost  of  lateral  sanitary  sewers  as  assess- 
able to  the  local  area  served  and  to  dis- 
tribute the  individual  assessments  on 
a  basis  of  area  and  frontage,  allowing 
more  weight  to  the  former. 

TRUNK   SEWERS 

Inasmuch  as  trunk  sewers  often  per- 
form the  dual  service  of  picking  up  the 
discharge  from  laterals  as  well  as  direct 


52 

property  connection,  it  is  clear  at  once 
that  we  have  a  problem  of  allocating 
the  proper  percentage  of  the  cost  to 
each  of  these  services.  Obviously,  the 
property  owners  adjacent  to  a  trunk 
sewer  should  not  be  called  upon  to  pay 
more  than  what  it  would  cost  to  con- 
struct a  sewer  sufficient  for  their  re- 
quirements plus  their  proportionate 
shares  of  the  cost  of  the  trunk  sewer. 
This  cost  would  be  levied  on  the  prop- 
erty benefited  as  in  levying  the  assess- 
ment for  laterals.  The  balances  of  the 
cost  of  the  trunk  sewer  should  be  dis- 
tributed uniformly  over  all  the  tribu- 
tary area  in  proportion  to  the  assess- 
ments for  lateral  sewers. 


INTERCEPTING   SEWERS 

There  are  good  grounds  for  not 
assessing  the  cost  of  intercepting  sewers 
against  the  property  benefited,  for, 
while  this  part  of  the  system  is  an  in- 
tegral part  of  the  whole,  its  local  bene- 
fit is  less  apparent.  It  is  more  a 
general  benefit  and  consequently  its 
cost  should  be  distributed  over  the 
community  at  large  either  by  special 
assessment  or  in  the  form  of  general 
taxation.  There  are  cases,  however, 
where  an  improvement  of  this  kind 
serves  only  a  limited  area  and  confers 
a  distinct  local  benefit.  In  such  cases 
the  cost  can  be  met  equitably  by  special 
assessment  by  the  same  general  method 
outlined  for  trunk  sewers. 


RELIEF   SEWERS 

The  need  of  additional  carrying 
capacity  in  a  certain  section  does  not 
necessarily  imply  a  faulty  design  of  the 
original  sewer.  It  is  not  always  pos- 
sible to  forecast  developments,  nor  is 
it  always  sound  policy  to  construct  a 
system  to  anticipate  development  by 
too  many  years;  the  carrying  charges 
become  too  heavy.  When  the  relief 


[February 

sewer  becomes  necessary,  its  cost 
should  be  distributed  over  the  area 
benefited  as  with  other  sewers. 


STORM   SEWERS 

While  the  assessment  principles  of 
sanitary  and  storm  sewers  are  some- 
what alike  in  character,  there  is  also 
one  particular  point  of  difference  that 
makes  it  more  difficult  to  locate  the 
benefit  in  the  latter  case.  Storm  sewers 
are  not  required  on  all  streets  since  ad- 
vantage is  taken  of  the  slope  of  the 
ground  or  grade  of  the  pavement  and 
the  storm  water  is  allowed  to  run  in 
open  gutters  for  a  block  before  entering 
a  sewer  through  the  inlet.  This  fea- 
ture makes  the  determination  of  the 
local  benefit  more  difficult  and  has  led 
some  cities  to  pay  for  all  storm  sewers 
out  of  general  taxation  or  bond  issues. 
As  the  construction  of  storm  sewers 
must  precede  the  laying  of  permanent 
pavements,  there  is  likely  to  be  a  heavy 
burden  placed  upon  a  particular  terri- 
tory if  the  total  cost  of  both  the  pave- 
ments and  sewers  is  defrayed  by  special 
assessment.  There  are  cases,  however, 
where  the  policy  of  special  assessment 
should  be  adopted  since  a  direct  and 
measurable  benefit  is  derived  from 
such  an  improvement.  In  levying  the 
assessment,  however,  the  same  princi- 
ple that  was  applied  to  sanitary  sewers 
cannot  be  wholly  accepted  when  assess- 
ing for  storm  sewers.  While  a  sanitary 
sewer  must  be  adjacent  to  the  property 
in  order  to  allow  a  connection  and  per- 
mit a  benefit,  a  storm  sewer  may  be  a 
block  away,  inasmuch  as  it  handles 
merely  storm  water.  Therefore,  the 
drainage  area  served  by  the  sewer  should 
form  the  assessment  area  regardless  of 
the  location  of  the  storm  sewer. 

The  distribution  of  the  assessments 
within  the  area  of  benefit  presents  a 
somewhat  different  problem  from  that 
raised  in  connection  with  other  sewers. 


1922] 


SPECIAL  ASSESSMENTS 


53 


The  amount  of  storm  water  to  be  car- 
ried off  varies  in  direct  proportion  to 
the  area.  It  would  therefore  seem 
reasonable  to  distribute  the  burden  in 
proportion  to  area. 

COMBINED   SEWERS 

In  dealing  with  a  combined  sewer, 
that  is,  one  performing  the  functions 
of  both  sanitary  and  storm  sewers,  it 
is  evident  that  the  problem  will  be- 
come less  complex  if  we  divide  the  total 
cost  into  two  proportionate  parts  just 
as  if  the  separate  design  had  been 
adopted.  After  this  has  been  done, 
the  cost  assigned  to  the  sanitary  sewer- 
age system  can  be  assessed  as  has 
already  been  described  and  the  re- 
maining amount,  or  the  storm  sewer 
share,  assessed  to  the  drainage  area. 


3.  PARKS 

A  number  of  cities  to-day  are  enjoy- 
ing the  benefits  derived  from  the  crea- 
tion of  parks,  boulevards  and  civic 
centers  made  possible  by  liberal  charter 
provisions  allowing  the  special  assess- 
ment policy  to  be  applied  in  defraying 
the  cost.  That  the  function  of  a  park 
is  not  alone  to  provide  means  for  rec- 
reation is  brought  out  clearly  in  court 
decisions  relating  to  the  liberal  pro- 
visions relative  to  parks,  contained  in 
the  Kansas  City,  Missouri,  charter. 
Brief  passages  of  these  decisions  follow: 

"Public  parks  in  cities  are  essential 
to  health,  comfort,  and  prosperity  of 
their  citizens.  They  are  a  public  use, 
within  the  meaning  of  the  constitution, 
for  which  land  of  citizens  may  be  taken 
upon  payment  of  just  compensation. 
They  confer  general  benefit  upon  all 
citizens  and  special  and  peculiar  bene- 
fit upon  owners  of  real  estate  in  their 
immediate  vicinity." 

"It  is  competent  for  the  council  to 
define  the  benefit  district  and  to  assess 


benefits  against  real  estate  benefited 
and  it  is  not  necessary  that  a  park  be 
paid  for  by  general  taxation  of  the 
whole  city." 

In  the  case  of  Haenssler  vs.  St.  Louis 
(205  Mo.  656,  1.  c.  681)  the  court  ruled 
that  "city  may  acquire  property  out- 
side of  city  yet  near  for  park  purposes." 

As  the  problem  of  assessing  for  the 
opening  and  improving  of  parks  calls 
for  special  consideration  as  compared 
with  the  question  of  maintenance,  we 
shall  consider  the  two  problems  under 
separate  headings  and  follow  then  with 
the  treatment  of  boulevards  and  civic 
centers. 

OPENING   AND   IMPROVING    PARKS 

One  of  the  early  applications  of  the 
principle  of  assessing  for  acquisition  of 
land  and  its  development  for  park  pur- 
poses was  made  in  New  York  City  in 
1853,  when  land  was  acquired  for  Cen- 
tral Park,  and  of  the  total  cost  amount- 
ing to  $5,169,369.90  a  certain  share  was 
assessed  against  the  property  benefited. 
Since  that  time  developments  have 
been  such  that  Central  Park  now  forms 
the  border  for  the  most  valuable  res- 
idential property  in  the  city,  which  is 
largely  the  result  of  the  park  develop- 
ment. The  enhancement  in  value  of  the 
property  benefited  probably  would  have 
justified  the  levying  of  the  total  cost  of 
the  improvement.  The  same  is  true 
of  parks  in  many  other  cities.  Expe- 
rience has  demonstrated  beyond  doubt 
that  the  mere  taking  of  property  for 
park  purposes  immediately  enhances 
the  sale  value  of  adjacent  property. 
The  amount  of  the  benefit  depends 
upon  the  proximity  of  the  property 
to  the  park  and  will  diminish  as  the 
distance  from  the  park  increases.  It 
would  seem,  therefore,  that  the  method 
pursued  by  such  cities  as  Kansas  City, 
Denver  and  Indianapolis  of  dividing 
the  city  into  certain  park  districts 


54 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[February 


and  then  assessing  each  district  for 
the  entire  cost  of  the  parks  for  that 
particular  district  is  in  most  cases 
sound.  As  to  the  method  of  levying 
the  assessment  within  the  area  of  ben- 
efit, excellent  opportunity  is  offered 
for  the  application  of  the  zone  method. 
The  location  of  the  lines  determining 
the  boundaries  of  the  different  zones 
and  the  proportion  of  the  total  cost 
to  be  paid  by  each  zone  should  be  fixed 
to  fit  the  particular  territory.  Perhaps 
the  most  scientific  method  of  deter- 
mining the  distribution  of  cost  by  this 
method  was  worked  out  during  1917 
under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  chief  en- 
gineer of  the  Board  of  Estimate  and 
Apportionment  of  New  York  City. 
(See  Reference  No.  9.)  It  is  based  on 
various  mathematical  formulae  derived 
from  a  careful  study  of  benefits  de- 
rived from  parks  in  New  York  City. 

BOULEVARDS 

Any  well-designed  park  plan  will 
ordinarily  include  a  system  of  boule- 
vards either  within  or  connecting  the 
separate  park  areas.  A  boulevard  is 
both  a  part  of  the  park  system  and  a 
pleasure  thoroughfare.  It  is  therefore 
reasonable  to  distribute  a  very  con- 
siderable part  of  the  cost  of  the  boule- 
vard system  over  the  city  as  a  whole. 

CIVIC   CENTERS 

In  reality  civic  centers  fall  in  the 
same  category  as  parks,  yet  their  im- 
portance the  past  few  years  and  their 
almost  certain  prominence  in  the  years 
to  come  warrant  at  least  separate  men- 
tion. One  of  the  most  elaborate  civic 
centers  is  that  developed  by  the  city 
of  Denver  at  a  cost  of  $2,685,000.  This 
civic  center  is  near  the  heart  of  the 
city  and  on  territory  previously  built 
up  by  permanent  buildings  which  had 
to  be  acquired  by  the  power  of  eminent 


domain  and  destroyed.  It  falls  in  one 
of  Denver's  four  park  districts  which 
was  assessed  to  meet  the  cost  of  the 
project  on  the  basis  of  benefit. 


4.  PUBLIC  UTILITIES 

The  financing  of  service  extensions 
of  what  are  commonly  called  public 
utilities — water,  gas,  electric,  and 
street  railway  systems — by  means  of 
special  assessments  presents  a  some- 
what different  problem.  With  the  ex- 
ception of  water  supply  extensions  few 
cities  have  levied  special  assessments 
for  public  utility  extensions.  Never- 
theless it  needs  no  argument  to  show 
that  the  extension  of  public  utilities 
confers  a  distinct  local  benefit.  If  the 
extension  is  not  premature,  the  benefit 
conferred  will  exceed  the  costs  of  the 
extension. 

Where  the  utility  is  privately  owned, 
the  extensions  are  of  necessity  privately 
financed,  but  where  they  are  publicly 
owned  the  service  extensions  should  be 
locally  assessed  because  the  benefit  is 
local.  It  should  not  be  overlooked 
that  such  a  policy  will  tend  to  restrict 
service  extensions  until  they  are  needed 
and  will  to  this  extent  encourage  a 
more  economical  development  of  public 
utilities. 

Each  utility  presents  distinct  prob- 
lems. In  the  following  paragraphs  the 
more  important  of  these  are  discussed. 


WATER   LINE   EXTENSIONS 

Though  a  large  number  of  cities  meet 
the  cost  of  laying  water  mains  by  special 
assessments,  the  majority  still  pay  for 
service  extensions  from  the  surplus  in 
the  water  fund.  It  is  not  easy  to 
justify  this  practice  of  asking  con- 
sumers to  pay  for  new  extensions. 
Service  extensions  should  certainly  be 
assessed. 


1922] 


SPECIAL  ASSESSMENTS 


55 


Some  cities  assess  a  certain  stipu- 
lated amount  per  front  foot.  This  plan 
is  obviously  not  equitable  for  the  same 
reasons  that  have  been  pointed  out  in 
the  case  of  sewers.  The  city  of  Bristol, 
Connecticut,  in  1919,  adopted  a  char- 
ter amendment  which  provides  that 
when  the  estimated  net  income  from 
water  revenue  from  a  new  line  shall  be 
less  than  10  per  cent  of  the  construc- 
tion cost,  the  board  of  water  commis- 
sioners may  assess  the  deficit  against 
the  property  benefited.  Other  cities 
have  adopted  similar  provisions  and 
on  the  whole  the  plan  is  commendable. 
Care  should  be  exercised,  however,  to 
limit  the  application  of  this  policy  to 
lines  primarily  designed  for  private 
consumption.  When  extensions  are 
made  to  support  the  distribution  sys- 
tem, community  benefit  is  involved 
and  the  difference  in  cost  should  be 
met  from  other  sources. 

The  area  of  benefit  and  the  individ- 
ual assessments  should  be  determined 
hi  accordance  with  the  principles  which 
govern  assessments  for  sanitary  sewers. 
The  accruing  benefit  would  seem  to  be 
similarly  distributed  in  the  two  cases. 

HIGH   PRESSURE   FIRE   PROTECTION 
SYSTEMS 

It  is  strange  that  many  cities  fail  to 
recognize  the  possibility  of  special 
assessments  hi  paying  for  separate 
high  pressure  fire  protection  systems. 
While  there  is  an  element  of  commu- 
nity or  general  benefit  derived  from  the 
added  safety  of  having  an  additional 
high  pressure  water  supply  service, 
this  general  benefit  is  slight  compared 
with  the  very  real  benefit  derived  by  the 
locality  immediately  served.  In  gen- 
eral these  high  pressure  fire  systems 
furnish  water  unsuitable  and  unused  for 
any  other  purpose  than  fire-fighting, 
yet  the  ordinary  practice  has  been  to 
meet  the  capital  cost  by  general  taxa- 


tion, and  the  operation  and  mainte- 
nance charges  from  water  revenue  re- 
ceived from  private  consumers.  Here 
again  the  consumers  scattered  over  the 
entire  city  pay  for  the  protection 
afforded  a  limited  number  of  property 
owners  who  are  reaping  definite  benefits 
through  decreased  fire  insurance  rates 
and  better  protection.  If  benefit  is  to 
govern  the  distribution  of  the  cost  for 
local  improvements,  surely  here  is  a 
clear  case  for  the  application  of  a  spe- 
cial assessment  policy.  The  area  served 
should  be  the  area  of  benefit  and  the  in- 
dividual assessments  should  be  levied 
in  proportion  to  land  values.  Though 
it  may  at  first  thought  appear  strange 
to  use  land  value  as  a  measure  of  the 
benefit  to  be  derived  from  a  high  pres- 
sure system  which  protects  combus- 
tible property,  and  not  land,  analysis 
shows  that  land  values  reflect  very 
closely  the  economic  possibilities  of  the 
locality.  It  is  only  on  the  higher  val- 
ued land  that  the  taller  buildings  can 
be  erected  profitably.  While  there  are 
isolated  tall  buildings  on  low  priced 
land,  this  very  isolation  limits  the  dan- 
ger of  a  conflagration  beyond  the  con- 
trol of  the  ordinary  fire-fighting  system 
and  therefore  the  benefit  of  a  high  pres- 
sure system. 

STREET   LIGHTING   FACILITIES 

Street  lighting  is  primarily  intended 
to  protect  the  community  against  haz- 
ards of  various  kinds,  and  as  such  may 
be  considered  as  providing  a  strictly 
community  benefit  to  be  paid  for  in 
the  general  budget.  At  the  same  time 
unusual  street  lighting,  for  example  of 
an  ornamental  character,  on  a  main 
thoroughfare  does  not  fall  within  the 
terms  of  this  definition  and  may  be 
considered  as  conferring  a  strictly  local 
benefit,  and  as  such  subject  to  local 
assessment.  Furthermore,  the  cost 
of  any  street  lighting  improvement 


56 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[February 


providing  facilities  in  excess  of  those 
recognized  as  necessary  to  safeguard 
the  community  could  with  equity  be 
assessed  in  part  against  the  property 
benefited  at  least  to  the  extent  that  the 
cost  exceeds  that  required  to  furnish 
the  necessary  facilities  to  afford  ade- 
quate protection.  Ohio  specifically 
provides  for  the  assessment  of  property 
benefited  by  street  lighting.  In  several 
instances  the  courts  have  upheld  the 
practice.  Perhaps  the  most  noted 
case  is  Ankeny  vs.  the  City  of  Spokane, 
in  which  the  courts  held  that  the  fur- 
nishing of  electrical  energy  for  street 
lighting  purposes  for  a  limited  term  is  a 
local  improvement  within  the  meaning 
of  a  constitutional  provision  permitting 
the  financing  of  such  improvements 
by  special  taxation  of  the  property 
benefited.  It  was  also  held  that  a 
street  lighting  system  including  orna- 
mental features  does  not  prevent  the 
assessment  of  the  additional  cost  in- 
cidental to  these  features  against  the 
property  benefited.  In  view  of  the 
nature  of  ornamental  street  lighting  a 
distribution  of  its  cost  on  the  basis  of 
frontage  would  appear  sound  practice. 

STREET   RAILWAY   AND   RAPID 
TRANSIT   LINES 

In  our  growing  cities  the  extension 
of  street  railway  or  rapid  transit  lines 
has  more  effect  upon  real  estate  values 
than  the  development  of  any  other  sin- 
gle utility.  Figures  show  that  timely 
extensions  of  transportation  facilities 
cost  less  than  the  enhancement  of 
land  values  produced  thereby.  In  the 
case  of  one  of  the  subway  extensions 
in  New  York  City  the  aggregate  in- 
crease in  land  value  of  a  district  extend- 


ing about  a  half  mile  on  either  side  of 
the  subway,  due  to  the  building  of  the 
subway,  and  in  excess  of  a  normal  rise 
of  $13,500,000  was  about  $31,300,000. 
The  cost  of  the  line  was  about  $5,700,000. 
Had  the  property  which  was  benefited 
borne  this  expense  through  the  form  of 
an  assessment,  after  paying  such  assess- 
ment, there  would  still  have  remained 
an  aggregate  profit  of  $25,600,000  in 
excess  of  the  normal  rise  in  value. 

This  case  is  not  exceptional.  Tran- 
sit facilities  confer  a  distinct  local  ben- 
efit. It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  financ- 
ing publicly-owned  trolley  and  rapid 
transit  extensions  offers  a  legitimate 
field  for  special  assessments. 

The  distribution  of  cost,  of  course, 
will  depend  largely  upon  local  condi- 
tions. The  chief  benefit  resulting  from 
the  construction  of  rapid  transit  lines 
accrues  to  two  zones  of  the  city.  The 
first  of  these  is  the  business  district, 
the  boundaries  of  which  must  be  deter- 
mined by  each  city  for  itself.  The  sec- 
ond, and  perhaps  the  more  important, 
is  the  area  tributary  to  the  new  line 
which  will  include  the  residential  and 
undeveloped  districts  into  which  the 
line  is  extended.  Very  little  benefit 
will  accrue  to  the  district  intervening 
between  these  two  areas  except  right 
along  the  lines  themselves  where  these 
are  surface  street  cars.  The  deter- 
mination of  the  area  of  benefit  in  the 
residence  districts  and  the  apportion- 
ment of  individual  assessments  are  to 
be  handled  by  the  proximity  method. 
In  the  case  of  subways  and  elevated 
lines  with  stations  several  blocks  apart, 
the  zones  will  be  concentric  about 
those  stops.  Express  stops  confer  a 
larger  benefit  and  justify  larger  zones 
and  heavier  assessments. 


III.  ADMINISTRATION 


A  well-planned  and  efficiently  con- 
structed public  improvement  confers 
a  benefit  upon  the  community  at  least 


equal  to  its  cost.  This  benefit  is  sel- 
dom distributed  evenly  over  the  entire 
city.  In  almost  all  cases  certain  lo- 


1922] 


SPECIAL  ASSESSMENTS 


57 


calities  benefit  far  more  than  others 
from  the  improvement.  It  is  there- 
fore only  fair  to  ask  the  specially  bene- 
fited areas  to  make  special  contribu- 
tions to  meet  the  costs  involved.  Any 
other  policy  results  in  a  special  bene- 
fit to  some  at  the  expense  of  the  entire 
community.  In  recognition  of  this 
an  increasing  majority  of  our  cities  are 
financing  improvements  by  means  of 
special  assessments.  There  are  still 
some  communities,  however,  that  have 
yet  to  adopt  the  policy  of  special  assess- 
ments, and  there  are  no  cities  that  have 
recognized  the  full  implications  or  pos- 
sibilities of  the  policy. 

The  success  of  special  assessment 
policies  depends  largely  upon  adminis- 
tration. While  it  is  the  purpose  of 
this  report  to  deal  primarily  with  the 
technique  of  assessing  the  costs  of  local 
improvements,  the  following  broader 
problems  of  administration  may  be 
mentioned. 


STABILIZED   POLICY 

Land  values  in  any  community  de- 
pend upon  anticipations.  Wherever 
these  anticipations  rest  upon  uncertain 
foundations,  needless  costs  and  for- 
tuitous profits  result  with  an  inevitable 
hampering  of  community  growth.  For 
this  reason,  a  stabilized  assessment 
policy  is  of  great  importance  to  the 
city  as  a  whole.  It  assists  in  the  stabi- 
lization of  land  values. 


PUBLICITY 

Publicity  is  the  best  safeguard  a 
community  can  have  against  ill-ad- 
vised and  extravagant  improvements. 
The  administrative  provisions  for  in- 
itiating and  authorizing  assessable  im- 
provements should  therefore  include 
adequate  machinery  for  informing  those 
who  will  pay  for  a  given  improvement 
what  their  individual  assessments  will 


be  and  what  benefit  they  may  expect  to 
derive.  Methods  should  be  established 
whereby  all  the  pertinent  facts  will  be 
made  known  and  the  opponents  as 
well  as  the  proponents  of  an  improve- 
ment given  their  day  in  court.  Where 
full  opportunity  to  be  heard  and  full 
publicity  are  guaranteed,  the  govern- 
ing body  of  a  community  should  have 
the  final  decision  as  to  each  individual 
improvement,  in  order  that  the  con- 
servatism of  one  locality  may  not 
thwart  the  best  interests  of  the  entire 
city. 

COLLECTIONS 

Special  assessments  should  be  pay- 
able either  in  a  lump  sum  or  in  install- 
ments at  the  option  of  the  land  owner. 
Such  a  policy  makes  it  possible  to  lay 
and  collect  relatively  heavy  assessments 
without  hardship.  It  is  also  of  the  ut- 
most importance  that  collections  be 
rigidly  enforced.  A  lax  policy  of  tax 
collection  is  more  expensive  in  the 
long  run,  and  proves  particularly 
embarrassing  in  the  case  of  special 
assessments. 


ASSESSMENT    STANDARDS 

Certain  cities  experimenting  inde- 
pendently have  evolved  standards  of 
special  assessment  administration.  It 
has  been  the  purpose  of  this  report  to 
outline  these  standards  and  to  make 
them  the  common  property  of  all  public 
officials  and  students  of  government. 

The  determination  of  the  broad 
questions  (1)  of  the  share  of  the  cost 
of  any  project  that  is  to  be  assessed, 
and  (2)  of  the  boundaries  of  the  area 
of  benefit,  must  be  settled  for  each  in- 
dividual project,  but  always  on  the 
basis  of  an  established  municipal 
policy.  The  lack  of  such  a  general 
policy  and  the  settlement  of  these 
questions  in  accordance  with  political 
expediency  can  result  in  nothing  but 


58 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[February 


injustice  and  fluctuating  land  values. 
Once  the  amount  to  be  assessed  and 
the  area  of  benefit  have  been  deter- 
mined the  individual  levies  can  be 
made  equitably  on  the  basis  of  accepted 
assessment  rules.  It  must  not  be  for- 


gotten that  these  rules  have  been  based 
on  careful  analyses  of  the  effects  of 
different  types  of  improvements  and 
of  long  experience,  and  that  their 
conformity  to  the  facts  has  been  fre- 
quently tested. 


BRIEF  BIBLIOGRAPHY  AND  REFERENCES  ON  SPECIAL  ASSESSMENTS 


1.  BASSETT,    W.    A.      Special    assessments. 
Library  of  National  Institute  of  Public  Adminis- 
tration, 261  Broadway,  New  York.     1921.     130 
pp,  (typewritten). 

2.  DILLON,  J.  F.    Law  of  Municipal  Corpora- 
tions.    5  v.     1911. 

3.  ENGINEERING   SOCIETIES   LIBRARY,    NEW 
YORK  CITY.     Special  searches  No.  383,  383A 
and  2897.     Special  assessments.     (Prepared  for 
the  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research,  New  York 
City.) 

4.  HAIG,  R.  M.    The  American  system  of 
special  assessments  and  its  applicability  to  other 
countries.     1917.     8  pp.     Paper  presented  be- 
fore the  Second  Pan-American  Scientific  Con- 
gress, Washiagton,  December  27,  1915-January 
8,  1916. 

5.  LEWIS,  N.  P.     Taxation  and  special  assess- 
ments.   In  Municipal  Engineering,  Vol.  XIII, 
p.  268. 

.  Paying  the  bills  for  city  planning.  In 

National  City  Planning  Conference  Proceedings 
1912. 

.  Theory  and  practice  of  laying  assess- 
ments for  benefit.  In  Public  Policy,  v.  3,  p.  349. 

6.  LIBRARY  OF  CONGRESS.    Division  of  Bibli- 
ography.    Select  list  of  references  on  special 
assessments  for  Municipal  Improvements.    1911. 
4  pp.  (typewritten). 

.     Supplementary  list  1915.     5  pp. 

7.  MCQUILLAN,  EUGENE.    Law  of  Municipal 
Corporations,  6  v.     1911-13,  Supplements  1920. 

8.  MUNICIPAL    REFERENCE    LIBRARY,    NEW 


YORK.  A  selected  bibliography  on  real  estate 
assessments.  1921.  7  pp.  (Contains  numer- 
ous references  on  special  assessments.) 

9.  NEW  YORK  CITY.     Board  of  Estimate. 
Report  of  Chief  Engineer,  1911,  1916,  1917. 

10.  NEW  YORK  CITY.     Board  of  Estimate. 
Chief  Engineer.     Report  showing  the  results  of 
an  investigation  of  the  practice  heretofore  fol- 
lowed in  levying  assessments  for  street  and  park 
openings,  with  suggestions  as  to  future  policy. 
October  6,  1907.     42  pp. 

11.  ORMOND,  W.  C.    Assessments  for  local 
improvements.     Municipal    Engineers    of    the 
City  of  New  York,  paper  No.  89,  presented  May 
27,  1914.     51  pp. 

12.  RIDLEY,  C.  E.    The  growing  importance 
of  special  assessments  as  a  source  of  municipal 
revenue.     (Describes    Flint,    Michigan,    plan.) 
Library  of  National  Institute  of  Public  Adminis- 
tration.    52  pp.  (typewritten). 

13.  ROSEWATER,     VICTOR.      Special     assess- 
ments.    Columbia  University.     Studies  in  his- 
tory, economics  and  public  law.    V.  2,  No.  3.    2d 
edition,  1898.     156  pp.     (Bibliography  p.  152- 
153.) 

14.  SELIGMAN,  E.  R.  A.    The  betterment  tax. 
In  his  Essays  in  Taxation,  1913,  p.  433-450. 

15.  SWAN,    HERBERT.    The    assessment    of 
benefits   and   damages   in   streets  proceedings. 
American  City  pamphlets,  No.  151. 

16.  WHINERY,    S.     Special   assessments.    In 
his  Municipal  Public  Works,  1903,  chap.  XII,  p. 
156-174. 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


C.  A.  Dykstra  has  resigned  as  secretary  of  the 
City  Club  of  Chicago  and  moved  to  California  to 
become  secretary  of  the  Los  Angeles  City  Club. 
* 

Harry  H.  Freeman  has  resigned  as  secretary  of 
the  City  Managers'  Association  to  accept  a  busi- 
ness position.  Paul  B.  Wilcox,  assistant  city 
manager  of  East  Cleveland,  Ohio,  succeeds  Mr. 
Freeman  as  secretary  of  the  C.  M.  A. 
* 

Miss  Edith  Rockwood,  formerly  on  the  staff  of 
the  Woman's  City  Club  of  Chicago,  has  been 
made  executive  secretary  of  the  Illinois  League  of 
Women  Voters  with  headquarters  at  Chicago. 
* 

Kenosha  to  Vote  on  C.  M.  Government. — 
Early  in  January  the  League  Blled  a  rush  order 
from  Kenosha,  Wisconsin,  for  10,000  copies  of 
the  "Story  of  the  City-Manager  Plan,"  one  of 
the  pamphlets  of  our  Pocket  Civic  Series. 
These  were  used  in  the  campaign  for  a  city-mana- 
ger charter  which  culminated  in  an  election  on 
January  26. 

* 

Illinois  Municipal  League. — Among  the  imme- 
diate projects  of  the  League  announced  by  Secre- 
tary R.  M.  Story  of  Urbana  is  the  promotion  of 
legislation  that  will  make  possible  the  further 
adoption  of  the  city-manager  plan  among  Illinois 
municipalities.  At  present  only  cities  of  5,000 
or  less  are  empowered  to  adopt  the  plan. 

* 

St  Paul  Rejects  New  Charter.— St.  Paul 
voters  are  to  be  congratulated  upon  having  re- 
jected the  charter  submitted  at  the  election  on 
December  29.  As  explained  in  the  January 
REVIEW  the  new  charter  provided  for  a  mayor 
and  council  to  replace  present  commission  gov- 
ernment. The  mayor-council  plan  was  not  of 
the  approved  type,  however.  A  number  of 
administrative  boards  were  set  up  and  power  waa 
divided  between  the  mayor,  the  boards  and  the 
comptroller. 

* 

Boston  Elects  New  Mayor. — Although  hardly 
a  political  leader  in  the  city  supported  him, 
James  M.  Curley  won  the  Boston  mayoralty  con- 


test last  December  with  a  plurality  of  2,698. 
The  mayor-elect's  past  term,  1914-1917,  was 
against  him.  as  his  opponents  found  no  difficulty 
in  capitalizing  on  many  points,  but  despite  their 
logic  and  the  Good  Government  Association's 
backing  of  John  R.  Murphy,  Mr.  Curley  'a  cam- 
paigning methods  and  personal  appeal  won  him 
the  necessary  votes. 

There  were  four  candidates  in  the  field,  and  the 
contest  was  unusually  intense  and  bitter  in  per- 
sonal criticism.  At  the  polls  the  women  did  not 
show  as  much  enthusiasm  as  was  expected  of 
them,  and  the  Murphy  supporters  lielieve  that 
this  fact  was  much  to  their  candidate's  disadvan- 
tage. 

The  total  vote  cast  waa   160,906,  and  waa 
divided  as  follows:  James  M.  Curley,  74,260; 
John  R.  Murphy,  71,562;  Charles  S.  O'Connor, 
10,818;  Charles  S.  Baxter,  4,266. 
* 

A  Judiciary  Constitutional  Convention. — It 
has  been  a  year  of  economic  disturbance  and 
acute  international  crises,  so  the  ordinary  man 
may  be  forgiven  if  he  paid  little  attention  to  the 
judiciary  constitutional  convention  which  re- 
cently adjourned  in  New  York.  Created  by  the 
1921  legislature  to  suggest  amendments  to  the 
judiciary  article  of  the  state  constitution  it 
reports  that  no  material  changes  in  the  judicial 
system  are  necessary.  The  election  of  judges  is 
to  be  retained  in  preference  to  the  appointive 
system.  No  changes  are  proposed  in  the  organi- 
zation of  the  higher  courts  and  only  minor  ones  in 
the  organization  of  the  lower  courts.  The  con- 
vention was  indeed  free  from  what  Macaulay 
called  the  "mere  rage  of  experiment."  Com- 
placency was  the  keynote. 
* 

Altoona  Council  Gives  Up  C.  M.  Plan.— 
Advocates  of  the  city- manager  system  have 
always  pointed  out  that  where  it  has  been 
adopted  by  a  mere  ordinance  of  the  council  it  is 
relatively  unstable  and  not  apt  to  be  so  effective 
as  where  it  has  been  made  an  organic  part  of  the 
charter.  Altoona,  Pennsylvania,  is  a  recent  case 
in  point.  After  several  years  of  successful  opera- 
tion under  a  commission-council  pledged  to  the 
plan  two  new  members  were  elected  opposed  to 
it.  As  a  consequence  Altoona  reverted  to  com* 


59 


60 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[February 


mission  government  on  January  2.  C.  Gordon 
Hinckle,  who  served  as  manager  for  the  four 
years  the  plan  was  in  effect  and  enjoyed  the  full 
confidence  of  the  old  council,  has  been  appointed 
manager  of  Columbus,  Georgia. 

* 

Esthetics  and  the  Constitution. — The  recent 
case  of  Town  of  Windsor  v.  Whitney  in  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Connecticut  (95  Conn.,  357) 
deserves  mention.  A  statute  providing  for  a 
building  line  set  back  from  the  street  line  where  a 
private  owner  seeks  to  open  streets  through  his 
property,  such  streets  and  setback  to  be  in  accord 
with  a  town  plan  previously  adopted  by  the  town 
commission,  was  upheld  as  constitutional  and  as 
a  proper  exercise  of  the  police  or  general  legisla- 
tive power  of  the  state,  requiring  no  compensa- 
tion to  the  owner.  Incidentally  the  court  re- 
ferred several  times  to  beauty  as  a  factor  sup- 
porting such  regulations  and  as  stabilizing  land 
values.  It  also  said:  "The  state  .  .  .  may 
prevent  the  erection  of  billboards  or  limit  their 
height.  In  short,  it  may  regulate  any  business 
or  the  use  of  any  property  in  the  interest  of  the 
public  health,  safety  or  welfare,  provided  this  be 
done  reasonably.  To  that  extent  the  public 
interest  is  supreme  and  the  private  interest  must 
yield." 

ALBKRT  S.  BABD. 


Further  Administrative  Consolidation  Pro- 
posed in  Massachusetts. — The  Massachusetts 
commission  on  State  Administration  and  Expend- 
itures reported  last  month  recommending  more 
complete  reorganization  of  the  state  depart- 
ments. The  commission  finds  that  the  act  of 
1919  did  not  concentrate  authority  in  any  one 
center  and  therefore  did  not  and  could  not  attain 
administrative  efficiency.  It  will  be  recalled 
that  this  measure  set  up  twenty  independent 
departments  in  addition  to  several  agencies 
which  were  left  under  the  general  supervision  of 
the  governor  and  council.  Practically  all  the 
offices  connected  with  the  former  administrative 
agencies  were  retained  without  alteration  in  per- 
sonnel or  duties. 

The  commission  believes  that  there  is  much 
waste  and  inefficiency  due  to  the  failure  to  secure 
complete  reorganization.  It  finds  that  there  is 
no  uniformity  among  the  departments  with 
respect  to  purchasing  methods.  The  present 
system  of  accounting  is  wholly  inadequate  for  the 
needs  of  to-day.  Because  of  defective  co-ordi- 
nation each  department  thinks  primarily  if  not 
exclusively  of  its  own  work  rather  than  of  its 
function  as  a  co-operating  part  of  a  common 
instrument.  The  commission  believes  that  it 
proposed  consolidations  would  save  the  sensa- 
tional sum  of  $10,000,000  a  year. 

H.  W.  DODDS. 


CHAS.  BROSSMAN 

M.m.Am.Soc.  C.E.  Mem.  Am.  Soc.  M.E. 

Consulting  Engineer 

Water  Works  and  Electric  Light  Plants 

Sewerage  and  Sewage  Disposal 
Merchants  Bank,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 


PROPORTIONAL  REPRESENTATION 

Best  Basic  for  the  City  Manager  Plan 
Send  25c  for  Lft.  No.  10  (How  P.  R.  Work*  in  Sacramento) 
and  new  Lft.  No.  5  (Explanation  of  Hare  System  of  P.  R.) 
Still  better,  join  the  League.    Duet.  $2.  pay  for  quarterly 
Review  and  all  other  literature  for  year. 

PROPORTIONAL  REPRESENTATION  LEAGUE 
1417  LOCUST  STREET,  PHILADELPHIA 


of  Organiza- 
tion— Methods— A  dminiitration— Salary  Standardization 
—Budget  Making— Taxation— Rerenuei— Kxp«nditnrei— 
Ciril  Serrice— Accounting— Public  Worki 

J.  L.  JACOBS  &  COMPANY 

Municipal  Consultant*  and  Engineer* 
Monadnock  Building,  Chicago 

(Ower  11  yr«.'  txfcrienct  in  City,  County  xnd  Stutt  Studiet) 


R.  HUSSELMAN 

Consulting  Engineer 

Design  and  Construction  of  Power  Stations  and 

Lighting  Systems 

Reports,  Estimates  and  Specifications 
Appraisals   and    Rate  Investigations 

Electric.  Gas  and  Street  Railway 
CUYAHOGA    BUILDING,     CLEVELAND,    O. 


A  MODEL  CITY  CHARTER 

This  model  city  charter  drafted  by  a  committee  of  experts  has  been  used  by  hundreds 
of  cities  when  rewriting  their  charters. 

Pamphlet  Copies  of  Model  Charter 50  cents  each. 

NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE  261  Broadway,  New  York  City 


NATIONAL 
MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


VOL.  XI,  No.  3 


MARCH,  1922 


TOTAL  No.  69 


VIEWS  AND  REVIEWS 


The  thinness  of  the  REVIEW  these 
days  and  the  use  of  small  monographs, 
reports,  etc.,  in  alternate  months  as 
substitute  for  a  normal  issue,  reflects 
the  universal  "contributors'  strike." 
Ordinary  memberships  have  held  up  in 
numbers  only  as  a  result  of  increasing 
industry  by  Miss  Howe  in  finding  new 
members  to  replace  the  resignations  of 
the  folk  who  are  "cutting  down  ex- 
penses." Mr.  Dodds'  acceptance  of 
the  Nicaragua  mission  is  designed  to 
relieve  the  treasury  and  so  also  is  the 
release  of  Dr.  Hatton,  our  field  director, 
to  take  effect  in  August,  or  sooner. 
One  phase  of  our  poverty  is  a  lack  of 
working  capital  wherewith  to  keep 
up  self-sustaining  enterprises.  Mr. 
Bassett's  supplement  on  Zoning,  for 
example,  is  the  handiest,  compactest, 
completest  introduction  to  this  live 
subject  ever  written,  but  it  is  out  of 
print  and  there  is  no  substitute.  Re- 
quests for  it  are  incessant.  We  could 
make  a  profit  on  a  new  edition.  Our 
Model  Charter,  another  good  seller,  is 
exhausted!  A  fine  salable  work  on 
"City  Planning"  by  Thomas  Adams 
has  waited  a  year  because  it  runs  eight 
pages  or  so  beyond  our  limit.  The 
"Pocket  Civics"  series  lists  items  as 
"  In  preparation,"  but  to  be  frank,  they 
are  waiting  for  a  couple  of  hundred 
dollars  to  cover  the  initial  investment. 
We  are  living  within  current  revenues 


but  the  quantity  and  effectiveness  of 
our  work  is  sadly  restricted. 

Have  patience  with  us  until  times 
change! 

* 

With  the  defeat  of  the  Alameda, 
California,  city-county  manager  char- 
ter followed  by  the  defeat  of  the  second 
trial  of  the  same  measure  as  applied  to 
Oakland  alone,  there  ends  for  the 
present  an  effort  that  illustrates  the 
characteristic  patience  of  political  re- 
formers. The  effort  began  at  least 
eight  years  ago  and  involved  getting  a 
constitutional  amendment  and  educat- 
ing the  local  public.  The  charter  was 
imperfect  by  our  standards  in  that  it  put 
departments  into  the  control  of  long- 
term  independent  boards  appointed 
by  the  city-county  manager  but  that 
was  not  the  reason  for  its  defeat.  The 
defeat  was  due  to  inability  to  persuade 
the  outlying  communities  to  relinquish 
their  expensive  independence  and  enter 
the  consolidated  government. 

A  similar  obstacle  lies  across  the  path 
of  a  similar  project  in  Westchester 
County,  just  north  of  New  York  City. 
Here  is  a  huddle  of  suburbs  and  manu- 
facturing villages  separated  in  many 
cases  by  nothing  but  imaginary  lines 
that  serve  no  purpose  save  to  multiply 
officials  and  tax  bills.  There  are  4r 
cities,  18  towns,  numerous  villages, 
park,  water,  sewer,  lighting,  fire  and 


61 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[March 


school  districts,  150  taxing  bodies  al- 
together, and  no  means  of  working  in 
co-operation  except  through  the  stage- 
coach style  of  county  government  oper- 
ated by  a  debating  society  of  40 
supervisors.  Yet  at  the  first  hint  of 
organizing  this  chaos,  every  fearful 
little  job-holder  finds  friends  every- 
where who  will  join  his  cry  for  inde- 
pendence. In  some  of  the  petty  gov- 
ernments it  is  difficult  to  find  enough 
candidates  to  fill  a  ticket,  so  trivial 
are  the  duties  and  the  opportunities 
for  either  salary  or  usefulness.  Yet 
that  human  trait  of  loyalty  to  the  near- 
est and  smallest  geographical  and  polit- 
ical unit  in  preference  to  larger  ones  will 
stir  people  who  ought  to  know  better  to 
fierce  oratory  in  defense  of  the  auton- 
omy of  these  feeble  little  governments! 

The  Alameda-Oakland  case  repre- 
sents the  third  time  that  the  creation  of 
a  county  manager  has  reached  a  referen- 
dum, the  previous  cases  being  San 
Diego  County,  California,  and  Balti- 
more County,  Maryland.  All  have 
been  defeated,  but  who  of  us  minds 
that?  The  idea  is  on  the  map!  The 
next  case  is  Sacramento.  Our  Model 
Charter  in  the  city  has  started  off 
brilliantly,  and  after  a  year  of  blockade 
by  absurd  legal  quibbles,  the  county 
votes  to  elect  a  Board  of  Freeholders 
on  February  18,  the  purpose  of  the 
election  being  to  secure  a  county  man- 
ager. And  if  that  fails,  there  are  West- 
chester  and  Nassau  counties  with  offi- 
cial commissions  at  work  on  new  forms 
of  government  and  after  them  comes 
the  Michigan  county  amendment. 

A  Boston  newspaper  recently  got 
itself  all  heated  up  over  the  fact  that  the 
Massachusetts  judiciary  is  not  elective 
as  in  most  other  states,  and,  as  a 
journalistic  feature,  went  to  war  on 
behalf  of  an  amendment  to  throw  the 
judges  into  politics.  It  found  almost 
nothing  to  say  in  disparagement  of 


the  Bay  State's  famous  judiciary  but 
confined  itself  to  a  fantastic  vision  of 
the  joys  of  the  people  in  those  states 
where  judges  are  elective.  No  good 
American  will  manifest  the  slightest 
diffidence  in  tackling  a  question  of 
political  science  and  so  there  were 
several  crowded  hearings  in  which 
speakers  demanded  "that  the  people 
be  given  the  right,"  "that  the  judges 
be  made  directly  responsible  to  the 
people,"  "that  the  people  be  trusted," 
etc.  The  doctrinaires  and  theorists 
who  furnished  the  arguments  for  the 
proposal  were  met  by  an  unsound  and 
dangerous  defense — namely,  that  "the 
appointive  method,  although  undemo- 
cratic, gives  us  high-grade  progressive 
non-political  judges."  It  was  assumed 
on  both  sides  apparently  that  the  elec- 
tive method  was  more  democratic! 

Similar  false  reasoning  necessitated 
the  short  ballot  movement,  but  warm 
friends  of  that  movement,  absorbed 
with  the  argument  that  the  appoint- 
ive method  of  filling  obscure  offices 
would  be  more  efficient,  have  over- 
looked that  it  is  more  democratic  to 
have  them  appointive  by  the  execu- 
tive than  hand  picked  by  partisan  ma- 
chines as  is  inevitably  the  result  with 
long  ballots. 

The  Boston  incident  shows  the  de- 
sirability of  abandoning  a  silent  de- 
fensive. Sooner  or  later  the  positive 
fight  must  be  started  to  take  judges  off 
the  ballots  and  make  them  appointive 
in  the  interests  of  democracy.  The 
so-called  elective  judges  are  in  reality 
appointive  now,  appointive  by  obscure 
irresponsible  cliques  in  the  dominant 
party  machines — there  is  nothing 
democratic  about  that!  And  what 
motives  could  we  not  reasonably 
assign  to  those  who  would  defend  a 
system  of  selection  so  open  to  secret 
access  of  corruption  and  privilege! 
RICHARD  S.  CHILDS. 


THE  MIDDLEBORO  REVOLUTION 


BY  JOSEPH  Q.  DERAAY 


THE  overturn  of  the  commission 
form  of  government  in  Middleboro, 
Missouri,  following  a  protracted  quad- 
rilateral deadlock  between  the  execu- 
tive officers,  presents  an  interesting 
spectacle  in  American  city  government. 

The  " reform" administration  elected 
in  1920  had  been  in  office  three  months 
when  the  commissioner  of  finance  died. 
The  night  of  the  funeral  the  remaining 
four  commissioners  sat  up  all  night  try- 
ing to  determine  which  one  of  them  was 
to  inherit  the  duties  of  the  finance  de- 
partment. No  decision  was  reached. 
The  struggle  became  so  bitter  that  two 
members  refused  to  meet  the  other 
commissioners,  and  for  a  time  each 
group  held  separate  meetings  and  en- 
deavored to  enact  ordinances  and  dis- 
pose of  the  city's  business.  The  mayor 
and  the  commissioner  of  public  welfare 
maintained  that  they  were  the  legal 
"commission,"  while  the  city  attorney 
ruled  that  they  had  no  quorum  and 
could  not,  therefore,  be  considered  "in 
session  for  the  transaction  of  business." 
A  few  months  of  this  dual  government 
brought  matters  to  such  a  crisis  that 
the  two  groups  split  within  themselves 
and  a  four-cornered  deadlock  began. 
Each  commissioner  refused  to  speak  to 
any  of  the  others.  Each  Tuesday  night 
the  mayor,  who  had  seized  the  gavel, 
called  the  empty  chairs  to  order  and 
announced  the  lack  of  a  quorum  and 
went  home. 

In  April  the  treasurer,  an  appointee 
of  the  dead  commissioner  of  finance, 
timidly  notified  the  four  commissioners 
that  the  funds  were  about  exhausted 
and  that  it  would  be  necessary  for  the 
commission  as  a  body  to  authorize 
certain  temporary  loans.  About  the 
same  time  the  assessor  also  hinted  that 
the  assessment  roll  was  ready  to  be 


confirmed  and  the  tax  extensions  en- 
tered if  the  commission  would  only 
meet  to  determine  the  tax  rate.  By 
this  time  the  commissioners  had  de- 
veloped such  mutual  hatreds  that  in- 
junctions, mandamuses,  and  libel  suits 
made  any  compromise  impossible.  On 
May  8  the  city  pay  rolls  were  not  met 
and  the  banks  refused  to  advance 
funds  to  any  of  the  commissioners, 
though  a  few  individual  policemen  were 
paid  and  the  downtown  fire  station  was 
maintained  by  the  chamber  of  com- 
merce and  the  bankers'  association. 

On  May  12  a  fire  in  Hillview  Park,  a 
better  residence  section,  which  the 
mayor  claimed  the  commissioner  of 
public  safety  started,  consumed  three 
homes  before  it  went  out .  This  brought 
on  the  revolution.  Without  sheets  and 
masks  or  grand  goblins,  those  who  had 
gathered  to  watch  the  fire  organized 
spontaneously  and  marched  to  the 
homes  of  the  four  commissioners  and 
literally  dragged  them  to  the  city  hall 
and  held  them  in  their  respective 
chairs.  While  there  had  been  no  fur- 
ther plan  than  to  force  the  commis- 
sioners to  resign,  someone  suggested 
that  the  commission  be  forced  to  take 
advantage  of  the  home  rule  provision 
of  the  state  law  and  call  an  election  to 
vote  for  a  charter-drafting  commission. 
The  ordinance  was  recorded  as  adopted 
by  the  city  clerk,  and  the  resignations 
were  also  recorded  as  offered  and  ac- 
cepted. The  commissioners  were  made 
to  realize  that  if  they  did  not  sign  the 
minutes  "of  their  own  free  will"  they 
would  be  deported. 

That  ended  commission  government 
in  Middleboro.  The  people  voted 
unanimously  for  charter  revision  and 
the  leaders  of  the  "revolution"  were 
elected  without  opposition. 


63 


PARTNERSHIP  IN  GOVERNMENT 

AN  EXPERIMENT  IN  EMPLOYMENT  ADMINISTRATION 

BY  W.  E.  MOSHER 

National  Institute  of  Public  Administration 

The  Post  Office  Department  has  created  a  modern  "welfare  division" 
to  deal  with  personnel  problems  in  co-operation  with  representatives 
of  the  employes.  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  :: 


WHAT  with  the  accumulated  results 
of  political  appointments,  remote  and 
unwieldy  civil  service  administration 
and  autocratic  control  on  the  part  of 
executives,  the  standing  of  the  civil 
service  in  this  country  is  generally  well 
below  par.  In  fact  in  many  circles  the 
term  civil  service  has  become  synony- 
mous with  inefficiency.  Even  that 
most  sympathetic  critic  of  our  govern- 
ment, the  late  Viscount  Bryce,  felt 
compelled  to  place  the  civil  service  of 
the  United  States  at  the  bottom  of  the 
list  as  compared  with  the  public 
services  in  the  modern  democracies 
which  he  so  searchingly  reviewed.  In 
view  of  the  recent  and  probable  future 
extensions  of  the  functions  of  govern- 
ment— municipal,  state  and  national — 
the  thoughtful  citizen  is  bound  to  view 
with  deep  concern  the  declining  rather 
than  the  improving  status  of  our  civil 
service.  It  is,  therefore,  a  matter  of 
peculiar  interest  and  importance  that 
the  largest  employer  of  civil  workers  in 
the  country,  the  postmaster  general, 
announced  an  innovation  in  employ- 
ment policy  some  six  or  eight  months 
ago  that  promised  to  put  his  depart- 
ment abreast  of  the  most  progressive 
private  establishments  of  the  country. 
This  innovation  may  well  prove  to  be 
the  beginning  of  a  new  period  in  public 
employment  management. 

In  Mr.  Hays'  first  published  state- 


ment he  supplies  the  text  of  his  pro- 
gram.    It  runs  as  follows : 

The  success  or  failure  of  all  enterprises  depends 
more  than  anything  else  upon  the  spirit  in  which 
those  who  have  it  to  do  enter  upon  their  tasks. 

Having  the  spirit  right  was  dictated 
in  Mr.  Hays'  mind  not  alone  by  good 
business  but  also,  and  not  a  whit  less, 
by  good  Christianity.  He  has  re- 
peatedly and  unreservedly  described 
his  employment  program  as  the  1921 
application  of  the  Golden  Rule.  Good 
business  and  good  Christianity  are, 
therefore,  the  foundation  pillars  on  the 
basis  of  which  the  Post  Office  Depart- 
ment was  to  be  "humanized."  Con- 
cretely the  following  policies  gradually 
took  form:  square  dealing,  the  recog- 
nition of  merit,  the  most  direct  contact 
possible,  the  right  and  privilege  of 
self-expression  and  satisfactory  work- 
ing conditions. 

CREATION   OF   WELFARE   DIVISION 

For  the  purpose  of  ensuring  the 
adoption  and  continuous  operation  of 
this  personnel  program,  a  special  di- 
vision was  created  which  was  to  be 
"just  as  definite  in  its  duties  and  as 
certain  in  its  execution  as  the  fiscal  or 
any  other  department  in  the  govern- 
ment." That  is  to  say,  the  postmaster 
general  planned  to  install  what  is  com- 


64 


1922] 


PARTNERSHIP  IN  GOVERNMENT 


65 


monly  called  in  industry  a  functional- 
ized  personnel  department.  Although 
it  is  termed  Welfare  Division,  its 
duties  are  as  comprehensive  and  far- 
reaching  as  those  of  most  personnel 
departments. 

Having  in  mind  the  progress  that  had 
been  made  in  employment  control  in 
private  concerns,  Mr.  Hays  invited 
Dr.  Lee  K.  Frankel,  a  vice-president  in 
the  Metropolitan  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany, to  organize  and  administer  the 
Welfare  Division.  Dr.  Frankel  had 
had  wide  experience  in  this  work, 
having  been  one  of  the  directing  factors 
in  the  development  of  the  personnel 
work  of  the  Metropolitan  Life  Insur- 
ance Company,  which  now  has  one  of 
the  best  known  and  most  copied  em- 
ployment departments  in  the  east. 

NATIONAL   WELFARE    COUNCIL 

The  first  important  step  of  the  new 
division  was  to  find  some  means  of 
transforming  the  326,000  employes 
into  co-workers  or  "partners,"  as  Mr. 
Hays  has  delighted  to  call  them.  In 
his  own  words  "to  humanize  the  service 
meant  to  make  every  man  and  woman 
in  it  feel  that  he  is  a  partner  in  this 
greatest  of  all  the  world's  business 
undertakings,  whose  individual  judg- 
ment is  valued  and  whose  welfare  is  of 
the  utmost  importance  to  the  successful 
operation  of  the  whole  organization." 
As  regards  the  public  service,  this  is 
the  most  interesting  and  at  the  same 
time  the  most  revolutionary  phase  of 
the  proposed  program. 

The  idea  of  self-expression  and  shar- 
ing in  control  inherent  in  partnership 
demanded  for  such  an  army  of  workers 
some  form  of  organization  that  neces- 
sarily had  to  be  based  on  the  principle 
of  representation.  Dr.  Frankel  wisely 
used  the  means  of  such  representation 
already  at  hand  in  the  form  of  the 
national  associations  of  postal  em- 


ployes. There  are  at  present  eight 
organizations.  Their  presidents  and 
secretaries  were  called  in  to  discuss  the 
feasibility  of  forming  a  national  welfare 
council,  then  later  to  suggest,  pass  on 
and  finally  adopt  a  constitution  for 
such  a  council. 

According  to  the  constitution  this 
council  is  to  be  the  clearing  house  and 
advisory  board  with  regard  to  all  issues 
affecting  postal  employes  on  a  national 
basis.  There  are  no  strings  attached 
to  the  proposed  functions  of  the  council. 
In  the  words  of  the  brief  but  compre- 
hensive constitution,  it  may  discuss 
and  consider  "all  matters  affecting 
working  conditions  of  employes  or 
relations  between  employes  and  the 
Post  Office  Department,  or  co-opera- 
tion between  employes,  officials  and  the 
public."  It  may  further  consider  ap- 
peals from  rulings  of  local  administra- 
tive officials,  either  when  requested  to 
do  so  by  the  Post  Office  Department  or 
on  its  own  initiative. 

A  basic  guarantee  of  the  official 
standing  of  the  council  is  given  in  that 
it  reports  its  recommendations  through 
the  chairman,  the  welfare  director, 
directly  to  the  postmaster  general.  In 
accordance  with  the  most  advanced 
practice  in  modern  organization,  the 
welfare  director,  the  chief  personnel 
officer,  has  immediate  access  to  the 
head  of  the  business  and  also  has  his 
fixed  place  on  the  executive  board,  i.e., 
the  cabinet  of  the  postmaster  general. 
As  an  executive  officer  of  the  first  rank, 
the  welfare  director  can  thus  bring 
about  readjustments  in  established 
administrative  practices  through  the 
process  of  co-operation  with  the  other 
executives — in  an  old-line  establish- 
ment like  the  Post  Office  Department 
this  is  no  slight  task — but  he  can  also 
help  shape  up  new  policies  with  refer- 
ence to  the  development  of  the  "right 
spirit"  among  the  workers. 

The  success  of  the  National  Welfare 


66 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[March 


Council  is  already  an  assured  fact. 
The  officers  of  the  national  organiza- 
tions who,  by  virtue  of  their  positions, 
have  often  been  a  medium  of  protest 
and  criticism,  thus  actually  fulfilling  a 
more  or  less  negative  function,  have 
shown  in  the  meetings  of  the  council 
not  merely  a  willingness  to  co-operate, 
but  also  initiative  and  enthusiasm  in 
furthering  the  plans  of  the  head  of  the 
department.  As  the  latter  expressed 
it,  his  contacts  with  the  leaders  of  the 
postal  organizations  who,  in  the  past, 
had  been  fighting  the  postal  manage- 
ment, had  convinced  him  that  they 
were  "now  ready  to  take  off  their  coats 
and  to  go  out  and  tell  the  other  boys  to 
take  off  their  coats  and  altogether  to 
put  the  postal  department  right  in  the 
front  in  service."  The  proof  that  he 
was  right  in  his  feeling  may  be  found  in 
the  stenographic  reports  of  the  meet- 
ings of  the  National  Welfare  Council. 
A  reservoir  of  intelligent  interest,  of 
worth-while  suggestions  and  criticisms 
has  been  tapped,  and  its  possible  re- 
sources cannot  readily  be  estimated  for 
some  time  to  come. 

LOCAL   WELFARE   COUNCILS 

The  method  of  partnership  in  the 
local  post  offices  is  through  the  organ- 
ization of  local  welfare  councils  which 
are  authorized  for  all  first-class  post 
offices  and  centers  where  any  consider- 
able number  of  railway  postal  clerks 
come  together.  The  members  of  the 
council  number  eight .  They  are  elected 
from  the  carriers,  the  clerical  and  the 
supervisory  force.  They  hold  office 
for  one  year.  It  is  their  function  to 
consider  matters  of  local  interest  that 
would  lead  to  improving  the  efficiency 
of  the  postal  service  in  the  given  local- 
ity. Whatever  affects  working  con- 
ditions, such  as  sanitation,  heat  and 
light,  appeals  and  grievances,  but  also 
methods  of  carrying  on  the  work,  co- 


operation between  employes,  officials 
and  the  public,  may  be  passed  upon  by 
the  council  and  recommendations  for- 
warded to  the  local  postmaster.  As 
was  indicated  in  the  description  of  the 
duties  of  the  National  Council,  the 
local  councils  have  the  privilege  of 
taking  up  matters  not  satisfactorily 
adjusted  directly  with  the  central  body. 

It  is  difficult  at  the  present  time  to 
forecast  the  ultimate  possibilities  of 
this  democratic  type  of  organization. 
Reports,  however,  indicate  that  there 
has  been  a  widespread  and  vital  inter- 
est in  the  formation  of  local  welfare 
councils.  According  to  a  press  release 
in  the  month  of  January,  some  800 
councils  had  already  been  organized  in 
various  sections  of  the  country.  Dr. 
Frankel  points  out  in  this  release  that 
the  activities  of  the  councils  are  as 
varied  as  could  well  be  the  case.  The 
efficiency  rating  system,  the  matter  of 
leave,  period  of  payment  of  salaries, 
and  other  questions  that  vitally  affect 
the  workers  have  been  discussed. 
Working  conditions,  as,  for  instance, 
the  question  of  light,  ventilation  and 
cleanliness,  have  frequently  come  in 
for  consideration.  Also  the  conditions 
of  work  itself,  such  as  the  arrangement 
of  the  work  periods,  the  possible  use  of 
stools  at  distribution  stations,  case 
examinations,  and  the  like,  have  been 
handled  in  a  constructive  manner. 

The  council  of  the  Department 
proper  at  Washington  already  has  a 
fine  list  of  achievements  to  its  credit. 
It  has  investigated  and  brought  about 
action  with  regard  to  first-aid  rooms, 
an  improved  cafeteria  service,  the 
installation  of  a  library,  and  a  program 
for  entertainments. 

This  brief  summary  will  indicate 
that  the  broad  platform  of  duties  and 
functions  outlined  in  the  constitution 
of  the  councils  has  been  taken  both 
literally  and  seriously.  It  also  shows 
that  there  seems  to  be  no  direction  in 


1922] 


PARTNERSHIP  IN  GOVERNMENT 


67 


which  the  councils  may  not  become 
active. 

Early  in  his  career  as  postmaster 
general,  Mr.  Hays  registered  the  con- 
viction that  the  postal  employes  had 
"the  brains  and  the  hands  to  do  the  job 
well,  but  that  some  place  along  the 
line  the  heart  had  been  lost  out  of  the 
works."  The  welfare  councils  are  the 
chief  outward  expression  of  his  inten- 
tion to  put  the  heart  into  the  works 
and  thus  to  enlist  a  more  active  co- 
operation of  the  brains  and  hands. 
One  can  say  that  he  has  already  made 
considerable  progress.  His  job  has 
become  to  the  typical  postal  employe 
more  than  a  means  of  earning  a  living. 
He  is  making  his  employer's  business 
his  business  as  never  before.  The 
councils  are  stimulating  interest  and 
provoking  suggestions,  but  also  pro- 
viding a  direct  channel  of  expression  to 
those  who  are  in  a  position  to  adopt 
and  enforce  whatever  is  worth  while. 
When  it  is  considered  that  the  Post 
Office  Department  with  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  postal  savings,  parcels  post, 
motor  vehicles  and  aeroplane  is  now 
undergoing  what  amounts  to  a  trans- 
formation, the  opportunities  for  con- 
structive co-operation  on  the  part  of 
the  men  who  are  doing  the  work  are 
simply  untold.  Although  the  "part- 
ners" of  the  postmaster  general  are 
only  just  getting  under  way,  they  have 
already  proved  how  profitable  it  is  "to 
put  heart  into  the  worker." 

THE   ENVIRONMENT   OF   THE   WORKER 

In  the  belief  that  the  postal  employe 
should  work  under  healthy  and  whole- 
some conditions  and  that  it  is  the 
proper  business  of  the  employer  to  pro- 
vide such  conditions,  the  responsibility 
for  investigating  and  reporting  on 
working  conditions  in  the  thousands 
and  thousands  of  buildings  now  hous- 
ing offices  and  stations  of  the  Post 


Office  Department  was  naturally  de- 
puted to  the  Welfare  Division.  For 
purposes  of  observation,  the  welfare 
director  took  a  two  months'  trip  in 
which  he  swung  from  one  seaboard  to 
the  other.  He  visited  a  hundred  and 
more  offices  inspecting  working  con- 
ditions, but  also  addressing  the  mem- 
bers of  the  local  staff  and  bringing  to 
them  directly  from  the  head  of  the 
organization  a  message  as  to  the  newly 
adopted  employment  policy.  This 
personal  contact  greatly  expedited  the 
formation  of  the  welfare  councils,  but 
it  also  provided  the  postmaster  general 
with  first-hand  evidence  concerning 
the  deplorable  and  indefensible  con- 
ditions that  are  to  be  met  with  in  all 
too  many  offices  scattered  throughout 
the  country.  Practically  every  good 
standard,  as  to  air,  light,  heat,  cleanli- 
ness, sanitation,  is  violated  in  office 
after  office. 

The  personal  inspection  carried  on 
by  Dr.  Frankel  was  then  supplemented 
by  questionnaires  which  were  forwarded 
to  and  filled  out  by  4,000  post  offices 
concerning  working  conditions  and 
employment  matters.  These  question- 
naires consist  of  206  questions.  They 
constitute  what  might  be  called  a  labor 
audit  of  the  first  and  second-class  post 
offices.  They  go  into  the  utmost  de- 
tail. Among  other  things,  they  call 
for  the  number  of  individual  wash 
basins  for  the  men  and  for  the  women, 
the  number  of  bubble  fountains  and 
water  faucets  for  drinking  purposes, 
also  the  frequency  with  which  floors 
are  scrubbed  or  mopped,  and  the  walls 
and  ceilings  painted.  The  question- 
naire further  requests  information  as 
to  turnover,  methods  of  getting  sug- 
gestions and  grievances  and  cultivating 
good  will. 

The  results  of  these  4,000  question- 
naires are  already  being  digested  and 
plans  are  being  made  for  improvements 
necessary  to  bring  about  the  adoption 


68 


[March 


of  good  standards  along  various  well 
recognized  lines.  The  replies  will 
ultimately  form  the  basis  of  a  con- 
structive employment  program  as  well. 


CONCLUSION 

The  best  summary  of  the  results  of 
the  workings  of  the  employment  policy 
just  described  may  be  found  in  a  recent 
magazine  article  prepared  by  Mr. 
Hays.  He  writes: 

I  was  sure  that  by  merely  introducing  a  different 
spirit  into  the  relations  between  the  employes  and 
the  Department,  by  making  the  employes  more 
comfortable  and  giving  them  assurance  of  their 
future  commensurate  with  their  worth  and  im- 
portance as  a  matter  of  simple  justice — by  merely 
doing  this  I  felt  confident  we  could  accomplish 
the  equivalent  of  adding  many  thousands  of  em- 
ployes to  the  Department. 

At  the  end  of  a  nine  months'  trial,  he 
then  adds  that  his  assumption  has 
proved  to  be  entirely  correct  and  he 
feels  justified  in  commending  his  ex- 
perience to  the  attention  of  employers, 
both  public  and  private. 

But  it  is  not  necessary  to  depend  on 
Mr.  Hays'  judgment  alone  as  to  the  suc- 
cess of  his  policy.  Commendatory  res- 
olutions have  already  been  passed  by  a 
large  number  of  chambers  of  commerce 
and  other  associations  as  to  the  im- 
provement in  the  service  rendered  by 
the  Post  Office  Department  under  the 
leadership  of  the  present  postmaster 
general. 

Generally  speaking  Mr.  Hays'  ex- 
periment in  employment  management 
under  civil  service  conditions  is  a  con- 
tribution of  no  mean  proportions. 
With  refreshing  directness  he  breaks 
through  the  wall  that  has  usually  sep- 
arated the  government  administrator 
from  the  rank  and  file  of  his  staff.  He 
appeals  to  the  latter  as  man  to  man  and 
invites  them  to  appeal  to  him  as  man 
to  man  and  co-worker  to  co-worker. 


As  a  result  he  finds  them  not  alone  with 
their  coats  off,  but  on  their  toes,  alert 
and  eager  to  put  their  shoulder  to  the 
wheel. 

Thanks  to  the  present  postmaster 
general  at  least  a  beginning  has  been 
made  toward  sweeping  aside  the  tradi- 
tion that  civil  service  is  a  low-grade 
service  and  that  it  offers  no  opportunity 
for  a  young  man  or  young  woman  with 
ambition  and  ability.  But  it  was  just 
this  to  which  Mr.  Hays  addressed  him- 
self. His  goal  has  been  to  make  public 
service  "more  and  more  a  desirable 
career  into  which  the  young  can  enter 
with  the  certainty  that  the  service  will 
be  performed  under  reasonable  con- 
ditions and  for  a  reasonable  wage  and 
for  an  appreciative  people."  This  is 
unfortunately,  under  existing  circum- 
stances, a  high  ambition  and  one  calling 
for  the  reformer's  zeal  and  qualities  of 
real  leadership. 

How  difficult  this  task  is  can  best  be 
understood  when  one  hears  govern- 
mental executives  and  legislators,  that 
is,  those  who  should  know  conditions 
best,  berate  the  civil  service  and  signify 
that  it  is  no  fit  place  for  able  and  am- 
bitious young  people.  It  is  no  less 
serious  that,  according  to  the  last  re- 
port of  the  United  States  Civil  Service 
Commission,  some  forty  college  and 
university  officials  indicate  their  un- 
willingness to  recommend  civil  service 
positions  to  their  graduating  students. 
These  conditions,  when  taken  in  con- 
junction with  the  recent  expansion  and 
growing  significance  of  governmental 
activities,  indicate  that  it  is  high  time 
that  some  one  in  authority  should 
preach  the  gospel  of  a  civil  service 
career  as  a  worthy  and  worth-while 
career  and  use  his  power  to  prove  it  to 
be  such. 

Sooner  or  later  the  government,  in 
the  name  of  its  own  well-being  and 
even  from  motives  of  self-protection, 
will  have  to  reform  the  status  of  the 


1922] 


ZONING  CHICAGO 


civil  service  in  this  country  in  a  most 
drastic  way.  There  is  no  reason  why 
government  service  with  us  should  not 
bring  honor  and  position  just  as  it  does 
in  foreign  countries.  The  government 
as  employer  cannot  and  probably 
should  not  compete  with  business  insti- 
tutions on  the  score  of  salaries,  but  by 
means  of  the  distinction  and  standing 
in  the  community  that  it  may  attach 
to  public  office,  it  can  easily  and  effec- 
tively outbid  its  competitors  as  may  be 
proved  by  referring  to  foreign  practice. 
Through  the  Welfare  Division  and 
the  welfare  councils,  Mr.  Hays  has 
taken  a  positive  step  in  the  direction  of 
rehabilitating  the  civil  service  and 


making  the  government  a  good  em- 
ployer to  work  for.  In  this  procedure 
he  is  also  showing  the  feasibility  of 
running  one  large  department  of  our 
democratic  government  in  a  democratic 
way.  If  it  is  possible  to  achieve  so 
large  a  measure  of  success  in  the 
laboratory  of  the  Post  Office  Depart- 
ment in  spite  of  its  many  handicaps, 
such  as  size,  separation  of  working 
units,  large  number  of  intermediaries, 
and  the  like,  it  may  be  that  other  of 
our  public  administrators  will  be  en- 
couraged to  try  out  within  the  limits  of 
their  own  jurisdiction  the  basic  features 
of  this  significant  experiment  in  em- 
ployment control. 


ZONING  CHICAGO 

BY  E.  H.  BENNETT 

Director  of  Zoning  Work  for  the  City  of  Chicago 

The  vast  task  of  zoning  Chicago  to  define  business,  manufacturing 
and  residential  districts,  to  regulate  heights  of  buildings,  etc.,  is  well 
under  way  and  this  is  an  'account  of  the  process  as  Mr.  Bennett 
described  it  at  the  American  Civic  Association's  recent  convention. 


THE  assessed  valuation  of  property 
in  Chicago  in  1920  was  over  $1,576,- 
000,000,  not  including  railroad  proper- 
ties or  parks,  making  the  real  estate 
and  improvement  values  approximately 
three  billion  dollars.  All  of  this  real 
estate  and  improvements  are  affected 
by  the  zoning  ordinance  now  in  prepa- 
ration. 

Approximately  one  billion  dollars 
has  been  spent  in  building  development 
in  the  last  ten  years  in  Chicago  on 
industry,  business,  and  housing  con- 
struction. It  is  probable  that  equip- 
ment expenses  will  amount  to  25  per 
cent  additional  on  an  average.  The 
total  expenditure  in  thirty  years,  in- 


cluding the  past  ten  years,  is  estimated 
at  $5,250,000,000. 

The  sum  total  of  saving  that  can  be 
achieved  by  reason  of  regulated  growth 
and  resultant  preservation  of  values, 
and  creation  of  new  values,  etc.,  in  this 
period, — or  in  one  generation, — it  is  safe 
to  estimate  at  not  less  than  one-fifth  of 
this  sum,  or  $1,000,000,000! 

II 

Zoning  in  America,  however,  is  to  be 
done  not  only  for  the  next  twenty  years 
but  for  cities  which  will  no  doubt  last 
for  centuries.  It  is  important  that  it 
be  done  thoroughly,  and  for  this  reason 
it  must  be  based  on  a  most  complete 
survey  of  present  conditions. 


70 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[March 


Before  we  can  zone  Chicago,  we  must 
take  stock  of  what  we  possess.  It  is 
necessary  to  know  in  the  most  minute 
detail  what  are  the  existing  conditions 
of  building  development  throughout 
the  entire  city  area,  and  to  some  extent 
in  the  territory  lying  beyond  the  city 
limits.  When  this  information  is 
obtained,  we  next  have  to  determine 
what  kind  of  development  will  be  best 
suited  to  the  prosperity  of  Chicago,  and 
then  we  must  put  in  operation  the  ordi- 
nance necessary  to  carry  this  out. 

The  work  of  survey  is  going  forward 
and  parties  of  surveyors  are  in  the  field 
every  day  surveying  conditions  and 
checking  up  on  maps  the  records  of  de- 
velopment which  already  exist.  The 
work  is  organized  to  take  in  outlying 
districts  first,  insofar  as  is  possible,  due 
to  the  fact  that  winter  has  begun  and 
conditions  for  surveying  in  the  outlying 
districts  will  be  less  favorable  as  time 
goes  on;  and  the  survey  will  march 
progressively  from  the  outskirts  to  the 
center  of  the  city,  finally  enveloping 
and  recording  the  situation  in  the 
intensely  developed  loop  district. 

At  the  same  time  that  the  field  work 
was  begun,  a  drafting  force  was  organ- 
ized and  is  at  work  on  checking,  cor- 
recting and  redrafting,  where  necessary, 
the  maps,  and  recording  the  informa- 
tion gathered  in  the  field.  This  is  a  large 
job  and  requires  a  greater  number  of 
men  than  the  actual  survey  in  the  field. 
By  this  work  the  bases  will  be  created 
for  all  of  the  various  special  studies 
which  must  be  made  in  connection  with 
the  zoning  work.  The  total  staff  is 
now  thirty-two  men. 

Ill 

The  field  survey,  as  is  usual,  will  re- 
cord all  uses  to  which  the  present  build- 
ings are  put,  separated  into  classifica- 
tions and  types,  about  sixty  in  number. 

The  industrial  class  will  cover  indus- 


tries which  by  their  nature  are  nui- 
sances or  objectionable  from  the  point 
of  view  of  health  or  comfort  of  the  pub- 
lic; or  those  which  are  unobjectionable 
but  which  nevertheless  belong  in  the 
manufacturing  class;  and  an  intermedi- 
ate class  in  which  some  manufacturing 
is  carried  on  and  in  which  wholesale, 
storage,  mail  order  business,  repacking, 
etc.,  are  included. 

The  commercial  class  will  include 
every  building  of  a  commercial  nature, 
such  as  an  office  building,  bank,  general 
business,  and  retail  stores;  and  the  resi- 
dence class  will  be  differentiated  into 
single  houses,  two  flat  buildings,  apart- 
ment hotels,  boarding  and  lodging 
houses  and  clubs. 

Classification  of  these  buildings  is 
one  of  the  most  important  features  of 
the  work.  Classification,  simple  in  the 
main  under  the  general  terms  of  Indus- 
try, Commercial  and  Residence,  leads, 
nevertheless,  to  the  most  interesting 
considerations  in  the  fixing  of  the 
categories  for  the  actual  zoning  areas, 
and  special  cases  are  numerous.  Cer- 
tain uses, — for  instance,  public  garages, 
— offer  real  difficulties.  Public  necessi- 
ties, they  are  to  some  extent  public 
nuisances.  They  are  a  part  of  a  city's 
transportation  facilities  and  therefore 
must  be  broadcast  throughout  it.  The 
minor  manufacturing  concerns  or  retail 
establishments  having  small  numbers 
of  industrials,  clearly  must  be  provided 
for  throughout  the  city  wherever  com- 
mercial business  exists.  The  classifi- 
cation, therefore,  for  zoning  will  pay 
strict  attention  to  the  organized  life  of 
the  city  and  its  economic  necessities. 

The  Sanborn  Insurance  Atlases  are 
used  in  the  survey.  The  field  survey 
includes  the  following  data  in  addition 
to  that  covered  by  these  atlases:  the 
separation  of  one-  from  two-family 
house,  and  multiple  occupancy  of 
houses  and  flats;  state  of  depreciation 
of  all  buildings;  check  as  to  uses  of 


1922] 


ZONING  CHICAGO 


71 


industry;  (frequently  stores  are  now 
used  for  industry  and  dwellings  for 
stores)  correction  of  errors;  character 
of  neighborhoods  as  to  maintenance; 
and  vacant  buildings. 

The  most  vital  feature  of  the  entire 
work  is  the  determination  of  the  Use 
Districts.  The  first  purpose  of  zoning 
is  to  promote  the  prosperity  and  wel- 
fare of  the  city,  and  with  this  in  view  it 
is  necessary  to  create  conditions  favor- 
able to  industrial  enterprise,  to  the 
facilitation  of  business,  and  to  the 
improvement  of  living  conditions, 
which  in  a  broad  general  sense  may  be 
said  to  result  from  the  proper  ordering 
of  the  industrial  and  commercial  dis- 
tricts. A  thorough  study  of  existing 
conditions,  therefore,  is  necessary  in 
order  that  the  provisions  for  the  future 
may  rest  on  a  sound  basis  and  be  con- 
sistent with  the  best  development  of 
the  city  as  a  whole. 

The  survey  will  include  not  only  a 
record  of  the  uses  to  which  properties 
are  put  but  will  also  record  the  height 
and  percentage  of  the  lot  occupied  by 
buildings  and  the  setback. 

The  survey  and  routine  work  is  under 
way, — some  30  per  cent  of  the  area  is 
done.'  The  work  of  outlining  the  classi- 
fications for  the  record  as  to  the  use 
districts  is  made.  It  will  be  followed 
by  that  of  height  and  area  districts,  all 
studied  and  worked  out  with  reference 
to  the  findings  of  the  field  survey. 

In  progressive  stages,  maps  will  be 
prepared  of  various  important  studies 
which  will  have  a  bearing  on  the  final 
determination  of  the  zoning  plans. 
These  studies  include: 

(a)  The  width  of  streets  (Chicago 
Plan; 

(b)  Streets  open  and  streets  paved; 

(c)  Street  grades  where  they  affect 
the  zoning  problem,  including  all  types 
of  railroad  crossings; 

'The  survey  work  is  now  78%  done  and  the 
recording  65%  complete. 


(d)  Time    zones    of    transportation 
lines,  indicating  the  number  of  minutes 
required  to  go  from  one  point  to  an- 
other in  the  city,  but  with  special  refer- 
ence to  access  to  the  central  business 
district; 

(e)  Land  values  where  they  would 
affect  zoning; 

(f)  Restricted  areas  in  the  new  dis- 
tricts having  similar  restrictions  under 
the  zoning  ordinance; 

(g)  The  width  and  depth  of  lots  in 
residence  districts  and  the  setback  from 
the  street; 

(h)  Population  densities; 

(i)  The  effect  of  the  zoning  plans,  as 
laid  out,  on  the  distribution  of  the 
working  population  will  be  considered; 

(j)  The  areas  of  lands  necessary  for 
the  conduct  of  business  and  industry 
in  their  proportionate  relation  to  resi- 
dence and  expansion; 

(k)  And  also  the  very  important 
study  of  the  effect  of  railroad  right  of 
ways  and  yards  and  waterways  on  the 
zoning  plan.  The  chief  angle  of  inter- 
est in  this  consideration  is  that  of 
recent  congressional  legislation  govern- 
ing the  grouping  of  railroads. 

IV 

Following  the  preparation  of  the 
surveys  and  the  work  on  various  special 
subjects  outlined  above,  a  tentative 
zoning  map  will  be  prepared  in  sections, 
and  conferences  held  with  groups  and 
representatives  of  associations.  This 
map  will  be  discussed  thoroughly  dur- 
ing its  preparation  by  the  whole  com- 
mission and  then  printed,  and  at  the 
same  time  a  tentative  draft  of  an  ordi- 
nance will  also  be  prepared  and  dis- 
cussed by  the  commission.  This  map 
and  ordinance  will  then  be  used  at  a 
public  hearing  to  be  held  as  provided 
for  in  the  house  bill  covering  zoning  and 
the  ordinance  then  submitted  to  the 
council. 


THE  ST.  PAUL  CHARTER  FIGHT 


BY  A  LOCAL  CIVIC  WORKER 


THE  people  of  St.  Paul  have  refused 
to  go  backward  governmentally.  On 
December  29,  a  proposed  aldermanic 
charter,  designed  to  supplant  the  pres- 
ent commission  plan,  was  defeated 
overwhelmingly  at  the  polls.  The  vote 
was  15,937  for  and  21,551  against.  A 
60  per  cent  vote  is  required  to  pass  a 
new  charter. 

Numerous  elements  entered  into  this 
result.  The  most  effective  campaign- 
ing, however,  was  made  on  the  issue 
that  the  change  to  be  voted  upon  was 
not  a  step  forward, — that  the  proposed 
charter  was  not  sufficiently  better  than 
the  present  to  justify  its  passage. 

The  opposition  did  not  attempt  to 
defend  the  existing  form  of  govern- 
ment. Rather,  it  was  contended  that 
there  is  need  for  a  new  charter,  but  not 
for  such  a  reactionary  measure  as  was 
presented.  The  opponents  pledged 
themselves  to  work  for  a  new  progres- 
sive charter  immediately  after  the 
defeat  of  the  proposed  document. 
Already  steps  are  being  taken  to  draft 
a  new  charter. 

The  present  charter  is  a  hybrid  form 
of  the  commission  plan.  There  is  a 
legislative  body  of  seven, — a  mayor 
and  six  commissioners  elected  for  two- 
year  terms.  Each  member  of  the  com- 
mission, immediately  after  taking  office, 
is  appointed  by  the  mayor  to  adminis- 
ter one  of  the  large  departments.  The 
mayor  is  not  an  administrative  officer. 
A  comptroller  is  elected  as  the  chief  ac- 
counting officer  of  the  city.  He  also  has 
budget-making  responsibility,  in  that 
he  determines  the  amount  of  the  budget 
and  the  commission  cannot  increase  the 
total  in  the  aggregate  over  3  per  cent  or 
any  item  more  than  10  per  cent. 


The  proponents  of  the  proposed 
charter  claimed  that  defects  inherent 
in  the  commission  type  are  to  be  found 
in  this  charter.  Expert  administration 
is  precluded;  there  is  an  almost  con- 
tinual changing  of  commissioners.  It 
has  failed  in  a  large  measure  to  attract 
to  office  men  in  whom  the  people  have 
confidence.  It  has,  however,  made 
concrete  in  St.  Paul  the  meaning  of 
real  popular  control  of  the  machinery 
of  government. 

The  proposed  charter  was  a  modifica- 
tion of  the  federal  type.  Its  foes  main- 
tained that  it  was  a  long,  complicated, 
unintelligible  document,  drawn  in  haste, 
and  containing  numerous  compromises 
to  meet  the  exigencies  of  practical  poli- 
tics. Strong  objections  were  made  to 
the  manner  in  which  the  legislative 
body  was  to  be  secured, — a  council  of 
fifteen,  twelve  elected  by  wards  and 
three  from  districts  of  four  wards  each. 
The  people  had  not  forgotten  their 
experiences  with  ward  elections  before 
the  adoption  of  the  present  charter. 
The  mayor,  under  the  proposed  meas- 
ure, was  given  broad  appointive  powers, 
but  very  little  responsibility  could  be 
placed  upon  him,  in  that  there  were  to 
be  boards  for  several  of  the  large  depart- 
ments, the  members  of  which  were  to 
be  appointed  by,  but  not  subject  to 
removal  by,  the  mayor.  Further,  the 
mayor  had  not  effective  control  over 
the  devising  of  the  budget  and  could 
not  be  held  responsible  in  any  way  for 
the  annual  financial  and  work  program 
of  the  city. 

The  civil  service  provisions  were 
attacked  because  the  employes  of  such 
departments  as  purchasing  and  public 
works  were  exempt.  The  public  im- 


72 


1922] 


CITY-MANAGER  PLAN  IN  AKRON 


73 


provement  sections  were  so  drawn  as  to 
retard  rather  than  promote  the  growth 
of  the  city.  Since  the  mayor  was  to 
appoint  the  board  of  education  and  be 
its  president  ex  officio,  it  was  feared 
that  the  schools  would  be  taken  into 
politics. 

A  bitter  campaign  was  waged  to  have 
the  new  charter  adopted.  Two  daily 
papers  were  for  it.  A  new  charter  com- 
mittee was  formed  to  work  for  its  pas- 
sage. However,  no  large  civic  organi- 
zation took  any  active  steps  to  promote 
its  passage.  The  Trades  and  Labor 


Assembly  and  the  powerful  League  of 
Women  Voters,  as  well  as  one  daily 
paper,  were  actively  against  it. 

The  time  was  ripe  for  a  change  in 
St.  Paul;  taxes  were  high;  the  people 
were  civically  restless;  almost  everyone 
conceded  the  need  for  a  new  charter. 
Yet  the  people  refused  to  accept  a 
measure  that  would  take  them  back- 
ward, not  forward. 

Are  the  experiences  in  Cleveland,  St. 
Paul,  Minneapolis,  and  Kansas  City, 
an  indication  that  our  larger  cities  are 
awakening? 


THE  CITY-MANAGER  PLAN,  AS  IT  WAS 
WORKED  IN  AKRON 

BY  GUS  KASCH 

Farmer  Member  of  Akron  City  Council 

The  city-manager  plan  started  ojf  in  Akron  in  a  densely  political 
and  partisan  atmosphere  with  a  local  politically-powerful  figure  as 
manager,  giving  a  perfect  test  which  is  still  working  itself  out.  ::  :: 


THE  charter  under  which  Akron  is 
now  operating  became  effective  in  1919. 
The  council  until  January  1,  1922,  con- 
sisted of  eight  councilmen  elected  at 
large,  and  a  mayor  who  had  no  veto 
power  but  had  a  vote  as  a  councilman. 
On  January  1,  certain  amendments  be- 
came effective,  among  them  restoration 
of  ward  representation  and  veto  power 
of  mayor,  but  taking  away  his  vote  in 
council. 

The  advocates  of  the  business- 
manager  plan  had  represented  and 
really  believed  that  the  manager,  once 
chosen  by  a  representative  council 
nominated  at  partisan  primaries  but 
selected  on  a  ticket  without  partisan 
designation,  would  not  be  influenced 
by  political  considerations.  They  had 
objected  to  the  federal  plan  of  per- 
mitting the  people  to  choose  their 
manager  directly  (call  him  that  instead 


of  mayor  or  city  president,  or  city  gov- 
ernor), because  he  would  be  likely  to  be 
influenced  by  the  elements  contributing 
to  his  election.  The  idea  was,  that  an 
out-of-town  manager  would  be  chosen, 
making  doubly  sure  that  he  would  see 
only,  and  serve  only,  the  public  interest. 
The  first  election  was  held  in  1919; 
the  two  opposing  parties  lined  up  in  the 
usual  manner  and  the  winning  party 
chose  as  its  candidate  for  mayor  an 
able  young  man,  a  lawyer,  who  had 
earlier  served  two  years  in  the  office. 
This  party  pledged  itself  to  give  an 
administration  in  conformity  with  the 
spirit  of  the  charter  and  asked  to  be 
placed  in  office  because  they,  rathrr 
than  their  opponents,  were  friends  of 
the  charter  and  that  the  charter  ought 
to  be  administered  by  its  friends.  They 
elected  six  of  the  eight  councilmen  and 
the  mayor,  thus  gaining  seven  out  of 


74 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[March 


the  nine  votes.  But  what  happened 
after  election  in  the  party  councils  be- 
hind closed  doors  is  now  leaking  out. 
The  argument  ran  thus :  "  We  have  an 
air-tight  Republican  council;  we  have 
the  four,  four-year  councilmen,  and 
two  of  the  two-year  councilmen,  as 
well  as  the  mayor.  It  will  be  almost 
an  impossibility  for  us,  at  the  next  elec- 
tion two  years  hence,  to  fail  to  elect  at 
least  one,  either  the  mayor,  or  one  of 
the  four  councilmen.  If  then  we  elect 
only  one,  he,  together  with  the  four  we 
have  for  four  years,  will  hold  our  con- 
trol. Why  not  order  our  councilmen 
to  appoint  as  manager,  the  man  we 
elected  as  mayor?  He  won  (due  largely 
to  a  wide  split  in  the  Democratic  party) 
by  the  largest  majority  by  which  a 
mayor  was  ever  elected,  which  proves 
his  popularity  with  the  people.  Since 
he  has  had  two  years'  experience  as 
mayor,  he  will  probably  satisfy  the 
people,  even  though  we  are  charged 
with  playing  politics  with  the  new 
charter.  In  this  way,  also,  we  shall 
keep  the  appointing  power  in  the  hands 
of  the  organization;  if  an  unknown 
manager  comes  in,  he  may  ignore  party 
advice  and  act  on  his  own  initiative,  or 
upon  the  advice  of  the  chamber  of  com- 
merce, or  business  interests,  and  we 
shall  not  be  consulted." 

The  more  cautious  and  less  partisan 
members  of  the  organization  objected 
to  the  procedure.  They  forecast  defeat 
at  the  next  election,  but  the  organiza- 
tion prevailed.  The  elected  mayor, 
after  making  all  the  appointments  en- 
trusted to  him  under  the  charter, 
tendered  his  resignation  and  was  im- 
mediately elected  manager  by  the 
council.  He  then  appointed  as  safety 
director,  the  professional  party  organi- 
zer. This  man  was  qualified  for  the 
position,  as  he  had  organizing  ability, 
and  the  police  department  needed  re- 
organizing. He  has  since  resigned  to 
be  appointed  postmaster. 


When  there  are  great  struggles  to 
gain  hold  of  the  city  hall  machinery, 
there  is  also,  usually,  a  franchise-grant 
of  some  kind  in  sight.  This  is  true  in 
Akron.  The  transportation  company, 
having  also  the  light  and  power  con- 
tracts, faces  an  expiring  franchise  in 
1924.  It,  like  all  the  electrics  in  the 
land,  is  heavily  "watered."  A  new 
contract,  recognizing  what  it  claims  as 
value,  is  very  desirable,  if  not  absolutely 
essential  to  maintain  solvency. 

A  part  of  the  organization  plan  was 
to  enter  into  a  new  contract  with  the 
utility  company.  It  having  been  ar- 
ranged in  advance  that  the  vice- 
president  of  the  council  was  to  become 
mayor  by  elevation,  he  was  named  by 
the  elected  mayor  as  chairman  of  the 
public  utility  committee  of  the  council. 
Such  an  important  chairmanship  would 
naturally  go  to  the  ablest  man  in  the 
body.  The  man  named  to  fill  the  va- 
cancy, however,  was  one  who  had  never 
been  known  to  engage  in  any  public 
activity,  a  dentist,  and  a  personal 
friend  of  a  newspaper  owner  political 
boss.  No  sooner  had  he  his  chair 
nicely  warmed,  than  he  introduced 
a  prepared  resolution,  asking  that 
his  committee  be  authorized  to  write 
a  letter  to  the  utility  company, 
asking  that  negotiations  be  entered 
into  looking  to  a  new  franchise.  Like 
all  other  utility  companies,  the  Akron 
concern  naturally  wanted  to  "get  out 
from  under"  the  contract  rate  of  fare, 
it  being  no  longer  so  profitable  under 
rising  costs  of  labor  and  materials,  as  it 
had  been  for  the  preceding  nineteen 
years.  The  company  had,  it  was  said, 
"endorsed  the  notes"  of  the  publishers 
of  two  of  the  three  local  newspapers  in 
time  of  need,  thus  purchasing  immu- 
nity from  criticism,  and  with  a  view  to 
a  renewal  of  the  fat  contract  when  the 
time  should  arrive.  That  time  arrived 
when  our  city-manager  plan  became 
effective  in  1919. 


1922] 


CITY-MANAGER  PLAN  IN  AKRON 


75 


In  July,  1920,  a  pre-arranged  walk- 
out for  higher  wages  by  the  men  and 
the  traction  company  was  staged;  this 
was  followed  by  a  conference  in  the 
private  office  of  the  newspaper-pub- 
lisher political  boss,  where  the  adminis- 
tration was  told  to  give  the  utility 
company  about  what  it  wanted  as 
"temporary  relief"  and  then  get 
together  with  it  on  such  a  new  fran- 
chise as  it  would  accept.  This  "deal," 
in  addition  to  closed-door  sessions  of 
the  council  utility  committee  with  the 
city  manager  and  the  utility  interests, 
had  not  only  dissatisfied  the  public 
with  the  way  in  which  the  new  charter 
was  being  manipulated,  but  had  caused 
it  to  suspect  that  the  utility  company 
had  gained  control  of  the  administra- 
tion. This  boss-controlled  council  had 
four  times  during  the  last  year  passed 
"  a  temporary  rate  increase  ordinance, " 
running  three  months  at  a  time  as  "an 
emergency  measure,"  in  violation  of  the 
express  terms  of  the  charter.  Secret 
meetings  were  held  in  the  office  of  the 
city  manager  by  the  majority  members 
of  council,  usually  just  before  council 
meetings.  The  program  there  agreed 
upon  was  put  through  council,  with 
the  manager  sitting  on  a  bench  right 
behind  two  of  his  organization  mem- 
bers, coaching  them  and  keeping  them 
in  line.  I  was  a  minority  member  of 
the  council.  I  am  not  an  Organization 
Democrat  but,  rather,  have  been  one 
of  those  who  helped  "split"  the  old 
Democratic  organization,  in  order  to 
make  the  "Chamber  of  Commerce — 
Big  Business  Combination"  let  go  its 
strangle-hold  on  the  people's  govern- 
ment. They  formerly  had  this  under 
perfect  control  through  the  old  Demo- 
ocratic  organization.  I  am  reciting 
facts  in  the  foregoing  and  am  not 
criticizing  as  an  opposing  partisan. 
The  city  manager  is  my  attorney  in  an 
important  civic  case  effecting  our  water 
rights  which  I,  as  a  citizen,  am  defend- 


ing at  this  time  in  the  supreme  court  of 
Ohio,  and  I  admire  many  of  his  quali- 
ties. If  choice  must  be  made  by  me, 
between  the  old  Democratic  gang  con- 
trol of  our  city  and  the  present  control, 
I  would  be  obliged  to  choose  the  latter, 
with  all  its  faults.  I  desire,  however,  a 
better  choice  than  either,  and  this  was 
the  hope  which  the  new  charter  held  out 
to  me,  even  though  I  had  not  much  faith 
in  the  manager  plan  of  government. 

The  spirit  of  the  new  charter  having 
been  entirely  ignored  as  well  as  the 
letter,  two  movements  were  started  to 
correct  the  abuses  to  which  it  had  been 
subjected.  The  first  was  a  recall  peti- 
tion to  "oust"  the  entire  charter.  A 
petition  to  this  purpose  was  signed  by 
100  per  cent  more  electors  than  that 
required  by  the  charter.  Another  pe- 
tition was  signed  by  50  per  cent  more 
names  than  required  by  the  charter, 
providing  for  the  submission  of  certain 
amendments,  the  chief  purpose  of  which 
was  to  prevent  the  elevation  of  an 
elected  man  to  the  managership  or  to 
any  other  appointive  position.  Another 
feature  of  this  petition  restored  ward 
or  district  representation,  eight  ward  or 
district  councilmen  to  be  elected  as 
well  as  three  at  large.  The  mayor  was 
to  be  given  the  veto  power  but  was  to 
have  no  vote  in  council,  of  which  he 
was  to  be  the  presiding  officer.  Nomi- 
nations in  a  partisan  primary,  with  the 
election  on  a  non-partisan  ticket,  as 
provided  in  the  charter,  were  retained. 
These  amendments  were  submitted, 
and  the  charter  recall  petition  was  not 
filed,  on  condition  that,  if  the  amend- 
ments were  not  carried,  the  charter 
recall  would  be  asked  for.  At  the  en- 
suing election  the  manager  was  the 
chief  campaigner  against  the  amend- 
ments. He  lost,  however,  and  the 
amendments  carried  by  a  vote  of  over 
four  to  one. 

Then  followed  the  nominating  pri- 
maries for  the  offices  of  mayor,  three 


76 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[March 


councilman  at  large  and  eight  by  wards. 
A  citizens'  organization  secured  the 
signatures  of  a  majority  of  the  candi- 
dates for  council,  both  Republican  and 
Democratic,  to  a  statement  pledging 
them  to  vote  to  remove  the  city  man- 
ager, in  the  event  of  their  election. 
This  was  done  quietly.  The  Republi- 
can organization  gave  orders  to  all 
campaign  speakers  and  candidates  to 
ignore  "The  Laub  issue"  (Mr.  W.  J. 
Laub  being  the  city  manager).  They 
were  to  say  "Laub  is  not  an  issue. 
We  will  select  a  man  as  manager  who  is 
qualified  to  fill  the  position."  Nearly 
every  Republican  candidate  obeyed 
those  orders.  They  did  not  commit 
themselves  upon  the  question  of  the 
present  manager's  fitness. 

At  the  first  council  meeting  in  Jan- 
uary, a  thunderbolt  flashed  when  a 
resolution  was  introduced  by  a  Repub- 
lican member  supported  by  five  of  his 
party  and  the  two  Democratic  mem- 
bers, demanding  that  Manager  Laub 
resign.  The  other  three  Republican 
members  vigorously  opposed,  but  to  no 
avail.  Charges  by  the  manager  that 


party  leaders  had  caused  this  "ouster" 
move  were  denied  by  those  of  his  party 
councilmen  who  had  voted  to  remove 
him.  They  declared  that  they  wanted 
a  free  hand  in  selecting  their  own 
manager,  and  that  this  man  would  be 
one  who  would  confine  his  activities  to 
the  duties  of  that  office  and  not  act  as 
dictator  of  council  as  Manager  Laub 
had  been. 

The  manager  was  finally  ousted  on 
January  17.  If  a  new  start  is  made  to 
conform  to  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  the 
charter  to  the  effect  that  "The  Chief 
administrator  (city  manager)  shall  be 
chosen  solely  upon  the  basis  of  his  execu- 
tive and  administrative  ability,"  then 
the  city-manager  form  of  government 
will  have  a  chance  to  demonstrate  its 
worth.  It  never  had  a  chance  un- 
der the  party  control  existing  during 
the  last  two  years.  The  infant  was 
strangled  in  the  cradle  when  the  party 
organization  assumed  control  of  the 
job.  It  now  looks  as  though  another 
baby  has  been  born.  If  it  is  carefully 
nourished,  it  may  live  and  grow  to  lusty 
manhood. 


DEADLOCK  IN  PUBLIC  UTILITY 
REGULATION 

V.    THE  RIGHT  OF  CITIES  TO  APPEAR  FOR  THE  PEOPLE  IN 
PUBLIC  UTILITY  ACTIONS 

BY  JOHN  BAUER,  PH.D. 

Consultant  on  Public  Utilities,  New  York 

A  promising  solution  of  the  deadlock,  namely  municipal  action  on 
behalf  of  consumers  before  a  utility  commission  as  before  a  court,  was 
headed  off  by  a  high  court  decision  last  year.  : :  : :  : :  : : 


IN  the  case  of  Morrell  vs.  Brooklyn 
Borough  Gas  Co.,  the  court  of  appeals 
of  the  state  of  New  York  recently 
(July  14,  1921)  decided  that  the  city  of 
New  York,  as  such,  had  no  interest  in 
an  action  involving  the  legality  of  gas 


rates,  and  that  it  could  not  intervene  as 
a  party  in  an  action  against  the  rates. 
The  decision  has  far  reaching  impor- 
tance in  that  it  may  be  applied  to  all 
public  utility  matters  affecting  all  the 
cities  of  New  York,  and  doubtless  will 


1922] 


DEADLOCK  IN  PUBLIC  UTILITY  REGULATION 


77 


be  seized  upon  as  a  precedent  in  other 
states  where  municipalities  are  actively 
striving  to  get  reasonable  rates  and 
service  for  the  people.  The  large  issue 
is  clearly  and  definitely  raised  whether 
a  city,  as  such,  may  act  collectively  in 
behalf  of  its  citizens  in  matters  affect- 
ing the  general  welfare  beyond  its  own 
property  and  contract  rights  or  its 
specific  duties  as  a  corporate  entity. 

The  particular  action  was  brought 
by  a  private  person  against  rates  which 
were  complained  of  as  excessive  and 
illegal.  The  city  of  New  York  asked 
permission  in  the  supreme  court  of 
Kings  County  to  intervene  as  a  party 
plaintiff  acting  generally  in  behalf  of 
consumers,  not  in  regard  to  rates 
charged  it  as  a  corporation.  Per- 
mission was  granted,  but  was  appealed 
from  by  the  company;  it  was  then 
affirmed  by  the  next  higher  court;  then, 
among  other  matters,  the  following 
questions  were  certified  to  the  court  of 
appeals  for  decision:  1.  Had  the  city 
of  New  York  any  interest  in  this  cause 
of  action?  2.  Is  the  city  of  New 
York  a  proper  party  so  that  the  court 
at  special  term  had  power  to  grant  its 
application  to  be  joined  as  a  party 
plaintiff  herein? 

These  questions  were  decided  in  the 
negative  and  the  order  of  the  lower 
court  was  reversed.  The  city  had 
been  permitted  to  intervene  particu- 
larly under  section  452  of  the  Code  of 
Civil  Procedure,  which  provides  that 
where  a  person  not  a  party  to  the  action 
has  an  interest  in  the  subject,  on  his 
application  the  court  must  direct  him 
to  be  brought  in.  The  court  of  appeals 
however,  held  that  the  "interest"  re- 
ferred to  is  "a  property  interest  or 
some  duty  or  right  devolving  upon  or 
belonging  to  the  party  to  be  brought 
in;"  that  the  city  of  New  York  has  no 
such  "interest"  in  gas  rates  charged  to 
consumers;  that  the  state  alone  has 
power  over  such  rates  under  the  police 


power.  Judge  Crane,  speaking  for  the 
court,  stated  further: 

We  cannot  see  how  the  rights,  property  or 
duties  of  the  city  are  in  any  way  involved.  A 
particular  rule  of  law  may  affect  a  large  number 
of  citizens  and  yet  give  the  city  no  such  interest 
as  permits  it  to  intervene.  Questions  might 
arise  which  so  affected  the  welfare  or  rights  of  all 
the  inhabitants  of  the  city  as  to  justify  the  court 
in  permitting  the  municipality  being  made  a 
party  to  the  proceeding,  but  this  is  not  such  a 
case. 

The  interest  was  thus  narrowed  down 
strictly  to  property  and  contractual 
rights  of  the  city,  as  such,  and  to  duties 
specifically  set  forth  by  law,  excluding 
the  broader  responsibilities  involving 
the  citizens  collectively,  not  permitting 
a  liberal  interpretation  of  the  general 
powers  granted  to  the  city  by  statute 
and  charter. 

THE   IMPORT   OF   THE   DECISION 

The  purpose  of  this  discussion  is  not 
to  make  a  technical  legal  analysis  and 
to  criticize  the  court,  but  to  point  out 
the  seriousness  of  the  decision  and  to 
suggest  legislative  action  to  meet  the 
situation.  If  the  decision  is  as  broad 
as  has  been  claimed,  it  will  prevent  all 
the  cities  of  the  state  of  New  York  from 
participating  directly  in  perhaps  the 
most  important  municipal  interests  at 
the  present  time.  Undoubtedly  pub- 
lic utility  rates,  finance,  service,  and 
organization  are  uppermost  at  the 
moment  among  questions  of  municipal 
policy.  These  are  matters  which  finally 
can  be  settled  only  on  the  basis  of 
public  opinion  and  require  participa- 
tion of  the  local  government.  A  de- 
cision, therefore,  which  destroys  the 
right  of  the  cities  to  participate  in  the 
proceedings  involving  these  fpu'stions 
goes  contrary  to  natural  political  and 
economic  development  and  should  be 
clearly  viewed  from  that  standpoint. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  the  develop- 


78 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[March 


merit  of  rate  regulation  and  other 
public  utility  matters,  the  cities  have 
become  very  important  and  essential 
factors.  While  fixing  rates  is  primarily 
a  legislative  function  of  the  state,  it 
concerns,  of  course,  the  people  of 
particular  communities,  and  whatever 
the  technical  legal  view,  it  affects 
intimately  the  local  government,  which 
is  closer  to  the  needs  of  the  people, 
and  is  inevitably  looked  upon  as  the 
proper  guardian  and  promoter  of  pub- 
lic rights.  The  local  governments 
have  practically  been  compelled  to  act 
for  the  public  in  all  vital  public  utility 
matters;  to  lead  in  bringing  about 
proper  reduction  in  rates,  to  prevent 
undue  increases,  to  obtain  desirable 
service,  etc.  What  is  more  natural 
than  to  expect  locally  elected  officials 
to  act  directly  for  consumers  when 
these  constitute  practically  100  per 
cent  of  the  city's  population?  Why 
not  look  to  the  government  close  at 
hand  for  protection?  Is  not  the 
municipal  government  the  natural 
collective  representative  in  matters 
that  affect  seriously  the  great  majority 
of  people? 

Moreover,  while  state  commissions 
have  been  created  to  fix  and  maintain 
reasonable  rates  and  thus  to  represent 
the  public,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  these 
bodies  have  not  performed  their  func- 
tion in  a  satisfactory  manner.1  The 
reason  for  this  failure  is  due  in  large 
measure  to  the  fact  that  (1)  the  com- 
missions are  state  appointed  and  are, 
therefore,  not  directly  responsible  or 
immediately  responsive  to  local  needs, 
and  (2)  they  are  quasi  judicial  bodies 
and  are  thus  required  not  only  to 
represent  the  public  interest  but  to 
safeguard  private  investors.  With 
this  judicial  responsibility  coupled 

1  See  the  writer's  "  Deadlock  in  Public  Utility 
Regulation,"  NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW, 
September,  October,  November,  1921,  and 
January,  1922. 


with  other  difficulties,  the  commissions 
have  become  to  a  great  extent  informal 
courts,  presumably  specialized,  to  hear 
public  utility  matters.  In  the  hear- 
ings the  companies  are  invariably 
represented  by  counsel  to  present 
directly  the  interest  of  the  investors. 
Similarly,  the  practice  has  become 
established  extensively  for  counsel  of 
the  cities  to  appear  in  behalf  of  the 
public  solely  to  promote  the  interest  of 
consumers  without  judicial  responsi- 
bility. This  practice  is  reasonable 
and  necessary.  If  the  commissions 
are,  in  fact,  courts  to  weigh  evidence 
judicially  between  conflicting  parties, 
the  side  of  the  consumers  ought  to  be 
represented  actively  just  as  that  of  the 
companies.  Such  representation  can 
practically  be  obtained  only  if  the 
cities  as  such  appear  in  the  common 
interest  of  consumers. 


CHANGE   THE   LAW 

It  is  this  practical  and  almost  in- 
evitable situation  which  has  brought 
about  the  activity  of  the  cities  in  public 
utility  proceedings  and  litigation.  If 
this  is  now  prevented,  the  reasonable 
and  necessary  course  is  to  change  the 
law.  While  the  commissions  serve  an 
essential  purpose,  this  does  not  exclude 
on  fundamental  grounds  the  appear- 
ance of  the  cities  to  defend  and  pro- 
mote the  interests  of  the  citizens.  The 
latter  function  is  altogether  different 
from  the  commissions'.  The  cities 
appear  as  litigants  on  behalf  of  the 
people,  seek  definite  results  without 
judicial  responsibility  to  private  in- 
vestors, are  concerned  solely  with  the 
interest  of  the  public,  just  as  counsel 
for  the  companies  represent  exclusively 
the  rights  of  the  corporations,  leaving 
judicial  responsibility  and  final  de- 
cisions to  the  commissions,  subject  to 
appeal  to  the  courts. 

The  special  point  here  is  that  the  law 


1922] 


DEADLOCK  IN  PUBLIC  UTILITY  REGULATION 


79 


should  be  amended  if  necessary  to  give 
the  cities  the  right  to  represent  con- 
sumers collectively  in  all  public  utility 
matters.  To  a  layman,  however — 
who  has  followed  the  development  of 
public  utility  law  with  great  pro- 
fessional interest — it  is  not  clear  why 
the  court  was  perforce  compelled  to 
exclude  the  city  from  such  representa- 
tion. The  identity  of  interest  between 
a  municipality  and  its  inhabitants  has 
been  recognized  repeatedly;  thus  in 
the  case  of  International  Railway  Co. 
vs.  Rann  (224  N.  Y.  83,  89),  Judge 
Pound  stated  that  "as  a  legal  con- 
ception the  [municipal]  corporation  is 
an  entity  distinct  from  its  inhabitants, 
but  it  remains  a  local  community;  a 
body  of  persons;  the  sum  total  of  its 
inhabitants  and  the  proper  custodian 
and  guardian  of  their  collective  rights." 
These  words  express  most  clearly  the 
situation  and  apply  completely  to  the 
large  issue  in  question.  Further  under 
the  charter  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
the  city  was  given  express  authority 
over  the  grant  of  franchises,  particu- 
larly to  secure  efficiency  of  public 
service  at  reasonable  rates;  and  the 
corporation  counsel  was  given  the 
power  to  institute  actions  in  law  or 
equity  to  maintain  the  rights  of  the 
city  and  "of  the  people  thereof." 
Why  not  include  the  right  to  obtain 
reasonable  rates  and  service  in  these 
general  powers?  Likewise  in  the  so- 
called  home  rule  bill,  there  is  the  broad 


grant  of  power  to  the  cities  of  the  state 
to  promote  the  general  welfare  of  their 
inhabitants;  why  exclude  questions  of 
public  utility  rates  and  service  affect- 
ing the  great  majority  of  the  people? 
There  is  also  the  further  technical 
argument  that  the  very  grant  by  the 
municipality  permitting  the  use  of  the 
streets  by  a  corporation  carried  with  it 
a  fundamental  restriction  upon  rates 
and  other  acts  of  a  public  service 
corporation.  The  city  is  the  trustee  of 
the  streets,  and  the  grant  could  be  given 
only  for  a  public  purpose.  This  itself 
recognizes  the  public  character  of  the 
service,  establishing  the  right  to  reason- 
able rates  and  proper  service,  making 
unlawful  private  profits  above  a  fair 
return,  even  if  no  special  restrictions 
upon  rates  are  included  in  the  fran- 
chise. Would  it  not  be  reasonable, 
therefore,  to  infer  an  inherent  duty  of 
the  municipality  to  see  that  the  public 
interest  in  the  grant  is  properly  carried 
out,  so  that  the  public  privilege  is  not, 
in  fact,  made  the  vehicle  of  excessive 
profits  to  private  investors,  or  is  other- 
wise used  in  disregard  of  the  public 
service?  Why  not  view  this  as  a 
proper  duty  of  the  municipal  author- 
ity? Why  limit  the  recognized  legal 
interest  to  mere  financial,  contractual 
or  proprietary  claims  of  the  city  itself, 
viewed  merely  as  a  separate  corporate 
entity?  Why  exclude  the  broader  in- 
terest of  the  people  who  constitute  the 
city? 


ADVANCED  POLICE  METHODS  IN 
BERKELEY 

BY  HAROLD  G.  SCHUTT 

National  Institute  of  Public  Administration 

High-grade  policemen,  one-third  of  them  college  graduates,  plus  an 
appropriate  utilization  of  their  brains,  have  made  Berkeley's  police 
force  famous  and  their  chief  the  president  of  the  Association  of 
Chiefs  of  Police.  : :  : :  : :  : :  : :  : :  : :  :  : 


BERKELEY,  CALIFORNIA,  has  in  re- 
cent years  attracted  considerable  atten- 
tion because  of  the  excellence  of  its 
police  department.  Attention  for  such 
a  reason  is  rather  unusual.  There  are 
several  features  about  the  Berkeley 
department  that  are  different  from 
those  found  in  the  ordinary  depart- 
ment. For  example,  all  the  patrolmen 
do  most  of  their  patrolling  in  automo- 
biles, and  one  of  those  gentlemen 
possesses  that  title  so  much  affected  by 
college  professors — doctor  of  philoso- 
phy. Since  police  work  is  so  largely  a 
matter  of  personnel,  it  may  be  well  to 
discuss  that  subject  first. 

Speaking  of  personnel,  it  has  been 
the  writer's  observation  that  most  peo- 
ple think  of  the  Berkeley  Police  De- 
partment and  Mr.  August  Vollmer  as 
synonymous.  Mr.  Vollmer  was  elected 
marshal  of  the  city  in  1905  when  the 
department  consisted  of  a  "desk,  a 
broken  chair  and  three  assistants," 
and  has  been  its  chief  since  that  time 
although  the  type  of  government 
has  changed.  To  him  belongs  the 
credit  for  the  development  of  scien- 
tific police  methods  as  they  are  prac- 
ticed in  Berkeley.  Berkeley  now  oper- 
ates under  a  commission  government 
charter,  but  the  greatest  virtue  of  the 
commissioner  of  public  health  and 
safety,  as  far  as  police  is  concerned,  is 
his  non-interference  with  the  policies 
of  the  chief. 


The  first  point  in  personnel  is  selec- 
tion. The  chief  exercises  full  control 
of  hiring  and  discharging,  there  being 
no  civil  service  provisions  applying  to 
the  department.  He  chooses  his  men 
largely  by  means  of  mental  examina- 
tions, using  tests  like  those  given  in 
the  army  to  determine  a  candidate's 
intelligence.  Considerable  emphasis 
is  placed  upon  the  applicant's  reason 
for  joining  the  force,  as  Mr.  Vollmer 
wants  men  who  are  looking  forward  to 
a  career  in  police  service.  One  result 
has  been  that  instead  of  getting  taxi 
drivers  and  mechanics  he  has  secured 
thirteen  university-educated  men  for 
his  police  force  of  thirty-three  men. 
The  chief  believes  that  for  every  time  a 
policeman  is  called  upon  to  use  his 
brawn  his  brain  is  needed  a  thousand 
times.  Consequently  high  intelligence 
has  been  deemed  more  important  than 
mere  physical  health. 

UTILIZING   GOOD    BRAINS 

Having  secured  university  men  for 
cops  does  not,  however,  make  a  police 
department.  They  probably  do  not 
know  any  more,  if  as  much,  about 
police  work  as  a  taxicab  driver,  but 
they  do  have  greater  ability  to  learn. 
Herein  enters  the  Berkeley  police  train- 
ing school.  Mr.  Fosdick,  in  "Ameri- 
can Police  Systems,"  says  that  it  is  the 
most  ambitious  that  has  been  attempted 


80 


1922] 


ADVANCED  POLICE  METHODS  IN   BERKELEY 


81 


in  America.1  The  course  extends  over 
a  period  of  three  years,  the  first  year 
courses  being — physics;  chemistry, 
physiology  and  anatomy;  criminology, 
anthropology  and  heredity;  and  toxi- 
cology. The  second  year  surely  re- 
quires a  college  education — criminal 
psychology;  psychiatry;  criminology, 
theoretical  and  applied;  police  organ- 
ization and  administration;  police 
methods  and  procedure.  The  third 
year  completes  the  course  with  microbi- 
ology and  parasitology;  police  micro- 
analysis;  public  health,  first  aid  to  the 
injured;  elementary  and  criminal  law. 
A  large  part  of  the  instruction  is  given 
by  Mr.  Vollmer  and  Dr.  Albert  Schnei- 
der, who  has  the  title  of  dean  of  the 
school.  Dr.  J.  D.  Ball,  a  psychiatrist 
of  Oakland,  Mr.  E.  O.  Heinrich,  an 
examiner  of  questioned  documents  of 
San  Francisco,  the  city  attorney  and 
others  give  considerable  instruction. 
Except  for  the  first  two  mentioned  this 
work  has  been  gratuitous.  Dr.  Schnei- 
der, who  is  connected  with  the  Univer- 
sity of  California,  receives  a  small  com- 
pensation for  his  work.2 

When  a  new  man  enters  the  depart- 
ment he  is  given  some  individual  train- 
ing to  enable  him  to  do  fairly  good 
patrolling  and  then  he  takes  the  train- 
ing school  work  as  it  is  given.  The 
courses  occupy  from  one  to  five  or  more 
hours  per  week.  Every  Friday  at  four 
o'clock  the  whole  department,  with  the 
exception  of  a  skeleton  force  which  is 
kept  on  duty,  meets  for  one  hour.  The 
men  call  this  the  "crab  club."  At  this 
weekly  meeting  the  chief  explains  any 
of  his  orders,  the  reasons  for  which  are 
not  clear  to  the  men,  the  men  make 
suggestions  that  have  occurred  to  them 

1  Fosdick,  "American  Police  Systems,"  p.  299. 

2  The  article  in  the  Journal  of  the  American 
Institute  of  Criminal  Law  and  Criminology   for 
March  1917,  written  by  Mr.  Vollmer  and  Dr. 
Schneider,  further  describes  the  training  school, 
and  is  practically  up  to  date. 


and  voice  their  complaints  if  they  have 
any.  Chief  Vollmer  feels  that  this  dis- 
cussion does  much  to  develop  team 
play  in  the  department.  If  there  is 
nothing  else  to  occupy  the  hour  a 
lecture  is  given.  Not  long  ago  a  pro- 
fessional safe-blower  explained  the  tech- 
nique of  his  trade  and  other  crooks 
have  given  first-hand  information  as 
to  the  methods  used  by  criminals. 

Mention  should  also  be  made  of  the 
courses  in  criminology  that  are  given 
during  the  summer  session  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  California,  which  is  located 
at  Berkeley.  There  has  been  very 
close  co-operation  between  the  police 
and  the  university.  This  past  sumnu-r 
Mr.  Vollmer,  Mr.  Heinrich  and  Dr. 
Ball  have  given  four  courses  in  crimi- 
nology. When  possible,  recruits  to  the 
police  departments  take  these  courses. 

AUTOMOBILE   PATROLS 

As  has  been  said,  the  newcomer, 
while  taking  the  training  school  work, 
has  also  been  patrolling  and  instead  of 
walking  about  getting  flat  feet  he  has 
been  patrolling  de  luxe.  Each  patrol- 
man furnishes  his  own  automobile  and 
is  allowed  thirty  dollars  a  month  in 
addition  to  his  salary.  The  depart- 
ment furnishes  gasoline  and  oil  not  only 
for  his  official  duties  but  also  for  any 
pleasure  driving  that  he  may  do.  The 
average  distance  traveled  by  each  car 
is  over  a  thousand  miles  per  month, 
which  for  Berkeley's  twenty  patrolmen 
amounts  to  about  two  hundred  and 
fifty  thousand  miles  in  a  year.  Berkeley 
is  a  city  of  sixty  thousand  people 
covering  a  compact  area  of  nine  square 
miles.  It  is  largely  residential,  the 
business  center  being  small,  due  to  the 
proximity  of  Oakland  and  San  Fran- 
cisco. There  is  a  growing  industrial 
section  along  the  bay  shore.  For 
patrolling  this  type  of  city,  autos  seem 
to  have  been  very  successful. 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[March 


One  of  the  things  that  Chief  Vollmer 
has  tried  to  obtain  has  been  constant 
touch  between  headquarters  and  the 
man  on  duty  on  the  street.  This  is 
obtained  by  means  of  red  flashing 
lights  located  at  the  principal  corners 
about  the  city  and  where  each  one 
would  be  most  readily  seen  by  the 
patrolman  driving  his  car.  By  means 
of  switches  at  the  sergeant's  desk  he 
can  flash  these  lights  and  call  a  patrol- 
man to  a  box,  and  in  this  way  give  any 
orders  that  are  necessary.  Since  these 
lights  are  not  so  clearly  visible  in  the 
daytime  twenty-five  horns  have  been 
installed.  These  are  used  during  the 
day  for  emergency  purposes.  If  the 
need  of  the  officer  is  not  urgent  the 
lights  are  used,  as  persons  living  near 
one  of  the  horns  have  found  the  noise 
objectionable.  They  sound  like  low- 
pitched  automobile  horns.  These  de- 
vices have  made  it  possible  to  reach  a 
policeman  on  his  beat  in  two  or  three 
minutes  at  the  most  and  send  him 
where  he  may  be  needed.  But  this 
has  not  satisfied  the  desire  for  progress. 
Experiments  have  been  made  in  equip- 
ping the  police  cars  with  wireless  tele- 
phones which  could  be  in  constant  con- 
tact with  the  police  station.  Certain 
technical  difficulties  have  arisen,  but 
they  are  on  a  fair  way  to  being  over- 
come. 

The  patrolman  in  Berkeley  has 
considerable  discretion  in  covering  his 
district.  He  is  held  responsible  for 
conditions  there  and  he  can  use  his 
own  judgment  in  many  ways  as  to  how 
he  shall  police  it.  The  sergeant  re- 
mains at  the  station  most  of  the  time, 
where  he  can  direct  his  men  when 
necessary  when  they  call  in  hourly,  or 
by  means  of  the  signal  system.  He 
occasionally  drives  out  on  a  tour  of 
inspection.  The  ambulance  and  emer- 
gency wagon  are  handled  by  two  men 
in  the  record  room  who  have  time  for 
answering  the  calls  that  come  in. 


RECORDS   THAT   HELP 


Another  feature  of  which  Berkeley 
can  be  justly  proud  is  the  record  sys- 
tem. The  complaints  as  they  come  in 
are  entered  on  cards  and  filed  by  serial 
number.  The  reports  of  the  officers 
assigned  to  the  case  are  attached  to  the 
original  card  and  filed  with  it.  If  a 
case  has  not  been  closed  a  metal  tag  is 
attached  to  the  card  and  the  case  is 
watched  until  the  officer  in  charge  has 
completed  the  investigation  and  satis- 
factory reports  have  been  made.  One 
cause  for  the  success  of  the  Berkeley 
department  and  the  high  esteem  in 
which  it  is  held  in  the  community  is  the 
thoroughness  with  which  complaints 
are  treated.  These  cards  are  indexed 
according  to  person  making  complaint, 
crime  complained  of  and  person  men- 
tioned in  complaint.  There  are  now 
some  sixty-six  thousand  of  these  records 
on  file  —  a  history  of  the  department 
since  1905. 

A  modus  operandi  sheet  is  filled  out 
for  each  complaint  involving  theft, 
fraud,  property  taken  by  violence,  or 
where  an  entry  has  been  made  to  com- 
mit burglary.  This  may  not  mean 
much  to  a  layman,  but  many  criminals 
have  a  particular  method  of  perform- 
ing and  a  record  of  the  method  used  in 
crimes  committed  helps  to  apprehend 
the  offender. 

The  finger-print  file  contains  sixty 
thousand  prints  properly  classified. 
Berkeley  maintains  exchanges  with 
about  twenty-five  cities  and  institu- 
tions, so  that  the  identification  files 
are  constantly  growing.  There  are 
twenty-seven  thousand  Bertillon  meas- 
urement records  and  twenty  thousand 
English  circulars.  The  picture  gallery 
contains  almost  as  many  pictures. 

The  criminal  index  file  is  very  com- 
plete and  is  used  to  index  the  different 
identification  files.  It  contains  cards 
giving  name  (filed  also  under  each 


1922] 


ADVANCED  POLICE  METHODS  IN  BERKELEY 


83 


alias),  criminal  record,  description  and 
reference  to  the  finger  print,  Bertillon 
or  other  files.  When  cards  are  made 
for  this  file  a  duplicate  is  made  and  is 
filed  under  the  crime  committed. 

There  is  also  a  stolen  property  file  in 
which  different  colored  cards  are  used 
to  indicate  different  classes  or  articles. 
They  are  filed  according  to  distinguish- 
ing number  or  initial  when  possible. 

From  the  records  certain  interesting 
pin  maps  have  been  made.  One  shows 
the  distribution  about  the  city  of  the 
different  classes  of  crime;  others  show 
the  same  thing  for  each  of  the  three  de- 
tails. If  the  chief  knows  what  crimes 
are  committed,  where  and  when,  it  is 
easier  to  prevent  crime  or  to  apprehend 
the  criminal.  Another  map  shows 
casualties  and  their  nature.  Still  an- 
other, which  will  be  discussed  later,  is 
that  showing  juvenile  delinquencies. 

The  superintendent  of  records  is  a 
handwriting  expert  and  is  so  recog- 
nized throughout  the  United  States. 
One  of  the  clerks  is  a  finger-print  ex- 
pert; in  fact  specialization  exists 
throughout  the  department.  Mr. 
Larson,  the  Ph.D.  who  has  been  men- 
tioned, has  made  two  contributions  to 
finger-print  research  regarding  racial 
characteristics  of  finger  prints  and 
transmission  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion of  finger-print  types.  He  has  also 
prepared  a  paper  on  the  use  of  the 
sphygnomanometer,  or  blood  pressure 
apparatus  in  police  work.  This  devise 
registers  the  regularity  and  intensity  of 
the  heart  beats  and  of  breathing.  It 
has  been  found  that  when  questions  are 
put  to  a  suspected  person  the  regularity 
of  the  heart  and  breathing,  over  which 
the  person  has  no  conscious  control, 
indicates  whether  the  truth  is  being  told 
or  not.  Incidentally  this  apparatus 
was  used  recently  in  a  case  of  theft  at 
the  university.  A  girl  under  suspicion 
was  cleared  and  another  who  was  not 
suspected  was  easily  detected.  Had 


the  guilty  person  not  been  found  it  is 
difficult  to  say  what  stain  might  have 
attached  to  the  reputation  of  the  girl 
who  was  generally  suspected,  and  her 
college  career  might  have  been  made 
most  unpleasant. 

The  use  of  the  camera  in  police  work 
has  also  been  developed  in  Berkeley. 
This  is  especially  true  in  connec- 
tion with  the  microscope.  While  the 
writer  was  in  Berkeley  he  saw  some 
photographs  of  human  hairs  that  were 
so  much  enlarged  and  were  so  plain  that 
within  certain  limits  the  age  of  the  hair 
and  whether  it  was  from  a  male  or  fe- 
male could  be  told. 


THE   PREVENTIVE   WORK 

We  now  come  to  the  other  and  more 
important  police  function  —  crime  pre- 
vention. Some  crime  has  been  pre- 
vented because  professional  criminals 
know  that  the  police  are  efficient  and 
so  do  not  operate  there.  But  some- 
thing more  positive  than  that  has  been 
done  by  educating  the  public  to  believe 
in  the  police  so  that  when  they  see 
something  suspicious  they  report  it. 
This  education  has  been  secured  largely 
by  developing  more  contacts  between 
police  and  public.  Chief  Vollmer  has 
spoken  at  meetings  of  almost  every 
organization  in  Berkeley  —  Church,  so- 
cial and  business  clubs,  university 
classes,  American  Legion,  fraternities, 
Y.  M.  C.  A.  It  has  now  become  a 
habit  for  a  citizen,  or  more  likely  a 
citizeness,  to  call  in  the  police  for  the 
most  minor  matters.  Since  the  de- 
partment, like  an  automobile  agency, 
says  "service  is  our  motto,"  it  is  glad 
to  get  these  calls  and  they  make  for 
a  better  understanding  between  all 
concerned. 

Chief  Vollmer  for  the  same  reason 
has  a  high  regard  for  junior  police.  He 
told  the  writer  that  "  some  of  the  boys, 
former  members  of  our  old  junior 


84 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[March 


police  organization  and  now  prominent 
men  in  the  community,  are  among  our 
greatest  boosters  and  contribute  to  the 
welfare  of  the  department  in  various 
ways."  At  present  the  boy  scout 
organization  is  very  strong  in  Berkeley 
and  most  of  the  junior  police  work  is 
carried  on  through  it.  Mr.  Vollmer 
endeavors  to  meet  with  the  scouts  once 
a  month  and  talk  to  them.  To  be  suc- 
cessful, he  believes  that  junior  police  or 
boy  scouts  must  have  able  leadership. 

A  map  showing  juvenile  delinquency 
has  already  been  mentioned.  By 
means  of  beads  and  pins  of  different 
colors  the  location  of  cases  of  delin- 
quency, low  intelligence,  truancy,  and 
miscellaneous  juvenile  offenses  is  shown 
for  both  boys  and  girls.  The  data  to 
make  this  map  is  secured  from  school 
reports.  By  watching  these  minors  it 
is  possible  to  prevent  them  from  de- 
veloping into  criminals  as  they  grow 
older.  As  in  the  case  with  junior 
police  it  is  the  policy  of  the  police  to  get 
in  touch  with  the  citizens  of  the  future 
while  they  are  still  young,  to  help  cor- 
rect any  deficiencies  that  may  exist  and 
try  to  make  good  Americans  of  them. 

As  may  be  surmised,  when  minors 
come  into  the  hands  of  the  police, 
effort  is  made  to  find  cause  that  led  the 
boy  or  girl  astray  and  to  remedy  the 
condition,  making  punishment  for  the 
offense  committed  a  secondary  matter. 
Not  long  ago  four  boys,  ranging  in  age 
from  eleven  to  sixteen  years,  were  in 
trouble  for  stealing.  One  was  some- 
what feeble-minded,  but  the  others 
were  mentally  strong.  They  had  be- 
come sex  offenders  and  unless  some- 
thing was  done  the  boys  would  very 
likely  turn  out  badly.  By  co-operation 
with  the  boys'  parents  the  conditions 
which  had  led  them  into  bad  practices 
were  changed  and  the  future  is  promis- 
ing both  for  the  boys  and  for  society. 

Such  is  the  nature  of  the  police  work 
in  Berkeley.  That  it  has  been  suc- 


cessful is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the 
number  of  crimes  committed  has 
grown  but  little  in  recent  years  in  spite 
of  the  growth  of  population  and  a  crime 
wave  that  is  supposed  to  be  sweeping 
over  the  country.  In  1911  there  were 
ninety-eight  cases  of  first  degree  bur- 
glary, in  1915  there  were  eighty-six,  and 
in  1920  there  were  one  hundred  and 
twenty-three.  For  petit  larceny  for 
the  same  years  the  figures  were  three 
hundred  and  ten,  four  hundred  and 
fifty-one,  and  four  hundred  and  sixty- 
nine.  Another  proof  that  Berkeley 
methods  have  something  to  do  with 
crime  prevention  is  that  there  was  a 
sharp  upward  trend  in  the  number  of 
crimes  committed  after  several  men 
left  the  department  to  join  the  military 
service  when  the  United  States  entered 
the  war.  This  condition  continued 
until  the  new  men  were  trained. 

COSTS 

The  Berkeley  patrolmen  receive  one 
hundred  and  forty  dollars  per  month 
in  addition  to  the  thirty  dollars  that 
they  receive  for  their  car  upkeep. 
Clerks  receive  the  same  salary  as 
patrolmen  except  that  they  do  not  have 
cars.  Sergeants  receive  one  hundred 
and  sixty  dollars  per  month  and 
twenty  dollars  for  car  upkeep.  De- 
tectives receive  one  hundred  and 
seventy  dollars  as  salary  and  twenty- 
five  dollars  for  car  upkeep.  The  super- 
intendent of  records  receives  two 
hundred  and  twenty  dollars,  and  the 
chief  of  police  receives  three  hundred 
dollars.  The  total  budget  for  the 
present  year  is  eighty-five  thousand 
dollars,  or  about  a  dollar  and  forty -two 
cents  for  each  resident  of  the  city. 

The  writer,  speaking  with  several 
persons  who  were  interested  in  police 
work  in  large  cities,  expressed  doubt 
whether  methods  such  as  are  used  in 
Berkeley  would  be  workable  in  the 


1922] 


PETERS  OF  BOSTON 


large  cities.  When  one  stops  to  con- 
sider that  the  greater  part  of  most 
large  cities  is  residential  and  that 
Berkeley  might  be  considered  a  pre- 
cinct in  the  great  metropolitan  area 
surrounding  San  Francisco,  one  won- 
ders if  the  large  city  cannot  learn  from 
the  Pacific  Coast  city.  However, 
some  one  has  said  that  the  medium- 
sized  city  is  the  present  American 
municipal  problem  and  here  conditions 
are  not  so  different  from  those  existing 
in  Berkeley.  That  one  city  of  a  hun- 
dred thousand  people  sees  promise  of 
help  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  this  last 


summer  the  chief  of  police  of  Tacoma, 
Washington,  and  four  other  officers 
from  that  department  spent  several 
weeks  in  Berkeley  taking  the  courses  in 
criminology  at  the  university  and 
studying  the  methods  of  the  local 
police  department. 

That  Chief  Vollmer's  efforts  have 
not  been  entirely  unappreciated  may 
be  indicated  when  it  is  said  that  his 
salary  this  year  received  an  unsolicited 
increase  and  that  at  the  last  convention 
held  in  St.  Louis  in  June  he  was  elected 
president  of  the  International  Associa- 
tion of  Chiefs  of  Police. 


PETERS  OF  BOSTON 


A  REFORM  MAYOR  WHO  DID  NOT  FAIL 


BY  W.  B.  MUNRO 


ROSCOE  CONKLING  once  remarked 
that  when  Dr.  Johnson  spoke  of  "pa- 
triotism" as  the  last  refuge  of  the 
scoundrel  he  ignored  the  vast  possibili- 
ties which  are  latent  in  the  word 
"reform."  Conkling  was  not  alone  in 
his  dislike  of  the  term.  Theodore 
Roosevelt  defined  it  as  something  with 
a  "lunatic  fringe"  attached,  and  Brand 
Whitlock  later  paid  left-handed  hom- 
age to  reformers  by  defining  them  as  a 
group  of  men  and  women  who  feel  a 
solemn  responsibility  "for  the  short- 
comings of  others." 

At  any  rate  there  is  a  widespread  belief 
that  a  municipal  "reform"  administra- 
tion is  bound  to  be  a  disappoint- 
ment, even  to  its  own  supporters, 
because  it  promises  more  than  it  can 
perform,  and  goes  out  of  office  after  a 
single  term  leaving  a  trail  of  popular 
resentment  in  its  wake.  Too  often,  it 
is  true,  this  has  been  the  record  of  the 
strictly  honest  man  in  municipal  office. 
But  it  is  not  always  so.  The  experience 
of  the  past  decade,  in  more  than  one 


of  our  great  communities,  has  demon- 
strated the  fact  that  a  municipal 
administration  can  be  efficient  and 
honest  without  being  impractical  or 
becoming  unpopular.  It  is  well  that 
such  achievements  be  made  known. 
They  give  courage  to  the  faint  in  the 
long  battle  for  civic  decency. 

Andrew  J.  Peters  was  inaugurated 
mayor  of  Boston  in  February,  1918. 
His  record  as  a  member  of  congress  and 
as  assistant  secretary  of  the  treasury 
warranted  the  expectation  that  he 
would  prove  to  be  one  of  the  best 
mayors  in  the  city's  history,  and  this 
expectation,  during  the  past  four  years, 
he  has  entirely  fulfilled.  The  Boston 
city  charter  renders  the  mayor  in- 
eligible for  immediate  re-election;  had 
it  not  been  for  this  obstacle  Mr.  Peters 
would  probably  have  been  pressed  into 
service  for  another  four  years.  Setting 
out  with  no  lavish  array  of  promises, 
and  attempting  no  wholesale  recon- 
struction of  the  city's  public  affairs,  he 
has  none  the  less  attained  the  chief 


86 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[March 


objective  to  which  any  sane  municipal 
administration  should  address  itself — 
namely  to  leave  every  department  of 
the  city's  service  in  better  shape  at  the 
end  than  it  was  at  the  beginning.  This 
objective  has  been  attained,  moreover, 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  past  four 
years,  by  reason  of  the  war  and  its 
aftermath,  have  been  the  most  difficult 
years  of  the  past  half  century. 

Mayor  Peters  has  not  been  a  reformer 
of  the  orthodox  type.  He  did  not  begin 
his  term  as  mayor  by  promising  to 
reduce  taxes  and  at  the  same  time  to 
expand  service;  he  was  sufficiently 
versed  in  the  actualities  of  administra- 
tion to  know  that  both  things  cannot 
be  done  concurrently.  He  believed 
that  when  people  demand  efficient 
government  they  expect  to  pay  a  rea- 
sonable price  for  it.  Taxation  is  merely 
the  cost  of  the  public  service  appor- 
tioned among  the  people.  It  is  not 
difficult  to  put  through  a  scheme  of 
greatly-extended  service  to  the  commu- 
nity if  the  lid  of  the  tax  rate  is  taken  off. 
Nor  is  it  hard  to  make  a  material  re- 
duction in  the  city's  annual  tax  burden 
by  compelling  the  inhabitants  to  do 
without  services  which  they  have  a 
right  to  demand.  The  real  problem 
is  to  maintain  things  at  maximum 
efficiency  without  unreasonably  aug- 
menting their  cost. 

To  maintain  standards  in  municipal 
administration  during  the  past  four 
years  without  a  higher  tax  rate  has 
been  impossible  in  Boston  as  in  other 
large  cities.  Everywhere,  owing  to  the 
high  costs  of  materials  and  labor,  the 
burden  of  local  taxation  has  grown  at  a 
rapid  rate.  The  Boston  tax  rate, 
which  was  $17.70  per  thousand  in  1917, 
had  risen  to  $24.70  in  1921,  an  increase 
of  nearly  50  per  cent  in  four  years. 
This,  however,  is  almost  exactly  the 
average  rate  of  increase  for  all  the  cities 
of  Massachusetts. 


AN  ACHIEVEMENT   IN   ECONOMY 

But  the  foregoing  figures  do  not  tell 
the  whole  story.  A  substantial  fraction 
of  Boston's  tax  levy  goes  to  defray 
expenditures  which  are  not  under  the 
mayor's  control.  The  schools,  for 
example,  which  are  in  charge  of  an  in- 
dependent elective  board,  required  in 
1918  a  levy  of  only  $4.48  per  thousand 
of  assessed  valuation;  in  1921  they  took 
$8.03  per  thousand.  The  police  depart- 
ment, which  in  Boston  is  under  state 
control,  likewise  increased  its  expendi- 
tures during  these  years.  And  Boston's 
share  of  the  state  tax  mounted  consid- 
erably. In  the  departments  directly 
under  the  mayor's  control  there  has 
been  since  Mr.  Peters  assumed  office, 
an  actual  reduction  in  the  share  of  the 
tax  levy  required  for  the  conduct  of 
their  affairs.  In  1918  these  departments 
required  a  levy  of  $12.37  per  thousand; 
in  1921  their  share  was  $11.53  only.1 
Can  any  other  American  mayor  show, 
during  these  years,  an  actual  reduction 
in  the  tax  levy  required  by  the  various 
departments  under  his  control? 

CUTTING   THE   CITY'S   DEBT 

Boston  has  actually  reduced  its  net 
debt  during  the  Peters  administration. 
It  may  well  be  questioned  whether 
any  other  large  city  can  show  a  similar 
achievement  during  the  past  four  years. 
In  February,  1918,  when  Mayor  Peters 
took  the  reins,  the  net  funded  debt  of 
the  city  was  $52,198,425;  at  the  close 
of  1921  it  was  less  than  $47,000,000. 
A  reduction  of  more  than  five  millions 
has  been  accomplished  in  less  than  four 
years!  The  subjoined  table  indicates 

irThe  exact  figures  are:  1918,  $12.37;  1919. 
$12.13;  1920,  $11.90;  1921,  $11.53.  The  portion 
of  the  tax  rate  which  went  for  schools,  on  the 
other  hand,  was:  1918,  $4.48;  1919,  $5.02;  1920, 
$7.14;  1921,  $8.03. 


1922] 


PETERS  OF  BOSTON 


87 


the  extent  of  the  progress  made,  not 
only  in  liquidating  the  direct  obliga- 
tions of  the  city,  but  the  other  indebt- 
edness for  which  the  city  has  practically 
the  entire  liability.1 

STREET   CONSTRUCTION 

The  foregoing  economies,  effected 
and  maintained  through  a  difficult 
period,  did  not  preclude  material  prog- 
ress in  city  improvements.  In  the 
matter  of  street  construction,  for 
example,  the  Peters  administration 
paved  or  rebuilt  388  miles  of  streets. 
Despite  the  general  interruption  of 
public  work  during  the  war  months  of 
1918,  this  is  the  best  street  construction 
record  in  the  city's  history.  The  cities 
of  the  United  States,  or  of  any  other 
country  for  that  matter,  which  saw 
more  street  work  done  during  the  three 
years  1918-1921  than  in  any  previous 
triennium,  are  certainly  few  and  far 
between.  Boston's  streets  are  even  yet 
a  long  way  from  what  they  ought  to  be. 
They  have  suffered  from  the  parsimony 
and  neglect  of  years  gone  by.  But  they 
are  in  better  shape  to-day  than  they 
have  been  at  any  time  since  the  turn  of 
the  century. 

PUBLIC   BUILDINGS 

Between  February  1,  1918,  and 
November  30,  1921,  Boston  appropria- 
ted for  public  buildings  (apart  from 
schools)  $1,582,000.  The  constantly 
increasing  demands  for  school  accom- 
modation have  been  met  by  an  expend- 


iture of  $5,763,123  on  school  buildings, 
in  which  the  largest  items  are  $1,200,000 
for  a  new  high  school  in  Dorchester, 
and  $950,000  for  a  new  public  Latin 
School  in  the  Back  Bay.  For  play- 
grounds, during  this  period,  $928,135 
has  been  spent.  The  most  important 
provision  under  this  head  is  for  a  new 
gymnasium  building,  with  baths  and 
a  swimming  pool,  in  South  Boston,  to 
cost  around  $400,000,  of  which  $200,000 
is  included  in  the  above  figure,  the 
remainder  awaiting  action,  at  this 
writing,  in  the  city  council,  with  no 
question  as  to  its  favorable  decision. 
This  gymnasium  is  to  be  of  the  most 
modern  type,  and  when  completed  will 
be  one  of  the  finest  buildings  of  its  sort 
in  the  country. 

FIRE   PROTECTION 

The  problem  of  providing  the  city 
with  better  protection  against  fire  has 
been  vigorously  and  successfully  met 
in  Boston  during  the  past  four  years. 
When  Mr.  Peters  came  into  office,  the 
discipline  of  the  fire  department  left 
much  to  be  desired;  the  apparatus  had 
not  been  kept  up  to  date  and  much  of 
it  was  inferior  in  quality.  All  this  has 
been  changed.  The  mayor  set  out  to 
improve  the  discipline  and  modernize 
the  apparatus.  Long  before  his  term 
came  to  a  close  he  had  succeeded  in 
doing  both.  A  training  school  for 
officers  in  the  fire  department  is  one  of 
the  fruits  of  the  new  order. 

The  high  pressure  fire  protection  serv- 
ice which  was  under  construction  in 


"DEBT   OF  THE   CITY   OF  BOSTON   AND   COUNTY  OF  SUFFOLK 
NET  FUNDED  DEBT  NOVEMBER  30,  1921,  COMPARED  WITH  JANUARY  31,  1918 


City  Debt 

County  Debt 

Water  Debt 

Rapid 
Transit  Debt 

Total 

January  31,  1918  

$52,198,425.45 

SI,  623  223  77 

$368000  00 

$30,380,527.82 

$84.570.177.04 

November  30,1921  

46.S30.923.  41 

1,449,961  90 

275  678  27 

31,200,164.16 

79,756,727.74 

Decrease  

$5,367.502.  04 

S173  261  87 

$92  321  73 

$819,636  34* 

$4,813,449.30 

*  Increase. 


88 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[March 


1918,  the  victim  of  exasperating  delays, 
has  been  carried  to  completion.  The 
mains  have  been  finished;  two  pump- 
ing stations  have  been  constructed, 
and  the  system  is  now  in  operation.  At 
no  previous  time  in  its  hundred  years  of 
history  as  a  city  has  Boston  been  so  well 
secured  against  a  conflagration. 

AIDING   THE   SICK  AND   THE   POOR 

Not  all  the  achievements  of  the 
Peters  administration  were  embodied 
in  debt  reductions,  streets,  buildings 
and  fire  apparatus.  The  city's  elee- 
mosynary institutions  received  a  con- 
siderable share  of  the  mayor's  personal 
solicitude.  In  1918  the  Long  Island 
Hospital  and  Almshouse  were  found  to 
be  poorly  protected  against  destruction 
by  fire.  This  danger  has  now  been  re- 
duced to  a  minimum  by  the  installation 
of  equipment  which  cost  the  city  more 
than  $100,000.  The  management  of 
these  institutions,  moreover,  has  been 
greatly  improved.  They  are  believed 
to  be  as  well  equipped  to-day,  and  as 
well  conducted,  as  any  similar  institu- 
tions in  the  country. 

When  Mayor  Peters  came  into  office 
he  found  that  various  other  city  insti- 
tutions for  the  care  of  delinquents, 
dependents  and  the  sick  were  each 
under  the  supervision  of  unpaid  trus- 
tees. With  the  concurrence  of  the  city 
council  the  administration  of  them  all 
was  consolidated  under  the  control  of 
a  single  paid  commissioner.  The 
saving  in  money  has  proved  to  be  con- 
siderable, but  greater  still  has  been  the 
general  improvement  in  service  and 
efficiency. 

THE   MORALE    OF   THE   CITY'S   WORKING 
FORCE 

But  the  balance  sheet  of  a  city  ad- 
ministration cannot  be  entirely  cast 
in  figures.  No  matter  how  strong  the 


the  evidence  of  historical  progress  may 
be,  no  mayor  can  rightly  call  his  admin- 
istration a  success  unless  he  manages 
to  impress  his  qualities  of  leadership 
upon  that  army  of  subordinates,  from 
highest  to  lowest,  without  whose  full 
co-operation  the  daily  routine  of  local 
government  cannot  be  well  performed. 
Mayor  Peters  soon  won  the  confidence 
and  respect  of  the  city's  working  force. 
He  dealt  with  them  frankly  and  fairly. 
Within  the  limits  of  the  city's  financial 
resources  he  was  generous  in  raising  the 
scale  of  salaries  and  wages.  On  the 
other  hand  there  has  been  no  padding 
of  payrolls  and  no  making  of  sundry 
jobs  for  political  favorites.  The  em- 
ployes of  the  city  have  been  given  a 
feeling  of  security;  their  work  has  been 
judged  without  partisan  bias.  No 
mayor  could  ask  for  more  genuine  co- 
operation than  Mr.  Peters  has  had 
from  the  whole  corps  of  appointive 
municipal  officials  and  employes  dur- 
ing his  four-year  term.  Without  this 
loyalty  he  could  not  have  secured 
results. 

ALWAYS   ON   THE   JOB 

During  his  term  of  office  Mayor 
Peters  spent  no  time  talking  politics,  or 
building  political  fences,  or  oiling  up  a 
political  machine.  He  devoted  more 
hours  to  his  office  than  the  average 
business  man  spends  at  his  desk,  and 
his  office  was  no  rendezvous  for  politi- 
cians of  any  stripe.  For  most  of  what 
Andrew  J.  Peters  has  achieved  during 
these  four  years  at  the  Boston  City 
Hall  he  can  thank  a  level  head  and  a 
capacity  for  hard  work.  The  many 
things  which  seemed  to  "happen  right " 
during  his  administration  were  the  out- 
come of  thought,  planning,  patience 
and  industry.  It  is  not  often  that  a 
mayor  goes  out  of  office  with  a  stronger 
hold  on  the  confidence  of  the  electorate 
than  when  he  came  in.  Mayor  Peters 
has  demonstrated  that  it  can  be  done. 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


I.    GOVERNMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION 


Pittsburgh  Graded  Tax  Plan.— The  Allied 
Boards  of  Trade  in  Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania, 
have  issued  a  pamphlet  entitled  "The  Pittsburgh 
Plan"  praising  the  results  of  the  Graded  Tax  Law 
of  1913.  By  this  law  which  covers  Pittsburgh 
and  Scranton,  the  tax  on  buildings  was  marked 
down  10  per  cent  in  1914,  another  10  per  cent  in 
1916,  again  in  1919, 1922  and  1925,  thus  bringing 
the  tax  rate  on  buildings  to  half  that  on  land. 
* 

New  Sources  of  Municipal  Revenue  (Com- 
piled by  New  Jersey  State  League  of  Mu- 
nicipalities, Trenton). — This  is  neat  mimeo- 
graph volume  of  40  pages  describing  28  things 
that  can  be  done  to  help  make  ends  meet — e.g., 
central  purchase,  clean  the  water  mains,  use 
special  assessments,  high  interest,  zoning,  full 
value  assessments,  etc.,  etc. 
* 

International  Garden  Cities  and  Town 
Planning  Association  holds  an  International 
Conference  at  Olympia,  London,  March  14,  15, 
16,  at  the  Daily  Mail  Ideal  Home  Exhibition. 
The  program  includes  an  afternoon  on  "Steps 
required  to  get  garden  cities  started  throughout 
the  world,"  another  on  "Reduction  of  Building 
Costs,"  and  a  visit  to  the  new  garden  city  of 
Welwyn. 

* 

Progress  of  Zoning. — 38  cities  have  now  been 
zoned,  and  zoning  is  under  way  in  42  more 
according  to  a  list  recently  published  in  "Better 
Housing." 

* 

Electric  Voting  in  Texas  House  of  Representa- 
tives.— The  lower  house  of  the  legislature  is 
installing  an  electric  roll  call  device  which  is 
expected  to  shorten  the  roll  call  operation  from 
15  minutes  to  11  seconds  and  save  10  working 
days  per  session.  Iowa  and  Wisconsin  legis- 
latures have  such  devices,  and  the  New  York 
legislature  is  investigating. 
* 

New  Forms  of  County  Government  having 
been  made  possible  for  them  by  the  passage  of  a 
constitutional  amendment,  Nassau  and  West- 
chester  Counties,  adjoining  New  York  City,  have 
promptly  created  good  official  commissions  to  de- 


vise legislation  which  they  will  submit  to  the 
legislature  of  1923  and  then  to  local  referendum. 

* 

Referendum  Petitions  against  a  Gerrymander 
are  being  prepared  by  Democrats  in  Missouri 
who  claim  that  the  Congressional  Re-districting 
Act  is  unfair  to  them. 

* 

A  County  Manager  for  Muscogee  County, 
Georgia,  was  recommended  by  a  grand  jury  in 
January.  A  majority  of  the  voters  of  the 
county  endorsed  the  principle  recently  in  voting 
for  the  Columbus  city-manager  charter. 

* 

Cleveland  Suburbs  Seek  Annexation. — Pe- 
titions for  annexation  votes  are  started  or  con- 
templated in  12  suburbs  of  Cleveland  including 
Lakewood,  East  Cleveland,  and  Cleveland 
Heights,  whose  tax  rates  would  be  lowered 
thereby.  Leaders  of  the  effort  say  "Adoption 
by  Cleveland  of  the  city-manager  form  of  govern- 
ment has  caused  a  tidal  wave  of  annexation 
sentiment  in  the  suburbs  and  those  opposed 
because  of  bad  politics  in  Cleveland  have  lost 
their  argument." 

* 

West  Hartford,  Connecticut. — Proportional 
representation,  which  was  tried  experimentally 
by  the  town  last  year,  has  been  formally  adopted 
for  the  future  elections  of  town  councillors.  Only 
one  citizen  opposed  the  system  at  the  hearing  on 
the  P.  R.  ordinance,  and  the  vote  of  the  council 
was  unanimously  in  favor.  For  the  elections  of 
1922  and  1923,  the  fifteen  councillors  will  be 
chosen  from  four  election  districts.  At  the  elec- 
tion of  the  latter  year,  a  referendum  is  to  be 
taken  on  the  question  of  electing  all  councillors 
at  large.  The  changing  sentiment  of  the  past 
year  indicates  that  election  by  districts  will  be 
abolished. 

* 

Sacramento's  County-Manager  Effort. — The 
district  attorney  of  Sacramento  County  at- 
tempted, with  a  touch  of  comedy,  to  block  the 
proposals  for  the  election  of  a  board  of  freeholders 
to  frame  a  county  manager  charter.  He  de- 
clared the  first  petition  for  the  election  to  be 
illegal  and  thereby  delayed  the  matter  sufficiently 


89 


90 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[March 


to  prevent  the  writing  of  a  charter  in  time  for 
submission  to  the  1922  legislature.  The  Superior 
Court  reversed  the  district  attorney  and  de- 
clared the  petition  to  be  legal,  but  the  district 
attorney  forthwith  made  appeal  to  the  higher 
court,  thus  continuing  the  suspension  of  the  call 
for  the  election.  Meanwhile,  a  second  petition, 
free  from  the  objection  which  he  had  alleged, 
against  the  first,  was  gotten  up  and  presented, 
whereupon  the  district  attorney  declared  the 
second  petition  to  be  illegal  on  the  ground  that 
the  first  petition  had  become  legal,  and  that  no 
second  effort  could  be  made  until  the  completion 
of  the  litigation  on  the  first! 

After  a  year  of  delays,  the  election  of  15 
freeholders  to  draft  a  charter  took  place  on 
February  18. 

* 

Alameda's  County-Manager  Proposal  De- 
feated.— The  long  agitation  for  a  combined  city 
and  county  government  in  Alameda  County, 
which  includes  the  cities  of  Oakland  and  Berkeley, 
California,  culminated  on  November  15  when  the 
Alameda  City-County  Manager  Charter  was  sub- 
mitted to  referendum  under  the  provisions  of  a 
special  amendment  to  the  constitution. 

All  the  small  cities  in  the  county  voted  "No" 
overwhelmingly,  while  the  city  of  Oakland  voted 
"Yes."  The  smaller  cities  were  unwilling  to 
merge  their  individuality  into  the  single  mu- 
nicipality. The  total  vote  on  the  proposition 
was  35  per  cent  of  the  registration. 

The  next  step  required  was  for  the  board  of 
freeholders,  which  drafted  the  proposed  combina- 
tion charter,  to  reconvene  within  fifteen  days  of 
the  election  and  adjust  the  provisions  as  to 
boundaries,  to  comprise  merely  the  area  of  the 
city  of  Oakland  and  two  towns,  Emeryville  and 


Piedmont.  Another  election  was  then  held  on 
February  7  at  which  Oakland,  Emeryville  and 
Piedmont  voted  on  the  acceptance  of  the 
charter  providing  for  a  united  city  and  county  of 
Oakland.  This  meant  the  division  of  Alameda 
County,  to  which  strenuous  objection  was  made, 
and  the  charter  was  defeated. 


New  State  Park  Efforts. — Two  of  the  most  im- 
portant state  park  enterprises  are  the  Save  the 
Redwoods  League  and  the  Natural  Parks  Asso- 
ciation of  Washington.  The  redwoods  in  ques- 
tion are  the  oldest  and  most  majestic  of  living 
things.  Unfortunately,  these  marvelous  trees, 
found  nowhere  in  the  world  except  on  the  north- 
ern California  coast,  not  only  have  the  quality 
of  exciting  wonder,  but  they  can  be  made  alas! 
into  excellent  barrel  staves,  shingles,  grape  stakes 
and  the  like.  The  demand  for  these  is  insatiable, 
but  so  far,  the  demand  for  natural  miracles  is 
limited. 

The  League  is  trying  to  get  an  emergency 
state  appropriation  to  purchase  groves  along  the 
state  highway  in  Humboldt  County,  and  to  raise 
by  private  subscription  an  equal  amount.  They 
have  had  a  survey  made  and  are  bringing 
pressure  to  bear  on  the  Federal  Government  to 
establish  a  National  Redwood  Park.  They  have 
taken  part  in  the  spending  of  over  $100,000  in 
ransoming  the  redwood  groves  along  the  state 
highway.  They  have  enlisted  the  co-operation 
of  the  lumbermen,  and  the  lumbermen,  who  own 
most  of  the  redwood  lands,  have  met  them  rather 
more  than  half  way,  for  they  have  agreed  to 
defer  cutting  them  until  the  League  has  had  a 
reasonable  time  to  arrange  for  purchase. 

HAROLD  A.  CAPARN. 


II.    CITY-MANAGER  NOTES 


Kenosha,  Wisconsin,  (population  33,500,) 
under  leadership  of  women  voters,  adopted  the 
city-manager  plan  January  24  by  a  vote  of 
3,770  to  2,898. 

Other  additions  reported  are  Chico,  California 
(population  8,876)  taking  effect  April,  1923; 
Bartow,  Florida  (population  4,040)  taking  effect 
March  7;  Excelsior  Springs,  Missouri  (popula- 
tion 4,167);  Findlay,  Ohio  (population  18,000); 
Daytona,  Florida  (population  4,475). 

Akron  Fight  Clears  at  Election. — As  related 
elsewhere  in  this  issue,  the  selection  of  first  mayor 


Mr.  Laub,  as  city  manager  two  years  ago,  de- 
veloped a  tense  partisan  political  situation  that 
continued  until  the  recent  election  with  Laub  as 
a  storm  center.  The  new  council  has  removed 
Laub  by  an  8  to  3  vote  and  has  appointed 
Homer  C.  Campbell,  a  local  real  estate  man,  at  a 
new  salary  rate  of  $7,500  instead  of  $10,000, 
beginning  February  1. 

* 

Mix-up  in  Wheeling  Clears  Itself  by  a  Re- 
call.—The  Wheeling,  West  Virginia,  charter  is 
one  of  the  three  that  require  the  manager  to  be  a 
local  man.  At  the  city  election  of  May,  1921  the 


1922] 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


91 


city  clerk,  H.  C.  Crago,  is  charged  with  having 
taken  a  ballot  box  home  at  night,  stuffed  it,  and 
by  this  and  other  acts  procured  the  election  of 
his  friends,  the  old  council,  who  then  appointed 
him  manager.  He  and  the  city  solicitor,  the  fire 
chief  and  a  majority  of  the  council  were  indicted. 
The  6re  chief  has  been  convicted  and  the  other 
eases  are  pending.  Election  count  laxity  is  not 
unknown  in  Wheeling  politics,  but  this  stirred 
the  town,  and  in  a  hot  recall  campaign  Crago's 
friends  were  defeated  and  Crago  was  ousted  in 
January. 

* 

New  Managers. — S.  O.  Hale,  Xenia,  Ohio, 
Homer    C.    Campbell,    Akron,    Ohio,    George 


Garrett,  ex-manager  of  La  Grande,  Grand 
Junction,  Colorado,  Charles  H.  Dowler,  Wheeling, 
West  Virginia,  J.  R.  Brumby,  Jr.,  Ocala,  Florida. 

* 

Recall  Threatened  at  Decatur,  Alabama.— 
According  to  the  Atlanta  Georgian  the  city- 
manager  of  Decatur,  P.  P.  Pilcher,  discharged 
the  driver  of  a  fire  truck,  which  was  followed  by  a 
strike  of  the  fire  department  and  a  dispute  that 
culminated  in  Pilcher's  resignation  to  take  effect 
March  31  which,  however,  was  not  prompt 
enough  to  satisfy  some  citizens  who,  on  January 
30,  called  a  mass  meeting  and  threatened  a  recall 
of  the  commissioners  to  force  immediate  ac- 
ceptance of  the  resignation. 


III.     GOVERNMENTAL  RESEARCH   NOTES 


The  Kansas  City  Public  Service  Institute  has 
issued  a  very  full  report  of  its  activities  for  the 
year,  together  with  a  financial  statement  of  its 
operation. 

* 

The  Detroit  Bureau  of  Governmental  Re- 
search has  laid  out  in  some  detail  the  principal 
items  of  its  program  for  1922.  Other  bureaus 
engaged  on  the  same  problems  will  find  the  list 
useful  in  suggesting  possible  co-operation. 
* 

The  Municipal  Survey  Commission  of  the 
City  of  New  Orleans,  in  viewing  the  work  done 
in  that  city  by  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Munici- 
pal Research,  finds  that  "the  suggestions  and 
recommendations  made,  and  the  form  in  which 
they  are  all  cast,  will  point  the  way  to  great 
economies,  increased  efficiency,  and  generally 
better  understanding  of  the  requirements  and 
conditions  of  municipal  government." 
* 

At  Norwich  University,  Northfield,  Vermont, 
there  has  been  established  a  bureau  of  municipal 
affairs  under  the  direction  of  K.  R.  B.  Flint, 
professor  of  political  science. 
* 

The  Reorganized  Recorder's  Court  of  Detroit 
has  been  given  a  thorough  appraisal  for  its  first 
year  of  operation  by  the  Detroit  Bureau  of 
Governmental  Research  in  an  issue  of  its  weekly 
pamphlet,  Public  Business. 
* 

Flint,  Michigan,  has  officially  engaged  the 
services  of  the  Institute  for  Public  Service  of 
New  York  City  to  undertake  a  thoroughgoing 
•tudy  of  its  government.  Dr.  William  H.  Allen 


and  Gaylord  C.  Cummin  will  be  responsible  for 
the  survey,  the  Detroit  Bureau  co-operating. 
* 

The  Ohio  Conference  of  Governmental  Re- 
search was  recently  held  at  Columbus,  bringing 
together  representatives  of  nine  organizations 
for  the  purpose  of  co-operative  research  and 
action.  R.  E.  Miles,  director  of  the  Ohio 
Institute  for  Public  Efficiency,  was  chosen 
chairman  and  secretary.  The  conference  dis- 
cussed the  reorganization  of  the  county  govern- 
ments of  the  state,  and  the  best  means  of 
developing  a  budget  system  for  the  4,800  taxing 
districts. 

* 

The  Kansas  City  Public  Service  Institute  has 
issued   a   40-page   mimeographed    booklet,    di- 
gesting and  charting  the  charters  and  forms  of 
government  in  cities  of  over  250,000  population. 
* 

Harry  H.  Freeman,  formerly  of  the  New  York 
Bureau  of  Municipal  Research,  and  more 
recently  city  manager  of  Kalamazoo,  has 
accepted  the  position  of  foreign  representative 
for  the  Upjohn  Company,  manufacturing  chem- 
ists, and  will  take  up  residence  in  London  early 
in  February. 

* 

The  Detroit  Bureau  of  Governmental  Re- 
search has  added  to  its  staff  Percival  Dodge, 
formerly  a  personnel  officer  for  the  Solvay 
Process  Company;  W.  D.  S.  Negovetich,  formerly 
with  the  bureau;  and  C.  L.  Carter,  formerly 
engaged  in  engineering  work  for  the  city  of 
Detroit. 

ROBERT  T.  CRANK. 


DEPARTMENT  OF  PUBLICATIONS 


I.    BOOK  REVIEWS 


LOCAL  GOVERNMENT  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
By  Herman  G.  James.  New  York :  D.  Apple- 
ton  &  Co.,  1921.  Pp.  482. 

A  great  deal  has  been  published  about  various 
phases  of  local  government  in  the  United  States, 
especially  with  reference  to  municipal  govern- 
ment in  urban  communities.  But  there  has  been 
no  comprehensive  account  of  local  government  in 
this  country  as  a  whole,  other  than  brief  sum- 
maries in  textbooks  in  American  government. 
In  this  volume,  Professor  James  has  undertaken 
such  a  general  account,  dealing  with  counties, 
cities  and  other  local  divisions.  After  a  sum- 
mary of  local  government  in  England  and  France, 
and  a  chapter  on  the  historical  development  of 
local  institutions  in  the  United  States,  there  are 
two  chapters  on  county  government,  one  on 
county  subdivisions  and  two  on  city  government, 
followed  by  short  chapters  on  recent  tendencies 
and  conclusions. 

Under  this  plan,  emphasis  is  laid  on  county 
government;  and  in  this  respect  the  book  corre- 
sponds to  conditions  in  a  large  part  of  the  country. 
It  will  be  a  useful  textbook  in  courses  for  stu- 
dents not  especially  concerned  with  the  problems 
of  cities,  as  well  as  giving  a  foundation  for  the 
special  study  of  urban  government.  From  this 
viewpoint,  however,  some  aspects  of  local 
government  receive  less  attention  than  they 
merit.  The  discussion  of  village  government  is 
inadequate;  there  are  only  brief  references  to  the 
great  number  of  special  districts  and  local 
authorities;  and  state  supervision  of  local  gov- 
ernment is  not  considered  in  a  connected  and 
systematic  way. 

The  work  is  based  for  the  most  part  on  pre- 
vious books  and  other  special  studies  of  particu- 
lar parts  of  the  field.  Considerable  use  has  been 
made  of  data  in  the  census  reports  ,on  local 
finances;  but  there  has  been  no  intensive  investi- 
gations of  original  local  documents  and  reports. 
In  the  main,  the  general  conditions  are  satis- 
factorily described,  though  there  are  some 
misleading  and  a  few  erroneous  statements,  espe- 
cially in  the  account  of  local  government  in  Eng- 
land. In  the  discussion  of  county  revenues,  the 
importance  of  fees  is  underestimated,  by  failing 
to  recognize  that  the  census  data  on  fees  in  many 
cases  is  not  the  total  receipts  from  that  source, 
but  the  excess  of  fees  over  expenses — a  result  of 
the  unsatisfactory  condition  of  county  financial 


records.  The  author  has  a  readable  style,  with 
occasional  use  of  colloquial  phrases,  such  as 
"later  on"  and  "pretty  much." 

More  exception  may  be  taken  to  his  main  con- 
clusions. As  to  the  county  he  considers  that  it 
"  is  neither  a  national  unit  for  the  administration 
of  state  affairs,  nor  ...  a  national  division 
for  the  conduct  of  local  affairs";  but  as  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  county  is  too  radical  a  proposal,  he 
reaches  the  apparently  paradoxical  result  that 
"progress  must  lie  in  the  direction  of  conferring 
larger  powers  on  the  county. "  As  to  smaller  areas 
than  the  county,  he  sees  no  justification  for  them 
except  for  urban  communities,  where  he  favors 
separate  organization  even  for  villages  of  two  or 
three  hundred  population,  while  cities  of  over 
10,000  or  15,000  population  should  be  wholly 
distinct  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  county. 

Most  American  counties  are  too  small;  and 
local  administration  would  be  improved  by 
combining  smaller  counties  into  larger  areas. 
But  to  suggest,  even  as  an  unattainable  ideal,  the 
complete  abolition  of  the  county,  without  pro- 
posing something  in  its  place,  is  not  justified 
either  by  logic  or  practical  considerations.  The 
immediate  program  to  extend  the  scope  of  county 
government  and  simplify  its  organization  can  be 
approved;  but  this  involves  more  serious  ob- 
stacles in  state  constitutions  and  otherwise  than 
are  clearly  recognized,  which  variations  in  local 
conditions  will  make  any  uniform  system  im- 
practicable. 

To  abolish  all  local  government  areas  smaller 
than  counties,  except  villages  and  cities,  is  also 
not  only  impracticable  but  also  unjustified  even 
as  a  theoretical  ideal.  The  existence  of  such 
smaller  areas  throughout  the  country  and  in 
other  countries  indicates  the  general  need  for 
them,  even  with  small  counties.  The  field  for 
choice  here  seems  to  be  between  a  variety  of 
overlapping  areas  and  a  single  area  which  will 
combine  the  functions  of  neighborhood  gov- 
ernment. Without  attempting  to  compel  the 
adoption  of  the  New  England  town  system,  there 
might  well  be  legislation  to  permit  and  encour- 
age the  voluntary  consolidation  of  overlapping 
neighborhood  local  areas,  as  is  urged  for  city  and 
county  government  for  larger  communities.  If 
this  were  done  the  separate  incorporation  of 
petty  villages  of  a  few  hundred  inhabitants 
would  be  unnecessary.  JOHN  A<  FAIRLIE. 


92 


1922] 


BOOK  REVIEWS 


93 


MODERN  DEMOCRACIES.  By  James  Bryce 
(Viscount  Bryce).  New  York:  The  Mac- 
iii ilia 1 1  Co.,  1921.  2  vols. 

A  notable  book  by  a  distinguished  author, 
well  worthy  to  be  ranked  with  his  American 
Commonwealth,  the  fruit  of  years  of  observation 
and  thought.  In  its  cool  examination  of  democ- 
racy at  work  it  follows  the  method  of  the  earlier 
book,  a  method  quite  familiar  to-day,  but  applied 
a  generation  ago  to  American  institutions 
breathed  the  realistic  breath  of  life  into  what 
had  been  merely  formal  description  or  fulsome 
praise. 

Lord  Bryce  has  divided  his  work  into  three 
parts.  The  first  is  a  general  treatment  of  doc- 
trines on  which  popular  government  rests  and 
the  conditions  under  which  it  operates.  Speci- 
.men  chapter  subjects  are  equality,  democracy 
and  religion,  party*  public  opinion,  the  press  in  a 
democracy.  Part  II  is  a  description  of  six 
actual  democracies  with  regard  to  structure  and 
mechanism.  The  governments  selected  are 
France,  Switzerland,  Canada,  United  States, 
Australia,  and  New  Zealand.  Nowhere  will  the 
reader  gather  in  so  brief  a  space  so  satisfactory  a 
description  of  the  legal  forms  and  the  practi- 
cal functioning  of  the  governments  of  these 
countries. 

With  respect  to  the  ailments  of  democracies 
Lord  Bryce  demonstrates  that  all  show  the  same 
symptoms  although  in  varying  degree.  For  ex- 
ample, the  spoils  system,  which  we  sometimes 
think  peculiar  to  America,  has  worked  its  evil 
influence  in  other  democracies  as  well.  Switzer- 
land appeals  to  the  author  as  the  most  successful 
in  operating  democratic  government,  partly  be- 
cause of  the  high  level  of  intelligence  and  politi- 
cal interest  in  her  citizens,  and  partly  because  she 
has  escaped  the  strain  of  rapid  economic  change 
and  expanding  size  and  wealth.  Again  and 
again  he  shows  himself  a  sturdy  advocate  of 
home  rule  without  which  the  political  sense  of  the 
people  can  never  be  cultivated.  The  apathy  of 
the  average  Frenchman,  who  has  little  to  do  in 
local  government  is  the  salient  weakness  of  the 
French  as  a  political  people. 

While  Part  II  forms  a  handbook  on  six  gov- 
ernments, Part  III  classifies  the  phenomena 
revealed  in  Parts  I  and  II,  and  appraises  democ- 
racy as  a  form  of  government  and  a  civilizing 
force.  It  is  the  last  part  on  which  the  general 
reader  will  seize  with  the  greatest  avidity. 
Throughout,  the  author  has  sedulously  refused 
to  be  drawn  from  his  subject  into  the  more 
dramatic,  economic  and  social  problems  of  to-day. 


The  latter  receive  attention  only  when  they 
influence  the  former. 

The  successes  and  failures  of  democracy  seem 
to  balance  each  other  rather  evenly,  as  Lord 
Bryce  spreads  them  before  us;  but  on  the  whole 
the  advantage  is  with  the  successes.  He  is  an 
optimist,  although  hardly  a  cheerful  optimist. 
Legislatures  have  declined  both  in  manners  and 
in  ability  to  meet  the  demands  placed  on  them. 
The  defects  of  second  chambers  are  enumerated, 
but  a  second  chamber  of  the  right  sort  is  needed 
and  a  small  selective  commission  is  suggested 
whose  chief  function  would  be  to  choose  the 
upper  house.  This  house  would  be  removed 
from  party  strife  and  would  have  no  supervision 
over  the  daily  work  of  administration;  it  would 
devote  its  time  to  the  study  of  and  legislation  on 
the  economic  and  social  problems  of  the  day. 

In  foreign  affairs  democracies  have  nothing  of 
which  to  be  ashamed.  On  the  whole  the  people's 
opinions  regarding  international  relations  have 
been  sound.  Compared  with  oligarchies  and 
monarchies  the  executive  departments  of 
democracies  have  succeeded.  In  considering  the 
influence  of  wealth  on  politics,  Lord  Bryce  does 
not  mince  words.  The  purest,  the  best  adminis- 
tered and  most  truly  popular  democracies  have 
been  those  in  which  there  were  no  rich  men.  He 
has  no  patience  with  popularly  elected  judges. 
Party  spirit  is  particularly  bad  in  the  United 
States,  but  counts  for  little  in  France.  But,  one 
may  ask,  may  not  the  greater  political  interest 
and  intelligence  of  the  American  as  compared 
with  the  Frenchman  be  at  once  the  cause  and 
result  of  party  spirit?  Yet  there  is  little  party 
spirit  in  Switzerland,  although  there  is  keen 
interest  in  politics. 

Clearly  enough,  political  democracy  has  not 
worked  out  as  the  nineteenth  century  liberals 
expected  it  would,  but  it  is  not  quite  fair  to 
measure  its  accomplishments  by  their  expecta- 
tions. Lord  Bryce  acknowledges  the  existence 
of  many  modifying  conditions  since  their  time, 
but  after  all  it  seems  to  be  their  standards  which 
he  applies.  Not  that  they  are  not  proper  enough 
when  judging  bow  successfully  man  has  ful- 
filled his  promise  as  a  political  animal,  but  they 
suggest  no  new  aoheme  of  things  to  bring  ordi- 
nary people  and  government  into  better  adjust- 
ment. But  Lord  Bryce  is  acting  as  an  appraiser 
and  has  not  set  himself  up  as  a  prophet. 

Gratifying  progress  has  been  made  in  Amer- 
ica since  the  American  Commonwealth  was  pub- 
lished. The  short  ballot,  administrative  con- 
solidation, reform  in  city  governments,  are  all 


94 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[March 


noted  and  approved.  The  city-manager  plan  is 
called  the  latest  word  in  municipal  reform. 
Signs  of  our  sense  of  public  duty  have  grown 
stronger  and  our  standards  of  public  life  are 
rising  steadily. 


It  is  a  pleasure  to  observe  that  the  book  shows 
that  its  beloved  author  has  been  a  consistent 
and  sympathetic  reader  of  the  NATIONAL  MU- 
NICIPAL REVIEW. 

H.  W.  D. 


SPEAKERS 

The  National  Municipal  League  maintains  a  list  of  persons  in  various 

parts  of  the  country  prepared  to  make  addresses  on 

city,  county  and  state  government. 

Augustus  R.  Hatton,  Ph.D.,  charter  consultant  for  the 
National  Municipal  League,  is  prepared  to  speak  on  the 
subjects  listed  below.  Dr.  Hatton  is  a  fluent  and  brilliant 
speaker  and  campaigner.  He  is  obtainable  on  a  fee  basis 
subject  to  prior  engagement.  (Address  National  Municipal 
League,  261  Broadway,  New  York.) 

SUBJECTS 

1.  Representative  Government.    What  is  it?    Do  we  want  it?    Can  we  have  it? 

2.  The  Coming  of  Municipal  Democracy.    A  discussion  of  the  evolution  of  types  of 
city  government  with  a  frank  evaluation  of  the  strength  and  weaknesses  of  each. 

3.  The  Problem  of  the  Ballot.    The  evolution  of  the  forms  of  voting  and  electoral 
processes  with  their  effects  on  popular  government. 

4.  American  Free  Cities.    The  experience  of  American  cities  with  constitutional 
home  rule. 

5.  Is  Manager  Government  Applicable  to  Our  Largest  Cities?    Conducted  as  a 
debate  if  desired,  Dr.  Hatton  taking  the  affirmative. 

6.  Getting  Results  for  the  People's  Money.    Does  it  matter?    How  can  it  be  brought 
about? 

7.  What  Is  Wrong  with  State  Governments?    An  analysis  of  the  problems  of  state 
organization  and  administration  with  some  suggested  remedies  for  defects  everywhere 
admitted. 


CHAS.  BROSSMAN 

Mem.Am.Soc.C.E.  Mem.  Am.  Soc.  M.E. 

Consulting  Engineer 

Water  Works  and  Electric  Light  Plants 
Sewerage  and  Sewage  Disposal 

Merchants  Bank,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 


GOVERNMENTAL  SURVEYS  E&SE 

tion— Methods — Administration  — Salary  Standardization 
—Budget  Making— Taxation— Revenues— Expenditure!— 
Civil  Service- Accounting— Public  Worki 

J.  L.  JACOBS  &  COMPANY 

Municipal  Contuttant*  and  Engineer! 
Monadnock  Building,  Chicago 

(Over  11  yri.'  experience  in  City,  County  and  State  Studiei) 


PROPORTIONAL  REPRESENTATION 

Best  Basis  for  the  City  Manager  Plan 

Send  25c  for  Lf  t .  No.  1 0  (How  P.  R.  Work*  in  Sacramento) 
and  new  Lf  t.  No.  5  (Explanation  of  Hare  System  of  P.  R.) 

Still  better,  join  th«  League.    Duet,  $2,  pay  for  quarterly 
Review  and  all  other  literature  for  year. 

PROPORTIONAL  REPRESENTATION  LEAGUE 
1417  LOCUST  STREET,  PHILADELPHIA 


R.  HUSSELMAN 

Consulting  Engineer 

Design  and  Construction  of  Power  Stations  and 

Lighting  Systems 

Reports,  Estimates  and  Specifications 
Appraisals   and    Rate  Investigations 

Electric,  Gas  and  Street  Railway 
CUYAHOGA  .BUILDING,     CLEVELAND,   O. 


NATIONAL 
MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


VOL.  XI,  No.  4 


APRIL,  1922 


TOTAL  No.  70 


PENSIONS  IN  PUBLIC  EMPLOYMENT 

REPORT  OF   THE   PENSION   COMMITTEE  OF  THE 
NATIONAL   MUNICIPAL   LEAGUE 

PREPARED  BY  PAUL  STUDENSKY 

Director  of  the  Bureau  of  State  Research  of  the  New  Jersey  State  Chamber  of  Commerce 

CHAPTER  I 


THE  pension  legislation  in  this  coun- 
try has  been  until  recent  years  a  bad 
growth — bad,  not  in  the  sense  that  it 
has  been  unnecessary  and  fundamen- 
tally evil  (quite  on  the  contrary,  it  has 
been  very  necessary)  but  in  the  sense 
that  it  has  developed  along  unsound 
lines.  For  it  is  a  matter  that  has  a 
broad  public  aspect.  It  vitally  affects 
the  public  as  the  consumer  of  govern- 
mental services  and  as  the  party  that 
pays  the  bill;  and  the  public  employes 
who  are  distressed  in  the  absence  of  a 
pension  system  or  benefited  by  its 
establishment .  Yet  it  has  been  allowed 
until  recently  to  grow  up  as  practi- 
cally "private  legislation." 

PRIVATE   PENSION   LEGISLATION 

The  government  officials,  legisla- 
tors, the  large  body  of  public  employes 
and  the  public  have  been  particularly 
inert  in  the  matter.  As  a  consequence, 


here  and  there  small  groups  of  public 
employes,  usually  the  older  men,  partic- 
ularly concerned  with  their  own  pro- 
spective retirement  and  lack  of  re- 
sources, have  taken  the  steps  before 
their  legislature  to  secure  some  legisla- 
tion that  would  relieve  their  anxiety. 
They  were  the  pioneers  in  pension 
legislation,  but  their  pioneering  was 
characterized  by  a  very  narrow  outlook. 
They  were  framing  pension  bills  to  suit 
their  own  case  or  that  of  the  particular 
group  of  which  they  were  members. 
They  were  not  concerned  with  other 
groups  of  public  employes,  the  stimula- 
tion of  efficient  service,  the  economic 
distribution  of  costs  and  the  financial 
soundness  of  the  system  which  they 
were  seeking  to  establish. 

Having  framed  a  bill  that  would 
meet  their  views  of  a  retirement  sys- 
tem, they  would  look  for,  and  usually 
find,  a  legislator,  himself  unacquainted 
with  the  problem,  who  would  be  willing 


97 


98 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[April 


to  introduce  the  bill.  The  legislators 
would  pass  it  because  of  friendship  for 
the  sponsor  and  compassion  for  the 
beneficiary  or  beneficiaries  of  the  meas- 
ure and  often  because  of  political 
influence.  Thus  the  practically  pri- 
vate pension  bill  would  become  a  law. 

NON-CONTRIBUTORY    FREE    PENSIONS 

Sometimes  the  retirement  system 
established  thereby  would  merely  pro- 
vide for  the  payment  of  pensions 
directly  from  the  public  treasury  and 
the  expectation  would  be  that  the 
latter  would  furnish  the  pensions  ad 
infinitum.  The  expectation  is  usually 
far  too  optimistic.  It  overlooks  some 
very  important  facts.  In  the  first 
place  the  cost  of  pensions  is  very  great, 
—  far  greater  than  usually  realized. 
Secondly,  the  pension  payments  which 
the  systems  must  make  on  account  of  a 
definite  force  are  not  distributed 
evenly  from  year  to  year.  The  first 
payments  are  usually  very  small  as 
only  few  retire  in  the  beginning.  The 
bulk  of  the  payments  crowd  towards 
later  periods  when  the  present  young 
employes  who  constitute  the  bulk  of 
the  force  become  eligible  for  retirement. 
When  this  time  comes,  which  is  thirty 
or  more  years  distant,  the  annual  ap- 
propriation for  pensions  becomes  so 
heavy  that  the  government  is  often 
impelled  either  to  curtail  the  benefits  or 
to  reorganize  the  system  at  a  heavy 
additional  expense  or,  perhaps,  even 
to  discontinue  it. 


BADLY  PLANNED,  INSOLVENT  PENSION 
FUNDS 

Frequently  the  system  established 
by  such  legislation  provides  for  the 
establishment  of  a  special  pension  fund 
in  which  the  revenues  necessary  to 
make  the  future  payments  could  be 
accumulated  and  from  which  all  pen- 


sions could  be  paid.  Unfortunately 
the  revenues  of  the  fund  are  fixed 
arbitrarily  without  any  actuarial  esti- 
mate as  to  whether  they  will  be  suffi- 
cient or  not  to  cover  the  cost  of  the 
benefits  promised.  They  usually  are 
composed  of  a  contribution  from  the 
employes  of  one  or  two  per  cent  of  salary 
and  of  miscellaneous  revenues  from  the 
public  treasury  such  as  fees  from  vari- 
ous licenses  and  permits  covering  dogs, 
revolvers,  dancing  halls,  picture  shows, 
etc.,  fines,  proceeds  from  condemned 
property  and  sometimes  a  direct  ap- 
propriation by  the  government  of  one 
or  two  per  cent  of  salary. 

The  situation  is  just  as  bad  as  it 
would  be  if  an  insurance  company  that 
would  contract  itself  to  pay  a  $1,000 
insurance  policy  would  fix  the  premium 
at  an  arbitrary  and  inadequate  rate  of, 
say,  one  dollar.  Neither  the  company 
nor  the  policyholders  would  know  how 
long  it  would  be  able  to  pay  these 
policies.  The  state  does  not  allow  the 
insurance  companies  to-day  to  operate 
in  such  a  reckless  and  blind  fashion. 
Each  company  must  exact  premiums 
which  in  accordance  with  the  tables 
of  mortality  will  be  sufficient  to  cover 
the  cost  of  the  policies  contracted 
for  and  it  must  set  aside  annually 
a  certain  reserve  so  that  the  policy- 
holders  who  depend  on  the  company's 
ability  to  fulfill  its  contract  be  well 
protected  against  loss.  Yet  there  is 
nothing  on  the  statute  books  to-day 
in  various  states  that  would  prevent 
the  operation  of  pension  systems  that 
are  not  founded  on  an  actuarial  cost 
basis  and  that  make  greater  promises 
than  what  they  can  fulfill. 

Of  course,  the  promoters  of  every 
such  pension  fund  hope  that  when  its 
resources  give  out,  an  amendment  will 
be  secured  increasing  the  revenues  or 
saddling  upon  the  public  treasury  an 
obligation  to  cover  any  deficit  which 
the  fund  may  develop,  and  it  often 


1922] 


PENSIONS  IN  PUBLIC  EMPLOYMENT 


99 


happens  when  these  inevitable  con- 
tingencies arise,  that  such  amendments 
are  secured.  But — and  here  is  a  fact 
which  is  ignored  by  the  managers  of 
these  systems — there  is  a  limit  to  the 
financial  ability  and  happy-go-lucky 
attitude  of  the  administrative  official. 
A  day  comes  when  the  latter  finds  that 
these  pension  funds  with  their  in- 
adequate reserves,  or  no  reserves  at 
all,  and  with  their  constantly  increasing 
drafts  on  the  public  treasury  are  a  con- 
siderable financial  burden.  He  then 
makes  a  move  for  a  reduction  of  the 
benefits  or  other  readjustment  of  the 
system  which  is  not  altogether  pleas- 
ant to  the  members  of  the  fund. 
Such  breakdowns  of  pension  funds 
have  occurred  in  a  number  of  states  and 
cities.  Suffice  it  to  mention  the  New 
York  City  Teachers'  Retirement  Fund 
which  became  bankrupt  in  1916  and 
had  to  be  completely  reorganized;  the 
New  York  City  Police  Pension  Fund, 
whose  annual  deficiency  amounts  to 
over  $2,000,000;  and  numerous  funds 
in  New  Jersey.  Everywhere,  except 
where  the  funds  have  been  so  recently 
organized  that  they  did  not  have  the 
time  to  develop  trouble,  breakdowns 
of  the  funds  have  occurred. 

INEQUITABLENESS   AND   CONFUSION 
OF  MANY   SYSTEMS 

In  addition  to  the  financial  insta- 
bility and  insolvency  of  the  pension 
systems,  the  inequitableness  in  the 
provisions  of  these  systems  and  the  in- 
consistencies and  confusion  in  pension 
legislation  are  most  startling.  Since 
each  group  of  employes,  as  stated,  has 
framed  and  secured  its  own  pension 
law  without  regard  to  other  pension 
laws  and  to  the  needs  of  other  classes 
of  employes,  a  multiplicity  of  pension 
laws  which  widely  differ  from  each 
other  have  grown  up  on  the  statute 
books  in  almost  every  state.  Some  of 


these  provide  for  systems  that  are  con- 
tributory, others  for  those  that  require 
no  contributions.  Some  establish  a 
certain  rate  of  contributions  or  kind  of 
revenues,  others  another  rate  and 
another  land.  Some  provide  benefits 
of  a  certain  type,  amount  and  under 
certain  conditions.  Others  provide 
benefits  of  another  kind,  amount  and 
and  under  other  conditions.  These 
differences  usually  cannot  be  justified 
on  the  basis  of  any  principle,  equity 
or  practical  consideration.  They  lead 
to  jealousies,  extravagance  and  de- 
moralization of  the  service. 


GROWING   DISSATISFACTION    WITH 
EXISTING   SYSTEMS 

The  financial  breakdowns  of  pension 
funds,  the  chaos  of  pension  legislation, 
the  repeated  annual  processions  of 
various  groups  of  employes  before  the 
legislature  clamoring  for  amendments 
of  their  existing  laws  to  increase  the 
benefits  and  grant  them  the  same 
special  privilege  that  another  group 
secured,  or  increase  the  revenues  of 
their  system  to  save  it  from  collapse, 
or  pleading  for  enactments  that  would 
establish  a  special  pension  fund  for 
them  if  they  had  not  been  previously 
provided  for, — all  this  chaos  and  annoy- 
ance, bordering  on  scandal,  has  in  many 
states  at  last  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  legislators,  administrative  officials, 
broad-minded  employes,  and  the  public 
at  large. 

EFFORTS   TOWARDS   REORGANIZATION 

The  states  of  Massachusetts,  New 
Jersey,  Illinois,  New  York,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Ohio,  Connecticut,  Vermont, 
Minnesota,  Wisconsin,  and  the  cities 
of  New  York,  Boston,  Milwaukee, 
San  Francisco  and  others  have  started 
an  effort  to  cure  this  evil  situation.  In 
each  of  these  states  or  cities  a  commis- 


100 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[April 


sion  or  committee  was  created  for  this 
purpose  consisting  either  of  legislators, 
or  of  administrative  officials,  or  of 
leaders  among  the  employes,  or  of  a 
mixed  nature.  Most  of  these  commis- 
sions or  committees  secured  actuarial 
assistance  and  devised  measures  for  the 
legislature  that  would  reorganize  the 
whole  pension  system  of  their  state  or 
city  on  a  sound  actuarial  basis. 
The  task  of  these  committees  was  not 
an  easy  one,  for  opposition  to  reorgan- 
ization was  encountered  from  those 
who  preferred  the  old  order. 

In  only  very  few  instances,  usually 
those  where  only  a  limited  program  was 
adopted  by  the  commissions,  have 
they  succeeded  in  carrying  out  all  their 
recommendations.  Where  a  compre- 
hensive program  was  planned  usually 
only  a  part  of  it  was  carried  into  effect. 
Thus,  for  example,  in  New  Jersey,  the 
program  adopted  by  the  commission 
called  for  the  establishment  of  a  sound 
system  for  state  employes  and  the 
reorganization  of  the  system  of  the 
teachers  and  the  municipal  employes. 
The  actual  results  were  as  follows :  that 
part  of  the  program  which  covered  the 
teachers  was  adopted  by  the  legisla- 
ture and  carried  into  effect  in  1918; 
the  part  covering  the  state  employes 
did  not  find  its  way  to  the  statute 
books  until  1920;  while  the  part  cover- 
ing municipal  employes  remains  unreal- 
ized to  the  present,  in  spite  of  stren- 
uous efforts  of  its  friends  to  have  it 
enacted. 

Each  of  these  various  investigations 
has  advanced  some  new  principles  or 
methods  for  the  government  of  the 
benefits  and  resources  of  a  sound 
retirement  system.  From  these  prin- 
ciples and  methods,  which  have  never 
been  reviewed  nor  compiled  except  in 
the  field  of  teachers'  pensions,  the  com- 
mittee has  selected  those  which  it 
believes  are  the  best. 


UNSOUND    RETIREMENT    SYSTEM    FOR 
FEDERAL    EMPLOYES 

Before  passing  on  to  the  efforts  at 
reorganization,  a  few  words  must  be  said 
about  the  unfortunate  retirement  situ- 
ation in  the  federal  service.  For  the 
same  unsound  tendencies  as  are  de- 
scribed above,  only  in  a  still  more  magni- 
fied form,  have  developed  in  that  field. 
For  years  the  administrative  branch  of 
the  government  failed  to  take  an  ener- 
getic step  towards  the  development  of 
a  sound  retirement  system.  For  years 
Congress  refused  to  consider  seriously 
the  idea  of  a  retirement  system.  Final- 
ly, the  leaders  of  the  employes  exas- 
perated by  this  policy  of  procrastina- 
tion on  one  side  and  opposition  on  the 
other,  took  the  matter  into  their  own 
hands.  They  framed  a  retirement 
bill  which  was  unsound  in  almost  every 
respect  but  well  adapted  to  the  prej- 
udices of  Congress  and  of  the  mass  of 
employes  in  the  matter.  The  opposi- 
tion of  Congress  to  expenditures  by 
the  government  for  retirement  was 
appeased  by  providing  that  for  the 
first  few  years  all  the  expenditures  for 
retirement  should  be  met  by  using  the 
monies  supplied  by  the  contributions 
of  the  employes.  The  objections  of 
the  employes  to  contributing  were 
quieted  by  fixing  their  contributions 
at  a  very  low  rate — 2J^  per  cent  of 
salary.  Few  members  of  Congress, 
when  the  bill  came  before  them  in  1920, 
inquired  into  the  future  burdens  of 
this  system  and  the  soundness  of  the 
method  by  which  these  burdens  were 
to  be  met.  Most  were  interested  in 
but  one  question  so  far  as  the  financial 
phases  of  the  proposal  were  concerned : 
Will  the  bill,  if  enacted,  require  any 
large  appropriations  in  the  more  or 
less  immediate  future,  or  not  ?  Assured 
that  it  will  not,  they  lent  their  support 
to  the  measure.  The  bill  was  passed 
and  the  President  gave  it  his  approval. 


1922] 


PENSIONS  IN  PUBLIC  EMPLOYMENT 


101 


Thus  at  last  a  retirement  system  has 
been  enacted,  but  unfortunately  one 
that  is  not  sound.  Obligations  amount- 
ing to  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars 
have  been  placed  on  the  statute  books 
and  charged  to  the  people  of  this 
country  through  the  instrumentality  of 
this  system  without  a  sound  and  ade- 
quate method  for  their  discharge.  One 
evil  situation — the  lack  of  any  retire- 
ment provision  has  been  cured  by  the 
creation  of  another  bad  situation  in  its 
stead — the  establishment  of  a  retire- 
ment provision  which  is  deficient  in 
its  financial  basis. 

For,  whereas  the  government  needs 
not  to  contribute  until  the  fund  created 
by  the  employes'  contributions  is 
exhausted  by  the  annual  disbursements 
for  pensions  the  government  will,  hav- 
ing once  begun  to  contribute,  do  so  at  a 
rapidly  increasing  rate  and  will  in  the 
course  of  time  pay  manifold  for  its 
failure  to  bear  its  proper  share  of  the 
burden  in  the  beginning.  It  will  have 
to  pay  for  dissipating  the  monies  paid 
by  the  employes.  These  monies  should 
have  been  set  aside  and  invested  for 
them  at  interest  to  constitute  reserves 
for  their  future  benefits,  instead  of 
being  paid  out  in  benefits  to  others. 
The  government  will  have  to  pay  back 
to  the  employes  the  dissipated  prin- 
cipal with  interest.  It  will  have  to 
pay  in  large  instalments  and  with 
heavy  interest  charges  its  accrued  and 


normal  liabilities  for  the  discharge  of 
which  it  should  have  begun  to  con- 
tribute and  set  aside  reserves  from 
the  beginning.  As  there  is  no  corre- 
lation under  the  present  system  be- 
tween the  benefits  offered  and  the 
contributions  paid,  the  tendency  will 
be  to  liberalize  the  benefits  unduly, 
without  considering  the  costs,  with  the 
result  that  the  burdens  for  the  govern- 
ment will  be  still  further  increased. 

The  establishment  of  a  retirement 
provision  for  several  hundred  thou- 
sand employes  is  an  undertaking  of 
great  magnitude,  replete  with  far- 
reaching  consequences.  It  is  unfor- 
tunate that  it  should  have  been  so  mis- 
handled and  should  have  resulted  in  the 
enactment  of  a  measure  so  thoroughly 
unsound  as  this  one,  at  a  moment 
when  state  after  state  are  endeavoring 
to  extricate  themselves  from  the  evils 
of  unsound  pension  legislation. 

Years  will  pass  before  the  unsound 
financial  features  of  this  system  will 
be  remedied,  if  they  ever  will,  for  as 
difficult  as  the  reorganization  of  pen- 
sion systems  generally  is,  the  difficulties 
in  the  reorganization  of  this  system 
will  be  multiplied  because  of  its  gigan- 
tic size  and  the  huge  amounts  running 
into  millions  of  dollars  which  will  have 
to  be  raised  in  case  of  the  readjust- 
ment of  the  system,  in  order  to  provide 
for  the  obligations  which  are  now  un- 
duly shifted. 


CHAPTER  II 
PRELIMINARIES  OF  A  SOUND  SYSTEM 


1.  Need  for  Retirement  Provisions  and 
Their  Purpose. — The  establishment  for 
public  employes  of  provisions  for  old 
age,  or  disability,  is  desirable  in  order 
to  make  possible  a  humane  and  effec- 
tive retirement  from  the  service  of  the 
superannuated  and  disabled  and  also 
in  order  to  assure  the  employes  and 
their  dependents  a  means  of  support 


when  they  are  no  longer  capable  of 
earning  a  living.  The  establishment 
of  a  retirement  system  is  just  as 
desirable  in  a  well-conducted  govern- 
mental service  and  in  the  employe's 
own  system  of  living  as  is  the  establish- 
ment of  a  proper  depreciation  account 
for  equipment,  plant,  etc.,  in  a  well- 
conducted  business.  For  the  employe's 


102 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[April 


earning  capacity  depreciates  and  is 
brought  to  naught  in  the  long  run  as  he 
reaches  old  age  or  is  prematurely 
disabled.  It  is  not  only  proper  but 
imperative,  therefore,  that  every  year 
that  the  employe  enjoys  his  activities 
and  that  the  employer  uses  his  serv- 
ices a  contribution  should  be  made 
towards  the  time  of  this  depreciation 
so  that  when  the  time  conies  the 
employe  could  be  properly  retired. 

This  principle  asserts  that  two 
interests  are  involved  in  a  retirement 
system:  the  interest  of  the  service  and 
that  of  the  employe  (and  his  depend- 
ents) ,  and  that  the  requirements  of  each 
must  be  fairly  met.  Very  often  retire- 
ment systems  are  framed  with  only 
one  interest  in  mind — that  of  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  service,  or  that  of  the 
employe,  depending  on  whether  the 
employing  authority  or  the  employe 
is  framing  the  system.  This  prin- 
ciple, if  adopted  and  laid  into  the  foun- 
dation of  every  retirement  system 
would  obviate  such  one-sidedness .  The 
committee  definitely  discards  in  this 
statement  the  idea  of  a  pension  as 
a  reward  for  long  and  faithful  service 
or  a  gratuity.  It  places  the  retirement 
system  on  a  very  definite  economic 
basis  as  an  essential  part  of  a  good 
system  of  administration  of  the  person- 
nel as  well  as  an  important  element  in  a 
well-conceived  system  of  living  for  the 
employe. 

Furthermore,  it  asserts  that  all 
classes  of  public  employes  ought  to  be 
covered  by  retirement  provisions. 
There  is  great  need  for  the  recognition 
of  this  truth.  Most  of  the  present 
systems  are  founded  on  the  considera- 
tion that  the  particular  group,  whether 
it  be  teachers,  or  policemen,  or  another 
group,  is  entitled  to  exclusive  or  fore- 
most attention  of  the  legislature  or 
administration  in  the  retirement  mat- 
ter. The  committee  recognized  that 
it  may  often  be  impossible  to  cover  at 


once  all  the  classes  of  public  employes 
by  a  retirement  provision;  that  certain 
groups  may  have  to  be  singled  out  as 
the  first  to  be  benefited.  But  it  sug- 
gests that  at  least  careful  judgment  be 
used  in  such  cases.  The  present  situ- 
ation in  which  the  bestowing  of  retire- 
ment provisions  is  determined  by  the 
insistence  and  ability  of  the  particular 
group  to  secure  the  provision,  is  highly 
unsatisfactory. 

2.  Development  of  Provisions  in  Joint 
Consultation. — As  the  retirement  ques- 
tion vitally  concerns  the  state,  the  em- 
ploying body  which  is  responsible  before 
the  community  for  the  maintenance  of 
efficient  service  and  the  employes  who 
are  responsible  for  the  maintenance 
of  themselves   and   their   dependents 
throughout  their  lives,   and  involves 
certain  mutual  responsibilities  between 
them,  it  is  highly  desirable  that  the 
framing   of  retirement  provisions   be 
carried  out  in  joint  consultation  be- 
tween the  legislators,  the  representa- 
tives of  the  employing  authorities  and 
the  representatives  of  the  employes  so 
that  all  interests  should  be  equitably 
taken  into  account.     The  representa- 
tives of  the  employing  body  and  the 
employes   should   be   of   the   highest 
caliber.     Those  of  the  employes  should 
be  selected  by  their  associations  and  be 
few  in  number  to  permit  intelligent 
round-table  conference. 

3.  Expert  Technical  Assistance. — As 
the   framing   of   a   sound   retirement 
provision   involves    actuarial    calcula- 
tions of  cost  of  the  proposed  benefits 
and  other  highly  technical  work,  the 
body  vested  with  the  duty  of  framing 
the  provision  should  be  provided  with 
expert  technical   assistance   including 
an  actuary  familiar  with  the  pension 
problem  and  other  experts. 

4.  A   State  Policy. — In   order  that 
there  should  be  true  equity  between 
the  various  groups  of  public  employes 
and  a  sound  and  firm  foundation  for 
their  retirement  provisions  there  ought 
to  be  enacted  into  law  in  every  state 
where  pension  provisions  are  in  opera- 


1922] 


PENSIONS  IN  PUBLIC  EMPLOYMENT 


103 


tion,  or  are  thought  desirable,  a  definite 
state  policy  governing  the  question  of 
retirement.  This  law  should  lay  down 
the  fundamental  provisions  which  any 
retirement  system  should  contain  and 
the  conditions  under  which  any  depart- 
ment of  the  state  or  any  county  or 
municipality  or  any  one  of  their  depart- 
ments can  establish  a  retirement 
system,  or  can  come  under  the  scope 
of  an  existing  system.  This  fundamen- 
tal charter  should  be  sufficiently  broad 
to  permit  the  introduction  in  the  vari- 
ous systems  of  such  variations  in  detail 
as  may  be  required  by  the  different 
conditions  to  which  the  systems  are 
applied. 

5.  State,  County  and  Municipal 
Pension  Funds. — The  organization  of 
retirement  funds  should  follow  broad 
and  natural  lines  which  would  make 
possible  the  gradual  orderly  extension 
of  retirement  provisions  from  one  sub- 
division of  the  service  or  class  of 
employes  to  another,  and  the  sound 
operation  of  the  fund.  Within  each 
fund  the  members  should  be  divided 
into  proper  occupational  and  sex  groups 
so  that  differences  in  the  benefits, 
retirement  age  and  the  rates  of  contribu- 
tions could  be  established  in  accordance 
with  the  difference  in  the  hazards  of 
their  occupation,  cost  of  their  benefits, 
requirements  of  their  service,  and  other 
factors. 

As  a  result  of  the  independent  action 
of  various  groups,  it  often  happens  that 
multiplicity  of  small  pension  funds, 


each  covering  a  certain  department  or 
a  small  local  unit,  are  set  up.  There 
can  be  neither  efficient  administration 
nor  financial  stability  under  such  ar- 
rangement. A  consolidation  of  small 
related  units  into  larger  natural  units, 
such  as  suggested,  is  highly  desirable. 
All  state  employes  should  be  grouped 
into  one  state  fund.  The  employes  of 
a  county  into  one  county  fund.  Those 
of  a  municipality  into  one,  or  in  case  of 
large  municipalities,  few  funds  operated 
under  the  same  law  and  centralized 
authority.  The  teachers  should  be 
grouped  into  one  state-wide  fund, 
except  those  in  the  largest  municipali- 
ties, where  a  special  local  fund  may  be 
constituted  for  them  without  present- 
ing the  dangers  mentioned.  Further 
considerations  may  be  desirable,  unit- 
ing, for  example,  a  county  and  a  munic- 
ipality that  are  related,  into  one 
pension  fund  unit. 

The  suggested  subdivision  of  the 
members  within  each  fund  according 
to  occupation  works  towards  equitable 
arrangement  and  financial  stability. 
The  following  is  a  fair  classification:  (1) 
policemen;  (2)  firemen;  (3)  mechanics, 
street  cleaners,  laborers  and  other 
workers  engaged  upon  duties  requiring 
manly  physical  exertion;  (4)  clerical, 
administrative  and  technical  workers 
engaged  upon  duties  requiring  mainly 
mental  exertion;  (5)  teachers. 


CHAPTER  III 
FINANCIAL   STRUCTURE 


6.  Actuarial  Basis. — The  retirement 
system  should  be  established  and 
operated  on  an  actuarial  basis,  i.e., 
on  the  basis  of  tables  prepared  by 
actuaries,  of  the  mortality  and  with- 
drawals from  the  service  and  cost  of 
benefits.  Each  year  throughout  the 
service  of  each  employe,  there  should 
be  set  aside  and  invested  with  interest 


a  certain  contribution  which  would 
accumulate  a  reserve  from  which  his 
retirement  allowance  could  be  event- 
ually paid. 

In  other  words  a  retirement  system 
should  operate  on  the  basis  of  statisti- 
cal and  actuar  al  investigation  just  as 
insurance  systems  do.  The  actuaries 


104 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[April 


determine  what  reserves  are  necessary 
at  different  ages  of  retirement  to  make 
possible  the  payment  of  an  annuity  of 
$1  to  those  retired  at  these  ages,  to  the 
end  of  their  lives.  These  reserves  are 
figured  as  averages  for  the  groups  of 
the  same  age.  Some  of  those  within 
the  same  group  may  live  longer  than 
the  average  time  for  their  group,  and 
draw  more  in  retirement  allowances 
than  their  reserve,  while  others  may 
live  shorter  than  the  average  time  and 
draw  less.  The  deficiences  in  the  former 
case  will  be  covered  from  the  surpluses 
in  the  latter,  and  the  average  for  the 
group  will  hold  true.  The  accumula- 
tion of  the  reserve  begins  when  the 
employee  becomes  a  member  of  the 
retirement  system  and  it  ends  on  his 
retirement;  then  the  expenditure  of 
his  reserve  begins.  When  the  employ- 
ing body  promises  a  certain  retirement 
allowance,  the  actuaries  determine 
what  its  obligations  on  a  reserve  basis 
on  that  account  are  and  what  contribu- 
tions must  be  paid  by  it  every  year  to 
accumulate  the  reserves  that  would 
cover  them.  If  the  prospective  assets 
that  the  fund  will  realize  from  these 
contributions  equal  the  prospective 
liabilities,  the  fund  is  solvent. 

Among  the  advantages  of  the  reserve 
basis  of  operation  the  following  may  be 
mentioned: 

(1)  It  is  in  accord  with  the  policy 
of  "pay  as  you  go."  It  distributes 
equitably  and  economically  from  year 
to  year  the  burdens  of  the  supporters 
of  the  system  and  to  that  extent  is 
sound  finance.  The  employing  body 
bears  each  year  the  proper  normal 
share  of  the  total  obligations  it  assumes. 
Each  year  the  services  are  rendered  it 
raises  the  monies  covering  that  part  of 
future  pensions  which  is  on  account 
of  the  services  rendered  that  year;  each 
generation  of  taxpayers  defrays,  there- 
fore, its  own  pension  obligation.  And 
similarly  the  employes, if  they  contrib- 


ute, bear  each  year  the  proper  normal 
share  of  obligations  they  assume. 
Each  year  they  set  aside  from  their 
salary  the  sum  of  money  necessary  to 
cover  that  share  of  their  future  bene- 
fit which  is  on  account  of  that  year. 
The  burdens  of  both  the  employing 
body  and  the  employers  are  levelled 
throughout  years  and  do  not  accumu- 
late towards  later  periods  as  they  do  in 
the  absence  of  a  reserve. 

(2)  It  is  in  accord  with  the  concept 
of -a  retirement  provision  as  a  charge 
for  depreciation  of  the  employe's  forces, 
for  it  places  a  proper  portion  of  the 
charge  on  each  year  responsible  for  the 
depreciation. 

(3)  The  cost  of  the  benefit  is  defi- 
nitely known  with  the  result  that  only 
such  benefits  are  provided  as  are  within 
the  financial  abilities  of  the  partici- 
pants and  the  possibility  of  inequi- 
table division  of  cost,  misunderstand- 
ing   and    dissatisfaction    is    reduced. 

(4)  The  system  is  maintained  in  a 
solvent  condition. 

(5)  The  annual  cost  is  reduced  by 
the  fact   that   interest  is  earned  on 
investment. 

7.  Joint  Contributory  Principle. — 
The  division  of  cost  of  retirement  pro- 
visions between  the  employing  body 
and  the  employes  will  be  generally 
found  more  practical  and  in  the  long 
run  more  satisfactory  to  both  sides, 
than  the  placement  of  the  whole  bur- 
den on  either  one  or  the  other  side.  In 
adopting  it,  care  must  be  taken  that 
the  division  be  truly  co-operative, 
equitable  and  sound. 

The  advantages  of  the  joint  contribu- 
tory principle  favored  by  the  com- 
mittee are  many : 

(1)  It  is  more  economical  and 
practical  than  the  other  systems  men- 
tioned, as  it  avoids  heavy  taxing  of 
either  the  resources  of  the  employing 
body  or  the  earnings  of  the  employe 
and  facilitates  thereby  the  establish- 


1922] 


PENSIONS  IN  PUBLIC   EMPLOYMENT 


105 


ment  and  maintenance  of  so  costly  an 
undertaking  as  the  pension   system. 

(2)  It  leads  to  an  equitable  and 
desirable  readjustment  of  expenditures 
of  both  the  employing  body  and  the 
employe. 

(3)  It  checks,  if  properly  conceived, 
extravagant  demands  on  the  part  of  the 
employes  as  it  makes  the  latter  partici- 
pate in  the  increase  of  cost  that  would 
result  from  the  grant  of  such  demand; 
and   it   fosters,   therefore,   a   steady, 
sound    development    of    the    system. 

(4)  It   calls  for  the  participation 
of  the  employes  in  the  management 
of  the  system — a  feature  which  helps 
the  harmonious   development  of  the 
system. 

(5)  It  is  in  accord  with  the  funda- 
mental philosophy  just  stated,  that  both 
the  employing  body  and  the  employe 
are  benefited  from  and  interested  in 
the  establishment  of  a  retirement  sys- 
tem and  ought,  therefore,  to  contribute 
to  it. 

(6)  It  is  also  in  accord  with  the 
theory  that  the  faculties  of  the  employe 
are  being  used  up  by  the  industry  or 
service  in  which  he  is  employed  as  well 
as  by  his  own  personal  pursuits  and 
enjoyments    and    that,    therefore,    a 
joint  responsibility  rests  upon  the  indus- 
try or  service  and  upon  the  employe  for 
the  upbuilding  of  proper  means  that 
would  sustain  the  employe  during  the 
time  when  these  faculties  shall  have 
been  destroyed. 

(7)  It  does  not  develop,  as  the  other 
systems  do,  grievance  in  one  party 
against  the  other  to  the  effect  that  it 
has  to  bear  the  other's  responsibilities 
and  burdens. 

(8)  It  leads   in   the   long  run   to 
greater   mutual   satisfaction   and   co- 
operation. 

The  joint  contributory  principle  has 
been  adopted  in  almost  all  sound  pen- 
sion systems  in  this  country.  The 
prevailing  tendency  of  these  systems 


is  towards  arriving  in  the  long  run  at  a 
more  or  less  equal  division  of  the  cost 
between  the  employing  body  and  the 
individual  employe.  This  more  or  less 
equal  division  is  applied  to  the  cost  of 
the  benefits  on  account  of  future  serv- 
ices. Accrued  liabilities  (which  arise 
out  of  the  past  services)  and  the  cost 
of  benefits  on  account  of  injuries  sus- 
tained or  death  occasioned  in  the  per- 
formance of  duty  are  usually  borne 
entirely  by  the  employing  body.  As 
instances  of  such  arrangements,  the 
systems  for  the  state  employes  of 
New  York,  New  Jersey  and  Massachu- 
setts, the  municipal  system  of  New  York 
City  and  San  Francisco  and  the  pro- 
posed municipal  system  of  Boston  may 
be  mentioned,  besides  practically  all 
the  sound  teachers'  pension  systems  of 
the  country.  Among  the  few  instances 
where  a  different  division  of  cost  has 
been  adopted  is  the  system  of  Chicago,, 
where  the  city's  normal  contribution  is 
about  75  per  cent  higher  than  that  of 
the  employees;  the  Milwaukee  project 
under  which  the  city  is  to  bear  three- 
fourths  of  the  cost  of  the  policemen's 
and  firemen's  superannuation  and  two- 
thirds  of  that  of  the  teachers;  and  Yon- 
kers'  project,  where  the  division  is  55 
per  cent  for  the  city  and  45  per  cent 
for  the  employe. 

8.  The  Non-Contribid&ry  System. — 
If  the  so-called  "non-contributory  sys- 
tem" is  established  the  cost  of  the  pro- 
tection which  it  offers  should  be  clearly 
determined  and  brought  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  employing  body  and  em- 
ploye and  it  should  be  clearly  under- 
stood between  them  that  this  cost  is  not 
borne  by  the  employing  body  alone  but 
is  borne  also  in  part  by  the  employe,  for 
the  latter's  wages  are  in  the  long  run 
depressed  by  the  employing  authority 
that  seeks  to  recover  that  way  from 
the  employe's  wage  a  part  of  the  cost 
of  the  old  age,  disability  and  death 
protection  towards  which  it  feels  the 
employe  should  have  contributed. 


106 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[April 


The  employing  bodies  and  the  em- 
ployes prefer  sometimes  the  so-called 
"non-contributory"  system  under 
which  the  employes  do  not  directly  con- 
tribute and  nominally  the  entire  cost 
is  borne  by  the  employing  body.  The 
employing  authorities  that  prefer  it  do 
so  usually  for  one  or  more  of  the 
following  three  reasons:  They  either 
want  to  exercise  a  complete  control 
over  the  retirement  system  and  realize 
that  if  the  employes  do  not  contribute, 
the  employes  have  a  lesser  claim,  if 
they  have  any,  for  participation  in  that 
control;  or  else  they  want  to  effect  a 
saving  in  the  cost  of  administering  the 
system,  for  the  cost  of  collecting  and 
recording  individual  contributions  is 
sometimes  very  considerable.  Or 
they  may  desire  to  avoid  a  controversy 
with  the  employes  who  may  object  to 
any  other  system. 

The  frequent  preference  of  the 
employes  for  it  may  be  explained  by 
the  following  reasons: 

1.  The   employes   who    are   most 
interested  in  the  question  of  protection 
against  old  age,  disability  or  deaths 
are  usually  the  older  employes;  they 
naturally  regard  the  retirement  allow- 
ance as  a  reward  for  their  long  and 
faithful  service;  even  though  they  may 
be  willing  to  contribute,  they  cannot 
possibly  contribute  more  than  a  small 
portion  of  the  cost  of  their  retirement 
allowance  in  the  course  of  the  few  years 
left  for  them  to  serve;  they  cannot, 
therefore,  regard  very  seriously  their 
contributing  to  their  retirement  and 
are  naturally  inclined  to  believe  that 
the  employer  could  as  well  provide 
their  retirement  entirely  at  his  expense, 
without  bothering  about  such  a  baga- 
telle as  their  contribution. 

2.  The  younger  employes  who  con- 
stitute the  bulk  of  the  entire  personnel 
are  usually  not  interested  in  the  ques- 
tions of  protection  against  these  con- 
tingencies, for  the  latter  seems  very 


distant.  They  could  contribute  with- 
out much  hardship  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  their  retirement  allowance  by 
setting  aside  each  year  a  small  portion 
of  their  wage,  but  they  usually  do  not 
care  to  do  so,  for  they  want  all  their 
money  for  the  satisfaction  of  their 
immediate  needs  and  pleasures.  They 
feel  that  if  the  employer  is  interested 
in  establishing  a  provision  for  their  old 
age  or  disability  or  death  he  should  do 
it  entirely  at  his  own  expense  without 
calling  for  any  contribution  on  their 
part. 

3.  The  men  or  women  in  their  late 
thirties  or  forties  stand  in  between 
the  extreme  helplessness  against  these 
contingencies  represented  by  the  first 
class  and  the  extreme  lack  of  care  of 
the  second;  they  think  of  their  future 
old  age  and  are  still  in  a  position  in  the 
course  of  the  20  or  25  years  ahead  of 
them  to  contribute  a  respectable  por- 
tion of  their  old-age  benefits;  if  they 
favor  a  so-called  "non-contributory" 
system  they  do  so  because  they  feel 
that  their  money  wage  is  increased  to 
the  extent  that  it  permits  them  to  apply 
to  some  other  purpose  the  portion 
which  they  would  have  otherwise  set 
aside  for  foregoing  contingencies,  in 
other  words  that  it  practically  increases 
their  wage. 

Granting,  therefore,  that  under 
some  conditions  so-called  non-con- 
tributory systems  will  be  established, 
the  committee  argues  in  favor  of  an 
effort  to  dispell  the  misunderstandings 
which  often  in  such  cases  develop. 
The  employing  authorities  usually  con- 
ceive that  they  are  really  paying  the 
entire  cost  of  such  a  system.  They 
tend  to  exaggerate  the  value  of  the 
benfits  they  offer  and  unduly  depress 
the  wages  on  this  account.  Employes 
also  believe  that  their  employer  pays 
the  whole  cost  of  the  non-contributory 
system  and  do  not  realize  that  they  are 
really  paying  a  part  of  it  in  the  form  of 


1922] 


PENSIONS   IN  PUBLIC  EMPLOYMENT 


107 


the  depressed  wage.  They  tend  either 
to  undervalue  the  benefit  and  conse- 
quently be  dissatisfied  with  the  wage  to 
which  the  benefit  is  an  addition,  or 
else  to  overestimate  it  and*  conse- 
quently, be  willing  to  accept  a  lower 
wage  on  this  account  than  what  the 
circumstances  warrant. 

The  worse  of  these  misunderstand- 
ings and  inequitable  results  could  be 
avoided  if  the  cost  of  the  benefit  offered 
were  known  and  an  equitable  relation 
of  the  benefit  to  the  wage  were  deter- 
mined and  established. 

9.  Contribution  of  Employing  Body. — 
The  accrued  liabilities  (the  liabilities 
on  account  of  the  service  rendered 
prior  to  the  establishment  of  the  system) 
should  be  discharged  by  the  employing 
body  on  a  full  reserve  or  partial  reserve 
basis,  so  that  until  they  are  finally 
liquidated  each  year  should  bear  a 
certain  equitable  normal  proportion  of 
them.  Where  the  setting  up  of  a  par- 
tial or  full  reserve  is  impossible,  the 
employing  body  should  be  fully  aware 
that  it  shifts  the  burdens  of  the  accrued 
liabilities  upon  posterity.  The  normal 
contributions  of  the  employing  body 
(the  contributions  made  on  account  of 
service  rendered  subsequent  to  the 
establishment  of  the  system)  should  be 
made  from  year  to  year  on  a  reserve 
basis.  The  administrative  expenses 
should  be  discharged  without  setting 
up  any  reserve. 

The  advantages  of  contributing  on 
a  reserve  basis  have  been  already  indica- 
ted. It  remains  to  explain  the  differ- 
ent problems  in  contributing  for  the 
services  rendered  after  the  establish- 
ment of  the  system  and  in  contribut- 
ing for  those  previously  rendered. 
In  the  former  case  the  problem  is  easy. 
Each  year  the  services  are  rendered, 
the  employing  body  contributes  on 
that  account.  Not  so  with  previous 
services.  No  contributions  have  been 
made  by  either  the  employing  body  or 
the  employe  when  they  have  been  ren- 


dered. When  credit  is  given  for  them 
a  deficiency  is  created  in  the  fund. 
This  deficiency,  known  as  the  accrued 
liabilities,  must  be  covered.  It  is 
practically  impossible  to  ask  the  em- 
ployes to  cover  any  part  of  it.  The 
employing  body  must  assume  the  re- 
sponsibility for  its  liquidation.  It  is 
impossible  for  the  government  to 
appropriate  at  once  the  amount  nec- 
essary to  cover  this  deficiency,  as  the 
latter  is  usually  very  considerable,  far 
exceeding  the  amount  of  the  payroll. 
The  expedient,  which  is,  therefore,  con- 
sidered most  practicable  is  to  distribute 
this  deficiency  over  a  certain  period  of 
years,  say  20,  25  or  more,  appropriat- 
ing each  year  a  certain  amount  so  that 
at  the  end  of  this  period  the  deficiency 
is  liquidated  and  the  fund  is  in  posses- 
sion of  all  the  necessary  reserves.  This 
annual  contribution  is  sometimes  called 
a  "deficiency  contribution"  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  "normal  contribu- 
tion" which  is  on  account  of  subse- 
quent service.  In  some  systems,  as, 
for  example,  in  the  municipal  system 
of  New  York  City,  the  deficiency  con- 
tribution and  the  normal  contribution 
on  account  of  present  employes  are 
merged  together;  the  total  liability  is 
estimated  and  a  certain  per  cent  of  it, 
6  per  cent  in  New  York,  is  appropria- 
ted each  year  so  that  within  a  certain 
period  it  is  liquidated.  Practically  all 
sound  systems  adopt  some  method  for 
the  liquidation  of  the  accrued  and 
future  liabilities  on  a  reserve  basis. 
The  only  exception  is  the  Massachusetts 
Employes'  System. 

10.  Contributions  of  Employes. — 
The  contributions  of  each  employe 
should  be  set  aside  and  invested  for 
him  until  the  time  of  his  retirement,  or 
withdrawal  from  the  fund.  They 
should  bear  a  certain  ratio  to  his  salary. 
Some  degree  of  graduation  of  the  rates 
of  contributions  according  to  the  age 
when  the  employe  begins  to  contribute 


108 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[April 


is  desirable  so  that  late  entrants  should 
pay  higher  rates  and  would  accumulate 
thereby  in  spite  of  the  shorter  remain- 
ing period  of  service,  a  reserve  suffi- 
cient to  provide  them  with  an  ade- 
quate benefit.  The  sex  and  occupations 
of  the  employes  should  also  be  taken 
into  account  in  fixing  the  rates. 

The  principles  expressed  in  the  first 
and  second  sentences  of  this  statement 
are  recognized  in  all  the  sound  systems 
in  this  country,  but  those  stated  in  the 
remaining  part  are  subjects  of  con- 
troversy. There  are  sound  systems  in 
which  the  rate  of  contribution  is  uni- 
form for  all  entrance  ages.  Such  is  the 
system  for  the  state  employes  of  Massa- 
chusetts where  everybody  contributes 
5  per  cent  of  salary  and  the  systems  of 
Chicago  and  the  proposed  Boston  sys- 
tem in  which  the  contribution  is  near 
4  or  5  per  cent.  They  are  more  simple, 
but  present  that  disadvantage  that 


in  case  of  late  entrants  the  benefit 
produced  is  inadequate.  Considering 
that  the  benefits  in  case  of  late  entrants 
should  also  be  adequate,  the  committee 
favors  some  degree  of  graduation  with- 
out specifying  whether  it  should  in- 
volve a  different  rate  for  each  age  or  a 
different  rate  only  for  a  certain  group 
of  ages  such  as,  for  example,  20  to  25, 
25  to  30,  etc.  Several  systems 
establish  the  same  rate  for  both  sexes 
and  all  occupations.  The  distinction 
as  to  sex  and  occupation  is  favored  here 
in  view  of  the  difference  of  mortality 
peculiar  to  each  and,  therefore,  cost. 
Unless  a  difference  in  rates  is  estab- 
lished, the  women  and  other  groups 
with  greater  longevity  either  receive 
smaller  benefits  or  else  receive  them 
to  some  extent  at  the  expense  of  the 
groups  with  a  shorter  life  expectancy 
or  at  an  additional  expense  of  the  em- 
ploying body. 


CHAPTER  IV 
BENEFITS 


11.  Contingencies  to  be  Covered  and 
Distinction  Between  the  Sources  of  the 
Benefit. — A  comprehensive  retirement 
system  should  provide  benefits  for  the 
following  contingencies :  old  age  (super- 
annuation), disability,  both  ordinary 
and  in  performance  of  duty,  death — 
ordinary  and  in  performance  of  duty; 
withdrawal  from  the  service  through 
resignation  or  dismissal.  It  is  desir- 
able that  the  retirement  allowance 
should  be  divided  into  two  distinct 
benefits:  the  "annuity"  provided  by 
the  employe's  own  accumulated  con- 
tributions and  the  "pension"  provided 
by  the  accumulated  contributions  of 
the  employing  body. 

Superannuation  is  taken  care  of  in 
all  existing  systems.  But  one  or  the 
other  contingencies  mentioned  are 
often  ignored.  Yet  they  are  of  utmost 


importance.  Disability  can  strike  a 
person  at  any  time;  death  may  leave 
his  dependents,  for  whom  he  works, 
without  means;  the  employe  may  resign 
or  be  dismissed,  and  ought  not  lose  in 
such  case  all  the  accumulations  that 
have  been  formed  from  his  and  his 
employer's  contributions  during  his 
service  for,  should  he  incur  such  a  loss 
every  time  he  changes  employment, 
his  protection  against  the  contingencies 
of  old  age,  disability  and  death  will  be 
seriously  impaired  if  not  altogether 
destroyed.  All  these  contingencies 
must  be  equitably  provided  for. 

The  distinction  as  between  the 
sources  of  the  benefits  is  important 
because  it  is  quite  common  for  either 
the  employing  body  or  the  employes 
to  make  exaggerated  claims  as  to  the 


1922] 


PENSIONS  IN  PUBLIC  EMPLOYMENT 


109 


cost  to  them  of  their  participation  in 
the  retirement  system.  The  employer 
would  claim  that  he  pays  so  much  for 
the  employe's  future  retirement  that 
he  cannot  increase  his  wages  as  he 
ought  to,  or  that  he  must  even  reduce 
them;  while  the  employe  would  claim 
that  he  contributes  so  much  towards 
his  future  retirement  that  his  wages 
should  be  increased.  When  each  side 
knows  exactly,  as  proposed  in  the  fore- 
going principle,  how  much  of  the  pen- 
sion each  pays,  there  is  less  room  for 
exaggerated  claims  and  there  is  more 
satisfaction.  Furthermore,  at  each 
proposed  amendment  of  the  system 
the  difference  of  cost  that  would 
result  to  each  may  be  determined, 
if  this  distinction  is  adopted,  and 
proper  adjustments  in  their  respective 
budgets  and  in  the  salaries  can  be 
made  by  each  side,  thus  assuring  a 
continued  equitable  development  of 
the  system.  In  practically  all  the 
sound  systems  this  principle  is  adopted. 

12.  Relation  of  Benefits  to  Salary 
and  Length  of  Service. — Some  propor- 
tionality, either  direct  or  indirect,  or 
both,  between  the  retirement  allowance 
and  the  average  salary  of  the  employe 
is  desirable  so  as  to  assure  him  a  retire- 
ment that  will  not  be  far  removed  from 
his  standard  of  living.  The  retirement 
allowance  should  increase  with  longer 
service  so  as  to  give  recognition  to  a 
longer  period  of  usefulness  to  the 
employer,  of  activity  on  one's  own  be- 
half and  of  contributions  and  so  as  to 
afford  an  incentive  to  remain  longer  in 
the  service.  A  minimum  amount  of 
benefit  should  be  fixed  to  prevent  in 
any  case  the  falling  of  benefits  below  a 
level  under  which  it  is  impossible  to 
cover  the  necessities  of  life. 

That  some  degree  of  proportionality 
to  salary  and  length  of  service  is  de- 
sirable is  generally  admitted.  The 
disagreement  arises  over  the  extent  to 
which  it  is  desirable.  There  are  three 


types  of  proportionality:  the  direct, 
the  indirect  and  the  combined. 

(1)  The   direct  proportionality   is 
obtained  when  the  benefit  is  fixed  as  a 
certain  proportion  of  salary  for  each 
year  of  service. 

(2)  The  indirect,  when  the  benefit 
is  not  fixed  as  a  certain  proportion  of 
salary  and  yet  eventually  any  way 
arrives  at  some  degree  of  proportion- 
ality because  of  the  fact  that  the  con- 
tribution from  which  it  is  produced  is 
fixed  as  a  proportion  to  salary  and  is 
made  for  every  year  of  service.    There 
may  be  two  types  of  indirect  propor- 
tionality— that  derived  from  a  contri- 
bution of  uniform  percentage  for  all 
entrance  ages,  and  that  derived  from  a 
graduated  contribution .    In  the  former 
case  the  benefit  would  be  proportioned 
only  in  the  case  of  early  entrants,  in 
the  latter  in  case  of  all  entrants. 

(3)  The  combined,  direct  and  in- 
direct, proportionality  is  obtained  by 
making  the  "  pension  "  part  of  the  retire- 
ment allowance  directly  proportional 
to  salary  and  length  of  service,  but  the 
"annuity"  part  only  indirectly  pro- 
portional. 

There  are  no  sound  systems  in  opera- 
tion in  this  country  in  the  public  serv- 
ice that  are  built  solely  on  the  first  of 
these  three  arrangements,  for  the  dis- 
advantages of  such  an  arrangement 
are  generally  considered  greater  than 
its  advantages.  The  Massachusetts 
State  Employes'  System  and  the  sys- 
tems of  Chicago,  San  Francisco  and 
Milwaukee  follow  the  second  method. 
The  Massachusetts  system  grants  such 
allowance  to  the  employe  as  a  contribu- 
tion of  10  per  cent  of  salary  (five  from 
the  employe  and  five  from  the  state) 
will  provide,  thus  indirectly  assuring 
proportional  benefits.  Several  sys- 
tems, including  those  of  New  York  and 
New  Jersey  state  employes  and  New 
York  City  municipal  employes,  follow 
the  mixed  arrangement.  Thus  in  the 


110 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[April 


New  York  City  system  the  retirement 
allowance  is  fixed  as  follows:  (1)  An 
annuity  of  such  amount  as  the  graduat- 
ed contributions  will  provide;  in  the 
average  case  the  same  as  the  "pension  " ; 
(2)  a  pension  of  yiir  of  salary  for 
clerks,  TSF  for  mechanics  and  -fiir 
for  laborers  for  each  year  of  subse- 
quent service,  and  ?V,  ^g-  and  TsV 
of  salary  for  the  three  groups  respec- 
tively for  each  year  of  prior  service. 
Thus  an  allowance  of  approximately 
half  pay  is  obtained  after  35,  34  and  33 
years  of  service  respectively.  The 
New  York  State  Employes'  and  the 
New  Jersey  State  Employes'  and  sev- 
eral other  systems  and  projects  also 
belong  to  this  class. 

The  principle  of  proportionality  is 
stated  by  the  committee  so  broadly  as 
to  include  any  of  these  types,  each  of 
which  presents  certain  advantages. 

13.  Age  the  Proper  Basis  for  Retire- 
ment.— Retirement  should  be  based 
primarily  on  age  and  only  secondarily, 
if  at  all,  on  length  of  service.  There 
should  be  a  minimum  age  after  which 
retirement  is  permissible  and  a  maxi- 
mum age  after  which  retirement  is  com- 
pulsory and  which  could  be  extended 
only  upon  proof  of  special  fitness. 
The  minimum  age  should  be  so  fixed 
as  to  result  in  neither  too  premature, 
nor  too  late  retirements.  Sufficient 
margin  between  the  maximum  and  the 
minimum  should  be  fixed  so  as  to 
allow  for  the  variations  in  the  time 
when  one  or  another  employe  may 
become  superannuated  and  permit  the 
employe  and  his  superior  to  exercise 
sufficient  discretion  as  to  the  time  of 
his  retirement. 

In  the  old  days,  retirement  was  based 
on  length  of  service  because  the  pension 
was  conceived  as  a  reward  for  long  and 
faithful  service.  But  to-day  the  tend- 
ency is  to  base  it  on  age  because  the 
pension  is  increasingly  regarded  as  a 
means  of  protection  against  old  age. 
Furthermore,  the  "length  of  service" 


basis  does  not  work  out  to-day  as  well 
as  it  did  years  ago,  because  the  employ- 
ment becomes  increasingly  mobile,  men 
change  the  service  much  more  fre- 
quently and  enter  the  employment 
from  which  they  eventually  retire, 
often  at  a  late  age.  An  employe  who 
entered  the  service  early  will  complete 
the  required  20,  25  or  30  years  of  serv- 
ice at  the  age  of  40,  45  or  50.  He  will 
qualify  for  retirement  while  still  a 
young  man.  The  retirement  of  the 
young  is  undesirable  from  the  point  of 
view  of  efficiency  of  service  and  un- 
necessary from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
employe  and  it  is  very  costly  because 
of  the  considerable  life  expectancy  of 
the  young.  And  on  the  other  hand  the 
man  who  entered  the  service  late  will 
qualify  for  retirement  only  at  a  late  age. 
It  is,  therefore,  more  practicable  to  fix 
a  certain  age  for  retirement  either  with- 
out any  qualification  as  to  length  of 
service  or  only  with  a  slight  qualifica- 
tion, such  as,  for  example,  a  minimum 
of  10  years  of  service  in  addition  to  the 
required  age.  Most  of  the  sound  sys- 
tems of  to-day  follow  this  practice. 
The  ages  fixed  by  the  New  York  City 
System  are  suggestive  of  a  good  age 
arrangement:  laborers  58,  mechanics 
59,  clerks  60.  For  policemen  and  fire- 
men age  57  was  proposed. 

14.  Ordinary  Disability.  —  Retire- 
ment for  ordinary  disability  should  be 
allowed  irrespective  of  the  age  of  the 
employe  and  after  a  comparatively 
short  period  of  service.  The  scale  of 
benefits  should  be  so  fixed  as  to  provide 
benefits  which  would  in  all  cases  be 
adequate  and  yet  not  as  large  as 
the  benefits  which  he  would  receive  if 
he  continued  in  the  service  until  super- 
annuation. Impartial  and  expert  medi- 
cal examination  prior  to  the  granting 
of  retirement  as  well  as  periodical  re- 
examinations  after  retirement  should 
be  assured  and,  in  case  disability  is 
found  to  have  reduced  or  altogether 
ceased,  the  reduction  or  discontinuance 


1922] 


PENSIONS  IN  PUBLIC  EMPLOYMENT 


111 


of  the  allowance  and  restoration  of  the 
employe  to  service  should  be  made 
possible. 

15.  Disability    in    Performance    of 
Duty. — Retirement   for   disability  in- 
curred in  performance  of  duty  should 
be  allowed  irrespective  of  the  length 
of  service.    It  should  be  compensated 
by  the  employing  body,  more  liberally 
than    ordinary    disability    or    super- 
annuation, since  the  responsibility  for 
the  disability  rests  principally  upon  the 
service.     Its  "pension"  part  should  be 
paid  from  a  special  fund,  as  it  represents 
a  special    hazard.     Strict  safeguards, 
such  as  are  mentioned  in  the  preceding 
section  and  others,  must  be  provided 
to  prevent  abuse.    Where  an  employe 
is  also  covered  by  a  workmen's  compen- 
sation act,  choice  should  be  allowed 
him  between  the  benefit  under  one  or 
the  other  system. 

16.  Ordinary    Death. — In    case    of 
ordinary  death  the  employe's  contribu- 
tion together  with  compound  interest 
should  be  returned  to  his  legal  represent- 
atives.    An   additional   death   benefit 
to  the  widow  or  the  children  of  a  lump 
sum  equal  to  one  or  two  years'  salary 
and  provided  either  entirely  at  the 
expense    of   the   employing   body   or 
jointly  with  the  employe  is  desirable. 

A  refund  of  contributions  is  a  mini- 
mum of  what  should  be  done  in  a 
sound  system.  An  additional  benefit 
adds  much  to  the  attractiveness  of  the 
system.  The  New  York  City  Municipal 
System  provides  such  an  additional 
death  benefit,  fixing  it  at  one  half  of  a 
year's  salary.  San  Francisco  does  like- 
wise. Chicago  and  Milwaukee  go  still 
further  in  this  matter  and  provide  con- 
siderable annuities  to  the  widow. 

17.  Death  Caused  in  Performance  of 
Duty. — In   case    of    death    caused   in 
performance  of  duty  the  payment  of 
an  adequate  pension  to  tne  depend- 
ents in  addition  to  the  payment  of  the 


employe's  own  accumulation  (or  an 
annuity  provided  thereby)  is  advisable, 
as  the  responsibility  for  the  death  rests 
upon  the  service.  The  pension  should 
be  paid  by  the  employing  body  from 
the  same  fund  from  which  the  pension 
for  disability  in  performance  of  duty 
is  paid. 

These  principles  are  supported  by 
the  features  of  most  of  the  sound  sys- 
tems. In  the  system  of  New  York 
State  and  New  York  City  the  widow 
and  children  are  allowed  a  pension  of 
half  pay  in  addition  to  a  refund  of  the 
contributions  of  the  deceased. 

18.  Resignation  and  Dismissals. — In 
case   of  resignation  or  dismissal  the 
employe's    contributions    with    com- 
pound interest  should  be  refunded  to 
him. 

The  benefit  required  in  this  state- 
ment is  a  minimum  of  what  should  be 
done.  Some  systems  have  gone  beyond 
this  and  provide  also  for  a  refund  or 
credit,  for  annuity  purposes,  of  all 
or  part  of  the  employer's  contribution 
made  toward  superannuation  with  in- 
terest after  a  certain  length  of  service.1 

19.  The  inclusion  of  optional  bene- 
fits is  highly  desirable,  because  it  increases 
the  elasticity  of  the  system  and  makes  the 
benefits   more   adaptable   to    individual 
conditions. — Most  of  the  sound  systems 
allow  the  member  at  the  time  of  retire- 
ment to  choose  to  take  a  smaller  allow- 
ance with  the  proviso  that  a  balance  of 
his  reserve  or  a  similar  allowance  or  a 
half  of  that  allowance  shall  be  paid  to 
his  dependents  after  death.    A  person 
who  has  no  dependents  will  not  avail 
himself  of  this  option  and  will  take  his 
entire  allowance.    But  a  person  with 
dependents  will  avail  himself  of  it  and 
will  find  it  of  considerable  comfort. 

»See  New  York  City.  Chicago  and  Milwau- 
kee systems.  Ch.  VII. 


112 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[April 


CHAPTER  V 
ESTABLISHMENT,  ADMINISTRATION  AND  MEMBERSHIP 


20.  Establishment  of  the  System. — To 
avoid  delay  due  to  apathy  of  public 
officials  and  employes,  the  establish- 
ment of  the  retirement  systems  should 
be    made,    wherever    possible,    man- 
datory.   Where,  especially  in  cases  of 
counties    and    municipalities,    a    pro- 
vision of  such  nature  would  be  too 
drastic,  the  establishment  can  be  made 
optional.     In  such  case  an  equitable 
participation  should  be  assured  to  the 
employing  body  and  the  employes  in 
the  determination  of  whether  or  not 
the  retirement  system  should  be  estab- 
lished    at     the     time.     And    proper 
actuarial  and  other  information  as  to 
the   burdens   involved   for   each   side 
should  be  presented  to  them  before  the 
system  is  finally  established. 

Little  need  to  be  added  here.  The 
provision  in  the  proposed  New  Jersey 
municipal  plan  may  illustrate  the  sug- 
gested practice.  It  is  provided  there 
that  in  case  two  thirds  of  the  employes 
of  any  department  of  any  municipality 
not  now  having  a  pension  fund  shall  at 
any  time  signify  in  writing  their  desire 
for  the  establishment  of  a  retirement 
system,  then  the  governing  body  of 
the  municipality  shall  secure  an  actu- 
arial estimate  of  the  liabilities  involved 
in  such  system,  publish  the  estimate, 
submit  the  question  as  to  the  desir- 
ability of  the  establishment  of  the  sys- 
tem to  a  referendum  vote  at  the  next 
election,  and  if  the  majority  votes  in 
the  affirmative,  establish  the  system. 
A  similar  practice  is  to  be  followed 
in  case  of  the  extension  of  the  system 
to  other  departments.  The  provision 
proposed  in  New  York  (see  Ch.  VIII)  is 
illustrative  of  a  more  radical  procedure. 

21.  Membership. — Membership    in 
the  system  should  be  made  compulsory 
for    all    new    entrants.    In    case    of 
employes  already  in  the  service  at  the 


time  of  establishment  of  the  system 
one  of  the  following  solutions  may  be 
adopted,  according  to  circumstances: 

1.  Membership  can  be  made  com- 
pulsory for  them. 

2.  It  can  be  made  optional  by  allow- 
ing the  employes  a  certain  time  within 
which  to  file  a  notification  that  they 
do  not  want  to  become  members,  and 
making  members  all  those  who  did  not 
file  the  notification. 

3.  It  can  be  made  optional  by  allow- 
ing the  employes  a  certain  time  within 
which  to  file  an  application  to  become 
a  member,  and  making  members  only 
those  who  filed  the  application. 

22.  Administration. — The  adminis- 
tration of  the  system  should  be  vested 
in  (1)  a  board  of  trustees  consisting  of 
representatives  of  the  employing  body 
and  elected  representatives  of  the  mem- 
bership of  the  system  and  (2)  an  ex- 
ecutive director.  The  representation 
in  the  board  should  be  preferably  equal 
between  the  two  sides  and  be  supple- 
mented by  a  neutral  member  of  high 
standing.  But  where  public  moneys 
are  involved  to  a  far  greater  extent 
than  the  employe's  contributions  a 
slight  preponderance  to  the  employ- 
ing side  in  the  matter  of  representation 
may  be  advisable.  Too  much  em- 
phasis cannot  be  placed  on  the  fact 
that  the  duty  of  the  board  should  be 
primarily  policy  determining  and  that 
the  director  should  have  a  broad  scope 
of  power  and  be  a  man  thoroughly 
in  sympathy  with  the  fundamental 
principles  of  the  system.  Proper 
actuarial  assistance  to  the  board  should 
be  provided. 

The  principle  of  representation  of 
the  employes  on  the  board  of  manage- 
ment of  the  pension  fund  is  recognized 
in  most  of  the  sound  pension  systems. 
Among  the  few  exceptions  to  this  rule 
are  the  systems  of  the  New  York  State 
employes  and  the  New  York  City 


1922] 


PENSIONS  IN  PUBLIC  EMPLOYMENT 


113 


employes,  where  the  management  is 
entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  employing 
body.  Among  the  arguments  in  favor 
of  such  representation,  two  may  be 
mentioned:  (1)  It  is  only  proper  that 
persons  who  contribute  money  should 
exercise  a  voice  over  the  usage  made 
of  these  monies  and  (2)  the  interest  of 
the  employes  in  a  retirement  system  is 
bound  to  be  stimulated  by  such  repre- 
sentatives. Important  is  the  emphasis 
which  the  committee  places  on  the  high 
qualifications  which  the  management 
of  the  system  must  possess.  For  the 
soundness  of  the  system  depends  on 
good  management  just  as  much  as  it 
does  on  the  scientific  planning  of  the 
system.  It  is  futile  to  write  a  good 
pension  law  if  its  enforcement  is  to  be 
vested  as  it  is  often  done,  in  the  hands 
of  men  who  belong  to  the  old  pension 
school  and  who  disapprove  of  the 
scientific  methods  of  operations  pre- 
scribed by  the  law. 

23.  Periodical  Actuarial  Valuations. 
— The  retirement   system   should  be 
periodically  valued  by  an  actuary,  so 
that  the  true  mortality  and  withdrawal 
experience    of   the   particular    service 
could  be  obtained  and  any  changes  in  it 
registered,  the  adequacy  of  the  funds 
ascertained  and  timely  adjustments  in 
the   contributions   or   benefits   made. 

The  only  point  open  to  controversy 
here  is  whether  or  not  the  contributions 
of  the  employes  (and  their  purchasing 
power  or  annuity  values)  should  also  be 
adjusted  from  time  to  time,  just  as 
those  of  the  employing  body,  according 
to  changes  in  the  mortality,  etc.,  or  not. 
The  committee  holds  that  it  is  to  the 
advantage  of  the  employes  that  such 
adjustments  should  be  made  and  that 
the  mutual  features  of  the  system  are 
thereby  strengthened. 

24.  Central   Technical  Advice. — The 
establishment  of  some  central  technical 
agency  in  the  state  to  help  the  sound 


operation  of  the  various  retirement 
systems  is  desirable.  This  agency 
established  as  a  separate  department 
or  incorporated  in  the  state  insurance 
department  could  receive  from  the 
various  funds  reports  of  their  operation, 
develop  the  true  mortality  and  with- 
drawal experience  of  the  various 
branches  of  the  public  service  in  the 
state  which  is  necessary  for  the  sound 
operation  of  the  systems,  supply  tech- 
nical information,  value  such  retire- 
ment funds  and  also  operate  for  such 
small  funds  as  cannot  lead  an  entirely 
independent  financial  existence,  some 
system  of  reinsurance. 

It  does  not  suffice  to  place  a  law 
establishing  a  sound  state  pension 
policy  on  the  statute  books.  It  is 
necessary  to  assure  that  the  huge  com- 
plicated system  created  thereby  should 
properly  operate  and  harmoniously 
develop.  For  this  purpose,  a  central 
supervisory  agency  is  suggested.  This 
proposal  is  outlined  in  detail  in  a 
bill  introduced  in  New  Jersey  and  is 
described  as  follows: 

To  protect  the  small  funds  against  any  unfore- 
seen heavy  hazards,  the  proposed  bill  requires  all 
funds  having  less  than  one  hundred  members  to 
reinsure  themselves  in  the  Reinsurance  Fund, 
which  will  be  specially  created  for  this  purpose 
under  the  supervision  of  the  state.  This  feature 
is  similar  to  the  reinsurance  feature  now  operat- 
ing in  some  states  in  connection  with  the  Em- 
ployers' Liability  Law. 

All  the  funds  will  operate  under  the  supervision 
of  the  State  Pension  Committee,  which  will  pre- 
scribe standards  of  solvency,  interpret  the  law, 
examine  the  operation  of  the  funds  and  take  care 
that  a  uniform  and  sound  pension  policy  in  this 
state  is  preserved  and  due  improvements  in  the 
funds  introduced.  The  funds  will  be  valued  by 
an  actuary  approved  by  the  State  Pension  Com- 
mission, so  that  their  financial  condition  will  at 
all  times  be  known  and  their  solvency  maintained. 
In  a  word,  the  State  Pension  Commission  will 
function  with  respect  to  pension  funds  in  a  simi- 
lar manner  as  a  state  insurance  department  func- 
tions with  respect  to  insurance  companies  and 
fraternal  organizations.  Just  as  the  insurance 
departments  have  greatly  helped  to  stabilize  the 
insurance  affairs  in  every  state  in  which  they 
have  been  established,  so  will  a  state  pension  de- 
partment stabilize  pension  affairs.  Sooner  or 
later  every  state  in  which  pension  funds  operate 
must  adopt  some  scheme  of  central  supervision, 
for  the  present  pension  chaos  cannot  be  long  en- 
dured; it  threatens  with  disaster. 


114 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[April 


A  similar  proposal  has  been  recently 
made  by  the  New  York  State  Recon- 
struction Commission,  which  urged  in 
its  report  the  establishment  in  the 
executive  department  in  the  proposed 
bureau  of  administration  of  a  special 
pension  division  composed  of  an  expert 
pension  and  actuarial  staff  which  would 
perform  the  following  functions  with 
respect  to  state,  county,  and  municipal 
pensions:  Supply  information  to  the 


legislature,  and  local  authorities,  col- 
lect pensions,  make  actuarial  valuation 
of  funds  and  calculate  rates  of  contribu- 
tions, prepare  annual  reports  on  the 
pension  situation  and  ultimately  super- 
vise the  operation  of  state  and  local 
funds  with  a  view  to  enforce  sound 
standards.  The  Illinois  Pension  Com- 
mission has  also  incorporated  in  its 
bill  the  same  thought. 


CHAPTER  VI 
TREATMENT  OF  UNSOUND   SYSTEMS 


25.  Check  on  Unsound  Legislation. — 
There  should  be  no  further  enactments 
of  retirement  projects  which  are  not 
founded  upon  an  actuarial  basis  and 
which  are  in  discord  with  the  main 
provisions  of  the  sound  policy  adopted. 

The  principle  suggested  here  cannot 
be  enacted  into  law,  as  one  legislature 
cannot  bind  another.  But  its  adop- 
tion by  each  legislature  as  a  guiding 
thought  and  sound  though  not 
statutory  rule  is  within  the  bounds 
of  possibility.  If  a  few  fundamental 
laws  covering  the  entire  public  service 
are  enacted  and  such  central  agency 
as  suggested  is  established,  this  prac- 
tice would  be  a  natural  development. 

26.  Preventing  Establishment  of  New 
Unsound  Funds. — The  establishment 
of  new  pension  funds  under  the  un- 
sound laws  which  had  not  been  repealed 
should  be  prohibited.    All  new  funds 
should  be  established  under  the  new 
law. 

27.  Reorganizing  Existing   Unsound 
Funds. — The  existing  unsound  pension 
funds  should  be  reorganized  or  abol- 
ished.   This  may  be  accomplished  by 


different  methods,  each  possessing 
certain  advantages,  which  are  sub- 
stantially as  follows : 

1.  The  law  may  be  amended  so  as  to 
correct  the  most  flagrant  defects  of  the 
fund  and  gradually  bring  it  into  con- 
formity with  the  requirements  of  a 
sound  policy,  or 

2.  Provision  may  be  made  inducing 
the   members   of   the   unsound   fund 
voluntarily   to   transfer   to   the   new 
sound  fund  and  compelling  all  new 
employes  to  belong  to  the  latter,  so 
that  gradually  the  old  fund  would  be 
liquidated,  or 

3.  The  old  fund  may  at  once  be 
abolished,  in  view  of  its  unsoundness, 
and  all  its  members  transferred  to  the 
new  fund  established  under  the  new  law. 

In  no  case  upon  liquidation  of  an 
old  retirement  system  should  there  be 
any  reduction  in  the  pensions  already 
granted  at  the  time  of  establishment 
of  the  new  system.  If  no  sufficient 
funds  for  their  payment  are  left  from 
the  old  system,  the  employing  body 
should  make  the  necessary  additional 
appropriations  from  year  to  year  as 
long  as  the  pensioners  live. 


1922] 


PENSIONS   IN    PUBLIC    EMPLOYMENT 


115 


CHAPTER  VII 
SOUND   SYSTEMS  IN  OPERATION 


Leaving  aside  the  sound  retirement 
systems  for  teachers,  which  are  treated 
fully  in  other  works,  there  are  seven 
systems  which  need  be  described  here. 
These  are  the  state  system  of  Massa- 
chusetts,— the  earliest  sound  system  in 
this  country,  established  in  1911,  that 
of  New  York,  enacted  in  1920,  and  that 
of  New  Jersey  in  1921 ;  and  the  munici- 
pal system  of  New  York,  operating 
since  1920,  that  of  Chicago  and  that  of 
San  Francisco,  established  in  1922, 
and  that  of  Milwaukee  which  became 
also  effective  in  the  latter  year,  but  so 
far  only  in  application  to  policemen. 

There  is  still  one  more  system — the 
permissive  act  of  Massachusetts  apply- 
ing to  municipalities.  It  is,  however, 
practically  identical  with  the  state  sys- 
tem and  furthermore  only  one  city, 
that  of  Salem,  apparently  took  advan- 
tage of  it.  It  need  not,  therefore,  be 
discussed  separately. 

The  retirement  system  for  federal 
employes,  though  only  recently  estab- 
lished (1920)  cannot  be  discussed  here. 
It  does  not  belong  to  the  class  of  sound 
systems,  for  practically  the  only  sound 
feature  in  it  is  that  which  provides 
for  an  actuarial  board  to  make  valu- 
ations of  the  system. 

Of  the  seven  systems  mentioned, 
three — those  of  Massachusetts,  Chicago 
and  Milwaukee — are  based  on  contri- 
butions of  the  same  percentage  rate  for 
entrants  of  all  ages  and  provide  just 
what  the  accumulation  from  the  con- 
tributions of  the  employees  and  the 
employing  body  will  provide.  Three 
systems, — those  of  New  York  State, 
New  York  City  and  New  Jersey  gradu- 
ate the  rate  of  contributions  according 
to  entrance  age  and  are  mixed  systems 
on  one  hand  giving  the  employe  an 
equivalent  of  his  accumulations,  on  the 


other  guaranteeing  him  from  the  con- 
tributions of  the  employing  body  a 
pension  of  a  certain  proportion  of  salary 
for  each  year  of  service.  The  San 
Francisco  system  stands  in  between 
these  two  groups,  fixing  the  regular 
pension  according  to  accumulation- 
from  the  contributions  of  the  employ- 
ing body,  as  the  systems  in  the  first 
group  do,  while  on  the  other  hand  grad- 
uating the  rates  of  contributions  and 
fixing  the  prior  service  pensions  as  a 
certain  proportion  of  salary,  as  it  is 
done  by  the  systems  in  the  second 
group. 

1.  Massachusetts  State  Employes 
The  retirement  system  covering  the  Massa- 
chusetts State  Employes  was  established  under 
the  act  of  1911.  It  covers  practically  the  entire 
service  and  calls  for  contributions  from  both  the 
state  and  the  employes,  whereas  formerly  only 
certain  branches  of  the  service  were  covered 
and  no  contributions  from  the  employes  were 
exacted.  Membership  in  the  system  is  compul- 
sory for  new  entrants  and  optional  for  those  in 
the  service  at  the  time  the  system  was  established. 
The  employes  in  the  service  prior  to  June  1, 
1918,  are  required  to  contribute  8  per  cent  and 
are  allowed  to  contribute  up  to  5  per  cent. 
Those  employed  since  that  date  are  required  to 
contribute  5  per  cent.  No  one  is  allowed  to  con- 
tribute more  than  on  the  basis  of  a  salary  of  $30 
per  week  ($1,500  per  year).  This  contribution  is 
credited  to  the  employe's  account  with  interest 
at  3  per  cent  and  provides  for  him  at  retirement 
an  annuity  according  to  his  age  and  on  the  basis 
of  the  American  Experience  Mortality  Table. 
The  state  provides  a  pension  equal  to  the  annuity 
and  in  case  of  men  who  have  prior  service  (prior 
to  June  1,  1912)  an  extra  pension  as  large  as  the 
double  of  his  contribution  paid  throughout 
would  have  constituted.  In  other  words,  both 
bis  annuity  and  pension  for  the  prior  service  »re 
made  up  at  the  expense  of  the  state,  and  there  is 
a  further  provision  by  which  the  total  allowance 
must  in  no  case  be  less  than  $300  per  year  nor 
more  than  half  pay. 


116 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[April 


Retirement  is  allowed  at  the  age  of  60,  pro- 
vided the  employe  had  15  years  of  service,  or  at 
the  age  of  70  irrespective  of  service,  or  after  35 
years  of  service  irrespective  of  age;  or  in  case  of 
disability  after  15  years  of  service.  In  case  of 
withdrawal  from  the  service  through  resignation 
or  dismissal,  or  in  case  of  death  before  retirement, 
the  employe  or  his  dependents  are  entitled  to 
his  contributions  with  regular  interest. 

The  administration  of  the  system  is  in  the 
hands  of  a  board  composed  of  the  state  treasurer, 
a  person  elected  by  the  members  of  the  system 
and  a  third  person  selected  by  the  two. 

2.  New  Jersey  State  Employes 
The  law  establishing  this  system  was  enacted 
in  1921.  It  covers  the  entire  state  service. 
Membership  in  it  is  compulsory  with  new 
entrants  and  optional  with  present  employes 
and  is  divided  into  two  large  groups,  laborers 
and  clerks,  with  further  sub-division  according  to 
sex. 

Retirement  is  allowed  at  60  and  is  covered  by 
a  retirement  allowance  of  approximately  7*5- 
of  the  average  salary  of  the  last  five  years  for 
each  year  of  service.  It  consists  of  an  annuity 
such  as  the  employes'  contributions  will  provide 
and  amounting  at  the  above  age  to  one  half  of  the 
foregoing  fraction  in  case  of  average  advance- 
ment of  salary  for  all  future  service,  and  of  a  pen- 
sion from  the  state  furnishing  the  other  half  for 
future  service  and  the  whole  fraction  for  the 
prior  service. 

Ordinary  disability  is  recognized  for  retire- 
ment after  10  years  of  service  and  the  allowance 
is  composed  of  a  pension  of  20  per  cent  of  salary 
plus  the  annuity  with  a  proviso  that  the  total 
must  not  exceed  90  per  cent  of  the  allowance 
which  the  employe  would  have  received  had  he 
continued  in  the  service  to  the  age  of  60.  Acci- 
dental disability  is  covered  by  a  pension  of 
two  thirds  of  the  salary  plus  the  annuity  and 
accidental  death  by  a  pension  to  the  widow  or 
children  of  half  pay  plus  a  refund  of  his  con- 
tribution with  interest. 

In  case  of  resignation,  dismissal  or  ordinary 
death  the  contributions  of  the  employe  are 
refunded  to  him  with  interest.  The  usual 
optional  benefits  are  provided  on  retirement. 

The  members  are  to  contribute  according  to 
their  age,  sex  and  occupation  as  follows: 

Clerks,  men,  from  4.06%  to  7.15%  of  salary 

Clerks,  women,  from  4.35%  to  7.84%  of  salary 

Laborers,  men,  from  3.53%  to  7.07%  of  salary 


Laborers,  women,  from  3.65%  to  7.38%  of 

salary 

The  state  is  to  contribute  from  2  to  2|  per 
cent  of  salary  on  account  of  future  service,  and 
in  addition  discharge  on  a  reserve  basis  in  the 
course  of  25  years  all  accrued  liabilities. 

The  system  is  to  be  managed  by  a  board  con- 
sisting of  two  trustees  to  be  appointed  by  the 
governor,  two  elected  by  the  members  and  the 
state  treasurer. 

3.  New  York  State  Employes 
This   system  was   established   under   a  law 
enacted  in  1920.    It  covers  all  employes  except 
those  covered  by  existing  pension  laws  such  as 
hospital  employes. 

Membership  in  it  is  compulsory  for  all  new 
entrants  and  optional  with  present  employes  and 
is  divided  into  five  groups :  male  clerical,  admin- 
istrative, professional  and  technical;  female 
clerical,  etc.;  mechanics  and  laborers;  male 
employes  of  state  institutions;  female  employes 
of  state  institutions. 

The  conditions  of  retirement  and  scale  of 
benefits  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  New  Jersey 
system. 

Disability  is  recognized  after  15  years  of  serv- 
ice and  is  covered  by  an  allowance  of  90  per 
cent  of  the  superannuation  scale  with  a  minimum 
of  25  per  cent  of  salary,  the  pension  from  the 
state  supplying  the  difference  between  the 
annuity  and  the  allowance.  No  special  provi- 
sion is  made  for  disability  in  performance  of  duty 
or  for  death  in  performance  of  duty.  In  case  of 
resignation,  dismissal  or  death,  the  contribu- 
tions of  the  employe  are  returned  with  interest. 
Optional  benefits  are  offered  on  retirement;  and 
proper  safeguards  are  provided  against  abuse  of 
disability  retirement. 

The  employes  contribute  according  to  their  age 
and  group  such  a  rate  as  would  provide  in  case 
of  average  advancement  the  proportion  of  the 
benefits  mentioned.    The  rate  ranges  as  follows: 
Male,  clerical,  from  4.29%  to  7.24% 
Female,  clerical,  from  4.83%  to  8.13% 
Male,  institutional,  from  3.84%  to  7.24% 
Female,  institutional,  from  4.32%  to  8.13% 
Laborers,  from  3.42%  to  7.07% 
The  state  will  contribute  1.15  per  cent  for 
future  service  and  2.37  per  cent  for  prior  service. 
The  latter  contribution  will  have  to  be  made 
only  for  about  30  years. 

The  system  will  be  managed  bv  the  state 
comptroller. 


1922] 


PENSIONS  IN  PUBLIC   EMPLOYMENT 


117 


4.  New  York  City  Municipal  Employ  e» 

The  New  York  City  Employes'  Retirement 
System  was  established  under  a  law  enacted  in 
1920.  It  covers  all  municipal  employes  not 
covered  by  the  various  special  departmental 
funds,  such  as  those  of  the  police,  fire,  teachers, 
Hunters  College,  street  cleaners  and  department 
of  health. 

Membership  in  the  system  is  compulsory  for  all 
new  entrants  and  optional  for  present  employes 
and  is  divided  into  the  following  three  groups: 
laborers  and  unskilled  manual  workers;  me- 
chanics and  skilled  workers  engaged  upon  duties 
requiring  principally  physical  exertion;  and 
clerical,  administrative,  professional  and  tech- 
nical workers. 

Retirement  is  optional  for  the  first  group  at 
the  age  of  58,  for  the  second  at  59  and  for  the 
third  at  60,  and  is  compulsory  for  all  at  70.  The 
retirement  allowance  will  average  ^  of  the 
average  salary  of  the  last  ten  years  for  the  first 
group,  ^g  for  the  second  and  ^  for  the 
third.  In  other  words,  approximately  hah*  pay 
would  be  provided  in  the  first  case  after  33  years, 
in  the  second  after  34  and  in  the  third  after  35. 
The  allowance  consists  of  such  annuity  as  the 
contributions  of  members  will  purchase  and 
which  in  the  average  case  at  the  retiring  age  will 
amount  to  one  half  of  the  fractions  just  mentioned 
for  all  future  service;  and  of  a  pension  provided 
by  the  city  and  constituting  the  other  hah*  of 
these  fractions  for  all  subsequent  service  and  the 
whole  of  them  for  all  prior  service. 

The  benefit  for  ordinary  disability  is  granted 
after  10  years  of  service  and  is  somewhat  com- 
plicated. In  addition  to  the  annuity  of  such 
amount  as  the  employes'  contributions  will 
provide  at  the  time  of  retirement,  a  pension  is 
given  which  will  bring  the  total  allowance  up  to 
90  per  cent  of  the  5*5,  5*8"  and  ^V  fractions; 
if  the  allowance  so  produced  is  less  than  25  per 
cent  of  salary  then  additional  salary  fractions 
will  be  provided  for  each  year  which  separates  the 
employe  from  his  regular  retirement,  not  to  ex- 
ceed, however,  25  per  cent  of  salary. 

Allowances  for  disability  in  performance  of 
duty  are  granted  any  time  and  consist  in 
addition  to  the  annuity,  of  a  pension  of  three 
fourths  pay.  Various  safeguards  are  provided 
for  the  re-examination  and  restoration  to  service 
of  retired  men  whose  disability  has  ceased.  In 
case  of  ordinary  death  the  contributions  of  the 
employe  with  compound  interest  are  refunded  to 
the  legal  representatives  of  the  deceased  and 


in  addition  a  lump-sum  benefit  of  one  half  of 
the  year's  salary  is  given.  In  case  of  death  in 
performance  of  duty  a  pension  of  half  pay  U 
provided  to  the  dependents  in  addition  to  a 
refund  of  the  contributions  of  the  deceased  with 
compound  interest. 

The  employe  who  resigns  or  is  dismissed 
before  retirement  receives  his  contributions  with 
interest.  In  addition  the  dismissed  employe 
receives  a  refund  of  the  employer's  contribu- 
tions figured  as  the  present  value  of  a  pension, 
deferred  to  age  60,  of  TJ^  of  his  salary  for  each 
year  of  his  service.  Various  optional  benefits 
which  are  offered  in  the  best  systems  are  allowed 
on  retirement.  The  system  is  managed  by  the 
board  of  estimate  and  apportionment. 

The  employes  contribute  according  to  their 
group,  sex  and  age,  from  about  3f  per  cent  to 
about  6  per  cent  of  salary.  The  city's  contribu- 
tion consists  of  several  elements,  each  of  which 
defrays  a  different  benefit.  It  discharges  all  its 
liabilities,  accrued  as  well  as  future,  on  a  reserve 
basis. 

5.   Milwaukee 

This  system  was  established  under  an  act  of 
1921 .  The  act  provided  for  the  establishment  of 
a  general  city  system  covering  all  the  departments, 
but  it  made  its  establishment  contingent  on  the 
approval  by  the  common  council  of  the  city.  For 
more  than  a  year  the  council  withheld  its  approval 
because  of  the  great  costs  which  the  city  would 
have  to  bear  under  the  system.  Finally,  in  1922, 
it  approved  the  application  of  the  law  to  the 
policemen,  but  refused  to  apply  it  to  the  other 
groups  of  employes.  Thus  the  act  became  only 
partly  affective. 

The  law  contemplates  the  establishment  of 
four  funds,  three  to  cover  the  teachers,  policemen 
and  firemen  and  the  fourth  all  others.  Each 
fund  is  to  be  managed  by  a  board  composed  of 
three  representatives  of  the  employes  and  two 
of  the  city;  and  a  central  commission  is  to  super- 
vise them  all.  Unlike  in  the  Massachusetts 
and  other  systems,  the  employing  body  is  to 
contribute  a  much  greater  share  of  cost  than 
the  employe  and  the  contribution  of  the  latter 
consists  of  several  elements.  For  superannua- 
tion the  employe  is  to  contribute  3  per  cent  of  his 
salary  and  the  city  9  per  cent  in  case  of  a  police- 
man or  fireman  and  6  per  cent  in  case  of  others. 
For  annuities  to  widows  in  case  of  ordinary  death 
the  employe  is  to  pay  1  per  cent  and  the  city  2  J 
per  cent  and  2  per  cent  for  the  uniformed  and  un- 
uniformed  classes  respectively.  Ordinary  dis- 


118 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[April 


ability  is  to  be  covered  by  a  contribution  of  one- 
half  per  cent  each  from  the  employe  and  from  the 
city,  and  administrative  expenses  by  one  eighth 
of  a  per  cent  from  each.  Disability  and  death  in 
performance  of  duty  and  children's  benefits  are  to 
be  paid  entirely  by  the  city. 

To  summarize,  men  would  contribute  about 
4.6  per  cent  and  women  3.6  per  cent  while  the  city 
would  pay  13.75  per  cent  for  policemen  and 
firemen,  9.75  per  cent  for  other  male  employes 
and  7.50  per  cent  for  women,  in  addition  to  acci- 
dent and  children's  benefits,  pensions  granted 
under  the  old  laws  and  contributions,  at  the  rate 
of  9  and  6  per  cent,  for  all  prior  years  of  service 
of  its  present  employes,  with  compound  interest. 
These  past  contributions,  estimated  at  almost 
$9,000,000,  are  to  be  raised  by  means  of  equal 
annual  instalments  during  a  period  of  40  years. 
The  obligation  under  the  existing  pension  roll 
is  also  to  be  liquidated  by  means  of  equal  annual 
instalments  during  the  same  period.  It  would 
appear  that  the  total  contributions  of  the  city  on 
account  of  all  the  items  would  exceed  in  the  police 
and  fire  funds  20  per  cent  of  the  payroll  during 
the  initial  period. 

Retirement  is  allowed  on  superannuation  at 
the  age  of  57  for  policemen  and  firemen  and  at 
65  for  other  employes,  provided  the  employe  has 
rendered  15  years  of  service;  or  before  that  time 
in  case  of  ordinary  or  accidental  disability.  The 
benefits  are  as  follows:  In  case  of  superannuation 
an  annuity  of  such  amount  as  the  accumula- 
tions will  provide;  in  case  of  ordinary  disability 
(including  sickness  of  more  than  15  days'  dura- 
tion), an  annuity  of  half  pay  but  payable  only 
for  a  short  time,  maximum  one-fourth  of  the 
time  of  his  total  service  and  in  no  case  more  than 
five  years,  substituted  thereafter  by  such  annuity 
as  the  accumulations  will  provide;  and  in  case 
of  accidental  disability  an  annuity  of  55  per 
cent  of  the  salary  payable  until  superannuation, 
and  substituted  then  by  an  annuity  depending 
on  the  accumulations.  While  the  annuity  of  50 
or  55  per  cent  is  paid  the  employe  and  the  city 
continue  to  contribute  so  as  to  swell  his  eventual 
accumulations. 

The  widow  is  to  receive  an  annuity  purchased 
by  the  combined  contribution  of  3  or  3|  per 
cent.  If  the  death  occurs  before  retirement 
she  is  entitled  to  an  additional  annuity  from  the 
contributions  of  6  or  9  per  cent  made  by  and  on 
behalf  of  the  employe  for  his  regular  retirement, 
provided  that  the  total  annuity  does  not  exceed 
the  one  to  which  she  could  have  been  entitled 


had  he  lived  until  regular  retirement.  In  case 
of  death  in  performance  of  duty  the  widow  is  to 
receive  such  an  annuity  as  she  would  have 
received  had  her  husband  lived  until  regular 
retirement 

In  case  of  resignation  or  dismissal  the  employe 
is  entitled  to  his  own  contribution  with  interest,, 
and  if  he  has  rendered  10  years  of  service  or 
more  and  has  left  his  contribution  in  the  fund  he 
receives  also  a  credit  for  one-tenth  fraction  of 
the  accumulation  from  the  city's  contributions 
for  each  year  of  service  above  10  and  is  entitled 
at  superannuation  to  an  annuity  on  that  basis. 
In  other  words  an  employe  who  rendered  20  years 
of  service  will  preserve  all  his  credits,  although 
he  has  resigned  or  has  been  dismissed.  All  an- 
nuities are  computed  on  the  basis  of  the  Ameri- 
can Experience  Table. 

6.     Chicago. 

This  system  was  established  under  an  act  of 
1921  and  is  an  outgrowth  of  the  work  of  the  Illi- 
nois Pension  Laws  Commission.  It  resembles  in 
many  of  its  features  the  Milwaukee  system. 

The  fund  established  thereby  covers  all  mu- 
nicipal employees  except  policemen,  firemen  and 
teachers.  Each  employee  is  to  contribute  3j% 
of  his  salary  for  superannuation,  an  additional 
1%  for  widow's  benefits  and  two  assessments 
(equally  apportioned  among  all  members)  the 
amounts  of  which  may  vary  from  year  to  year — 
one  to  cover  one  half  of  the  cost  of  the  ordinary 
disability  benefits,  the  other  to  cover  one  half  of 
the  cost  of  administering  the  system.  The  total 
contribution  of  the  employee  will  approximate 
5%.  But  only  that  portion  of  salary  is  taken 
into  account  which  is  below  $3000. 

The  city  is  to  pay  5f%  of  salary  for  superan- 
nuation, lf%  for  widow's  benefits,  the  same  as- 
sessments for  ordinary  disability  and  adminis- 
trative expense  as  the  employees  will  pay,  the 
total  cost  of  benefits  for  disability  and  death 
caused  in  performance  of  duty  and  the  total  cost 
of  children's  annuities.  The  aggregate  of  these 
normal  contributions  will  probably  exceed  9%  of 
the  salaries.  In  addition,  the  city  will  pay  what- 
ever is  necessary  to  make  up  a  contribution  of 
85%  of  salary  (5|%  for  superannuation  and  2f  % 
for  widow's  benefits)  for  each  year  of  prior  serv- 
ice of  each  employee.  It  will  pay  this  contribu- 
tion not  on  the  basis  of  the  salary  actually  re- 
ceived by  the  employee  during  his  past  service, 
but  on  the  basis  of  the  salary  received  by  him  at 
the  time  of  establishment  of  the  system.  Con- 


1922] 


PENSIONS  IN  PUBLIC  EMPLOYMENT 


119 


sick-ring  the  large  general  increases  of  salaries 
which  have  been  made  in  recent  years  (besides 
the  ordinary  individual  advancement  in  salary) 
it  seems  likely  that  this  contribution  will  yield  to 
the  employee  perhaps  twice  as  much  as  a  similar 
contribution  made  on  the  basis  of  salaries  ac- 
tually received  by  him  would  have  yielded.  The 
city  will  also  pay  all  pensions  granted  from  the 
fund  established  under  the  act  of  1911  and  fur- 
thermore contribute  enough  to  give  every  mem- 
ber who  belonged  to  that  fund  credit  in  the  new 
fund  for  all  contributions  paid  by  him  to  the 
former,  with  4%  compound  interest. 

From  the  accumulations  built  from  these 
various  contributions  annuities  will  be  paid  to 
the  employees  on  retirement  after  55  years  of 
age,  except  that  the  employees  who  have  not 
reached  the  age  of  60  receive  the  full  benefit  of 
the  city's  contribution  only  if  they  had  20  years 
of  service  to  their  credit.  They  lose  one  tenth  of 
that  credit  for  every  year  that  their  service  falls 
short  of  twenty,  thus  receiving  after  10  years  of 
service  or  less  only  the  benefit  of  their  own 
accumulations. 

A  similar  arrangement  as  to  credit  for  the 
city's  contributions  is  followed  in  case  of  resig- 
nation, dismissal  or  death  before  55  years  of  age. 
If  the  resigning  or  dismissed  employee  does  not 
withdraw  his  monies  he  can  claim  after  reaching 
fifty-five  years  of  age,  if  he  had  more  than  10 
years  of  service,  an  annuity  not  only  from  his 
own  accumulations  but  also  from  y1^  of  the  city's 
accumulations  for  each  year  of  service  over  ten, 
i.  e.  from  the  full  amount  if  he  served  20  years  or 
more.  And  similarly  in  case  of  death,  the  widow 
is  entitled  to  an  annuity  not  only  from  the  accu- 
mulations of  the  deceased  but  also  from  one  tenth 
of  the  city's  accumulations  for  every  year  of 
service  of  the  deceased  in  excess  of  ten,  i.  e.  from 
the  full  amount  after  a  service  of  twenty  years. 

Ordinary  disability  benefits  are  paid  at  any 
time.  First  a  temporary  annuity  is  paid  of  half 
pay  as  in  Milwaukee.  It  is  paid  from  the  special 
assessments  mentioned  above  and  continues  for 
a  maximum  period  of  J  of  the  period  of  service 
of  the  employee  and  not  for  more  than  five  years. 
None  of  the  accumulations  credited  to  the  em- 
ployee are  used  for  this  purpose.  In  fact  the 
accumulations  continue  to  grow,  the  same  con- 
tributions being  deducted  from  his  annuity  and 
the  same  contributions  being  made  by  the  city 
as  had  been  paid  by  the  employee  and  by  the 
city  when  he  was  in  active  service.  If  at  the 
expiration  of  the  period  mentioned  the  employee 


is  still  disabled,  he  receives  the  regular  annuity 
from  his  and  the  city's  accumulations  instead  of 
the  half  pay  annuity  the  payment  of  which  then 
ceases. 

In  case  of  disability  in  performance  of  duty 
and  death  in  performance  of  duty  the  benefits 
are  paid  entirely  at  the  expense  of  the  city  until 
the  time  the  disabled  reaches  the  age  of  65  or,  in 
case  of  death,  until  the  time  the  deceased  would 
have  reached  that  age  had  he  lived.  They 
amount  to  75  per  cent  of  salary  in  case  of  dis- 
ability and  60  %  in  case  of  death.  While  paying 
these  benefits  the  city  also  pays  each  year  to  the 
fund  for  itself  and  for  the  employee  the  regular 
contribution  so  that  the  accumulations  of  the 
disabled  or  those  for  the  widow  of  the  deceased 
grow  just  as  if  he  was  still  in  active  service  and  in 
the  latter  case,  still  alive.  When  the  time  men- 
tioned is  reached,  this  annuity  ceases  and  instead 
the  regular  annuity  from  the  accumulations 
standing  to  the  credit  of  the  employee  or  of  the 
widow  is  paid  to  the  disabled  or  the  widow. 

In  addition  to  these  benefits  children  under  18 
years  of  age  are  paid  annuities  at  the  rate  of  $10 
a  month,  if  the  remaining  parent  is  living,  and 
$20  a  month  if  she,  too,  is  dead,  up  to  a  certain 
maximum. 

If  the  employee  dies  before  retirement,  his 
accumulations  from  his  contributions  are  added 
to  those  made  for  the  widow's  benefit,  and  she 
receives  a  larger  annuity  but  one  not  in  excess  of 
that  which  she  would  have  received  had  he  lived 
until  55  years  of  age  and  entered  on  annuity.  If 
the  employee  has  no  wife  at  the  time  of  retire- 
ment or  on  reaching  the  age  of  65  he  receives 
back  all  that  was  contributed  by  him  for  widow's 
purposes,  with  compound  interest. 

The  benefit  provisions  of  the  system  are  quite 
complicated  and  there  are  many  features  and 
qualifications  in  it  which  cannot  be  mentioned 
here.  All  annuities  are  computed  on  the  basis  of 
the  American  Experience  Mortality  tables.  In 
other  words  no  difference  of  cost  is  recognized  as 
between  the  benefits  of  men  and  women  and  the 
same  annuities  are  paid  to  both  for  every  dollar 
of  accumulation. 

The  old  fund  established  under  the  act  of  1911 
is  merged  in  the  new.  The  city  is  to  contribute 
each  year  $600,000  to  pay  the  prior  service  an- 
nuities and  the  pensions  granted  under  the  old 
act  and  the  other  items  which  constitute  the  ac- 
crued liabilities  »f  the  system.  This  contribu- 
tion is  to  cease  when  the  assets  accumulated 
therefrom  are  equal  to  the  prior  service  liabilities. 


120 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[April 


7.    San  Francisco. 

As  the  cities  of  California  enjoy  broad  powers 
of  home  rule,  the  Legislative  procedure  estab- 
lishing this  system  was  very  different  from  that 
which  brought  the  other  systems  here  described 
into  existence.  A  committee  of  two  men,  ap- 
pointed by  the  Mayor  in  1920  drafted  an  amend- 
ment to  the  City  charter  providing  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  sound  retirement  system  for  the 
employees  not  covered  by  any  pension  provision, 
outlining  briefly  the  fundamentals  of  the  plan 
and  creating  an  administrative  board  whose  duty 
it  would  be  to  secure  the  necessary  actuarial  and 
other  technical  advice  and  to  evolve  the  details 
of  the  system.  After  approval  by  the  Board  of 
Supervisors  the  amendment  was  submitted  to  a 
referendum  of  the  voters  and  ratified  by  them 
and  was  presented  to  the  Legislature  which  en- 
acted it  in  January  1921.  Then  the  Adminis- 
trative Board  was  organized,  an  actuarial  inves- 
tigation undertaken  and  detailed  provision  of 
the  systems  were  evolved.  These  were  then 
submitted  to  the  Board  of  Supervisors  which 
enacted  them  as  a  city  ordinance  on  February  6, 
1922. 

The  system  covers  all  employees  of  the  city 
and  county  except  policemen,  firemen  and 
teachers.  Membership  in  the  system  is  com- 
pulsory for  present  employees  as  well  as  new  en- 
trants. The  plan  has  been  drawn  very  closely 
along  the  lines  of  the  system  for  the  New  York 
City  employees.  Retirement  is  to  take  place  on 
superannuation  at  the  age  of  62,  or  in  case  of 
completion  of  30  years  of  service,  at  the  age  of  60. 
Disability  retirements  are  allowed  any  time  after 
20  years  of  service. 

The  employee  is  to  receive  on  retirement  on 
superannuation  an  annuity  from  his  accumula- 
tions, a  pension  equal  to  the  annuity  and  an 
additional  pension  of  l|%  of  salary  for  each 
year  of  prior  service.  The  rates  of  contributions 
are  so  fixed  that  in  case  of  average  advancement 
of  salary  and  retirement  at  age  62,  the  annuity 
and  regular  pension  should  each  be  one  half  of 
the  following  salary  fractions:  \\%  for  each  year 
of  service  for  men  and  about  1$%  (1.72%)  for 
women.  In  other  words  a  man  in  the  instance 


mentioned  would  obtain  a  retirement  allowance 
of  about  half  pay  after  37  5  years  of  service, 
whereas  a  woman  would  obtain  it  after  about  43 
years  of  service. 

This  disability  allowance  is  the  same  as  that 
of  the  New  York  City  system,  except  for  a  differ- 
ence in  the  salary  fraction  which  is  1 1%  here. 

The  employee's  accumulations  are  returned  at 
resignation,  dismissal  or  death  and  an  additional 
death  benefit  is  provided  of  one  half  of  last  year's 
salary  in  a  lump  sum.  The  usual  options  are 
allowed. 

The  contributions  of  the  employees  and  the 
city  are  graduated  according  to  age  in  such  a  way 
as  to  accumulate  in  case  of  average  advancement, 
reserves  to  age  62  that  would  provide  the  an- 
nuities and  pensions  of  the  rate  mentioned.  The 
contributions  range  from  2.87%  at  age  20  to 
6.37%  at  age  70,  for  men  and  from  2.94%  to 
6.31%  in  case  of  women.  While  there  is  there- 
fore only  a  slight  difference  between  the  contri- 
butions of  the  men  and  women  there  is  great  dif 
ference  as  already  stated  between  their  benefits. 

The  city  is  to  match  with  its  normal  contri- 
butions every  contribution  of  the  employee.  In 
other  words  the  city's  contribution  is  not  re- 
duced as  it  is  in  the  other  systems  by  the  fact  of 
lapses  of  the  city's  contributions  at  withdrawals 
and  deaths.  The  portion  of  the  city's  accumula- 
tion which  is  left  over  in  the  fund,  when  an  em- 
ployee withdraws  from  the  fund  or  dies,  is  applied 
to  the  liquidation  of  the  prior  service  liability 
and  other  liabilities  of  the  system.  In  addition 
the  city  is  to  contribute  on  account  of  prior 
service  at  least  $150,000  annually  or  as  much 
more  as  may  be  necessary  to  cover  the  prior 
service  payments  of  the  year,  until  the  reserves 
in  the  fund  equal  the  value  of  all  subsequent 
payments  from  the  fund. 

The  system  is  to  be  administered  by  the  Board 
of  Administration  which  is  composed  of  the 
Chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee  of  the 
Board  of  Supervisors,  the  Auditor,  three  mem- 
bers, elected  by  the  membership  of  the  sys- 
tem, and  two  citizens  appointed  by  the  Mayor, 
one  to  be  an  insurance  official  and  one  a  bank 
officer. 


1922] 


PENSIONS  IN  PUBLIC  EMPLOYMENT 


121 


CHAPTER  VIII 
SOUND   PENSION  BILLS  ABOUT  TO  BECOME  LAWS 


Several  sound  pension  projects  incor- 
porated in  bill  form  are  pending  in 
various  states.  Three  of  these  have 
met  with  such  favorable  response  in 
the  Legislatures  of  their  respective 
states  that  their  enactment  seems  very 
likely.  These  are  the  bills  applying  to 
Boston,  the  municipalities  and  counties 
of  New  York  (New  York  City,  except- 
ed)  and  the  city  of  Providence.  Three 
other  bills — those  of  New  Jersey  and 
Illinois  municipalities  and  the  city  of 
Yonkers — for  some  reason  or  other 
were  less  fortunate  and  failed  to  pro- 
gress very  far,  and  one  act, — that 
applying  to  Minneapolis,  though  a  law 
has  not  been  taken  advantage  of  and 
still  belongs  to  the  realm  of  projects. 
Interesting  as  these  four  pension  plans 
are,  it  is  impossible  because  of  lack  of 
space  to  discuss  them  here.  The  reader 
is  referred  for  their  study  to  the  official 
reports  of  New  Jersey,  Illinois  and 
Yonkers  and  the  Minnesota  Act  of 
1919.  The  three  bills,  however,  which 
are  likely  to  be  enacted  will  be  de- 
scribed. 

8.    Boston. 

The  Boston  Finance  Commission  framed  a 
bill  in  1921  intended  to  establish  a  sound  retire- 
ment system  for  the  employees  not  yet  covered 
by  any  pension  law  and  gradually  extend  to  the 
entire  city  service.  It  passed  both  houses  of  the 
Legislature  but  met  with  a  hitch  before  the 
Governor  which  caused  it  to  be  laid  over  for 
another  year.  It  will  probably  be  enacted  in 
the  session  of  1922. 

The  system  will  cover  (1)  the  clerks  and  other 
employees  who  have  not  been  covered  hitherto 
by  any  pension  law  (2)  all  new  entrants  in  the 
police  and  fire  departments  and  among  the 
laborers  and  teachers  and  (3)  such  present  em- 
ployees in  the  latter  departments  and  groups  as 
choose  to  renounce  the  systems  under  which  they 
are  now  covered  and  come  into  the  new  system. 
Membership  is  optional  for  present  employees  to 


the  extent  that  any  clerk  who  does  not  want  to 
join  may  stay  away  by  filing  a  notification  that 
he  does  not  want  to  become  a  member  and  any 
employee  covered  by  another  pension  act  may  if 
he  wishes  to  change  to  this  system  under  condi- 
tions described.  For  all  new  entrants  member- 
ship is  compulsory. 

Retirement  is  permitted  anytime  after  reach- 
ing the  age  of  sixty  years  or  in  case  of  disability 
before,  a  minimum  of  ten  years  of  service,  how- 
ever, being  required  in  case  of  ordinary  disability. 
The  members  are  to  contribute  4  per  cent  of  their 
salary  which  is  to  provide  an  annuity  in  accord- 
ance with  the  tables  of  mortality  which  have  been 
prepared  for  the  various  occupational  groups. 
The  city  is  to  provide  a  pension  of  an  equivalent 
amount  and  also  to  make  up  with  compound  in- 
terest the  contributions  on  its  own  account  as  well 
as  on  behalf  of  the  employee  for  all  years  of  prior 
service  at  the  rate  of  4  per  cent  of  salary  received 
by  the  employee  in  the  past  and  provide  an  addi- 
tional pension  from  accumulations  thus  obtained. 
The  total  pension  part  is  not  to  exceed  in  any 
case  half  pay.  For  cases  of  ordinary  disability 
the  pension  part  is  to  be  increased  to  such  an 
amount  as  would  have  been  provided  had  the 
employee  continued  at  the  same  salary  in  the 
service  until  the  age  of  sixty.  Liberal  accidental 
disability  and  accidental  death  benefits  are  pro- 
vided and  the  contributions  of  the  employees 
together  with  interest  at  4%  are  to  be  re- 
funded in  cases  of  resignation,  dismissal  or 
ordinary  death.  The  same  options  as  in  other 
systems  are  offered.  The  system  is  to  operate  on 
a  full  reserve  basis  with  the  accrued  liabilities  to 
be  discharged  in  the  course  of  about  25  years. 
The  obstacle  that  arose  in  1921  was  caused  by 
the  objections  of  the  Police  Commissioner  who 
demanded  that  the  policemen  be  altogether  ex- 
cluded from  the  operation  of  the  system.  The 
Governor  sent  a  word  to  the  Legislature  request- 
ing it  to  reconsider  the  measure  and  eliminate 
the  policemen  but  the  sponsors  of  the  measure 
felt  that  to  exclude  the  latter  would  be  a  mis- 
take. Before  an  agreement  could  have  been 
obtained,  the  session  ended. 

This  year  (1922)  the  bill  is  again  before  the 
Legislature.  It  includes  the  policemen  as  it  did 
the  year  before  and  it  also  includes  the  teachers 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[April 


whom  the  authors  of  the  measure  did  not  include 
in  1921.  The  school  committee  and  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  teachers,  mainly  the  men  and  higher 
paid  group  for  whom  the  present  system  is  entirely 
inadequate,  urged  upon  the  Finance  Commission 
the  inclusion  of  the  teachers. 

The  city  will  pay  a  normal  contribution  which 
will  supply  the  pensions  equal  to  the  annuity 
and  which  discounting  the  lapses,  will  range 
from  1.65%  salary  in  case  of  the  laborers  to 
5.03%  in  case  of  the  firemen.  It  will  also  pay  an 
accumulated  liability  contribution  (for  prior 
service)  about  twenty-five  years,  ranging  be- 
tween 3  j  and  6  per  cent  of  the  payroll;  and 
it  will  pay  the  accidental  pensions  and  admin- 
istrative expenses. 

9.     Municipalities  and  Counties  of  New  York 
State. 

A  bill  passed  by  the  New  York  Legislature  of 
1922  (Draper's  A.  1912)  and  likely  to  become  a 
law,  provides  a  unified  state  system  for  the 
retirement  of  county  and  municipal  employees 
other  than  those  of  New  York  City  and  those 
already  covered  by  local  pension  funds.  Under 
this  act  the  employees  of  any  county  or  munici- 
pality whose  legislative  body  accepts  the  act, 
who  are  not  covered  by  any  existing  pension 
fund,  become  subject  to  the  provisions  of  the 
state  employees'  retirement  system. 

Membership  is  optional  for  all  present  em- 
ployees and  compulsory  for  all  new  entrants. 
The  system  would  operate  with  respect  to  mu- 
nicipalities and  counties  in  a  way  similar  to  that 
in  which  the  state  teachers  retirement  system 
operates  ia  relation  to  the  local  school  systems. 
Each  municipality  or  county  participating  in  the 
fund  would  transmit  to  it  its  contribution  (the 
amount  of  which  will  be  determined  by  actuaries 
on  a  prorata  basis)  as  between  the  various  local 
units  and  the  contributions  of  its  employees  and 
when  its  employees  retire  their  retirement  allow- 
ances will  be  paid  from  this  fund.  The  benefits 
and  other  provisions  for  these  employees  will  be 
the  same  as  those  which  obtain  for  state  employ- 
ees. The  act  furthermore  forbids  in  a  sweeping 
way  the  establishment  of  any  further  county  or 
municipal  pension  systems. 

If  this  act  becomes  a  law,  it  will  be  the  most 
far  reaching  undertaking  ever  made  in  the  his- 
tory of  pension  legislation  in  this  country  and 
one  worthy  of  serious  study  in  every  state  con- 
<«rned  with  the  problem  of  municipal  pensions, 


for  it  affords  the  most  radical  solution  of  this 
problem. 

10.    Providence. 

After  a  comprehensive  study  extending  over  a 
period  of  about  two  years,  the  Pension  Commit- 
tee of  Providence  prepared  a  bill  and  introduced 
in  the  Legislature  in  1922  providing  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  retirement  system  covering  all  the 
employees  of  the  city.  The  bill  is  favored  by  all 
concerned  except  by  the  policemen  and  firemen. 
If  it  is  defeated  this  year,  it  will  come  for  passage 
next  year.  Under  the  provisions  of  this  bill  re- 
tirement is  to  be  granted  for  policemen  and  fire- 
men at  the  age  of  58  and  for  other  employees  at 
the  age  of  sixty.  The  retirement  from  the  city 
is  to  equal  approximately  \\%  of  the  average 
salary  of  last  10  years  multiplied  by  the  number 
of  years  of  service  with  the  exceptioa  that  only 
one  half  of  the  prior  service  is  to  be  taken  into 
account.  The  pension  part  of  the  allowance  is 
fixed  at  |  of  1%  of  the  salary  for  each  year  of 
creditable  service.  In  case  of  disability  after  10 
years  of  service,  a  retirement  allowance  is  granted 
at  the  rate  of  ^  of  the  superannuation  rate  with 
a  provision  that  where  the  service  is  less  than 
fifteen  years  long  at  least  15  fractions  at  that 
rate  will  be  granted,  or  the  allowance  will  be 
brought  to  the  regular  retirement  age.  Disabil- 
ity caused  in  performance  of  duty  is  compensated 
by  a  pension  of  f  of  the  wage  plus  the  annuity 
provided  by  the  employee's  own  contributions, 
while  death  in  performance  of  duty  is  compen- 
sated by  a  pension  of  half  pay  in  addition  to 
the  employee's  own  contributions  with  inter- 
est. At  resignation,  dismissal  or  ordinary 
death  the  contributions  of  the  employee  are 
refunded  with  interest.  Present  employees  who 
do  not  wish  to  be  members  may  file  a  state- 
ment and  be  freed  from  membership  in  the  sys- 
tem. All  new  entrants  and  those  present  em- 
ployees who  have  not  filed  this  statement 
automatically  become  members. 

The  contribution  of  the  employees  range  ac- 
cording to  entrance  age  (and  occupation)  be- 
tween about  3%  of  salary  and  about  6%.  The 
city  will  contribute  a  normal  contribution  of 
about  2.7%  of  the  pay  roll  and  a  deficiency  con- 
tribution to  liquidate  the  accrued  liabilities  of 
about  2.5%  of  the  pay  roll  annually  or  an  aggre- 
gate of  about  5J  per  cent  subject  to  such  read- 
justment as  may  be  found  necessary  from  time 
to  time  after  actuarial  valuation. 


1922] 


PENSIONS  IN  PUBLIC  EMPLOYMENT 


Appendix — Actuarial  Tables 

TABLE   1.    COMPOUND   INTEREST 

The  amount  accumulated  by  a  deposit  of  $1.00  paid  at  the  beginning  of  each  year  at  4  %  interest 
after  a  certain  number  of  years. 


Year 

I... 

2... 

3... 

4.  .  . 

6... 

6... 

7... 

8... 

9... 
10... 
11... 
12... 
13... 
14... 
15... 
16... 
17... 
18... 
19... 
20... 
21... 
22... 
23... 
24... 
25.. 


Amount 

Year 

Amount 

$1.  0400 

26  

$46.0842 

2.1216 

27  

48.9676 

3.2465 

28  

51.9663 

4.4163 

29  

65.0849 

5.6330 

30  

58.3283 

G.8983 

31  

61.7015 

8.2142 

32  

65.2095 

9  .  5828 

33  

68.8579 

11.0001 

34  

72.6522 

12.4864 

35  

76.5983 

14.0258 

36  

80.7022 

15.6258 

37  

84.9703 

17.2919 

38  

89.4091 

19.0236 

39  

94.0255 

20.8245 

40  

98.8265 

22.6975 

41  

103.8196 

24.6454 

42  

109.0124 

26.6712 

43  

114.4129 

28.7781 

44  

120.0294 

30.9692 

45  

125.8706 

33.2480 

46  

131.9454 

35.6179 

47  

138.2632 

38.0826 

48  

144.8337 

40.6459 

49  

151.6671 

43.3117 

50  

158.7738 

TABLE  2.    ANNUITY  VALUES  ON  THE  BASIS  OF  THE  NEW  YORK  CITY  EXPERIENCE 
(Price  of  an  annuity  of  $1.  at  various  ages  of  retirement) 


Age 

Policemen 

Firemen 

Clerks 

Laborers 

Mechanics 

Men 
Teachers 

Women 
Teachers 

55.  .  , 

$9.99 

$10.19 

$11.91 

$11.81 

$11.88 

$10  23 

$12  83 

56  

9.81 

9.92 

11.62 

11  48 

11  57 

10  05 

12  56 

67  

9.62 

9.68 

11.31 

11.15 

11  25 

9  86 

12  28 

68  

9.43 

9.44 

11.01 

10.82 

10  93 

9  66 

11  99 

59  

9.22 

9.23 

10.70 

10.49 

10.61 

9  45 

11  70 

60  

9.01 

9.02 

10.38 

10  15 

10  29 

9  23 

11  39 

61  

8.79 

8.81 

10.07 

9.81 

9  97 

9  01 

11  08 

62  

8.55 

8.61 

9.75 

9.47 

9  64 

8  77 

10  76 

63  

8.31 

8.40 

9.44 

9.13 

9.32 

8  64 

10  43 

64  

8.06 

8.19 

9.12 

8.79 

8.99 

8.29 

10  10 

65  

7.80 

7.98 

8.80 

8  45 

8  67 

8  04 

9  76 

66  

7.52 

7.75 

8.49 

8.12 

7  34 

7  79 

9  42 

67  

7.24 

7.51 

8.17 

7.78 

8  02 

7  54 

9  08 

68  

6.95 

7.27 

7.86 

7.45 

7.70 

7.28 

8  73 

69  

6.66 

7.01 

7.55 

7.13 

7.38 

7.02 

8  39 

70  

6.36 

6.74 

7.24 

6  81 

7  07 

6  76 

8  04 

TABLE  3.    EXPECTATION  OF  LIFE  ON  THE  BASIS  OF  NEW  YORK  CITY  EXPERIENCE 
(Number  of  Years  Employees  Retiring  at  a  Certain  Age  Would  on  the  Average  Live  Thereafter) 


Age 

Policemen 

Firemen 

Clerks 

Laborers 

Mechanics 

Men 

Teachers 

Women 
Teachers 

65.  . 

14.24 

14.60 

17  79 

17  40 

17  64 

14  76 

19  78 

56  

13.86 

14.09 

17.14 

16.72 

16  98 

14.37 

19  13 

57  

13.47 

13.61 

16.50 

16.05 

16.33 

13.96 

18  49 

58  

13.07 

13.16 

•15  88 

15  39 

15  68 

13  55 

17  84 

59  

12.67 

12.74 

15.26 

14.74 

15.05 

13  13 

17  20 

60  

12.25 

12.33 

14.65 

14.10 

15.43 

12.70 

16  55 

61  

11.83 

11.94 

14.05 

13.47 

13.82 

12.28 

15.91 

62  

11.41 

11.56 

13  46 

12  86 

13  22 

11  84 

15  27 

63  

10.97 

11.17 

12.88 

12  26 

12  63 

11.41 

14  61 

64  

10.53 

10.79 

12.31 

11.67 

12  tx; 

10  US 

14.01 

65  

10.09 

10.40 

11.76 

11.10 

11.50 

10.55 

13.38 

66.  . 

9.64 

10.00 

11.22 

10  54 

10.95 

10.12 

12  77 

67  

9.18 

9.60 

10.69 

10  00 

10.42 

9.70 

12  16 

68  

8.73 

9.19 

10.17 

9.47 

9.90 

9.28 

11.57 

69  

8.28 

8.77 

9.67 

8.97 

9.39 

8.86 

Id  '.i'.t 

70  

7.83 

8.35 

9.18 

8.48 

8.90 

8.45 

10  43 

124 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[April 


TABLE  4.    EXPECTATION  OF  LIFE  AND  ANNUITY  VALUES  ON  THE  BASIS  OF  THE  AMERICAN 

EXPERIENCE   MORTALITY  TABLE 
(For  Men  and  Women  Alike) 


Age 

Expectation  of  Life 

Annuity  Values 

55  

17.40 

56    

16  72 

57    

16  05 

' 

58  

15.39 

59  

14.74 

60   

14.10 

$10  66 

61  

13.47 

10  29 

62  

12.86 

9  93 

63  

12.26 

9  57 

64  

11.67 

9  20 

65  

11.10 

8  84 

66  

10  54 

8  49 

67  

10.00 

8  14 

68  

9.47 

7  79 

69  

8  97 

7  44 

70  

8.48 

7  10 

1.  Brown,  Herbert  D.— 

Retirement  of  Employees  in  the  Classified 
Civil  Service  and  series  of  reports  on  the 
British  pension  systems — can  be  secured 
from  the  Government  Printer.  Washington, 
D.  C. 

2.  Buck,  George  B.— 

Actuarial  Report  on  the  Mortality  experi- 
ence among  the  New  York  City  employees 
(part  2.  Report  of  New  York  City  Com- 
mission on  Pensions)  also  series  of  actuarial 
reports  prepared  for  various  state  and  city 
systems  on  various  states  (can  be  obtained 
by  writing  to  George  B.  Buck,  25  Frankfort 
St.,  New  York  City) 

3.  Carnegie  Foundation  for  the  Advancement  of 

Teaching. — 

Annual  reports  (can  be  obtained  by  writing 
to  the  Foundation.  576  Fifth  Ave.,  New 
York  City) 

4.  Meriam,  Lewis: — 

Principles  Governing  the  Retirement  of 
Public  Employees,  D.  Appleton  &  Co. 

5.  Studensky,  Paul: — 

Teachers  Pension  Systems  in  the  United 
States,  D.  Appleton  &  Co.,  The  Pension 


Problem  and  the  Philosophy  of  Contribu- 
tions (obtainable  from  the  New  York 
Bureau  of  Municipal  Research,  N.  Y.  C.) 
and  other  reports  and  bulletins  (can  be  se- 
cured by  writing  to  the  New  Jersey  State 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  Clinton  Building, 
Newark,  N.  J.) 

6.  Reports  of  various  official  commissions  and 
research  organizations: 
Massachusetts  Pension  Commission  (1914 
Public  Documents) ;  New  York  City  Com- 
mission on  Pensions  1913-19  (write  to  Sec- 
retary Board  of  Estimate) ;  New  York  Bu- 
reau of  Municipal  Research,  1913  (261 
Broadway);  New  York  State  Pension  Com- 
mission (State  Employees  Retirement  Sys- 
tem Albany,  New  York) ;  Milwaukee,  Chi- 
cago and  San  Francisco  commissions  (write 
to  Mayor  or  to  Employees  Retirement  Sys- 
tem) ;  New  Jersey  Pension  Commission  and 
New  Jersey  Bureau  of  State  Research  (New 
Jersey  State  Chamber  of  Commerce,  New- 
ark, N.  J.);  Boston  Finance  Commission; 
Providence  Pension  Committee;  actuarial 
Board  of  Federal  Employees  Retirement 
System  (Pension  Bureau,  Washington, 
D.  C.) 


NATIONAL 
MUNICIPAL    REVIEW 


VOL.  XI,  No.  5 


MAY,  1922 


TOTAL  No.  71 


VIEWS  AND  REVIEWS 


Turn  in  the  direction  of  Harvard 
and  make  a  bow  to  a  rare  reformer! 
His  name  is  Lewis  Jerome  Johnson  and 
his  hobby  has  been  for  some  ten  years 
the  preferential  ballot. 

When  he  began,  somewhere  back  of 
1914,  he  showed  originality  by  not 
founding  a  Preferential  Ballot  League, 
but  contenting  himself  with  accepting 
invitations  to  speak  and  using  the 
mails  at  his  own  expense.  He  pointed 
out  the  undeniable  advantage  of  count- 
ing second-choice  votes — saving  the 
expense  and  effort  of  the  primary 
election  which  then  appeared  in  most 
commission  government  charters,  auto- 
matically reuniting  split  majorities 
against  compact  machine-disciplined 
minorities,  etc.  The  clevice  was  adopted 
in  Grand  Junction,  Col.,  and  Pro- 
fessor Johnson  industriously  brought 
the  idea  to  the  attention  of  charter 
commissions  elsewhere  until  it  was  in 
effect  in  upwards  of  a  hundred  cities 
and  towns,  the  largest  being  Cleveland. 

But  he  never  advanced  it  as  a  com- 
plete solution  of  governmental  ills.  I 
recall  my  astonishment  when  after 
speaking  forcefully  for  it  at  a  meeting 
in  Washington,  he  said  to  me — "Your 
short  ballot  is  one  reform  that  I  recog- 
nize as  more  important  than  mine!" 
Such  a  concession  was  not  typical  of 
political  propagandists  in  general! 

Three  or  four  years  ago  things  began 


to  quiet  down  on  this  subject  and  the 
device  could  be  called  "the  pestilential 
ballot"  without  provoking  a  rejoinder 
from  Cambridge.  Professor  Johnson 
still  answered  inquiries  and  continued 
to  act  as  the  clearing  house  for  our 
League  and  everybody  else  on  this 
movement  but  he  did  no  more  pushing. 
To  a  recent  inquirer  he  explains: 

I  believe  the  time  has  now  come  when  the  only 
form  of  city  administration  that  should  interest 
progressives  is  the  proportional  representation 
city-manager  plan.  The  old  commission  govern- 
ment, with  its  effort  to  place  the  city  government 
in  the  hands  of  a  council  representative  only  of 
the  majority,  indicated,  as  the  doctors  would  say, 
the  preferential  ballot.  That  plan  must  now 
give  way,  in  my  judgment,  to  a  still  better  thing, 
the  P.  R.  city-manager  plan,  such  as  has  been 
adopted  in  Ashtabula,  Boulder,  Sacramento, 
and  Cleveland.  With  the  Hare  system  in  use  for 
the  choice  of  city  councils,  I  believe  that  it  is 
inexpedient  to  try  to  develop  "further  or  to  extend, 
even  for  election  of  single  officials,  any  other 
system. 

Moderation,  self-effacement  and 
open-mindedness  again!  (An  example 
that  might  be  observed  profitably  by 
the  other  and  more  common  type,  e.g., 
the  prominent  enthusiast  who  assured 
the  civil  service  reform  convention  a 
year  ago  that  all  other  reforms  were 
superfluous  and  that  by  the  merit  sys- 
tem, alone  and  all-sufficient,  could  we 
reach  salvation;  therefore  would  we 


125 


126 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[May 


"fools"  please  drop  all  our  other  proj- 
ects of  reform  as  useless  distractions?) 
* 

Professor  Johnson's  reasoning  is  good. 
So  also  was  his  reasoning  when  he 
started  the  preferential  ballot  move- 
ment. No  one  could  have  foreseen 
then  how  soon  the  city-manager  move- 
ment would  become  important,  and 
proportional  representation  seemed 
even  more  remote.  Even  considered 
as  an  intermediate  reform,  a  palliative 
of  certain  evils  of  the  election  of  single 
officials  by  majority  vote,  the  preferen- 
tial ballot  seemed  to  have  scope  for  a 
long  and  useful  career.  Our  model 
charter  included  it  as  an  option  and  we 
expected  many  more  cities  to  take 
interest  in  it  than  in  proportional 
representation  during  the  current  dec- 
ade at  least.  And  now,  so  swiftly 
have  we  moved  in  these  matters  that 
we  have  leap-frogged  over  preferential 
ballot  clear  to  proportional  representa- 
tion within  ten  years  and  our  model 
charter  with  its  most  advanced  options 
is  a  reality  in  enough  cities  to  ensure 
its  permanence  and  growth. 

The  preferential  ballot  agitation  was 
useful  in  clearing  the  path  for  "P.  R." 
It  disclosed  some  of  the  possibilities  of 
second-choice  voting,  broke  down  the 
universal  assumption  that  the  majority 
system  was  the  only  possible  one  and 
upset  by  ample  experience  the  fear  that 
voters  could  not  understand  such  vot- 
ing directions.  But  for  such  breaking 
of  the  ground,  the  Proportional  Repre- 
sentation League  might  still  be  in  the 
outer  darkness  of  untried  theory  pro- 
pounding a  quaint  mathematical  con- 
traption with  too  many  elements  of 
novelty  to  command  serious  considera- 
tion! 

* 

How  complete  is  the  rapid  triumph 
of  zoning  is  revealed  by  the  experience 
of  New  York  City,  the  first  city  to 
enact  a  comprehensive  ordinance  of 


this  character.  In  the  five  years  that 
the  ordinance  has  been  in  effect  here, 
158  applications  for  changes  in  the 
ordinance  have  been  granted  and  134 
denied.  In  1916  these  pleas  were  en- 
tirely for  the  purpose  of  relaxing  the 
restrictions,  then  came  an  increasing 
number  of  applications  to  extend  or 
stiffen  the  restrictions,  those  which  were 
granted  in  1917  numbering  19  per  cent 
of  those  that  relaxed.  In  1918  it  was  30 
per  cent,  in  1919,  54  per  cent,  in  1920, 
125  per  cent  and  in  1921,  153  per  cent. 
In  other  words  property  owners  now 
prefer  to  be  restricted  and  have  learned 
to  prize  the  stability  of  value  that  real 
estate  gains  when  protected  from  un- 
neighborly  invasions  by  industry.  As 
the  zoning  ordinance  was  one  of  the 
achievements  of  the  Mitchel  admin- 
istration and  indeed  its  leading  contri- 
bution to  the  art  of  municipal  adminis- 
tration, Tammany  sought  to  take 
advantage  of  such  opposition  as  existed 
to  the  ordinance  by  denouncing  it  in  its 
1917  platform.  The  Hylan  adminis- 
tration neglected  it,  but  it  grew 
stronger  with  time  and  was  not  tam- 
pered with  during  the  next  four  years 
nor  mentioned  in  the  platform  of  1921. 

* 

Our  growing  list  of  pamphlets  adver- 
tised elsewhere  in  this  issue  is  assuming 
the  proportions  of  a  considerable 
library.  There  are  now  about  twenty 
titles.  Several  have  run  through  two 
or  three  editions  and  "The  Story  of  the 
City-Manager  Plan"  is  in  its  sixtieth 
thousand.  Our  ability  so  often  to 
supply  in  handy  and  authoritative 
form  exactly  the  information  that  is 
demanded,  brings  in  an  increasing 
volume  of  inquiries — upwards  of  six 
hundred  a  month  at  the  present  time — 
and  when  they  fall  outside  our  printed 
material,  as  of  course  they  often  do 
since  they  range  the  whole  field  of  pub- 
lic affairs,  we  answer  by  letter  elabo- 
rately and  carefully,  often  sponging  on 


1922] 


VIEWS  AND  REVIEWS 


127 


our  always  obliging  neighbor,  the 
Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  for  facts 
outside  our  experience  or  clipping  files, 
and  sometimes  searching  the  municipal 
reference  library  or  sending  out  letters 
to  experts  in  numerous  quarters  for 
help.  At  any  rate  every  serious  in- 
quirer gets  his  answer  and  incidentally 
we  educate  ourselves.  Whenever  an 
item  in  our  clipping  service  indicates  a 
"prospect,"  he  receives  one  or  another 
of  numerous  form  letters  exhibiting 
our  stock,  and  the  dimes  and  quarters 
that  flow  back  sustain  the  endeavor. 
So  likewise  do  we  make  the  inquiries 
from  high  school  debaters  and  civics 
teachers  pay  their  way.  Pamphlets 
are  often  sent  free  where  they  seem 
especially  likely  to  do  good,  especially 
to  officials  and  official  commissions,  and 
occasionally  we  circularize  a  whole 
legislature. 

All  told  it  constitutes  an  important 
central  service. 


Eventually  we  hope  to  develop 
pamphlets,  either  monographs  by  spe- 
cialists or  committee  reports,  on  every 
subject  in  our  field.  Our  typical 


"Technical  Pamphlet"  undertakes  to 
tell  the  whole  story  of  one  reform  pro- 
posal, the  need  for  it,  the  advantages  of 
it,  all  the  trials  of  it  and  their  working 
and  the  ideals  to  which  it  should  meas- 
ure up,  for  the  person  who  really  wants 
to  know  regardless  of  the  dullness  that 
may  be  inherent  in  the  subject.  Such 
a  pamphlet  was  our  last  issue  on  "  Pub- 
lic Pensions."  Our  average  member 
had  no  longing  to  read  it  and  no  prob- 
able use  for  the  information,  but  dis- 
tributing it  as  a  special  issue  of  the 
REVIEW  was  the  only  way  to  make  its 
existence  widely  known  to  people  who 
did  want  it  badly  and  who  recognized 
it  as  the  first  printed  collection  of  com- 
plete data  on  the  most  vexatious  sub- 
ject in  public  administration. 

Our  pamphlets  in  the  Pocket  Civics 
Series  are  more  popular  and  are  in- 
tended to  catch  the  interest  of  people 
who  are  not  looking  up  the  subject  but 
who  ought  to  know,  e.g.,  the  pamphlet 
"Ramshackle  County  Government" 
(out  of  print  just  now)  which  seeks  to 
make  people  realize  that  there  is  such 
a  thing  as  a  vast  and  difficult  county 
government  problem. 

RICHARD  S.  CHILDS. 


THE  ST.  LOUIS  MUNICIPAL  OUTDOOR 

THEATRE 

BY  M.  GENEVIEVE  TIERNEY 

Secretary  of  the  St.  Louis  Pageant  Drama  Association 


IN  July,  1913,  a  group  of  public- 
spirited  St.  Louisans  organized  the  St. 
Louis  Pageant  Drama  Association  for 
the  purpose  of  encouraging  the  produc- 
tion of  performances  for  the  entertain- 
ment and  education  of  our  citizens  and 
to  create  and  promote  public  sentiment 
for  a  civic  theatre.  The  time  was  op- 
portune in  view  of  the  fact  that  the 
150th  anniversary  of  the  city's  found- 
ing occurred  in  1914  and  it  was  de- 
cided to  commemorate  this  event  with 
a  production  that  would  at  once  chal- 
lenge the  attention  of  the  country 
and  leave  our  city  a  heritage  for  future 
inspiration. 

The  St.  Louis  Pageant  and  Masque 
of  1914,  the  former  a  drama  by  Thomas 
Wood  Stevens  portraying  our  city's 
history,  and  the  latter  a  symbolic  poem 
prophesying  its  future  by  Percy  Mac- 
Kaye,  was  the  result.  This  superb 
production,  after  a  year  of  preparation, 
was  produced  in  the  natural  amphi- 
theatre on  Art  Hill,  in  the  heart  of 
Forest  Park,  and  its  unforgetable  love- 
liness will  linger  as  long  as  life  in  the 
memory  of  all  who  saw  it.  So  far- 
reaching  and  fundamental  was  the 
purpose  underlying  it,  that  every  ele- 
ment of  our  social  fabric  was  eventually 
drawn  into  the  current,  and  it  marked 
an  epoch  in  the  civic  and  artistic  life  of 
our  city,  of  which  co-ordination  of 
civic  effort  was  the  keynote;  7,500  citi- 
zen-actors participated  in  the  produc- 
tion and  the  spectacle  was  witnessed  by 
400,000  people,  the  largest  audience 


ever  assembled  to  view  a  dramatic 
production. 

In  the  discussion  of  entertainment 
for  the  masses  one  frequently  hears  the 
statement  that  producers  must  give  the 
public  what  they  want,  the  general 
inference  being  that  too  high-typed  a 
production  is  over  the  head  of  the 
crowd.  The  Pageant  Drama  Associa- 
tion, being  inexperienced  producers, 
reversed  this  rather  generally  accepted 
theory  with  a  firm  conviction  that  art 
and  beauty  are  universal  in  their  appeal, 
and  for  once  producers  gave  no  consid- 
eration to  any  commercial  phase  of  the 
production,  concentrating  entirely  on 
the  esthetically  constructive  principles 
of  dramatic  art. 

Certainly  no  audience  was  ever  more 
democratic.  In  size  it  has  never  been 
equalled  and  in  appreciation  it  has 
never  been  excelled,  and  so  far  as  St. 
Louis  audiences  are  concerned,  it  cor- 
rected any  impression  to  the  contrary 
that  may  have  existed  in  certain  chan- 
nels as  to  the  type  of  entertainment  to 
which  the  masses  respond.  It  is  signif- 
icant that  with  a  complete  indifference 
to  box  office  results  and  a  seating  ca- 
pacity of  50,000,  one-half  of  which  was 
free  to  the  public,  the  Association 
realized  a  surplus  of  $17,125. 

Thus  was  public  sentiment  created 
and  crystallized  for  a  civic  theatre — 
and  now  for  the  realization. 

II 

When  the  Association  decided  to 
commemorate  the  tercentennial  of 


128 


1922] 


ST.  LOUIS  MUNICIPAL  OUTDOOR  THEATRE 


129 


Shakespeare's  death,  it  was  felt  no 
better  way  could  be  devised  than  to 
produce  one  of  his  plays,  adapted  to  the 
outdoors,  in  some  natural  setting  more 
intimate  than  the  big  Pageant  site  on 
Art  Hill,  since  it  would  have  been  impos- 
sible to  have  heard  the  players  in  the 
big  auditorium. 

After  deciding  on  the  play,  Miss 
Margaret  Anglin  was  asked  to  produce 
it,  and  invited  to  come  to  St.  Louis  to 
look  over  a  number  of  available  sites. 
Miss  Anglin  arrived  on  a  cold,  raw  No- 
vember Sunday  and,  accompanied  by 
Mr.  John  H.  Gundlach,  President  of 
the  Association,  Mr.  W.  W.  LaBeaume 
and  Mr.  Lambert  E.  Walther,  made  a 
tour  of  Forest  Park,  visiting  various 
sites  that  looked  promising.  The  Mu- 
nicipal Theatre  site  was  the  last  visited 
and,  while  the  choice  of  the  committee, 
the  committee  was  nevertheless  very 
anxious  to  learn  what  Miss  Anglin 
thought  of  it.  Her  reaction  was  imme- 
diate and  enthusiastic,  and  after  testing 
the  acoustics  from  every  angle,  the 
availability  of  the  site  for  varied  pro- 
ductions having  been  carefully  consid- 
ered and  a  minute  study  of  transpor- 
tation facilities  having  previously  been 
made,  it  was  selected  as  the  proper 
site. 

The  artistic  success  of  the  perform- 
ance surpassed  all  expectations — the 
audience  was  enthralled  by  the  unri- 
valled beauty  of  the  production  and 
was  quick  to  realize  that  no  small  part 
of  the  excellence  of  the  production  was 
due  to  the  enchanting  beauty  of  the 
stage  and  auditorium  and  Miss  Anglin's 
intelligent  treatment  of  the  natural 
loveliness  of  the  stage. 

In  the  "As  You  Like  It"  perform- 
ance, as  in  the  Pageant  and  Masque, 
the  Association  emphasized  community 
participation  in  the  performances. 
Hundreds  of  our  people  took  part  in 
the  prologue  of  Elizabethan  dances, 
directed  by  Mr.  Cecil  Sharp  of  London. 


Ill 


Having  faith  in  the  great  educational 
value  of  the  theatre  to  our  people  and 
in  the  belief  that  St.  Louis  should  main- 
tain its  leadership  in  the  community 
play,  the  Association  as  the  conclusion 
of  the  "As  You  Like  It"  performance 
presented  the  stage  and  its  accessories 
to  the  city  with  the  request  that  funds 
be  provided  to  make  the  site  a  perma- 
nent outdoor  theatre  for  the  use  of  the 
people. 

The  following  year  the  city  placed 
the  theatre  on  a  permanent  basis,  build- 
ing a  stage  and  concrete  auditorium, 
and  erecting  at  the  entrance  an  orna- 
mental colonnade. 

The  Municipal  Theatre  is  situated  in 
St.  Louis's  largest  park — Forest  Park, 
on  a  wooded  hill  overlooking  the  River 
des  Peres,  the  slope  of  which  is  admi- 
rably adapted  to  the  seating  arrange- 
ment. Experts  have  generally  agreed 
that  there  is  no  lovelier  environment  for 
an  outdoor  theatre  in  the  world. 

The  auditorium,  which  is  entirely 
surrounded  by  trees,  has  a  depth  of  256 
feet,  an  average  width  of  225  feet  and 
a  total  seating  capacity  of  9,270.  It 
is  constructed  of  reinforced  concrete- 
portable  chairs  being  used  for  seats. 
The  exits  are  so  arranged  that  the 
theatre  can  be  emptied  in  from  ten  to 
twenty  minutes.  Everyone  in  the 
audience  has  an  unobstructed  view  of 
the  stage,  the  acoustics  being  such 
that  the  voices  of  the  performers  carry 
satisfactorily  to  every  part  of  the 
auditorium. 

The  stage  is  built  upon  the  banks  of 
the  River  des  Peres,  in  the  midst  of  a 
dense  shrubbery.  Two  majestic  oaks, 
about  seventy  feet  high,  form  a  pro- 
scenium arch  in  the  foreground.  Be- 
tween the  stage  and  the  audience  is  an 
orchestra  pit,  10  to  18  feet  wide,  which 
will  accommodate  an  orchestra  of  150. 
The  difference  in  the  elevation  of  this 


130 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[May 


pit  and  that  of  the  farthest  row  of  seats 
in  the  auditorium  is  53  feet.  The  stage 
has  a  total  width  of  120  feet  and  is  90 
feet  deep,  connecting  to  a  bridge  lead- 
ing across  the  little  river  to  the  dressing 
rooms,  all  permanent  buildings,  hidden 
in  the  shrubbery.  The  bridge  is  so  lo- 
cated that  it  may  be  effectively  used  in 
connection  with  the  stage.  The  light- 
ing is  by  electricity,  both  large  search- 
lights and  smaller  lights  being  used,  and 
the  artistry  of  the  lighting  effects  is 
unsurpassingly  beautiful. 

The  theatre  is  at  the  disposal  of  the 
people  of  St.  Louis  for  civic  entertain- 
ments of  all  kinds,  but  may  not  be  used 
at  any  time  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining 
revenue.  All  funds  derived  through  the 
use  of  the  theatre  must  be  expended 
in  improving  the  theatre — installing 
complete  lighting  devices,  concrete 
ornamentation  and  comforts  for  the 
audience. 

IV 

Since  the  completion  in  1916,  the 
Municipal  Theatre  has  been  used  on 
more  than  195  occasions,  the  character 
of  the  performances  given  consisting  of 
grand  opera,  choral  concerts,  dramatic 
productions,  playground  festivals, 
Greek  games,  and  a  now  permanent 
mid-summer  season  of  light  opera  and 
a  permanent  late  summer  fashion  show 
of  fall  styles. 


It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  Mu- 
nicipal Theatre  is  not  "municipal"  in 
the  same  sense  as  are  the  Art  Museum, 
the  Public  Library  or  the  Zoological 
Gardens,  all  of  which  are  supported  by 
taxation.  While  our  parks  are  main- 
tained from  the  general  municipal 
revenue  and  the  Municipal  Theatre  is 
in  our  largest  park,  the  theatre  is  sup- 
ported by  fees  derived  from  the  Opera 
and  Fashion  Show,  to  which  admission 
is  charged,  it  being  stipulated  that 
1,600  free  seats  be  provided  for  the 
public  at  all  performances.  With  these 
exceptions  the  theatre  is  at  the  disposal 
of  the  public,  free  of  charge,  under  the 
regulation  of  the  Department  of  Parks 
and  Recreation. 

The  Municipal  Theatre  is  a  triumph 
of  community  effort  and  is  now  an 
accepted  factor  in  the  recreational  life 
of  our  people.  Through  its  policy  of 
community  participation  and  free  ad- 
missions, it  has  awakened  an  interest 
in  music,  dancing,  singing,  designing 
and  kindred  elements  of  histrionic  art 
that  make  for  the  ultimate  realization 
of  the  goal  of  its  founders — the  democ- 
ratization of  art.  Its  founders  have 
fostered  the  idea  that  much  of  the  value 
of  the  theatre  will  be  nullified  unless 
our  people  are  drawn  into  the  perform- 
ances and  free  admission  provided  so 
every  citizen  may  have  the  cultural 
advantages  he  has  helped  to  create. 


EMERGENCY  ZONING  IN  SYRACUSE 


BY  F.  G.  CRAWFORD 

Syracuse  University 


THE  common  council  of  the  city  of 
Syracuse,  New  York,  adopted  on  Jan- 
uary 30,  1922,  an  ordinance  providing 
for  a  comprehensive  zoning  plan.  For 
ten  years  property  had  been  protected 
by  special  ordinances  until  the  city  was 
a  network  of  special  zones,  secured  from 
time  to  time  by  the  residents  of  certain 
streets. 

In  the  case  of  Hayden  vs.  Clary, 
which  involved  the  building  of  a  drug 
store  in  a  restricted  block,  Justice 
Irving  R.  Devendorf  handed  down  a 
decision  declaring  such  ordinances 
illegal  and  void,  and  asserted  that 
property  development  should  not  be 
restricted  except  by  a  comprehensive 
zoning  system  applying  to  the  entire 
city.  Notwithstanding  this  decision, 
the  city  council,  two  days  later,  passed 
additional  restrictive  ordinances.  The 
bureau  of  buildings  was  at  once  flooded 
with  applications  for  permits  to  con- 
struct stores  in  districts  that  had  been 
protected  for  years  by  special  ordi- 
nances. The  superintendent  of  building, 
on  the  advice  of  the  corporation  council, 
held  up  all  such  permits,  and  the  citi- 
zens organized  to  demand  the  passage 
of  a  comprehensive  zoning  ordinance. 
The  city-planning  commission  had  had 
under  way  such  a  plan,  which  was  com- 
pleted and  submitted  to  the  council  on 
January  30.  In  the  meantime  injunc- 
tions had  been  secured  by  irate  prop- 
erty owners  to  prevent  the  issuance  of 
permits,  and  damage  actions  were 
begun  on  the  basis  of  these  injunctions. 
Public  opinion  was  aroused  to  a  high 
pitch,  for  the  objection  of  one  of  the 
nineteen  aldermen  would  hold  over  the 
ordinance  until  February  6,  and  in  that 


week  permits  might  be  issued.  Party 
lines  were  swept  aside  and  a  tremendous 
force  of  public  opinion  centered  behind 
the  proposition,  broke  down  opposition 
and  the  ordinance  was  passed. 

This  law  provides  for  five  zones  as 
follows: 
First: 

Class  A.  One-  and  two-family  dwell- 
ings, colleges,  schools,  convents, 
churches,  and  fire  stations  with 
every  structure  twenty  feet  from 
the  street  line  and  with  only  60  per 
cent  of  the  lot  utilized  for  the 
building. 

Class  B.  Apartment  and  multiple 
dwellings,  fraternity  and  sorority 
houses,  clubs,  hospitals  and  sani- 
tariums. 

Second:  Commercial  and  local  busi- 
ness buildings. 
Third:  Strictly    commercial    business 

and  light  manufacturing. 
Fourth :  Industrial  manufacturing. 
Fifth:  Unclassified. 
Under  the  ordinance  the  city-planning 
commission  will  hereafter  exercise  com- 
plete control  over  all  building  activity 
in  Syracuse.  Amendment  will  be 
made  by  two-thirds  vote  of  the  council 
upon  recommendation  of  the  commis- 
sion .  Nothing  in  the  plan  affects  build- 
ings in  existence  or  prevents  replace- 
ments, provided  the  replacement  does 
not  exceed  50  per  cent  of  the  assessed 
valuation.  Buildings  in  existence  in 
zones  where  they  do  not  belong  can  be 
altered  or  repaired  if  the  cost  does  not 
exceed  30  per  cent  of  the  assessed  valu- 
ation. Syracuse  has  taken  a  step  for- 
ward which  was  necessary  and  vital  to 
her  future. 


131 


THE  CORONERS  AGAIN 


BY  LENT  D.  UPSON 

Detroit  Bureau  of  Governmental  Research,  Inc. 

Coroners  in  partnership  with  undertakers,  unnecessary  and  mislead- 
ing inquests  and  neglect  of  duty  featured  the  administration  of  many 
coroners.  Why  is  it  so  hard  to  do  anything  about  it?  ::  :: 

THIS  is  a  story  of  that  ancient  and     dies  for  generally  accepted  evils  rather 


honorable  office  of  the  coroner,  of  some 
fumbling  efforts  at  abolishing  it,  and 
of  how  poorly  they  succeeded.  It  is 
set  down  only  as  a  recital  of  errors  that 
may  guide  some  future  adventurer  in 
county  reform. 

Not  a  great  many  years  ago,  two 
Wayne  County  coroners  were  sent  to 
prison  because  of  official  misconduct, 
much  against  the  peace  and  dignity 
of  the  people  of  Michigan.  Before 
and  since  that  time  there  have  been 
reoccurring  allegations  to  the  effect 
that  certain  coroners  were  silent  part- 
ners in  undertaking  firms,  which  firms 
profited  measurably  through  these 
connections;  that  the  coroners  did  not 
always  view  the  bodies  of  deceased 
persons,  but  left  this  task  to  non-medi- 
cal subordinates;  that  the  property  of 
deceased  persons  did  not  always  reach 
the  heirs  or  the  state;  that  frequently 
inquests  were  unnecessarily  held  for 
the  jury  fees  involved;  and  that  in- 
quests in  criminal  cases  frequently 
prejudiced'the  trial  of  offenders  by  the 
prosecutor.  By  no  means  have  all 
coroners'  administrations  been  bad, 
but  the  good  have  been  consistently 
tarred  by  the  vicious. 

MEDICAL   EXAMINER   RECOMMENDED 

In  1920  the  board  of  county  auditors 
invited  the  Detroit  Bureau  of  Govern- 
mental Research  to  make  a  study  of 
the  coroner's  office  and  suggest  reme- 


than prove  charges  against  individuals. 
The  bureau  spent  some  months  study- 
ing the  local  office,  and  the  procedures 
in  Massachusetts,  New  York,  and  else- 
where. 

The  bureau  finally  reached  these 
conclusions : 

1.  That  responsibility  for  the  office  should  be 
located  in  a  single  appointed  official  with  a  legal- 
medical  training. 

2.  That    immediate  subordinates  should    be 
medically  trained. 

3.  That  the  office  should  determine  the  cause 
of  death,  but  not  the  responsibility  for  it,  turning 
available  evidence  over  to  the  police  and  prose- 
cutor. 

4.  That   the   office   of   public   administrator 
should  be  created  to  handle  the  estates  of  un- 
known deceased  persons. 

The  present  generation  will  grant 
the  merits  of  a  single  appointive  officer 
for  this  position  with  thoroughly 
trained  subordinates.  The  two  elective 
coroners  of  Wayne  County  are  an  in- 
heritance of  the  time  when  a  large 
county  had  poor  methods  of  trans- 
portation and  these  officers  actually 
functioned  outside  of  the  city  of  De- 
troit, instead  of  leaving  the  county  jobs 
largely  to  the  justices  of  the  peace. 

It  is  believed  that  selection  by  ap- 
pointment is  the  only  means  of  ending 
connivance  with  undertaking  estab- 
lishments in  the  disposal  of  bodies,  or 
which  at  least  would  provide  an  avenue 
of  protest  to  the  appointing  authority. 
Out  of  1,700  cases  reported  to  the  coro- 


132 


1922] 


THE  CORONERS  AGAIN 


133 


ner's  office  during  the  period  checked, 
87  went  to  one  undertaker,  or  about 
twice  the  number  of  the  nearest  com- 
petitor. Of  greater  significance  is  the 
fact  that  all  but  6  of  the  87  cases  were 
reported  by  other  than  the  family  con- 
cerned,— i.e.,  were  cases  susceptible  to 
"recommendation." 


CORONER  SHOULD  NOT  HAVE  INQUEST 
POWERS 

The  more  important  recommenda- 
tion was  that  of  removing  inquest 
powers  from  the  coroner's  office.  One 
Wayne  County  prosecutor  had  stated: 
"The  entire  theory  of  the  operation  of 
the  coroner's  inquest  is  directly  op- 
posed to  the  theory  on  which  criminal 
prosecutions  are  conducted,  and  in 
practice  the  testimony  given  by  wit- 
nesses at  a  coroner's  case  interferes  with 
the  obtaining  of  proper  justice  at  trials 
months  afterwards." 

Massachusetts,  New  Jersey,  New 
York  City,  and  Maryland  have  sup- 
planted the  coroner  by  a  physician 
trained  in  medico-legal  jurisprudence. 
To  this  medical  examiner  has  been 
delegated  the  power  to  investigate  all 
coroner  cases  as  to  the  cause  of  death, 
but  without  power  to  fix  responsibility. 
This  report  of  the  medical  examiner  is 
filed  with  the  prosecutor,  with  all  the 
facts  determined  by  scientific  investi- 
gation. If  the  report  indicates  that  the 
death  was  caused  by  other  than  nat- 
ural causes,  the  police  and  prosecuting 
attorney  assume  the  duty  of  fixing  the 
responsibility.  The  bureau  believes 
that  this  is  a  correct  procedure  in  spite 
of  isolated  cases  where  exoneration  by 
a  coroners'  jury  has  certain  advantages. 

As  an  alternative  to  the  medical  ex- 
aminer proposal  there  was  a  tempta- 
tion to  suggest  that  the  entire  function 
of  the  office  be  turned  over  to  the 
health  authorities  of  the  cities  and 
county.  Of  coroners'  cases  investi- 


gated, 68  per  cent  were  medical,  23  per 
cent  were  accidental  and  9  per  cent 
were  by  acts  of  violence.  Further,  it 
appeared  that  inquests  were  held  in 
about  5  per  cent  of  the  cases  so  investi- 
gated, and  in  less  than  1  per  cent  of  all 
cases  was  any  criminal  act  involved. 
The  police  and  the  prosecutor  were  in- 
dependently investigating  these  deaths 
without  regard  to  the  coroner.  In  fact, 
public  officials  recalled  no  single  in- 
stance in  which  the  coroners  had  actu- 
ally unearthed  a  crime.  Could  not  the 
health  authorities  have  issued  death 
certificates  equally  well?  Such  a  pro- 
posal appeared  too  far-reaching  for  the 
moment. 

The  proposal  of  a  public  administra- 
tor was  advanced  by  the  coroners 
themselves  and  was  being  urged  by  the 
governor.  Such  a  measure  was  passed 
by  the  legislature,  and  should  insure 
the  estates  of  unknown  deceased  per- 
sons going  intact  to  the  state,  and  not 
being  squandered  in  fancy  funerals  and 
undertakers'  fees. 

COMPROMISE   MEASURE    PASSED 

The  bureau  prepared  a  report  and 
drafted  a  tentative  act  providing  for  an 
appointive  medical  examiner;  the  cor- 
oners proposed  a  compromise  bill  of 
their  own;  and  the  Detroit  Citizens' 
League  was  in  the  legislature  urging  an 
amendment  to  the  constitution  provid- 
ing for  home  rule  for  counties,  which, 
if  successful,  would  have  permitted  a 
local  revamping  of  the  coroner's  office. 
This  last  measure  was  of  highest  im- 
portance, and  too  much  dabbling  in 
other  county  reforms  at  the  legislature 
would  have  meant  its  certain  defeat. 

However,  the  coroner's  office  was  in 
substantial  agreement  with  the  bureau 
on  a  number  of  proposals  to  modify 
the  procedure.  The  bureau  therefore 
agreed  to  a  bill  drafted  ]by  the  prosecu- 
tor which  provided  for  the  abolition  of 


134 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[May 


the  inquest  except  upon  request  of  the 
prosecutor,  and  for  minor  amendments 
in  procedure.  The  coroners  were  will- 
ing that  one  of  their  number  should  be 
known  as  a  presiding  coroner,  and  be 
ostensibly  in  charge  of  the  work,  but 
would  not  stand  for  the  abolition  of  the 
dual  office.  The  bureau  reserved  the 
right  to  make  a  plea  before  the  legisla- 
tive committee  to  substitute  an  ap- 
pointive officer  for  the  two  elective 
ones.  With  the  county  home  rule  bill 
in  constant  jeopardy  (and  it  later  lost 
its  life  before  the  legislature)  it  was  not 


opportune  to  make  a  fight  on  this  point 
or  for  a  genuine  revision  of  the  coro- 
ner's office.  The  compromise  bill  went 
through  without  a  dissenting  voice. 

However,  county  home  rule  is  now 
being  placed  before  Michigan  voters 
by  initiative  petition.  Its  acceptance 
seems  inevitable.  When  some  time  in 
the  near  future  there  is  a  revision  of 
the  government  of  Wayne  County,  the 
bureau  believes  it  has  sufficient  facts  to 
put  the  office  of  coroner  into  the  limbo 
of  suspenders,  mustache  cups,  and 
other  accessories  of  another  age. 


THREE  TOWN  MANAGERS  IN  TROUBLE 

STRATFORD,   CONNECTICUT,  —  DEC ATUR,   GEORGIA,  - 
MANSFIELD,   MASSACHUSETTS 

BY  RICHARD  S.  CHILDS 


EARLY  in  my  observation  of  the  work- 
ings of  the  city-manager  plan  I  was 
convinced  that  in  towns  of  less  than  ten 
thousand  population  all  bets  were  off  as 
to  how  a  modern  charter  would  work; 
that  is  to  say,  an  average  of  progress 
and  success  could  be  safely  predicted  as 
to  such  towns  in  general  but  as  to  a 
given  case,  no  predictions  could  safely 
be  ventured.  In  towns  of  that  size  the 
personal  equation  looms  high,  a  single 
trouble-maker  can  upset  the  apple  cart 
and  the  manager's  personality  and  tact 
are  put  to  their  stiff est  tests.  In  such  a 
town  the  manager  is  not  part  of  a  con- 
siderable machine  of  government  but  is 
almost  its  entire  active  personnel.  He 
does  not  sit  behind  a  big  desk  and  issue 
written  orders;  rather  he  carries  his 
office  in  his  hat  and  learns  to  call  the 
road  foreman  "Charlie."  Instead  of 
the  mild  fluctuations  of  the  party  votes 
characteristic  of  a  big  city,  we  see  the 


quietness  of  a  mill  pond  and  unopposed 
re-elections  at  one  season  and  a  little 
tornado  of  bitter  personal  politics  the 
next.  Accordingly  trouble,  when  it 
comes,  is  likely  to  be  acute  and  the 
excitement  keen  even  to  the  point  of 
comicality. 

II 

Stratford,  Connecticut  (population 
6,970) ,  adopted  its  city-manager  charter 
with  some  help  from  our  field  director, 
Dr.  Hatton,  in  1921.  The  town  is 
straggling  in  its  layout  with  several 
distinct  sections,  making  wards  and  a 
ward-elected  council  more  acceptable 
than  the  usual  method  of  election  at 
large.  The  first  council  was  somewhat 
mixed  in  character  and  political  com- 
plexion and  not  of  very  high  ability.  It 
selected  as  town  manager,  R.  W. 
Hunter,  formerly  the  town  manager  of 
Ambridge,  Pennsylvania,  and  things 
started  off  smoothly. 


1922] 


THREE  TOWN  MANAGERS  IN  TROUBLE 


135 


Stratford,  like  most  Connecticut 
small  towns,  is  solidly  Republican.  It 
was  the  Republican  Town  Committee 
which  had  started  the  movement  for  a 
new  charter,  expanding  promptly, 
however,  to  include  outsiders  of  all  ele- 
ments. Nevertheless,  it  is  assumed  that 
the  party  leaders  developed  a  dislike  for 
the  manager.  Being  a  stranger,  very 
likely  he  went  ahead,  did  the  work  and 
made  his  purchases  and  appointments 
without  consulting  the  old  unofficial 
government. 

One  night  last  January,  with  very 
little  warning,  the  council  voted,  6  to  3, 
to  demand  the  resignation  of  the  man- 
ager, asserting  that  Mr.  Hunter  had 
been  inefficient  and  inattentive,  and 
charging  specifically  that  in  buying  two 
ash  cans  he  had  signed  the  requisition 
after  the  purchase,  and  that  by  order- 
ing a  bin  filled  with  coal  he  had  pur- 
chased seven  tons  when  intending  to 
purchase  only  five.  The  manager  de- 
scribed the  action  as  a  thunderbolt 
from  a  clear  sky  and  pleaded  digni- 
fiedly  but  vainly  for  opportunity  to 
prepare  a  reply  to  the  charges. 

The  obvious  triviality  of  the  charges 
struck  the  people  as  indicating  that  the 
real  reasons  were  not  being  disclosed 
and  as  being  unfair  to  the  city 
manager. 

The  fine  public  zeal  that  had  been 
built  up  for  the  charter  a  few  months 
earlier  revived  promptly  and  petitions, 
reciting  the  unfairness  of  the  action 
and  asking  that  it  be  rescinded,  were 
signed  by  over  a  thousand  voters,  one 
third  of  the  voting  list,  within  twenty- 
four  hours.  People  who  had  never 
come  into  contact  with  Mr.  Hunter  be- 
came suddenly  his  violent  partisans. 

A  secretive  summoning  of  the  coun- 
cil at  unusually  short  notice  leaked  out 
and  the  Town  Hall  was  packed  to  its 
capacity  with  a  crowd  that  waited  two 
hours  with  increasing  impatience  while 
the  council  held  a  private  session. 


When  the  councilmen  finally  emerged, 
the  spokesman  of  the  crowd  demanded 
that  the  council's  action  be  rescinded. 
The  council  was  firm,  but  so  flustered 
that  it  adjourned  having  voted  on  a 
minor  amendment  of  a  motion  to  recon- 
sider but  not  having  voted  at  all  on 
the  motion. 

Then  came  two  or  three  district 
meetings  packed  to  support  the  action 
of  the  council.  They  were  of  local  civic 
clubs,  restricted  to  paid-up  members 
and  certain  members  were  urged  to 
pay  up  in  time  to  enable  them  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  proposed  action.  This 
promptly  inspired  other  and  wide-open 
meetings,  practically  all  of  which  de- 
manded that  their  councilmen  rescind 
or  resign. 

Despite  all  this,  the  council  at  its 
next  meeting  ten  days  later,  elaborately 
protected  by  police  in  the  presence  of  a 
thousand  storming  citizens,  voted  7  to 
2  to  oust  the  manager  at  one  day's  no- 
tice and  named  a  temporary  successor. 
It  was  not  certified  as  an  emergency 
resolution,  and  Hunter  proved  by  the 
charter  that  no  such  motion  could  take 
effect  in  less  than  30  days.  He  resisted 
ouster  and  presently  a  referendum  peti- 
tion signed  by  1,607  of  the  town's  3,700 
voters  served  to  suspend  the  ouster 
resolution  pending  its  reconsideration 
or  submission  to  the  people.  There  are 
two  managers  at  present  writing. 

Mr.  Hunter  appears  to  have  behaved 
as  a  manager  should  in  such  circum- 
stances, remaining  inactive  and  as  far 
as  possible  a  silent  spectator,  but  even 
so,  his  position  under  the  council  must 
be  untenable  for  any  length  of  time 
and  essentially  unpleasant.  The  plan 
is  stronger  than  ever  in  Stratford. 

Ill 

Decatur,  Georgia  (population  6,150) 
put  the  plan  into  effect  in  January,  1921. 
The  charter  had  carried  by  the  trifling 


136 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[May 


majority  of  27  votes,  leaving  to  the 
opponents  the  solace  that  they  might 
reasonably  hope  to  reverse  the  action 
the  first  time  the  new  government 
struck  a  controversial  subject.  The 
nominators  of  the  winning  ticket  at  the 
first  election  purposely  included  one 
candidate  who  had  opposed  the  new 
charter  but  who  had  later  announced 
his  conversion.  He  seems,  however,  to 
have  made  himself  the  nucleus  of  the 
opposition. 

The  commission  received  five  hun- 
dred applications  for  the  managership 
and  elected  P.  P.  Pilcher,  a  non-resident, 
by  unanimous  vote.  He  soon  found  the 
above-mentioned  commissioner  oppos- 
ing him  and  at  the  election  of  1921 
when  two  friendly  commissioners  came 
up  for  re-election,  one  was  defeated  and 
the  minority  was  strengthened.  The 
former  mayor  was  appointed  director  of 
the  department  of  law  (equivalent  to  the 
city  attorney),  as  a  matter  of  political 
strategy,  but,  having  exercised  larger 
powers,  he  apparently  found  it  difficult 
to  let  go  and  continued  to  issue  direc- 
tions in  the  police  department  and 
elsewhere.  He  came  promptly  into 
collision  with  the  city  manager  and 
resigned  to  take  a  leading  place  with 
the  opposition. 

The  manager  was  able  at  the  end  of 
the  first  year  to  show  on  a  balance  sheet 
prepared  by  outside  auditors  that  the 
town  was  $6,000  better  off  than  before 
and  claims  that  the  administration  has 
been  improved  in  various  respects, 
politics  having  been  "almost  entirely" 
excluded  from  the  departments  under 
his  control. 

The  city  manager  continued  to  be  a 
target  for  criticism  which  could  be 
directed  only  against  the  majority  of 
the  council.  The  ex-mayor  threatened 
the  use  of  the  recall  against  them  every 
time  some  particular  thing  failed  to  go 
according  to  his  liking,  and  sometimes 


circulated  petitions  which  seized  upon 
the  fact  that  expenses  exceeded  income 
as  basis  for  charges  of  mismanagement. 
In  the  1921  election  the  manager  was, 
to  some  extent,  an  issue  and  after  the 
campaign,  the  manager  announced  he 
would  resign  early  in  1922.  The  minor- 
ity persisted  in  efforts  to  displace  him 
sooner,  arguing  that  the  new  manager 
should  be  installed  soon  enough  to  pre- 
pare the  new  budget,  the  majority 
maintaining  that  the  experience  of  the 
old  manager  should  be  held  available 
for  that  purpose.  At  the  request  of  the 
latter,  he  stayed  until  April  first.  The 
manager  frankly  stated  that  his  resig- 
nation was  for  the  purpose  of  clearing 
the  decks  of  all  personal  questions  and 
help  straighten  out  the  political  situa- 
tion. He  being  eliminated,  the  opposi- 
tion turned  against  the  three  majority 
commissioners  still  more  directly  and  it 
was  made  plain  that  the  fight  was 
against  the  whole  new  system.  Cooler 
heads,  however,  began  to  prevail  and 
the  recall  petitions  with  their  vague 
charges  were  dropped.  The  whole  five 
commissioners  resigned,  a  special  elec- 
tion was  called,  and  committees  repre- 
senting both  factions  succeeded  in 
agreeing  upon  a  ticket.  This  was  con- 
firmed at  a  mass  meeting  on  March  1, 
at  which  time,  also,  resolutions  were 
passed  clearing  the  commissioners  of 
the  imputations  on  the  recall  petitions. 
Election  of  the  new  ticket  without 
opposition  is  a  reasonable  certainty 
and  the  government  will  start  afresh 
in  more  auspicious  and  harmonious 
circumstances.  The  majority  and  the 
manager  did  not  have  to  resign  but  the 
good  will  they  showed  in  eliminating 
themselves  in  the  interest  of  the  success 
of  the  new  form  of  government  has  dis- 
armed its  opponents  and  the  new  gov- 
ernment, having  thus  survived  the 
earthquake,  is  left  considerably  stronger 
than  before. 


1922] 


THREE  TOWN  MANAGERS  IN  TROUBLE 


137 


IV 


Mansfield,  Massachusetts  (popula- 
tion 6,255),  put  into  effect  the  man- 
ager charter  in  February,  1921.  Our 
Dr.  Hatton  helped  draft  the  charter 
and  in  his  draft  retained  an  old  New 
England  name  of  excellent  traditions 
by  calling  the  council  of  five  "Board  of 
Selectmen."  A  high-grade  board,  four 
business  men  and  a  railway  conductor 
were  elected  and  they  selected  as  man- 
ager, Eldredge  R.  Conant,  former 
Engineer  and  Purchasing  Officer  of 
Savannah,  Ga.,  at  a  salary  of  $4,000. 

Conant  found  the  usual  easy-going 
practices  of  a  country  town  and  pro- 
ceeded briskly  to  speed  things  up, 
unaware  that  a  strong  minority  of  the 
people  were  bitterly  hostile  to  the  inno- 
vation. The  first  step  was  the  elimina- 
tion of  various  departmental  boards, 
the  members  of  which  had  drawn 
salaries  of  $200  a  year  or  less,  and 
they  frequently  developed  hostility. 
He  consolidated  two  departments,  the 
heads  of  which  he  considered  incompe- 
tent, and  appointed  a  young  engineer 
from  out  of  town  who  seems  to  have 
done  well  in  making  people  who  had 
long  enjoyed  leniency  as  to  water 
charges  pay  their  full  share — a  process 
which  made  further  enemies. 

This  engineer  was  for  a  time  a  target 
on  various  grounds,  e.g.  his  war  record 
was  unsuccessfully  challenged  by  the 
Legion,  and  his  membership  in  the 
Catholic  Church  was  cited  against  him. 
The  Selectmen  and  Manager  stood  by 
him  but  he  resigned  after  a  year. 

The  town  treasurer,  long  a  leading 
political  figure  of  Mansfield,  was  con- 
tinued in  office  on  trial  but  the  State 
Accountants  presently  came  around 
and  disclosed  a  condition  of  things  in 
his  office  which  resulted  in  a  prompt 
change.  He  organized  the  opposition 
industriously  and  in  February,  1922, 
contrived  to  elect  an  anti-manager 


candidate  to  the  Board  of  Selectmen. 
In  the  same  month  came  the  annual 
financial  town  meeting  and  here  a  vote 
was  carried  to  cut  the  manager's  salary 
from  $4,000  to  $1,000.  The  new  treas- 
urerwas  remembered  with  a  cutof  $640. 
The  selectmen  have  the  power  under 
the  charter  to  fix  these  salaries  and  the 
manager's  claim  would  be  valid  but 
awkward  to  collect  as  the  town  meet- 
ing's action  cut  off  the  grant  of  the 
funds. 

Having  tasted  victory  in  the  Feb- 
ruary election,  the  opposition  in  March, 
filed  a  recall  petition  against  two  of  the 
five  selectmen  thus  attempting  to  rein- 
force the  new  member  sufficiently  to 
constitute  a  majority  that  would  re- 
move the  manager.  But  the  recall  elec- 
tion in  April  scored  a  success  for  the  city 
manager  plan.  The  members  of  the 
Board  of  Selectmen  were  both  upheld 
in  the  election.  The  fact  of  concern  to 
us  here  is  the  extent  to  which  so  small 
a  public  question  as  the  changing  of  a 
few  municipal  employes  can,  in  a  small 
town,  serve  to  create  a  tempest  that 
may  upset  the  orderly  working  of  the 
city-manager  plan  or  any  other.  So 
intimately  personal  an  issue  could 
hardly  be  used  to  so  bedevil  the  mana- 
ger of  a  large  city. 

The  Mansfield  News'  account  of 
speeches  at  an  opposition  meeting 
reveals  nothing  but  antiquated  rhetoric 
including  the  following  pearl  from  the 
lips  of  one  disgruntled  speaker: 

" the  town  manager  form  lies  in 

the  hands  of  a  highly  organized  crowd 
of  Capitalists  who  are  directly  con- 
nected with  the  National  Municipal 
League.  This  League  has  headquarters 
in  New  York  and  branches  in  every 
city  and  is  organized  for  the  sole  pur- 
pose of  distributing  propaganda  de- 
structive of  the  old  form  of  town 
government." 

At  the  end  of  March,  after  the  Select- 
men had  refused  to  ask  his  resignation 


138 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[May 


on  motion  from  the  new  member  of 
the  Board,  Manager  Conant  resigned, 
accepting  the  position  of  surveyor  of 
Manchester,  N.  H. 

The  town  meeting  was  retained  by 
Dr.  Hatton  in  his  draft  of  this  charter 
as  an  interesting  substitute  for  the  more 
usual  and  less  expeditious  initiative  and 
referendum,  and  its  misuse  for  purposes 
of  political  retaliation  is  an  unexpected 
outcome. 

The  peril  of  all  town  meetings  is  that 
they  will  be  representative  only  of  the 
special  groups  who  are  excited  about 
some  semi-private  question  and  who 
consequently  bestir  themselves  to 
attend  the  meetings  whereas  the  greater 
mass  of  citizens,  whose  interest  is  only 
general,  do  not  turn  out  to  defend  the 
treasury.  In  early  days  when  a  town 
meeting  was  the  great  central  event  of 
the  season  in  an  isolated  community,  a 
full  and  completely  representative  at- 
tendance was  easily  brought  out,  but 
there  are  other  indoor  and  outdoor 


sports  in  New  England  to-day,  and 
town  meetings  composed  of  less  than 
one  per  cent  of  the  voting  list  are  com- 
mon. It  is  accordingly  no  longer  demo- 
cratic in  practice  and  is  a  disappearing 
institution.  Dr.  Hatton's  interesting 
attempt  to  give  it  a  place  in  a  modern 
village  government  will  have  forked  the 
lines  of  responsibility  if  the  Mansfield 
town  meeting's  interference  with  the 
budget  proves  actually  troublesome. 


All  three  of  these  stories  are  based  on 
the  long-distance  evidence  of  letters 
and  newspaper  reports,  and  may  be 
one-sided  as  to  details  and  characteriza- 
tions. The  facts  are  clear  enough, 
nevertheless,  to  show  how  much  more 
personalities  count  for  in  small  cities 
than  in  large  ones  and  how  much  more 
difficult  it  may  be  to  keep  the  adminis- 
trative officers  uniformly  out  of  politics 
in  little  communities. 


A  "SWIMMING  HOLE"  IN  CHICAGO 


BY  RUTH  DEAN 

Landscape  Architect,  New  York  City 


IF  you  had  your  choice  between  the 
most  up-to-date,  tiled  pool  in  the 
world,  and  the  old  swimming  hole,  you 
would  not  hesitate  long  over  the 
choice;  snakes,  roots  and  scum  notwith- 
standing, you  would  dive  deep  into  the 
pond's  friendly  waters,  in  preference 
to  plunging  toward  the  unromantic 
white  tiles  on  the  bottom  of  the  pool. 

This  is  the  simple  reasoning  behind 
Mr.  Jensen's  successful  attempt  to 
create  for  the  thousands  of  Chicago 
children  who  have  never  hung  their 
"clothes  on  a  hickory  limb,"  the  en- 


vironment of  a  real  swimming  hole. 
He  knows  that  it  is  impossible  to 
take  many  of  these  children  to  the 
country  for  even  a  short  visit,  and 
that  most  of  them  will  never  know 
at  all  the  ooze  of  clean  mud  between 
their  toes,  the  splash  of  a  fat  bull- 
frog startled  from  his  shelter  under 
a  fern  frond,  the  lazy  arms  of  willow 
dipping  down  into  the  water.  "We 
must  bring  the  country  in  to  them, 
then,"  says  Mr.  Jensen;  "instead  of  a 
concrete  bathtub  set  in  a  glare  of  gravel, 
we  must  give  them  a  bit  of  real  wood- 
land— a  rocky  pool  shut  in  from  tall 
smokestacks  and  trolley  cars  by  elms 


II 


I 

• 


•r    ~ 
5  *rs 


•^    c 

M       O 

8    = 


-  S 

§.1 

• 


I! 


ANOTHER  OF  MR.  JENSEN'S  NATURALISTIC  SWIM- 
MING POOLS  (IN  A  PRIVATE  ESTATE)  SHOWING  THE 
EFFECT  EXPECTED  AT  THE  COLUMBUS  PARK  "HOLE" 
WHEN  THE  FOLIAGE  REACHES  ITS  FULL  GROWTH. 


SCENE  FROM  THE  PROLOGUE  OF  "AS  YOU  LIKE 
IT"  SHOWING  THE  COMMUNITY  DANCERS  AND 
THE  DEPTH  AND  BEAUTY  OF  NATURE'S  STAGE 
SETTING  IN  THE  ST.  LOUIS  MUNICIPAL  THEATRE. 


OPENING  DAY  AT  THE  SWIMMING  HOLE.  THE  PLANTINGS 
WERE  NEW  AND  LEAFLESS  AT  THIS  TIME  AND  FAILED  TO 
GIVE  THE  SENSE  OF  A  WOODLAND  ENCLOSURE  WHICH 
NOW  GROWS  MORE  COMPLETE  WITH  EACH  PASSING  YEAR. 


1922] 


A  "SWIMMING  HOLE"  IN  CHICAGO 


139 


and  maples ;  screened  around  with  river 
alder  and  dewberry  and  dogwood;  with 
ferns  down  to  the  water's  edge,  and 
wild  grapevines  sprawling  over  the 
rocky  ledges ;  and  we  will  make  the  pool 
safe  and  sanitary  as  well,  with  ladders 
into  the  water,  a  life  rail  around  the 
edge,  easy  drainage  and  a  large-volume 
supply,  so  that  our  health  cranks  may 
not  complain  that  it  is  dangerous  and 
unwholesome. 

Of  course  if  one  is  hungry  it  is  better 
to  have  food  in  however  dreary  sur- 
roundings than  to  starve;  and  any  bath 
at  all  is  preferable  to  going  dirty;  but 
beauty  is  not  less  a  fundamental  of  the 
spirit's  existence  than  is  food  or  clean- 
liness of  the  body's;  and  although  the 
joy  to  be  had  in  the  mere  act  of  swim- 
ming is  not  easily  destroyed,  the  pleas- 
ure of  the  sport  is  vastly  increased  by 
the  stimulus  of  lovely  surroundings.  A 
turn  round  the  obvious  limits  of  a  con- 
crete rectangle  may  provide  exercise, 
but  it  fails  to  touch  the  imagination, 
and  is  dull  pleasure  compared  to  an 
equal  sixty  feet  and  back  in  a  country 
pond. 

II 

To  combine  the  necessary  practical 
elements  of  one,  with  the  careless  beauty 
of  the  other,  and  this  on  a  large  enough 
scale  to  accommodate  three  or  four 
hundred  children  at  one  time,  was  the 
task  Mr.  Jensen  set  himself  in  making 
the  swimming  pool  in  Columbus  Park. 

His  first  move  was  to  shut  out  the 
noisy  city,  with  thick  belts  of  real 
country  planting, — not  such  tame  gar- 
den vegetation  as  one  sees  on  the 
average  gentlemanly  country  place 
(and  alas  in  too  many  parks) — lilacs 
and  snowballs  and  barberry  and  bridal 
wreath, — but  heavy  country  hedgerows 
with  a  backbone  of  elms,  maples,  lin- 
dens, ash,  and  an  undergrowth  of  haw- 
thorn, crab  apple,  sumach,  wild  plum 
and  cherry.  The  pool  itself  grew  into 


two  pools,  a  deep  one, — seven  to  eight 
feet  in  depth  and  about  ninety  feet  in 
diameter  to  take  care  of  the  older  chil- 
dren and  those  who  could  dive, — and  a 
bigger,  shallow  pool,  about  four  and  one 
half  feet  deep,  two  hundred  and  twenty 
feet  long  and  from  sixty  to  one  hundred 
and  thirty  feet  wide,  for  the  little  chil- 
dren. The  bottom  of  both  pools  is  of 
concrete,  expansion-jointed  in  fifty  feet 
squares.  The  sides,  also,  to  the  coping 
are  of  concrete,  and  the  coping  is  of  flat 
stones.  This  coping  projects  slightly 
above  and  over  the  gutter  formed  by 
the  concrete  and  casts  a  shadow  which 
quite  conceals  the  gutter  and  to  a  large 
extent  the  life  rail. 

Around  at  least  two  thirds  of  both 
pools  runs  a  stretch  of  varying  width 
which  is  paved  with  flat  irregular  stones 
so  that  the  users  of  the  pools  may  sun 
themselves,  or  rest  between  dips. 

The  pools  are  fed  ostensibly  by  a 
little  waterfall  that  tumbles  into  the 
deeper  pool;  this  pool  is  somewhat 
higher  than  the  shallow  one,  and  emp- 
ties in  turn  into  the  shallow  pool.  Of 
course  the  waterfall  does  not  do  all  of 
the  work  of  feeding  the  pools  but  is 
supplemented  by  several  supply  pipes 
in  the  bottom. 

Ill 

The  most  skillful  feature  of  the 
whole  scheme  is  the  handling  of  the 
pool's  borders.  Ledges  of  rock  rise 
sheer  from  the  water's  edge  in  places, 
and,  after  running  along  the  water  for  a 
stretch,  are  carried  back  so  as  to  leave 
room  for  the  paved  space,  and  then 
break  irregularly  into  the  surrounding 
grade.  To  make  rock  work  so  that  it 
looks  as  if  God  had  done  it  is  no  mean 
act  of  creation;  for  the  most  part,  man 
achieves  something  which  is  all  too 
patently  a  "rockery";  but  in  this  case, 
despite  the  handicaps  due  to  the  public 
character  of  the  work  and  the  necessity 


140 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[May 


for  extra  precautions,  Mr.  Jensen  has 
transplanted  a  bit  of  nature.  He  has 
used  big  flat  slabs  of  rock  brought  for 
the  purpose  from  a  quarry  in  Wiscon- 
sin, and  has  laid  them  to  simulate  the 
horizontal  stratification  of  the  natural 
rock  formation.  Layer  is  laid  on  layer 
with  puddled  clay  for  mortar  (except 
in  the  case  of  waterfalls  where  cement 
mortar  is  used)  and  the  joints  are  raked 
out  six  inches  or  more.  Pockets  of 


earth  are  left  everywhere  for  vines  and 
wood  plants,  and  the  illusion  of  natural- 
ness is  carried  out  by  rough  stepping- 
stones  from  the  higher  to  the  lower 
levels. 

In  these  sunny  woodland  pools,  a 
few  steps  from  flourishing  factories,  the 
city  child  has  a  taste  of  the  country 
boy's  pleasures,  and  perhaps  borrows  a 
little  grace  for  his  soul  from  the  pleas- 
ant ways  of  Nature. 


DEADLOCK  IN  PUBLIC  UTILITY 
REGULATION 

VI.    MUNICIPAL  ACTION  TO  BREAK  THE  DEADLOCK 


BY  JOHN  BAUER 

Consultant  on  Public  Utilities 


The  municipal  governments  as  constructive  advocates  must  plead  the 
grievances  of  their  constituents  before  the  utility  commissions  and  must 
equip  themselves  by  a  pooled  technical  service  on  which  numerous  cities 
may  draw.  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  :: 


IN  previous  discussions  of  this  series, 
the  conditions  were  considered  that 
have  led  to  practical  deadlock  in  public 
utility  regulation.  This  final  article  is 
devoted  to  an  outline  of  municipal 
action  to  break  the  deadlock. 

In  every  city  of  considerable  size,  the 
most  important  local  problem  centers 
around  public  utility  rates  and  service. 
This  has  been  the  chief  issue  in  a  num- 
ber of  municipal  elections  the  past  year, 
and  is  bound  to  be  the  principal  ground 
of  contention  throughout  the  country. 
The  solution  must  be  based  upon  a 
positive  program  of  sound  economic 
and  public  policy. 

The  controlling  fact  in  the  establish- 
ment of  such  a  program  is  that  the  cities 
must  rely  upon  themselves;  that  they 
cannot  depend  upon  the  public  service 
commissions  except  as  machinery 
through  which  to  function.  The  locally 


elected  officials  are  much  closer  to  the 
needs  of  the  people  than  are  any  other 
governmental  agencies,  and  are  in- 
evitably responsible  for  important 
municipal  matters.  They  must  deter- 
mine for  themselves  what  is  needed  and 
decide  upon  a  definite  policy,  and  then 
appear  before  the  commissions  to 
translate  such  purposes  into  accom- 
plishment. 

An  earlier  article  considered  the 
character  of  the  public  service  com- 
missions, explaining  the  unusual  com- 
bination of  legislative,  administrative 
and  judicial  powers.  The  fact  was 
emphasized  that,  while  the  commissions 
have  been  charged  with  the  responsi- 
bility of  promoting  the  public  welfare, 
because  of  their  judicial  responsibility 
they  have  not  actively  pressed  the  local 
public  interests  where  there  would  be  a 
clash  with  private  interests.  The  com- 


1922] 


DEADLOCK  IN  PUBLIC  UTILITY  REGULATION        141 


missions  could  hardly  be  expected  to 
make  trouble  for  themselves,  and  for 
the  most  part  they  have  started  pro- 
ceedings for  the  reduction  of  rates  or 
improvement  of  service  only  upon 
clamoring  municipal  insistence.  For 
this  reason,  the  cities  must  determine  for 
themselves  the  proper  policies,  and  then 
use  the  commissions,  clothed  with  the 
police  power,  to  carry  out  the  estab- 
lished purposes.  If  the  cities  appear 
before  the  commissions  with  a  definite 
program  and  the  facts  supporting  it, 
effective  action  can  be  obtained,  es- 
pecially if  the  force  of  public  opinion  is 
properly  marshalled. 

The  writer  believes  that  the  com- 
missions endowed  with  the  unusual 
combination  of  powers  constitute  a 
necessary  part  of  the  machinery  to 
carry  out  desirable  local  policies  as  to 
public  service  corporations.  But,  they 
are  not  suited  to  the  purpose  of  formu- 
lating such  policies  and  carrying  them 
out  on  their  own  initiative.  The  policy- 
making  function,  as  experience  has 
amply  demonstrated,  properly  belongs 
to  the  local  municipal  authorities,  who 
are  elected  by  the  people,  and  are  more 
responsive  to  public  needs.  The  cities 
themselves,  therefore,  ought  actively 
to  assume  the  responsibility  of  working 
out  their  public  utility  problems;  then 
appear  with  their  programs  and  facts 
before  the  commissions  and  use  these 
special  bodies,  with  their  police  power, 
to  carry  out  the  local  purposes.  The 
commissions  will  exercise  their  powers 
when  thus  actively  confronted  by  the 
organized  desires  of  the  cities,  but  will 
do  practically  nothing,  as  experience 
has  shown,  if  left  to  their  own  initiative 
and  responsibility. 

VALUATION   FIRST 

The  first  point  in  a  positive  municipal 
program  is  to  establish  once  and  for  all 
the  valuation  of  the  properties  upon 


which  the  investors  are  entitled  to  a 
return,  and  that  valuation  must  be 
definitely  recognized  by  the  public  as 
entitled  to  a  return.  As  explained 
previously,  the  matter  of  valuation  has 
furnished  a  continuous  battleground 
of  rate  regulation,  and  with  compara- 
tively few  exceptions  nothing  has  ever 
been  definitely  settled.  This  must  be 
cleared  up  before  other  constructive 
measures  can  be  carried  out.  The 
rights  of  the  investors  must  be  clearly 
defined,  and  in  turn  the  duties  of  the 
public  must  be  definitely  fixed.  Other- 
wise the  constant  disagreement  be- 
tween public  and  private  claims  will 
continue,  the  processes  of  regulation 
will  remain  unwieldy,  and  deadlock 
will  prevail. 

If  the  valuations  are  once  fixed,  so 
that  the  rights  of  the  investors  as  well 
as  the  duty  of  the  public  are  clearly 
defined,  then  the  technical  processes  of 
rate  making  could  be  made  exceedingly 
simple.  To  the  valuations  would  be 
added  all  subsequent  additional  invest- 
ments for  improvements  and  extensions, 
and  provisions  would  be  made  for  the 
complete  maintenance  of  the  properties, 
including  adequate  reserves  for  depre- 
ciation, renewals  and  contingencies. 
The  books  of  the  companies  would  thus 
continuously  show  the  amount  of  the 
investment  entitled  to  a  return,  and  a 
record  of  the  receipts  and  costs  of 
operation  would  show  also  whether  or 
not  the  investors  are  receiving  the 
return  to  which  they  are  entitled.  The 
necessary  facts  upon  which  rates  are 
properly  based  would  be  available  at 
any  moment  from  the  accounts  and 
records  kept  under  the  commissions* 
supervision .  If  in  any  case  the  earnings 
above  current  operating  costs  and 
reasonable  provision  for  reserves  and 
contingencies  become  greater  than  the 
necessary  return  upon  investment,  the 
fact  would  appear  clearly  from  the 
accounts  and  the  rates  could  be  readily 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[May 


reduced  without  affecting  the  rights  of 
the  investors.  Similarly  if  the  earnings 
become  inadequate,  the  rates  could  be 
promptly  increased  without  placing  an 
unjustified  burden  upon  the  public. 
The  facts  would  be  constantly  avail- 
able, and  rates  could  be  fixed  almost 
automatically  without  injury  or  special 
benefit  to  private  or  public  rights. 

In  clearing  up  the  confusion  as  to 
valuations,  it  is  necessary  that  proper 
principles  and  methods  be  used  so  that 
no  unreasonable  burdens  be  placed 
upon  the  public  and  that  no  real  pri- 
vate investments  be  confiscated.  The 
basis  of  valuation  would  be  exceedingly 
important,  and  its  determination  would 
require  the  greatest  regard  by  each 
municipality  as  well  as  ma-giimim  co- 
operation between  cities.  Correct 
principles  ought  to  be  vigorously  urged 
before  the  commissions.  With  the 
support  of  public  opinion  and  with  co- 
operation and  vigorous  action  by  cities, 
valuations  based  upon  sound  principles 
could  be  generally  established  fairly 
quickly  and  applied  to  all  the  proper- 
ties with  reasonable  expedition;  definite 
amounts  entitled  to  a  return  could  thus 
be  fixed  within  two  years'  time  even  in 
the  most  complicated  situations.  Then 
subsequent  rate  making  would  be  a 
simple  process,  based  upon  agreed 
facts,  without  the  acrimony  of  litiga- 
tion and  without  profit  or  loss  to  private 
or  public  rights.  Deadlock  will  in- 
evitably continue  until  such  an  auto- 
matic machinery  has  become  opera- 
tive, based  upon  fixed  valuations, 
definite  rights,  and  constantly  estab- 
lished facts. 

PROGRESSIVE  METHODS 

The  second  point  in  a  municipal 
program  is  to  establish  the  most  eco- 
nomical methods  of  operation.  As  set 
forth  previously  the  companies  are 
employing  to  a  large  extent  antiquated 


or  inadequate  plant  and  equipment,  are 
maintaining  unduly  costly  methods  of 
operation,  and  particularly  have  per- 
mitted the  accumulation  orcontinuance 
of  undue  overhead  expenses.  These 
conditions  result  in  excessive  costs, 
poor  service,  and  high  rates.  The  com- 
missions have  done  very  little  in  pro- 
moting progressive  economies,  such  as 
forcing  the  companies  to  install  proper 
plant  and  equipment,  and  furnishing 
proper  service  at  mmiimim  cost.  If  the 
public  wishes  to  keep  abreast  with  the 
advance  in  the  arts  and  to  obtain  the 
benefit  of  rates  based  upon  maximum 
economy,  the  cities  must  take  the 
initiative  themselves.  They  must 
show  wherein  the  management  is  un- 
economical; then  place  the  facts  and 
recommendations  before  the  commis- 
sions and  thus  use  this  special  machin- 
ery with  its  police  power  to  require 
the  companies  to  employ  all  possible 
economy  in  providing  service. 

CONSISTENT  FOLLOW-UP 

The  third  point  in  the  program  is 
that  the  cities  must  keep  regularly  in 
contact  with  methods  of  operation, 
costs,  and  returns,  so  as  to  plan  intelli- 
gent action  based  upon  facts.  While  the 
commissions'  police  power  ought  to  be 
used  by  the  cities  to  carry  out  their  pro- 
gram, there  must  be  exact  and  adequate 
knowledge  to  prepare  a  program,  and 
there  must  be  an  organization  for  that 
purpose.  The  original  intention  of  the 
public  utility  laws  in  establishing  the 
commissions  was  undoubtedly  that 
these  special  bodies  were  to  take  the 
requisite  initiative  in  procuring  proper 
management  with  the  lowest  possible 
cost  and  rates  to  the  consumers.  But 
this  reliance  upon  the  commissions  has 
been  futile;  the  cities  themselves  must 
provide  the  means  by  which  desirable 
municipal  policies  may  first  be  devel- 
oped, then  using  the  commissions  as 


DEADLOCK  IN  PUBLIC  UTILITY  REGULATION        145 


vehicles  for  carrying  out  the  municipal 

purposes. 

Heretofore  the  cities  have  done 
practically  nothing  on  their  own  initia- 
tive in  the  development  of  eonsistent 
policies,  and  have  acted  only  when 
partial  crises  hail  developed.  Then,  in 
most  insianees,  they  were  not  prepared 
for  intelligent  art  ion;  while  floundering 
tlu-y  called  in  experts,  appropriated 
large  snins  of  money,  made  lavish  ex- 
penditures, and  obtained  little  in  de- 
sirahle  permanent  results.  In  partieular 
coses  the  cities  have  secured  reductions 
in  rates  or  prevented  increases,  or  even 
brought  about  improvements  in  service. 
In  general,  however,  they  have  acted 
spasmodically,  and  have  made  little 
effort  to  keep  constantly  informed 
about  conditions  and  costs  of  service 
and  to  develop  and  carry  out  a  system- 
atic program  in  the  interest  of  the 
public. 

If,  then,  the  cities  wish  to  have  the 
best  possible  service  at  the  lowest 
{xvssible  cost  to  the  public,  they  simply 
must  have  systematic  organization  to 
get  the  facts,  and  to  develop  and  carry 
out  regularly  the  desirable  municipal 
purposes.  In  most  instances,  however, 
the  cost  to  the  cities  would  be  prohibi- 
tive if  they  were  to  place  such  an  organi- 
zation among  the  regular  municipal 
departments.  The  services  of  the  high- 
est grade  of  financial,  accounting  ami 
engineering  experts  would  be  required, 
and  if  each  city  were  to  maintain  such 
an  indeixMident  organization,  the  ex- 
pense would  be  overwhelming  and  any 
thoroughgoing  policy  impracticable. 

Kxeept  in  the  case  of  |x>ssihly  a  few 
very  large  municipalities,  the  reason- 
able course  would  be  for  tin-  cities  to  act 
together  in  some  form  of  co  opcr.itixe 
organization,  so  as  to  distribute  broadly 
the  cost  of  obtaining  flic  best  experts 
necessary  to  carry  out  the  program. 
The  cities  could  thus  secure  the  highest 
grade  of  technical  skill  and  \\onld  be 


able  to  pay  the  necessary  comjxMisa- 
tion  to  first-class  experts.  Since  no  one 
city  would  require  the  exclusive  serv- 
ices of  such  an  organization,  the  cost 
could  be  apportioned  so  as  to  weigh  but 
lightly  upon  each  municipality. 

CO-OPERATIVE  SERVICE 

There  an*  two  possible  plans  for 
carrying  out  large  scale  co-operation  in 
the  use  of  a  technical  organi/.ation: 
(1)  the  cities  themselves  organise  a 
public  utility  bureau,  and  prorate  ex- 
penses, and  (£)  form  a  private  organiza- 
tion  to  work  with  the  cities,  entering 
into  a  separate  agreement  with  each 
city  and  fixing  the  charges  according 
to  individual  circumstances.  A  direct 
public  utility  bureau  organized  by  the 
municipalities,  would  be  difficult  to 
maintain  because  of  the  inevitably 
cumbersome  control.  The  alternative 
private  association  would  be  more 
easily  managed  and  could  be  more 
readily  adapted  to  varying  needs. 
Safeguards  could  l>e  readily  provided 
for  pro] XT  service,  so  that  the  cost  to 
the  cities  would  be  kept  \\ithin  reason- 
able figures. 

With  either  form  of  arrangement. 
whether  a  public  utility  bureau  under 
the  direct  control  of  the  cities  or  a  pri- 
vate organi/.ation.  the  cost  of  carrying 
out  a  consist ent  municipal  policy  could 
l>c  made  so  low  that  every  city  of  con- 
siderable size  could  afford  the 
or  could  not  afford  to  go  without  it. 
The  organization  would  first  help  each 
city  work  out  its  own  partieular  pro- 
gram suited  to  local  conditions.  Then. 
in  co-o|>eration  \\ith  the  local  authori- 
ties, it  \\ould  obtain  the  establishment 
of  definite  valuations  of  the  public 
utility  properties.  >Yorking  with  a 
nunuVr  of  cities,  such  organization 
would  have  the  advantage  of  presenting 
consistent  principles  and  methods 
throughout  ami  would  thus  be  in  a 


144 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[May 


particularly  strong  position  to  obtain 
fair  valuations  for  the  public. 

As  a  necessary  part  of  a  regular  pro- 
gram, the  organization  would  make  a 
periodical  report  to  the  municipal 
authorities  covering  the  financial  re- 
sults of  operation.  It  would  investigate 
also  the  methods  of  operation  and  the 
physical  conditions  of  the  properties 
showing  where  improvements  could  be 
made  and  costs  reduced.  It  would  not 
only  present  an  analysis  of  the  facts, 
but  would  make  recommendations  as 
to  any  particular  action  that  ought  to 
be  taken.  And  it  would  assist  or  repre- 
sent the  cities  before  the  commissions 
and  courts  in  all  public  utility  actions  re- 
lating to  rates,  service,  issuance  of  secur- 
ities, economy  or  any  other  technical 
matter.  There  would  then  be  an  assur- 
ance that  the  public  interest  be  most 
effectively  promoted  in  every  action. 

The   outline   here   presented  is,   of 


course,  only  suggestive.  This  much, 
however,  is  clear  to  the  writer:  Some 
such  plan  must  be  adopted  and  carried 
out  if  the  existing  deadlock  is  to  be 
broken.  Regulation  has  existed  over 
fifteen  years;  has  produced  few  con- 
structive results,  but  has  impeded  the 
progress  of  economy  and  caused  exten- 
sive impairment  of  the  credit  of  the 
companies.  The  cities  must  act  for 
themselves  if  they  wish  proper  service 
at  reasonable  rates  for  the  people.  In 
order  to  carry  out  their  purposes,  the 
cities  must  use  the  commissions;  but 
experience  has  demonstrated  beyond 
doubt  that  reliance  upon  these  outside 
quasi-judicial  bodies  to  do  vigorous 
planning  and  pushing  for  the  local 
public  is  unjustified  and  useless.  The 
local  authorities  simply  must  assume 
this  responsibility  if  the  rights  of  the 
public  are  to  be  properly  safeguarded 
and  promoted. 


STATEMENT  OF  THE  OWNERSHIP,  MANAGEMENT,  CIRCULATION,  ETC.,  REQUIRED  BY  THE 

ACT   OF   CONGRESS  OF  AUGUST  24,  1912 
Of  the  NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW,  published  monthly  for  April  r,  1922. 

STATE  OF  NEW  YORK,      \ 
COUNTY  OF  NEW  YORK.  / 

Before  me,  a  Notary  Public,  in  and  for  the  State  and]county  aforesaid,  personally  appeared  G.  R.  Howe,  who, 
having  been  duly  sworn  according  to  law,  deposes  and  says  that  she  is  the  Business  Manager  of  the  NATIONAL 
MUNICIPAL  REVIEW,  and  that  the  following  is,  to  the  best  of  her  knowledge  and  belief,  a  true  statement  of  the 
ownership,  management,  etc.,  of  the  aforesaid  publication  for  the  date  shown  in  the  above  caption,  required  by 
the  Act  of  August  24,  1912,  embodied  in  section  443,  Postal  Laws  and  Regulations,  printed  on  the  reverse  of  this 
form,  to  wit: 

1.  That  the  names  and  addresses  of  the  publisher,  editor,  managing  editor,  and  business  managers  are: 
Publisher:  National  Municipal  League,  261  Broadway,  New  York,  N.  Y.    Editor:  H.  W.  Dodds,  261  Broad- 
way, New  York  City.    Managing  Editor:  R.  S.  Childs.     Business  Manager:  G.  R.  Howe. 

2.  That  the  owners  are: 

National  Municipal  League,  New  York  City,  a  voluntary  association,  unincorporated.  The  officers  of  the 
National  Municipal  League  are:  H.  M.  Waite,  Pres.;  Carl  H.  Pforzheimer,  Treas. ;  H.  W.  Dodds,  Secretary. 

3.  That  the  known  bondholders,  mortgagees,  and  other  security  holders  owning  or  holding  I  per  cent  or  more 
of  total  amount  of  bonds,  mortgages,  or  other  securities  are:  None. 

4.  That  the  two  paragraphs  next  above,  giving  the  names  of  the  owners,  stockholders,  and  security  holders, 
if  any,  contain  not  only  the  list  of  stockholders  and  security  holders  as  they  appear  upon  the  books  of  the  com- 
pany but  also,  in  cases  where  the  stockholder  or  security  holder  appears  upon  the  books  of  the  company  as  trus- 
tee or  in  any  other  fiduciary  relation,  the  name  of  the  person  or  corporation  for  whom  such  trustee  is  acting,  is 
given;  also  that  the  said  two  paragraphs  contain  statements  embracing  affiant's  full  knowledge  and  belief  as  to 
the  circumstances  and  conditions  under  which  stockholders  and  security  holders  who  do  not  appear  upon  the 
books  of  the  company  as  trustees,  hold  stock  and  securities  in  a  capacity  other  than  that  of  a  bona  fide  owner; 
and  this  affiant  has  no  reason  to  believe  that  any  other  person,  association,  or  corporation  has  any  interest  direct 
or  indirect  in  the  said  stock,  bonds,  or  other  securities  than  as  so  stated  by  him. 

G.  R.  HOWE. 
Sworn  to  and  subscribed  before  me  this  nth  day  of  April,  1922. 


[SEAL] 


HENRY  J.  WEHLE, 

Notary  Public,  New  York  County. 
(My  commission  expires  March  30,  1923.) 


PENSIONS  IN  PUBLIC  EMPLOYMENT 


MINORITY  REPORT  OF  ALBERT  DE  ROODE 

The  main  report  of  our  committee  on  the  above  subject  was  published 
as  a  special  issue  of  the  REVIEW  in  April.  This  minority  report 
relating  to  the  committee's  preference  for  the  contributory  principle 
was  crowded  out  for  lack  of  space.  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  :: 


I  find  myself  unable  to  concur  in  all 
the  recommendations  of  the  committee. 

My  chief  objection  is  to  the  so-called 
contributory  principle. 

In  an  article  published  in  June,  1913, 
in  the  American  Economic  Review  en- 
titled "Pensions  as  Wages,"  I  pointed 
out  the  fallacy  of  treating  a  pension  as 
other  than  a  part  of  the  real  wages  of 
the  employe,  both  in  public  and  private 
employment.  A  pension  is  part  of  the 
real  wages  of  an  employe  and  it  is 
economically  unsound  to  consider  an 
employe  as  paying  part  of  his  own 
wages.  Speaking  of  an  employe  con- 
tributing to  a  pension  fund  is  as  un- 
sound as  to  say  that  an  employe  shall 
pay  half  of  the  overtime  paid  him  for 
night  work. 

In  this  minority  report  I  submit  as 
my  views  on  the  pension  question  the 
following  extracts  from  my  article  in 
1913: 

The  main  difficulty  in  the  way  of  adopting 
a  pension  system  is  the  conflict  between  those 
who  contend  that  the  government  should  pay 
the  pension  and  those  who  contend  that  the  em- 
ploye should  pay  the  pension,  or  rather  that  out  of 
the  present  wage  of  the  employe  he  should  be 
required  to  set  aside,  under  government  control, 
sufficient  to  provide  his  own  pension.  Consider- 
ing pensions  as  part  of  wages,  as  in  private  em- 
ploy, this  conflict  resolves  itself  into  the  question 
whether  the  present  scale  of  wages,  paid  employes 
in  the  federal  government,  is  sufficient  to  justify 
requiring  the  employes  to  set  aside  put  of  such 
wages  the  savings  necessary  for  their  pensions. 
That  this  is  the  question  is  recognized  generally 
by  advocates  of  the  so-called  "contributory" 
plan  when  they  say  that  where  wages  are  found 
to  be  inadequate  the  remedy  is  to  increase  the 
wage.  The  difficulty  with  this  is  that  an  increase 
under  such  a  plan  would  be  apt  to  take  the  form 


of  a  flat  rate  of  increase  applying  to  classes  of 
salaries  or  wages  generally,  and  not  meeting 
individual  cases.  Thus,  for  an  illustration, 
assume  two  employes,  one  35  years  old  and  the 
other  45,  each  getting  a  salary  of  $1,200.  Under 
the  contributory  plan  the  employe  45  years  old 
must  contribute  more  to  provide  for  his  pension 
than  the  younger  employe,  yet  any  increase  that 
would  naturally  be  made  would  be  to  raise  the 
salaries  of  all  $1,200  men. 

The  very  demand  for  pensions  on  the  part  of 
the  government  employes  indicates  that  the  pres- 
ent salaries  are  not  sufficient,  according  to  the 
ideas  of  the  employes.  The  logical  way  to  treat 
this  situation  would  be  for  the  government  to 
pay  the  pensions  and  then  adjust  the  money 
wages  accordingly.  To  expect  the  employe  to 
provide  for  a  pension  system  out  of  his  present 
scale  of  wages  and  then  rely  upon  future  increases 
in  wages,  is  to  force  the  employe  into  the  field  of 
collective  bargaining  for  such  increases.  This 
would  not  necessarily  take  the  form  of  labor 
unions,  but  possibly  might  resolve  itself  into  a 
more  dangerous  method,  that  of  lobbying  and 
attempting  to  influence  the  election  of  repre- 
sentatives. Inasmuch  as  the  government  is 
maintaining  a  quasi-pension  plan  which  it  is 
highly  desirable  should  be  abolished,  and  inas- 
much as  the  adoption  of  an  intelligent  pension 
plan  would  benefit  the  government  quite  as  much 
as  the  employe,  it  would  seem  only  the  part  of 
wisdom  and  decent  interest  in  the  welfare  of  its 
employes,  such  as  the  age  demands  of  the  govern- 
ment, for  it  to  take  the  initiative. 

Two  things  should  be  insisted  upon:  the  sep- 
arate treatment  of  each  individual  as  to  his  pen- 
sion and  the  proper  funding,  year  by  year,  of  a 
pension  fund.  Unless  pensions  are  treated 
individually,  there  is  a  tendency  to  overload  the 
fund  for  special  cases  or  the  fund  becomes  a  gen- 
eral grab-bag.  Unless  proper  provision  is  made 
for  the  funding  year  by  year  (so  that  pensions  are 
not  merely  paid  out  as  part  of  current  expense), 
there  is  no  way  of  finding  just  what  pensions  are 
costing  nor  of  checking  up  and  making  adjust- 
ment. A  pension  fund  of  the  government  should 
be  conducted  with  the  same  precision  and  fiscal 
intelligence  as  are  the  funds  of  insurance  com- 
panies and  railroads. 

Under  a  system  which,  starting  on  the  basis  of 
the  present  rate  of  wages,  the  government  should 
pay  in  addition  to  these  wages  the  amount  nee* 


145 


146 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[May 


essary  for  the  pension,  there  would  work  out,  by 
and  large,  a  better  adjustment  of  wages  than 
could  be  expected  under  the  contributory  plan. 
For  example,  take  the  same  two  employes,  aged 
35  and  45,  each  getting  a  salary  of  $1,200.  The 
pension  contribution  by  the  government  in  the 
case  of  the  younger  employe  would  be  much  less 
than  in  the  case  of  the  older  employe,  and  when, 
in  the  natural  progress  of  service,  the  time  came 
around  for  the  older  employe  to  receive  an  in- 
crease in  salary,  it  could  be  pointed  out  that  he 
was  already  receiving  an  increase  in  the  shape  of 
a  pension  contribution,  and  in  that  way  wages 
of  employes  could  be  better  adjusted  to  meet 
individual  cases. 

In  other  words,  under  the  contributory  plan 
the  tendency  would  be  to  raise  the  wages  by  some 
rule  of  thumb  with  not  so  much  reference  to  any 
individual  case  as  to  specific  rates  of  wages.  Un- 
der the  plan  in  which  the  government  should  con- 
tribute the  pension  in  addition  to  the  present 
rate  of  wages,  through  promotion  and  normal 
salary  increases,  there  would  be  a  better  and  more 
exact  opportunity  for  adjusting  the  individual 
case,  and  in  the  course  of  a  very  few  years  the 
general  situation  would  be,  one  might  almost  say, 
automatically  adjusted. 

Considering  pensions  as  a  part  of  wages,  the 
contributions  made  each  year  to  the  pension 
fund  by  the  government  should  be  considered, 
subject  to  one  exception,  as  deferred  wages,  pay- 
able to  the  employe  upon  separation  from  the 
service,  or  to  his  heirs  in  case  of  death.  The 
exception  to  this  general  principle  should  be  in 
the  case  of  the  early  years  of  service.  A  pension 
is  not  a  mere  increase  in  wages;  it  is  an  induce- 
ment to  continued  service.  Many  persons  enter 
government  service  as  a  temporary  occupation. 
The  right  of  the  employe,  therefore,  to  the  ac- 
crued value  of  his  pension  should  not  commence 
until  he  has  passed  what  might  be  called  the  tem- 
porary stage.  Roughly  speaking  this  would  be 
five  or  six  years,  and  the  accrued  value  of  the  pen- 
sion returned  to  him  upon  separation  would  com- 
mence with  the  beginning  of  what  might  be  called 
the  more  permanent  service. 

There  are  two  ideas  underlying  this  return  of 
the  accrued  value  of  the  pension.  First,  the  nat- 
ural one  following  from  the  consideration  of  a 
pension  as  a  form  of  wages,  that  the  accrued  value 
of  the  pension  is  actually  earned  by  the  employe 
and  as  a  matter  of  morals  should  be  returned  to 


him.  Second,  and  this  is  particularly  impor- 
tant in  government  pensions,  the  natural  instinct 
of  government  authorities  would  be  not  to  dis- 
miss an  employe  where  such  dismissal  meant  the 
forfeiture  of  a  considerable  money  value.  This 
is  human  and  obtains  very  largely,  I  imagine, 
in  private  employment.  It  obtains  to  a  much 
greater  extent  in  public  employment  where  there 
is  no  pocket  nerve  touched  by  the  retention  of 
the  inefficient.  It  would  make  the  dismissal  of 
the  inefficient  government  employe  much  easier 
for  the  removing  authority  if  the  accrued  value 
of  the  pension  fund  were  given  him  upon  dis- 
missal. 

A  third  idea  may  be  added.  To  the  author's^ 
mind  the  success  of  democracy  depends  upon 
the  absence  of  rigid  classes  or  strata  among  the 
people.  We  do  not  want  to  develop  an  office- 
holding  class,  except  upon  the  basis  of  proven 
efficiency.  We,  therefore,  should  not  make  it 
difficult  for  the  employe  in  the  government  serv- 
ice to  get  out  of  the  government  service  because 
of  the  lure  of  a  pension  at  the  end  of  a  stated 
time,  the  accrued  value  of  which  he  forfeits  if  he 
leaves.  We  should  not  make  it  difficult  for  those 
in  authority  to  remove  the  inefficient  because  of 
the  forfeiture  of  the  accrued  value  of  the  pension. 

Considering  pensions  as  wages,  and  not  mere 
gratuities,  such  as  might  have  been  given  by  the 
Stuarts  to  their  court  favorites,  it  seems  that  a 
sound  pension  plan  should  be  developed  on  the 
following  principles: 

(1)  Pay  the  sums  necessary  to  maintain  the 
pension  fund  over  and  above  the  present  scale  of 
wages  of  its  employes. 

(2)  Treat  each  employe's  pension  separately. 

(3)  Make   proper   funding  provision   upon 
actuarial  calculation  and  set  aside  year  by  year 
the  necessary  sums. 

(4)  Give  to  each  employe,  upon  separation 
from  the  service,  or,  in  case  of  death,  to  his  heirs: 
(a)  the  accrued  value  of  his  pension,  or  (b)  the 
commutation  of  such  value  in  the  shape  of  a 
smaller  annual  pension;  the  accrued  value  of  the 
pension  to  be  determined  from  such  point  in  his 
service  as  would  exclude  refund  in  the  case  of 
merely  temporary  service. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

ALBERT  DE  ROODE. 
June  9,  1921. 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


I.     GOVERNMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION 


A  Constitutional  Convention  in  Virginia  will 
be  held  in  1925  if  the  people  so  vote  at  a  referen- 
dum ordered  for  next  November. 
* 

Sonoma  County,  California. — Forty  citizens 
from  all  parts  of  the  county  met  at  Santa  Rosa 
in  February  to  organize  a  county  charter  league 
and  to  arrange  to  nominate  freeholders  to  draft 
a  county-manager  charter. 
* 

Butte  County,  California. — A  board  of  free- 
holders began  to  hold  meetings  on  April  14  at 
Chico  for  the  purpose  of  revising  the  county 
charter,  and  a  group  of  citizens  are  organizing  to 
press  for  adoption  of  the  county-manager  plan. 
* 

Sacramento  County,  California. — The  Febru- 
ary election  of  freeholders  resulted  in  the  election 
of  the  entire  ticket  pledged  to  the  submission  of  a 
county-manager  charter  and  the  freeholders  are 
now  at  work.  The  sentiment  for  the  plan  is  based 
largely  upon  the  brilliant  progress  which  the 
city  manager  of  Sacramento  is  exhibiting.  The 
city  report  for  the  first  six  months  shows  increase 
of  miscellaneous  revenues  from  $143,000  to 
$227,000.  Operating  costs  dropped  $110,000  for 
the  six  months.  The  old  administration  had 
spent  59  per  cent  of  the  budget  but  the  manager 
ran  the  city  for  the  remaining  half  year  on  the 
other  41  per  cent,  took  care  of  some  $30,000  of 
special  expenses  and  had  $28,000  surplus  left 
over. 

* 

Home  Rule  in  New  York. — After  a  fight  last- 
ing for  many  years  the  cities  of  New  York  state 
have  persuaded  the  legislature  to  take  the  first 
big  step  toward  substantial  home  rule  for  munici- 
palities. In  passing  the  Tolbert  amendment  the 
Republican  majority  has  paid  heed  to  a  strong 
and  growing  public  sentiment  in  the  cities. 
Section  2  of  the  amendment  just  adopted  reads: 

The  Legislature  shall  not  pass  any  law  relating  to  the 
property,  affairs  or  government  of  cities,  which  shall  be 
special  or  local  either  in  its  terms  or  in  its  effect,  but 
shall  act  in  relation  to  the  property,  affairs  or  govern- 
ment of  any  city  only  by  general  laws  which  shall  in 
terms  and  in  effect  apply  alike  to  all  cities  except  on 


message  from  the  governor  declaring  that  an  emergency 
exists  and  the  concurrent  action  of  two-thirds  of  the 
members  of  each  house  of  the  legislature. 

The  amendment  must  pass  the  next  legislature 
and  be  approved  at  the  polls  in  November,  1923. 
A  provision  permitting  cities  to  draft  their  own 
charters  appeared  in  the  original  draft  but  was 
dropped. 

* 

The  Louisville  Short  Ballot  Charter. — A  few 
months  ago  Louisville,  Kentucky,  wanted  to 
modernize  its  government  and  called  in  our  Dr. 
Hatton  as  consultant.  The  state  constitution 
compelled  two-headed  municipal  governments, 
so  our  model  charter  could  not  be  considered,  but 
Dr.  Hatton  helped  to  lay  out  the  simplest  struc- 
ture of  government  that  was  possible  under  the 
restrictions,  and  this  short  ballot  charter,  as  it 
was  called,  was  gotten  through  the  legislature 
with  the  support  of  both  parties  but  was  finally 
vetoed  by  the  governor. 


May  Change  County  Government  System  in 
North  Carolina. — Governor  Morrison  is  dissatis- 
fied with  the  state's  present  county  government 
system,  and  he  will  recommend  radical  changes 
in  the  law  to  the  next  legislature. 

The  governor  in  April  selected  a  commission 
of  representative  citizens  of  the  state,  who  will 
be  invited  to  come  together  and  take  into  con- 
sideration the  drafting  for  submission  to  the 
1923  legislature  of  a  new  county  government 
law  in  North  Carolina. 

While  he  has  made  no  statement  yet,  it  is 
learned  that  the  governor  thinks  there  should  be 
a  complete  reorganization  of  the  form  of  county 
government  and  the  accounting  systems  in  op- 
eration in  them. 

* 

A  New  Pension  Law. — New  York  has  taken  an 
important  step  to  stop  the  development  of 
further  unsound  public  pension  practices  in  the 
cities  and  counties  by  enacting  a  new  law  (Sen. 
1212)  which  admits  to  participation  in  the  State 
Employes'  Retirement  System  all  city  and  county 
employes  in  the  state  except  those  who  already 


147 


148 


NATIONAL   MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[May 


enjoy  systems  of  their  own,  and  forbids  the 
creation  of  any  further  pension  systems  by 
cities  or  counties. 

* 

Federal  Personal  Board. — Early  in  his  admin- 
istration, President  Harding  expressed  his  ideas 
of  the  employment  policy  of  the  government  in 
the  following  terms: 

The  time  has  come  for  the  federal  government  to 
organize  its  agencies  of  employment  in  accordance  with 
the  principles  which  have  been  tested  and  approved  by 
the  best  modern  business  practice.  .  .  .  Though 
the  necessity  for  a  budget  system  is  great,  perhaps  even 
greater  is  the  need  for  a  system  which  will  give  federal 
employes  a  square  deal  in  promotions,  pay  and  continu- 
ity of  service  while  obtaining  for  the  nation's  taxpayers, 
in  return,  a  high  standard  of  skill  and  continued  loyalty 
among  the  employes  who. serve  them.  .  .  . 

The  most  important  step  taken  by  the  present 
administration  toward  the  realization  of  this 
program  is  the  appointment  of  a  Federal  Per- 
sonnel Board.  This  Board  was  authorized  in  an 
executive  order  bearing  the  date  of  December  23 
and  issued  over  the  signature  of  General  Dawes 
of  the  Bureau  of  the  Budget.  It  is  to  consist  of 
representatives  of  each  one  of  the  departments 
and  independent  establishments.  They  are  to 
serve  under  the  chairmanship  of  the  president  of 
the  Civil  Service  Commission.  The  Board's 
functions  are  practically  as  broad  as  the  whole 
personnel  field  itself.  Follow-up,  transfer,  pro- 
motion, training,  standard  hours  and  leaves, 


"and  other  matters  designed  to  obtain  effective- 
ness of  the  public  service,"  form  the  program  of 
action. 

There  is,  however,  no  more  important  function 
contemplated  for  the  Federal  Personnel  Board 
than  to  make  the  Civil  Service  Commission  a 
more  integral  part  of  the  machinery  responsible 
for  employment  administration.  The  chief 
reason  for  the  red-tape  character  of  the  methods 
of  the  Civil  Service  Commission  is  its  enforced 
isolation.  In  the  past  it  has  had  little  direct 
contact  with  the  organizations  which  it  is  called 
upon  to  serve.  This  handicap  will  now  be  over- 
come if  special  officers  are  detailed  from  all  of  the 
departments  in  accordance  with  this  executive 
order.  The  Board  is  specifically  commissioned 
to  perfect  a  liaison  system  between  the  civil  serv- 
ice agency  and  the  departments  to  the  end 
"that  the  entire  personnel  selection  and  admin- 
istration may  be  more  practical  and  more  co- 
operative." 

In  view  of  the  success  of  similar  co-ordinating 
committees  already  created  under  the  Bureau  of 
the  Budget,  it  is  to  be  expected  that  the  Federal 
Personnel  Board  will  substitute  a  progressive 
employment  policy  for  the  policy  of  drift  which, 
judging  from  the  report  of  the  Reclassification 
Commission,  seems  to  be  the  only  title  that 
applies  at  present  to  employment  administration 
in  the  federal  government. 

W.  E.  MOSHER. 


II.    CITY-MANAGER  NOTES 


Sault  Ste.  Marie,  Michigan. — Petitions  were 
circulated  recently  looking  toward  a  return  to 
the  aldermanic  form  of  government,  whereupon 
a  statement  favoring  the  present  city-manager 
form  was  signed  by  every  minister,  priest  and 
pastor  in  the  city. 

* 

Hinsdale,  Illinois,  adopted  city-manager  gov- 
ernment in  February,  1922.     It  went  into  opera- 
tion April  1.    F.  D.  Danielson  is  village  manager. 
* 

Salem,  Virginia  (5,000),  adopted  manager  gov- 
ernment by  a  7  to  1  vote  on  February  7. 
* 

Sapulpa,  Oklahoma  (population  17,500). — 
Victor  Kirk,  secretary  of  chamber  of  commerce, 
has  led  the  fight  for  the  manager  charter.  Of  the 
two  local  newspapers,  the  smaller  is  in  "oppo- 
sition" and  claims  the  labor  vote.  Person- 
alities entered  the  fight.  Fourteen  citizens  were 


quoted  as  opposing  the  manager  idea  in  the 
"opposition"  paper  and  the  next  day  the  other 
paper  quoted  nine  of  the  same  fourteen  as  favor- 
ing the  manager  change.  The  election  was  held 
February  28.  The  vote  was  3  to  1  for  a  manager 
charter. 

* 

Janesville,  Wisconsin,  adopted  city-manager 
government  by  711  majority  April  5.  The 
women  did  it.  New  government  will  be  in 
effect  April,  1923. 

* 

Muskegon  Heights,  Michigan  (population 
12,000),  has  adopted  a  manager  charter.  The 
census  shows  a  growth  of  463  per  cent  in  the  last 
decade. 

* 

Niagara  Falls,  Ontario,  voted  for  a  manager 
charter  in  March  and  the  bill  now  goes  to  the 
provincial  legislature. 


1922] 


NOTES  AND   EVENTS 


140 


Bozeman,  Montana  (population  8,250),  is  the 
first  Montana  city  to  adopt  a  city-manager 
charter.  Mr.  Sam  Mendenhall  is  the  first 
manager. 

* 

New  Manager  Cities  have  been  found  recently. 
They  are  Ames,  Iowa  (5,455),  modified  form  of 
manager  government,  Mgr.  P.  F.  Hopkins; 
Marysville,  Michigan,  Mgr.  H.  B.  Hollister; 
Brush,  Colorado,  and  Grandfield,  Oklahoma. 
* 

Plymouth,   Michigan    (population    2,130). — 
The  citizens  recently  endorsed  the  city-manager 
government  by  a  4^to  1  vote. 
* 

Belmar,  New  Jersey. — Mr.  Cook  Howland  is 
the  first  city  manager  in  New  Jersey.  Though 
New  Jersey  statutes  are  practically  prohibitive, 
the  office  was  established  by  an  ordinance  of  the 
council  sponsored  by  the  mayor. 

* 

Sedalia,  Missouri,  lost  its  manager  charter 
fight  by  a  small  margin.  The  opposition  re- 
sorted to  various  political  tricks,  it  is  reported. 
The  reason  ascribed  for  the  defeat  is  that  many 
people  who  favored  manager  government  were 
so  sure  it  would  carry  that  they  did  not  bother 
to  go  and  vote. 

* 

Grand  Rapids,  Michigan. — April  3,  the  pro- 
posed amendments  that  would  have  meant  return 
to  aldermanic  rule  were  voted  down  by  a  substan- 
tial majority. 

* 

City  Manager  W.  B.  Anthony,  of  Walters, 
Oklahoma,  is  now  president  of  the  Oklahoma 
Municipal  League.  This  makes  four  city  man- 
agers who  are  presidents  of  state  municipal 


leagues — Charles  E.  Hewes  of  Long  Beach,  ( 'nli- 
fornia,  Louis  Brownlow  of  Petersburg,  Virginia, 
H.  J.  Graeser,  of  Tyler,  Texas. 
* 

Combination  Managerships. — The  naming  of 
the  new  manager  at  Petoskey,  Michigan,  is  be- 
lieved to  forecast  the  divorcing  of  the  city  mana- 
gership and  the  secretaryship  of  the  chamber 
of  commerce,  which  two  offices  were  held  by 
J.  Frank  Quinn  for  the  past  two  years.  S.  E. 
Northway,  who  had  held  the  dual  position  of 
city  manager  and  school  superintendent  in 
Sherrill,  New  York,  decided  to  devote  all  his 
time  to  school  work,  and  C.  B.  Salisbury  is  now 
manager.  Homer  D.  Wade  held  the  dual  posi- 
tion of  secretary  of  the  chamber  of  commerce 
and  city  manager  in  Stamford,  Texas,  until  the 
first  of  the  year,  but  now  he  is  devoting  his  en- 
tire time  to  chamber  of  commerce  work  and 
H.  S.  Bradshaw,  former  city  engineer,  is  now  man- 
ager. A  Pennsylvania  town  had  a  combination 
manager  position  for  a  time  and  dropped  the 
arrangement,  but  so  far  as  is  known  all  such 
capacities  are  now  divorced  from  city-manager 
positions. 

* 

Interest  is  being  shown  in  city-manager 
government  in  the  following  cities:  St.  Paul, 
Minnesota;  Utica,  New  York;  Parsons,  Kansas; 
Methuen,  Massachusetts;  Greenville,  South 
Carolina;  Burlington,  North  Carolina;  Knox- 
ville,  Tennessee;  Lawrence,  Kansas;  Waterloo, 
Iowa;  Marion,  Indiana;  Hattiesburg,  Missis- 
sippi; Three  Forks,  Montana;  Cherokee,  Iowa; 
Savannah,  Georgia;  Tulsa,  Oklahoma;  Prince 
Rupert,  British  Columbia;  Eureka,  California; 
Oshkosh,  Wisconsin ;  Coffey  ville,  Kansas ;  Temple, 
Texas;  Orlando,  Florida;  Warren,  Ohio;  Mexia 
and  Gainesville,  Texas. 

PAUL  B.  WILCOX. 


HI.    MISCELLANEOUS 


Replanning  Salonika  after  the  Great  Fire. — 
The  replotting  provisions  of  the  recent  Salonika 
Town  Planning  Act  were  drafted  by  a  commis- 
sion of  English  and  French  experts.  In  August, 
1917,  Salonika  was  totally  destroyed  by  fire  for 
the  fifth  time,  and  the  statute  was  passed  to  take 
advantage  of  this  great  opportunity  to  replan  it. 

The  first  act  of  the  government  was  to  issue  a 
Royal  Decree  prohibiting  the  erection  or  repair 
of  any  building  prior  to  the  adoption  of  the  new 


law.  A  survey  and  plan  of  the  city  were  then 
made.  Under  the  Greek  Constitution  the  gov- 
ernment was  obliged  to  pay  immediately  the  full 
value  of  the  property,  for  which  purpose  it  had 
no  available  funds.  The  owners  of  property  in 
the  burnt  district  were  therefore,  by  virtue  of  the 
act,  incorporated  as  a  Property  Owners'  Asso- 
ciation for  the  purpose  of  executing  the  new 
scheme,  and  all  individual  rights  and  titles  ex- 
tinguished; each  property  owner  was  made  a 


150 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[May 


shareholder  in  the  company  to  the  amount  of  the 
value  of  his  individual  holding;  and  the  manage- 
ment of  the  company  was  given  to  the  govern- 
ment. A  careful  method  of  valuing  the  property 
thus  compulsively  taken  over  by  the  company 
was  adopted,  the  property  owner  being  given  a 
hearing  and  right  of  appeal.  In  exchange  for  his 
property  each  owner  received  state  bonds,  which 
he  was  forbidden  to  sell,  but  on  which,  as  collat- 
eral, the  National  Bank  of  Greece  was  author- 
ized to  advance  to  him  75  per  cent  of  their  face 
value. 

The  city  was  then  replanned  and  replotted,  and 
the  sale  of  the  new  lots  arranged  for,  the  owners 
of  the  bonds  having  the  right  to  turn  them  in,  at 
their  face  value,  in  payment  for  any  lots  pur- 
chased by  them.  Other  things  being  equal,  the 
preference  was  given,  in  purchasing,  to  the  old 
property  owners.  They  also  received  50  per 
cent  of  any  profit  realized  by  the  company,  the 
other  50  per  cent  going  to  the  municipality  of 
Solonika,  to  be  expended  in  the  construction  of 
public  buildings. 

FRANK  B.  WILLIAMS. 

* 

Victory  for  Elimination  of  Illuminated  Signs. — 
The  merchants  of  Thirty-fourth  Street  between 
Fourth  and  Seventh  Avenues,  New  York  City,  in 
several  cases  sought  to  enjoin  the  several  de- 
fendants from  taking  down  illuminated  signs  of 
the  various  plaintiffs,  claiming  that  the  city 
ordinance  which  prohibited  illuminated  signs 
on  Thirty-fourth  Street  between  Fourth  and 
Seventh  Avenues,  except  for  carriage  calls  and 
places  of  amusement,  was  illegal.  A  recent  de- 
cision vacates  the  injunctions  and  sets  up  pro- 
gressive bill-board  theory. 

"There  is  no  doubt  that  advertising  by  illuminated 
signs  is  very  beneficial  to  business,"  states  the  judge. 
"  At  the  same  time  the  multiplication  of  those  outstand- 
ing signs  in  this  very  busy  section  of  the  city  easily  can 
become  an  eyesore,  a  nuisance  and  an  improper  use  of 
the  air  space  over  the  thoroughfares.  We  may  assume 
that  the  board  of  aldermen  before  passing  this  restric- 
tive ordinance  gave  due  consideration  to  the  interests  of 
those  theretofore  maintaining  illuminated  signs  on 
Thirty-fourth  Street  and  that  the  ordinance  was  adopted 
as  the  result  of  its  deliberate  judgment  that  the  interest, 
comfort  and  convenience  of  the  public  demanded  it." 

That  is  the  story ;  but  the  sequel  is  even  more 
interesting.  Now  that  the  signs  are  down  the 
Thirty-fourth  Street  merchants,  it  is  reported, 
claim  that  there  is  a  great  improvement  in  their 
street  and  that  they  are  converted  to  the  public 
convenience  and  comfort  of  the  law.  H.  J. 


Loyal  Legion  Posts  Plant  Trees. — The  Loyal 
Legion  urges  its  members  to  plant  trees  on  Arbor 
Day  in  memory  of  those  who  did  not  come  back. 
In  private  premises,  public  parks,  bordering 
streets,  trees  planted  in  this  generation  may  give 
grateful  shade  while  yet  the  planters  live.  By 
consulting  park  commissions,  shade  tree  com- 
missions, local  agricultural  bureaus  and  other 
competent  tree  experts,  the  Legion  may  avoid 
depleted  ranks  or  awkward  squads  of  trees  which 
'  would  hardly  prove  the  fitting  memorials  they 
were  designed  to  be.  But  if  the  patriotic  impulse 
of  the  Legion  is  joined  to  the  scientific  knowledge 
available  no  finer  memorials  could  be  conceived 
than  "God's  green  trees." 


American  Civic  Association  Chairmen. — The 
following  chairmen  for  the  American  Civic 
Association  are  announced:  Billboards  and 
Smoke — Everett  L.  Millard,  Chicago;  City 
Planning — John  Nolen,  Cambridge,  Massachu- 
setts; Civic  Programs — Mrs.  Edward  Biddle, 
Philadelphia;  Housing — Electus  D.  Litchfield, 
New  York;  Noise — Mrs.  Imogen  Oakley,  Phila- 
delphia; State  and  City  Parks — Harold  A. 
Caparn,  New  York;  Traffic  Courts — H.  Marie 
Dermitt,  Pittsburgh.  Mr.  McFarland  represents 
the  American  Civic  Association  on  the  Commit- 
tee on  Zoning  formed  by  Mr.  Hoover.  Mr. 
Millard  represents  the  American  Civic  Associa- 
tion on  a  committee  formed  by  the  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  to  work  on  a 
model  smoke  ordinance.  The  National  Park 
activities  are  being  handled  through  the  main 
office. 

H.  J. 


National  Parks. — Senator  Walsh  has  pre- 
sented to  the  Senate  Committee  on  Irrigation 
and  Reclamation  a  substitute  bill  which  would 
make  it  mandatory  upon  the  Secretary  of  the 
Interior  through  the  Reclamation  Service  to 
build  a  weir  across  the  Yellowstone  River  when- 
ever the  irrigation  people  of  Montana  shall  raise 
the  necessary  funds.  Since  this  would  introduce 
into  the  Yellowstone  Park  two  distinctly  non- 
park  interests  the  bill  is  believed  to  be  most  ob- 
jectionable from  the  standpoint  of  national  park 
administration.  The  Secretary  of  the  Interior 
has  not  yet  replied  to  the  request  of  the  com- 
mittee for  comment  on  the  bill. 


1922] 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


151 


Barbour  Bill 

The  House  Committee  on  Public  Lands  has  re- 
ported favorably  the  Harbour  Bill  to  enlarge  the 
present  Sequoia  National  Park  to  include  the 
best  of  the  Kern  and  Kings  River  Canyons  under 
the  name  of  Roosevelt-Sequoia  National  Park. 
The  bill  would  place  this  enlarged  park  on  exactly 
the  same  status  as  all  other  national  parks  were 
placed  by  the  passage  of  the  Jones-Esch  amend- 
ment to  the  Federal  Power  Act  which  exempted 
all  existing  national  parks  from  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Federal  Power  Commission.  It  has  been 
impossible  to  secure  consideration  of  the  bill  on 
the  unanimous-consent  calendar  because  of  the 
objection  of  Representative  Osborne  who  is 
interested  in  the  power  applications  of  Los  An- 
geles; but  it  is  thought  that  when  the  bill  comes 
up  on  the  regular  committee  calendar  there  will 
be  a  good  majority  of  representatives  who  are  in 
favor  of  it  in  its  present  form. 

Grand  Canyon  Appropriations 
Senator  Cameron  of  Arizona  succeeded  in 
having  the  entire  appropriation  for  the  Grand 
Canyon  National  Park  stricken  from  the  Ap- 
propriation Bill  for  the  Interior  Department  and 
made  the  occasion  one  to  attack  the  whole 
policy  of  the  National  Park  Service.  Undoubt- 
edly the  Conference  Committee  will  restore  the 
appropriation,  but  the  public  should  understand 
that  the  most  careful  study  over  a  period  of 
years  reveals  a  conscientious  and  progressive 
policy  in  the  National  Park  Service  to  open  up 
to  all  the  people  their  national  parks.  If  this 
policy  sometimes  curtails  or  eliminates  private 
gains  to  individual  citizens,  it  does  not  mean 
that  the  National  Park  Service  is  wrong  or  short- 
sighted, but  that  the  interests  of  all  the  people 
are  held  superior,  as  they  should  be,  to  the 
financial  gain  of  a  few  individuals.  We  grant 
that  the  sites  of  the  mining  claims  along  Bright 
Angel  Trail  and  around  the  scenic  spots  on  the 
south  rim  of  the  canyon  might  prove  profitable 
to  the  holders;  but  the  returns,  so  it  is  said, 
would  come  from  tourists  and  not  from  ore. 
Moreover  we  are  inclined  to  agree  with  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  its  de- 
cisions affecting  several  of  these  claims  that  the 
Secretary  of  the  Interior  should  have  the  right  to 
satisfy  himself  of  the  bona  fide  mining  value  of 
such  claims  before  issuing  patents.  At  any  rate 
the  rather  complicated  history  of  these  mining 
claims  and  Bright  Angel  Trail  explains,  if  it  does 
not  excuse,  the  attack  of  Senator  Cameron  on 
the  National  Park  Service. 


State  Parks— Second  National  Conference, 
May  22-25,  1922. — It  was  only  fifty  years  ago 
that  the  Yellowstone  National  Park  was  created 
by  Congress.  For  more  than  a  generation  the 
difficulties  of  travel  limited  visitors  to  this  and 
other  national  parks  created  in  more  recent 
years.  In  its  eighteen  years  of  life  the  American 
Civic  Association  has  seen  the  park  idea  devel- 
oped from  a  presumed  frill  or  luxury  to  a  definite 
necessity.  It  was  our  persistent  pioneer  work 
which  lead  to  the  creation  of  the  National  Park 
Service  six  years  ago.  Our  hopes  have  been 
more  than  justified.  The  Fifth  Annual  Report 
of  the  National  Park  Service  shows  that  the 
visitors  to  the  national  parks  increased  from 
356,097  in  1916  to  over  a  1,000,000  in  1921,  the 
automobiles  from  25,358  to  over  175,000.  The 
people  are  coming  to  appreciate  and  use  their 
National  Park  possessions. 

The  first  National  Conference  on  State  Parks, 
called  by  Hon.  John  Barton  Payne,  then  Secre- 
tary of  the  Interior,  through  the  co-operation  of 
Governor  Harding,  was  held  in  Des  Moines  in 
January  of  1921.  The  second  Conference  will 
meet  this  year,  May  22-25,  at  Bear  Mountain 
Inn,  Palisades  Interstate  Park,  New  York, 
which  in  its  36,000  acres  contains  half  a  hun- 
dred mountain  peaks  over  a  thousand  feet 
high.  There  came  last  season  to  the  park  by 
river  boat,  by  ferry,  by  motor,  by  steam  railway, 
by  trolley  and  on  foot,  more  than  a  million 
visitors. 

Two  days  of  the  Conference  will  be  devoted  to 
the  business  of  State  Parks.  A  trip  through  the 
Palisades  Interstate  Park  to  West  Point,  along 
a  new  state  highway  around  Storm  King,  through 
the  New  York  Zoological  Park  and  the  Bronx 
River  Parkway  will  give  those  who  attend  the 
Conference  an  opportunity  to  see  scenery  of  rare 
beauty  and  to  realize  the  cash  value  in  actual 
revenue  and  the  social  value  in  the  improved 
health  of  the  people  which  such  parks  may  bring 
to  any  state. 

The  Conference  Committee  consisting  of 
John  Barton  Payne,  chairman,  Stephen  T. 
Mather,  vice-chairman,  Edgar  E.  Harlan,  secre- 
tary, W.  F.  Bade,  Alfred  Britt,  W.  L.  Harding, 
Richard  Lieber,  J.  Horace  McFarland,  James  C. 
Rogers  and  Mrs.  John  D.  Sherman,  is  using 
every  resource  to  make  this  Second  National 
Conference  on  State  Parks  an  inspiration  to  all 
the  states  of  the  Union. 

H.  A.  Caparn  of  New  York  is  state  park 
chairman  for  the  American  Civic  Association. 

H.  J. 


152 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[May 


Preparation  of  Teachers  of  Social  Studies  for 
the  Secondary  Schools  is  the  title  of  Bulletin  1922, 
No.  3  of  the  federal  Bureau  of  Education.  It  is 
an  important  country-wide  survey  prepared  by 
Edgar  Dawson  of  our  associate  editorial  staff. 
* 

Boston  has  appropriated  $10,000  toward  the 
preparation  of  a  comprehensive  city  plan. 
* 

Robert  E.  Tracy,  until  recently  director  of  the 
Bureau  of  Governmental  Research  of  the  Indian- 
apolis Chamber  of  Commerce  and  formerly  sec- 
retary of  the  Philadelphia  Bureau  of  Municipal 
Research,  has  returned  to  Philadelphia  to  be- 
come civic  secretary  of  the  City  Club  in  that 
city. 

* 

A  National  Council  for  the  Social  Studies 
completed  its  organization  in  Chicago  on  Febru- 
ary 25.  Its  purpose  is  to  lay  the  foundations 
for  training  democratic  citizens;  and  its  sponsors 
believe  that  such  training  can  result  only  from 
a  carefully  developed  and  adequately  supported 
system  of  teaching  in  the  elementary  and  sec- 
ondary schools.  Its  plan  looks  to  promoting 
co-operation  among  those  who  are  responsible  for 
such  training,  including  at  least  the  university 
departments  which  contribute  knowledge  of  facts 
and  principles  to  civic  education;  and  the  leading 
groups  of  educational  leaders,  such  as  principals, 
superintendents,  and  professors  of  education, 
who  develop  the  methods  of  handling  these  facts. 

An  advisory  board  was  set  up  composed  of 
representatives  of  (1)  the  five  associations  of 
scholars  most  nearly  related  to  the  purpose  of 
the  National  Council — historians,  economists, 
political  scientists,  sociologists,  and  geographers; 

(2)  the  national  organizations  of  educational  in- 
vestigators and  administrators — elementary  and 
high  school  principals,  teachers  of  education,  nor- 
mal school  principals,  and  superintendents;  and 

(3)  regionary  associations  of  teachers  of  history 
and  civics.    The  function  of  this  advisory  board 
is  to  bring  into  the  National  Council  the  points 
of  view  of  the  organizations  represented  by  its 
members  and  to  insure  a  development  of  the 
social  studies  which  will  be  in  harmony  with  the 
best  educational  thought  as  well  as  based  on  the 
best  present  practice. 

The  following  officers  were  elected  for  the 
year  1922-1923:  L.  C.  Marshall,  Professor  of 
Economics  in  the  University  of  Chicago,  presi- 
dent; Henry  Johnson,  Professor  of  History  in 
Teachers  College,  vice-president;  Edgar  Dawson, 


Professor  of  Government  in  Hunter  College, 
secretary-treasurer;  E.  U.  Rugg,  Lincoln  School, 
New  York,  assistant  secretary.  An  executive 
committee,  charged  with  the  general  direction  of 
the  policies  of  the  association,  will  consist  of  the 
officers  and  the  following  elected  members:  C.  A. 
Coulomb,  District  Superintendent,  Philadel- 
phia; W.  H.  Hathaway,  Riverside  High  School, 
Milwaukee;  Bessie  L.  Pierce,  Iowa  University 
High  School. 

The  first  task  the  National  Council  is  under- 
taking is  the  preparation  of  a  Finding  List  of 
those  experiments  or  undertakings  in  the  teach- 
ing of  the  social  studies  which  now  give  promise 
of  being  useful.  This  list  will  contain  such  ex- 
position of  the  character  and  aims  of  these 
experiments  as  to  make  it  possible  for  those 
working  along  parallel  lines  to  discover  each 
other  and  to  co-operate  more  fully  than  would 
otherwise  be  probable.  This  expository  material 
will  have  another  purpose, — that  of  indicating 
outstanding  differences  of  opinion  and  program 
in  order  that  these  differences  may  be  system- 
atically stated  for  purposes  of  analysis  and 
discussion. 

To  aid  in  the  discovery  and  assessment  of 
these  experiments,  the  National  Council  has  in 
preparation  a  list  of  Key  Men  and  Women  who 
will  be  appointed  in  the  various  states  to  repre- 
sent the  National  Council  in  its  efforts  to  collect 
useful  information  and  then  to  give  currency  to 
it.  While  this  organization  seems  to  represent 
all  the  elements  out  of  which  the  best  develop- 
ment of  the  social  studies  must  proceed,  the  most 
useful  work  will  be  done  only  with  the  co-opera- 
tion of  teachers  and  investigators  in  all  parts  of 
the  country  to  the  end  that  lost  motion  and 
useless  repetition  may  be  eliminated  and  that 
mutually  strengthening  experiments  may  be 
pressed  forward. 

Persons  who  are  interested  in  the  wholesome 
development  of  the  social  studies,  whether 
teachers  or  others,  and  if  teachers,  whether 
teachers  of  the  social  subjects  or  of  some  other 
subject,  are  urged  to  communicate  at  the  earliest 
convenient  moment  with  the  secretary  of  the 
National  Council,  Edgar  Dawson,  671  Park 
Avenue,  New  York  City. 
* 

The  Southwestern  Political  Science  Associa- 
tion held  its  third  annual  meeting  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Oklahoma,  Norman,  Oklahoma, 
March  23-25,  1922.  The  program  for  the  first 
day  consisted  of  papers  on  the  economic  prob- 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


153 


lems  of  the  Southwest,  concluding  with  an  eve- 
ning address  by  Judge  C.  B.  Ames  of  Oklahoma 
City,  formerly  Assistant  United  States  Attorney- 
General,  on  "Article  Eight,  League  of  Nations 
Covenant,  and  the  Washington  Conference." 
Discussions  the  second  day  were  upon  the  sub- 
jects of  international  relations  and  general  prob- 
lems of  political  science.  A  session  on  public  law 
concluded  the  program  on  the  third  day. 

Officers  for  the  ensuing  year  are:  Judge  C.  B. 
Ames,  Oklahoma  City,  Oklahoma,  president; 
vice-presidents,  re-elected,  George  B.  Dealey, 
Dallas,  Texas;  F.  F.  Blachly,  University  of 
Oklahoma;  D.  Y.  Thomas,  University  of  Arkan- 
sas; Professor  Herman  G.  James  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Texas  was  appointed  editor  of  Publications 
and  Mr.  Frank  M.  Stewart  of  the  University  of 
Texas  was  reappointed  secretary-treasurer.  The 
executive  council  of  the  association  consists  of  the 
officers,  two  elected  members  and  the  past 
presidents.  The  elected  members  of  the  council 
are:  Professor  E.  T.  Miller  of  the  University  of 
Texas,  re-elected,  and  Professor  J.  P.  Comer, 
Southern  Methodist  University,  Dallas,  Texas; 
past  presidents  are:  Mr.  A.  P.  Wooldridge, 
Austin,  Texas,  and  Mr.  George  Vaughan,  Little 
Rock,  Arkansas.  Members  of  the  advisory  edi- 
torial board,  re-elected,  are  Professors  Blachly 
and  Thomas,  Professor  M.  S.  Handman,  Univer- 
sity of  Texas,  Professor  C.  F.  Coan,  University 
of  New  Mexico,  and  Professor  J.  M.  Fletcher, 
Tulane  University  of  Louisiana. 

The  fourth  annual  meeting  will  be  held  in 
Dallas  in  the  spring  of  1923. 


An  International  Clearing  House  of  Civic  In- 
formation.— During  the  first  International  Con- 
gress of  Cities  held  in  Ghent  in  1913  there  was 
formed  an  organization  known  as  Union  Interna- 
tionale des  Villes  (International  Union  of  Cities). 
The  name,  however,  does  not  fully  express  its 
function,  for  it  is  the  main  purpose  of  this  organ- 
ization to  collect  and  study  contemporaneous 
documentary  information  of  all  kinds  relating  to 
civic  affairs,  to  supplement  this  research  work  by 
the  preparation  of  briefs  or  short  reviews  and  to 
promptly  distribute  these  results  throughout  the 
world.  This  work,  therefore,  is  of  very  evident 


social  interest,  for  social  progress  elaborates  it- 
self and  becomes  realized  in  large  part  through 
the  influence  of  cities. 

The  project  was  necessarily  laid  aside  during 
the  Great  War,  but  in  1920  at  Brussels  was  taken 
up  again  and  is  now  making  rapid  progress  to- 
ward the  accomplishment  of  its  aims.  A  brief 
outline,  therefore,  of  the  organization  and  ita 
methods  of  work  may  be  of  interest.  There  is 
first  the  main  office  at  Brussels  (where  the  writer 
has  been  helping  on  the  work  during  the  last 
summer),  with  an  able  directing  personnel  and  a 
carefully  selected  staff  of  assistants — and,  by  the 
way,  thanks  to  the  generosity  and  interest  of  the 
Belgian  Government;  with  ample  opportunity 
for  expansion,  an  important  item. 

Membership  in  the  association  includes  the 
four  following  classes: 

A.  Honorary  Members. 

B.  Active  Members:  Cities  and  towns  joining 
the  organization  officially  and  represented  by 
some  authorized  official,  mayor  or  alderman,  or 
otherwise.     These  communities  pay  an  assess- 
ment which  they  fix  themselves,  but  which  may 
not  be  less  than  50  francs  a  year.     The  executive 
committee  estimates  that  an  assessment    of   one 
centime  for  every  three  inhabitants  will  be  necessary 
for  the  development  of  the  Institution.    This  would 
amount  for  a  city  of  30,000  population  to  10,000 
centimes  or  100  francs, — at  the  present  rate  of 
exchange  from  $7  to  $10. 

C.  Corresponding  Members:  Separate  or  in- 
dependent groups,  associations  or  organizations 
which  function  in  the  sphere  of  communal  inter- 
ests.   These  would  pay  at  least  20  francs  a  year. 

D.  Subscribing  Members :  Individuals  who  by 
their  occupation,  duties  or  studies  are  interested 
in  municipal  questions.    These  would  be  assessed 
10  francs  a  year. 

Official  correspondence  should  be  addressed  to 
the  Directeur  de  1' Union  Internationale  des 
Villes,  3  bis,  Rue  de  la  Regence,  Bruxelles,  but 
the  undersigned  who  was  present  at  the  organ- 
ization meetings  in  September,  1920,  and  was  at 
that  time  delegated  to  further  the  interests  of 
the  Union  in  America,  would  be  glad  to  answer 
inquiries. 

STEPHEN  CHILD, 
Tremont  Building,  Boston. 


Two  Books  of  Interest  to  Every 
Student  of  City  Problems 

By  CHARLES  M.  FASSETT,  who  has  been  a  successful  engineer,  Presi- 
dent of  a  Chamber  of  Commerce,  Mayor  of  Spokane,  and  is  now  with 
the  University  of  Kansas.  A  man  of  both  experience  and  vision. 


Assets  of  the  Ideal 
City 

TAKES  up  step  by  step  the  problems  of 
the  modern,  well-governed  city — water 
supply,  gas,  electricity,  telephones,  sewage 
disposal,  street  improvement,  etc.  Ad- 
dressed to  every  city  and  town  that  is  not 
content  with  the  "good  enough"  but 
wants  the  best. 


Handbook  of  Municipal 
Government 

AN  ANALYSIS  and  comparison  of  the 
methods  of  various  types  of  city  gov- 
ernment—  the  borough,  town  meeting, 
federal  type,  mayor  council  type,  com- 
mission, and  city  manager  plans.  Also 
discusses  charters,  duties  of  officers, 
elections,  appointments,  in  fact,  every 
phase  of  this  important  subject. 


Each  $1.50  at  Bookstores.     By  Mail  $1.60 


THOMAS  Y.  CROWELL  COMPANY,  NEW  YORK 


of  Organiza- 
tion—Methods— Administration— Salary  Standardization 
—Budget  Making— Taxation— Revenues— Expenditures— 
Civil  Service— Accounting— Public  Works 

J.  L.  JACOBS  &  COMPANY 

Municipal  Consultant*  and  Engineer* 
Monadnock  Building,  Chicago 

(Over  11  yrt.'  experience  in  City,  County  and  State  Studies) 


R.  HUSSELMAN 

Mem.  Am.  Soc.  C.  E.          —         Am.  Assn.  Engrs. 

CONSULTING  ENGINEER 

Design  and  Construction  of  Electric,  Water  Works 

and  Filtration  Plants.      Public  Utility  Rate 

Investigations  and  Appraisals. 

CUYAHOGA  BLDG.  CLEVELAND,  OHIO 


CHAS.  BROSSMAN 

Mem.Am.Soc.  C.E.  Mem.  Am.  Soc.  M.E. 

Consulting  Engineer 

Water  Works  and  Electric  Light  Plants 

Sewerage  and  Sewage  Disposal 
Merchants  Bank,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 


PROPORTIONAL  REPRESENTATION 

Best  Basis  for  the  City  Manager  Plan 

Send  25c  for  Lft.  No.  1 0  (How  P.  R.  Work*  in  Sacramento) 
and  new  Lft.  No.  5  (Explanation  of  Hare  System  of  P.  R.) 

Still  better,  join  the  League.    Dues,  $2,  pay  for  quarterly 
Review  and  all  other  literature  for  year. 

PROPORTIONAL  REPRESENTATION  LEAGUE 
1417  LOCUST  STREET,  PHILADELPHIA 


The  City  Manager  Profession 

has  doubled  its  ranks  in  the  past 
three  years. 

City  Manager  Bulletin 

printed  monthly  keeps  you  in  touch 
with  openings  and  current  progress 
in  the  field. 

A  set  of 

City  Manager  Yearbooks 

containing  concrete  facts  of  accom- 
plishments. 5oc 

Most  eminent 

City  Manager  Debate 

HATTON-HULL  25c 

A  $10.00  membership  in  the 
City  Managers' 

Association 

entitles  you  to  all  these  and  service. 


PAUL  B.  WILCOX,  Exec.  Sec'y. 

City  Hall  East  Cleveland,  Ohio 


NATIONAL 
MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


VOL.  XI,  No.  6 


JUNE,  1922 


TOTAL  No.  72 


MODERN  CITY  PLANNING 

ITS  MEANING  AND  METHODS 

BY    THOMAS    ADAMS 

Town  Planning  Consultant  to  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  Lecturer  on  Civic  Design  to 
Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology. 

I.    INTRODUCTION 


SCRAWNY     CITY     PLANNING 

WE  plan  our  houses  and  factories. 
Is  it  not  then  absurd  that  we  let  our 
cities  grow  without  plan? 

Cities  do  not  grow — all  of  them  are 
planned.  Most  of  them  are  planned 
in  piecemeal  fashion  by  surveyors  act- 
ing for  real  estate  owners,  by  railway 
engineers  acting  for  their  shareholders 
and  traffic  superintendents,  and  by 
individual  architects  or  builders  act- 
ing for  their  separate  clients.  The 
ultimate  result  is  a  haphazard  collec- 
tion of  plans  of  land,  means  of  trans- 
portation and  buildings.  But  the 
city  interests  are  not  ignored,  because 
every  city  has  more  or  less  power  to 
control  these  separate  plans  in  the 
interest  of  safety,  health  and  conven- 
ience. Such  control*  however,  is  with- 
in restricted  limits  and  the  evils  that 
arise  from  dealing  with  related  parts 
and  problems  of  the  city,  as  if  they 
were  unrelated  and  disconnected,  must 
remain  in  the  absence  of  any  planning 
of  the  city  as  a  comprehensive  whole. 

Yet  in  as  correct  a  sense  as  some 
houses  or  factories  are  planned — cities 


are  now  planned.  As  the  lady  planner 
in  Sinclair  Lewis'  town  of  Gopher 
Prairie  said — "the  planning  of  many 
towns  is  not  left  to  chance.  It  must 
have  taken  genius  to  make  them  so 
scrawny."  It  is  the  method  of  plan- 
ning that  is  the  fault — not  the  absence 
of  planning.  We  want  scientific  and 
orderly  planning — not  scrawny  plan- 
ning. 

NEED  OF  PRACTICAL  METHODS 

While  the  ideal  we  wish  to  attain  by 
city  or  town  planning  is  that  of  a  more 
prosperous  and  wholesome  life  for  the 
people,  the  methods  adopted  must  be 
intensely  practical.  There  is  no  real 
inconsistency  between  what  are  called 
the  "long"  and  "short "  view  of  things. 
The  question  is  to  have  the  right 
sense  of  proportion  in  regard  to  both. 
While  we  should  aim  high  in  ultimate 
achievement,  we  should  not  seek  to 
build  to-day  beyond  what  we  can  com- 
plete and  render  useful  with  the  mate- 
rials we  have.  If  a  man  has  only  suffi- 
cient money  and  materials  to  build  a 
cottage  he  would  be  stupid  to  start  the 


157 


158 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[June 


building  of  a  castle  even  if  he  thought 
he  could  ultimately  find  means  and 
material  for  such  a  structure.  We 
should,  therefore,  plan  and  build  ac- 
cording to  our  needs  but  make  the  con- 
tribution of  the  day  part  of  what  we 
want  to  achieve  to-morrow. 

Having  in  view,  therefore,  the  broad 
objects  of  the  improvement  of  the  city 
as  a  social  organization  wherein  we 
wish  to  have  healthy  citizens  and  as  an 
industrial  plant  wherein  we  want  to 
have  efficient  working  conditions,  we 
should  plan  to  get  these  things  and 
not  leave  them  to  chance. 

The  first  duty  is  to  define  a  pro- 
gramme of  what  can  be  practically  done 
and  to  avoid  fads.  One  party  will  be 
interested  in  playgrounds,  another  in 
civic  centres  and  beautification  gen- 
erally, another  in  what  is  called  "zon- 
ing" for  the  purpose  of  stabilizing  real 
estate  values,  another  in  traffic  and 
another  in  housing.  With  all  the  spe- 
cial pleaders  for  different  parts  of  a 
plan  there  will  be  constant  difficulty 
to  maintain  a  proper  proportion  and 
to  look  at  the  city  as  a  comprehensive 
undertaking.  The  usual  difficulty  in 
getting  a  comprehensive  plan  is  due 
to  the  lack  of  appreciation  of  the  recip- 
rocal relations  between  different  fac- 
tors in  city  development.  It  may  be 
that  in  a  certain  city  the  question  of 
grade  crossing  elimination  is  a  most 
pressing  problem  and  yet  to  attempt 
to  solve  it  by  itself  may  be  to  lose 
half  the  value  of  eliminating  the  cross- 
ings. 

IS  IT  EVER  TOO  LATE  TO  PLAN? 

It  is  no  argument  that  "it  is  too  late 
to  plan. "  A  city  is  a  thing  of  growth. 
When  a  city  ceases  to  grow,  either  in 
the  quality  of  its  structural  improve- 
ments or  in  the  quantity  and  quality  of 
its  population  it  will  become  a  dead 
city.  So  long  as  growth  continues,  the 
need  of  planning  prevails.  It  is  equally 


idle  to  argue  that  no  one  can  fore- 
see exactly  how  the  city  will  grow,  and, 
therefore,  any  plan  will  be  defective 
for  lack  of  accurate  foresight.  There 
is  no  question  that  it  is  beyond  the 
power  of  any  man  to  plan  a  city  exactly 
as  it  is  going  to  grow.  The  best  he  can 
do  is  to  bryig  to  bear  upon  the  problem 
accumulated  knowledge  and  his  art 
and  the  least  he  will  accomplish  will 
be  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of  mis- 
takes, to  give  "vision"  to  the  problems 
of  the  city  and  to  show  how  the  waste- 
ful results  of  haphazard  development 
can  be  avoided.  The  automobile  has 
introduced  new  problems  in  city  growth 
that  make  the  present  time  specially 
appropriate  for  planning  or  re-plan- 
ning  cities  and  towns. 

FUNDAMENTAL  ELEMENTS  AND 
SERVICES  OF  CITY 

The  three  main  problems  in  develop- 
ing and  planning  a  city  are: — 

(A)  ECONOMIC  CONDITIONS  AND  CONTROL 
OF  LAND  DEVELOPMENT 

The  method  of  laying  out  and  regu- 
lating the  subdivision  of  land,  includ- 
ing the  assessment  of  land  values  for 
taxation,  and  delimitation  of  areas  for 
open  space  and  agricultural  use,  has 
an  important  bearing  on  all  problems 
of  civic  growth  and  the  health  and 
prosperity  of  the  citizen.  To  secure 
economic  development  and  healthy  in- 
dustrial and  housing  conditions,  it  is  nec- 
essary to  plan  the  land  in  large  areas 
and  regulate  its  use  in  advance  of 
building. 

(fi)  ADEQUATE  AND  PROPER  FACILITIES 
FOR  INDUSTRIES 

These  include  convenience  in  develop- 
ment of  land  and  the  reservation  of 
the  most  suitable  sites  for  industrial 
plants;  room  for  expansion,  proximity 
of  plants  to  homes,  and  efficient  serv- 
ices. 


1922] 


INTRODUCTION 


159 


(c)  WHOLESOME    HOUSING   CONDITIONS 

The  city  plan  should  secure  pleasant 
surroundings  for  the  homes;  the  re- 
stricting of  areas  for  use  for  residences 
of  different  character;  the  encourage- 
ment of  the  ownership  of  homes;  and 
the  efficiency  of  those  services  neces- 
sary for  health  and  recreation. 

CITY  SERVICES 

The  services  which  we  require  to 
make  industry  and  homes  prosperous 
and  wholesome  are  (a)  good  sanitation 
(drainage  and  water  supply),  (b)  con- 
venience for  transportation  by  railroad, 
waterway,  etc.,  including  railroad  lines 
and  terminals,  (c)  power  and  light, 

(d)  communication  by  road  including 
the  major  street  plan  and  adequate 
provision   for   trolleys   and   vehicular 
traffic,  (e)  zoning  or  delimiting  of  areas 
to  regulate  the  kind  of  use  and  the 
density  and  heights  of  buildings  on  the 
land,  (f)  the  civic  features  or  monu- 
mental structures  which  express  the 
civic  spirit  of  the  community,  (g)  the 
parks  and  recreation  grounds  and  the 
placing  and  grouping  of  schools  and 
churches  to  serve  essential  social  needs. 
No  plan  should  be  prepared  which  does 
not  take  into  consideration  these  six 
groups  of  services,  all  of  which  are 
essential  for  efficiency  and  economy. 

The  efficiency  of  industry  depends, 
for  instance,  not  only  on  a  good  system 
of  railroads  and  streets  or  on  the  proper 
relation  between  the  industrial  and 
residential  area,  or  on  recreation  facil- 
ities for  the  employees  and  their  chil- 
dren. It  depends  on  the  connection 
or  relation  established  between  these 
things  by  a  properly  balanced  plan. 
The  approaches  to  the  railroad  ter- 
minals have  an  important  bearing 
on  the  location  of  the  terminal.  No 
one  can  determine  the  proper  width  of 
a  street  without  regard  to  the  height 
and  density  of  buildings  permitted  to 
be  erected  upon  their  frontage,  as  well 


as  the  amount  of  traffic  they  have  to 
carry.  Even  the  character  of  the  pav- 
ing of  a  street  cannot  be  settled  without 
some  study  of  whether  it  is  to  serve  the 
purpose  of  industry  or  of  residence. 

SUITABLE    AREAS    FOR    PLANNING 

The  following  are  suitable  geo- 
graphical units  for  planning: — 

1.  The  Region.  Comprising   metro- 
politan areas  or  any  large  industrial 
or  mining  area  having  a  distinctive 
character  or  a  common  centre,  con- 
sisting of  several  municipal  areas,  or 
parts  of  such  areas. 

2.  The    City.    The    administrative 
area  of  an  incorporated  city. 

3.  The  Town.    In  general  a  small  city 
incorporated  as  a  town  but  in  some  of 
the  United  States  equivalent  to  a  town- 
ship or  incorporated  rural  area  forming 
part  of  a  county. 

4.  The  Township  or  Rural  Municipal- 
ity.   A  subdivision  of  a  county,  per- 
haps including  small  towns  and  villages. 

5.  The    Village.    Small     populated 
place  not  having  reached  the  status 
of  a  town. 

What  is  called  city  planning  and 
town  planning  may  be  said  to  have  to 
do  with  one  of  these  kinds  of  area. 
It  is  important  that  study  be  made  of 
regional  areas  as  it  is  only  by  the  study 
of  such  areas  that  there  can  be  a  proper 
appreciation  of  the  distribution  of  in- 
dustry and  of  the  interdependence  of 
town  and  country.  We  hear  much  of 
city  planning  and  something  of  country 
planning,  but  what  is  most  wanted  is 
the  planning  of  the  town-country  which 
is  comprised  in  the  region. 

The  planning  of  the  small  growing 
towns  and  villages  and  the  regional 
areas  in  which  they  are  situated  presents 
most  scope  and  opportunity  for  effect- 
ive work. 

In  America,  the  term  "city  plan- 
ning" has  sometimes  incurred  odium 
because  it  has  been  associated  with 


160 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[June 


expensive  remodelling  of  areas  already 
built  upon.  It  has  also  been  too  often 
regarded  as  being  restricted  to  recon- 
struction schemes  whereas  it  should 
deal  to  the  greatest  extent  with  the 
problems  of  new  growth.  To  carry 
out  surgical  operations  on  areas  already 
covered  with  buildings  is  a  difficult 
and  costly  process.  For  instance,  the 
widening  of  a  street  on  which  extensive 
office  buildings  are  already  erected  or 
the  creating  of  a  new  diagonal  street 


through  a  congested  area  are  operations 
that  are  almost  prohibitive  in  cost. 
To  apply  the  same  amount  of  money  to 
the  work  of  prevention  in  areas  in 
course  of  development  or  not  already 
built  upon  is  the  cheapest  and  more 
effective  method  of  planning.  More- 
over, the  proper  planning  of  suburban 
areas  indirectly  helps  to  relieve  the 
congestion  and  lessen  the  difficulties 
of  replanning  the  crowded  centres 
which  they  adjoin.- 


II.  THE  METHODS  OF  THE  CITY  PLANNER 


ORDER  OF  STUDIES  AND   PLANNING 

Some  writers  suggest  that  trans- 
portation and  zoning  are  the  two  fac- 
tors that  need  to  be  considered  first 
and  that  a  plan  of  the  park  system  and 
of  the  civic  centre  can  be  left  to  be 
dealt  with  at  a  later  stage.  In  making 
this  statement,  they  are  suffering  from 
the  natural  disappointment  that  has 
followed  from  the  excessive  emphasis 
that  has  been  placed  in  the  past  on  the 
park  system  and  the  civic  centre. 
They  are  proposing,  therefore,  to  go 
to  the  other  extreme  with  a  view  to 
avoiding  too  many  complications  and 
are  seeking  to  cut  up  the  plan  into 
water-tight  compartments  as  if  they 
could  be  separated.  They  cannot 
be  separated  if  a  good  result  is  desired. 
At  the  same  time,  if  a  city  must  limit 
its  operations  to  one  or  two  things  at  a 
time,  undoubtedly  transportation  and 
zoning  are  the  two  most  necessary 
things  to  consider.  In  the  judgment 
of  the  writer,  however,  the  distribution 
of  work  should  not  be  made  between 
the  different  parts  of  a  city  plan  but 
in  the  following  order,  namely: 

1.  Reconnaissance  survey  of  the  city 
and  surrounding  region; 

2.  Tentative    skeleton  plan  of  the 
region  based  on  the  survey; 

g^S.  City  survey; 


4.  Complete  working  plan  of  the 
city  adapted  to  the  law  of  the  state  or 
province. 

If  a  beginning  must  be  made  on  a 
small  scale,  it  should  be  made  by  mak- 
ing a  survey  of  the  existing  conditions. 
This  survey  should  not  be  too  elaborate. 
A  mistake  can  be  made  by  aiming  to 
make  too  complete  an  analysis  of  a 
city  just  as  well  as  by  omitting  essen- 
tial investigation.  The  most  neces- 
sary things  should  be  done  for  the  pur- 
pose of  getting  a  proper  plan  and  the 
successful  planner  is  the  one  who  knows 
what  to  eliminate  as  well  as  what  to 
include. 

Then  there  are  problems  like  rail- 
road location  and  relocation  regarding 
which  it  is  idle  to  put  forward  a  coun- 
sel of  perfection.  The  most  that  can 
be  done  in  this  connection  is  to  per- 
suade the  railroad  engineers  to  fit  their 
schemes  in  with  the  plan  of  the  city. 
It  is  useless  to  propound  a  plan  over 
their  heads  and  to  attempt  to  force  the 
railroad  companies  to  spend  money  for 
the  benefit  of  the  city  if  the  expendi- 
ture produces  no  benefit  to  themselves. 

RELATIVE    IMPORTANCE    OF    CITY 
PLANNING   AND    " ZONING*' 

The  most  intricate  problems  in  city 
planning  are  probably  those  which  are 


1922] 


METHODS  OF  THE   CITY  PLANNER 


161 


least  popular  and  least  spectacular. 
The  "zoning"  plans  which  are  now 
being  prepared  for  many  cities  require 
less  specialized  knowledge  than  the 
other  matters  which  need  to  be  dealt 
with  and  may  involve  the  suppression 
rather  than  the  exercise  of  imagination. 
To  a  large  extent  they  depend  for  their 
successful  application  on  intimate  local 
knowledge.  The  zoning  expert  may 
have  acquired  the  knowledge  to  present 
his  data  in  an  intelligent  form.  He 
may  know  the  arguments  to  use  to 
"put  it  over"  with  the  citizens  and 
he  may  have  collected  information  in 
other  cities  which  enables  him  to  give 
valuable  advice  regarding  the  many 
cases  that  require  special  treatment. 
On  the  whole,  however,  a  plan  that  is 
limited  to  "zoning"  can  be  prepared 
by  an  intelligent  city  engineer  with 
comparatively  little  expert  assistance. 
But  no  plan  should  be  limited  to  "zon- 
ing" and  no  "zoning"  should  be  done 
with  the  main  object  of  stabilizing 
real  estates'  values.  A  plan  should 
increase  real  values  and  not  stabilize 
unreal  values  based  on  speculation. 

The  principle  of  restricting  a  district 
to  residential  purposes  is  already  rec- 
ognized by  private  owners  of  land  who 
frequently  dispose  of  lots  for  the  erec- 
tion of  houses  under  certain  restrictions. 
These  may  fix  the  minimum  cost  of  each 
dwelling  or  define  the  character  of 
dwellings.  The  application  of  this 
principle  has  been  more  or  less  con- 
fined to  houses  of  well-to-do  people  and 
has  been  mainly  used  to  prevent  small 
working-class  dwellings  or  stores  being 
erected  in  proximity  to  larger  houses. 
In  a  sense,  it  has  been  based  on  class 
distinction  and  on  the  assumption  that 
a  comparatively  cheap  house  erected 
adjoining  a  dearer  one  would  have  the 
effect  of  depreciating  the  value  of  the 
latter.  What  matters  most,  however, 
is  not  the  amount  of  money  spent  in 
building  a  house  but  that  the  dwelling 


be  tastefully  designed,  and  have  spa- 
cious and  agreeable  surroundings. 

The  control  of  the  surroundings  of 
homes  by  city  planning  regulations  is 
more  important  than  the  fixing  of  a 
minimum  cost.  As  the  principle  of 
restricting  a  residential  district  has  been 
adopted  in  private  covenants  by  owners 
of  land,  it  is  only  extending  an  existing 
practice  to  impose  restrictions  on  resi- 
dential property  by  law.  But  under 
the  law,  a  different  method  must  be 
pursued.  It  would  not  be  proper  even 
if  desirable  to  restrict  the  value  of 
houses  erected  in  a  particular  district 
by  statute.  Reliance  must  be  placed, 
for  the  purpose  of  getting  good  condi- 
tions, on  provisions  governing  the  sizes 
of  lots ;  the  prevention  of  structures  of 
an  unsightly  character;  the  securing 
of  proper  sanitary  conditions  and  the 
limitation  of  height  and  use. 

Cities  need  to  have  control  of  the  sub- 
division and  building  development  of 
land  outside  of  their  own  boundaries 
or  what  is  the  same  thing,  the  inclusion 
within  their  boundaries  of  areas  of 
agricultural  land. 

Many  cities  find  it  difficult  to  incor- 
porate outside  areas  because  they  have 
waited  too  long  and  allowed  undesir- 
able and  insanitary  forms  of  building 
development  to  take  place  over  their 
borders.  If  they  had  taken  in  the  land 
when  it  was  used  for  agriculture  they 
could  have  imposed  restrictions  which 
would  have  prevented  wasteful  and 
scattered  development.  Not  having 
done  so,  they  wait  until  the  district 
is  built  up  with  scattered  houses,  in 
some  cases  without  sewers  or  water  or 
other  local  improvements,  and  they 
find  that  to  take  such  districts  it  means 
the  expenditure  of  large  sums  of  money 
in  bringing  them  up  to  the  standards 
of  the  city. 

On  the  whole,  it  is  better  either  to 
take  in  land  before  it  is  subdivided  or 
else  to  make  it  a  condition  on  the  occa- 


162 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[June 


sion  of  incorporation  that  the  outside 
land  shall  be  provided  with  proper 
sanitary  services  before  it  is  added  to 
the  city.  A  third  plan  is  to  make  it  a 
condition  of  incorporation  that  no 
charge  shall  fall  upon  the  city  at  large 
in  respect  of  the  cost  of  bringing  up 
the  standards  of  the  outside  area  to  the 
standards  of  the  city. 

Under  the  law  of  several  states, 
cities  and  towns  have  been  given  power 
to  control,  in  a  measure,  the  subdivi- 
sion of  the  areas  adjacent  to  their 
boundaries. 

APPOINTMENT    OF    CITY    PLANNING 
COMMISSION 

Before  the  work  of  selecting  the  area 
to  be  planned  or  of  preparing  plans  is 
proceeded  with,  a  city  or  town  coun- 
cil should  decide  whether  or  not  to 
appoint  a  city  planning  commission 
under  the  state  law,  if  such  a  law 
exists.  The  objections  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  commission  are  not  such  as 
to  counterbalance  the  great  advantages 
to  be  obtained  from  having  a  body 
giving  exclusive  attention  to  the  work, 
but  its  expenditures  should  be  under 
the  control  of  the  city  council. 

EMPLOYMENT     OF    EXPERT    ADVICE    BY 
CITIES 

The  work  of  preparing  a  plan  will 
probably  involve  the  employment  by 
the  city  of  an  expert  consultant  or 
group  of  consultants  to  collaborate  with 
the  city  engineer.  The  expert  should 
be  engaged  to  direct  the  making  of  the 
preliminary  survey  as  this  is  really  part 
of  the  whole  operation  requiring  con- 
tinuous expert  direction  through  all  its 
stages.  While  an  expert  consultant 
is  needed  he  should  be  employed  on  the 
understanding  that  the  survey  and  plan 
are  not  to  be  his  work  but  the  joint 
work  of  the  engineer  and  himself. 

It  is  necessary  to  take  full  advantage 
of  the  knowledge  of  local  conditions 


possessed  by  the  engineer  and  also  to 
make  the  engineer  feel  that  he  is  to  be 
given  both  responsibility  and  credit 
for  preparing  the  plan.  This  is  needed 
for  the  sake  first,  of  economy  in  making 
the  plan  and  second,  of  assuring  that 
when  the  plan  is  prepared  it  will  be 
sympathetically  carried  out  by  the  man 
on  the  spot. 

A  good  plan  must  be  capable  of 
variations  to  suit  change  of  conditions, 
and  is  never  complete.  The  continu- 
ous work  of  carrying  out  the  plan  and 
the  important  task  of  adjusting  it 
from  time  to  time  to  suit  new  condi- 
tions are  matters  that  can  only  be 
dealt  with  by  a  permanent  officer  of  the 
city  working  under  the  direction  of  the 
town  planning  commission.  While, 
therefore,  it  cannot  be  questioned  that 
valuable  aid  can  be  given  by  an  expert 
consultant,  who  has  made  a  special 
study  of  city  planning  over  a  long 
period  of  years,  his  services  should  be 
employed  under  circumstances  which 
mean  that  he  will  collaborate  with  and 
not  supersede  the  engineer. 

No  detailed  guidance  as  to  the  meth- 
ods of  making  a  survey  or  plan  in  a 
particular  city  can  be  given,  but  a  sum- 
mary of  matters  to  be  studied  is  given 
in  an  appendix.  Actual  operations 
must  be  under  some  directing  head. 
Methods  of  carrying  out  these  opera- 
tions will  vary  according  to  the  quali- 
ties of  the  adviser  and  the  local  cir- 
cumstances in  each  case. 

EXISTING   MAPS   AND    DATA 

The  first  practical  work  to  be  done 
in  planning  a  city  or  town,  after  the 
appointment  of  a  city  planning  com- 
mission, is  to  collect  copies  of  the  ex- 
isting topographical  and  subdivision 
maps  and  other  data  available.  Where 
federal  maps  on  a  scale  of  one  inch  to 
one  mile  are  available,  they  should  be 
obtained  to  show  the  city  and  sur- 
rounding region. 


REGIONAL   PLAN 

han  /<>iu>  rmiml  City  of  London,  Ontario,  showing  area  witliin  five  inilos  Ix-intf  planned       Subdivisions  \\illiin  the  five 
mile  radius  must  he  approved  hy  the  City  IMan  Commission.      All  suh-divisimi-  ni.id.-  t<> 
date  that  lit-  outside  the  city  limits  are  shown  on  this  map 


1922] 


METHODS  OF  THE  CITY  PLANNER 


163 


A  second  map  should  be  prepared 
showing  the  city  and  adjacent  metro- 
politan area  or  urban  zone  up  to  from 
three  to  five  miles  of  the  city  boundary. 
This  should  be  on  a  scale  of  1,000 
to  2,000  feet  per  inch.  The  main  street 
and  highway  system,  waterways,  rail- 
ways and  other  broad  features  in  the 
development  of  the  area  should  be 
drawn  on  this  small  scale  map. 

A  map  of  the  city  area  on  a  scale 
of  from  200  to  400  feet  to  one  inch 
showing  the  buildings  and  topography 
within  the  city  should  then  be  prepared, 
similar  to  the  topographical  survey 
map  of  the  city  of  Baltimore.  This 
should  show  the  existing  streets  and 
blocks  as  accurately  as  possible  and 
the  levels  of  the  land  in  the  form  of 
contour  lines  at  five-foot  intervals. 
With  the  aid  of  the  insurance  maps  and 
special  surveys,  all  buildings  and  other 
physical  features  should  be  added  to 
this  map.  If  this  map  is  properly  pre- 
pared it  will  give  as  good  an  idea  of  the 
distribution  of  the  population  as  can  be 
obtained  in  any  other  form  and,  at 
the  same  time,  show  the  density  of 
distribution  of  the  buildings.  It  is 
more  desirable  to  spend  time  on  get- 
ting the  existing  buildings  shown  on 
the  maps  than  on  working  out  maps 
of  population  densities  which  are  of 
comparatively  little  value  in  diagram- 
matic form  when  the  character  of  the 
buildings  is  not  shown. 

There  will  now  be  three  maps :  Map 
No.  1  of  the  region,  one  mile  to  one  inch ; 
Map  No.  2  of  the  city  and  surrounding 
urban  zone,  1,000  to  2,000  feet  to  one 
inch;  and  Map  No.  3  of  the  city,  200 
to  400  feet  to  one  inch.  All  subdivi- 
sions in  the  metropolitan  area  as  well 
as  in  the  city  should  be  shown  in  broad 
outline  on  Map  No.  2.  On  this  map 
it  is  intended  that  a  skeleton  and  tenta- 
tive plan  of  the  main  highways,  rail- 
ways, parks  and  parkways  (existing 
and  proposed)  should  be  drawn. 


Where  a  city  can  afford  the  expense 
it  will  be  of  great  value  to  have  a  spe- 
cial topographical  survey  map  made 
of  the  whole  city.  Such  a  map  will 
be  of  special  utility  in  cities  where  there 
are  considerable  areas  of  undulating 
land.  In  some  cases  where  there  are 
exceptional  difficulties  caused  by  hilly 
ground,  an  accurate  and  complete 
survey  of  the  city  or  part  of  it  will  be 
essential. 

AERIAL  MAPS 

A  topographical  map  should  also 
be  supplemented  by  an  aerial  map. 
Aerial  maps  are  of  great  value  for  town 
planning  purposes,  especially  in  visu- 
alizing the  natural  features  and  den- 
sities of  buildings  of  the  city.  The 
Canadian  Government,  probably  more 
than  any  other  government,  have  recog- 
nized the  importance  of  civil  aviation 
as  a  means  of  mapping  territory  and 
the  Air  Board  of  Canada  are  giving 
assistance  to  other  branches  of  the  Civil 
Service  and  to  cities  in  making  mosaic 
sheets.  Referring  to  this  matter  the 
annual  report  of  the  board  for  1920 
says: 

The  value  of  such  mosaics  to  the  general  pub- 
lic can  hardly  be  estimated,  as  they  will  be  far 
more  easily  read  and  understood  than  a  map  and 
infinitely  more  interesting.  They  are  invalu- 
able to  the  town  planner  and  go  a  long  way  to 
solving  most  of  his  problems. 

The  aerial  mosaic  should  not,  of 
course,  be  relied  upon  for  accuracy  of 
measurement.  A  ground  survey  is 
necessary  for  this  purpose,  but  the 
mosaic  is  a  most  valuable  addition  to 
maps  prepared  on  the  basis  of  an  actual 
survey  and  should  be  obtained  by  cities 
for  city  planning  and  other  purposes. 

PRELIMINARY  RECONNAISSANCE 
SURVEYS 

Maps  1,  2  and  3  should  be  prepared 
at  the  same  time  as  surveys  of  the 
region  and  city  are  made.  In  making 


164 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[June 


these  surveys,  it  is  essential  to  have 
clearly  in  mind  the  maximum  use  to 
which  the  knowledge  collected  can  be 
put.  The  amount  of  money  available 
will  to  some  extent  influence  the  char- 
acter and  scope  of  the  survey.  The 
following  are  among  the  points  that 
should  be  borne  in  mind  in  approach- 
ing the  survey : 

(1)  As    already    stated,    the    first 
question  is  the  selection  of  the  territory 
to  be  surveyed  and  planned.     Where 
it  is  practicable  under  the  law  to  ignore 
the    arbitrary    municipal    boundary, 
careful  attention  should  be  given  to  the 
selection  of  the  regional  area.     If  the 
city  boundary  must  be  adhered  to,  it 
will  probably  be  found  that  the  best 
area  is  the  total  area  of  the  city. 

(2)  In  planning  physical  alterations 
within  the  territory,  a  constant  balance 
has  to  be  kept  up  between  what  are 
called  the  interests  of  the  community 
and  the  interests  of  the  individual. 

(3)  Different    problems    should    be 
dealt  with  by  specialists  in  each  prob- 
lem, a  group  of  four  specialists  being 
desirable  in  ordinary  cases — one  deal- 
ing with  railroad  transportation  and 
termini,   the   main    highway   system, 
street  traffic,  sewerage  and  water  sup- 
ply, distribution  of  power  and  light  and 
other  engineering  problems;  a  second 
with  the  question  of  finance,  particu- 
larly in  relation  to  assessment  and  land 
values,   and  legal  problems;   a  third 
with  the  general  physical   layout   of 
the  city,  the  park  and  recreation  sys- 
tem, and  a  fourth  the  civic  centre,  and 
the  control  of  building  development. 
This   group   will    usually  include   an 
engineer,  a  lawyer,  a  landscape  archi- 
tect and  an  architect. 

The  lawyer  will  not  be  a  planner  but 
a  consulting  member  of  the  group. 
The  other  three  will  be  responsible  for 
the  plan.  One  of  the  three  should 
co-ordinate  the  work  of  all.  The 
width  and  complexity  of  the  field  to  be 


covered  requires  that  at  least  three 
should  be  employed  in  the  larger  cities. 
One  expert  with  the  aid  of  competent 
local  officials  will  suffice  in  the  smaller 
cities  and  in  towns.  Care  has  to  be 
taken  not  to  endanger  the  plan  by  too 
much  specialization  and  consequent 
lack  of  co-ordination. 

(4)  The  city  plan  should  have  the 
effect  of  encouraging  rather  than  of 
restricting  growth.     It  must  be  elastic 
and  capable  of  modification  but  only 
under  conditions  based  on  principles 
and  not  on  local  expediency.     Even 
slight  changes  may  cause  injustice  and 
should  only  be  made  with  the  aid  of 
expert  advice. 

(5)  The  city  officials  and  citizens 
should  be  definitely  pledged  to  assist 
with  the  preparation  of  any  plan  so 
that  their  permanent  co-operation  may 
be  assured. 

(6)  While  the  survey  may  be  made 
to  relate  to  different  questions  such  as 
"zoning, "  or  railways,  with  advantage, 
the  final  plan  should  be  comprehensive 
and  deal  with  all  the  features  of  city 
development. 

(7)  As  in  one  sense  city  planning  is 
control  of  the  use  and  development  of 
the  land  for  the  purposes  of  industry 
or  residence,  the  system  of  assessment 
should  be  adjusted  to  conform  to  the 
restrictions  affecting  use. 

(8)  The  present  indiscriminate  mix- 
ing of  buildings  destroys  land  values, 
but  it  is  possible  that  too  arbitrary  a 
system  of  zoning  might  have  the  same 
effect. 

(9)  Too    much    detail    should    be 
avoided.     Much  that  comes  under  the 
heading  of  city  planning  can  be  best 
dealt  with  in  a  building  or  housing 
ordinance. 

(10)  Buildings   should   diminish    in 
depth  from  front  to  rear  as  they  rise  in 
height,  but  no  standard  can  be  recom- 
mended as  every  city  requires  special 
treatment. 


1922] 


METHODS  OF  THE   CITY  PLANNER 


165 


(11)  Limitation  of  the  number  of 
houses  per  acre  is  not  usually  practi- 
cable  on   this   continent.     Therefore, 
the  lowering  of  density  has  to  be  ob- 
tained by  limiting  the  amount  of  each 
lot  that  can  be  built  upon.     This  is 
better  than  the  fixing  of  the  sizes  of  lots. 

(12)  In  districts  where  it  is  practi- 
cable to  make  a  partial  regional  survey, 
this  should  be  done,  even  if  the  plan 
to  be  prepared  has  to  be  restricted  to 
the  area  of  a  city  or  town.     In  any 
case,  a  complete  city  survey  must  be 
prepared  as  the  basis  for  a  city  plan. 
While  the  maps  to  be  prepared  are 
generally  the  same  in  all  cities,  some- 
times it  is  necessary  to  prepare  differ- 
ent maps  to  suit  different  local  condi- 
tions. 

CITY  SURVEY 

After  the  survey  and  tentative 
skeleton  plan  of  the  region  is  made,  a 
more  ample  survey  of  the  city  will  be 
required. 

Map  No.  3,  already  alluded  to, 
having  been  prepared  will  show  the 
topography  as  precisely  as  practicable, 
the  buildings,  streets,  boundaries  of 
blocks  and  railways  within  the  city. 
From  the  tracing  of  this  map,  a  num- 
ber of  prints  should  be  obtained  by 
litho  process  so  as  to  get  a  clear  repro- 
duction. Probably  a  dozen  copies  will 
be  sufficient  for  most  purposes.  With 
the  particulars  thus  obtained,  the 
following  colored  cartoons  should  be 
prepared : — 

Map  3  (a).  Transportation  map,  show- 
ing existing  railways,  sta- 
tions, waterways  and  har- 
bors, markets,  etc.; 


Map  3  (b).  Street  services  map,  show- 
ing existing  street  railways 
and  proposed  extensions, 
water  mains,  sewers,  power 
lines  and  different  kinds 
of  street  pavement; 
Map  3  (c).  Street  traffic  map,  showing 
main  arteries  and  focal 
points,  level  crossings, 
street  railway  intersections, 
street  collision  points  and  (if 
census  be  taken  of  traffic) 
number  of  points  with  refer- 
ence to  figures  in  report. 
On  this  map  lines  should 
be  drawn  in  color  showing 
the  areas  within  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  of  any  street  rail- 
way; 

Map  3  (d) .  Land  valuation  map,  show- 
ing the  assessed  values  of 
land  in  blocks  at  the  differ- 
ent values  per  square  foot 
or  per  foot  frontage.     Thus 
blocks  $5  to  $10  per  square 
foot  or  $500  to  $1,000  per 
foot    frontage    would    be 
shown  in  one  color  and  at 
$1  to  $5  per  square  foot  or 
$100  to  $500  per  foot  front- 
age in  another  color; 
Map  3  (e).  Existing    conditions    map, 
showing  the  existing  indus- 
trial, business  and  residen- 
tial areas,  parks  and  park- 
ways, and  sites  of  public 
and  quasi-public  buildings. 
By  careful  presentation  with  a  pre- 
arranged notation  of  colors  and  mark- 
ing Maps  3  (a),  3  (d)  and  3  (e)  may  be 
combined  as  one  "existing  conditions" 
map. 


166 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[June 


III.   THE   CITY    PLANNER'S   PROBLEMS 


THE    STREET   AND    TRANSIT    SYSTEM 

With  the  information  available  on 
the  above  maps,  it  will  be  possible  to 
proceed  to  the  next  stage  and  prepare 
a  plan  of  the  city.  The  first  matters 
to  be  considered  are  as  follows: — 

(a)  Proposals  for  the  alteration  of 
railway  trackage,  questions  of  union 
terminals,  removal  of  grade  crossings 
and    questions    of   levels    in    railway 
approaches  involved. 

(b)  Arterial  highways,  their  align- 
ment, width  and  connections. 

(c)  Approaches  from  the  centre  of 
city  and  main  means  of  communication 
to  the  railway  termini  and  proposals 
for  relief  of  traffic  congestion. 

(d)  Questions  of  widening  existing 
highways,  erecting  bridges  or  subways 
and    creating   by-pass   roads   and   of 
relieving  of  traffic  congestion  by  round- 
ing  street   corners   and   widening   at 
intersecting  streets. 

(e)  Alternative  proposals  to  (d)  in 
regard  to  obtaining  more  traffic  room 
in    streets    by    placing    sidewalks    in 
arched   ways  through  the   buildings, 
building  subways,  rerouting  street  cars, 
etc. 

In  studying  these  problems  the 
emphasis  should  be  placed  on  obtain- 
ing results  which  will  combine  the 
greatest  convenience  and  permanence 
without  excessive  cost.  It  is  not  al- 
ways the  most  expensive  scheme  that 
is  the  best  and  a  "radical"  solution  may 
be  suspected  if  it  happens  to  follow  the 
line  of  least  resistance  and  is  put  for- 
ward without  a  thorough  consideration 
of  more  simple  alternatives. 

The  planning  of  intervening  areas 
(site  planning)  should  as  a  rule  be  left 
to  be  dealt  with  by  the  local  city 
planning  commission  acting  in  co- 
operation with  the  owners  of  real 
estate.  The  commission  should,  how- 


ever, have  certain  principles  drawn  up 
for  its  guidance  so  as  to  secure  that 
the  intervening  areas  will  be  laid  out 
with  due  regard  to  the  general  plan. 
Any  proposed  new  highways  should  be 
correctly  shown.  Where  there  is  an 
absence  of  accuracy,  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  provide  for  limits  of  deviation 
of  the  highways. 

The  general  problems  of  circulation 
and  traffic  and  of  distribution  of  freight 
and  supplies  are  among  the  most 
important  to  be  studied.  Too  much 
expense  is  involved  in  the  modern  city 
in  the  moving  of  persons  and  in  the 
distribution  of  supplies,  owing  to  bad 
location  and  inconvenient  approaches 
to  the  railway  depots.  On  this  con- 
tinent, more  attention  requires  to  be 
given  to  rapid  transit  by  trolley  and 
street  car  than  in  Europe.  The  long 
distance  railroad  is  not  adaptable  for 
local  traffic.  City  streets  in  America 
have  to  handle  much  of  the  traffic  by 
automobile  truck  that  is  handled  by 
the  smaller  railroads  in  places  like 
England. 

The  transit  facilities  have  much  to  do 
with  the  problem  of  housing  and  the 
values  which  people  have  to  pay  for 
land  as  sites  for  dwellings.  In  consid- 
ering the  case  of  widening  streets  for 
purposes  of  rapid  transit,  the  relative 
cost  of  trolleys,  elevated  roads  and 
subways  should  be  considered.  The 
elevated  roads  cost  over  three  times 
as  much  as  the  trolley,  and  the  sub- 
way lines  over  ten  times.  Congested 
traffic  is  not  a  result  of  one  thing  such 
as  a  narrow  street  but  is  the  result  of 
defective  planning  of  a  city  in  a  num- 
ber of  its  features.  Similarly,  no  one 
remedy  is  likely  to  be  satisfactory.  In 
some  cases  where  a  drastic  remedy 
like  widening  a  street  seems  to  be  neces- 
sary, a  more  simple  operation  like 
rounding  the  corners  of  the  intersect- 


1922] 


THE   CITY  PLANNER'S  PROBLEMS 


167 


ing  streets  may  be  sufficient,  along  with 
better  control  of  the  traffic.  One  of 
the  most  pressing  problems  of  modern 
times  is  to  find  a  means  of  decreasing 
the  cost  of  distribution.  This  involves 
the  study  of  markets  in  relation  to  the 
railroads  and  highways. 

The  street  system  may  be  broadly 
classified  as  consisting  of  main  traffic 
arteries,  major  streets  and  minor 
streets,  the  latter  being  purely  residen- 
tial. The  first  would  consist  of  those 
which  form  the  main  arterial  system  of 
the  city  and  the  links  between  the  city 
and  other  populous  centres.  It  should 
also  include  circular  roads  connecting 
up  the  radial  lines  so  as  to  distribute 
traffic  before  it  reaches  the  centre. 
The  second  would  include  all  business 
and  connecting  streets  in  the  city. 
The  third  would  be  mainly  confined 
to  residential  districts.  The  desirable 
widths  might  be  classified  as  follows: 
Main  arterial  highways,  80  to  120  feet 
wide;  major  streets  and  parkways,  60 
to  100  feet  wide;  minor  streets,  30  to 
66  feet  wide. 

All  forms  of  street  or  sidewalk  ob- 
structions should  be  prevented  and 
the  setback  of  buildings  should  be  ar- 
ranged so  as  to  enable  business  prem- 
ises to  have  their  signs  and  other  pro- 
jections on  their  own  property.  All 
public  garages  should  be  set  back  at 
least  30  feet  from  the  street  line. 

In  the  planning  of  the  sewerage  and 
water-supply  systems,  it  is  necessary 
to  study  these  in  relation  to  the  high- 
ways, the  topography  of  the  land  and 
the  use  to  which  the  land  is  put,  but 
the  plan  of  these  and  other  under- 
ground services  should  not  be  mixed 
up  with  the  general  plan  of  the  city. 

THE  "ZONE"  PLAN 

The  next  stage  in  preparing  the  plan 

is  to  consider  the  question  of  "  zoning. " 

In  "zoning,"  we  have  to  deal  with 

three    kinds     of    regulations.    First, 


restrictions  as  to  use;  second,  as  to 
height  and  third,  as  to  the  "area  of 
occupancy"  or  the  density  of  building 
per  lot.  A  usual  and  not  undesirable 
classification  of  uses  is : — 

(a)  Heavy  industrial  and  general  pur- 
poses areas; 

(b)  Light  industrial,  including  ware- 
houses; 

(c)  Business,   comprising  retail  trad- 

ing, offices,  banks,  etc. ; 

(d)  First  residential  district  compris- 
ing  detached   and   semidetached 
houses ; 

(e)  Second    residential    district    com- 

prising in   addition  to  detached 
and  semidetached  houses,  duplex 
houses,    apartments    and    small 
neighborhood  business  centres. 
Residences  should  not  be  excluded 
from  (b)  nor  light  industries  from  (a). 
Public  garages  and  billboards  should 
be  excluded  from  (d)  and  (e)  by  impli- 
cation.    Public    buildings,    churches, 
schools  and  houses  used  for  profes- 
sional purposes  should  be  permitted  in 
(b),  (c),  (d)  and  (e)  but  the  areas  in 
which  they  are  allowed  to  be  erected  in 
(d)  should  be  definitely  defined  on  the 
plan.     It    might    be    arranged,    if    so 
desired,  to  exclude  public  buildings, 
churches,  etc.,  from  district    (d),  in 
cases  where  a  majority  of  the  inhabi- 
tants so  decided. 

With  regard  to  height  there  is  still 
room  for  a  great  deal  of  improvement 
in  the  public  attitude  towards  the 
limitation  of  height  of  buildings. 
There  should  really  be  no  restriction 
of  height  in  business  districts,  subject 
to  there  being  adequate  open  space  and 
width  of  street  surrounding  the  build- 
ing. Height  should  not  be  governed 
by  an  arbitrary  figure  of  a  number  of 
feet  or  number  of  storeys  but  by  the 
relation  between  the  open  area  adjacent 
to  the  building  and  the  height.  Differ- 
ent percentages  should  be  adopted 
according  to  local  conditions.  Where 


168 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[June 


the  area  of  lot  occupancy  in  a  busi- 
ness district  is  100  per  cent,  part 
of  the  building  should  not  be  al- 
lowed to  exceed  one  storey,  and  rear 
entrance  from  a  back  street  or  lane 
should  be  required.  In  the  case  of 
industrial  and  business  buildings  90 
per  cent  might  be  permitted  to  go  up 
to  a  height  equivalent  to  the  width 
of  the  street  where  they  front.  Be- 
yond that  height  the  building  should 
be  required  to  be  set  back  as  it  increases 
in  height.  In  residential  districts  the 
heights  should  be  limited  to  two  and 
a  half  or  three  storeys  in  (d)  and  six 
storeys  in  (e)  but  in  the  latter  case,  the 
question  of  the  amount  of  open  space 
surrounding  the  building  would  deter- 
mine the  height  permitted.  The  ideal 
is  to  secure  a  45  degree  angle  of  light 
to  the  front  and  rear  walls  of  all  build- 


ings. 


PARKS 


The  third  stage  consists  in  the  plan- 
ning of  the  open  spaces,  water  fronts, 
architectural  features,  grouping  of 
public  buildings  and  where  practicable, 
reservation  of  a  productive  agricul- 
tural belt.  In  this  third  stage  the 
architect  and  the  landscape  architect 
are  chiefly  concerned.  The  existing 
and  proposed  parks  and  parkways 
should  be  mapped.  The  park  system, 
consisting  of  parks,  recreation  grounds 
and  parkways,  should  be  studied  in 
relation  to  the  street  and  railroad  sys- 
tem. The  city  should  plan  this  system 
well  in  advance  and  maintain  rural 
parks  as  well  as  city  parks.  They 
should  not  be  less  than  three  per  cent 
and  should  if  practicable  be  ten  per  cent 
of  the  area  of  the  city  and  should  form 
a  connected  system.  Wedge-shaped 
parks  are  better  than  circular  parks. 
Parks  are  essential  to  the  preservation 
of  the  city  as  well  as  for  the  recreation 
needs  of  its  citizen.  A  city  may  obtain 
revenue  from  a  wild  or  natural  park  if 


it  plants  it  with  trees  or  grass  for  pas- 
ture and  trains  it  as  a  productive  park. 

Each  city  should  carry  out  a  cam- 
paign in  educating  public  opinion  as  to 
the  commercial  value  of  parks.  Mr. 
Flavel  Shurtleff  in  his  book  on  "Carry- 
ing Out  the  City  Plan"  gives  a  table 
of  the  percentage  of  increase  in  the 
value  of  943  park  areas  in  New  York 
between  1908-11.  This  showed  that 
19  parks  increased  in  value  over  2,001 
per  cent,  273  parks  increased  in  value 
from  201  to  2,001  per  cent,  154  from 
25  to  154  per  cent,  and  91  less  than  25 
per  cent. 

The  increase  in  value  of  the  park 
areas  themselves  should  be  accom- 
panied, if  the  parks  are  properly 
selected  and  planned,  by  an  increase 
in  the  value  of  adjacent  real  estate. 
Indeed,  it  is  profitable  for  large  owners 
of  real  estate  either  to  give  parks  or  to 
submit  to  special  assessment  on  adja- 
cent land  to  cover  their  cost.  Kansas 
City,  Missouri,  has  had  the  greater 
part  of  the  expense  of  its  parks  paid 
by  special  assessments  on  abutters  in 
six  park  districts.  A  magnificent  park 
system  has  thereby  been  built  up  at 
little  cost  to  the  city;  and  land  owners 
compete  with  each  other  to  secure 
parks  for  which  they  themselves  must 
pay.  The  Board  of  Park  Commis- 
sioners of  Kansas  have  shown  figures 
to  prove  that  parks  enhance  values 
"in  excess  of  the  entire  cost"  and  that 
constant  pressure  has  been  brought  to 
bear  upon  the  board  for  the  extension 
of  the  park  or  boulevard  system. 

But  care  should  be  taken  not  to  bur- 
den either  the  city  or  the  real  estate 
owners  with  more  unproductive  park 
area  than  is  economical  for  the  size  of 
the  city. 


The  civic  centre  needs  to  be  planned 
in  connection  with  the  other  physical 
features  of  the  city.  In  a  sense,  it 


1922] 


THE  CITY  PLANNER'S  PROBLEMS 


169 


should  be  subordinate,  because  of  the 
expense  of  constructing  monumental 
buildings.  It  is  bad  for  the  public  in- 
terest to  erect  extravagant  structures. 
Most  cities  lack  beauty,  not  because 
they  lack  public  buildings  but  because 
of  an  untidiness  arising  from  want  of 
care  in  controlling  the  surroundings 
of  the  buildings  they  have.  There  is 
no  reason,  however,  why  a  beautiful 
building  should  cost  more  than  an 
ugly  one.  It  is  simply  a  case  of  get- 
ting the  right  kind  of  advice.  The 
surroundings  of  the  building  are  just 
as  important  as  the  building  itself. 
They  should  be  spacious,  but  not  to  an 
extent  which  will  dwarf  the  building. 
There  should  be  a  relation  between  the 
space  and  the  height  and  bulk  of  the 
building. 

One  important  problem  to  be  always 
considered  in  planning  is  the  proportion 
of  cost  of  improvements  which  should 
be  borne  by  the  city  at  large  and  the 
owner  of  the  land.  The  Somers  sys- 
tem of  real  estate  valuation  suggests 
the  spreading  of  the  cost  on  the  basis 
that  the  frontager  should  pay  the 
total  for  a  sixty-foot  street.  This, 
however,  is  rather  high.  A  forty-foot 
street  is  sufficient  to  meet  the  local 
needs  of  residential  areas,  and  sixty- 
foot  of  industrial  and  business  areas. 

SITE    PLANNING 

As  already  indicated,  it  is  undesir- 
able for  the  attention  of  the  city  plan- 
ner to  be  diverted  from  the  considera- 
tion of  the  general  city  plan  to  detailed 
development  of  subdivisions.  There 
will  be  occasion  to  deal  with  sub-divi- 
sions that  occupy  strategic  sites  or 
have  some  peculiarity  which  makes 
them  important  in  relation  to  the 
general  plan.  For  instance,  it  may 
be  found  that  a  subdivision  is  already 
laid  out  and  registered  in  a  position 
which  occupies  the  best  line  of  approach 
to  the  city  by  an  arterial  highway. 


In  such  a  case,  the  city  planner  requires 
to  bring  all  his  powers  of  persuasion 
to  bear  upon  the  owner  of  the  land  to 
have  the  subdivision  changed.  It 
would  probably  be  easy  to  convince 
such  an  owner  that  the  change  would 
be  desirable  in  the  interests  of  his 
property,  but  everything  will  depend 
on  the  way  in  which  he  is  approached 
and  the  tact  shown  in  bringing  forward 
the  advantages  of  the  proposal. 

In  the  course  of  preparing  the  gen- 
eral plan,  the  city  planner  should  not 
ignore  applications  of  owners  to  help 
him  with  the  planning  of  their  sub- 
divisions. While  it  may  be  a  mistake 
to  initiate  detailed  work  of  site  plan- 
ning, he  should  be  ready  in  all  cases 
to  accept  opportunities  to  plan  sites 
so  as  to  fit  them  in  with  the  general 
plan  of  the  city. 

In  site  planning,  that  is,  the  plan- 
ning of  small  areas  for  industries  or 
houses,  the  governing  features  may 
be  said  to  be  the  relation  between  the 
street  plan  of  the  site  and  the  main 
lines  of  communication  of  the  city, 
adjoining  or  intersecting  the  property. 
Here  we  have  to  deal  with  the  points 
of  connection,  the  directness  of  route 
of  the  streets  across  the  property, 
grade,  best  locations  for  crossing  rail- 
ways or  rivers  by  bridges  or  subways. 
In  considering  directness  of  route  in 
relation  to  grade,  it  is  preferable  to 
have  easy  curves  rather  than  sharp 
turnings  or  jogs.  This  is  particularly 
true  in  the  case  of  the  main  highways. 
Connections  with  main  arterial  high- 
ways should  be  at  right  angles  as  far 
as  practicable.  In  dealing  with  hilly 
land,  it  will  often  be  found  better  to 
have  steeper  grades  rather  than  side- 
cuts. 

In  planning  minor  streets,  the  plan- 
ner should  introduce  varieties  in  the 
form  of  development  such  as  quad- 
rangles and  small  squares.  An  effort 
should  be  made  to  secure  the  subdivi- 


170 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[June 


sion  of  the  corner  lots  so  as  to  encour- 
age those  erecting  buildings  to  have 
an  orderly  and  pleasant  treatment  of 
the  building  elevations  at  the  corners. 
Nothing  condemns  the  orderly  rec- 
tangular subdivision  so  much  as  the 
ugly  effect  which  is  produced  by  cor- 
ner houses  having  their  gables  on  the 
side  street  with  long  flankages  not 
occupied  by  buildings.  Road  junc- 
tions require  to  be  specially  studied. 
Where  roads  meet  at  one  point  ample 
room  must  be  given  for  distribution  of 
traffic. 

ALLEYS  OR  LANES 

One  of  the  important  problems  that 
will  have  to  be  considered  is  the  ques- 
tion of  alleys  or  rear  lanes.  There  are 
those  who  advocate  that  rear  lanes 
should  be  provided  under  all  condi- 
tions and  for  all  classes  of  building. 
There  are  those  who  condemn  them 
unless  they  are  paved  and  lighted  in 
the  same  manner  as  the  front  street 
which  practically  makes  them  back 
streets.  There  are  those  who  con- 
sider them  as  only  being  essential 
in  business  centres  and  crowded  resi- 
dential areas.  It  is  impossible  to  lay 
down  any  rule  regarding  the  desir- 
ability of  having  lanes.  Everything 
depends  on  the  local  considerations. 
It  is  conceivable  that  even  in  a  widely- 
scattered  residential  district,  lanes 
would  be  desirable  on  condition  that 
all  the  public  services  were  placed  in 
the  lane.  On  the  other  hand,  it  should 
not  be  overlooked  that  the  cost  of 
making  a  street  and  a  lane  may  be 
higher  than  the  owner  of  the  property 
can  pay.  We  must  recognize  that  a 
lane  is  only  desirable  when  it  has  some 
form  of  pavement,  is  properly  drained 
and  is  free  from  nuisance.  It  is  the  op- 
posite of  being  desirable  if  it  is  used  for 
dumping  garbage  or  if,  owing  to  laxity 
of  control,  habitable  buildings  are  per- 
mitted to  be  erected  upon  its  frontage. 


The  cost  of  providing  lanes  may  be 
greater  than  the  cost  of  providing  extra 
frontage  to  enable  the  householder  to 
get  access  to  the  rear  of  his  property 
for  vehicles  by  the  side  of  his  dwelling. 
If  the  cost  of  the  side  entrance  does  not 
greatly  exceed  the  cost  of  providing 
the  lane,  it  should  be  preferred  in  resi- 
dential districts.  A  lane  is  not  neces- 
sary for  providing  air  space  at  the  rear 
of  buildings,  whereas  the  side  entrance 
for  vehicles  has  the  double  benefit  of 
giving  access  to  the  rear  of  the  build- 
ing and  giving  adequate  light  and  air 
where  it  is  most  needed.  There  can 
be  no  question  as  to  the  need  for  lanes 
in  districts  where  houses  are  erected 
in  continuous  rows  or  in  areas  where 
the  lots  are  devoted  to  continuous 
business  development. 

DEPTH  OF  LOTS 

Important  considerations  arise  in 
connection  with  the  depth  of  lots. 
When  blocks  of  building  land  between 
streets  are  too  shallow,  the  tendency 
is  to  use  the  whole  depth  for  the  busi- 
ness occupying  the  frontage  on  one 
street,  thus  making  the  frontage 
on  the  second  street  practically  a 
back  entrance.  In  such  a  case,  the 
shallowness  of  the  lots  is  a  source  of 
loss  to  the  property  owners  because  it 
is  compelling  them  to  use  two  streets 
where  a  street  and  a  lane  would  have 
done.  An  example  of  a  very  good 
arrangement  for  a  business  section 
is  shown  in  Craig's  plan  of  Edinburgh. 
Here  the  main  business  streets  of 
Princes  Street  and  George  Street  have 
between  them  a  narrow  parallel 
street.  This  narrow  street  is  used  for 
second-class  business  and  for  rear 
access  to  the  principal  hotels  and 
department  stores  on  the  main  business 
thoroughfares.  Although  this  narrow 
street  is  only  about  30  feet  wide  and 
is  therefore  little  more  than  a  lane,  it 
combines  the  uses  of  a  secondary 


1922] 


THE   CITY   PLANNER'S  PROBLEMS 


171 


business  street  and  a  lane,  it  is  properly 
paved  and  lighted  and  is  more  economi- 
cal than  having  a  third  street  of  full 
width  or  a  narrow  lane  of  no  use  except 
for  rear  access. 

INTERSECTIONS 

What  should  be  the  length  of  inter- 
sections between  streets  is  not  always 
easy  to  determine.  One  main  street  in 
a  city  has  forty  intersecting  or  tributary 
streets  over  a  length  of  less  than  a  mile. 
From  the  point  of  view  of  business,  the 
number  of  intersections  probably  tends 
to  increase  the  frontage  that  is  avail- 
able for  business  uses.  Many  people 
argue  that  numerous  intersections  are 
necessary  to  spread  business  off  the 
one  main  thoroughfare  into  the  side 
streets.  On  the  other  hand,  when  a 
street  is  used  for  street  cars  and  these 
have  to  stop  at  every  cross  street,  it 
becomes  a  serious  objection  from  the 
point  of  view  of  rapid  transit.  These 
are  matters  which  are,  for  the  most 
part,  settled  when  the  original  sub- 
divison  is  made. 

PRESERVATION    OF    TREES   AND    OPEN 
SPACES    IN   NEW   SUBDIVISIONS 

In  the  preparation  of  city  plans,  it  is 
important  to  preserve  sufficient  trees, 
particularly  in  residential  areas,  to  give 
a  certain  amount  of  furnishing  to  the 
area  and  to  prevent  the  bare  uninterest- 
ing effect  produced  by  looking  on  a 
number  of  new  buildings  without  any 
of  the  natural  relief  obtained  from 
foliage.  The  advantage  of  trees  for 
shade  and  to  some  extent  as  a  pro- 
tection against  fire  cannot  be  ques- 
tioned. Every  new  subdivision  should 
have  recreation  space  to  the  extent 
of  one  acre  for  every  100  houses. 
In  certain  provinces  of  Canada,  there 
is  a  regulation  that  requires  that 
one  acre  in  every  ten  acres  be  left  as 
an  open  space  and  dedicated  to  the 
public.  This  is  a  good  rule  even  if  it 


cannot  be  applied  consistently  without 
some  injustice.  If  a  section  of  land 
is  crowded  thickly  with  buildings,  it 
should  have  more  open  space  than  a 
section  which  is  sparsely  occupied. 
One  acre  in  every  ten  means  the  pro- 
vision of  a  playground  to  every  fifty 
houses,  allowing  about  five  and  a  half 
houses  to  the  acre.  It  is  a  good  aver- 
age, however,  because  as  time  goes  on 
it  will  be  easy  to  build  80  to  90  houses 
on  nine  acres. 

If  the  general  plan  of  the  city  in- 
cludes provisions  to  prevent  the  erec- 
tion of  buildings  on  marshy  or  flooded 
land,  these  will  automatically  become 
part  of  the  breathing  space.  Open 
spaces  can  frequently  be  provided 
on  land  that  is  not  adaptable  for 
building.  The  saving  in  construction 
of  narrow  roads  next  to  open  spaces 
is  often  sufficient  to  justify  the  loss  of 
area  of  building  land  which  results 
from  providing  these  open  spaces. 

THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  OUTSKIRTS 

One  of  the  tragedies  of  modern  city 
life  and  the  development  of  indus- 
trialism has  been  the  conflict  or  aloof- 
ness that  has  grown  up  between  the 
city  and  the  country .  We  have  ignored 
the  fact  that  agriculture,  as  Gibbons 
says,  is  the  foundation  of  manufac- 
tures. This  is  truer  in  modern  times 
in  a  commercial  sense  than  ever  before. 
It  is  also  true  in  the  sense  that  physical 
and  mental  deterioration  in  the  city 
has  to  be  balanced  by  maintaining 
a  healthy  and  vigorous  race  in  the 
country. 

Unfortunately  in  many  country  dis- 
tricts the  conditions  are  productive  of 
deterioration  as  much  as  in  the  crowded 
city.  The  proper  ideal  is  to  make  the 
city  more  healthy  by  introducing  more 
of  the  attractions  of  the  country,  and 
to  make  the  country  more  healthy 
by  extending  to  it  more  of  the  attrac- 
tions of  the  city.  The  present  tend- 


172 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[June 


ency  continues,  even  politically,  to- 
wards further  conflict  between  city 
and  country  interests .  Often  the  worst 
building  development  takes  place  in 
the  rural  areas  surrounding  large 
cities.  The  greatest  difficulties  of  ob- 
taining effective  control  of  highways, 
sanitation  and  of  land  development 
are  probably  to  be  found  along  the 
fringes  just  over  the  boundaries  of 
cities.  The  rural  municipality,  very 
often  having  the  outlook  of  a  purely 
farming  population,  regards  the  sub- 
urban excrescence  of  the  city  as  an 
undesirable  encroachment,  even  if  it 
has  the  redeeming  feature  of  bringing 
some  added  revenue.  The  rural  coun- 
cil has  not  been  accustomed  to  deal 
with  that  class  of  development  and  it 
leaves  it  uncontrolled  or  governed  by 
rural  standards,  quite  inadequate  to 
meet  urban  conditions.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  city  looks  upon  the  overflow 
into  the  rural  territory  as  something 
to  be  discouraged  because  it  naturally 
does  not  favor  the  loss  of  its  inhabi- 
tants. For  that  reason,  it  avoids  ex- 
tending its  water  supply  or  its  sewer- 
age system  to  the  outside  areas  when 
it  can  do  so. 

Thus  the  selfish  interests  of  the  city 
and  of  the  country  mean  the  neglect 
of  the  very  territory  that  most  needs 
planning  and  the  laying  down  of  the 
soundest  conditions  of  development. 
To  make  matters  worse,  the  exten- 
sion of  cities  takes  place  in  a  hap- 
hazard way  and  on  no  definite  prin- 
ciple with  the  consequeiice  that  the 
township  authority  suspends  improve- 
ments as  long  as  it  can  in  the  hope  that 
it  will  be  able  to  escape  its  obligations 
altogether,  while  the  city  authority 
defers  as  long  as  possible  any  move- 
ments for  extension. 

The  absence  of  a  uniform  state  sys- 
tem of  assessment  is  a  further  cause  of 
trouble  and  it  is  round  the  question  of 
assessment  that  the  final  battle  is 


usually  fought  when  the  question  of 
extending  a  city  area  comes  up  for 
consideration.  The  final  result  is 
usually  a  compromise  giving  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  rural  area  enjoyment  of  a 
fixed  assessment  for  a  period  of  years 
and  saving  the  city  some  money  for 
development.  The  general  interests 
and  welfare  of  the  community  are 
ignored  in  a  struggle  for  the  best  finan- 
cial terms.  The  making  of  regional 
surveys  will  perhaps  help  us  to  arrive 
at  some  better  method  of  readjusting 
municipal  boundaries  in  the  interests 
of  both  the  city  and  the  adjacent 
rural  territory. 

AGBICULTURAL  BELTS 

Mr.  John  Irwin  Bright  has  put  for- 
ward a  proposal*  for  developing  pro- 
ductive belts  around  cities.  Were  this 
proposal  followed  up  it  would  revolu- 
tionize town  development  in  America 
and  reestablish  a  proper  equilibrium 
between  town  and  country.  The  sig- 
nificance of  such  schemes,  and  of  move- 
ments leading  to  the  creation  of  Garden 
Cities  and  Farm  Cities,  is  that  they  are 
showing  the  way  towards  a  new  con- 
ception of  the  principles  on  which 
modern  cities  should  be  encouraged 
to  expand.  The  productive  agricul- 
tural belt  or  wedge  will  be  as  essential 
as  the  public  park  or  playground  in  the 
city  of  the  future.  If  the  large  modern 
industrial  city  is  to  be  preserved  from 
decay  and  disintegration  when  it  grows 
still  larger,  it  must  develop  a  system 
of  lungs  on  a  greater  scale  than  hitherto, 
and  productive  parks  are  more  eco- 
nomical and  practicable  for  this  pur- 
pose than  recreation  parks.  The  needs 
of  the  population  for  open  space  and 
nature  is  greater  than  their  needs  for 
recreation  space  or  than  is  practicable 
to  provide  on  a  non-productive  basis. 
That  is  the  reason  for  the  significance 

*  Journal  of  American  Institute  of  Architects,  1920 


1922] 


CITY  PLANNING  LAW 


173 


of  the  Garden  City  plan  with  its  agri- 
cultural belt.* 

Many  years  may  elapse  before  this 
idea  takes  a  full  hold,  but  it  is  not  con- 
ceivable that  future  generations  will 
be  so  blind  to  the  evil  tendencies  of 
unrestricted  expansion  of  congested  ur- 
ban areas  as  to  reject  the  only  effective 
solution.  The  control  of  the  develop- 
ment of  land  is  essential  to  this  solu- 
tion of  the  problem  of  congestion. 
Large  areas  of  land  near  and  within 
cities  can  be  more  economically  used  for 
agricultural  production  than  for  build- 
ing, because  their  levels  are  such  as 
to  make  the  cost  of  conversion  into 
building  land  and  construction  of  local 
improvements  excessive  in  comparison 
with  the  values  they  create  for  building 
purposes. 

The  fourth  and  final  stage  would  con- 


sist in  preparing  the  provisions  of  the 
scheme  or  the  ordinance  which  is  to 
give  statutory  effect  to  the  plan  and 
make  it  a  workable  instrument.  This 
raises  the  question  of  the  law  in  rela- 
tion to  planning  of  the  city. 

The  law  in  relation  to  city  planning 
has  to  do  with  the  acquisition  of  land 
for  public  purposes,  control  of  public 
utilities,  water  fronts,  streets,  erection 
and  setback  of  buildings,  traffic  regula- 
tions, zoning  regulations  governing 
the  classification  and  delimitation  of 
areas  of  land  for  different  uses,  heights, 
and  densities  of  buildings  and  other 
matters. 

In  the  United  States  it  has  also  to  do 
with  excess  condemnation  governed 
by  constitutional  amendment  in  differ- 
ent states  and  the  statutes  under 
them. 


IV.   CITY  PLANNING   LAW 


EXCESS  CONDEMNATION 

Those  who  have  advocated  the  use 
of  excess  condemnation  of  land  have 
often  been  tempted  to  make  the  state- 
ment that  it  pays  a  city  to  acquire  land 
in  excess  of  its  needs.  There  does  not 
appear  to  be  any  case  that  can  be 
pointed  to  as  having  produced  a  profit 
in  money  and  it  is  doubtful  if  accurate 
figures  can  ever  be  obtained  regarding 
such  schemes.  Unless  indirect  benefit 
can  be  obtained  either  in  removing 
slums  or  in  some  form  of  convenience 
for  the  city  sufficient  to  justify  the  cost 
of  a  reconstruction  scheme,  it  cannot 
be  justified  on  grounds  of  profit-mak- 
ing. It  is  conceivable,  of  course,  that 
the  owners  of  a  block  of  land  could 
make  such  a  scheme  profitable  to  the 
city  and  to  themselves  by  co-operating 
with  the  city.  When,  however,  the 
city  has  to  expropriate  under  compul- 
sory powers,  the  cost  is  usually  too 

*  Garden  Cities  of  To-morrow,  by  Ebeoeier  Howard. 


great  to  enable  a  return  to  be  obtained 
from  the  improvement.  It  is  often 
cheaper,  however,  to  condemn  whole 
properties  than  parts  of  properties. 

SLUM  CLEARANCE 

The  time  will  no  doubt  come  in  the 
newer  countries  like  the  United  States 
and  Canada  when  the  growth  of  slum 
conditions  will  force  the  hands  of  the 
Governments  and  the  Courts  in  pro- 
viding methods  to  carry  out  schemes 
of  slum  clearance  at  a  reasonable  cost. 
Up  to  the  present  time,  however, 
city  planning  in  the  United  States  does 
not  place  much  emphasis  on  the  im- 
provement of  housing  conditions.  In 
England  the  Town  Planning  Act  is 
part  of  the  Housing  Act  and  it  was 
introduced  to  help  to  solve  the  housing 
problem. 

SPECIAL  ASSESSMENTS 

It  seems  to  be  generally  agreed  that 
the  best  way  to  obtain  contributions 


174 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[June 


from  owners  of  land  towards  public 
improvements  is  by  means  of  special 
assessments  levied  on  abutting  and 
other  benefited  land  to  pay  a  portion 
of  the  costs  of  improvements  such  as 
roads,  streets,  sewers,  mains,  etc. 
Assessment  statutes  in  the  States  per- 
mit these  special  assessments  up  to  the 
amount  of  the  benefit  received  by  the 
land,  subject  to  some  minor  limitations. 
Assessments  in  Cincinnati,  for  instance, 
range  all  the  way  from  0  to  98  per  cent. 
An  important  consideration  in  Ameri- 
can legislation  is  to  use  to  the  fullest 
extent  the  principle  of  local  assessment 
for  local  improvements  (see  Proceedings 
City  Planning  Conference  1912,  p.  43). 
The  prevailing  rule,  although  sub- 
ject to  exceptional  application  in  many 
cases,  in  regard  to  the  taking  of  land  by 
the  community  is  that  the  community 
has  to  pay  its  value  regardless  of  the 
improvements  and  regardless  of  any 
benefit  accruing  to  the  remainder  of 
owners  of  property.  If,  however,  the 
owner  clapns  damages  to  this  remainder 
by  reason  of  the  taking  of  some  of 
property  then,  according  to  authorities, 
in  the  calculation  of  these  damages  to 
be  paid  him,  there  is  taken  into  full 
account  any  special  benefits  that  will 
accrue  to  this  remainder  by  reason  of 
the  improvements.  The  theory  is 
that  the  constitution  imposes  a  money 
compensation  for  the  land  taken  and 
therefore  the  community  cannot  re- 
quire the  owner  to  take  some  of  the 
compensation  in  the  shape  of  benefits 
to  his  remaining  land ;  that  where,  how- 
ever, he  claims  compensation  for  dam- 
ages, the  damages  may  consist  of  a 
difference  between  the  harm  done  and 
the  special  benefit  given  to  the  land  not 
taken. 

RESTRICTIONS 

The  following  matters  may  be  re- 
garded as  proper  subjects  for  restric- 
tion under  the  police  power : — 


1.  Billboards,  while  they  cannot  be 
directly   prevented   under   the   police 
power,  can  be  made  subject  to  restric- 
tions in  the  interests  of  public  safety, 
health  and  morals,  or  they  may  be 
indirectly   prevented  by  limiting  the 
structures  that  can  be  erected  in  a 
district  of  private  residences. 

2.  Prohibition    of    noxious    trades 
comes  well  within  the  powers. 

3.  Restriction  of  height  of  buildings 
so  far  as  it  is  a  measure  of  safety. 

4.  Prescribing  density  of  building  on 
lots  is  constitutional  if  for  the  promo- 
tion of  health  and  safety. 

5.  Building  of  dwellings  on  unhealthy 
areas  is  a  health  matter  and  therefore 
controllable. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  the  creation 
of  residential  zones  is  entirely  con- 
stitutional but  it  is  legal  to  prevent 
factories  which  are  offensive,  stables, 
blacksmith  shops,  foundries,  etc.,  from 
being  erected  in  residential  neighbor- 
hoods. Thus  the  law  is  that  factories 
can  be  kept  out,  not  because  they  are 
factories  but  because  they  are  offen- 
sive for  some  reason. 

MAKING    NEW    STREETS    CONFORM 

Neither  in  the  United  States  nor 
Canada  can  the  public  authority  de- 
fine any  tract  of  land  as  a  street  after 
the  original  concessions  are  granted. 
What  they  may  do  is  to  require  that  an 
owner  of  land  who  is  planning  a  sub- 
division shall  submit  his  plan  for  ap- 
proval to  the  city  planning  commission. 
The  powers  relating  to  this  matter  seem 
to  be  less  in  the  United  States  than  in 
Canada  for  Mr.  Bettman  points  out 
that  most  of  the  courts  in  the  United 
States  would  decide  that  the  com- 
munity cannot  impose  any  particular 
form  of  lot  lines  or  subdivision.  He 
states,  however,  that  indirectly  the 
same  thing  can  be  accomplished,  for  no 
street  can  be  made  a  public  highway 
with  a  legal  status  without  its  accept- 


1922] 


CENTRAL  ADMINISTRATION 


175 


ance  by  the  public.  The  community 
can  always  withhold  acceptance  unless 
the  street  is  located  as  provided  in  its 
plan.  It  may  also  prevent  congestion  by 


requiring  the  number  of  inhabitants  or 
structures  to  be  limited  in  a  given  terri- 
tory subject  to  this  requirement  being 
reasonable  under  the  police  power. 


V.   CENTRAL   ADMINISTRATION   OR  SUPERVISION  OF 
LOCAL   PLANNING 


In  all  these  matters  it  is  of  great 
importance  to  have  in  each  state,  as  in 
each  province  in  Canada,  advisory 
town  planning  commissions  to  assist 
and  co-operate  with  the  cities  to  inves- 
tigate problems  and  assist  in  framing 
proper  legislation. 

A  particular  value  of  such  a  state 
city  planning  bureau  would  be  to 
assist  small  municipalities  that  are 
not  in  a  position  to  employ  men  of  skill 
and  are  frequently  led  into  error  and 
wasteful  expenditure.  The  problems 
of  such  municipalities  have  a  likeness 
and  there  is  a  constant  recurrence  of 
the  same  errors  in  connection  with 
their  solution. 

The  previous  paragraph  raises  the 
important  question  of  what  is  the 
proper  relation  of  a  state  or  province 
to  a  city  in  connection  with  town  plan- 
ning. It  may  be  regarded  as  essential 
to  have  some  form  of  state  or  provincial 
administratipn  of  city  planning  because 
part  of  its  object  is  to  control  and  regu- 
late the  use  and  development  of  land 
for  any  purpose.  The  laws  govern- 
ing the  ownership  of  land  and  the  rights 
of  eminent  domain  in  English-speaking 
countries  are  very  largely  derived  from 
the  same  origins  and  based  on  the  rights 
of  property.  In  the  United  States  and, 
to  a  smaller  degree  in  Canada,  there 
has  been,  during  late  years,  a  reaction 
against  state  or  provincial  interference 
with  city  government.  In  some  of  its 
aspects  this  reaction  is  the  result  of  a 
healthy  desire  on  the  part  of  citizens 
to  shoulder  greater  responsibilities  and 
it  is  the  outcome  of  a  democratic 


spirit.  There  are,  however,  two  sides 
to  the  question,  and,  properly  stated, 
this  should  be  not  whether  the  city 
should  have  home  rule  but  what  is  the 
proper  balance  of  power  which  should 
be  established  between  the  state  or 
province  and  the  city. 

The  setting  up  of  town  planning  com- 
missions in  cities  appears  to  be  more 
effective  in  securing  results  where  these 
commissions  have  central  expert  bodies 
in  the  state  or  province  from  which 
they  can  obtain  guidance.  Unques- 
tionably the  Local  Government  Board 
in  England — now  the  Ministry  of 
Health — has  contributed  largely  to 
whatever  success  may  have  been 
achieved  in  town  planning  in  that 
country.  But  in  this  case  the  form 
of  central  administration  was  that  of 
an  expert  authority  and  not  a  body  of 
untrained  citizens.  In  Saskatchewan 
the  Minister  of  Municipal  Affairs,  with 
the  assistance  of  a  director  of  planning, 
exercises  the  same  powers  and  few 
citizens  would  be  likely  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  Town  Planning  Act 
without  the  presence  of  that  central 
organization.  In  Alberta  and  Nova 
Scotia  little  town  planning  progress 
has  been  made  outside  of  Calgary  and 
Halifax  because  of  the  absence  of  any 
provincial  administrative  machinery. 

Future  town  planning  legislation  in 
Canada  will  probably  have  to  give 
added  powers  to  cities  but  it  will  be  a 
misfortune  if  this  destroys  the  interest 
of  the  province  in  connection  with  town 
planning.  There  are  areas  adjacent 
to  all  cities  and  towns  which  can  only 


176 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[June 


properly  be  controlled  under  provin- 
cial jurisdiction. 

In  the  United  States,  the  strength 
of  the  movement  in  favor  of  more 
home  rule  makes  it  difficult  to  get 
appreciation  of  the  value  of  state  as- 
sistance in  city  planning.  This  move- 
ment is  the  result  of  political  and  other 
conditions,  amongst  which  is  the  fact 
that  the  rural  members  control  the 
state  legislatures  and  have  the  rural 
point  of  view  concerning  municipal 
problems.  Most  American  cities 
would  object  to  any  requirement  that 
a  plan  in  its  various  details  should 
receive  central  state  approval.  More- 
over any  proposal  to  set  up  a  Depart- 
ment of  Municipal  Affairs  in  those 
states  that  have  adopted  constitutional 
home  rule  would  be  unconstitutional. 
For  instance,  in  Ohio,  cities  may,  by 
drafting  and  adopting  a  home  rule 
charter,  exclude  state  control  except 
in  certain  particulars. 

The  setting  up  of  a  state  or  provin- 
cial advisory  department  in  the  state  or 
province,  however,  need  not  mean  an 
interference  with  local  power.  Its 
value  in  bringing  about  co-operative 
action  between  the  city  and  its  subur- 
ban neighbors  and  satellite  communi- 
ties around  it  would  be  very  great.  It 
is  essential  for  purposes  of  regional 
planning.  It  would  also  be  useful  in 
securing  uniform  procedure  in  regard 
to  building  ordinances  or  by-laws  in  co- 
ordination of  system  under  which  the 
highways  and  housing  are  adminis- 
tered. Highways  link  up  communities 
and  do  not  separate  them.  There  can 
never  be  effective  highway  improve- 
ment unless  it  is  dealt  with  in  large 
geographical  areas.  Bad  housing  and 
improper  sanitation  are  more  needed 
to  be  controlled  in  the  areas  adjacent 


to  and  outside  of  the  city  than  within 
the  city,  and  city  planning,  in  its 
proper  sense,  must  be  comprehensive 
enough  in  respect  of  area  to  disregard 
arbitrary  municipal  boundaries.  More 
home  rule  for  cities  is  not  inconsistent 
with  obtaining  uniformity  of  law  and 
procedure  with  the  assistance  of  essen- 
tial state  and  provincial  departments 
in  regard  to  highways,  housing  and 
town  planning. 

It  is  pointed  out  by  American  au- 
thorities that  Boston  has  readily  ac- 
cepted state  administration  of  a  num- 
ber of  Boston  problems  more  willingly 
than  most  cities.  It  is  claimed  that 
this  is  because  Boston  occupies  such 
an  important  position  in  Massachu- 
setts and  is  unlike  those  cities  that 
are  subject  to  state  legislatures  with 
a  predominantly  agricultural  repre- 
sentation. 

Mr.  Bettman  points  out  that,  on 
the  other  hand  the  Ohio  Legislature 
is  largely  representative  of  the  rural 
districts.  Rural  legislatures  are  not 
conscious  of  the  difficulties  involved 
in  solving  modern  municipal  problems. 
He  admits  that  the  combination  of 
city  and  state  will  be  stronger  to  resist 
obstructive  legal  power  in  respect  of 
private  property,  but  points  out  that 
conflict  between  the  state  and  city 
is  just  as  likely  to  occur  as  co-opera- 
tion. He  agrees  that  state  city  plan- 
ning commissions  should  be  set  up  but 
should  not  be  given  veto  powers  of  all 
local  schemes.  They  should  furnish 
expert  advice. 

An  example  of  such  a  department 
which  should  be  widely  copied  by  other 
states  is  to  be  found  in  Pennsylvania 
where  the  State  Bureau  of  Municipali- 
ties acts  in  an  advisory  capacity  regard- 
ing city  planning. 


APPENDIX 

REGIONAL  AND  CIVIC  SURVEY;  SUMMARY  OF  MATTERS  TO  BE  STUDIED 


I.    EXISTING   ORGANIZATION   AND 
AVAILABLE   DATA 

(1)  Local  Government.    State  laws  in  relation 
to  city  planning,  building  codes,  etc.;  provisions 
of  city  charter;  existing  ordinances  governing  fire, 
building  construction,  streets,  etc.;   continuity 
of  administration  of  council  or  commissions. 

(2)  Reports  of  Precious  Surveys  and  Other  Data 
Available.     Surveys  of  social  or  industrial  con- 
ditions;   statistics    of    population   at    different 
periods;  tax  rate;  financial  conditions. 

(3)  Maps.    Maps  of  city  engineer;  railway 
maps;  street  railway  maps;  small  scale  topo- 
graphical map  of  region;  blue  prints  of  recorded 
sub-divisions  not  shown  on  city  maps;  under- 
writers' maps  showing  buildings. 

II.    FUNDAMENTAL   ELEMENTS  IN   CITY   GROWTH 

(1)  Land  System.     Original  forms  of  owner- 
ship and  division  plans  of  land;  influences  of 
original  plans  on  city  sub-divisions;  typical  lot 
and  block  dimensions;  effect  of  lot  or  block  sizes 
on  character  of  dwellings  and  business  premises 
erected;  effect  of  land  speculation  on  values; 
what  relation  the  values  have  to  value  of  im- 
provements; community  created  values;  system 
of    assessment    and    taxation;    assessment    for 
benefits;  methods  of  apportioning  cost  of  local 
improvements;  wherein  there  is  need  for  better 
method  of  assessment  and  taxation  and  control  of 
land  to  promote  economic  use;  relations  between 
city  and  country  districts;  regional  problems. 

(2)  Industrial  Growth.     History  of  industrial 
growth  within  the  region  and  particularly  within 
the  city;  its  origins;  influences  that  have  pro- 
moted or  retarded  growth  of  industries;  location 
and  distribution  of  manufacturing  plants  and 
wholesale   warehouses;   opportunities  available 
for  future  development. 

(3)  Homes.    The    character    of    the    homes; 
local  types  of  dwellings;  psychology  of  people; 
educational     opportunities;    existing    sanitary 
arrangements;  evidence  of  healthy  or  unhealthy 
conditions;  vital  statistics,  etc.;  directions  in 
which  improvement  of  surroundings  and  general 
housing  conditions  can  be  made. 

III.    PHYSICAL  PLAN  AND  PUBLIC  SERVICES 

(1)  Means  of  Communication  and  Distribution 
(a)  Railroads  and  their  termini;  electric 
railways;  problems  of  railways  in  streets; 
grade  crossings;  street  approaches  to 


stations;  statistics  of  local  passenger  and 
freight  traffic;  facilities  for  transit  between 
homes  and  places  of  employment;  position 
of  markets. 

(b)  Highways  and  Streets.     General  street 
plan;    arterial    highways   and    major    and 
minor  streets;  widths  and  laws  governing 
them;  how  adapted  to  configuration  of  land 
and  needs  of  traffic;  relation  of  widths  to 
height  and  bulk  of  buildings;  grades;  pro- 
posed  widenings,   openings  or  extensions; 
traffic  circulation;   street  system  and  fire 
prevention;  trolley  lines  in  streets;  building 
lines;  encroachments  on  streets  and  side- 
walks; points  of  collision  and  areas  of  con- 
gestion;  traffic  regulation;  extent  of  per- 
manent pavements  and  sidewalks. 

(c)  Waterways,    Docks   and   Ferries.     Con- 
nections with  railroads;  street  approaches. 

(2)  Power  Supply.     Sources  and  distribution; 
facilities  for  extension. 

(3)  Building  Development.     General  distribu- 
tion   of    buildings;    residence,     business    and 
industrial  areas;  sizes  of  lots  in  relation  to  type 
and  character  of  buildings;  alleys  and  how  used; 
private    restrictions;    tendencies    in    regard    to 
character  of  dwellings — detached,  semi-detached, 
two  deckers,  rows  or  tenements;  building  on  rear 
yards;  typical  widths  of  frontages;  position  of 
public  garages  and  oil  filling  stations;  relation  of 
building  ordinances  to  city  planning  ordinances. 

(4)  Water  Supply  and  Sewerage.     Extent  of 
building  area  served;  vacant  lots  served;  source 
of   water   supply;   pressure   for   fire   purposes; 
separate    or    combined    system    of    sewerage; 
sewage  disposal;  stream  pollution. 

(5)  Civic  Art.     Placing  of  public  buildings; 
need  of  grouping  public  buildings  and  control  of 
surroundings;    street    approaches;    relation    to 
street  system;  convenience  of  location. 

(0)  Parks,  Public  Recreation  and  General 
Amenities.  Shade  trees  in  streets;  policy  of 
planting;  areas  of  parks,  etc.,  in  relation  to 
population;  children's  playgrounds;  rural  park 
system;  connecting  boulevards;  use  of  parks; 
management  of  park  system;  encouragement  of 
athletics;  accessibility;  indoor  facilities  for 
recreation;  private  parks;  garbage  dumps; 
protection  of  water  fronts;  location  of  cemeteries. 

(7)  Educational  and  Other  Quasi-public  Build- 
ings. Location  of  schools;  school  playgrounds; 
social  centres;  hospital  sites. 


177 


CITY  PLANNING 
AND  ZONING 


A  COMPREHENSIVE  BUDGET  OF  PAMPHLETS 
ON     CITY    PLANNING    AND     ZONING 


Sold  at  Cost  Price 
$1.50 


Contents  of  City  Planning  and  Zoning  Budget 

(Giving  price  of  pamphlets  when  sold  singly) 

Modern  City  Planning,  by  Thomas  Adams 500 

The  Law  of  the  City  Plan,  revised  1922,  by  Frank  B.  Williams  250 

Zoning,  revised  1922,  by  Edward  M.  Bassett 25c 

Law  of  Zoning,  by  Herbert  S.  Swan 25c 

Special  Assessments   (Means  of  financing  municipal  im- 
provements)  by  Committee    on    Sources   of    Revenue, 

National  Municipal  League 25C 

Books  in  National  Municipal  League  Series 

City  Planning,  by  John  Nolen $2.60 

Town    Planning    for    Small    Communities,  by  Chas.   S. 

Bird,  Jr $2.85 

Satellite  Cities,  by  Graham  R.  Taylor $2.60 

General  inquiries  from  the  public  on  City  Planning 
and  Zoning  are  handled  through  this  office. 

National  Municipal  League 

261  Broadway  New  York  City 


CHAS.  BROSSMAN 

Mem.  Am.Soc.  C.E.          Mem.  Am.  Soc.  M.E. 
Consulting  Engineer 

Water  Works  and  Electric  Light  Plants 
Sewerage  and  Sewage  Disposal 

Merchants  Bank,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 


PROPORTIONAL  REPRESENTATION 

Beit  Basis  for  the  City  Manager  Plan 

Send  25c  for  Lft.  No.  10  (How  P.  R.  Works  in  Sacramento) 
and  new  Lft.  No.  5  (Explanation  of  Hare  System  of  P.  R.) 

Still  better,  join  the  League.    Dues,  $2.  pay  for  quarterly 
Review  and  all  other  literature  for  year. 

PROPORTIONAL  REPRESENTATION  LEAGUE 
1417  LOCUST  STREET,  PHILADELPHIA 


GOVERNMENTAL  SURVEYS 


«n  Problems 
of  Organiza- 

tion— Methods— .A dminUtration— Salary  Standardization 
— Budget  Making — Taxation — Revenues— Expenditures— 
Civil  Service— Accounting— Public  Works 

J.  L.  JACOBS  &  COMPANY 

Municipal  Contultant*  and  Engineer* 
Monadnock  Building,  Chicago 

(Over  11  yr>.'  experience  in  City,  County  and  State  Studies') 


R.  HUSSELMAN 

Mem.  Am.  Soc.  C.  E.          —          Am.  Assn.  Engrs. 

CONSULTING  ENGINEER 

Design  and  Construction  of  Electric,  Water  Works 

and  Filtration  Plants.      Public  Utility  Rate 

Investigations  and  Appraisals. 

CUYAHOGA  BLDG.  CLEVELAND,  OHIO 


NATIONAL 
MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


VOL.  XI,  No.  7 


JULY,  1922 


TOTAL  No.  73 


VIEWS  AND  REVIEWS 


That  recall  of  two  Oregon  public 
service  commissioners  in  May  following 
the  commission's  authorization  of  in- 
creased telephone  rates,  as  described  in 
this  issue,  is  of  perhaps  historic  im- 
portance. Mr.  Barnett  has  been  for 
some  years  a  systematic  observer  of 
the  workings  of  the  recall  in  local  elec- 
tions in  Oregon  and  seems  to  see  in  this 
case  nothing  more  notable  than  the 
fact  that  this  is  the  first  use  of  the  re- 
call in  his  state  for  state-wide  officers, 
so  perhaps  we  overrate  its  significance. 
We  received  the  article  after  this  issue 
was  closed  and  squeezed  it  in  for  its 
news  value  but  we  shall  correspond  fur- 
ther and  get  additional  viewpoints. 

We  shall  want  to  know  whether  the 
authorization  of  the  increased  rates 
was  really  outrageous,  one  indication 
among  others  that  the  commissioners 
were  untrue  to  their  trust,  or  whether 
the  people  were  merely  voting  irrespon- 
sibly for  lower  telephone  charges. 
And  what  did  the  new  candidates 
promise,  not  having  listened  to  the  evi- 
dence? And  what  happened  to  the 
telephone  rates  after  the  new  men  were 
installed?  We  will  find  out  in  time  to 
report  further  in  the  next  issue. 

Of  course,  a  recall  election  is  no  dif- 
ferent from  any  other  except  that  it 
hangs  upon  a  special  occasion  instead 
of  upon  the  calendar,  and  the  commis- 
sion's decision,  if  it  had  come  close  be- 
fore an  election,  would  have  thrown 


the  question  into  the  public  arena  in 
much  the  same  way.  It  is  not  the  re- 
call that  is  to  be  challenged  so  much  es 
the  principle  of  having  public  service 
commissions  elective  at  all.  If  judicial 
or  quasi-judicial  decisions,  especially  in 
cases  where  the  evidence  may  be  too 
voluminous,  complex  and  technical  for 
submission  through  the  press,  are  to 
be  impartial,  the  court  or  commission 
must  be  safe  from  political  threats,  else 
the  people  become  judges  in  their  own 
cause ! 


The  great  gap  in  the  civic  field  is  the 
lack  of  general  state-wide  civic  organ- 
izations. There  is  the  New  York  State 
Association  which  has  survived  its  sec- 
ond winter  and  the  California  Taxpay- 
ers' Association  which  is  older  and  a 
source  of  fine  publications  on  state 
problems — and  that's  all!  When  a 
constitutional  convention  comes  along, 
as  now  in  Missouri,  a  special  state  asso- 
ciation of  some  kind  is  improvised  tem- 
porarily but  for  year  round  work  in  the 
field  of  state  governmental  problems 
and  legislation  the  other  states  have 
nothing.  Many  cities  used  to  be  in 
like  plight  but  the  Rotary  and  Kiwanis 
clubs  and  the  modern  Buttenheimed 
chambers  of  commerce  are  closing  that 
gap  nicely. 

Now  comes  the  Pennsylvania  State 
Association  announcing  itself  in  MJ:Y 


179 


180 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[July 


with  a  creditable  pamphlet  that  pro- 
poses a  state  budget  system,  a  state 
civil  service  commission,  a  state  pur- 
chasing agent,  economies  in  state  print- 
ing, reorganization  of  the  administra- 
tive system  by  consolidating  84  offices, 
bureaus,  departments  and  boards  with 
an  orderly  system  of  13  departments 
and  two  commissions.  A  new  office  is 
proposed,  the  legislative  auditor,  under 
control  of  the  legislature.  The  new  as- 
sociation starts  at  an  auspicious  time, 
if  Pinchot  wins,  and  its  technical  work 
has  been  done  for  it  by  the  recent  com- 
mission on  constitutional  revision,  sav- 
ing much  costly  research.  It  is  finan- 
cially in  bitter  need  and  has  no  paid  sec- 
retary as  yet.  The  president  is  our  good 
friend  and  League  worker,  Franklin 
N.  Brewer.  There  is  a  representative 
executive  committee  and  the  address  is 
1720  Chestnut  St.,  Philadelphia.  We 
are  putting  our  membership  lists  at  its 
disposal  and  trust  that  most  of  our 
Pennsylvania  members  will  co-operate 
and  join.  A  contribution  to  it  at  this 
time  will  be  more  helpful  than  checks 
many  times  larger  after  it  gets  safely  on 
its  feet. 

• 

A  few  months  from  now  will  come  the 
biennial  sessions  of  the  state  legisla- 
tures and  meanwhile  there  are  plat- 
forms to  be  written  and  campaign 
promises  to  be  devised  by  would-be 
governors  and  legislators.  It  is  the 
strategic  time  for  pushing  administra- 
tive consolidation.  Illinois  pioneered 
in  1917  and  the  story  of  the  sweeping 
improvements  that  followed  is  told  in 
one  of  our  pamphlets.  Massachusetts 
followed  with  a  poor  imitation  in  1918, 
then  came  Idaho  whose  governor  wrote 
the  story  in  these  columns  and  Ne- 
braska whose  results  as  described  in 
this  issue  were  so  good  as  to  necessitate 
a  special  session  to  reduce  taxes.  Ohio 


and  Washington,  1921,  have  just  passed 
the  first  hard  year.  The  governor  of 
Washington  is  claiming  a  saving  of 
$1,000,000  a  year  and  the  governor  of 
Ohio  has  a  testimonial  to  contribute. 
We  shall  assemble  the  data  easily 
enough  but  to  throw  it  into  the  most 
hopeful  state  in  free-handed  abun- 
dance is  rather  beyond  our  shaky 
finances.  At  any  rate  ours  is  the  task 
of  lining  up  the  facts  and  we  shall  be 
ready  with  the  ammunition  even  if  we 
are  not  able  to  do  all  the  shooting  in 
this  strategic  year  that  we  would 
like  to  do. 

* 

By  a  special  gift,  our  treasurer,  Mr. 
Pforzheimer,  has  made  it  possible  for 
us  to  realize  a  cherished  project  that 
will  be  known  as  "Crane's  Digest  of 
City-Manager  Charters."  Dr.  Robert 
T.  Crane  of  the  University  of  Michigan 
at  our  instance  collected,  digested  and 
tabulated  the  basic  facts  of  the  two 
hundred  charters  months  ago  but  the 
finance  committee  ran  into  hard  sled- 
ding and  the  project  was  held  up.  Now 
we  are  free  to  go  ahead  and  we  shall 
presently  have  a  volume  of  the  salient 
facts  about  every  city-manager  charter, 
the  full  texts  of  several  of  them  and 
sundry  information  of  value  to  char- 
ter revisers.  Its  predecessor,  Beard's 
Loose-Leaf  Digest  of  Short  Ballot 
Charters  dealing  mainly  with  the  old 
commission  plan,  sold  readily  and  had  a 
profound  influence  in  keeping  charter 
commissions  from  wandering  off  into 
fool  complexities. 

* 

Our  secretary,  Dr.  Dodds,  arrived 
home  in  June  from  Nicaragua  where  he 
has  spent  several  months  as  an  expert 
supplied  by  our  state  department  to 
work  out  a  modern  election  system. 
R.  S.  CHILDS. 


A  NON-ASSEMBLED  CIVIL  SERVICE 
EXAMINATION 

BY  CLINTON  ROGERS  WOODRUFF 

President,  Civil  Service  Commission  of  Philadelphia 

Although  the  method  has  been  successful  in  enough  cases  to  prove  its 
practicality,  the  application  of  the  merit  system  and  the  non-assembled 
examination  to  high  positions  is  still  relatively  rare.  ::  ::  :: 


PHILADELPHIA  had  a  Chief  of  the 
Bureau  of  Surveys  who  had  become  a 
really  influential  factor  in  the  City's 
growth.  He  had  risen  from  rodman 
to  the  highest  place  in  his  bureau. 
Then  he  was  made  Director  of 
Wharves,  Docks  and  Ferries.  After 
his  term  expired  he  was  made  Chief  of 
the  Bureau  again,  serving  in  that  posi- 
tion until  he  was  made  one  of  the  Board 
of  Engineers  for  the  Delaware  River 
Bridge. 

If  ever  there  was  a  striking  illustra- 
tion of  the  feasibility  of  the  Merit 
System,  George  S.  Webster  afforded  it. 

When  he  resigned  there  was  a  va- 
cancy to  be  filled  by  a  civil  service 
examination.  The  first  question  that 
the  Commission  had  to  settle  was: 
Should  the  examination  be  a  promotion 
examination  or  an  open  one?  If  a 
promotional  one,  then  should  it  be  con- 
fined to  the  engineers  in  the  Bureau  or 
to  all  the  engineers  in  the  service  of  the 
city?  The  latter  was  agreed  upon. 
It  was  what  was  known  as  a  non- 
assembled  examination.  Candidates 
were  not  required  to  appear  at  any 
place  for  a  written  examination,  but 
were  required  to  submit  a  statement  of 
their  training  and  experience  and  to 
write  a  paper  on  practical  problems 
relating  to  the  duties  of  the  position. 
Those  who  qualified  in  training  and 


experience  and  the  practical  problems 
were  summoned  for  an  oral  interview 
on  personal  fitness. 

The  subjects  and  relative  weights 
were: 

I.  Training  and  Experience,  show- 
ing training  and  achievements  in  en- 
gineering; to  this  a  weight  of  4.5  was 
given. 

II.  Professional  Papers,  selected  sub- 
jects touching  upon  two  timely  prob- 
lems in  the  development  of  the  City 
of  Philadelphia,  namely,  city  planning 
and  sewerage;  weight  3. 

III.  Personal  Qualifications,   show- 
ing character,   executive   ability   and 
capacity  to  direct  a  large  organization; 
weight  2.5. 

So  that  the  character  and  significance 
of  the  examination  may  be  better 
understood,  here  is  the  way  the  duties 
of  the  office  were  described : 

The  duties  of  the  Chief  Engineer  and  Surveyor 
are  to  have  charge,  under  the  general  direction 
of  the  Director  of  the  Department  of  Public 
Works,  of  the  activities  of  the  Bureau  of  Surveys. 
These  will  include:  supervising  the  preparation 
of  plans  and  specifications  and  the  fulfillment 
of  contracts  for  the  construction  of  bridges,  sew- 
ers and  sewage  disposal  plants  and  maintenance 
of  the  same;  studies  and  plans  for  extension  and 
relocation  of  streets;  negotiating  for  and  super- 
vising plans  for  the  elimination  of  grade  cross- 
ings; passing  upon  the  plans  of  rail  corporations 
for  bridges  and  railroad  tracks;  supervision  of 
the  testing  of  materials  for  public  work;  and 
other  related  work.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Fair- 


181 


182 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[July 


mount  Park  Commission,  of  the  Board  of  Sur- 
veyors and  the  Board  of  Highway  Supervisors 
and  acts  on  various  City  committees  on  zoning 
and  city  planning. 

Under  the  head  of  training  and  expe- 
rience, to  which  a  weight  of  nearly  one- 
half  was  given,  each  candidate  was 
required  to  submit  a  complete  state- 
ment of  his  education  and  professional 
training,  including  names  of  the  insti- 
tutions attended,  diplomas  or  degrees 
conferred  with  dates,  a  complete  state- 
ment of  his  experience  with  dates,  giv- 
ing names  and  addresses  of  his  employ- 
ers, exact  nature  of  his  duties,  salaries 
received  and  reasons  for  making 
changes;  professional  connections, 
membership  in  societies,  papers  pre- 
pared or  published  reports  for  which 
he  was  responsible. 

In  the  discussion  of  practical  prob- 
lems, each  candidate  prepared  a  paper 
of  approximately  4000  words  on  each 
of  the  following  subjects: 

1.  Discuss    the    improvement    and 
rectification  of  city  plan  of  streets  in 
the  central  portion  of  the  city  to  meet 
present  and  future  conditions,  includ- 
ing those  arising  from  the  construction 
of  the  Delaware  River  Bridge.     The 
area    covered    by    this    discussion    is 
bounded  by  Lehigh  and  Washington 
Aves.  and  the  Delaware  and  Schuylkill 
Rivers. 

2.  (a)  Discuss  the  present  practice 
in  the  design  of  storm  water  sewers 
and  describe  the  accepted  processes 
of  sewage  treatment  which  have  partic- 
ular application  to  Philadelphia. 

(b)  Discuss  the  necessity  of  im- 
proved communication  between  West 
Philadelphia  and  South  Philadelphia 
giving  your  ideas  as  to  the  best  location 
and  type  of  bridge  across  the  Schuylkill 
River. 

In  the  preparation  of  these  papers, 
the  candidates  were  at  liberty  to  con- 
sult works  of  reference,  but  not  sug- 
gestions from  any  person.  They  could 


use  sketches,  maps,  drawings  or  other 
matter  to  illustrate  their  ideas,  at  their 
discretion. 

In  passing  it  is  interesting  to  note 
that  a  number  of  these  papers  have 
been  published  in  the  daily  press  and  in 
technical  papers. 

The  Board  of  Examiners  consisted  of 
Professor  Milo  S.  Ketchum,  Consult- 
ing Engineer  and  Head  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Civil  Engineering,  University 
of  Pennsylvania;  John  Meigs,  Consult- 
ing Engineer  and  formerly  Director  of 
the  Department  of  Wharves,  Docks 
and  Ferries,  and  Charles  S.  Shaugh- 
nessy,  the  Chief  Examiner  of  the  Civil 
Service  Commission. 


II 

There  were  five  candidates,  all  at- 
taining a  place  on  the  eligible  list; 
three  from  the  Bureau  of  Surveys,  one 
from  the  Bureau  of  Highways  and  one 
from  the  Bureau  of  Health.  All  of 
these  men  have  held  important  posts 
in  the  engineering  service  of  the  City 
for  a  number  of  years  and  have  very 
creditable  records.  Their  personal 
qualifications  were  determined  by  an 
oral  interview  before  the  Board  of 
Examiners,  where  they  reviewed  their 
professional  papers  verbally  and  were 
critically  questioned  so  as  to  bring  out 
their  judgment  and  breadth  in  viewing 
large  problems.  The  practical  nature 
of  this  part  of  the  examination  and 
thoroughness  with  which  it  was  con- 
ducted is  shown  by  the  fact  that  each 
of  the  candidates  of  his  own  choice  re- 
mained before  the  examiners  over  an 
hour  each  and  gave  the  Board  an  excel- 
lent background  for  appraising  the 
administrative  qualities  of  the  men. 
The  Commission  was  especially  fortu- 
nate in  having  the  Board  so  constituted 
that  one  of  its  members  was  especially 
familiar  with  the  physical  plans  and 
improvements  of  the  City  and  this 


1922] 


AKRON'S  CITY  MANAGER 


183 


served  to  very  good  purpose  in  com- 
paratively measuring  the  various  sug- 
gestions of  the  candidates.  In  this 
part  of  the  examination  special  atten- 
tion was  given  to  force,  judgment  and 
ability  to  command  and  direct  others. 

The  rating  of  training  and  experience 
was  based  upon  the  requirements  and 
duties  of  a  high  grade  administrative 
position.  The  work  of  the  Chief 
Engineer  is  of  such  wide  scope,  touch- 
ing upon  many  large  problems,  that  to 
cope  with  them  successfully  a  man 
must  have  been  well  trained,  either 
through  practice  or  academically  and 
have  had  such  experience  as  to  grasp  and 
solve  the  varied  problems  in  a  large  way. 

In  rating  the  professional  papers  on 
practical  problems,  consideration  was 
given  to  constructive  suggestions, 
practicability  and  convincing  character 
of  the  ideas.  The  presenting  of  a 
thoroughly  thought  out  plan,  with 
arguments  and  reasons  for  its  support 
— if  same  were  based  upon  sound  en- 
gineering sense — had  considerable 
value  in  this  connection.  Further,  the 
comprehensive  and  constructive  char- 


acter of  a  discussion  showing  the 
thorough  grasp  of  the  problems  in- 
volved is  evidence  of  ability  to  get  to 
the  bottom  of  things  and  has  great 
value  in  both  technique  and  adminis- 
tration of  engineering  practice.  Some 
of  these  papers  were  a  real  contribution 
to  the  problems  that  must  be  solved  by 
the  City  in  the  immediate  future,  as 
they  provided  a  specific  and  detailed 
solution  to  city  planning  and  sewerage. 
The  ratings  were  strictly  comparative 
and  based  upon  the  above  factors. 

From  these  details  it  will  be  clearly 
and  readily  seen  how  thoroughly  prac- 
tical a  civil  service  examination  for  the 
highest  grades  can  be  made,  and  how 
greatly  superior  such  a  carefully 
worked  out  plan  is  to  a  hit  or  miss  selec- 
tion. Such  an  examination  is  likewise 
of  great  value  in  that  it  serves  to  make 
public  service  more  attractive.  When 
a  public  servant  feels  and  believes 
that  his  position  and  promotion  depend 
upon  demonstrated  merit,  he  is  much 
more  apt  to  consider  the  larger  oppor- 
tunities afforded  by  public  work  as  a 
permanent  career. 


AKRON'S  CITY  MANAGER— ANOTHER 
VIEWPOINT 


BY  GEORGE  C.  JACKSON 

Former  Member  of  Council,  Akron,  0. 


THE  March  issue  of  the  NATIONAL 
MUNICIPAL  REVIEW  carried  an  article 
on  the  operation  of  the  City  Manager 
Plan  in  Akron.  Unfortunately  for 
both  the  reader  and  the  subject,  the 
article  had  more  to  do  with  the  City 
Manager,  to  whom  its  author  bore  a 
personal  animosity  from  the  very  be- 
ginning of  his  service,  than  with  the 
operation  of  the  local  government. 

Having  served  the  City  as  a  Council- 
man for  three  terms,  both  under  the 
Federal  and  City  Manager  Plan,  I  am 


volunteering  information  from  the 
records  that  will  permit  the  reader  to 
judge  for  himself  whether  the  City 
Manager  plan  in  Akron  has  been  suc- 
cessful or  otherwise. 


A  few  of  the  many  things  accom- 
plished during  1920  and  1921  are  herein 
set  forth. 

In  the  beginning,  the  Manager, 
under  his  power  of  appointment, 


184 


selected  for  Department  and  Division 
Heads  those  who  were  trained  and  of 
known  ability,  regardless  of  political 
affiliations,  and,  in  some  cases,  over 
the  protests  of  political  leaders. 

Departmental  work  was  reorganized 
to  the  extent  that  responsibility  was 
more  readily  fixed  and  conflict  and 
overlapping  of  duties  removed.  Cost 
data  was  kept  in  detail. 

For  the  first  time  in  its  history,  the 
City  was  able  to  take  cash  discounts 
in  its  purchases,  saving  $18,000  in 
this  manner  in  two  years. 


A  department  of  City  Planning  was 
organized  with  trained  advisors  and 
engineers.  As  a  result  of  its  effort,  set 
back  lines  were  established  on  several 
main  thoroughfares  for  the  purpose  of 
future  widening,  which  were  observed 
in  new  buildings  of  the  value  of  $4,000,- 
000  through  persuasion  and  without 
recourse  to  law. 

A  zoning  ordinance  was  prepared  and 
several  new  park  areas  laid  out. 

In  the  Highway  Division  many  im- 
provements were  completed,  a  com- 
parative statement  of  which  follows : 


Nature  of  Improvement 

Miles 
1921 

1920 

Previous  Years, 
1919 

1918 

Asphalt  resurfacing  

6  26 

0 

0 

0 

Sheet  asphalt  pavement  

3.03 

1.27 

0 

0 

Brick  pavement  

3  27 

2  40 

1.04 

1.47 

Stone  block  pavement  

12  56 

0 

1.24 

0 

Streets  graded  

7.12 

13.82 

.38 

.50 

Cement  walks  

11.21 

18.10 

3.34 

5.00 

Concrete  pavement  

0  14 

0 

0 

0 

Total  engineering  and  inspection  cost 
was  3.30%  of  the  total. 

A  comparison  in  the  Sewerage  Divi- 
sion also  follows : 


Of  the  total  construction  cost  of 
sewers  the  engineering  and  inspectional 
cost  was  1.05%. 

In  the  Public  Works  Division  a  pub- 


Item 

1918 

1919 

1920 

1921 

Number  of  improvements  

26 

7 

31 

46 

Total  length  (feet)  

26,881 

8,339 

74,156 

124,975 

Construction  cost  

$120,753 

$28,011/37 

$680,417.01 

$1,239,643.75 

lie  parking  ground  for  automobiles  was 
established  at  an  annual  income  to  the 
City  of  $5,000. 

Garbage  collection  costs  were  re- 
duced, notwithstanding  high  labor 
costs,  by  introducing  the  tractor  and 
trailer  system  of  hauling. 

Cleaning  and  flushing  of  sidewalks 
in  the  business  district  of  the  City 
was  first  instituted  in  1920.  A  City 
Yard  for  receiving  all  materials  em- 
ployed in  City  works  was  built.  Play- 
grounds were  laid  out,  wading  pools 
constructed  and  skating  ponds  pro- 
vided. 


Akron  was  the  first  City  to  pass  an 
ordinance  against  rent  profiteering, 
through  which  more  than  three  hun- 
dred complaints  against  landlords  were 
heard  and  satisfactorily  adjusted  by  a 
committee  appointed  to  hear  such  com- 
plaints. 

It  was  among  the  first  cities  to  license 
places  where  soft  drinks  were  sold  and 
forbid  screens  in  such  places.  Control 
of  soft  drink  places  was  put  under  the 
Department  of  Police  through  licenses 
issued  by  the  Safety  Director. 

The  Police  Department  was  com- 
pletely reorganized  and  made  more 


1922] 


AKRON'S  CITY   MANAGER 


185 


efficient.  In  this  process  forty-two 
patrolman  were  discharged  as  inefficient 
for  various  reasons. 

The  Fire  Service  was  improved  by 
the  addition  of  the  two  new  stations 
with  motorized  equipment. 

Within  the  two  years  there  was  a 
street  car  strike,  resulting  from  wage 
differences  between  the  company  and 
its  employees.  The  City  was  able, 
during  the  time  service  was  suspended, 
to  provide  through  a  system  of  jitneys 
and  busses,  a  complete  transportation 
service  whereby  business  and  industry 
proceeded  without  any  interference  or 
interruption.  The  strike  was  settled 
without  disorder  or  confusion. 

A  vigorous  law  enforcement  policy 
was  carried  out  with  the  result  that 
major  crimes  were  few  and  the  City 
enjoyed  exemption  from  the  wave  of 
crime  that  had  spread  generally  to  the 
larger  industrial  cities  in  the  country. 
Cabarets  were  driven  out ;  dance  halls, 
billiard  and  pool  rooms  and  other 
places  of  entertainment  were  placed 
under  license  and  strictly  regulated 
and  inspected. 

During  1920  arrests  for  violation  of 
the  prohibition  laws  numbered  828; 
fines  assessed  were  $127,311.  During 
1921,  940  arrests  were  made  for  the 
same  cause;  fines,  $79,589.  Convic- 
tion resulted  in  95  per  cent  of  the  cases. 
In  1920,  autos  reported  stolen  were 
590;  police  recovered  370.  In  1921, 
261  autos  were  reported  stolen;  252 
recovered  by  police.  The  total  num- 
ber of  arrests  for  all  causes  were:  in 
1920,  12,558;  in  1921,  10,104. 

A  recreation  commission  was  ap- 
pointed for  the  purpose  of  promoting, 
encouraging,  regulating  and  furnishing 
the  facilities  and  grounds  for  amateur 
athletic  sports. 

In  1920  and  1921  the  largest  program 
of  public  improvements  ever  under- 
taken in  the  City  was  carried  out. 

The   population    of   the   City   had 


grown  rapidly  and  large  areas  had  be- 
come quickly  built  up.  Public  service 
had  to  be  extended  and  public  im- 
provements made  to  meet  this  growth 
as  much  as  was  possible  with  the  re- 
sources available. 

Expansion  was  made  in  the  Public 
Health  Service  by  adding  clinics  for 
the  protection  of  infant  life  and  pro- 
viding open  window  supervision  for 
school  children.  The  City's  death 
rate  is  found  among  the  lowest  in  the 
United  States. 

During  the  period  there  was  pre- 
pared and  submitted  to  the  City  Coun- 
cil a  service  at  cost  street  car  franchise 
ordinance,  which  combined  many  of 
the  features  of  the  more  recent  fran- 
chises in  this  country  and  Canada, 
with  new  and  others  applicable  to  local 
conditions. 

The  salaries  of  all  City  employees 
from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  and  in- 
cluding that  of  the  Manager,  were  re- 
duced upon  the  recommendation  of  the 
Manager. 

Able-bodied  persons  receiving  relief 
from  the  City  were  required  to  render 
service  to  the  City  in  value  equal  to  the 
amount  of  relief  extended. 

The  tax  rate  for  all  purposes,  in- 
cluding State,  County,  School,  and 
City,  sinking  funds  and  interest 
charges,  and  including  operation  was 
$2.06  per  hundred  dollars  of  valuation 
in  1920  and  $2.04  in  1921,  of  which  the 
city  received  for  operating  purposes 
out  of  each  dollar  of  taxes  the  sum  of 
20.2  cents  in  1920  and  21.2  cents  in 
1921.  The  Sinking  Fund  received  1 1 .6 
cents  in  1920  and  9.5  cents  in  1921. 

II 

That  the  people  of  the  City  had  con- 
fidence in  its  administration  and  in  the 
manner  in  which  the  City's  business 
was  carried  on  is  indicated  by  the  fact 
that  in  the  two  years  they  voted 


186 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[July 


000  for  a  new  city  hall,  $2,000,000  for 
parks  and  playgrounds,  $250,000  for 
viaduct  approaches  and  $3,000,000 
for  sewers. 

No  small  measure  of  the  success  of 
the  two  years  operation  under  the  City 
Manager  belongs  to  the  City  Manager, 
who,  in  an  honest,  able  and  forceful 
handling  of  the  executive  and  ad- 
ministrative departments  won  respect 
and  confidence.  His  recommendations 
were  generally  adopted  by  the  City 
Council  because  they  were  accom- 
panied and  supported  by  sufficient 
and  satisfactory  reasons  together  with 
full  information  on  the  subjects  sub- 
mitted. 


Although  his  administration  was 
made  a  political  issue  during  the  cam- 
paign preceding  the  municipal  election, 
all  but  two  of  the  candidates  of  the 
party  raising  the  issue  were  defeated, 
notwithstanding  a  local  newspaper  of 
politics  opposed  to  those  of  the  man- 
ager carried  on  a  campaign  against  him 
daily  for  almost  two  years. 

Through  personal  antagonism  of  a 
majority  of  members  of  City  Council, 
taking  office  January  1,  1922,  the 
Manager  was  removed. 

For  him  no  more  need  be  said 
than  that  he  performed  his  duties 
aggressively,  honestly,  fearlessly  and 
well. 


DETROIT  TAKES  OVER  ITS  STREET 
RAILWAYS 

BY  ROSS  SCHRAM 

Assistant  General  Manager,  Department  of  Street  Railways  of  Detroit 

Seattle  and  San  Francisco  are  running  municipal  street-railway  sys- 
tems but  Detroit's  adventure  with  a  complete  363  mile  system,  made 
effective  last  month  after  a  thirty-year  struggle  with  the  Detroit  United 
Railways,  is  the  boldest  yet  and  by  far  the  most  important.  : :  : : 


THE  struggle  of  Detroit  for  the  own- 
ership of  her  own  streets  began  30 
years  ago.  Therefore,  a  great  deal  of 
this  recital  must  be  taken  from  the 
records  and  conversation  with  men  of 
another  generation. 

The  traction  problem  in  Detroit 
became  acute  when  the  city  under  the 
leadership  of  Mayor  Pingree  first 
asserted  that  the  public's  interest  in 
street  railway  operation  was  superior 
to  any  other  interest.  Mayor  Pingree 
believed  that  no  foreign  holding  stock- 
holders had  a  right  to  specify  how  we  in 
Detroit  should  travel  between  our 
homes  and  our  business  and  under 
what  conditions.  Since  that  time  the 


City  has  been  engaged  in  a  practically 
continuous  struggle  with  the  private 
company  and  its  predecessors. 

On  May  23,  1899  the  first  street  rail- 
way commission  of  the  city  reported  a 
plan  for  the  purchase  of  private  lines 
and  the  physical  property  was  valued 
at  $8,000,000.  The  unexpired  fran- 
chises were  appraised  at  approximately 
$8,500,000.  Incidentally,  this  com- 
mission had  as  one  of  its  members  one 
of  the  leading  attorneys  of  the  Middle 
West,  who  has  since  that  time  been 
the  standard  bearer  for  the  private 
company  in  all  of  its  battles  with  the 
city. 

As  indicating  one  of  the  many  pit- 


1922]        DETROIT  TAKES  OVER  ITS  STREET  RAILWAYS  187 


falls  referred  to  previously,  the  private 
company  through  all  these  years,  time 
after  time  has  hired  away  the  city's 
best  legal  advisers  and  through  all 
these  years  they  have  formed  a  strategy 
school  to  protect  the  company's  inter- 
ests. 

As  a  result,  there  was  never  the 
proper  continuity  of  the  city's  legal 
effort,  each  new  corporation  counsel 
having  to  start  from  scratch,  that  he 
might  familiarize  himself  with  the 
multitudinous  possibilities. 

This  first  street  railway  commis- 
sion suggested  that  a  purchase  plan  be 
submitted  to  popular  vote  in  case  ob- 
structive litigation  (which  had  already 
been  started)  should  be  decided  in 
favor  of  the  city's  power  to  proceed 
with  the  project. 

However,  this  commission's  work 
was  rendered  useless  by  an  adverse  de- 
cision of  the  Michigan  Supreme  Court. 
A  constitutional  convention  sitting 
ten  years  before  the  Civil  War  had  in- 
serted in  the  constitution  the  provi- 
sion that  the  state  should  never  engage 
in  any  "work  of  internal  improve- 
ment"; and  fifty  years  later  the  court 
held  that  the  Detroit  United  Railway 
system  was  a  "work  of  internal  im- 
provement" and  that  what  the  state 
could  not  do  itself,  it  could  not  author- 
ize the  city  to  do. 

Thereupon  began  a  great  political 
struggle  to  have  a  constitutional 
amendment  submitted  to  the  voters  of 
Michigan,  under  the  terms  of  which 
would  be  granted  the  right  of  home 
rule  with  respect  to  the  ownership  and 
operation  of  street  railways.  This 
was  an  intense  battle  and  the  legisla- 
ture refused,  time  after  time,  to  permit 
a  vote.  It  is  said  that  the  chairman 
of  a  certain  committee  in  the  House, 
living  in  a  small  Michigan  village,  de- 
feated the  effort  of  the  people  of  the 
largest  city  in  the  state  to  have  this 
question  of  home  rule  submitted. 


Finally  it  was  necessary  to  wage  a 
campaign  all  over  the  state,  that  a  new 
constitutional  convention  might  be 
called,  its  purpose  being  to  bring  about 
municipal  home  rule  if  possible. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  was  ten  years 
after  this  first  Railway  Commission 
report  that  a  new  constitution  went 
into  effect  and  the  first  obstacle  to 
municipal  ownership  was  removed. 

A  certain  provision  of  this  home  rule 
permission,  however,  complicated  mu- 
nicipal ownership  in  Detroit  for  years* 
So  great  had  been  the  struggle  in  the 
convention  between  the  conservatives 
and  the  progressives  that  the  former 
insisted  no  city  should  have  municipal 
ownership  power  except  upon  a  60% 
vote  of  the  electors.  The  progressives 
responded  by  insisting  that  no  city 
should  have  the  power  to  grant  a  fran- 
chise except  by  similar  vote. 

This  constitution  went  into  effect 
about  fourteen  years  ago  and  there 
followed  several  years  more  of  struggle 
before  the  people  of  Detroit  finally 
succeeded  in  getting  a  chance  to  vote 
upon  the  policy  of  municipal  ownership 
and  operation  of  street  railway  lines. 
They  finally  approved  this  policy  by  a 
vote  of  four  to  one. 


EXPIRING   FRANCHISES 

In  the  meantime  the  private  com- 
pany had  been  making  frantic  efforts 
to  secure  a  renewal  or  extension  of  its 
franchises,  which  were  beginning  to 
expire. 

In  1906  Mayor  George  P.  Codd  sub- 
mitted a  proposition  for  the  extension 
of  franchises  to  December  4,  1924,  in 
return  for  which  the  company  was  to 
sell  tickets  at  the  rate  of  six  for  25c  dur- 
ing all  hours  and  ten  for  25c  between 
5:00  and  8:00  A.M.  and  4:30  and  6:30 
P.M.  This  proposition  received  only  a 
31%  affirmative  vote. 

In  September  1907  the  proposition 


188 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[July 


giving  franchises  for  the  construction 
of  eleven  extensions  received  only  a 
33^%  affirmative  vote. 

In  January  1912,  Mayor  W.  B. 
Thompson  and  his  corporation  coun- 
sel (afterward  the  first  lieutenant  of 
the  leading  D.  U.  R.  lawyer)  submitted 
a  proposition  to  extend  franchises  to 
December  1924,  in  return  for  which  the 
company  was  to  sell  eight  tickets  for 
25c  during  the  rush  hours  and  six 
tickets  for  25c  during  all  hours.  This 
proposition  received  a  41%  vote. 

In  April  1913,  Mayor  Oscar  Marx 
submitted  a  city  charter  amendment 
providing  for  municipal  ownership  and 
operation  of  railway  lines  and  this 
proposition  received  an  eighty  per  cent 
affirmative  vote.  In  August  1913,  the 
Company  having  been  unable  to  secure 
any  extension  of  franchises,  agreed  to 
build  certain  extensions  under  a  day- 
to-day  agreement  providing  that  they 
might  be  ordered  out  of  the  streets  at 
the  whim  or  caprice  of  the  Common 
Council  or  that  the  city  might  purchase 
its  trackage  at  cost  less  depreciation, 
at  any  time. 

In  return  the  company  agreed  to  re- 
duce its  fares  to  seven  tickets  for  25c. 
This  plan,  not  incorporating  a  fran- 
chise, was  in  effect  a  temporary  settle- 
ment plan  and  could  be  and  was  passed 
by  the  Common  Council  without  sub- 
mission to  the  people. 

In  December  1917  this  agreement 
was  abrogated  by  the  company  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  unable  to  meet  oper- 
ating costs  at  such  a  rate  of  fare. 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  citizens 
of  Detroit  stood  adamant  through  all 
these  variously  contested  campaigns 
on  which  great  sums  of  money  were 
spent  by  the  company  for  propaganda 
purposes.  They  did  this  because  of 
the  gospel  preached  by  the  sincere 
leaders  and  because  of  their  recollection 
of  the  forceful  utterances  of  Mayor 
Hazen  S.  Pingree  years  before. 


REFERENDUM   CAMPAIGNS 


In  November  1915,  Mayor  Marx  and 
the  Board  of  Street  Railway  Com- 
missioners submitted  a  municipal 
ownership  purchase  agreement.  This 
was  in  effect  a  condemnation  plan  inas- 
much as  the  price  was  to  be  determined 
by  the  six  circuit  judges  after  the  peo- 
ple's vote.  The  affirmative  vote  on 
this  proposition  totaled  47%. 

The  campaign  slogan  was  originated 
by  those  opposed  to  this  plan,  terming 
it  "A  Pig  in  a  Poke "  plan,  and  this  war 
cry  was  greatly  instrumental  in  defeat- 
ing the  proposition. 

Mayor  Cou/ens  took  office  in  Jan- 
uary 1919,  pledged  irrevocably  to  mu- 
nicipal ownership,  believing  it  to  be 
the  best  plan  and  the  only  plan  for  the 
proper  solution  of  the  city's  transporta- 
tion problem.  It  appeared  that  the 
quickest  and  surest  way  of  solving  the 
problem  was  an  agreement  for  outright 
purchase  of  the  private  lines.  Such  a 
proposition  was  submitted  in  April 
1919,  a  price  of  $31,500,000  being 
quoted.  The  people  believed  the  price 
too  high  or  else  had  great  doubt  in  their 
minds  as  the  result  of  the  immense  con- 
fusion created  by  a  ruthless  campaign 
between  the  opposing  factions.  They 
gave  it  only  a  47%  affirmative  vote. 

This  series  of  balloting  proved  the 
intentions  of  the  people  without  a 
single  doubt.  It  is  now  admitted  by 
the  private  company's  officials  that  in 
these  latter  campaigns  those  inherently 
opposed  to  municipal  ownership  were 
supported  by  large  sums  of  money  fur- 
nished by  the  company,  even  in  that 
campaign  for  purchase  in  which  the 
officers  had  signed  a  written  contract 
to  sell  at  a  price  of  $31,500,000. 

It  is  interesting  to  recall  the  various 
arguments  advanced  against  the  propo- 
sitions which  were  submitted.  In  ad- 
dition to  those  arguments  already  cited, 
there  were  the  following: 


1922]        DETROIT  TAKES  OVER  ITS  STREET  RAILWAYS 


189 


1 .  That  the  agreement  conveyed  val- 
uable interurban  rights  to  the  railway 
company. 

2.  That  the  city  was  buying  a  lot  of 
junk  which  would  soon  be  out  of  date 
with   the   introduction   of   gas-driven 
cars. 

3.  That  a  rate  of  fare  in  excess  of 
what  was  then  charged  would  be  re- 
quired to  maintain  the  system  under 
municipal  ownership. 

4.  That  the  operation  of  the  lines 
would  result  in  a  burden  to  the  tax- 
payers. 

5.  That   condemnation    and    piece- 
meal construction  were  plans  superior 
to  outright  purchase. 

Upon  the  defeat  of  the  purchase 
proposition  in  April  1919,  the  Board  of 
Street  Railway  Commissioners  (three 
very  prominent  business  men)  declared 
for  a  service-at-cost  plan,  with  the 
construction  by  the  city,  at  the  same 
time,  of  certain  downtown  subways 
into  which  surface  cars  would  be  run — 
that  congestion  on  the  streets  might  be 
lessened  within  the  mile  circle. 

It  was  Mayor  Couzens'  opinion, 
after  careful  thought,  that  downtown 
depots  or  miniature  subways  would 
not  alleviate  conditions  to  any  great 
extent  and  that  the  so-called  "service- 
at-cost"  or  Taylor  plan  was  a  vicious 
instrument,  related  to  the  war  time 
"cost-plus"  contracts. 

Thereupon  this  Commission  resigned 
and  close  study  was  given  the  problem 
for  many  weeks  by  the  Mayor. 

There  was  considerable  agitation  for 
a  genuine  subway  system,  and  compe- 
tent engineers  connected  with  the  New 
York  system  testified  that,  whereas 
Detroit  had  only  300  miles  of  surface 
tracks,  it  should  have  at  least  500  miles 
of  surface  line  feeders  in  order  to  make 
the  subway  system  to  any  extent  pay 
its  way.  The  Mayor  also  believed  that 
the  city  should  control  surface  lines 
first  of  all. 


TWO   COMPETING   PLANS 

Late  in  1919  and  in  the  month  of 
January  1920,  at  his  own  expense,  Mr. 
Couzens  had  an  engineer  lay  out  plans 
for  much  wanted  new  trackage  which 
would  (except  in  rare  instances)  not 
parallel  the  company's  existing  tracks. 
While  this  was  being  done,  tremendous 
agitation  for  the  service-at-cost  plan 
was  developing.  An  attempt  was 
made  to  force  such  a  proposition 
through  the  Common  Council  for  ulti- 
mate submission  to  the  people,  but  this 
was  defeated  by  a  Mayor's  veto. 
Thereupon  the  railway  company 
showed  its  favoritism  toward  the 
service-at-cost  scheme  by  referring 
to  the  initiative  and  referendum. 

In  the  meantime  the  Mayor  and  the 
new  Street  Railway  Commission  pre- 
sented a  plan  dubbed  the  "piece-meal 
plan"  by  its  opponents,  whereby  the 
city  would  build  100  miles  of  new 
track  and  tie  into  it  some  30  miles  of 
the  trackage  mentioned  as  having  been 
built  by  the  D.  U.  R.  under  the  day-to- 
day agreement  which  gave  the  city  the 
option  to  purchase  whenever  it  might 
so  desire.  In  addition  it  was  proposed 
to  tie  in  21  miles  more  of  trackage — the 
Fort  St.  and  Woodward  Avenue  lines 
(two  main  lines  where  the  franchises 
had  expired) — and  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  in  one  of  many  lawsuits 
had  given  us  a  right  to  oust  the  com- 
pany out  of  the  streets  upon  ninety 
days'  notice  from  the  Common  Council. 

This  plan  would  give  the  city  a  sys- 
tem of  approximately  156  miles,  or  one 
half  the  size  of  the  existing  private 
system.  In  the  way  of  finance  the 
plan  called  for  a  $15,000,000  issue  of 
public  utility  bonds.  The  estimates 
indicated  that  this  fund  would  be  suffi- 
cient to  build  100  miles  of  new  track, 
purchase  the  30  miles  of  day-to-day 
track,  either  purchase  the  21  miles  of 
Fort  and  Woodward  trackage,  at  a 


190 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[July 


proposed  price  of  $40,000  per  mile  or 
replace  that  trackage  should  the  com- 
pany refuse  to  sell,  once  the  people 
had  approved  this  new  municipal  own- 
ership ordinance. 

There  was  provided  in  this  bond 
issue  sufficient  money,  also,  for  the 
purchase  of  400  new  motor  cars  and 
150  trailers. 

In  the  same  prospectus  were  out- 
lined 62  miles  of  additional  new  track- 
age to  be  built  out  of  a  further  bond 
issue  when  the  initial  system  had  been 
completed.  This  plan  was  submitted 
to  the  voters  in  April  1920,  along  with 
the  service-at-cost  plan  initiated  by 
the  Railway  Company.  The  munic- 
ipal ordinance  secured  63%  of  the  total 
vote,  after  one  of  the  most  bitter  utility 
campaigns  ever  waged  in  the  Middle 
West,  and  an  expenditure  on  the  part 
of  the  private  company  of  a  sum  vari- 
ously estimated  in  the  hundreds  of 
thousands. 

THE  MUNICIPAL   SYSTEM   STARTS 

With  the  passage  of  this  ordinance 
the  city  had  nothing  but  a  street  rail- 
way minute  book  with  which  to  start 
work.  The  day  after  election,  excava- 
tion work  began.  This  was  on  April  6, 
1920.  On  February  first,  1921,  we  had 
18  miles  of  track  completed  and  13 
miles  of  track  in  operation.  During 
the  summer  of  1921  we  completed  a 
total  of  60  miles  of  new  track,  reaching 
a  construction  speed  at  times  of  one 
mile  a  day. 

By  December  1, 1921,  we  had  60  miles 
of  new  trackage  under  operation  and  had 
arbitrated  the  purchase  of  30  miles  of 
the  day-to-day  lines,  at  a  cost  of  about 
two  and  a  quarter  millions.  These 
were  taken  over  on  December  22,  1921. 
We  had  purchased  300  new  cars  and 
received  128  from  the  D.  U.  R.  with 
the  day-to-day  tracks. 

In  passing  it  should  be  mentioned 


that  on  February  28,  1921,  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court  cut  the 
ground  from  under  over  a  dozen  ob- 
structive lawsuits  started  by  the  De- 
troit United  Railway,  after  the  vote  of 
April  1920  and  by  a  unanimous  and 
sweeping  decision  validated  the  munic- 
ipal ownership  ordinance  and  re- 
affirmed the  city's  right  to  order  the 
company  out  of  the  streets  where  fran- 
chises had  expired.  These  obstructing 
lawsuits,  started  by  the  company,  cov- 
ered every  possible  phase  of  the  situa- 
tion through  which  time  might  be 
gained  or  the  ordinance  invalidated 
through  litigation. 

Property  owners  on  streets  where  car 
lines  were  planned  were  roused  to  start 
community  suits.  The  city's  corpo- 
ration counsel,  Mr.  Clarence  E.  Wilcox, 
defeated  the  D.  U.  R.  legal  talent,  rein- 
forced by  Secretary  of  State  Chas.  E. 
Hughes,  then  acting  as  a  counselor. 

The  Mayor  and  the  Street  Railway 
Commission  asked  the  company  (after 
buying  the  day-to-day  trackage)  for  a 
price  on  the  Fort  and  Woodward  track- 
age. The  price  was  refused  and  there- 
upon our  engineers  declared  the  track- 
age was  so  depreciated  that  we  were 
justified  in  offering  only  388,000  dol- 
lars for  the  track.  This  money  was 
offered  in  the  way  of  value  for  the  use 
of  the  track  as  temporary  track  during 
reconstruction  and  to  avoid  inconven- 
ience to  the  public  if  the  new  track 
were  laid  at  one  time,  rather  than  by 
sections. 

The  city's  price  was  refused  and  the 
Mayor  asked  the  Common  Council  to 
order  the  company  out  of  the  streets. 
The  ouster  ordinance  was  passed  by 
the  Council  but  was  referred  to  the 
people  by  initiative,  inaugurated  by 
the  Woodward  Ave.  business  men. 
The  people  not  only  backed  up 
the  ouster  ordinance  but  re-elected 
the  Mayor  at  the  same  time  by  a  mar- 
gin of  33,000. 


1922]        DETROIT  TAKES  OVER  ITS  STREET  RAILWAYS 


191 


THE  COMPANY'S  LAST  STAND 

Thereupon  the  company  approached 
the  city  with  a  proposition  for  an  inter- 
change of  running  rights  because  with 
the  ouster  ordinance  facing  them  and 
the  dismemberment  of  their  system, 
through  the  day-to-day  purchase,  they 
were  not  in  a  position  to  give  unified 
service  to  the  public. 

On  December  15,  1921,  as  the  re- 
sult of  an  agreement  which  had  been 
drafted,  city  cars  were  permitted  to  run 
over  61  miles  of  the  D.  U.  R.  tracks  in- 
cluding Fort  and  Woodward,  and  the 
D.  U.  R.  cars  to  run  over  32  miles  of  the 
city's  day-to-day  tracks,  with  a  univer- 
sal transfer  arrangement. 

The  people  had  demonstrated  their 
ability  in  street  car  operation  and  it 


was  our  belief  that  they  would  be  will- 
ing to  vote  the  necessary  funds  to  pur- 
chase the  balance  of  the  private  system, 
which  of  course  could  be  obtained  for 
less  money  than  it  would  have  cost  at 
any  time  during  the  previous  years. 

In  January  1922,  the  railway  depart- 
ment's own  engineers  gave  Mayor 
Couzens  an  appraisal  value  of  $19,500,- 
000  for  the  273  miles  of  private  system 
remaining. 

This  amount  was  offered  the  Com- 
pany and  a  purchase  contract  setting 
$19,850,000  as  the  price  was  signed  by 
both  parties. 

This  was  put  to  a  vote  of  the  people 
on  April  17, 1922,  and  carried  by  a  vote 
of  more  than  four  to  one. 

The  city  took  over  the  last  of  the 
lines  on  May  15,  1922. 


DETROIT'S  STREET  RAILWAY  PURCHASE  CONTRACT  WITH  PRIVATE  COMPANY 
Approved:  April  17,  1922.    Effective:  May  15,  1922. 


Price: 
Down  Payment: 
Payment  Method: 

Installment*: 
Interest  : 
Balance  : 

$19,850.000 
$2,770.000 
Bond  issue  of  $4,000,000  author- 
ised to  make  down  payment  and 
buy  current  stock  of  supplies. 
$500,000  semi-annually. 
6% 
10  years. 

Tracks: 
Cart: 
Real  Estate: 
Power  Stations: 

Interurban: 

Rights: 

273  Miles—  90%  Paved 
1029 
Value  approximately  $8,000,000 
Two  —  furnishing   50%    of   total 
supply. 
Running  rates  fixed  by  Board  of 
Arbitration.     Rights  can  be  ter- 
minated on  2  years  notice. 

TOTAL  COMBINED  SYSTEMS:  363  MILES; 
CARS:  1457 


NEBRASKA'S  REORGANIZED  STATE 
ADMINISTRATION 

BY  A.  E.  BUCK 

New  York  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research 

The  reorganization  in  1917  of  the  Illinois  state  administration  into 
an  orderly  group  of  departments  has  already  been  copied  by  several 
states,  as  related  in  our  pamphlet  "Administrative  Consolidation  in 
State  Governments."  The  results  in  Illinois  are  dealt  with  in  our 
pamphlet  "Administrative  Reorganization  in  Illinois"  The  Ne- 
braska reorganization  of  1919  has  now  reached  the  point  where  the  re- 
sults are  demonstrable,  as  set  forth  in  this  article  prepared  after  a 
visit  by  the  writer  to  Lincoln.  ::  : :  : :  : :  : :  : : 


ONE  of  the  most  unusual  and  sig- 
nificant things  that  has  ever  happened 
in  American  state  administration,  took 
place  this  year  in  Nebraska.  Gover- 
nor McKelvie  called  a  special  session 
of  the  legislature  during  the  closing 
days  of  January  to  cut  down  the  appro- 
priations for  the  current  biennium  that 
began  July  1,  1921.  In  less  than  a 
year  after  the  legislature  had  made  the 
appropriations  for  the  biennial  period, 
the  governor  knew  that  nearly  one- 
tenth  of  the  total  sum  appropriated  for 
state  activities  could  be  saved.  In 
order  to  give  the  people  of  the  state  the 
advantage  of  an  immediate  saving  in 
the  reduction  of  their  taxes,  he  called 
the  legislature  together.  By  a  special 
message  he  instructed  that  body  to  re- 
peal the  law  making  appropriations 
for  the  biennium  and  enact  an  appro- 
priation bill  carrying  the  reductions 
recommended  by  him .  The  legislature 
followed  the  governor's  recommenda- 
tions, the  result  being  that  the  total 
appropriations  for  the  biennium  were 
reduced  from  $22,451,666.33  to  $20,- 
399,910.48— a  reduction  of  $2,051,755.- 
85.  This  reduction  made  it  possible 
to  cut  the  state  tax  levy  for  the  second 
year  of  the  biennium  from  three  to  two 
mills,  or  33^  per  cent. 


THE  1919  CODE 

What  enabled  Governor  McKelvie 
to  do  this,  and  how  did  he  get  the  facts 
upon  which  to  act?  The  answer  is 
found  in  the  operation  of  the  central- 
ized and  responsible  system  of  admin- 
istration established  by  the  civil  ad- 
ministrative code.  This  code  was 
enacted  by  the  1919  legislature  and 
went  into  effect  in  August  1919.  It 
eliminated  twenty-four  statutory 
boards,  commissions,  and  agencies,  and 
consolidated  their  functions  under  six 
departments;  namely,  finance,  agricul- 
ture, labor,  trade  and  commerce,  public 
works,  and  public  welfare.  The  code 
vests  the  civil  administration  of  the 
state  in  the  governor,  who  has  as  his 
chief  assistants  the  six  department 
heads.  These  heads  are  called  secre- 
taries and  are  appointed  by  the  gov- 
ernor with  the  consent  of  the  legis- 
lature. While  they  are  appointed  for 
a  definite  term  of  two  years,  they  may 
be  removed  at  any  time  by  the  gov- 
ernor. Each  secretary  receives  an 
annual  salary  of  $5,000.  All  subordi- 
nate officers  and  employees  of  the 
code  departments  are  appointed  by  the 
department  heads  with  the  approval 
of  the  governor.  Departmental  regu- 


192 


1922] 


NEBRASKA'S  REORGANIZED  ADMINISTRATION 


193 


lations  are  prepared  by  the  secretaries 
and  are  promulgated  with  the  gov- 
ernor's approval. 

The  code  administration  has  now 
been  in  actual  operation  for  almost 
three  years.  The  important  results 
that  have  been  brought  about  by  the 
application  of  the  code  during  this 
period  are:  (1)  the  integration  and 
departmentalization  of  related  activi- 
ties of  the  state  government;  (2)  the 
application  of  the  cabinet  idea  to  the 
work  of  the  state  administration;  (3) 
the  establishment  of  a  budget  system 
with  uniform  financial  control  over 
state  expenditures;  (4)  the  installation 
of  a  central  accounting  system;  (5)  the 
establishment  of  a  system  of  employ- 
ment and  personnel  control;  and  (6) 
the  inauguration  of  a  state  purchasing 
system. 

RELATED   ACTIVITIES   DEPARTMEN- 
TALIZED 

The  co-ordination  of  related  activities 
of  the  state  government  is  one  of  the 
most  important  accomplishments  of 
the  code  system.  It  took  activities 
that  were  operating  independently  of 
each  other  but  that  were  part  of  the 
same  major  function  of  government 
and  brought  them  together  into  one 
department  with  a  single  administra- 
tive head.  In  this  way  definite  re- 
sponsibility has  been  fixed  for  each  field 
of  work.  This  arrangement  has  not 
only  greatly  increased  the  output  of  the 
services  rendered,  but  it  has  tended  to 
reduce  the  cost  of  operating  the  govern- 
ment. All  departments  are  now 
located  at  the  state  capital,  whereas 
some  of  the  agencies  used  to  be  located 
at  various  points  over  the  state. 

One  of  the  most  important  of  the 
code  departments,  since  Nebraska  is 
mainly  an  agricultural  state,  is  the  de- 
partment of  agriculture.  The  func- 
tions of  five  independent  agencies 


whose  activities  related  to  agriculture 
were  consolidated  in  this  department. 
Not  only  was  the  work  of  these  agen- 
cies brought  together  into  one  depart- 
ment, but  it  was  systematized  and 
arranged  into  five  groups.  These 
groups  are  designated  as  (1)  bureau  of 
foods,  drugs  and  oils,  (2)  bureau  of 
animal  industry,  (3)  bureau  of  markets 
and  marketing,  (4)  bureau  of  game  and 
fish,  (5)  clerical  and  records  division. 
The  inspectional  work  is  a  very  im- 
portant feature  of  this  department. 
It  includes  the  inspection  and  testing 
of  animals  for  diseases,  the  inspection 
of  dairy,  food  and  oil  products,  the 
inspection  of  farm  products  for  ship- 
ment, and  the  testing  of  weighing  de- 
vices. In  order  to  accomplish  this 
work,  the  department  inspectors  are 
usually  assigned  a  definite  section  of 
the  state  and  are  required  to  establish 
headquarters  at  the  most  convenient 
point  in  this  section.  Each  inspector 
is  required  to  send  to  the  department  a 
daily  report  of  work  performed,  and  a 
statement  of  his  routing  for  the  follow- 
ing two  or  three  days  so  that  the  de- 
partment can  communicate  with  him 
at  any  time  without  delay.  In  this 
way  the  department  keeps  a  complete 
record  of  the  work  of  all  its  field  men. 

Among  the  more  important  activi- 
ties of  the  department  of  finance  are 
the  classification  and  control  of  ex- 
penditures, the  installation  of  uniform 
accounting  methods,  the  purchasing  of 
supplies,  the  supervision  of  state  em- 
ployees, and  the  preparation  of  the 
budget.  This  department  is  the  hub 
of  the  administrative  wheel.  As  a  re- 
sult of  the  constant  control  that  it 
exercises  over  all  expenditures,  it  is 
continuously  gathering  information 
which  is  not  only  of  great  value  in  the 
day-to-day  operation  of  the  govern- 
ment but  constitutes  the  basis  for  the 
preparation  of  the  budget.  The  work 
of  this  department  is  arranged  in  two 


194 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[July 


divisions,  namely,  accounts  and  bud- 
get, and  purchases  and  supplies. 

The  department  of  labor  administers 
the  workmen's  compensation  laws,  en- 
forces the  child  labor  laws  and  employ- 
ment and  safety  regulations.  It  col- 
lects and  publishes  labor  statistics  and 
maintains  a  free  employment  office. 
Its  work  is  divided  into  two  groups — 
division  of  compensation  and  investiga- 
tion, and  division  of  free  employment. 

The  regulation  of  banking  and  in- 
surance companies,  the  administration 
of  fire  prevention,  and  the  enforcement 
of  the  blue  sky  law  are  functions  of  the 
department  of  trade  and  commerce. 
It  also  collects  and  publishes  commer- 
cial and  industrial  statistics.  Its  activ- 
ities are  divided  into  (1)  bureau  of 
banking,  (2)  bureau  of  insurance,  (3) 
bureau  of  securities,  (4)  division  of  fire 
prevention,  (5)  division  of  hail  in- 
surance, and  (6)  clerical  and  records 
division. 

The  department  of  public  welfare 
has  supervision  over  all  matters  relat- 
ing to  public  health  and  social  welfare, 
issues  professional  licenses,  and  records 
vital  statistics.  Its  activities  are 
grouped  under  (1)  bureau  of  health, 
(2)  bureau  of  social  service,  (3)  bureau 
of  child  welfare,  (4)  bureau  of  examin- 
ing boards,  and  (5)  division  of  athletics. 
The  head  of  the  department  appoints 
upon  the  recommendation  of  each  pro- 
fession an  examining  board  for  that 
profession  which  board  prepares  and 
conducts  the  examinations  for  profes- 
sional licenses.  Licenses  are  granted 
by  the  department  head  upon  the  rec- 
ommendation of  these  boards.  All 
records  are  kept  in  the  department  at 
the  state  capitol. 

Supervision  over  the  construction  of 
highways,  bridges  and  public  improve- 
ments is  exercised  by  the  department 
of  public  works.  For  the  supervision 
of  irrigation  the  state  is  divided  into 
two  water  districts  with  a  superintend- 


ent at  the  head  of  each  district,  ap- 
pointed by  the  department  head  and 
under  his  supervision.  This  depart- 
ment licenses  the  motor  vehicles  of  the 
state.  It  is  organized  under  a  bureau 
of  roads  and  bridges,  a  bureau  of  irri- 
gation, water  power  and  drainage,  and 
a  clerical  and  records  division.  At  the 
present  time  the  federal  government  is 
co-operating  with  this  department  in 
the  building  of  a  system  of  state  high- 
ways. 

This  system  of  departmentalization 
inaugurated  by  the  code  has  brought 
abler  men  into  the  service  of  the  state 
government.  Instead  of  more  than 
fifty  officials  giving,  in  some  cases,  only 
a  fraction  of  their  time  to  the  work  of 
the  state  government,  there  are  now  six 
men  giving  their  entire  time  to  the 
work.  These  men  are  paid  salaries 
commensurate  with  the  service  they 
are  rendering,  and  are  chosen  because 
of  their  experience  and  special  fitness 
for  the  particular  field  of  work  they  are 
directing.  It  is  not  possible  to  secure 
such  men  under  the  non-integrated 
form  of  state  government,  or  where  the 
department  heads  are  elected  by  the 
people. 

THE   CABINET   IDEA   APPLIED 

In  order  to  bring  about  the  greatest 
cooperation  between  the  work  of  the 
code  departments,  Governor  McKelvie 
introduced  the  cabinet  idea  that  works 
similar  to  that  feature  of  the  national 
government.  Whenever  important 
matters  arise  that  concern  the  general 
administrative  policy,  the  governor 
calls  a  meeting  of  the  department 
heads.  Sometimes  the  bureau  and  di- 
vision chiefs  are  present  at  these  meet- 
ings .  The  matters  under  consideration 
are  thoroughly  discussed  and  a  general 
and  uniform  policy  is  adopted.  Follow- 
ing the  cabinet  meetings  written  in- 
structions are  sent  to  each  department 


1922] 


NEBRASKA'S  REORGANIZED  ADMINISTRATION 


195 


outlining  in  detail  the  application  of 
the  policy  to  the  work  of  that  depart- 
ment. These  meetings  have  proved  a 
very  effective  means  of  defining  and 
harmonizing  the  general  administrative 
policy  which  under  the  old  system  of 
government  was  impossible.  They 
also  keep  the  governor  in  direct  touch 
with  the  work  of  the  different  depart- 
ments and  enable  him  actually  to  lead 
in  the  administration  of  the  state's 
affairs.  Besides,  weekly  reports  are 
filed  with  the  governor  by  each  of  the 
departments  telling  of  the  nature  and 
amount  of  work  performed  by  each 
bureau  and  division  of  the  department. 
While  the  people  look  upon  the  gov- 
ernor as  the  chief  executive,  in  most 
states  he  is  not  in  a  position  to  direct 
the  administration  because  of  the  ram- 
shackle organization.  Nebraska  has 
in  a  measure  overcome  this  difficulty 
by  the  adoption  of  the  code  organiza- 
tion, and  has  placed  the  governor  in  a 
position  where  he  is  more  nearly  re- 
sponsible for  administrative  policies. 

BUDGET  CONTROL  ESTABLISHED 

The  code  makes  the  governor  re- 
sponsible for  the  financial  policy  of  the 
state  by  requiring  him  to  submit  the 
budget  to  the  legislature.  The  budget 
is  prepared  by  the  department  of 
finance  from  information  gathered 
through  estimates  and  through  its 
audit  and  review  of  expenditures.  The 
first  state  budget  under  the  code  was 
prepared  by  the  department  of  finance 
and  submitted  by  Governor  McKelvie 
to  the  1921  legislature.  This  budget, 
a  document  of  150  pages,  gave  for  the 
first  time  in  the  history  of  the  state  a 
picture  of  the  government's  finances, 
analyzed  its  various  activities,  told 
what  each  activity  spent  during  the 
preceding  biennium,  and  estimated 
what  each  activity  should  spend  during 
the  next  biennium.  Prior  to  this  the 


members  of  the  legislature  had  been 
without  accurate  and  detailed  informa- 
tion upon  which  to  base  their  examina- 
tion of  the  requests  for  appropriations. 

In  order  to  make  the  budget  pro- 
cedure work  more  effectively,  the 
budget  provisions  of  the  code  were 
amended  by  chapter  210  of  the  1921 
laws.  Under  this  law  all  agencies  of 
the  state  government  must  report  their 
expenditures  each  month  to  the  depart- 
ment of  finance.  The  department  of 
finance  can  investigate  any  agency  of 
the  state  government  to  determine 
whether  or  not  the  appropriations  are 
being  judiciously  and  economically  ex- 
pended. This  department  also  has  the 
authority  to  recommend  and  require 
the  installation  of  a  uniform  system  of 
record  keeping  for  all  agencies  receiving 
appropriations  from  the  state.  In  this 
way  the  department  of  finance  can  de- 
termine the  character  and  classification 
of  the  financial  information  that  is  sub- 
mitted to  it  by  the  various  state  agen- 
cies. This  uniformity  greatly  assists 
in  the  preparation  both  of  financial 
statements  and  the  budget.  Hereafter 
the  governor  will  submit  along  with  the 
budget  an  appropriation  bill,  contain- 
ing all  the  budget  proposals  for  ex- 
penditures, which  the  legislature  must 
pass  by  a  three-fifths  vote  should  it 
decide  to  increase  the  governor's 
recommendations. 

Several  other  important  changes 
affecting  the  budget  procedure  were 
made  by  the  1921  laws.  A  uniform 
fiscal  year,  beginning  July  1st  and  end- 
ing June  30th,  was  adopted.  Pre- 
viously the  appropriation  year  and  the 
fiscal  year  of  the  state  had  been  differ- 
ent and  neither  agreed  with  the  federal 
fiscal  year.  All  fees  are  now  required 
to  be  turned  into  the  state  treasury, 
instead  of  being  held  out  as  formerly 
and  used  by  the  agency  collecting  them. 
All  mill  taxes,  including  the  mill  tax 
for  the  state  university  and  normal 


196 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[July 


schools,  have  been  repealed.  This 
means  that  in  the  future  expenditures 
will  be  by  definite  appropriations  made 
each  time  the  legislature  meets.  Prac- 
tically all  special  funds  have  been  abol- 
ished and  the  money  turned  into  the 
general  fund.  This  has  been  done  be- 
cause it  is  evident  that  special  funds 
restrict  not  only  legislative  authority 
but  also  administrative  control  and 
supervision.  Besides,  such  funds 
greatly  complicate  any  system  of 
accounting  and  reporting. 

The  department  of  finance  has  de- 
vised an  expenditure  classification  that 
Is  used  in  setting  up  the  accounts  and 
in  systematizing  the  information  for 
the  budget.  Appropriations  are  made 
to  the  various  spending  agencies  in 
what  may  be  regarded  as  lump-sum 
appropriations.  Before  the  appropria- 
tion to  any  spending  agency  becomes 
available  for  use,  the  agency  must  sub- 
mit to  the  department  of  finance  an 
executive  allotment  of  the  amount  esti- 
mated to  be  required  to  carry  on  the 
work  of  the  agency  during  the  next 
quarter  of  a  year  and  this  allotment 
must  receive  the  approval  of  the  gover- 
nor. As  the  vouchers  for  the  agency 
pass  through  the  department  of  finance 
and  are  audited  for  payment,  the  ap- 
propriation of  the  agency  is  encum- 
bered by  this  department  with  the 
amount  of  each  voucher.  In  this  way 
the  department  of  finance  knows  when 
the  allotment  for  any  quarter  is  being 
overdrawn.  As  a  reserve  against  con- 
tingencies, the  department  of  finance 
sets  aside  at  the  beginning  of  the  bien- 
nium  10  per  cent  of  the  appropriation 
to  each  agency  for  that  period  and  at 
the  end  of  each  quarter  returns  one- 
eighth  of  this  amount  to  the  agency 
for  distribution  in  its  next  quarter's 
allotment.  In  this  way  the  possibility 
of  the  legislature  having  to  make  defi- 
ciency appropriations  every  time  it 
meets  is  reduced  to  a  minimum. 


The  allotment  system  makes  it  possi- 
ble for  the  department  of  finance  to 
determine  long  before  the  end  of  the 
biennial  period  whether  or  not  there  is 
going  to  be  an  unused  surplus  in  the 
appropriations  and  approximately  how 
much  this  surplus  is  going  to  be  in  the 
case  of  each  spending  agency.  As  a  re- 
sult of  the  operation  of  this  system  by 
the  department  of  finance,  the  gover- 
nor was  supplied  with  the  facts  that 
enabled  him  to  call  the  special  session 
of  the  legislature  referred  to  in  the  first 
paragraph  of  this  article,  to  cut  down 
the  appropriations  for  the  current 
biennium. 

In  this  connection  mention  should 
be  made  of  the  very  valuable  work 
that  the  department  of  finance  is  doing 
in  educating  the  people  to  appreciate 
the  significance  of  the  budget  and  to 
understand  something  of  the  problems 
connected  with  financing  the  state  and 
local  governments.  This  department 
prepares  monthly  statements  relative 
to  the  state's  finances  and  occasionally 
a  bulletin  on  the  distribution  of  taxes 
between  the  different  activities  of  the 
state  and  local  governments  and  sends 
these  to  the  newspapers  and  various 
organizations  throughout  the  state. 

CENTRAL  ACCOUNTING   SYSTEM 
INSTALLED 

In  the  installation  of  a  central  ac- 
counting system  Nebraska  has  made 
notable  progress  under  the  code  admin- 
istration. The  department  of  finance 
has  not  only  established  a  uniform  sys- 
tem of  financial  records  for  all  spending 
agencies  of  the  state,  but  practically 
all  bookkeeping,  especially  for  the  code 
departments,  is  done  by  this  depart- 
ment. Under  this  procedure  the  ac- 
counting control  is  riot  only  centralized, 
but  it  becomes  unnecessary  for  each 
department  to  maintain  a  force  to  keep 
a  set  of  books  for  it.  Only  such  rec- 


1922] 


NEBRASKA'S  REORGANIZED   ADMINISTRATION 


197 


ords  as  relate  directly  to  the  work  of 
the  department  are  now  kept  by  the 
code  departments.  Records  giving 
complete  information  relative  to  the 
appropriations  and  expenditures  of  all 
departments  are  kept  by  the  depart- 
ment of  finance.  The  accounting  sys- 
tem in  this  department  shows  at  all 
times,  for  each  department,  bureau  and 
division,  the  expenditures,  the  unex- 
pended balances  and  the  free  and  un- 
encumbered balances.  The  spending 
agencies  that  are  independent  of  the 
code  departments,  such  as  the  Univer- 
sity, the  board  of  control,  and  the  con- 
stitutional officers,  keep  their  own 
books.  However,  the  general  form  of 
these  books  is  prescribed  by  the  depart- 
ment of  finance,  and  these  agencies 
must  report  monthly  to  the  depart- 
ment of  finance  an  itemized  and  classi- 
fied statement  of  all  their  expenditures. 

All  spending  agencies  are  required  by 
the  department  of  finance  in  making 
their  reports  to  distribute  their  ex- 
penditures according  to  nine  standard 
expenditure  accounts.  These  accounts 
and  the  sub-groups  under  each  have 
been  built  up  largely  on  an  object  basis 
and  are  used  by  the  department  of 
finance  for  budget-making  as  well  as 
accounting  purposes.  It  is  possible  by 
the  use  of  this  classification  not  only 
to  determine  when  expenditures  have 
been  properly  made,  but  also  to  com- 
pare the  expenditures  of  different  de- 
partments and  institutions. 

As  has  already  been  pointed  out,  the 
department  of  finance  exercises  the 
powers  of  pre-audit.  Every  depart- 
mental expenditure,  before  it  is  con- 
tracted, must  have  the  approval  of  this 
department.  This  approval  involves 
not  only  passing  upon  the  availability 
of  funds  to  meet  the  expenditure,  but 
also  the  advisability  of  making  the 
expenditure.  Upon  approval  the  ap- 
propriation of  the  department  making 
the  expenditure  is  encumbered  by  the 


amount  of  the  proposed  expenditure. 
After  the  expenditure  has  been  made  a 
voucher  signed  by  the  department  head 
is  sent  to  the  department  of  finance 
where  it  is  checked  and  approved  be- 
fore going  to  the  auditor's  office.  The 
auditor,  an  elective  constitutional 
officer,  approves  all  vouchers  as  to  the 
legality  of  the  expenditures.  A  useless 
step  in  the  procedure  is  the  requirement 
that  the  secretary  of  .state  likewise 
approve  all  vouchers  before  payment 
by  the  state  treasurer. 

The  centralization  of  the  accounting 
control  in  the  department  of  finance 
is  not  only  necessary  to  the  proper 
carrying  out  of  the  budget  plan,  but 
also  to  the  intelligent  preparation  of  the 
budget.  By  this  means  the  staff  that 
prepares  the  budget  for  the  governor 
is  kept  in  daily  touch  with  the  expendi- 
tures of  all  agencies,  and  the  facts  that 
are  essential  to  the  criticism  of  the  esti- 
mates are  gathered  from  day  to  day. 

EMPLOYMENT   CONTROL   ESTABLISHED 

The  department  of  finance  has 
developed  a  rather  unique  system  of 
employment  control.  While  it  does 
not  conduct  examinations  to  test  the 
fitness  of  individuals  to  enter  the  state 
service,  as  civil  service  commissions  do, 
it  is,  nevertheless,  more  effective  in  its 
management  and  control  of  state  em- 
ployees than  most  of  the  civil  service 
commissions.  Any  person  desiring  to 
enter  the  state  service  must  fill  out 
and  file  with  the  department  of  finance 
a  blank,  stating  position  desired,  edu- 
cational and  experience  qualifications, 
age,  marital  relations,  sex,  name  and 
address  of  last  employer,  last  position 
and  salary  earned,  and  the  names  and 
addresses  of  at  least  three  persons  as 
references.  The  department  of  finance 
then  asks  each  one  of  the  references  to 
fill  out  a  blank  that  contains  a  number 
of  questions  about  the  character,  edu- 


198 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[July 


cation  and  general  qualifications  of  the 
person  to  fill  the  position.  If  the  per- 
son's record  is  satisfactory,  he  is  rec- 
ommended for  appointment  to  the 
position  by  the  department  of  finance. 
The  appointment  is  made  by  the  de- 
partment head  with  the  approval  of  the 
governor.  After  the  appointment  has 
been  made  a  permanent  card  record 
for  the  employee  is  filed  in  the  depart- 
ment of  finance.  Any  change  in  the 
salary  rate  of  the  employee  must  be 
approved  by  the  department  of  finance. 
Before  the  adoption  of  the  code  there 
was  practically  no  record  of  the  state's 
employees. 

Each  employee  in  the  different 
bureaus  and  divisions  of  the  code  de- 
partment is  required  to  sign  a  daily 
time  report,  giving  the  time  of  arrival, 
the  time  at  lunch,  and  the  time  of  leav- 
ing. All  field  employees  mail  daily 
time  reports  to  the  departments. 
These  reports  are  collected  by  each 
department  and  are  sent  each  month 
together  with  a  summary  to  the  depart- 
ment of  finance.  The  summary  shows 
the  number  of  days  during  the  month 
that  each  employee  has  worked  less 
than  eight  hours,  the  number  of  days 
each  has  worked  over  eight  hours,  and 
the  number  of  days  and  time  that  each 
has  been  absent  without  pay,  on  sick- 
leave,  or  on  vacation.  As  a  result  the 
department  of  finance  has  a  work  re- 
port of  every  person  employed  in  the 
code  departments.  From  these  re- 
ports the  department  of  finance  makes 
up  each  month  the  payrolls  of  all  the 
code  departments.  Under  this  system 
the  department  of  finance  has  the  origi- 
nal signature  of  each  employee  for  each 
day  he  or  she  has  been  paid  during  the 
month  or  year.  These  records  are  also 
used  in  making  promotions. 

Prior  to  the  adoption  of  the  code 
there  was  little  relation  between  the 
duties  performed  and  the  pay  received 
by  the  employees  of  the  various  boards. 


The  department  of  finance  has  worked 
out  a  salary  standardization  plan  that 
provides  for  standard  titles  of  positions 
and  uniform  salaries  for  the  same  class 
of  work  in  all  of  the  code  departments. 
It  fixes  a  minimum  salary  rate  with  ad- 
vancement to  a  higher  rate  at  specified 
times,  and  promotion  from  a  lower  to  a 
higher  grade  of  service  upon  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  department  head. 

PURCHASING   SYSTEM   INAUGURATED 

The  division  of  purchases  and  sup- 
plies in  the  department  of  finance  buys 
office  supplies  for  all  agencies  of  the 
state  government  except  the  University 
and  normal  schools.  Prior  to  the 
adoption  of  the  code  each  agency  pur- 
chased its  supplies  in  small  quantities 
at  frequent  intervals.  Under  this 
scheme  the  various  agencies  frequently 
spent  more  than  was  necessary,  proper 
scrutiny  could  not  be  exercised  on  the 
part  of  the  state,  and  favoritism  was 
often  shown  in  the  selection  of  vendors. 
Now,  every  department  and  agency 
must  file  a  requisition  for  supplies  with 
the  purchasing  agent.  After  this  req- 
uisition has  been  approved  by  the 
accountant  of  the  department  of  fi- 
nance to  the  effect  that  there  is  suffi- 
cient unencumbered  balance  in  the 
appropriation  of  the  department  or 
agency  to  pay  for  the  supplies,  the  pur- 
chasing agent  makes  up  a  schedule, 
combining  like  classes  of  supplies  from 
several  requisitions,  and  solicits  bids 
from  dealers.  An  order  is  then  placed 
with  the  successful  bidder  by  the  pur- 
chasing agent.  A  copy  of  this  order  is 
retained  by  the  purchasing  agent,  a 
copy  is  sent  to  the  accounting  division 
of  the  department  of  finance,  and  two 
copies  are  sent  to  the  department  or 
agency  receiving  the  goods.  The  de- 
partment or  agency  files  one  copy  of 
this  order  with  its  copy  of  the  requisi- 
tion and  checks  the  other  when  the 


goods  are  received,  returning  the  latter 
copy  to  the  purchasing  agent.  Pay- 
ment for  the  goods  is  then  authorized 
by  the  purchasing  agent  upon  a  voucher 
that  is  approved  by  the  head  of  the  de- 
partment or  agency  receiving  the  goods 
and  by  the  secretary  of  finance  before 
going  to  the  state  auditor. 

The  purchasing  agent  buys  and  con- 
trols the  use  of  mileage  books  that  are 
furnished  to  the  several  employees  in 
the  different  departments  whose  work 
necessitates  their  traveling  over  the 
state.  Each  employee  must  file  with 
the  purchasing  agent  a  report  showing 
the  trips  that  are  made  with  the  mile- 
age. In  this  way  the  department  of 
finance  has  on  file  a  complete  record  of 
all  mileage  books  used  by  the  code  de- 
partments. The  purchasing  division 
does  mimeographing  and  addresso- 
graphing  for  the  different  departments 
and  agencies  and  charges  them  only 
for  the  material  and  labor  involved. 

All  printing  contracts  are  let  by  the 
purchasing  agent.  In  the  printing  of 
reports  each  department  must  furnish 
a  manuscript  copy  of  its  report  to  the 
purchasing  agent  who  goes  over  it  care- 
fully to  see  if  it  contains  any  unneces- 
sary or  repeated  matter.  He  may  re- 
quire the  department  to  eliminate  such 
matter  from  the  report  before  he  con- 
tracts for  the  printing.  The  contract 
is  let  upon  the  basis  of  cost  per  page, — 
the  character  of  the  matter,  that  is, 
whether  it  is  descriptive  or  statistical, 
being  the  determining  factor  in  the 
page  cost.  All  printing  must  be  done 
and  the  reports  delivered  within  thirty 
days.  Formerly,  it  was  not  unusual 
for  the  printing  of  reports  to  be  delayed 
after  the  contracts  had  been  let  for  a 
period  of  from  one  to  four  years. 

It  is  estimated  that  this  system  of 
centralized  control  of  purchasing  and 
printing  has  resulted  in  a  net  annual 
saving  to  the  state  of  about  20  per  cent. 
The  operation  of  the  system  has  also 


199 

contributed  to  the  success  of  the  budget 
system  by  establishing  control  over 
expenditures  for  supplies. 


It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  consti- 
tutional convention  of  1920,  instead  of 
reducing  the  number  of  administrative 
officers  and  boards  under  the  constitu- 
tion, saw  fit  to  add  four  more  such 
agencies,  making  a  total  of  sixteen. 
Thus  the  present  administrative  sys- 
tem includes  sixteen  constitutional  offi- 
cers and  boards,  six  statutory  boards, 
and  the  six  departments  created  by 
the  code. 

The  revised  constitution  of  1920  con- 
tains a  provision  that  gives  the  legisla- 
ture the  power  to  eliminate  the  heads 
of  the  code  departments  and  to  place 
the  work  of  these  departments  under 
the  constitutional  administrative  offi- 
cers. If  this  were  done,  it  would  be  a 
decided  step  backward.  It  would 
practically  amount  to  setting  up  a  com- 
mission form  of  government  for  the 
state.  The  heads  of  the  departments 
would  then  be  elected  just  as  the  gov- 
ernor is  and  there  could  be  no  central- 
ized or  responsible  supervision  of  the 
administration.  As  a  result  the  state 
would  have  six  or  eight  governors  in- 
stead of  one.  One  of  the  serious  and 
inevitable  defects  of  this  arrangement, 
even  worse  than  under  the  old  scheme 
of  organization  that  existed  before  the 
adoption  of  the  code,  would  be  the 
tendency  of  each  one  of  these  inde- 
pendent administrative  officers  to  mag- 
nify his  own  problems  and  importance, 
constantly  to  expand  his  activities, 
and  to  work  for  and  spend  as  large 
appropriations  as  he  could  obtain  in 
competition  with  the  other  administra- 
tive officers.  There  would  be  few  in- 
centives to  real  economy  and  no  estab- 
lished avenues  of  mutual  interest  and 
co-operation. 

Under  the  code  system  of  organiza- 


200 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[July 


tion  the  departments  have  nothing  to 
gain  by  competing  with  each  other  for 
appropriations.  Co-operation  takes 
the  place  of  interference .  The  result — 
a  most  important  one — is  the  develop- 
ment of  the  idea  of  unity  in  administra- 


tion. The  worth  of  the  code  system 
has  already  been  clearly  demonstrated 
by  its  successful  operation.  Undoubt- 
edly, the  next  step  should  be  in  the 
direction  of  strengthening  and  extend- 
ing this  system. 


GRAND  RAPIDS  REFUSES  TO  REVERT 
FROM  THE  COMMISSION-MANAGER 

PLAN 

BY    RUSSELL    F.    GRIFFEN 

Secretary,  Grand  Rapids  Citizens'  League 

Grand  Rapids  is  one  of  the  three  largest  cities  operating  under  the 
principles  of  the  National  Municipal  League's  Model  Charter  and  the 
April  referendum  demonstrated  that  the  charter  has  the  people  more 
solidly  behind  it  than  when  they  adopted  it  in  1916.  : :  : :  : : 


ON  April  3,  1922,  the  voters  of 
Grand  Rapids  defeated  a  proposal  to 
return  to  aldermanic  government  by  a 
majority  of  2,500.  There  were  about 
23,000  votes  cast  at  this  election,  out 
of  a  possible  56,000.  It  is  safe  to 
assume  that  the  present  commission- 
manager  form  of  government  would 
have  been  endorsed  by  a  far  greater 
majority,  if  the  lazy  voters  had  gone 
to  the  polls.  Strong  political  factions 
were  arrayed  against  the  commission, 
and  through  the  use  of  the  much- 
abused  cry,  "More  representative 
government,"  they  were  able  to  garner 
some  9,000  votes. 

The  movement  to  overthrow  the 
present  form  of  government  dates  back 
several  years.  Political  bosses,  who 
were  deprived  of  their  power  when  the 
charter  was  adopted  in  1917,  have 
repeatedly  tried  to  discredit  the  char- 
ter. 

HOLLOW   GRIEVANCES 

The  real  campaign  was  started  in 
January  of  this  year,  by  the  officers  of 
the  local  Trades  and  Labor  Council, 


when  they  seized  upon  a  section  of  the 
charter,  dealing  with  city  contracts 
and  the  number  of  hours  that  consti- 
tute a  day's  work.  Due  to  short  sea- 
sons, contractors  were  forced  to  em- 
ploy men  longer  than  eight  hours  per 
day,  as  set  by  the  charter.  The  men 
received  pay  for  this  overtime  work, 
and  were  satisfied.  However,  this 
arrangement  did  not  suit  the  labor 
officers;  hence,  a  communication  was 
sent  to  the  city  commission  requesting 
the  strict  enforcement  of  the  eight-hour 
provision.  The  city's  legal  depart- 
ment ruled  that  although  the  charter 
specified  that  eight  hours  shall  consti- 
tute a  day's  work,  it  did  not  prohibit  a 
longer  day.  It  was  also  clearly  shown 
that  the  section  in  question  was  analo- 
gous to  the  state  statute,  which  says 
ten  hours  shall  constitute  a  day's  work. 
The  commission  acted  in  accordance 
with  this  legal  decision,  and  the  Trades 
and  Labor  officials  were  thereby  fur- 
nished the  necessary  ammunition.  In 
spite  of  the  fact  that  many  working 
men  were  not  in  favor  of  a  mandate 
that  prohibited  them  from  working 


1922] 


GRAND   RAPIDS  REFUSES  TO  REVERT 


201 


overtime  for  additional  compensation, 
the  campaign  was  immediately 
launched.  If  the  whole  intent  and 
purpose  of  these  labor  leaders  had 
been  the  eight-hour  law  and  its  enforce- 
ment, a  constructive  program  should 
have  been  outlined  at  this  time  to  for- 
mulate and  foster  an  amendment  to 
the  charter  that  would  put  new  teeth 
in  the  eight-hour  provision.  But  no, 
this  fracas  was  simply  all  camouflage 
to  justify  themselves  in  the  promulga- 
tion of  a  campaign  to  return  the  city  to 
alderman ic  rule. 

To  hide  the  real  sponsors  of  the 
movement,  and  to  give  the  old  line 
politicians  an  opportunity  to  get  into 
the  game,  the  Municipal  League  was 
formed  and  offices  opened.  Realizing 
that  the  people  would  not  countenance 
a  complete  revision  of  the  charter,  this 
organization  initiated  several  charter 
amendments  that  would  give  back  to 
Grand  Rapids  all  the  viciousness  of  the 
old  system,  viz.,  sectional  representa- 
tion and  ward  elections,  and  the  long 
ballot.  To  be  specific,  the  amend- 
ments provided  for  the  redistricting  of 
the  city  into  twelve  wards  (there  are 
now  three);  for  the  election  of  twelve 
aldermen  from  and  by  the  wards,  in 
place  of  the  seven  commissioners 
elected  at  large;  and  for  the  election, 
instead  of  appointment,  of  city  attor- 
ney, city  clerk,  and  city  treasurer. 

The  eight-hour  question  had  served 
its  purpose  and  was  dropped  because 
it  was  so  unpopular  in  every  quarter. 
The  cry  of  "high  taxes"  was  sounded, 
but  was  spiked  when  a  report  compiled 
by  the  Grand  Rapids  Citizens'  League 
was  published  showing  that  Grand 
Rapids  enjoyed  one  of  the  lowest  tax 
rates  in  the  country.  Finally,  the 
slogan  of  "More  Representative  Gov- 
ernment" was  adopted.  This  was 
clung  to  tenaciously,  despite  the  fact 
that  this  same  faction  is  better  repre- 
sented under  the  present  form  of  gov- 


ernment than  under  the  old  aldermanic 
rule. 

The  Grand  Rapids  Citizens'  League, 
a  non-partisan,  non-sectarian  organiza- 
tion, which  was  first  organized  to  help 
carry  the  present  charter,  led  the  de- 
fense against  the  vicious  charter 
amendments.  The  three  daily  news- 
papers carried  both  sides  of  the  cam- 
paign in  splendid  shape.  Almost  every 
edition  carried  editorial  support  of  the 
commission-manager  form  of  govern- 
ment .  Letters  from  various  cities  were 
published  every  day,  proclaiming  the 
advantages  of  the  commission-manager 
form  of  government. 

THE   INTENT   OF   THE   AMENDMENTS 

The  seven  principal  counts  against 
the  charter  amendments,  as  outlined 
by  the  Citizens'  League  were: 

(1)  The    amendments    provide   for 
the  old  discredited  twelve  ward  system, 
and  the  method  of  electing  aldermen 
or  commissioners  from  wards.    Unity 
and  co-operation  would  be  forgotten, 
and  sectional  development  would  re- 
place the  development  of  Grand  Rap- 
ids as  a  whole. 

(2)  No  provision  has  been  made  for 
reduced    salaries;    hence,    the   twelve 
aldermen  and  mayor  would  receive  the 
same  salaries  as  the  present  seven  com- 
missioners. 

(3)  The  city  would  be  compelled  to 
elect  twenty-four  constables  to  perform 
the  work  now  done  by  six. 

(4)  The    amendments    provide    for 
the  election  of  all  twelve  aldermen, 
mayor  and  other  officials  every  two 
years.     Only  minor  offices  would  be 
filled  in  the  alternate  years,  thereby 
creating  unnecessary  election  expense. 

(5)  The   amendments   exclude   the 
city   assessors   from    membership   on 
the  board  of  supervisors.     In  view  of 
the  fact  that  every  member  of  the 
board  from  the  rural  districts  is  an 


202 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[July 


assessing  officer,  this  exclusion  of  city 
members  trained  in  tax  problems 
would  be  a  distinct  loss  to  the  taxpay- 
ers of  Grand  Rapids. 

(6)  The   amendments   create   more 
elective  offices,  harking  back  to  the 
long  ballot,  known  as  "the  politician's 
ballot." 

(7)  The  proposal  as  a  whole  means 
a    possible    disruption   of   the    entire 
charter,  and  might  lead  the  city  into 
embarrassing  legal  entanglements. 

THE   ACHIEVEMENTS,    UNDER   THE 
PRESENT   PLAN 

The  most  effective  campaign  mate- 
rial was  the  record  of  accomplishments 
under  the  commission-manager  gov- 
ernment. This  was  published  in  the 
daily  newspapers  and  in  the  Sentinel, 
the  official  publication  of  the  League. 
This  record  is  summarized  below: 

To-day,  not  only  in  Grand  Rapids, 
but  in  every  other  city  where  govern- 
ment is  vested  in  small  commissions, 
elected  at  large,  there  is  no  room  for 
the  political  boss.  The  one  aim  in  our 
city  government  to-day  is  to  produce  a 
dollar's  worth  of  service  for  every  dol- 
lar of  tax  money  spent.  This  is  illus- 
trated in  the  several  reports  filed  with 
the  city  manager  recently. 

The  public  service  department  has 
been  placed  on  a  strictly  business  basis 
since  the  adoption  of  the  commission- 
manager  form  of  government  in  Grand 
Rapids.  EFFICIENCY  is  the  key- 
note. Ability  is  regarded  as  a  more 
essential  quality  of  city  employees 
than  political  influence.  Employees 
are  more  enthusiastic  over  their  work, 
because  they  are  being  paid  more 
nearly  what  their  services  are  worth. 
A  comparison  of  the  number  of  employ- 
ees in  the  service  department,  January 
1st,  1921,  with  January  1st,  1916,  shows 
that  there  are  three  less  employees  at 
the  present  time;  yet,  the  work  in 


every  division  has  increased  materially. 
A  saving  of  $8,000  was  effected  when 
plans  for  the  new  filter  plant  extension 
were  drawn. 

A  complete  metering  of  all  water 
service  has  reduced  the  consumption 
per  capita  from  200  gallons  per  day  to 
98  gallons  per  day,  under  the  present 
meter  system.  This  is  a  definite 
example  of  elimination  of  waste. 

In  1920,  18,750,580  Ibs.  of  garbage 
was  collected  with  a  force  of  32  men, 
while  in  1916,  before  the  adoption  of 
the  new  charter,  13,079,999  Ibs.  re- 
quired 39  men. 

The  health  department  has  a  splen- 
did record.  The  new  Isolation  Hos- 
pital has  been  built  and  the  entire  cost 
has  been  absorbed  in  the  regular  de- 
partmental budget.  A  physician  spe- 
cializing in  the  care  and  treatment  of 
persons  afflicted  with  tuberculosis  has 
been  employed  and  placed  in  charge  of 
the  sanitarium  and  all  clinics.  Nutri- 
tional clinics  have  been  established  in 
the  public  schools  and  schools  of  in- 
struction are  held  for  mothers.  Three 
additional  dental  clinics  have  been  es- 
tablished. All  bacteriological  work  is 
now  being  done  by  a  city  chemist,  there- 
by saving  the  city  money  formerly 
spent  for  the  services  of  the  bacteriolo- 
gist. A  full  time  nurse  has  been  added 
to  the  staff  of  the  city  physician,  thus 
giving  better  care  to  the  dependent 
sick.  Through  careful  supervision, 
serious  epidemics  have  been  avoided. 

New  ordinances  now  regulate  the 
sale  of  milk,  cream,  and  buttermilk, 
and  the  manufacture  of  ice  cream,  and 
provide  for  the  inspection  of  slaughter 
houses.  Work  done  by  the  depart- 
ment under  these  ordinances  has  in- 
creased as  follows : 

Milk  and  cream  tests,  88%;  milk 
wagon  inspections,  93%;  meat  market 
inspections,  248%;  restaurant  inspec- 
tions, 879%,  and  bakery  inspections, 
260%.  This  increase  has  been  at- 


1922] 


GRAND  RAPIDS  REFUSES  TO  REVERT 


tained  with  the  addition  of  only  one 
man  to  the  staff  of  employees. 

Shortly  after  the  commission-man- 
ager form  of  government  went  into 
effect,  a  social  service  staff  was  estab- 
lished to  care  for  the  indigent  and  un- 
fortunate of  the  city.  This  division, 
last  year,  came  in  contact  with  903 
families,  and  in  58%  of  the  cases  com- 
plete relief  was  given  through  recon- 
structive and  guidance  work,  and  did 
not  require  the  giving  of  material  or 
medical  aid. 

Since  1916  the  police  department  has 
been  able  to  reduce  its  force  from  168  to 
120,  yet  recoveries  have  grown  steadily, 
until  in  1920  the  amount  of  stolen 
property  recovered  amounted  to  97%. 
Under  the  commission-manager  form 
of  government,  politics  have  been  en- 
tirely eliminated  from  the  police  de- 
partment. Police  court  fines,  which 
formerly  went  to  the  state,  are  now 
turned  into  the  city  treasury.  This 
means  a  saving  of  $30,000. 

In  the  fire  department  the  double 
platoon  system  has  been  installed 
which  has  increased  the  inspection 
work  from  13,000  to  46,000  inspections 
per  year.  Fire  losses  amounted  to 
only  $1.53  per  capita  in  1920.  This  is 
a  remarkable  showing,  considering  the 
high  cost  of  building  replacements. 
Nearly  all  repair  work  is  now  being 
done  by  the  department,  which  has 
resulted  in  an  annual  saving  of  $13,- 
000  to  the  taxpayers  of  Grand  Rapids. 

The  city  clerk's  office  has  effected 
a  saving  of  $1,000  in  the  printing  of 
official  proceedings.  Revenue  from 
license  fees  has  increased  over  66% 
since  1916. 

The  purchasing  department  has 
effected  many  savings  for  the  city. 
The  centralization  of  purchases  gives 
an  opportunity  to  purchase  in  quanti- 
ties, which  reflects  directly  to  the 
benefit  of  the  city,  because  of  dis- 
counts and  quantity  prices. 


When  the  present  form  of  govern- 
ment came  into  existence,  the  city 
attorney  inherited  many  cases  from 
the  old  regime,  all  of  which  have  been 
disposed  of.  Under  the  old  form  of 
government  no  effort  was  made  to  col- 
lect past  due  personal  taxes,  and  it  was 
assumed  that  estates  in  the  hands  of 
trustees,  in  bankruptcy,  receivers  or 
trustees  under  trust  mortgage,  were 
not  collectable.  Under  the  commis- 
sion form  of  government  suits  were 
instituted  to  fix  liability,  and  decisions 
were  obtained  authorizing  collections. 
The  total  amount  collected  on  delin- 
quent claims  and  delinquent  taxes  and 
upon  receivership  estates,  has  amounted 
to  approximately  $50,000. 

Several  changes  have  been  made  in 
the  city  treasurer's  office  that  have 
brought  the  department  closer  to  the 
people.  Tax  notices  are  now  mailed 
to  property  owners.  It  was  impossible 
to  cover  the  entire  field  this  year,  but 
official  reports  from  one-third  of  the 
city  show  that  on  March  1st,  $6,000 
more  was  collected  than  at  the  same 
time  last  year  in  state  and  county 
taxes.  The  city  gets  the  benefit  of  a 
4  per  cent  charge  on  this  amount  that 
reverted  to  the  county  in  former  years. 

Under  the  old  form  of  government 
the  city  assessors  did  not  hold  office 
on  the  board  of  supervisors.  To-day, 
by  their  direct  representation  on  the 
board,  they  are  able,  by  reason  of  their 
knowledge  of  tax  matters,  to  save  the 
taxpayers  of  Grand  Rapids  thousands 
of  dollars.  When  the  commission 
took  office  the  city  assessors  called 
attention  to  the  fact  that  there  was  a 
large  amount  of  property  on  the  ex- 
empt rolls  that  in  their  opinion  should 
be  stricken  off.  The  matter  was  re- 
ferred to  the  welfare  committee  and 
the  exemptions  were  gone  over  care- 
fully. People  were  notified  to  come 
in  and  present  their  reasons  for  claim- 
ing exemption  and  as  a  result,  about 


204 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[July 


$1,000,000  was  stricken  from  the  ex- 
empt rolls.  Those  who  by  reason  of 
poverty  were  unable  to  meet  their 
taxes  were  left  on. 

STRONGER   THAN   IN    1916 

As  stated  before,  this  record  was 
placed  before  every  voter  urging  that 
it  receive  full  consideration. 

The  final  gun  was  fired  by  the  Citi- 
zens' League  in  the  shape  of  a  terse 
message  to  the  voters  just  before  elec- 
tion day: 

Grand  Rapids  enjoys,  under  the  present  com- 
mission-manager form  of  government,  a  com- 
pact, orderly,  smooth-working  governing  body 
composed  of  conscientious,  intelligent  men  who 
are  directing  the  affairs  of  this  community  for  the 
best  interests  of  all  the  citizens,  with  the  result, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Voter,  that  you  have  been  fur- 
nished with  the  greatest  amount  of  public  good 
at  the  least  possible  cost.  If  you  desire  to  retain 
this  kind  of  government  so  that  still  greater  bene- 


fits may  be  secured  in  the  future,  you  should  go 
to  the  polls  on  April  3rd  and  vote  "NO"  on  the 
charter  amendments  that  provide  for  a  virtual 
return  to  the  worn-out,  inefficient  system  of 
aldermanic  government.  In  so  doing  you  will 
be  able  to  say  next  year,  as  you  can  honestly  say 
today,  "  Grand  Rapids  is  a  good  place  to  live. " 

The  vote  as  cast  demonstrates 
clearly,  when  compared  with  the  first 
vote  on  the  present  form  of  govern- 
ment, that  the  present  plan  has  gained 
much  ground  since  1916.  In  addition 
to  this,  there  were  many  voters,  in  my 
opinion,  who  voted  to  go  backwards 
simply  because  they  did  not  understand 
the  commission-manager  government 
and  its  advantages  over  the  old  system. 
A  program  of  education  and  official 
publicity  dealing  with  the  municipal 
government  and  its  official  acts  will 
win  many  men  and  women  this  year  to 
the  standard  of  business  efficiency  in 
the  conduct  of  municipal  affairs  in 
Grand  Rapids. 


THE  DEFEAT  OF  CITY-COUNTY  CONSOLI 
DATION  IN  ALAMEDA 

BY  E.  W.  WILLIAMS 

Secretary  of  the  Tax  Association  of  Alameda  County,  California 

A  ten-year  campaign  and  a  most  important  pioneer  attempt  to  con- 
solidate a  metropolitan  area  under  a  single  city-county  government 
with  a  city-and-county  manager  came  finally  to  defeat  in  Alameda 
County  in  February.  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  :: 


FOR  many  years  the  question  of 
consolidating  city  and  county  govern- 
ment in  Alameda  County,  California, 
has  been  under  discussion  by  civic 
organizations  and  other  bodies. 

Ninety  per  cent  of  the  population  of 
Alameda  County  reside  in  the  western 
portion  of  the  county.  This  western 
portion  contains  only  10  per  cent  of  the 
total  area  of  the  whole  county,  forming 
a  natural  and  complete  metropolitan 
area,  yet  it  supports  seven  separate 
municipalities  and  is  topped  with  a 


county  government.  No  unincorpo- 
rated territory  intervenes  the  bounda- 
ries of  the  seven  cities.  Notwithstand- 
ing that  the  growth,  habits,  needs  and 
common  interests  of  the  people  of  the 
western  portion  of  the  county  had  long 
since  obliterated  the  arbitrary  bound- 
aries set  up  to  keep  the  cities  apart 
when  this  area  was  rural,  and  that  their 
interests  have  become  coincident 
rather  than  diverse,  the  local  pride  of 
each  community  would  not  down.  Only 
one  of  the  municipalities,  Oakland,  the 


1922] 


THE   DEFEAT  OF  CITY-COUNTY   CONSOLIDATION     205 


largest,  appeared  to  be  clamoring  for 
consolidation. 

The  city  of  Oakland  with  a  pop- 
ulation of  220,000,  comprising  about 
60  per  cent  of  the  total  population  of 
the  county  and  paying  60  per  cent  of 
the  total  cost  of  county  government, 
had  long  wished  to  relieve  itself  of 
dual  government.  There  were  many 
who  felt  that  rather  than  be  burdened 
with  the  costs  of  two  governments,  it 
would  be  better  for  Oakland  to  separate 
itself  from  the  rest  of  the  county  and 
form  a  consolidated  government  of  its 
own.  There  were  equally  as  many 
others  who  favored  a  consolidation,  yet 
felt  that  the  whole  western  portion  of 
Alameda  County  comprising  the  seven 
cities  should  be  treated  as  a  single 
administrative  unit.  They  were  not 
opposed  to  separation  from  the  rural 
portion  of  the  county,  but  believed  that 
inasmuch  as  the  needs  of  the  seven  cit- 
ies were  identical,  and  as  these  cities 
formed  a  compact  urban  area,  there 
should  be  no  dismemberment — at  least 
no  attempt  at  dismembership  should 
be  undertaken  by  Oakland  initiating 
proceedings  until  an  invitation  had 
been  extended  to  all  to  participate. 

Many  of  the  leading  citizens  of 
Berkeley  felt  that  Berkeley  was  in  an 
unique  position;  that  by  reason  of  it 
being  the  seat  of  the  State  University 
with  10,000  students,  its  aims  and  needs 
were  different;  that  it  was  purely  a  resi- 
dential city  and,  with  its  population 
of  65,000,  it  would  be  better  off  if  it 
maintained  a  consolidated  city  and 
county  of  its  own.  Others  in  Berkeley 
favored  consolidation  of  the  whole 
county  under  a  system  of  boroughs, 
and  there  were  quite  a  few  who  believed 
that  Berkeley  should  permit  Oakland 
to  proceed  alone  to  form  a  separate  city 
and  county — and,  if  it  demonstrated 
the  efficiency  of  such  a  government, 
that  Berkeley  could  later  join  Oakland. 

The  city  of  Alameda,  containing  a 


population  of  29,000,  the  majority  of 
whom  commuted  to  and  from  San 
Francisco  each  day,  as  their  business 
was  located  in  San  Francisco,  had 
always  been  adverse  to  joining  Oak- 
land. It  much  preferred  to  cast  its  lot 
with  San  Francisco — in  fact,  it  had 
once  voted  to  do  so.  Yet  there  were 
many  in  Alameda  who  thought  that 
possibly  under  a  proper  charter  and  a 
system  of  boroughs  Alameda  might 
favor  the  plan;  that  the  economies  that 
could  be  effected  by  the  cutting  out  of 
many  duplicating  agencies  was  worth 
the  attempt. 

As  to  the  combined  city  and  county 
tax  rates  of  the  three  largest  cities,  i.e., 
Oakland,  Berkeley,  and  Alameda,  based 
upon  an  equalization  of  true  values  as  to 
assessment,  there  was  very  little  differ- 
ence. The  smaller  municipalities  how- 
ever— Piedmont,  Emeryville,  Albany, 
San  Leandro,  Hayward,  Pleasanton, 
and  Livermore — each  had  a  much  lower 
tax  rate  than  the  larger  cities.  Their 
rates,  however,  varied  considerably. 
None  of  the  smaller  cities  had  a  popu- 
lation of  over  5,000— their  average  was 
3,000.  A  few  were  backward  commu- 
nities. Emeryville  had  a  tax  rate  for 
city  purposes  of  75  cents  on  each  One 
Hundred  Dollars'  worth  of  assessed 
valuation.  It  was  far  behind  the  times 
in  providing  those  things  progressive 
communities  are  providing  to-day. 
Emeryville's  area  lies  directly  between 
Oakland  and  Berkeley  with  no  unin- 
corporated territory  intervening.  By 
reason  of  its  low  tax  rate  it  was  able  to 
and  did  attract  many  manufacturing 
plants. 

Piedmont's  location  is  unique  to  say 
the  least — unique  in  that  Oakland 
entirely  surrounds  it — an  island  you 
might  say.  Piedmont  was  incorporated 
prior  to  Oakland  annexing  territory 
surrounding  it.  Piedmont  is  a  com- 
munity of  homes  with  no  stores  or  busi- 
ness houses  within  its  limits.  It  is  a 


206 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[July 


wealthy  community;  the  majority  of 
its  residents,  like  those  of  Alameda, 
commute  to  and  from  San  Francisco 
each  day.  Its  wants  are  few;  its  mu- 
nicipal government  excellent  and  its  tax 
rate  exceedingly  low,  with  the  result 
that  the  majority  of  its  people  favored 
retaining  full  control  over  their  local 
problems. 

There  were,  however,  many,  not  a 
majority,  who  were  disposed  not  to 
stand  in  the  way  of  greater  consolida- 
tion, providing  a  proper  borough  sys- 
tem could  be  arranged. 

On  the  whole  the  question  presented 
many  angles  and  difficulties — obviously 
so  for  the  reason  that  not  alone  was  it 
desirable  to  consolidate  or  merge  the 
several  cities,  but  also  to  do  away  with 
the  cumbersome  and  overtopping 
county  government  with  its  attendant 
and  expensive  duplications.  Maintain- 
ing seven  separate  municipal  govern- 
ments in  a  congested  metropolitan  area 
and  on  top  a  county  government,  the 
activities  of  which  parallel  in  many 
instances  the  activities  of  the  cities, 
could  only  result  in  a  conflict  of  ad- 
ministrative authority  and  was  bound 
to  cause  a  great  waste  of  time,  energy 
and  money.  The  question  was  how  to 
bring  the  matter  to  a  vote,  and  to 
enable  the  people  of  the  several  cities 
to  vote  intelligently,  show  them  their 
partnership  in  the  new  government. 
The  only  way  was  to  change  the  con- 
stitution of  the  state  and  permit  the 
drafting  of  a  charter  for  consolidation 
prior  to  submitting  the  question  at  an 
election. 

WHY  THE  OLD  PROVISION  IS  UNUSED 

The  Constitution  already  contained 
a  provision  under  which  any  city  hav- 
ing a  population  of  50,000  or  more  could 
proceed  to  form  a  consolidated  city  and 
county  government  and  extend  an 
invitation  to  other  contiguous  cities 


and  also  unincorporated  territory  to 
join  with  it.  Unfortunately,  however, 
under  this  section  the  drafting  of  a 
charter  would  come  after  the  proposal 
to  consolidate  was  to  be  voted  upon. 
Thus  in  submitting  the  proposal  to 
other  cities  to  join,  the  cities  would  not 
know  in  advance  the  provisions  of  the 
charter  under  which  they  would  be 
governed.  In  other  words,  they  would 
not  know  their  interest  in  the  partner- 
ship; consequently,  it  was  thought 
futile  to  seek  a  merger  under  provi- 
sions that  placed  the  cart  before  the 
horse.  It  was  obvious  that  before  sub- 
mitting the  question  calling  for  an 
expression  or  vote,  the  charter  or  part- 
nership papers  under  which  the  cities 
and  the  county  were  to  be  asked  to 
federate  should  be  prepared  showing 
the  particular  form  of  government  pro- 
posed and  if  a  system  of  boroughs  was 
contemplated,  the  rights  and  powers  of 
each  borough  should  also  be  shown. 

Local  pride  in  certain  communities, 
particularly  in  the  College  City,  Berke- 
ley, where  the  University  of  the  State 
of  California  is  situated,  made  mani- 
fest that  no  consolidation  could  be 
effected  except  under  a  system  of 
boroughs,  and  even  under  boroughs  it 
was  a  grave  question  as  to  what  admin- 
istrative powers  the  people  of  Berkeley 
and  the  other  localities  would  be  will- 
ing to  relinquish  to  the  central  govern- 
ment. 


THE   NEW  AMENDMENT 

It  was  such  conditions  that  caused 
the  enactment  of  the  latest  amendment 
to  the  State  Constitution,  the  amend- 
ment under  which  the  recent  elections 
in  Alameda  County  were  held.  The 
outward  expressions  of  the  people  prior 
to  the  adoption  of  the  amendment 
appeared  to  favor  some  sort  of  a  con- 
solidation. It  was  difficult,  however, 
to  determine  just  what  sort  should  be 


THE  DEFEAT  OF  CITY-COUNTY   CONSOLIDATION     207 


proposed.  Therefore  the  amendment 
provided  for  consolidation  of  the  whole 
county  or  an  alternative — consolida- 
tion of  a  lesser  area. 

This  amendment  provided  that  the 
interests  of  all  of  the  cities  within  the 
county  (numbering  ten  in  all)  and  that 
of  the  county  may  be  merged  and  con- 
solidated into  one  municipal  govern- 
ment, with  one  set  of  offices,  with  or 
without  a  system  of  boroughs.  The 
amendment  also  provided  that  a  lesser 
area  than  that  of  the  whole  county, 
provided  this  lesser  area  obtained  the 
consent  of  a  majority  of  the  electors  of 
the  whole  county,  may  form  such  a 
consolidated  city  and  county  govern- 
ment, with  the  further  proviso  that 
the  lesser  area  must  include  within  its 
boundary  any  city  having  a  population 
of  150,000  or  over. 

The  amendment  to  the  Constitution 
was  prepared  by  the  Tax  Association  of 
Alameda  County,  and  was  adopted  in 
1918.  Among  other  things,  it  provided : 

That  before  the  question  was  sub- 
mitted to  the  electors  of  the  several 
cities,  fifteen  freeholders  should  be 
elected  from  the  body  of  the  county. 

That  said  freeholders  be  empowered 
to  draft  a  charter  for  a  consolidated 
city  and  county  government  of  the 
whole  county,  with  or  without  a  sys- 
tem of  boroughs. 

That  should  the  freeholders  deter- 
mine a  lesser  area  than  that  of  the 
whole  county  desired  to  consolidate, 
the  freeholders  may  submit  the  ques- 
tion in  the  alternative.  In  any  event 
such  separation  must  have  the  consent 
of  a  majority  vote  of  the  county. 

HISTORY   OF   MOVEMENT 

1920 

Petition  circulated  and  filed  with 
board  of  supervisors  requesting  calling 
election  for  board  of  fifteen  freeholders, 
to  prepare  and  submit  a  charter  for 


consolidated  city  and  county  govern- 
ment. 


Fifteen  freeholders  elected.  Charter 
prepared  and  filed  August  9,  1921. 

Alternative 

Freeholders  decide  to  submit  ques- 
tion in  the  alternative,  that  is,  provid- 
ing that  if  a  majority  favorable  vote 
was  not  obtained  in  all  of  the  cities  in 
the  county  making  consolidation  of  the 
whole  county  possible,  then  a  lesser 
area,  which  area  must  include  any  city 
having  a  population  of  150,000  or  over, 
by  obtaining  consent  of  a  majority  of 
the  electors  in  the  county,  may  proceed 
to  form  a  consolidated  government 
separating  itself  from  the  remainder  of 
the  county. 

Provisions  of  Charter 
The  charter  provided  for  a  borough 
system,  the  boroughs  to  be  the  present 
cities  of  Alameda  County;  boroughs  to 
have  a  small  amount  of  local  autonomy 
in  matters  of  city  planning,  etc. 

Charter  also  provided  for  seven 
councilmen  to  be  elected  from  districts. 
Charter  provided  for  a  city  and  county 
manager  to  be  appointed  by  and  re- 
moved by  council.  Provided  for  mayor 
to  be  selected  by  council  from  its  mem- 
bership. Mayor  to  appoint  members  of 
board  of  education,  nine  in  all;  also  the 
members  of  the  civil  service  commis- 
sion. 

Elective  Officers 

The  council,  judges,  assessor,  auditor, 
and  district  attorney  to  be  elective. 

Appointive  Officers 

All  other  officers  to  be  appointed  by 
the  city  manager. 

Civil  Service  Provisions 
Charter  provided  for  a  system  of 
civil  service,  excluding  therefrom  cer- 
tain heads  of  departments  who  were  to 


208 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[July 


be  appointed  by  city  manager.  Civil 
service  employes  could  be  removed  for 
cause  by  the  manager.  No  right  of 
appeal,  however,  was  provided. 

November  15 

Election  was  held  separately  in  all  of 
the  incorporated  cities  and  towns  in  the 
county.  The  question  submitted  was : 
"  Shall  the  cities  and  the  county  form  a 
consolidated  government  under  a  sys- 
tem of  boroughs  to  be  governed  by  the 
proposed  charter?" 

Result  of  First  Election 
The  proposition  received  a  favorable 
vote  in  only  one  city,  that  of  Oakland. 
All  of  the  other  cities  (nine  in  all)  voted 
against  the  proposal. 

Further  Proceedings 
Oakland,  the  largest  city  having 
voted  favorably  and  the  question  hav- 
ing been  submitted  in  the  alternative, 
the  freeholders  met  again  and  defined 
the  new  boundaries.  The  proposal  was 
then  submitted  as  an  indivisible  ques- 
tion to  the  electors  of  the  whole  county 
at  a  special  election. 

Second  Election  1922 
On  February  7,  1922,  a  special  elec- 
tion was  held.  The  main  question 
submitted  to  the  electors  of  the  whole 
county  as  an  indivisible  question  was: 
"Shall  Oakland,  Piedmont  and  Emery- 
ville be  permitted  to  separate  from  the 
original  county  of  Alameda  and  form  a 
separate  city  and  county  to  be  known 
as  the  City  and  County  of  Oakland?" 
Piedmont  and  Emeryville  were  included 
for  the  reason  that  if  Oakland  separated 
they  would  not  be  contiguous  to  the 
remainder  of  the  county.  Such  a  pro- 
ceeding was  permissible  under  the  Con- 
stitution. 

Light  Vote 

The  proposal  was  defeated  in  the 
whole  county,  the  vote  being  17,000  for 
and  35,000  against. 


The  total  registration  of  the  county 
approximated  158,000,  yet  only  52,000 
votes  were  cast  at  the  election. 

The  light  vote  cast  on  such  an  impor- 
tant question  can  only  be  explained  by 
reason  of  the  strenuous  campaign  by 
the  county  officials  as  well  as  the  offi- 
cials of  the  several  cities.  The  cam- 
paign against  the  proposal  consisted 
mainly  in  attempts  to  cloud  the  issue 
and  create  a  doubt  in  the  minds  of  the 
people.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  in 
matters  of  changes  of  governments  or 
of  laws  whereon  the  people  vote,  the 
opponents  only  have  to  create  a  doubt 
in  the  minds  of  the  people  to  cause 
them  to  stay  away  from  the  polls,  or, 
if  they  vote,  to  vote  "No."  How  often 
have  we  heard:  "  If  in  doubt,  vote  No." 
Four  thousand  employes  in  Alameda 
County,  organized  as  never  before, 
campaigned  strenuously  night  and  day 
for  weeks  creating  that  doubt  with  the 
result  that  many  thousands  of  the 
electors  stayed  away  from  the  polls. 
The  politicians  and  their  friends  are 
always  "on  the  job,"  and  voted. 

At  the  last  presidential  election, 
Alameda  County  cast  110,000  votes. 
At  the  recent  consolidation  election 
less  than  half  of  that  number,  or  only 
52,000  votes,  were  cast  out  of  a  total 
registration  of  158,000. 

At  the  second  election  naturally  the 
division  of  the  county  cut  quite  a  figure. 
Almost  a  unanimous  press  fought  divi- 
sion. The  opposition  of  the  press  plus 
the  opposition  of  4,000  well-organized 
officials  and  public  employes  and  their 
friends  was  too  much  of  an  obstacle  for 
the  proponents  to  overcome. 

Certain  provisions  of  the  proposed 
charter,  too,  had  many  objectors. 
Rightfully  or  wrongfully,  conscien- 
tiously or  unconscientiously,  the  attack 
on  certain  provisions  of  the  charter  lost 
the  proposal  many  votes  and  also 
caused  many  who  otherwise  believed  in 


1922] 


THE   DEFEAT  OF  CITY-COUNTY  CONSOLIDATION     209 


consolidation  to  stay  away  from  the 
polls. 

Chief  Points  of  Attack  by  Opponents 

Opponents  claimed  that  the  election 
of  the  council  by  districts  was  bad  in 
principle  and  savored  getting  back  into 
ward  politics. 

That  a  council  of  seven  having  only 
legislative  powers  was  too  small  and 
not  truly  representative  of  the  whole 
county. 

That  the  appointment  and  removal 
of  the  manager  by  only  four  votes  out 
of  seven  would  tend  to  create  a  political 
machine  and  compel  the  manager  to  be 
always  playing  politics. 

That  the  manager's  power  to  "hire 
and  fire"  for  cause,  without  the  right 
to  appeal,  would  disrupt  civil  service. 
That  the  vast  amount  of  power  given 
the  manager  made  him  a  "Czar." 

That  the  manager  was  not  subject 
to  recall. 

That  the  appointment  of  all  heads 
of  departments  and  boards  by  the 
manager  such  as  the  sheriff,  county 
clerk,  city  engineer,  city  attorney,  chief 
of  police,  fire  chief,  tax  collector,  treas- 
urer, coroner,  director  of  public  works, 
etc.,  would  tend  to  build  up  a  political 
machine  and  was  undemocratic. 

That  the  mayor  should  be  elected  by 
the  people  and  not  selected  by  the  coun- 
cil from  its  membership. 

That  the  appointment  of  the  board 
of  education  by  the  mayor  removed 
the  educational  department  too  far 
from  the  people. 

One  of  the  strongest  objections  was 
to  the  civil  service  provisions,  which 
provisions  did  not  provide  for  the  right 
of  appeal  by  a  discharged  employe. 
The  provisions  only  provided  that  the 
discharged  employe  be  given  a  writ- 
ten statement  of  the  reasons  of  his 
discharge. 

At  the  first  election,  while  many  of 
the  provisions  of  the  charter  were 


objected  to,  the  most  violent  objections 
outside  of  the  city  of  Oakland  were 
directed  against  the  borough  provi- 
sions. The  cities  were  to  be  organized 
as  boroughs,  but  little  or  no  local 
autonomy,  however,  was  granted  the 
boroughs.  They  might  propose,  but 
the  council  of  the  general  government 
could  overrule  in  many  matters. 

THE   MERITS   OF  THE    PROJECT 

At  the  first  election  proponents  of 
consolidation  presented  figures  showing 
that  consolidation  of  all  of  the  cities 
and  the  county  would  save  $1,500,000 
per  year.  Naturally  the  officeholders 
disputed  these  figures.  Their  main 
argument  was  that  the  charter  fixed 
the  salaries  of  only  a  few  of  the  officials 
and  did  not  fix  the  number  of  subordi- 
nates, and  that  no  one  could  tell  just 
what  salaries  or  number  of  employes 
the  new  council  would  allow.  It  was 
also  claimed  that  in  failing  to  fix  the 
number  of  employes  and  their  salaries, 
the  charter  was  wide  open  at  both  ends 
and  in  the  middle.  An  absurd  and 
ridiculous  claim  and  absolutely  without 
merit!  Any  charter  bound  up  with 
limitations  and  restrictions  as  to  the 
number  of  employes  or  the  amount 
that  should  be  paid  said  employes 
would  tie  the  hands  of  government  and 
make  impossible  proper  functioning  of 
departments. 

During  the  campaign  prior  to  the 
second  election  whereat  the  question 
of  Oakland,  Piedmont  and  Emery- 
ville separating  from  the  remainder  of 
the  county  was  submitted,  proponents 
presented  figures  showing  that  the 
area  proposed  to  be  consolidated  and 
therefore  separated  from  the  remainder 
of  the  county  contained  about  64  per 
cent  of  the  population  and  about  the 
same  per  cent  of  the  wealth  or  assessed 
valuation.  They  also  presented  data 
and  figures  showing  that  under  such 


210 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[July 


consolidation  tangible  savings  of 
$776,000  annually  could  be  effected. 
These  figures  were  prepared  by  the  Tax 
Association  after  a  thorough  survey  of 
the  situation.  The  figures  were  sub- 
mitted to  and  gone  over  by  two  of  the 
leading  certified  accountant  firms  in  the 
state.  The  two  firms  certified  that 
"the  annual  saving  which  should  be 
effected  by  the  proper  consolidation 
under  the  charter  is  approximately 
$776,000,  without  taking  into  consider- 
ation or  inclusion  of  economies  that 
should  be  effected  through  centralized 
purchasing  of  supplies  and  greater  effi- 
ciency of  administration." 

Opponents  of  consolidation  wanted 
proof  and  still  disputed  the  savings, 
claiming  such  savings  were  impossible 
to  figure.  I  have  always  wondered  how 
you  could  absolutely  prove  the  cost  of 
a  government  before  it  was  established. 

THE   OPPOSITION 

During  the  campaign  prior  to  the 
first  election,  much  bitterness  was  dis- 
played in  certain  localities — all  of  it 
seemed  to  be  directed  at  Oakland.  The 
several  localities  claimed  that  Oakland 
was  trying  to  gobble  them  up.  The 
bitterness  became  acute.  The  state- 
ments made  by  Alameda  and  other 
smaller  cities  to  the  effect  that  they 
would  never  vote  at  the  election  or 
later  to  join  Oakland,  made  it  manifest 
that  if  Oakland  voted  favorably  at  the 
first  election,  and  if  it  ever  wished  to 
rid  itself  of  dual  government  it  must 
continue  the  fight  even  if  it  had  to  go  it 
alone. 

The  result  of  the  first  election  showed 
that  although  the  proposal  was  defeated 
as  to  consolidation  of  the  whole  county, 
nevertheless,  Oakland  had  voted  fa- 
vorably; consequently  the  calling  of  a 
second  election  on  the  alternative  prop- 
osition was  mandatory  in  order  to 
determine  whether  the  people  of  the 


whole  county  would  permit  Oakland 
to  separate.  Inasmuch  as  the  second 
election  was  mandatory  there  seemed 
to  be  nothing  else  for  the  proponents 
to  do,  but  to  still  favor  the  plan. 

The  question  to  be  determined  by 
the  original  advocates  of  consolidation 
and  those  who  had  carried  the  blunt  of 
the  campaign  up  to  the  first  election 
was :  Shall  Oakland  with  60  per  cent  of 
the  county's  population  and  paying  60 
per  cent  of  the  cost  of  county  govern- 
ment continue  under  its  dual  and  ex- 
pensive system,  or  shall  it  proceed  and 
make  a  start  by  shaking  off  the  dual 
system  and  demonstrate  the  efficiency 
of  a  consolidated  city  and  county  and 
the  manager  plan,  trusting  that  later 
the  localities  then  opposed  would  vote 
to  join. 

Thus  a  condition  was  changed — for 
it  must  be  truly  said  that  the  Tax  Asso- 
ciation and  other  civic  organizations, 
who  for  years  had  favored  city  and 
county  consolidation,  always  proceeded 
upon  the  theory  that  any  consolidation 
contemplated  should  at  least  include 
the  whole  metropolitan  area.  In  that 
it  did  not  so  include  this  area  they  were 
disappointed.  They  figured,  however, 
that  half  a  loaf  was  better  than  none, 
and  that  it  might  eventually  lead  up  to 
greater  consolidation. 

The  same  arguments  against  the  pro- 
posal and  the  charter  were  used  in  the 
second  election  as  were  used  in  the  first, 
with  the  additional  argument  against 
division  of  the  county.  The  anti- 
division  cry  was  the  strongest  and  in 
the  final  analysis  had  more  to  do  with 
defeat  at  the  second  election  than 
anything  else. 

Many  well-intentioned  plans  fail. 
This  will  be  ever  so  unless  all  of  the 
people  interest  themselves  in  govern- 
ment, at  least  interest  themselves  to 
the  extent  of  voting  at  all  elections. 
For  the  time  being  consolidation  of 
Alameda  County  and  its  cities  has  been 


1922] 


THE  DEFEAT  OF  CITY-COUNTY  CONSOLIDATION     211 


defeated.  But  in  this  defeat  even  the 
bitterest  opponents  concede  that  some 
day  the  hopes  of  the  consolidationists 
will  be  realized.  The  opponents  polled 
their  full  strength.  For  some  reason 
over  100,000  registered  electors  out  of 
a  total  of  158,000  registered  failed  to 
vote. 

NEXT? 

In  the  result  we  have  witnessed  po- 
litical history  repeating  itself.  Every 
forward-looking  program  that  has  been 
proposed,  since  the  birth  of  the  Nation, 
has,  as  a  rule,  been  defeated  on  the  first 
attempt.  All  new  departures  have 
suffered  similar  fate,  but  they  have  won 
out  in  the  end  just  as  consolidation  and 
the  manager  type  of  government  for 
Alameda  County  will  win  in  the  end. 
Those  who  for  many  years  have  been 
on  the  firing  line  "keeping  the  light  of 
publicity  burning"  in  the  campaign 
for  better  government  have  not  be- 
come disheartened  because  of  defeat. 
They  realize  that  the  overpowering 
menace  confronting  all  such  move- 
ments is  public  apathy.  They  take 
some  hope  from  the  fact  that  other 
localities  throughout  the  United  States 
are  coming  to  the  realization  that 
county  government  as  organized  to- 
day is  a  failure;  that  its  abolition  in 
all  metropolitan  areas  is  being  advo- 
cated throughout  the  United  States .  In 


Cleveland,  Minneapolis,  Milwaukee, 
Los  Angeles,  Portland  and  many  other 
places,  the  movement  has  taken  root. 

The  public  has  never  failed  in  finally 
securing  changes  or  reforms  that  it 
demands.  The  matter,  however,  is 
one  that  entirely  rests  in  the  hands  of 
the  people,  but  the  people  must  be  edu- 
cated to  a  proper  understanding  of  the 
business  of  government. 

When  the  people  recognize  that  gov- 
ernment is  a  business,  and  that  it  is  sus- 
ceptible of  efficient  conduct  and  that 
the  best  interests  of  the  Nation  demand 
efficiency  and  economy  in  the  expend- 
ing of  public  funds;  when  they  realize 
that  the  government  is  theirs  and  that 
civic  duty  demands  that  they  take  part 
in  all  elections,  then  will  the  way  be 
cleared  for  a  type  of  community  gov- 
ernment that  will  eliminate  every  form 
of  county  and  municipal  waste,  substi- 
tuting therefor  the  highest  type  of  a 
city  and  county  government  with  its 
great  benefits  in  place  of  the  archaic 
patchwork  now  so  inadequately  serving 
the  needs  of  the  communities. 

It  is  too  early  to  predict  the  next  step. 
The  movement  for  a  more  efficient 
government  in  Alameda  County  is  not 
dead.  The  work  already  done  has  not 
been  wasted.  If  it  has  helped  to  teach 
the  people  to  know  their  local  govern- 
ment, it  was  worth  the  time  and  effort 
spent  in  the  campaign. 


BY  J.  D.  BARNETT 

In  academic  discussions  it  used  to  be  often  asserted  that  judicial 
officers  might  be  recalled  for  making  correct  but  unpopular  decisions. 
Now  at  last  we  have  a  case  similar  to  it.  :: 


EARLY  in  March,  1921,  an  order  of 
the  public  service  commission  author- 
izing what  seemed  to  be  an  outrageous 
increase  of  telephone  rates,  following 
as  it  did  other  utility  rate  increases, 
aroused  fierce  resentment  throughout 
the  state,  and  immediately  a  move- 
ment to  recall  the  three  commissioners 
began.  But  the  law  protects  officers 
against  recall  until  after  six  months' 
service,  and  thus  only  one  member  of 
the  commission,  the  one  elected  in  the 
state  at  large,  was  subject  to  immedi- 
ate attack.  It  was  the  intention  to 
subject  him  to  a  recall  election  at  the 
same  time  as  the  special  June  refer- 
endum election,  and,  after  getting  the 
"people's  verdict"  in  his  case,  to  settle 
with  the  others^  elected  in  the  two  dis- 
tricts of  the  state,  at  a  later  special 
recall  election. 

A  central  committee  for  the  recall 
campaign  was  formed  in  Portland, 
and,  "to  take  the  liability  from  indi- 
viduals, give  the  committee  standing  in 
law,  and  give  the  organization  perma- 
nence," the  committee  was  incor- 
porated. Support  came  from  local 
organizations  in  various  parts  of  the 
state — city  councils,  granges,  special 
committees,  etc.,  and  many  individ- 
uals volunteered  to  circulate  recall 
petitions.  The  Law  and  Order  League 
opposed  the  recall.  Portland  con- 
tinued to  be  the  center  of  agitation 
throughout  the  campaign. 

In  the  formal  charge  against  each 


commissioner  the  recall  is  demanded 
"for  the  reason  that  he  is  inefficient, 
and  fails  to  give  proper  consideration 
to  the  public  interests  in  permitting 
and  fixing  unreasonable  and  unjust 
rates  and  charges  to  be  charged  for 
telephones  by  telephone  companies." 
The  commissioners  answered  that 
their  action  had  been  entirely  justified 
by  the  circumstances  of  the  case. 

Early  in  the  campaign  two  alterna- 
tive remedies  were  suggested — peti- 
tion to  the  commission  for  a  rehearing 
and  appeal  to  the  courts.  The  latter 
was  avoided,  but  a  petition  for  re- 
hearing was  filed.  After  a  month's  de- 
lay the  commission  ordered  a  re-hear- 
ing, finally  fixed  for  the  middle  of  July. 

Apparently  enough  signatures  for 
the  petition  against  the  commissioner- 
at-large  (twenty-five  per  cent  of  the 
number  of  voters  who  voted  at  the 
preceding  general  election  for  justice  of 
the  supreme  court)  had  been  obtained 
before  the  rehearing  opened.  By  that 
time  the  six  months'  exemption  period 
for  the  district  commissioners  had  ex- 
pired, and  the  "crusade"  against  them 
began  immediately.  The  recall  com- 
mittee declared  they  had  no  hope  of 
any  favorable  results  from  the  rehear- 
ing, but  they  were  accused  of  using 
the  threat  of  recall  to  influence  the 
decision  of  the  commission.  That 
decision  was  not  made  until  late  in 
February.  The  commission  then  reaf- 
firmed their  original  order  in  every  par- 


212 


1922] 


FIGHTING  RATE  INCREASES  BY  THE  RECALL 


213 


ticular,  and  at  the  same  time  delivered 
a  violent  and  absolutely  uncalled  for 
tirade  against  the  petitioners  for  their 
affrontery  in  demanding  the  rehearing. 
This  aroused  general  indignation,  and 
greatly  stimulated  the  recall  move- 
ment. Enough  signatures  to  the  peti- 
tions against  the  commissioner-at-large 
and  one  of  the  district  commissioners 
were  obtained  in  time  to  fix  the  recall 
election  at  the  same  time  as  the  direct 
primary  election  in  May.  Not  enough 
signatures  to  the  petition  against  the 
other  commissioner  were  obtained. 

Not  a  suggestion  of  candidates  to 
succeed  the  commissioners  attacked 
was  made  public  until  less  than  two 
weeks  before  the  election.  Then  a 
"somewhat  stormy"  convention  under 
the  auspices  of  the  recall  committee 
nominated  a  candidate  to  oppose  each 
of  the  commissioners,  another  Port- 
land convention  nominated  one  of  the 
candidates  rejected  by  the  committee's 
convention,  and  endorsed  the  other, 
and  a  third  Portland  committee  nom- 
inated two  other  candidates.  Two  of 
the  nominees  declined,  and  so  finally 
two  candidates  appeared  on  the  ballot 
opposed  to  one  of  the  commissioners 
attacked,  and  one  candidate  against 
the  other. 

Before  the  recall  petitions  were  filed, 
an  alternative  to  the  recall  was  pro- 
posed— the  initiation  of  a  measure  or 
measures  to  be  submitted  at  the  No- 
vember general  election,  which  would 


substitute  a  commission  appointed  by 
the  governor  for  the  elective  commis- 
sion, and  authorize  a  review  of  the 
rate  decision  by  the  new  commission. 
Such  measures  were  finally  drafted 
and  petitions  circulated  for  them  by 
the  Hotelmen's  Association,  whose 
members  had  been  hard  hit  by  the 
rate  increases.  The  (very  probable) 
approval  of  these  measures  would  ter- 
minate the  office  of  all  the  commis- 
sioners immediately,  and  thus  make 
the  terms  of  the  officers  substituted 
by  the  recall  election  very  short;  and 
the  term  of  the  commissioner-at-large 
attacked  would  expire  in  December 
anyway.  But  the  recall  committee 
saw  no  incompatibility  between  the 
two  movements,  and  proceeded  to  file 
the  recall  petitions.  The  commis- 
sioners attacked  refused  to  resign 
(which  they  may  do  under  the  law  to 
avoid  a  recall),  and  a  recall  election 
was  duly  ordered. 

Arguments  for  the  alternative  of  the 
initiative  measures,  in  justification  of 
the  increased  rates,  against  the  recall 
as  a  method  of  correcting  administra- 
tive errors,  against  the  principle  of  the 
recall  system  itself,  and  against  the 
danger  in  putting  unknown  individuals 
into  office  apparently  did  not  prevail 
with  most  of  the  voters,  who  felt 
themselves  both  unduly  burdened  by 
the  increased  rates  and  insulted  by 
the  commissioners.  The  commissioners 
were  both  recalled  by  large  majorities. 


CONGRESS  CONSIDERS  THE  FEDERAL 

EMPLOYEE 

BY  ROBERT  MOSES 

A  decade  of  agitation,  three  years  of  investigation  and  a  compromise 
in  sight.  Budget  and  Civil  Service — the  distinction  between  the  job 
and  the  employee.  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  :: 


THE  movement  to  improve  the  gov- 
ernment personnel  and  to  establish  a 
definite  and  equitable  employment 
policy  was  slow  to  reach  Washington. 
The  larger  cities  and  states  became 
dissatisfied  with  the  negative  recruit- 
ing aspects  of  civil  service  reform  and 
proceeded  by  means  of  salary  stand- 
ardization, budget  reform  and  civil 
service  reorganization  to  develop  a 
positive  program  of  personnel  manage- 
ment long  before  Congress  gave  any 
serious  thought  to  this  question.  There 
are  at  least  three  reasons  why  Con- 
gress has  been  slow  to  act.  In  the 
first  place,  the  central  group  of  federal 
employees  in  the  District  of  Columbia 
do  not  vote  and  the  other  federal  em- 
ployees, excepting  the  postal  service 
which  is  already  fairly  well  classified 
and  a  very  few  others,  are  too  scattered 
to  be  politically  influential.  In  the 
second  place,  the  absence  of  an  execu- 
tive federal  budget  system  and  un- 
co-ordinated  congressional  committee 
appropriation  methods  prevented  the 
development  of  any  uniform  policy. 
In  the  third  place,  the  improvement 
and  extension  of  civil  service  has  been 
and  to  a  considerable  extent  still  is 
positively  unpopular  in  a  number  of 
influential  circles  in  Congress.  In 
these  circles  the  civil  service  principle 
is  reluctantly  recognized  only  on  ac- 
count of  the  weight  of  popular  opinion 


and  only  in  its  negative  aspects.  Some 
of  these  groups  are  frankly  hard-boiled 
and  demand  the  spoils  for  the  victors, 
some  render  lip  service  to  the  merit 
system  but  think  it  should  be  re- 
stricted to  what  they  call  subordinates 
or  clerks,  and  some  loudly  proclaim 
that  no  successful  business,  least  of  all 
a  government,  can  be  run  on  civil  serv- 
ice principles  and  that  if  a  good  two- 
fisted  business  man  could  fire  half  the 
federal  employees,  there  would  be 
plenty  of  good  jobs  for  the  rest  with- 
out any  uplift  surveys.  All  of  these 
groups,  by  whatever  name  or  creed, 
unite  in  a  common  dislike  of  personnel 
improvement  and  give  a  ready  ear  to 
the  wildest  stories  of  inefficiency,  loaf- 
ing and  crookedness  in  the  government 
departments. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  what  proportion 
of  Congress  resides  in  the  anti-civil 
service  groups.  It  is  certainly  a  stead- 
ily decreasing  minority;  and  it  is  only 
fair  to  say  that  the  reclassification 
movement  has  done  much  to  enlighten 
Congress  on  the  subject  of  federal 
employment,  and  that  the  great  ma- 
jority in  Congress,  having  recognized 
the  problem,  is  genuinely  anxious  to 
cope  with  it. 

n 

The  awakening  of  Congress  was 
largely  due  to  the  employees  them- 
selves. They  organized  as  a  union 
affiliated  with  the  American  Federa- 


214 


1922]     CONGRESS  CONSIDERS  THE  FEDERAL  EMPLOYEE        215 


tion  of  Labor.  As  an  academic  ques- 
tion it  may  be  interesting  to  discuss 
whether  or  not  government  employees 
should  unionize.  But  this  was  far 
from  an  academic  question.  The  more 
progressive  and  dissatisfied  among  the 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  federal  em- 
ployees believed,  and  probably  rightly, 
that  unionizing  presented  the  only  way 
of  improving  intolerable  conditions. 
The  head  of  the  Federation  of  Federal 
Employees  had  observed  the  results  of 
intelligent  budget  making,  modern 
civil  service  administration,  and  salary 
standardization  in  other  government 
units.  He  carried  his  ideas  to  Wash- 
ington and  in  the  course  of  time  with 
the  influence  of  his  union  and  of  other 
interested  groups  inside  and  outside 
of  the  service  succeeded  in  getting  a 
congressional  committee  appointed  to 
study  employment  and  salary  condi- 
tions in  the  federal  service  with  a 
view  to  reclassifying  the  service.  The 
so-called  Reclassification  Commission 
consisted  of  three  lame  duck  congress- 
men who  had  been  defeated  for  re-elec- 
tion and  were  kept  on  the  federal  pay- 
roll as  members  of  this  Commission, 
and  three  senators.  Of  the  lame  duck 
congressmen  one  was  a  real  asset  to 
the  commission  and  was  to  a  consider- 
able extent,  responsible  for  its  produc- 
ing anything  of  value.  Of  the  three 
senators,  two  gave  very  little  time  to 
the  Commission  and  the  third,  who  had 
taken  up  aviation  as  the  serious  busi- 
ness of  life,  gave  practically  no  time  at 
all.  The  Commission  employed  a  firm 
of  professional  accountants  to  direct 
the  staff  work,  and  brought  about  the 
assignment  of  a  number  of  employees 
from  the  various  departments  to  assist 
in  the  specialized  subdivisions  of  the 
study.  An  immense  amount  of  in- 
formation was  collected,  most  of  it  un- 
fortunately in  a  form  not  readily  kept 
up  to  date.  The  work  was  fairly  well 
directed  but  was  necessarily  uneven 


because  of  the  character  of  the  force 
which  was  employed.  Toward  the  end 
of  the  study  the  Commission  foolishly 
divided  the  responsibility  for  the  staff 
work  which  came  to  an  abrupt  end 
when  only  enough  funds  remained  to 
print  the  report.  The  report  itself  was 
a  monumental  work  containing  much 
valuable  information  and  a  voluminous 
bill  and  classification  such  as  no  Con- 
gress of  this  generation  would  con- 
ceivably adopt. 

The  principal  defects  pointed  out  by 
the  Commission  in  the  personnel  ad- 
ministration of  the  federal  government 
were  lack  of  uniformity  in  salaries, 
failure  of  salaries  to  keep  pace  with  the 
cost  of  living,  absence  of  proper  stand- 
ards relating  salary  to  work  performed 
and  to  titles,  the  existence,  side  by  side, 
of  unrestricted  lump  sum  appropria- 
tions and  of  rigid  statutory  appropria- 
tions, the  absence  of  a  proper  promo- 
tion system  and  of  a  plan  of  regular 
increases  in  salary  within  grades,  and 
finally  the  absence  of  uniform  rules 
governing  working  hours,  sick  leave, 
housing  and  welfare,  safety,  proba- 
tion, training,  testing  of  efficiency  and 
transfers.  The  Commission  concluded 
that  the  results  of  these  defects  were 
impaired  morale,  excessive  turnover, 
waste  and  inefficiency  in  the  govern- 
ment service,  and  a  general  condition 
of  employment  unattractive  to  a  de- 
sirable type  of  technical  employee. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
Reclassification  Commission's  report 
contained  most  of  the  fundamental 
principles  on  which  any  sound  plan  of 
improvement  in  government  personnel 
must  rest.  However,  the  bill  and 
classification  in  which  these  principles 
were  incorporated  were  in  many  re- 
spects defective  or  ill-considered.  The 
bill  contained  detailed  welfare  and 
civil  service  provisions  which  should 
either  have  been  the  subject  of  execu- 
tive order  or  departmental  regulation, 


216 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[July 


or  should,  at  least,  have  been  incor- 
porated in  a  separate  bill.  The  pro- 
posed classification  was  absurdly  com- 
plicated, contained  many  errors  and 
inequalities,  and  would  have  been  the 
subject  of  endless  controversy  in  Con- 
gress if  anyone  had  taken  it  seriously. 
The  entire  administration  of  the  clas- 
sification was  placed  under  the  civil 
service  commission  including  fixation 
and  control  over  all  salaries  and  the 
allocation  of  all  employees  to  their 
proper  positions  under  the  classifica- 
tion. 

Ill 

The  report  and  bill  attracted  a  great 
deal  of  attention  and  considerable  fa- 
vorable comment  but  made  no  progress. 
The  Federation  of  Federal  Employees 
then  employed  the  writer  of  this  arti- 
cle, who,  with  Mr.  Morris  B.  Lambie, 
prepared  a  brief  for  the  Federation, 
recommending  a  revision  of  the  re- 
classification  bill.  In  addition  to  the 
criticisms  mentioned  above,  this  brief 
pointed  out  that  the  Reclassification 
Commission  had  failed  to  consider  the 
imminent  passage  of  a  budget  bill.  It 
was  pointed  out  that  about  half  the 
work  of  the  Budget  Bureau  should  deal 
directly  with  personnel  and  organiza- 
tion and  that  the  proposed  control 
over  salaries  by  the  Civil  Service  Com- 
mission would  seriously  interfere  with 
the  functions  of  the  Budget  Bureau. 
It  was  also  pointed  out  that  numerous 
positions  in  all  branches  of  the  gov- 
ernment were  not  in  the  classified 
service  and  that  there  was  no  likeli- 
hood that  Congress  would  consent  to 
place  them  there.  The  fact  was  also 
emphasized  that  a  centralized  employ- 
ment agency  is  workable  in  private 
industry  but  impossible  in  the  federal 
service  where  there  is  no  one  final  au- 
thority. The  theory  of  separation  of 
powers  and  of  checks  and  balances 
presents  a  serious  obstacle  to  the  es- 


tablishment in  our  federal  government 
of  a  uniform  and  equitable  policy  of 
employment.  Both  Congress  and  the 
Executive  are  slow  to  surrender  their 
prerogatives.  The  establishment  of 
an  executive  budget  system  has  served 
in  part  to  bridge  this  gap.  What  is 
required  in  addition  is  a  standard 
classification  of  positions  and  salaries 
constituting  an  agreement  renewed 
from  year  to  year  and  always  reflect- 
ing the  needs  of  the  service  and  the 
economic  conditions  of  the  day.  Under 
this  agreement  Congress  assures  the 
Executive  of  adequate  salaries  and  em- 
ployment conditions  for  the  govern- 
ment personnel,  and  the  Executive 
promises  to  recommend  the  most 
economical  establishments  possible 
through  his  Budget  Bureau,  and  after 
the  budget  is  adopted  agrees  through 
the  Civil  Service  Commission  to  ob- 
tain and  maintain  a  qualified  loyal 
and  efficient  personnel.  The  relative 
functions  of  the  Budget  Bureau  and 
Civil  Service  Commission  are  of  im- 
mense importance.  The  control  over 
salaries  and  grades  of  positions  and  the 
recommendation  of  changes  to  Con- 
gress is  a  budgetary  function,  indeed 
it  is  fully  half  and  the  most  difficult 
half  of  the  work  of  a  budget  bureau. 
The  problem  of  filling  positions,  of 
dealing  with  the  employee  as  an  indi- 
vidual, is  the  function  of  the  Civil 
Service  Commission.  The  brief  which 
we  presented  indicated  that  the  most 
serious  error  of  the  Reclassification 
Commission  lay  in  its  attempt  to  place 
in  the  hands  of  the  Civil  Service  Com- 
mission powers  which  inherently  be- 
longed to  Congress  or  to  the  Budget 
Bureau. 

The  subsequent  history  of  em- 
ployment reorganization  centers  about 
this  problem  of  administration  of 
standards;  although  many  other  prob- 
lems and  personalities  deserve  men- 
tion. This  history  is  most  readily 


1922]      CONGRESS  CONSIDERS  THE  FEDERAL  EMPLOYEE        217 


followed  by  a  brief  analysis  of  the 
various  classification  bills  introduced 
in  Congress.  There  were  four  such 
bills. 

(1)  The     original     Reclassification 
Commission  bill  introduced  by  Repre- 
sentative  Fairchild   which    made    no 
progress. 

(2)  A   bill   introduced   by   Senator 
Smoot  and  Representative  Wood  which 
would  have  placed  the  entire  interpre- 
tation and  administration  of  a  skele- 
ton classification  in  the  hands  of  the 
United  States  Bureau  of  Efficiency. 
This  bill  was  bitterly  opposed  by  all 
the  groups  interested  in  sound  reclas- 
sification.     It  was  finally  voted  down 
in  the  House  section  by  section,  and 
as  a  whole. 

(3)  Senator    Sterling's    Bill    which 
placed  the  administration  of  the  new 
classification  in  the  Civil  Service  Com- 
mission but  otherwise  followed  in  most 
essentials  the  Lehlbach  Bill  mentioned 
below. 

(4)  The    Lehlbach    Bill.    This  bill 
was  originally  prepared  by  the  writer 
of  this  article  who  was  employed  as  a 
technical  advisor  by  the  Chairman  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  Com- 
mittee on  Reform  in  the  Civil  Service, 
Frederick  R.  Lehlbach  of  New  Jersey, 
to  revise  the  Reclassification  Commis- 
sion's report  and  bill.     This  was  done 
with  the  assistance  of  representatives 
of  the  departments  and  of  the  Institute 
of  Government  Research  and  resulted 
in  the  so-called  Lehlbach  Bill,  which, 
in  a  revised  and  shortened  form  with 
the  inevitable  compromises,  passed  the 
House  by  a  vote  of  244  to  65  and  has 
been  reported  favorably  with  amend- 
ments by  Senator  Sterling,  chairman 
of   the    Senate    Committee    on    Civil 


Service.  The  principal  amendment 
took  the  administration  of  the  entire 
classification  out  of  the  Budget  Bureau 
and  placed  it  back  under  the  Civil 
Service  Commission  and  also  gave  the 
Civil  Service  Commission  wide  powers 
to  revise  the  entire  classification  which 
the  Lehlbach  Bill  intended  to  leave  in 
the  hands  of  Congress.  The  Lehl- 
bach Bill  has  recently  t>een  referred 
to  the  Senate  Appropriations  Com- 
mittee for  consideration  of  compen- 
sation schedules  only.  It  is  opposed 
by  Senator  Smoot,  but  is  apparently 
scheduled  by  the  majority  for  favor- 
able report  if  and  when  attention 
can  be  diverted  from  the  tariff,  soldier 
bonus  and  other  hot  weather  subjects. 
The  battle  over  the  administration  of 
the  classification  will  be  waged  all 
over  again  if  the  Senate  adopts  the 
Lehlbach  Bill  in  its  present  form,  and 
there  are  other  controversial  matters 
to  be  settled,  but  some  favorable  ac- 
tion is  fairly  certain  before  Congress 
adjourns. 

The  writer  has  been  a  little  too  close 
to  the  machinery  not  to  feel  the  pound- 
ing and  grinding  due  to  poor  repair 
work,  and  the  rattling  of  the  various 
monkey  wrenches  carelessly  or  mali- 
ciously dropped  into  the  works.  It  is 
impossible  to  feel  unalloyed  enthu- 
siasm for  a  product  which  has  under- 
gone so  many  dubious  changes  and 
whose  most  essential  principle  is  in 
doubt;  but  the  bill  in  any  event  rep- 
resents an  immense  amount  of  con- 
structive effort  on  the  part  of  many 
earnest  people,  and  even  if  it  passes  in 
its  present  form  will  do  more  than  any 
one  act  since  the  establishment  of 
civil  service  in  1883  to  lift  up  the 
morale  of  the  federal  service. 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


I.    GOVERNMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION 

The  Bacharach  Bill  to  limit  the  jurisdiction  of      entirely  new  record  must  be  provided,  so  that  all 


United  States  district  and  circuit  courts  in  pub- 
lic utility  rate  cases,  a  bill  of  unusual  interest  to 
cities,  has  been  introduced  in  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives by  the  Honorable  Isaac  Bacharach, 
of  New  Jersey.  It  has  been  the  subject  of  special 
hearings  before  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary 
and  has  received  extensive  public  discussion.  It 
provides  in  states  with  machinery  for  public 
utility  rate  regulation,  that  in  any  case  when 
rates  have  been  fixed  by  a  state  commission  and 
are  not  acceptable  to  the  company,  and  if  they 
are  subject  to  review  by  the  state  courts,  then 
the  company  must  first  exhaust  the  possibility 
of  redress  in  the  state  courts  before  it  may  pro- 
ceed to  the  federal  courts  for  relief  from  the 
order. 

At  the  present  time,  if  a  company  is  dissatisfied 
with  the  rates  fixed  by  a  commission,  it  has  the 
choice  of  going  either  to  a  state  court  or  pro- 
ceeding directly  to  the  United  States  District 
Court,  with  the  right  in  either  course  of  final 
appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States.  The  purpose  of  the  Bacharach  bill  is  to 
abolish  the  second  course,  and  to  limit  the  com- 
pany to  the  first  line  of  action.  While  in  the 
great  majority  of  cases,  in  the  past,  the  com- 
panies have  resorted  to  the  state  courts,  recently 
in  some  very  important  cases  they  have  pro- 
ceeded directly  to  the  federal  courts  for  injunc- 
tions against  rates  fixed  by  commissions.  This 
course  has  been  taken  notably  by  the  Public 
Service  Corporation  of  New  Jersey  against  elec- 
tric railway  rates  fixed  by  the  New  Jersey  Board 
of  Public  Utility  Commissioners  and  by  the  New 
York  Telephone  Company  against  telephone 
rates  fixed  by  the  Public  Service  Commission  of 
the  State  of  New  York. 

There  are  two  arguments  of  public  impor- 
tance in  favor  of  the  Bacharach  bill.  The  first  is 
that  the  state  courts  are  much  closer  to  local 
conditions  and  are  thus  better  able  to  judge 
properly  all  the  facts  upon  which  the  rates  were 
based.  The  second  is  that  in  the  state  courts  the 
facts  and  records  on  which  the  commission  made 
its  order  will  be  reviewed  and  will  be  received 
directly  as  evidence,  while  in  the  federal  court  an 


the  extensive  work  of  appraisal,  receiving  proof, 
sifting  evidence,  analyzing  costs,  etc.,  will  have  to 
be  done  over  again  without  regard  to  the  special 
prior  work  of  the  commission. 

If  the  practice  of  direct  appeal  to  federal 
courts  were  to  become  extensive,  there  would  be 
inevitable  duplication  of  work,  and  piling  up  of 
unjustified  expense.  Moreover,  the  companies 
in  keenly  contested  cases  would  hold  back  on 
evidence  before  the  commissions, — depending  on 
the  new  record  before  the  federal  court, — and 
thus  cut  into  the  effectiveness  of  the  commis- 
sions' decisions.  The  fixing  of  rates  and  other 
matters  of  regulation  are  primarily  of  local  con- 
cern; the  commissions,  although  subject  to  seri- 
ous criticism,  are  special  bodies,  with  technical 
facilities  to  carry  out  state  policies.  The  devel- 
opment of  desirable  local  regulation  should  not 
be  impeded  by  appeal  to  federal  courts,  which 
are  not  properly  equipped  to  handle  the  special 
and  extremely  technical  cases. 

The  United  States  District  Court  of  the  South- 
ern District  of  New  York  has  issued  an  injunc- 
tion against  the  telephone  rates  above  referred 
to.  The  Public  Service  Commission  had  de- 
voted many  months  to  investigation  and  proba- 
bly because  of  unstable  industrial  conditions,  had 
practically  kept  the  case  open  for  adjustment  as 
conditions  warranted.  It  had  first  granted  sub- 
stantial increases;  then  on  further  developments 
had  ordered  a  moderate  reduction;  and  finally  on 
March  3,  effective  April  1,  1922,  ordered  a 
further  cautious  decrease — which  is  the  subject 
of  the  federal  injunction.  The  case  is  exceedingly 
technical,  and  the  commission  with  all  its  special 
facilities  has  had  grave  difficulty  in  reaching  a 
decision.  But  the  order,  painstakingly  if  not 
painfully  derived,  has  been  set  aside  by  the  fed- 
eral court,  merely  on  the  presentation  of  affi- 
davits, and  the  whole  matter  will  go  for  deter- 
mination to  a  master — who,  of  course,  will  know 
nothing  of  the  facts  and,  naturally,  with  lack  of 
special  experience,  will  hardly  be  competent  to 
pass  properly  on  the  facts  when  presented. 

This  is  exactly  the  situation  which  is  sought  to 
be  avoided  by  the  Bacharach  bill,  to  correct  a 


218 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


219 


situation  for  which  the  federal  court  is  not  re- 
sponsible. The  measure  has  already  received  the 
active  support  of  the  City  of  New  York,  Chicago, 
the  New  Jersey  League  of  Municipalities,  also 
many  other  cities  which  cannot  be  individually 
mentioned.  It  should  be  vigorously  backed  by 
every  person  and  organization  interested  in 
effective  public  utility  regulation. 

JOHN  BAUER. 
* 

Arizona  Reforms  its  Finances. — Arizona  has 
made  notable  progress  this  year  in  its  fiscal  con- 
trol. Governor  Campbell  called  a  special  ses- 
sion of  the  legislature  that  met  during  April  and 
upon  his  recommendation  in  view  of  the  pressing 
need  for  economy  passed  a  sweeping  state  finan- 
cial code. 

The  financial  code  provides  that  in  the  future 
appropriations  to  carry  on  the  activities  of 
the  state  government  must  be  included  in  a  sin- 
gle appropriation  bill  that  is  to  be  submitted  by 
the  governor  along  with  the  budget  to  the  legis- 
lature. The  code  abolished  179  continuing,  rev- 
enue, and  indefinite  appropriations.  One  exam- 
ple may  be  cited  that  indicates  what  this  pro- 
vision alone  accomplished.  Before  the  code  was 
enacted  one  department  that  had  four  continuing 
appropriations  expended  approximately  $350,000 
per  year.  Practically  no  attention  had  been 
given  to  the  expenditures  of  this  department  by 
former  legislatures  because  it  did  not  request  any 
appropriation.  After  the  code  was  adopted,  a 
careful  examination  was  made  of  the  expendi- 
tures of  this  department,  and  it  was  found  that 
greater  efficiency  and  a  higher  standard  of  work 
could  be  maintained  with  an  annual  appropria- 
tion of  $92,000. 

The  code  abolished  all  special  funds,  except 
the  permanent  funds  prescribed  by  law,  and 
placed  their  receipts  in  the  general  fund.  There 
are  now  no  idle  or  dormant  funds.  The  invest- 
ment and  management  of  permanent  funds  are 
prescribed  by  the  code.  Expenditures  for  capi- 
tal outlays  cannot  be  made  until  after  the  money 
is  in  the  state  treasury.  Appropriations  are 
classified  and  expenditures  must  be  itemized  ac- 
cording to  an  object  classification  that  is  pre- 
scribed by  the  code. 

Under  the  provisions  of  the  code  no  state 
agency  can  expend  more  than  one-fourth  of  its 
appropriation  for  the  fiscal  year  during  any 
quarter  without  the  approval  of  the  governor 
and  the  auditor  jointly.  By  this  control,  it  is 
proposed  to  eliminate  emergency  and  deficiency 


appropriations  in  the  future.  All  unencumbered 
balances  of  appropriations  revert  to  the  treasury 
at  the  end  of  the  fiscal  year. 

Following  the  enactment  of  the  financial  code, 
the  legislature  repealed  the  appropriations  for 
the  biennium  that  had  been  made  the  preceding 
year  and  enacted  a  general  appropriation  bill 
covering  the  second  year  of  the  biennium — July 
1,  1922  to  June  30,  1923.  By  this  procedure 
savings  were  made  immediately  that  will  reduce 
the  state  tax  levy  for  the  next  fiscal  year  by 
S3|  per  cent. 

A.  E.  BUCK, 
* 

A  Hodge-podge  Administrative  Consolidation 
in  Maryland, — Following  the  recommendations 
of  the  reorganization  commission  in  its  report  to 
Governor  Ritchie  last  September,  the  1922 
Maryland  legislature  enacted  a  state  reorganiza- 
tion bill.  This  bill  was  approved  by  the  gov- 
ernor on  March  1,  and  will  become  effective  on 
January  1,  1923. 

The  reorganization  act  provides  for  placing 
practically  all  the  administrative  agencies  of  the 
state  government,  both  constitutional  and  statu- 
tory, in  nineteen  groups.  These  groups  are  as 
follows:  (1)  executive  department,  (2)  finance 
department,  (3)  department  of  law,  (4)  depart- 
ment of  education,  (5)  state  board  of  agriculture 
and  the  regents  of  the  university  of  Maryland, 
(6)  department  of  militia,  (7)  department  of  wel- 
fare, (8)  department  of  charities,  (9)  department 
of  health,  (10)  department  of  public  works,  (11) 
commissioner  of  motor  vehicles,  (12)  conserva- 
tion department,  (13)  department  of  public  utili- 
ties, (14)  state  industrial  accident  commission, 
(15)  commissioner  of  labor  and  statistics,  (16) 
department  of  state  employment  and  registra- 
tion, (17)  inspector  of  tobacco,  (18)  Maryland 
state  board  of  censors,  and  (19)  Maryland  racing 
commission.  Only  nine  of  these  groups  or  de- 
partments are  headed  by  single  persons;  the  oth- 
ers are  either  administered  by  commissions  or  by 
dual  or  triple-headed  executives.  The  governor 
can  control  by  appointment  the  administration 
of  only  about  hah*  of  the  so-called  department*. 
For  example,  the  department  of  finance  is  to  be 
administered  by  three  constitutional  agencies, 
namely,  the  comptroller  elected  by  the  people, 
the  treasurer  appointed  by  the  legislature,  and 
the  board  of  public  works  consisting  of  the  gov- 
ernor, comptroller,  and  treasurer.  The  depart- 
ment of  law  is  to  be  under  the  constitutional  elec- 
tive attorney  general. 


220 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[July 


The  internal  arrangement  of  some  of  the 
departments  is  anomalous.  The  plan  provides 
that  the  department  of  finance  will  have  three 
divisions,  namely,  financial  review  and  control, 
deposit  and  disbursement,  and  board  of  public 
works.  The  division  of  financial  review  and  con- 
trol is  to  be  headed  by  the  comptroller,  and  the 
division  of  deposit  and  disbursement  is  to  be 
supervised  by  the  treasurer.  The  board  of  public 
works  is  the  fiscal  agent  of  the  state  with  refer- 
ence to  internal  improvements.  Under  the  divi- 
sion of  review  and  control  are  to  be  placed  an 
auditor  and  deputies  appointed  by  and  reporting 
to  the  governor,  the  bank  commissioner,  the  in- 
surance commissioner,  the  state  purchasing 
agent,  and  the  state  tax  commission.  It  would 
seem  hardly  possible  for  the  comptroller  to  per- 
form an  independent  and  unbiased  audit  of  the 
state's  expenditures  and  revenues  with  all  of 
these  administrative  units  working  under  him. 
Of  course,  the  governor  appoints  practically  all 
of  these  officers,  and  this  makes  the  proposed  ar- 
rangement even  more  of  a  hodge-podge.  Then 
the  proposed  executive  department  is  largely  an 
omnium  gatherum.  It  will  contain,  besides  the 
executive  office,  the  secretary  of  state,  the  com- 
missioner of  the  land  office,  the  state  librarian, 
the  parole  commissioner,  the  superintendent  of 
buildings  and  grounds,  the  department  of  legisla- 
tive reference,  and  the  commissioners  for  uni- 
form laws.  Three  of  these  are  constitutional 
agencies. 

Only  a  few  minor  boards  and  agencies  are 
abolished  by  the  act.  In  most  instances  others 
are  created  to  take  their  places,  either  in  an  ad- 
ministrative or  an  advisory  capacity.  The  plan 
of  regrouping  the  activities  apparently  does  not 
reduce  the  number  of  state  officers  and  employ- 
ees, nor  does  it  promise  to  reduce  the  cost  of  ad- 
ministering the  government.  When  the  plan 
goes  into  operation,  it  is  unlikely  that  the  gov- 
ernor will  find  himself  in  any  better  position  for 
managing  the  affairs  of  the  state  than  he  is  at 
the  present  time.  On  the  whole  the  proposed 
plan  appears  not  to  be  a  reorganization  at  all, 
but  merely  a  sort  of  consolidation  under  which 
the  existing  administrative  agencies  are  to  be 
corralled  in  nineteen  groups.  For  this  reason  the 
Maryland  plan  gives  less  promise  of  success  than 
any  plan  of  state  reorganization  yet  adopted. 

A.  E.  BUCK. 
* 

The  Tax  Supervising  and  Conservation  Com- 
mission of  Multnomah  County,  Oregon,  consists 


of  three  persons  appointed  by  the  governor  with 
authority  to  veto  items  in  the  ever-increasing 
budgets  of  17  local  tax  levying  bodies  including 
the  city  of  Portland.  Originally  it  was  merely 
advisory  and  was  ignored;  in  June  1921  it  ac- 
quired this  veto  power.  The  17  governments  are 
the  County,  City  of  Portland,  Dock  Commis- 
sion, Port  Commission,  the  urban  School  Dis- 
trict, 3  towns,  5  water  districts  and  4  drainage 
districts,  the  first  five  being  the  important  ones 
and  involving  the  same  territory. 

Although  tax  limits  have  been  embodied  in  the 
constitution  and  statutes  of  Oregon,  they  have 
proved  to  be  about  as  ineffective  in  really  limit- 
ing tax  burdens  as  in  other  states  of  the  Union. 
In  the  nature  of  the  case,  each  of  the  above 
units  has,  year  after  year,  levied  its  taxes  in  con- 
sideration of  its  own  needs  only,  irrespective  of 
the  relative  needs  and  demands  of  the  other 
bodies.  The  inevitable  result  of  this  decentral- 
ized organization  and  the  failure  to  get  a  com- 
plete financial  picture  of  the  government  as  a 
whole  has  been  the  pyramiding  of  taxes. 

The  new  law  provides  that  the  Tax  Supervis- 
ing and  Conservation  Commission  shall  enforce 
its  budget  decision  by  tax  levy  certifications. 
Briefly,  the  various  levying  boards  are  required, 
on  or  before  the  first  day  of  October  of  each  year, 
to  submit  to  the  Commission  their  detailed  budg- 
et estimates  for  the  next  ensuing  fiscal  year, 
giving  historical  data  for  three  and  a  half  pre- 
ceding years.  Budget  hearings  before  the  Com- 
mission are  provided  for.  The  Commission  is  not 
empowered  to  increase  items  of  the  budget  un- 
less the  increases  are  requested  under  emergency 
circumstances  by  the  levying  bodies,  and  the 
vote  of  the  Commission  has  to  be  unanimous. 
The  law  requires  the  Commission  to  direct  the 
various  levying  bodies  to  levy  certain  taxes  in 
accordance  with  its  findings  and  conclusions.  In 
case  a  levying  board  does  not  levy  the  tax  cer- 
tified by  the  Commission,  the  Commission  is  au- 
thorized to  make  the  levy  on  its  own  account 
and  the  County  Assessor  is  required  to  extend 
the  Commission's  levy  on  the  tax  roll,  all  levies 
extended  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  this  law 
being  declared  null  and  void. 

The  law  has  been  tested  before  the  courts, 
through  the  efforts  of  the  city  administration, 
both  as  to  constitutionality  and  various  points  of 
jurisdiction,  and  has  been  sustained  in  all  re- 
spects. 

Each  one  of  the  seventeen  levying  bodies  was 
given  adequate  hearing  in  October,  1921,  and 


1922] 


NOTES   AND  EVENTS 


221 


in  the  case  of  the  city  and  county  these  hearings 
were  followed  by  special  hearings  at  which  the 
administrative  officers  of  particular  depart- 
ments, bureaus  and  offices  were  questioned  and 
interviewed. 

The  total  reduction  finally  made  was  approxi- 
mately $600,000  which  appears  small  in  amount 
as  compared  with  the  total  levies  of  about 
$10,000,000,  but  it  should  be  noted  that  this  was 
accomplished  without  the  reduction  of  govern- 
mental salaries  and  without  the  elimination  of 
any  lines  of  governmental  activity.  Two-thirds 
of  the  total  reduction  was  accomplished  in  the 
budget  of  the  City  of  Portland. 

In  the  main,  opposition  to  the  work  of  the 
Commission  has  emanated  from  the  City  admin- 
istration, which  has  staged  a  campaign  of  pub- 
licity in  the  press  with  a  view  to  discrediting  the 
Commission. 

There  are  some  who  look  to  government  reor- 
ganization and  consolidation  and  the  establish- 
ment of  an  effective  local  budget  system  as  a 
solution  of  Portland's  difficulties.  But  until  such 
time  as  this  ultimate  remedy  can  be  applied,  they 
are  inclined  to  support  the  new  Commission  in 
its  efforts  to  secure  co-ordination. 

C.  C.  LTJDWIQ, 

Executive  Secretary  of  the  Tax  Supervising  and 
Conservative  Commission. 

* 

The  New  Administrative  Code  in  Washington 
is  working  well,  has  led  to  the  elimination  of  474 
employees  and  the  saving  of  $1,000,000  a  year  in 
the  state's  expenditures,  according  to  Governor 
Louis  F.  Hart,  whose  statement  on  the  first  year 
of  the  code  has  been  issued  in  pamphlet  form  by 
the  Republican  State  Central  Committee.  The 
end  of  the  preceding  biennium  in  March  1921 
found  practically  every  department  asking  for  de- 
ficiency appropriations,  of  which  $1,250,000  were 
granted.  After  the  multifarious  bureaus,  offices 
and  commissions  of  the  state  had  been  grouped 
into  an  orderly  cabinet  system  of  ten  depart- 
ments, the  governor  and  his  department  heads 
undertook  to  live  15%  inside  the  monthly  pro- 
portion of  the  authorizations  and  the  first  year 
closed  with  more  than  15%  unspent  in  the  ad- 
ministration as  a  whole. 
* 

Government  of  South  Carolina  Studied. — 
As  a  result  of  the  studies  made  last  summer  and 
fall  by  the  Joint  Legislative  Committee  on  Econ- 
omy and  Consolidation  considerable  progress 


was  made  at  the  legislative  session  ending  in 
March  in  improving  the  state's  fiscal  and  revenue 
systems  and  in  bettering  the  general  organiza- 
tion and  operating  procedure  of  the  state  gov- 
ernment. 

During  the  summer  and  fall  of  1921  the  Joint 
Legislative  Committee  made  intensive  studies  of 
the  organization,  personnel,  and  operating  pro- 
cedure of  each  of  the  fifty  departments,  institu- 
tions, boards,  and  commissions  constituting  the 
executive  branch  of  the  state  government  and 
also  of  the  legislative  and  judicial  branches.  In 
this  study,  as  well  as  in  its  analysis  of  the  rev- 
enue problems  and  the  drafting  of  revenue  and 
other  bills,  the  Committee  secured  the  services 
of  Griffenhagen  &  Associates,  Ltd.,  of  Chicago, 
who  supplied  experts  in  government  finance  and 
accounting,  organization,  engineering,  education, 
social  welfare,  office  administration,  and  insti- 
tution management,  including  Fred  Telford, 
Hugh  J.  Reber,  W.  T.  Middlebrook,  and  G.  R. 
Haigh. 

The  attention  given  to  the  revenue  measures, 
coupled  with  the  short  session  of  only  two 
months,  prevented  the  Legislature  from  giving 
to  the  Committee's  economy  measures  the  at- 
tention they  would  otherwise  have  received. 
Though  the  studies  of  the  experts  indicated  that 
the  state  government  is  economically  adminis- 
tered, the  Committee  recommended  that  the 
operating  costs  be  reduced  by  about  ten  per  cent 
of  the  amounts  appropriated  for  1921  and  pointed 
out  just  how  these  reductions  could  be  made 
without  cutting  state  expenditures  for  schools, 
highways,  health,  or  other  legitimate  activities. 
Specific  examples  of  bad  internal  organization, 
overmanning,  ineffective  procedure,  poor  equip- 
ment, and  other  wastes  were  cited.  The  need  of 
consolidations  was  pointed  out  and  eleven  spe- 
cific consolidations  recommended.  Complete  re- 
form of  the  state's  auditing  system  was  strongly 
urged  in  order  to  prevent  waste  and  extrava- 
gance on  the  part  of  several  state  agencies.  In 
the  pressure  at  the  end  of  the  session  when  the 
revenue  measures  were  out  of  the  way  it  proved 
impossible  to  accomplish  a  great  deal  with  these 
matters  but  several  marked  improvements  were 
made  and  a  number  of  state  agencies  put  on  no- 
tice to  mend  their  ways;  some  have  taken  effec- 
tive steps  since  the  Legislature  adjourned  to 
carry  out  the  Committee's  recommendations, 
thus  making  legislative  action  unnecessary.  It 
seems  very  likely  that  next  January  the  Legis- 
lature to  be  elected  in  November  will  have  be- 


222 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[July 


fore  it  from  the  beginning  of  the  session  the  prob- 
lem of  putting  into  effect  the  Committee's  vari- 
ous recommendations  as  to  the  steps  to  be  taken 
to  effect  every  possible  economy. 

SENATOR  NEILS  CHRISTENSEN, 
Chairman  Committee  on  Economy  and  Consolida- 
tion. 

* 

Recent  Finance  Reforms  in  Nebraska. — Un- 
der the  leadership  of  Governor  McKelvie  and 
with  the  able  assistance  of  Mr.  Philip  F.  Bross, 
secretary  of  the  department  of  finance,  notable 
progress  in  state  finance  reform  has  been  made 
recently  in  Nebraska.  A  uniform  fiscal  year,  be- 
ginning July  1,  has  been  established.  All  special 
mill  levies,  except  the  capitol  fund  levy,  have 
been  repealed.  This  included  the  repeal  of  the 
university  and  normal  school  levies.  A  new 
budget  law  was  enacted  by  the  1921  legislature 
which  provided  for  a  centralized  control  of  ap- 
propriations through  quarterly  estimates  ap- 
proved by  the  governor.  This  law  is  in  advance 
of  most  executive  budget  laws  in  that  it  provides 
a  procedure  by  which  the  governor  can  control 
the  expenditures  of  department  after  the  appro- 
priations have  been  made  by  the  legislature. 
Most  budget  laws  provide  only  that  the  gover- 
nor shall  make  up  the  budget  for  the  legislature 
and  do  not  prescribe  any  procedure  by  which  he 
can  control  the  expenditures  after  the  appro- 
priations have  been  made.  Under  the  Nebraska 
system,  the  governor,  through  the  approval  of 
the  quarterly  estimates,  can  prevent  state  spend- 
ing agencies  from  incurring  deficits.  Not  only 
that,  but  he  can  ascertain  within  a  few  months 
after  the  biennium  has  started  if  there  is  going 
to  be  a  surplus  and  can  have  the  appropriations 
reduced,  as  was  done  at  the  special  session  of  the 


legislature  called  by  Governor  McKelvie  in  Jan- 
uary of  this  year. 

The  department  of  finance  gathers  daily  and 
from  monthly  reports  information  of  vital  im- 
portance to  budget  making.  It  is  constantly 
giving  publicity  to  state,  county  and  city  ex- 
penditures that  is  of  great  value  in  affording  a 
better  understanding  of  government  expendi- 
tures. The  accounting  and  record  keeping  sys- 
tem of  the  department  is  very  good  and  deserve* 
the  study  of  all  who  are  interested  in  improved 
financial  methods  for  government. 

A.  E.  B. 
* 

Missouri  Constitutional  Convention  convened 
on  May  1  and  got  into  a  long,  discreditable  parti- 
san deadlock  of  several  weeks'  duration  over  the 
election  of  officers. 

* 

Kansas  City's  Charter  Commission  is  hostile 
to  the  city  manager  idea  but  has  moved  toward 
simplification  by  voting  to  abolish  the  two-house 
municipal  legislature  in  favor  of  a  single  council. 
This  leaves  Baltimore  to  furnish  the  last  re- 
maining example  among  the  larger  cities  of  the 
quaint  anachronism  in  America. 
* 

Maine  Holds  a  Referendum  in  the  fall  on 
abolishing  the  direct  primary.    Both  parties  are 
on  record  against  the  primary  and  in  favor  of 
reversion  to  the  convention  system. 
* 

Three  Referenda  Are  Expected  in  Arizona. — 
1.  Repealing  the  direct  primary.  2.  Extending 
to  four  years  the  term  of  members  of  the  legisla- 
ture. 3.  Disfranchising  all  but  owners  of  real  es- 
tate from  bond  elections. 


II.    GOVERNMENTAL   RESEARCH   CONFERENCE  NOTES 


Tenth  Governmental  Research  Conference 
was  held  at  Cleveland  on  June  1-3  with  sessions 
on  Taxation,  Cost  of  Government,  Criminal 
Justice,  City  Manager  Plan  and  Relation  of 
Research  to  Universities.  A  dinner  session  was 
devoted  to  State  Reorganization  in  Ohio  with 
Governor  Davis  of  Ohio  as  guest. 
* 

Administrative  Survey  of  South  Dakota. — 
The  1921  legislature  of  South  Dakota  authorized 
the  governor  to  conduct  an  efficiency  study  of 
the  state  administration.  To  make  this  study 


Governor  McMaster  secured  the  services  of  the 
New  York  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research.  The 
work  was  begun  in  January,  1922,  and  was  com- 
pleted four  months  later.  A  complete  report  of 
the  findings  and  recommendations  of  the  Bu-eau 
was  submitted  to  the  governor  on  May  15th. 

The  first  part  of  the  report  is  rather  brief  and 
is  intended  for  popular  information.  The  second 
part  covers  in  detail  finance  organization,  budget 
making,  purchasing,  employment,  accounting 
and  reporting,  state  tax  and  revenue  system, 
debt  administration,  agriculture  and  home  build- 


1922] 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


ing  credit  enterprises,  hail  insurance,  institu- 
tional management,  and  public  works  adminis- 
tration. It  is  intended  to  be  used  more  as  a 
guide  to  the  administrators  in  installing  the  pro- 
cedure and  in  carrying  out  the  recommendations 
that  are  proposed.  It  is  understood  that  this  re- 
port will  be  used  by  the  governor  as  a  basis  for 
recommendations  to  the  1923  legislature. 
* 

Bonded  Debt  Statistics. — Owing  to  the  delay 
and  the  new  methods  now  employed  in  getting 
out  the  Federal  census  statistics  of  cities  the 
Detroit  Bureau  of  Governmental  Research  has, 
with  the  co-operation  of  other  bureaus,  accom- 
plished the  feat  of  assembling  and  issuing  a  table 
of  the  comparative  bonded  debts  of  the  82 
largest  cities  as  of  January  1, 1922. 
* 

The  New  Mexico  Tax  Bulletin  takes  the  place 
of  The  Tax  Review  formerly  issued  by  the  Tax- 
payers' Association  of  New  Mexico.  The  first 
issue  of  the  new  periodical  under  date  of  January, 
1922,  contains  two  excellent  reviews  of  the 
six  years  of  the  Association's  work  by  H.  J. 
Hagerman,  its  president,  and  R.  F.  Asplund,  its 
director. 

* 

Milwaukee's  Tax  Problem  is  the  main  theme 
of  the  annual  report  of  the  Citizens'  Bureau  for 
1921.  The  growing  seriousness  of  the  financial 
situation  is  riveting  attention  in  Milwaukee  as 
in  so  many  other  cities,  but  the  Bureau  sees 
ground  for  encouragement  in  the  resolution  of 
the  board  of  estimates  of  Milwaukee  to  extend 
the  annual  budget  procedure  to  cover  a  period  of 
ten  years. 

* 

Health  and  Welfare  provisions  of  twenty-five 
of  our  largest  cities  are  covered  in  a  pamphlet  by 
the  Kansas  City  Public  Service  Institute.  The 
study  shows  the  gradual  abandonment  of  the 
plan  of  control  of  health  by  a  health  board;  the 
occasional  inclusion  of  health  as  a  division  of 
welfare;  and  lack  of  any  agreement  as  to  the 
proper  placing  of  general  hospitals  in  the  scheme 
of  organization. 

* 

The  Financial  Organization  of  Kansas  City  has 
been  thoroughly  surveyed  by  the  Institute, 
which  offers  a  comprehensive  plan  of  recon- 
struction. 

* 

Kansas  City  Charters  have  been  analyzed  by 
the  Institute,  also,  along  with  proposed  changes. 


The  graphs  of  the  several  charters  under  which 
the  city  has  operated  during  its  history  are  of 
general  interest. 

* 

Motor-driven  Equipment  for  Street-Cleaning 
is  to  be  experimented  with  by  the  Detroit  Bu- 
reau of  Governmental  Research.  For  this  pur- 
pose the  Bureau  has  undertaken  supervision  of 
two  square  miles  of  street-cleaning  area. 
* 

El  Paso,  Texas,  has  undertaken  a  survey  of  it* 
municipal  government,  utilizing  the  Institute  for 
Public  Service  and  the  Bureaus  associated  with 
it.  Gaylord  C.  Cummin  has  been  in  charge  and 
has  had  with  him  Arch  Mandel  of  the  Detroit 
Bureau  and  A.  L.  Weeks  of  the  Detroit  Board  of 
Education  and  formerly  of  the  Bureau. 
* 

C.  A.  Crosser,   five  years  with  the    Toledo 
Blade,   has    been   appointed    Secretary   of   the 
Toledo  Commission  of  Publicity  and  Efficiency, 
vice  Wendell  F.  Johnson  resigned. 
* 

Governmental  Research,  as  conducted  by 
civic  organizations  and  universities,  is  being  sur- 
veyed by  a  committee  of  the  American  Political 
Science  Association,  consisting  of  Chas.  E.  Mer- 
riam,  John  A.  Fairlie  and  Robert  T.  Crane.  The 
committee  hopes  to  secure  closer  relations  be- 
tween research  organization  and  stimulate  more 
extensive  activities. 

* 

The  City,  a  monthly  bulletin,  is  again  being 
published  by  the  San  Francisco  Bureau  of  Gov- 
ernmental Research.  The  Bureau  is  also  con- 
ducting a  Municipal  Affairs  Department  in  the 
columns  of  the  Sunday  edition  of  the  San  Fran- 
cisco Journal. 

* 

The  Institute  for  Public  Service  has  con- 
cluded the  survey  of  Flint,  Michigan. 
* 

Gerhard  E.  Gezell,  formerly  Secretary  of  the 
Cleveland  Civic  League,  has  been  appointed  di- 
rector of  finance  in  the  new  Cleveland  adminis- 
tration. 

* 

The  Citizens'  Research  League  of  Calgary  has 
been  established  with  Bruce  L.  Robinson  aa 
President,  and  A.  B.  Silcox  as  Director.  Mr. 
Silcox  was  formerly  with  the  Toronto  Bureau. 
The  address  is  520  Lougheed  Building,  Calgary, 
Alberta. 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[July 


Winnipeg  citizens  have  re-appointed  a  com- 
mittee empowered  to  organize  a  bureau  of  re- 
search.   This  is  through  the  efforts  of  Horace  L. 
Brittain,  Director  of  the  Toronto  Bureau. 
* 

The  Re-organized  Municipal  Court  of  Detroit, 
which  has  attracted  nation-wide  attention 
through  its  effective  operations,  is  being  reported 
on  by  the  Detroit  Bureau  for  the  second  time. 

* 

Georgia  State  Government  is  being  surveyed 
by  Griffenhagen  and  Associates  of  Chicago. 

* 

Frank  S.  Staley,  formerly  Director  of  the 
Minneapolis  Bureau,  is  now  connected  with  the 
Rockefeller  Foundation  at  61  Broadway,  New 
York. 


The  Growth  of  City  Activities  in  Detroit,  with 
the  increased  costs  and  other  data  is  covered  in 
Bulletin  No.  70  issued  by  the  Detroit  Bureau. 
This  study  covers  the  annual  addition  of  activi- 
ties over  a  period  of  one  hundred  years  since  the 
incorporation  of  the  city,  and  gives  the  concrete 
effects  of  the  development  of  municipal  govern- 
ment in  one  large  community. 
* 

Bonded  Indebtedness  of  the  City  of  Duluth 
has  been  made  the  basis  of  a  plea  by  the  Tax- 
payers' League  of  St.  Louis  County  for  the  sub- 
stitution of  serial  bonds  for  the  older  sinking- 
fund  methods.  This  Bureau  has  also  issued  re- 
ports recently  on  Purchasing  in  the  County  and 
on  the  Collection  and  Disposal  of  Refuse  in  the 
City. 

ROBERT  T.  CRANE. 


III.     CITY  MANAGER  NOTES 


New  City  Manager  Cities. — Since  January  1st 
we  have  added  the  following  cities  to  our  list  of 
cities  that  have  adopted  city  manager  govern- 
ment by  charter: 

Chico,  Cal.,  population  9339,  in  effect  April 
1923. 

Bartow,  Fla.,  population  5000,  in  effect  Janu- 
ary 1922. 

Muskegon  Heights,  Mich.,  population  12,000, 
in  effect  April  1922. 

Onaway,  Mich.,  population  2789,  in  effect 
April  1920.  (Found  recently.) 

Excelsior  Springs,  Mo.,  population  4167,  in 
effect  April  1922.  (This  is  the  first  city  in 
Missouri  to  adopt  the  city  manager  plan  un- 
der the  city  manager  statute  enacted  1921 
which  made  it  possible  for  cities  of  the  third 
class  in  Missouri  to  adopt  the  city  manager 
plan.) 

Grandfield,  Okla.,  population  2000,  in  effect 
April  1921. 

Ponca,  Okla.,  population  7050,  in  effect  Feb- 
ruary 1921. 

Sapulpa,  Okla.,  population  17,500,  in  effect 
February  1922. 

Astoria,  Ore.,  population  15,000,  in  effect  Jan- 
uary 1923. 

Florence,  S.  C.,  population  10,968,  in  effect 
June  1921. 

Salem,  Va.,  population  4159,  in  effect  Febru- 
ary 1922. 

Janesville,  Wis.,  population  18,293,  in  effect 
April  1923. 


Kenosha,  Wis.,  population  40,472,  in  effec 
March  1922. 

* 

Two  Ordinance  city  managerships  were 
created  on  April  1st:  Blairsville,  Pa.,  and  Gaines- 
ville, Texas. 

* 

Minneapolis,  Mum.,  votes  in  June  on  a  charter 
substantially  identical  with  our  model  charter 
and  the  Cleveland  charter  providing  for  city 
manager  government  with  proportional  represen- 
tation drafted  by  our  field  director,  Dr.  A.  R. 
Hatton,  who  spent  about  three  months  in  the 
city  as  charter  expert. 

* 

Atlanta,  Ga.,  voted  in  May  on  a  choice  of  three 
charters,  namely  the  present  aldermanic  form, 
the  city  manager  plan  which  our  field  director, 
Dr.  Hatton,  drafted  a  year  ago  and  a  composite 
plan  advocated  by  the  mayor.  No  plan  received 
a  majority  but  the  composite  plan  had  the  least 
support  so  a  second  election  was  held  on  May 
30th  by  the  other  two,  the  present  aldermanic 
charter  winning  by  a  majority  of  1100. 

The  figures  of  the  two  elections  are  interesting 
although  we  have  not  as  yet  sufficient  informa- 
tion to  fully  interpret  them.  May  17th,  9894 
votes  were  cast  for  the  three  charters.  The  votes 
were  divided  as  follows:  present  aldermanic 
charter  4107,  city  manager  charter  3553,  com- 
posite charter  2234.  While  May  30th  at  the  hold- 
over election  13,800  votes  were  cast,  7450  for  the 


1922] 


NOTES  AND   EVENTS 


present  aldermanic  charter  and  6,350  for  the  city 
manager  plan.  Which  charter  absorbed  the 
votes  previously  cast  for  the  composite  plan  and 
which  section  stirred  up  the  sluggish  voters? 
Both  doubtless  put  in  hard  work  and  it  should  be 
noted  that  May  17th  was  a  stormy  day  and  May 
30th  was  sunny  and  a  holiday. 
* 

City  Manager  campaigns  were  lost  in  Freder- 
icksburg,  Va.,  and  Ypsilanti,  Mich.  In  Freder- 
icksburg  the  city  manager  charter  was  lost  by 
only  40  votes,  while  in  Ypsilanti  it  lost  by  695 
votes  out  of  1935  votes  cast. 
* 

Wheeling,  W.  Va. — City  Manager  Homer 
Crago,  the  first  and  only  city  manager  to  be 
charged  with  misconduct  has  been  acquitted  of 
an  indictment  alleging  that  he  had  abetted  elec- 
tion funds  while  city  clerk  before  his  appointment 
as  manager. 

* 

An  Attempt  to  Upset  the  New  Cleveland  Char- 
ter by  a  legal  attack  was  made  in  two  tax  payers' 
suits  and  defeated  in  the  fourth  district  court  of 
appeals  on  May  9.  Our  Field  Director,  Dr.  Hat- 
ton,  prepared  the  brief  in  the  case  defending  pro- 
portional representation. 

It  was  asserted  in  one  suit  that  the  changes 
adopted  constitute  a  new  charter,  that  the 
amendment  conflicts  with  the  Ohio  constitution, 
that  the  provisions  are  so  vague  and  incompre- 
hensible as  to  be  incapable  of  execution,  and  that 
no  opportunity  was  given  for  a  separate  vote  on 
the  different  sections. 

The  other  tax  payer  claimed  certain  admin- 
istrative sections  of  the  amendment  are  in  con- 
flict with  the  general  laws  of  the  state.  On  this 
question  the  court  ruled  that  if  there  is  a  conflict 
with  the  general  statutes,  the  question  can  only 
be  raised  when  some  particular  officer  does  or 
threatens  to  do  some  unlawful  act  after  the 
amendment  becomes  operative. 

In  ruling  on  proportional  representation,  the 
court  said: 

"To  exercise  this  added  privilege  requires  some 
intelligence  and  some  care,  and  to  this  extent  the 
illiterate  and  careless  may  be  at  a  disadvantage, 
but  the  constitution  is  not  thereby  violated. 

"It  is  confessedly  intricate  and  difficult  of  ex- 
ecution, requiring  the  highest  skill  and  probity  on 
the  part  of  the  election  authorities  charged  with 
its  execution,  but  on  the  part  of  the  elector  but 
little  more  is  required  than  in  voting  the  present 
judicial  ballot.  The  duties  of  the  election  officials 


are  neither  vague  nor  indefinite.  The  fact  that 
they  are  incomprehensible  to  many  or  most  of  the 
electors  is  inconsequential. 

"It  is  pointed  out  that  the  mechanical  method 
of  selecting  the  transferable  ballots  may  result  in 
a  particular  elector's  strength  being  used  di- 
rectly against  such  elector's  expressed  desire. 
We  recognize  such  possibility.  ...  In  com- 
pensation, however,  is  the  probability,  in  some 
instances,  that  on  the  whole  he  has  more  ade- 
quately expressed  himself  by  exercising  all  his 
rights  under  the  new  plan  than  if  he  had  exer- 
cised his  rights  under  the  old  plan. 

"Whether  or  not  he  is  paying  too  much  for 
this  added  privilege  of  expressing  his  second  and 
successive  choices  is,  after  all,  a  question  that  this 
court  cannot  determine.  That  is  a  political  ques- 
tion, and  we  are  concluded  by  the  favorable  vote 
of  the  city's  electorate.  If  it  be  unwise,  it  must 
be  undone  by  those  responsible  for  its  adoption." 

Both  cases,  it  is  expected  will  be  carried  to  the 
Ohio  supreme  court  for  final  decision. 
* 

Annapolis. — The  Maryland  legislature  in  April 
passed  a  bill  permitting  the  adoption  of  the.  city 
manager  plan  in  Annapolis,  but  it  is  not  probable 
that  the  city  of  Annapolis  will  proceed  under  the 
law  to  arrange  to  take  advantage  of  this  permis- 
sion. 

* 

The  Mayor  of  Galveston,  Texas,  where  the 
commission  form  of  municipal  government  orig- 
inated in  1900,  published  a  statement  in  May 
citing  various  proofs  that  the  plan  is  not  working 
smoothly,  saying  "The  commissioner  of  each  de- 
partment is  supreme  therein  and  resents  inter- 
ference or  suggestions."  Efforts  of  the  mayor 
to  remedy  certain  abuses  had  been  refused  by 
the  elective  department  head.  The  mayor  ar- 
gues for  the  need  of  a  city  manager  while  the 
city  attorney  has,  at  a  public  mass  meeting,  ex- 
pressed his  dissatisfaction  with  commission  gov- 
ernment and  has  expressed  his  hearty  approval  of 
the  city  manager  plan. 

The  Galveston  County  Taxpayers'  Association 
is  conducting  a  campaign  for  the  city  manager 
plan  in  Galveston.  The  Association  has  sub- 
mitted to  the  city  council  city  manager  amend- 
ments to  the  Galveston  charter  and  it  is  expected 
that  the  council  will  refer  the  amendments  to  the 
people  for  vote  late  in  June. 
* 

The  Manistee,  Michigan,  City  Manager  Char- 
ter has  survived  the  attack  which  was  brewing 


226 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[July 


for  several  years,  assuming  that  attacks  also  have 
learned  to  brew.  To  head  off  the  interests  which 
were  determined  to  revert  to  aldermanic  govern- 
ment, a  charter  commission  was  created.  It 
recommended  a  revision  which  provides  seven 
commissioners  for  terms  of  two  years,  one  from 


each  supervisor  district,  but  elected  at  large. 
Their  powers  will  be  identical  with  those  of  for- 
mer council  members  elected  at  large  for  five 
years,  one  each  year.  The  revision  was  adopted 
in  April  by  a  large  majority.  The  city  manager 
will  of  course  remain. 


IV.    MISCELLANEOUS 


The  Charles  Fremont  Taylor  Trust  Fund. — 
For  something  like  twenty  years,  Dr.  Charles 
Fremont  Taylor,  a  physician  and  editor  of  a  med- 
ical journal  of  Philadelphia,  devoted  a  considera- 
ble part  of  his  fortune  and  personal  energy  to  the 
promotion  of  the  initiative,  referendum  and  re- 
call and  published  the  quarterly  magazine, 
Equity,  which  was  consolidated  into  the  NA- 
TIONAL MUNICIPAL  REVIEW  in  August,  1919. 

Dr.  Taylor  died  in  1920  leaving  a  will  in  which 
he  made  provision  for  his  widow  and  turned  over 
certain  securities  and  other  property  to  three 
Trustees,  namely  Thomas  Raeburn  White,  C.  G. 
Hoag  and  Samuel  S.  Fels,  all  of  Philadelphia,  to 
hold  as  a  Trust  Fund,  the  revenue  to  be  appro- 
priated from  time  to  time  for  the  following 
purposes: 

"to  promote  improvements  in  the  structure 
and  methods  of  government,  with  especial 
reference  to  the  initiative,  referendum  and 
recall;  proportional  representation;  preferen- 
tial voting;  ballot  reform;  the  simplification 
of  municipal,  state  and  national  govern- 
ment, and  the  revision  or  re-making  of  city- 
charters,  state  constitutions  and  our  na- 
tional constitution,  with  a  view  to  promote 
efficiency  and  popular  control  of  govern- 
ment. .  .  .  Trustees  shall  have  full 
power  and  authority  to  employ  and  pay 
lecturers  and  writers  and  such  other  assist- 
ants and  employees  as  they  may  deem  neces- 
sary for  properly  carrying  out  the  purposes 
of  the  trust;  to  print,  publish  and  distribute 
pamphlets,  magazines  and  newspapers;  and 
generally  to  use  any  and  all  lawful  means  to 
increase  the  knowledge  of  the  citizens  of  the 
United  States  of  America  upon  these  govern- 
mental and  political  questions;  and  shall  fur- 
ther draft  bills  and  acts,  laws  and  other  legis- 
lation and  use  all  lawful  means  to  have 
them  introduced  and  passed  to  the  end  that 
popular,  democratic  and  efficient  govern- 
ment may  be  promoted  in  the  United 
States  of  America." 


The  amount  of  the  principal  and  the  annual 
income  is  not  known,  but  it  is  generally  under- 
stood that  the  revenue  is  not  over  $10,000  a  year. 

In  1920  Dr.  Taylor's  widow  started  suit  to 
break  the  will  and  the  Trustees  suspended  dis- 
tribution of  funds.  The  case  was  carried  to  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania  and  a  decision 
favorable  to  the  Taylor  Trust  Fund  was  ob- 
tained in  March,  1922. 

Applications  for  allotments  from  the  Fund 
should  be  addressed  to  Thomas  Raeburn  White, 
West  End  Trust  Building,  Philadelphia.  All 
applications  must  state  fully  the  nature  of  the 
work  in  which  the  institution  is  engaged,  or 
which  is  proposed  to  be  done.  Financial  stat 
ment  and  copy  of  last  balance  sheet  must 
furnished. 

* 

"City  Clubs  in  America"  is  the  title  of  a 
page  pamphlet  issued  by  the  City  Club  of 
cago  descriptive  of  the  activities,  methods 
histories  of  the  fourteen  city  clubs  in  this  coi 
try.    The  record  discloses  the  swing  toward 
non-militant  forum  type  of  city  club. 
* 

The  Need  for  the  'Short  Ballot'  in  Chicago  is 
the  theme  of  an  address  to  the  Constitutional 
Convention  by  the  Citizens  Association,  which 
submits  as  proof  the  April  primary  ballot  with 
170  names  of  candidates  for  56  offices.  The  Con- 
vention is  reminded  that  Governor  Lowden  in 
starting  the  movement  for  a  convention  in  1917 
described  the  need  for  a  short  ballot  as  the  main 
reason  for  revision. 

A  second  address  pleads  for  unification  of  the 
Cook  County  courts  into  a  single  court  with  both 
civil  and  criminal  jurisdiction  and  attacks  the 
pending  two-court  plan  as  relegating  the  disa- 
greeable criminal  and  minor  civil  work  to  one 
branch  to  which  it  would  remain  difficult  to  at- 
tract good  judicial  talent. 
* 

The  Second  National  Conference  on  State 
Parks  was  held  at  Bear  Mountain  Inn,  lona 


1922] 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


227 


Island,  N.  Y.,  May  22-25.  Bear  Mountain  Inn 
is  the  centre  of  the  activities  of  the  Palisades  In- 
terstate Park  which  begins  at  Fort  Lee  (opposite 
180th  St.,  New  York  City)  and  extends  north- 
ward to  include  the  35,000  acres  of  the  Bear 
Mountain  territory.  No  place  could  be  better 
for  a  conference  than  this  the  greatest  and  most 
used  of  state  parks. 

The  conference  was  well  attended  by  delegates 
from  32  states.  The  chairman  was  the  Hon. 
John  Barton  Payne  and  the  vice  chairman  the 
Hon.  Stephen  T.  Mather,  Director  of  the  Na- 
tional Park  Service,  The  speakers  presented  the 
state  park  idea  with  vividness  and  originality 
and  from  points  of  view  as  widely  separated  as 
the  states  from  which  they  came.  But  the 
thought  running  through  all  their  speeches 
(which  are  to  be  printed  in  the  forthcoming  re- 
port of  the  Conference)  was  that  the  state  park 
had  become  an  institution  destined  sooner  or 
later  to  be  nation  wide  because  it  filled  needs  not 
provided  for  in  any  other  way.  It  not  merely 
preserves  rare  scenery  and  historic  sites,  but  it 
provides  recreation  in  the  natural  country  at 
little  or  no  cost  for  the  population  of  congested 
districts.  In  fact  (as  J.  H.  McFarland  put  it) 
"it  brings  the  National  Park  to  the  east". 


The  League  of  Women  Voters  Convene  in 
Baltimore. — When  the  League  of  Women  Voters 
met  in  their  first  convention  April,  1921,  in  Cleve- 
land, the  railroads  offered  a  half  fare  rebate  if  350 
delegates  assembled.  The  rebate  was  granted 
but  the  delegates  did  not  number  many  over  the 
350.  At  the  Baltimore  convention  this  year  the 
committee  on  arrangements  expected  and  ar- 
ranged for  600.  and  behold,  1035  delegates  ap- 
peared and  the  local  Baltimorians,  men  as  well 
as  women,  crowded  the  halls  in  excess  of  seating 
capacity  at  all  sessions;  in  fact,  at  one  of  the 
special  sessions  at  which  Lady  Astor,  Mrs. 
Carrie  Chapman  Catt  and  Prof.  C.  E.  Merriam 
spoke,  it  was  necessary  to  have  an  overflow  meet- 
ing of  400  or  500  in  a  second  hall.  The  women 
have  proved  the  substantiality  and  the  vitality 
of  their  organization,  and  they  have  shown  that 
they  can  control  and  direct  enthusiastic  speak- 
ers (in  one  session  which  lasted  an  hour  and  forty 
minutes  twenty-two  women  spoke  and  each  one 
covered  her  subject  with  conciseness  and  com- 
pleteness). 

The  Pan-American  conference  to  which  the 
first  three  days  were  devoted  had  representatives 


from  all  the  Americas,  from  Canada  to  Terra  del 
Fuego.  These  women  came  together  to  discuss 
humanitarian  problems  and  to  develop  interna- 
tional friendship,  a  new  approach  in  international 
relations.  The  first  sentence  of  Mrs.  Park's 
opening  address  at  the  conference  states  their 
purpose:  "We  have  come  together  from  twenty- 
two  countries  of  the  Americas  to  discuss  prob- 
lems of  women  all  over  the  world." 

These  problems,  presented  and  studied  in  de- 
tail, were  finally  summed  up  by  Mrs.  Catt  in 
three  words:  "Wanted — Women's  Votes."  It 
was  revealed  that  only  South  America  of  all  the 
six  continents  allows  no  women  to  vote.  The 
realization  of  this  stirred  the  South  American 
representatives,  as  one  fiery  little  woman  said: 
"Mrs.  Catt  has  shamed  us  to  our  faces.  We 
must  show  her  that  South  American  women  will 
not  take  a  dare." 

A  permanent  organization  was  accomplished. 
It  is  called  a  Pan-American  Association  for  the 
Advancement  of  Women.  Mrs  Carrie  Chap- 
man Catt  was  made  honorary  president  and 
Mrs.  Maude  Wood  Park,  president.  The  vice- 
presidents  are,  Dr.  Paulina  Luisi,  Bertha  Lutz  of 
Brazil,  Ester  Niera  de  Calvo  of  Panama,  Elena 
Torres  of  Mexico.  The  aims  of  the  new  associa- 
tion are,  to  promote  friendliness  and  understand- 
ing among  all  Pan-American  countries  having  in 
mind  the  maintenance  of  perpetual  peace  in  the 
western  hemisphere,  to  promote  general  educa- 
tion among  women,  to  secure  rights  of  married 
women  to  control  their  own  property  and  wages, 
to  secure  equal  guardianship,  to  encourage  public 
speaking  among  women  and  freedom  of  oppor- 
tunity for  all  women  to  secure  their  political 
rights. 

The  most  striking  features  of  the  last  three 
days  of  the  conference  devoted  to  problems  in 
the  United  States  were  the  following  discussions: 
first,  whether  the  League  of  Women  Voters 
should  endorse  local  candidates  for  office;  sec- 
ondly, whether  efficiency  in  government  should 
be  made  the  chief  department  of  the  League. 
Endorsing  or  not  endorsing  candidates  divided 
into  three  ways  of  handling  the  question :  endors- 
ing approved  candidates,  disqualifying  candi- 
dates not  approved  and  supporting  provisions  for 
which  certain  candidates  stand.  Three  dramatic 
experiences  in  New  York.  St.  Louis  and  Bir- 
mingham were  cited.  The  one  final  conclusion 
reached  was  that  candidates  should  not  be  en- 
dorsed. 

Efficiency  in  government  M  the  chief  depart- 


[July 


ment  of  the  League  was  the  subject  thrown  into 
the  arena  by  Mrs.  John  O.  Miller,  state  chair- 
man of  the  Pennsylvania  State  League  of  Women 
Voters.  She  argued  that  it  should  be  made  the 
chief  department  of  the  League  and  that  into  it 
be  merged  the  committees  on  uniform  laws  for 
women  and  American  citizenship  and  that  the 
committees  on  social  welfare  be  abolished. 

Many  of  the  delegates  did  not  agree  with  Mrs. 
Miller.  The  work  of  the  social  welfare  com- 
mittees attracts  new  members  to  the  League  aa 
efficiency  in  government  problems  do  not,  since 
so  few  uninitiated  women  can  grasp  the  signifi- 
cance of  systems  and  machinery  of  government. 
The  Leagues  that  need  new  members  badly 
fought  hard  for  retaining  social  welfare  com- 
mittees. Those  who  argued  for  efficiency  in 


government  as  the  chief  department  of  the 
League  felt  that  the  social  welfare  departments, 
side-tracked  the  interest  of  their  workers  and 
started  them  working  as  amateurs  in  the  field 
where  other  clubs  and  associations  already 
control  the  field  in  a  professional  way  and  are 
prepared  and  glad  to  submit  their  findings  to 
the  League  of  Women  Voters  for  then-  use  at 
any  time.  The  matter,  however,  as  it  was  not 
planned  for  in  the  program,  did  not  come  up  for 
settlement  until  the  last  evening  of  the  conven- 
tion when  it  seemed  to  be  the  consensus  of  opin- 
ion that  it  was  unwise  to  rush  through  so  vital  a 
question  at  the  last  moment. 

A  committee  was  appointed  to  investigate  the 
subject  and  to  submit  recommendations  to  the 
next  annual  convention. 


R.  HUSSELMAN 

Mem.  Am.  Soc.  C.  E.          —          Am.  Assn.  Engrs. 

CONSULTING  ENGINEER 

Design  and  Construction  of  Electric,  Water  Works 
and  Filtration  Plants.     Public  Utility  Rate 

Investigations  and  Appraisals. 
CUYAHOGA  BLDG.  CLEVELAND,  OHIO 


Several  men  trained  and 
experienced  in  govern- 
mental organization,  financial  and  accounting 
problems  to  join  organization  engaged  in  render- 
ing professional  consulting  service  to  states,  cities 
and  counties.  Address  Box  69,  National  Munic- 
ipal Review,  261  Broadway,  New  York. 


of  Organiza- 
tion—Methods— A dminiatration— Salary  Standardization 
— Budget  Making — Taxation — Revenues— Expenditures- 
Civil  Service— Accounting— Public  Works 

J.  L.  JACOBS  &  COMPANY 

Municipal  Consultants  and  Engineers 
Monadnock  Building,  Chicago 

(Over  11  yrs. '  experience  in  City,  County  and  State  Studies) 


CHAS.  BROSSMAN 

Mem.  Am.  Soc.  C.E.          Mem.  Am.  Soc.  M.E. 
Consulting  Engineer 

Water  Works  and  Electric  Light  Plants 
Sewerage  and  Sewage  Disposal 

Merchants  Bank,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 


Proportional  Representation 

Best  Basis  for  the  City 
Manager  Plan 

Send  2Sc  for  Lft.  No.  10  (How  P.  R. 
Works  in  Sacremento)  and  new  Lft.  No.  5 
(Explanation  of  Hare  System  of  P.  R.) 

Still  better,  join  the  League.  Dues,  $2, 
pay  for  quarterly  Review  and  all  other  liter- 
ature for  year. 

Proportional  Representation  League 


1417  Locust  Street 


Philadelphia 


A  MODEL  CITY  CHARTER 

This  model  city  charter  drafted  by  a  committee  of  experts  has  been  used 
by  hundreds  of  cities  when  rewriting  their  charters. 

Pamphlet  Copies  of  Model  Charter 50  cents  each 

NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE  261  Broadway,  New  York  City 


NATIONAL 
MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


VOL.  XI,  No.  8 


AUGUST,  1922 


TOTAL  No.  74 


THE  POLITICAL  INTEGRATION  OF 
METROPOLITAN  COMMUNITIES 

BY  CHESTER  C.  MAXEY 

Western  Reserve  University 

I.    INTRODUCTION 


A  VERY  slight  acquaintance  with 
municipal  conditions  in  the  United 
States  discloses  the  fact  that  one  handi- 
cap under  which  practically  every  city 
of  magnitude  is  laboring,  is  political 
disintegration.  The  city  as  a  political 
entity  is  not  identical  with  the  metro- 
politan community  as  a  social  and 
economic  fact;  and  so,  like  a  house 
divided  against  itself,  the  metropolitan 
district  finds  itself  obliged  to  struggle 
for  civic  achievement  amid  the  con- 
flirts,  dissensions,  and  divergences  of 
its  several  component  political  jurisdic- 
tions. In  no  two  communities  are 
conditions  precisely  the  same,  and  yet 
in  all  the  fundamental  difficulty  is 
political  disunity.  There  are  cases  in 
which  the  principal  source  of  difficulty 
is  the  overlapping  of  city  and  county, 
the  latter,  owing  to  the  growth  of  pop- 
ulation, having  become  a  superin- 
cumbent city  government;  in  others 
contiguous  suburban  municipalities 
participating  in  and  to  a  large  extent 
dominating  the  social  and  economic  life 
of  the  city,  are  politically  independent  of 
it;  and  in  still  other  cases  both  of  these 


conditions  co-exist  in  varying  degree 
and  form. 

To  assume,  as  is  often  done,  that  the 
political  dismemberment  of  a  metro- 
politan community  is  not  a  matter  of 
challenging  importance  is  a  fatuous 
mistake.  Not  only  does  it  militate 
against  economical  and  efficient  ad- 
ministration of  local  government  but 
it  gravely  impedes  all  progressive 
and  comprehensive  public  under- 
takings. The  great  problems  which 
demand  governmental  action  in  metro- 
politan communities — public  health, 
recreation,  public  utilities,  crime, 
and  the  like — hold  political  boundaries 
in  contempt.  And  the  only  effect  of 
multiplying  political  jurisdictions  for 
dealing  with  such  problems  is  to  ob- 
struct and  defeat  the  primary  purposes 
for  which  local  government  exists. 

It  is  only  fair  to  remark  that  such 
absurd  and  anomalous  structures  of 
local  government  are  not  the  result  of 
conscious  creation.  It  is  well  known 
that  political  development  seldom  kc<  )fM 
pace  with  social  and  economic  facts. 
Moreover,  the  metamorphosis  of  a 


230 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[August 


small  city  into  a  huge,  sprawling  center 
of  trade  and  industry  is  inevitably  at- 
tended with  all  sorts  of  bungling  legis- 
lation, and  is  doubtless  much  affected 
by  the  vicissitudes  of  factional  and 
partisan  warfare.  The  anomalous  po- 
litical dismemberment  of  the  popula- 
tion of  a  larger  metropolitan  district  is 
in  most  cases,  therefore,  largely  a  mat- 
ter of  historical  accident,  and  being 
such,  is  commonly  accepted  by  the  in- 
habitants as  a  natural  and  normal  state 
of  affairs. 

There  are,  however,  a  few  places 
where  movements  for  the  political 
unification  of  the  metropolitan  area 
have  been  inaugurated  and  pushed 
through  with  varying  degrees  of  suc- 


cess; and  there  are  many  other  places 
in  which  such  movements  are  now  in 
progress.  These  movements  consti- 
tute an  interesting  and  important 
phase  of  our  municipal  history,  but 
unfortunately  they  are  recorded  only 
in  fugitive  documents  or  fragmentary 
articles,  or  not  recorded  at  all.  In 
order  to  spare  the  student  of  municipal 
institutions  the  extensive  and  arduous 
research  necessary  to  consult  all  of 
these  obscure  and  widely  dispersed 
sources,  the  attempt  is  here  made  to 
bring  within  the  compass  of  a  short  es- 
say a  summary  of  the  main  facts  re- 
garding each  of  the  various  movements 
for  the  political  integration  of  metro- 
politan areas  in  the  United  States. 


II.    WHAT   HAS   BEEN   ACCOMPLISHED 


DETACHMENT       OF       BALTIMORE      FROM 
BALTIMORE  COUNTY:  1851 

The  city  of  Baltimore  was  never 
politically  engulfed  in  a  county  like  the 
majority  of  American  cities.  From  the 
beginning  the  city  of  Baltimore  and 
the  county  of  the  same  name  were 
separately  represented  in  the  legislature 
of  the  colony,  and  this  separate  repre- 
sentation was  continued  by  the  con- 
stitutions of  1776  and  1788.  Con- 
sequently the  city  early  became  an 
independent  factor  in  the  politics  of  the 
state,  and  it  was  not  therefore  a  radical 
departure  to  complete  the  detachment 
of  the  city  by  severing  it  entirely  from 
the  county.  This  step  was  taken  in 
1851;  and  although  the  inner  history 
of  the  event  remains  somewhat  obscure, 
it  appears  to  have  been  an  incident  of  a 
fierce  political  struggle  which  con- 
vulsed the  entire  state.  Prior  to  1851 
the  government  of  Maryland  was  in 
theory  and  practice  a  loose  confeder- 
ation of  counties  and  cities  similar  in 
spirit  to  the  national  government  under 


the  Articles  of  Confederation.  The 
governing  body  was  a  bicameral 
legislature  in  which  counties  and 
cities  were  equally  represented  re- 
gardless of  size,  population,  taxable 
property,  or  any  other  basis  of  differ- 
entiation. Indeed  the  theory  frankly 
avowed  in  the  early  history  of  the 
state  was  that  these  counties  and  ^cities 
had  confederated  as  corporate  entities, 
and  consequently  that  equality  was 
the  only  fair  basis  of  representation  in 
the  legislature. 

But  time  plays  havoc  with  all  theo- 
ries. The  rapid  growth  of  Baltimore 
city  quickly  engendered  acute  dis- 
satisfaction with  the  equal  representa- 
tion principle,  and  this  was  aggravated 
by  the  increasingly  shameless  way  in 
which  the  rural  legislators  took  ad- 
vantage of  their  power  to  enact  tax 
laws  exploiting  the  city  for  the  benefit 
of  the  rural  sections.  On  top  of  this 
came  the  nation-wide  surge  of  demo- 
cratic sentiment,  overturning  all  existing 
political  alignments  and  sweeping 
Andrew  Jackson  into  the  Presidency. 


1922]      THE  POLITICAL  INTEGRATION  OF  COMMUNITIES        231 


In  Maryland,  the  city  of  Balti- 
more and  the  other  urban  sections 
of  the  state  were  thrown  into  the  ranks 
of  the  Jacksonian  party,  while  the 
rural  sections  of  the  state  remained  in 
control  of  the  opposition,  a  feeble  and 
hopeless  minority.  Immediately  there 
was  a  vehement  demand  for  legislative 
reapportionment,  but  the  minority  in- 
trenched behind  the  provisions  of  an 
illiberal  constitution  refused  to  be 
moved.  The  demand  was  repeated 
with  increasing  insistence,  and  in  1836 
the  struggle  culminated  in  a  crisis 
which  carried  the  state  to  the  brink  of 
civil  strife.  l  Unable  to  resist  longer, 
the  legislature  in  1839  proposed  a  con- 
stitutional amendment  which  modified 
the  existing  basis  of  representation  but 
did  not  provide  representation  in  pro- 
portion to  population.  Still  the  agi- 
tation for  a  more  equitable  basis  of  rep- 
resentation did  not  subside,  and  as  a 
consequence  a  constitutional  convention 
was  called  in  1849.  This  body,  after  a 
prolonged  struggle,  submitted  a  consti- 
tutional draft  (which  was  ratified  in 
1851)  embodying  the  popular  basis  of 
representation  with  restrictions  apply- 
ing only  to  the  city  of  Baltimore.  As 
a  part  of  the  bargaining  by  which  this 
compromise  was  effected,  the  complete 
detachment  of  Baltimore  city  from 
Baltimore  county  was  agreed  upon. 
Accordingly  the  constitution  of  1851 
provided  a  full  complement  of  county 
officers  for  the  city  of  Baltimore  and 
conferred  upon  the  city  the  status  of  a 
county. 2 

From  time  to  time,  as  the  city  of 
Baltimore  has  grown,  its  boundaries 
have  been  extended  by  the  annexation 
of  suburban  communities.  The  most 
recent  enlargement  of  the  city  in  this 
fashion  occured  in  1918  when  the  legis- 
lature of  the  state  passed  an  act  sub- 

iScharf,  History  of  Maryland,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  187-195. 
*  Debates  and  Proceedings  of  Constitutional  Conven- 
tion of  1849,  passim. 


tracting  some  sixty  square  miles  from 
Baltimore  and  Anne  Arundel  counties 
and  adding  them  to  the  city  of  Balti- 
more. Although  the  law  provided  for 
no  referendum,  it  did  provide  for  com- 
pensating the  counties  which  had  lost 
territory  or  property  by  the  annexation. 
The  annexation  law  was  attacked  in  the 
courts  because  of  the  absence  of  a 
referendum  provision,  but  the  courts 
declined  to  invalidate  it  on  that  ac- 
count. One  of  the  prime  purposes  of 
the  annexation  measure  was  to  double 
the  waterfront  of  the  city,  and  thus  en- 
able it  to  extend  its  port  and  terminal 
facilities.  It  was  estimated  that 
100,000  people  were  added  to  the  popu- 
lation of  the  city  of  Baltimore  by  this 
annexation  of  suburban  communities. 


FORMATION  OF  GREATER  PHILADELPHIA : 

1854 

The  city  of  Philadelphia  as  laid  out 
by  the  founder  contained  an  area  of 
about  two  square  miles.  Population 
quickly  overflowed  these  narrow  limits. 
By  1850  the  population  of  Philadelphia 
county  was  409,045  of  which  only 
121,417  resided  within  the  corporate 
limits  of  the  city  of  Philadelphia. 
Outside  of  the  boundaries  of  the  city 
the  population  was  quite  as  thoroughly 
urban  as  within;  in  fact  the  entire 
county  was  a  unified  metropolitan 
center  in  all  respects  except  govern- 
ment. In  this  latter  particular  it  was 
preposterously  dismembered,  the  work 
of  local  government  being  partitioned 
among  forty  different  governing  bodies 
— ten  municipal  corporations,  ten  spe- 
cial boards,  six  boroughs,  thirteen 
townships,  and  one  county.  The  ef- 
fects of  this  condition  can  be  best 
described  by  quoting  the  language 
of  the  Select  Committee  of  Senators 
from  the  City  and  County  of  Phila- 
delphia reporting  to  the  state  senate 
in  1853: 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[August 


It  is  not  to  be  supposed  of  human  nature  that 
the  people  of  these  many  separate  local  govern- 
ments have  not  been  actuated  by  a  preference 
and  zeal  for  their  separate  interests,  nor  that  col- 
lisions and  hostile  feelings  have  not  arisen  ob- 
structive to  a  concert  of  measures  for  the  com- 
mon welfare.  With  no  paramount  or  pervasive 
power  of  legislation  or  control,  no  laws,  uni- 
formly operative  over  the  whole,  could  be 
adopted  or  executed  beyond  the  respective  bounds 
of  each.  Rioters  suppressed  in  one  jurisdiction 
take  refuge  and  find  impunity  within  another. 
Measures  of  public  improvement,  by  the  city  or 
respective  districts,  are  arrested  at  the  extreme 
of  their  narrow  limits;  works  erected  competent 
to  supply  the  wants  of  all  with  but  slight  addi- 
tional expense,  are  curtailed  of  their  usefulness; 
and  other  works  at  large  expense  uselessly  erected 
by  other  corporations.  The  varying  laws  of  so 
many  localities  in  close  contiguity  are  so  numer- 
ous and  so  little  known,  that  citizens  in  their 
hourly  movements  are  subjected  to  legal  obliga- 
tions and  powers  of  which  they  have  no  knowl- 
edge. These  divisions  and  unseen  lines  and 
complication  of  powers,  are  potential  alike  to 
paralyze  or  arrest  every  effort  to  advance  the 
common  welfare  and  suppress  general  evils.3 

Appreciation  of  the  evils  described 
in  the  foregoing  quotation  was  cer- 
tainly a  strong  stimulus  to  propaganda 
for  a  greater  and  a  unified  Philadel- 
phia, but  even  more  potent  perhaps 
was  the  blow  to  Philadelphia's  pride 
when  she  was  out-stripped  by  New 
York  in  the  race  for  size  and  commer- 
cial supremacy.  The  first  direct  step 
toward  unification  of  local  governments 
seems  to  have  been  taken  on  November 
16,  1849,  when  a  group  of  leading 
citizens  called  a  public  meeting  which 
in  turn  chose  an  executive  committee 
to  act  until  a  second  meeting  should  be 
held.  This  committee  in  1851  ad- 
dressed a  memorial  to  the  legislature  of 
the  state  praying  for  legislation  to 
consolidate  Philadelphia  and  the  subur- 
ban municipalities;  and  two  members 
of  the  committee,  John  Cadwalader 
and  Eli  K.  Price,  were  sent  to  Harris- 

»  Quoted  in  Price,  History  of  Consolidation  in  Phila- 
delphia, Chap.  IV. 


burg  to  lobby  for  the  desired  legislation. 
However,  nothing  was  accomplished 
by  these  efforts. 

Riots  Help  Consolidation 

In  1853  Philadelphia  was  visited 
with  a  series  of  violent  and  riotous  dis- 
orders for  which  the  volunteer  fire  com- 
panies were  chiefly  responsible,  and  a 
group  of  influential  citizens  was  called 
together  to  consider  ways  and  means  of 
checking  these  disturbances.  This 
group,  which  incidentally  included  a 
number  of  the  champions  of  consolida- 
tion, decided  that  drastic  legislation 
must  be  secured  and  that  as  a  means  to 
this  end  a  reform  ticket  must  be  put  up 
at  the  ensuing  election.  Therefore,  on 
July  30,  1853,  a  reform  convention  was 
held,  and  Eli  K.  Price  was  nominated 
for  the  state  senate  and  Mathias  W. 
Baldwin  and  William  C.  Patterson  for 
the  house  of  representatives.  Mr. 
Price  immediately  announced  that  he 
stood  for  consolidation  of  local  govern- 
ments in  Philadelphia  county  as  one  of 
the  prime  essentials  of  reform,  and  the 
other  candidates  were  impliedly  pledged 
to  the  same  measure.  After  an  ardu- 
ous campaign  all  of  the  reform  candi- 
dates were  elected,  and  Mr.  Price 
forthwith  called  a  conference  consisting 
of  the  senators  and  representatives  of 
the  city  and  the  county  of  Philadelphia 
and  certain  leading  advocates  of  con- 
solidation. Under  Mr.  Price's  leader- 
ship this  conference  undertook  to  frame 
a  consolidation  bill  and  a  new  charter 
for  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  and  while 
it  was  engaged  in  these  labors  an  exten- 
sive campaign  of  propaganda  in  favor 
of  unification  was  carried  on  in  the 
newspapers  of  the  city  and  the  county. 

The  legislative  measure  thus  pre- 
pared was  presented  in  the  state  senate 
as  soon  as  the  legislature  assembled  in 
1854.  The  forces  behind  it  were  so 
influential  and  were  so  powerfully 
organized  that  they  pushed  it  through 


1922]      THE   POLITICAL  INTEGRATION  OF  COMMUNITIES        233 


the  senate  in  the  unprecedentedly 
short  period  of  two  weeks.  In  the 
house  of  representatives  it  was  passed 
with  equal  promptness;  and  on  the 
second  of  February,  1854,  it  received 
the  signature  of  the  governor.  This 
act  was  an  out-and-out  annexation 
measure.  The  boundaries  of  the  city 
of  Philadelphia  were  extended  to  coin- 
cide with  the  boundaries  of  the  county 
of  the  same  name,  and  all  of  the  outly- 
ing municipalities,  districts,  and  town- 
ships were  absorbed  by  the  city.  The 
government  of  the  city  was  remodeled 
in  such  a  way  as  to  render  it  more  ade- 
quate for  the  enlarged  area,  but  no 
striking  or  fundamental  changes  were 
made.4 

The  immediate  results  of  the  con- 
solidation and  annexation  were  un- 
questionably beneficent.  For  many 
years  Philadelphia  and  her  environs 
had  been  disgraced  by  civil  turbulence 
almost  impossible  to  prevent  or  con- 
trol. Negro-baiters  intimidated  free 
negroes  by  unchecked  violence;  mobs 
of  native  workingmen  used  the  same 
methods  against  Irish  immigrants; 
over-zealous  Protestants  practised 
shameful  outrages  upon  Roman  Catho- 
lics; rival  fire  companies  were  wont  to 
do  pitched  battle  in  the  streets;  and 
not  infrequently  the  volunteer  fire  com- 
panies refused  to  extinguish  fires 
started  by  rioters  with  whom  they  were 
in  sympathy.  These  disturbances  and 
disorders  quickly  disappeared  when 
unified  local  government  went  into 
operation,  for  this  made  possible  an  ef- 
fective police  department  and  a  paid 
fire  department.  Other  beneficial  re- 
sults of  consolidation  were  the  develop- 
ment of  a  comprehensive  system  of 
water  supply  and  sewage  disposal  to  re- 
place the  separate  systems  of  the 
former  independent  municipalities;  the 
establishment  of  a  metropolitan  park 

« Price,  Hittorv  of  Con»olidation  in  Philadelphia, 
patiim. 


system;  and  a  marked  increase  in  the 
assessed  valuation  of  property  through- 
out the  metropolitan  area. 

But  Philadelphia  County  Remained 

Unfortunately  the  county  of  Phila- 
delphia was  not  included  in  the  con- 
solidation of  1854,  although  many  be- 
lieve that  such  was  the  intent  of  the 
law  and  that  such  a  consummation 
was  only  averted  by  the  machinations 
of  scheming  politicians.  The  follow- 
ing newspaper  comment  affords  some 
conception  of  the  unfortunate  conse- 
quences of  the  duplication  of  city  and 
county : 

Employes  dismissed  from  city  departments  are 
taken  care  of  in  county  offices  purely  as  political 
dependents,  apparently  regardless  of  any  neces- 
sity for  their  services  to  the  public.  In  the  city 
employ  they  could  not  actively  engage  in  political 
work;  in  the  county  offices  they  are  under  no  such 
provision,  and  they  are  not  affected  by  the  civil 
service  law  under  which  appointments  under  the 
city  government  are  made.5 

On  account  of  these  conditions  the 
more  progressive  newspapers  and  civic 
organizations  of  Philadelphia  are  be- 
ginning to  advocate  the  consolidation 
of  the  city  and  the  county  govern- 
ments, but  as  yet  no  organized  move- 
ment has  been  launched. 

CONSOLIDATION  OF  CITY  AND  COUNTY 
OF  SAN  FRANCISCO:  1856 

The  influx  of  population  into  Cali- 
fornia following  the  gold  discoveries  of 
1849  was  so  prodigious  that  political 
institutions  became  obsolete  almost  as 
soon  as  they  were  created.  The  state 
was  divided  into  counties  in  1850,  and 
later  in  the  same  year  the  city  of  San 
Francisco  was  created  with  boundaries 
practically  identical  with  those  of  a 
previously  established  county  of  that 
name.  Thus  from  the  first  there  was 
unnecessary  duality  of  government  in 

I  Philadelphia  Prow.  Feb.  15,  1020. 


234 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[August 


this  largely  urban  area.  Baneful  re- 
sults were  experienced  immediately. 
Extravagance  and  corruption  ran  riot; 
the  tax  rate  and  the  public  debt 
mounted  to  oppressive  heights;  and 
every  effort  to  improve  conditions  was 
paralyzed  by  the  deplorable  inefficiency 
of  the  governmental  system.  "And 
what,"  said  Senator  W.  W.  Hawks  to 
the  state  senate  in  1855,  "has  brought 
us  to  this  state  of  things?  This  intri- 
cate system  of  government;  affording 
a  thousand  chances  for  plunder,  and 
yet  a  thousand  cloaks  to  hide  the  Cai- 
tiff who  robs  a  trusting  people.  This 
duplicate  set  of  officers,  officials,  hang- 
ers-on, loafers,  whippers-in,  and  gen- 
eral plunderers." 

A  few  turbulent  years  under  the 
dual  system  served  to  convince  the 
better  elements  in  San  Francisco  that 
a  drastic  remedy  must  be  applied. 
Public  discussion  left  no  doubt  that 
nothing  short  of  a  major  operation  could 
effect  a  cure.  While  there  was  much 
diversity  of  opinion  as  to  what  the 
nature  of  the  operation  should  be,  there 
was  universal  agreement  in  the  propo- 
sition that  it  must  bring  about  simpli- 
fication. A  bill  for  the  consolidation  of 
the  city  and  county  of  San  Francisco 
was  introduced  in  the  legislature  in 
1855  by  Horace  Hawes,  an  assembly- 
man from  San  Francisco,  and  enough 
support  was  gained  to  force  its  final  en- 
actment on  April  19,  1856.  Under  the 
provisions  of  this  act  the  charter  of  the 
city  of  San  Francisco  was  repealed,  and 
there  was  created  a  corporation  styled 
"The  City  and  County  of  San  Fran- 
cisco," which  was  to  act  in  the  twofold 
capacity  of  city  and  county.  The 
changes  in  the  form  of  the  government 
were  not  radical  in  principle,  being 
chiefly  excisions  and  consolidations. 
The  bicameral  city  council  was  super- 
seded by  the  county  board  of  super- 
visors; the  city  assessors  were  replaced 
by  the  county  assessor;  the  county  tax- 


collectors  gave  way  to  the  city  collector; 
and  many  similar  changes  were  made. 
A  few  duplications  survived,  as  in  the 
case  of  city  attorney  and  district  at- 
torney, but  they  were  not  sufficiently 
numerous  to  defeat  the  purpose  of  con- 
solidation. 

In  the  matter  of  economy  the  ad- 
vantage of  unified  local  government 
became  apparent  at  once.  The  histo- 
rian Hittel  records  that  under  the  new 
scheme  of  government  the  expenses  of 
city  and  county  government  were  re- 
duced from  $2,640,000  in  1855  to 
$350,000  in  1857.  Such  a  record  for 
economical  administration  certainly 
has  not  been  maintained  in  San  Fran- 
cisco throughout  the  succeeding  years, 
but  no  one  can  doubt  that  but  for  the 
unified  local  government  the  history  of 
public  finance  in  San  Francisco  would 
have  been  much  more  sordid  than  it  is. 
Other  benefits  claimed  to  be  attribut- 
able to  the  unified  government  are 
increased  efficiency,  freedom  from  legis- 
lative meddling,  and  greater  adapta- 
bility to  the  practical  exigencies  of  local 
government.6 

While  there  have  been  important 
charter  changes  in  San  Francisco  since 
1856,  there  have  been  no  departures 
from  the  basic  features  of  the  consoli- 
dation act. 


SEPARATION   AND    SIMPLIFICATION 
ST.  LOUIS:     1876 

The  story  of  St.  Louis  differs  from 
any  that  have  preceded.7  Prior  to 
1876  St.  Louis  county  included  the  city 
of  St.  Louis  and  an  extensive  rural  area 
lying  outside  of  the  corporate  bound- 
aries of  the  city.  The  rapid  growth  of 
the  city  resulted  in  many  extensions  of 
its  boundaries  and  a  decided  complica- 
tion of  the  problems  of  municipal 

«  American  Political  Science  Review  (supp.)  Vol.  VI, 
No.l. 
7  Ibid. 


1922]      THE  POLITICAL  INTEGRATION  OF  COMMUNITIES        235 


government.  Although  the  area  of  the 
county  still  greatly  exceeded  that  of  the 
city,  the  population  of  the  city  so  enor- 
mously exceeded  that  of  the  rural  parts 
of  the  county  as  to  work  a  profound 
modification  in  the  character  of  city 
and  county  politics.  While  the  county 
was  a  corporate  entity  exercising  with- 
in the  city  many'  purely  municipal 
functions  and  others  vitally  affecting 
municipal  affairs,  the  government  of 
the  county  was  for  the  most  part  con- 
trolled by  rural  politicians  whose  chief 
concern  was  to  exploit  the  city  for  the 
benefit  of  themselves  and  the  rural 
parts  of  the  county.  The  result  was 
the  worst  sort  of  misgovernment. 
County  revenues  were  derived  prin- 
cipally from  the  city  and  expended 
mainly  in  the  rural  parts  of  the  county; 
the  salaries  of  county  officers  were 
boosted  to  absurd  figures,  and  offices 
were  multiplied  far  beyond  necessity; 
corruption  became  commonplace. 

At  the  same  time  the  government  of 
the  city  was  in  no  very  healthy  condi- 
tion. The  legislature  had  always  shown 
a  pernicious  disposition  to  meddle  in 
the  affairs  of  the  city,  and  the  govern- 
ment of  the  city  eventually  fell  into  the 
hands  of  a  gang  of  machine  politicians 
who  had  intrenched  themselves  at 
Jefferson  City  and  who  were  every  bit 
as  vicious  as  the  county  politicians,  if 
not  leagued  with  them.  The  city  of 
St.  Louis  was  obviously  suffering  from 
two  serious  maladies — the  dominance 
of  county  politics  in  municipal  affairs 
and  legislative  intervention  in  local 
matters. 

Home  Rule  Granted  Also 

Simple  consolidation  of  city  and 
county  as  in  San  Francisco  would  not 
do  in  St.  Louis.  The  rural  sections  of 
the  county  could  not  have  been 
brought  under  the  unified  government 
with  any  degree  of  success,  and  prob- 
ably the  mischievous  intervention  of 


the  state  legislature  in  municipal  af- 
fairs would  have  been  aggravated  by 
such  a  course.  Secession  from  the 
county  became  therefore  the  watch- 
word of  the  reform  party  in  St.  Louis. 
Agitation  began  as  early  as  1843  and 
was  carried  on  with  great  energy  dur- 
ing the  decade  immediately  preceding 
the  constitutional  convention  of  1875. 
The  meeting  of  this  constituent  as- 
sembly afforded  a  supreme  opportunity 
to  the  champions  of  city  and  county 
separation.  By  virtue  of  adroit  manoeu- 
vering  they  procured  the  insertion  in 
the  constitutional  draft  of  sections  20 
to  25  inclusive  of  Article  IX.  The 
constitution  was  ratified  by  the  people 
on  August  22,  1876,  and  went  into  ef- 
fect sixty  days  later.  The  most  curi- 
ous and  noteworthy  fact  about  the 
sections  referred  to  above,  is  that  they 
not  only  opened  the  way  for  separation 
of  city  and  county,  but  at  the  same 
time  empowered  the  city  of  St.  Louis  to 
extend  its  boundaries  and  to  "frame  a 
charter  for  the  government  of  the  city 
thus  enlarged."  This  marked  the  be- 
ginning of  municipal  home  rule  in  the 
United  States.  According  to  the  testi- 
mony of  persons  acquainted  with  the 
"inside"  history  of  this  famous  home- 
rule  provision,  it  was  not  a  part  of  the 
original  plan  for  the  separation  of  city 
and  county  and  was  included  only  upon 
the  insistence  of  certain  influential 
German-American  citizens  who  had  in 
mind  creating  for  St.  Louis  a  status 
similar  to  that  enjoyed  by  the  free 
cities  of  Germany — Hamburg,  Liibeck, 
and  Bremen.  It  is  said  also  that  at 
first  the  home-rule  proposal  was  op- 
posed by  city  and  county  alike  and  was 
only  carried  in  the  convention  because 
by  a  separate  section  (section  16  of 
Article  IX)  the  same  privilege  was  ex- 
tended to  all  cities  of  the  state  having  a 
population  of  100,000  and  over. 

The    machinery    provided    for    the 
separation    of   city   and    county   and 


236 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[August 


framing  a  new  government  may  be 
summarized   as   follows : 

The  council  of  the  city  and  the  county  court  of 
the  county  were  to  meet  in  joint  session  and  order 
an  election  at  which  was  to  be  chosen  a  board  of 
thirteen  freeholders,  which  board  should  be 
obligated  "to  propose  a  scheme  for  the  enlarge- 
ment and  definition  of  the  boundaries  of  the  city, 
the  reorganization  of  the  government  of  the 
county,  the  adjustment  of  the  relations  of  the 
city  thus  enlarged  and  the  residue  of  St.  Louis 
county,  by  a  charter  in  harmony  with  and  sub- 
ject to  the  constitution  and  laws  of  Missouri, 
which  shall  among  other  things  provide  for  a 
chief  executive  and  two  houses  of  legislation,  one 
of  which  shall  be  elected  by  general  ticket.  .  .  . 
It  was  further  provided  that  this  scheme  and 
charter  must  be  completed  and  properly  filed 
with  the  mayor  of  the  city  and  the  presiding 
justice  of  the  county  court  within  ninety  days 
after  the  election  of  the  board.  Within  thirty 
days  thereafter  it  was  to  be  submitted  to  the 
voters  in  the  following  manner:  The  scheme  of 
separation  was  to  be  submitted  to  the  qualified 
voters  of  the  whole  county  and  the  charter  to  the 
qualified  voters  of  the  city  as  enlarged.  If  ap- 
proved by  a  majority  of  those  voting  at  the  elec- 
tion, the  scheme  of  separation  was  to  become  the 
organic  law  of  the  city  and  county  and  the 
charter  the  organic  law  of  the  enlarged  city,  the 
two  to  be  in  full  force  and  operation  within  sixty 
days  after  their  adoption. 

The  machinery  thus  provided  was 
set  in  motion  immediately  after  the  new 
constitution  became  effective.  The 
board  of  freeholders  was  duly  elected 
and  the  scheme  and  charter  prepared, 
submitted  and  voted  upon  by  the  peo- 
ple. The  certified  returns  showed  that 
the  charter  had  carried  by  a  majority 
of  558  and  that  the  scheme  of  separa- 
tion had  been  defeated  by  a  margin  of 
1416.  This  precipitated  a  serious 
situation,  as  it  was  not  clear  that  the 
scheme  and  the  charter  were  separable. 
However,  there  were  so  many  charges  of 
fraudulent  registration  and  voting  that 
application  was  made  for  a  judicial 
recount.  The  court  of  appeals  of  St. 
Louis  conducted  the  recount,  and,  on 
March  5,  1877,  it  declared  that  both 


the  charter  and  the  scheme  of  separa- 
tion had  carried  by  substantial  majori- 
ties. 

No  comprehensive  survey  of  the 
scheme  of  separation  and  the  new 
charter  is  possible  within  the  limits 
prescribed  for  this  article,  but  a  few  of 
the  outstanding  features  may  be  noted. 
The  enlarged  city  of  St.  Louis  was 
completely  divorced  from  the  residue  of 
St.  Louis  county,  which  was  organized 
as  a  county  apart  from  the  city  of  St. 
Louis.  In  the  city  all  of  the  county 
offices  except  sheriff,  coroner,  and  pub- 
lic administrator  were  abolished.  So 
far  the  plan  was  simplicity  itself,  but 
when  it  came  to  dividing  public  prop- 
erty, apportioning  public  debts,  and 
such  readjustments,  the  settlement  was 
not  so  easy.  The  intent  of  the  separa- 
tion scheme  was  that  all  public  property 
falling  within  the  limits  of  the  enlarged 
city  should  become  the  property  of  the 
city,  but  that  the  county  should  be 
fairly  compensated  for  all  of  its  losses. 
To  this  end  provision  was  made  that 
the  city  should  have  all  county  prop- 
erty of  whatever  character  within  its 
extended  limits,  and  in  consideration 
therefor  should  assume  the  entire 
county  debt  (both  interest  and  princi- 
pal) and  the  park  debt.  A  board  of 
finance  was  created  for  the  purpose  of 
ascertaining  and  verifying  the  indebted- 
ness of  the  county  and  certifying  the 
same  to  the  city,  and  for  other  minor 
functions.  The  foregoing  provisions 
did  not  extend  to  school  property,  and 
as  this  settlement  was  very  complicated 
it  will  not  be  discussed  here. 

Expenses  Immediately  Reduced 

The  beneficial  effects  of  separation 
and  consolidation  at  St.  Louis  have 
never  been  seriously  questioned.  A 
reduction  of  the  cost  of  government 
was  the  most  immediate  and  obvious 
gain.  In  the  first  year  following  the 
unification  the  tax  rate  was  reduced  62^ 


1922]      THE  POLITICAL  INTEGRATION  OF  COMMUNITIES        237 


cents  per  $100  despite  the  augmented 
area  of  the  city,  and  a  further  reduction 
of  15  cents  was  effected  in  the  succeed- 
ing year.  At  the  same  time  the 
bonded  indebtedness  was  steadily  low- 
ered, and  a  long-accumulating  floating 
debt  was  paid  off  during  the  first  fiscal 
year  of  the  reorganized  city.  Com- 
menting on  these  facts  one  writer  says : 

It  was  not  until  a  fiscal  year  had  elapsed  after 
the  city  government  had  been  recast  and  re- 
organized under  the  charter  and  separation 
scheme  that  a  fair  opportunity  was  presented  of 
summarizing  and  examining  the  results  of  the 
new  system.  This  opportunity  presented  itself 
at  the  May  session  of  1878,  when  the  mayor 
stated  that  the  immediate  results  had  been  re- 
duction in  taxation  and  in  the  expenses  of  de- 
partments, and  an  improved  system  of  public 
institutions.  .  .  .  The  municipal  affairs  of 
the  city  for  the  fiscal  year  ending  in  June,  1879, 
were  prosperous  and  satisfactory  to  no  ordinary 
degree.  The  penal  and  charitable  institutions 
were  in  excellent  order  and  economically  man- 
aged; the  fiscal  and  improvement  departments 
were  conducted  with  integrity  and  energy,  and 
at  no  period  in  the  history  of  the  city  had  its 
credit  been  better  or  had  a  more  practical  and 
efficient  system  controlled  the  expenditure  of  the 
city  revenue,  the  management  of  the  city  debt, 
and  the  operations  on  public  works.8 

The  separation  of  the  city  from  the 
county  and  the  simplification  of  the 
consolidated  government  did  not  of 
course  mark  the  advent  of  the  millen- 
nium, and  it  is  quite  probable  that  the 
reform  enthusiasm  of  the  new  adminis- 
tration overmatched  that  of  its  succes- 
sors. Certainly  there  have  been  some 
sordid  pages  in  the  history  of  St.  Louis 
since  1876.  Nevertheless  it  will  not  be 
denied  that  the  unity  achieved  under 
the  scheme  of  1876  has  been  a  potent 
factor  in  the  upbuilding  of  St.  Louis 
and  in  promoting  better  government. 
The  plan  of  1876  was  seriously  defec- 
tive in  one  particular;  namely,  failure 
to  provide  for  future  extensions  of  the 

*  Scharf ,  History  of  St.  Louis  City  and  County,  Vol.  I, 
pp.  712-713. 


boundaries  of  the  city.  The  city  soon 
outgrew  its  extended  boundaries,  and 
is  now  confronted  with  an  embarrass- 
ing annexation  problem.  Although 
the  charter  of  1876  was  much  modified 
with  the  passing  of  the  years  and  in 
1914  was  completely  set  aside,  it  has 
not  been  possible  to  secure  the  further 
enlargement  of  the  boundaries  of  the 
city. 


FORMATION  OF  GREATER  NEW  YORK: 

1898 

Doubtless  the  most  noted  case  of 
municipal  consolidation  in  this  country 
is  the  fashioning  of  the  present  city  of 
Greater  New  York  out  of  the  metro- 
politan district  formerly  composed  of 
New  York  (Manhattan),  Brooklyn, 
Richmond  county,  and  portions  of 
Kings,  Queens,  and  Westchester  coun- 
ties.9 On  December  1,  1897,  just  prior 
to  the  consolidation,  the  population  of 
this  metropolitan  area  was  estimated  at 
more  than  3,000,000.  This  vast  popu- 
lation was  for  all  practical  purposes  an 
organic  unit.  The  center  of  industrial, 
commercial,  and  social  life  was  on  the 
island  of  Manhattan,  while  the  other 
communities  were  for  the  most  part 
economic  satellites  of  this  great  center. 
Politically,  however,  the  metropolitan 
population  was  not  one  body,  but  up- 
ward of  forty.  Chaos  reigned  supreme. 
Cities,  counties,  villages,  school  dis- 
tricts, detached  boards,  and  quasi- 
independent  officers  contracted  debts, 
enacted  local  legislation,  and  carried  on 
the  administrative  operations  of  local 
government  without  any  co-ordination 
or  co-operation.  The  effect  was  calam- 
itous. Not  only  was  the  natural 
evolution  of  the  metropolitan  area  re- 
tarded because  of  the  difficulty  of 
securing  united  action  on  the  great 

•Leslie.  History  of  Greater  New  York.  Vol.  I,  Chap. 
19;  also  Henschel,  Historical  Sketch  of  Greater  New 
York,  passim. 


238 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[August 


problems  of  transportation,  sanitation, 
city  planning,  housing,  public  safety, 
and  the  like,  which  were  basic  determi- 
native factors  in  growth,  but  the  finan- 
cial situation,  except  in  the  case  of  New 
York,  was  desperate.  Brooklyn  was 
bonded  up  to  the  constitutional  limit 
and  indebted  in  excess  of  that  limit. 
The  assessed  valuation  of  property  in 
Brooklyn  was  high,  and  so  was  the  tax 
rate.  Analagous  conditions  prevailed 
in  the  other  suburbs,  except  that  the 
pinch  of  high  taxation  was  perhaps  not 
quite  so  acute  as  in  Brooklyn.  New 
York  was  fortunate  in  having  a  com- 
paratively low  assessed  valuation  and 
tax  rate  and  in  having  its  debt-incur- 
ring power  practically  unimpaired.  In 
fact  it  was  asserted  in  1893  by  Mayor 
Gilroy  of  New  York  that  by  lifting  her 
assessed  valuation  New  York  would  be 
able  to  incur  sufficient  indebtedness  to 
buy  Brooklyn  outright.  It  is  plain 
therefore  that  union  with  New  York 
was  not  without  a  balm  for  the  wounded 
local  pride  of  the  communities  which 
submerged  themselves  in  Greater  New 
York. 

The  New  York  History 

The  history  of  the  New  York  con- 
solidation has  been  so  often  and  so  fully 
told  that  it  will  not  be  repeated  here. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  after  a  campaign 
whose  beginnings  can  be  traced  back  as 
far  as  1830,  the  legislature  of  the  state 
of  New  York  in  1894  passed  a  measure 
providing  for  a  vote  on  the  question  of 
consolidation  by  the  citizens  of  the 
districts  concerned.  The  vote  was 
taken  on  November  6,  1894.  The 
most  interesting  feature  of  this  election 
was  that  the  vote  was  advisory  only 
and  in  reality  settled  nothing.  This 
resulted  from  the  construction  placed 
upon  the  measure  by  the  legislature  at 
the  time  of  enactment  and  from  the  in- 
structions given  to  the  voters.  Whether 
this  had  any  effect  in  procuring  a  vote 


favorable  to  consolidation  it  is  im- 
possible to  say,  but  the  total  majority 
for  consolidation  was  surprisingly  large. 
Despite  the  fact  that  Brooklyn,  Flush- 
ing, and  Mt.  Vernon  returned  small 
majorities  adverse  to  consolidation, 
these  majorities  were  wiped  out  by  the 
decisive  pro-consolidation  vote  cast  in 
the  other  districts  voting.  The  case 
of  Mt.  Vernon  was  unique.  It  had  not 
been  included  in  the  districts  originally 
authorized  to  vote  on  the  question  but 
was  added  by  virtue  of  a  special  act  of 
the  legislature  passed  at  the  instance  of 
a  few  of  its  citizens.  When  it  voted 
against  consolidation,  it  was  decided 
that  there  was  no  authority  to  include 
it  in  the  ultimate  consolidation. 

Pursuant  to  the  favorable  vote  on 
the  consolidation  question,  steps  were 
taken  to  procure  legislation  to  put  it 
into  effect.  However,  the  manoeuver- 
ing  of  the  opponents  of  consolidation 
forestalled  this  consummation  until 
May  11,  1896,  when  the  act  effectuat- 
ing consolidation  was  finally  signed  by 
the  governor.  Only  a  few  provisions 
of  this  act  demand  attention  here.  It 
set  the  date  (January  1, 1898)  when  the 
consolidation  should  become  effective 
and  provided  for  the  creation  of  a 
charter  commission  to  draft  a  charter 
for  the  greater  city.  The  only  restric- 
tions laid  upon  the  charter  commission 
were  that  county  government  should 
not  be  included  in  the  consolidation, 
and  that  it  should  provide  for  an  equal 
and  uniform  rate  of  valuation  and  tax- 
ation throughout  the  consolidated  area. 

The  Plan  Very  Complex 

The  charter  of  Greater  New  York  as 
formulated  by  the  charter  commission 
is  entirely  too  complex  for  brief  analy- 
sis. Probably  the  feature  of  most 
interest  to  the  student  of  municipal 
unification  is  the  system  of  borough 
organization  and  autonomy.  The  per- 
sistence of  strong  local  feeling  in  the 


1922]     THE  POLITICAL  INTEGRATION  OF  COMMUNITIES        239 


several  component  parts  of  the  greater 
city  made  it  seem  inadvisable  to  insti- 
tute a  thoroughly  centralized  plan  of 
government.  Accordingly  the  metro- 
politan area  was  organized  into  five 
boroughs,  as  follows:  the  borough  of 
Manhattan,  consisting  of  Manhattan 
Island;  the  borough  of  Bronx, composed 
of  that  portion  of  the  former  city  of 
New  York  lying  north  of  the  Harlem 
River  plus  the  sections  of  Westchester 
county  recently  annexed;  the  borough 
of  Brooklyn,  which  included  the  former 
city  of  Brooklyn  and  certain  portions 
of  Kings  county ;  the  borough  of  Queens 
which  embraced  the  western  portion  of 
Queens  county;  and  the  borough  of 
Richmond,  consisting  of  the  whole  of 
Staten  Island.  Each  of  these  boroughs 
elects  a  president  who  is  administrative 
head  of  the  borough  and  responsible  for 
the  discharge  of  those  governmental 
functions  reserved  to  the  boroughs  by 
the  charter.  These  functions  are  con- 
fined mainly  to  local  improvements, 
such  as  construction  of  sewers,  sew- 
age disposal,  construction  and  main- 
tenance of  public  highways,  and  the 
maintenance  and  operation  of  public 
buildings.  The  five  borough  presidents, 
together  with  the  mayor,  the  comptrol- 
ler, and  the  president  of  the  board  of 
aldermen,  constitute  the  board  of  esti- 
mate and  apportionment,  which  through 
its  financial  initiative  and  control  has 
evolved  into  the  principal  governing 
body  of  the  city.  The  members  of  the 
board  of  estimate  and  apportionment 
do  not  have  equal  voting  power,  the 
votes  being  so  distributed  that  those 
who  represent  the  city  as  a  whole  can 
outvote  those  who  represent  the  bor- 
oughs. The  distribution  is  as  follows: 
the  mayor,  the  comptroller,  and  the 
president  of  the  board  of  aldermen  cast 
three  votes  each;  the  presidents  of  the 
boroughs  of  Manhattan  and  Brooklyn, 
two  each;  and  the  presidents  of  the 
boroughs  of  Bronx,  Queens,  and  Rich- 


mond, one  each.  To  reinforce  still 
more  the  control  of  those  who  represent 
the  city  at  large,  it  is  provided  that  a 
quorum  of  the  board  shall  consist  of  a 
sufficient  number  of  members  to  cast 
nine  votes,  including  always  two  who 
cast  three  votes  each. 

The  most  conspicuous  shortcoming 
of  the  unification  was  the  exclusion  of 
the  counties.  In  the  years  prior  to 
consolidation  there  had  been  a  gradual 
trimming  of  the  functions  of  the  coun- 
ties of  New  York  and  Kings  until  they 
became  little  more  than  districts  for 
the  administration  of  justice  and  for  the 
election  of  certain  indispensable  con- 
stitutional county  officers.  At  the 
time  of  the  consolidation  the  counties 
of  Queens  and  Richmond  were  re- 
duced to  a  similar  status.  That  these 
counties  as  entities  of  local  govern- 
ment were  retained  largely  because  of 
the  political  patronage  they  provide  is 
generally  conceded,  and  certainly  this 
was  the  motive  behind  the  creation  of 
Bronx  county  in  1914.  The  next  step 
toward  the  complete  unification  of 
Greater  New  York  will  be  the  elimina- 
tion of  the  five  counties. 

Physical  Integration  Followed 

Of  the  after-effects  of  the  consolida- 
tion we  must  perforce  speak  very  brief- 
ly. In  the  realm  of  finance  the  ex- 
perience of  the  greater  city  was 
complex  and  puzzling.10  It  finished  its 
first  year  with  a  deficit  of  over  $7,000,- 
000.  The  financial  morass  into  which 
Brooklyn  in  particular  had  sunk,  and 
the  necessity  of  greatly  extended 
governmental  services  and  public  im- 
provements in  the  outlying  districts, 
placed  the  new  government  in  a  very 
trying  position.  In  the  realm  of 
economic  and  social  development  the 
story  of  the  greater  city  since  consolida- 
tion is  simply  fabulous.  The  political 

10  Color,     The    Financial    Effect*    of    Contolidation, 


240 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[August 


integration  of  the  various  districts  in 
the  metropolitan  area  soon  resulted  in 
physical  integration  through  the  con- 
struction of  bridges,  tunnels,  rapid- 
transit  systems,  and  water-supply  sys- 
tems. With  physical  integration  came 
that  marvelous  development  of  the 
outlying  boroughs  which  has  so  as- 
tonished the  world  and  which  has 
brought  the  population  of  Brooklyn  up 
to  2,002,262,  that  of  the  Bronx  to 
732,016,  that  of  Queens  to  466,811, 
and  that  of  Richmond  to  115,959. 
That  this  basic  unity  of  the  metropoli- 
tan district  has  been  one  of  the  most 
potent  factors  in  fostering  the  commer- 
cial and  industrial  development  which 
has  made  New  York  the  first  city  of 
the  world  scarcely  needs  to  be  said. 

SEPARATION   AND    CONSOLIDATION 
DENVER:  1902-1911 

The  history  of  the  unification  of  local 
government  in  Denver  is  rich  in  inci- 
dent. Prior  to  the  unification  Denver 
was  the  county  seat  of  Arapahoe 
county,  which  was  of  enormous  area 
and  sparsely  populated  except  for  the 
city  of  Denver.  There  was  very  little 
community  of  interest  between  the 
rural  sections  of  the  county  and  the 
city,  and  this  conflict  of  interests 
reacted  upon  Denver  and  its  govern- 
ment in  a  most  unhappy  way.  The 
structure  of  the  city  government  was 
itself  seriously  defective,  being  the 
loose-jointed  board-council-mayor  type 
so  popular  in  this  country  three  or  four 
decades  ago.  The  legislature  of  the 
state  was  given  to  pernicious  meddling 
in  municipal  affairs,  and  in  the  two  all- 
important  functions  of  public  safety 
and  public  works  it  had  superseded  the 
city  authorities  with  state  boards. 
Contending  public  utility  corporations 
were  at  the  same  time  fighting  desper- 
ately for  monopolistic  dominion  of  the 
city.  Here  was  an  unsurpassed  op- 


portunity for  the  operations  of  preda- 
tory political  machines,  and  the  op- 
portunity was  not  overlooked;  Denver 
became  notorious  for  the  corruption 
and  turbulence  of  her  local  politics.11 

Several  states  following  the  example 
of  Missouri  had  incorporated  in  their 
constitutions  provisions  for  municipal 
home  rule,  and,  observing  these  de- 
velopments, reform  leaders  in  Denver 
turned  to  home  rule  as  the  only  escape 
from  the  intolerable  political  conditions 
prevailing  in  their  city.  Separation  of 
city  and  county  and  simplification  of 
the  government  of  the  city  were  second- 
ary considerations  to  them;  the  para- 
mount issue  was  home  rule.  A  move- 
ment for  home  rule  for  Denver  was 
started  in  the  state  legislature  in  1899, 
but  nothing  came  of  it.  In  1901 
Senator  J.  A.  Rush  introduced  a  bill 
submitting  to  the  electorate  of  the  state 
a  home-rule  amendment  to  the  consti- 
tution. The  proposed  amendment  was 
not  confined  to  Denver  alone,  but  ap- 
plied to  all  cities  of  the  first  and  second 
class,  thus  enlisting  valuable  aid  in 
securing  its  passage  by  the  legislature 
and  its  eventual  triumph  at  the  polls. 
It  was  submitted  to  the  people  and 
overwhelmingly  ratified  at  the  general 
election  in  1902. 

At  this  juncture  the  history  of  the 
now  famous  article  XX  of  the  Colorado 
constitution  really  begins.  The  first 
section  of  the  amendment  declared  that 
"The  municipal  corporation  known  as 
the  city  of  Denver,  and  all  municipal 
corporations  and  that  part  of  the  quasi- 
municipal  corporation  known  as  the 
county  of  Arapahoe,  in  the  state  of 
Colorado,  included  within  the  bound- 
aries of  the  said  city  of  Denver  as  the 
same  shall  be  bounded  when  this 
amendment  takes  effect,  are  hereby  con- 
solidated and  are  hereby  declared  to  be 
a  single  body  politic  and  corporate,  by 

u  See  King,  History  of  the  Government  of  Denver, 
Chaps.  V  and  VI. 


1922]      THE  POLITICAL  INTEGRATION  OF  COMMUNITIES        241 


the  name  of  the  'City  and  County  of 
Denver.'"  The  implication  was  that 
the  boundaries  of  the  city  were  to  be 
considerably  extended  prior  to  the  tak- 
ing effect  of  the  amendment,  and  so  it 
came  to  pass.  Legislation  was  secured 
enlarging  the  area  of  the  city  by  specif- 
ically annexing  certain  contiguous 
territory.  In  this  way  several  former 
suburban  towns  whose  aggregate  popu- 
lation was  about  6,000  were  added  to 
the  city,  together  with  a  considerable 
amount  of  unsettled  territory. 

First  Charter  Defeated 

Pursuant  to  the  amendment,  a 
charter  convention  was  elected  to  frame 
a  new  charter  for  the  new  corporation. 
A  very  commendable  charter  was  pre- 
pared, but  it  so  greatly  reduced  the 
possible  spoils  of  party  warfare  by  the 
introduction  of  the  short-ballot  prin- 
ciple that  it  aroused  the  hostility  of  the 
machine  organizations  of  both  parties. 
Furthermore  it  contained  a  provision 
looking  toward  more  stringent  regula- 
tion of  public  utilities,  and  thus  earned 
the  opposition  of  the  corporate  interest. 
These  hostile  forces  in  league  were  able 
to  send  the  charter  to  defeat  at  the  polls 
on  September  22,  1903.  A  second 
charter  convention  became  necessary 
and  was  assembled  on  December  8, 
1903.  The  draft  prepared  by  the 
second  charter  convention  omitted 
the  provisions  which  were  unacceptable 
to  the  politicians  and  the  corporations, 
and  consequently  it  was  easily  ratified 
on  March  29,  1904.  At  the  first  elec- 
tion under  the  new  instrument,  held  in 
May,  1904,  city  and  county  offices  were 
merged  without  question.  But  when 
the  fall  campaign  of  1904  came  around 
the  question  of  whether  a  full  set  of 
county  officers  could  be  nominated  was 
raised  and  finally  taken  to  the  courts. 
It  is  quite  unnecessary  here  to  enter 
into  the  technicalities  of  the  extended 
litigation  which  ensued  and  which 


practically  suspended  until  1911  the 
real  consolidation  of  city  and  county 
governments.12  In  the  year  last 
named  the  supreme  court  of  the  state 
terminated  this  legal  controversy  by  a 
sweeping  opinion  quite  the  reverse  of 
its  former  pronouncements.  A  third 
charter  convention  met  in  1913  and 
proposed  amendments  to  the  charter 
of  1904,  which,  when  approved  by  the 
voters,  put  the  commission  plan  of  gov- 
ernment into  effect.  After  three  years 
this  was  abandoned  by  the  adoption  of 
the  so-called  "Speer  Amendment," 
which  provided  for  a  highly  centralized 
administration  under  an  elected  mayor. 

Economy  Plus  Efficiency 

Because  of  the  tempestuous  history 
of  the  consolidation  of  local  govern- 
ments in  Denver,  the  results  are  hard 
to  measure.  Probably  the  most  ob- 
vious is  economy.  The  financial  re- 
ports of  the  city  and  county  show  that 
in  1911  (the  last  year  that  a  complete 
set  of  officers  for  both  city  and  county 
was  maintained)  the  total  cost  of  local 
government  was  $679,400,  while  in 
1917  with  simplification  and  consolida- 
tion in  effect  it  was  $476,600,  and  this 
despite  a  sharp  rise  in  price  levels  in 
the  meantime.  It  is  also  the  well-nigh 
unanimous  testimony  of  those  asso- 
ciated with  the  consolidated  govern- 
ment that  this  startling  economy  has 
been  accompanied  by  increased  effi- 
ciency. 


UNION  OF  ALLEGHENY  WITH  PITTS- 
BURGH:    1906-1908 

It  has  been  asserted  that  the  union 
of  Pittsburgh  and  Allegheny  was  a 
Sabine  marriage  in  which  Pittsburgh 
assumed  the  role  of  the  abducting  Ro- 
man, and  there  are  facts  to  support 
such  a  contention.  However,  if  there 

ii  For  a  full  discussion  see  MoBain,  The  Law  and 
Practice  of  Municipal  Home  Rule,  pp.  498-531. 


242 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[August 


was  ever  a  case  vindicating  the  casuistic 
argument  that  the  end  justifies  the 
means,  this  was  one.  Prior  to  the  an- 
nexation, the  city  of  Pittsburgh  occupied 
a  tongue  of  land  formed  by  the  con- 
fluence of  the  Allegheny  and  Monon- 
gahela  rivers.  The  population  of  Pitts- 
burgh at  that  time  was  estimated  at 
383,000.  Across  the  Allegheny  river 
on  a  similar  tongue  of  land  was  the  city 
of  Allegheny  with  an  estimated  popu- 
lation of  142,000;  across  the  Mononga- 
hela  river  were  four  incorporated  bor- 
oughs whose  combined  population  was 
about  8,000;  and  to  the  rear  of  Pitts- 
burgh was  the  small  township  of  Ster- 
rett  with  a  population  of  600  to  1,000. 
These  contiguous  and  clustering  com- 
munities were  in  matters  industrial, 
commercial  and  social,  integral  parts  of 
the  city  of  Pittsburgh,  and  with  it  they 
constituted  one  homogeneous  metro- 
politan district.  Pittsburgh  was  the 
center  of  commerce  and  industry,  while 
the  outlying  communities  were  either 
economic  tributaries  or  residential 
suburbs.  With  the  multiplication  of 
bridges  and  the  perfection  of  trolley 
systems  this  close  inter-relationship  was 
greatly  heightened.13 

A  Social  Unit  Politically  Subdivided 

On  the  political  side,  however,  this 
metropolitan  community  was  broken 
into  many  and  discordant  parts. 
Many  of  the  leading  figures  in  the  affairs 
of  Pittsburgh  resided  in  the  outlying 
communities  and  consequently  had  no 
share  in  the  government  of  Pittsburgh. 
The  effect  of  this  absenteeism  was  to 
set  the  stage  for  the  ring  politicians, 
who  for  many  years  played  fast  and 
loose  with  the  affairs  of  the  city.  Plans 
for  improving  the  industrial  and  com- 
mercial position  of  the  city  always  had 
to  run  the  gauntlet  of  factional  oppo- 
sition and  often  were  entirely  thwarted 
by  the  degraded  city  administration. 

w  Killikelly,  History  of  Pittsburgh,  pp.  241-244. 


Interests  which  proximity  made  com- 
mon to  all  communities  in  the  metropol- 
itan area  could  not  be  promoted  in  com- 
mon; and  in  the  case  of  sewage  disposal 
and  water  supply  the  lack  of  harmony 
among  the  various  municipalities 
threatened  to  defeat  large  civic  proj- 
ects and  to  imperil  the  health  of  the 
inhabitants  of  all.  There  was  intense 
jealousy  in  the  allocation  of  the  financial 
burden  of  public  improvements.  Pitts- 
burgh resented  carrying  the  cost  of 
public  improvements  which  accrued 
largely  to  the  benefit  of  the  surrounding 
communities,  while  the  latter  were  in- 
capable of  footing  the  bills  for  the  ex- 
tensive improvements  and  services 
which  their  metropolitan  situation 
made  necessary. 

In  consideration  of  the  foregoing 
facts  it  is  not  surprising  that  public- 
minded  citizens  early  reached  the  con- 
clusion that  the  only  hope  of  permanent 
amelioration  of  conditions  lay  in  the 
political  unification  of  the  metropolitan 
area,  and  especially  in  the  union  of 
Pittsburgh  and  Allegheny.  For  many 
years,  beginning  as  far  back  as  1854, 
this  question  was  an  issue  in  the 
Pennsylvania  legislature;  but  nothing 
was  accomplished  in  the  way  of  assist- 
ing legislation  until  1905  when  the 
governor,  largely  at  the  instance  of 
commercial  and  civic  organizations  in 
Pittsburgh,  summoned  the  legislature 
in  special  session  to  enact  a  law  per- 
mitting cities  contiguous  to  one  another 
to  consolidate  and  form  one  city. 
Special  legislation  for  cities  being  for- 
bidden by  the  constitution  of  the  state, 
the  legislature  was  unable  to  enact  a 
law  designating  Pittsburgh  and  Alle- 
gheny and  empowering  them  to  unite, 
but  resorted  to  the  subterfuge  which 
the  courts  in  most  states  have  tolerated, 
and  on  February  7,  1906,  passed  an  en- 
abling act  applicable  to  all  cities  of  the 
second  class,  Pittsburgh  and  Allegheny 
being  the  only  cities  in  that  class. 


1922]     THE  POLITICAL  INTEGRATION  OF  COMMUNITIES        243 


Compulsory  Annexation 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  act 
of  1906  was  passed  to  enable  Pitts- 
burgh to  absorb  Allegheny  without  her 
consent.  Otherwise  the  act  need  not 
have  been  passed,  for  pre-existing 
statutes  authorized  one  city  to  annex 
another  upon  the  initiative  of  and  with 
the  approval  of  the  voters  of  the  city 
to  be  annexed.  The  act  of  1906,  how- 
ever, provided  specifically  that  the 
consolidation  should  come  about  only 
by  the  annexation  of  the  smaller  by  the 
larger  city;  that  the  initiative  might  be 
taken  by  the  common  council  or  by  peti- 
tion signed  by  two  per  cent  of  the 
voters  of  either  city;  and  that  if  a 
majority  of  the  total  vote  cast  in  both 
cities  should  be  in  favor  of  consolida- 
tion, the  court  of  quarter  sessions  should 
issue  a  decree  declaring  them  to  be 
consolidated.  Thus  it  was  made  pos- 
sible for  Pittsburgh  to  take  the  initia- 
tive away  from  Allegheny  and  to  out- 
vote her  at  the  election;  and  precisely 
that  thing  happened.  Pursuant  to  the 
provisions  of  the  act  a  petition  was 
filed  with  the  court  of  quarter  sessions 
of  Allegheny  county  by  certain  citizens 
of  Pittsburgh  praying  for  the  union  of 
Pittsburgh  and  Allegheny;  the  court 
conducted  a  hearing  as  required  by  the 
act,  dismissed  the  exceptions  which  had 
been  filed  against  the  petition,  and 
ordered  a  special  election  to  be  held  in 
June,  1906.  The  vote  of  Allegheny 
was  against  consolidation,  but  that  of 
Pittsburgh  was  so  preponderantly  for 
it  that  out  of  a  total  of  37,804  votes  cast 
there  was  a  majority  of  2,504  for  con- 
solidation. Accordingly  on  June  16, 
1906,  the  decree  of  the  court  went  forth 
declaring  Allegheny  to  be  annexed  to 
and  consolidated  with  Pittsburgh. 
Allegheny  contested  the  legality  of 
these  proceedings  and  carried  the  case 
through  all  the  courts  of  the  state  and 
finally  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  which  on  Novem- 


ber 18,  1907,  handed  down  an  opinion 
to  the  effect  that  nothing  in  the  act  of 
1906  and  the  procedure  of  annexation 
thereunder  was  in  conflict  with  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States.14 

The  annexation  of  Allegheny  did  not 
involve  the  other  suburban  boroughs 
and  townships  mentioned  above,  but 
they  were  joined  to  Pittsburgh  at 
about  the  same  time  under  the  provi- 
sions of  the  general  laws  on  the  subject 
of  annexation  of  contiguous  munici- 
palities. 

The  Actual  Process  of  Consolidation 

A  detailed  analysis  of  the  act  of 
February  7,  1906,  is  impossible  in  the 
limited  space  available  here.  Some  of 
the  leading  provisions  have  already 
been  noted,  and  a  few  others  which 
were  to  apply  only  in  the  event  of  an 
election  in  favor  of  consolidation  will 
be  briefly  mentioned.  There  was  a 
group  of  provisions  having  to  do  with 
the  settlement  of  the  financial  and 
proprietary  problems  resulting  from 
consolidation.  It  was  provided,  for 
example  that  each  of  the  consolidating 
cities  should  be  liable  separately  to  pay 
its  own  floating  and  bonded  indebted- 
ness, liabilities,  and  interest,  such  as 
existed  at  the  time  of  the  consolidation; 
and  adequate  administrative  machinery 
was  created  for  the  enforcement  of  this 
rule.  Another  group  of  provisions  had 
to  do  with  the  manner  in  which  the 
governments  of  the  two  cities  should  be 
merged.  The  consolidation  did  not 
ipso  facto  deprive  any  officer  of  either  of 
the  two  cities  of  his  office  or  salary  until 
the  expiration  of  his  term,  but  in  this 
interim  and  until  a  system  of  govern- 
ment for  the  greater  city  could  be 
organized,  a  temporary  government 
was  to  be  operative.  The  main  fea- 
tures of  this  scheme  were  that  the  coun- 
cils of  the  two  cities  were  to  be  merged 
and  meet  as  one  body;  that  the  mayor 

»«  Hunter  vs.  PiUfburgh.  207  U.  8.  161. 


244 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[August 


of  the  larger  city  was  to  become  the 
mayor  of  the  greater  city  and  the 
mayor  of  the  smaller  city  the  deputy 
mayor;  that  every  ordinance  pertaining 
exclusively  to  the  smaller  city  had  to  be 
presented  to  the  deputy  mayor  for  his 
approval;  that  the  executive  depart- 
ments were  consolidated,  the  depart- 
ment chief  of  the  larger  city  becoming 
the  head  of  the  department  and  the  de- 
partment chief  of  the  smaller  city  be- 
coming the  first  assistant.  The  consol- 
idation did  not  disturb  the  status  of  the 
school  districts  in  either  city;  nor  did 
it  affect  the  status  of  the  county 
government. 

Improved  Transportation  and  Taxation 

The  political  integration  of  the 
metropolitan  area  of  greater  Pittsburgh 
brought  some  immediately  beneficial 
results  and  many  that  were  more 
remote.  One  of  the  quick  results  was 
the  vast  improvement  of  transportation 
connections  between  various  portions 
of  the  metropolitan  district  by  the 
abolition  of  bridge  tolls  and  the  intro- 
duction of  a  uniform  street  car  fare  and 
a  system  of  universal  transfers.  An- 
other was  the  complete  revision  of  the 
formerly  inequitable  system  of  taxa- 
tion. A  third  was  the  development  of 
an  adequate  water  supply  system  for 
the  entire  metropolitan  area,  replacing 
the  contaminated  water  supplied  by 
the  formerly  independent  units.  More 
remote  benefits  that  are  traceable  to 
the  awakened  civic  consciousness  fol- 
lowing consolidation  are  the  inaugura- 
tion of  a  city  plan,  enormous  extensions 
of  paving  and  street  improvements,  a 
reorganization  of  the  school  system,  the 
building  of  playgrounds,  markets,  and 
a  tuberculosis  hospital. 

WHEELING    ABSORBS    HER    SUBURBS: 

1920 

Quite  the  latest  achievement  in 
municipal  integration  is  the  successful 


culmination  of  the  annexation  move- 
ment at  Wheeling,  West  Virginia.  The 
campaign  was  in  charge  of  a  represent- 
ative committee  of  citizens  known  as 
the  Greater  Wheeling  Committee,  and 
the  chamber  of  commerce  was  probably 
the  most  active  civic  agency  in  the 
movement. 

A  special  act  had  to  be  secured  from 
the  state  legislature  to  permit  the 
question  of  annexation  to  be  submitted 
simultaneously  to  the  electorate  of 
both  Wheeling  and  the  suburbs.  The 
election,  which  occurred  on  Novem- 
ber 26,  1919,  resulted  in  favor  of  uni- 
fication to  become  effective  January 
1,  1920.  A  suburban  population  of 
about  20,000  was  thus  added  to  the 
city  of  Wheeling. 

Interesting  features  of  the  Wheeling 
campaign  were  the  adoption  of  the 
commission-manager  plan  by  Wheeling 
in  1917  largely  to  meet  the  objections 
of  the  suburbs  to  unification  under  the 
old  plan  of  government;  provision  for 
the  election  of  the  members  of  the 
council  of  the  new  government  on  a 
general  ticket,  so  that  the  annexed 
suburbs  could  participate  in  the  choice 
of  every  member  of  the  council;  and 
the  development  of  a  comprehensive 
plan  of  public  works,  which  could  not 
be  effectually  carried  out  under  the 
divided  jurisdiction  of  nine  distinct 
governmental  units.  These,  reinforced 
by  a  strong  appeal  to  community  pride 
and  patriotism,  did  a  great  deal  to 
convince  the  suburbs  of  the  advisabil- 
ity of  consolidation. 

THE    CASE    OF   WASHINGTON,    D.    C. 

Perhaps  Washington  ought  to  be 
mentioned  as  one  of  the  cities  that 
have  achieved  political  unity,  although 
it  stands  in  a  class  by  itself.  Prior  to 
1846  the  District  of  Columbia  con- 
tained two  counties  and  three  cities. 
By  the  retrocession  to  Virginia  of  that 


1922]      THE  POLITICAL  INTEGRATION  OF  COMMUNITIES        245 


portion  of  the  District  lying  west  of  the 
Potomac  the  number  was  reduced  to 
one  county  and  two  cities.  In  1871 
Congress  reorganized  the  government 


of  the  District  by  abolishing  the  sepa- 
rate county  and  city  governments,  and 
since  that  time  they  have  had  no 
separate  existence. 


III.     WHAT   REMAINS   TO   BE   ACCOMPLISHED 


THE  GREATER  BOSTON  MOVEMENT 

The  federal  census  of  1920  gives 
Boston  a  population  of  748,060  and 
ranks  Boston  as  the  seventh  city  of  the 
United  States,  but  Boston  newspapers 
and  civic  organizations  insist  that  the 
true  magnitude  and  importance  of 
their  city  are  not  indicated  by  the 
census  figures.  It  is  pointed  out  that 
outside  of  the  corporate  limits  of  Boston 
but  within  a  radius  of  fifteen  miles  of 
the  state  house  in  Boston  there  dwells 
a  further  population  of  over  700,000; 
and  it  is  contended  that  Boston  proper 
is  but  the  torso  of  a  great  metropolitan 
community  of  about  1,500,000  inhabi- 
tants constituting  an  organic  entity  in 
all  respects  except  political  organiza- 
tion. At  present  this  vast  community 
is  a  morass  of  co-existent,  overlapping, 
conflicting,  and  competing  units  of 
local  government,  there  being  in  all 
fourteen  cities,  twenty-six  towns,  five 
counties,  and  five  state  boards  or 
agencies  functioning  within  the  metro- 
politan area. 

What  this  condition  means  is  well  set 
forth  in  "An  Appeal  for  the  Federation 
of  the  Metropolitan  Cities  and  Towns," 
issued  in  1919  by  Mayor  Peters  of 
Boston.  In  urging  the  political  unifica- 
tion of  the  metropolitan  district  Mayor 
Peters  incidentally  points  out  that  the 
absence  of  political  unity  has  had  the 
following  results:  (1)  It  has  rendered 
the  metropolitan  community  incapable 
of  co-operating  effectively  to  secure 
freight  rates  favorable  to  the  upbuild- 
ing of  export  trade  and  the  establish- 
ment of  regular  steamship  service  with 


foreign  ports;  (2)  it  has  been  one  of  the 
major  causes  of  the  failure  of  the 
metropolitan  community  to  provide 
terminal  facilities  conducive  to  ship- 
ping and  trade;  (3)  it  is  responsible  for 
the  failure  of  the  metropolitan  district 
to  develop  adequate  factory  sites  be- 
cause of  inability  to  provide  street  con- 
nections and  housing  facilities;  (4) 
it  is  responsible  for  the  decline  of  real 
estate  values  in  many  sections  of  Bos- 
ton owing  to  the  want  of  intelligent 
control  of  suburban  developments;  (5) 
it  is  responsible  for  Boston's  falling 
under  the  domination  of  political  or- 
ganizations whose  strength  lies  in 
control  of  the  votes  of  the  foreign  popu- 
lation; (6)  it  is  to  blame  for  the  failure 
to  provide  for  police  and  fire  protection 
and  for  street  improvements  on  a 
metropolitan  basis;  (7)  it  has  prevented 
the  enactment  of  uniform  health  and 
housing  laws  which  would  relieve  con- 
gestion in  Boston  and  promote  the 
growth  of  the  less  densely  populated 
suburbs;  (8)  it  has  unduly  inflated  the 
cost  of  local  government  owing  to 
duplication  of  services  and  overhead 
organization. 

The  question  of  merging  the  govern- 
mental agencies  of  the  metropolitan 
area  has  been  under  discussion  in 
Boston  for  many  years.  In  1896  a 
special  commission  was  appointed  by 
the  legislature  to  study  the  problem  of 
municipal  administration  in  Boston 
and  the  adjoining  municipalities,  and 
it  prepared  a  report  recommending  the 
federation  of  the  various  towns  and 
cities  as  a  single  county  which  should 
have  the  functions  of  a  municipal  cor- 


246 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[August 


poration.  In  1911  the  Boston  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  reported  a  plan  of 
federation  through  the  creation  of  a 
metropolitan  council  consisting  of  rep- 
resentatives of  the  various  municipali- 
ties. In  the  same  year  the  state  legis- 
lature created  a  second  commission  to 
consider  the  metropolitan  problem,  and 
this  body  recommended  a  plan  of  loose 
federation  similar  to  the  plan  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce.15  In  1919  at 
the  instance  of  Mayor  Peters  of  Boston 
a  bill  was  introduced  in  the  state 
legislature  authorizing  the  outright  an- 
nexation of  the  suburban  municipalities 
by  Boston.  The  idea  of  a  loose  federa- 
tion of  municipalities  was  abandoned 
by  the  mayor  in  the  hope  that  by  press- 
ing the  movement  for  annexation  he 
could  precipitate  discussion  which  would 
result  in  the  crystallization  of  public 
opinion  on  the  subject  of  unification, 
and  also  in  the  hope  that  if  the  bill 
should  pass,  some  progress  toward 
unification  might  be  made  by  piece,- 
meal  annexation.  It  is  needless  to 
say  that  the  bill  did  not  succeed,  and 
that  unification  at  the  present  juncture 
seems  as  remote  as  ever. 

The  matter  of  city  and  county  dupli- 
cation is  not  a  large  factor  in  the  Boston 
problem,  although  the  metropolitan 
district  intersects  the  boundaries  of 
five  counties.  The  reason  is  that  the 
county  in  Massachusetts  is  primarily  a 
judicial  district  with  very  attenuated 
functions  of  local  government,  and  that 
Suffolk  county,  which  is  wholly  in- 
cluded in  the  metropolitan  district,  has 
already  been  largely  consolidated  with 
the  city  of  Boston.  The  basic  difficulty 
is  the  evolution  of  some  sort  of  plan  for 
unification  that  would  be  acceptable  to 
the  suburbs,  for  their  voting  strength  is 
as  great  as  that  of  Boston  and  nothing 
could  be  carried  against  the  will  of  the 

w  American  Political  Science  Review  (Supp.)  Vol.  VI, 
No.  1 ;  also  Annals  of  the  American  Academy,  1913,  pp. 
134-152. 


suburbs.  The  borough  plan  has  been 
considered  and  studied,  but  it  is  rec- 
ognized that  the  application  of  the 
borough  plan  to  the  Boston  problem 
would  not  be  as  easy  as  it  was  in  the 
case  of  New  York.  In  the  latter  case  it 
was  only  necessary  to  achieve  a  bilateral 
compromise  between  New  York  and 
Brooklyn,  where  in  Boston  a  several 
sided  compromise  would  be  necessary. 

CHICAGO'S  UNIFICATION  PROBLEM 

Probably  metropolitan  Chicago  has 
the  most  bewildering  system  of  local 
government  in  the  United  States  at  the 
present  time.  It  is  almost  incredible 
that  such  a  crazy-quilt  of  interwoven, 
overlapping,  cross-pulling  political 
agencies  could  be  the  product  of  sane 
minds.  Functioning  within  the  city  of 
Chicago  there  are  thirty-eight  distinct 
local  governments,  and  in  Cook  county 
as  a  whole,  which  includes  the  major 
portion  of  the  metropolitan  area,  there 
are  three  hundred  and  ninety-two. 
Besides  the  city  government  of  Chicago 
and  the  government  of  Cook  county 
there  are  the  sanitary  district,  towns, 
villages,  school  districts,  drainage  dis- 
tricts, park  districts,  forest  preserve 
districts,  library  districts,  in  endless 
and  unspeakable  confusion.  Take  the 
case  of  the  towns,  for  example.  There 
are  thirty -eight  towns  in  Cook  county; 
eight  are  entirely  within  the  city  of 
Chicago;  six  others  lie  partly  within 
and  partly  without  the  city;  ten  are 
entirely  within  the  sanitary  district; 
nine  are  partly  within  and  partly  with- 
out the  sanitary  district;  and  eleven 
are  entirely  without  the  sanitary  dis- 
trict. Or  take  the  case  of  the  incor- 
porated municipalities.  There  are 
seventy-eight  incorporated  municipali- 
ties in  Cook  county  in  addition  to 
Chicago,  and  of  these  forty-six  are 
within  the  sanitary  district  and  the 
remainder  without.  And  so  it  is  with 


1922]      THE  POLITICAL  INTEGRATION  OF  COMMUNITIES        247 


park  districts,  school  districts,  drainage 
districts,  and  the  like.  There  is  no 
language  obscure  enough  to  depict  the 
reality  of  the  chaos  which  exists.16 

The  movement  for  unified  local 
government  in  Chicago  dates  back  as 
far  as  the  constitutional  convention  of 
1870  when  an  effort  was  made  to  induce 
the  convention  to  include  in  the  draft 
submitted  to  the  people  a  provision 
authorizing  any  city  of  over  200,000 
inhabitants  to  be  organized  as  a  sepa- 
rate county.  When  this  effort  was 
balked  the  consolidation  idea  lan- 
guished for  a  number  of  years.  In  1899 
a  constitutional  amendment  was  pro- 
posed in  the  legislature  of  the  state  to 
provide  for  consolidation  of  local 
governments  in  Chicago,  but  it  did  not 
pass.  Four  years  later  another  amend- 
ment was  proposed,  submitted  to  the 
people,  and  ratified.  The  effect  of  this 
was  to  make  possible  special  legislation 
for  Chicago,  subject  to  local  referen- 
dum, and  also  to  authorize  the  con- 
solidation of  local  governments  entirely 
within  the  boundaries  of  the  city. 
Acting  under  the  amendment  of  1904,  a 
charter  convention  in  the  city  of 
Chicago  prepared  a  comprehensive 
charter  effecting  many  consolidations. 
Unhappily  this  charter  was  modified  by 
the  state  legislature  and  subsequently 
defeated  at  the  polls.  In  1915  a 
second  charter  was  prepared  and  sub- 
mitted to  the  voters,  and  it  also  was 
defeated . 

The  leading  proponent  of  unification 
of  local  governments  in  Chicago  in 
recent  years  has  been  the  Chicago 
Bureau  of  Public  Efficiency,  which  has 
published  a  series  of  studies  showing 
the  complexity  of  the  present  system, 
the  savings  and  improvements  possible 
under  a  unified  plan  of  government, 
and  has  made  specific  recommenda- 

wSee  Bulletin  No.  11  prepared  by  the  Legislative 
Reference  Bureau  for  the  Illinois  Constitutional  Con- 
vention, 1020. 


tions  for  the  consolidation  and  reorgan- 
ization of  local  governments.  In  1920 
the  Bureau  of  Public  Efficiency  drafted 
and  put  before  the  Illinois  constitu- 
tional convention  a  proposed  article  of 
the  constitution  to  provide  the  author- 
ization and  the  machinery  to  effect  the 
political  unification  of  metropolitan 
Chicago.17  Although  this  proposal  was 
not  accepted  in  toto  by  the  convention, 
it  has  formulated  and  adopted  three 
provisions  allowing  for  the  consolida- 
tion of  local  governments  in  Chicago. 
The  proposed  Chicago  home  rule  article 
provides  for  the  consolidation  of  all 
local  governments  in  the  limits  of  the 
city  by  charter  convention,  subject  to 
certain  reservations  and  conditions  in 
the  event  of  the  application  of  the  con- 
solidation to  the  Sanitary  District  and 
the  Forest  Preserve  District.  The 
other  two  provisions  are  regarded  as  of 
doubtful  value  and  probably  will  never 
be  invoked.  All  three  of  these  provisions 
have  passed  their  second  reading  in  the 
convention,  and  at  the  present  writing 
(June  27,  1922)  the  convention  is  meet- 
ing to  consider  the  entire  constitutional 
draft  on  third  reading. 

UNIFICATION      PROPOSED    FOR 
CLEVELAND 

The  same  anomalies  of  local  govern- 
ment that  have  been  observed  in  other 
metropolitan  centers  are  to  be  found  in 
Cleveland  and  Cuyahoga  county.  The 
population  of  Cleveland  is  796,841,  but 
in  the  contiguous  suburban  communi- 
ties of  East  Cleveland,  Cleveland 
Heights,  Lakewood,  West  Park,  Shaker 
Heights,  Bratenahl,  and  Euclid  Village, 
there  is  a  combined  population  of 
101,820  which  in  every  practical  sense 
is  a  part  and  parcel  of  the  city  of  Cleve- 
land. This  integrated  metropolitan 
population  is  ninety-five  per  cent  of  the 

«  See  Bulletin  No.  38  of  Chicago  Bureau  of  Public 
Efficiency,  Jan.  1920 


248 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[August 


population  of  Cuyahoga  county  and 
could  be  readily  governed  as  one  munic- 
ipal corporation;  but  Cuyahoga  county 
is  overlaid  with  ninety-three  detached 
and  disconnected  units  of  local  self- 
government,  these  being  largely  cities, 
villages,  townships,  and  school  districts 
in  the  metropolitan  area. 

The  disadvantages  of  disintegration 
and  the  corresponding  advantages  of 
unification  have  not  received  adequate 
consideration  in  Cleveland  and  her 
suburban  satellites,  and  consequently 
the  movement  for  consolidation  has 
made  little  progress.  Two  civic  organ- 
izations— The  Civic  League  and  the 
County  Charter  Government  Associa- 
tion— have  given  the  matter  some  at- 
tention, but  have  felt  unable  to  under- 
take an  intensive  and  persistent  cam- 
paign. In  1919  a  resolution  proposing 
an  amendment  to  the  state  constitution, 
which  would  provide  for  a  consolidated 
form  of  city  and  county  government, 
was  introduced  in  the  state  senate,  but 
it  was  shelved  in  committee,  no  op- 
portunity being  given  for  its  considera- 
tion. In  1921  Representative  Davis 
of  Cuyahoga  county  introduced  a  bill 
to  facilitate  consolidation  of  local 
governments  in  Cuyahoga  county,  but 
this  likewise  received  scant  considera- 
tion by  the  legislature.  In  the  spring 
of  the  present  year  movements  for 
annexation  developed  in  West  Park  and 
Lakewood,  and  commissions  are  now  at 
work  preparing  terms  of  annexation  to 
be  later  submitted  to  the  voters. 

*  DEFEAT  OF  PROPOSED  CONSOLIDATION, 
ALAMEDA  COUNTY,  CALIFORNIA 

In  Alameda  county,  California,  on 
the  eastern  shore  of  San  Francisco  Bay, 
has  grown  up  a  metropolitan  district  of 

*  For  a  more  detailed  account  of  the  Alameda 
county  proposals  see  the  NATIONAL  MUNINCIPAL 
REVIEW  for  July  1922,  which  appeared  after  this 
article  was  in  type. 


considerable  proportions.  The  popu- 
lation of  Alameda  county  is  344,177,  of 
which  314,575  are  classed  as  urban 
residents  by  the  Federal  census  of  1920. 
This  urban  population  is  concentrated 
mainly  in  the  contiguous  and  occasion- 
ally overlapping  cities  of  Oakland, 
Berkeley,  Alameda,  Piedmont,  Emery- 
ville, Albany  and  San  Leandro.  The 
remainder  of  the  county,  though  more 
or  less  rural  in  character,  is  much 
affected  by  the  character  of  govern- 
ment of  the  urban  centers. 

Prominent  citizens  have  long  been 
aware  that  in  all  large  public  matters 
the  metropolitan  district  of  Alameda 
county  should  be  thoroughly  unified, 
and  a  campaign  looking  toward  that 
end  has  been  going  on  for  many  years. 
In  1916  the  City  and  County  Govern- 
ment Association  of  Alameda  County 
presented  a  plan  for  consolidation  cal- 
culated to  meet  the  opposition  of  the 
outlying  communities  to  any  form  of 
organic  union  with  Oakland  which 
would  submerge  their  individualities. 
The  plan  proposed  rather  a  loose 
federal  form  of  organization  under 
which  the  component  cities  would  be- 
come autonomous  boroughs  and  would 
retain  important  local  powers  while 
such  functions  as  police  protection,  pro- 
motion of  public  health,  assessment 
and  collection  of  taxes,  would  be  dele- 
gated to  the  central  government.  A 
unique  feature  of  the  plan  was  that  it 
proposed  to  combine  the  city-manager 
idea  with  that  of  an  elected  mayor.18 

Unfortunately  it  was  not  foreseen 
that  this  proposition  was  doomed  to 
sure  defeat  because  of  the  way  in 
which,  under  the  state  constitution,  it 
had  to  be  submitted  to  the  voters  of  the 
smaller  cities.  The  reorganization  plan 
could  not  be  presented  directly  to  the 
voters  of  the  metropolitan  district  to 

i»  For  summary  of  the  proposed  charter  see  pamphlet 
published  by  City  and  County  Government  Associa- 
tion of  Alameda  County,  Sept.  1916. 


1922]     THE  POLITICAL  INTEGRATION  OF  COMMUNITIES        249 


stand  or  fall  on  its  merits.  According 
to  the  state  constitution  the  initiative 
must  be  taken  by  a  city  having  a  popu- 
lation of  50,000  or  more  by  the  preced- 
ing Federal  census,  which  meant  that 
only  Oakland  could  take  the  lead. 
Furthermore  the  question  of  annexa- 
tion had  to  be  submitted  to  each  of  the 
contiguous  municipalities  separately. 
This  meant  that  the  various  munici- 
palities would  have  to  vote  to  merge 
themselves  with  Oakland  before  the 
question  of  a  new  form  of  government 
could  be  taken  up,  and  it  did  not  seem 
expedient  to  proceed  in  this  way. 

The  proponents  of  the  federation 
plan  then  proceeded  to  secure  an 
amendment  to  the  state  constitution, 
which  would  relieve  them  of  the  em- 
barrassments encountered  under  the 
existing  provisions  relating  to  munici- 
pal consolidation.  In  1918  an  amend- 
ment was  put  up  and  adopted,  which 
provided  that  a  charter  might  be  pre- 
pared by  a  board  elected  by  the  citi- 
zens of  an  entire  county  prior  to  the 
submission  of  the  question  of  con- 
solidation, and  that  then  the  question 
of  consolidation  should  be  put  to  each 
municipality  separately  to  decide 
whether  or  not  it  could  come  in  under 
the  proposed  charter.  Acting  under 
the  provisions  of  this  amendment  a 
city-county  manager  charter  was  sub- 
mitted to  the  voters  of  the  county  on 
November  15,  1921  and  defeated.  This 
outcome  was  said  to  be  attributable  to 
the  unwillingness  of  the  smaller  cities 
to  give  up  their  individuality  and 
merge  with  Oakland.  From  the  stand- 
point of  the  experimentalist  it  is  unfor- 
tunate that  this  unique  charter  is  not 
to  have  a  trial.  So  many  innovations 
are  seldom  combined  in  one  instru- 
ment of  government.  The  governing 
body  was  to  have  been  a  metropol- 
itan council  of  seven  members  elected 
by  districts.  The  administrative  func- 
tions of  the  council  would  have  been 


exercised  by  a  manager  appointed  by 
the  council  at  a  salary  of  not  less  than 
$12,000  a  year.  Only  the  district  at- 
torney, assessor,  auditor,  and  judges 
would  have  remained  elective,  and  all 
other  city  and  county  offices  were  to 
have  been  consolidated  or  abolished 
entirely.  In  order  to  preserve  a  limited 
amount  of  local  autonomy  for  the  sev- 
eral cities  and  towns  to  be  consolidated 
a  scheme  of  borough  government  was 
to  have  been  combined  with  the  city- 
county  manager  plan  just  described. 

PROPOSED  CITY  AND  COUNTY  CONSOLI- 
DATION, PORTLAND,  OREGON 

Since  1913  the  question  of  the  con- 
solidation of  the  city  of  Portland  and 
the  county  of  Multnomah  has  been 
seriously  agitated.  This  propaganda 
led  in  1919  to  a  movement,  in  which 
fifteen  civic  organizations  joined,  for  a 
constitutional  amendment  to  effect 
consolidation.  Committees  were  ap- 
pointed by  each  of  the  cooperating 
organizations,  and  after  some  weeks  of 
labor  a  proposed  amendment  was 
evolved.  A  resolution  authorizing  the 
submission  of  this  amendment  to  the 
voters  was  introduced  in  the  state 
senate  in  January,  1919,  by  the  Mult- 
nomah county  delegation.  It  passed 
the  senate,  but  was  defeated  in  the 
lower  house  by  the  machinations  of 
hostile  political  interests.  It  was  then 
proposed  to  get  it  before  the  voters  by 
initiative  petition,  but  this  as  yet  has 
not  been  done. 

Had  the  amendment  passed  it  would 
have  provided  for  the  outright  con- 
solidation of  the  city  of  Portland,  the 
city  of  Gresham,  the  city  of  Fairview, 
the  city  of  Troutdale,  the  port  of  Port- 
land, and  county  of  Multnomah,  all 
school  districts  and  road  districts  in 
Multnomah  county,  into  a  single  body 
politic  and  corporate  to  be  styled  "The 
City  and  County  of  Portland." 


250 


CONSOLIDATION  MOVEMENT  IN  LOS 
ANGELES 

The  city  of  Los  Angeles  with  its 
environs  south  of  the  Sierra  Madre 
mountains  composes  a  metropolitan 
district  substantially  unified  in  eco- 
nomic and  social  interests,  but  divided 
politically  into  thirty-eight  munici- 
palities, one  hundred  and  eighty-seven 
school  districts,  thirty-four  lighting 
districts,  thirty-three  roads  districts, 
three  waterworks  districts,  two  pro- 
tection districts  and  one  county.  The 
population  of  this  area  is  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  800,000. 

Various  forms  of  political  integration 
have  been  advocated  for  this  metropol- 
itan area  for  many  years,  and  many 
investigations  and  studies  have  been 
made  by  civic  agencies  and  official 
bodies;  but  the  net  results  have  been 
divided  counsels  and  inability  to  unite 
upon  any  definite  plan  of  action.  The 
latest  and  most  comprehensive  survey 
of  the  problem  is  the  brochure  pub- 
lished by  the  Taxpayers'  Association  of 
California  in  October,  1917.  This  re- 
port advocates  the  severance  of  the 
metropolitan  district  from  Los  Angeles 
county  and  the  creation  of  a  unitary 
government  of  the  manager  type  for 
the  consolidated  municipalities. 

No  active  campaign  in  behalf  of  this 
plan  has  been  undertaken,  and  recent 
advices  indicate  that  events  are  now 
proceeding  toward  a  different  result. 
The  city  of  Los  Angeles  has  established 
an  annexation  and  consolidation  com- 
mission, and  this  body  is  in  process  of 
developing  a  consistent  and  compre- 
hensive program  of  unification.  The 
policy  is  not  aggressive,  but  educative. 
The  program,  as  the  secretary  of  the 
commission  states  it,  "  consists  of  lend- 
ing encouragement  and  assistance  in 
such  ways  as  we  can  to  those  communi- 
ties who  of  their  own  accord  find  rea- 
sons that  seem  to  argue  for  their  be- 


[August 

coming  a  part  of  the  larger  unit."  To 
this  it  might  be  added  that  the  control 
of  the  city  of  Los  Angeles  over  the 
water  supply  of  the  metropolitan  area 
and  over  the  facilities  for  sewage  dis- 
posal are  such  that  many  of  the  subur- 
ban municipalities  have  no  great  dif- 
ficulty in  discovering  most  cogent  and 
compelling  reasons  for  consolidation 
with  Los  Angeles. 

PROBLEM  OF  ESSEX  COUNTY,  NEW 
JERSEY 

One  of  the  most  peculiar  local  govern- 
ment problems  in  the  country  is  that  of 
Essez  county,  New  Jersey.  The  county 
has  an  area  of  127  square  miles,  but 
ninety-six  per  cent  of  its  population  is 
in  the  metropolitan  section  lying  east 
of  the  Watchung  ridge.  Newark  with 
a  population  of  414,216  is  the  nucleus 
of  this  metropolitan  community,  but  in 
addition  to  Newark  there  are  in  the 
metropolitan  area  eleven  other  munici- 
palities whose  aggregate  population  is 
about  257,000.  Furthermore,  this  area 
is  subject  to  the  government  of  Essex 
county,  to  four  state-controlled  in- 
strumentalities for  local  government, 
and  to  five  administrative  agencies  ap- 
pointed by  the  courts.  It  was  said 
that  Newark  is  the  nucleus  of  this 
metropolitan  area,  but  that  is  hardly 
accurate.  Although  physical  contiguity 
does  bring  about  considerable  com- 
munity of  interest  between  Newark  and 
the  outlying  municipalities,  several  of 
the  latter,  such  as  East  Orange,  Glen 
Ridge,  and  Montclair,  are  quite  as 
much  residential  suburbs  of  New  York 
as  of  Newark.  This  fact  tends  to 
weaken  the  community  bond  through- 
out the  metropolitan  district  and 
engenders  a  fierce  spirit  of  particular- 
ism which  is  most  difficult  to  combat. 

Although  there  may  be  doubt 
whether  the  social  and  economic 
solidarity  of  the  metropolitan  portion 


1922]      THE   POLITICAL  INTEGRATION  OF  COMMUNITIES        251 


of  Essex  county  is  as  great  as  in  most 
metropolitan  centers,  it  is  nevertheless 
true  that  the  absence  of  political  unity 
is  the  cause  of  many  anomalous  condi- 
tions which  give  rise  to  civic  ills.  In 
the  summer  of  1919  the  New  York 
Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  at  the 
request  of  the  Newark  Chamber  of 
Commerce  made  an  administrative 
survey  which  brought  to  light  many  of 
the  pernicious  consequences  of  political 
disintegration  in  Essex  county.19  It 
was  found  that  comprehensive  city 
planning,  a  necessity  if  the  metropoli- 
tan district  is  to  develop  properly, 
could  not  be  carried  out  because  of 
inability  of  the  several  municipalities  to 
cooperate;  it  was  found  that  there  was 
costly  and  blundering  duplication  in 
the  handling  of  dependents,  defectives, 
and  criminals;  it  was  observed  that  the 
fire  hazard  was  greatly  magnified  by 
the  lack  of  standardization  of  fire- 
fighting  equipment  throughout  the 
metropolitan  area;  it  was  discovered 
that  highway  improvements  were  re- 
tarded and  unintelligentlydone  because 
of  the  multiplicity  of  conflicting  politi- 
cal jurisdictions;  and  it  was  found  that 
the  public  health  was  constantly  im- 
perilled by  a  multiplicity  of  diverse 
health  codes  and  regulations  adminis- 
tered by  part-time  health  officers. 

To  cure  these  conditions  the  New 
York  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research 

i*  This  report  has  not  been  printed  in  full,  but  an 
abstract  of  it  was  published  by  the  Newark  Chamber  of 
Commerce. 


recommended  the  detachment  of  the 
metropolitan  and  the  rural  sections  of 
Essex  County,  and  the  creation  of  some 
sort  of  political  unity  in  the  former. 
It  was  suggested  that  the  governmental 
machinery  of  Essex  county  be  merged 
with  that  set  up  for  the  metropolitan 
area,  and  that  the  municipalities  with- 
in the  metropolitan  area  should  federate 
under  some  sort  of  super-government 
which  should  have  power  to  act  in  all 
matters  of  general,  as  distinguished 
from  purely  local  concern.  No  definite 
steps  have  been  taken  to  put  these 
recommendations  into  effect,  although 
certain  civic  bodies  and  newspapers 
have  given  them  support. 


UNIFICATION  RECEIVING  ATTENTION  IN 
OTHER  CITIES 

The  question  of  consolidation  of 
local  governments  has  received  atten- 
tion in  a  great  many  other  cities  where 
the  situation  is  probably  quite  as  bad 
as  in  the  cases  discussed  above,  but 
where  for  one  reason  or  another  no 
definite  consolidation  movement  has 
crystallized.  Mention  may  be  made 
of  Detroit,  Buffalo,  Indianapolis,  Mil- 
waukee, Cincinnati,  Seattle,  Jersey 
City,  Kansas  City,  Mo.,  Rochester,  and 
Wilmington,  Delaware.  Word  has  been 
received  also  that  a  charter  commission 
has  recently  been  chosen  in  San  Diego, 
California,  to  prepare  a  consolidated 
city  and  county  charter. 


SUMMARY 


It  is  extremely  hazardous  to  attempt 
to  draw  general  conclusions  from  such 
a  large  number  of  widely  varying  cases 
as  have  been  reviewed  in  the  foregoing 
pages.  There  are,  however,  certain 
facts  which  ought,  for  the  convenience 
of  the  reader,  to  be  brought  together 
in  some  sort  of  summary. 


The  first  striking  fact  with  reference 
to  the  process  of  unification  is  that  in  no 
instance  has  a  metropolitan  district 
been  able  to  compass  its  own  unifica- 
tion. Statutory  and  constitutional 
obstacles  have  invariably  made  it  neces- 
sary to  obtain  legislation  or  constitu- 
tional amendments,  and  in  several  cases 


252 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[August 


unification  has  been  accomplished  by 
the  fiat  of  these  enactments.  It  is  also 
to  be  observed  that  gradual  consolida- 
tion by  occasional  annexation  of  cluster- 
ing municipalities  to  a  central  one  has 
not  been  a  successful  mode  of  achiev- 
ing political  integration.  It  will  be 
noted  also  that  most  of  the  cities  now 
striving  for  unification  have  statutory 
or  constitutional  changes  as  the  first 
objective  of  their  respective  campaigns. 

Another  outstanding  fact  is  that 
popular  consent  to  unification  has 
seldom  been  deemed  indispensable. 
The  only  cases  in  which  the  question 
was  squarely  presented  to  all  of  the 
people  concerned  were  St.  Louis  and 
Alameda  County.  The  referendum 
which  preceded  consolidation  in  New 
York  had  no  legal  force,  and  the  result 
was  open  to  various  constructions. 
The  Pittsburgh  referendum  was  de- 
signedly a  trick  election,  although  it 
was  held  legally  binding.  The  plebi- 
scite in  the  case  of  Denver  included  the 
voters  of  the  entire  state,  which  was  in 
effect  taking  the  power  to  decide  the 
matter  out  of  the  hands  of  the  city. 
Apparently  the  spirit  of  the  present 
time  is  more  democratic,  for  nearly  all 
of  the  cities  now  working  for  unification 
contemplate  a  reference  of  the  question 
to  the  people  of  the  districts  im- 
mediately concerned. 

In  the  matter  of  pecuniary  and  pro- 
prietary adjustments  each  case  is  sui 
generis,  but  there  is  a  general  tendency 
for  the  succeeding  government  to  take 
over  all  of  the  assets  and  assume  all  of 
the  obligations  of  its  component  parts. 

Another  significant  fact  is  that  in  no 
case  has  unification  been  unaccompa- 
nied by  some  kind  of  governmental  re- 
organization. Except  in  the  case  of 
New  York,  it  has  been  possible  to  re- 
organize the  government  on  a  unitary 
basis;  but  many  cities  now  engaged  in 
campaigns  for  unification  have  been 
greatly  attracted  by  the  borough  plan 


as  worked  out  in  New  York.  Whether 
that  plan  would  be  adaptable  to  all 
cases  may  be  seriously  doubted.  It  is 
usually  possible  to  make  all  proper  and 
needful  concessions  to  local  sentiment 
without  granting  the  local  autonomy 
incident  to  the  borough  plan.  In  the 
reorganization  of  government  follow- 
ing the  consolidation  of  city  and  county, 
there  has  been  a  noticeable  reluctance 
to  go  the  whole  distance  in  the  elimina- 
tion of  duplication,  and  consequently 
we  find  many  amusing  and  incongruous 
survivals. 

Extravagant  claims  of  efficiency  and 
economy  subsequent  to  political  uni- 
fication have  been  made  everywhere, 
but  are  exceedingly  difficult  to  pin 
down  to  hard  facts.  The  simplification 
of  the  organization  of  local  government 
and  the  elimination  of  superfluous  of- 
fices and  services  should  naturally  re- 
sult in  great  savings,  but  there  have 
been  instances  in  which  such  savings 
have  been  hard  to  find.  The  only  ex- 
planation of  these  cases,  aside  from 
maladministration,  is  that  unification 
involved  an  enormous  expansion  of 
municipal  services,  which  together  with 
the  pre-existing  heavy  burden  of  debt 
made  a  reduction  of  the  cost  of  gov- 
ernment impossible.  Efficiency  is  im- 
ponderable and  difficult  to  measure, 
but  it  may  be  assumed  that  certain 
gains  in  efficiency  have  followed  polit- 
ical unification  practically  every- 
where; it  could  not  well  be  otherwise. 

One  gain  about  which  there  can  be 
little  doubt  is  the  amelioration  of  civic 
conditions  subsequent  to  political  uni- 
fication of  metropolitan  communities. 
Elaborate  public  improvements,  better 
articulation  of  thoroughfares,  extended 
and  improved  public  utility  services, 
more  comprehensive  and  careful  city 
planning,  more  adequate  educational 
and  eleemosynary  institutions,  and 
better  governmental  services — these 
are  reported  as  the  invariable  results  of 


1922]      THE  POLITICAL  INTEGRATION  OF  COMMUNITIES         253 


political  unification.  And  as  these  are 
in  a  rough  way  a  fair  measure  of  the 
material  and  spiritual  progress  of  com- 
munities, it  seems  not  too  much  to 
conclude  that  political  integration  is 


indispensable  to  every  metropolitan 
community  that  aspires  to  attain  its 
maximum  development  as  a  center  of 
industrial,  commercial  and  social  ac- 
tivity. 


PROPORTIONAL  REPRESENTATION 

Best  Ba*U  for  the  City  Manager  Plan 

Send  25c  for  Lft.  No.  IO(How  P.  R.  Worlct  in  Sacramento) 
and  new  Lft.  No.  5  (  Explanation  of  Hare  System  of  P.  R.) 

Still  better,  join  the  League.     Dues,  $2,  pay  for  quarterly 
Review  and  all  other  literature  for  year. 

PROPORTIONAL  REPRESENTATION  LEAGUE 
1417  LOCUST  STREET,  PHILADELPHIA 


R.  HUSSELMAN 

Consulting  Engineer 

Design  and  Construction  of  Power  Stations  and 

Lighting  Systems 

Reports,  Estimates  and  Specifications 
Appraisals   and    Rate    Investigations 

Electric,  Gas  and  Street  Railway 
CUYAHOGA  BLDG.  CLEVELAND,  OHIO 


CHAS.  BROSSMAN 

Mem.Am.Soc.  C.E.  Mem.  Am.  Soc.  M.E. 

Consulting  Engineer 

Water  Works  and  Electric  Light  Plants 
Sewerage  and  Sewage  Disposal 

Merchants  Bank,  Indianapolis,  Ind. 


of  Organiza- 
tion—Methods— .4  dm iniat ration  — Salary  Standardisation 
— Budget  Making — Taxation— Rerenuei— Expenditures— 
CiTil  SerTire— Accounting—  Public  Worki 

J.  L.  JACOBS  &  COMPANY 

Municipal  Contultantt  and  Engineer* 
Monadnock  Building,  Chicago 

(Over  11  yn.'  experience  in  City ,  County  and  Statt  Stitdiei ) 


SPEAKERS 


The  National  Municipal  League  maintains  a  list  of  persons  in  various 

parts  of  the  country  prepared  to  make  addresses  on 

city,  county  and  state  government. 

Augustus  R.  Hatton,  Ph.D.,  charter  consultant  for  the 
National  Municipal  League,  is  prepared  to  speak  on  the 
subjects  listed  below.  Dr.  Hatton  is  a  sound  and  brilliant 
speaker  and  campaigner.  He  is  obtainable  on  a  fee  basis 
subject  to  prior  engagement.  (Address  National  Municipal 
League,  261  Broadway,  New  York.) 

SUBJECTS 

1.  Representative  Government.     What  is  it?    Do  we  want  it?    Can  we  have  it? 

2.  The  Coming  of  Municipal  Democracy.    A  discussion  of  the  evolution  of  types  of 
city  government  with  a  frank  evaluation  of  the  strength  and  weaknesses  of  each. 

3.  The  Problem  of  the  Ballot.    The  evolution  of  the  forms  of  voting  and  electoral 
processes  with  their  effects  on  popular  government. 

4.  American  Free  Cities.    The  experience  of  American  cities  with  constitutional 
home  rule. 

5.  Is  Manager  Government  Applicable  to  Our  Largest  Cities?    Conducted  as  a 
debate  if  desired,  Dr.  Hatton  taking  the  affirmative. 

6.  Getting  Results  for  the  People's  Money.    Does  it  matter?    How  can  it  be  brought 
about? 

7.  What  Is  Wrong  with  Stole  Governments?    An  analysis  of  the  problems  of  state 
organization  and  administration  with  some  suggested  remedies  for  defects  everywhere 
admitted. 


CURRENT  PUBLICATIONS  OF  THE 
NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE 


A  Model  City  Charter 
Pocket  Civic  Series 

1.  Modern  Principles  of  Polit- 
ical Reform. 

2.  The  Short  Ballot. 

3.  The  Story  of  the  City-Man- 
ager Plan. 

A  Model  State  Constitution 
Technical  Pamphlets  . 

1.  The  Assessment  of  Real  Es- 
tate. 

2.  Administrative  Consolidation 
in  State  Governments. 

3.  The  Coming  of  Centralized 
Purchasing  in  State  Govern- 
ments. 

4.  A     Correct     Public     Policy 
Toward  the  Street  Railway 
Problem. 

5.  Zoning. 


50  cents 

10  cents  each,  $5.00  per  hundred 

4.  Ramshackle  County  Govern- 
ment. 

5.  City  Planning. 

6.  Nominations  and  Elections. 

7.  New  Municipal  Enterprises. 

8.  Criminal  Justice. 

25  cents 

25  cents  each,  $15.00  per  hundred 

6.  Employment  Standardiza- 
tion in  the  Public  Service. 

7.  The  Presidential  Primary. 

8.  The  Law  of  the  City  Plan. 

9.  Administrative     Reorganiza- 
tion in  Illinois. 

10.  Service   at    Cost    for    Street 
Railways. 

11.  The  Law  of  Zoning. 

12.  State  Parks  (illustrated.) 


Outlines  of  a  Model  Election  System    .         .    *    .  25  cents 

The  Fate  of  the  Direct  Primary    .         .         .         .  25  cents 

Modern  City  Planning 25  cents 

Special  Assessments  for  Public  Improvement         .  25  cents 

Pensions  in  the  Public  Service        .         .         .         .  25  cents 
The  National  Municipal  League  Series  of  Books 


1.  A  New  Municipal  Program. 
$2.60. 

2.  Experts     in     City     Govern- 
ment.   $2.60. 

3.  Municipal  Functions.    $2.60. 

4.  Town  Planning.    $2.85. 

5.  City  Planning.    $2.60. 

6.  Satellite  Cities.    $2.60. 

7.  The  Social  Center.    $2.60. 

8.  The  City  Manager.     $2.60. 


9.     City  Government  by  Com- 
mission.    $3.10. 

10.  Excess    Condemnation. 
$2.60. 

11.  The   Regulation  of  Munici- 
pal Utilities.     $2.60. 

12.  The  Initiative,    Referendum 
and  Recall.    $2.85. 

13.  Lower   Living   Costs    in 
Cities.     $2.60. 

14.  Woman's  Work  in  Munici- 
palities.    $2.60. 


15.    County  Government.     $2.10. 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 

261  BROADWAY,  NEW  YORK 

Annual  Subscription $5.00 

Free  to  Members  of  National  Municipal  League 


NATIONAL 
MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


VOL.  XI,  No.  9 


SEPTEMBER,  1922 


TOTAL  No.  75 


VIEWS  AND  REVIEWS 


We  are  glad  to  announce  that,  be- 
ginning with  this  issue,  the  " Review" 
resumes  its  policy  of  a  full  magazine 
each  month  with  occasional  technical 
supplements.  We  are  grateful  to  you 
who  supported  us  during  the  past  nine 
months  when  alternate  issues  were 
much  reduced  in  size.  Your  patience 
with  us  then  has  put  us  back  on  solid 
ground. 

* 

Compulsory  consolidation  of  the 
governments  of  Jackson  county  and 
Kansas  City  is  provided  in  a  proposal 
made  by  Judge  W.  T.  Johnson  of  that 
city  now  under  consideration  by  the 
Missouri  Constitutional  Convention. 
* 

That  unrest  regarding  our  judiciary 
is  growing  as  knowledge  increases  is 
indicated  by  the  petition  addressed  to 
the  same  convention  by  the  judges 
of  Jackson  county  and  Kansas  City 
praying  for  the  establishment  of  a 
judicial  council  to  have  supervisory 
powers  over  all  the  courts  of  the  state. 
Creation  of  such  a  body  has  been  ad- 
vocated by  Chief  Justice  Taf  t  and  con- 
forms to  the  program  of  the  American 
Judicature  Society. 
* 

For  the  third  successive  year  the 
American  Child  Hygiene  Association 
has  issued  a  statistical  report  of  infant 


mortality  in  cities  of  10,000  or  over. 
The  report  for  1921  is  more  complete 
than  heretofore.  573  cities  have  been 
covered  with  a  population  40,434,121. 
This  is  94.4  per  cent  of  our  city  popu- 
lation. 

* 

An  Analysis  of  1921  Taxes  in  Ne- 
braska doesn't  sound  very  lively,  yet 
if  you  want  to  see  an  extraordinary 
public  financial  document,  write  to 
Philip  F.  Bross,  Secretary  of  Finance, 
Lincoln,  Nebraska.  The  covers  even 
are  interesting.  They  carry  colored 
charts  showing  how  the  average  1921 
tax  dollar  was  spent  and  how  the  state 
used  its  19  cents  of  this  tax  dollar. 
* 

During  the  summer  county  govern- 
ment reform  was  the  subject  of  lively 
discussion  in  the  following  California 
counties:  Butte,  Fresno,  Riverside, 
San  Diego,  Sacramento,  Sonoma  and 
Sutton. 

* 

A  Zoning  Primer  is  the  title  of  a  lit- 
tle pamphlet  issued  by  the  Advisory 
Committee  on  Zoning  appointed  by 
Secretary  Hoover.  The  government 
sells  it  for  five  cents  and  presents  the 
case  for  zoning  with  a  punch  all  too 
rare  in  public  documents  or  private 
publications. 

Nelson    P.    Lewis    represents    the 


256 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[September 


Death  of 
John  A.  Butler 


League  on  this  committee  and  J.  Hor- 
ace McFarland  the  American  Civic 
Association. 

* 

The  voters  of  Seattle  recently  re- 
jected by  a  vote  of  almost  three  to  one 
an  initiated  measure  reducing  street 
railway  fares  from  S^  cents  to  3  cents. 
In  opposing  the  measure  a  committee 
of  the  Seattle  Municipal  League 
pointed  out  that  the  3  cent  fare  would 
add  $5,325,000  in  taxes. 

The  system  is  now  self  supporting 
on  an  8}/£  cent  fare  and  the  picture  of 
individuals  riding  at  public  expense 
was  not  attractive  to  the  voters. 
* 

In  the  death  of  John  A. 

Butler    of     Milwaukee 

the  League  and  the 
cause  of  good  government  generally 
loses  a  staunch  friend  and  advocate. 
Cleaner  municipal  government  had 
long  been  a  cause  close  to  his  heart. 
For  years  an  officer  of  the  League  he 
gave  freely  of  his  time  and  money  to 
our  work.  He  will  be  particularly 
missed  in  his  home  city  where  his  high 
powers  were  appreciated.  He  was  the 
organizer  and  first  president  of  the 
Milwaukee  City  Club,  and  for  several 
years  was  president  of  the  Wisconsin 
League  of  Municipalities.  He  served 
without  thought  of  material  reward  or 
worldly  honors. 

* 

Among  students  of  city 

What  is  a 

City  Manager?  ^ager  government 
there  exists  some  dif- 
ference of  opinion  as  to  the  exact 
sphere  of  a  city  manager's  functions. 
How  far  should  a  city  manager  be 
drawn  into  matters  of  policy  which 
may  become  political  questions? 
Should  he  take  the  leadership  in  urging 
policies  he  favors?  Should  he  permit 
such  leadership  to  be  thrust  upon  him? 
Undoubtedly  the  public  at  large 
have  varying  ideas  on  this  subject. 


Some  city  councils  would  make  the 
manager  their  leader  by  transferring 
all  initiative  and  responsibility  to  him. 
Others  would  reduce  him  to  the  level 
of  office  boy.  What  he  will  eventually 
become  will  depend  upon  how  well  the 
American  people  are  educated  up  to 
the  manager  plan,  which  involves  a 
new  conception  of  executive  functions. 
Without  further  comment,  then,  we 
give  you  a  few  paragraphs  from  a 
recent  letter  to  us  written  by  one  of  the 
oldest  and  most  successful  managers. 

I  have  found  that  the  attitude  of  council  to- 
ward the  city  manager  depends  entirely  on  the 
personnel  of  the  council,  and  the  individual  un- 
derstanding of  each  member  of  the  theory  of 
commission-manager  government. 

The  councilman  who  is  familiar  with  business 
methods,  particularly  corporation  business,  sel- 
dom shows  any  tendency  to  take  the  initiative, 
being  content  to  pass  judgment  on  the  reports 
and  recommendations  of  the  manager. 

The  councilman  who  has  not  been  trained  in 
business  methods  is  very  apt  to  misunderstand 
or  to  forget  the  duties  of  the  city  manager. 

It  has  been  my  experience  that  although  the 
city  manager  is  not  supposed  to  have  direct  re- 
lationship with  the  citizens,  a  large  portion  of 
them  seem  to  consider  it  an  infringement  of  their 
rights  if  they  cannot  secure  direct  contact  with 
the  manager  concerning  any  subject  that  may  be 
of  interest  to  them. 

Whether  the  citizens  continue  to  look  to  the 
mayor  as  the  executive  head  of  the  city  after  the 
manager  is  appointed  depends  largely  on  the 
attitude  of  the  members  of  council,  and  is  usually 
a  matter  of  education.  If  the  members  of  coun- 
cil refer  to  the  manager  all  questions  brought  to 
them  regarding  administrative  matters,  citizens 
seem  very  quickly  to  grasp  the  idea  that  the 
manager  is  the  administrative  head,  and  to  learn 
that  much  time  can  be  saved  through  the 
quicker  action  secured  by  taking  up  with  the 
manager  directly  all  such  questions. 

The  Present  State  of  National  Econ- 
omy and  Budget  Making 

After  directing  the  bureau  of  the 
budget  for  one  year,  General  Dawes 
resigned  on  July  1  and  was  succeeded 


1922] 


VIEWS  AND  REVIEWS 


257 


by  General  Lord.  During  his  director- 
ship General  Dawes  was  able  to  show 
considerable  economies  and  savings,  at 
least  on  paper,  resulting  from  the  uti- 
lization of  supplies  and  materials.  In 
a  report  issued  on  May  8  he  estimated 
that  these  savings  for  the  fiscal  year 
1922  amount  to  $250,000,000.  This 
report  was  made  in  response  to  a  reso- 
lution offered  in  the  House  on  February 
9  following  requests  by  the  president 
and  the  director  of  the  budget  for  a  defi- 
ciency appropriation  of  $180,000,000 
to  supplement  the  appropriations 
already  made  for  the  fiscal  year.  The 
estimated  savings  were  (quoting  from 
the  report,  p.  32)  "accomplished  under 
the  new  system  of  coordination  through 
the  use  of  surplus  and  excess  materials 
and  supplies  transferred  from  the  de- 
partment where  there  is  no  present 
need  for  them  to  another  department 
which  has  need  for  them,  the  saving  to 
the  government  being  considered  the 
difference  between  the  amount  which 
it  would  have  cost  the  department  re- 
quiring such  materials  and  supplies  to 
purchase  them  in  the  market,  and  the 
amount  which  the  holding  department 
would  probably  have  received  had  they 
been  disposed  of  as  unnecessary." 
That  is,  the  estimated  savings  are  the 
difference  between  the  present  prices, 
which  are  approximately  75  per  cent 
of  the  original  cost  to  the  government, 
and  the  salvage  value.  Instead  of  a 
saving,  this  actually  means  a  loss  to  the 
government  of  25  per  cent  on  the  orig- 
inal cost,  besides  storage  and  other 
losses 

Since  General  Dawes  gave  most  of 
his  time  during  the  war  to  the  han- 
dling of  supplies  and  materials  in  France 
it  naturally  follows  that  he  would  em- 
phasize this  feature  in  connection  with 
his  budget  work.  But  as  large,  if  not 
larger,  than  the  expenditure  for  sup- 
plies and  materials  is  the  expenditure 


for  personal  services.  Yet,  he  said 
little  or  nothing  about  the  latter. 
Perhaps,  it  was  not  politic  in  a  change 
of  administration  to  dwell  on  such 
matters.  Upon  the  cessation  of  war 
activities  thousands  were,  of  course, 
dropped  from  the  payrolls.  But  does 
this  mean  that  some  administrative 
reorganization  and  a  careful  study  of 
the  personnel  of  the  government  might 
not  reveal  several  thousand  more  em- 
ployees whose  services  are  unneces- 
sary? It  is  not  likely  that  the  director 
of  the  budget  will  receive  much  en- 
couragement in  making  a  study  of  the 
personnel  so  long  as  his  chief  assistants 
and  advisors  are  representatives  from 
the  different  spending  units.  These 
representatives  may  be  willing  to  help 
locate  surplus  stores  and  to  assist  in 
transferring  these  stores  to  other  de- 
partments, but  they  are  not  likely  to 
be  very  enthusiastic  about  pointing 
out  surplus  employees  in  their  depart- 
ments. The  bureau  of  the  budget  will 
have  to  build  up  a  staff  of  its  own  before 
it  can  attack  this  problem  and  even 
then  it  must  have  the  backing  of  the 
administration.  That  this  would  be 
forthcoming  is  not  indicated  by  the 
present  attitude  toward  the  national 
reorganization  program. 

In  a  speech  to  the  second  annual 
meeting  of  the  department  executives 
on  July  11  the  present  director  of  the 
budget,  General  H.  M.  Lord,  makes 
the  statement  that  the  proposed  ex- 
penditures of  the  current  fiscal  year 
will  exceed  the  estimated  revenues  by 
$697,000,000.  In  order  to  prevent 
this  anticipated  deficit,  he  states  that  a 
departmental  general  reserve  plan,  as 
distinguished  from  the  budget  general 
reserve  of  last  year,  will  be  put  into 
effect.  Under  this  plan  the  depart- 
ment heads  will  have  "under  personal 
control  through  the  year  funds  which 
are  not  mortgaged  by  actual  obliga- 


258 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[September 


tions  or  approved  departmental  proj- 
ects and  will  have  available  funds 
with  which  to  meet  unforeseen  con- 
tingencies." It  is  very  doubtful  if  such 
control  when  left  entirely  in  the  hands 
of  the  various  spending  departments 
will  mean  anything.  Can  we  expect 
executives  whose  chief  business  is  to 
spend  money  to  curb  themselves  very 
much  when  they  get  the  money?  The 
office  to  maintain  this  control,  if  it  is 
to  be  at  all  effective,  is  the  comptroller 
general's  office.  If  this  office  would 
establish  and  enforce  a  system  of  ex- 
ecutive allotments  similar  to  that  in 
operation  in  Nebraska  and  Illinois 
there  would  be  no  deficiencies.  So  far 
this  office  does  not  seem  to  have  accom- 
plished very  much. 

In  his  speech  referred  to  above, 
General  Lord  speaks  of  the  preparation 
of  the  estimates  for  the  next  fiscal  year 
and  makes  this  rather  naive  remark  to 
the  government  executives:  "May 
you  approach  your  estimates  with 
prayer  and  determination — prayer  for 
intelligent  guidance  and  determina- 
tion to  eliminate  every  nonessential 
and  to  restrict  the  essentials  to  the  low- 


est point  compatible  with  efficiency." 
Anyone  acquainted  with  the  habits  of 
the  "political  animal"  will  not  ponder 
long  the  ultimate  effect  of  such  a  state- 
ment. In  fact,  General  Lord  shows  that 
he  doubts  the  efficacy  of  his  own  exhor- 
tation when  he  tells  in  the  next  para- 
graph what  happened  to  the  first 
unpadded  estimate  that  he,  in  his  inno- 
cent and  guileless  days,  presented  to 
Congress.  He  says  he  was  like  the 
man  who  habitually  arrived  home  late 
from  his  club  in  a  highly  inebriated 
condition, — the  first  night  he  went 
home  sober  his  dog  bit  him!  "In  sub- 
mitting honest  estimates,"  General 
Lord  says,  "you  may  be  bitten,  but 
it's  worth  it  if  the  executive  bureaus 
succeed  by  such  a  policy  in  rehabilitat- 
ing themselves  in  the  estimation  of  the 
congressional  committees."  We  won- 
der how  many  of  the  executives  will 
take  a  chance  of  getting  bitten — just 
once.  But  wouldn't  more  investiga- 
tion by  a  trained  staff  directly  under 
the  budget  Bureau  be  more  effective 
than  exhortation  in  a  real  budget- 
making  procedure. 

A.  E.  B. 

H.  W.  DODDS. 


LIKE  THE  DEAD  INDIAN:   THE  COUNTY 


BY  ROBERT  M.  GOODRICH 

Executive  Secretary,  Duluth  Tax  Payers'  League 


SEVERAL  years  ago  Richard  S.  Childs 
pointed  out  that,  like  the  Indian,  "the 
only  theoretically  perfect  county  was 
no  county  at  all."  Since  that  time 
many  exploits  have  been  made  into 
the  "dark  continent,"  involving  reform 
and  consolidation,  but  nowhere  has 
the  question  been  seriously  raised  as  to 
the  county's  absolute  necessity. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  recall  even  ele- 
mentary history  to  recognize  that  the 
complexion  of  the  county  has  com- 
pletely changed  since  its  early  estab- 
lishment. Modern  means  of  trans- 
portation and  communication  have 
reduced  the  county  to  relatively  small 
proportions. 

Even  in  those  counties  that  exceed 
in  area  some  of  our  sizable  states, 
there  is  little  justification  for  such  a 
unit.  In  fact  the  utter  lack  of  harmony 
in  area  seems  to  be  a  potent  argument 
against  the  necessity  for  such  a  division. 
For  example,  Duluth  is  situate  in  a 
county  almost  as  large  as  the  state  of 
Massachusetts,  which  contains  four- 
teen counties. 

If  we  were  to  forget  that  the  county 
had  always  existed,  and  at  some  con- 
stitutional convention  should  be  called 
on  to  urge  the  adoption  of  a  division 
smaller  than  the  state  and  larger  than 
a  city  or  township,  the  task  would,  in- 
deed, be  difficult. 

Where  city-county  consolidation  has 
been  effected,  the  municipal  charac- 
teristics have  predominated  and  the 
county  functions  have  been  assumed 
with  little  difficulty.  To  go  farther  and 
divide  all  functions  between  townships, 
cities  and  states,  thus  eliminating  the 
county,  seems  but  a  step  removed. 


Under  such  a  plan  the  judiciary 
would  probably  remain  unchanged,  as 
counties  and  judicial  circuits  are  not 
now  coterminous  in  all  states.  The 
peoples'  attorney  might  be  elected  as 
now  in  each  judicial  district,  though  it 
is  probable  that  appointment  by  the 
state  attorney  would  be  preferable. 
The  development  of  the  state  police 
would  meet  the  problem  of  the  sheriff. 
In  fact  the  usefulness  of  many  state 
forces  have  demonstrated  their  supe- 
riority in  no  mistakable  terms. 

Road  building  is  rapidly  becoming 
the  most  important  service  rendered 
by  the  county.  With  its  development 
has  come  the  development  of  state 
road  building  programs.  Frequently 
county  roads  are  built  without  plan  or 
design.  The  combination  of  these  two 
agencies  would  reduce  overhead  and 
would  result  in  more  comprehensive 
plans  for  the  construction  of  roads. 
The  increased  scale  of  construction 
would  undoubtedly  result  in  decreased 
cost. 

In  many  states  education  is  now  a 
matter  of  local  and  state  control  and 
the  county  is  assuming  no  responsibil- 
ity in  this  work.  Such  seems  to  be  a 
logical  and  sufficient  plan  for  directing 
educational  activities. 

Welfare  work  and  poor  relief  should 
be  handled  by  local  agencies.  Hospi- 
tals, reformatories  and  sanitoriums  are, 
under  present  arrangements,  greatly 
handicapped  because  of  the  smallness 
of  the  unit.  A  single  county  is  rarely 
capable  of  supporting  these  institu- 
tions. Through  the  combination  of 
districts  under  state  direction,  a  much 
better  system  can  be  worked  out. 


260 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[September 


Registry  of  deeds,  land  contracts, 
mortgages  and  other  documents  pre- 
sent a  question  not  easily  solvable. 
Probably  the  development  of  new 
systems  of  land  registry  will  remove 
these  obstacles,  though  possibly  the 
local  subdivisions  can  handle  this 
work. 

Coroners  have  already  been  thrown 
into  the  discard  in  some  states.  Minor 
engineering  officials  could  be  attached 
to  the  other  departments.  The  re- 
maining functions  exist  because  of  the 
county.  The  elimination  of  these  de- 
partments would  result  in  a  great  sav- 
ing to  the  taxpayer.  The  cost  of  the 


services  transferred  to  the  state  or  the 
local  subdivisions  would  remain  about 
as  they  are.  However,  it  may  reason- 
ably be  expected  that  with  the  aboli- 
tion of  an  entire  governmental  unit, 
greater  interest  would  be  focused  on 
remaining  divisions  with  greater  effec- 
tiveness as  the  logical  result. 

Although  it  is  recognized  that  these 
changes  cannot  be  realized  without 
years  of  consideration,  the  idea  is  pre- 
sented simply  to  raise  the  question  as 
to  whether  our  activities  in  the  county 
have  not  been  surface  scratches  and 
that  we  have  failed  to  dig  down  into 
the  root  of  the  problem. 


A  STEP  TOWARD  THE  SHORT  BALLOT 

BY  GEORGE  C.  SIKES 

Chicago 

Nebraska  and  Iowa  have  removed  the  names  of  presidential  electors 
from  the  ballot.  A  resolution  passed  at  our  Chicago  meeting  last 
year  urges  other  states  to  follow  their  example.  ::  ::  ::  :: 


NEBRASKA  and  Iowa  have  pointed 
the  way  to  their  sister  states  of  the 
American  Union  by  which  the  size  of 
the  election  ballot  may  be  greatly  re- 
duced. In  Nebraska  and  Iowa  the 
names  of  presidential  electors  do  not 
appear  on  the  ballot  at  all.  The  voter 
merely  indicates  his  choice  for  presi- 
dent and  vice  president  of  the  United 
States.  The  names  of  the  nominees 
for  these  two  offices  are  included 
within  a  brace  and  are  voted  for  to- 
gether. A  vote  for  particular  nom- 
inees for  president  and  vice  president 
is  counted  for  the  appropriate  set  of 
presidential  electors,  selected  in  advance 
by  designated  party  agency,  whose 
names  are  on  file  with  the  secretary  of 
state.  Under  the  Nebraska  and  Iowa 
laws  it  is  made  the  duty  of  the  governor 
to  appoint  as  presidential  electors  for 
the  state  the  set  of  electors  committed 


to  the  candidates  for  president  and 
vice  president  who  receive  the  popular 
vote  on  election  day. 

The  plan  provides  for  direct  voting 
for  president  and  vice  president  and 
gives  in  effect  the  same  result  that 
would  be  obtained  were  the  federal 
constitution  to  be  so  amended  as  to 
require  the  election  of  these  officials 
together  by  direct  popular  vote. 
Under  the  Nebraska  and  Iowa  laws 
the  electoral  college  still  functions,  of 
course,  but  the  mechanism  is  kept  in 
the  background,  so  that  the  ballot  is 
less  cumbersome  and  the  voter  is  less 
confused. 

NO   DOUBT   AS   TO   LEGALITY 

The  legality  of  the  procedure  is  not 
open  to  attack.  The  federal  consti- 
tution provides  that  presidential 


1922] 


A  STEP  TOWARD  THE  SHORT  BALLOT 


261 


electors  shall  be  appointed  by  each 
state  "in  such  manner  as  the  legis- 
lature thereof  may  direct."  The 
power  of  the  state  legislature  in  the 
matter  is  plenary.  Legislatures  in  the 
past  have  chosen  presidential  electors 
themselves,  or  have  provided  for  their 
appointment.  In  Nebraska  and  Iowa 
the  legislatures  simply  have  prescribed 
that  the  governor  shall  appoint  as 
electors  a  certain  list  of  persons  whose 
names  are  on  file  with  the  secretary 
of  state.  While  Nebraska  and  Iowa 
provide  for  appointment  by  the  gov- 
ernor, it  has  been  suggested  that  other 
states  adopting  this  general  plan 
would  improve  upon  it  by  vesting  the 
appointive  power  for  this  purpose  in 
the  secretary  of  state.  The  duty  im- 
posed is  ministerial  in  nature.  The 
appointing  power  exercises  no  discre- 
tion. Mere  ministerial  duties  are  bet- 
ter delegated  to  an  official  like  the 
secretary  of  state,  who  can  be  required 
by  mandamus  proceedings  in  the 
courts  to  perform  a  specific  duty  im- 
posed by  statute,  which  is  not  true  of 
the  governor. 

BALLOT    PHYSICALLY   SHORTER 

The  purpose  and  effect  of  this  plan, 
first  used  by  Nebraska,  is  to  shorten 
the  ballot  physically.  It  does  not 
really  lessen  the  number  of  elective 
officials.  It  merely  removes  from  the 
ballot  a  cumbersome  mechanism. 

As  Nebraska  has  eight  presidential 
electors,  the  effect  is  to  eliminate  from 
the  election  ballot  eight  names  for  each 
party  or  group  making  nominations  for 
president.  The  number  of  presiden- 
tial electors  for  Iowa  is  13.  In  larger 
states  the  number  is  higher  and  the 
shortening  effect  on  the  ballot  of  re- 
moving all  nominees  for  presidential 
electors  would  be  even  more  marked. 
New  York  has  45  presidential  electors; 
Pennsylvania,  34;  Illinois,  27.  New 


York  has  a  separate  ballot  for  presi- 
dential electors.  The  one  used  in  the 
1920  campaign  measured  17  x  19^ 
inches.  It  was  slightly  larger  than 
the  ballot  bearing  the  names  of  can- 
didates for  state  and  local  officers. 
The  cost  of  this  separate  ballot  for  the 
entire  state  must  have  been  several 
hundred  thousand  dollars.  If  New 
York  were  to  leave  the  presidential 
electors  off  the  ballot,  as  Nebraska 
and  Iowa  do,  the  names  of  the  candi- 
dates for  president  and  vice  president 
could  be  printed  on  the  ballot  for  state 
and  county  offices,  thus  saving  prac- 
tically the  entire  expense  of  the  sep- 
arate ballot. 

The  ballot  used  in  Illinois  in  No- 
vember of  even  years  is  disgracefully 
long — one  of  the  very  worst  in  the 
country.  The  Chicago  voter  at  the 
November  election  of  1920  was  handed 
a  piece  of  paper  measuring  28  x  36 
inches.  This  is  truly  a  blanket  ballot. 
It  is  about  the  size  of  a  baby  blanket. 
Taking  off  the  presidential  electors 
would  shorten  this  ballot  physically 
by  about  a  third.  The  money  saving 
to  Illinois  taxpayers  in  cost  of  printing 
by  the  change  probably  would  be  over 
$100,000.  Such  money  saving,  how- 
ever, is  of  trifling  consequence  in  com- 
parison with  the  benefits  to  result 
from  liberating  voters  from  the  incon- 
venience and  confusion  that  arise  in 
the  attempt  to  handle  a  large  ballot 
quickly.  The  task  of  counting  votes 
cast  for  individual  presidential  electors 
and  of  making  returns  thereof  is  an 
arduous  one  for  election  officials. 

THE   ILLINOIS   BILL   VETOED 

An  effort  was  made  in  the  1921  ses- 
sion of  the  Illinois  legislature  to  follow 
the  example  of  Nebraska  and  Iowa  in 
removing  presidential  electors  from 
the  ballot.  Representative  Cruden 
offered  a  bill  to  that  effect  which  was 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[September 


extensively  and  carefully  considered 
by  legislators  in  conferences  with 
the  attorney-general.  This  bill  was 
passed  without  a  single  dissenting  vote 
in  either  house  on  final  roll  call.  It 
was  vetoed  by  Governor  Small — too 
late  in  the  session  for  a  practical  at- 
tempt to  repass  it  over  the  veto.  The 
reasons  assigned  for  the  veto  seem 
trivial  and  unsound.  Undoubtedly 
this  matter  will  be  pressed  energet- 
ically again  in  the  1923  session  of  the 
Illinois  Legislature. 

Some  states,  notably  Massachu- 
setts and  Minnesota,  have  long  had  an 
arrangement  of  the  ballot  whereby  the 
names  of  presidential  electors  are 
printed  in  a  box  in  small  type  and  are 
voted  for  as  a  group.  There  is  no 
good  reason  why  a  citizen  should  be 
permitted  to  vote  for  some  presiden- 
tial electors  on  one  ticket  and  some  on 
another.  The  voter  at  a  presidential 
election  is  supposed  under  present 
conditions  to  be  expressing  his  pref- 
erence for  certain  candidates  for  pres- 
ident and  vice  president.  It  is  absurd, 
therefore,  to  provide  for  a  form  of 
ballot  under  which  voters  may  inad- 
vertently defeat  their  own  purpose, 
by  dividing  their  votes  among  the 
electors  of  different  parties.  If  presi- 


dential electors  are  to  remain  on  the 
ballot  at  all,  the  only  sensible  arrange- 
ment is  that  in  use  in  Massachusetts 
and  Minnesota.  All  states  would  do 
well,  however,  to  follow  the  example 
of  Nebraska  and  Iowa  and  take  pres- 
idential electors  off  the  ballot  alto- 
gether. The  matter  is  one  that  might 
profitably  receive  the  attention  of 
legislative  sessions  of  1923,  in  prepara- 
tion for  the  presidential  election  of 
1924.  Many  political  leaders  who 
object  to  reducing  the  number  of  elec- 
tive officials  look  with  favor  on  the 
plan  to  shorten  the  ballot  physically 
by  removing  the  presidential  electors. 
Therefore,  success  is  not  so  difficult  of 
attainment  in  this  particular  aspect  of 
the  short  ballot  movement.  Except 
for  the  ill-advised  veto  of  Governor 
Small  of  Illinois,  this  plan  has  not 
encountered  serious  opposition  in  any 
situation  in  which  it  has  been  dis- 
cussed. 

The  National  Municipal  League,  in 
its  last  annual  convention  held  in 
Chicago  in  November,  1921,  adopted 
resolutions  asking  that  the  legislatures 
of  other  states  follow  the  example  of 
Nebraska  and  Iowa  in  removing  the 
names  of  presidential  electors  from  the 
ballot. 


GAINS  AGAINST  NUISANCES  * 

OVERHEAD  WIRE  CONSTRUCTION 

S.  A.  RHODES 


SCIENCE  has  contributed  the  tele- 
phone and  electric  power  as  important 
factors  ministering  to  man's  well- 
being.  Industry  and  engineering 
skill  have  so  reduced  the  costs  for 
telephone  and  electric  light  or  power 

*ED.  NOTE — Read  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
American  Civic  Association  in  Chicago,  November  15, 
1921. 


service  that  to-day  there  is  a  very  high 
development  of  these  services  through- 
out the  United  States.  The  benefits 
from  them  to  our  general  public  are 
greater  than  the  costs,  otherwise  there 
would  not  have  been  this  great  devel- 
opment. . 

These  benefits  are  secured  at  some 
sacrifice  from  the  aesthetic  standpoint 


1922] 


GAINS  AGAINST  NUISANCES 


in  that  we  have  with  us  the  familiar 
telephone  or  electric  light  pole  line. 
Just  a  few  figures  are  interesting  at 
this  point  to  show  why  there  are  so 
many  pole  lines.  In  1910  there  were  in 
the  United  States  approximately  2,500,- 
000  users  of  electric  light  and  power 
and  in  1920,  8,500,000  users.  On  the 
same  dates  there  were  approximately 
8,000,000  and  18,000,000  telephones. 

The  telegraph  service  being  much 
older  and  more  established  has  not 
shown  such  great  expansion  in  recent 
years,  and  the  lines  of  the  telegraph 
system  are  confined  largely  to  lines 
between  cities.  In  the  average  city  the 
number  of  telegraph  lines  in  the  city 
proper  comprises  a  very  small  propor- 
tion of  the  total  overhead  wire  system. 

NO    RELIEF    IN    SIGHT    FROM    WIRELESS 

In  these  days  of  wireless  communi- 
cation the  question  may  arise  in  the 
minds  of  some  as  to  whether  any  appli- 
cations for  wireless  communication 
will  be  made  which  will  tend  to  reduce 
the  number  of  overhead  wires.  Wire- 
less telegraph  supplements  to-day  the 
wire  telegraph  service,  and  to  some 
extent  tends  to  decrease  the  amount 
of  additional  wire  facilities  required  to 
meet  the  growth  of  the  regular  wire 
telegraph  service.  As  to  wireless 
telephone  communication,  it  appears 
that  there  will  be  no  development  in 
local  exchange  service  in  cities  and 
villages  which  will  reduce  the  use  of 
wire  service. 

In  general,  wireless  communication 
is  limited  by  the  element  of  interfer- 
ence between  simultaneous  communi- 
cations, and  while  such  interference 
can  be  prevented  to  a  certain  extent, 
by  methods  now  generally  used,  there 
is  a  limit  to  the  number  of  simultane- 
ous communications  that  can  be  car- 
ried on.  Further,  atmospheric  con- 
ditions interfere  at  times,  and  it  may 


be  stated  therefore  that  wireless  tele- 
phone communications  will  not  ma- 
terially affect  the  overhead  wire  sit- 
uation. Moreover  wireless  does  not 
operate  entirely  without  wires,  since 
rather  a  prominent  and  conspicuous 
form  of  construction  of  overhead  wires 
must  be  installed  at  the  sending  and 
receiving  stations  as  a  fundamental 
part  of  the  equipment. 

UNDERGROUND    CABLES 

At  a  certain  point  of  high  density 
of  telephone  development  the  large 
number  of  wires  required  for  a  re- 
stricted area  can  most  economically 
be  placed  underground,  and  in  our 
larger  cities  the  density  in  the  central 
business  area  is  such  that  these  areas 
are  served  by  underground  wires.  In 
the  less  densely  developed  areas  of  a 
city  only  a  portion  of  the  wire  mileage 
can  most  economically  be  placed  under 
ground,  as,  for  example,  where  a  suf- 
ficient number  of  wires  converge  in 
their  path  to  the  central  office  to  re- 
quire the  use  of  comparatively  large 
cables,  these  then  are  placed  under- 
ground. The  number  of  wires  along 
a  given  route  becomes  less  as  the  dis- 
tance from  the  central  office  increases. 
Any  telephone  cable  may  be  divided 
into  two  portions,  (1)  the  main  or  back- 
bone section,  in  which  the  lines  run 
through  without  branches  to  adjacent 
telephone  subscribers  and,  (2)  the 
distributing  section  or  the  portion 
from  which  the  connection  is  made  to 
adjacent  subscribers  by  short  lengths 
of  open  wire.  It  is  this  latter  portion, 
broken  up  into  small  cable  containing 
relatively  few  wires,  which  can  most 
economically  be  placed  overhead  on 
poles  and  it  is  this  portion  with  the 
attendant  open  wires  which  consti- 
tutes the  bulk  of  the  overhead  tele- 
phone plant  in  the  average  city. 

For  example,  in  Chicago  the  back- 


264 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[September 


bone  portion  of  the  line  wires  contains 
1,500,000  wire  miles  of  conductor  all 
underground,  whereas  the  overhead 
portion  contains  only  100,000  wire 
miles  of  conductor  in  cable  and  15,000 
wire  miles  in  open  wire.  In  smaller 
cities  the  proportion  of  overhead  con- 
ductor mileage  is  greater  as  the  den- 
sity of  development  per  block  or 
square  mile  is  naturally  less  than  in 
the  larger  cities.  For  example, 
Peoria,  Illinois,  with  a  population  of 
about  100,000  has  24,000  miles  of 
underground  wires,  against  13,000 
miles  in  overhead  cable  and  1,000 
miles  in  overhead  open  wires.  A  city 
of  about  40,000  population,  Decatur, 
Illinois,  has  about  the  same  proportion 
as  Peoria. 

Expressed  in  percentages,  the  large 
cities  in  this  country  have  about  90 
to  95  per  cent  of  the  telephone  wire 
mileage  in  underground  cable  ranging 
down  to  perhaps  60  to  65  per  cent  un- 
derground in  cities  of  from  25,000  to 
50,000  inhabitants. 

Without  these  facts  before  them, 
few  people  realize  the  extent  to  which 
the  total  wire  mileage  of  the  telephone 
system  is  placed  under  ground. 

OVERHEAD   MILEAGE   LESS   CON- 
SPICUOUS  NOW 

There  is  then  only  a  comparatively 
small  part  of  the  telephone  wire  mile- 
age overhead  in  the  larger  cities  but 
nevertheless  this  smaller  part  is  quite 
conspicuous.  To  place  it  underground 
would  add  tremendously  to  the  cost 
of  a  telephone  plant  but  there  are 
tendencies  from  the  standpoint  of 
economy  in  the  operation  of  a  tele- 
phone system  which  are  reducing  the 
conspicuousness  of  the  ordinary  pole 
line. 

In  the  first  place,  the  use  of  aerial 
cable  in  place  of  individual  open  wires 
carried  on  poles  on  glass  insulators 
proves  economical  to  a  greater  extent 


under  recent  developments  in  cable 
construction  than  was  the  case  some 
years  ago.  This  has  greatly  reduced 
the  amount  of  open  wires  on  pole 
lines  and  will  continue  to  further  re- 
duce the  amount  of  open  wire.  A  pole 
line  containing  only  a  cable  with  occa- 
sional open  wires  dropping  off  from 
the  pole  line  to  adjacent  subscribers' 
premises  is  a  much  better  appearing 
line  than  the  old  time  line  with  two 
or  three  crossarms  and  twenty  or 
thirty  wires  supported  on  these  cross- 
arms.  However,  there  is  an  economic 
limit  to  which  cable  can  be  substituted 
for  open  wire  and  in  the  outskirts  of 
cities  where  the  density  of  telephone 
development  is  small,  some  use  will 
continue  to  be  made  of  open  wire. 

Further,  another  factor  which  has 
in  many  cases  reduced  the  amount  of 
overhead  construction  is  the  use  of  the 
same  pole  line  jointly  by  the  telephone 
company  and  the  electric  light  and 
power  company.  This  reduces  the 
number  of  poles  one-half.  Such  joint 
construction  is  practicable  and  desir- 
able where  proper  limitations  are  ob- 
served on  the  part  of  the  electric  light 
company  as  to  the  character  of  the 
current  used  on  its  wi/res  and  proper 
separation  is  provided  between  power 
wifes  and  the  telephone  wires.  It 
involves  somewhat  higher  pole  con- 
struction but  in  general  there  is  a 
marked  improvement  in  the  overhead 
appearance,  compared  with  two  sep- 
arate lines,  one  for  the  telephone  wires 
and  one  for  the  electric  light  wires. 

COMPETITIVE   LINES   ADD   TO   OVER- 
HEAD  CONSTRUCTION 

The  presence  of  competitive  tele- 
phone lines  or  competitive  light  and 
power  lines  on  a  given  street  or  alley 
adds  greatly  to  the  overhead  wire  con- 
struction, since  each  system  must  main- 
tain its  complete  overhead  line  plant. 


[922] 


GAINS  AGAINST  NUISANCES 


The  general  tendency  on  the  part  of 
the  public  today  seems  to  be  towards 
urging  the  elimination  of  competing 
liiu-s,  and  doubtless  in  cases  where  there 
are  competing  systems  some  plan  will 
be  worked  out  by  which  this  source  of 
overhead  wire  congestion  will  be  ulti- 
mately solved  in  a  way  which  will  be 
satisfactory  and  which  will  reduce  the 
amount  of  overhead  construction. 

The  use  of  alleys  or  rear  lot  lines  as 
a  location  for  distributing  pole  lines  is 
quite  general.  This  eliminates  the 
pole  line  from  the  paralleling  street  at 
frequently  a  considerable  gain  from 
the  standpoint  of  interference  by  tree 
foliage  and  the  attendant  difficulties 
of  tree  trimming,  and  the  street  is  left 
clear  of  wires.  Many  cities  have  no 
alleys  in  certain  sections,  but  under 
such  conditions  the  right  to  use  the 
rear  lot  line  for  pole  line  construction 
can  usually  be  obtained.  Sometimes, 
however,  the  use  of  such  private  right- 
of-way  cannot  be  secured  through  re- 
fusal of  the  property  owners  to  grant 
the  privilege.  Such  action  on  the 
part  of  these  owners  is  detrimental  to 
the  general  appearance  of  the  imme- 
diate locality  if  the  erection  of  pole 
lines  on  the  street  is  made  necessary 
on  account  of  failure  to  secure  the 
private  right-of-way. 

In  some  closely-built-up  apartment 
house  residential  sections,  overhead 
telephone  wires  can  be  economically 
placed  on  the  rear  wall  of  buildings 
or  overhead  construction  avoided  en- 
tirely by  extending  cable  from  base- 
ment to  basement  throughout  the 
entire  block.  The  matter  of  securing 
privileges  for  such  construction  is 
sometimes  difficult,  as  it  is,  of  course, 
necessary  to  secure  the  consent  of  the 


property  owners  for  the  installation  of 
wires  or  cables  in  or  on  their  property, 
which  are  used  for  telephones  in  other 
nearby  premises. 

We  have  been  discussing  subjects 
having  to  do  with  the  improvement  of 
living  conditions  in  cities  including 
improvements  of  an  esthetic  nature. 
Some  gains  can  be  secured  without  cost 
to  the  community,  as,  for  example,  the 
gains  to  be  derived  from  city  zoning, 
attained  by  planning  in  advance. 
Improvements  which  can  be  attained 
without  cost  deserve  our  most  persist- 
ent effort  for  accomplishment.  Im- 
provements which  place  an  added  bur- 
den of  cost  on  the  community  can  only 
be  worked  out  as  our  economic  situa- 
tion will  permit.  In  the  case  of  two 
services  of  such  importance  in  our 
present  day  standard  of  living  as  the 
telephone  and  electric  light  or  power, 
added  costs  for  the  services  will  bar 
more  of  our  families  of  lesser  means 
from  the  use  of  the  services.  Families 
so  barred  would  have  to  put  up  with 
inconveniences  which  no  doubt  in  their 
opinion  would  be  of  much  greater 
weight  than  the  objection  to  overhead 
wires.  The  complete  elimination  of 
overhead  wires  in  cities  is  therefore  not 
to  be  expected  since  below  a  certain 
density  of  development  underground 
construction  for  the  portion  of  the  lines 
immediately  adjacent  to  the  subscrib- 
ers served  by  the  lines  in  question  will 
always  be  more  expensive.  However, 
there  are  mitigating  circumstances 
acting  from  an  economic  standpoint,  as 
described  in  this  paper,  which  are  grad- 
ually reducing  the  number  of  wires  on 
a  given  pole,  and  thus  to  that  extent 
gradually  improving  the  overhead  wire 
situation. 


CLOSING  THE  NEW  ORLEANS  "DISTRICT 


BY  CLARENCE  B.  SMITH,  JR. 

National  Institute  of  Public  Administration  New  York  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research 


PRIOR  to  1917  the  city  of  New  Orle- 
ans enjoyed  a  considerable  notoriety  as 
a  "wide  open  town,"  in  some  circles 
this  impression  still  persists.  The 
existence  of  the  segregated  district  in 
New  Orleans  can  be  traced  in  part  to 
the  Latin  influence  which  predominates 
there  and  to  the  fact  that  the  city  is 
the  second  port  in  the  United  States, 
with  all  of  a  seaport's  social  implica- 
tions and  problems.  An  added  factor 
is  also  to  be  found  in  the  year-'round 
carnival  atmosphere  of  New  Orleans, 
especially  as  this  relates  to  the  annual 
Mardi  Gras,  and  the  large  numbers  of 
pleasure  seekers  attracted  by  it. 

With  the  advent  of  the  war,  how- 
ever, a  new  element  was  introduced 
into  the  situation.  It  now  became 
not  merely  a  local  but  a  national  ques- 
tion. The  Commission  on  Training 
Camp  Activities  requested  the  city 
administration  to  close  the  segregated 
district.  The  local  authorities  al- 
leged that  they  were  unable  to  do  so; 
pressure  from  the  secretary  of  the 
navy  was  now  brought  to  bear,  and 
the  exodus  from  the  district  immedi- 
ately began.  Within  a  short  time  it 
had  been  completely  deserted  by  its 
former  occupants  and  reoccupied  by 
negro  residents. 

With  the  passing  of  the  war  emer- 
gency, the  activity  of  the  commission 
naturally  ceased,  and  the  final  solution 
of  the  problem  was  turned  over  to  the 
municipal  police  force.  The  stage 
now  seemed  to  be  set  for  a  return  to  an 
attitude  of  easy  toleration.  It  soon 
developed,  however,  that  the  senti- 
ment of  the  community  had  undergone 
a  distinct  change.  The  new  order  had 
found  many  friends  in  New  Or- 


leans who  were  unwilling  to  counte- 
nance a  return  to  the  old  conditions. 
And  so  the  policy  of  stern  repression, 
first  insisted  upon  by&the  federal  gov- 
ernment under  the  cloak  of  a  war 
emergency,  now  came  to  be  the  policy 
of  the  city  government  also,  even 
though  the  emergency  had  passed  and 
the  federal  authority  and  influence  had 
been  withdrawn. 

LAW   ENFORCEMENT   DIFFICULTIES 

New  difficulties  now  barred  the 
way.  Although  the  denizens  of  the 
segregated  district  had  one  by  one 
deserted  it,  many  of  these  departed 
only  to  reappear  in  other  parts  of  the 
city.  The  segregated  district  was 
gone,  but  the  problem  of  the  disor- 
derly house  remained.  It  was  soon 
discovered,  also,  that  owing  to  a 
variety  of  causes,  it  was  very  difficult, 
and  in  most  instances  virtually  impos- 
sible, to  secure  convictions  in  the  mu- 
nicipal courts  against  proprietors  and 
inmates.  The  police  department 
thereupon  had  recourse  to  a  Louis- 
iana statute  which  authorizes  the 
physical  examination  of  suspected 
women  and  compulsory  segregation 
and  treatment  for  those  who  are  found 
to  be  infected.  While  this  practice 
served  to  take  such  individuals  out  of 
current  circulation  for  varying  periods 
ranging  from  a  few  weeks  to  a  year,  it 
did  not  destroy  the  traffic  and  entailed 
besides  a  considerable  expense  for  the 
care  and  support  of  persons  undergoing 
compulsory  treatment. 

It  now  became  perfectly  clear  to  the 
police  authorities  that  generally  ac- 
cepted police  methods  were  inade- 


266 


1922] 


CLOSING  THE  NEW  ORLEANS  "DISTRICT" 


267 


quate.  No  suggestions  of  novel  and 
drastic  methods  being  offered,  the 
department  was  driven  to  place  its 
reliance  upon  the  practice  commonly 
described  as  "strangulation."  This 
method  virtually  constitutes  a  quar- 
antine of  all  disorderly  resorts  and  is 
effected  through  stationing  a  uni- 
formed patrolman  in  front  of  the  prem- 
ises under  surveillance.  The  most 
usual  practice  is  to  require  the  patrol- 
man to  warn  all  persons  who  are  about 
to  enter  that  the  place  is  likely  to  be 
raided  at  any  time.  A  less  common 
feature,  but  one  which  has  also  been 
adopted  in  New  Orleans,  consists  in 
securing  the  name  and  address  of  all 
patrons  of  the  resorts  which  have  been 
placed  under  quarantine. 

The  objections  to  this  practice  have 
all  been  fully  discussed  by  police  ad- 
ministrators. Indeed,  it  may  even 
be  conceded  that  the  validity  of  such 
objections  has  been  widely  and  gen- 
erally recognized.  The  exercise  of 
such  extraordinary  powers  by  patrol- 
men who  are  removed  from  the  imme- 
diate and  constant  supervision  of  a 
responsible  superior  readily  lends  it- 
self to  police  corruption  of  an  especially 
objectionable  nature.  Surely  nothing 
is  better  calculated  to  eat  the  heart 
out  of  a  police  force  than  partnership 
with  commercialized  vice.  It  is  like- 
wise true  that  the  names  and  addresses 
secured  from  patrons  are  fictitious  in 
the  great  majority  of  instances.  Nev- 
ertheless, experience  has  shown  that 
this  practice  of  registration  has  a  de- 
terrent effect,  even  though  the  precise 
degree  of  its  success  cannot  be  accu- 
rately measured  in  every  instance. 

THE  POLICY  OF  QUARANTINE 

Certainly  the  results  thus  far  ob- 
tained in  New  Orleans  have  amply 
justified  the  means  there  adopted. 
The  first  and  most  important  step 


toward  complete  suppression  was  taken 
when  the  superintendent  of  police 
placed  one  of  the  police  captains,  in 
whom  he  had  the  greatest  confidence, 
in  charge  of  the  vice  squad.  This 
captain  was  given  complete  assurance 
of  hearty  support  from  headquarters 
in  the  task  which  he  was  about  to 
undertake.  Particularly  was  he  as- 
sured that  transfers  to  and  from  the 
vice  squad  would  be  made  strictly  in 
accordance  with  his  wishes.  In  con- 
sideration of  this  fact,  he  has  been  held 
strictly  accountable  for  vice  condi- 
tions within  the  city. 

Owing  partly  to  these  assurances  of 
support  and  to  the  clear  delineation  of 
authority  and  responsibility  which 
was  effected — owing  partly  also  to  the 
type  of  captain  selected  to  command 
the  squad  and  his  qualities  as  a  stern 
disciplinarian — the  work  of  suppres- 
sion soon  showed  definite  and  appre- 
ciable results.  The  disorderly  houses 
and  resorts  are  slowly  but  none  the 
less  surely  being  destroyed  through  a 
determination  to  discourage  and  harass 
them  and  their  patrons.  To  this  end 
frequent  raids  are  made  upon  all 
places  under  police  quarantine  and  the 
inmates  held  for  physical  examination. 
Prosecutions  which  are  pressed  hi  the 
courts  also  occasionally  meet  with 
success. 

The  vice  squad  is  gradually  being 
built  up  into  a  thoroughly  dependable 
body  through  a  process  of  natural  se- 
lection. The  system  of  rigid  and  un- 
remitting inspection  and  supervision 
which  has  been  adopted  quickly  re- 
veals which  members  of  the  squad  are 
disposed  to  laxity  or  to  dealings  with 
the  interests  which  they  are  employed 
to  combat.  There  has  been  at  least 
one  recent  instance  of  a  patrolman 
submitting  his  resignation  from  the 
force  upon  being  notified  of  his  trans- 
fer to  the  vice  squad.  The  personnel 
of  the  latter  is  therefore  continually 


268 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[September 


changing.  But  in  spite  of  frequent 
transfers,  the  residuum  of  reliable  mem- 
bers steadily  increases.  A  number  of 
these  are  men  well  past  the  prime  of 
life  who  are  perhaps  best  described 
as  "family  men."  Though  scarcely 
qualified  for  the  exacting  duties  of  cir- 
culating patrol,  they  are  nevertheless 
very  useful  in  the  relatively  lighter 
work  involved  in  fixed  post  duty. 

So  much  police  activity  has  not  of 
course  passed  unchallenged.  Those 
interests  which  are  most  directly  and 
vitally  affected  have  employed  every 
means  at  their  command  in  an  effort 
to  secure  even  partial  relaxation  of  the 
grasp  which  is  relentlessly  destroying 
•a  highly  profitable  enterprise.  But 
headquarters  has  stood  firm,  and  the 
proprietor  of  a  disorderly  cabaret,  who 
nightly  surveys  a  broad  expanse  of 
vacant  chairs  and  tables  in  his  estab- 
lishment, alternately  threatens  and 
pleads  in  vain.  The  uniformed  patrol- 
man still  stands  just  outside  and  in  some 
instances  inside  the  door,  offering  no 
interference  unless  and  until  the  law  is 
violated. 

RESULTS   SECURED 

The  day  which  will  mark  the  pass- 
ing of  the  last  disorderly  resort  in  New 


Orleans  may  still  be  far  in  the  future. 
It  would  perhaps  be  too  much  to  hope 
that  a  renovation  so  thorough  as  that 
contemplated  can  be  accomplished 
without  years  of  persistent  effort. 
Some  of  the  best  informed  of  the  local 
authorities  are  nevertheless  sanguine 
enough  to  declare  that  before  the  close 
of  the  current  year  the  police  depart- 
ment will  have  stamped  out  all  but  the 
furtive  and  clandestine  manifestations 
of  an  evil  so  ancient,  so  persistent,  and 
yet  so  elusive  when  attacked,  that  pub- 
lic authorities  have  quite  generally 
despaired  of  scoring  any  but  the  most 
minor  and  inconsequential  victories 
over  it. 

In  New  Orleans,  at  least,  the  solu- 
tion has  apparently  been  found,  not  in 
a  novel  administrative  device  calcu- 
lated to  solve  the  problem  out  of  hand, 
but  rather  in  the  wise  and  painstaking 
choice  of  the  men  to  be  held  responsi- 
ble. Tested  by  the  results  obtained 
and  by  a  wealth  of  external  and  inter- 
nal evidence,  the  method  employed 
by  the  New  Orleans  police,  though  de- 
fective in  some  of  its  aspects,  has 
proved  far  more  successful  than  less 
hazardous  and  hence  more  acceptable 
plans  which  have  many  times  been 
tried  and  found  wanting. 


THE  RECENT  SPOILS  RAID  IN  WASHINGTON 


BY  H.  W.  MARSH 

Secretary,  National  Civil  Service  Reform  League 

"When  we  see  a  lot  of  framed  timbers,  different  portions  of  which  we 
know  to  have  been  gotten  out  at  different  times  and  places  by  different 
workmen,  Stephen,  Franklin,  Roger  and  James,  for  instance,  and  we 
see  all  these  timbers  joined  together  and  see  that  they  exactly  make  the 
frame  of  a  house  .  .  .  we  find  it  impossible  not  to  believe  that 
Stephen  and  Franklin  and  Roger  and  James  all  understood  one  another 
from  the  beginning." — ABRAHAM  LINCOLN.  ::  ::  ::  :: 


THE  general  public  has  assumed  for 
many  years  that  the  merit  system  as 
embodied  in  the  federal  civil  service 
law  was  an  accomplished  fact.  Al- 
though many  people  have  grown  to 
believe  that  it  is  not  an  unmixed 
blessing,  practically  no  one  thought 
that  there  could  be  any  danger  of  its 
being  swept  away,  either  by  executive 
action  or  by  act  of  congress.  It  was 
therefore  an  extraordinary  situation 
which  led  the  National  Civil  Service 
Reform  League  to  call  a  mass  meeting 
in  Washington  on  April  27  and  it  is 
worth  setting  forth  in  some  detail  the 
circumstances  leading  up  to  the  call. 

REPUBLICANS   DIVIDED   ON   CIVIL 
SERVICE  STANDARDS 

The  feeling  which  played  so  large  a 
part  in  the  presidential  campaign  of 
1920  intensified  the  resentment  of 
some  of  the  new  executive  officials  in 
being  able  to  bring  with  them  to  Wash- 
ington relatively  few  of  the  men  who 
worked  with  them  during  the  political 
campaign.  Nor  did  the  tremendous 
majority  by  which  the  Republican 
party  was  swept  into  power  serve  to 
lessen  this  resentment.  A  typical 
example  of  it  is  found  in  a  letter  writ- 
ten on  May  14,  1921,  a  little  over  two 
months  after  he  took  office,  by  the 


secretary  of  labor,  James  J.  Davis,  to 
Congressman  Will  R.  Wood,  concern- 
ing a  bill  then  pending  in  congress. 
In  this  letter  Secretary  Davis  said: 

My  efforts  in  trying  to  increase  the  efficiency 
of  this  department  and  in  making  it  more  quickly 
responsive  to  changed  conditions  and  to  new 
economic  problems  have  driven  me  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  classified  service  embraces  too 
large  a  per  cent  of  all  the  personnel  of  the  depart- 
ment. From  present  experience  I  am  inclined 
to  the  opinion  that  as  the  responsibility  and  dis- 
cretionary powers  of  a  position  increase  there 
should  be  less  of  the  classified  service.  To  illus- 
trate: I  find  that  all  assistants  to  heads  of  bu- 
reaus and  chiefs  of  divisions  are  under  the  civil 
service.  Many  positions  in  importance  equal 
to  bureau  chiefs  and  division  heads  are  so  cov- 
ered, which  makes  it  utterly  impossible  for  the 
head  of  a  department  to  readily  impress  upon 
the  service  his  own  ideas  or  to  work  effectively 
much  desired  reforms.  It  seems  to  me  that  when 
a  position  gets  into  the  field  of  policy-determin- 
ing matters  that  it  should  no  longer  be  within 
the  classified  service  but  should  be  left  open  for 
appointment  of  individuals  in  harmony  with  the 
policies  of  the  responsible  head.  I  have  on  my 
desk  a  number  of  letters  from  members  of  the 
Senate  and  the  House,  complaining  about  the 
fact  that  they  have  observed  no  change  in  the 
conduct  of  certain  activities  in  my  department 
since  there  has  been  a  change  in  administration. 
The  simple  fact  is  that  I  am  powerless  to  enforce 
changes  which  I  desire  because  I  am  powerless 
to  put  in  charge  of  these  places  individuals  in 
sympathy  with  such  changed  policies.  I  say 
this  without  any  reflection  upon  those  in 


269 


270 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[September 


charge  of  the  offices.  For  years  they  have  trav- 
eled a  certain  course,  their  minds  have  gotten 
into  a  certain  routine,  into  a  certain  line  of 
thought.  They  approach  the  questions  from  an 
angle  as  definitely  established  as  the  poles,  that 
in  spite  of  their  desire  to  co-operate  they  find 
themselves  unable  to  get  out  of  the  rut. 

This  feeling  of  resentment  was  com- 
municated to  some  other  heads  of 
departments  by  the  political  workers 
back  home  who  were  talking  against 
the  civil  service  system.  Everyone 
who  was  in  touch  with  government 
affairs  in  Washington  believes  that  a 
repeal  of  the  civil  service  law  was  a 
practical  impossibility.  Such  action 
could  only  result  in  the  complete  de- 
feat at  the  next  election  of  the  political 
party  responsible  for  such  repeal. 
The  strongest  argument  which  could 
be  made  against  the  civil  service  sys- 
tem was  to  allege  that  it  had  gone 
farther  than  it  was  ever  intended  to 
go  and  to  try  to  make  out  a  case  which 
would  show  that  the  carrying  out  of 
policies  which  had  been  determined 
upon  by  the  vote  of  the  people  at  the 
last  election  was  endangered,  if  not 
made  impossible,  by  preventing  the 
new  administration  from  selecting  its 
own  employes,  particularly  those  for 
higher  positions,  with  a  free  hand. 

With  such  men  as  Hughes,  Mellon, 
Hays  and  Hoover  in  the  cabinet,  how- 
ever, encroachments  on  the  classified 
civil  service  did  not  progress  rapidly. 
But  in  December,  1921,  there  ap- 
peared upon  the  horizon  a  gentleman 
from  the  far  west,  formerly  from  Ohio, 
one  Elmer  Dover.  Mr.  Dover  had 
formerly  been  a  newspaper  reporter 
and  editor  and  latterly  a  business  man 
and  always  a  politician.  From  1897 
to  1904  he  was  secretary  to  the  late 
Mark  Hanna.  He  was  secretary  of 
the  Republican  National  Committee 
from  1904  to  1908,  and  for  many  years 
was  one  of  the  most  active  Republican 
workers.  Mr.  Dover  was  selected  to 


be  assistant  secretary  of  the  treasury 
in  charge  of  the  customs  and  the 
internal  revenue  services.  The  impor- 
tant thing  about  Mr.  Dover's  connec- 
tion with  the  administration  at  Wash- 
ington is  that  he  let  it  be  generally 
known  that  he  had  come  there  to 
"Hardingize"  the  service.  Soon  after 
his  arrival  changes  began  to  take 
place.  Not  only  changes  among  the 
employes  outside  the  classified  civil 
service,  but  also  changes  in  positions 
in  the  classified  civil  service.  Inves- 
tigating committees  were  appointed 
by  Mr.  Dover  to  look  the  service  over 
and  to  see  in  what  ways  the  existing 
organization  of  the  customs  and  in- 
ternal revenue  services  was  apt  to 
interfere  with  the  carrying  out  of  the 
"policies"  of  the  new  administration. 
The  next  alarming  symptom  of  the 
state  of  mind  of  members  of  the  offi- 
cial family  occurred  on  March  6,  1922, 
when  Attorney  General  Harry  M. 
Daugherty  appeared  before  the  Ap- 
propriations Committee  of  the  House 
of  Representatives  with  regard  to  an 
appropriation  bill  for  his  department 
and  the  department  of  the  treasury. 
Apropos  of  appropriations  for  per- 
sonnel he  said: 

I  do  not  speak  for  the  administration,  but  I 
am  giving  you  the  benefit  of  my  observation  and 
judgment,  about  which  I  have  no  doubt,  and  I 
am  thoroughly  convinced  that  the  civil  service 
is  a  hindrance  to  the  government.  I  would 
rather  take  the  recommendations  of  a  political 
committee,  either  Democratic  or  Republican, 
a  self-respecting  committee,  for  the  appointment 
of  a  man  or  woman  than  be  compelled  to  go 
through  the  requirement  of  the  civil  service  to 
secure  an  employe. 


THE  TEMPEST  IN  THE  BUREAU  OF 
ENGRAVING 

And  finally  on  March  31, 1922,  Presi- 
dent Harding  issued  an  executive 
order  affecting  employes  in  the  bureau 


1922] 


THE  RECENT  SPOILS  RAID  IN  WASHINGTON 


271 


of  engraving  and  printing.  This  order 
dismissed  the  director  and  assistant 
director  of  the  bureau  of  engraving 
and  printing.  It  affected  altogether 
31  offices  in  the  bureau  and  dismissed 
the  incumbents  "for  the  good  of  the 
service."  New  offices  similar  to  the 
old  ones,  but  with  slightly  different 
titles,  were  created,  and  the  director  of 
the  bureau  was  authorized  to  fill  them. 
Although  President  Harding  must 
and  does  accept  full  responsibility  for 
this  order  he  probably  never  would 
have  taken  just  this  action  i£  he  had 
had  more  competent  advice. 

THE   LAW   VIOLATED 

Three  of  the  positions  listed  in  the 
order  as  among  those  abolished  were 
created  by  act  of  congress.  The  act 
of  August  24,  1912,  known  as  the  Post 
Office  Appropriation  Act,  carried  a 
rider  which  put  into  law  what  had 
formerly  been  a  rule  of  the  United 
States  civil  service  commission,  re- 
quiring that  no  person  in  the  classified 
civil  service  could  be  removed  except 
for  cause  and  that  the  person  whose 
removal  is  sought  should  have  notice 
and  be  furnished  with  a  copy  of 
charges  preferred  against  him  and  be 
allowed  a  reasonable  time  for  per- 
sonally answering  the  same  in  writing. 
The  constitution  and  federal  statutes 
have  always  been  construed  as  limit- 
ing the  delegation  of  the  power  of 
appointment  by  congress  to  heads  of 
departments.  In  the  case  of  employes 
of  the  bureau  of  engraving  and  print- 
ing the  power  of  appointment  had  been 
delegated  by  congress  to  the  head  of 
the  department,  the  secretary  of  the 
treasury.  The  president's  order  at- 
tempts to  give  the  power  of  appoint- 
ment in  these  special  cases  to  the  direc- 
tor of  the  bureau. 

It  seems,  therefore,  that  three  sep- 
arate statutes  were  violated  in  the 


issuance  of  the  president's  executive 
order  of  March  31;  first,  in  that  stat- 
utory positions  were  abolished,  second, 
in  that  removals  were  made  without 
furnishing  to  the  persons  removed  a 
statement  of  charges  preferred  against 
them  and  giving  them  an  opportunity 
to  reply,  and  third,  that  the  power  of 
appointment  was  delegated  to  the 
director  of  the  bureau  of  engraving 
and  printing. 

THE   CRUELTY   OF   THE   DISMISSALS 

But  the  striking  thing  about  the 
issuance  of  this  order  is  the  cruelty  of 
its  effect.  The  provisions  of  law 
which  seem  to  be  violated  by  the 
order  could  easily  have  been  complied 
with  and  the  same  effect  accomplished. 
The  employes  concerned  might  all 
have  been  suspended  in  accordance 
with  the  civil  service  rules  pending  the 
filing  of  charges.  In  the  act  of  sus- 
pension a  statement  of  reasons  fur- 
nished to  the  employe  is  not  required. 
The  abolishment  of  any  position  and 
the  immediate  creation  of  new  places 
with  similar  titles  is  in  itself  foolish 
and  unnecessary.  The  manner  in 
which  the  order  was  carried  out  has 
placed  a  stigma  upon  the  employes 
concerned.  They  have  not  only  lost 
their  positions  but  also  their  civil 
service  status,  so  that  it  is  impossible 
under  the  existing  situation  for  them 
to  secure  re-employment  under  normal 
civil  service  procedure.  All  the  em- 
ployes concerned  were  prevented  from 
having  any  knowledge  as  to  the  im- 
pending changes,  none  of  them  know- 
ing until  the  evening  of  the  issuance 
of  the  order  the  fact  that  such  a  move 
was  contemplated.  They  state  that 
they  do  not  know  to  this  day  why  they 
were  removed.  It  has  been  difficult 
and  in  some  cases  impossible  for  some 
of  them  to  secure  employment  any- 
where because  of  the  shadow  cast  upon 


272 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[September 


their  separation  from  the  government 
service. 

In  reply  to  formal  protests  from  the 
president  of  the  National  Federation 
of  Federal  Employees  and  other  rep- 
resentatives of  the  employes  removed, 
the  president  on  April  5  wrote  that  the 
changes  made  at  the  bureau  were 
ordered  after  extended  deliberation 
and  that  the  action  taken  was  not  in- 
tended to  impugn  anyone's  character. 
He  stated,  "In  the  circumstances 
which  were  presented  to  the  executive 
at  the  time  of  taking  this  action,  it 
seemed  apparent  to  me  then,  as  it  does 
now,  that  no  action  less  sweeping  than 
was  taken  would  give  complete  assur- 
ance of  the  full  protection  of  the  gov- 
ernment's interests."  The  president 
then  goes  on  to  express  his  regard  for  the 
civil  service  law  and  says  that  if  there 
is  anything  to  prevent  the  action  taken 
"such  an  inhibition  on  the  powers  of 
the  executive  ought  to  be  made  very 
clear  to  congress,  to  government  em- 
ployes, and  to  the  American  public." 
No  other  explanation  of  the  order  has 
ever  been  given  out  by  the  president. 

OTHER  ATTACKS   ON   THE   CLASSIFIED 
SERVICE 

In  the  midst  of  the  discussion  of  the 
removals  in  the  bureau  of  engraving 
and  printing,  John  H.  Bartlett,  First 
Assistant  Postmaster  General,  who 
had  served  eight  months  as  a  member 
of  the  United  States  civil  service  com- 
mission before  he  came  to  the  post 
office  department,  entered  the  fray. 
On  April  10  he  issued  a  statement  to 
the  press  through  the  publicity  chan- 
nels of  the  post  office  department. 
In  this  statement  he  said  the  original 
sponsors  and  founders  of  the  civil 
service  system  cited  $1,800  as  the  max- 
imum salary  to  be  included  under  the 
examination  system.  He  mentioned 
Senator  Morrill  of  Vermont  as  one  of 


these  leaders  in  the  movement.  Gov- 
ernor Bartlett  then  went  on  to  com- 
plain of  the  fact  that  the  advocates  of 
the  civil  service  system  have  reached 
higher  and  higher  officials  "until  now 
.  .  .  it  reaches  those  who  are  paid 
as  high  as  $5,000."  He  said,  "It  is 
exceedingly  difficult  to  draw  the  line 
where  civil  service  should  stop  its  at- 
tempt to  reach  the  higher  officials,  but 
would  seem  to  be  reasonably  sound 
doctrine  that  in  a  government  by  the 
people,  when  a  new  administration 
comes  in  with  a  fresh  mandate  from 
the  people  to  carry  out  certain  pol- 
icies it  should  have  the  privilege,  in 
fact,  a  perfectly  free  hand,  to  select 
all  those  higher  officials  to  whom  must 
be  entrusted  administrative  policies 
and  executive  discretion."  He  went 
on  to  say  that  a  new  administration 
in  order  to  accomplish  great  reforms 
must  surround  itself  with  administra- 
tive and  executive  officials  in  sym- 
pathy with  these  reforms  and  policies. 
In  a  conference  which  a  committee 
of  the  National  Civil  Service  Reform 
League  had  with  the  postmaster  gen- 
eral, Dr.  Hubert  Work,  who  succeeded 
Will  Hays  in  that  office  on  March  4, 
1922,  Dr.  Work  expressed  the  opinion 
that  the  examination  held  for  the 
selection  of  presidential  postmasters 
should  be  removed  from  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  civil  service  commission 
and  that  the  post  office  department 
should  hold  its  own  examinations  for 
these  places.  In  answer  to  a  question 
whether  this  would  not  result  in  polit- 
ical appointments,  he  said  that  this 
was  the  result  under  the  present  prac- 
tice. Dr.  Work  stated  that  all  other 
things  being  equal,  he  would  always 
select  a  Republican  if  he  were  among 
the  first  three. 

"FRAMED  TIMBERS" 

It  was  in  the  face  of  such  statements 
of  public  officials  that  the  officers  of 


1922] 


THE  RECENT  SPOILS  RAID  IN  WASHINGTON 


the  National  Civil  Service  Reform 
League  felt  called  upon  to  make  a 
public  protest  against  what  seemed  to 
be  an  organized  drive  to  seize  certain 
higher  places  in  the  competitive  classi- 
fied service  and  to  use  them  for  the 
spoils  system.  This  they  did  at  a 
mass  meeting  in  Washington  on  April 
27.  Mr.  Foulke,  in  an  address  on  this 
occasion,  aptly  described  the  alarm 
felt  by  the  friends  of  the  merit  system 
by  reference  to  an  incident  in  the 
earliest  days  of  the  Republican  party. 
He  said  he  was  reminded  of  the  occa- 
sion when  Stephen  A.  Douglas  had 
secured  the  passage  of  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill  to  leave  the  people  of 
the  territories  free  to  admit  or  exclude 
slavery,  subject  only  to  the  constitution. 
The  Dred  Scott  case  had  been  argued 
before  the  supreme  court  of  the  United 
States  and  the  decision  of  the  court 
had  been  postponed  pending  election. 
James  Buchanan,  a  pro-slavery  man, 
was  elected  to  succeed  Franklin  Pierce, 
and  in  his  inaugural  address  he  had 
urged  the  people  to  abide  by  the  forth- 
coming decision,  whatever  it  might  be. 
In  the  decision  Chief  Justice  Taney  de- 
clared that  congress  had  no  power  to 
exclude  slavery  from  the  territories. 
When  Lincoln  addressed  the  Republi- 
can convention  in  Springfield  on  June 
16,  1858,  in  discussing  the  relation 
between  this  decision  and  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  bill  he  had  said: 

When  we  see  a  lot  of  framed  timbers,  dif- 
ferent portions  of  which  we  know  to  have 
been  gotten  out  at  different  times  and  places 
and  by  different  workmen,  Stephen,  Franklin, 
Roger,  and  James,  for  instance,  and  we  see 
these  timbers  joined  together  and  see  that 
they  exactly  make  the  frame  of  a  house  or 
a  mill  ...  in  such  a  case  we  find  it  impos- 
sible not  to  believe  that  Stephen,  and  Frank- 
lin and  Roger,  and  James  all  understood  one 
another  from  the  beginning  and  all  worked 
upon  a  common  plan  or  draft. 

Commenting  upon  this  bit  of  his- 


tory, Mr.  Foulke  said  that  today  we 
found  the  same  thing  in  regard  to  a 
wholly  different  subject — the  civil 
service.  He  referred  to  the  order  dis- 
missing the  employes  of  the  bureau  of 
engraving  and  printing  and  to  the 
statements  of  Messrs.  Davis,  Daugh- 
erty,  Work  and  Bartlett  quoted 
above.  He  mentioned  the  paean  of 
joy  pronounced  by  Congressman  Wil- 
liams when  Mr.  Hays  left  the  post 
office  department,  and  the  declaration 
of  Senators  New  and  Moses  that  Dem- 
ocrats should  be  replaced  by  Repub- 
licans because  they  were  Republicans. 
And  summing  it  all  up  he  said : 

"When  we  see  a  lot  of  framed  timbers,  dif- 
ferent portions  of  which  we  know  have  been 
gotten  out  at  different  times  and  places  and  by 
different  workmen"  by  Daugherty  and  Williams 
and  Work  and  Dover  and  New  and  Moses  and 
Bartlett  and  others,  "and  when  we  see  these 
timbers  so  joined  together  that  they  exactly 
make  the  frame  of  a  house  or  a  mill"  we  find  it 
impossible  not  to  believe  that  these  gentlemen 
all  understood  one  another  from  the  beginning 
and  all  worked  upon  a  common  plan. 

The  argument  of  Governor  Bartlett, 
who  spoke  at  the  meeting,  was  in  the 
main  a  bitter  personal  attack  against 
the  officers  of  the  League  and  a  vitu- 
perative insistence  that  executive  offi- 
cials must  be  surrounded  by  persons 
in  sympathy  with  the  policies  of  the 
new  administration. 


MR.    DOVER    AND    THE    CONGRESSMEN  S 
PETITION 

Soon  after  the  League's  meeting 
Secretary  Mellon  of  the  treasury  de- 
partment appreciated  the  extent  to 
which  Mr.  Dover  was  "reorganizing" 
his  department,  and  he  promptly 
called  a  halt.  A  serious  "difference 
of  opinion"  developed  between  Mr. 
Dover  on  the  one  hand  and  Secretary 
Mellon  and  Commissioner  of  Internal 
Revenue  Blair  on  the  other  hand. 


274 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[September 


The  trouble  grew  so  serious  that  about 
the  middle  of  June  Republican  mem- 
bers of  congress  signed  a  petition  en- 
dorsing Mr.  Dover,  which  petition  was 
formally  presented  to  the  president  by 
Congressman  James  T.  Begg  of  Ohio. 
At  the  same  time  the  petition  was 
being  circulated  there  appeared  upon 
the  desks  of  Republican  members  of 
congress  a  so-called  "Survey  of  the 
Personnel  of  the  Bureau  of  Internal 
Revenue."  This  survey,  of  mysteri- 
ous origin,  contained  a  list  of  alleged 
Democrats  holding  so-called  key  posi- 
tions in  various  parts  of  the  treasury 
department.  It  was  published  in  the 
newspapers  and  very  promptly  a  num- 
ber of  the  persons  who  were  called 
Democrats  made  public  statements 
indicating  clearly  that  they  had  always 
been  Republicans.  A  large  majority 
of  the  employes  listed  held  positions  in 
the  classified  civil  service  and  could 
not  be  removed  without  charges  and 
an  opportunity  to  make  reply. 

The  whole  matter  culminated  in  the 
resignation  of  Mr.  Dover,  which  was 


submitted  to  the  president  to  take 
effect  on  July  15.  The  president  in 
announcing  the  submission  of  Mr. 
Dover's  resignation  said  that  the  resig- 
nation was  because  of  the  fact  that 
Mr.  Dover  was  not  in  sympathy  with 
all  the  administrative  policies  of  the 
treasury  department. 

Whether  or  not  the  drive  on  the 
classified  civil  service  has  been  perma- 
nently checked  with  the  resignation  of 
Mr.  Dover  remains  to  be  seen.  It  is 
certain,  however,  that  Mr.  Dover's 
resignation  has  had  a  salutary  effect 
upon  the  entire  government  service. 
It  is  hardly  conceivable  that  in  the 
face  of  public  sentiment  expressed  by 
editorial  comment  the  country  over 
any  other  administrative  official  will  be 
quite  so  bold  in  making  places  for  "the 
faithful."  It  is  also  of  interest  to  note 
that  there  has  been  a  marked  lessening 
of  pressure  on  the  part  of  members 
of  congress,  or  heads  of  departments 
and  on  the  civil  service  commission, 
to  secure  places  in  the  government 
service  for  worthy  constituents. 


THE  NEXT  STEP  IN  THE  ORGANIZATION 
OF  MUNICIPAL  RESEARCH 


BY  CHARLES  E.  MERRIAM 

University  of  Chicago 


THE  most  casual  observer  must  be 
struck  by  the  progress  made  in  the 
study  of  municipal  government  during 
the  last  fifty  years.  Prior  to  the 
Civil  War  city  government  was 
scarcely  a  subject  of  systematic  dis- 
cussion, except  in  isolated  cases. 
When  the  corruption  of  cities  was  ex- 
posed in  the  period  following  the  war, 
the  first  reaction  of  the  public  was  not 
in  the  direction  of  systematic  study  of 
the  fundamental  causes  of  misgovern- 
ment,  but  there  was  a  general  demand 


for  the  processes  of  the  criminal  law, 
for  the  awakening  of  the  slothful  civic 
conscience,  for  the  political  overthrow 
of  the  "bosses."  Tweed,  the  incarna- 
tion of  the  "System,"  was  thrown  into 
jail.  Many  other  minor  Tweeds  have 
been  attacked  with  varying  degrees  of 
success  for  a  generation.  In  fact  this 
battle  still  rages  through  the  land. 

The  study  of  municipal  government 
began  with  the  formation  of  the  Con- 
ference for  Good  City  Government  in 
1893.  This  l#ter  took  the  shape  of  the 


1922] 


ORGANIZATION  OF  MUNICIPAL  RESEARCH 


^27.5 


National  Municipal  League  (1894). 
The  meetings,  conferences  and  publi- 
cations of  this  organization  afforded 
an  opportunity,  hitherto  lacking,  for 
interchange  of  personal  experiences, 
programs,  methods;  and  finally  led  to 
the  formulation  of  certain  common  aims 
in  a  model  charter.  The  significance 
of  this  body  for  the  practical  improve- 
ment of  city  government  can  scarcely 
be  overestimated.  It  represents  a  re- 
markable combination  of  democratic 
enthusiasm  and  practical  judgment 
which  has  had  no  counterpart  either 
on  a  local  or  national  scale.  The 
League  has  presented  a  fine  type  of 
intelligent,  persistent,  democratic  or- 
ganization directed  toward  the  im- 
provement of  the  structure  of  city 
government,  as  well  as  the  strengthen- 
ing of  civic  interests  and  ideals. 

In  1907  began  the  development  of 
special  bodies  for  the  more  detailed 
study  of  municipal  problems  in  a  more 
technical  way  than  was  possible  for 
the  League.  The  pioneer  in  this  field 
was  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Munic- 
ipal Research,  closely  followed  by 
similar  organizations  in  Chicago  and 
Philadelphia  and  a  score  of  other 
cities.1  These  institutions  rendered 
and  are  still  giving  excellent  service  in 
their  special  fields.  In  the  reorganiza- 
tion of  systems  of  accounting  and  re- 
porting, in  the  standardization  of  con- 
tracts and  methods  of  purchasing,  in 
developing  budget  procedure,  in  di- 
recting attention  to  the  problems  of 
municipal  personnel  and  organization 
especially  on  the  administrative  side, 
these  agencies  have  done  much  for 
American  city  government.  In  more 
recent  years  the  formation  of  the  Gov- 
ernment Research  Conference,  offers 
promise  of  fruitful  cooperation  on  the 
part  of  these  industrious  bodies. 
These  activities  are  largely  although 

1  See  the  analysis  of  these  bodies  in  G.  A.  Weber's 
Organized  Effort*  for  the  Improvement  of  Administration. 


by  no  means  wholly  confined,  how- 
ever, thus  far,  to  questions  of  account- 
ing, finance,  or  organization  in  the  nar- 
rower and  more  technical  sense  of  the 
term.  They  have  not  usually  become 
agencies  of  comprehensive  municipal 
research.  However,  in  the  specific  field 
to  which  they  have  been  thus  far  com- 
mitted their  great  usefulness  continues 
to  be  unquestioned.  Students  of  gov- 
ernment, public  officials  and  citizens 
generally  owe  them  for  much  in  the  way 
of  practical  and  technical  progress. 

In  the  meantime,  many  other  agen- 
cies have  arisen  in  the  municipal  field, 
designed  for  information  or  action,  or 
for  both.  The  temporary  committees 
of  citizens  brought  together  for  emer- 
gencies have  often  become  permanent 
city  clubs  with  a  social  basis  and  mo- 
tive. No  city  is  without  one  or  more 
of  these  organizations.  Nation-wide 
organizations  such  as  the  National 
Tax  Association,  the  National  Civil 
Service  Reform  League,  the  National 
Conference  of  Social  Workers,  the  City 
Planning  Conference,  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  of  the  United  States,  the 
National  Real  Estate  Board,  have  un- 
dertaken important  municipal  work, 
and  others  have  begun  to  deal  with 
various  aspects  of  the  local  problem. 
Community  Trusts  and  other  "Foun- 
dations" have  begun  to  deal  with  some 
of  the  problems  of  the  municipality. 
Bureaus  of  municipal  research  or  ref- 
erence have  been  established  in  many 
educational  institutions.2 

The  Institute  for  Government  Re- 
search, the  Institute  for  Public  Service, 
the  National  Institute  of  Public  Ad- 
ministration have  recently  been  or- 
ganized for  research  and  training 
purposes.  Professional  societies  of  dif- 
ferent types  have  also  begun  to  take  a 
specific  interest  in  the  urban  question, 
as  is  seen  in  the  case  of  the  account- 

*  8e«  Munro's BMtouraphy, 350-66, 389  for  lints, down 
to  1915. 


276 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[September 


ants,  the  engineering  societies,  the 
sanitarians,  the  public  utility  groups, 
and  the  numerous  leagues  of  various 
classes  of  city  officials  from  general  to 
special.  I  am  not  attempting  to  cat- 
alogue these  agencies  here,  but  only  to 
call  attention  to  various  types  in 
which  municipal  interest  plays  an  im- 
portant part.  In  fact  the  number  of 
inquirers  and  their  overlapping  in- 
quiries are  sometimes  a  source  of  con- 
fusion. Not  even  the  useful  services 
rendered  by  the  Public  Affairs  Infor- 
mation Service  and  the  indices  of 
various  journals  are  able  to  clear  away 
the  smoke  entirely. 

Notwithstanding  these  organiza- 
tions and  their  activities,  there  are 
still  great  gaps  in  systematic  munic- 
ipal information  and  still  larger  voids 
in  thorough-going  municipal  research 
of  a  scientific  character.  The  list  of 
essentials  in  systematic  information  is 
still  large,  but  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
more  than  half  of  the  population  of  the 
United  States  is  classed  as  urban,  it 
ought  not  to  be  difficult  to  obtain 
these  fundamentals,  if  there  is  effective 
coordination  and  organization  of  effort. 

TYPES  OF  MUNICIPAL  RESEARCH 

I  suggest  the  following  examples  of 
significant  types  of  municipal  research. 

DIGESTS  AND   REVIEWS 

1.  A  comprehensive  and  compara- 
tive study  of  the  fundamentals  of 
municipal  structure,  including  the 
principal  cities  of  the  United  States. 
This  has  been  partially  done  in  such 
publications  as  the  charter  digest 
prepared  for  the  Chicago  Charter  Con- 
vention of  1905,  the  various  constitu- 
tional convention  bulletins,  in  the 
census  bulletins,  in  treatises  like  that 
of  Clute;  but  it  still  remains  an  uncom- 
pleted task. 


2.  An  annual  digest  and  review  of 
important   charter   changes,    whether 
in  the  shape  of  action  by  local  charter- 
making  bodies,  or  by  state  legislatures 
in  the  form  of  general  or  special  laws, 
or  of  constitutional  amendments.    The 
statutory  changes  in  the  various  states 
of  the  Union  were  recorded  in  the  New 
York  State  Library  bulletins  for  many 
years,  and  proved  of  the  greatest  prac- 
tical value  to  those  concerned  with 
city  government. 

3.  A  continuing  study  of  the  prac- 
tical operation  of  the  different  types  of 
organization.     An  example  of  this  is 
the  detailed  study  of  commission  gov- 
ernment once  made  by  the  New  York 
Bureau  of  Municipal  Research,   and 
published  by  Mr.  Bruere  under  the 
title  of  The  New  City  Government.     At 
present  there  is  no  impartial  agency 
employing  skilled  investigators  for  the 
purpose  of  procuring  objective  reports 
upon  the  actual  workings  of  various 
types  of  municipal  institutions  as  they 
develop.     Hence  we  are  at  the  mercy 
of  observers  whose  training  and  bias 
may  render  their  information  of  dubi- 
ous value.     Some  of  the  most  impor- 
tant experiments  ever  undertaken  in 
the  history  of  democracy  are  being 
carried  on  with  scarcely  any  skilled 
observation  or  adequate  record. 

4.  A  survey  of  municipal  functions, 
such  as  fire,  police,  health,  parks  and 
public  welfare,  public  utilities,  zoning 
and  planning,  with  a  periodical  revi- 
sion   of    such    a    survey.     Fosdick's 
studies  of  police  systems  are  exam- 
ples of  what  might  be  done  for  all 
branches  of  city  government.     These 
studies    if    carefully    and    impartially 
made,  and  kept  up  to  date,  would  be 
of  the  very  greatest  value  to  those 
who    are    concerned    with    municipal 
government. 

5.  An  annual  digest  and  review  of 
municipal  ordinances  in  the  principal 
cities  of  the  United  States,  and  also  of 


1922] 


ORGANIZATION  OF  MUNICIPAL  RESEARCH 


277 


the  state  laws  having  primarily  a  local 
effect .  Various  types  of  ordinances 
are  collected  and  reviewed  by  different 
organizations,  but  these  are  often  in- 
complete in  the  special  field,  and  are 
wholly  inadequate  for  the  general 
field.  We  are  consequently  left  with- 
out an  index  of  the  great  mass  of  mu- 
nicipal law  made  every  year  by  our 
busy  ordinance  and  law-making  bodies. 


STATISTICAL   DEVELOPMENT 

It  should  also  be  possible  to  develop 
the  statistical  service  of  American 
cities  very  largely  and  with  very  good 
results.  We  have  no  annual  year  book 
of  the  type  seen  in  the  British  Munic- 
ipal Year  Book  or  that  of  Canada;  nor 
do  we  have  anything  to  compare  with 
the  Slatistisches  Jahrbuch  deutscher 
stddte,  and  similar  publications  in 
France  and  Italy.3  Financial  sta- 
tistics are  now  covered  by  the  Federal 
government  and  by  a  considerable 
number  of  states.  In  this  direction 
great  progress  has  been  made  in  recent 
years.  In  1905  when  Dr.  Fairlie  and 
I  undertook  an  analysis  of  the  revenues 
of  Chicago  and  in  that  connection 
undertook  to  obtain  certain  compara- 
tive figures  we  encountered  difficulties 
which  are  now  readily  solved. 

Operative  statistics  of  cities  are 
still  extremely  imperfect,  and  are  open 
to  very  material  improvement.  There 
are  very  large  gaps  in  the  publication 
and  assembly  even  of  the  most  usual 
types  of  statistics,  such  as  election 
figures,  criminal  and  judicial  statistics; 
and  even  vital  statistics  are  incom- 
plete in  many  respects.  Some  of  the 
larger  cities  publish  statistical  com- 
pilations, as  in  New  York,  Boston  and 
Chicago,  but  even  these  are  scarcely 
comparable  with  the  statistical 
studies  of  London,  Paris  and  Berlin. 

1  Sec  Fairlie  on  "Comparative  Municipal  Statistics" 
in  his  Essays. 


In  many  cities  almost  no  figures  are 
available.  Significant  progress  might 
be  made  by  the  enlargement  of  the 
scope  of  our  city  statistical  data  to 
cover  already  standardized  forms  and 
types  which  are  lacking  here.  The 
advances  made  by  the  United  States 
government  and  the  governments  of  a 
number  of  the  states  are  of  great  im- 
portance, but  they  still  leave  us  far 
behind  in  the  work  of  systematic 
compilation  of  statistical  matter. 

Beyond  all  this,  however,  there  is 
need  of  careful  study  of  the  question, 
to  what  extent  and  in  what  directions 
quantitative  measurement  of  munici- 
pal operations  is  possible,  useful  and 
feasible.  Are  there  not  fields  in  which 
without  too  great  expense  we  might 
obtain  data  of  the  greatest  practical 
value  for  the  government  of  cities? 
Are  the  very  meager  figures  we  now 
possess  the  best  that  scientific  study 
can  supply  in  the  twentieth  century? 
Clearly  "municipal  statistics"  is  not 
a  fixed  quantity,  but  a  developing  in- 
strument of  observation,  growing  with 
the  growth  of  scientific  observation 
and  analysis.  Almost  any  extensive 
inquiry  into  expansion  of  municipal 
transportation,  city  planning  or  zon- 
ing discloses  very  quickly  the  lack  of 
great  masses  of  statistical  information 
and  analysis  which  it  is  quite  possible 
to  obtain  and  which  when  found  are  of 
great  practical  usefulness.  What  we 
really  know  about  the  life  currents  of 
our  municipalities  appears  to  be  only  a 
small  fraction  of  what  we  might  expect 
under  a  well  organized  system  of  sta- 
tistical observation. 

For  the  purpose  of  broadening  the 
scope  of  such  statistical  inquiries  the 
cooperation  of  a  number  of  officials, 
observers  and  students  would  be  of 
great  value.  A  committee  of  persons 
interested  in  the  scientific  and  prac- 
tical possibilities  of  municipal  statis- 
tics could  in  all  probability  assist  very 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[September 


greatly  in  the  collection  and  analysis 
of  those  significant  municipal  facts 
upon  which  we  rely  more  and  more  for 
the  intelligent  ordering  of  our  commu- 
nities. Of  course  no  one  expects  a 
magic  rule  to  rise  from  the  maze  of 
figures.  The  "mystic  numbers"  have 
lost  their  sway  over  us.  But  every 
responsible  official  and  citizen  appre- 
ciates the  far-reaching  value  of  a  solid 
fact  basis  in  the  development  of  mu- 
nicipal policy  and  administration. 

It  is  probable  that  the  Federal  gov- 
ernment might  be  persuaded  to  make 
broader  schedules  of  inquiry,  if  the 
request  was  based  on  the  thorough  and 
mature  inquiry  by  persons  familiar 
both  with  the  problems  of  cities  and 
the  technical  aspects  of  statistics. 
The  cooperation  between  the  Federal 
government  and  the  accounting  offi- 
cials of  cities  is  an  interesting  case  in 
point,  showing  the  large  possibilities 
of  advance  in  this  direction.  The 
financial  statistics  of  cities  have  de- 
veloped in  twenty  years  from  chaos 
to  something  more  nearly  approaching 
an  organized  system.  It  seems  en- 
tirely feasible  to  make  equally  great 
advance  in  other  statistical  areas. 


SURVEYS  AND   ORGANIZED   RESEARCH 

Beginning  with  the  Pittsburgh  Sur- 
vey in  1910,  many  similar  studies  in 
the  social  and  economic  organization 
of  cities  have  been  made  throughout 
the  United  States.  These  are  not  of 
uniform  value,  but  taken  together  they 
constitute  a  very  valuable  source  of 
information  regarding  the  phenomena 
of  municipal  life.  They  have  gone 
below  the  forms  of  government  and 
law  into  the  environment  and  these 
social  forces  without  which  the  process 
of  political  control  cannot  be  intelli- 
gently considered.  Many  of  these 
inquirers  are  obviously  groping  for 
an  adequate  methodology,  sometimes 


with  relatively  crude  results,  but  they 
are  advancing  continuously  and  they 
are  assembling  great  masses  of  ma- 
terial which  cannot  be  ignored  in  any 
scientific  studiy  of  the  urban  problem 
on  its  governmental  side.  Their  find- 
ings contain  many  flashes  of  insight 
into  the  inner  workings  of  municipal 
forces.  Many  other  inquiries  made 
by  the  sociologists  in  the  course  of 
their  studies  are  of  great  value  to  stu- 
dents of  government,  in  that  they  de- 
scribe and  interpret  the  fundamental 
forces  conditioning  the  action  of  the 
government.  Likewise  the  organized 
agencies  dealing  with  the  special  and 
practical  problems  of  poor  relief  in 
the  broader  sense,  or  with  medical 
relief  or  the  protection  of  children 
more  specifically,  are  making  available 
many  important  data  regarding  the 
basic  conditions  of  urban  life  and  con- 
duct. They  pass  from  the  realm  of 
general  theory  to  the  specific  problem 
of  the  individual  case  study.  Masses 
of  facts  are  being  compiled  in  zoning, 
planning,  housing  and  transportation 
studies,  but  much  of  the  material  is 
lost  for  local  use  even,  to  say  nothing 
of  more  general  utilization.  Private 
associations  are  also  making  intensive 
studies  of  urban  characteristics,  tend- 
encies and  growth,  notably  the  in- 
quiries of  the  telephone,  gas,  electric 
lighting  and  traction  companies.  The 
real  estate  boards,  the  fire  insurance 
companies  and  other  commercial  en- 
terprises are  finding  it  profitable  to  use 
the  technique  of  social  science  in  the 
practical  conduct  of  their  affairs. 

NO  CENTRAL  INTERPRETING  AGENCY 

There  is  no  central  coordinating 
agency  available  for  the  purpose  of 
interpreting  and  applying  this  mass 
of  facts  and  conclusions  to  the  prob- 
lems of  municipal  government  in  the 
broader  sense  of  the  term.  The  Sage 


1922] 


ORGANIZATION  OF  MUNICIPAL  RESEARCH 


279 


Foundation,  it  is  true,  exercises  a  gen- 
eral supervision  over  the  types  of  in- 
quiry termed  "surveys"  and  has  done 
very  useful  work  in  this  capacity  of 
standardizing  and  aiding  inquiry.  Yet 
there  is  no  adequate  central  clearing- 
house for  interchange  of  information, 
and  for  mature  analysis  and  interpre- 
tation of  all  the  various  types  of  data 
collected.  Perhaps  no  such  central 
agency  is  possible  or  desirable,  but  is  it 
not  worth  while  considering  whether 
some  more  effective  device  for  inter- 
change of  information  might  be  de- 
veloped than  we  have  at  present? 
Even  without  a  central  agency  it 
would  of  course  be  possible  to  main- 
tain a  general  committee  or  commis- 
sion for  the  purpose  of  such  coordina- 
tion and  cooperation  as  is  possible 
under  the  circumstances. 


MUNICIPAL  BEHAVIOR 

Beyond  all  this  compiling  and  di- 
gesting and  reporting  of  municipal 
facts,  and  studies  of  a  socio-political 
character,  lies  the  deeper  question  of 
the  scientific  study  of  municipal  be- 
havior— a  problem  of  political  and 
social  psychology  on  which  we  have 
little  light  down  to  this  time.  We 
have,  to  be  sure,  the  off-hand  psychol- 
ogy of  the  political  practitioner  which 
is  not  to  be  despised,  but  which  is  not 
comparable  with  the  scientific  results 
of  accurate  observation  and  conclusion. 
An  objective  study  of  the  character- 
istics and  reactions  of  urban  popula- 
tions, of  the  genesis  of  these  tenden- 
cies, of  their  strength  and  weakness, 
of  their  modes  of  training  and  adapta- 
tion, should  throw  much  light  on  the 
problem  of  modern  city  government. 
There  is  no  magic  formula  to  be  found, 
no  occult  force  to  be  sought  out  and 
applied  for  the  immediate  and  perma- 
nent relief  of  all  the  ills  the  body  politic 
is  heir  to.  However,  there  might  be 


scientifically  based  conclusions  which 
would  be  of  the  very  greatest  value  in 
elementary  political  education,  in  adult 
information  and  cooperation,  in  struc- 
tural and  administrative  agency  and 
appliance,  in  facilitating  that  inven- 
tion and  discovery  which  should  be 
characteristic  of  the  modern  city, 
itself  so  largely  the  product  of  scien- 
tific discovery  and  mechanical  appli- 
ance. 

Many  of  the  situations  in  urban 
government  should  be  studied  with 
the  very  greatest  minuteness  and  care 
without  special  regard  to  immediate 
results.  We  need  the  opportunity  for 
detached  inquiry  which  may  yield  lit- 
tle at  first  and  perhaps  for  some  time 
seem  to  be  relatively  unproductive. 
The  emergencies  of  municipal  life  are 
so  urgent  in  their  demands  and  the 
workers  are  so  few  that  we  have  thus 
far  been  unable  to  make  on  a  suffi- 
ciently large  scale  those  thoroughgoing 
intensive  studies  without  which  funda- 
mental results  may  not  be  obtained. 

We  may  say  that  municipal  research 
is  just  beginning.  We  need  not  look 
forward  to  the  government  of  our 
cities  by  scientific  observation  and 
calculation,  but  we  may  assume  that 
cities  will  be  more  effectively  governed 
when  scientific  observation  and  anal- 
ysis is  more  nearly  complete  than  at 
present,  and  when  its  conclusions  are 
more  seriously  considered  by  the  gov- 
erning bodies  of  municipalities.  It 
may  be  said  that  we  have  not  yet  ap- 
plied the  precepts  of  experts  in  politics 
and  administration  respecting  struc- 
ture and  procedure  of  government  in 
cities.  Yet  it  may  be  reasonably 
argued  that  one  of  the  reasons  why 
the  counsels  of  political  experience  and 
prudence  are  not  more  readily  taken 
up  is  that  we  do  not  yet  fully  under- 
stand the  processes  of  social  and  polit- 
ical control  conditioning  public  action. 
Many  of  the  aspects  of  urban  govern- 


280 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[September 


ment  are  in  large  part  phases  of  polit- 
ical psychology,  or  as  is  sometimes 
said  of  "human  engineering,"  but 
political  and  social  scientists  have  not 
down  to  the  present  time  attacked  this 
problem  with  even  a  modicum  of  suc- 
cess. Until  this  is  done  the  full  har- 
vest of  municipal  research  cannot  be 
reaped.  We  are  only  gleaning  a  sheaf 
here  and  there. 


SIGNIFICANT   TOPICS 

Of  great  significance  in  the  process 
of  urban  government  are  such  topics 
as:  the  relation  between  mobility  of 
population  and  the  governmental  prob- 
lem; the  detailed  analysis  of  the  char- 
acteristics and  tactics  of  leaders, 
bosses  and  reformers;  the  technique  of 
political  propaganda;  the  quantity  and 
causes  of  non-voting  in  cities;  the  rela- 
tion of  social  groups  to  the  government 
of  cities;  the  position  of  technical 
science  in  city  government.  I  cite 
these  only  by  way  of  illustrating  some 
of  the  parts  of  the  field  of  municipal 
research  in  which  relatively  few  in- 
quiries have  been  made,  but  which  are 
intimately  related  to  the  governing 
process  in  the  community.  They  may 
not  result  in  immediately  measurable 
"savings"  or  results,  but  they  may 
lead  to  a  more  intimate  understanding 
of  the  workings  of  the  political  side  of 
human  nature  out  of  which  may  come 
betterments  on  no  inconsiderable 
scale.  And,  after  all,  fundamental 
research,  whether  in  natural  science 
or  social  science,  cannot  be  conducted 
on  the  basis  of  always  obtaining  im- 
mediately measurable  results.  Farm 
and  factory  have  found  it  useful  to 
maintain  research  apparently  remote 
from  results,  but  which  in  reality  has 
multiplied  a  thousand  fold  the  produc- 
tivity of  field  and  machine,  and  added 
to  the  control  of  man  over  nature's 
forces.  The  intensive,  persistent,  ex- 


perimental, inventive,  contriving  and 
constructive  spirit  has  its  place  in  the 
domain  of  human  nature  and  social 
and  political  process  as  well  as  else- 
where. That  "human  nature"  stands 
in  the  way  of  urban  progress;  that  no 
finer  types  of  citizens  can  be  produced ; 
that  no  better  forms  of  coordination 
and  cooperation  can  be  obtained — 
these  are  not  the  counsels  of  the 
modern  creative  intelligence  which  is 
transforming  the  world  almost  as  if  by 
magic. 

Government  does  not  consist  in 
charters,  ordinances  and  rules  merely, 
but  in  the  habits,  dispositions,  wishes, 
tendencies  of  the  urban  population.  In 
the  thorough  understanding  of  these 
factors  and  in  the  knowledge  of  how 
these  traits  are  developed  and  how 
they  may  be  modified,  educated, 
trained,  how  they  may  be  induced  to 
coordinate  and  cooperate  lies  a  great 
opportunity  for  the  development  of  the 
most  thorough  kind  of  fundamental 
municipal  research.  Of  course  it  is 
not  to  be  presumed  that  knowledge  of 
municipal  behavior  can  precede  the 
understanding  of  human  behavior;  or 
that  we  can  understand  the  political 
or  the  urban  without  regard  to  the 
economic  and  the  social.  But  the 
students  of  governmental  problems 
and  processes  may  make  their  contri- 
bution to  the  general  progress  of  sci- 
ence at  this  point. 

There  are  fascinating  possibilities  in 
municipal  research  that  begins  the 
development  of  genuinely  scientific 
method,  and  is  more  closely  related  to 
such  representatives  of  applied  science 
as  the  engineers,  the  psychologists,  the 
statisticians.  The  great  and  pressing 
claims  of  political  education,  the  urgent 
claims  of  practical  prudence  in  dealing 
with  city  affairs  need  not  and  must  not 
be  minimized,  but  the  demands  of  fun- 
damental research  and  science  have 
also  their  deep,  if  less  clamorous,  ap- 


1922] 


ORGANIZATION  OF  MUNICIPAL  RESEARCH 


281 


peal  to  those  who  take  what  Bryce  has 
called  the  "long  look"  forward. 

CONCLUSIONS 

My  conclusions  are,  then : 

1 .  The  urgent  necessity  of  providing 
for  a  series  of  digests  and  reviews,  cov- 
ering the  obvious  facts  of  municipal 
structure  and  operation  at  least  as  ade- 
quately as  legal  information  is  now 
supplied  to  the  lawyer. 

2.  Continuing  study  of  the  practical 
operation  of  the  many  experiments  in 
municipal  government  now  in  process. 
For  this  purpose  more  trained  observ- 
ers, more  accurate  methods  of  obser- 
vation,   and   greater   coordination   of 
workers  is  needed. 

3.  The  closer  and  more  systematic 
study  of  municipal   statistics  with  a 
view  of  filling  in  the  evident  gaps  in 
our  information,  and  further  of  cover- 
ing more  completely  those  phases  of 
municipal  life  that  are  susceptible  of 
quantitative  measurement  and  useful 
for   purposes   of   municipal   organiza- 
tion and  control. 

4.  The  better  coordination  and  or- 
ganization of  the  now  scattered  studies 
of  municipal  phenomena  being  made 
by  students  of  sociology,  economics, 
and  politics. 


5.  The  development  of  fundamental 
municipal  research  involving  the  un- 
derstanding of  the  urban  political 
process,  itself  a  part  of  the  larger 
social  and  economic  process.  We 
need  a  thorough  understanding  of  the 
habits,  dispositions,  wishes  and  tenden- 
cies of  the  urban  population,  of  how 
their  traits  are  developed  and  how 
they  are  and  may  be  modified,  educat- 
ed, trained  and  fitted  into  institutions 
and  organizations  of  government. 

We  need  not  apologize  for  large  re- 
quests of  men  and  money  to  carry  for- 
ward the  study  of  cities,  for  half  our 
population  is  now  urban;  and  the 
urban  institutions  and  ideals  are  likely 
to  be  dominant  in  the  next  generation. 
America's  cities  will  be  increasingly 
influential  in  determining  America's 
policies,  in  fixing  the  American  stand- 
ard of  government.  There  are  times 
when  imagination  is  more  important 
than  moderation,  and  this  is  one  of 
them.  We  need  not  stammer  or 
stutter  when  we  speak  of  the  needs  of 
our  urban  communities  and  ask  for 
reasonable  application  of  the  creative 
human  intelligence  which  has  made 
the  physical  framework  of  the  city, 
to  the  further  problems  of  its  organiza- 
tion and  control. 


The  nominations  of  Beveridge  and  Brookhart  have  been  generally  dis- 
cussed from  the  political  standpoint.  These  articles  are  different. 
They  are  appraisals  of  the  primary  by  two  trained  observers  on  the 
ground  at  the  time.  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  :: 

I.  THE  IOWA  PRIMARY  INTERPRETED 

BY  JOHN  E.  BRIGGS 

University  of  Iowa 


THE  direct  primary  is  based  on  the 
assumption  that  political  democracy 
is  a  good  thing,  that  the  consent  of  the 
governed  should  be  obtained  as  di- 
rectly as  possible.  There  are  prob- 
ably few  people  in  the  United  States 
who  would  restrict  the  participation 
in  government  to  a  small  governing 
class — a  group  of  professional  bureau- 
crats. On  the  contrary  no  one  would 
seriously  advocate  absolutely  pure 
democracy — the  country  is  too  big  and 
the  people  are  too  busy.  But  be- 
tween these  positions  there  is  every 
shade  of  opinion,  from  the  restriction 
of  suffrage  by  many  qualifications  to 
the  use  of  every  method  of  popular 
control.  The  tendency  in  this  country 
has  been  in  the  direction  of  more 
democracy,  and  the  direct  primary  is 
one  of  the  instruments  of  that  democ- 
racy. Whether  the  primary  shall  be 
considered  a  success  or  a  failure  de- 
pends ultimately  upon  whether  a  ma- 
jority of  the  people  will  retain  their 
faith  in  the  ability  and  willingness  of 
the  voters  to  choose  public  officials 
intelligently  or  whether  they  will  de- 
cide that  this  function  should  be  per- 
formed by  a  few  wise  men. 

The  nomination  of  Smith  W.  Brook- 
hart  in  the  Iowa  primary  as  the  Re- 
publican candidate  for  United  States 
senator  has  been  widely  heralded  as 
an  expression  of  a  nation-wide  reversion 


to  progressivism,  not  only  because 
Brookhart  has  liberal  ideas  and  rep- 
resents particularly  the  interests  of 
the  laboring  classes,  but  because  the 
primary,  which  has  been  regarded  as  a 
manifestation  of  the  progressive  move- 
ment, was  the  means  of  his  success. 
The  election  in  Iowa  revealed  a  dis- 
tinct cleavage  between  liberal  and  con- 
servative Republicans.  As  a  rule  the 
conservatives  have  been  inclined  to 
condemn  the  primary  and  the  liberals 
to  praise  it.  Those  who  opposed 
Brookhart  are  apt  to  claim  that  the 
primary  is  a  failure  while  his  sup- 
porters declare  that  the  result  is  a 
vindication  of  the  primary  election  as 
an  instrument  of  democracy.  But  one 
swallow  does  not  make  a  summer. 
Neither  should  the  direct  primary 
method  of  nominating  candidates  for 
public  office  be  judged  by  a  single 
incident. 

THE  PRIMARY  UNDER  ATTACK 

Ever  since  the  Iowa  primary  elec- 
tion law  was  enacted  in  1908  it  has 
been  the  subject  of  criticisnij  some  of 
the  objections  being  directed  against 
the  primary  as  a  method  of  nomina- 
tion and  others  against  the  operation 
of  the  statute.  In  1920  and  again  this 
year  the  attacks  seem  to  be  more  vig- 
orous and  determined  than  usual. 


282 


THE  DIRECT  PRIMARY  IN  TWO  STATES 


There  are  some  voters  in  this  State 
who  advocate  repeal  of  the  whole  sys- 
tein,  but  probably  the  great  majority 
favor  some  form  of  direct  primary 
though  they  might  welcome  amend- 
ments to  the  present  law. 

The  principal  alleged  faults  of  the 
Iowa  primary  are:  (1)  it  entails  too 
much  expense,  (2)  the  number  of 
voters  who  participate  is  so  small  that 
the  nominations  are  not  true  expres- 
sions of  party  opinion,  (3)  the  require- 
ment that  a  candidate  must  receive  35 
per  cent  of  the  total  vote  cast  for  an 
office  enables  a  minority  to  determine 
the  nomination,  (4)  if  there  are  more 
than  two  candidates  for  an  office  the 
35  per  cent  requirement  makes  nomi- 
nation by  convention  almost  certain, 
(5)  the  members  of  one  party  partici- 
pate in  the  selection  of  candidates  of 
another,  and  (6)  the  party  loses  re- 
sponsibility for  nominations  that  are 
made  in  the  primary.  The  Republi- 
can senatorial  primary  in  Iowa  last 
June  throws  some  light  upon  the  valid- 
ity of  these  objections. 

CAN    ONLY    THE    WEALTHY   AFFORD    IT? 

One  of  the  most  common  criticisms 
of  the  primary  system  is  that  the  cost 
of  conducting  two  campaigns  elimi- 
nates persons  of  moderate  means — 
only  the  wealthy  can  afford  to  run  for 
public  office.  The  Iowa  senatorial 
primary  is  illuminating  on  this  point. 
There  were  six  candidates  seeking  the 
Republican  nomination:  Smith  W. 
Brookhart,  Clifford  Thome,  Charles 
E.  Pickett,  Leslie  E.  Francis,  Burton 
E.  Sweet,  and  Claude  M.  Stanley. 
Francis,  who  was  fourth  in  the  elec- 
tion, spent  $6,869,  which  was  twice  as 
much  as  the  campaign  cost  any  other 
candidate.  The  coincidence  that 
Stanley  who  received  the  least  votes 
also  spent  the  fewest  dollars  can  be 
explained  on  the  ground  that  he  en- 


tered the  race  late  and  never  had  much 
chance  of  winning.  The  significant 
thing  is  that  Brookhart,  who  won  the 
election,  spent  less  than  $500.  It  must 
be  remembered,  however,  that  cam- 
paigning is  largely  a  matter  of  adver- 
tising, and  Brookhart  was  well  known 
on  account  of  his  prominent  campaign 
for  the  same  office  against  Cummins  in 
1920.  Moreover,  he  had  the  aggres- 
sive support  of  the  Iowa  Homestead, 
one  of  the  most  influential  farm  jour- 
nals in  the  country.  That  alone  was 
worth  any  number  of  paid  advertise- 
ments. A  further  explanation  of  his 
low  personal  expenditure  is  furnished 
by  his  official  expense  account  state- 
ment that  farmers  provided  meals  and 
automobile  trips  without  charge,  that 
farm  and  labor  organizations  sup- 
ported him  at  their  own  expense,  and 
that  halls  were  supplied  free.  Judg- 
ing from  his  experience  it  appears  that 
great  wealth  is  not  necessary  to  win 
a  primary  nomination  in  Iowa  even 
when  the  office  is  vigorously  contested, 
if  the  candidate  is  already  well  known 
and  has  many  friends — a  circumstance 
which  gives  him  a  great  advantage 
over  opponents  not  so  fortunate. 

61    PER   CENT   PARTICIPATE 

One  of  the  most  effective  criticisms 
of  the  primary  system  is  that  only  a 
small  percentage  of  the  voters  partic- 
ipate. If  the  people  as  a  whole  are  not 
interested  in  nominating  candidates 
the  primary  may  become  a  tool  of  pro- 
fessional politicians  or  special  interests 
and  cease  t  u  be  the  means  of  demo- 
cratic expression.  How  large  a  vote 
can  reasonably  be  expected?  The 
total  vote  for  all  senatorial  candidates 
in  the  Iowa  primary  this  year  amounts 
to  only  about  26  per  cent  of  what  it 
might  have  been  if  all  voters  had  par- 
ticipated in  the  nomination  of  candi- 
dates for  that  office.  This  showing  is 


284 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[September 


very  misleading,  however,  because  only 
the  Republican  and  Democratic 
parties  held  primaries  for  the  office  of 
United  States  senator,  and  the  party 
allegiance  declaration  presumably  ex- 
cluded all  members  of  minor  parties. 
Furthermore,  there  was  no  contest  in 
the  Democratic  primary  so  that  there 
was  no  particular  incentive  for  the 
Democrats  to  endorse  their  candidate. 
Consequently  the  Republican  primary 
furnishes  the  proper  measurement  of 
popular  interest  in  the  nomination  of  a 
senator.  The  six  Republican  candi- 
dates polled  a  total  of  323,622  votes 
which  amounts  to  a  little  over  61  per 
cent  of  the  normal  party  strength  if  the 
vote  for  Senator  Cummins  in  1920  is 
accepted  as  the  standard.  All  of 
which  goes  to  show  that  only  a  small 
percentage  of  all  the  voters  actually 
attend  the  primary,  but  within  the 
dominant  party  where  there  is  compe- 
tition for  nomination  and  hope  of  elec- 
tion the  proportion  of  primary  voters 
is  fairly  satisfactory.  The  vote  was 
certainly  large  enough  to  indicate  a 
definite  interest  and  express  a  deci- 
sive choice. 

THE  35   PER   CENT    FEATURE 

There  is  difference  of  opinion  as  to 
what  should  constitute  a  decisive  vote. 
To  secure  a  nomination  in  the  primary 
the  Iowa  law  requires  a  candidate  to 
poll  at  least  35  per  cent  of  the  total 
vote  cast  by  his  party  for  the  office. 
Brookhart  received  the  support  of  over 
41  per  cent  of  the  voters  who  engaged 
in  the  nomination  of  a  Republican 
senatorial  candidate.  Obviously  a 
majority  of  the  party  did  not  prefer 
him  above  all  others,  and  it  might  be 
assumed  therefore  that  he  is  not  the 
choice  of  the  Republican  party.  It 
must  be  remembered,  however,  that 
there  were  five  other  candidates  and  it 
is  very  improbable  that  part  of  the 


support  of  any  of  them  would  not  have 
gone  to  Brookhart  if  any  had  with- 
drawn. The  fact  that  Brookhart  ran 
either  first  or  second  in  all  but  three  of 
the  ninety -nine  counties  is  ample  evi- 
dence that  he  was  by  far  the  most 
acceptable  candidate.  Suppose  a  pref- 
erential ballot  had  been  used — prob- 
ably the  most  accurate  way  of  deter- 
mining the  popular  will.  There  can 
be  little  doubt  that  Brookhart  would 
have  been  the  ultimate  choice.  For 
example  Claude  M.  Stanley,  the  low 
man,  carried  three  counties  in  each  of 
which  Brookhart  was  second.  It  is 
quite  probable  that  Brookhart  would 
have  been  the  second  choice  of  most 
of  those  who  voted  for  Stanley,  so  that 
if  Stanley's  support  could  have  been 
transferred  so  as  to  make  it  effective 
Brookhart  would  have  been  one  of  the 
chief  beneficiaries.  That  is  the  an- 
swer to  those  who  assert  that  Brook- 
hart  is  a  minority  candidate.  And 
perhaps  it  points  the  way  to  the  prefer- 
ential ballot  as  a  substitute  for  the  35 
per  cent  plurality  requirement. 

Under  the  Iowa  law  when  no  candi- 
date receives  the  required  35  per  cent 
plurality  in  the  primary  the  nomina- 
tion is  made  by  the  party  convention. 
When  there  have  been  more  than  two 
candidates  for  an  office  in  the  Republi- 
can primary  the  nomination  has  al- 
most invariably  gone  to  the  conven- 
tion. With  six  candidates  in  the  race 
for  the  Republican  senatorial  nomina- 
tion last  June  is  seemed  to  be  a  fore- 
gone conclusion  that  no  one  could  re- 
ceive the  support  of  35  per  cent  of  the 
voters  and  that  the  selection  would 
certainly  be  made  by  the  State  con- 
vention. But  the  political  dopesters 
overlooked  the  peculiar  circumstances 
of  the  campaign.  It  was  not  every 
man  for  himself:  it  was  Brookhart 
against  the  field.  Instead  of  the  five 
sharing  the  support  of  Brookhart  they 
shared  his  opposition.  And  the  unex- 


1922] 


THE   DIRECT  PRIMARY  IN  TWO  STATES 


285 


pected  came  to  pass.  The  nomina- 
tion was  made  in  the  primary  because 
there  was  a  clear  choice.  The  result 
is  evidence  of  conscious,  thoughtful 
voting.  The  people  had  a  preference 
and  expressed  it  without  regard  to 
position  of  names  on  the  ballot,  party 
endorsement,  residence  of  candidates, 
or  any  of  the  factors  that  are  supposed 
to  influence  voters.  The  direct  pri- 
mary will  nominate  if  there  are  any 
positive  reasons  why  one  candidate 
deserves  approval  above  all  others. 

There  are  many  staunch  partisans 
who  seem  to  think  that  a  political 
party  is  an  end  in  itself  and  not  a 
means  to  an  end.  Such  people  are 
opposed  to  any  form  of  primary  that 
interferes  with  party  organization. 
They  desire  iron-clad  allegiance,  and 
if  there  is  to  be  any  popular  nomina- 
tion voters  should  be  required  to  for- 
mally enroll  as  party  members  long  be- 
fore election  time.  That  would  indeed 
go  far  toward  stabilizing  party  organi- 
zation, establishing  party  responsi- 
bility, and  preventing  the  members  of 
one  party  from  participating  in  the 
nomination  of  candidates  of  another. 
It  is  this  cross  infection  in  primary 
elections  that  worries  the  regulars. 

DID    DEMOCRATS   VOTE   AT   REPUBLICAN 
PRIMARY? 

Several  rock-ribbed  Republican 
newspapers  of  Iowa  claim  that  Brook- 
hart  was  nominated  by  Democrats  and 
Socialists  who  voted  in  the  Republi- 
can primary.  That  is  a  common 
charge  in  every  close  and  important 
primary  contest — one  of  the  stock 
criticisms  of  an  open  primary — but  it 
can  not  be  proved  conclusively  one 
way  or  the  other.  In  support  of  the 
contention  attention  is  called  to  the 
fact  that  over  37,000  more  votes  were 
cast  for  Republican  senatorial  aspirants 
than  for  any  other  office  on  the  Repub- 


lican  ballot.  Were  these  37,000  voters 
Democrats  and  Socialists  who  were 
not  interested  in  any  other  contest? 
Probably  some  of  them  were,  but  it  is 
at  least  equally  as  plausible  to  assume 
that  many  of  them  were  Republicans 
in  the  same  plight.  Moreover,  the 
total  vote  for  United  States  senator  in 
the  Republican  primary  this  year  is 
only  about  61  per  cent  of  the  normal 
party  vote.  In  1918  when  Senator 
Kenyon  had  no  opposition  his  vote  in 
the  primary  was  only  55  per  cent  of 
his  vote  in  the  general  election,  but  in 
1914  the  Republican  primary  vote  for 
United  States  senator  was  nearly  70 
per  cent  of  the  vote  for  Senator  Cum- 
mins in  the  general  election.  In  view 
of  these  facts  the  showing  this  year 
does  not  appear  to  be  abnormal — the 
cross  infection  does  not  seem  to  be 
more  serious  than  usual. 

When  a  candidate  receives  the  wide- 
spread indorsement  that  Brookhart 
did  his  party  ought  to  be  willing  to 
acknowledge  his  leadership  and  accept 
the  responsibility  for  his  nomination. 
The  assertion  that  parties  have  lost 
practically  all  responsibility  for  the 
candidates  chosen  by  the  primary 
appears  to  be  based  on  the  notion  that 
the  party  and  the  machine  are  synony- 
mous. The  object  of  the  primary  is  to 
deprive  the  machine  of  its  assumed 
responsibility  for  which  it  can  not  be 
held  accountable  and  place  that  re- 
sponsibility with  the  party  which  must 
stand  or  fall  at  the  final  election  on  the 
wisdom  of  its  choice  of  candidates. 
The  Republican  party  leaders  have  not 
taken  the  nomination  of  Brookhart 
with  good  grace:  he  is  not  the  candi- 
date they  prefer.  Naturally  they 
blame  the  primary  and  condemn  it. 
But  he  is  the  Republican  candidate 
and  will  have  the  support  of  a  majority 
of  the  active  members  of  that  party. 
Though  the  party  leaders  may  ostra- 
cize him,  there  is  no  way  in  which  the 


286 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[September 


party  can  repudiate  its  responsibility 
for  his  nomination. 

WOULD     A     CONVENTION     HAVE     NOMI- 
NATED  BROOKHART? 

Would  Brookhart  have  been  nomi- 
nated if  the  decision  had  been  referred 
to  the  state  convention?  No  one  can 
say  positively,  but  newspaper  opinion 
seems  to  indicate  that  he  would  not 
have  been  the  choice  of  the  Republican 
convention.  Brookhart  was  not  an 
organization  candidate.  Indeed,  he 
capitalized  that  fact  in  the  campaign. 
There  were  persistent  rumors  during 
the  campaign  that  the  organization 
was  trying  to  prevent  a  nomination  in 
the  primary,  and  inasmuch  as  none  of 
the  six  senatorial  candidates  seemed 
likely  to  secure  the  required  number  of 
votes  the  organization  no  doubt  had 
well  laid  plans  for  controlling  the  con- 
vention. If  so,  Brookhart  would  not 
have  been  nominated  by  the  conven- 
tion. But  given  the  opportunity,  if 
the  convention  had  nominated  an- 
other man  that  act  could  not  have  been 
indicative  of  any  more  party  responsi- 
bility than  the  nomination  of  Brook- 
hart  by  the  voters. 


Speculation  as  to  whether  Brook- 
hart  would  have  been  nominated  if  the 
"Hughes  plan"  primary  had  been  used 
is  rather  futile  but  perhaps  suggestive. 
That  plan  presupposes  a  truly  repre- 
sentative party  organization  (which  is 
probably  an  unwarranted  presump- 
tion), responsible  for  naming  official 
party  candidates.  If  these  candidates 
are  acceptable  there  is  no  primary  but 
any  small  group  not  satisfied  with  any 
may  select  a  candidate  of  their  own, 
thus  requiring  a  referendum  on  the 
organization  slate.  It  would  be  dif- 
ficult to  conceive  of  Brookhart  as  the 
official  party  candidate  under  the 
Hughes  plan,  but  it  is  probable  that  he 
would  have  run  for  the  nomination. 
If  the  party  organization  were  truly 
representative  an  official  party  candi- 
date might  have  been  found  who  could 
have  defeated  Brookhart,  but  the 
actual  results  seem  to  indicate  that 
the  people  voted  for  Brookhart  in  the 
June  primary  because  they  liked  him 
best  and  not  because  they  disliked  him 
least,  and  because  he  was  not  the  or- 
ganization candidate.  If  that  is  true 
he  would  probably  have  won  in  any 
kind  of  a  direct  primary. 


II.  THE  INDIANA  PRIMARY 

BY  FREDERIC  H.  GUILD 

University  of  Indiana 


A   CLEAN-CUT   CONTEST 

The  outstanding  feature  of  the  In- 
diana primary  on  May  2  was,  of 
course,  the  contest  between  former 
Senator  Beveridge  and  Senator  New 
for  the  Republican  senatorial  nomina- 
tion. It  was  a  clean-cut  contest  with 
no  other  contestants,  a  contest  be- 
tween men  who  had  long  been  in  the 
public  eye  and  who  had  both  stood 


high  in  political  councils.  Senator 
New  was  a  personal  friend  of  President 
Harding,  closely  in  touch  with  admin- 
istration affairs,  a  regular  upon  whose 
support  the  administration  could  al- 
ways count.  Ex-senator  Beveridge 
had  been  a  leader  of  the  Progressives, 
a  close  friend  of  Roosevelt.  With 
twelve  years  of  service  in  the  senate  he 
could  claim  even  more  experience  than 
Senator  New.  But  he  had  been  a 


1922] 


THE  DIRECT  PRIMARY  IN  TWO  STATES 


^287 


Progressive,  and  the  implication  was 
immediate  that,  if  elected,  he  would 
be  relatively  independent  and  might 
prove  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  the  ad- 
ministration. 

Some  attempt  was  made,  in  conse- 
quence, particularly  by  Democrats,  to 
weave  into  that  primary  contest  con- 
siderable national  significance.  But, 
as  is  frequently  the  case  in  these  elec- 
tions between  presidential  years,  the 
voters  of  the  state  apparently  refused 
to  permit  the  possibility  of  national 
deductions  to  interfere  with  a  state 
contest. 

It  was  above  all  else  a  contest  of 
personalities.  The  independence  or 
progressivism  of  one  candidate  and  the 
regularity  or  standpatism  of  the  other 
may  have  been  positive  considera- 
tions. It  has  long  been  pointed  out 
that  the  most  natural  division  of  pub- 
lic sentiment  is  that  of  liberalism 
versus  conservatism.  And  it  is  highly 
probable  that  just  such  a  natural  di- 
vision occurred  within  the  Republican 
ranks  in  the  Indiana  primary. 

NATIONAL   ADMINISTRATION   NOT   A 
DOMINANT  ISSUE 

But  it  seems  equally  certain  that  the 
question  of  approving  or  rebuking  the 
national  administration  was  not  a 
dominant  issue.  Many  New  sup- 
porters must  have  felt  deeply  that  a 
vote  for  their  candidate  was  a  vote  of 
confidence  in  the  Harding  administra- 
tion, a  vote  which  must  be  secured. 
But  there  is  no  evidence  to  show  that 
the  Beveridge  supporters  felt  that 
their  vote  was  being  cast  against  the 
administration.  In  fact  the  leading 
Republican  papers  of  the  state  which 
supported  Beveridge  were  careful  to 
deny  any  such  imputation.  They 
centered  their  attention  on  the  fear  of 
a  possible  Democratic  year.  Bever- 
idge was  a  proved  campaigner,  a  pro- 


gressive, who  might  attract  the  pro- 
gressive element  in  the  Democratic 
party.  New  was  not  in  any  sense  a 
candidate  to  make  a  popular  appeal 
from  the  stump.  The  Newberry  vote, 
the  tariff,  the  bonus,  and  other  issues 
which  could  be  raised  against  New 
could  not  be  used  against  Beveridge. 
The  primary  should  select  the  candi- 
date who,  in  the  fall  election,  could 
wage  the  most  successful  fight  for  the 
Republicans.  And  Beveridge,  him- 
self, felt  constrained  during  the  cam- 
paign to  assert  that,  if  elected,  he 
would  expect  to  work  in  harmony  with 
the  administration. 

Beveridge  won  the  nomination  by 
20,000  votes,  receiving  205,410  to 
New's  184,938,  a  clean-cut  victory,  for 
a  10,000  majority  is  large  for  Indiana 
in  any  closely  contested  election,  and 
Senator  New  had  defeated  Senator 
Watson  in  1916  by  a  much  smaller 
margin.  Strong  Beveridge  support 
came  from  most  of  the  rural  counties 
and  the  expected  majorities  for  Sen- 
ator New  in  precincts  within  the  larger 
cities  was  greatly  reduced. 

If  there  could  be  any  single  reason 
for  so  decisive  a  victory  it  might  be 
found  in  the  influence  of  the  news- 
papers, in  legitimate  advertising.  For 
two  years  prior  to  the  primary  Albert 
J.  Beveridge,  historian,  had  been  re- 
ceiving the  most  flattering  of  press 
notice.  As  Howell  of  Nebraska  is 
credited  with  winning  the  ether  or 
radio  vote,  so  might  Beveridge  be  said 
to  have  won  on  the  Life  of  John  Mar- 
shall and  the  fundamentals  of  the  con- 
stitution. For  two  years  there  were 
but  brief  intervals  when  the  news- 
papers of  the  state  did  not  carry  some 
report  of  an  enthusiastic  reception  of 
the  exponent  of  the  great  cases  of  the 
greatest  chief  justice.  Not  political 
advertising  in  any  sense;  not  a  word  of 
politics.  Merely  a  favorite  son  of 
Indiana  bringing  honor  to  the  state  in 


288 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[September 


all  parts  of  the  country.  And  when,  in 
those  two  years,  Beveridge  spoke  within 
the  state,  his  subject  was  still  the  Life 
of  John  Marshall  or  the  fundamentals 
of  the  constitution  established  by  our 
forefathers.  Or,  often  enough,  there 
were  addresses  to  Bible  classes  and 
similar  religious  organizations  on  bib- 
lical subjects.  Free,  legitimate,  non- 
political  advertising  was  carried  in  all 
newspapers  of  the  state,  Republican  or 
Democratic  alike,  for  a  space  of  two 
years,  not  to  mention  the  political 
comments  of  favorable  nature  in  the 
monthly  and  weekly  magazines  later. 
It  was  probably  the  most  remarkable 
pre-campaign  publicity  given  in  re- 
cent years  to  any  candidate  not  then 
holding  office.  This  publicity  for 
Beveridge,  the  historian,  the  orator, 
must  have  accounted  for  many  of  the 
votes  for  Beveridge,  the  candidate. 

On  the  other  hand  Senator  New  as  an 
organization  man,  possessed  an  asset 
not  to  be  lightly  disregarded.  It  was 
to  be  expected  that  the  organization 
would  be  working  quietly  and  effec- 
tively in  his  behalf. 

THE   PRE-PRIMARY   SLATE 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind,  however, 
that  there  are  two  rather  distinct  atti- 
tudes in  Indiana  concerning  active 
participation  by  the  party  organiza- 
tion in  the  primary  contest.  In 
Marion  County  (Indianapolis)  and  the 
other  counties  containing  large  cities, 
the  machine  apparently  regularly  pre- 
pares its  slate  and  pushes  it  through 
with  considerable  regularity.  In  many 
instances  in  the  rural  counties,  how- 
ever, and  frequently  in  cities  of  10,000 
or  more,  there  seems  to  be  a  definite 
feeling  that  the  primary  should  be  a 
free  choice  by  the  party  voters  and 
that  party  committees  should  not  in- 
terfere in  behalf  of  any  one  candidate. 
In  the  larger  counties  slates  are  fre- 


quent. Indianapolis  had  five  distinct 
slates  in  the  1922  primary.  In  rural 
counties  the  slate  is  looked  upon  with 
disfavor. 

In  consequence  it  was  not  to  be  ex- 
pected that  the  Republican  organiza- 
tion, the  Republican  clubs  and  the 
party  committees,  would  openly  en- 
dorse Senator  New  and  openly  demand 
and  fight  for  his  re-nomination.  New 
was  obviously  the  candidate  of  the 
regulars.  That  was  understood.  Sen- 
ator Watson,  generally  counted  as  a 
New  supporter,  did  not  actively  cam- 
paign for  Senator  New.  President 
Harding,  a  close  friend  of  Senator  New 
and  known  to  favor  his  candidacy, 
took  care  to  let  it  be  known  that  he 
would  keep  his  hands  off  the  primary 
contest.  But  party  workers  over  the 
state  were  of  course  openly  for  New  in 
private  conversation,  and  many  of 
them  undoubtedly  worked  hard  in  his 
behalf  on  election  day.  And  it  was 
rather  naturally  taken  for  granted  that, 
with  the  organization  working  for 
New,  the  contest  would  be  a  close  one. 

The  Beveridge  victory  by  over  20,- 
000  votes  required  some  explanation, 
in  the  eyes  of  the  New  supporters. 
Their  obvious  inference  was  that  party 
workers  in  many  parts  of  the  state  had 
failed  in  their  duty.  And  it  was  imme- 
diately charged  that  Senator  Watson 
had  betrayed  New,  if  not  by  working 
against  him,  at  least  by  not  working 
for  him.  This  Senator  Watson  of 
course  indignantly  denied  at  once.  It 
was  pointed  out  that  Senator  Watson's 
precinct  and  other  territory  usually 
controlled  by  him  had  gone  for  Bev- 
eridge. The  implication  was  that 
Watson  could  have  swung  it  for  New 
had  he  so  desired.  The  fact  that  such 
rumors  sprang  up  immediately  after 
the  primary,  showed  that  all  had  not 
been  harmonious  in  the  ranks  of  the 
"organization"  prior  to  the  primary. 
And  it  is  of  course  possible  that  some 


1922] 


THE  DIRECT  PRIMARY  IN  TWO  STATES 


289 


such  lack  of  harmony  may  have  had 
its  influence  in  the  contest.  Certainly 
the  New  campaign  in  parts  of  the  state 
was  lukewarm  compared  with  the 
contest  waged  in  behalf  of  Beveridge. 
This  may  have  been  due  largely  to  the 
fact  that  Beveridge  took  the  stump  in 
his  own  behalf,  and  that  he  is  a  very 
successful  campaigner.  Senator  New 
remained  at  his  desk  at  Washington 
during  the  contest. 

BEVERIDGE   REPORTS  CAMPAIGN 
EXPENDITURES 

Another  factor  of  some  importance 
was  the  question  of  campaign  expendi- 
tures. Beveridge  early  in  the  cam- 
paign announced  that  he  believed  the 
people  were  entitled  to  know  how  much 
a  candidate  was  spending  before  they 
voted.  He  challenged  Senator  New  to 
make  a  weekly  statement  during  the 
campaign  showing  his  expenditures. 
In  view  of  the  Newberry  issue — and 
Senator  New  had  voted  to  seat  New- 
berry — this  was  capital  campaign 
strategy,  for  New  was  the  wealthier  of 
the  two  and  might  be  expected  to  spend 
more  than  Beveridge.  But  it  was  also 
a  sound  proposition  which  met  with  ap- 
proval in  many  quarters  of  the  state. 
New  refused  the  challenge  and  made 
no  statement  of  his  expenditures  prior 
to  the  primary.  Beveridge,  however, 
published  a  general  statement  weekly 
in  the  leading  newspapers,  and  just 
before  the  primary  he  and  his  campaign 
manager  issued  a  final  sworn  statement 
showing  a  total  expenditure  of  $10,000. 

PRIMARY     NOT     CONTROLLED     BY     THE 
ORGANIZATION 

Whatever  the  causes  back  of  Bev- 
eridge's  nomination  the  result  is  clear. 
The  organization  had  not  controlled 
the  nomination.  Beveridge  would 
hardly  have  been  nominated  under  the 


old  convention  system.  At  least  his 
chances  for  success  would  have  been 
materially  smaller,  and  the  contest 
would  have  taken  a  different  aspect. 
Party  leaders  were  as  uncertain  as  the 
lay  members  of  the  party  as  to  the 
outcome,  even  on  election  day,  when  on 
the  first  returns  from  the  first  50  pre- 
cincts heard  from,  the  New  managers 
claimed  the  state  for  New  by  25,000. 
Predictions  before  the  primary  were 
filled  with  "ifs."  The  rural  vote  was 
counted  as  strongly  pro-Be veridge.  If 
the  weather  was  clear,  the  farmers,  who 
were  behindhand  owing  to  the  recent 
rains,  would  not  come  to  the  polls,  and 
New  with  the  organization  behind  him 
ought  to  win.  No  one  knew  what  the 
women  would  do.  Generally  the  opin- 
ion was  that  they  would  be  favorable 
to  Beveridge.  It  all  depended  on  the 
women,  many  said,  and  after  the  pri- 
mary it  was  Senator  Watson's  opinion 
that  "the  women  did  it."  One  thing 
is  certain,  when  the  polls  opened  and 
voting  began,  it  was  an  open  question 
which  would  win.  The  organization 
had  no  trumps  up  its  sleeve.  In  this 
sense  Beveridge's  victory  was  a  vindi- 
cation of  the  primary.  The  choice  was 
entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  rank  and 
file  of  the  party.  The  people  had 
spoken  without  "machine"  domina- 
tion. 

MUST  NOT  JUDGE   BY  ONE  CASE 

Still,  it  is  strange  how  popular  opin- 
ion and  even  skilled  political  observers 
select  a  single  contest,  upon  which  the 
spot-light  is  focused.  The  1922  pri- 
mary brought  out  the  largest  number  of 
candidates  the  Indiana  primary  has 
yet  seen.  Both  parties  urged  con- 
testants to  come  forward  and  they 
came.  In  Marion  county,  with  eleven 
state  representatives  to  be  nominated, 
the  Republican  ballot  carried  57  can- 
didates for  that  office,  and  the  Demo- 


290 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[September 


cratic  contestants  for  the  same  office 
were  nearly  as  many.  Even  for  minor 
offices  the  number  of  contestants  was 
unprecedented.  From  the  local  re- 
turns so  far  analyzed  it  seems  probable 
that,  with  1,016  townships  and  92 
counties  nominating  officers,  eliminat- 
ing those  positions  for  which  there  is 
seldom  contest,  and  allowing  an  aver- 
age of  but  two  contestants,  there  were 
considerably  over  5,000  candidates  in 
the  field  in  the  two  parties.  Adding 
3,000  precinct  committeemen,  elected 
by  each  party  at  the  primary,  and  the 
delegates  to  the  party  conventions, 
the  total  would  exceed  12,000.  Out 
of  this  staggering  total,  we  select  one 
contest  upon  which  to  predicate  con- 
clusions concerning  the  merits  or  de- 
fects of  the  direct  primary.  Did 
other  progressive  candidates  defeat 
organization  men,  or  did  the  "ma- 
chine" name  its  slate?  The  complete 


figures  have  not  yet  been  analyzed, 
but  it  seems  that  in  this  primary  the 
choice  throughout  was  beyond  organi- 
zation control.  The  fact  is,  however, 
that  we  have  as  yet  barely  begun  the 
study  of  the  primary  when  the  sena- 
torial contest  is  out  of  the  way. 

The  Indiana  senatorial  primary  is 
preferential  only.  Unless  one  con- 
testant receives  a  majority  of  the 
votes  cast  the  final  nomination  rests 
with  the  state  convention.  In  this 
primary  both  parties  nominated  their 
senatorial  candidates  in  the  primary 
by  majority  vote.  But  Indiana  is 
contemplating  repealing  the  state-wide 
feature  of  the  primary  law.  And  with 
the  offices  of  governor  and  United 
States  senator  out  of  the  primary  as 
other  state  offices  still  are,  the  conclu- 
sions based  upon  the  present  senatorial 
contest  would  be  of  little  practical 
value  for  the  future. 


DEPARTMENT  OF  PUBLICATIONS 


I.  BOOK  REVIEWS 


THE  LAW  OF  MODERN  MUNICIPAL  CHARTERS. 
By  William  K.  Chile.  Detroit:  Fred  S. 
Drake,  1920.  2  vol.  pp.  liii,  1517. 
Mr.  Clute  says  that  this  work  represents  an 
"extension"  of  his  "notes  and  references,"  and 
that  the  "  thought  of  classifying  these  notes  and 
references  into  a  systematic  arrangement"  for 
the  benefit  of  others  was,  in  a  measure,  "the 
motive  for  their  development  in  the  present 
form."  Mr.  Clute  has  certainly  gathered  a 
great  many  notes  and  references;  but  most  of 
them  were  collected  by  others  before  him — a 
fact  of  which  he  seems  unaware.  And  whatever 
may  have  been  his  motive  in  putting  them  into 
their  present  form,  the  result  is  assuredly  the 
sublimated  quintessence  of  disarray — if  indeed 
one  may  with  propriety  speak  of  sublimation  in 
connection  with  a  treatise  of  more  than  1,500 
pages. 

In  his  introductory  chapter,  under  a  section 
head  entitled  "States  Permitting  Municipal 
Home  Rule  Under  Various  Plans,"  he  says: 
"  The  commission  plan,  city-manager  plan  and  a 
modernized  federal  plan  are  analyzed,  and 
judicial  decisions  considered,  upholding  the 
right  of  municipal  home  rule,  the  validity  of  the 
commission  plan,  and  the  use  of  the  initiative  and 
referendum."  Precisely  so;  and  with  just  about 
the  degree  of  relativity  that  is  thus  indicated. 
The  next  section,  entitled  "Home  Rule  a  South- 
ern and  Western  Idea"  contains  two  sentences  on 
its  subject,  neither  of  which,  it  may  be  super- 
fluous to  remark,  sustains  the  new  notion  that 
municipal  home  rule  originated  in  the  South. 
The  section  is  chiefly  concerned  with  giving  the 
names  of  commission-governed  cities  of  over 
30,000  inhabitants.  The  "systematic  arrange- 
ment" of  this  introductory  chapter  is  prophetic. 
We  are  duly  forewarned  by  it.  We  ought  not  to 
be  surprised,  therefore,  to  find  that  while  the 
doctrine  of  legislative  supremacy  over  cities  is 
discussed  in  the  second  chapter,  the  doctrine  of 
an  inherent  right  of  local  self-government  goes 
over  to  the  fourth.  The  two  doctrines,  being 
mutually  refutatory,  are  of  course  indissolubly 
connected.  They  are  one  subject.  But  be- 
tween the  discussion  of  them,  Mr.  Clute  inserts  a 
chapter  on  "  Whether  Home  Rule  Charters,  the 
Commission  Plan  and  the  Initiative,  Referendum 


and  Recall  Are  Departures  from  a  Republican 
Form  of  Government."  In  the  eighth  chapter 
there  is  an  elaborate  analysis  and  comparison  of 
the  commission  plans  of  Galveston,  Houston,  and 
Des  Moines,  of  the  city-manager,  plan  of  Dayton, 
of  the  federal  plan  of  the  Ohio  optional  law  and 
of  St.  Louis,  and  of  the  commission-manager 
plan  of  Grand  Rapids.  Then  follows  some  six 
hundred  pages  on  home  rule  in  specific  states, 
after  which  the  charters  of  these  same  cities  are 
set  forth  in  extenso,  running  to  another  six  hun- 
dred pages.  (Indeed  the  high  cost  of  printing 
seems  to  have  been  no  deterrent  to  Mr.  Clute.) 
These  instances  of  arrangement  will  serve  not 
only  to  illustrate  the  author's  sense  of  system- 
atization,  but  also  to  show  something  of  the  con- 
tent of  this  work. 

The  best  part  of  the  work  deals  with  the  law  of 
home  rule.  Even  so,  there  is  no  adequate  dis- 
cussion of  many  of  the  important  home  rule 
cases.  Moreover,  there  are  disproportions  that 
are  by  no  means  warranted  by  considerations  of 
relative  importance.  For  instance,  California, 
which  has  had  the  largest  experience  with  home 
rule  and  by  far  the  largest  amount  of  litigation 
over  it,  is  treated  in  a  little  more  than  one  hun- 
dred pages,  approximately  half  of  which  are 
devoted  merely  to  a  recital  of  pertinent  con- 
stitutional provisions.  On  the  other  hand, 
Michigan,  where  the  experience  with  home  rule 
has  been  less  than  in  California  and  the  resulting 
litigation  far  less  important,  is  treated  at  con- 
siderably greater  length.  Here  again  a  large 
part  of  the  text  is  merely  a  copy  of  the  home  rule 
acts  for  cities  and  for  villages.  The  footnote 
annotations  accompanying  these  acts  contain 
references  to  and  discussions  of  innumerable 
cases  that  did  not  arise  in  connection  with  the 
judicial  construction  of  these  specific  acts.  This 
method  of  annotation,  however,  is  doubtless  far 
more  useful  than  usual. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  a  great  deal  of  valuable 
information  on  legal  points  can  be  found  in  these 
two  volumes;  but  the  seeker  will  certainly  have 
to  do  his  share  of  the  work  in  finding  what  he 
wants.  The  student  of  government  who  is  look- 
ing for  a  descriptive  picture  of  legal  results  will 
find  lots  of  colors  but  no  picture. 

HOWARD  LEE  McBAiN. 


291 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[September 


ASSETS  OF  THE  IDEAL  CITY,  and  A  HANDBOOK  OF 
MUNICIPAL  GOVERNMENT.  By  Charles  M. 
Fassett.  New  York:  Thomas  Y.  Crowell, 
1922. 

In  a  pair  of  books  written  by  Charles  M.  Fassett 
(and  published  by  Crowell)  the  general  reader  is 
due  for  a  pleasant  surprise.  They  are  intended 
primarily  for  school  use,  one  of  them  frankly 
names  itself  a  handbook,  and  they  have  the  para- 
graph topics  that  always  signify  textbooks.  But 
both  of  them  are  interesting  for  straight-away 
reading,  and  one  of  them,  "Assets  of  the  Ideal 
City,"  holds  the  reader  absorbed  as  no  textbook 
is  supposed  to  do.  It  gives  one  the  thrill  of  see- 
ing visions  of  some  future  ideal  society  together 
with  the  solid  satisfaction  of  realizing  that  all  the 
details  are  already,  somewhere,  in  some  form,  in 
actual  operation.  Both  books  are  soundly 
practical,  being  written  by  a  man  who  has 
developed  his  theories  through  substantial  ex- 
perience: Mr.  Fassett  was  first  an  engineer,  then 
president  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in  Spo- 
kane, then  for  two  years  its  mayor  and  is  now  a 
specialist  in  municipal  government  in  the 
University  of  Kansas. 

These  two  volumes  combine  admirably.  The 
"Handbook  of  Municipal  Government"  in  clear 
simple  language  describes  the  various  forms  of 
municipal  government,  outlines  methods  of  elec- 
tion and  appointment,  and  analyzes  the  whole 
complex  fabric  of  a  city's  organized  life.  The 
other  book  approaches  the  material  of  city  organ- 
ization from  the  point  of  view  of  its  potentialities 
of  development.  As  definitely  as  if  he  had  an- 
nounced it  as  a  text  Mr.  Fassett  shows  that  "no 
man  liveth  unto  himself,"  picturing  the  city  as  a 
huge  illustration  of  the  necessity  and  advantage 
of  cooperation  and  of  civic  unselfishness.  From 
the  surrender  of  the  right  to  dump  your  garbage 
in  the  nearest  pond  to  the  limitations  of  building 
under  zoning,  the  city,  in  Mr.  Fassett's  vivid 
picture,  proves  that  the  interests  of  one  are,  in 
the  long  run,  the  interests  of  all. 

All  the  progressive  measures  that  have  been 
tried  throughout  the  country  are  endorsed  .  .  . 
the  city  manager  form  of  government,  propor- 
tional representation,  the  fullest  measure  of  demo- 
cratic control,  public  ownership  of  public  utilities 
where  the  city  has  shown  its  fitness  to  own;  and 
always  one  has  the  reassuring  sense  that  they  are 
endorsed  because  the  writer  has  seen  them  work 
rather  than  because  he  has  a  theory  that  they 
should.  Such  bits  of  historical  color  as  the  moral 
objections  raised  to  the  first  introduction  of  artifi- 


cial street  lights  are  delightful  extras.  Two  things 
are  basic  .  .  .  clear  and  easy-reading  infor- 
mation and  an  inspiration  toward  good  citizen- 
ship. The  books  are  very  well  adapted  to  the  use 
of  popular  study  clubs  or  classes  in  government. 

VIRGINIA  RODERICK. 
* 

Second  and  Final  Report  of  the  Judicature 
Commission,  Boston,  1921.  Pp.  168. — The 
Massachusetts  legislature  failed  to  profit  from 
the  excellent  work  of  the  judicature  commission 
of  1919-20,  having  enacted  only  a  few  insignifi- 
cant bills  among  twenty-six  which  were  proffered. 
This  is  said  to  have  been  due  in  part  to  the  polit- 
ical fights  which  engrossed  legislators'  attention. 
It  will  be  recalled  that  a  preliminary  report  of 
the  commission  presented  to  the  1920  assembly 
resulted  in  the  enactment  of  the  small  claims 
procedure  act  which  placed  Massachusetts  in 
the  lead  in  providing  simple  and  inexpensive 
justice  for  small  litigants.  The  final  report 
represents  a  large  amount  of  very  intelligent  and 
conscientious  labor.  It  presents  a  very  thorough 
critical  study  of  the  entire  machinery  of  justice. 
Owing  to  the  lack  of  a  statistical  and  administra- 
tive function  within  the  judiciary,  such  an  inves- 
tigation is  of  itself  of  great  value,  for  it  provides 
answers  to  many  of  the  questions  which  arise 
concerning  the  courts  and  which  otherwise  can- 
not be  resolved. 

The  two  most  important  matters  discussed  in 
the  report  are  the  rule-making  power  and  the 
judicial  council.  On  these  questions  the  commis- 
sion evinces  timidity.  Rule  making  is  approved 
in  principle,  but  it  is  recommended  that  there  be 
no  enlargement  of  the  existing  power.  A  judicial 
council  is  recommended,  but  it  is  not  to  be  a  real 
administrative  authority  but,  instead,  an  advi- 
sory board  of  judges  and  lawyers.  It  would  col- 
late statistics  and  recommend  bills  for  enactment 
by  the  legislature,  the  theory  being  that  the 
courts  now  have  sufficient  rule-making  power  to 
supplement  legislation  and  produce  a  healthy 
development  of  adjective  law. 

Even  such  a  limited  judicial  council  as  is 
recommended  would  doubtless  prove  of  great 
value,  but  the  theory  of  increasing  judicial  par- 
ticipation in  rule  making  seems  weak  because 
the  courts  have  failed  for  so  long  a  time  to  exer- 
cise any  considerable  power  in  this  field  that  it 
would  now  be  necessary  to  repeal  all  the  existing 
body  of  statutory  rules  and  declare  them  to  be 
court  rules  pro  tern,  in  order  to  restore  this  in- 
herently judicial  power  to  the  judiciary.  The 


1922] 


BOOK  REVIEWS 


293 


report  gives  the  impression  that  the  judicature 
commission  did  not  dare  to  go  as  far  as  their  con- 
victions indicated,  hoping  that  a  portion  of  a  loaf 
might  be  yielded  by  the  legislature.  This  hope 
was  defeated  in  the  recent  session,  the  bill  to 
create  the  judicial  council  having  been  killed  by 
the  house  ways  and  means  committee  after  ap- 
proval by  a  vote  of  seven  to  eight  by  the  judi- 
ciary committee. 

Massachusetts  is  a  small  state  in  which  judi- 
cial administration  is  comparatively  easy.  It  has 
always  had  an  exceptionally  capable  judiciary. 
Its  legislated  procedure  has  been  better  than  the 
similar  product  in  many  other  states.  The  bar 
of  the  state  is  in  many  respects  justified  in  its 
reverential  attitude  toward  the  judicial  system, 
but  not  in  its  theory  that  the  highest  ideal  is 
merely  to  conserve  present  benefits.  There  is 
room  for  improving  even  Massachusetts  courts 
and  procedure  through  a  responsible  centralized 
judicial  power  and,  since  the  state  has  travelled 
further  already  than  most  others,  it  has  a  less 
distance  to  go  to  assure  itself  of  ultimate  leader- 
ship. If  it  does  improve  materially  in  the  next 
few  years  considerable  credit  will  accrue  to  the 
painstaking  efforts  of  the  judicature  commission. 

HERBERT  HAHLET. 
* 

New  Sources  of  Revenue.  Final  report  of  the 
committee  on  new  sources  of  revenue,  Boston, 
1921 .  Pp.  42. — The  mayor  of  Boston  in  January, 
1920,  appointed  a  citizens'  committee  to  study 
new  sources  of  city  revenue  and  methods  of 
economy.  The  final  report  of  the  committee  was 
under  date  of  March  21,  1921,  and  has  recently 
been  published.  Prof.  W.  B.  Munro  was  vice- 
chairman  of  the  committee. 

The  principles  upon  which  the  recommenda- 
tions were  made  were:  "  first,  that  the  present 
tax  base  should  be  widened  so  as  to  relieve  real 
estate  and  spread  the  burden  of  taxation  more 
evenly  over  the  entire  community,  and  second, 
that  those  classes  of  occupations  and  business 
which  make  use  of  public  facilities  and  require 
special  police  and  fire  protection,  improved  high- 
ways or  other  special  services,  should  contribute 
their  share  of  the  expenses  necessary  for  furnish- 
ing such  services.  In  carrying  out  the  latter 
principle,  the  committee  has  recommended  an 
increase  in  a  number  of  licenses  and  permit  fees 
and  the  adoption  of  certain  new  licenses,  the 
establishment  of  an  excise  upon  amusements  and 
a  reapportionment  of  a  part  of  the  state  motor 
vehicle  fees;  while  a  tax  upon  retail  sales  has 


been  suggested  as  the  most  practicable  method  of 
broadening  the  incidence  of  taxation  and  afford- 
ing relief  to  real  estate."  It  is  estimated  that  if 
such  recommendations  were  carried  into  effect 
the  city  would  have  an  additional  annual  income 
of  $5,250,000.  The  retail  sales  tax  is  discussed 
at  some  length,  the  advantages  and  objections 
stated  and  the  conclusion  reached  that  the 
municipal  and  not  the  national  government 
should  have  the  revenue  from  this  form  of  tax. 
* 

The  Board  of  Appeals  in  Zoning.  By  Edward 
M.  Bassett.  The  Zoning  Committee  of  New 
York.  New  York,  1921.  A  pamphlet  on  "  The 
Board  of  Appeals  in  Zoning,"  by  Edward  M. 
Bassett,  counsel,  has  been  published  by  the  zon- 
ing committee  of  New  York. 

Mr.  Bassett  states  that  legislative  authority  to 
appoint  a  board  of  zoning  appeals  is  one  of  the 
fundamental  preliminaries  to  zoning.  He  shows 
that  in  New  York  City  the  board  of  zoning  ap- 
peals has  been  a  very  great  help  and  safeguard 
in  the  administration  of  the  zoning  ordinance. 
He  states  that,  "  If  the  city  of  New  York  did  not 
have  a  board  of  appeals  in  connection  with  the 
zoning  resolution  with  its  duties  defined  in  the 
charter  and  the  resolution  itself,  there  is  no  doubt 
that  numerous  cases  would  have  come  before  the 
courts  involving  the  constitutionality  of  the  zon- 
ing resolution.  The  decisions  in  some  of  these 
cases  would  undoubtedly  have  been  adverse.  In- 
stead of  this  the  existence  of  the  board  of  appeals 
has  probably  been  the  greatest  element  in  mak- 
ing possible  the  remarkable  statement  that  for 
five  years  there  has  not  been  any  declaration  of  a 
court  that  any  provision,  however  minute,  of  the 
New  York  zoning  resolution  and  maps  is  uncon- 
stitutional." 

Power  in  a  board  of  appeals  to  vary  the  pro- 
visions of  the  zoning  ordinance  in  accordance 
with  certain  prescribed  rules  is  necessary  in  cer- 
tain cases  in  order  to  make  the  provisions  of  the 
ordinance  more  reasonable  and  less  arbitrary. 
As  Mr.  Bassett  states,  "  Human  wisdom  cannot 
foresee  the  exceptional  cases  that  can  arise  in 
the  administration  of  a  zoning  ordinance.  The 
strict  word  of  the  law  may  sometimes  be  the 
height  of  injustice." 

Mr.  Bassett's  pamphlet  contains  as  an  appen- 
dix a  list  of  leading  cases  on  zoning,  a  list  of  state- 
enabling  acts  authorizing  zoning  and  a  list  of 
zoning  ordinances  adopted.  The  pamphlet  is  a 
very  important  contribution. 

ROBERT  H.  WHITE. 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


I.    GOVERNMENT  AND   ADMINISTRATION 


The  Bacharach  Bill  Criticized.  To  the  Editor 
of  the  National  Municipal  Review:  Mr.  Bauer's 
article 1  in  your  July  number  on  the  Bacharach 
injunction  bill,  shows  that  your  critic  is  erro- 
neously informed  as  to  the  law  and  practice  in  the 
federal  and  state  courts.  In  either  court,  it  is 
the  duty  of  the  judge  to  decide  a  case  upon  the 
record  and  not  upon  personal  information  of  his 
own.  If,  therefore,  it  were  true  that  the  judges 
of  state  courts  are  much  closer  to  local  conditions 
than  those  of  federal  courts,  a  judge  would  have 
no  right  to  be  guided  by  any  inference  derived 
from  this  fact.  But  how  can  it  be  said  that  the 
judges  in  the  courts  of  the  state  of  New  York 
understand  local  conditions  any  better  than 
Judges  Hand  or  Mayer  or  any  other  federal 
judges  in  the  United  States  courts  in  New  York? 

In  either  court  the  record  of  the  public  service 
commission  and  the  evidence  on  which  it  is 
based,  will  be  received  directly  as  evidence.  It 
is  a  mistake  that  "in  the  federal  court  an  entirely 
new  record  must  be  provided."  In  either  court 
a  subpoena  would  issue  requiring  the  clerk  of  the 
commission  to  produce  the  commission  record. 
That  would  be  put  directly  in  evidence. 

Moreover  the  law  in  the  federal  court  is  that 
the  report  of  the  commission  is  binding  upon  the 
courts,  unless  shown  to  be  clearly  against  the 
evidence  or  against  law.  This  was  held  by  the 
Supreme  Court  in  the  Abilene  Cotton  Oil  Com- 
pany case,  204  U.  S.,  426,  in  U.  S.  vs.  Louisville 
&  Nashville  Railroad,  235  U.  S.,  314-334,  and  in 
many  other  cases.  The  rule  familiar  in  the  state 
courts  is  applied  in  the  federal  courts  that  a 
finding  against  evidence  is  an  error  in  law.  But 
otherwise  the  findings  of  fact  are  binding.  It 
has,  for  example,  been  held  in  a  suit  to  enforce  an 
order  made  by  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission, that  all  that  the  plaintiff  need  do  is  to 
introduce  the  findings  and  order  of  the  com- 
mission. Meeker  vs.  Lehigh  Valley  Railroad, 
234  U.  S.,  412-434. 

Again  Mr.  Bauer  says  that  the  United  States 

1  The  Bacharach  Bill  was  explained  aad  defended  by 
Dr.  Bauer  in  the  July  REVIEW,  p.  218.  It  is  designed 
to  prevent  appeal  to  the  Federal  courts  from  the  ruling 
of  a  public  service  commission  until  appeals  in  the  state 
courts  have  been  exhausted.  The  Committee  on  Law 
Reform  of  the  American  Bar  Association  reported 
against  it  and  it  is  here  criticized  by  the  chairman  of 
that  committee. 


District  Court  has  set  aside  the  order  of  the 
public  service  commission  upon  affidavits.. 
What  it  has  done  is  to  grant  an  injunction  against 
immediate  enforcement  of  this  order.  That  is  a 
very  different  thing  from  setting  it  aside.  He 
says  "the  whole  matter  will  go  for  determination 
to  a  master."  He  overlooks  Equity  Rule  46r 
adopted  February,  1913.  "In  all  trials  in  equity, 
the  testimony  of  witnesses  shall  be  taken  orally 
in  open  court,  except  as  otherwise  provided  by 
statute  or  these  rules."  The  statute  referred  to 
is  that  allowing  depositions  of  witnesses  who  do 
not  reside  within  the  jurisdiction,  or  are  about  to 
leave  it,  to  be  taken  out  of  court.  The  rule 
referred  to  is  Rule  59 — "Save  in  matters  of 
account  a  reference  to  a  master  shall  be  the 
exception,  not  the  rule,  and  shall  be  made  only 
upon  a  showing  that  some  exceptional  condition 
requires  it."  This  rule  expresses  the  practice 
which  also  prevails  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
State  of  New  York. 

The  real  reason  why  the  federal  courts  should 
have  jurisdiction  in  questions  arising  under  the 
constitution  is  this.  The  framers  of  the  con- 
stitution saw  that  it  was  necessary  that  the  new 
government  should  have  power  to  enforce  its 
laws.  It  is  the  law  that  private  property  should 
not  be  taken  for  public  use  without  compensa- 
tion. If  a  state  commission  fixes  a  rate  which 
prevents  the  corporation  to  which  it  is  applied 
from  paying  expenses  of  operation  and  interest 
on  its  debts,  this  order  is  confiscatory  and  a 
violation  of  federal  law  which  the  federal  govern- 
ment should  have  power  to  prevent.  The  Con- 
federacy left  the  federal  government  dependent 
upon  the  states  for  the  enforcement  of  the  federal 
law.  This  made  the  government  weak  and 
ineffective. 

Some  persons  have  forgotten  this.  Senator 
Norris,  for  example,  proposes  to  abolish  all  the 
federal  courts,  except  the  Supreme  Court.  The 
Bacharach  bill  does  not  go  so  far,  but  it  is  a  step 
in  that  direction. 

The  Committee  on  Jurisprudence  and  Law 
Reform  of  the  American  Bar  Association,  of 
which  I  have  the  honor  to  be  Chairman,  has 
unanimously  condemned  it  and  we  think  that  all 
persons  interested  in  the  protection  of  individual 
rights  against  confiscation,  should  oppose  it. 
EVERETT  P.  WHEELEB. 


294 


1922] 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


County  Government. — The  County  Manager 
Charter  in  Sacramento,  Cal.,  was  submitted  to 
the  voters  August  29  with  prospects  of  adoption 
by  a  large  majority. 

The  charter  embodies  sweeping  reforms  and 
if  adopted  will  doubtless  be  the  best  framework 
of  government  possessed  by  any  American  county 
up  to  date,  which  is  not  saying  much.  But  on 
the  other  hand,  it  does  not,  as  the  name,  county 
manager,  suggests,  apply  correctly  to  county 
government  the  basic  principles  of  the  city  man- 
ager plan.  A  diagram  of  the  new  Sacramento 
plan  bears  no  resemblance  to  that  of  the  typical 
city  manager  charter  because  the  solid  unity  of 
the  latter  is  lacking,  the  ballot  is  left  practically 
as  long  as  before  and  the  manager  controls  only 
a  certain  few  of  the  department  heads,  the  rest 
remaining  independently  elective. 

The  charter  provides  for  the  election  of  13 
supervisors,  one  from  each  district  with  nominal 
salaries,  and  continues  on  the  elective  list  the 
district  attorney,  sheriff,  superintendent  of 
schools,  county  clerk,  auditor,  recorder,  assessor, 
tax  collector,  coroner  and  public  administrator. 
The  county  treasurer  is  abolished  and  the  county 
surveyor  is  consolidated  into  the  office  of  the 
highway  engineer;  these  two  offices  were  formerly 
elective.  The  charter  commission  retained  the 
long  ballot  only  after  a  fight  and  it  appears  that 
no  efforts  were  spared  to  diminish  the  powers  and 
patronage  of  the  independent  officers  as  far  as 
possible.  The  county  manager,  appointed  by 
the  board  of  supervisors,  is  ex-officio  road  com- 
missioner and  purchasing  agent,  and  most  of  the 
county  expenditures,  including  all  those  for  roads, 
public  works,  buildings  and  institutions,  will  be 
concentrated  under  his  direction.  As  purchase- 
ing  agent  he  must  also  buy  without  charge  for 
any  school  district  or  municipality  within  the 
county  that  requests  him  to  do  so.  A  budget 
system  is  required.  The  civil  service  commis- 
sion is  of  three  members,  two  appointed  by  the 
judges  of  the  superior  court,  the  third  member 
being  the  county  manager. 

A  new  system  of  drawing  jurors  is  expected  to 
end  certain  local  abuses  and  there  are  substantial 
changes  in  township  offices. 

If  the  charter  is  adopted,  a  full  account  of  the 
situation  and  the  charter  will  be  obtained  for  an 
early  issue  of  the  NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW. 
* 

Michigan  County  Reform  Effort  Failt.  The 
task  of  getting  105,000  signatures  to  initiative 
petitions  for  the  amendment  that  would  permit 


new  forms  of  county  government  in  Michigan 
proved  too  great  for  the  organizers  and  for  the 
slender  amount  of  volunteer  effort  that  could  be 
mustered  for  such  a  cause  and  the  petitions  were 
not  completed.  The  number  of  signatures 
required  this  year  happened  to  be  unusually 
large  and  seven  other  initiative  petitions  on 
various  subjects  failed  of  completion  for  the 
same  reason. 

* 

A  County  Manager  Plan  Bill  passed  the  senate 
of  Louisiana  in  June  under  the  leadership  of 
Henry  E.  Hardtner  of  Urania  but  did  not  reach  a 
vote  in  the  house  although  reported  favorably  by 
the  judiciary  committee.  The  bill  provided  that 
parishes  (counties)  might  by  a  referendum  vote 
change  their  form  of  government  to  that  pro- 
vided in  the  act,  namely,  a  police  jury  (board  of 
supervisors)  of  5  to  9  members  nominated  by 
districts  but  elected  at  large,  with  power  to 
appoint  a  parish  manager  who  in  turn  was  given 
the  right  "to  employ  such  assistants  as  he  may 
need  to  carry  on  the  work  and  shall  fix  the  com- 
pensation for  such  employees."  Elective  officers 
were  not  disturbed  by  the  bill  and  were  to  re- 
main independent  as  before. 

R.  S.  C. 
* 

Chicago  Plan  Commission  Reports  Progress. 
The  twelfth  annual  report  for  1921  of  the  Chi- 
cago plan  commission  is  a  record  of  continued 
progress.  Twelve  major  parts  of  the  plan  of 
Chicago  are  now  under  way  and  in  various  stages 
of  completion. 

In  the  plan,  the  foundation  of  the  street  cir- 
culatory system  is  a  quadrangle  of  wide  streets 
around  the  "loop"  district,  composed  of  Michi- 
gan Avenue  on  the  east,  Roosevelt  Road  on  the 
south,  Canal  Street  on  the  west,  and  South 
Water  Street  on  the  north.  During  1921  the 
Michigan  Avenue,  Roosevelt  Road,  and  Canal 
Street  widenings  made  progress,  and  a  large 
amount  of  necessary  preliminary  work  in  con- 
nection with  the  South  Water  Street  project  was 
accomplished. 

The  plan  also  proposes  the  creation  of  great 
traffic  arteries  extending  as  major  streets  north- 
and-south  and  east-and-west  through  the  city 
from  city  limits  to  city  limits.  Three  of  these 
streets  on  the  West  Side — Western  Avenue. 
Robey  Street  and  Ashland  Avenue,  all  north- 
and-south  thoroughfares,  progressed  to  the  point 
of  having  court  petitions  for  their  opening, 
widening  and  extension  filed  in  the  courts  during 


296 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[September 


the  year  just  ended.  Construction  was  started 
on  another,  Ogden  Avenue,  which  today  is  a 
great  diagonal  thoroughfare  extending  two- 
thirds  across  Chicago  in  a  northeasterly  direc- 
tion from  the  western  city  limits  to  Union  Park. 
Buildings  are  now  being  torn  down  to  continue 
this  street,  108  feet  wide,  for  the  three  mile 
distance  from  Union  Park  on  the  West  Side  to 
Lincoln  Park  at  Lake  Michigan  on  the  North 
Side. 

Court  petitions  were  also  filed  on  five  other 
street  widenings  in  the  district  just  west  of  the 
loop,  extending  from  the  Chicago  River  west  to 
Halsted  Street,  and  from  Harrison  Street  south 
to  Roosevelt  Road.  In  this  area  Clinton, 
Desplaines,  Jefferson;  Polk  and  Taylor  Streets 
are  to  be  widened  from  forty  feet  to  eighty  feet, 
in  order  to  allow  the  district  to  develop  into  a 
first-class  warehouse  and  commercial  section. 

The  proposed  harbors  in  Lake  Calumet  and 
along  the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan  at  the  Illinois- 
Indiana  State  Line,  came  a  step  nearer  reality 
with  the  passage  of  an  ordinance  by  the  Chicago 
city  council  providing  for  the  creation  of  an 
industrial  harbor  in  Lake  Calumet,  and  the  pas- 
sage of  legislation  by  the  state  legislatures  of 
Illinois  and  Indiana  providing  for  a  harbor 
commission  to  establish  and  operate  the  proposed 
"Illiana"  transfer  harbor  at  the  state  line. 

The  forest  preserve  commissioners  acquired 
3,487  acres  during  1921,  bringing  the  present 
total  up  to  21,516  acres;  and  a  start  was  made 
upon  the  project  of  establishing  a  zoo  in  the  forest 
preserves  near  Riverside,  along  the  Desplaines 
River,  ten  or  twelve  miles  west  of  Chicago. 
The  county  board  continued  developing  good 
roads,  connecting  Chicago  with  the  preserves 
and  with  surrounding  suburban  villages,  and 
connecting  the  various  preserves  with  each  other. 
Fifty  miles  of  new  pavement  were  laid  during  the 
year. 

Good  progress  was  made  in  carrying  on  the 
lake  front  park  development,  and  piling  was 
driven  in  the  shallow  water  along  the  shore  of 
Lake  Michigan  to  start  the  creation  of  what  will 
ultimately  be  1,138  acres  of  park  lands,  extend- 
ing for  five  miles  from  Grant  Park  in  the  center 
of  the  city  to  Jackson  Park  on  the  south  side. 
Necessary  preliminaries  in  connection  with  the 
extension  of  Grand  Boulevard  northward  by 
means  of  widening  South  Park  Avenue  to  198 
feet  were  successfully  conducted.  In  the  Plan 
of  Chicago  it  is  proposed  to  establish  a  connec- 
tion between  the  north  and  south  side  boulevard 


and  park  systems  by  constructing  a  bridge  across 
the  mouth  of  the  Chicago  River,  connecting 
Grant  Park  with  the  Municipal  Pier,  Lake  Shore 
Drive  and  Lincoln  Park. 

The  Illinois  Central  Railroad  Company  started 
initial  technical  work  looking  to  the  electrifica- 
tion of  its  facilities  and  the  construction  of  its 
new  depot  fronting  upon  Grant  Park  at  Roose- 
velt Road,  the  southern  boundary  of  the  traffic 
quadrangle  encircling  the  heart  of  the  city. 
The  total  estimated  cost  of  this  terminal  im- 
provement is  88,000,000  dollars.  On  Canal 
Street,  the  western  boundary  of  the  quadrangle, 
the  Union  Station  group  of  roads  is  remodeling 
its  facilities  and  erecting  its  new  depot,  at  an 
estimated  cost  of  75,000,000  dollars  and  during 
the  year  construction  work  continued  although 
slowed  up  somewhat  by  financial  and  labor 
conditions. 

E.  S.  TAYLOR. 
* 

Ireland's  New  Constitution.  One  never 
expects  an  Irishman  to  be  dull  and  those  who 
drafted  the  new  constitution,  recently  published 
in  this  country,  have  not  disappointed  us.  It  is 
refreshing,  to  put  it  mildly,  to  turn  from  follow- 
ing the  debates  in  our  state  consitutional  con- 
ventions, which  are  still  arguing  whether  the 
treasurer  and  secretary  of  internal  affairs  should 
be  elected  or  appointed,  to  the  constitution  of  the 
Irish  Free  State.  Old  line  state  politicians  with 
weak  hearts  will  read  it  at  their  peril. 

The  legislature  consists  of  two  houses;  the 
chamber  of  deputies  elected  under  proportional 
representation  by  all  citizens,  male  and  female, 
of  at  least  21  years  of  age,  and  the  senate  chosen 
in  a  complicated  manner  also  under  P.  R.  by 
voters  of  30  years  of  age  or  over. 

It  is  intended  that  the  senate  shall  be  com- 
posed of  citizens  who  have  done  honor  to  the 
nation  in  useful  public  service  or  who,  by  reason 
of  special  qualifications,  represent  important 
aspects  of  the  nation's  life.  To  this  end  each 
university  is  entitled  to  elect  two  members. 
The  other  members  are  chosen  from  a  panel 
specially  prepared,  the  whole  country  forming 
one  electoral  area.  The  panel  is  to  consist  of 
three  times  as  many  persons  as  there  are  places 
to  be  filled.  Two-thirds  of  it  will  be  selected  by 
the  chamber  and  one-third  by  the  senate  under 
proportional  representation. 

The  senate  will  be  a  continuous  body,  one- 
third  being  elected  every  four  years  for  a  term 
of  twelve  years.  The  chamber  will  hold  office 


1922] 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


297 


for  four  years  unless  previously  dissolved  on  the 
advice  of  the  executive  council. 

The  senate  will  have  no  authority  other  than 
advisory  with  respect  to  money  bills,  but  with 
respect  to  other  measures  it  has  the  right  of 
introduction  and  amendment. 

The  cabinet,  called  the  executive  council,  is 
designed  to  secure  both  ministerial  responsibility 
and  professional,  non-political  administration. 
This  feature  will  be  watched  with  the  greatest 
interest  by  those  who  respect  the  cabinet  system 
but  recognize  its  shortcomings  on  the  adminis- 
trative side.  The  ministers  shall  be  chosen  by 
the  representative  of  the  crown,  who  is  to  corre- 
spond to  the  governor  general  of  Canada.  In 
no  case  shall  more  than  seven  be  members  of 
parliament.  The  president  of  the  executive 
council,  in  reality  the  prime  minister,  will  be 
selected  by  the  chamber  and  he  will  in  turn 
appoint  the  other  ministers  who  are  members  of 
parliament.  The  ministers  not  members  of 
parliament  shall  be  chosen  by  the  chamber.  The 
political  ministers  will  retire  from  office  when 
they  lose  the  confidence  of  the  chamber.  The 
non-political  ministers  will  hold  office  during  the 
life  of  the  chamber  or  other  period  fixed  by  law 
and  can  be  removed  only  by  a  form  of  impeach- 
ment. 

Judges  are  to  be  chosen  by  the  executive  coun- 
cil to  serve  during  good  behavior.  It  is  note- 
worthy that  the  High  Court  is  expressly  granted 
the  power  to  declare  a  law  unconstitutional. 
Inferior  courts,  however,  do  not  have  this  power 
of  judicial  review. 

* 

Illinois  Constitutional  Convention  Presents 
New  Constitution.  The  convention  closed  its 
labors  on  June  28,  when  the  draft  of  the  new 
basic  law  was  adopted  by  a  vote  of  55  to  0. 
The  convention  meets  this  month  to  sign  the 
engrossed  instrument,  but  it  is  not  anticipated 
that  any  changes  will  be  made  at  that  time. 

The  story  of  the  convention  is  a  stormy  one. 
The  question  of  Cook  county's  representation  in 
the  legislature  nearly  wrecked  it.  A  compro- 
mise, however,  was  reached  finally  by  which  her 
representation  in  the  lower  house  is  unlimited 
while  her  representatives  in  the  senate  can 
never  exceed  nineteen  or  one-third  of  the  mem- 
bership. 

No  material  changes  were  made  in  the  organ- 
ization of  the  executive  department. 

In  the  organization  of  the  judiciary  a  measure 
of  real  reform  has  been  attained  with  respect  to 


unification  in  Cook  county.  The  supreme  court 
of  the  state  is  ordered  to  establish  a  civil  division 
and  a  criminal  division  of  the  circuit  court  of 
Cook  county.  It  shall  select  a  chief  justice  for 
each  division  with  such  administrative  powers  aa 
the  supreme  court  may  determine. 

An  opportunity  for  a  radical  change  in  the 
method  of  appointment  of  the  circuit  judges  of 
Cook  county  is  provided.  One-tenth  of  the 
voters  may  petition  for  an  election  on  the  propo- 
sition that  vacancies  be  filled  by  the  governor 
from  an  eligible  list  presented  by  a  majority  of 
the  supreme  court.  Each  judge  so  appointed 
will  hold  office  during  good  behavior  except  that 
every  sixth  year  the  voters  of  the  county  shall  be 
given  an  opportunity  to  express  their  disapproval 
of  the  judges  then  in  office.  If  a  majority  ex- 
press disapproval  of  any  judge,  his  office  will 
become  vacant  and  the  vacancy  filled  as  de- 
scribed above.  If  a  majority  of  those  voting 
favor  this  proposition  it  shall  be  declared  adopted. 
The  legislature  is  authorized  after  five  years 
from  the  adoption  of  the  constitution  to  extend 
the  same  system  of  organization  to  the  circuit 
court  throughout  the  state,  subject  to  the 
approval  of  the  voters. 

A  surprising  measure  of  home  rule  was  granted 
Chicago.  She  is  given  full  charter  making  power  - 
Her  charter  may  provide  for  the  consolidation 
with  the  city  of  all  existing  local  governments 
within  the  city  limits  or  of  those  parts  within 
the  city  limits.  Special  and  local  legislation 
relating  to  Chicago  shall  not  apply  without  the 
consent  of  the  city.  She  is  given  power  to  rent, 
own,  construct  and  operate  public  utilities. 
Debts  incurred  in  acquiring  or  constructing 
income  producing  property  for  supplying  trans- 
portation or  water  are  exempt  from  the  general 
debts  limits. 

Although  the  convention  was  instructed  by 
the  voters  to  include  the  initiative  and  referen- 
dum in  the  new  document,  no  provision  is  made 
for  them.  Opposition  has  already  developed  on 
this  and  other  scores,  and  it  remains  to  be  seen 
whether  the  constitution  will  be  adopted  when 
voted  upon  on  December  12. 
* 

St.  Paul's  Zoning  Ordinance.  The  city 
council  of  St.  Paul,  Minnesota  passed  a  zoning 
ordinance  on  July  7.  The  ordinance  was  pre- 
pared by  the  City  Planning  Board  with  George 
H.  Herrold  as  city  planning  engineer,  and  Ed.  II. 
Bennett  and  Wm.  E.  Parsons  of  Chicago  as  con- 
sultants. 


298 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[September 


The  ordinance  provides  for  six  use  districts  and 
four  height  districts,  areas  are  made  to  conform 
to  the  uses  all  shown  on  one  zoning  map.  The 
residential  areas  are  divided  into  A,  B  and  C 
residence  districts.  There  is  also  provided  a 
commercial  district,  a  light  industry  district  and 
a  heavy  industry  district. 

The  material  difference  between  A  and  B 
residence  districts  is  that  the  area  required  per 
family  is  greater  in  the  A  district.  Apart- 
ment houses  are  not  permitted  in  either  A  or  B 
residence  districts,  but  are  permitted  in  the  C 
district.  There  are  special  provisions  in  the 
ordinance  relating  to:  1 — the  grouping  of  insti- 
tutional buildings  in  order  to  preserve  the  resi- 
dential character  in  the  A  and  B  residence  dis- 
tricts; 2 — the  construction  of  public  garages 
which  are  not  permitted  in  the  A,  B  and  C  dis- 
tricts; 3 — the  establishment  of  set  back  lines  in 
the  residential  districts,  and  4 — the  requiring  of 
stores  to  take  the  same  set  back  as  the  residence 
where  they  are  permitted  at  certain  corners  in 
the  residential  areas. 

There  are  four  height  districts:  40 — 75 — 100 
and  150  feet.  The  original  ordinance  called  for 
a  height  limit  of  120  feet  in  the  downtown 
business  district  but  this  was  amended  to  150 
feet  by  the  Council.  There  are  provisions  in 
each  for  increasing  the  height  above  given  by 
setting  back  one  foot  in  height  for  each  foot  the 
building  is  set  back  in  the  40  foot  district;  2f 
feet  in  height  for  each  foot  building  is  set  back  in 
the  75  foot  district;  3J  feet  in  height  for  each 
foot  building  is  set  back  in  the  100  foot  district 
and  4  feet  in  height  for  each  foot  building  is  set 
back  in  the  150  foot  district. 

Provisions  are  made  for  amending  the  ordi- 
nance upon  petition  of  50  per  cent  of  the  owners 
of  the  frontage  after  review  by  the  Board  of 
Zoning  and  a  two-thirds  vote  on  the  part  of  the 
Council. 

There  was  considerable  argument  over  the 
question  of  throwing  residential  areas  along  car 
lines  into  a  business  district,  but  this  was  finally 
accepted,  incorporated  in  the  ordinance  and 
passed  as  to  form  on  the  date  named  June  30, 
and  finally  passed  July  7th,  1922. 

The  field  work  on  the  St.  Paul  zoning  ordinance 
began  in  May,  1921.  A  complete  field  survey 
was  made  to  determine  the  use  of  every  piece  of 
property  in  the  city,  and  these  uses  were  noted 
by  symbols  on  a  new  map  of  the  city  prepared  by 
the  city  planning  board  on  the  scale  of  500  feet 
to  the  inch.  Set-backs,  height  of  buildings,  and 


so  forth  were  also  determined  by  the  survey. 
Upon  this  was  built  up  the  zoning  map. 

All  newspapers  of  the  city  backed  the  zoning 
ordinance  and  the  city  planning  board  to  the 
limit. 

GEOBGE  H.  HERROLD. 
* 

Governor-Elect  Pinchot  Begins  State  Survey. 
The  day  following  Mr.  Pinchot's  nomination  as 
the  Republican  candidate  for  governor  of 
Pennsylvania,  he  appointed  a  citizens'  com- 
mittee to  make  a  survey  of  the  state  finances  with 
particular  attention  to  the  spending  policies  of 
the  administrative  departments.  The  last 
legislature  appropriated  at  least  thirty  million 
dollars  in  excess  of  prospective  income  and, 
since  the  Republican  nomination  in  Pennsyl- 
vania is  tatamount  to  election,  the  next  governor 
is  anxious  to  have  before  him  full  information 
with  respect  to  present  practices  and  construc- 
tive suggestions  to  guide  him  in  preparing  his 
first  budget. 

As  most  of  our  readers  know,  Pennsylvania  is 
one  of  the  two  remaining  states  without  some 
form  of  a  legal  budget  system.  It  is  Mr.  Pin- 
chot's purpose,  however,  to  prepare  a  budget  on 
his  own  responsibility,  using  the  information 
compiled  by  the  committee  he  has  chosen.  Each 
department  will  be  surveyed  by  an  expert  work- 
ing under  a  sub-committee.  The  new  governor 
will  thus  be  acquainted  with  the  business  con- 
dition and  business  practices  of  the  state.  It  is 
the  kind  of  service  with  which  all  incoming  execu- 
tives should  be  supplied  and  the  resulting  devel- 
opments in  Pennsylvania  will  be  watched  with 
interest  everywhere. 

Dr.  Clyde  L.  King  is  chairman  of  the  citizens' 
committee  and  is  devoting  his  full  time  to  the 
work. 

* 

Virginia  Simplification  Commission  Organizes. 
By  call  of  Governor  E.  Lee  Trinkle,  the  Virginia 
Commission  on  Simplification  of  State  Govern- 
ment, authorized  by  the  1922  general  assembly 
of  Virginia,  held  its  initial  meeting  in  the  gover- 
nor's office  at  Richmond  on  July  6, 1922.  Sena- 
tor Julien  Gunn  of  Richmond,  who  was  patron 
of  the  bill  creating  the  commission,  was  elected 
chairman  and  Miss  Adele  Clark  of  Richmond, 
president  of  the  Virginia  League  of  Women 
Voters,  was  elected  secretary. 

Major  LeRoy  Hodges,  Director  of  the  Budget 
and  a  member  and  the  secretary  of  the  former 
Virginia  Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency 


1922] 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


299 


(1916-1918),  was  appointed  technical  advisor  of 
the  commission,  Mr.  John  II.  Bradford,  budget 
statistician,  was  appointed  statistician,  and  Mr. 
C.  H.  Morrissett,  director  of  the  state  legislative 
reference  bureau,  was  appointed  research  advisor. 
The  act  creating  the  commission  (Acts  of 
Assembly,  1922,  Chap,  416,  p.  429-30),  which 
was  approved  March  24,  1922,  provides  that  the 
commission  "shall  investigate  and  study  in 
detail  the  organization  of  the  government  of 
Virginia,  state  and  local,  also  all  bureaus,  depart- 
ments and  institutions"  and  recommend  to  the 
general  assembly  of  1924  "a  plan  for  the  reorgan- 
ization and  simplification  of  all  of  the  component 
parts  of  the  government,  state  and  local,"  and 


the  elimination  of  such  unnecessary  duplications 
in  state  and  local  governmental  agencies  as  may 
be  deemed  in  the  interests  of  economy  and 
efficiency. 

The  act  specifically  provides  that  one  recom- 
mendation of  the  commission  shall  be  confined 
to  such  improvements  in  the  state  and  local 
governments  as  may  be  effected  without  con- 
stitutional amendments,  while  the  other  recom- 
mendation shall  specify  the  changes  in  the  con- 
stitution necessary  to  carry  into  effect  the 
reorganization  suggested.  The  commission  must 
accompany  its  report  to  the  general  assembly  with 
the  necessary  bills  and  constitutional  amend- 
ments to  carry  the  recommendations  into  effect 


H.    JUDICIAL  DECISIONS 


Street  Meetings. — In  pursuance  of  the  power 
granted  under  a  general  statute,  the  city  of 
Mount  Vernon  passed  an  ordinance  prohibiting 
the  holding  of  public  meetings  on  public  streets 
without  a  written  permit  from  the  mayor.  In  a 
proceeding  to  determine  the  constitutionality  of 
the  ordinance,  the  court  held  that  such  an  ordi- 
nance did  not  abridge  the  right  of  free  speech  or 
assemblage,  for  there  is  no  constitutional  privi- 
lege to  exercise  the  right  of  free  speech  on  the 
public  streets  in  the  form  of  a  public  meeting. 
The  mayor's  right  to  grant  or  withhold  a  permit 
carries  with  it  the  exercise  of  discretion  in  the  dis- 
charge of  a  public  duty,  which  discretion  is  to  be 
fairly  and  impartially  exercised,  and  if  not  so 
exercised,  the  persons  denied  the  permit  may 
obtain  relief  by  applying  to  the  courts.1 
* 

Right  of  Council  to  Impeach  Mayor. — The 
council  of  the  city  of  Atlanta  filed  charges  against 
the  mayor,  setting  up  certain  wilful  neglect  of 
duty,  and  refusal  to  discharge  the  duties  of  his 
office.  Under  the  statutes  of  the  state,  the  func- 
tions of  the  city  government  were  placed  under 
the  control  of  the  mayor,  th«  city  council,  and 
other  elected  officers.  The  statutes  provided 
that  the  city  council  should  consist  of  a  mayor 
and  aldermen,  and  that  the  council  shall  be  judge 
of  the  election  and  qualifications  of  its  members, 
and  that  it  may  expel  its  members.  The  ques- 
tion before  the  court  was  whether  the  mayor 
should  be  considered  as  a  member  of  the  council. 
The  court  held  that  the  mayor  is  a  member  of  the 
council,  chief  executive  officer  of  the  city  and  of 


the  executive  department — a  coordinate  branch 
— and  not  a  part  of  the  legislative  branch,  and 
any  power  possessed  by  the  city  council,  if  it  had 
such  power,  could  not  extend  to  removing  him 
from  the  office  of  chief  executive  officer  of  the 
city.  As  a  member  of  the  council,  the  mayor's 
duties  were  more  formal  than  substantial;  that 
he  was  a  member  only  in  so  far  as  pertained  to  his 
duties  of  presiding  over  its  deliberations  and 
casting  a  deciding  vote  in  case  of  a  tie.  A  fur- 
ther reason  was  assigned  for  the  opinion  in  that 
certain  machinery  was  particularly  set  up  in  the 
city  and  village  act  for  the  manner  in  which  the 
mayor  may  be  removed.2 
* 

Councilman  not  Liable  for  Legislative  Discre- 
tion.— The  village  of  Hicksville  contracted  for 
the  improvement  of  certain  streets.  Because  of 
the  stringency  of  the  money  market,  it  was  im- 
possible to  issue  bonds,  and  to  relieve  the  situa- 
tion the  village  council  authorized  the  payment 
of  a  certain  sum  to  a  bond  agent  to  cover  the  cost 
of  expenses  incurred  in  securing  a  buyer  for  the 
bonds.  This  payment  was  in  violation  of  the 
law,  and  it  is  claimed  that  the  council  had  full 
knowledge  of  the  legal  provisions,  and  that  they 
thus  misappropriated  funds  raised  by  taxation. 
The  question  that  came  before  the  court  was 
whether  a  councilman  acting  in  good  faith,  who 
votes  for  the  authorization,  and  therefore  violates 
a  legal  restriction,  thereby  becomes  liable  to  the 
village  for  such  sum  as  may  thereafter  be  paid 
under  the  supposed  authority  of  such  voted 
resolution.  The  court  held  that  the  members  of 


>  People  r.  Atwell,  103  N.  E.  361. 


»  People  r.  Dreher.  134  N.  E.  22. 


300 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[September 


a  municipal  council,  when  acting  in  good  faith, 
are  exempt  from  individual  liability  for  the  exer- 
cise of  their  legislative  discretion  in  voting  as 
such  members  of  the  council  for  or  against  any 
proposed  legislation  before  them  for  considera- 
tion. The  fact  that  the  proposed  legislation  is 
prohibited  by  law  does  not  make  it  any  the  less 
legislative  in  its  nature.  All  persons  dealing 
with  a  municipality  are  bound  to  know  the 
limitations  upon  the  legislative  power  of  its 
legislative  body,  and  upon  subjects  in  excess  of 
such  power,  they  deal  with  it  at  their  peril.3 

* 

Assessment  Basis  for  Limitation. — In  a  suit 
brought  to  annul  a  bond  issue  authorized  by  the 
taxpayers  of  Cedar  Grove,  the  question  was  pre- 
sented as  to  whether  the  constitutional  limitation 
on  the  bonded  indebtedness  should  be  based  on 
the  last  assessment  filed  before  the  submission  of 
the  proposition  to  the  taxpayers  for  their  ap- 
proval or  rejection,  or  whether  it  should  be  based 
on  the  last  assessment  filed  before  the  bonds  are 
issued?  The  court  held  that  the  limitation 
should  be  based  on  the  last  assessment  before 
election.  The  judgment  of  the  court  was  based 
on  the  ground  that  the  taxpayer  should  have 
something  definite  upon  which  to  base  his  vote. 
"If  the  future  assessment  is  held  to  be  the  one  in- 
tended, then  a  fact  of  importance  at  once  becomes 
unknown."  The  belief  of  the  court  was  that  the 
taxpayer  should  have  a  definite  base  upon  which 
to  grant  a  bonding  authority,  and  that  the  law 
should  be  interpreted  as  being  based  on  the  last 
assessment  before  election.4 

* 

Powers  of  Health  Boards  Defined. — In  an 
action  against  a  health  officer  for  damages  from 
confinement  in  a  detention  hospital  where  the  re- 
straint of  plaintiff's  person  was  made  to  appear, 
the  court  held  that  the  power  to  protect  the  pub- 
lic health  vested  by  law  in  public  health  boards 
is  to  be  exercised  through  reasonable  rules  and 
regulations  duly  promulgated.  Whether  rules 
and  regulations  of  public  health  boards  are  lawful 
and  reasonable,  considering  the  true  end  in  view 
and  personal  rights  guaranteed  citizens  by  the 
Constitution,  constitute  judicial  questions  be- 
yond the  power  of  the  legislature  to  foreclose. 
No  executive  board,  such  as  a  board  of  health, 
can  render  its  officers  immune  from  judicial 
injury  when  a  claimed  unlawful  exercise  of  au- 

»  The  Village  of  Hicksmtte  v.  Blakeslee,  134  N.  E.  445. 
4  Kansas  City  South  Railway  Co.  v.  Hendricks,  90 
South  545. 


thorityhas  been  visited  upon  a  citizen  and  redress 
is  asked.  The  method  adopted  or  exercised  by 
an  executive  board  to  prevent  the  spread  of  a 
dangerous  communicable  disease  must  bear 
some  true  relation  to  the  danger  and  be  reason- 
able, having  in  mind  the  end  to  be  attained,  and 
must  not  transgress  the  security  of  the  person 
beyond  public  necessity.5 

General  and  Special  Assessments. — By  vote 
of  the  electors  the  city  of  Rulo  was  authorized  to 
expend  not  to  exceed  $13,000  for  the  purpose  of 
constructing  a  water  system  inclusive  of  water 
mains,  hydrants  and  stand  pipe.  The  assessed 
valuation  of  the  city  was  $67,000.  On  receiv- 
ing this  authority  the  city  council  proceeded  to 
let  contracts  for  the  construction  of  pumps, 
buildings  and  a  filter  plant  to  the  amount  of 
$11,995.  The  city  council  then,  by  unanimous 
vote,  in  order  to  provide  water  mains,  a  stand 
pipe  and  hydrants  passed  a  resolution,  describ- 
ing the  entire  city  as  a  special  assessment  district 
for  the  construction  of  these  projects  at  an  esti- 
mated cost  of  $30,000.  By  the  two  methods  of 
general  taxation  and  special  assessment,  the  pro- 
posed expenditure  would  amount  to  $42,000, 
which  is  approximately  60  per  cent  of  the  total 
valuation  of  all  the  property  in  the  city,  and 
greatly  in  excess  of  a  20  per  cent  limitation.  The 
court  held:  the  powers  delegated  to  a  city  to  con- 
struct local  improvements  and  levy  special  as- 
sessments is  to  be  strictly  constructed  against  the 
city,  and  every  reasonable  doubt  as  to  the  extent 
of  such  power  is  resolved  against  the  city.  As 
all  the  property  in  the  city  had  been  included  in 
one  taxing  district,  and  as  the  expenditure  for 
the  entire  system  was  an  amount  in  excess  of  20 
per  cent  of  the  taxable  property  of  the  city,  the 
court  believed  that  in  so  doing  the  city  had  vio- 
lated the  lawful  limitation  fixed  by  statute.  The 
principles  underlying  the  levy  of  a  general  tax, 
and  the  levy  of  special  assessments  is  lost  sight  of 
when  the  improvement  proposed  is  of  such  a 
character  and  of  such  general  benefit  to  the  entire 
city  that  all  property  in  the  city  must  be  in- 
cluded within  a  single  taxation  district,  so  as  to 
make  the  improvement  possible.  The  obvious 
purpose  of  the  limiting  statute,  that  of  giving  the 
taxpayer  protection,  would  be  thwarted  by  hold- 
ing that  the  city  authorities  might  by  special  as- 
sessment covering  the  entire  property  in  the  city, 
do  what  they  would  clearly  be  prohibited  from 
doing  by  a  general  tax.8 

«  Rock  v.  Carney,  185  N.  W.  798. 

•  Futscher  et  Al  v.  City  of  Rulo  et  Al,  186  N.  W.  536. 


1922] 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


301 


Estimates  for  Improvements  Need  Not  Be 
Definite. — Where  a  city  engineer  submitted  to  the 
city  council  in  writing  an  estimate  of  the  coat  of  a 
paving  improvement  based  upon  the  unit  plan, 
and  also  based  upon  the  then  existing  freight 
rates  upon  the  material  to  be  used,  with  the  oral 
information  that,  if  the  freight  rates  on  the 
materials  to  be  used  should  be  advanced,  his 
estimate  of  the  cost  should  be  correspondingly 
increased,  and  where  the  city  council  entered  into 
contract  with  certain  persons  to  do  such  paving 


for  the  unit  price  named  in  such  estimate,  which 
contract  contains  a  stipulation  that  if  the  freight 
rates  upon  the  materials  used  should  be  advanced, 
the  cost  should  be  correspondingly  increased, 
and,  if  lowered,  correspondingly  decreased,  such 
contract  is  in  compliance  with  the  general  statute, 
which  requires  that  no  contract  shall  be  let  for  a 
price  in  excess  of  the  engineer's  contract.7 

ROBERT  M.  GOODBICH. 

'  State  v.  March,  187  N.  W.  84. 


III.    CITY   MANAGER  NOTES 


Politicians  have  developed  a  new  method  in 
Columbus,  Ga.,  of  showing  their  disapproval  of 
city  manager  government.  Manager  H.  Gordon 
Hinkle  was  hit  on  the  head  with  a  billy  and  the 
mayor's  house  was  bombed,  following  letters 
which  were  sent  to  both  men  threatening  that 
action  would  be  taken  against  them  if  the 
"damned  Yankee"  managerwas  not  immediately 
dismissed.  Manager  H  inkle's  reorganization 
and  moving  the  municipal  feed  trough  out  from 
under  the  noses  of  the  gang  was  responsible  for 
this  attitude,  which  developed  after  his  arrival  in 
Columbus  on  January  1  of  this  year.  Statements 
are  openly  made  that  the  manager  unearthed 
numerous  leaks  in  the  administration  and  system- 
atized the  administration  in  a  commendable  man- 
ner. The  best  citizens  of  the  community  were 
disappointed  to  learn  of  his  evacuation  after  hav- 
ing advised  the  editor  of  the  principal  newspaper 
that  he  had  plead  with  the  commission  for  five 
weeks  to  allow  him  to  clean  house  in  the  police 
department.  As  a  result  of  their  refusal,  he 
states,  conditions  became  intolerable.  Mr. 
Hinkle  was  manager  of  Altoona,  Pa.,  until  the 
first  of  the  year,  at  which  time  Altoona  aban- 
doned city  manager  government.  It  had  been 
operating  under  an  ordinance  which  a  new  city 
council  repealed. 

* 

A  City  Manager  has  again  taken  the  lead  in 
bringing  about  the  establishment  of  another  co- 
operative forward  movement  in  city  govern- 
ment. What  seems  to  be  the  first  convention  of 
mayors,  city  councilmen,  and  commissioners 
ever  held  in  Florida,  was  called  in  May  by  city 
manager  Hall  of  Tampa.  The  convention  out- 
lined a  very  interesting  plan  for  mutual  self-help 
among  the  Florida  cities.  Manager  Hall  was 
elected  president.  He  is  the  fifth  city  manager 
4 


who  is  president  of  his  state  league  of  munici- 
palities. 

* 

That  Some  Managers  are  leaders  of  men  is  in- 
dicated by  the  fact  the  when  Manager  Thompson 
of  Phoenix  resigned,  the  city  employees  in  ap- 
preciation of  his  valued  leadership  presented  him 
with  a  beautiful  diamond  set  82-degree  Scottish 
Rite  Masonic  ring. 

* 

The  Friends  of  City  Manager  Government  will 
regret  to  learn  of  the  recent  death  of  Dayton's 
first  citizen  and  the  father  of  city  manager 
government  in  Dayton,  Mr.  John  H.  Patterson, 
who  was  also  president  of  the  National  Cash 
Register  Company. 

* 

Numerous  Interesting  Articles  have  appeared 
in  recent  issues  of  the  City  Manager  Monthly 
Bulletin:  Plain  Business  Methods  Show  Results  in 
New  London,  Conn.;  Results  of  the  Recreation 
Movement  in  City  Manager  Cities;  Man  Wanted; 
"P.  R.";  Public  Ownership;  Is  the  City  Manager 
Plan  Applicable  to  Our  Largest  Cities? 
* 

Manager  Hewes  of  Long  Beach  is  calling 
weekly  meetings  of  department  heads  in  order  to 
bring  about  a  better  cooperation  and  coordina- 
tion of  municipal  functions.  The  council  is  pro- 
posing amendments  to  the  charter,  which  went 
into  effect  just  a  year  ago. 
* 

The  Following  Managers  have  been  called  on 
to  address  meetings  on  the  advantages  of  city 
manager  government:  Seavey,  Koiner,  Osborn, 
Graeser,  Garrett,  Hickok,  Mendenhall,  and 
Roark. 


302 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[September 


An  Illinois  Manager  took  his  hat  to  a  cleaner 
who  ruined  it.  When  the  manager  called  for  it 
he  demanded  the  price  of  the  hat,  which  the 
cleaner  refused,  but  he  wanted  the  pay  for  the 
cleaning.  A  little  argument  resulted  and  the 
cleaner  sent  for  a  policeman.  When  the  officer 
arrived  the  city  manager  had  the  cleaner  ar- 
rested, much  to  his  surprise  and  he  had  to  pay 
the  price  of  the  hat  plus  costs.  The  moral 
probably  is  not  to  do  dirty  business  with  a  city 
manager  or  you  may  be  cleaned  in  the  long  run. 
* 

Interest  is  being  shown  in  city  manager 
government  in  the  following  cities:  Stockton, 
Calif.,  Northfield,  Minn.,  Pendleton,  Ore.,  Red- 
field,  S.  D.,  Kissimmee,  Fla.,  Port  Huron,  Mich., 
Greenwood,  Miss.,  Hillsboro,  O.,  Harriman, 
Tenn.,  Barberton,  O.,  Annapolis,  Md.,  Clover- 
dale,  B.  C.,  Calgary,  Alberta,  Lakewood,  O., 
North  Platte,  Nebr.,  Newton,  Kans.,  Beverly, 
Mass.,  Morristown,  Tenn.,  Harrisonburg,  Va., 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  Hoquiam,  Wash.,  San  Lorenz, 
Calif.,  National  City,  Calif.,  Venice,  Calif.,  To- 
peka,  Kans.,  Independence,  Coffeyville,  Ottawa, 
Emporia,  Parsons,  Chanute,  Garnett,  Hanson, 
Kans.,  Oskaloosa,  Des  Moines,  la. 
* 

The  "P.  R."  Clause  in  the  manager  amend- 
ments to  the  Cleveland  charter  has  stood  the 
test  in  two  courts. 

* 

The  Minneapolis  Charter  Commission  is  await- 
ing the  decision  of  the  higher  courts  of  California 
and  Ohio  on  "P.  R."  before  they  finally  decide  to 
incorporate  "P.  R."  in  their  proposed  manager 
charter. 

* 

The  Defeat  of  the  manager  proposal  in  Atlanta, 
Ga.,  may  be  attributed  to  three  causes.  First, 
the  strength  of  the  ring;  second,  the  fact  that  the 
ring  capitalized  the  unfortunate  experience  of  the 
city  manager  in  Columbus;  third,  city  mana- 
ger advocates  were  divided  regarding  their  ideas 
as  to  what  the  city  manager  provision  should 
contain. 

* 

Chase  City,  Va.,  adopted  city  manager  plan 
June  1,  1922.  J.  R.  Simons  has  been  appointed 
city  manager. 

* 

Eastman,  Ga.,  adopted  a  city  manager  charter 
January  1, 1922  and  started  operating  under  this 
charter  January  1,  1922.  LeRoy  Phar  has  been 
appointed  manager. 


Gainesville,  Texas,  adopted  city  manager  plan 
by  ordinance  April  1922. 
* 

Marysville,  Calif.,  adopted  city  manager  plan 
by  ordinance  July  10,  1922.     J.  O.  Wanzer  has 
been  appointed  city  manager. 
* 

Peru,  Ind.,  voted  on  this  question  June  13, 
1922.     The  votes  cast  were  24,013  against  the 
charter  and  417  for  the  charter.     Less  than  half 
of  the  vote  of  the  city  was  cast. 
* 

Existing  Manager  Cities  which  have  previously 

not  been  listed  are:  Devol,  Okla.,  Max  L.  Mc- 

Clure;  Gainesville,  Fla.,  G.  H.  Cairns;  Tulia,  Tex., 

C.  R.  Walters;  Grandfield,  Okla.,  George  Hoefer. 

* 

The  Policies  of  City  Manager  Government 
in  Long  Beach  and  Pasadena,  Calif.,  and  Wheel- 
ing, W.  Va.,  have  just  been  endorsed  by  the 
people  by  their  voting  enormous  bond  issues  for 
municipal  improvements. 
* 

The  Incumbent  Administration  has  just  been 

given  a  vote  of  confidence  by  re-election  to  office 

of  all  the  commissioners  in  the  following  cities: 

Mansfield,  Mass.,  Muskogee,  Okla.,  Norfolk,  Va. 

* 

Lakeland,  Fla.,  voted  on  a  new  manager 
charter  August  1.  Several  years  ago  Lakeland 
employed  a  manager  by  ordinance,  and  later  dis- 
pensed with  him,  returning  to  the  commission 
form. 

* 

Marysville,  Calif.,  has  had  what  they  called 
city  manager  government  since  1919,  but  has  not 
been  listed.  Beginning  July  10  a  new  manager 
took  office,  who  has  been  given  broader  powers 
by  the  council. 

* 

New  Appointments. — The  following  new  ap- 
pointments have  been  reported:  Wilbur  M. 
Cotton,  Ashtabula,  O.  (former  manager  of  Edge- 
worth,  Sewickley,  and  Ambridge,  Pa.  This 
registers  the  fifty-second  promotion  of  city 
managers);  former  City  Clerk  T.  J.  Pedler, 
Muskegon  Heights,  Mich.,  $2750;  Anton 
Schneider,  Bartow,  Fla.,  $3000;  J.  D.  Whitfield, 
Terrell,  Tex.,  $2400;  B.  H.  Calkins,  Albuquerque, 
N.  M.,  $3600;  W.  C.  Foster,  Phoenix,  Ariz., 
$7500;  C.  A.  Bratton,  Brownwood,  Tex.;  Harry 
S.  Starr,  Birmingham,  Mich.;  J.  R.  Simmons, 
Chase  City,  Va.;  E.  E.  Lothrop,  Mansfield,  Mass. 
(This  is  the  twenty-third  case  of  subscribing 


1922] 


NOTES  AND   EVENTS 


303 


members  of  the  City  Managers'  Association 
stepping  into  the  active  ranks);  L.  E.  Orford, 
Clovis,  N.  M.;  C.  J.  Manning,  Sapulpa,  Okla., 
$4800.  (This  is  the  fifty-third  promotion  of  a  city 
manager);  Lon  Barringer,  Charleston,  W.  Va.; 
L.  G.  Garretson,  Yale,  Okla.;  C.  R.  Walters, 
Tulia,  Tex.;  E.  I.  Jackson,  San  Angelo,  Tex.; 
W.  B.  Hodges,  Daytona,  Fla.,  $4500;  T.  V. 
Stevens,  Excelsior  Springs,  Mo.,  $4000.  (This 
is  the  fifty-fourth  promotion  of  a  city  manager) ; 
George  W.  Perkins,  Mexia,  Tex.;  H.  J.  Bradshaw 
who  was  succeeded  by  H.  D.  Wade,  now  succeeds 
him  as  manager  of  Stamford,  Tex.;  John  W. 


Ballew,  after  a  two  years'  vacation,  is  again 
manager  of  Hickory,  N.  C.  He  was  the  seventh 
manager  to  enter  the  profession.  His  son,  R.  D. 
Ballew,  is  manager  of  Sturgis,  Mich.  So  far  as  is 
known  this  is  the  only  case  of  father  and  son  be- 
ing managers  at  the  same  time.  Oscar  Dobbs, 
Nowata,  Okla.  (This  is  the  fifty-fifth  promotion 
of  city  managers) ;  B.  H.  Crawford,  Columbus, 
Ga.,  $8000;  J.  O.  Wanzer,  Marysville,  Calif.; 
F.  R.  Harris,  Escanaba,  Mich.,  $6000.  Two 
more  assistant  city  manager  appointments  have 
been  reported.  H.  G.  Schutt,  Bluefield,  W.  Va. 
and  Walter  Barber,  Long  Beach,  Calif. 


IV.  MISCELLANEOUS 


The  Tribunal  of  Justice. — The  Arbitration 
Society  of  America,  organized  to  promote  arbi- 
tration of  disputes  without  recourse  to  a  formal 
trial,  has  set  up  a  Tribunal  of  Justice  in  New 
York  which  heard  its  first  case  last  July.  This 
case  presented  a  complicated  little  partnership 
wrangle  and  was  one  of  those  disputes  that  might 
drag  through  the  courts  for  years,  piling  up  ex- 
pense and  engendering  bitterness.  But  in  this 
new  court,  before  a  well  qualified  arbitrator  able 
to  weigh  and  appraise  the  evidence  presented  by 
both  sides,  the  misunderstanding  seemed  to  melt 
away. 

The  outstanding  feature  of  the  trial  was  the 
way  in  which  the  procedure  was  stripped  of  the 
old  embarrassment  of  legal  technicality  and  red 
tape.  The  manner  in  which  the  facts  were 
gleaned  and  the  decision  rendered  was  most 
gratifying. 

No  summons,  complaint,  answer,  demurrer  or 
other  pleadings  were  required.  The  arbitration 
agreement  set  forth  in  five  or  six  lines  the  point 
at  issue,  and  both  disputants  proceeded  to  the  im- 
provised courtroom  in  the  Lawyers'  Club  to 
present  their  testimony  before  Alexander  Rose, 
an  associate  of  Judge  Moses  H.  Grossman,  who 
was  agreed  upon  as  arbitrator. 

Under  the  method  adopted  at  the  trial  the 
taking  of  all  the  evidence  in  the  case  on  both 
sides  occupied  one  hour  and  fifteen  minutes. 
Each  party  waived  the  taking  of  an  oath  by  the 
other,  and  the  mode  of  adducing  testimony  was 
to  permit  each  of  the  parties  to  proceed  in  a  con- 
versational manner  without  being  obstructed  by 
technical  objections  or  nonplussed  by  subtle 
cross-examination. 

Full  authority  for  the  new  Tribunal  of  Justice 
is  found  in  the  Arbitration  Law  of  New  York, 


amended  in  1920.  Stripped  of  its  legal  phrase- 
ology, this  statute  provides  substantially  as 
follows: 

1 .  Excepting  in  a  small  class  of  specified  actions, 
two  or  more  persons  can  agree  in  writing  to  sub- 
mit any  actionable  difference  or  controversy  to 
arbitration,  and  such  written  agreement  to  arbi- 
trate is  binding  and  irrevocable. 

2.  An  arbitrator  may  be  any  person  selected  by 
the  parties,  and  such  arbitrator  is  endowed  by 
the  statute  with  power  to  subpoena  witnesses, 
compel  production  of  books  and  papers  material 
to  the  issue,  and,  in  almost  all  essential  respects, 
to  exercise  the  same  authority  with  which  a 
judge  is  clothed  in  the  conduct  of  a  trial. 

3.  The  award  of  an  arbitrator,  upon  the  ap- 
plication of  either  party  to  the  proceeding,  will  be 
confirmed  by  the  court  and  will  then  become,  and 
will  be  enforcible,  as  a  judgment  of  that  court. 

4.  The  award  of  an  arbitrator  is  final  and  will 
be  vacated  by  the  court  only  if  procured  by  fraud, 
corruption,  misconduct  or  excess  of  authority  by 
the  arbitrator. 

The  Arbitration  Society  is  conducting  a  cam- 
paign to  have  enacted  a  uniform  arbitration  law 
in  every  state. 

* 

A  Loan  Slide  Library. — The  Buffalo  Society  of 
Natural  Sciences,  incorporated  in  1863,  is  setting 
a  1922  example.  It  has  established  a  visual  ed- 
ucation department  where  35,000  lantern  slides, 
arranged  in  some  700  lecture  seta,  are  loaned,  to- 
gether with  the  text  of  the  lecture  and  the  lantern 
to  members  or  those  vouched  for  by  members. 
Last  year  354,599  slides  were  loaned.  In  the 
month  of  March  alone  999  lecture  sets  were 
circulated  or  an  average  of  33  lectures  every  day 
including  Sunday. 


304 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[September 


The  catalogue  of  slides  covers  the  art  of  all 
nations;  biography,  such  as  slides  of  Washington, 
Lincoln,  Lowell,  Shakespeare  and  others;  history; 
cities  of  the  United  States;  the  United  States 
possessions;  scenic  United  States;  literature, 
which  visualizes  famous  books  such  as  Sir  Laun- 
fal,  Ben  Hur,  Pilgrim's  Progress,  Evangeline, 
Ivanhoe  and  Hiawatha;  Americanization;  Buf- 
falo city;  juvenile  slides  illustrating  children's 
stories;  Biblical  slides  for  churches;  geographical 
slides  of  the  United  States  and  New  York  state; 
agriculture;  foreign  travel;  natural  history;  com- 
mercial and  industrial  slides. 

The  travel  lectures,  as  might  be  expected,  are 
the  most  popular.  The  charming  colored  slides 
of  the  Grand  Canyon  and  the  Yellowstone  are 
called  for  more  often  than  any  others,  but  the 
city  planning  slides  prepared  to  aid  in  the  popu- 
lar understanding  and  appreciation  of  Buffalo's 
city  plan,  have  been  used  on  frequent  occasions. 

The  Association  for  its  museums,  public  lec- 
tures and  visual  education  department  receives 
annually  a  popular  support  in  dues  of  some 
$20,000,  interest  from  permanent  invested  funds 
of  $6,500,  from  a  revolving  fund  $5,500  and  from 
the  City  of  Buffalo  itself  $30,000,  making  an  an- 
nual income  slightly  in  excess  of  $60,000.  This 
year  the  city  has  appropriated  $40,000  for  the 
Society. 

The  loans  are  made  for  48  hours,  Sundays  and 
holidays  not  included,  with  a  penalty  of  25  cents 
a  set  of  slides,  one  dollar  for  the  lantern  and  one 
dollar  for  the  manuscript  for  each  day  material 
is  kept  beyond  this  period. 

HARLEAN  JAMES. 
* 

The  Cost  of  Government,  City  of  Detroit,  is 
the  subject  of  the  July  issue  of  Public  Busi- 
ness, published  by  the  Detroit  Bureau  of 
Governmental  Research.  It  analyzes  and  com- 
pares sources  of  revenue,  the  object  of  appropria- 
tion and  the  purpose  of  appropriations.  It  also 
summarizes  the  budget  showing  items  of  fixed 
charges,  operation  and  maintenance,  capital 
costs  and  deficits. 

The  current  year's  budget  is  3,500,000  dollars 
larger  than  last  year,  the  assessed  valuation  is 
100,000,000  dollars  greater  and  the  tax  rate  has 
increased  38  cents. 

* 

State  Budget  Systems  is  the  title  of  a  report 
just  issued  by  the  Research  Bureau  of  the 
Pennsylvania  State  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
Pennsylvania  remains  one  of  the  two  states 


without  a  formal  budget  system.  The  report 
describes  present  financial  methods  in  that  state 
and  outlines  the  budget  systems  of  other  states 
with  a  compilation  of  opinions  as  to  their 
effectiveness. 

* 

The  Illinois  Chamber  of  Commerce  is  con- 
ducting a  referendum  on  the  question  of  whether 
cities  of  more  than  5,000  population  should  be 
free  to  adopt  city  manager  government.  Cities 
of  less  than  5,000  already  have  this  privilege. 
* 

The  Union  of  Canadian  Municipalities  held  its 
twenty-second  annual  convention  in  Winnipeg, 
August  8  to  10.  Municipal  finance,  hydro- 
electric systems,  good  roads  and  public  health 
were  the  prominent  subjects  on  the  program. 
W.  D.  Lighthall,  K.  C.,  a  vice-president  of  the 
N.  M.  L.,  was  the  organizer  and  for  years  the 
secretary-treasurer  of  the  Union.  The  present 
secretary  is  A.  S.  Shibley,  Montreal. 
* 

California  Wants  Executive  Budget. — Lieu- 
tenant Governor  Young  of  California  is  advocat- 
ing an  executive  budget.  He  wants  the  gover- 
nor to  be  responsible  for  the  "financial  picture" 
and  is  supporting  the  budget  amendment  to  the 
constitution  drawn  by  the  Commonwealth  Club 
of  San  Francisco. 

* 

Richard  B.  Watrous  has  recently  accepted  the 
position  of  general  secretary  of  the  Providence 
(R.  I.)  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
* 

Buffalo  Adopts  City  Plan. — In  June  the  city 
council  of  Buffalo,  by  a  vote  of  four  to  one, 
adopted  the  city  plan  which  has  been  prepared. 
By  a  unanimous  vote  the  Niagara  Square  site 
was  chosen  for  the  civic  center. 
* 

Palos  Verdes  a  New  Suburb. — Los  Angeles  is 
to  have  the  most  extensive  piece  of  city  planning 
ever  undertaken  by  private  enterprise  for  per- 
manent development.  16,000  acres  (25  square 
miles)  including  14  miles  of  ocean  front  will  be 
laid  out  by  Olmsted  Brothers,  Mr.  Cheney  and 
others.  A  fund  of  $35,000,000  is  being  under- 
written on  a  nation-wide  plan. 
* 

Mariemont,  a  Garden  City. — Dr.  John  Nolen 
announces  the  establishment  of  Mariemont  in 
the  Cincinnati  district.  The  plan  covers  365 
acres.  The  community  will  be  self-contained. 


NATIONAL 
MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


VOL.  XI,  No.  10 


OCTOBER,  1922 


TOTAL  No.  76 


COMMENT 


The  people  of  California  will  vote  in 
November  on  a  proposed  amendment 
to  the  constitution  giving  the  state 
railroad  commission  exclusive  power 
to  grant  franchises  to  street  and  inter- 
urban  railways. 

* 

The  Republican  ballot  in  the  re- 
cent primary  in  the  St.  Louis  district 
was  a  narrow  strip  six  feet  long.  Is 
it  fair  to  blame  the  primary  if  poor 
candidates  are  nominated? 
* 

We  are  glad  to  announce  that  Mr. 
Paul  B.  Wilcox  has  consented  to  be- 
come associate  editor  of  the  REVIEW 
in  charge  of  city  manager  affairs. 
Mr.  Wilcox  is  secretary  of  the  City 
Managers'  Association.  His  address 
is  East  Cleveland,  Ohio. 
* 

An  Institute  of  Public  Adminis- 
tration has  been  organized  in  England. 
In  it  are  united  for  the  first  time  the 
civil  servants  (i.e.,  national  govern- 
ment servants)  and  the  local  govern- 
ment officials.  Lord  Haldane  is  a 
vice-president.  The  purpose  of  the 
Institute  is  to  develop  public  service 
as  a  profession  by  the  study  of  public 
administration.  A  quarterly  journal 
will  be  published  and  series  of  lectures 
arranged  extending  to  several  of  the 
larger  cities. 


Sufficient  petitions  have  been  col- 
lected in  Dayton,  Ohio,  to  bring  about 
an  election  on  a  return  to  the  mayor 
and  council  plan  of  government.  The 
proposed  charter  calls  for  the  election 
of  a  mayor,  vice-mayor,  auditor, 
treasurer,  city  solicitor  and  twelve 
councilmen  elected  by  wards.  It  is 
generally  believed,  however,  that  city 
manager  government  has  nothing  to 
fear  and  that  an  election  will  be 
effective  in  silencing  some  persistent 
kickers.  The  election  will  probably 
come  in  November. 
* 

During  the  first  half  of  the  present 
fiscal  year  the  division  of  public 
works  of  New  Orleans  exceeded  its 
budget  in  repairing  the  admittedly 
bad  streets  inherited  from  the  pre- 
vious administration.  The  finance 
commission  now  proposes  that  other 
departments  which  are  ahead  of  their 
budgets  contribute  to  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  streets.  This  the  directors 
of  the  departments  refuse  to  do  and 
there  have  been  sharp  words  about 
"inefficient  management."  The  situ- 
ation illustrates  the  grievous  limita- 
tion of  government  by  commission. 
Proper  centralized  planning  and  super- 
vision is  lacking,  and  the  people  of 
New  Orleans  will  have  to  get  over  the 
broken-down  streets  as  best  they  may. 


306 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[October 


Life  has  not  been  dull  for 
Out  gam  ^.  manager  government 
In  Again  .  c  .  ,  ^  A 

in  Stratford,  Conn.  As  re- 
corded in  our  May  number,  the  city 
council  without  previous  warning  voted 
to  oust  the  manager,  R.  H.  Hunter, 
the  specific  charges  being  that  he  had 
ordered  two  ash  cans  before  signing 
the  requisition  therefor,  and  by  order- 
ing a  coal  bin  filled,  had  bought  seven 
tons  of  coal  when  he  meant  to  buy 
but  five.  At  once  the  indignant  cit- 
izens petitioned  for  the  recall  of  the 
councilmen  who  had  voted  to  discharge 
Mr.  Hunter.  Efforts  on  the  part  of 
council  to  prevent  a  recall  election 
were  frustrated  by  appeal  to  the  courts, 
and  at  the  subsequent  election  five 
councilmen  were  recalled  and  replaced 
by  those  favoring  the  manager  form. 
The  new  council  quickly  invited  Mr. 
Hunter  to  return  to  Stratford,  so  after 
an  enforced  vacation  he  is  back  on  the 
job.  The  story  has  all  the  dramatic 
qualities  of  a  movie  scenario. 

* 
In  the  Republican  guber- 

People  Approve  •   i          •  i     i  j 

T13TOTM31        T")7*l  TY1 3  I*V       ilfMfl 

Nebraska   Code  ',      . 

in  Nebraska  during  the 

latter  part  of  July,  the  administrative 
code  adopted  in  1919  was  the  main 
issue.  For  almost  four  years  the  ad- 
ministrative organization  set  up  by  the 
code  has  been  the  subject  of  attack  by 
certain  members  of  the  legislature  and 
others  within  the  state.  Three  can- 
didates ran  in  the  primary.  Mr.  By- 
rum,  a  member  of  the  house,  stood  for 
the  repeal  of  the  code  and  the  consoli- 
dation of  the  work  of  the  six  code  de- 
partments with  the  constitutional  ad- 
ministrative offices.  Mr.  McMullen, 
formerly  a  member  of  the  legislature 
and  a  candidate  for  nomination  against 
Governor  McKelvie  two  years  ago, 
was  not  favorable  to  the  continuation 
of  the  code  organization.  Mr.  Randall, 
a  member  of  the  state  senate,  was  a 
consistent  supporter  of  the  code. 


The  results  of  the  primary  show  that 
the  people  of  the  state,  at  least  those 
that  voted  the  Republican  ticket,  are 
in  favor  of  maintaining  the  code  or- 
ganization. Mr.  Randall  was  nomi- 
nated for  governor  over  Mr.  McMullen. 
Mr.  Byrum  ran  a  poor  third;  in  fact, 
he  got  only  one  vote  in  every  ten  cast 
at  the  primary. 

A.  E.  B. 
* 

Are  Postmasters  It  will  be  remembered 
Under  Civil  that  President  Harding 
Service?  by  the  executive  order 

of  May,  10,  1921,  continued  the  co- 
operation of  the  civil  service  com- 
mission in  the  selection  of  presi- 
dential postmasters  but  with  mod- 
ifications upon  the  earlier  Wilson 
order  to  provide  that  the  first  three  on 
the  list  should  be  eligible  instead  of 
the  highest  man  only.  It  now  tran- 
spires that  the  postmaster  general  is 
soliciting  the  recommendation  of  con- 
gressmen as  to  which  of  the  three 
eligibles  he  shall  appoint.  "Other 
things  being  equal,"  writes  Dr.  Work, 
"we  send  to  the  president  the  name 
of  a  Republican,  if  there  is  one  on  the 
list."  The  reason  for  this,  continues 
the  postmaster  general,  is  that  the  pres- 
ident may  be  surrounded  by  friends  and 
well-wishers  and  not  by  persons  in 
pivotal  positions  who  would  put  snares 
under  his  feet.  He  also  observes  that 
for  the  president  to  limit  himself  to  the 
appointment  of  the  first  on  the  list, 
prepared  by  his  own  civil  service  com- 
mission, would  be  a  surrender  of  his 
constitutional  right  to  appoint.  Surely 
the  postmaster  general  needs  better 
advice  on  constitutional  law  than  he 
has  been  getting. 

The  president,  surrounded  by  well- 
wishing  postmasters,  is  a  picture  to 
gladden  the  heart  of  any  politician. 
Think  of  all  the  political  work  he  can 
get  out  of  them.  Yet  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  necessity  of  postmasters  in 


1922] 


COMMENT 


307 


A  Standard 
Zoning  Act 


political  sympathy  with  the  president 
so  that  his  key  men  will  be  "sympa- 
thetic" is  mere  buncombe.  What  is 
required  is  a  professional  attitude 
towards  their  work  and  freedom  from 
political  obligations.  Mr.  Foulke,  writ- 
ing to  Dr.  Work,  scores  when  he  states 
that  the  solicitation  of  advice  from 
congressmen  with  reference  to  ap- 
pointments is  a  blunt  warning  to  mem- 
bers of  other  parties  not  to  compete. 
In  fact  such  practice  would  be  il- 
legal if  such  postmasterships  were 
among  the  positions  regularly  classi- 
fied under  federal  statute. 

There  is  a  popular  impression  that 
postmasters  are  selected  under  the 
merit  system.  We  wonder  if  it  is 
true. 

* 

Mr.  Hoover's  Advisory 
Committee  on  Zoning 
has  reported  a  standard 
zoning  enabling  act  for  adoption  by 
state  legislatures.  The  committee 
points  out  that  even  in  home  rule 
states  the  courts  have  set  aside  zoning 
ordinances  on  the  ground  that  the  city 
had  not  been  granted  specific  power  to 
do  that  which  zoning  implies.  No 
constitutional  amendment  is  necessary 
but  an  enabling  act  is  important.  A 
prominent  feature  of  the  model  act  is 
a  board  of  adjustment  to  review  the 
orders  of  administrative  officials 
charged  with  the  enforcement  of  the 
zoning  ordinance.  To  upset  such  an 
order,  however,  concurrence  of  four  of 
the  five  members  of  this  board  is 
necessary.  The  zoning  ordinance, 
once  adopted,  may  be  modified  by 
simple  majority  vote  of  the  city  coun- 
cil, but  should  twenty  percent  of  the 
property  owners  directly  affected  pro- 
test such  change,  the  concurrence  of 
three-fourths  of  council  is  necessary. 
The  scope  of  zoning  is  defined  as  the 
regulation  and  restriction  of  "The 
height,  number  of  stories  and  size  of 


buildings  and  other  structures,  the  per- 
centage of  lot  that  may  be  occupied, 
the  size  of  yards,  courts  and  other 
open  spaces,  the  density  of  population, 
and  the  location  and  the  use  of  build- 
ings, structures,  and  land  for  trade, 
industry,  residence  or  other  purposes." 
The  purpose  of  zoning  is  admirably 
defined  in  the  act  as 

Regulations  made  in  accordance  with  com- 
prehensive plan  and  designed  to  lessen  congestion 
in  streets;  to  secure  safety  from  6  re,  panic  and 
dangers;  to  promote  health  and  general  welfare; 
to  provide  adequate  light  and  air;  to  prevent 
the  overcrowding  of  land;  to  avoid  undue  con- 
centration of  population;  to  facilitate  the  ade- 
quate provision  of  transportation,  water,  sewer- 
age, schools,  parks  and  other  public  require- 
ments. 

The  nation  is  deeply  indebted  to 
Mr.  Hoover  for  this  advisory  com- 
mittee which  has  displayed  unusual 
energy  in  the  cause  of  zoning.  A 
supplementary  publication  dealing 
with  zoning  ordinances  is  forthcom- 
ing. The  League's  representative  of 
this  committee  is  Nelson  P.  Lewis  and 
J.  Horace  McFarland  represents  the 
American  Civic  Association. 

Copies  of  the  standard  enabling  act 
can  be  obtained  free  of  charge  from 
The  Division  of  Building  and  Housing, 
Department  of  Commerce,  Washing- 
ton, D.  C. 


, 

Committee  and 

the  Tariff 


On  SeptemberlS  seventy- 

The  Conference    „       -p.  ,. 

,  five  Democratic  congress- 
.   .  °  _ 

men  ]°me<i  W1^n  1"*  Ke- 
publicans  in  a  motion  to 
recommit  the  tariff  bill  to  the  confer- 
ence committee  which  had  reported  it, 
with  instructions  to  strike  out  the  dye 
embargo  provision  and  to  place  ferti- 
lizer potash  on  the  free  list. 

The  conference  committee  is  an  old 
device  for  ironing  out  differences  be- 
tween the  two  houses  regarding  a  spe- 
cific measure.  While  the  practical  ad- 
vantages of  such  a  committee  as  a  means 


308 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[October 


of  reaching  an  agreement  are  obvious, 
several  harmful  features  are  present. 
Such  committees  always  work  in  secret. 
Their  reports  usually  reach  the  houses 
towards  the  close  of  the  session  when 
members  are  tired  of  the  subject  and 
the  congestion  of  bills  is  great.  From 
the  nature  of  the  case,  these  reports 
must  be  accepted  or  rejected  in  toto  and 
to  recommit  means  long  delay.  It  is 
seen  therefore  that  pressure  is  all  in  the 
direction  of  the  adoption  of  the  re- 
port. 

What  we  have  in  fact  is  a  min- 
iature legislature. 

Although  the  rules  or  precedents 
of  both  houses  compel  a  conference 
committee  to  confine  itself  to  the  differ- 
ences submitted  to  them,  the  constant 
tendency  is  for  the  managers  to  in- 
ject wholly  new  matter  into  their  re- 
ports. Time  and  again  conference 
reports  have  been  rejected  by  the 
speaker  because  the  conferees  tran- 
scended their  powers,  on  the  other 
hand  such  reports  have  been  received. 
Obviously  the  power  and  menace  of 
the  conference  managers  is  thereby 
increased  to  the  danger  point. 

In  this  particular  conference  com- 
mittee, congressional  "efficiency"  mi- 
nus responsible  leadership  displayed  a 
threatening  aspect.  The  Democratic 
conferees,  although  duly  appointed  to 
the  committee,  were  excluded  from  its 
deliberations. 

The  dye  embargo,  which  the  com- 
mittee reincorporated  in  the  bill,  had 
been  considered  and  specifically  re- 
jected by  both  houses.  The  intro- 
duction of  new  matter  by  the  powerful 
conference  committee,  itself  contrary 


to  the  rules,  may  be  defended  on  oc- 
casion, but  it  is  raw  usurpation  for  it 
to  cover  in  propositions  which  the  two 
houses  have  each  voted  down.  Fortu- 
nately, 177  congressmen  had  sufficient 
pride  in  themselves  as  members  of  a 
self-determinate  legislature  to  resist 
this  last  display  of  hidden  power. 

Once  more  has  been  demonstrated 
for  us  the  terrific  gap  in  our  politi- 
cal philosophy  which  blithely  omits 
machinery  for  responsible  legislative 
leadership.  We  still  like  to  think  of 
congress  as  an  august  cross-roads  de- 
bating society  where  everyone  speaks 
with  respectful  attention  from  the 
others.  We  hate  to  think  that  con- 
gress debates,  not  for  purposes  of  de- 
liberation, but  to  attract  newspaper 
attention  back  home.  We  hate  to 
think  that  power  hi  legislation  gravi- 
tates to  the  few  who,  by  reason  of  per- 
sonality and  experience,  steer  con- 
gressional action;  in  other  words,  give 
congress  a  direction.  But  such  is  the 
case.  The  speaker,  the  rules  com- 
mittee, the  majority  leader,  two  or 
three  important  committee  chairmen 
run  things.  We  as  private  citizens 
are  only  beginning  to  hold  them  to  a 
degree  of  responsibility,  and  this  re- 
sponsibility cannot  be  clear  cut  be- 
cause the  leaders  are  too  hard  to  get  at 
and  because  their  power  comes  from 
hidden  sources. 

Thus  the  conduct  of  the  conference 
committee  on  the  tariff  appears  as 
a  natural  development  in  a  con- 
gressional system  adapting  itself  to  a 
new  and  more  complex  environment. 
We  don't  have  a  fair  chance  to  choose 
our  leaders. 


COUNTY  MANAGER  CHARTER  DEFEATED 
IN  SACRAMENTO 

BY  IRVIN  ENGLER 

Sacramento,  California 

Although  the  proposed  charter  retained  on  the  elective  list  numerous 
administrative  offices  in  conjunction  with  a  large  and  representative 
board  of  supervisors,  the  voters  declined  to  adopt  it.  The  old-fash- 
ioned county,  said  they,  may  need  a  little  patching  up,  but  nothing 
so  radical  as  this. 


FOURTEEN  thousand  voters  of  Sac- 
ramento county,  California,  expressed 
a  willingness  at  an  election  on  August 
29  to  take  the  step  which  would  have 
made  this  the  first  county  in  the  United 
States  to  have  the  manager  form  of  gov- 
ernment. However,  17,674  voters  were 
of  an  opposite  frame  of  mind,  so  Sacra- 
mento county  will  continue  under 
the  method  whereby  the  heads  of  all 
branches  of  the  government — legisla- 
tive, executive  and  judicial — are  elec- 
tive. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  people  of 
the  city  of  Sacramento  recently  adopted 
the  city  manager  form  by  a  vote  of 
more  than  five  to  one,  and  the  addi- 
tional fact  that  the  new  method  is 
generally  regarded  a  success  by  Sacra- 
mento taxpayers,  the  result  of  the 
movement  for  a  county  manager 
charter  would  seem  a  surprise  but  for 
the  peculiar  features  of  the  campaign 
which  preceded  the  election. 

The  county  manager  charter,  as 
drafted,  was  essentially  the  same  as  the 
city  manager  charter  which  appears  to 
be  quite  popular  with  the  people  of 
Sacramento;  it  embodied  the  salient 
points  of  the  manager  plan,  proposing 
to  centralize  authority  and  responsibil- 
ity in  a  single  executive.  The  board  of 
freeholders,  which  drafted  the  charter, 
was  a  fairly  representative  body  of  citi- 
zens, headed  by  a  well-known  physician. 


OPPONENTS   GOT   THE   JUMP 

It  would  seem  that  such  a  situation 
would  tend  to  bring  the  force  of  popu- 
larity behind  the  movement,  and  for  a 
time  it  appeared  that  public  sentiment 
was  so  inclined.  Those  sponsoring  the 
move,  however,  made  the  mistake  of 
not  having  an  effective  organization  to 
carry  their  message  to  the  voters. 
"  The  city  manager  charter  went  across 
easy;  the  county  manager  charter 
should  do  the  same,"  appeared  to  be 
their  attitude.  Meanwhile  the  opposi- 
tion was  decidedly  active.  County 
districts  vigorously  opposed  the  char- 
ter, taking  the  stand  that  under  its 
provisions  they  would  not  be  adequately 
represented  in  the  legislative  body  of 
the  county.  The  force  of  their  opposi- 
tion added  to  that  of  incumbent  county 
officials  who  just  as  vigorously  attacked 
other  features  of  the  charter,  made  the 
opposing  army  a  very  formidable  one. 
Moreover,  the  opposition  made  a 
strategic  political  move;  it  beat  the 
other  side  to  the  punch,  so  that  when 
the  forces  favoring  the  charter  awak- 
ened they  found  themselves  on  the  de- 
fensive, with  the  remaining  time  so 
short  that  they  could  not  recover.  At 
no  time  did  the  county  charter  propo- 
nents have  an  organization  to  compare 
with  that  which  carried  the  city  man- 
ager charter  to  success.  Perhaps  the 


309 


310 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[October 


most  peculiar  feature  of  the  campaign 
was  the  fact  that  the  newspaper  which 
opposed  the  city  manager  charter 
supported  the  county  charter,  while 
the  newspaper  which  strongly  sup- 
ported the  city  manager  movement 
was  just  as  pronounced  in  its  opposi- 
tion to  the  county  manager  charter. 

ARGUMENTS PRO  AND   CON 

The  principal  points  raised  in  ob- 
jection to  the  charter  were : 

First,  the  usual  objection  to  the 
manager  plan  that  "it  gave  too  much 
power  to  one  man." 

Second,  that  it  was  an  "experiment." 

Third,  that  the  method  of  selecting 
juries,  as  proposed  in  the  charter,  was 
a  "lottery." 

Fourth,  that  the  county  treasury 
would  be  transferred  to  private  hands. 

Fifth,  that  country  districts  would 
not  be  fairly  represented. 

The  first  two  points  were  answered 
by  pointing  to  the  city  manager  method 
as  operated  in  Sacramento. 

In  answer  to  the  third,  it  was  de- 
clared that  even  the  "lottery"  system 
would  be  preferable  to  the  present "  po- 
litical method  of  hand-picked  juries." 

It  was  pointed  out,  in  reply  to  the 


fourth  point,  that  the  city  government 
for  a  number  of  years  had  successfully 
followed  the  plan  of  having  a  bank 
official  act  as  treasurer  at  a  nominal 
salary. 

To  the  fifth,  it  was  held  that  the  pro- 
posed method  of  nominating  members 
of  the  legislative  body  by  districts  and 
electing  them  at  large  was  preferable 
to  the  present  method  of  nominating 
and  electing  them  by  districts. 

The  chairman  of  the  board  of  free- 
holders which  drafted  the  proposed 
charter  declared,  on  the  day  following 
the  election:  "The  charter  was  de- 
feated through  the  misrepresentations 
of  people  interested  in  keeping  their 
jobs." 

The  newspaper  which  opposed  the 
charter,  commenting  on  the  defeat 
declared:  "The  charter  did  not  orig- 
inate in  any  general  popular  demand; 
the  voters  are  not  yet  ready  to  bestow 
greater  powers  upon  an  official  whom 
they  could  not  select  than  upon  their 
elective  officials;  the  defects  that  do 
exist  in  our  county  government  can 
be  remedied  without  revolutionizing 
the  entire  system."  This  probably 
represents  the  attitude  of  a  great  many 
people  in  the  United  States  with 
respect  to  county  government  reform. 


HOW  THE  CITY  MANAGER  PLAN  WAS 
DEFEATED  IN  ATLANTA 

BY    ELEONORE   ROAUL 

of  the  Atlanta  Bar 

Political  machinations  united  with  irregularities  at  elections  to  defeat  C. 
M.  government  in  Atlanta.  The  majority,  however,  was  only  1,000  out 
of  14,000  and  manager  advocates  are  not  downhearted.  The  fight  was 
led  by  tfie  women.  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  :: 


ABOUT  fifteen  years  ago  Atlanta 
voted  upon  and  defeated  the  commis- 
sion form  of  government  two  to  one. 
Since  that  time  there  has  been  con- 
tinual talk  of  charter  revision  with  one 
or  two  spasmodic  and  abortive  attempts . 
In  the  city  elections  of  1921  there  was 
considerable  talk  of  a  new  charter  and 
the  League  of  Women  Voters  sent  a 
question  relative  to  charter  change  to 
every  candidate  and  received  his 
written  answer.  Out  of  the  eleven 
elected  (one-third  of  council)  nine 
answered  the  question  favorably  and 
this  turned  political  thought  somewhat 
in  the  direction  of  a  new  charter. 

MAYOR'S  COMMITTEE  TO  FORESTALL  CITY 

MANAGER 

At  the  first  meeting  of  council  in 
January  1922,  Mr.  Edgar  Watkins,  a 
newly  elected  councilman,  introduced 
a  city  manager  charter  which  he  had 
worked  upon  for  several  months.  The 
council  for  the  purpose  of  defeating 
this  charter  instructed  the  mayor  to 
appoint  a  committee  of  citizens  and 
councilmen  to  report  on  a  proper 
charter  for  Atlanta.  The  mayor  was 
most  astute  in  the  appointment  of  the 
citizens  on  this  committee,  selecting 
some  in  whom  everyone  had  confi- 
dence as  sound  thinking,  non-political 
men  and  women,  but  in  no  case  choos- 
ing anyone  with  any  knowledge  of  city 


government  or  of  much  independence 
of  thought  or  of  action.  The  com- 
mittee, in  good  faith  and  without  real- 
izing the  full  import  of  what  it  did, 
acted  exactly  as  the  mayor  wished. 

When  the  mayor's  committee  an- 
nounced that  it  would  report  a  charter 
embodying  the  federal  form  of  govern- 
ment, the  League  of  Women  Voters 
came  out  for  the  Watkins'  city  man- 
ager charter.  For  a  year  the  League  had 
carried  on  an  educational  campaign  on 
city  government,  espousing  no  one 
form,  but  perfecting  an  organization 
through  which  it  hoped  to  be  able  to 
acquire  a  new  charter  though  it  did  not 
expect  to  be  plunged  into  a  campaign 
at  quite  such  an  early  date  nor  to  take 
the  leadership.  When  the  League 
endorsed  the  city  manager  charter 
there  was  not  one  reason  to  believe  it 
was  fighting  anything  but  a  losing 
battle  but  it  acted  in  the  belief  that 
permanently  to  better  politics  there 
must  be  some  organization  which  would 
work  for  the  very  best  interests  of  the 
community  regardless  of  what  would 
seem  at  the  moment  expedient  or 
politic. 

COUNCIL  FORCED  TO  CALL  ELECTION 

It  was  evident  through  interviews 
with  all  of  the  councilmen  that  the 
council  was  unwilling  to  submit  the 
city  manager  charter  to  a  vote.  But 


311 


312 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[October 


finally  under  the  pressure  of  petitions 
being  circulated  demanding  an  election, 
council  voted  to  hold  an  election  on 
May  16  and  submit  to  a  vote  three 
charters,  the  present  one  amended; 
the  federal  form,  reported  by  the 
mayor's  committee;  and  the  Watkins 
city  manager  charter.  Public  opinion 
soon  forced  council  to  provide  also  for  a 
"run-off"  election  two  weeks  after  the 
first  in  the  event  that  no  one  charter 
received  a  majority  of  the  total  vote. 

It  soon  became  evident  that  the 
business  men  as  a  whole  were  going  to 
vote  for  the  federal  charter  because  of 
the  business  men  on  the  mayor's  com- 
mittee. Some  were  intimidated  into 
expressing  no  opinion  at  all  and  pre- 
vented from  giving  help  to  manager 
campaign.  There  were,  of  course,  a 
number  of  men  (especially  toward  the 
end)  who  gave  money  and  made 
speeches  for  the  manager  charter  but 
no  group  could  be  gotten  together  to  do 
active  work  or  planning.  The  fact  that 
the  women  were  leading  the  fight  and 
that  business  men  espoused  the  other 
charter  made  it  easy  to  ridicule  the 
men  who  favored  the  manager  plan. 
One  ardent  supporter  was  asked  when 
he  began  to  wear  petticoats.  On  the 
other  hand  some  were  found  who 
reasoned  that  the  women  were  right 
because  they  had  nothing  to  gain 
personally. 

Two  elections  were  necessary,  since 
none  of  the  three  proposed  charters 
received  a  majority  at  the  first.  In  the 
first  election  the  old  charter  ran  first 
and  the  manager  charter  second.  In 
the  final  election  two  weeks  later  the 
old  charter  won  by  one  thousand  votes 
out  of  a  total  of  14,000. 

THE  ELECTION  VERY  IRREGULAR 

The  election  was  to  be  conducted 
along  regular  city  election  lines.  To 
such  little  attention  is  ever  paid  owing 


to  the  fact  that  city  elections  are  gen- 
erally only  a  ratification  of  the  primary 
which  is  in  the  south  the  real  election. 
There  were  many  irregularities  on 
election  day,  and  the  city  attorney 
ruled  that  for  most  of  them  there  was 
no  redress.  Clerks  and  managers 
marked  the  ballots  for  voters  when  so 
requested  (in  one  instance  the  city 
manager  representative  found  the  clerk 
marking  the  ballot  differently  from 
that  directed  by  voter  and  when  called 
to  account  he  corrected  the  "mis- 
take"). There  was  absolutely  no  pri- 
vacy for  the  voter.  He  had  to  mark  his 
ballot  at  the  polls  with  any  number  of 
people  about  him  and  this  proved  a 
most  serious  handicap.  After  the  first 
election  many  of  the  polling  places 
were  changed  but  notice  was  not  given 
until  two  days  before  election.  The 
most  flagrant  case  was  in  a  large  ward 
which  was  solidly  for  the  manager  plan 
and  where  the  polls  had  been  in  one 
place  for  more  than  twenty  years. 
Workers  for  the  federal  charter  in  the 
first  election  and  for  the  old  charter  in 
the  second  had  marked  ballots  outside 
the  polls  in  the  negro  districts  and  got 
practically  every  negro  vote.  It  was 
an  interesting  fact  that  the  mayor  was 
espousing  the  side  in  each  case  where 
the  ballots  were  thus  handed  out.  The 
night  before  election  and  on  election 
day  false  rumors  carrying  great  weight 
were  circulated  among  the  negroes. 
On  the  day  before  the  second  election 
a  leaflet  saying  that  the  manager  gov- 
ernment would  put  them  back  into 
slavery  was  scattered  broadcast.  It 
should  be  stated,  however,  that  many 
of  the  negroes  of  the  more  intelligent 
class  did  vote  for  the  manager  in  the 
last  election.  The  total  negro  vote  was 
not  large. 

An  important  factor  in  the  result  was 
that  the  street  railway  was  working  for 
the  old  charter  but  positive  proof  of  this 
fact  did  not  come  out  until  two  days 


1922] 


FUTURE  STATESMEN 


313 


before  the  final  election.  For  this 
reason  sufficient  publicity  could  not  be 
given  to  it  to  turn  the  tide  as  might 
have  been  possible  if  known  sooner. 
All  the  employees  of  the  railway 
apparently  voted  and  voted  against 
the  manager  plan. 

Two  other  factors  worked  consid- 
erable against  the  new  charter.  The 
ballots  were  worded  in  a  way  most 
favorable  to  the  old  charter.  And 
double  voting  was  easy  owing  to  the 
fact  that  every  ward  had  two  precincts 


and  all  voters  were  allowed  to  vote  in 
either  precinct  they  chose.  This,  how- 
ever, is  a  usual  custom.  The  managers 
are  supposed  to  meet  immediately  after 
the  election  and  check  the  lists  but  this 
was  not  done  as  far  as  could  be  dis- 
covered. 

In  spite  of  all  this,  however,  there 
were  many  things  about  the  campaign 
that  were  encouraging  and  there  is  no 
question  but  that  the  charter  fight  will 
be  pursued  and  that  next  time  victory 
will  be  achieved. 


FUTURE  STATESMEN 

THE   POLITICAL  AMBITIONS  OF   COLLEGE   STUDENTS 

BY   MARGARET   BYRD 


Do  our  college  men  and  women,  in 
securing  their  training  for  professional 
or  business  life,  leave  their  preparation 
for  the  great  tasks  of  intelligent  citi- 
zenship in  our  democracy  to  mere 
chance? 


Some  light  may  be  thrown  on  the 
subject  by  a  test  recently  held  in  a  class 
of  sixty-four  students  who  were  suffi- 
ciently interested  in  politics  to  have 
elected  a  course  offered  at  Swathmore 
College  in  "American  Political  Parties 
and  Party  Problems."  The  class  con- 
sisted of  thirty-four  young  women 
ranging  in  age  from  seventeen  to 
twenty-three  years,  the  average  being 
nineteen  years  and  six  months,  and 
thirty  young  men  of  from  seventeen  to 
twenty-five  years  of  age,  averaging 
twenty  years  and  four  months.  Of 
these  students  only  two  were  members 
of  the  freshman  class,  while  the  other 
classes  were  represented  by  approxi- 
mately equal  numbers,  the  number  of 
men  and  women  from  each  class  being 
about  equal  also.  The  students  were 


asked  without  warning  for  a  written 
statement  covering  about  ten  minutes 
time  and  answering  two  questions ,  as 
follows : 

(1)  What    political    ambitions    or 
activities  have  you  in  mind  for  your 
life  after  graduation? 

(2)  What  advice  have  you  received 
on  this  subject? 

In  twenty-nine  cases  the  women's 
answers  to  the  first  question  are  definite 
on  the  matter  of  intelligent  voting  as 
the  duty  of  a  citizen,  while  in  the  other 
five  instances  the  intention  of  perform- 
ing this  duty  is  implied.  No  doubt  the 
newly  won  suffrage  is  responsible  for 
this  emphasis.  The  men's  answers  are 
less  definite  with  regard  to  voting, 
mainly,  however,  because  they  take  the 
use  of  the  ballot  for  granted  and  hasten 
on  to  more  exacting  political  duties. 
The  two  young  women  who  are  other- 
wise opposed  to  political  activity  on  the 
part  of  members  of  their  sex,  neverthe- 
less mention  their  purpose  to  vote 
intelligently.  The  only  young  man 
who  seems  to  have  any  doubts  as  to  his 
future  with  respect  to  this  primary 


314 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[October 


political  function — and  they  are  intro- 
duced by  his  belief  that  the  profession 
of  medicine  will  occupy  his  full  time — 
says,  "I  feel  it  to  be  the  duty  of  every 
man,  if  he  can  possibly  find  the  time,  to 
vote  intelligently  every  time  the  oppor- 
tunity offers."  Party  membership, 
usually  active,  was  mentioned  by 
thirteen  women  and  twelve  men,  and 
acceptance  of  jury  duty  by  two  women 
and  one  man.  Beyond  this  the  answers 
presented,  in  general,  vague  or  in- 
definite goals.  Perhaps  their  range  can 
best  be  shown  by  a  table : 

Ambitions  Expressed  Women  Men 

Reform  club  activity 8  3 

Specifically  to  "bust  bossism"...  0  3 

Election  officials,  work  as 1  0 

Local  office — indefinite 3  3 

Borough  or  city  council 1  2 

School  board 11  1 

Public  health  board  or  office 1  0 

Mayor 1  2 

Civil  service 7  3 

Military  service  (National  Guard)  0  1 

Consular  or  diplomatic  service 2  5 

District  attorney 0  1 

State  legislature 0  3 

House  of  Representatives 1  5 

Senate.  .  0  1 


II 

The  general  attitude  toward  these 
ambitions  on  the  part  of  the  women  is 
much  less  concrete  that  that  of  the  men, 
and  the  range  of  offices  is  restricted 
in  general  to  those  requiring  only  part- 
time  service  (e.  g.  reform  club  and 
school  board  activities) — which  would 
not  interfere  with  home  duties.  Some 
men  and  fewer  women  have  deter- 
mined upon  their  vocations.  In  most 
of  such  instances  a  direct  correlation 
between  this  vocation  and  the  political 
ambition,  or  lack  of  it,  is  apparent. 
Thus,  a  future  doctor  plans  to  enter  the 
public  health  service.  The  only  young 
man  who  expects  to  teach  states 
"school  board  or  superintendent"  as 
his  ambition,  while  the  professional 


bias  of  several  young  women  is  so  rep- 
resented. One  future  lawyer  hopes  to 
become  district  attorney,  while  another 
has  chosen  the  profession  of  law  because 
he  feels  that  through  this  medium  he 
may  realize  his  aim — entrance  into 
politics.  Another  young  man,  a  senior, 
reflects  the  attitude  of  the  men  who  are 
looking  out  for  "next  year's  job"  by 
having  applied  for  examinations  for 
entrance  into  the  consular  service.  He 
is  the  only  member  of  the  senior  class 
here  represented  who  has  planned  for  a 
definite,  full-time,  political  position. 

Practical  motives  have  a  great  deal 
to  do  with  the  relative  dearth  of  politi- 
cal plans.  In  one  instance  particularly 
is  this  noticeable,  that  of  a  sophomore 
man,  a  major  in  the  department  of 
political  science,  who  says  that  "Earlier 
intentions  toward  a  political  career 
have  been  dampened  by  financial  con- 
siderations, and  the  belief  that  the 
temptation  to  supplement  an  other- 
wise too  small  income  by  questionable 
methods  outweighs  the  advantages  and 
interest  attached  to  such  a  career." 
The  same  young  man  is  much  interested 
in  the  consular  service,  but  will  prob- 
ably reject  it  also,  because  of  the  inade- 
quate financial  return. 

The  motive  of  reform  occurs  widely 
and  occasions  much  of  the  desire  for 
political  activity.  Three  men  pledge 
themselves  to  political  efforts  to  "clean 
out  bossism"  in  their  home  towns. 
One  of  these  young  men,  whose  domi- 
nant interest  is  in  law,  would  emerge 
from  private  life,  fight  for  the  office  of 
mayor,  and  hold  that  office,  if  possible, 
until  reform  was  well  under  way  before 
returning  to  his  practice. 

The  words  of  another  young  Lincoln 
from  the  same  town  are  worth  quoting : 

My  political  ambitions  are  limited.  They  are 
limited,  and  yet  they  are  very  great.  I  want  to 
help  get  the  dirty  gang  which  is  in  control  of 

D County  and  the  City  of  C by  the 

throat  and  not  stop   squeezing  until  the  last 


1922] 


FUTURE  STATESMEN 


315 


•park  of  life  is  extinct  in  them.  I  don't  mean 
merely  the  so-called  "system,"  I  mean  the  entire 
Republican  organization  in  D County. 

A  young  woman  in  the  class  finds  the 
motive  of  reform  strong  enough  to  take 
her  back  to  the  town  in  which  she  form- 
erly lived  to  "make  a  clean-up." 
Others  are  interested  but  have  plans 
less  clear.  Reform  causes  many  an 
otherwise  relatively  uninterested  stu- 
dent to  consider  politics  as  an  avoca- 
tion. Youthful  idealism?  Yes,  but  it 
is  one  of  the  most  hopeful  signs  brought 
out  by  the  whole  analysis. 

If  we  may,  for  lack  of  more  compre- 
hensive data,  take  this  class  as  typical 
of  any  four  consecutive  classes,  it  may 
be  assumed  that  interest  in  citizenship 
problems,  to  some  extent  at  least,  is 
responsible  for  the  attendance  upon 
this  course  of  approximately  half  the 
students  who  pass  through  the  college 
in  four  years.  Of  these  we  find  that 
practically  all  accept  the  obligations  of 
the  citizen  to  vote — though  here  we 
must  make  some  discount  for  those  who 
answer  with  "  voting"  because  no  politi- 
cal ambition  has  occurred  to  them 
before,  and  the  ballot  is  the  most  readily 
thought  of  on  the  spur  of  the  moment. 
We  find  the  large  majority  of  those 
whose  ambitions  are  for  more  definite 
political  service  wish  to  combine  politi- 
cal activity  as  an  avocation  with  some 
other  business  or  profession.  Only  the 
very  few — fewer  than  those  electing 
medicine,  teaching,  engineering,  or 
almost  any  other  profession — are  pre- 
paring for  statesmanship  as  a  life  work. 
Of  the  future  statesmen,  one  man  plans 
to  enter  the  consular  service,  one  orients 
his  studies  to  his  desired  political 
career,  and  one,  if  he  continues  with 
the  profession  of  law,  sets  a  district 
attorneyship  as  his  goal.  The  others 
become  less  and  less  clear-cut. 

Why  is  this?  Is  it  because  of  the 
uncertain,  popular-choice  element  in 
the  politician's  career?  Is  it  modesty, 


apathy,  or  absolute  dislike  of  political 
life  and  unwillingness  to  struggle  against 
corruption?  Perhaps  the  character  of 
the  advice  or  influence  referred  to  by 
the  thirty-two  women  and  twenty-nine 
men  who  answered  the  second  question 
will  shed  some  light  on  the  underlying 
causes  of  the  indefiniteness  of  political 
ambitions. 

Ill 

Nine  women  and  four  men  say  that 
they  have  received  no  advice  whatever. 
In  all  but  eleven  instances  among  the 
women,  the  advice  was  very  indefinite, 
or  was  merely  in  the  form  of  influential 
example.  Of  the  eleven,  only  four  had 
received  what  might  be  called  positive 
advice.  The  others  were  told,  in  gen- 
eral, "Politics  is  a  dirty  game.  Keep 
out  of  it."  Much  of  the  indirect  influ- 
ence was  of  the  same  character.  In  the 
thirteen  cases  of  definite  advice  to  the 
young  men,  five  answers  and  half  of  the 
sixth  and  seventh  stated  that  negative 
advice  was  received.  In  all  but  one  of 
the  instances  the  reason  given  was 
"corruption." 

The  advice  or  influence  by  example 
which  has  been  effective  in  filing  or  re- 
straining the  ambitions  of  twenty-three 
women  and  twenty-six  men,  had  for  its 
sources  the  families  of  fourteen  women 
and  eight  men,  and  the  friends  of  several 
others.  Future  professional  associates 
account  for  the  advice  or  influence 
effective  with  one  woman  and  five  men, 
while  school  teachers  and  college  pro- 
fessors figure  in  the  answers  of  but  two 
women  and  five  men.  Among  the  men 
there  are  four  cases  in  which  a  politi- 
cian or  a  bit  of  political  activity  has 
made  a  definite  impression.  Only  two 
women  have  been  affected  by  such 
influences. 

Figures  are  but  an  insignificant  index 
to  the  character  of  the  advice  received. 
A  few  of  the  more  interesting  examples 
give  a  better  indication.  One  young 


316 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[October 


woman,  for  instance,  sees  in  the  local 
school  board  an  excellent  opportunity 
for  service — "though  the  one  woman 
on  our  school  board  is  a  holy  terror  and 
has  all  the  men  under  her  thumb."  Her 
father  is  more  interested  in  politics  than 
the  average  parent,  but  of  her  older 
brother's  attitude  she  says,  "When  a 
woman  ran  for  assembly  this  year,  and 
distributed  cards  with  her  picture  on 
them,  he  informed  me  of  what  I  would 
get  from  him  if  I  ever  did  anything  like 
that." 

The  young  woman  who  hopes  to 
exercise  political  influence  through 
journalism,  has  been  told  that  it  would 
be  "rather  impossible"  for  a  person  of 
her  type  to  have  much  influence, 
because  those  who  do  not  understand 
are  easily  swayed,  and  "newspapers  and 
politics  are  so  crooked  that  only  a 
pretzel  or  a  corkscrew  mind  could  adapt 
itself  to  them."  Her  advisers  would  be 
strengthened  in  their  position  if  they 
could  cite  as  proof  of  the  latter  point 
the  gem  picked  up  by  a  young  man  of 
the  class  from  a  gang  politician  in  a 
campaign  last  fall.  He  gives  it  as 
typical  of  the  advice  he  has  received, — 
"It's  not  a  crime  to  be  corrupt;  it's  a 
crime  to  be  found  out." 

The  father  of  one  young  man,  himself 
engaged  in  politics,  advises  his  son  to 
keep  out,  while  the  example  of  another 
father  in  holding  school  board  and  other 
"minor  offices,"  is  the  genesis  of  the 
ambitions  of  his  son  to  hold  similar 
positions,  and  of  his  vague  dreams  cul- 
minating in  a  senatorship. 

One  man  had  visited  his  state  legis- 
lature in  company  with  schoolmates  in 
behalf  of  a  high  school  fraternity  whose 
life  they  wished  to  save.  He  had  the 
floor  at  a  committee  hearing  for  a  few 


minutes  and  was  afterwards  urged  by  a 
member  of  the  House  to  "stick  to  it 
(political  life).  It  keeps  you  younger 
than  anything  else."  From  observa- 
tion he  was  inclined  to  agree.  Another 
young  man  received  similar  advice 
from  an  ex-congressman.  Of  a  some- 
what different  character  is  the  state- 
ment of  a  young  woman  who  says  that, 
in  conversation  with  a  district  attorney, 
she  had  presented  to  her  a  picture  of 
the  politician's  life  as  "interesting,  but 
not  entirely  honest." 

The  kindly  old  gentleman  who  says 
to  the  son  of  his  host  as  he  takes  his 
departure,  "And  this  young  man  may 
someday  be  president  of  the  United 
States — I  shouldn't  be  a  bit  surprised!" 
— This  gentleman  does  not  appear, 
either  in  the  guise  of  an  adviser,  nor  in 
the  ambition  of  a  single  student  to 
become  a  resident  of  the  White  House. 
Perhaps  his  genial  figure  is  disappear- 
ing from  American  life,  and  these  stu- 
dents may  never  have  heard  the  sug- 
gestion of  presidential  possibilities  seri- 
ously or  jokingly  referred  to  in  connec- 
tion with  their  careers.  No  doubt  there 
is  a  large  element  of  natural  modesty 
which  prevents  students  from  dreaming 
of  the  presidency,  or  at  least  from  con- 
fessing to  such  dreams. 

In  a  survey  of  sixty-four  hastily 
written  papers,  only  the  dominant  in 
the  minds  of  the  writers,  or  the  "  inspi- 
rations" of  the  moment  will  stand  out. 
It  is  noteworthy,  then,  that  while  only 
political  ambitions  are  asked  for,  the 
definiteness  in  the  mention  of  other 
professions  contrasts  strongly  with  the 
vagueness  of  the  stirrings  of  political 
ambition.  Yet  that  these  stirrings  are 
present,  even  in  nebulous  form,  is  a 
hopeful  sign. 


BY   LENT  D.    UPSON 

Director,  Detroit  Bureau  of  Governmental  Research,  Inc. 

Municipal  expenses  are  increasing  faster  than  population. 
But  consider  the  expansions  of  municipal  functions  and 
improved  administration  of  old  activities.  ::  ::  :: 


TAXATION  and  prohibition  threaten 
to  monopolize  dinner  table  talk. 
There  are  ample  reasons  for  interest 
in  the  former,  since  its  effects  are  im- 
pressive and  means  of  escape  are  yet  to 
be  suggested.  For  example,  Prof. 
David  Friday  has  pointed  out  that  in 
Michigan,  the  national  government 
took  $7,000,000  in  internal  revenues  in 
1911  and  $272,000,000  in  1921;  and 
that  city  taxation  during  this  period 
increased  from  $12,000,000  to  $49,- 
000,000.  During  this  same  period 
Detroit's  tax  budget  increased  from 
$7,000,000  to  $40,000,000  and  the  net 
debt  from  $8,000,000  to  more  than 
$100,000,000.  In  the  decade  from  1900 
to  1910  while  the  city's  population  a 
little  less  than  doubled,  tax  collections 
doubled,  as  did  the  debt.  In  the 
decade  following,  population  doubled 
again,  taxes  were  multiplied  by  five, 
and  the  debt  by  ten  or  fifteen. 

The  average  taxpayer  charges  the 
increased  cost  of  local  government 
during  these  years  to  the  unprece- 
dented undertaking  of  new  activities, 
— to  frills  and  fads, — "  the  constant  and 
increasing  pressure  upon  government 
to  undertake  more  and  more  and  to 
leave  less  and  less  to  private  initiative 
and  responsibility,"  to  quote  a  recent 
editorial  of  the  New  York  Times. 

This  pressure  on  government  to 
increase  expenses  faster  than  popula- 
tion perhaps  has  its  origin  in  the  fact 
that  this  generation  has  seen  the  com- 


mon use  of  steel  for  construction 
purposes;  the  adaptation  of  electricity 
to  lighting,  manufacturing,  and  trans- 
portation; and  the  development  of  the 
automobile,  and  particularly  the  heavy 
truck. 

To  be  sure,  there  were  big  cities 
before  these  inventions,  but  not  com- 
plex and  expensive  cities.  Sky-scrap- 
ers, loft  manufacturing,  and  rapid 
transit  have  required  high  pressure  fire 
protection,  traffic  control,  safety  en- 
gineering, and  more  police.  The  auto- 
mobile, and  particularly  the  truck, 
have  brought  more  traffic  control, 
street  widening,  and  heavier  pavements, 
plus  new  efforts  by  the  health  and 
police  authorities  to  check  the  spread 
of  disease  and  crime  that  this  form  of 
rapid  transportation  facilitates.  Also 
when  the  mechanic  rides  in  his  own 
jitney  and  enjoys  necessities  that  were 
luxuries  a  generation  ago,  he  is  not 
adverse  to  the  city  building  parks  and 
boulevards,  lighting  streets,  and  pro- 
viding free  education  equal  to  the  best 
that  can  be  obtained  privately.  With 
these  higher  standards  of  living  has 
come  apparently  a  finer  concept  of 
social  justice  as  seen  in  supervised 
playgrounds,  free  clinics,  regulated 
commercial  recreation,  better  prisons, 
more  adequate  disease  control,  and 
unemployment  relief. 

How  far  is  this  recent  progress  re- 
sponsible for  the  extension  of  city 
activities  and  expense?  For  at  least  a 


317 


318 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[October 


partial  answer  the  Detroit  Bureau  of 
Governmental  Research  has  examined 
the  one  hundred  and  eighty  four  prin- 
cipal activities  now  conducted  by  the 
city  government.  The  City  of  Detroit, 
electing  its  first  mayor  one  hundred 
years  ago,  and  with  only  a  few  thousand 
inhabitants,  then  limited  its  activities 
to  those  common  to  local  government 
since  the  beginning  of  history.  They 
consisted  of  a  legislative  and  an  admin- 
istrative authority ;  a  system  of  assess- 
ing, collecting,  and  disbursing  taxes; 
means  of  apprehending,  judging,  and 
correcting  offenders  against  the  public 
peace;  maintaining  highways;  rudi- 
mentary protection  against  fire;  and 
the  providing  of  elementary  education, 
— eleven  activities  in  all.  For  half  a 
century  the  increase  in  city  activities 
was  gradual,  and  by  1876  had  reached 
only  thirty-six  in  number  and  this 
expansion  had  to  do  with  the  diversi- 
fication of  long  accepted  activities. 
Public  works  grew  from  street  grading 
to  the  construction  and  maintenance 
of  paving  and  sewers.  Constables  were 
supplanted  by  paid  police,  including 
inspectors  of  weights  and  measures, 
sanitation  officers,  harbor  patrol,  and 
detectives.  A  volunteer  fire  depart- 
ment became  a  paid  institution.  The 
elementary  school  system  was  expanded 
to  include  evening  and  high  schools. 
Following  the  Civil  War  a  free  library 
and  a  park  system  were  established. 

By  1900,  102  activities  were  being 
undertaken,  and  ten  years  later,  by 
1910,  only  114  activities.  But  since 
1910,  seventy  activities  have  been 
added, — two-thirds  of  the  number 
taken  on  in  the  entire  ninety  years  pre- 
ceding. During  these  twelve  years  the 
cost  of  government  has  multiplied  more 
than  five  times,  as  has  been  mentioned. 
These  newly  established  activities  are 
now  important  city  services,  and 
include  nutrition  of  school  children, 
prison  farm,  psychopathic  clinic,  tuber- 


culosis camp,  maternity  hospital,  medi- 
cal college,  women  police,  extension  of 
probation,  continuation  school,  city 
planning,  community  centers,  junior 
college,  grade  separation,  vice  control, 
school  gardens,  hospitals,  education  of 
the  blind  and  anemic,  and  civil  service, 
— to  mention  a  few. 

It  would  be  only  natural  to  charge  a 
large  part  of  the  increased  cost  of  gov- 
ernment to  these  important  innova- 
tions. Particularly  in  the  field  of  edu- 
cation, the  taxpayer  inveighs  against 
educational  "frills  "  and  high  taxes.  In 
truth,  these  new  activities  are  not  as 
costly  as  the  expansion  and  "doing 
better"  of  old  ones.  For  example,  in 
1922,  ordinary  elementary  and  high 
school  education  (with  operation  of 
buildings,  etc.)  cost  82  per  cent  of  a 
school  budget  of  $15,000,000.  This 
leaves  less  than  20  per  cent  of  the 
budget  for  new  educational  activities, — 
the  "frills" — kindergarten,  evening  and 
summer  schools,  junior  college,  special 
schools,  etc. 

For  the  entire  city  government, 
while  the  tax  budget  has  increased  from 
$7,000,000  to  $40,000,000,  seventy  new 
activities  are  accountable  for,  roughly, 
only  $5,000,000  of  the  increase.  Debt 
service  alone  has  increased  from  $500,- 
000  to  over  $9,000,000,  and  the  expan- 
sion of  old  activities  has  been  from 
$6,500,000  to  $25,000,000. 

This  situation  raises  the  question  as 
to  how  far  new  activities  can  be  added 
and  old  ones  expanded  in  the  next  ten 
years, — since  larger  cities  are  approach- 
ing the  limits  of  real  estate  taxation. 
Apparently  much  economy  cannot 
come  through  the  elimination  of 
"frills,"  and  citizens  will  be  reluctant 
to  curtail  old  and  established  func- 
tions. However,  "efficiency"  is  still 
applicable, — not  the  efficiency  that 
concerns  itself  only  with  improving  the 
mechanics  of  operations,  but  an  effi- 
ciency that  will  dare  challenge  these 


1922] 


INCREASING  ACTIVITIES  AND  COSTS 


319 


operations  and  evaluate  their  worth- 
whileness.  For  example,  lower  police 
costs  cannot  come  thru  improving  foot 
patrol  methods,  but  by  daring  to  ques- 
tion the  efficacy  of  this  whole  activity. 


Further,  there  are  still  opportunities 
for  new  sources  of  revenue, — not 
picayune  increases  in  fees  and  licenses, 
but  a  direct  striking  out  into  incomes 
and  unearned  increments. 


THE  GROWTH  OF  CITY  ACTIVITIES  IN  DETROIT 


1824 

Elections 

Legislative 
Executive 

Legal  Advice 
Taxation 

Treasurer 

Police 

1825 

Municipal  Court 
Fire  Department 
Elementary  School 
Street  Grading 

1826 

1827 

1828 

1829 

18:  JO 

1831 

1832 

1833 

Poor  Relief 

1834 

1835 
1836 

Street  Paving 
Sewers 

1837 

Sewer  Cleaning 
Water  Supply 

1838 

1839 

1840 

1841 

1842 

School  Census 

1843 

1844 

1845 

1846 

1847 

1848 

1849 

1850 

Controller 

1851 

Street  Lighting 

1852 

1853 

1854 

1855 

1856 

1857 

1858 
1859 

High  School 

1860 

1861 

Prison 

2 

1862 
1863 
1864 
1865 

1866 
1867 
1868 
1869 
1870 

1871 

1872 
1873 
1874 
1875 
1876 
1877 
1878 
1879 
1880 
1881 


1882 
1883 


1884 
1885 


1886 
1887 


1888 
1889 

1890 
1891 

1892 


Public  Library 

Licenses 

Weights  Inspection 

Sanitary  Police 
Detectives 

Pounds 

Police  Signals 

Parks 

Public  Buildings 

Harbor  Police 

Permit  Inspection 

Engineering 

Evening  Elementary  School 


Public  Scales 


Health  Superintendence 
Vital  Statistics 
Teachers'  College 
Periodical  Library 
Truancy  Police 
Criminal  Identi6cation 
Outdoor  Relief 
Hospital  of  Sick 
Education  of  Incorrigibles 

Building  Inspection 
Fire  Alarm  Telephone 
Fire  Pension 

Milk  Inspection 
Food  Inspection 
Fire  Medical  Service 
Library  Reading  Room 
Garbage  Collection 
Rubbish  Collection 
Water  Meters 
Meter  Repairs 

Zoo 

Ice  Service 

Free  Medical  Service 

Free  School  Books 

Gas  meter  inspection 

Fire  Boats 


320 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[October 


1893  Art  Museum 
Plumbers'  Examination 
Mounted  Police 
Reference  Library 

1894  Bathing  Beach 
Plumbing  Inspection 

1895  City  Attorney 
Hand  Street  Cleaning 
Chemical  Laboratory 
Bacteriological  Laboratory 
Kindergarten 

1896  Electrical  Inspection 
Blind  Library 

1897  Snow  Removal 

1898  Band  Concerts 

1899  Nursing 
Green  House 
Education  of  Deaf 
Branch  Libraries 

1900  Alley  Cleaning 
1901 

1902  School  Children  Inspection 
Smoke  Inspection 

1903  Sidewalk  Permits 
Housing  Inspection 

1904  Meat  Inspection 
Aquarium 
Conservatory 

Police  Medical  Service 

1905  Police  Pensions 
Sewage  Pumping 
Street  Flushing 
Tuberculosis  Clinic 
Evening  High  School 

1906  Venereal  Clinic 
Comfort  Stations 

1907  Forestry 

Technical  High  Schools 

1908  Motor  Police 
Tuberculosis  Hospital 
Baths 

1909  Traffic  Police 

Free  Evening  Lectures 
Moving  Picture  Censor 
New  Building  Inspection 
Sign  Inspection 
Wire  Inspection 

1910  Child  Clinic 
Contagious  Hospital 
Education  of  Cripples 
Education  of  Stammerers 
School  Transportation 
Boiler  Inspection 

1911  Police  Training  School 
Motor  Bus     ' 
Elevator  Inspection 
High  Pressure  Water 

1912  Civil  Service 
Property  Identification 
Continuation  School 
Education  of  Anemic 
Education  of  Blind 


Summer  Elementary  School 
Summer  High  School 
Summer  Technical  School 
Evening  Technical  School 

1913  Detention  Home 
Refectories 
Boating 
Boulevard  Lighting 

1914  Police  Record  Bureau 
Educational  Research 

1915  Serology  Laboratory 
Serology  Inspection 
Ferries 

Charity  Registration 

Ambulance 

Social  Service 

Hospital 

Play  Grounds 

School  Gardens 

Festivals 

Oil  Inspection 

1916  Auto  Recovery 
Vice  Squad 

Park  Sewage  Treatment 
Refrigeration  Inspection 

1917  Street  Opening  Bureau 
Grade  Separation  Bureau 
Junior  College 

School  Purchases 
Recreation  Camps 

1918  Summer  Teachers'  College 
Evening  Teachers'  College 
Parent  Schools 
Community  Centers 

Fire  Prevention 

1919  Purchasing  Agent 
City  Planning 

House  Numbering  Bureau 
Complaint  Bureau 
Auto  Repair 
Motor  Sweeping 
Continuation  School  Ex. 
Education  Cost  Accounting 
Testing  Laboratory 
Safety  Bureau 

1920  Street  Railway 
Probation  Extension 
Central  Garage 
Women  Police 
Medical  College 
Maternity  Hospital 
Tuberculosis  Camp 
Summer  Junior  College 
Evening  Junior  College 

1921  School  Architecture 
Psychopathic  Clinic 
Research  Engineer 
Prison  Farm 

Auto  Dispatch 
Nutrition 
City  Census 


JOHN  STUART  MILL  AND  THE  MODEL 
CITY  CHARTER 

BY  WILLIAM  ANDERSON 

University  of  Minnesota 

Mill,  writing  more  than  a  generation  before  our  Committee  on  a 
Municipal  Program  reported  the  Model  Charter,  advanced  the  same 
principles  which  we  now  advocate.  : :  : :  : :  : :  : : 


"PLAGIARISM"  is  defined  as  the  act 
of  appropriating  the  literary  or  scien- 
tific work  of  another  and  giving  it  out 
as  one's  own.  When  two  writers  ex- 
press the  same  views  in  very  much  the 
same  form,  but  independently,  there  is 
not  a  case  of  plagiarism  but  rather  of 
coincidence  which  may  or  may  not 
indicate  the  soundness  of  the  premises 
and  of  the  reasoning  of  both.  The 
close  correspondence  which  exists  be- 
tween the  principles  ot  the  Model 
Charter  of  the  National  Municipal 
League,  and  the  plan  of  organization 
for  local  governments  outlined  by  Mill 
in  his  work  on  representative  govern- 
ment, is  of  a  different  type.  Mill's 
views  were  probably  not  original  with 
him.  His  writing  on  this  subject 
stands  out  particularly  for  two  reasons : 
first,  because  he  selected  and  made  his 
own  a  group  of  principles  characterized 
by  an  unusual  amount  of  common 
sense;  and  second,  because  he  stated 
these  principles  in  unusually  good  style 
and  small  compass.  His  Considera- 
tions on  Representative  Government  were 
first  published  in  1861.  The  Model 
Charter  in  its  present  form  was  pub- 
lished in  1916.  By  the  latter  year  the 
principles  expressed  fipy-five  years 
earlier  by  Mill  had  become  so  fully 
accepted  by  students  of  political  science 
that  no  one  thought  to  trace  them  back 
to  him.  They  were  common  stock. 
This  is  in  no  way  a  disparagement  of 
the  work  of  those  who  gathered  these 


principles  together  and  put  them  into 
the  form  of  a  Model  Charter.  They 
deserve  high  praise  for  their  construc- 
tive work.  It  is  only  because  the  simi- 
larities are  so  striking  that  it  is  deemed 
worth  the  space  to  call  attention  to 
them  here.  So  far  as  possible,  the  simi- 
larities will  be  shown  by  direct  quota- 
tions. 


LOCAL     SELF-GOVERNMENT     OR    MUNIC- 
IPAL HOME   RULE 

Mill.  "It  is  but  a  small  portion  of 
the  public  business  of  a  country  which 
can  be  well  done,  or  safely  attempted, 
by  the  central  authorities;  and  even  in 
our  own  government,  the  least  cen- 
tralised in  Europe,  the  legislative  por- 
tion at  least  of  the  governing  body 
busies  itself  far  too  much  with  local 
affairs,  employing  the  supreme  power 
of  the  State  in  cutting  small  knots 
which  there  ought  to  be  other  and 
better  means  of  untying.  ...  It 
is  obvious,  to  begin  with,  that  all  busi- 
ness purely  local — all  which  concerns 
only  a  single  locality — should 'devolve 
upon  the  local  authorities."  pp.  346, 
354.1 

Model  Charter.  "Any  city  may 
frame  and  adopt  a  charter  for  its  own 
government  in  the  following  manner. 

>  The  page  references  to  Mill's  Repretentative  Govern- 
ment are  to  Even/man'*  edition  of  Mill's  l/tih'toriam'mi. 
Liberty,  and  Representative  Government.  The  quota- 
tions are  drawn  from  chapters  5,  7,  and  15. 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[October 


.  .  .  Each  city  shall  have  and  is 
hereby  granted  the  authority  to  exer- 
cise all  powers  relating  to  municipal 
affairs;  .  .  .  Sees.  3,  5,  of  the 

constitutional  provisions  for  municipal 
home  rule. 

Mill  did  not  go  as  far  as  the  Model 
Charter;  municipal  home  rule  in  the 
American  sense  is  a  device  which  orig- 
inated nearly  fifteen  years  after  his 
work  quoted  above.  All  that  we  can 
say  here  is  that  he  had  the  essential 
idea  of  local  self-government. 

STATE  BUREAUS  FOR  THE  SUPERVISION 
OF  MUNICIPAL   ACTIVITIES 

Mill.  "Power  may  be  localised,  but 
knowledge,  to  be  most  useful,  must  be 
centralised;  there  must  be  somewhere 
a  focus  at  which  all  its  scattered  rays 
are  collected,  that  the  broken  and 
coloured  lights  which  exist  elsewhere 
may  find  there  what  is  necessary  to 
complete  and  purify  them.  To  every 
branch  of  local  administration  which 
affects  the  general  interest  there  should 
be  a  corresponding  central  organ, 
either  a  minister,  or  some  specially  ap- 
pointed functionary  under  him;  even 
if  that  functionary  does  no  more  than 
collect  information  from  all  quarters, 
and  bring  the  experience  acquired  in 
one  locality  to  the  knowledge  of  anoth- 
er where  it  is  wanted.  But  there  is  also 
something  more  than  this  for  the  cen- 
tral authority  to  do.  It  ought  to  keep 
open  a  perpetual  communication  with 
the  localities:  informing  itself  by  their 
experience,  and  them  by  its  own;  giv- 
ing advice  freely  when  asked,  volun- 
teering it  when  seen  to  be  required; 
compelling  publicity  and  recordation 
of  proceedings,  and  enforcing  obedi- 
ence to  every  general  law  which  the 
legislature  has  laid  do^vn  on  the  sub- 
ject of  local  management."  pp.  357- 
358. 

Model  Charter.     "Reports.     General 


laws  may  be  passed  requiring  reports 
from  cities  as  to  their  transactions  and 
financial  condition,  and  providing  for 
the  examination  by  state  officials,  of 
the  vouchers,  books  and  accounts  of  all 
municipal  authorities,  or  of  public  un- 
dertakings conducted  by  such  authori- 
ties." Sec.  6  of  the  constitutional 
provisions  for  municipal  home  rule. 


Mill.  "In  each  local  circumscrip- 
tion there  should  be  but  one  elected 
body  for  all  local  business,  not  different 
bodies  for  different  parts  of  it.  Divi- 
sion of  labour  does  not  mean  cutting  up 
every  business  into  minute  fractions;  it 
means  the  union  of  such  operations  as 
are  fit  to  be  performed  by  the  same 
persons,  and  the  separation  of  such  as 
can  be  better  performed  by  different 
persons.  The  executive  duties  of  the 
locality  do  indeed  require  to  be  divided 
into  departments,  for  the  same  reason 
as  those  of  the  State;  because  they  are 
of  diverse  kinds,  each  requiring  knowl- 
edge peculiar  to  itself,  and  needing,  for 
its  due  performance,  the  undivided  at- 
tention of  a  specially  qualified  function- 
ary. But  the  reasons  for  subdivision 
which  apply  to  the  execution  do  not 
apply  to  the  control.  The  business  of 
the  elective  body  is  not  to  do  the  work, 
but  to  see  that  it  is  properly  done,  and 
that  nothing  necessary  is  left  undone. 
This  function  can  be  fulfilled  for  all 
departments  by  the  same  superintend- 
ing body;  and  by  a  collective  and  com- 
prehensive far  better  than  by  a  minute 
and  microscopic  view.  It  is  as  absurd 
in  public  affairs  as  it  would  be  in  pri- 
vate that  every  workman  should  be 
looked  after  by  a  superintendent  to 
himself."  p.  351. 

Model  Charter.  "There  is  hereby 
created  a  council  which  shall  have  full 
power  and  authority,  except  as  herein 


1922] 


JOHN  STUART  MILL  AND  THE  CITY  CHARTER 


323 


otherwise  provided,  to  exercise  all  the 
powers  conferred  upon  the  city." 
Sec.  1. 

While  Mill  does  not  specifically  refer 
to  the  subject,  his  general  statements 
are  broad  enough  to  warrant  the  con- 
clusion that  he  would  not  only  have 
favored  the  abolition  of  all  elective 
boards  and  officers  other  than  the 
council,  leaving  the  council  the  sole 
arbiter  in  municipal  affairs,  but  also 
the  consolidation  of  city  and  county 
governments  under  the  same  council. 
See  sec.  8  of  the  constitutional  provi- 
sions for  municipal  home  rule  printed 
with  the  Model  Charter. 


PROPORTIONAL   REPRESENTATION 
THE  COUNCIL 


IN 


Mill.  "In  a  really  equal  democracy, 
every  or  any  section  would  be  repre- 
sented, not  disproportionately,  but 
proportionately.  A  majority  of  the 
electors  would  always  have  a  major- 
ity of  the  representatives;  but  a  mi- 
nority of  the  electors  would  always 
have  a  minority  of  the  representatives. 
.  .  .  This  degree  of  perfection  in 
representation  appeared  impracticable 
until  a  man  of  great  capacity,  fitted 
alike  for  large  general  views  and  for  the 
contrivance  of  practical  details — Mr. 
Thomas  Hare — had  proved  its  possi- 
bility by  drawing  up  a  scheme  for  its 
accomplishment,  embodied  in  a  Draft 
of  an  Act  of  Parliament;  .  .  .  The 
more  these  works  [of  Mr.  Hare]  are 
studied  the  stronger,  I  venture  to  pre- 
dict, will  be  the  impression  of  the  per- 
fect feasibility  of  the  scheme,  and  its 
transcendent  advantages.  Such  and 
so  numerous  are  these,  that,  in  my  con- 
viction, they  place  Mr.  Hare's  plan 
among  the  very  greatest  improvements 
yet  made  in  the  theory  and  practice 
of  government.  .  .  .  '  pp.  257, 
261,  263. 

"The  proper  constitution  of  local 


representative  bodies  does  not  present 
much  difficulty.  The  principles  which 
apply  to  it  do  not  differ  in  any  respect 
from  those  applicable  to  the  national 
representation.  The  same  obligation 
exists,  as  in  the  case  of  the  more  im- 
portant function,  for  making  the  bodies 
elective;  and  the  same  reasons  operate 
as  in  that  case,  but  with  still  greater 
force,  for  giving  them  a  widely  demo- 
cratic basis :  the  dangers  being  less,  and 
the  advantages,  in  point  of  popular 
education  and  cultivation,  in  some 
respects  even  greater.  .  .  .  The 
representation  of  minorities  should  be 
provided  for  in  the  same  manner  as  in 
the  national  Parliament,  .  .  . 
pp.  348,  349. 

Model  Charter.  The  Hare  system  of 
proportional  representation  by  the  sin- 
gle transferable  vote  is  provided  for 
in  the  Model  Charter  in  sees.  7  to  14, 
inclusive. 

Very  few  people  even  to  this  day  can 
improve  upon  Mill's  argument  of  the 
case  for  proportional  representation. 
See  particularly  ch.  7  of  Representative 
Government. 


SEPARATION     OF     POLITICS     FROM     AD- 
MINISTRATION 

Mill.  "There  is  a  radical  distinc- 
tion between  controlling  the  business 
of  government  and  actually  doing  it. 
The  same  person  or  body  may  be  able 
to  control  everything,  but  cannot  pos- 
sibly do  everything;  and  in  many  cases 
its  control  over  everything  will  be  more 
perfect  the  less  it  personally  attempts 
to  do.  .  .  .  The  proper  duty  of  a 
representative  assembly  in  regard  to 
matters  of  administration  is  not  to  de- 
cide them  by  its  own  vote,  but  to  take 
care  that  the  persons  who  have  to  de- 
cide them  shall  be  the  proper  persons. 
Even  this  they  cannot  advantageously 
do  by  nominating  the  individuals. 
.  .  .  Numerous  bodies  never  regard 


324 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[October 


special  qualifications  at  all.  Unless  a 
man  is  fit  for  the  gallows,  he  is  thought 
to  be  about  as  fit  as  other  people  for 
almost  anything  for  which  he  can  offer 
himself  as  a  candidate.  When  ap- 
pointments made  by  a  public  body  are 
not  decided,  as  they  almost  always  are, 
by  party  connection  or  private  jobbing, 
a  man  is  appointed  either  because  he 
has  a  reputation,  often  quite  unde- 
served, for  general  ability,  or  frequently 
for  no  better  reason  than  that  he  is 
personally  popular."  pp.  229-230,  233, 
234.  These  quotations  are  from  ch. 
5,  "Of  the  proper  functions  of  repre- 
sentative bodies."  In  ch.  15,  also, 
"Of  local  representative  bodies,"  Mill 
stresses  the  point  that  the  council 
should  keep  its  hands  off  the  adminis- 
tration, leaving  all  executive  and  ad- 
ministrative work  to  those  who  are 
trained  and  selected  for  that  purpose. 

Model  Charter.  "Neither  the  coun- 
cil nor  any  of  its  committees  or  mem- 
bers shall  dictate  the  appointment  of 
any  person  to  office  or  employment  by 
the  city  manager,  or  in  any  manner 
interfere  with  the  city  manager  or  pre- 
vent him  from  exercising  his  own  judg- 
ment in  the  appointment  of  officers  and 
employees  in  the  administrative  serv- 
ice." Sec.  3.  The  Model  Charter 
goes  on  to  specify  more  in  detail  the 
lines  which  should  separate  the  admin- 
istration of  affairs  from  the  determina- 
tion of  policies.  See  further  quotations 
from  both  Mill  and  the  Model  Charter  y 
below. 


GOOD    ADMINISTRATION    REQUIRES    THE 
APPOINTMENT   OF   EXPERTS 

Mill.  "Every  branch  of  public  ad- 
ministration is  a  skilled  business,  which 
has  its  own  peculiar  principles  and 
traditional  rules,  many  of  them  not 
even  known,  in  any  effectual  way, 
except  to  those  who  have  at  some  time 
had  a  hand  in  carrying  on  the  business, 


and  none  of  them  likely  to  be  duly  ap- 
preciated by  persons  not  practically 
acquainted  with  the  department."  p. 
231. 

"The  executive  duties  of  the  locality 
.  are  of  diverse  kinds,  each  re- 
quiring knowledge  peculiar  to  itself, 
and  needing,  for  its  due  performance, 
the  undivided  attention  of  a  specially 
qualified  functionary."  p.  351. 

"The  principles  applicable  to  all 
public  trusts  are  in  substance  the  same. 
In  the  first  place,  each  executive  officer 
should  be  single,  and  singly  responsible 
for  the  whole  of  the  duty  committed  to 
his  charge.  In  the  next  place,  he 
should  be  nominated,  not  elected.  It 
is  ridiculous  that  a  surveyor,  or  a 
health  officer,  or  even  a  collector  of 
rates,  should  be  appointed  by  popular 
suffrage.  The  popular  choice  usually 
depends  on  interest  with  a  few  local 
leaders,  who,  as  they  are  not  supposed 
to  make  the  appointment,  are  not 
responsible  for  it;  or  on  an  appeal  to 
sympathy,  founded  on  having  twelve 
children,  and  having  been  a  rate-payer 
in  the  parish  for  thirty  years.  If  in 
cases  of  this  description  election  by  the 
population  is  a  farce,  appointment  by 
the  local  representative  body  is  little 
less  objectionable.  Such  bodies  have 
a  perpetual  tendency  to  become  joint- 
stock  associations  for  carrying  into 
effect  the  private  jobs  of  their  various 
members."  p.  353-354. 

Model  Charter.  The  Model  Charter 
leaves  no  executive  or  administrative 
officials  to  be  chosen  by  popular  elec- 
tion. The  council  is  to  select  only  the 
city  manager  and  the  civil  service 
board.  All  other  department  heads 
are  chosen  by  the  city  manager,  as 
indicated  below.  "At  the  head  of 
each  department  there  shall  be  a  di- 
rector. Each  director  shall  be  chosen 
on  the  basis  of  his  general  executive  and 
administrative  experience  and  ability 
and  of  his  education,  training,  and 


1922] 


JOHN  STUART  MILL  AND  THE  CITY   CHARTER 


325 


experience  in  the  class  of  work  which 
he  is  to  administer.  The  director  of 
the  department  of  law  shall  be  a  law- 
yer"; etc.  Minor  positions  are  filled 
mainly  by  competitive  examination. 
Sees.  38,  41-48. 

Mill  recognized  even  in  his  day  the 
necessity  of  expert  administration,  yet 
was  powerfully  influenced  by  the  tra- 
ditional English  reverence  for  the 
"general  ability"  of  which  he  seemed 
to  make  light.  Following  the  words 
quoted  above  from  p.  231,  he  went  on 
to  say:  "  I  do  not  mean  that  the  trans- 
action of  public  business  has  esoteric 
mysteries,  only  to  be  understood  by 
the  initiated.  Its  principles  are  all 
intelligible  to  any  person  of  good  sense, 
who  has  in  his  mind  a  true  picture  of 
the  circumstances  and  conditions  to  be 
dealt  with;  but  to  have  this  he  must 
know  those  circumstances  and  condi- 
tions; and  the  knowledge  does  not  come 
by  intuition."  Except  in  emphasis, 
this  is  not  very  much  unlike  a  certain 
oft-quoted  sentiment  attributed  to 
Andrew  Jackson. 


THE    ADMINISTRATIVE    RESPONSIBILITY 
SHOULD  CENTER  IN  ONE  PERSON 

M ill.  "  What  can  be  done  better  by 
a  body  than  by  any  individual  is  delib- 
eration. When  it  is  necessary  or  im- 
portant to  secure  hearing  and  considera- 
tion to  many  conflicting  opinions,  a  de- 
liberative body  is  indispensable.  Those 
bodies,  therefore,  are  frequently  useful, 
even  for  administrative  business,  but 
in  general  only  as  advisers;  such  busi- 
ness being,  as  a  rule,  better  conducted 
under  the  responsibility  of  one.  Even 
a  joint-stock  company  has  always  in 
practice,  if  not  in  theory,  a  managing 
director;  its  good  or  bad  management 
depends  essentially  on  some  one  per- 
son's qualifications,  and  the  remaining 
directors,  when  of  any  use,  are  so  by 
their  suggestions  to  him,  or  by  the 


power  they  possess  of  watching  him, 
and  restraining  or  removing  him  in  case 
of  misconduct.  That  they  are  ostensi- 
bly equal  sharers  with  him  in  the 
management  is  no  advantage,  but  a 
considerable  set-off  against  any  good 
which  they  are  capable  of  doing:  it 
weakens  greatly  the  sense  in  his  own 
mind,  and  in  those  of  other  people,  of 
that  individual  responsibility  in  which 
he  should  stand  forth  personally  and 
undividedly."  p.  231. 

"Appointments  should  be  made  [not 
by  the  council,  but]  on  the  individual 
responsibility  of  the  chairman  of  the 
body,  let  him  be  called  mayor,  chair- 
man of  quarter  sessions,  or  by  what- 
ever other  title.  He  occupies  in  the 
locality  a  position  analogous  to  that  of 
the  prime  minister  in  the  state,  and 
under  a  well-organized  system  the  ap- 
pointment and  watching  of  the  local 
officers  would  be  the  most  important 
part  of  his  duty;  he  himself  being  ap- 
pointed by  the  council  from  its  own 
number,  subject  either  to  annual  re- 
election, or  to  removal  by  a  vote  of  the 
body."  p.  354. 

Model  Charter.  "The  city  manager 
shall  be  the  chief  executive  officer  of 
the  city.  He  shall  be  chosen  by  the 
council  solely  on  the  basis  of  his  execu- 
tive and  administrative  qualifications. 
The  choice  shall  not  be  limited  to  in- 
habitants of  the  city  or  state.  .  .  . 
He  shall  be  appointed  for  an  indefinite 
period.  He  shall  be  removable  by  the 
council.  .  .  .  The  city  manager 
shall  be  responsible  to  the  council  for 
the  proper  administration  of  all  affairs 
of  the  city,  and  to  that  end  shall  make 
all  appointments,  except  as  otherwise 
provided  in  this  charter.  Except  when 
the  council  is  considering  his  removal, 
he  shall  be  entitled  to  be  present  at  all 
meetings  of  the  council  and  of  its  com- 
mittees and  to  take  part  in  their  dis- 
cussion. .  .  .  Each  director  shall 
be  appointed  by  the  city  manager  and 


326 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[October 


may  be  removed  by  him  at  any  time; 
..."     Sees.  34,  35,  38. 

There  is  here  one  striking  difference 
between  Mill's  views  and  the  provi- 
sions of  the  Model  Charter.  Mill 
thought  traditionally.  He  conceived 
of  his  city  manager  as  a  local  resident, 
a  member  of  the  council  or  board  of 
directors,  chosen  by  the  body  from 
among  its  own  members,  like  the  Eng- 
lish mayor  or  the  president-manager  of 
a  corporation.  Perhaps  under  English 
conditions  in  his  own  day,  this  plan 
would  have  worked  well.  Those  who 
drew  up  the  Model  Charter  thought  in 
terms  of  a  manager  who  would  make 
city  administration  his  profession  and 
who  would  be  called  from  city  to  city 
as  his  fame  grew  with  his  success.  The 


selection  of  the  manager  from  among 
the  members  of  the  council,  although 
not  forbidden,  was  conceived  of  as 
generally  undesirable  under  American 
conditions.  This  difference  is  highly 
important  but  hardly  vital. 

There  are  other  differences,  too,  be- 
tween Mill's  plan  and  the  Model 
Charter.  Mill  omits  the  initiative,  ref- 
erendum, and  recall,  of  course;  and  he 
is  imbued  with  the  idea  of  the  necessity 
of  property  tests  for  electors.  These  dis- 
crepancies are  not  fatal.  All  things  con- 
sidered, Mill  is  distinctly  a  modern. 
His  5th  and  15th  chapters  in  the  Con- 
siderations on  Representative  Government 
form  even  today  an  excellent  statement 
of  some  of  the  salient  problems  of  the 
organization  of  local  governments. 


GAINS  AGAINST  THE  NUISANCES 

II.  NOISE  AND  PUBLIC  HEALTH1 

BY  WILLIS  O.  NANCE,  M.D. 

Trustee,  Sanitary  District  of  Chicago 

The  second  article  in  our  series  of  Gains  Against  the  Nuisances.  Most 
noise  is  preventable.  City  noises  shorten  our  lives,  besides  making  them 
less  worth  living.  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  :: 


CITY  noises,  like  the  proverbial  poor, 
we  must  always  expect  to  have  with  us. 
Noise  in  any  community  may  be  and 
usually  is  a  distinct  sign  of  progress 
and  frequently  of  prosperity.  No 
large  number  of  people  can  live  to- 
gether and  transact  business  without 
making  some  noise.  It  is  true  that  no 
large  city  of  importance  can  be  made 
noiseless.  However,  everybody  knows 
that  much  of  the  noise  of  metropolitan 
life  is  absolutely  unnecessary.  It  must 
be  remembered  that  complaints  against 
city  noises  are  not  by  any  means  a  fad 
of  the  idle  rich.  For  if  one  goes  into 
the  industrial  communities  he  will  find 
that  there  is  as  much  complaint  among 


the  residents  there  as  there  is  along  the 
"Gold  Coast." 

The  American  city  is  proverbially  a 
noisy  city.  The  average  American  be- 
lieves in  doing  things  and  doing  them 
quickly  and  effectively  and  does  not 
always  comport  himself  in  accomplish- 
ing these  things  with  the  traditional 
ladylike  finesse. 

Several  years  ago  the  writer  spent 
considerable  time  abroad,  residing  in 
one  city,  Berlin,  nearly  a  year.  The 
nature  of  his  work  required  that  he  live 
near  the  center  of  the  city's  business  ac- 
tivities. The  difference  in  the  amount 

1  Read  at  the  meeting  of  .the  American  Civic  Associa- 
tion, Chicago,  Nov.  15,  1921. 


1922] 


GAINS  AGAINST  THE  NUISANCES 


327 


of  noise  prevalent  in  the  business  dis- 
tricts in  some  of  our  American  cities 
and  the  German  metropolis  made  a 
deep  impression  upon  his  mind.  He 
could  not  help  but  believe  that  we  of 
the  western  world  were  making  too 
much  noise  and  he  believes  so  today. 
Moreover,  he  does  not  believe  that  he 
is  looking  at  the  noise  problem  through 
glasses  of  impracticability  nor  the  eyes 
of  a  neurasthenic  nor  a  fanatic.  He  is 
quite  sure  that  he  has  never  been  se- 
riously afflicted  with  neurasthenia  and 
in  the  urban  section  of  the  city  in  which 
he  resides,  notwithstanding  the  early 
visit  of  the  milkman,  the  delightful 
matutinal  greeting  of  the  neighbors' 
prize  leghorns  and  the  early  clanging 
of  the  ecclesiastic  chimes,  he  usually 
secures  without  much  difficulty  the 
requisite  seven  or  eight  hours  seance 
with  the  god  of  rest  and  sleep. 


As  a  medical  man,  perhaps  the  sub- 
ject of  unnecessary  noises  has  been 
brought  more  prominently  to  the  writ- 
er's attention  than  to  that  of  the  aver- 
age citizen.  There  can  be  no  question 
of  doubt  that  noise  is  a  decided  causa- 
tive factor  in  many  nervous  diseases. 
There  is  little  doubt  that  many  .nerv- 
ous wrecks  are  created  every  year  by 
the  incessant  din  and  clamor  to  which 
many  of  us  are  continually  subjected. 

The  sensitive  nervous  system  of  the. 
city  dweller  is  especially  prone  to  the 
assaults  and  onslaughts  of  the  violence 
of  confusion,  in  another  word,  noise, 
and  suffers  a  serious  drain  as  a  conse- 
quence. 

Several  well  known  literary  men  have 
recorded  their  views  on  the  noise  ques- 
tion. A  well  known  example  is  that  of 
Carlyle,  who  pays  his  respects  to  noise 
in  general  and  the  steam  whistle  in 
particular,  by  saying: 

That  which  the  world  torments  me  in  most  is 
the  awful  confusion  of  noise.    It  is  the  devil's  own 


infernal  din  all  the  blessed  day  long,  confounding 
God's  works  and  his  creatures.  A  truly  awful 
hell-like  combination,  and  the  worst  of  it  all  is 
the  railway  whistle,  like  the  screech  of  ten  thou- 
sand cats,  and  every  cat  of  them  as  big  as  a 
cathedral. 

A  writer  in  a  current  issue  of  The 
Nation's  Health  thus  pays  his  respects 
to  the  automobile  cut-out  muffler  and 
other  barbarous  city  noises : 

The  muffler  which  can't  be  cut  out  has  come 
to  stay  and  while,  of  course,  nothing  short  of  ex- 
termination will  silence  the  cracked  soprano,  the 
raucous  junk  collector  and  the  cheerful  idiot 
who  plays  one  finger  piano  solos,  may  blessings 
be  upon  the  head  of  the  health  officer  who  will 
recognize  and  treat  unnecessary  and  avoidable 
noises  as  a  nuisance  and  a  menace  to  the  public 
health.  And  this  is  logical,  for  surely  an  offense 
to  the  ear  is  quite  as  bad  as  an  offense  to  the  eye 
or  the  nostril.  Perhaps  it  may  be  even  more 
harmful  and  surely  the  commission  of  the  one 
should  be  as  punishable  as  the  other.  The 
blessed  contentment  of  the  quiet  of  the  open 
fields  is  not  imaginary;  it  is  a  sigh  of  relief  from 
nerves  too  taut  with  the  stentorian  voice  of  the 
city,  and  while  the  beatific  silence  may  be  occa- 
sionally broken  by  the  tinny  cacophony  of  the 
senile  vehicle  from  Detroit,  the  tortured  soul  is 
soon  assuaged  by  nature's  silence. 

Hollis  Godfrey  in  the  Atlantic  Month- 
ly mentions  an  article  which  he  trans- 
lated from  Le  Figaro,  as  follows: 

Noise  has  a  daughter  whose  revisions  extend  in 
all  directions:  Neurasthenia.  I  have  seen  in  a 
little  village  a  strong  peasant  girl  lying  on  her 
poor  couch  and  suffering  from  a  sickness  from 
which  her  forces  were  slowly  ebbing.  The  doc- 
tors all  agreed  in  declaring  that  she  has  neuras- 
thenia. She  was  absolutely  illiterate.  Knew 
neither  how  to  read  or  how  to  write.  It  was  not 
books  nor  meditation  nor  sensibility  of  soul 
which  had  brought  her  to  that  diseased  state. 
No;  leaving  her  country  home  she  had  worked  in 
a  great  city  whose  noise  had  constantly  alarmed 
her.  At  last  she  returned  to  the  fields;  she  came 
back  too  late. 

We  may  perhaps  also  well  quote  the 
protest  of  a  writer  in  the  Boston  Globe: 

Gentlemen: 

Why  is  it  that  your  switch  flip  no  has  to  ding 
and  dong  and  fizz  and  spit  and  clang  and  bang 
and  hiss  and  bell  and  wail  and  pant  and  rant  and 
howl  and  yowl  and  grate  and  grind  and  puff  and 
bump  and  click  and  clank  and  chug  and  moan 


328 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[October 


and  hoot  and  toot  and  crash  and  grunt  and  gasp 
and  groan  and  whistle  and  wheeze  and  squawk 
and  blow  and  jar  and  jerk  and  rasp  and  jingle 
and  twang  and  clack  and  rumble  and  jangle  and 
ring  and  clatter  and  yelp  and  howl  and  hum  and 
snarl  and  puff  and  growl  and  thump  and  boom 
and  clash  and  jolt  and  jostle  and  shake  and 
screech  and  snort  and  snarl  and  slam  and  throb 
and  crink  and  quiver  and  rumble  and  roar  and 
rattle  and  yell  and  smoke  and  smell  and  shriek 
like  hell  all  night  long? 

Everyone  knows  that  rest  and  quiet 
are  nature's  best  medicines,  and  that  in 
case  of  severe  illness  the  physician  or- 
ders these  remedies.  Every  large  com- 
munity has  a  certain  proportion  of  in- 
habitants who  are  not  up  to  physical 
par.  In  Chicago,  for  instance,  it  is  safe 
to  say  that  there  are  approximately 
60,000  sick  people  every  day,  many  of 
whom  are  suffering  from  some  nervous 
trouble,  who  require  and  should  re- 
ceive all  the  consideration  it  is  in  our 
power  to  give  them.  They  are  entitled 
to  protection  from  the  awful  din;  the 
municipality  owes  it  to  them;  society 
should  give  it  to  them. 

As  an  etiologic  factor  in  certain 
varieties  of  deafness  noise  is  recognized 
by  otologists  generally.  That  the  audi- 
tory nerve  and  the  delicate  mechanism 
of  the  ear,  of  which  there  is  none  more 
intricate  and  sensitive  in  the  human 
body,  eventually  resists  the  violent 
onslaught  of  numerous  and  unnecessary 
noises  and  permanently  loses  more  or 
less  of  its  acuteness  is  admitted  by  all 
who  have  given  the  matter  any  amount 
of  study.  The  generally  recognized 
application  of  this  principle  is  plainly 
shown  in  the  case  of  boilermakers  who 
spend  many  hours  a  day  in  a  more  or 
less  constant  din,  practically  all  of 
whom  are  deaf.  One  may  protect  one's 
eyes  by  closing  them;  one  does  not 
necessarily  have  to  use  the  sense  of 
smell;  the  sense  of  taste  is  entirely 
one's  own  desire,  but  there  is  no  way 
of  avoiding  sound  when  one  is  in  its 
sphere. 


II 

Noise  is  a  cause  of  lowered  industrial 
and  economic  efficiency.  Past  Assist- 
ant Surgeon  J.  A.  Watkins  of  the  United 
States  Public  Health  Service,  in  a 
technical  survey  of  health  conservation 
at  steel  mills,  published  in  1916,  says: 

Much  of  the  noise  in  any  industrial  plant  is,  of 
course,  a  compulsory  hazard,  and  its  elimination 
in  many  plants  is  wholly  impossible.  It  could, 
however,  be  made  to  affect  a  relatively  smaD 
number  of  men  only,  and  no  doubt  many  noises 
could  be  eliminated. 

Although  many  workers  affirm  that  they  be- 
come thoroughly  accustomed  to  many  of  these 
sounds,  the  effect  of  the  noise  on  the  nervous 
system  persists,  unless,  by  continuous  exposure, 
dullness  of  hearing  or  deafness  is  produced.  The 
influence  of  continuous  and  unnatural  noise  in 
causing  fatigue  is  well  known.  The  installation 
of  silent  signals  for  other  than  danger  signals 
would  have  advantages  over  the  blowing  of 
whistles;  for  should  the  whistles  not  be  heard  or 
properly  understood  at  the  time  they  are  blown 
some  serious  mishap  may  arise,  whereas  silent 
signals  are  continuous. 

In  one  shop  in  the  Pittsburgh  district  an  en- 
deavor is  being  made  to  do  away  with  unneces- 
sary noise.  The  difference  between  it  and  others 
is  astonishing.  The  men  do  work  in  an  orderly, 
rapid  manner;  there  is  no  confusion,  no  noise. 
If  danger  signals  are  sounded,  they  can  be  dis- 
tinctly heard.  After  one  has  been  in  a  noisy 
shop  for  some  time  a  stay  in  this  shop  is  actually 
restful.  Light  signals  ha\e  been  used  where  the 
duties  of  the  workers  were  in  sequence  and  have 
proved  a  great  success. 

Everyone  knows  that  it  is  impossible 
to  attain  any  high  degree  of  efficiency 
in  any  line  of  endeavor  or  work  that  re- 
quires any  exercise  of  the  mind  in  the 
midst  of  a  constant  din.  I  believe  I 
am  safe  in  estimating  that  human 
efficiency  is  reduced  at  least  twenty- 
five  per  cent  in  noisy  business  localities 
by  a  more  or  less  clatter  or  clamor.  It 
may  be  said  that  there  is  such  a  thing 
as  getting  accustomed  to  certain  varie- 
ties and  degrees  of  noise  to  such  an  ex- 
tent that  little  harm  results  either  to 
one's  health  or  working  efficiency. 
This  may  be  possible  for  a  varying 


1922] 


GAINS  AGAINST  THE  NUISANCES 


8*9 


period  of  time,  but  it  must  be  admitted 
that  the  cumulative,  if  not  the  present 
effect,  of  such  violence  is  bound  to 
manifest  itself  disastrously.  We  all 
know  that  our  best  brain  work  is  done 
in  an  atmosphere  of  quiet. 

Property  values  in  every  large  city 
are  markedly  depreciated  as  the  result 
of  the  noise  evil.  Few  people  enjoy 
living  contiguous  to  a  railroad  right  of 
way  and  being  obliged  to  listen  to  a 
more  or  less  constant  ringing  of  bells, 
blowing  of  whistles,  etc.,  morning, 
noon  and  night,  week  days  and  Sun- 
days. Of  course,  nobody  who  locates 
near  a  railroad  hopes  for  the  beatific 
tranquility  incident  to  the  surround- 
ings of  a  public  burial-ground,  but  he 
expects,  or  at  least  has  a  right  to  ex- 
pect, that  the  operation  of  the  system 
of  business  will  be  conducted  in  a 
manner  as  considerate  as  possible  for 
the  welfare  of  the  public. 

Ill 

Several  years  ago  the  city  council  of 
Chicago  took  up  the  matter  of  the  sup- 
pression of  useless  noises  seriously  and 
appointed  a  sub-committee  of  the 
council  public  health  committee  to 
consider  thoroughly  the  question  and 
to  report  back  to  the  council  such 
recommendations  as  might  seem  neces- 
sary to  bring  about  a  better  control  of 
such  noises  as  were  considered  detri- 
mental to  the  health  and  comfort  of 
the  people.  The  writer  had  the  honor 
of  being  chairman  of  this  sub-commit- 
tee. A  number  of  public  hearings  were 
held  which  the  public  generally  were 
invited  to  attend  and  make  any  com- 
plaints they  deemed  fit.  It  was  as- 
tounding the  number  and  various  kinds 
of  complaints  that  were  made.  They 
varied  from  the  noisy  automobile,  the 
factory  and  railroad  and  steamboat 
whistles  to  the  ringing  of  church  bells 
and  the  crowing  of  roosters. 


The  so-called  "flat"  car-wheel,  the 
worn  rail,  the  railroad  crossing  bell, 
the  crossing  policeman's  whistle,  car- 
pet-beating, the  rattling  of  the  milk- 
man's cans  and  bottles,  the  summer- 
garden's  alleged  music,  barking  dogs 
and  screeching  cats,  the  news-boys, 
nocturnal  band  practice  and  even  the 
rah  rah  boys  all  came  in  for  considera- 
tion. In  fact  it  seemed  to  have  been 
proven  beyond  the  shadow  of  a  doubt 
that  the  traditional  "57  varieties"  of 
noise  are  present  in  Chicago,  and  the 
grave  feature  of  the  whole  situation  is 
that  these  complaints  were  all  seriously 
made.  It  was  moreover  the  belief  of 
the  committee  that  most  of  these 
noises  are  absolutely  unnecessary  and 
uncalled  for  in  a  large  community. 

Another  feature  of  the  subject  that 
struck  the  committee  very  forcibly  is 
the  apparent  lack  of  consideration  for 
the  comfort  and  feeling  of  the  average 
citizen  insofar  as  it  relates  to  the  noise 
nuisance.  In  practically  every  instance 
complained  of  it  appeared  that  protest 
had  been  made  and  in  many  cases  re- 
peatedly to  persons  who  certainly  had 
it  in  their  power  to  minimize  the  cause 
of  the  disturbance,  and  it  was  a  rare 
exception  that  anything  at  all  had  been 
done  to  remedy  or  alleviate  the  condi- 
tions complained  of. 

It  is  very  difficult  indeed  to  venture 
a  guess  as  to  what  a  city's  worst  indi- 
vidual noise  nuisance  is,— the  noises 
are  so  diversified  as  to  their  location. 
Perhaps  20  or  30  of  the  total  number  of 
the  57  classified  noises  are  present  more 
or  less  all  the  time  during  the  day.  To- 
gether they  comprise  a  bedlam  which 
in  its  aggregate  is  unquestionably 
shattering  our  nerves  and  indirectly 
shortening  our  lives. 

Elevated  railway  trains  in  the  larger 
cities  are  among  the  worst  offenders 
where  they  run  through  a  part  of  the 
city  thick  with  houses,  offices  and 
stores.  Engineers  have  worked  on  the 


330 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[October 


problem  of  lessening  this  nuisance,  but 
so  far  as  I  know  their  work  has  not 
been  of  very  much  avail.  It  has  been 
studied  for  many  years  not  only  in  this 
country  but  in  Europe  as  well. 

Another  contributory  factor  to  un- 
necessary city  noises  is  the  old  cobble 
stone  pavement,  which  is  still  unfortu- 
nately present  to  some  extent.  The 
only  advantage  that  it  seems  to  possess 
is  that  it  is  hard  and,  presumably, 
durable.  In  this  day  and  age,  it  would 
seem,  it  has  no  place  in  a  modern  city. 
One  cannot  imagine  any  good  reason 
why  the  public  should  be  obliged 
further  to  suffer  from  its  existence. 
Wooden  blocks  at  least  have  the  ad- 
vantage of  deadening  much  of  the 
sound  and  their  smooth  surface  makes 
the  keeping  of  the  roadway  clear  of  dirt 
and  filth  easy  and  economical. 

Then,  again,  the  surface  street  cars 
make  too  much  noise.  The  motor- 
man's  gong,  surely,  is  not  nearly  so  loud 
or  used  so  agressively  as  was  the  case  a 
number  of  years  ago  and  yet  it  is  still 
too  noisy.  The  rail  connections,  es- 
pecially at  junction  points,  frequently 
seem  to  be  too  loose  and  in  many  cases 
the  cars  almost  jump  over  the  rails, 
adding  much  to  the  sum  total  of  appar- 
ently useless  noises.  There  cannot  be 
much  excuse  for  the  continued  use  of 
the  so-called  "flat  wheel"  and  yet  on 
certain  lines  of  many  cities  they  are  not 
at  all  uncommon,  adding  much  to  the 
annoyance  and  discomfort  of  our  citi- 
zens. The  use  of  the  flat  wheel  should 
be  prohibited. 

The  shrill  blast  of  the  crossing  police- 
man's whistle  in  downtown  districts 
has  been  objected  to  by  many  citizens. 
It  is  said  to  be  decidedly  objectionable 
and  irritating  to  people  who  spend  a 
good  part  of  their  time  on  the  streets 
or  who  are  employed  in  stores  and 
offices  on  the  first  floors  of  large  build- 
ings. There  seems  to  be  no  legitimate 
reason  why  police  officers  cannot  con- 


trol traffic  in  streets  by  hand  or 
mechanical  signals  as  is  done  with  per- 
fect success  in  some  American  and 
foreign  cities,  or  that  less  penetrating 
whistles  be  employed.  If  other  street 
noises  were  reduced  it  would  not  be 
necessary  to  use  a  whistle  that  can  be 
heard  a  distance  of  two  or  three  blocks 
in  a  still  atmosphere  to  signal  to  a 
teamster  30  to  40  feet  away.  I  would 
like  to  see  the  noiseless  white  glove 
signal  tried  out  in  every  large  city.  It 
has  been  employed  in  the  park  and 
boulevard  systems  of  this  city  for 
many  years  and  has  proven  effective 
and  satisfactory. 

IV 

There  has  been  much  complaint  con- 
cerning the  noisy  operation  of  automo- 
biles and  motorcycles,  and  justly  so,  it 
would  seem.  Several  years  ago,  before 
the  mechanism  of  these  motor  vehicles 
was  perfected,  there  might  have  been 
some  excuse  for  it,  but  in  this  day  of 
mechanical  perfection  the  auto  should 
be  practically  silent  in  its  operation. 
In  most  instances  there  is  no  reason  to 
complain  of  noisy  operation  of  auto- 
mobiles. A  small  minority  of  drivers, 
however,  evidently  believe  it  to  be  the 
height  of  propriety  and  exceedingly 
clever  to  make  about  all  the  noise  they 
can  in  the  public  streets.  These  gen- 
tlemen seem  to  be  in  the  class  of  those 
who  violate  the  speed  laws.  They  are 
absolutely  inconsiderate  of  the  welfare 
of  the  public  and  are  to  be  classed 
among  the  undesirables.  They  usually 
have  40  to  60  horsepower  engines  and 
throw  open  the  muffler  as  they  tear 
down  the  street,  all  too  frequently  be- 
tween the  hours  of  11  p.m.  and  2  or  3 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  awakening 
everyone  within  a  radius  of  several 
blocks.  They  generally  possess  and 
use  a  horn  of  a  volume  three  or  four 
times  greater  than  there  is  any  legit- 
imate necessity  for. 


1922] 


GAINS  AGAINST  THE  NUISANCES 


If  one  drives  carefully,  little  signal- 
ing is  necessary.  I  know  an  individual 
who  has  driven  an  automobile  daily  for 
several  months  on  an  average  of  forty 
miles  a  day,  and  really  had  no  trouble  in 
getting  along  without  any  horn  at  all. 

The  motorcyclist  is  an  individual 
against  whom  much  complaint  has 
been  rightfully  lodged.  He  has  been 
accused  of  frequent  open  violation  of 
the  speed  laws  as  well  as  of  making  too 
much  noise.  It  is  said  that  many  of 
these  machines  in  use  have  absolutely 
no  muffler  at  all.  Better  regulation  of 
these  motorists  by  ordinance  seems  to 
be  indicated. 

The  blowing  of  factory  whistles  is  an 
unnecessary  nuisance.  It  certainly 
does  not  seem  at  all  necessary  that 
workmen  should  be  called  to  work  and 
dismissed  several  times  a  day  by  the 
blowing  of  whistles  that  can  be  heard 
for  miles  to  the  annoyance  and  dis- 
comfort of  hundreds  of  sick  and  nerv- 
ous people.  Railroad  corporations  and 
large  department  stores  employing 
thousands  of  persons  do  not  find  it 
necessary  to  employ  such  methods  and 
it  would  seem  that  gongs  connected  by 
wires  with  the  timekeeper's  office 
might  be  used  as  effectively  and  with- 
out annoyance  to  anyone.  The  fac- 
tory whistle  is  doubtless  a  relic  of  olden 
times  when  watches  and  clocks  were 
expensive  and  uncommon. 

The  crying  of  their  wares  and  prod- 
uce by  hucksters  and  peddlers  has  be- 
come an  intolerable  nuisance  in  some 
communities.  Where  there  are  many 
sick  people  and  in  sections  of  the  city 
where  many  people  who  work  nights 
are  trying  to  obtain  some  sleep  during 
the  day,  it  seems  to  be  the  worst. 
Stentorian  crying  is  an  unnecessary 
adjunct  to  the  peddling  business. 

The  visit  of  early  morning  milkmen 
is  a  source  of  much  annoyance  and 
irritation  to  the  average  citizen.  From 
observations  and  reports,  he  seems  to 


arrive  about  the  same  time  all  over 
town,  anywhere  from  3:30  to  6:30 
o'clock.  He  announces  his  coming  with 
a  wagon  whose  wheels  play  in  and  out 
upon  the  axles  to  a  wholly  unnecessary 
degree.  His  well  and  heavily-shod 
horse  seems  to  stamp  his  hoofs  forcibly 
upon  the  hard  pavement  in  order  to 
call  to  the  attention  of  the  sleeper  that 
his  master  is  about  to  appear  upon  the 
scene.  Then  there  is  some  jingling  and 
jangling  of  bottles  which  rends  the 
peace  and  tranquility  of  the  early 
morning  air  and  then  begins  the 
noisy  ascent  of  the  one,  two  or  three 
flights  of  stairs.  Delivery  consolida- 
tion and  better  equipment  of  men  and 
vehicles  would  tend  to  ameliorate  this 
nuisance. 

The  noise  and  annoyance  incident  to 
the  keeping  of  domestic  animals  in  a 
large  city  is  a  problem  somewhat  diffi- 
cult of  control.  That  the  barking  dog, 
the  bellicose  feline  and  crowing  rooster 
figure  to  quite  an  important  extent  in 
shattering  the  nerves  and  developing 
and  encouraging  profanity  in  most 
cities  seems  to  be  borne  out  by  investi- 
gation and  observation.  There  are 
many  intelligent  citizens  who  believe 
that  a  large  city  is  no  place  for  either 
dogs,  cats  or  chickens,  and  yet  the  rec- 
ords of  the  city  collector's  office  show 
the  many  thousands  of  dogs  that  are 
annually  licensed  in  the  city. 

It  is  time  for  good  citizens  to  take  a 
serious  interest  in  the  problem.  The 
passage  and  enforcement  of  anti-noise 
ordinances  will  not  alone  bring  about  a 
quiet  city.  It  will  help  some  but  what 
is  needed  more  than  anything  is  the 
creation  of  popular  sentiment  against 
the  continuance  of  the  noise  nuisance 
and  in  favor  of  the  enforcement  of 
ordinances  relating  thereto.  It  means 
a  campaign  of  education.  When  peo- 
ple learn  that  much  of  the  noise  made 
is  not  in  the  least  necessary  but  harm- 
ful to  the  health  and  comfort  of  the 


332 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL 


community,  and  that  much  of  it  can  be 
dispensed  with  without  injury  to  legit- 
imate commercial  interests,  the  battle 
will  be  more  than  half  won.  The 
public  must  be  taught  that  quiet  sur- 


roundings as  well  as  pure  food,  pure 
water,  clean  air  and  proper  methods  of 
sewage  disposal  are  all  hygienic  meas- 
ures essential  to  the  health  and  com- 
fort of  all. 


GIFFORD  PINCHOT  AND  THE  DIRECT 

PRIMARY 

BY  T.   HENRY   WALNUT 
Of  the  Philadelphia  Bar 

At  least  once  in  Pennsylvania  the  Direct  Primary  functioned  as  its 
early  disciples  intended  it  should.     ::         ::         ::         ::         ::         :: 


FAITH  sometimes  is  rewarded.  In 
1913  when  the  state  wide  primary  act 
was  passed  in  Pennsylvania  there  was 
faith  that  its  passage  marked  the  end 
of  machine  domination  in  the  selection 
of  nominees.  There  was  perhaps  some- 
thing childlike  in  the  faith.  Certainly 
it  could  show  small  justification  until 
this  year  when  Gifford  Pinchot  was 
nominated. 


PINCHOT    STARTED    WITH    NO    FACTION 
BEHIND   HDI 

The  story  of  his  nomination  is  not 
quite  so  pure  and  simple  as  the  original 
ideal  but  approximates  it.  He  started 
his  campaign  for  nomination  on  his 
own  initiative  and  without  the  backing 
of  any  recognized  political  group.  He 
was  not  a  candidate  of  any  faction  or 
leader  or  combination  of  leaders.  He 
was  Gifford  Pinchot  exercising  his  right 
to  submit  his  name  to  the  Republican 
voters  of  the  state  for  the  party's 
nomination.  In  its  origin  his  cam- 
paign represented  the  original  simon 
pure  ideal  of  the  primary,  and  he  was 
not  granted  an  outside  chance  of  win- 
ning by  the  practical  men. 

Ten  years'  experience  under  the 
primary  had  pretty  well  destroyed  any 


faith  in  the  chances  of  an  independent 
candidate.  In  1914  a  respectable  and 
independent  gentleman  had  offered  his 
name  as  a  substitute  for  that  of  Boise 
Penrose,  who  was  generally  held  to  be 
neither  respectable  nor  independent. 
He  received  ten  thousand  votes  and 
Senator  Penrose  eighty  thousand.  In 
1918  an  aggressive  crusader  from  the 
western  end  of  the  state  launched  a 
campaign  for  the  Republican  nomina- 
tion for  governor,  and  arrived  nowhere. 

These  two  efforts  did  not  constitute 
by  any  means  all  of  the  contests  in  the 
state  wide  primary  between  1913  and 
1922.  There  were  a  number  of  bitter 
contests  but  in  all  cases  the  candidates 
went  into  battle  with  more  or  less 
political  organization  back  of  them, 
and  the  "more"  invariably  triumphed 
over  the  "less." 

So  we  learned  in  Pennsylvania  when 
a  candidate  entered  the  list  to  inquire 
at  once  "who  is  back  of  him?"  and  if 
no  sufficient  name  appeared  in  the  an- 
swer the  candidate  was  promptly 
ignored  as  a  factor  in  the  fight.  That 
question  was  asked  about  Pinchot  by 
the  knowing  ones,  and  when  they  be- 
came convinced  that  no  one  was  back 
of  him  but  a  lot  of  citizens  who  didn't 
count,  they  passed  him  up  as  a  real 


1922]       GIFFORD  PINCHOT  AND  THE   DIRECT  PRIMARY         333 


contender.  Nine  times  out  of  ten  that 
analysis  would  have  been  correct,  but 
this  was  the  tenth  time  and  ordinary 
rules  did  not  apply. 

PROGRESSIVES   WAIT   TEN   YEARS 

Just  ten  years  ago  the  Roosevelt 
Progressive  wave  passed  over  the  state, 
swept  Penrose  out  of  the  state  conven- 
tion, and  left  him  powerless  and  voice- 
less with  nothing  but  reverse  influence, 
while  a  group  of  new  and  exultant  men 
named  the  candidates  for  state  offices 
for  the  Republican  voters  to  support. 
Since  that  time,  however,  the  naming 
of  candidates  has  been  left  almost 
entirely  to  the  regular  Republican 
organization  and  the  contests  which 
have  sometimes  been  bitter  have  been 
struggles  between  different  factions  of 
the  organization. 

Ten  years  is  a  long  period  for  stead- 
fast allegiance,  particularly  after  the 
voters  in  general  have  given  to  the 
political  organization  support  as  un- 
qualified as  the  Republican  candidate 
for  governor  received  four  years  ago 
and  as  the  Republican  candidate  for 
president  was  given  two  years  ago. 
The  time  was  ripe  for  a  reaction. 
Moreover  Penrose  was  dead  and  there 
was  a  deal  of  fussing  over  the  heir  to 
his  state  wide  authority  which  at  one 
time  promised  to  result  in  a  three 
cornered  fight  between  the  organization 
candidates,  with  Pinchot  in  the  fourth 
corner  gathering  in  the  voters  who 
were  at  loose  ends  with  the  organiza- 
tion. 

At  the  last  moment  two  of  the  three 
organization  candidates  stepped  out 
and  the  big  end  of  the  organization 
concentrated  on  a  new  candidate.  The 
lists  closed  with  three  candidates  in  the 
field,  two  representing  opposing  fac- 
tions in  the  organization,  and  Pinchot 
as  an  outsider.  The  schism  between 
the  two  factions  was  so  profound,  how- 


ever, that  the  weaker  faction  finally 
abandoned  its  candidate  and  swung  in 
back  of  Pinchot. 


ONLY  THE  DIRECT  PRIMARY  COULD  HAVE 
MEASURED   THE   RESULT 

The  final  vote  was  Pinchot  511,377 
and  Alter,  the  opposing  candidate, 
502,118,  with  20,000  votes  scattered. 
Whether  Pinchot  could  have  won  in  a 
purely  independent  fight  is  a  matter 
that  can  be  argued  freely  and  decided 
as  you  choose.  But  primarily  his  ap- 
peal was  made  to  the  independent 
Republican  voters  and  they  consti- 
tuted the  bulk  of  his  vote.  The  naive 
faith  of  1913  was  in  large  degree 
justified. 

There  is  considerable  discussion  as 
to  the  merits  and  demerits  of  the  pri- 
mary system.  If  you  take  the  last 
Pennsylvania  primary,  however,  one 
thing  at  least  is  manifest.  There  was 
a  total  of  a  million  and  thirty  thousand 
votes  cast  for  the  candidates  for  nom- 
ination for  governor,  4700  votes  swung 
from  Pinchot  to  Alter  would  have 
changed  the  result.  No  system  except 
a  direct  primary  could  have  measured 
such  a  result.  The  old-fashioned  con- 
vention could  not  have  come  within 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  gauging  the 
difference. 

As  an  illustration  of  this  latter  con- 
clusion we  may  take  the  situation  that 
arose  in  the  Republican  state  commit- 
tee which  convened  three  weeks  after 
the  nomination  of  Gifford  Pinchot. 
The  committee  men  were  elected  at  the 
same  primary  at  which  Pinchot  was 
nominated.  They  represented  sena- 
torial districts  —  the  territorial  unit  of 
representation  in  the  last  state  conven- 
tion. There  was  a  contest  for  the 
chairmanship  of  the  committee.  Pin- 
chot fresh  from  his  victory  advocated 
one  man  for  chairman,  the  defeated  end 
of  the  organization,  another.  Pinchot's 


334 


NATIONAL   MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[October 


candidate  received  32  votes,  the  organ- 
ization candidate  81.  This  result  is  in- 
dicative of  the  difference  between  the 
action  of  delegates  and  the  direct  vote. 

Perhaps  this  illustration  may  not  be 
entirely  fair  but  if  we  assume  that  the 
state  committee  was  a  convention 
selected  simply  for  the  nomination  of 
candidates  and  each  member  had  voted 
in  accordance  with  the  wishes  of  his 
territorial  district  as  manifested  at  the 
primary,  Pinchot's  vote  as  the  nominee 
for  governor  would  have  been  approxi- 
mately 81  against  a  vote  of  32  for  his 
opponent,  for  he  carried  61  out  of  67 
counties  of  the  state.  This  would  have 
been  as  wide  of  the  mark  as  the  action 
of  the  state  committee. 

It  seems  clear,  therefore,  that  if  we 
leave  out  of  consideration  all  of  the 
minor  practical  evils  of  coersion,  brib- 
ery and  manipulation  which  caused 
conventions  to  be  so  widely  distrusted, 
there  still  remains  the  fundamental 
objection  that  no  practical  system  of 
delegates  can  accurately  measure  the 
opinion  of  a  majority  or  a  plurality  of 
the  voters.  Sometimes  a  convention 
will  over  emphasize  the  majority  as  the 
Pennsylvania  state  convention  of  1912 
did.  Sometimes  if  the  machinery  of 
selection  is  sufficiently  unrepresenta- 
tive it  will  reverse  the  opinion  of  the 
majority  as  the  Republican  national 
convention  of  1912  did.  Where  the 
difference  is  close,  however,  the  con- 
vention is  hopelessly  inept  at  measur- 
ing it. 

The  importance  of  nominations  can- 
not be  given  too  much  stress.  In  many 
instances  the  difference  between  candi- 
dates in  the  same  party  is  greater  both 
in  principle  and  in  fact  than  the  differ- 
ence between  parties.  The  issue 
dividing  Pinchot  and  Alter  in  the  last 
Pennsylvania  primary  was  wider  in  the 
opinion  of  many  voters  than  that 
dividing  the  Republican  and  Demo- 
cratic parties.  This  was  equally  true 


as  to  the  issue  dividing  the  Roosevelt- 
Taft  groups  of  1912. 

ACCURATE  MEASURE  OF  OPINION  ESSEN- 
TIAL  FOR   NOMINATIONS   AS   FOR   ELEC- 
TIONS 

It  is  equally  as  important  to  secure 
an  accurate  measure  of  votes  for  a 
nomination  of  a  candidate  as  it  is  for  an 
election.  The  development  of  our  vot- 
ing machinery  shows  the  appreciation 
of  this  necessity.  The  history  of  this 
development  in  Pennsylvania  undoubt- 
edly parallels  that  of  other  states. 
Forty  years  ago  there  was  no  recogni- 
tion of  parties  on  the  statute  books. 
Party  endorsements,  however,  were 
valuable  and  the  control  of  groups  or 
conventions  authorized  to  give  this 
endorsement  was  fought  for. 

It  isn't  necessary,  however,  to  go 
back  forty  years  to  find  illustrations  of 
the  original  form  of  nominating  con- 
ference. It  still  appears  occasionally. 
In  1910  a  new  party  arose  in  Pennsyl- 
vania due  to  the  wide  spread  belief  that 
Penrose  had  controlled  the  conventions 
of  both  Republican  and  Democratic 
parties.  The  new  party  was  fathered 
by  a  group  of  men  in  Philadelphia.  It 
was  of  course  necessary  to  get  a  state 
wide  consensus  of  opinion  as  to  the 
best  candidate  for  governor.  So  a  con- 
ference or  convention  was  arranged  for, 
and  an  energetic,  practical  man  was 
sent  out  into  the  state  to  find  leading 
citizens  sufficiently  interested  to  attend 
a  convention  in  Philadelphia.  He 
found  the  delegates,  right  enough,  but 
when  they  appeared  at  the  convention 
they  were  discovered  to  be  united  on 
one  man — his  man — as  the  candidate 
for  governor,  to  the  confusion  of  the 
Philadelphia  contingent. 

Of  course  the  procedure  of  selection 
from  the  top  down  couldn't  last  long. 
Our  politics  operate  from  the  bottom 
up. 


1922]      GIFFORD  PINCHOT  AND  THE  DIRECT  PRIMARY         335 

should   be   so-called   "expert   leader- 

DIRECT  PRIMARY  EVOLVED  FROM  .     „ 

ship    to  enunciate  the  party  principles, 

EFFORTS   TO   REGULATE  ,    ,f,  \.c     \?  \   .. 

deliberate  on  the  qualifications  of  its 
candidates  and  send  it  fully  equipped 
with  book  and  sword,  into  battle  with 
its  adversary.  The  primary  it  is 
argued  destroys  this  leadership,  prac- 
tically removes  the  possibility  of 
enunciating  party  platforms  as  dis- 
tinct from  the  platforms  of  candidates, 
and  leaves  the  deliberation  on  the 
qualifications  of  candidates  to  the 
random  guess  of  the  voters. 

As  a  remedy  for  this  situation  it  is 
proposed  to  return  to  the  party  con- 
vention or  at  least  to  provide  some  sort 
of  pre-primary  conference  or  meeting 
which  might  speak  with  authority  for 
the  party  both  in  the  making  of  issues 
and  the  approving  of  candidates.  The 
action  of  the  conference  to  be  submitted 
if  challenged  to  the  party  voters  at  a 
primary. 

The  Democratic  party  in  Pennsyl- 
vania held  such  a  pre-primary  caucus, 
or  conference  or  convention  before  the 
last  primary  to  discuss  candidates. 
The  meeting  was  outside  the  law  and 
outside  the  rules.  It  was  created  from 
the  top  down.  Its  recommendation  of 
a  nominee  for  governor  was  followed, 
that  for  lieutenant  governor  was  re- 
jected by  the  voters  in  the  ensuing 
primary.  If  this  conference  should  be 
perpetuated  and  its  recommendations 
should  carry  real  weight  there  would 
immediately  develop  a  contest  for  its 
control  which  would  result  in  the  tak- 
ing of  the  several  steps  which  separated 
the  old  caucus  from  the  direct  primary, 
and  we  would  simply  swing  through 
another  cycle. 

But  such  a  pre-primary  meeting  is 
only  needed  where  the  party  organiza- 
tion is  loosely  constructed.  The  Re- 
publican organization  in  Pennsylvania 
which  is  highly  developed  doesn't  need 
that  kind  of  a  meeting.  It  does  hold 
meetings.  The  change  of  laws  hasn't 


Party  rules  first  provided  for  the 
inventions,  then  for  the  method  of 
iting  the  convention  and  selecting 
ic  delegates.  In  Pennsylvania  these 
lies  were  elaborated  until  the  voting 
for  delegates  by  the  party  voters  was 
conducted  as  formally  as  the  voting  at 
elections.  But  it  was  not  a  penal 
offense  to  play  fast  and  loose  with  the 
result.  So  several  grotesque  statutes 
were  enacted  making  it  a  misdemeanor 
for  the  party  officers  conducting  the 
primaries  to  violate  the  party  rules. 

The  next  step  was  perfectly  logical. 
The  rules  for  the  conduct  of  the  pri- 
mary were  made  statutory,  an  official 
ballot  provided,  and  the  whole  proceed- 
ing tucked  under  the  wing  of  the  law. 
The  development  of  the  system  was 
due  to  the  insistence  of  the  individual 
voter  that  a  means  should  be  provided 
for  him  to  express  his  opinion  and  have 
it  counted.  Therefore  the  statutory 
primary  at  which  he  could  vote  for 
delegates  became  the  direct  primary  at 
which  he  could  vote  for  the  candidate 
of  his  choice. 

The  final  method  is  not  unanimously 
approved.  A  number  of  the  minor  ob- 
jections such  as  the  increased  expense 
both  to  the  state  and  the  candidates, 
and  the  increased  complexity  of  the 
election  machinery,  must  be  over- 
looked, if  we  admit  the  fundamental 
importance  of  the  method. 

THK  "RESPONSIBILITY"  ARGUMENT 

The  real  complaint  lies  in  the  alleged 
change  in  party  responsibility  and  pro- 
ceeds from  a  conception  of  our  political 
life  as  divided  between  two  parties 
standing  for  distinguishable  theories  of 
government.  Followed  naturally  by 
the  conclusion  that  in  each  party  there 


336 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[October 


resulted  in  any  change  in  that  partic- 
ular. When  Penrose  was  the  clearing 
house  for  the  political  power  of  the 
state,  the  meetings  were  held  wher- 
ever he  was. 

It  should  be  understood  that  the  men 
who  attend  these  meetings  constitute 
the  "expert  leadership"  of  the  state. 
There  is  only  one  kind  of  "expert 
leadership"  in  political  affairs  and  that 
is  composed  of  the  men  who  are  expert 
in  giving  the  individual  voter  what  he 
wants. 

A  half  dozen  of  those  experts  speak 
for  a  half  million  Republican  voters 
either  in  their  own  right  or  by  proxy. 


They  are  the  spokesmen  for  the  organ- 
ization. We  still  have  responsible 
party  leadership  in  Pennsylvania  where 
it  existed  before.  But  with  the  direct 
primary  we  have  the  open  door  for  a 
challenge  to  that  party  leadership. 
Through  it  the  final  decision  comes 
back  to  the  individual  voter.  He  can't 
be  escaped.  He  is  the  beginning  and 
end  of  our  political  life.  He  makes 
leaders  and  bosses.  He  sustains  them 
and  upsets  them.  Whether  we  like  it 
or  not  he  has  to  be  trusted.  The  direct 
primary  provides  him  with  the  hand- 
iest means  yet  devised  to  enable  him 
to  express  his  will. 


THE  BOSTON  ELEVATED  RAILWAY 

FOUR  YEARS  UNDER  PUBLIC  OPERATION 

BY  EDWARD  DANA 

General  Manager,  Boston  Elevated  Railway 

Under  The  Public  Control  Act  the  Boston  Elevated  Railway  was 
practically  leased  to  the  State  of  Massachusetts  for  a  term  of  ten  years. 
Five  trustees,  appointed  by  the  governor,  have  control  over  the  operation 
of  the  railway.  The  rental  is  paid  infixed  dividends  upon  outstanding 
stock.  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  ::  :: 


IN  the  February,  1921,  issue  of  the 
NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW  there 
appeared  a  paper  by  Mr.  Jackson, 
chairman  of  the  board  of  trustees  of 
the  Boston  Elevated  Railway,  outlin- 
ing the  public  trustee  plan  in  Boston 
(created  by  Chap.  159  of  the  special 
Acts  of  the  Legislature  of  Massachu- 
setts of  1918  known  as  "The  Public 
Control  Act ") .  On  June  30, 1922,  four 
years  of  public  control  had  elapsed. 
In  attempting  to  outline  the  situation 
at  the  close  of  these  four  years  it  seems 
appropriate  to  make  reference  to  facts 
and  conditions  and  permit  individual 
conclusions  to  be  drawn  from  them. 


HAD    BEEN    OPERATING   AT    A    LOSS 

The  paper  of  Mr.  Jackson  outlined 
the  functioning  of  the  act  and  it  is 
assumed  that  the  method  devised  in 
Boston  under  the  Massachusetts  plan 
is  consequently  understood.  In  order 
therefore  to  visualize  the  operation  of 
this  public  utility  it  seems  wise  to  call 
attention  to  the  statistics  showing 
revenues  and  expenditures  by  years 
since  1910  and  from  them  to  point  out 
salient  features  and  then  explain  what 
is  actually  going  on  at  the  present  time. 

In  the  first  instance  from  1910  to 
June  30,  1918,  the  fare  had  remained 


1922] 


THE   BOSTON   ELEVATED  RAILWAY 


337 


at  5  cents  and  the  gross  revenue  during 
these  nine  years  had  increased  from 
fifteen  and  one-quarter  millions  to 
nineteen  and  one-half  millions.  Oper- 
ating expenses  had  increased  from  ten 
millions  to  fourteen  and  one-quarter 
millions,  the  chief  factors  being  the 
gradual  increase  of  the  payroll  and  the 
increased  cost  of  fuel.  During  these 
years  the  allowance  for  renewals  or 
depreciation  had  been  insufficient  and 
also  during  this  period  in  order  to  hold 
the  5-cent  fare  in  face  of  increased 
operating  expenses  and  other  fixed 
charges,  adequate  current  maintenance 
had  not  been  provided.  Under  these 
circumstances,  with  less  maintenance 
than  was  required  by  the  property, 
with  insufficient  renewals  and  with  the 
passing  of  the  dividends  completely  for 
the  year,  the  year  ending  June  30,  1918, 
showed  an  operating  deficit  of  $598,442. 

It  was  these  facts  which  resulted  in 
the  experiment  with  public  control 
beginning  July  1,  1918,  under  the 
service-at-cost  plan,  which  is  based 
on  sound  economic  principles.  It  was 
designed  to  put  an  end  to  the  down-hill 
flight  which  had  been  going  on  unceas- 
ingly, as  new  subways  had  been  added 
which  increased  the  charges  on  the  car 
rider  and  as  operating  expenses  steadily 
increased  notwithstanding  insufficient 
pro  vision  for  maintenance  and  renewals. 

The  first  year  of  public  operation 
under  the  provisions  of  the  act  required 
increase  in  fares.  At  the  same  time 
substantial  increases  in  wages  and  cost 
of  materials,  supplies  and  fuel  were  oc- 
casioned by  war  conditions,  with  the 
result  shown  in  the  tabulation  of  an 
actual  deficit  of  $5,415,500. 

THE    TEN-CENT    FARE    ADOPTED 

During  the  first  year  it  was  necessary 
under  the  act  to  use  the  reserve  fund 
of  one  million  dollars  created  under  the 
act  and  to  assess  the  cities  and  towns  in 


the  district  served  $3,980,151  in  order 
to  provide  sufficient  funds  to  meet  the 
cost  of  service  during  that  year.  Dur- 
ing the  second  trustee  year  it  was 
necessary  to  go  to  a  flat  10-cent  fare 
on  the  entire  system  in  order  to  keep 
pace  with  the  rise  of  wages  and  costs 
during  these  troubled  times.  At  the 
end  of  the  second  year  receipts  exceeded 
cost  of  service  by  $17,079  which  was 
transformed  to  a  deficit  by  a  retroac- 
tive wage  award  in  July,  1920. 

During  the  third  year  which  ended 
June  30,  1921,  operating  expenses 
reached  the  maximum  of  $24,684,558 
including  for  wages  the  maximum  of 
$16,753,657.  Subway  rentals  likewise 
had  increased  from  $559,000  in  1910 
to  approximately  two  million  in  1921. 
Wages  had  been  further  increased  by 
arbitration  in  July,  1920.  Yet  the 
efforts  made  by  the  entire  operating 
organization  resulted  in  meeting  the 
situation  without  departing  from  the 
10-cent  fare  and  holding  the  operating 
expenses  to  an  increase  of  approxi- 
mately $350,000  over  the  second  year 
in  the  face  of  estimated  increase  in 
wages,  cost  of  materials  and  supplies 
of  over  three  millions.  The  receipts 
during  the  third  year  exceeded  the 
cost  of  service  by  $550,253.52  and  per- 
mitted restoration  of  $131,985.01  to 
the  reserve  fund  after  payment  of  the 
second  year's  deficit. 

The  fourth  trustee  year  has  just 
closed  and  a  different  state  of  condi- 
tions is  apparent.  After  meeting  all 
costs  of  service  there  remained  a  bal- 
ance of  $1,385,211.44.  This  balance 
plus  the  $131,985  of  the  third  year  has 
been  applied  in  restoring  the  reserve 
fund  to  its  original  total  of  $1,000,000 
and  in  making  the  first  payment  of 
$517,196.45  to  the  state  for  distribu- 
tion to  the  cities  and  towns  that  con- 
tributed to  the  loan  assessment  in  1919. 
Operating  expenses  had  been  reduced 
from  $24,684,000  to  $22,113,000,  and 


338 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[October 


the  payroll  had  been  reduced  from 
$16,753,000  to  $14,920,000.  This  re- 
sult was  brought  about  not  by  radical 
cuts  in  wage  rates  but  rather  by  the 
introduction  of  more  efficient  methods 
of  operation  and  the  co-operative  effort 
of  the  entire  organization,  together 
with  reasonable  reduction  in  rates. 

SHORT  HAUL  FARE  NOW  FIVE  CENTS 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  gross 
revenue  fell  from  $34,224,000  in  the 
third  year  to  $32,781,000  in  the  year 
just  closed.  The  board  of  public  trus- 
tees had  inaugurated  a  system  of  local 
5 -cent  fares  in  conjunction  with  the  flat 
10-cent  fare  which  at  the  present  time 
results  in  21  per  cent  of  the  total  traffic 
being  handled  for  5  cents  and  which  has 
restored  millions  of  riders  on  short 
hauls  who  were  lost  on  account  of  the 
introduction  of  the  10-cent  fare.  The 
average  fare  consequently  at  the  pres- 
ent time  is  8.95  cents. 

The  retention  of  the  basic  10-cent 
fare  has  been  necessary,  however,  in 
order  to  secure  the  gross  revenue  re- 
quired to  meet  the  cost  of  service  which 
in  1922  amounted  to  $31,396,281.  As 
contrasted  with  this  the  gross  revenue 
during  the  year  1917,  when  381,000,000 
revenue  passengers  were  carried  at  a 
universal  5-cent  fare,  amounted  to 
only  $19,788,953.  It  can  readily  be 
seen  that  any  hope  of  meeting  the  cost 
of  service  with  a  universal  5-cent  fare 
cannot  be  realized.  At  the  present 
time  with  the  joint  5  and  10-cent 
fare  passengers  are  being  carried  at 
the  rate  of  360,000,000  per  year  which 
is  considerably  above  the  low  point  of 
325,000,000  in  1919  and  not  far  from 
the  high  point  of  the  381,000,000 
previously  referred  to. 

LABOR   MORE   EFFICIENT 

It  may  well  be  asked  at  this  time  as 
to  what  effect  the  Boston  service-at- 


cost  plan  has  on  efficiency  of  opera- 
tion, incentive  for  economical  opera- 
tion, freedom  from  political  or  other 
interference  and  spirit  of  service  to  the 
car  rider. 

In  this  respect  it  is  believed  much 
has  been  accomplished.  Employes 
have  been  acquainted  with  the  provi- 
sions of  the  act,  with  the  intimate  de- 
tails of  financial  matters  and  the 
progress  made  from  time  to  time  in 
improving  service  and  meeting  the 
difficulties  of  operation.  During  this 
period  two  decreases  in  compensation 
have  been  amicably  adjusted  between 
management  and  employes  and  a  con- 
stant effort  has  been  made  to  operate 
the  property  always  in  the  interest  of 
the  car  rider  with  the  fewest  men 
possible.  The  average  number  of  men 
on  the  payrolls  during  the  four  trustee 
years  has  been  as  follows: 

1918-19  9,748 

1919-20  10,021 

1920-21  9,264 

1921-22  *  8,915 

Likewise  it  is  of  interest  to  note  that 

the  labor  turnover  has  been  reduced  to 

a  minimum  and  in  fact  all  platform  men 

or  car  service  employes  have  been  in 

service  four  and  one-half  years  or  more 

which  necessarily  results  in  benefit  to 

the   service.     This  compares  with   a 

former  annual  labor  turnover  of  55 

per  cent. 

In  this  connection  it  has  been  possi- 
ble to  work  out  an  eight  hour  day  as 
well  as  a  guaranteed  pay  of  eight  hours 
for  all  platform  men  with  the  result 
that  whereas  under  the  former  condi- 
tions a  large  number  of  spare  men  were 
required,  under  the  conditions  existing 
today  a  much  smaller  number  of  spare 
men  are  required  all  of  whom  receive  a 
full  day's  pay.  The  so-called  spare 
men  reporting  each  day  represent  6.7 
per  cent  of  the  total  today  as  compared 
with  20  per  cent  previously. 

Referring    to    the    statistical    table 


192*] 


THK   BOSTON    ELEVATED  RAILWAY 


339 


again  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the 
expense  incurred  on  account  of  injuries 
and  damages  for  the  fourth  trustee 
year  was  $476,844,  and  following  back 
through  thirteen  years  it  will  be  noted 
this  is  the  lowest  of  any  of  these  years 
and  yet  vehicular  congestion  is  greater 
and  the  movement  of  people  on  the 
highways  greater  than  in  previous 
years. 

The  total  expense  on  account  of  in- 
juries and  damages  including  the  cost 
of  operating  the  claim  department, 
trial  of  cases,  etc.,  for  the  last  trustee 
year  amounted  to  $620,207.73  which 
represents  1.89  per  cent  of  the  gross 
revenue,  the  lowest  ratio  in  the  rail- 
way's history. 

Much  has  been  done  in  improving 
the  service.  Although  the  mileage 
operated  last  year  (49,662,045)  was 
less  than  any  year  back  to  1905,  the 
introduction  of  two  and  three-car  train 
service  and  cars  of  larger  carrying 
capacity  with  scientific  re-arrangement 
of  schedules  has  provided  additional 
service  where  needed  and  permitted 
the  elimination  of  mileage  where  not 
required. 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  the  num- 
ber of  revenue  seat  miles  per  revenue 
passenger  for  the  last  year  was  7.5 
which  for  those  acquainted  with  this 
figure  as  an  index  of  service  would 
indicate  adequate  service  allowance  by 
operating  mileage  only  where  required. 
At  congested  points  more  seats  are 
provided  than  before  while  surplus 
seating  capacity  has  been  removed  at 
points  where  it  previously  existed. 
This  is  the  acme  of  proper  service  and 
results  in  minimum  cost  to  the  car  rider. 


MOKE    FOR   MAINTENANCE    AND    DEPRE- 
CIATION 

Under  the  act  the  board  of  trustees 
were  charged  with  the  responsibility  of 
providing  for  proper  maintenance. 


The  percentage  of  total  railway  operat- 
ing revenue  applied  to  maintenance 
and  depreciation  consequently  has 
been  approximately  24  per  cent  whereas 
previously  the  percentage  of  operating 
revenue  applied  to  maintenance  and 
depreciation  had  been  17  per  cent. 
What  has  been  accomplished  with 
respect  to  car  equipment  is  illustrated 
by  comparison  of  the  number  of  dis- 
abled cars  in  1918  and  1921  which 
shows  a  reduction  of  68.7  per  cent  for 
surface  cars  and  53  per  cent  for  rapid 
transit  cars.  The  percentage  of  cars 
out  of  service  in  bad  order  has  been 
reduced  to  5  per  cent.  At  the  same 
time  through  the  operation  of  the  re- 
newal charge  which  has  been  conserva- 
tively adopted  it  has  been  possible  to 
replace  much  of  the  rolling  stock  which 
was  unsatisfactory  from  the  point  of 
service  to  the  car  rider  and  expense  to 
maintain.  During  the  period  of  public 
operation  535  new  cars  have  been 
placed  in  service  and  140  additional 
cars  are  now  on  order. 

A  reasonable  program  of  track  recon- 
struction has  been  maintained  which 
has  resulted  in  improved  operation, 
lessened  the  wear  and  tear  on  rolling 
stock,  and  reduced  derailments. 

The  latest  modern  machinery  has 
been  employed  in  the  construction  of 
track  in  the  interest  of  efficiency  and 
economy.  Recently  it  was  found  that 
the  railway's  own  forces,  due  to  organ- 
ization and  this  machinery,  were  en- 
abled to  construct  a  section  of  track 
cheaper  than  the  figures  submitted  for 
the  work  by  contract  on  an  advertised 
bid. 

During  the  trustee  year  approxi- 
mately 7  per  cent  of  the  track  has  been 
rebuilt  as  compared  with  an  average  of 
2£  per  cent  for  the  previous  six  years, 
which  means  22  miles  of  track  as  com- 
pared with  8. 

The  following  newspaper  quotation 
is  of  interest : 


340 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[October 


«  £  g 
fa  H  'a 
0 


o  a 


« 


c»  cooot^o-* 
TH  t-r»coo>o 

N      b-iOij<o      Q 
T|<      COi-ii-iO      O 

00       O 

o     to 

o 

10  t-coooot>- 
to  O  n  oQ  o  OB 

00  t»-  O  «)  O  TH 

t~     oootc  o     o 

00       O'-l^'O       O 

S   8 

to     t* 

o> 

uj  oto"to~o~<N 

TH  t-it^t^ON 

N_  cocot^Noo 
"C  m"e<f 

s  ••* 

"5*      COOO'co'tC       (N 
00       <->  ft  "(3  iO       O 
O       (NOOiO       O 

s  ^      -" 

TH       06" 
TH       CO 

TH         1-C 

US       * 

9 

TH  Tjd-H^Orr 
t»  OOt^OtO 

to       COrHiOOOO 
CO       OOlNCOt^COO 

rH         CO 

O      t^ 

e 

t-  t^  CO  i—  '  O  CO 
IN  i-c  QO  ifl  Q  TH 
CO  i-HOCOOrH 

«5       rt-*(N(^>OO 
CO       T*  O  CO  l>.  TC  t- 

CO      OOO>-itOOOOS 

00       Oi 

O         C5 
iO       t  - 

S 

•-i  i-Hi-ilNOiO 
00  iO(NtO<NiN 
t-  COCOt-iNOO 

co"     co'io'io'coco'co' 

O       ^.jjj^i^^co 
O        OCOCOrH        rH 

r-H         Oi 

{:  •* 

5  »- 

(N        .-IN        tH        iH 

S3    ** 

00 
M 

"5  OCO^HOO 
IN  TH  CO  K3  0  in 

co     icoomoorHO 

00       lOIN^OOriS 

O       "5 
i—  t       00 

t» 

CO  00  to  U5  O  IN 

in  tor^oOi-H 

CO  OOi-ir~OTH 

IN       O  (N  CO  >O  "5  O 
tO      t~  1-1  CO  1C  IN  t- 
1-H        O1OOCOIOO5 

o     to 

CO       CO 
CO      O 

co 

oo  co  1-1  coo"t~ 

00  COiO-HCOTH 
t^_  C^  CO  00  CO  CO 

co"        oTi-I' 
S        ** 

<N       T)<  00  >O  00  CO  CO 

oo     OONCOCO     co 

O        CO-*COr-<        -H 
W       <*»,N       ~       ^ 

• 

,-(       CO 
CO       TH 
00       * 

co 

8 

00  "Ot-OOOO 
O  iNr>.  i-iO<N 

O       tOOO'O'f     . 
•*       COtOCOiCTl"     . 

id     t^ 

IN         -H 

CO 

IN  t^cor^ot- 

SU5IN<Nt~  115 
r»  THIN  tOO 

U3       (NO'-'COO     • 
SCOIN'Ot^'O     • 
O'^'CCOO     • 

TH        IN 

5O       TH 

TH          TH 

en 

O  b-Ot^lN.-! 

00  -*00-HU500 
•*.  <-±<O  00  CO  CO 

CO  COIN  i-T 
jj  w 

o    int-Ti-roo'to" 

oo     o  •*  co  co  r-.   ; 

CO       CO  IO  COc^ 

TH         **<N         -H 

•» 

oo     oo" 

t^       CO 

O       "5 

"        &9 

IN  >o  oo  gs  o  'O 

t-  rlCOOOt^ 

r»     o  t--  TH  TH  t-  o 

co     m  "5  >o  •-<  so  o 

CO       t^       to 
CO      to       TH 

CO 

1-1 

o> 

"5  rJ«t>-COOtO 
CO  OOWOOCO 
•<)•  tOU5COOU5 

i—  i     TH  co  co  w  ^  o 
r*      *-H  C^  CO  T}*  t^-  c*l 

»~t        CO  •—  <  CO  rH  CO  C*5 

b-       1-1       00 
TH       US       TH 

to     1-1     co 

§ 

>o 

a 

i-t 

P^  >OOOOOO> 
«5*  »^T  IM"I-H 
•»  S 

(N        r-lt^r-tnt^O 
«O       T(<  00  CO  C^  CO  to 

co     co  >o  TP  -^i     co 
ej    «c^    rt- 
H 

CO      C5      >O 
O       00       CO 
N       CO       TH 

o     TH"    * 

S   P 

ta 

TH 

«o 
ce 

* 

t^  OOOOOO>-i 
00  "3t-  TfOiN 

b-       OtOOOOOCOO 

co     r~cocoiOb-o 

3  s 

o 

8<&-<<eot~ 
Ot^(NOi-H 
N            IMtOCOOt- 

1-1       to  IO  CO  t~  TC  O 
<N       COtO<N'OOOt^ 
N       TH  >O  CO  N  IN  CO 

O      CO 

w     »^ 

1-1      o 

CO 
rH 

CO  »-<i-ir»r)(O 
00  OOCMINOCO 
(O  COCOOOCO 

•-I       U5  1-  i-l  CO  CO  CO 
CO      t^OCOCOtOO 
CO       OtO>OU5       TH 

s  s 

tO       9» 

N  OCO  <Ni-t 

CO  »-< 

«©  w 

Tf        i-HC<lr1r-l        f-1 

3  w 

CO 

H 

CO  Tl<Tj<<N  O—l 

00  t^O>OOt>. 

•-i       COtOO-*^-.O 
TH       CO"5<NiQdO 

-H          IN 

CO       "5 

_ 

CO  Is-  CO  CO  O  t"» 

•*  a500<NC3t~ 
1-1  ®COCOO(N 

oo     to  to  co  'O  co  t- 
m     cototoiNt^to 
>o     r~-  1-1  co  to  TH  co 

to     co 

CO      IQ 
00       (N 

OS 

C*  U5COINOO5 
IN  t-005OOCO 

TiT     to'co't-'co'Ti''^ 
oo     ot^-T^ooiCM 

to       COtOCOT^       O 

co     cj 
t-      >S 

to       tf3 

•*  SO(N  NCq 

TH       i—  i  c^  i—  1  1~*       i—  I 

s  " 

co"     w 

IS 

O  "OOCNOO5 

TH  OOOOOOO 

to      t^OO^i-iCOOO 
t>.       Th  ThOCOCOCO 

to       TH 
tO       TH 

IN 

CO  COO-*ON 
CO  CXCJ  T|<  Q  —  < 
•*  TJHIOOOOO 

CO       to  10  i-i  to  "5  i-H 

oo     coiNTHoor»t~ 

t-       OtOi-it^THCO 

00       i-l 
<N       <N 

CO 

i-l  OtOO  'J'O 
00  <N  iOt»Ou5 
t-  OJO-*O«O 

co"    o"co"n<'co"o6"to" 

?H       i-(THt*OOiOO 

•-i     eoiocoTM     to 

to"    ic" 

CO      00 

N               TJHCO        CS  rH 

SI  £ 

IN        i-KNi-Hr-c        rH 

si  - 

5  s 

:     :» 

iji  :  i 

;     ;eo 

;*•;•; 

8     ;::»•• 

:     if 
•>-» 

Total  receipts  

Operating  expenses: 
Wages  
Material,  supplies  and  oth< 
Injuries  and  damages.  .  .  . 
Depreciation.  . 
Fuel  

Total  operating  expeni 

Taxes  
Rent  of  leased  roads  .  . 
Subway  and  tunnel  rents  
Interest  on  E.  E.  bonds  and  no 
Miscellaneous  items 
Dividends.  .  .  . 

Total  cost  of  service  .  . 

Loss  or  gain  
Back  pay  applying  to  May  and 
but  paid  in  October,  1919  .  .  . 

1922] 


THE   BOSTON   ELEVATED  RAILWAY 


341 


By  dint  of  good  planning  for  the  night  use  of 
electric  cranes,  air  compressors  and  a  concrete 
breaker  with  five  500  pound  teeth,  the  Elevated 
gave  an  admirable  lesson  in  quick  tracklaying 
on  Boylston  Street  over  the  week  end. 

Much  could  be  detailed  in  regard  to 
improvements  such  as  have  been  made 
in  power  plant  equipment,  signals,  re- 
pair shops,  motorizing  horse  drawn 
equipment,  development  of  modern 
carhouse  yards,  as  well  as  the  progress 
made  upon  the  modern  centralized 
mechanical  repair  shops  now  under 


way  all  vitally  affecting  the  quality  and 
quantity  of  service  which  can  be 
rendered. 

The  railway  today  has  over  two 
million  cash  on  deposit,  one  million  of 
which  is  in  the  reserve  fund  created 
under  the  Public  Control  Act.  For  the 
first  time  in  eleven  and  one-half  years 
the  railway  has  no  money  borrowed 
from  the  banks.  As  contrasted  with 
this  there  was  a  floating  indebtedness 
in  excess  of  five  millions  during  the 
first  trustee  year. 


RECENT  BOOKS  REVIEWED 


LONDON  OP  THE  FUTURE.  By  the  London  Soci- 
ety, under  the  editorship  of  Sir  Aston  Webb, 
K.C.V.O.,  C.B.,  P.R.A.  American  publish- 
ers, E.  P.  Dutton  &  Co.,  New  York,  1921. 
286  pages  royal  octavo,  with  many  inserted 
illustrations  and  diagrams. 

This  sumptuous  and  impressive  volume  is  at 
once  a  history,  a  hope  and  a  prophecy.  Dealing 
as  it  does  with  the  largest  city  in  the  world,  it  is 
appropriate  that  it  should  not  be  the  work  of  one 
man,  but  rather  the  expression  of  a  number  of 
learned  and  eminent  experts,  each  treating  that 
section  of  the  whole  in  which  his  knowledge  and 
experience  will  most  avail. 

There  are  eighteen  chapters,  including  the 
editor's  explanatory  introduction,  in  which  he 
tells  us  that  "  the  object  of  The  London  Society  is 
to  interest  Londoners  in  London,"  in  order  to 
emphasize  "  the  importance  of  taking  a  large  view 
of  London  as  a  whole,"  so  that  "what  is  done 
shall  be  part  of  one  great  scheme,  and  so  give  a 
unity  and  completeness  to  London  improvements 
of  the  future  which  has  been  denied  to  her  in  the 
past."  We  would  in  the  United  States  probably 
sum  up  the  presentation  as  a  Plan  for  London, 
and  yet  the  broad  reach  of  the  book  goes  beyond 
the  ordinary  city  plan  when  it  treats  of  "London 
as  the  Heart  of  the  Empire,"  and  in  a  lofty 
summing  up  speaks  of  "The  Spirit  of  London." 

The  limits  of  this  review  forbid  more  than  a 
glance  at  this  great  work,  an  appreciation  of 
which  at  its  value  might  well  take  up  a  dozen 
pages  of  the  REVIEW.  The  subjects  discussed, 
each  by  a  master,  cover  all  the  varied  scope  that 
needs  to  be  included  in  dealing  with  the  homes  of 
more  than  seven  millions  of  people,  associated  in 
a  location  which  very  truly  makes  it  "the  heart 
of  the  empire,"  according  to  the  Earl  of  Meath. 
Before  briefly  stating  the  subjects  touched  upon, 
it  seems  very  proper  to  an  American  who  found 
himself  quickly  in  love  with  London  on  his  first 
visit,  to  further  quote  from  Sir  Aston  Webb's 
introduction  a  heart-warming  paragraph.  He 
writes,  "Another  aim  of  The  London  Society  is 
the  jealous  preservation  of  all  that  is  old  and 
beautiful  in  London,  as  far  as  is  possible.  It  ap- 
pears necessary  to  emphasize  this,  as  it  seems  by 
some  to  be  thought  that  it  is  the  aim  and  desire  of 
the  Society  to  reconstruct  London,  and  to  turn  it 
into  another  Paris,  sweeping  away  any  parts  of 
old  London  that  may  come  in  its  way.  Nothing 


could  be  further  from  the  Society's  object." 
This  same  fine  ideal  is  well  expressed  in  Lord 
Curzon's  definition  of  the  objects  of  the  Society, 
when  he  addressed  it  before  the  great  war,  as, 
"To  make  London  beautiful  where  it  is  not  so  al- 
ready, and  to  keep  it  beautiful  where  it  already 
is." 

Some  humor  enters  into  the  detailed  considera- 
tion of  the  great  work  for  London  contemplated 
in  this  book.  "  The  Dean  of  St.  Paul's  has  lately 
suggested  the  blowing  up  of  Charing  Cross 
Bridge  as  our  National  War  Memorial."  The 
suggestion  is  approved,  and  meanwhile  the  Soci- 
ety has  managed  to  prevent  the  Southeastern 
Railway  Company  from  making  more  permanent 
this  hideous  structure. 

The  breadth  of  treatment  of  "London  of  the 
Future"  may  be  inferred  in  the  titles  of  the 
chapters,  aside  from  the  two  already  cited,  and 
the  important  introduction.  "The  Opportuni- 
ties of  London"  lead  into  "Roads,  Streets  and 
Traffic  of  London,"  followed  by  "London  Rail- 
way Reconstruction,"  in  which  latter  paper  one 
is  impressed  by  the  statement  that  even  in  1911 
the  local  railways  carried  436,498,795  passengers. 
"Commercial  Aviation  and  London"  takes  into 
account  the  necessary  provision  for  this  newer 
form  of  travel.  "The  Bridges  of  London"  is  a 
suggestive  as  well  as  a  historical  paper,  and 
"London  and  the  Channel  Tunnel"  proposes  to 
"create  a  new  London  for  our  children." 

"The  Surrey  Side,"  "Central  London,"  "The 
Port  of  London,"  "The  East  End,"  follow,  and 
then  Raymond  Unwin  provides  "Some  Thoughts 
on  the  Development  of  London,"  bearing  heavily 
on  attempts  to  decentralize  population.  De- 
tails of  city  life  are  treated  in  "The  Housing  of 
London,"  "The  Government  of  London,"  "The 
Parks  and  Open  Spaces  of  London,"  and  "The 
Smoke  Plague  of  London,"  all  papers  written 
with  sane  thought  for  the  future.  Because  each 
is  broadly  important,  and  written  rather  from  a 
world  standpoint  than  from  the  insular  view,  a 
study  and  statement  of  any  one  of  them  would 
run  too  far  into  available  space.  Fascinating 
glimpses  of  history  are  frequent,  as  when,  in 
discussing  housing,  Mr.  Davidge  recites  that 
Queen  Elizabeth,  appalled  at  the  overcrowding  of 
London  in  her  day,  decreed  that  "an  open  space 
of  three  miles  should  be  maintained  all  around 
the  city,  on  which  no  building  whatever  should 
be  allowed,  and  even  outside  this  limit  no  cottage 


342 


1922] 


BOOK  REVIEWS 


343 


was  to  be  erected  unless  it  was  surrounded  with 
at  least  four  acres  of  land." 

One  wonders  with  hope  whether  there  could  be 
any  work  so  broad  and  fine  about  the  second  city 
in  the  world,  our  own  metropolis.  Would  that 
the  City  Club  could  foster  and  idealize  so  splen- 
did and  yet  so  practicable  a  look  ahead  for  New 
York  as  that  contained  in  "London  of  the 
Future." 

.1.  HORACE  MCFARLAND. 


ANALYSIS  OF  THE  ELECTRIC  RAILWAY  PROBLEM. 
By  Delos  F.  Wilcox,  Ph.D.  789  pp.  The 
Author,  19£1. 

This  volume  constitutes  the  report  made  to 
the  Federal  Electric  Railways  Commission,  ap- 
pointed by  the  President  in  1919,  by  Dr.  Wilcox, 
who  was  engaged  to  make  an  analysis  of  the  testi- 
mony and  documents  received  by  the  Commis- 
sion. This  report  was  not  published  as  part  of 
the  proceedings  of  the  Commission,  and  the 
author  has  undertaken  its  independent  publica- 
tion to  make  it  available  as  a  reference  work.  It 
is  indeed  regrettable  that  this  analysis  does  not 
appear  in  official  form,  and  it  would  have  been 
unfortunate  if  the  mass  of  material,  gathered  by 
the  Commission  after  much  effort  and  expense, 
had  remained  undigested. 

The  author  is  supremely  qualified,  through 
long  experience  and  fundamental  understanding, 
for  the  task  of  analyzing  the  mass  of  data  sub- 
mitted quite  haphazardly  to  the  Commission. 
The  result  represents,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Com- 
mission, "a  complete  and  masterful  study  of  the 
whole  electric  railway  problem."  The  material 
covers  54  chapters,  besides  an  index  and  ap- 
pendices, making  a  total  of  657  pages.  An 
enumeration  of  some  of  the  chapter  titles  will 
suffice  to  indicate  the  topics  considered:  "The 
Street  Railway  an  Essential  Public  Industry," 
"Credit  and  Co-operation  the  Co-ordinate 
Needs  of  the  Electric  Railways,"  "Why  Has 
Electric  Railway  Credit  Been  Lost,"  "Financial 
Reorganization,"  "The  Valuation,"  "The  Rate 
of  Return,"  "Service  at  Cost,"  "The  Electric 
Railway  Labor  Problems."  Space  precludes 
reviewing  in  detail  any  particular  portions  of  the 
voluminous  report. 

The  problem  facing  the  electric  railways 
through  the  breakdown  of  their  credit  is  clearly 
and  comprehensively  presented.  Among  the 
various  causes  assigned  are  overcapitalization, 
financial  exploitation,  unnecessary  extensions; 


inflexible  fares;  special  taxation;  jitney  competi- 
tion; uneconomical  management,  and  increase  in 
cost  of  operation.  In  each  case,  the  author  cites 
the  testimony  of  witnesses  who  appeared  before 
the  Commission.  Incidentally,  there  is  much 
overlapping  which  judicious  selection  might  have 
avoided,  and  much  space  is  given  to  mere  cor- 
roborative expressions  of  little  value  as  proof. 
The  author  shows  that  the  extensive  impairment 
of  credit  was  inevitable  and  was  merely  brought 
to  a  crisis  by  the  war,  and  that  therefore  the 
problem  is  one  of  fundamental  reorganization 
and  not  temporary  adjustment. 

After  analyzing  the  causes  of  the  collapse  of 
the  credit,  Dr.  Wilcox  next  discusses  the  con- 
structive suggestions  for  its  restoration.  These 
embrace  proposals  for  higher  fares,  remission  of 
taxes,  regulation  of  jitney  competition,  greater 
operating  economies,  and  reorganization  of  the 
companies  on  a  sound  financial  basis.  He 
treats  particularly  the  relative  merits  of  state 
regulation,  the  alternative  of  semi-automatic 
control  through  service-at-cost,  and  municipal 
ownership  and  operation. 

Throughout  Dr.  Wilcox  supplements  the 
opinion  evidence  of  the  witnesses  by  opinions  of 
his  own.  While  every  public-minded  person  will 
agree  with  substantially  all  that  he  says  in  respect 
to  the  causes  for  the  collapse  and  will  readily 
subscribe  to  the  view  that  no  mere  policy  of  op- 
portunism but  a  comprehensive  and  constructive 
policy  is  needed,  yet  he  may  rightly  differ  from 
the  idea  which  finds  expression,  directly  or  in- 
directly, throughout  the  book, — that  the  only 
ultimate  and  permanent  solution  is  public  owner- 
ship and  operation.  Even  Dr.  Wilcox  recognizes 
that  dominant  public  opinion,  rightly  or  wrongly, 
is  arrayed  against  him  and  that  obviously,  except 
in  some  compelling  emergency,  the  program 
could  not  become  effective  in  the  near  future. 
While,  of  course,  every  city  should  be  free  to 
determine  its  own  transportation  policy  and  the 
arbitrary  legal  restrictions  to  public  ownership 
and  operation  should  be  removed,  even  at  best 
the  difficulties  of  public  ownership  and  operation 
are  great,  and  there  is  no  reason  for  shutting  out 
consideration  of  other  methods  which  in  particu- 
lar instances  may  better  meet  the  situation. 

While.  uiKiuostionably,  public  regulation  has 
been  gravely  disappointing,  as  the  reviewer  has 
been  showing  by  his  articles  in  the  REVIEW,  the 
difficulties  of  reorganizing  the  methods  of  regula- 
tion certainly  appear  no  greater  than  those  in- 
volved in  overcoming  deep-rooted  prejudice 


344 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[October 


against  public  ownership  and  operation  and 
especially  in  reconstituting  the  machinery  of 
municipal  government  required  for  efficient 
operation.  The  service-at-cost  plans  have  by  no 
means  been  demonstrated  as  complete  failures 
from  the  public  standpoint.  There  are  other 
methods  of  organization  which  may  prove  their 
way  with  further  experience.  Why  shut  out 
consideration  of  everything  except  the  one  solu- 
tion, which,  admittedly,  involves  very  great 
difficulties? 

JOHN  BAUER. 


PRINCIPLES  OF  PUBLIC  PERSONNEL  ADMINISTRA- 
TION. By  Arthur  W.  Proctor.  Published 
under  direction  of  Institute  for  Government 
Research,  by  D.  Appleton  &  Company,  New 
York,  1922.  Pp.  165,  with  appendices. 

In  this  volume  the  author  endeavors  to  deal,  in 
a  comprehensive  way,  with  the  problem  of  public 
personnel  administration.  It  is  a  well-written 
treatise  and  contains  a  great  deal  of  information 
which  legislative  and  administrative  officials 
should  have.  The  subject  is  discussed  in  plain, 
simple  style,  easily  understood  by  the  layman. 
It  is  indicative  of  the  awakened  interest  in  the 
importance  of  effective  personnel  management  in 
the  public  service.  The  book  is  not  intended  as 
an  exhaustive  study.  Its  purpose,  as  announced 
in  the  preface,  is  "to  furnish  a  brief  introduction 
to  the  study  of  the  problems  that  confront  all 
governments  of  securing  and  maintaining  an  ef- 
ficient personnel." 

During  his  long  period  of  contact  with  public 
personnel  matters,  as  a  staff  member  of  President 
Taft's  Commission  on  Economy  and  Efficiency, 
with  the  New  York  Bureau  of  Municipal  Re- 
search, in  charge  of  the  investigation  work  of  the 
inquiry  regarding  the  standardization  of  public 
employments  made  by  the  senate  committee  on 
civil  service  of  New  York  state,  and  later  with 
the  Institute  for  Government  Research,  Mr. 
Proctor  has  had  an  unusual  opportunity  to 
study  personnel  conditions  as  they  actually  exist 
in  the  public  service.  He  writes  with  first-hand 
knowledge.  He  has  discussed,  and  not  without 
success,  the  general  principles  applicable  to 
personnel  control  in  the  municipal,  state  and 
federal  service. 

In  an  interesting  and  informing  way  he  dis- 
cusses the  important  factors  entering  into  a 
complete  personnel  program.  His  presentation 
of  the  need  for  a  public  employment  program  is 


perhaps  the  strongest  part  of  the  entire  volume 
and  should  appeal  to  good  citizens,  both  in  and 
out  of  official  position,  as  fundamental.  The 
chapters  devoted  to  Standardization  of  Public 
Employment,  Recruiting  and  Selection,  Training 
for  Public  Service,  Efficiency  Rating,  and  Promo- 
tion will  be  of  interest  to  personnel  officers  and 
civil  service  commissioners  and  administrators. 
Students  of  the  personnel  problem  in  public 
administration  will  not  altogether  agree  with  the 
author  either  as  to  the  conclusions  which  he  has 
reached  or  as  to  the  emphasis  which  should  be 
placed  on  certain  phases  of  employment  adminis- 
tration. The  work,  however,  is  a  distinct  con- 
tribution to  the  subject  and  will  undoubtedly 
play  its  part  in  the  awakening  of  the  public  and 
official  mind  to  the  realization  that  the  success  or 
failure  of  future  p\iblic  administration,  both  from 
the  standpoint  of  effectiveness  and  economy,  is 
going  to  depend  more  and  more  upon  a  capable, 
properly  compensated,  properly  organized,  and 
properly  controlled  personnel. 

CHARLES  P.  MESSICK. 

* 

THE  STATE  AND  GOVERNMENT.  By  James 
Quayle  Dealey.  New  York:  D.  Appleton  & 
Company,  1921.  Pp.  xiv  and  367. 

This  book  constitutes  a  complete  rewriting, 
with  a  considerable  enlargement,  of  the  author's 
earlier  volume — The  Development  of  the  State 
(1 909) .  It  gives  the  historical,  social  and  ethical 
bases  and  relations  of  the  essential  institutions, 
activities,  methods  and  ideals  of  political  govern- 
ment. It  does  not  describe  the  governments  of 
particular  countries  successively;  nor  is  it  merely 
a  comparative  study  of  government — by  organs, 
departments  and  functions.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  is  not  essentially  a  study  in  political  theory. 
It  attempts  rather  to  set  forth  in  concise  form 
the  genesis,  evolution  and  essential  character  of 
present-day  organs  and  functions  of  the  state  and 
of  present-day  political  doctrines.  For  each  of 
our  familiar  governmental  devices  and  dogmas 
(e.g.,  written  constitutions,  popular  sovereignty, 
the  industrial  functions  of  the  state,  jury  trial, 
forms  of  penalty,  legislative  procedure)  the 
author  indicates  its  primitive  stages,  the  series  of 
events  through  it  developed  into  its  present  form, 
its  specific  social  and  ethical  utility. 

In  the  execution  of  this  plan  the  author  dis- 
plays a  wide,  accurate  and  appreciative  familiar- 
ity with  the  ideas  of  others  in  this  wide  field,  and 
an  effective  mastery  of  his  own  ideas.  It  does 


1922] 


BOOK  REVIEWS 


345 


not  seem  correct  to  say  (p.  168)  that  the  principle 
of  the  separation  of  powers  "in  the  United  States 
is  found  chiefly  in  the  federal  system,  having 
made  little  headway  in  State  or  municipal 
government";  or  to  speak  of  the  "Swiss  Rous- 
seau"; and  it  is  obviously  a  slip  to  say  (p.  299) 
that  the  compulsory  referendum  on  legislation 
exists  in  all  of  the  Swiss  cantons  except  Fribourg. 
In  chapter  XIX — on  "Citizenship,  Rights  and 
Obligations" — the  presentation  does  not  seem 
altogether  precise;  here  the  author  seems  not 
to  discriminate  adequately  between  legal  rights 
and  moral  or  ideal  rights.  In  general  the  dis- 
cussion shows  a  clear  apprehension  of  essentials, 
is  at  all  points  adequately  fortified  by  illustra- 
tions, and  is  in  all  parts  sane  and  fair  in  its  ap- 
praisal of  the  validity  of  contemporary  political 
tendencies  and  ideals. 

Those  who  exalt  the  practical  over  theoretical 
aspects  of  political  science  pursue  an  impractical 
policy  if  they  ignore  (as  matters  of  merely  aca- 
demic interest)  the  historical  and  social  roots  of 
present-day  political  institutions,  doctrines  and 
ideals.  The  volume  in  hand  is  a  scholarly  work 
of  great  practical  utility. 

F.  W.  COKER. 
if 
BUDGET  MAKING.     By  Arthur  Eugene  Buck. 

New  York:  D.  Appleton  &  Company,  1921. 

Pp.  234  with  charts. 

What  is  popularly  known  as  the  budget  system 
is  now  a  fact  accomplished  in  the  federal  govern- 
ment, in  46  state  governments,  and  in  several 
hundred  American  cities.  Considering  the 
executive  officials  directly  involved  in  all  these 
cases  in  the  making  of  budgets,  the  members  of 
federal,  state,  and  municipal  legislatures  having 
a  voice  in  the  adoption  of  governmental  financial 
programs,  and  the  large  body  of  citizens  who 
take  an  active  interest  in  the  subject,  there  is 
presumably  a  widespread  need  for  information 
on  the  technique  of  budget  making. 

Mr.  Buck  has  written  his  book  with  the  object 
of  offering  practical  help  to  those  desiring  this 
technical  information.  The  advantages  of  the 
budget  plan  of  governmental  financing  are  re- 
ferred to  only  incidentally,  e.g.,  in  setting  forth 
the  processes  and  forms  required  for  clearness, 
accuracy,  and  completeness  in  the  budget  in- 
formation. Throughout  the  book  the  author 
adheres  closely  to  his  plan  of  explaining  in  detail 
the  various  steps  necessary  in  giving  effectiveness 
to  the  purpose  of  the  budget  system. 


A  budget,  as  Mr.  Buck  views  it,  is  a  complete 
financial  plan  for  a  definite  period,  based  on 
careful  estimates' of  both  expenditures  and  prob- 
able income,  and  presenting  both  the  expendi- 
ture side  and  the  revenue  side.  The  making  of 
such  a  budget  or  financial  plan,  he  points  out, 
constitutes  a  complete  cycle  of  operations. 
This  cycle  begins  with  the  recording  of  informa- 
tion as  the  basis  of  the  work,  and  includes  the 
preparation  of  estimates,  the  comparative  and 
objective  analysis  of  these  estimates,  and  from 
that  proceeds  to  the  formulation,  review,  and 
adoption  of  the  financial  plan  itself.  The  cycle 
is  completed  by  the  execution  of  the  plan  and 
the  coincident  recording  of  more  information  for 
use  in  preparing  the  next  budget.  Moreover, 
each  succeeding  budget,  while  complete  in  itself, 
is  in  reality  only  a  link  in  the  lengthening  chain 
of  the  government's  financial  experience  and 
policy. 

It  is  necessary,  of  course,  before  a  budget  is 
made,  that  there  should  be  a  budget-making 
authority.  Properly,  therefore,  Mr.  Buck  not 
only  describes  the  executive,  board,  and  legisla- 
tive types  of  budget-making  authorities,  but  also 
includes  a  classification  of  the  states,  and  some  of 
the  more  important  cities,  with  respect  to  the 
kind  of  budget-making  authority  adopted.  It  is 
interesting  to  find  that  the  budget  plan  in  24 
states  is  of  the  executive  type,  in  21  states  of  the 
board  type,  and  in  one  state  of  the  legislative 
type.  There  is  also  a  discussion  of  budget  staff 
agencies,  in  which  is  pointed  out  the  value  of 
such  a  body  having  a  permanent  character  and  a 
trained  personnel — a  value  that  unfortunately  is 
as  yet  generally  overlooked  by  cities  and  states 
alike. 

The  book  is  rich  in  description  of  the  kind  of 
information  needed  in  the  budget,  the  system  of 
classification,  and  the  methods  and  exact  forms 
to  be  used  in  gathering  the  necessary  estimates 
and  in  correlating  them  in  budget  form.  It  takes 
up  step  by  step  the  reviewing  and  revising  of  the 
budget  proposals,  the  requisite  appropriation 
measures  for  legislative  consideration,  and  the 
procedure  of  giving  life  and  effect  to  the  financial 
program.  Emphasis  is  laid  on  the  advantages  of 
making  the  budget  a  document  that  tells  a  com- 
plete story  in  interesting  terms  and  of  accom- 
panying it  with  a  budget  message  that  will  "put 
the  budget  in  the  news  class  with  the  baseball 
game." 

RUSHKLL  RAMSEY. 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 

I.     GOVERNMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION 


Mayor  Hylan's  Traction  Plan  for  New  York 
City. — On  September  6,  Mayor  Hylan  submitted 
to  the  board  of  estimate  and  apportionment  of 
New  York  city,  a  comprehensive  municipal 
transportation  plan.  This  includes  the  construc- 
tion, acquisition  and  operation  of  an  outright 
municipal  system,  not  connected  in  any  way 
with  financing  and  operation  by  a  private  com- 
pany. Public  hearings  on  the  plan  were  started 
on  September  15,  to  get  the  benefit  of  criticisms 
and  suggestions  of  various  public  organizations. 
The  plan  is  to  be  molded  into  an  accepted  munici- 
pal program  at  the  earliest  possible  moment. 

The  plan  contemplates  the  immediate  intro- 
duction and  operation  of  municipal  buses,  re- 
quiring an  estimated  investment  of  $25,000,000. 
The  buses  would  serve  where  the  street  surface 
lines  have  been  discontinued  and  where  inade- 
quate local  transportation  is  provided;  also 
where  they  would  operate  better  and  more 
economically  than  the  surface  street  railway  lines. 

The  buses,  however,  are  to  be  operated  as  an 
integral  part  of  the  proposed  rapid  transit  sys- 
tem. Construction  of  two  subway  trunk  lines 
through  Manhattan  would  be  started  immedi- 
ately: one  on  the  east  side  and  one  on  the  west 
side,  with  branches  and  extensions  to  serve  the 
requirements  of  the  other  boroughs.  This  would 
meet  the  more  pressing  transportation  needs  of 
the  city.  Besides,  there  would  be  constructed  a 
number  of  other  extensions,  crosstowu  lines,  and 
tunnels  to  serve  and  connect  the  several  bor- 
oughs. The  plan  contemplates  also  the  "re- 
capture" of  most  of  the  existing  subway  lines,  in 
part  financed  by  the  city  and  now  operated  by 
the  private  companies  under  the  rapid  transit 
contracts  Numbers  3  and  4.  This  acquisition 
would  be  carried  out  under  the  terms  of  the  con- 
tracts between  the  city  and  the  companies. 

If  the  plan  is  carried  out,  the  city  would  own 
and  operate  all  the  buses  and  all  the  subways, 
except  one  line  left  to  the  Interborough  Rapid 
Transit  Company  because  it  cannot  be  recap- 
tured under  the  contract  with  the  company. 
The  private  companies  would  retain  the  surface 
and  the  elevated  lines;  also  the  one  subway  line 
which  cannot  be  recaptured  by  the  city.  With 
this  one  exception,  the  city  would  operate 
practically  all  of  the  really  modern  transporta- 


tion properties,  while  the  companies  would  have 
the  lines  which  are  in  various  stages  of  obsoles- 
cence. A  large  proportion  of  the  surface  lines 
have  unquestionably  outlived  their  usefulness, 
and  most  of  the  elevated  lines  are  inadequate  for 
future  transportation  requirements. 

The  cost  of  financing  the  plan  has  been  esti- 
mated at  $600,000,000,  to  cover  the  buses,  the 
recapture  and  the  new  construction.  The  city 
has  already  a  subway  investment  of  about  $300,- 
000,000;  so  that  its  total  investment  with  the 
completed  project  would  be  about  $900,000,000. 

The  plan  seems  to  meet  the  New  York  city 
situation  admirably.  While  a  completely  unified 
system  might,  in  general,  be  desirable,  including 
not  only  all  subways  and  buses  but  also  elevated 
and  surface  lines,  this  appears  practically  out  of 
the  question  because  of  the  excessive  prices  de- 
manded by  the  companies  for  the  more  or  less 
defunct  surface  and  elevated  properties.  The 
New  York  Transit  Commission  has  been  working 
for  the  establishment  of  a  single  unified  system, 
but  its  efforts  will  apparently  come  to  nothing 
because  the  companies  will  not  accept  valuations 
of  the  properties  on  the  basis  of  their  present 
physical  condition  and  remaining  serviceability. 
The  mayor's  plan  of  an  independent  municipal 
system  is  the  only  reasonable  way  out  of  the  dif- 
ficult situation.  It  will  provide  new  transporta- 
tion facilities  and  will  leave  the  private  com- 
panies to  operate  their  properties  under  their 
franchise  or  contract  requirements. 

The  only  dubious  point  in  the  plan  as  first 
submitted  is  the  "recapture"  feature.  This 
should  be  considered  very  carefully  before  it  is 
finally  definitely  accepted  in  a  municipal 
program.  The  difficulty  with  recapture  of 
existing  subway  lines  is  the  excessive  price  that 
would  have  to  be  paid,  for  the  amounts  are  fixed 
under  contract  definitions  and  are  unreasonably 
high.  Because  of  this  fact,  it  might  be  better  to 
let  the  companies  operate  the  existing  subways 
under  the  contracts,  and  for  the  city  to  proceed 
with  the  construction  and  operation  of  new  sub- 
ways, taking  in  the  present  subways  only  at  the 
expiration  of  the  contracts.  But  this  is  a  mere 
detail,  which  doubtless  will  receive  careful  con- 
sideration before  final  determination. 

JOHN  BAUER. 


846 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


347 


How  Buffalo  Secured  a  City  Plan. — At  the  fall 
election  in  1920  a  referendum  question  was  sub- 
mitted to  the  citizens  of  Buffalo  which,  voted 
upon  affirmatively  by  a  large  majority,  became  a 
mandate  upon  the  council  of  the  city.  This  im- 
portant question  read  as  follows: "  ShaU  the  coun- 
cil of  the  City  of  Buffalo  adopt  plans  for  the  loca- 
tion and  grouping  of  the  public  buildings  of  the 
city  prior  to  September  1,  1922,  and  thereupon 
proceed  to  acquire  the  lands  necessary  therefor, 
with  the  view  of  constructing  public  buildings 
thereon  from  time  to  time  as  necessity  may 
arise?" 

This  action  was  in  large  measure  the  result  of 
an  intensive  publicity  campaign  carried  on  by  the 
Buffalo  City  Planning  Association,  Inc.,  an  or- 
ganization of  interested  citizens  with  which  some 
hundred  civic  and  business  clubs  were  affiliated. 
The  council  immediately  turned  over  to  the  City 
Planning  Committee,  its  own  appointed  body, 
the  problem  of  making  a  plan  for  the  location  and 
grouping  of  future  buildings  and  this  group  of 
men  spent  the  next  fifteen  months  in  considering 
the  situation  in  all  its  aspects. 

Early  in  the  year  of  1922  the  plans  were  ready 
for  presentation  to  the  public  and,  with  the  con- 
sent of  the  council,  the  Buffalo  City  Planning 
Association,  Inc.,  undertook  to  make  the  plan 
public  and  to  promote  intelligent  discussion. 
The  first  step  was  the  preparation  of  a  mailing 
list.  From  the  basic  list  of  the  full  membership 
of  several  large  organizations,  this  grew  to  15,000 
through  the  addition  of  names  submitted  by  each 
affiliated  organization,  by  the  Democratic  and 
Republican  organizations  in  each  election  dis- 
trict, and  by  the  addition  of  hundreds  of  names 
as  a  result  of  later  newspaper  publicity  and  out 
of  town  requests  from  city  planning  officials 
throughout  the  country. 

The  Buffalo  City  Planning  Association,  Inc., 
had  some  hundred  organizations  affiliated  with 
it  at  the  beginning  of  the  1922  campaign.  It 
solicited  opportunities  of  presenting  the  plan  to 
these  and  other  organizations  and  eventually 
increased  the  number  of  its  affiliated  organiza- 
tions to  181.  These  were  actively  behind  the 
plan. 

The  next  step  was  to  secure  the  co-operation 
of  the  newspapers  of  the  city.  Each  paper 
definitely  assigned  a  reporter  for  city  planning 
publicity. 

These  men  were  then  called  together  and  the 
entire  city  plan  was  explained  to  them  as  well  aa 
the  plan  for  carrying  the  publicity.  The  morn- 


ing papers  were  given  the  first,  third,  etc.,  re- 
leases, the  evening  papers  the  second,  fourth, 
etc.,  releases.  This  plan  was  followed  out  in  the 
campaign  and  worked  very  satisfactorily.  The 
co-operation  and  support  which  all  the  papers 
gave  to  the  publicity  campaign  and  the  plan  it- 
self is  a  part  which  merits  attention.  Without 
this  support  and  co-operation,  carrying  the 
campaign  to  a  successful  conclusion,  would  have 
meant  a  problem  of  infinitely  greater  magnitude. 
Buffalo  is  proud  of  the  spirit  its  papers  showed! 

Simultaneously  with  these  activities  the  plans 
were  gone  over  with  small  groups  of  people,  many 
of  them  prominent  members  of  leading  clubs. 
At  first  talks  were  given  by  members  of  the  City 
Planning  Committee,  but  as  the  publicity  process 
expanded  the  need  for  a  larger  corps  of  speakers 
arose.  To  meet  this  need  the  Buffalo  City 
Planning  Association,  Inc.,  held  training  classes 
for  and  organized  a  speakers'  bureau  of  68  men 
and  women.  It  prepared,  for  the  use  of  the 
speakers'  bureau,  several  duplicate  sets  of 
lantern  slides  which  compactly  illustrated  the 
various  features  of  the  plan  and  included  the 
basic  city  planning  principles  and  contrasted 
Buffalo  problems  with  those  in  other  cities. 

The  culmination  of  the  campaign  was  the 
public  hearing  held  on  May  9,  in  Buffalo's  largest 
auditorium.  This  was  the  first  public  hearing  in 
Buffalo  to  be  held  outside  of  the  city  hall,  and 
the  first  to  be  held  in  the  evening.  It  meant 
that  every  interested  citizen  could  be  present. 
Several  thousand  people  attended  and  the  senti- 
ment of  the  meeting  was  99  per  cent  in  favor  of 
the  plan  suggested  by  the  City  Planning  Com- 
mittee. 

Then  on  June  15  a  final  public  hearing  was 
held  and  after  due  deliberation  the  plan  in  its 
entirety  was  adopted  by  the  council. 

CHAUNCET  J.  I ! AMI. IN. 


Second  Year  of  Detroit's  New  Criminal  Court. 
— Detroit's  reorganized  and  unified  criminal 
court  has  now  completed  its  second  year.  It  is 
the  only  unified  criminal  court  in  the  United 
States;  and  those  interested  should  send  to  the 
Detroit  Bureau  of  Governmental  Research,  Inc., 
for  a  copy  of  their  recent  appraisal  of  its  work. 

Viewed  from  numerous  angles,  the  new  court 
fulfills  the  hopes  of  its  makers.  In  disposing  of 
felonies  it  is  much  more  expeditious  than  the  old. 
A  comparison  of  1,948  cases  in  1919  with  3,338 
cases  in  1921  shows  that  only  15  per  cent  of  the 


348 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[October 


former  were  disposed  of  in  four  weeks  while  84 
per  cent  of  the  latter  were  completed  in  the  same 
time.  During  1921  sufficient  time  was  given  to 
do  justice  in  each  case,  but  dilatory  methods 
common  to  criminal  courts  were  not  tolerated. 

Another  noteworthy  fact  is  the  heavy  increase 
of  the  number  placed  under  probation.  The 
figures  are  750  for  1919  and  1888  for  1921.  Yet 
when  prison  sentences  were  imposed  they  were 
more  severe  than  before.  This  was  particularly 
true  in  robbery  and  burglary  cases. 

Detroit  has  a  psychopathic  clinic  as  an  integral 
part  of  the  court.  Although  other  cities  have 
employed  it  in  minor  offenses,  this  is  the  first 
time  that  psychiatry  has  been  applied  to  felonies. 
The  usefulness  of  this  clinic  and  the  manner  in 
which  it  operates  is  described  by  the  following 
case  related  in  the  report  of  the  Detroit  Bureau. 

The  case  is  that  of  a  woman,  41  years  of  age,  examined 
in  the  psychopathic  clinic  September  27,  1921,  on  the  oc- 
casion of  her  arrest  charged  with  larceny  from  the  per- 
son. The  examination  showed  her  to  be  recovering 
from  the  effects  of  delirium  tremens,  with  deteriorating 
effects  of  long  drug  addiction,  and  she  had  an  almost 
total  lack  of  any  appreciation  of  her  duty  toward  others. 
The  police  department  record  showed  that  she  had  been 
arrested  for  larceny  in  1919  in  Detroit  and  had  received 
a  fine  of  $50  upon  that  occasion.  Investigation  into 
her  history  by  correspondence  with  places  where  she  had 
lived  and  institutions  in  which  she  had  been,  disclosed 
the  following  facts: 

She  began  to  be  sexually  promiscuous  at  the  age  of  ten 
and  to  drink  excessively  at  that  time.  Her  first  arrest 
occurred  when  she  was  eleven,  for  which  she  received  a 
fine.  When  she  was  twelve  she  was  arrested  as  a  truant 
from  school,  and  later,  the  same  year,  for  larceny,  for 
which  she  was  sentenced  for  six  months  in  the  Washing- 
ton jail.  One  month  after  discharge  from  the  jail  she 
was  arrested  for  larceny  and  this  time  sent  to  the  reform 
school  for  a  period  of  two  years.  When  she  was  fifteen 
she  committed  her  first  robbery  and  for  this  was  sen- 
tenced to  prison  for  five  years  in  New  York.  About 
two  months  after  her  discharge  from  prison  she  was 
arrested  in  New  York  in  a  stabbing  affray  and  sent  to 
Mattewan  Hospital,  where  she  remained  for  about  a 
month  and  a  half.  At  twenty-two  she  was  again  sen- 
tenced to  prison  for  stealing  and  from  that  time  until  she 
was  thirty-nine  years  of  age  she  was  constantly  in  prison 
or  in  insane  hospitals.  At  St.  Elizabeth's  Hospital  she 
was  regarded  as  not  insane,  and  was  returned  to  prison. 
In  prison  she  killed  another  inmate  and  was  returned  to 
the  hospital.  She  came  to  Detroit  when  she  was  thirty- 
nine  years  of  age  and  married  here.  Snortly  after  her 
arrival  she  was  arrested  for  larceny  and  fined  as  above 
noted. 

* 

Bursam  Bill  Threatens  National  Park  Sys- 
tem.— A  bill  to  define  the  rights  of  the  Mescalero 
Apache  Indians  in  the  Mescalero  Indian  Reserva- 
tion, providing  for  an  allotment  of  certain  lands 
therein  in  severalty  to  the  Mescalero  Apache 


Indians  and  creating  and  defining  the  All  Year 
National  Park,  was  introduced  into  the  senate 
by  Senator  Bursam  of  New  Mexico  on  April  28, 
1922;  recommended  on  June  14  and  again  on 
July  5  by  Secretary  Fall,  also  of  New  Mexico; 
reported  favorably  without  public  hearing  by  the 
committee  on  Indian  affairs  of  which  Senator 
Spencer  is  chairman,  and  passed  by  the  senate  on 
July  7  by  unanimous  consent  and  without  a 
record  vote.  On  August  17  the  senate  bill 
reached  the  house  which  had  been  taking  a  sum- 
mer vacation,  and  was  referred  to  the  committee 
on  Indian  affairs. 

Quick  work  this,  when  it  is  remembered  that 
the  Barbour  bill  to  create  the  Roosevelt-Sequoia 
National  Park  by  enlarging  the  present  Sequoia 
National  Park  to  include  the  marvelous  Kings 
River  Canyon  has  never  come  to  a  vote  in  the 
house  although  the  committee  on  public  lands, 
after  a  public  hearing  before  which  the  leading 
civic  and  scientific  organizations  of  the  country 
supported  the  bill  in  the  interests  of  the  public 
welfare,  reported  the  bill  favorably  on  January 
12,  1922. 

The  Bursam  bill  would  accomplish  in  the  af- 
fairs of  the  Mescalero  Indians  a  number  of  pur- 
poses which  we  are  not  competent  to  judge  but 
which  we  are  willing  to  accept  on  the  recommen- 
dation of  the  committee  on  Indian  affairs.  When 
it  comes,  however,  to  creating  a  national  park  by 
authorizing  the  secretary  of  the  interior  to  select 
scattered  parcels  of  land  within  an  Indian  reser- 
vation and  setting  up  a  confused  administration 
in  which  the  national  park  service,  the  bureau  of 
Indian  affairs  and  the  reclamation  service  might 
all  take  a  hand,  the  American  Civic  Association 
and  other  organizations  which  have  paid  special 
attention  to  park  administration  believe  that  the 
bill  should  be  amended  to  eliminate  numerous 
undesirable  features.  We  have,  therefore,  re- 
quested the  house  committee  on  Indian  affairs  to 
hold  a  public  hearing  on  the  bill  in  order  that  the 
organizations  which  maintain  a  "watch  service" 
in  behalf  of  the  people  may  present  their  views. 

The  Bursam  bill  has  made  the  friends  of  the 
national  parks  realize  as  never  before  that  the 
national  park  service  has  developed  a  stable 
policy  in  regard  to  qualifications  which  lands 
should  meet  if  they  are  to  be  incorporated  into 
the  national  park  system  and  a  singleness  of  pur- 
pose in  their  administration.  By  admitting  to 
the  national  park  system  only  lands  which  justly 
can  be  defended  against  commercial  encroach- 
ments because  of  their  outstanding  national 


1922] 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


349 


qualifications  can  we  have  any  assurance  that  we 
can  maintain  the  national  parks  of  the  country 
for  the  benefit  and  enjoyment  of  all  the  people. 

HARLEAN  JAMBS. 
* 

The  New  York  Literacy  Test  for  Voters.— 
It  will  be  recalled  that  under  a  constitutional 
amendment  adopted  last  year,  new  voters  in  New 
York  will  be  compelled  to  undergo  a  literacy  test. 
A  literacy  test,  however  excellent  it  may  be  in 
rinciple,  is  always  difficult  to  apply  and  the  New 
York  provision,  drafted  after  a  great  deal  of  dis- 
cussion and  consultation  with  civic  organizations, 
is  not  wholly  acceptable  to  the  latter. 

The  law  adopted  provides  that  each  polling 
place  shall  be  supplied  with  one  hundred  ex- 
tracts from  the  state  constitution  of  approxi- 
mately fifty  words  each,  printed  on  pasteboard 
slips.  Unless  a  new  voter  can  present  a  certifi- 
cate signed  by  the  head  of  a  recognized  school  in 
the  place  in  which  he  lives,  he  shall  be  compelled 
to  draw  one  of  these  slips  at  random  and  to  read 
all  the  matter  thereon,  and  then  to  write  ten 
words  in  English.  But  if  the  new  voter  prefers 
he  may  undergo  examination  at  the  hands  of  a 
public  school  principal  or  head  of  other  registered 
school,  and  if  the  examination  is  satisfactory  the 
principal  or  head  shall  give  him  a  certificate 
which  shall  be  accepted  by  the  election  board. 

The  New  York  State  Association,  which  took 
part  in  framing  this  provision,  urged  that  juris- 
diction over  the  administration  of  the  test  should 
be  placed  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the  educa- 
tional authorities,  but  was  unable  to  secure  more 
than  the  compromised  arrangement  outlined 
above.  The  friends  of  the  literacy  provision 
admit  that  this  test  is  defective,  but  as  yet  no 
psychological  or  intelligence  tests  have  been 
developed  to  the  point  that  they  merit  adoption. 
It  remains  to  be  seen  how  effective  this  provision 
is  and  how  much  it  will  be  abused  in  practice. 
* 

Progress  in  Municipal  Street  Cleaning  in 
Philadelphia. — For  many  years  Philadelphia  re- 
mained the  one  large  city  in  the  country  whose 
street  cleansing  services  were  in  the  hands  of 
private  contractors.  Aside  from  the  efficiency 
of  the  work  the  political  aspects  of  this  manner  of 
doing  business  were  intolerable.  The  work  was 
done  by  contractors  who  were  also  political 
bosses.  The  rule  that  contracts  were  never  let 
for  more  than  a  year  at  a  time  successfully  elimi- 


nated independent  competitor*,  and  it  was  only 
after  years  of  agitation  that  the  new  charter  was 
able  to  secure  for  the  city  the  power  to  do  its  own 
street  cleaning. 

Beginning  with  January  1  of  this  year  all  the 
city  cleansing  services — street  cleaning,  ash, 
rubbish  and  garbage  collection  and  disposal — 
were  put  on  a  direct  municipal  basis  in  all  dis- 
tricts. Since  then  there  has  been  general  satis- 
faction with  the  service  rendered.  The  budget 
allowance  for  the  past  year  was  considerably  less 
than  that  for  previous  contract  work  although 
this  was  to  be  expected  because  of  lower  price 
levels.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  a  saving 
over  the  budget  allowance  will  be  made. 

Last  month  bids  were  opened  for  the  construc- 
tion of  a  refuse  destructor  which  is  the  first  of 
several  that  are  proposed.  The  construction  of 
modern  refuse  plants  is  looked  upon  as  being  one 
of  the  principle  gains  of  the  change  from  contract 
to  municipal  work,  since  it  was  impossible  to 
compel  contractors  to  erect  such  plants  under  the 
one  year  contract  arrangement. 
* 

Municipal  Savings  Banks. — In  Scotland, 
where,  we  are  told,  people  do  not  play  fast  and 
loose  in  money  matters,  the  movement  for 
municipal  savings  banks  has  caught  on.  In 
England,  Birmingham  remains  the  only  city  to 
try  the  experiment.  The  model  followed,  writes 
the  Municipal  Journal,  is  the  bank  in  Kirkin- 
tilloch,  which  has  been  in  operation  two  years, 
and  which  arose  from  a  desire  to  procure  cheaper 
money  for  city  purposes  Depositors  were  of- 
fered one-half  per  cent  more  than  the  Scottish 
banks  paid.  Receipts  were  used  to  redeem  loans 
contracted  at  higher  rates  and  to  finance  activi- 
ties with  cheaper  money  than  could  otherwise  be 
secured.  In  spite  of  unemployment  and  dull 
trade  there  has  been  a  steady  growth  in  the  ac- 
counts of  the  bank. 

* 

The  Second  Number  of  "The  City's  Business," 
now  being  published  by  the  St.  Paul  Bureau  of 
Municipal  Research  points  out  that  the  street 
paving  already  planned  (two-thirds  of  which  has 
been  contracted  for)  will  cost  a  million  dollars. 
Of  this  the  city  must  pay  $220,000  with  only 
$33,600  on  hand  and  no  provision  for  funds  in 
next  year's  budget.  It  isn't  a  difficult  matter 
for  politicians  to  promise  to  pave  streets  or  even 
to  let  contracts,  but  payment  for  same  is  often 
left  to  the  next  administration. 


350 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[October 


H.    CITY  MANAGER  NOTES 


Manager  Locke  of  Grand  Rapids  reports  that 
good  money  is  being  made  on  its  $4,000,000  in- 
vestment in  a  municipal  water  works  system.  It 
cleared  about  $180,000  during  the  last  year,  thus 
earning  about  4  5  per  cent  on  its  investment. 
Rates  are  low,  service  good,  and  the  city  gets 
many  advantages  in  the  matter  of  water  supply 
under  the  new  administrative  system. 
* 

Manager  Macky  of  Newburgh,  New  York, 
suspended  himself  from  the  position  of  city 
manager,  pending  investigation,  on  accusation 
made  by  the  local  "  news  butcher"  that  informa- 
tion had  come  to  "our  office"  that  the  city 
manager  was  to  have  received  $6,000  commission 
on  the  sale  of  a  high  school  site.  The  city  coun- 
cil laughed  at  the  charge,  because  the  manager 
has  no  control  over  the  schools.  Manager 
Macky,  however,  refused  to  consider  it  a  joke 
and  suspended  himself,  pending  investigation. 
Major  Macky's  first  act  after  being  appointed 
city  manager  was  to  reduce  his  salary  from 
$5,000  to  $3,500. 

* 

Manager  T.  V.  Stephens,  Excelsior  Springs, 

Missouri,  has  secured  by  competitive  bidding  an 

offer  of  4.81  per  cent  interest  on  the  daily  bank 

balance  as  against  a  previous  2.9  per  cent  rate. 

* 

Manager  C.  E.  Douglas  of  Lawton,  Oklahoma, 
secured  a  judgment  against  the  county  for  $12,- 
000  penalties  on  delinquent  taxes  due  the  city. 
* 

Local  petitions  are  being  circulated  in  Sacra- 
mento and  Long  Beach,  California,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  abolishing  the  manager  plan.     Neither 
seem  to  be  considered  seriously. 
* 

Editorial  Comments  favoring  manager  govern- 
ment have  appeared  in  the  San  Francisco 
(California)  Chronicle,  Reidsville  (North  Caro- 
lina) Review,  Marysville  (California)  Democrat, 
Tallahasse  (Florida)  Daily  Democrat,  Atchison 
(Kansas)  Daily  Globe,  Grand  Junction  (Colorado) 
Sentinel,  Albuquerque  (New  Mexico)  Journal, 
Waltham  (Massachusetts)  News. 
* 

Manager  Elliot  of  Wichita,  Kansas,  is  fight- 
ng  the  gas  company. 


Manager  Hawkins  of  El  Dorado,  Kansas, 
started  the  publication   of  a   municipal   sheet 
called  "Our  Public  Service." 
* 

Active  Interest  in  city  manager  government  is 
in  evidence  in  National  City,  California,  Bar- 
berton,  Ohio,  El  Paso,  Texas,  Knoxville,  Tennes- 
see, Chester,  Pennsylvania,  Cordele,  Georgia, 
Bridgeport,  Connecticut,  Bedford,  Michigan, 
El  Reno,  Oklahoma,  Hoquiam,  Washington, 
Milford,  Massachusetts,  Berkeley,  California, 
Baker,  Oregon,  Warrenton,  Oregon,  Red  Lodge, 
Montana,  Waukegon,  Illinois,  and  Kennett 
Square,  Pennsylvania. 

* 

The  "Outs"  in  Grand  Rapids  are  again  propos- 
ing amendments  to  the  city  charter,  which  are 
simply  modifications  of  those  overwhelmingly 
defeated  a  few  months  ago. 
* 

M.  P.  Tucker  succeeds  Homer  C.  Campbell  as 
chief  administrator  of  Akron,  Ohio.  Mr.  Tucker 
has  been  superintendent  of  water  works  and 
service  director.  Indications  are  that  he  will 
give  Akron  a  worthy  administration. 
* 

Friends  of  A.  W.  D.  Hall  will  be  surprised  to 
learn  that  he  has  resigned  as  manager  of  Tampa 
to  accept  a  position  as  city  engineer  on  the  new 
water  front  terminals.  A  $600,000  bond  issue 
for  this  purpose  was  recently  voted. 
* 

Boyd  A.  Bennett,  former  director  of  public 
service  and  assistant  city  manager  of  Lynch- 
burg,  Virginia,  succeeded  Walter  Washabaugh 
as  manager  of  Charlottesville,  Virginia,  Septem- 
ber 1. 

* 

L.    S.   Looney    was   appointed    manager   of 
Decatur,  Georgia,  July  1. 
* 

Managers  Reeves  of  Glendale,  California, 
and  Streed  of  Kenilworth,  Illinois,  have  had 
their  salaries  raised  $50  and  $100  a  month 
respectively. 

* 

W.  M.  Rich,  who  left  Goldsboro,  North  Caro- 
lina, August  1,  became  active  manager  of 
Alexandria,  Virginia,  September  1,  at  a  salary  of 
$5,000.  His  former  salary  was  $4,500. 

PAUL  B.  WILCOX. 


NATIONAL 
MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


VOL.  XI,  No.  11 


NOVEMBER,  1922 


TOTAL  No.  77 


COMMENT 


The  recently  prepared  home  rule 
charter  for  San  Diego  county,  Cali- 
fornia, cannot  be  submitted  to  the  vot- 
ers, according  to  the  state  supreme 
court,  because  the  board  which  drafted 
it  filed  it  one  day  later  than  required 
by  law. 

* 

Rahway,  New  Jersey,  by  means  of 
municipal  milk  stations,  brought  the 
price  of  grade  A  milk  from  18  to  12 
cents.  The  mayor's  commission  which 
recommended  such  stations  explains 
that  the  milk  will  have  to  be  sold  in 
bulk  and  must  be  called  for  at  the  sta- 
tions. Certainly  this  will  eliminate 
the  three  or  four  wagons  which  cover 
the  same  street,  but  there  are  other 
serious  wastes  in  the  milk  business 
which  it  will  not  touch. 


The  weekly,  interchangeable  pass  is 
one  of  the  weapons  being  used  by 
street  railways  in  their  last  gallant 
stand  against  bankruptcy  and  utter 
dissolution.  The  most  recent  user  of 
the  pass  system  is  the  Chicago  elevated 
railway  system,  but  it  has  had  its  real 
tests  in  smaller  communities.  For  ex- 
ample, in  Terre  Haute  or  twenty  other 
cities,  you  can  buy  a  card  good  for  the 
calendar  week  at  the  reasonable  price 
of,  say,  one  dollar.  It  is  good  for  any 
number  of  rides  for  the  bearer.  Walter 


H.  Jackson,  who  introduced  the  idea, 
says,  "  We  surely  make  'em  ride." 
* 

The  Labor  Review  of 
Labor  Defends  Dayton  is  strenuously 
Dayion  Charter  opposing  the  effort  to 

abolish  the  manager  plan 
in  one  of  the  first  cities  to  adopt  it. 
In  a  strong  editorial  in  the  issue  of 
September  29  it  refutes  two  false- 
hoods being  spread  about  by  those 
who  would  return  to  the  federal  form. 
They  are  (1)  that  the  manager  plan  is 
responsible  for  the  higher  tax  rate,  and 
(2)  that  the  city's  debt  has  grown  to 
more  than  thirty  million  dollars.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  the  city's  share  of  the 
tax  levy  has  grown  from  only  $7.10  to 
$9.13,  and  the  total  indebtedness  is 
just  $9,271,280.  This  latter  figure 
includes  $2,071,000  of  water  works 
bonds,  whose  interest  and  amortization 
is  met  from  water  receipts. 

A  real  source  of  discontent  seems  to 
be  the  unrepresentative  character  of 
the  city  council.  The  charter  would  be 
improved  and  unrest  allayed  by  the 
adoption  of  P.  R.  for  the  election  of 

councilmen. 

* 

As  an  outgrowth 

County  Progress  in  of  continued  agita- 
North  Carolina  tion  for  reform  in 

county  government, 
Governor  Morrison  of  North  Carolina 


351 


352 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[November 


has  appointed  a  commission  to  report 
to  the  next  legislature  a  plan  for  im- 
provement. Professor  E.  C.  Branson,  a 
member  of  our  council,  is  the  active 
spirit  in  the  movement.  Dr.  E.  C. 
Brooks,  state  superintendent  of  public 
instruction,  is  also  urging  reform  along 
county  manager  lines  and  has  backed 
up  his  campaign  by  stirring  speeches 
based  upon  specific  studies  of  North 
Carolina  counties. 

In  a  recent  address,  Dr.  Brooks  re- 
fers to  Pitt  county  which  he  thinks  is 
the  most  efficiently  governed  county  in 
the  state.  The  Pitt  county  commis- 
sioners have  employed  a  full  time  au- 
ditor and  given  him  executive  powers 
somewhat  similar  to  those  which  a 
county  manager  would  have.  He  makes 
up  the  tax  books  and  superintends  all 
buying.  Under  this  official,  $2,000,000 
of  additional  property  was  put  on  the 
tax  books,  some  of  which  had  escaped 
taxation  for  years.  Uncollected  taxes 
in  Pitt  county  have  fallen  to  one  per 
cent  of  the  total  while  ten  to  fifteen 
per  cent  is  the  normal  for  many  other 
counties. 


"Make  Politics  is  the  slogan  adopted  by 
Your  Job"  The  American  Boy  in  a 
campaign  to  educate  and 
interest  boys  in  politics.  The  series  of 
stories  and  fact  articles,  which  is  to  di- 
rect them  to  their  civic  responsibilities, 
began  with  a  story  of  a  high  school 
"ring"  which  was  quickly  vanquished 
(too  quickly,  almost)  when  the  high- 
minded  boys  asserted  their  power. 

"Make  politics  your  job"  is  a 
healthy  slogan  for  a  democracy  and 
is  good  for  young  and  old  alike.  Un- 
fortunately, as  described  in  the  article 
in  last  month's  REVIEW  entitled  "The 
Political  Ambitions  of  College  Stu- 
dents," the  advice  usually  is,  "John, 
keep  out  of  politics." 

The    American    Boy    deserves    our 


thanks  for  a  well  planned  effort  to  im- 
prove government  by  restoring  a  sound 
interest  in  politics.  The  word  has  fallen 
upon  evil  days  but  it  is  time  that  it  was 
restored  to  respectability.  Citizen  and 
politician  ought  to  be  synonomous. 


Los  Angeles 
Plans  on 
Big  Scale 


The  Regional  Planning 
Conference  of  Los  An- 
geles county  held  its 
fourth  annual  meeting  at 
Verdugo  Canyon  last  September.  We 
predict  that  this  organization  will  make 
history.  Its  purpose  is  to  plan  and 
regulate  the  development  of  Los  An- 
geles and  surrounding  communities. 
The  physical  make  up  of  this  area 
consists  of  a  metropolitan  center  sur- 
rounded by  many  satellite  communities, 
all  to  be  connected  by  suitable  trans- 
portation facilities,  to  be  supplied  with 
pure  water,  to  be  provided  sanitary 
sewers  and  given  easy  access  to  parks 
and  boulevards. 

What  is  advocated  is  a  "metropol- 
itan system"  which  will  give  to  suit- 
able county  agencies  control  over 
matters  of  general  concern  but  which 
will  encourage  the  individual  identity 
of  the  constituent  parts. 

What  is  aimed  at  is  a  new  federalism 
in  the  government  of  metropolitan 
areas.  During  the  past  generation  a 
new  type  of  community  has  developed 
adjacent  to  our  larger  cities.  Our  tra- 
ditional forms  of  local  government  are 
not  adapted  to  it,  and  a  new  form  must 
be  designed.  The  problem  is  easy  to 
state.  "A  central  authority  over  mat- 
ters of  general  concern  but  full  indi- 
viduality for  each  part  in  local  affairs" 
sounds  easy,  but  how  is  it  to  be  worked 
out  in  practice? 

The  trouble  is  that,  for  such  an  area, 
some  problems  are  urban  while  others 
are  rural.  For  the  government  of  such 
neither  municipal  or  county  govern- 
ment as  we  know  them  are  satisfactory. 


ESCANABA  ADOPTS  CORPS  OF  CITY 
MANAGERS 

ALSO  ADMINISTRATIVE   CODE 

BY  ROBERT  T.  CRANE 

University  of  Michigan 

Escanaba,  Michigan,  is  the  first  city  to  adopt  an  ordinance  setting  up  a 
complete  administrative  code.  It  is  the  first  city,  also,  to  establish  a 
city-manager  corps  in  place  of  a  single  manager.  ::  ::  :: 


THE  charter  of  Escanaba  places  no 
restrictions  whatever  on  the  power  of 
the  council  to  organize  the  administra- 
tive forces  of  the  city  beyond  the  re- 
quirement that  the  council  shall  ap- 
point a  city  manager  with  entire  and 
exclusive  control  over  whatever  organi- 
zation may  be  established.  Limitations 
have  been  placed  only  upon  adminis- 
trative methods. 

CHARTER    SILENT    ON    ADMINISTRATIVE 
ORGANIZATION 

In  the  exercise  of  the  complete  dis- 
cretion thus  vested,  the  council  has 
written  into  a  single  code  all  provisions 
for  the  establishment  of  administrative 
offices  and  departments  and  for  fixing 
the  duties  of  each.  Since  these  pro- 
visions are  contained  in  an  ordinance 
instead  of  a  charter,  they  may  be  easily 
altered  to  suit  the  rapidly  changing 
conditions  of  our  modern  cities,  thus 
giving  the  advantages  of  a  very  flexible 
administrative  organization. 

Many  recent  charters  give  the  coun- 
cil the  power  to  create,  alter  or  abolish 
the  city  departments,  but  they  all  set 
up  an  initial  organization  which  in 
practice  renders  the  change  more 
difficult  and  which  is  awkward  and 
confusing  in  allowing  the  charter  to  be, 
in  effect,  amended  by  ordinance. 

Adaptable  as  is  the  organization  in 
Escanaba  to  the  needs  of  the  city,  the 
utilization  of  the  personnel  of  the 


administration  is  not  less  so.  The 
manager  is  by  the  code  given  power  to 
add  to  the  duties  of  any  officer,  to 
require  any  department  to  perform 
work  for  another,  to  assign  to  the  head 
of  a  department  the  work  of  a  subordi- 
nate position  in  his  own  or  in  another 
department,  and  to  assign  any  officer 
or  employee  to  several  employments  in 
one  or  more  departments. 

In  no  other  city  has  so  completely 
flexible  an  instrument  been  placed  in 
the  hands  of  the  council. 

ASSISTANT     MANAGERS     RATHER     THAN 
DEPARTMENT   HEADS 

Perhaps  of  more  moment  and  cer- 
tain to  arouse  more  comment  is  the 
provision  for  a  group  of  managers. 
Mt.  Pleasant,  Michigan,  made  a  simi- 
lar provision  two  years  ago,  but  has 
not  acted  upon  it.  Escanaba  is  start- 
ing its  new  government  with  a  manager 
and  two  assistant-managers. 

A  number  of  cities  have  provided  for 
an  assistant-manager  in  the  sense  of  a 
deputy  or  vice-manager.  The  Esca- 
naba plan  is  different.  By  the  charter, 
the  manager  is  head  of  all  departments, 
until  otherwise  provided,  as  is  the  case 
in  many  municipalities.  But  when  it 
is  necessary  to  relieve  the  manager  of 
some  portion  of  his  task,  other  cities 
have  set  up  one  or  more  department 
heads  in  addition  to  the  manager. 
These  new  department  heads  in  such 


S63 


354 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[November 


cities  mark  a  notable  change  from  the 
prior  situation:  the  headships  of  the 
departments  are  henceforth  divorced 
from  the  manager's  office.  Escanaba, 
on  the  contrary,  keeps  the  headship  of 
every  department  where  it  started — in 
the  manager's  office.  It  does  so  by 
assigning  the  direct  management  of  a 
department,  when  necessary  to  relieve 
the  manager,  to  an  assistant-manager, 
and  as  many  assistant-managers  may 
be  employed  as  the  council  shall 
determine. 

The  Escanaba  plan  of  placing  assist- 
ant-managers at  the  head  of  all  depart- 
ments not  directly  handled  by  the 
manager  himself,  is  not  a  mere  ques- 
tion of  title.  It  will  effect  the  char- 
acter of  the  man  employed,  and  it  will 
vitally  affect  his  relations  with  other 
administrative  officers.  Instead  of 
tending  to  bring  to  the  head  of  a  de- 
partment a  man  with  merely  technical 
qualifications,  it  requires  a  man  with 
some  of  the  qualifications,  at  least,  for 
city-management.  Instead  of  putting 
a  department  head  in  the  position  of 
relative  isolation  in  which  he  is  re- 
sponsible only  for  his  own  department 
and  usually  doesn't  care  a  fig  about  the 
success  of  other  departments,  the 
Escanaba  plan  will  inevitably  instill 
into  the  little  group  of  managers,  the 
chief  and  his  subordinates,  a  high  degree 
of  unity,  and  a  sense  of  common 
responsibility  and  interest  in  the 
administration  as  a  whole. 


This  plan  will  not  appeal  to  the 
manager  who  prefers  czarist  methods. 
But  it  avoids  affecting  in  the  slightest 
the  complete  responsibility  of  depart- 
ment heads  to  the  manager,  or  his 
exclusive  responsibility  to  the  council, 
while  it  enlists  the  spirit  of  co-operation 
in  a  way  those  methods  can  never 
attain. 

WILL   TRAIN  MANAGERS 

The  effect  of  the  Escanaba  plan  on 
the  development  of  the  assistant- 
managers  after  they  have  taken  office, 
is  not  to  be  overlooked.  At  the  pres- 
ent time  there  is  no  group  of  men 
which  has  in  any  marked  degree  the 
qualifications  required  for  city-manage- 
ment. The  idea  sometimes  held  that 
engineers  constitute  such  a  group  is 
entirely  erroneous;  its  only  basis  is 
that  engineering  is  one  of  the  important 
activities  of  the  city.  Some  knowl- 
edge of  the  tasks  of  city  administration 
is  necessary,  but  executive  ability  is 
the  one  great  qualification  and  it  may 
be  found  here  and  there  in  many 
groups,  but  not  as  a  common  char- 
acteristic of  any  group.  The  opportu- 
nity that  a  plan  like  that  at  Escanaba 
offers  for  the  development  of  executives 
and  the  broadening  of  their  knowledge 
of  municipal  affairs,  may  create  a 
group  of  younger  men  to  which  cities, 
now  searching  vainly  for  proper  man- 
agers, may  in  future  turn. 


OLD  AGE  PENSIONS  FOR  PUBLIC 
SERVANTS 

AN  ALTERNATIVE  PENSION  SCHEME  FOR  GOVERNMENT 

EMPLOYEES1 

BY  LAWSON  PURDY 


FOR  various  reasons  a  pension  system 
is  valuable.  For  all  persons  who  enter 
the  service  after  the  establishment  of 
the  system  the  various  advantages  of 
the  pension  are  part  of  the  contract 
of  hiring.  It  is  a  mistake  to  speak  of  a 
contribution  being  made  by  the  em- 
ployee even  though  he  accepts  service 
for  a  lower  present  wage  than  he  would 
receive  in  other  employment.  He 
accepts  service  for  a  present  wage  and 
deferred  benefits  of  various  kinds. 
Even  though  this  be  true  the  cost  to 
any  city  in  actual  annual  expenditure 
for  wages  and  pension  contribution 
doubtless  will  be  more  than  a  straight 
payment  of  wages  without  payment  of 
any  pension.  Most  men  are  so  con- 
stituted that  they  will  do  more  for  a 
present  payment  than  for  a  more 
valuable  deferred  benefit. 

OTHER   PENSION   SYSTEMS   EXPENSIVE 

The  commission  on  pensions  of  the 
city  of  New  York  found  that  in  1914 
after  seventy  years  of  operation  Lon- 
don police  pensions  amounted  to  30 
per  cent  of  the  payroll;  French  civil 
service  pensions  to  17  per  cent  of  the 
payroll ;  Austrian  civil  service  pensions 
to  33  per  cent  of  the  payroll ;  and  Berlin 
civil  service  pensions  to  37  per  cent  of 
the  payroll. 

1  Mr.  Purdy  offers  this  as  a  minority  report  of 
our  Committee  on  Pensions,  whose  report  was 
published  in  the  April  (1922)  REVIEW.  It  is  to 
be  emphasized  that  the  plan  here  proposed  is 
only  an  alternative  to  be  offered  employees  to 
whom  the  ordinary  pension  scheme  is  not  attrac- 
tive. Ed. 


On  the  basis  of  the  computations  of 
various  commissions  it  seems  that  it 
would  cost  at  least  10  per  cent  of  the 
payroll  to  give  half  pay  pensions  to 
persons  60  years  of  age  after  35  years 
of  service,  and  to  give  them  in  addition 
any  reasonable  insurance  against  death 
and  retirement  for  disability. 

While  a  pension  system  such  as  we 
propose  would  be  an  asset  to  the  city 
in  securing  better  service  and  in  social 
advantages,  nevertheless,  when  it  has 
reached  a  certain  stage  its  cost  is  an 
annual  burden  which  will  not  decline. 
It  is  possible  to  make  part  of  a  pension 
system  a  financial  asset  instead  of  a 
financial  liability. 

The  usual  pension  plan  has  as  little 
as  possible  of  the  co-operative  features. 
Each  employee  who  pays  money  into 
the  fund  is  supposed  to  get  that  money 
back  with  interest  if  he  retires.  His 
beneficiaries  get  it  if  he  dies.  In  addi- 
tion he  is  insured  against  disability  and 
against  death.  It  is  obvious  that  all 
these  advantages  must  be  paid  for. 
Under  some  conditions  absolute  mutu- 
ality and  co-operation  are  desirable 
just  as  they  are  in  life  insurance  or  fire 
insurance.  In  ordinary  fire  insurance 
by  the  aid  of  a  corporation  various  per- 
sons agree  to  contribute  in  certain  pro- 
portion to  rebuild  the  house  of  their 
neighbor  who  suffers  its  loss.  In  the 
case  of  ordinary  life  insurance  certain 
persons  agree  to  take  care  of  the  de- 
pendents of  one  of  their  fellows  who 
dies.  Those  who  live  long  have  the 
satisfaction  of  knowing  that  their 


353 


356 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[November 


families  are  protected  and  the  further 
satisfaction  of  caring  for  the  dependents 
of  those  who  die. 

The  plan  we  propose  for  an  old  age 
pension  has  exactly  the  same  mutuality 
and  co-operative  features  as  life  insur- 
ance. Those  who  die  help  to  take  care 
of  those  who  live  to  old  age.  So  long 
as  they  live  they  enjoy  the  satisfaction 
of  knowing  that  if  they  live  to  a  great 
age  they  will  be  cared  for.  They  have 
the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  if  they 
die  they  have  helped  to  care  for  their 
comrades  in  their  old  age. 

INSURANCE    FOB    ONE    WHO    HAS    NO 
DEPENDENTS 

There  are  many  employees  in  any 
large  service  who  have  no  dependents; 
others  who  have  insured  their  lives  for 
a  sum  greater  than  is  proposed  in  any 
pension  system;  others  who  have  in- 
sured themselves  against  disability  or 
can  so  insure  themselves.  There  are 
still  others  for  whom  there  is  adequate 
provision  for  dependents  and  whose 
sole  concern  may  be  to  provide  a 
sufficient  income  for  their  own  old  age. 
For  such  persons  the  following  plan  is 
better  adapted  than  any  pension  system 
that  has  been  proposed  heretofore,  and 
it  is  recommended  as  a  substitute  for 
any  employee  who  so  elects. 

Let  us  assume  for  the  sake  of  illus- 
tration that  1,000  persons  of  the  aver- 
age age  of  25  years  enter  a  city  service 
annually  and  that  the  number  of  per- 
sons now  in  the  city  service,  who  are 
not  over  70  years  of  age,  would  be  that 
number  who  would  be  living  at  the 
present  time  if  1,000  persons  had 
entered  the  service  annually  for  the 
last  45  years,  and  those  persons  had 
all  been  of  the  average  age  of  25  years. 
We  start  our  system  then  with  em- 
ployees of  various  ages,  the  majority 
of  whom  are  less  than  45  years  old. 
Create  a  capital  fund  the  principal  of 
which  shall  never  be  spent  by  making  a 


contribution  on  behalf  of  every  such 
employee  to  this  capital  fund  annually. 
That  contribution  might  be  given  in 
addition  to  present  salaries  or  it  might 
be  deducted  from  present  salaries,  or 
the  expense  might  be  shared.  Persons 
hereafter  entering  the  service  would 
enter  on  the  basis  of  a  certain  sum 
received  annually  for  themselves  to 
spend  now  and  a  certain  sum  contrib- 
uted to  a  capital  fund  for  their  benefit. 
The  essence  of  this  plan  is  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  capital  fund  intact  forever 
and  its  constant  increase. 

WHAT    EACH   WOULD  RECEIVE 

For  purposes  of  illustration  we  ob- 
tained certain  calculations  from  an 
actuary,  which  were  based  upon  retire- 
ment at  70  years  of  age.  We  regard 
this  age  as  too  old.  The  figures  illus- 
trate the  principle  and  the  benefits 
would  be  reduced  proportionately  if  the 
retirement  age  were  65  instead  of  70. 

When  an  employee  reaches  70  years 
of  age  he  is  entitled  to  retire  and  draw 
a  pension.  His  pension  would  be  the 
earnings  of  his  own  contributions,  plus 
his  share  of  the  earnings  of  persons  of 
the  same  age  as  himself  who  died 
before  him.  He  would  also  be  entitled 
to  a  per  capita  share,  together  with  all 
other  pensioners,  of  the  income  of  the 
general  endowment  which  would  be 
created  by  the  death  of  all  persons  of  a 
year  class. 

In  order  to  make  easy  computations 
I  have  used  the  sum  of  $150  a  year  as 
the  uniform  contribution  for  every 
employee.  This  sum  is  based  on  a 
salary  of  $1,500,  being  10  per  cent  of 
that  salary.  There  are  comparatively 
few  employees  in  the  large  cities  now 
who  receive  a  smaller  salary  at  65  years 
of  age.  Policemen  in  the  city  of  New 
York  now  start  at  over  $2,000  a  year, 
and  teachers  after  a  few  years  of  service 
are  receiving  over  $2,000.  At  the  end 
of  50  years  a  person  who  was  70  years 


1922] 


OLD  AGE  PENSIONS  FOR  PUBLIC  SERVANTS 


357 


old  would  receive  $1,842  a  year;  a 
person  75  years  of  age  would  receive 
$2,517  a  year;  a  person  80  years  old 
would  receive  $3,186.  One  who  is  90 
years  old  would  receive  over  $22,000. 

At  the  end  of  75  years  the  general 
endowment  fund  would  amount  to 
over  300  million  dollars,  and  at  the  end 
of  100  years  to  over  700  million  dollars. 
The  increase  thereafter  would  be  150 
million  dollars  every  ten  years.  All 
this  would  be  accomplished  by  the  con- 
tribution of  1,000  persons  entering  the 
service  annually  and  paying  $150  a 
year.  It  is  quite  obvious  that  after  the 
fund  has  been  in  operation  for  a  moder- 
ate length  of  time,  the  annual  income 
would  be  sufficient,  not  only  for  pen- 
sions but  to  make  the  contributions  for 
persons  subsequently  entering  the  serv- 
ice. Thereafter  the  income  would  be 
sufficient  to  pay  pensioners  and  pay  all 
contributions  to  the  pension  fund  and 
still  leave  a  large  surplus  for  other 
purposes. 

INCOME 

At  the  Age  of 
70          80          90 

After  50  years $1,842   $3,186   $22,000 

After  75  years 4,456      7,346     55,335 

After  100  years 8,451    10,843     62,352 

The  above  table  will  show  the 
amount  which  could  be  paid  in  pen- 


sions from  the  fund  after  50  years, 
75  years,  and  100  years,  at  the  ages 
of  70,  80,  and  90.  All  computations 
are  based  on  4  per  cent  as  the  rate  of 
interest. 

It  might  be  deemed  undesirable  to 
have  pension  payments  rise  to  such  a 
high  figure  as  $60,000  a  year  for  persons 
receiving  a  salary  of  $1,500.  The 
amount  can  be  regulated  in  accordance 
with  any  contract  that  may  be  made 
with  any  employee  entering  the  service. 
If  a  maximum  sum  is  fixed  as  the  pay- 
ment to  employees,  the  balance  can  be 
used  to  meet  annual  instalments  at  an 
earlier  date  than  would  be  the  case  if 
the  entire  fund  were  distributed  to 
pensioners. 

If  any  city  should  start  such  a  plan 
as  this,  it  might  well  permit  any  em- 
ployee leaving  the  service  to  continue 
to  make  the  annual  payments.  In 
any  event  he  would  be  entitled,  upon 
reaching  age  of  retirement,  to  draw  the 
income  for  which  he  had  paid.  It 
might  also  permit  any  citizen  to  make 
such  payments  into  the  fund  as  he 
might  desire  provided  the  payments 
were  in  reasonable  amounts  and  at 
regular  intervals.  Thus  any  citizen 
could  share  in  the  great  advantages 
which  would  come  to  those  entitled  to 
pensions. 


THE  FAILURE  OF  THE  MUNICIPAL 
LODGING  HOUSE 

BY  STUART  A.  RICE 

Formerly  Superintendent  of  the  New  York  City  Municipal  Lodging  House 

The  city  of  New  York  has  been  expending  $1 .50  per  night  each  for 
the  lodging  of  homeless  men  and  women,  when  better  accommodations 
were  being  sold  at  the  Mills  Hotel  for  Jfl  cents.  ::  ::  ::  :: 


THE  cost  per  inmate  per  diem  of  the 
New  York  Municipal  Lodging  House  in 
1918  was  $1.56.  In  1919  it  was  $1.53.1 
Included  in  these  per  capita  amounts 
were  expenditures  for  food  for  the 
inmates  amounting  in  each  year  to 
about  8  cents  per  capita.  Since  the 
Mills  Hotel  offers  food  to  its  guests  "a 
la  carte,"  the  municipal  expenditures 
fairly  comparable  with  its  40  cent  rate 
during  the  two  years  referred  to  were 
$1.47  and  $1.45. 

MILLS   HOTEL   PREFERABLE 

There  are  differences,  however,  in 
the  services  provided  at  the  two 
establishments  for  these  amounts. 

Should  you  become  a  guest  of  Father 
Knickerbocker  at  his  municipal  inn, 
you  will  be  urged  after  supper  to  dis- 
robe and  wet  yourself  under  the 
showers.  Should  the  invitation  be 
neglected,  you  may  be  scrubbed.  If 
you  have  arrived  early,  you  will  then 
wait  around  in  a  somber-colored  night 
gown  of  uncertain  fit  to  "see  the  doc- 
tor." You  will  probably  see  him, 
though  it  is  a  question  whether  "the 
doctor"  will  see  you.  With  the  prac- 
ticed eye  of  a  Belle vue  Hospital  interne, 
he  takes  in  the  whole  line  at  a  glance. 
Your  clothing  will  be  sterilized  while 
you  sleep:  that  is,  if  you  are  able  to 

1  See  annual  reports  of  Department  of  Public 
Charities:  1918,  pages  10-17;  1919,  pages  18-19. 
These  are  the  most  recent  reports  that  have  been 
published  at  the  time  of  this  writing. 


sleep  amid  the  cadence  of  a  hundred 
human  windpipes  in  various  keys  from 
the  double-deck  beds  in  the  dormitory 
about  you. 

At  the  Mills  Hotel,  a  lobby  occupy- 
ing the  entire  main  floor  offers  you  a 
library,  writing  materials  and  after- 
dinner  ease.  The  "fumigation"  is 
omitted;  the  bath,  though  optional,  will 
be  more  willingly  taken,  and  "the 
doctor"  is  only  on  call.  The  40-cent 
rate  provides  a  single  room  with  bed, 
locker  and  chair,  having  outside  venti- 
lation. Standards  of  cleanliness  are 
about  equal  at  the  two  places. 

The  writer  has  been  a  repeated 
"guest"  of  both  establishments  and 
superintendent  of  one  of  them.  He 
believes  that  an  actual  trial  would 
bring  the  reader  to  his  own  opinion: 
Of  the  two,  accommodations  at  the 
Mills  Hotel  on  the  whole  are  worth 
more. 

We  seem  to  be  examining,  then,  a 
municipal  service  whose  cost  of  pro- 
duction is  350  per  cent  of  the  retail 
sales  price  of  a  similar  but  superior 
service  in  a  nearby  establishment. 

The  objective  explanation  of  this 
curious  fact  is  summed  up  in  the  word 
"overhead."  There  is  no  material 
fluctuation  in  the  demand  for  rooms  at 
the  Mills  Hotel.  The  nightly  registra- 
tion at  the  municipal  lodging  house,  on 
the  other  hand,  shows  periodical  rhythm 
in  three  well-defined  respects.  There 
is  a  weekly  Saturday  night  "peak,"  an 


358 


1922] 


359 


annual  December  or  January  "peak" 
and  a  cyclical  "peak"  corresponding 
to  the  periods  of  maximum  industrial 
depression. 

Thus,  from  the  mid- winter  "peak" 
early  in  the  "hard  times  year"  of  1915 
to  the  summer  "hollow  "in  the  prosper- 
ous year  which  followed,  the  institu- 
tional census  declined  in  the  ratio  of  26 
to  1 .  The  decline  continued  gradually 
through  the  four  years  that  followed. 
Hence  an  expensive  and  well-equipped 
plant,  prepared  to  accommodate  nearly 
1,000  persons,  has  frequently  received 
a  number  of  applicants  smaller  than  the 
staff  of  employes  necessary  to  operate 
it. 

In  1918,  the  inmates  received  but 
one-fourth  of  the  food  consumed  by  the 
institution.2  Officers  and  employes  re- 
ceived the  balance.  In  1919  (in  the 
face  of  an  aggregate  census  increase  of 
more  than  16,000)  the  ratio  of  food 
consumed  by  the  inmates  with  refer- 
ence to  the  total  dropped  to  one-fifth.3 
Throughout  these  two  years,  an  aver- 
age of  two  officers  and  employes  were 
maintained  in  the  institution  for  every 
three  lodgers  admitted. 

A   HYBRID   INSTITUTION 

But  the  objective  explanation  is  less 
significant  than  the  subjective  reason 
behind  it.  The  municipal  lodging 
house  as  an  institution  has  not  justified 
its  existence  to  date  because  its  func- 
tions and  purpose  have  never  been 
logically  formulated  and  agreed  upon. 
Unlike  the  hospital,  or  the  home  for 
aged  and  infirm,  it  has  not  yet  devel- 
oped a  recognized  field  of  its  own,  with 
a  clear-cut  organization  and  defined 

*  Inmates,  $3,949.03;  Employes,  $10,0*7.04; 
"Maintenance  of  officers  including  food," 
$2,744.36. 

'Inmates,  $3,926.87;  Employes,  $10,680.72; 
"Maintenance  of  officers  including  food," 
$4,457.36. 


responsibilities.  In  consequence  it  is  a 
hybrid  or  mongrel  institution,  incoherent 
in  policy  and  extravagant  in  operation. 

The  truth  of  these  assertions  will  not 
be  so  apparent  as  the  objective  indices 
of  inefficiency  first  mentioned. 

The  present  New  York  municipal 
lodging  house  was  completed  in  1909 
under  authority  granted  by  the  state 
legislature  in  1886.  It  is  a  seven-story, 
fire-proof  building  which  cost  about 
$400,000.  It  is  provided  with  heating 
plant,  laundry,  eight  huge  formalde- 
hydeand  ammonia  sterilizingchambers, 
a  fan-ventilating  system,  steam  cook- 
ing apparatus,  a  refrigeration  plant,  an 
elevator  and  minor  equipment.  Dou- 
ble-deck beds  in  three  full-floor  dormi- 
tories will  accommodate  nearly  800 
men.  One  floor  is  given  over  to 
women,  another  to  employes  and  a 
third  to  dining  rooms,  kitchen  and 
administration. 

The  law  provides  that  applicants  for 
"shelter"  shall  be  given  food,  a  night's 
lodging,  bath  and  disinfection  of  cloth- 
ing, free  of  charge.  It  originally  stipu- 
lated that  "no  person  shall  be  received 
more  than  three  times  in  any  one 
month.  .  .  ."  The  person  who 
thereafter  returned,  or  who  refused  to 
do  the  work  assigned  him,  was  to  be 
regarded  as  a  vagrant. 

So  far  as  any  theory  of  social  amelio- 
ration is  discernible  in  this  law,  it  may 
be  described  as  the  concept  of  emergent 
shelter  for  able-bodied  and  temporarily 
stranded  individuals.  In  periods  of 
industrial  depression,  emergent  shelter 
is  the  outstanding  service  demanded  by 
the  situation.  Such  periods  were  the 
winters  of  1913-14,  1914-15  and  1921- 
22.  At  these  times,  the  applicants 
at  the  lodging  house  are  prevailingly 
vigorous  young  and  middle-aged  men 
who  "want  nothing  but  a  job."  "A 
job"  is  substantially  all  they  need  to 
make  them  independent  workers. 
Meanwhile  they  must  be  supplied 


360 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[November 


temporarily  with  a  few  fundamental 
necessities — food,  cleanliness  and  a  bed 
— to  "keep  'em  alive."  It  is  proper 
that  they  should  be  required  to  work 
for  these  things  as  they  receive  them. 
The  "shelter  conception,"  however, 
has  no  adequate  place  in  its  scheme  of 
service  for  the  crippled,  the  mental 
defectives,  the  demented,  the  drug 
addicts,  the  alcoholics,  the  sick,  the 
diseased,  the  epileptics,  the  run-away 
boys,  the  hospital  convalescents, — who 
are  at  the  same  time  without  home  or 
money.  "Keeping  'em  alive"  for  a 
few  days  by  the  scant  provision  of 
"shelter"  in  return  for  labor,  and  then 
turning  them  away,  is  merely  destruc- 
tive. 

THE  "EMPLOYABLE  UNEMPLOYED" 

If  the  mass  of  applicants  during  any 
one  of  the  five  normal  years  prior  to 
the  past  winter  were  classified,  it 
would  be  found  composed,  in  the  main, 
of  individuals  belonging  to  just  such 
types  as  we  have  enumerated.  They 
constitute  an  irreducible  minimum  of 
patronage  for  the  institution.  It  is  the 
"  employable  unemployed' ' — who  mere- 
ly "want  jobs" — that  provide  the 
extremely  fluctuating  element  in  the 
institutional  census. 

There  are  thus  two  distinct  problems 
of  homeless  dependency  with  which  a 
municipal  lodging  house  will  be  con- 
fronted. There  is  first  an  emergent 
demand  for  temporary  shelter  for  the 
homeless  unemployed.  This  demand 
is  appreciable  only  at  times  of  indus- 
trial crisis  or  depression. 

There  is  second,  a  continuing  problem 
of  social  pathology,  reflecting  the  in- 
ability of  individuals  to  master  the 
problem  of  self -support,  even  under  the 
most  favorable  conditions.  The  re- 
quirements of  the  second  situation  are 
analogous  to  those  encountered  in  a 
reception  hospital.  They  involve  the 
observation  and  analysis  of  ailments 


with  which  the  individual  is  no  longer 
able  to  cope.  Medical,  mental  and 
social  clinics,  thoroughly  equipped  and 
possessing  powers  equivalent  to  those 
of  the  local  health  authority,  would  be 
essential  to  an  adequate  organization 
of  this  part  of  the  task. 

When  the  analysis  (or  diagnosis)  was 
complete,  there  would  then  be  the 
function  of  clearance  to  specialized 
institutions  or  agencies  that  would 
undertake  the  longer,  or  perhaps 
permanent,  responsibilities  of  super- 
vision, custodial  care  or  social  rehabili- 
tation, as  the  case  might  be.  Even  a 
relatively  small  community  would  be 
able  to  command  the  services  of  a 
variety  of  specialists  for  this  purpose. 

As  in  the  case  of  all  human  phe- 
nomena, there  is  no  clearly  distinguish- 
able dividing  line  between  the  two 
types  that  we  have  described.  The 
types,  or  modes,  themselves,  however, 
are  definite,  and  the  requirements  of 
institutional  method  in  the  case  of  each 
are  clearly  defined  and  distinct. 

The  confusion  of  the  two  tasks  has 
hindered  all  endeavors  to  realize  a 
practicable  ideal  of  service  for  the 
municipal  lodging  house  in  New  York. 
Its  physical  plant  proved  entirely  in- 
adequate to  the  task  of  emergency 
shelter  in  1914  and  1915.  The  de- 
mands upon  it  were  two  and  one-half 
times  its  maximum  capacity  and  a 
make-shift  "annex"  was  resorted  to. 
The  same  physical  plant,  on  the  other 
hand,  has  been  far  too  large  and  too 
crudely  wholesale  in  proportions  and 
equipment,  for  the  more  intensive  and 
continuing  tasks  that,  had  they  been 
performed,  would  have  justified  the 
institution's  existence  between  1916 
and  1921. 


IDEAL   OF  A   HUMAN   REPAIR   SHOP 

The  splendid  ideal  of  a  "  great  human 
repair  shop"  visualized  by  Commis- 


1922]       FAILURE  OF  THE  MUNICIPAL  LODGING  HOUSE          361 


sioner  John  A.  Kingsbury  in  1914 4  was 
impossible  of  execution  because  the 
institution  was  flooded  with  men  who 
needed  nothing  much  in  the  way  of 
repair  except  a  job — and  jobs  could  not 
be  found  or  made  for  them.  When  the 
flood  had  subsided,  the  "repair  shop" 
conception  might  have  made  its  per- 
manent and  legitimate  growth,  were  it 
not  for  the  unwieldy  plant  devised  for 
wholesale  "shelter."  Both  the  heavy 
"overhead  expense"  which  the  plant 
entailed,  and  the  general  acceptance 
of  the  "shelter  concept"  that  is  em- 
bodied in  the  plant,  have  tended  to 
prevent  a  development  of  the  munici- 
pal lodging  house  in  the  "repair  shop" 
direction. 

AN  APPLICATION  BUREAU,  NOT  A 
LODGING   HOUSE 

To  any  American  city  willing  to 
attack  its  problems  of  "social  inade- 
quacy" individual  by  individual,  ac- 
cording to  case-work  methods,  the 
writer  unhesitatingly  recommends  the 
establishment  of  an  "application  bu- 
reau" for  homeless  men  and  women. 
Do  not  let  it  be  called  a  "lodging 
house."  The  bureau  should  be  flexi- 
ble, without  costly  apparatus,  but  with 
generous  control  over  the  specialized 
services  of  expert  diagnosticians — phys- 
ical, mental  and  social.  While  pro- 
viding for  the  immediate  physical 
needs  of  its  applicants,  the  chief  con- 
cern of  the  bureau  will  be  to  analyze 
the  conditions  under  which  their  lives 
can  be  made  of  maximum  value  to 
themselves  and  to  society  in  the  future. 

The  location  and  the  arrangement  of 

4  Annual  Report,  Department  of  Public 
Charities,  1914,  page  13:  "It  is  our  hope  to  make 
the  Municipal  Lodging  House  something  more 
than  a  mere  sleeping  quarters  for  tired,  hungry 
men  out  of  work.  We  aim  to  make  it  a  great 
human  repair  shop,  manned  and  equipped  to 
rebuild  the  broken  lives  of  those  who  enter  its 
doors  for  help." 


the  bureau  will  depend  upon  circum- 
stances. It  may  be  located  at  the 
health  center,  if  there  be  one.  It 
should  be  closely  tied  up  in  working 
arrangements  with  the  public  employ- 
ment office.  It  should  be  prepared  to 
expand,  equally  ready  to  contract,  but 
open  all  the  time. 

The  bureau  will  be  completely  effec- 
tive in  any  city  only  when  it  becomes 
impossible  for  men  and  women  to  live 
without  work  by  exploiting  sympathetic 
sentiment.  To  this  end,  the  co-opera- 
tion of  police  authorities,  philanthropic 
societies  and  the  general  public  must  be 
sought.  A  campaign  of  education  to 
eliminate  alms-giving  may  be  initiated. 
Vagrants  and  street  beggars  should  be 
brought  to  the  bureau  under  police 
persuasion,  but  without  avoidable 
publicity,  for  voluntary  application  to 
the  bureau  should  be  encouraged. 

The  bureau  may  or  may  not  have 
facilities  for  lodging  applicants  under 
its  own  management.  Circumstances 
may  make  it  more  practicable  to  issue 
tickets  to  lodgings  elsewhere.  For 
the  protection  of  the  public,  whatever 
the  arrangement,  medical  examination 
should  always  precede  the  assignment 
of  a  bed.  For  the  same  reason,  power 
to  quarantine  or  segregate  or  forcibly 
admit  to  a  hospital  if  the  case  warrants 
it,  should  be  exercised  by  the  bureau 
whenever  contagious  or  infectious  dis- 
ease, including  active  syphilis  and 
tuberculosis,  be  encountered. 

At  the  same  time  it  would  be  desira- 
ble to  secure  the  promulgatioH  and 
enforcement  of  more  stringent  sanitary 
and  health  regulations  in  all  cheap 
lodging  houses,  whether  "philanthrop- 
ic" or  commercial.  Registration  and 
examination  of  the  patrons  of  all 
such  houses  is  desirable  and  will 
ultimately  be  required  in  progressive 
communities. 

When  industrial  depression  alters  the 
character  of  the  problem,  as  it  periodi- 


362 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[November 


cally  will,  local  circumstances  will  again 
dictate  whether  special  quarters  will  be 
opened  for  the  unemployed  workers  or 
whether  they  will  be  distributed  among 
existing  establishments.  At  all  events, 
the  application  bureau  should  be  the 
point  from  which  admission  to  sleeping 
quarters  is  obtained.  A  continuing 
central  register  of  all  applicants  will 


make  possible  the  detection  of  the 
inevitable  and  dangerous  tendency  for 
a  man  who  is  unemployed  to  become 
unemployable. 

Unemployment  gives  a  profound  im- 
petus toward  physical  and  moral 
deterioration.  The  social  problem  of 
greatest  magnitude  when  normal  men 
are  out  of  work  is  to  prevent  depend- 


be  found   of   utmost   value.     It   will     ency  from  becoming  degradation. 


THE  ILLINOIS  CIVIL  ADMINISTRATIVE 
SYSTEM— WHAT  IT  HAS  ACCOMPLISHED 

BY  A.  E.  BUCK 

New  York  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research 

The  Illinois  code  system  is  now  being  put  to  the  real  test.  It  is  in  the 
hands  of  an  unsympathetic  and  patronage-seeking  administration, 
but  it  has  not  failed  as  many  of  its  critics  thought  it  would.  In  fact, 
it  continues  to  stand  out  in  sharp  contrast  to  the  old  order  of  things. 


THE  adoption  in  1917  of  the  Illinois 
civil  administrative  code  is  significant 
not  only  because  the  code  set  up  a 
consistent  and  uniform  system  of  ad- 
ministration for  the  state,  but  because 
it  was  the  beginning  of  a  far-reaching 
reform  in  American  state  administra- 
tion. The  code  system  has  now  been 
in  operation  over  five  years.  During 
this  time  it  has  been  the  means  of 
systematizing  the  state's  business  and 
of  giving  to  the  people  of  the  state 
better  service  at  less  cost.  These 
results  alone  justify  the  code  system. 

But  critics  of  the  system  have  said: 
"Just  wait  until  the  Lowden  adminis- 
tration has  ended  and  see  what 
happens."  They  implied  that  when 
the  system  came  to  be  operated  by 
another  administration  it  would  work 
very  poorly,  if  at  all.  In  fact,  they 
seemed  quite  convinced  that  it  would 
be  worse  than  the  old  organization  with 
its  multitudinous  boards  and  commis- 


sions. Actual  experience,  however, 
has  shown  that  this  is  not  true.  The 
system  has  withstood  a  complete 
change  of  administration.  In  1920 
the  man  whom  Governor  Lowden 
favored  as  his  successor  was  defeated, 
resulting  in  the  election  of  Len  Small. 
Governor  Small  came  into  office  over 
a  year  and  a  half  ago  and,  as  is  to  be 
expected,  he  replaced  the  Lowden  men 
who  were  serving  as  department  heads 
with  men  of  his  own  choice.  Since  he 
could  appoint  only  nine  such  men,  he 
undoubtedly  selected  them  with  greater 
care  than  if  he  had  been  appointing  a 
hundred  or  more  as  was  the  case  under 
the  old  scheme  of  organization.  He 
did  not,  as  he  might  have  done,  replace 
all  of  the  forty  subordinate  officials 
that  served  under  Lowden  as  assistant 
directors  and  division  heads  in  the 
nine  code  departments.  A  number  of 
these  were  retained  in  the  various  de- 
partments to  give  continuity  to  the 


1922] 


ILLINOIS  CIVIL  ADMINISTRATIVE  SYSTEM 


368 


administrative  work.  The  rank  and 
file  of  the  state  employees,  being  under 
civil  service,  continued  as  before. 

Although  Governor  Small  has  given 
a  great  deal  of  his  time  since  he  has 
been  in  office  to  keeping  out  of  the 
penitentiary,  the  administration  has, 
nevertheless,  moved  along  more  ex- 
peditiously  and  with  better  results 
than  was  possible  under  the  old  scheme 
of  organization.  Critics  of  the  system 
may  again  suggest  that  this  is  because 
of  the  momentum  given  to  it  by  the 
Lowden  administration.  Granted  for 
argument's  sake  that  it  is  purely  mo- 
mentum, the  state  government  is  still 
better  off  than  it  was  before  the  code 
was  adopted,  since  the  type  of  organi- 
zation that  preceded  the  code  organiza- 
tion was  unable  even  during  the  best 
periods  of  administration  to  acquire 
enough  momentum  to  carry  it  along. 
Under  the  code  system  the  state  is 
certain  to  have  good  administration  at 
least  part  of  the  time,  whereas  under 
the  old  scheme  of  organization  the 
administration  was  almost  always 
wasteful  and  inefficient.  Through  the 
system  now  in  operation  the  people 
will  in  time  come  to  appreciate  and  to 
demand  good  government,  thus  elect- 
ing to  office  abler  state  executives. 
Under  the  old  scheme  of  government 
this  would  not  happen. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  many  of  the 
methods  introduced  by  the  code  system 
are  now  so  well  established  that  they 
will  continue  despite  the  political 
character  of  administrations,  like  the 
present  one,  that  may  now  and  then 
get  into  power.  Some  of  the  most 
striking  results  of  the  code  system  are 
well  worth  pointing  out. 

DEPARTMENTALIZATION    OF    ACTIVITIES 

More  than  100  administrative  agen- 
cies were  abolished  by  the  code  and 
their  functions  brought  together  in 


nine  closely  related  groups  called  de- 
partments. These  departments  are: 
(1)  finance,  (2)  agriculture,  (3)  labor, 
(4)  mines  and  minerals,  (5)  public 
works  and  buildings,  (6)  public  welfare, 
(7)  public  health,  (8)  trade  and  com- 
merce, and  (9)  registration  and  educa- 
tion. Each  of  the  departments  has  a 
single  head,  called  a  director,  appointed 
by  the  governor  with  the  senate's 
approval  for  a  term  of  four  years  (same 
as  that  of  the  governor). 

The  work  of  the  administration  has 
not  only  been  departmentalized,  but  it 
has  been  integrated  within  the  depart- 
ments. Each  department  has  arranged 
its  work  in  groups  called  divisions.  At 
the  head  of  each  division  is  a  single 
person,  called  a  superintendent,  who 
is  directly  responsible  to  the  head  of 
the  department.  In  this  way  the  line 
of  responsibility  from  the  governor 
through  the  department  head  and  divi- 
sion chief  to  the  lowest  employee  is 
clearly  established.  When  work  is 
neglected  or  not  done  properly,  the 
blame  can  be  definitely  fixed. 

A  very  important  element  in  carry- 
ing on  the  administrative  work  is  the 
co-operation  that  is  made  possible  by 
the  code  reorganization.  If  one  de- 
partment has  a  rush  period  of  work  and 
another  department  has  a  lax  period  at 
the  same  time,  employees  from  the 
latter  department  may  be  transferred 
temporarily  to  the  other  department 
until  the  rush  period  is  over.  In  de- 
termining the  depreciation  and  need 
for  repairs  of  institutional  plants  and 
buildings  for  budget-making  purposes, 
the  department  of  finance  secures  the 
services  of  engineers  and  architects  from 
the  department  of  public,  works  and 
buildings.  When  the  purchasing  divi- 
sion is  called  upon  to  purchase  livestock 
for  the  institutional  farms,  the  pur- 
chasing agent  gets  a  specialist  from  the 
division  of  animal  industry  of  the 
department  of  agriculture  to  assist  him. 


364 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[November 


Under  the  old  non-integrated  scheme 
of  administration  with  its  numerous  in- 
dependent organization  units  this  co- 
operation and  utilization  of  office  forces 
was  impossible. 

ESTABLISHMENT   OF   CABINET 
ADMINISTRATION 

Perhaps  the  most  important  feature 
of  the  code  system  is  the  ease  with 
which  it  lends  itself  to  cabinet  adminis- 
tration. Since  this  system  has  been  in 
operation,  it  has  been  possible  for  the 
governor  to  meet  with  his  department 
heads  as  often  as  he  deemed  it  neces- 
sary to  discuss  administrative  problems 
and  to  determine  on  general  policies. 
Regular  weekly  meetings  of  the  direc- 
tors and  assistant  directors  have  been 
held  at  which  administrative  problems 
and  policies  have  been  discussed  at 
great  length.  Largely  because  of  these 
meetings  the  assistant  directors,  in 
three  instances  where  the  directors 
were  removed  by  death,  proved  them- 
selves quite  capable  to  take  up  and 
carry  on  the  work  of  the  departments. 
One  important  result  of  these  meetings 
has  been  the  development  of  the  idea 
of  unity  in  administration.  This  tends 
towards  co-operation  instead  of  inter- 
ference between  departments.  Under 
the  code  system  of  organization  the 
departments  no  longer  have  anything 
to  gain  by  competing  with  each  other 
for  appropriations. 

SYSTEM   OF   FINANCIAL  AND 
BUDGETARY   CONTROL 

The  financial  and  budgetary  control 
is  exercised  by  the  department  of 
finance,  which  is  one  of  the  most 
important  departments  of  the  code 
administration.  All  expenditures  of 
the  other  departments  must  be  ap- 
proved by  the  department  of  finance 
before  the  expenditure  is  made.  This 
audit  applies  to  contracts  and  requisi- 


tions as  well  as  vouchers.  In  this  way 
the  department  of  finance  is  continually 
gathering  facts  and  figures  that  are  of 
great  value  in  passing  upon  the  budget 
estimates.  This  department  prescribes 
a  uniform  system  of  bookkeeping  for 
all  the  departments  and  institutions, 
thus  determining  the  form  in  which  the 
information  will  be  kept  and  presented 
for  financial  control  and  budget-mak- 
ing purposes.  It  has  devised  and  put 
into  use  a  standard  classification  of 
expenditures  that  is  used  both  for 
accounting  and  budget  making.  Un- 
der the  finance  code,  enacted  by  the 
1919  legislature,  the  powers  of  the 
department  of  finance  are  extended  in 
some  degree  over  the  non-code  offices 
and  agencies.  The  powers  of  the 
department,  however,  could  not  be 
made  to  extend  as  they  should  to  these 
offices  and  agencies,  because  the  most 
of  them  are  constitutional. 

Under  this  system  of  financial  con- 
trol the  governor,  any  state  officer,  any 
member  of  the  legislature,  or  any  citi- 
zen can,  at  any  time,  get  from  the 
department  of  finance  the  exact  condi- 
tion of  the  appropriations  that  have 
been  made  to  any  code  department 
or  division.  They  can  ascertain  the 
amount  of  money  expended,  the  amount 
of  money  involved  in  the  invoices  for 
supplies  received  that  have  not  been 
paid  for,  the  amount  of  money  repre- 
sented by  contracts  of  all  kinds  that 
have  been  placed  and  for  which  sup- 
plies have  not  been  received,  and  the 
amount  of  money  still  unexpended. 

The  state  budget  is  prepared  by  the 
department  of  finance  from  estimates 
submitted  by  all  the  spending  agencies. 
The  superintendent  of  budget  is  im- 
mediately in  charge  of  this  work. 
After  the  estimates  have  been  submitted 
they  are  checked  up  against  the  records 
and  data  kept  by  the  department  of 
finance  and  field  investigations  are 


1922] 


ILLINOIS  CIVIL  ADMINISTRATIVE  SYSTEM 


365 


made  wherever  necessary.  The  esti- 
mates are  then  revised  by  the  director 
of  finance  and  submitted  to  the  gover- 
nor in  budget  form.  Should  the  gover- 
nor wish  to  make  further  revisions 
before  accepting  the  budget  of  the 
director  of  finance  as  his  financial  pro- 
gram, he  merely  calls  in  his  department 
heads  and  they  go  over  the  proposals 
together  making  such  revisions  as  he 
may  think  necessary.  In  this  way  the 
needs  of  each  department  are  correctly 
proportioned  according  to  the  needs  of 
all  the  departments,  and  all  proposed 
expenditures  are  carefully  weighed  in 
the  light  of  the  revenues  available  to 
meet  them.  When  the  budget  has 
been  finally  revised  and  presented  to 
the  legislature  by  the  governor,  the 
administration  presents  a  solid  front 
in  its  support.  If  an  officer  of  the 
code  administration  should  go  to  the 
legislature  and  make  an  attempt  to 
get  the  budget  changed,  the  governor 
could  dismiss  that  officer.  This  would 
not  be  possible  where  there  are  a  num- 
ber of  more  or  less  independent  ad- 
ministrative boards  and  agencies. 
They  might  go  to  the  legislature  and 
completely  upset  the  governor's  budg- 
et plan;  yet,  he  could  not  prevent  it. 
Such  a  thing  may  happen  in  Illinois  in 
the  case  of  the  independent  constitu- 
tional officers  over  which  the  governor 
has  little  or  no  control.  Further 
reorganization  is  needed  in  order  to 
bring  all  of  these  officers  with  one 
exception — the  auditor — into  depart- 
ments directly  under  the  governor 
just  as  the  present  code  departments 
are. 

Under  the  code  administration,  the 
governor  is  not  only  given  a  staff 
agency  (department  of  finance)  to 
assist  him  in  the  preparation  of  the 
budget  and  to  supply  him  with  all  the 
facts  needed  in  budget  making,  but  he 
is  also  placed  in  a  position  where  he 


can  carry  out  the  budget  when  the 
appropriations  have  been  made  by  the 
legislature.  While  financial  planning 
is  important,  a  centralized  authority 
to  carry  out  the  plan  is  even  more 
important. 

CENTRALIZED  PURCHASING  SYSTEM 

All  supplies  and  equipment  for  the 
several  state  departments,  except  those 
formerly  supplied  by  the  secretary  of 
state,  and  for  the  charitable,  penal  and 
reformatory  institutions  and  normal 
schools,  are  purchased  by  the  division 
of  purchases  and  supplies  of  the  depart- 
ment of  public  works  and  buildings. 
The  continued  practice  of  the  secretary 
of  state  purchasing  some  of  the  sup- 
plies illustrates  how  the  existence  of 
practically  independent  constitutional 
officers  prevents  that  centralization  of 
function  which  a  logical  development  of 
the  system  would  require.  Five  years' 
experience  indicates  that  the  purchas- 
ing work  should  perhaps  be  directly 
under  the  department  of  finance  rather 
than  where  it  is.  The  department  of 
finance,  however,  has  the  power  to 
prescribe  uniform  rules  governing  speci- 
fications for  the  purchase  of  supplies 
for  the  several  departments.  The 
division  of  purchases  and  supplies  is 
headed  by  a  superintendent  who  re- 
ceives an  annual  salary  of  $5,000. 

Since  it  has  been  in  operation,  the 
division  of  purchases  and  supplies  has 
made  and  supervised  the  purchase  of 
supplies  amounting  annually  to  over 
$5,000,000.  The  annual  expense  of 
running  the  division  has  been  a  little 
over  $30,000,  thus  making  the  ratio 
between  the  total  purchases  and  the 
cost  of  operating  the  division  about 
six-tenths  of  one  per  cent.  Compari- 
son with  the  salary  costs  and  expenses 
necessary  to  do  the  ordinary  amount  of 
purchasing  for  a  million  dollar  business 


366 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[November 


shows  that  the  state  work  is  being 
handled  at  even  less  cost  than  in  the 
average  business. 


one  time  and  placed  in  the  storeroom, 
thus  saving  expense  and  avoiding 
delay. 


CONTROL    OF    DEPARTMENTAL    REPORTS       UNIFIED    INSTITUTIONAL   MANAGEMENT 


AND   PRINTING 

The  superintendent  of  department 
reports  in  the  department  of  finance 
has  control  over  the  form,  editing  and 
arrangement  of  the  departmental  re- 
ports. The  reports  of  the  different 
departments  and  divisions  are  prepared 
in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  them 
most  useful  to  the  ordinary  citizen 
seeking  authoritative  information  re- 
garding the  state's  work.  Tabular 
matter  is  avoided  as  far  as  possible  to 
reduce  expenses  of  publication  and  to 
eliminate  data  of  use  to  the  relatively 
few.  The  manuscripts  of  all  reports 
are  submitted  to  the  superintendent  of 
department  reports  who  has  power  to 
revise  and  condense  where  needed. 
The  result  is  a  concise  and  readable 
annual  record  of  achievement,  covering 
the  work  of  the  nine  code  departments 
and  the  adjutant  general's  office,  bound 
in  a  single  volume  of  from  500  to  800 
pages.  Prior  to  the  adoption  of  the 
code  there  were  thousands  of  unin- 
forming  pages  of  annual  reports  bound 
in  many  volumes  and  published  at 
great  cost  to  the  state. 

All  state  printing  is  controlled  by  the 
division  of  printing  of  the  department 
of  public  works  and  buildings.  Experi- 
ence indicates  that  this  work  should  be 
under  the  department  of  finance. 
Contracts  are  let  each  year  after  bids 
have  been  received  on  the  different 
classes  of  printing.  Letter-heads  and 
envelopes  are  printed  on  a  good  grade 
of  paper  in  a  uniform  style,  thus  saving 
a  great  deal  of  expense.  As  far  as  it  is 
possible  to  do  so,  the  blanks  used  by  all 
departments  and  institutions  are  of  a 
uniform  and  standard  size.  This  en- 
ables a  large  supply  to  be  printed  at 


A  very  important  achievement  of  the 
code  administration  is  the  placing  of  all 
the  charitable,  penal  and  reformatory 
institutions  of  the  state  under  one 
department — the  department  of  public 
welfare.  All  the  administrative  boards 
of  the  twenty-three  institutions  of  this 
character  were  abolished  and  the  head 
of  each  institution  is  now  appointed  by 
the  director  of  public  welfare.  These 
institutions  house  about  27,000  in- 
mates and  have  about  4,000  employees. 
It  takes  about  $15,000,000  annually  to 
operate  them.  In  the  department  of 
public  welfare  is  the  fiscal  supervisor,  or 
business  manager,  of  all  the  institu- 
tions under  the  department.  He  pre- 
scribes, in  conjunction  with  the  depart- 
ment of  finance,  the  record-keeping 
system  for  all  the  institutions.  He 
controls  the  business  end  of  the  work  of 
the  institutions.  He  gathers  complete 
statistics  on  the  consumption  of  food, 
clothing,  and  other  supplies,  and  on  the 
production  of  institutional  industries. 
The  department  of  public  welfare  also 
has  a  criminologist  and  an  alienist.  In 
connection  with  the  department  is  an 
advisory  and  unpaid  board  of  five 
members. 

IMPROVED   AGRICULTURAL  ADMINIS- 
TRATION 

Illinois,  like  most  of  the  states  in  the 
middle  west,  must  depend  for  its 
prosperity  to  a  considerable  extent 
upon  its  agriculture.  The  code  organi- 
zation has  contributed  a  great  deal  to 
the  improvement  of  the  agricultural 
administration.  Prior  to  the  adoption 
of  the  code  there  were  almost  a  dozen 
separate  agricultural  agencies  scattered 
around  over  the  state.  The  agricul- 


1922] 


ILLINOIS  CIVIL  ADMINISTRATIVE  SYSTEM 


367 


tural  interests  fared  very  poorly  under 
the  management  of  this  multi-headed 
arrangement.  These  separate  agencies 
did  not  co-operate,  the  result  being 
that  large  expenditures  were  made  with 
small  returns  in  service.  The  code 
abolished  these  agencies  and  consoli- 
dated their  work  in  the  department  of 
agriculture.  The  fish  and  game  work 
and  the  state  fair  are  placed  in  this 
department.  Under  this  arrangement 
the  administration  of  the  state  fair  is 
greatly  simplified  and  the  fair  has  been 
made  a  much  more  effective  proposi- 
tion. In  connection  with  the  depart- 
ment, there  are  a  couple  of  advisory 
boards,  one  on  agriculture  and  one  on 
the  state  fair.  These  boards  have  no 
administrative  duties  and  are  unpaid. 
They  serve  largely  to  awaken  interest 
in  different  localities  of  the  state  in  the 
general  program  and  work  of  the 
department  of  agriculture. 

EXTENSIVE  ROAD   CONSTRUCTION 

The  reorganization  of  the  public 
works  activities  under  the  code  has 
made  it  possible  for  the  state  to  carry 
on  successfully,  during  the  unsettled 
conditions  of  the  past  four  years,  one  of 
the  most  extensive  road  building  pro- 
grams of  any  state  in  the  Union.  The 
1919  legislature  authorized  $60,000,000 
in  bonds  for  state-aid  highways  alone. 
All  told  the  state  is  spending  about 


$100,000,000  on  the  present  program  of 
hard  road  construction.  Directing  this 
work  is  the  department  of  public  works 
and  buildings  created  by  the  code.  All 
highway  construction  and  supervision 
by  this  department  is  carried  on  by 
the  division  of  highways  and  grouped 
under  six  working  units — design,  con- 
struction, maintenance,  tests,  machin- 
ery, and  audits. 

Two  other  divisions  of  the  depart- 
ment of  public  works  and  buildings 
deserve  mention  in  this  connection. 
The  division  of  architecture  has  brought 
the  buildings  of  the  state  from  a  condi- 
tion of  dilapidation  to  one  of  compara- 
tively good  repair.  It  has  prepared 
and  supervised  plans  for  many  new 
buildings  hi  conformity  with  a  com- 
prehensive program.  In  working  out 
this  program,  it  has  kept  constantly  in 
mind  the  benefits  to  be  derived  by  the 
adoption  of  typical  units,  insuring 
economy  of  construction,  stability, 
minimum  fire  hazard,  minimum  future 
repairs,  dignified  and  pleasing  archi- 
tecture, and  the  use  of  inmate  labor  as 
far  as  possible  in  construction.  The 
division  of  engineering  has  taken  care 
of  the  water  supply  of  institutions,  as 
well  as  the  plumbing,  sewer,  and 
mechanical  repairs.  It  has  begun  the 
installation  of  modern  heating  plants 
in  the  institutions  with  the  proper 
recording  of  the  consumption  of  coal 
and  testing  of  the  waste  of  heat. 


THE  PLACE  OF  THE  MOTOR  BUS 


BY  WALTER  JACKSON 

Fare  and  Bus  Consultant,  Mount  Vernon,  N.  Y. 

Freedom  from  taxation  has  given  the  motor  bus  a  momentary, 
unfair  advantage.  Nevertheless  it  has  a  place  which  is  being 
recognized  more  and  more.  ::  ::  ::  ::  :: 


IN  1919  the  fingers  of  one  hand 
showed  a  surplus  when  counting  the 
number  of  electric  railways  operating 
motor-buses  publicly,  and  not  secretly 
as  jitney-killers. 

In  1920  the  writer  for  writing  and  the 
Electric  Railway  Journal  for  publishing 
his  studies  on  "The  Place  of  the  Motor- 
Bus  in  Passenger  Transportation"  re- 
ceived a  choice  collection  of  brickbats 
for  daring  to  suggest  that  transporta- 
tion for  the  masses  at  popular  prices 
was  a  function  that  had  nothing  to  do 
with  the  mode  of  propulsion;  that  mass 
transportation  was  a  natural  monopoly 
and  therefore  the  electric  railway  as  the 
principal  carriers  owed  it  to  themselves 
to  make  use  of  the  bus  wherever  it 
would  fit.  This  was  revolutionary, 
subversive  doctrine  to  America,  but  a 
commonplace  to  Europe. 

In  1921,  the  anti-bus  feeling  was 
still  so  strong  that  a  convention  of  the 
American  Electric  Railway  Association 
was  stampeded  into  rejecting  a  con- 
stitutional amendment  that  would  have 
admitted  some  eminently  respectable 
bus  operators  to  membership. 

But  by  the  end  of  1922,  the  forces  of 
reality  had  overcome  prejudice  so 
rapidly  that  nearly  one  hundred  electric 
railways  had  found  a  place  for  the  bus 
in  their  operating  bosoms — not  neces- 
sarily to  make  money,  let  it  be  marked, 
but  more  often  to  reduce  the  inevitable 
losses  incident  to  serving  sparse  popu- 
lations. 


SOME  BUS  OPERATION  IS  ARTIFICIALLY 
STIMULATED   BY   NOMINAL  TAXATION 

The  foregoing  record  of  movement 
toward  the  bus  has  not  been  given 
primarily  for  the  sake  of  shouting 
joyously  "I  told  you  so,"  but  rather  to 
have  the  reader  appreciate  that  the 
writer  is  more  inclined  to  see  the  best 
rather  than  the  worst  sides  of  motor- 
bus  operation.  So  his  following  refer- 
ences to  the  problem  of  taxation  are 
not  to  be  taken  in  the  spirit  of 
antagonism  toward  this  marvelously 
flexible  though  yet  immature  form  of 
transport. 

When  the  question  is  asked:  "What 
is  the  place  of  the  bus  and  is  that  place 
so  wide  as  to  be  likely  to  crowd  out  the 
electric  railway"?,  the  answer  must 
differ  according  to  whether  one  makes 
a  comparison  on  strictly  scientific 
grounds  or  upon  conditions  as  he  finds 
them.  This  can  be  understood  clearly 
enough  by  examples. 

Early  in  1921  the  writer  was  engaged 
to  make  a  survey  of  motor-bus  opportu- 
nities on  a  large  eastern  city  railway. 
These  opportunities  arose  chiefly 
through  the  fact  that  certain  unimpor- 
tant extensions  and  cross-town  lines 
had  reached  the  point  of  rail  and  pav- 
ing renewal.  The  cost  of  such  renewal 
was  so  great  in  comparison  with  the 
traffic  that  the  fixed  charges  alone  were 
likely  to  exceed  the  cost  of  electric  car 
operation.  Under  these  circumstances, 
viz.,  say  50,000  to  100,000  car-miles  per 


868 


1922] 


THE  PLACE  OF  THE  MOTOR  BUS 


1369 


mile  of  track  per  annum,  the  motor-bus 
was  by  far  the  cheaper. 

Mark,  however,  that  the  comparison 
was  based  upon  franchise  and  tax  con- 
ditions as  the  writer  found  them;  not 
upon  a  really  scientific  basis.  Here 
was  the  unfairness :  The  bus  would  run 
at  will  over  the  paving  without  sharing 
in  the  cost  of  such  paving;  the  car 
would  have  to  pay  for  a  steel  and  con- 
crete runway  all  its  own  and,  in  addi- 
tion, pay  for  the  paving  used  by  the 
rest  of  the  community. 

In  one  of  the  cases  under  study,  an 
astonishing  thing  happened  when  the 
company  announced  that  it  would  run 
buses  instead  of  continuing  rail  cars. 
The  community  was  in  consternation 
at  being  deprived  of  the  rush-hour 
through  service  made  possible  by  the 
cars.  It  did  not  fancy  a  ride  in  a  shut- 
tle bus  and  then  waiting  for  a  crowded 
car  half  way  down  an  important  trunk 
line.  It  also  feared  that  the  bus  serv- 
ice might  be  stopped  some  unlucky  day 
and  never  be  renewed.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  presence  of  rails  and  wire 
was  a  symbol  of  permanence.  What 
did  the  council  do  to  persuade  the 
railway  to  maintain  car  service?  Why 
it  relieved  the  railway  of  some  $60,000 
paving  assessment  against  the  one 
mile  of  route !  The  lopping  off  of  that 
sum  made  all  the  difference  in  the 
world  as  to  which  mode  of  propulsion 
would  lose  least  money  in  the  end — and 
so  the  electric  railway  staid. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  same  com- 
pany has  taken  up  the  rails  elsewhere 
because  renewal  and  extension  of  a 
light-traffic  branch  with  highly  fluctuat- 
ing traffic  would  have  been  most  un- 
wise. The  bus  meets  this  particular 
condition  admirably  since  its  route  can 
be  drawn  out  or  pulled  in  according  to 
circumstances. 

Here,  then,  we  have  one  case  where 
the  removal  of  the  paving  burden  on 
the  car  deprived  the  bus  of  its  advan- 


tage financially ;  and  second  a  case  where 
the  flexibility  of  the  bus  gave  it  an 
innate  superiority  entirely  independent 
of  factitious  aids. 

Generally  speaking,  the  greatest  of 
the  unfair  handicaps  on  the  electric 
railway  is  the  paving  charge.  Few  will 
pretend  that  this  is  other  than  a  tax 
for  a  franchise  rather  than  for  actual 
wear  of  paving.  Aside  from  the  pav- 
ing charge,  are  the  various  taxes  which 
a  community  learns  to  impose  as  it 
seeks  new  sources  of  revenue  from  year 
to  year.  Besides  taxes,  one  may  add 
the  cost  of  being  regulated.  It  is  no 
trifling  matter  for  a  small  electric  rail- 
way to  be  obliged  to  spend  hundreds  of 
dollars  merely  to  petition  for  a  reduc- 
tion in  fare;  not  to  mention  the  cost  of 
trying  to  secure  an  increase  in  fare! 
On  the  other  hand,  there  are  still 
plenty  of  states  and  cities  where  the 
bus  operator  changes  his  fares  through 
the  simple  expedient  of  reversing  his 
sign  or  printing  a  new  rate  card. 

TAX-FREE  ADVANTAGES  OF  BUS  ARE 
TEMPORARY 

Anyone  can  see  for  himself  that 
where  such  inequality  in  taxation  and 
regulation  of  service  obtains,  the  motor- 
bus  will  often  find  a  place  to  which  it 
is  not  entitled.  It  will  not  do  the 
community  any  good  to  permit  this 
kind  of  development.  First,  it  loses 
those  large  sums  in  taxes  which  it  must 
secure  some  way.  As  the  eventual 
payer  will  be  the  transportation  system, 
it  follows  that  the  bus  successor  will 
have  to  pony  up  in  time.  The  only 
way  it  can  do  so  is  to  raise  the  fare. 
Second,  the  community  loses  that  strict 
control  over  the  transportation  system, 
which  it  now  enjoys.  It  can  apply  a 
lot  of  pressure  to  an  organization  that 
has  most  of  its  capital  in  fixed  property. 
It  can  never  apply  such  pressure  to  a 
concern  which  has  put  most  of  its  in- 
vestment in  movables!  Many  an 


370 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[November 


electric  railway  has  hung  on  merely  to 
make  its  fixed  charges;  but  no  busman 
would  stick  to  the  ship  if  he  could  not 
make  some  real  money. 

So  as  a  matter  of  community  self- 
interest,  bus  operation  ought  to  be 
handled  by  the  organization — the  elec- 
tric railway — which  already  has  a  stake 
that  cannot  be  pulled  out  quite  so 
readily  as  that  of  a  circus  tent. 

As  matters  are  moving  now,  the 
practically  tax-free  bus  is  doomed. 
Several  states  have  a  gallonage  tax 
which  is  a  direct  charge  upon  the  bus 
operator  according  to  mileage;  Mary- 
land has  a  seat  tax;  New  Jersey  has  a 
gross  earnings  tax;  California  has 
stringent  regulation  and  standard  ac- 
counting systems  for  bus  operators; 
and  in  more  and  more  states  the  cer- 
tificate of  necessity  and  convenience  is 
putting  an  end  to  the  anarchic  com- 
petition that  has  hurt  the  pioneer  bus 
operators  as  much  as  the  electric  rail- 
ways which  they  attacked. 

At  the  same  time,  we  are  a  long  way 
from  a  general  settlement.  This  is 
particularly  true  in  cities  that  have 
been  allowed  to  retain  jurisdiction  over 
jitney  operations.  One  administration 
may  pass  an  act  demanding  and  secur- 
ing adherence  to  routes,  rates  of  fare, 
accident  insurance  and  the  like — and 
this  generally  cuts  down  jitney  opera- 
tion to  the  point  where  it  is  giving  a 
service  to  neighborhoods  that  ought  to 
have  been  cared  for  by  the  electric 
railway's  own  bus  department.  Along 
comes  a  hostile  administration  and 
knocks  all  preceding  regulation  into  a 
cocked  hat,  either  by  repealing  or  by 
failing  to  enforce  them.  Obviously 
no  city  electric  railway  can  live  under 
such  alternations  of  peace  and  war. 

RAILWAYS   SHOULD   RUN   BUSES 

The  writer  has  maintained  from  the 
first  that  the  quickest  way  to  put  the 


bus  and  the  street  car  on  the  same 
plane  as  to  taxation  and  regulation  is 
for  the  railways  to  go  into  the  bus 
business  wherever  they  ought  to  do  so. 
The  reason  lies  in  human  nature. 

So  long  as  the  bus  is  run  by  the 
individual  jitneur,  so  long  will  the 
community's  sentiment  for  the  "poor 
workingman"  restrain  it  from  demand- 
ing safe,  clean,  reliable  service  and  im- 
posing a  rate  of  taxation  fairly  com- 
parable to  that  exacted  from  corpora- 
tions which,  in  the  eye  of  the  non-stock 
and  bondholder,  are  always  rich. 

On  the  other  hand,  let  the  corpora- 
tions take  up  the  bus,  and  the  legisla- 
tures and  councils  will  be  quick  to  tie 
the  bus  operators  into  as  many  knots 
as  the  car  operators.  In  passing  such 
measures,  they  will  necessarily  have  to 
treat  all  bus  operators  alike — whether 
individual  or  corporation.  In  at  least 
one  instance,  this  has  come  to  pass 
with  such  celerity  that  the  bus-using 
railway  involved  wishes  now  it  had  not 
been  quite  so  emphatic  about  the  tax- 
dodging  of  the  bus  services  it  has  since 
superseded. 

WHAT  WILL  HAPPEN  WHEN  THE  LEGISLA- 
TIVE DICE  ARE  NO  LONGER  LOADED? 

The  one  most  important  thing  that 
can  happen  will  be  the  protection  of 
mass  transport  systems  against  the 
individually -owned,  unreliable  jitney 
bus.  The  term  "mass  transport  sys- 
tems," of  course,  is  intended  to  apply 
to  the  local  organization  supplying  all 
the  popular  price  transportation  of  the 
district,  whether  electric,  gasoline  or 
both.  When  such  protection  is  effec- 
tive, there  will  still  be  ample  room  for 
the  motor-bus  without  forcing  of  ex- 
cessive abandonment  of  track.  There 
will  be  no  more  situations  where  an 
electric  railway  charging  a  10  cent  fare 
is  crowded  out  by  jitney  buses,  which 
promptly  raise  their  fare  to  15  and  20 
cents  when  the  railway  is  gone. 


1922] 


THE  PLACE  OF  THE  MOTOR  BUS 


371 


But  there  will  be  many  more  instal- 
lations such  as  these: 

Extensions  of  city  lines  through  thin 
territory  as  one  form  of  payment  for 
monopoly  rights. 

Belt  or  cross-town  routes  as  another 
form  of  such  payment. 

Alternative,  higher  fare  short  cuts 
via  bus  where  the  railway  follows  a 
roundabout  route. 

Development  of  residential  districts 
— possibly  at  higher  fares — in  prefer- 
ence to  laying  down  rails  and  putting 
up  wires. 

Replacement  with  buses  on  other 
streets  of  track  routes  no  longer  located 
to  best  advantage. 

With  regard  to  the  last  item,  the 
writer  has  in  mind  a  city  of  30,000  where 
a  large  portion  of  the  worn-out  track 
system  will  be  supplanted  by  the 
company  with  buses  on  other  streets. 
In  this  particular  instance,  the  town 
refused  to  grow  as  the  railway  buHders 
had  planned.  By  the  time  the  fran- 
chises were  up  for  renewal,  the  track 
was  in  such  shape  as  to  be  practically 
worthless.  Furthermore,  most  of  the 
routes  were  in  single  track,  so  that 
neither  the  headways  nor  adherence  to 
schedules  was  as  good  as  required  for  a 
community  that  has  tasted  the  speed 
of  the  private  automobile. 

In  this  instance,  the  advantages  of 
the  bus  are:  Utmost  flexibility  in 
adapting  the  routes  to  the  shifting  of 
the  population;  no  greater  overall  cost 
because  of  low  investment  charges; 
freedom  from  paving  burdens.  It 
should  be  understood  that  this  relates 
to  a  community  where  the  best  head- 
way is  not  likely  to  be  under  ten 
minutes.  If  it  were  to  be  five  minutes, 
then  the  electric  railway  would  be 
cheaper.  Even  if  electric  railway  op- 
eration of  some  routes  should  be  desira- 
ble later,  it  is  proper  to  start  with  the 
bus  because  the  traffic  which  the  shifted 
and  the  entirely  new  routes  will  bring 


is  still  a  matter  of  estimate  and  specu- 
lation. A  mistake  with  a  bus  route  is 
only  temporary;  but  with  a  track  it  is 
permanent. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  electric  rail- 
ways would  be  willing  to  make  much 
greater  use  of  the  bus  for  rerouting  if 
they  could  only  find  some  way  of 
amortizing  or  writing  off  the  sup- 
planted trackage.  This  is  a  real 
problem,  for  it  often  happens  that  the 
track  to  be  abandoned  is  part  of  an 
underlying  system  whose  owners  have 
been  promised  a  certain  rental  for  many 
years  to  come.  In  such  cases,  the 
operating  company  cannot  treat  a  bus 
installation  by  itself,  but  must  figure 
on  having  the  bus  earnings  take  care  of 
the  old  as  well  as  the  new  investment. 
This  is  one  reason  why  some  electric 
railways  would  rather  be  relieved  of  the 
paving  burden  and  continue  to  give 
rail  service,  even  if  that  service  is 
transferred  to  another  street.  A  large 
system  can  absorb  the  writing  off  of 
one  to  five  per  cent  of  its  trackage,  but 
the  small  railway  that  has  to  face  the 
re-routing  of  one-third  to  one-half  its 
mileage  is  in  an  entirely  different  situa- 
tion. In  short,  the  mass  transport 
systems  are  facing  again  the  necessity 
of  taking  heavy  losses  due  to  advances 
in  the  art,  just  as  in  the  change  from 
horse  to  electric  traction  and  from  the 
two-man  big  car  to  the  one-man  small 
car. 

HIGHWAY    TROLLEY    AND    CITY-STREET 
INTERURBAN  MUST  ALSO  ADOPT  BUS 

When  our  highway  trolleys  and  "city- 
street"  interurbans  were  built,  the 
automobile  and  the  paved  highway 
were  in  their  infancy.  Before  the 
jitney  bus  became  a  factor,  this  class  of 
railways  had  already  suffered  severely 
from  the  use  of  private  machines;  and 
this  was  aggravated,  of  course,  when 
the  unregulated  competitor  came  on 
the  scene  to  take  away  the  rest  of  the 


372 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[November 


traffic.  It  cannot  be  said  that  the 
buses  as  a  rule  offered  a  more  agreeable 
mode  of  travel  than  the  cars.  How- 
ever, just  as  the  interurbans  had  taken 
steam  traffic  through  offering  a  two- 
hour  instead  of  four  or  six-hour  head- 
way, so  did  the  buses  gain  business  by 
cutting  the  electric  headways.  This 
kind  of  competition  has  been  success- 
fully met  by  several  interurbans  through 
going  to  one-man  car  operation  and 
shorter  headways.  In  this  respect  the 
highway  trolley  is  less  fortunate  than 
lines  operating  mainly  over  right-of- 
way.  It  suffers  more  interruptions  to- 
ward attaining  fast  schedules  and  it 
cannot  add  sidings  so  easily  or  cheaply. 
Abandonments  of  such  lines  have  been 
followed  by  bus  services,  the  fare 
sometimes  being  raised  when  it  is  cer- 
tain that  the  electric  has  gone  forever. 
What  has  been  said  about  city  sys- 
tems going  into  bus  transportation 
applies  equally  well  to  many  of  these 
handicapped  cross-country  or  inter- 
urban  railways.  They  themselves 
should  go  into  the  game  with  a  view 
to  meeting  public  needs  without  sinful 
waste  of  capital.  The  passenger  wish- 
ing to  ride  from  terminal  to  terminal  is 
no  longer  willing  to  put  up  with  a  rail- 
way that  has  to  trail  through  the  cities, 
to  stop  every  half  mile  or  so  along  the 


highway  or  right-of-way  and  to  hang 
about  at  sidings  because  of  car  or  signal 
derangements.  That  same  passenger 
may  be  willing  to  pay  more  than  the 
electric  overall  fare  if  he  is  given  a 
non-stop  limousine  stage  seating  four- 
teen to  eighteen  patrons  which  assures 
him  all  the  comfort  of  luxurious  auto- 
mobile travel  with  none  of  its  respon- 
sibilities and  at  a  lower  cost  than  per- 
sonal operation.  This  co-ordination  of 
the  service — the  electric  line  for  locals 
and  the  motor  stage  for  expresses — 
has  already  made  good  on  several  inter- 
urbans and  it  is  bound  to  make  good 
on  many  more.  The  fact  is  that  these 
stages  take  much  more  business  from 
the  personal  car  ranks  than  they  take 
from  the  rails,  aside  from  which  the 
novelty  and  shorter  headway  of  the 
stage  creates  other  new  business. 

CONCLUSION 

In  this  necessarily  sketchy  review, 
the  writer  has  pointed  out  that  the 
electric  railways  as  a  class  no  longer 
oppose  the  bus;  that  they  want  to  see 
the  bus  on  the  same  plane  of  taxation 
and  responsibility  as  the  rail  in  order 
to  have  scientific  grounds  for  choosing 
between  rail  and  bus  hereafter;  and 
that  their  hardest  problem  is  writing 
off  lines  supplanted  by  buses. 


THE  CAREER  OF  THE  DIRECT  PRIMARY 

IN  NEBRASKA 

BY  RALPH  S.  BOOTS 

University  of  Nebraska 

Nebraska's  long  experience  with  the  direct  primary  is  related  and 
appraised  by  one  who  has  made  intensive  studies  of  nominating  methods 
in  various  states.  The  primary  in  Nebraska  is  free  from  machine 
control.  It  is  more  of  a  "free  for  all"  than  in  the  east.  ::  :: 


IN  1871  the  Republican  party  in 
Nemaha  county  tried  once  a  plan  of 
nominating  candidates  almost  identical 
with  the  "Crawford  county  system." 
In  1887  an  optional  primary  law  was 
enacted.  This  primary  was  not  very 
carefully  "closed"  and  "the  low 
ethical  standard  of  practical  politics 
permitted  certain  abuses  to  creep  in,"1 
i.  e.t  numbers  of  Democrats  voted  in 
Republican  primaries.  Party  affilia- 
tion was  more  clearly  defined  in  1899, 
and  in  cities  where  registration  was 
required,  failure  to  enroll  barred  from 
the  primary.  The  Republican  city 
committee  in  "very  corrupt"  Lincoln 
yielded  to  public  sentiment  and  in  1896 
accepted  the  optional  plan  and  added  a 
"run-off"  to  assure  majority  nomina- 
tions. The  voters  seized  upon  the 
opportunity  with  avidity.  In  five 
years  between  1896  and  1905  the  pri- 
mary vote  equalled  or  exceeded  the 
general  election  vote.  Such  a  condi- 
tion arouses  the  suspicions  of  the 
skeptical.  In  the  only  other  sizable 
city  in  the  state,  Omaha,  the  optional 
plan  was  partially  applied  by  the 
Republicans. 

DIRECT     PRIMARY     MADE     COMPULSORY 
IN    1907 

Both  party  platforms  in  1906  pro- 
nounced for  the  direct  primary  and  the 

1  The  study  of  the  Nebraska  primary  by  Mr. 
N.  II .  Debel,  published  by  the  Legislative  Refer- 
ence Bureau  in  1914,  was  used  in  preparing  the 
historical  portion  of  this  article. 


legislature  of  1907  responded  with 
provision  for  a  state-wide,  compulsory, 
closed  primary  applicable  to  all  but 
municipal  elections  in  cities  of  fewer 
than  25,000  inhabitants,  and  village, 
township  and  school  district  elections. 
The  designation  of  aspirants  is  accom- 
plished by  personal  application  or  the 
application  of  twenty-five  qualified 
electors  of  the  party  with  which  the  per- 
son designated  affiliates.  Filing  fees  of 
five  to  fifty  dollars  are  required.  The 
nominees  of  each  party  for  the  county 
offices  were  authorized  to  select  the 
county  committees.  The  state  con- 
ventions, consisting  of  delegates  from 
each  county  committee,  might  adopt 
platforms  and  select  state  committees. 

Because  the  originally  provided  al- 
phabetical arrangement  of  aspirants' 
names  on  the  ballot  under  each  office 
almost  caused  the  nomination  of  a  few 
unknown  Messrs.  A  the  rotation  of 
names  was  substituted  in  1909,  to 
"distribute  equitably  the  moron  vote," 
as  some  one  recently  expressed  it.  It 
was  estimated  that  first  place  on  the 
ballot  for  a  state  office  was  worth  from 
20,000  to  30,000  votes.  The  closed 
primary  gave  place  to  an  open  one  the 
same  year,  but  so  freely  and  amicably 
did  the  members  of  parties  intermingle 
in  the  1910  primary  that  the  closed 
primary  was  restored  the  following 
year. 

In  1909  it  was  urged  that  the  con- 
ventions properly  should  meet  before 


373 


374 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[November 


the  primary  in  order  to  devise  plat- 
forms upon  the  basis  of  which  aspirants 
might  appeal  for  nomination;  conse- 
quently by  virtue  of  an  amendment 
caucuses  were  permitted  to  choose 
delegates  to  county  conventions  and 
these  to  state  conventions,  to  be  held 
before  the  primary.  County  conven- 
tions chose  county  committees  and 
state  and  other  committees  were  chosen 
as  the  state  conventions  should  deter- 
mine. It  was  specifically  enacted  that 
"no  action  should  be  taken  by  said 
state  convention  either  for  or  against 
any  person  who  is  or  may  be  a  candi- 
date for  any  office  that  is  to  be  voted 
on  at  the  next  general  election." 

Another  law  of  1909  provided  for 
the  nonpartisan  election  and  petition 
nomination  of  all  judges,  the  state 
university  regents,  and  county  and 
state  superintendents  of  public  instruc- 
tion, in  such  stringent  terms,  however 
(forbidding  nomination,  endorsement, 
recommendation,  censure,  criticism,  or 
reference  by  any  political  party,  etc. 
.  .  .  )  that  the  state  supreme  court 
declared  it  was  in  conflict  with  three 
sections  of  the  bill  of  rights.  An  act 
for  the  same  purpose  was  vetoed  in 
1911,  and  finally  in  1912  nonpartisan 
nomination  and  election  of  judges  was 
secured.  In  1917  the  same  method  of 
selection  was  extended  to  the  other 
offices  included  in  the  original  proposal. 

RECENT   ATTEMPTED   MODIFICATIONS 

The  most  important  feature  of  a  law 
of  1919, — restoring  conventions  for  the 
seven  minor,  political,  elective,  state 
offices, — was  referred  by  petition  and 
overwhelmingly  defeated  (1920)  49,- 
000  to  133,000.  The  unreferred  parts 
of  this  law  again  fixed  the  time  for  the 
county  and  state  conventions  after  the 
primary,  and  provided  for  the  election 
at  the  primary  of  delegates  to  the 
county  conventions  and  of  one  man 


and  one  woman  committeeman  from 
each  precinct. 

An  act  of  the  1921  legislature  once 
more  placed  the  conventions  before  the 
primary  and  exempted  from  the  opera- 
tion of  the  primary  all  delegates  to 
national,  state  and  local  conventions 
and  members  of  party  committees. 
This  included  the  national  committee- 
men  and  delegates  to  national  conven- 
tions. Caucuses,  under  the  direction  of 
the  local  committeemen,  were  to  select 
delegates  to  the  county  conventions. 
The  state  conventions  were  authorized 
to  "transact  such  other  business  as 
may  be  properly  and  legally  enter- 
tained by  such  conventions,"  and  the 
clause  forbidding  conventions  to  take 
any  action  respecting  candidates  was 
repealed,  as  was  also  the  requirement 
that  women  constitute  half  of  the 
county  committees.  This  law  was 
suspended  by  petition  and  will  in  all 
probability  be  defeated  in  November. 
The  chairman  of  the  Republican  state 
committee  in  an  argument  in  the  pub- 
licity pamphlet,  states  that  endorse- 
ment of  candidates  by  political  groups 
has  been  practiced  in  Nebraska  during 
the  last  three  years.  The  League  of 
Women  Voters  submits  an  argument 
quoting,  somewhat  incongruously,  se- 
lected statements  of  Mr.  Hughes  re- 
garding the  primary.  The  argument 
of  the  person  who  filed  the  referendum 
petition,  and  later  objected  to  the 
ballot  title  drawn  up  by  the  secretary 
of  state,  and  persuaded  the  district 
court  to  rewrite  it,  contains  the  follow- 
ing: "The  primary  law  may  need 
amendment  but  not  by  its  enemies. 
There  is  no  demand  or  need  for  politi- 
cal bosses.  This  act  destroys  popular 
control  of  the  parties  and  restores  to 
full  bloom  and  power  the  old  conven- 
tion system." 

Another  act  of  1921  made  general 
the  same  registration  and  enrollment 
system  in  the  main  which  now  applies 


1922] 


CAREER  OF  DIRECT  PRIMARY  IN  NEBRASKA 


375 


only  in  cities  of  7,000  inhabitants  or 
more.  This  act  was  also  referred  and 
will  likely  be  rejected.  It  was  intended 
to  prevent  the  prevalent  cross-voting 
in  the  primary  and  was  especially 
directed  toward  the  nonpartisan  lea- 
guers. Apparently  rural  voters  wish 
to  vote  where  the  voting  is  best. 

NEBRASKA'S   SACRED    cow 

There  is  not  the  least  doubt  that  the 
primary  is  popular  in  Nebraska.  It  is 
almost  a  sacred  cow.  A  few  of  its  less 
ardent  friends  assert  that  this  jealous 
popular  attachment  is  partly  the  result 
of  continued  newspaper  harping,  not 
altogether  without  its  relation  to  the 
amount  of  money  spent  in  advertising 
by  primary  candidates.  A  majority, 
perhaps,  of  intelligent  persons  maintain 
that  the  primary  broke  the  strangle- 
hold of  the  public  utility  corporations, 
especially  the  railroads,  upon  the  state. 
The  railroads  are  said  to  have  con- 
trolled all  party  conventions  by  the 
issue  of  free  passes  to  their  supporters 
among  the  delegates  and  indeed  to 
nearly  all  public  officials. 

The  primary  vote,  although  not  as 
large  as  might  be  expected  on  account 
of  the  strong  popular  sentiment  for  the 
primary,  has  probably  constituted  a 
larger  percentage  of  the  general  elec- 
tion vote  than  in  most  other  states. 
The  record  of  participation  for  1907- 
1912  annually  and  1914-1920  bien- 
nially, has  been:  39,  36,  45,  44,  57,  52, 
60,  63,  60  and  50  per  cent.  This  year 
the  primary  vote  was  the  largest  of  all, 
considered  absolutely,  but  only  13,000 
greater  than  that  of  two  previous  years. 
The  women  have  not  participated  ex- 
tensively as  yet  or  else  the  men  are  re- 
signing in  their  favor. 

LITTLE  CHANGE  AMONG  OFFICE  HOLDERS 

It  is  generally  conceded  that  the 
primary  has  produced  little  change  in 
the  character  and  ability  of  office  hold- 


ers, although  in  1914,  twenty-three 
replies  to  an  inquiry  brought  the 
response  that  the  quality  of  candi- 
dates had  improved  and  thirty-two 
that  it  had  deteriorated.  During  the 
last  years  of  theconvention  system,  how- 
ever, it  is  said  some  unusually  weak 
gubernatorial  candidates  were  nomi- 
nated. 

In  view  of  the  violent  denunciation 
of  the  convention  system  by  many 
enlightened  persons  the  small  degree 
of  change  in  personnel  under  the  pri- 
mary is  surprising.  One  of  Nebraska's 
present  United  States  senators  was  a 
convention  nominee  for  the  house  in 
1902,  4,  and  6;  the  other  in  1898, 1902, 
4,  and  6.  The  primary  has  dealt 
charitably  with  the  corruption ists! 
Only  two  other  men  have  represented 
the  state  in  the  senate  since  1907.  One 
of  these,  commonly  spoken  of  as  a  rail- 
road senator,  elected  in  1905  after 
meeting  only  scattering  opposition  in 
the  senatorial  preference  primary,  had 
received  convention  endorsement  for 
the  house  in  1898,  1900,  1902,  1904. 
The  other,  elected  in  1907,  after  re- 
ceiving the  primary  preference,  had 
been  a  convention  nominee  in  1898  for 
the  house,  and  in  1904  for  attorney 
general.  The  former  received  primary 
preference  again  in  1910.  The  latter's 
party  opponent  had  been  a  convention 
nominee  for  governor  in  1902.  In  1912 
the  Democratic  primary  preferee  had 
been  a  convention  nominee  for  the 
house  in  1900  and  1902,  and  for  gover- 
nor in  1906.  In  1916,  the  Republican 
opponent  of  Mr.  Hitchcock  had  been  a 
convention  nominee  for  the  house  in 
1904  and  1906.  In  fact,  it  seems  that 
since  1905  only  the  Democratic  nom- 
inee in  1918  had  not  previously  found 
favor  in  a  convention,  and  he  was  de- 
feated in  the  general  election  by  a 
Republican  who  had. 

Of  the  twelve  major  party  nominees 
for  United  States  representatives  this 


376 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[November 


year  only  two  are  "new  men";  five 
were  once  convention  nominees  for 
the  same  office,  two  for  judicial  office, 
two  for  legislative  office,  and  one  was 
formerly  chairman  of  a  state  party 
committee.  In  1908  the  first  primary 
renominated  in  the  six  congressional 
districts  of  the  state,  five  Republican 
and  one  Democratic  incumbent,  who 
had  all  been  previously  nominated  by 
convention.  Friends  of  the  primary 
insist,  and  doubtlessly  with  a  consid- 
erable degree  of  truth,  that  a  man  who 
receives  a  primary  nomination  is  more 
responsive  to  popular  demands  than 
the  same  man  when  a  convention 
nominee,  although  the  primary  must 
have  taken  such  a  man  on  trust  for  the 
first  time. 


NO   DEARTH   OF  ASPIRANTS 

For  state-wide  offices  and  United 
States  representatives  there  cannot  be 
said  to  exist  any  dearth  of  aspirants. 
In  fact,  the  candidacies  are  at  times  so 
numerous  as  to  prevent  anything  like 
majority  nominations.  The  present 
governor  was  nominated  in  1920  by  32^ 
per  cent  of  the  party  primary  vote. 
This  year  the  Republican  nominee  for 
United  States  senator  received  only  34 
per  cent  of  the  primary  vote ;  the  nom- 
inee for  secretary  of  state  33  per  cent; 
for  treasurer  26 per  cent;  and  for  United 
States  representative  in  the  first  dis- 
trict, 40  per  cent.  The  Democratic 
candidate  for  attorney  general  received 
only  25  per  cent  of  the  primary  vote 
and  the  candidate  for  treasurer  32  per 
cent.  Nomination  by  a  minority  of 
the  party  vote  is  objectionable  when 
the  office  is  a  policy-determining  one, 
but  the  convention  system  cannot  claim 
to  have  done  any  better  than  the 
primary. 

This  plethora  of  aspirants  makes  the 
voters'  task  extremely  difficult.  One 
may  almost  say  that  the  primary  for 


minor  offices  is  little  better  than  a 
lottery.  On  the  eve  of  the  primary 
this  year  a  number  of  students  inter- 
viewed voters  to  learn  how  many  were 
familiar  with  the  names  alone  of  the 
aspirants  for  the  various  nominations. 
With  respect  to  the  office  of  state 
treasurer,  seventy-one  of  seventy-eight 
persons  visited  could  not  name  a  single 
aspirant,  five  could  name  one,  one  two, 
and  one  four.  Inquiry  for  the  names  of 
aspirants  for  the  attorney  generalship 
were  directed  to  seventy-two  persons. 
Forty-one  knew  none,  ninteen  one,  six 
two,  two  three,  and  one  all.  One  voter 
out  of  the  forty-nine  consulted  could 
name  three  aspirants  for  the  office  of 
railway  commissioner,  two  could  name 
two,  seven  one,  and  thirty-nine  none. 
Among  the  aspirants  for  the  office  of 
sheriff,  twenty-four  out  of  seventy 
voters  knew  none,  fourteen  knew  one, 
fifteen  two,  nine  three,  three  four,  one 
five,  one  seven,  one  eight,  and  two 
nine  or  all.  Several  voters  insisted 
that  if  the  aspirants  were  only  named 
to  them  they  then  could  tell  their 
choices.  One  woman  who  had  already 
voted  by  mail  could  not  recall  her 
favorite  until  the  list  of  aspirants  was 
furnished.  Of  course,  perhaps  half  of 
the  voters  interviewed  did  not  intend 
to  vote  at  the  primary. 

The  situation  is  aggravated  by  the 
fact  that  false  candidacies  are  some- 
times promoted  to  cut  into  the  strength 
of  an  opponent.  This  is  done  more 
often  in  local  elections.  A  corre- 
spondent from  Omaha  states  that  there 
are  always  such  candidacies  in  Douglas 
county.  It  is  believed  by  the  informed 
that  this  year  two  men,  perhaps  them- 
selves innocent  of  ulterior  motive,  were 
induced  to  file  for  the  United  States 
senatorial  nomination  in  order  to  de- 
feat Mr.  Howell. 

The  filings  for  county  offices  and  for 
state  senator  and  representative,  are 
not  so  numerous. 


1922] 


CAREER  OF  DIRECT  PRIMARY  IN  NEBRASKA 


377 


PARTY   ORGANIZATIONS   NOT    DOMINANT 

Nearly  all  the  testimony  is  to  the 
effect  that  the  party  organizations,  as 
such,  play  an  insignificant  part  in  de- 
termining the  outcome  of  the  primary. 
Difficult  as  this  is  to  believe,  it  must 
be  admitted  that  if  the  organization 
acts,  it  covers  its  tracks  with  skill.  Of 
course  there  are  groups  and  cliques 
back  of  this  and  that  primary  aspirant. 
The  writer  has  been  told  that  no  work 
whatever  for  the  organization  is  re- 
quired or  expected  of  election  officials, 
and  presumably  also  of  the  more  im- 
portant appointive  positions.  Lack  of 
time  has  prevented  an  intensive  in- 
vestigation but  the  reasons  given  for 
the  organizations'  neutrality  are  these : 
The  organization  is  weak  because  of 
insufficiency  of  "pap,"  there  is  not 
enough  "spoils"  to  support  an  organ- 
ization. (In  the  main  this  would  have 
been  equally  true  under  the  convention 
system).  There  is  not  in  Nebraska 
any  tradition  of  party  regularity,  but 
rather  one  of  independence  of  party, 
and  there  is  no  adequate  number  of 
hidebound  partisans  and  wheelhorses 
to  work  with  or  upon.  The  quickest 
way  to  cause  the  defeat  of  a  primary 
aspirant  would  be  to  have  it  known 
that  he  was  an  organization  favorite. 
The  voters  resent  any  group  support 
of  a  candidate  and  even  look  with  sus- 
picion and  distrust  upon  newspaper 
support.  Organization  support  is  not 
considered  fair  play  under  the  primary. 
And  finally,  should  the  organization 
fail  to  secure  the  nomination  of  its 
favorites,  those  it  opposed  would  at- 
tack it;  in  short,  participation  in  the 
primary  would  soon  disrupt  the  organ- 
ization. The  party  organizations  have 
apparently  become  inert  and  inefficient 
under  the  primary,  though  the  per- 
sonnel remains  much  the  same.  No 
one  cares  what  they  do.  And,  of 
course,  the  selection  of  committeemen 


and  delegates  has  become,  as  in  New 
York  and  New  Jersey,  a  mere  formal- 
ity at  the  primary.  Contests  are  rare 
and  no  filings  are  made  in  many  in- 
stances. A  considerable  number  of 
people  would  apparently  abolish  par- 
ties altogether  if  they  could.  Probably 
many  men  of  political  ambitions,  how- 
ever, now  feel  that  their  chances  of 
success  would  be  increased  under  an- 
other system,  just  as  formerly  the 
insurgents  viewed  the  primary  as  an 
agency  for  cutting  the  ground  from 
under  those  then  in  control.  The 
organization  generally  believes  the  pri- 
mary has  lessened  party  enthusiasm 
and  party  loyalty  and  substituted  what 
it  likes  to  call  "personal  politics." 

Nearly  all  are  agreed  that  wide  ac- 
quaintanceship is  the  chief  factor  in  a 
primary  aspirant's  success,  especially 
for  nominations  that  attract  minor  at- 
tention. An  "easy"  name  counts  for 
much,  and  a  well-known  name  for  more. 
The  name  of  the  Republican  nominee 
for  railway  commissioner  is  the  same, 
with  the  exception  of  the  middle  initial, 
as  that  of  the  gubernatorial  nominee. 
Some  careful  students  of  politics  be- 
lieve he  was  the  beneficiary  of  the  ex- 
tensive advertising  of  the  latter.  The 
name  of  the  nominee  for  secretary  of 
state  is  Kennedy,  which  is  also  that  of 
a  man  who  made  an  intensive  campaign 
for  the  United  States  senatorial  nom- 
ination in  1918,  and  that  of  a  well- 
known  lawyer  and  former  state  official. 
One  wonders  all  the  more,  in  view  of 
these  facts,  why  it  would  not  be  easy 
for  selfish  interests  to  "direct"  the  pri- 
mary, and,  at  least  temporarily,  en- 
trench themselves  in  the  state  govern- 
ment. 

There  is  wide  agreement  that  the 
newspapers  exercise  little  influence  on 
the  primary.  A  leading  editorial 
writer  says  that  they  are  not  living  up 
to  their  opportunities  in  this  respect. 
The  reasons  are  that  the  Nebraska 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[November 


public  generally  does  not  seem  to 
relish  newspaper  advice  on  politics, 
that  it  is  difficult  for  an  editor  to  be 
sure  that  he  is  backing  the  right  man, 
and  chiefly,  especially  with  the  smaller 
papers,  that  the  desire  to  secure  adver- 
tising patronage  from  all  aspirants 
and  an  unwillingness  to  offend  any  or 
to  furnish  free  what  might  be  made  a 
source  of  revenue,  weigh  heavily. 

REGULATION  OF  EXPENDITURES 

One  of  the  most  frequently  heard 
objections  to  the  primary  is  the  ex- 
pense it  involves  in  making  a  promising 
campaign.  It  is  probable  that  for  the 
less  important  offices  expenditures  are 
considered  extravagant  and  burden- 
some here  that  would  be  considered 
reasonable  and  proper  in  many  states. 
But  a  prominent  newspaper  man  says 
one  can  hardly  be  prepared  to  under- 
take a  campaign  for  the  governorship 
(including  perhaps  primary  and  elec- 
tion) with  less  than  $40,000  in  his 
pocket.  It  is  reported  on  excellent 
authority  that  there  was  spent  in  the 
interest  of  the  Republican  nominee  for 
governor  this  year  the  sum  of  $50,000. 
Lower  estimates  are  $15,000  to  $20,000. 
For  each  of  three  or  four  other  con- 
testants in  the  state  and  national  field 
the  expenditures  must  have  reached  at 
least  $10,000  to  $15,000.  A  person 
well  acquainted  in  Omaha  believes 
several  thousand  dollars  from  various 
sources  were  spent  in  backing  certain 
candidates  for  sheriff. 

The  legal  situation  regarding  elec- 
tion expenditures  is  peculiar.  In  1899 
a  stringent  limitation  and  publicity 
measure  was  enacted.  It  contemplated 
outlay  for  only  personal  expenses  as  in 
travel,  and  expenses  for  public  meet- 
ings, and  limited  expenditures  for  these 
purposes  to  about  $1,000  for  state-wide 
candidacy.  In  1915  congressional 
candidates  were  exempted  from  the 
regulations  limiting  expenditures,  and 


perhaps  also  those  requiring  publicity. 
The  proviso  was  added  also  for  all 
candidates,  that  expenditures  for  sta- 
tionery and  postage,  for  writing  and 
printing  and  distributing  letters,  cir- 
culars and  posters,  and  for  telegraph 
and  telephone  service,  should  not  be 
regarded  as  expenditures  within  the 
meaning  of  the  law  and  need  not  be 
shown  in  the  expense  accounts  required 
to  be  filed.  Candidates  seem  to  inter- 
pret the  law  about  as  they  please,  al- 
though perhaps  the  majority  regard  the 
cost  of  newspaper  advertising  and  of 
hiring  personal  services  as  required  to 
be  returned  and  to  be  kept  within  the 
limitations  as  to  amount.  There  is  ab- 
solutely no  limit  to  the  amount  that 
may  be  legally  devoted  to  many  com- 
mon forms  of  expenditure.  Rather 
strangely,  this  legislation  of  1915  seems 
to  have  caused  little  adverse  comment. 
No  expenses  are  filed  which  run  above 
a  thousand  dollars. 

The  really  serious  defects  of  the  pri- 
mary, if  indeed  they  can  be  regarded 
as  peculiar  to  the  primary  system,  are 
its  failure  to  develop  responsible  and 
capable  leadership,  and  the  unwilling- 
ness of  qualified  and  public-spirited 
men  to  ask  for  office  through  this  form 
of  popular  election. 

The  primary  in  Nebraska,  as  else- 
where, offers  an  opportunity  for  the 
voters  to  take  active  control  of  their 
parties  and  their  nominees  when  they 
desire  earnestly  to  do  so.  It  operates 
here  in  an  unusually  favorable  environ- 
ment as  compared  with  many  other 
states,  and  consequently  the  oppor- 
tunity is  seizable  with  much  less 
exertion.  It  is  the  writer's  opinion 
that  practically  the  entire  population 
of  the  state  could  have  readily  united 
in  fighting  the  utilities,  which  were 
largely  foreign;  that  smaller  business 
is  now  economically  in  the  saddle,  es- 
pecially banking  business,  and  is 
roughly  content  with  the  primary 


1922] 


CIVIC  DRAMATISTS 


379 


system.  Some  form  of  responsible 
recommendation  would  probably  be 
an  improvement  here  if  the  short 
ballot  cannot  be  achieved.  From 
Omaha  comes  the  opinion  that  the 


direct  primary  had  little  effect  upon 
the  old  regular  officeholders.  "They 
still  are  entrenched  in  their  places  as 
a  rule,  and  have  little  difficulty  hang- 
ing on." 


WANTED:  CIVIC  DRAMATISTS 

THE  PLACE  OF  THE  MOVIES  IN  EDUCATION  FOR  DEMOCRACY 

BY  CLINTON  ROGERS  WOODRUFF 


WILL  H.  HAYS,  "the  Sir  Galahad  of 
Motion  Pictures,"  as  a  writer  in  an 
Unitarian  weekly  recently  called  him,  is 
authority  for  the  statement  that  about 
15,000,000  people  go  to  the  movies  in 
this  country  every  twenty-four  hours; 
that  there  are  18,000  motion  picture 
theatres,  with  a  seating  capacity  of 
more  than  8,000,000  in  the  United 
States;  that  these  people  spend  at  least 
$800,000,000  a  year  in  admissions; 
that  somewhat  less  than  50  per  cent  of 
the  attendance  on  motion  pictures  is 
by  children.  Whatever  the  figures 
there  is  no  question  that  the  motion 
picture  audiences  represent  the  great- 
est field  of  opportunity  the  country 
now  affords,  far  exceeding  those  afforded 
by  Chautauquas,  forums,  lyceums  or 
lecture  associations.  If  these  great, 
persistently  great,  audiences  can  be 
reached  in  the  interest  of  higher  civic 
ideals  and  can  be  utilized  to  develop  a 
sound  civic  pride  in  worth  while  move- 
ments and  developments,  then  there  is 
no  limit  to  their  possibilities  of  use- 
fulness. 

HEALTH    PROPAGANDA   IN   MICHIGAN 

Much  has  already  been  done  in  the 
utilization  of  the  silver  screen  in  the 
education  of  public  opinion,  but  it  has 
been  along  much  more  restricted  lines 
than  is  afforded  by  the  utilization  of 
the  regular  movie  houses.  Maude  Van 


Syckle  tells  a  wonderful  story  of  how 
motion  pictures  were  utilized  in  a 
health  educational  propaganda.  While 
attending  the  Mississippi  Valley  Con- 
ference on  Tuberculosis  at  Des  Moines 
she  saw  a  demonstration  of  health 
films  and  the  possibilities  of  their  use 
in  local  work.  On  her  return  she 
recommended  to  the  Detroit  Junior 
Red  Cross  and  the  Tuberculosis  Society, 
of  which  she  was  the  executive  secre- 
tary, that  their  peculiar  educational 
value  be  taken  advantage  of  in  their 
educational  campaigns.  This  was  done, 
and  extensive  use  has  been  made  in 
Detroit  and  Wayne  county  of  exhibi- 
tions of  motion  picture  films  by  these 
organizations.  The  results  have  been 
astonishingly  gratifying  and  prove  the 
success  of  this  way  of  presenting  health 
propaganda. 

These  societies  first  utilized  films  in 
the  modern  health  crusade  work  which 
was  being  introduced  in  the  city  and 
county  schools.  An  operator  was  em- 
ployed who  arranged  for  exhibitions  in 
schools,  mothers'  clubs,  normal  schools, 
churches,  parochial  schools,  industrial 
clubs  and  factories.  Permission  was 
obtained  to  display  the  films  at  a 
monthly  meeting  of  the  medical 
society,  at  which  was  also  exhibited  a 
film  on  the  diagnosis  of  tuberculosis, 
borrowed  from  the  United  States 
Public  Health  Service.  She  also  se- 


380 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[November 


cured  the  co-operation  of  the  Detroit 
Chapter  American  Red  Cross,  whose 
nurses  exhibited  the  reels  in  the  county 
schools,  in  churches,  granges  and 
mothers'  clubs  and  in  the  chain  of 
clinics  conducted  by  the  Red  Cross 
jointly  with  her  society  throughout 
Wayne  County.  At  the  county  fair, 
the  reels  were  shown  nightly  in  the 
exhibit  of  the  Tuberculosis  Society. 
At  the  state  fair,  they  were  shown 
nightly  in  the  Red  Cross  tent. 

Next  the  interest  of  the  Michigan 
Motion  Picture  Exhibitors'  Associa- 
tion was  solicited  and  obtained.  They 
agreed  to  exhibit  free  of  charge,  two 
copies  of  each  of  four  reels  on  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  days  in  all  the 
picture  theatres  whose  program  ran 
weekly,  with  a  further  display  after- 
ward throughout  Wayne  county  and 
Michigan.  The  Association  arranged 
all  necessary  details  in  distributing, 
delivering  and  collecting  the  films  and 
keeping  them  in  repair.  The  initial 
cost  of  the  films  was  paid  by  the  Tuber- 
culosis Society  and  the  Junior  Red 
Cross  and  a  legend  to  this  effect  ap- 
peared as  a  trailer  to  each  reel.  The 
publicity  secured  by  the  exhibition  of 
these  films  in  this  city  of  a  million 
population  through  the  various  agen- 
cies described  has  been  of  the  greatest 
value  in  health  education,  and  Miss 
Van  Syckle  declares  an  equal  amount 
could  not  be  obtained  in  any  other  way 
except  at  an  enormous  cost. 


Leslie  W.  Sprague,  of  the  Commu- 
nity Motion  Picture  Bureau  (Industrial 
Section)  is  authority  for  the  statement 
that  the  collection  of  available  health 
films  is  steadily  increasing.  He 
points  out  that  under  subjects  of  gen- 
eral interest  the  motion  picture  is 
capable  of  presenting  appealingly  facts 
relating  to  the  care  and  caution  which 
must  be  shown  by  all  citizens  in  order 


to  observe  necessary  sanitary  rules  and 
to  keep  themselves  in  proper  health; 
that  under  subjects  of  needed  reform 
in  public  health  it  will  be  effective 
in  promoting  and  dominating  public 
opinion,  and  through  an  awakened 
public  opinion  secure  necessary  appro- 
priations for  the  furtherance  of  general 
health. 

Where  and  how  to  use  motion  pic- 
tures for  public  health  purposes  are 
questions  which  must  be  answered  by 
and  for  each  community  in  accordance 
with  local  conditions.  A  motion  pic- 
ture theatre  is  often  available  for  spe- 
cial programs  of  general  community 
interest.  Health  films  are  often  shown 
by  theaters  in  connection  with  their 
recreational  programs.  For  the  de- 
sired result,  however,  Mr.  Sprague  be- 
lives  it  to  be  a  wise  plan  to  use  the 
theater  to  present  a  full  program  in 
the  interest  of  some  specific  health 
need  and  to  invite  the  citizens  to  view 
the  pictures  without  charge.  Brief 
addresses  by  health  experts  will  give 
an  added  interest  and  effectiveness  to 
the  films  that  are  shown. 

In  communities  where  there  is  no 
motion  picture  theater  available  for 
health  propaganda,  (although  there 
are  now  very  few  such)  it  is  always 
possible  to  use  a  church,  a  school  audi- 
torium or  a  hall — even  the  streets — 
for  the  projection  of  health  programs. 
Not  the  least  effective  means  of  reach- 
ing the  particular  elements  of  a  com- 
munity most  in  need  of  an  awakened 
interest  is  found  to  be  the  projection 
of  rightly  organized  health  programs 
in  parks  or  streets  where  the  many 
congregate  on  summer  evenings. 

FIRE   PROTECTION   CAMPAIGNS 

By  a  combination  of  these  and  other 
means,  it  is  not  impossible  with  motion 
pictures  to  bring  to  the  citizens  of  any 
community  health  interests  of  timely 
vital  importance.  With  equal  force 


1922] 


CIVIC  DRAMATISTS 


381 


the  same  may  be  said  with  regard  to 
other  essential  civic  activities.  They 
have  been  most  effectively  used  in  fire 
protection  campaigns. 

"An  Unbeliever  Convinced"  is  the 
title  of  a  two  reel  moving  picture  which 
the  Essanay  Film  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany completed  for  the  Underwriters 
Laboratories.  This  is  believed  to  be 
one  of  the  most  telling  pictures  of  its 
kind  ever  produced.  Through  the 
co-operation  of  the  bureau  of  fire  pre- 
vention and  public  safety  and  of  the 
fire  and  police  departments  of  the  city 
of  Chicago,  there  were  staged  and  pho- 
tographed many  scenes  which  it  is 
quite  impossible  to  provide  in  a  com- 
mercial moving  picture.  The  result  is 
a  comprehensive,  convincing  sermon 
on  fire  protection.  The  hazard  of  poor 
house-keeping  is  portrayed;  the  crime 
of  depending  on  a  single  wooden  stair- 
way as  the  only  means  of  egress  from 
upper  floors  is  illustrated;  the  danger 
of  smoking  in  an  industrial  plant  is 
emphasized;  the  probable  consequences 
of  hanging  workroom  doors  to  open 
inward  are  pictured;  the  importance 
of  co-operation  with  institutions,  organ- 
izations and  officials  engaged  in  safety 
work  is  shown  in  ways  that  are  im- 
pressive and  convincing. 

Thrilling  action  runs  through  the 
film  from  the  start.  This  includes 
striking  scenes  of  a  great  fire  depart- 
ment in  action;  and  it  all  hinges  around 
the  experiences  of  the  two  principal 
actors  in  the  picture,  thus  adding  a 
dignified  element  of  heart  interest  that 
is  bound  to  prove  appealing  and 
effective. 

The  picture  has  been  furnished  to 
public  officials  and  others  for  use  at 
fire  protection  and  safety  first  meetings 
and  has  been  instrumental  in  educating 
public  opinion  on  the  whole  subject  of 
fire  prevention,  and  the  individual 
citizen's  responsibility  in  connection 
therewith.  Not  long  since  the  Munici- 


pal Reference  Library  of  New  York 
(Municipal  Building)  published  a  list 
of  the  sources  from  which  may  be  ob- 
tained lantern  slides  for  use  in  connec- 
tion with  the  observance  of  fire  pre- 
vention day. 

In  this  connection  it  is  interesting  to 
note  that  through  the  courtesy  of  the 
New  York  fire  department,  the  Under- 
writers' Laboratories  purchased  the 
moving  picture  known  as  "The  Locked 
Door"  for  use  by  those  co-operating 
with  the  Laboratories  in  the  promo- 
tion of  proper  standards  for  protection 
against  fire  and  accident.  This  pic- 
ture, which  was  made  by  the  Vita- 
graph  Company,  a  three-reel  feature  of 
a  highly  interesting  character,  is  a  fire- 
protection  story  that  has  proved  ex- 
ceedingly effective  wherever  the  film 
has  been  exhibited. 

"THE  FINGER  OF  JUSTICE" 

Motion  pictures  have  been  utilized 
in  an  entirely  different  field  and  with 
great  success.  Some  years  ago  Paul 
Smith  was  the  pastor  of  a  Methodist 
Church  in  San  Francisco.  One  day 
there  came  a  modest  demand  for  a 
neighborhood  clean-up.  The  revela- 
tions that  that  demand,  almost  over 
night,  brought  in  his  Methodist  parish 
in  San  Francisco  turned  a  small  crusade 
into  a  statewide  fight  for  the  suppres- 
sion of  a  revolting  vice  condition. 
Investigations  revealed  not  only  the 
vice  conditions  themselves — commer- 
cialized vice,  illicit  liquor  sales  and 
gambling — but  an  elaborate  system  of 
police  protection.  Dr.  Smith  found 
himself  at  the  head  of  the  army  of 
decency.  On  the  other  side  were 
deeply  intrenched  political  forces. 

It  was  a  melodramatic  fight.  In  the 
thick  of  it  one  day  hundreds  of  women 
of  the  underworld  stormed  Central 
Church  and  demanded  of  the  pastor 
what  was  to  become  of  them.  He  met 
the  situation  firmly  and  talked  to  them 


382 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[November 


sensibly.  Then  came  a  big  mass  meet- 
ing, so  crowded  that  2,000  persons 
came  and  were  denied  admission. 
There  was  a  demand  for  a  clean-up. 
It  was  the  turning  point  of  the  fight. 
It  resulted  in  the  appointment  of  a 
Morals  Squad  of  policemen  with  in- 
structions to  close  the  barbary  coast 
and  the  uptown  tenderloin  and  to  give 
the  city  a  thorough  cleaning.  In  a 
period  of  two  hours,  206  barbary  coast 
vice  resorts  with  1,400  inmates  were 
closed.  But  the  clean-up  left  Cali- 
fornia with  the  question  that  the  wom- 
en themselves  had  propounded  when 
they  visited  the  Central  Methodist 
Church:  What  was  to  be  done  with 
them?  Dr.  Smith  took  up  their  cause 
as  earnestly  as  he  had  taken  up  the 
fight  against  vice.  He  stumped  the 
state  in  the  interest  of  a  rehabilitation 
farm  for  them.  It  was  during  this  cru- 
sade that  the  motion  picture  idea  came 
to  Dr.  Smith :  If  the  whole  story  of  the 
California  situation  could  be  told  in  a 
film  it  would  in  itself  be  a  powerful 
argument.  Once  he  had  the  conviction 
he  set  to  work.  He  found  friends  who 
were  willing  to  finance  the  venture. 
He  rented  a  studio  at  San  Rafael.  He 
employed  a  director  and  a  company 
and  "The  Finger  of  Justice  "  was  made. 
It  has  spoken  its  message  from  screens 
in  almost  every  state  in  the  Union  and 
in  other  countries. 

This  success  of  "The  Finger  of  Jus- 
tice" gave  birth  to  another  idea  with 
Dr.  Smith.  He  had  seen  just  what 
problems  the  churches  had  faced  in  get- 
ting films  suitable  for  their  use.  The 
fact  that  he  had  produced  just  what  he 
wanted  for  his  cause  led  him  to  believe 
that  the  churches  could  produce  just 
what  they  wanted.  Dr.  Smith  be- 
lieves that  there  is  another  mission  in 
which  the  motion  picture  can  aid 
greatly.  The  spirit  of  service  to-day 
calls  the  church  to  a  new  place  in  com- 
munity life.  Both  in  the  rural  and 


industrial  community  the  church  must 
provide  a  larger  part  of  the  social  and 
civic  life  than  it  has  in  the  past.  The 
clergy  have  realized  this  for  many 
years,  though  perhaps  not  so  fully  as 
since  the  war.  The  abolition  of  the 
saloon  had  increased  this  responsibility 
of  the  churches.  Upon  them  mast 
rest  the  burden,  not  only  of  providing 
a  substitute  meeting  place,  but  of  offer- 
ing clean,  wholesome  social  contacts 
for  such  gatherings  that  by  their  friend- 
liness will  make  the  church  the  com- 
munity center.  The  motion  picture 
has  proved  the  most  popular  form  of 
recreation  in  America.  If  the  Churches 
endeavor  to  furnish  recreation  as  well 
as  religious  teaching  and  worship  as 
its  part  of  the  community  program, 
the  film  must  have  a  conspicuous  part. 

HOUSING   PICTURES 

Housing  is  another  field  wherein  the 
motion  picture  has  been  widely  and 
effectively  used.  Illustrations  of  what 
has  been  done  in  different  communi- 
ties both  here  and  abroad  have  been 
compiled  in  cinema  form  by  the  Com- 
munity Motion  Picture  Bureau  of  New 
York  which  has  a  number  of  reels 
available  for  all  who  care  to  know  how 
housing  problems  have  been  met  and 
overcrowding  relieved. 

Among  the  first  to  undertake  the 
building  of  the  so-called  model  cities 
was  England,  possibly  because  she  had 
her  Ruskin  before  America  developed 
her  Emergency  Fleet  Corporation 
which  by  the  way,  put  through  some 
excellent  housing  plans  during  the  war. 
Letchworth  was  the  first  English  gar- 
den city,  and  Port  Sunlight,  the  Lever 
Brothers  project,  has  since  come  into 
fame.  The  Bureau's  films  show  not 
only  these  cities,  but  others  constructed 
in  England  and  Scotland  during  the 
war.  They  then  take  up  the  housing 
accomplishments  in  this  country,  at 
Sun  Hill  and  Yorkship,  near  Camden, 


1922] 


CIVIC  DRAMATISTS 


383 


N.  J.,  at  Atlantic  Heights,  Portsmouth 
and  at  South  Jacksonville,  Fla.;  at 
Newburgh,  N.  Y.,  and  at  Clyde,  Cal. 
Governmental,  municipal  and  indus- 
trial activity  in  these  places  has  re- 
sulted in  attractive  and  healthy  quar- 
ters for  workmen. 

There  are  also  pictures  of  the  apart- 
ments of  the  Froebel  League  of  New 
York  and  statistics  to  show  that  the 
corporation  which  erected  these  ex- 
traordinarily attractive  buildings  gets 
a  net  income  of  between  6  and  7  per 
cent  on  the  investment;  and  the  rent 
for  a  five-room  apartment  is  something 
under  $10  per  week.  If  the  motion 
pictures  can  bring  us  such  strange  and 
wonderful  news  as  that,  surely  their 
frivolous  ways  may  be  forgiven  and 
their  existence  justified  on  one  count. 

MAKES  SCENARIO  FROM  ANNUAL  REPORT 

Roscoe  D.  Wyatt,  the  Manager  of 
the  San  Jose,  Cal.,  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, conceived  the  idea  of  drama- 
tizing his  annual  report  and  so  he 
prepared  a  scenario  bearing  the  title 
"In  the  Valley  of  Heart's  Delight. 
Annual  Report  of  the  San  Jose  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce,  1919-1920.  A  Novel 
Visualized  Presentation  Conceived  and 
Supervised  by  Roscoe  D.  Wyatt." 

The  film  was  2,400  feet  long,  and 
depicted  in  entertaining  form  the  va- 
ried activities  of  the  Chamber  during 
the  year.  In  preparing  the  scenario 
and  film  pictures,  it  was  kept  con- 
stantly in  mind  that  the  story  was  to 
be  an  annual  report  from  first  to  last, 
not  an  advertisement  of  the  many 
scenic  and  other  attractions  of  the  city 
and  the  valley.  However,  so  wide  and 
varied  had  been  the  doings  of  the  Cham- 
ber during  the  year  that  without  inter- 
fering with  the  continuity  of  the  theme, 
the  scope  of  the  annual  report  per- 
mitted the  introduction  of  most  of  the 
scenic  features. 


There  was  shown  on  the  screen  in 
appropriate  places  pictures  of  the 
city's  public  buildings;  several  modern 
grammar  schools  and  the  new  school 
buildings  under  construction  by  means 
of  a  bond  issue  which  the  Chamber 
helped  to  put  over;  of  typical  city  and 
country  homes;  of  business  blocks  and 
busy  street  scenes;  of  new  industrial 
concerns  brought  into  the  city  through 
the  Chamber  and  of  some  of  the  38 
large  fruit,  vegetable  and  berry  can- 
neries in  the  city  and  country.  There 
were  also  included  the  famous  Lick 
Observatory  at  the  summit  of  Mount 
Hamilton  nearby;  the  State  Normal 
School,  with  its  picturesque  old  mis- 
sion architecture;  the  University  of 
Santa  Clara,  the  College  of  the  Pa- 
cific, the  Stanford  University;  stretches 
of  the  800  miles  of  paved  highway 
in  the  valley,  including  65  miles  lined 
with  orchards  on  both  sides. 

TWO   PAMPHLETS 

Ina  Clement  of  New  York,  has  pre- 
pared two  pamphlets  which  show  in 
striking  detail  what  has  been  done 
in  the  field  of  "Visualizing  Citizen- 
ship" (the  title  of  one)  and  in  the  field 
of  "Teaching  Citizenship  via  the 
Movies  "  (the  title  of  the  other) .  They 
were  published  by  the  New  York 
Municipal  Reference  Library  which 
realized  the  use  to  which  motion  pic- 
tures might  be  put  by  cities  in  awaken- 
ing public  interest  in  civic  affairs.  The 
main  attempt  in  both  these  reports  was 
to  list  the  best  motion  picture  films 
available  for  use  by  municipalities, 
classified  by  civic  subjects,  and  giving 
definite  information  as  to  the  source  of 
each.  It  has  been  of  use  to  many  cities, 
civic  organizations  and  to  schools,  as  a 
source  list  of  such  films. 

PUSHING   THE   CITY    PLAN 

Chicago  has  perhaps  gone  further 
than  any  other  American  city  in  its 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[November 


persistent  propaganda  for  a  definite 
city  plan  and  perhaps  further  than  any 
other  in  utilizing  the  motion  pictures. 
Its  most  ambitious  project  was  some 
years  ago  when  it  sought  to  screen  the 
city  in  a  film  entitled  "A  Tale  of  One 
City"  dedicated  to  the  Chicago  Plan. 
Here  is  how  its  initial  production  was 
described  by  a  enthusiastic  reporter 
in  The  Herald: 

Chicago  as  a  movie  actor  made  its  debut  last 
night  in  the  two-reel  film,  "Tale  of  One  City" 
dedicated  to  the  Chicago  Plan.  A  part  of  the 
2,000,000  actors  who  made  up  the  cast  were 
there  as  audience.  The  house  was  sold  out  and 
city,  county  and  state  officials  occupying  boxes 
gave  color  to  the  city's  debut  on  the  screen. 

The  singing  of  "Hail  Chicago"  by  the  audi- 
ence preceded  the  first  reel  of  Chicago's  greatness 
and  future  greatness  in  picture.  "The  Star- 
Spangled  Banner"  was  the  close.  Laughable 
incidents  in  the  Ghetto,  moonlight  yatching  on 
the  lake,  night  maneuvers  of  fire  tugs  in  the  face 
of  flames  were  all  a  part  of  this  film,  devised  to 
herald  to  the  world  how  big  Chicago  is  striving 
to  make  itself  grow  bigger,  better,  more  systemat- 
ic and  more  pleasing  to  the  eye.  Reproductions 
of  the  widened  Twelfth  street,  the  reconstructed 
river  front,  the  transformed  lake  front,  the  wid- 
ened boulevard  in  Michigan  avenue,  were  all 
thrown  on  the  screen  as  contrasted  with  the  pres- 
ent condition,  inspiring  outbursts  of  civic  pride 
and  approbation. 

'The  Tale  of  One  City'  with  all  its  realism  has 
the  punch  that's  keeping  every  movie  director 
awake  these  nights,"  was  the  comment  of  a 
theatrical  man  after  viewing  its  first  night. 

ARE  CIVIC  DRAMATISTS  NEEDED? 

All  I  have  thus  far  reported  may  be 
interesting  to  those  who  are  concerned 
for  the  welfare  of  our  cities,  but  to  what 
extent  is  the  caption:  "Wanted — 
Civic  Dramatists"  justified? 

We  are  told  by  that  thoughtful  and 
delightful  publicist,  my  one  time  class- 
mate, Dickinson  S.  Miller,  who  by  the 
way  is  a  professor  in  the  General 
Theological  Seminary,  that 

A  certain  deep-seated  vice  or  weakness  of 
democracy  was  pointed  out  long  ago.  It  is  that 
for  the  individual,  democracy  is  uninteresting. 
Taken  by  himself  alone,  he  has  so  little  power 
that  it  seems  to  him  unimportant  whether  he 


exercises  it  or  not.  To  Frederick  or  Napoleon 
the  business  of  government  was  interesting.  It 
was  creative  work  on  a  colossal  scale.  He  could 
see  his  own  strokes  shaping  a  nation.  His  ma- 
terial, of  course  was  more  or  less  intractable  but 
still  it  again  and  again  was  fashioned  to  his  pur- 
pose. To  govern  is,  for  a  despot,  an  exciting 
occupation.  To  exercise  the  elective  franchise  of 
a  single  citizen  under  democracy  is  not  exciting. 
Nothing  can  make  the  citizen  believe  that  it  is  a 
vital  matter  whether  he,  as  a  single  unit,  casts 
his  vote  or  not  or  even  for  whom  he  casts  it. 

Government  can  be  made  just  as 
interesting,  even  exciting,  if  that  is 
essential  for  the  average  voter,  as  it 
can  be  for  the  despot.  The  issues  are 
just  as  great,  for  government  means  so 
much  more  now  than  it  did  in  the  days 
of  the  despot. 

It  is  something  more  than  wars  and 
rumors  of  war,  something  more  than 
boundary  lines  and  questions  of  suc- 
cession. It  is  a  matter  of  life  and 
death,  of  joy  and  comfort,  but  the 
average  voter  must  be  made  to  see  all 
this, — he  must  have  a  vision.  Three 
men  were  laying  bricks.  Each  was 
asked  what  he  was  doing.  The  first 
replied  that  he  was  "just  laying 
bricks."  The  second  said  he  was 
"working  for  so  many  dollars  a  day." 
The  third  answered  "I  am  building  a 
cathedral." 

Our  problem  is  to  get  the  message 
of  the  possibilities  of  our  modern  de- 
mocracy to  the  people.  Wre  must 
inspire  in  them  a  desire  to  build  cities, 
great  and  strong  and  true,  and  as  an 
agency  to  this  end  we  must  use  the 
motion  pictures  not  as  direct  propa- 
ganda films,  such  as  have  been  so  far 
described  herein,  with  an  exception  or 
two,  but  through  the  real  dramatiza- 
tion of  the  great  issues  and  ideas  in- 
volved. We  need  civic  dramatists  to 
see  and  reproduce  the  truly  dramatic 
features  of  modern  civic  life. 

A  few  nights  ago  I  saw  the  film 
"The  Moonlight  Sonata  "  a  truly  beau- 
tiful one.  It  told  the  story  of  how 
Beethoven,  the  master,  happening  to 


1922] 


REPORTS  ON  FUNDED  DEBT  OF  CITIES 


385 


hear  some  one  playing  his  scores,  dis- 
covered tli  at  it  was  a  timid  blind  girl 
who  was  at  the  piano.  He  went  in 
and  after  playing  for  her  tried  to  tell 
her  the  story  of  the  beauties  of  the 
night  without.  Words  failed  him  and 
then  he  turned  to  the  piano  and  in 
those  gloriously  beautiful  tones,  never 
to  be  forgotten,  played  for  her  the 
glories  of  the  stars,  the  moon,  the 
whole  heaven  and  the  forest  under  the 
moonlight.  And  so  the  Moonlight 
Sonata  came  into  being.  The  au- 
dience viewed  the  film,  accompanied 


as  it  was  by  the  music,  spellbound  and 
when  it  was  finished,  broke  into  tumul- 
tuous applause — the  only  applause  of 
the  evening  in  a  program  of  unusual 
merit. 

That  is  what  the  people  want,  the 
beauties,  the  glories,  the  possibilities  of 
modern  life  and  civilization,  made  real. 

Where  are  the  civic  dramatists  who 
can  do  this  thing?  If  Will  H.  Hays 
can  find  and  develop  them  and  give  to 
them  the  necessary  opportunity  he  will 
indeed  be  entitled  to  be  enrolled  as  a 
benefactor  of  America. 


REVIEW  OF  REPORTS  ON  FUNDED  DEBT 

OF  CITIES 


BY  C.  E.  RIGHTOR 

Detroit  Bureau  of  Governmental  Research,  Inc. 


A  Report  upon  the  Community's  Outstanding 
Debt.  By  the  Cleveland  Municipal  Re- 
search Bureau;  June,  1922. 

A  Survey  of  the  Bonded  Debt  and  the  Operation 
of  the  Sinking  Fund.  By  the  Minneapolis 
Bureau  of  Municipal  Research;  March,  1922. 

The  Bonded  Debt  of  St.  Paul.  By  the  St.  Paul 
Bureau  of  Municipal  Research;  July,  1922. 

Duluth's  Bonded  Debt.  By  the  Taxpayers' 
League  of  St.  Louis  County  (Duluth); 
February,  1922. 

A  Study  of  the  Financial  and  Accounting  Offices 
of  Kansas  City.  By  the  Kansas  City  Public 
Service  Institute;  February,  1922. 

Budget  Facts  and  Financial  Statistics.  By  the 
Multnomah  County  (Portland,  Oregon)  Tax 
Supervising  and  Conservation  Commission 
(an  official  bureau);  March,  1922. 

THE  facts  brought  out  in  these  re- 
ports of  bureaus  of  municipal  research 
on  bonded  debt,  debt  incurring  limits, 
sinking  fund  deficits,  proposed  and 
adopted  remedies  to  eliminate  these 
deficits  and  prevent  future  mismanage- 
ment of  the  public  debt,  evidence  the 
increasing  popular  interest  in  these 


subjects.  The  work  of  the  several 
bureaus  in  effecting  economies  for  hard 
pressed  taxpayers  to-day  proves  the 
service  such  agencies  are  rendering  in 
contributing  toward  a  new  area  of  safe 
and  sane  financing. 

CLEVELAND'S  CONDITION 

The  Cleveland  Bureau  recites  that 
examination  was  made  of  the  city's 
bonded  debt  as  of  January  1, 1920,  and 
again  on  January  1,  1922. 

In  the  first  study  it  was  found  that 
bonds  had  been  issued  for  excessive 
terms,  and  bond  funds  had  been  ex- 
pended for  current  expenses.  An  actu- 
arial study  of  the  general  sinking  fund 
showed  a  shortage  of  $6,121,083,  or  50 
per  cent,  and  the  city  was  piling  up 
huge  annual  deficits.  The  Bureau  at 
that  time  recommended  bringing  up 
the  sinking  fund  to  its  actuarial  basis 
by  a  $700,000  annual  tax  levy.  This 
policy  was  adopted.  The  Bureau  also 
recommended  that  proceeds  of  bond 


386 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[November 


sales  should  be  expended  only  for  capi- 
tal improvements,  and  the  term  of 
bonds  be  limited  to  the  estimated  life 
of  the  improvements,  as  provided  in 
the  New  Jersey  law  of  1916,  and  that 
only  serial  bonds  be  issued.  These 
recommendations  were  made  effective 
by  the  state  legislature  thru  the  enact- 
ment of  the  Griswold  Act  in  1921. 

In  its  second  study,  the  Cleveland 
Bureau  found  that  on  January  1,  1922, 
conditions  were  relatively  worse  than 
in  1020,  due  to  delinquent  tax  pay- 
ments, failure  to  levy  a  sufficient 
amount  for  debt  charges,  diversion  of 
sinking  fund  revenues  for  general  fund 
purposes,  and  arrearages  of  special 
assessments  income.  Debt  charges  in 
Cleveland  in  1922  require  32  cents  of 
every  tax  dollar. 

In  Ohio,  due  to  the  complicated 
Smith  "One  Per  Cent  Law"  and  its 
numerous  internal  limitations  and 
amendments,  including  the  Gardner 
Law  which  remedied  conditions  up  to 
1920,  additional  bond  issues  since  1920 
will  not  affect  the  tax  rate  but  will 
reduce  the  amount  of  available  funds 
for  operation.  The  law  now  results  in 
a  "free  for  all"  by  the  city,  schools, 
and  county  for  available  tax  money,  as 
the  county  is  the  unit  of  taxation,  and 
there  are  no  fixed  tax  limits  for  the 
subdivisions. 

Conditions  now  point  to  the  inability 
of  Cleveland  to  keep  the  sinking  fund 
up  to  actuarial  requirements  unless  an 
additional  $200,000  be  levied  annually. 
The  water  sinking  fund  has  been  put 
on  a  sound  basis,  due  to  the  Bureau's 
recommendation.  The  electricity  and 
school  sinking  funds  are  actuarially 
sound. 

The  concluding  recommendations  of 
the  Cleveland  Bureau  are:  First,  that 
proposed  bond  issues  be  carefully 
scrutinized;  second,  that  the  city  plan 
its  capital  outlay  program  for  a  period 
of  years;  third,  that  the  tax  laws  be 


revamped  by  fixing  limits  of  taxation 
for  each  political  subdivision;  fourth, 
that  debt  charges  be  exempted  from 
the  tax  limit;  and  fifth,  that  the  city 
put  some  of  its  capital  improvements 
on  a  "pay  as  you  go"  basis. 

An  interesting  observation  upon 
Cleveland's  financial  troubles,  though 
not  mentioned  in  the  Bureau  report,  is 
that  some  writers  expect  the  city 
manager  plan,  which  becomes  effective 
in  Cleveland  in  1924,  to  solve  its 
financial  difficulties! 

MINNEAPOLIS    FINDS    HUGE    SHORTAGE 

The  Mineapolis  Bureau  finds  the 
city  approaching  its  bonding  limit,  but 
in  urgent  need  of  major  improvements. 
The  sinking  fund  is  inadequate,  and  no 
financial  policy  is  being  followed. 
Bonds  have  been  issued  for  short-lived 
improvements,  as  school  room  equip- 
ment, and  for  current  operating  defi- 
ciency. The  Bureau's  protests  at  budg- 
et time  had  been  unavailing  until  the 
current  year. 

The  Bureau  ascertained  that,  on  an 
actuarial  basis,  there  was  a  sinking 
fund  shortage  as  of  January  1,  1922,  of 
approximately  $5,000,000  out  of  the 
required  $7,600,000.  Computations 
show  that  the  deficit  will  increase  to 
$6,000,000  by  December  31,  1822. 
The  effect  on  the  price  of  bonds  is  cited. 

In  Minneapolis  the  tax  levy  for 
sinking  fund  purposes  prior  to  1916 
had  been  one  mill;  since  1916,  due 
largely  to  the  Bureau  study  then  made, 
the  levy  was  increased  to  three  mills. 
But  the  Bureau  now  finds  that  even 
this  increased  levy  is  insufficient,  and 
an  additional  annual  levy  is  required. 

As  a  result  of  its  investigation,  the 
Bureau  recommends:  First,  a  law 
similar  to  that  of  New  Jersey  covering 
the  issue  of  bonds, — that  the  character 
of  improvements  shall  be  classified  and 
a  term  of  bonds  prescribed  for  each 
class;  that  no  bonds  shall  be  issued  for 


1922] 


REPORTS  ON  FUNDED  DEBT  OF  CITIES 


387 


current  operation,  and  that  all  bonds 
shall  mature  in  annual  installments; 
second,  that  only  serial  bonds  be  issued 
in  the  future;  third,  that  a  "pay-as-you- 
go"  plan  of  financing  public  improve- 
ments be  adopted ;  fourth,  that  a  three- 
or  five-year  plan  of  improvements  and 
their  cost  be  outlined;  and,  fifth,  that  a 
single  budget  be  adopted,  so  that  all 
improvements  may  be  considered  in 
conjunction  with  the  reqiiest  for  opera- 
tion and  maintenance. 

The  report  also  suggests  courses  for 
the  future  control  of  bond  issues  and 
their  redemption.  The  Minneapolis 
report  is  an  excellent  one,  presenting 
the  material  in  an  orderly  manner, 
with  tables  of  bond  maturities,  interest 
calculations,  etc. 

ST.    PAUL    HAS    BLANKET    LIMIT    ON 
EXPENDITURES 

The  St.  Paul  Bureau  gives  a  clear- 
cut  statement  of  bonds  outstanding, 
debt  limits,  etc.  Of  the  current  tax 
dollar,  19  cents  are  required  for  debt 
services.  The  city's  debt  on  April  1, 
1922,  was  $13,933,600,  of  which  $4,625,- 
600  were  "cash  basis"  bonds  and 
$3,402,000  "refunding"  bonds.  The 
Bureau  concludes,  therefore,  that  ex- 
cept for  poor  financing  in  past  years, 
the  city's  debt  on  that  date  should  be 
but  $5,906,000. 

The  St.  Paul  charter  provides  that 
the  sinking  fund  and  the  redemption 
of  bonds  shall  not  be  included  in  a  $30 
per  capita  limitation  on  municipal 
expenditures.  Interest  charges  are  a 
part  of  the  $30  limitation.  The  effect 
of  future  bond  issues  upon  operating 
costs  and  taxes  is  pointed  out. 

The  sale  of  bonds  by  competitive 
bidding  is  urged,  although  at  least  one 
private  sale  has  been  made.  The 
Bureau  advocates  the  New  Jersey 
procedure  in  borrowing,  by  which  the 
premium  feature  is  eliminated. 

Serial    bonds    are    urged,    and    the 


disadvantages  of  term  bonds  cited  as 
being  that  officials  may  not  levy  a 
sufficient  amount  for  the  sinking  fund, 
or  may  omit  the  levy  in  certain  years, 
as  did  St.  Paul,  and  the  public  officials 
may  not  be  financiers  in  investing  the 
fund.  It  is  asserted  that  the  serial  is 
more  popular  with  the  bond  dealers 
than  the  term  bond,  although  "the 
city  usually  has  to  pay  a  higher  rate  of 
interest  on  serial  bonds,  so  the  cost  of 
the  two  is  approximately  the  same." 

An  actuarial  study  of  the  sinking 
fund  disclosed  assets  amounting  to 
$802,938,  and  a  deficiency  of  $1,163,- 
116.  No  analysis  was  made  of  why 
this  condition  exists.  The  remedy 
proposed  and  being  followed  to  erase 
the  deficit  is  by  revising  the  sinking 
fund  schedule  through  the  next  twenty- 
nine  years,  by  using  the  present  sinking 
fund  to  meet  requirements  so  far  as 
possible,  and  to  recompute  the  sinking 
fund  requirements  on  all  outstanding 
bonds  after  that  time,  on  an  adjusted, 
shorter  term,  basis  for  the  life  of  the 
bonds. 

DULUTH 

The  Duluth  Taxpayers'  League  calls 
attention  to  the  shortcomings  of  the 
financial  policy  of  that  city.  It  is 
asserted  that  at  one  time  in  its  history 
Duluth  defaulted  upon  its  bonds,  and 
this  action  by  any  city  works  a  perma- 
nent handicap  in  future  borrowing. 

The  sinking  fund  was  found  to  be 
deficient,  as  determined  by  an  actuarial 
study,  and  it  w  as  proposed  to  place  it 
upon  a  sound  basis  through  an  annual 
levy  for  a  period  of  years.  The  is- 
suance of  serial  bonds,  only,  is  advo- 
cated. 

PAY-AS-YOU-GO  ADVOCATED  FOR  KANSAS 
CITY 

The  Kansas  City  Bureau  discloses 
that  the  charter  permits  the  issuance 
of  bonds  "for  any  purpose,  of  any 


388 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[November 


nature,  whatsoever,"  and  that  at  pres- 
ent bonds  are  issued  for  a  twenty-year 
period  regardless  of  the  nature  of  the 
improvement,  due  to  a  state  law  fixing 
a  twenty-year  term  as  the  limit. 
Kansas  City  in  1915  issued  $690,000  of 
bonds,  and  on  April  18, 1921,  had  lying 
idle  in  its  treasury  $600,171  of  the 
proceeds. 

It  is  found  that  in  the  past  years 
there  has  been  no  apparent  relation 
between  the  amount  levied  and  the 
requirements  by  actuarial  computation 
for  sinking  fund  purposes.  For  the 
years  1912  through  1915  no  levy  was 
made,  although  over  $2,000,000  general 
bonds  were  outstanding.  A  two-and- 
one-half  mill  levy  for  debt  charges, 
instead  of  actual  needs,  has  resulted  in 
a  deficit  in  the  sinking  fund  on  April 
18,  1921,  of  $1,046,242.  The  required 
accumulation  should  be  $3,584,025, 
but  is  only  $2,537,783.  Of  this  total 
the  general  sinking  fund  deficiency  is 
$649,558,  and  the  water  sinking  fund 
deficiency  $396,684. 

As  a  remedy  for  these  conditions  in 
Kansas  City,  the  Bureau  recommends: 
First,  that  bonds  should  be  issued  only 
for  permanent  improvements;  second, 
that  a  "pay-as-you-go"  policy  should 
be  established.  Many  improvements 
being  financed  by  bonds  should  be 
financed  through  current  income,  al- 
though the  interest  and  sinking  fund 
charges  on  the  bonded  debt  are  not 
included  within  the  ten  mill  state  limits 
on  the  city's  tax  rate.  Third,  it  is 
advocated  that  term  bonds  should  not 
be  for  a  longer  time  than  the  estimated 
life  of  the  improvement;  fourth,  that 
bonds  should  not  be  issued  until  the 
proceeds  are  needed. 

The  Bureau  also  suggests  that  com- 
plete plans  should  be  made  before  any 
bond  proposal  is  submitted  to  the 
voters.  The  present  provision  that  a 
two-thirds  majority  vote  is  necessary 
to  carry  a  bond  issue  is  deemed  of  little 


merit  in  the  absence  of  such  planning. 
It  is  recommended  that  premiums  and 
unused  balances  of  funds  should  be 
placed  in  the  sinking  fund,  whereas  the 
present  policy  is  to  add  the  premium  to 
the  fund  available  for  financing  the 
improvement.  While  the  state  con- 
stitution and  statutes  and  the  city 
charter  require  sinking  fund  bonds,  the 
difficulty  of  administering  the  sinking 
fund  is  given  as  the  chief  argument 
against  the  sinking  fund  method.  A 
sinking  fund  commission  is  advocated, 
rather  than  having  the  controller  ad- 
minister the  fund  as  is  now  required  by 
charter.  Further,  instead  of  deposit- 
ing sinking  fund  cash  in  the  general 
bank  of  the  city,  as  at  present  is  done, 
a  separate  bank  account  is  recom- 
mended. 

To  remedy  the  deficiency  in  the 
sinking  fund,  it  is  found  that  the  two- 
and-one-half  mill  levy  should  be  con- 
tinued even  though  the  assessed  valua- 
tion is  rapidly  increasing,  and  the 
charter  should  require  a  tax  levy  for 
debt  services  based  upon  actuarial 
computations.  The  report  states  that 
the  serial  bond  is  cheaper  than  the 
term  bond,  and  is  being  generally 
advocated,  and  the  necessary  change  is 
advocated  in  the  constitution,  statutes, 
and  city  charter  to  permit  Kansas 
City  to  issue  serial  bonds. 

MULTNOMAH    COMMISSION    SUGGESTS 
STATE   SUPERVISION 

In  addition  to  its  comments  on  the 
1922  budgets,  the  Multnomah  County 
Commission  submits  data  on  the 
county  and  city  indebtedness. 

The  Commission  finds  "that  the 
assets  of  the  general  sinking  fund  of  the 
city  are  considerably  less  than  half 
adequate  to  meet  reserve  requirements ; 
that  assets  of  the  water  sinking  fund 
are  only  slightly  more  than  one-third 
of  the  reserve  requirements;  that  the 
dock  sinking  fund  shows  a  surplus." 


1922] 


REPORTS  ON  FUNDED  DEBT  OF  CITIES 


389 


The  general  sinking  fund  of  the  city  is 
found  to  have  a  deficit  of  $1,832,308  on 
November  30,  1921,  with  obligations 
on  outstanding  bonds  of  $3,135,704. 
The  water  sinking  fund  has  a  deficit  of 
$1,857,644,  with  resourcesof  $1,050,980. 
The  large  deficits  in  the  two  city  sink- 
ing funds  are  due  to  setting  aside 
inadequate  installments  in  past  years. 

The  Commission  has  computed  that 
an  annual  levy  of  $200,000  is  required 
to  recoup  the  general  sinking  fund  to 
adequacy 

As  a  result  of  its  studies,  the  Com- 
mission suggests  that  restrictions  be 
placed  on  local  borrowing  rather  than 
on  taxation;  state  supervision  of  local 


debt,  which  might  go  so  far  as  to  pro- 
hibit any  bond  issue  but  serials;  a 
limitation  of  the  term  of  bonds  to  the 
life  of  the  improvements;  adequate 
sinking  fund  installments  for  existing 
term  bonds;  and  a  bidding  on  the 
interest  rate  rather  than  the  principal 
of  the  bond. 

In  the  case  of  each  of  the  foregoing 
reports  the  title  indicates  the  particular 
phases  of  the  problem  of  financing  the 
municipal  debt  that  are  considered. 
Obviously,  in  such  brief  reports,  cer- 
tain pertinent  facts  and  data  must  be 
omitted,  but  collectively  the  reports 
constitute  a  valuable  addition  to  the 
current  literature  on  the  subject. 


RECENT  BOOKS  REVIEWED 


POPULAR  GOVERNMENT.  By  Arnold  Bennet 
Hall,  J.D.  New  York:  The  Macmillan  Com- 
pany, 1921.  280pp. 

The  thesis  of  this  book  is  that  the  representa- 
tive form  of  government  and  representative 
political  institutions  will  produce  more  nearly 
popular  government  than  will  the  operations  of 
direct  democracy.  This  thesis  the  author  de- 
fends ably,  and  perhaps  more  effectively  than  did 
recently  Alleyn  Ireland  in  Democracy  and  the 
Human  Equation  or  Harry  F.  Atwood  in  Back  to 
the  Republic. 

Accepting  with  generous  quotation  and  ac- 
knowledgment the  definition,  prerequisites,  and 
limitations  of  public  opinion  as  suggested  by 
President  A.  Lawrence  Lowell,  Dr.  Hall  defines 
popular  government  as  "that  form  of  political 
organization  in  which  public  opinion  has  con- 
trol." By  coupling  with  this  major  premise  the 
appropriate  minor  in  each  case, — that  the  con- 
ditions necessary  to  an  adequate  public  opinion 
do  not  prevail  in  the  particular  political  practice 
under  examination, — he  arrives,  in  Chapters 
IV  to  IX,  at  conclusions  unfavorable  to  the  em- 
ployment of  the  direct  primary,  the  presidential 
primary,  the  initiative  and  the  referendum, 
legislative  supremacy,  the  recall  of  judicial  de- 
cisions, and  the  recall  of  public  officers,  as  means 
of  securing  popular  government.  The  last  chap- 
ter strongly  advocates  the  adoption  of  the  short 
ballot  principle. 

Conceding  that  "control  by  public  opinion 
does  not  guarantee  either  the  justice  or  accuracy 
of  the  control,"  but  rather  assures  elements  of 
strength  and  stability  and  "a  definite  tendency 
to  realize  the  aspirations  and  convictions  of  the 
people — an  ample  justification  for  a  democracy 
in  a  country  such  as  ours,"  the  author  presents 
the  fundamental  questions:  "How  may  the  ac- 
curacy and  reliability  of  public  opinion  be  im- 
proved?" and  "How  must  public  opinion  rule  in 
order  to  rule  best?"  In  answering  the  first  ques- 
tion, the  methods  of  improving  the  press,  party 
leadership,  and  the  intellectual  and  philosoph- 
ical equipment  of  the  people,  as  the  chief  forces 
in  creating  public  opinion,  are  discussed  in  Chap- 
ter II. 

In  the  treatment  of  the  direct  primary,  in- 


cluding the  presidential  primary,  so-called,  the 
customary  arguments  are  advanced,  along  with 
the  main  attack: — "such  a  thing  as  public  opin- 
ion on  the  best  candidate  for  most  of  the  offices 
for  whom  [sic]  candidates  are  nominated,  is 
wholly  and  absolutely  impossible."  Conse- 
quently, the  author  favors  the  selection  of 
candidates  by  conventions  of  legally  chosen 
delegates.  Probably  no  one  would  deny  the 
superior  ability  of  a  convention  to  select  good 
candidates,  but  many  would  doubt  the  existence 
of  the  convention's  predominating  interest  in 
doing  so.  One  must  realize  that  the  members  of 
the  ordinary  political  convention  constitute  a 
group  of  persons  possessed  of  fairly  distinct  and 
conscious  interests. 

A  strong  case  is  made  out  for  constitutional 
and  judicial  restraint  of  legislative  power.  The 
author  tends,  however,  to  talk  the  imaginative 
language  of  the  jurists :  "  It  follows,  therefore, 
that  a  people  that  would  govern  themselves 
wisely  should  seek  to  limit  their  own  power  and 
place  restraints  upon  their  own  action" — as  if, 
in  constitutional  conventions,  no  breath  of  fac- 
tion stirs,  no  deep  economic  and  social  group  in- 
terests find  expression.  Of  course,  where  usable 
methods  of  amendment  are  present,  one  cannot 
much  more  reasonably  object  to  a  judicial  review 
of  legislative  action  than  to  such  a  review  of  ad- 
ministrative action. 

This  book  should  be  of  chief  value  to  those 
who  believe  that  the  cure  for  the  ills  of  democ- 
racy is  more  democracy,  and  those,  if  there  are 
any  such,  who  think  that  "democracy"  is  a 
simple  matter  of  letting  the  people  vote  on 
everything.  It  brings  sharply  to  the  reader's 
attention  the  seriousness  of  the  problem  of 
establishing  the  most  efficient  connection  be- 
tween an  electorate  and  its  government. 

What  students  of  political  science  especially 
need,  however,  is  a  sufficiently  detailed  investi- 
gation of  the  facts  to  establish  the  truth  or  fal- 
sity if  possible,  of  contentions  regarding  the  di- 
rect primary,  the  recall  of  public  officers  and  so 
on,  as  well  as  a  thorough  study  of  the  processes 
of  public  opinion,  and  the  psychology  of  an  official 
personnel.  The  book  contains  the  result  of  no 
such  original  investigations. 

RALPH  S.  BOOTS. 


SCO 


1922] 


HOOK  REVIEWS 


391 


OUTLINES  OF  PUBLIC  FINANCE.  By  Merlin 
Harold  Hunter.  New  York:  Harper  Broth- 
ers, 1921. 

The  field  of  public  finance  is  not  very  abun- 
dantly supplied  with  text  books  and  what  text 
books  there  are  have  not  been  altogether  satis- 
factory. One  is  therefore  inclined  to  examine 
with  anxious  hope  the  result  of  each  new  attempt 
to  meet  the  need.  Professor  Hunter's  Outlines 
seems  to  the  reviewer  better  than  some  of  the  re- 
cent texts,  yet  hardly  on  a  par  with  such  stand- 
ard works  as  those  of  Bastable  and  H.  C.  Adams. 
That  the  book  is  comprehensive  in  general  out- 
line, with  hardly  any  matter  falling  within  the 
purview  of  public  finance  seeming  to  be  entirely 
overlooked,  and  with  a  presentation  alternately 
historical,  descriptive  and  analytical,  is  not  a 
cause  for  unmixed  satisfaction.  It  may  be  that 
this  is  the  type  of  book  which  the  market  de- 
mands, the  kind  of  text  that  teachers  of  public 
finance  in  general  desire.  The  reviewer  is  dis- 
tinctly of  the  opinion,  however,  that  students 
would  get  more  real  intellectual  discipline  and 
would  carry  away  more  of  value  to  them  as 
citizens  from  a  book  covering  much  less  ground 
but  analyzing  more  fully  a  few  fundamental 
principles  of  the  subject.  Thus,  while  Professor 
Hunter's  discussion  of  the  shifting  and  incidence 
of  taxation  is  in  the  main  sound  so  far  as  it  goes, 
it  seems  unfortunate  that  in  a  book  of  over  500 
pages  only  20  pages  can  be  spared  for  so  impor- 
tant and  underlying  a  part  of  the  subject  of  pub- 
lic finance.  And  nothing  at  all  appears  to  be 
said  regarding  the  incidence  of  the  excess  profits 
tax  as  such.  The  criticism  here  intended,  how- 
ever, is  not  of  the  author  for  writing  the  kind  of 
book  desired,  but  of  teachers  of  public  finance 
in  general  for  desiring  this  kind  of  book. 

The  book  contains  the  time-worn  arguments 
against  the  single  tax  with  which  conservative 
economists  have  familiarized  us.  Not  only  is  the 
orthodox  single  tax  opposed  but  there  appears 
to  be  no  sympathy  with  the  less  extreme  view 
held  by  many  professional  economists,  e.g., 
Carver,  that  land  should  bear  a  larger  propor- 
tion of  the  total  tax  burden.  One  is  interested 
to  be  told  (pages  367-68)  that  a  piece  of  land  is 
not  particularly  more  a  gift  of  nature  than  is  a 
building  since  the  building  is  made  out  of  clay 


(brick),  oak,  etc.  which  came  from  nature.  But 
has  the  author,  a  professional  teacher  of  econom- 
ics, never  heard  of  the  theory  of  marginal  pro- 
ductivity, in  which  produced  wealth  is  imputed 
in  part  to  each  of  the  so-called  factors  of  pro- 
duction? If  he  has,  he  should  be  able  to  see 
that  there  is  a  sense  in  which  the  land,  apart  from 
improvements,  is  very  much  more  a  gift  of  na- 
ture than  the  building.  Can  the  land  be  in  any 
way  imputed  to  labor? 

Near  the  beginning  of  the  chapter  on  the  single 
tax,  reference  is  made  to  France,  the  physiocrats 
and  the  impdt  unique  of  these  economists. 
Then  occur  the  amazing  statements  that 
"much  was  accomplished  in  putting  the  system 
(the  impot  unique}  into  effect"  and  that 
"the  injustice  became  so  marked,  and  the 
dissatisfaction  so  evident,  that  the  impdt  unique 
was  abandoned."  Does  the  author  mean  to  say 
that  the  reforms  of  Turgot  went  so  far  as  to 
approach  the  impdt  unique?  In  the  Century 
Magazine  for  July,  1890,  in  a  debate  with  Henry 
George  on  the  single  tax,  Mr.  Edward  Atkinson 
made  a  somewhat  similar  statement.  He  said: 
"It  (the  single  tax)  was  presented  more  than  a 
century  since  by  the  economists  of  France  known 
as  the  physiocrats;  it  was  applied  in  France 
under  Turgot,  before  the  French  Revolution, 
with  very  disastrous  results."  In  the  November 
(1890)  number  of  the  same  magazine,  replying 
to  a  communication  from  a  Mr.  James  Middle- 
ton,  Mr.  Atkinson  admitted  that  his  own  state- 
ment had  been  incorrect  and  that  the  single  tax 
had  not  been  tried  in  France.  And  if  it  is  the 
reforms  of  Turgot  which  Professor  Hunter  has 
in  mind  (he  is  here  vague  as  to  date)  it  may  be 
said  that  most  modern  historians  do  not  declare 
the  withdrawal  of  these  reforms  to  have  been 
due  to  their  unfairness  but  to  the  pressure  of  the 
aristocratic  group  which  forced  Turgot's  re- 
tirement. The  author  is  apparently  unfamiliar, 
also,  with  Professor  Davenport's  brilliant  and 
searching  paper  on  "Theoretical  Issues  in  the 
Single  Tax,"  published  in  1917. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  book  are  chapters  on 
public  indebtedness,  administration  of  public 
funds,  financing  an  emergency  (chiefly  war),  and 
the  cost  of  war. 

II.  G.  BROWN. 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


I.    GOVERNMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION 


Boston  Sets  Important  Pension  Precedent. — 
With  the  enactment  of  a  new  pension  law  by 
the  legislature  of  Massachusetts  this  session 
Boston  has  come  into  possession  of  a  sound  pen- 
sion system  for  its  employees.  This  has  been  the 
result  of  a  prolonged  effort  extending  over  a  pe- 
riod of  several  years. 

The  first  attempt  there  to  establish  a  sound 
system  was  made  in  1913  by  the  special  com- 
mission appointed  by  the  legislature  to  look  into 
the  various  pension  systems  in  Massachusetts. 
This  attempt  resulted  in  the  enactment  of  a  law 
the  same  year  for  any  municipality  willing  to 
avail  itself  of  it.  It  never  became  effective,  how- 
ever, as  it  was  deficient  in  several  respects.  An- 
other legislative  commission  tackled  the  job  in 
1920,  but  without  much  result.  Not  until  the 
Boston  Finance  Commission  took  hold  of  the 
matter  early  in  1921  was  any  real  headway  made. 

The  Finance  Commission,  under  the  able 
chairmanship  of  Judge  Michael  Sullivan,  en- 
gaged the  Bureau  of  State  Research  of  the  New 
Jersey  State  Chamber  of  Commerce  to  assist  it 
in  the  technical  part  of  the  work.  Mr.  George 
B.  Buck,  actuary,  and  the  writer  represented  the 
bureau  in  this  work. 

A  bill  was  evolved  which  passed  the  legis- 
lature last  year  but  failed  to  secure  the  approval 
of  the  governor,  who  was  influenced  by  the  ur- 
gent representation  of  the  police  commissioner, 
that  the  police  and  fire  departments  be  excluded 
from  its  provisions. 

The  Finance  Commission  continued  its  efforts 
and  reintroduced  this  bill  in  the  1922  session, 
re-enforced  this  time  by  the  report  on  a  compre- 
hensive actuarial  investigation  of  the  cost  of  the 
proposed  system,  which  the  bureau  had  in  the 
meanwhile  prepared.  The  legislature  passed  the 
bill  as  it  did  last  year,  with  the  policemen  and 
firemen,  included,  and  the  governor  approved  it, 
satisfied  this  time  that  it  will  be  of  benefit  not 
only  to  the  city,  and  clerical  forces  but  also  to  the 
policemen  and  firemen.  The  mayor,  after  a 
thorough  consideration  of  the  various  phases  of 
the  measure  signed  it. 

The  new  fund  will  include  all  city  employees 
except  teachers  and  such  policemen  and  firemen 
now  in  the  service  as  may  choose  to  remain  under 


the  provisions  of  the  old  non  contributory  laws. 
The  employees  will  contribute  4  per  cent  of  their 
salaries.  This  will  provide  them  at  age  60  a  cer- 
tain annuity.  The  city  will  add  to  this  at  the 
same  age  a  pension  of  equal  amount.  It  will  also 
make  up  the  contributions  with  interest  which 
it  and  the  employee  would  have  contributed  in 
the  past  had  the  system  been  then  in  operation, 
and  provide  such  an  additional  pension  as  these 
contributions  will  purchase.  Benefits  in  case  of 
disability,  death  and  withdrawal  from  service 
are  also  provided.  The  system  is  to  operate  on 
a  strictly  reserve  basis.  It  is  not  necessary  here 
to  enter  into  details,  as  these  will  be  found  dis- 
cussed in  the  article  in  the  NATIONAL  MUNICI- 
PAL REVIEW  of  August,  1921,  and  in  the  report 
on  Pensions  in  Public  Employment  which  ap- 
peared as  the  April  issue  of  the  REVIEW. 

The  significance  of  this  enactment  is  not 
merely  of  local  character.  It  is  practically  the 
first  precedent  in  this  country  of  a  sound  pen- 
sion system  covering  the  policemen  and  firemen. 
The  only  other  instance  which  comes  any  where 
near  this  case  is  the  police  and  firemen's  fund  of 
Milwaukee.  Its  provisions,  however,  are  rather 
over  liberal  and  so  costly  to  the  city  that  few 
municipalities,  will  find  it  possible  to  follow  this 
example.  New  York  city  and  New  Jersey  have 
tried  for  many  years  to  bring  policemen  and  fire- 
men under  a  sound  system,  but  failed  at  every 
attempt  against  the  powerful  opposition  which 
the  police  and  firemen's  associations  were  able  to 
marshal  in  the  legislatures. 

PAUL  STUDENSKY. 


New  Retirement  Act  Gives  Good  Results. — 
In  view  of  the  growing  appreciation  on  the  part 
of  employers,  both  public  and  private,  of  the 
wisdom  and  justice  of  retiring  their  superannu- 
ated employees  on  a  reasonable  pension,  the  tes- 
timony as  to  the  operation  of  the  Federal  Retire- 
ment Act  recently  gathered  by  the  United  States 
civil  service  commission  should  be  received 
with  interest.  The  testimony  consists  of  replies 
to  four  specific  questions  on  the  success  of  the 
Retirement  Act  that  had  been  previously  for- 
warded by  the  civil  service  commission  to  the 


392 


1922] 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


393 


head  of  all  of  the  departments  and  bureaus  and 
independent  establishments  in  Washington.  The 
commission  asked  as  to  the  effect  of  the  system 
on  turn-over,  efficiency  and  morale,  number  of 
positions,  and  opportunities  for  promotion. 

On  account  of  the  natural  shrinkage  of  some 
of  the  organization  units  following  the  war  and 
the  general  policy  of  retrenchment  of  the  past 
year  and  one  half,  the  testimony  submitted  by 
the  administrative  officials  as  to  turn-over  and 
the  influence  of  retirements  on  the  number  of 
positions  was  necessarily  inconclusive.  But 
there  was  no  lack  of  evidence  and  it  appears  to  be 
quite  unanimous  concerning  the  favorable  effects 
on  the  quality  of  the  work;  the  efficiency  of  the 
employees  and  their  attitude  toward  their  duties. 
The  most  sweeping  statement  on  these  matters 
is  made  by  the  head  of  one  of  the  older  bureaus 
in  which  140  employees  were  retired  at  the  very 
outset,  i.e.,  when  the  act  became  operative 
in  August,  1921.  In  the  excerpts  cited  by  the 
civil  service  commission  the  head  of  this  organ- 
ization, the  commissioner  of  pensions,  states 
that  "the  retirement  system  has  unquestion- 
ably resulted  in  increased  opportunity  for  pro- 
motion, and  because  of  this  opportunity  there 
now  exists  a  new  spirit,  a  spirit  of  hopefulness 
among  the  younger  and  middle  aged  employees 
which  has  taken  the  place  of  the  lethargy  which 
permeated  many  branches  of  the  service  before 
the  retirement  law  became  effective."  The 
commissioner  further  refers  to  the  beneficial 
effects  derived  from  younger  employees  in  the 
bureau,  which,  taken  together  with  the  advan- 
tages just  mentioned,  led  to  a  "rejuvenation" 
of  the  organization. 

The  civil  service  commission  has  performed  a 
worth-while  service  by  bringing  together  in  its 
compact  little  bulletin  (August,  1922)  the  judg- 
ment and  opinion  of  responsible  government 
officials  on  the  workings  of  a  retirement  policy. 
They  have  seen  its  immediate  results  at  first 
hand  and  because  of  the  size  and  age  of  many  of 
the  organizations  in  the  federal  government  they 
have  seen  how  it  works  on  a  large  scale.  Their 
comments  are  valid  arguments  for  the  establish- 
ment of  an  official  retirement  scheme  to  supplant 
the  present  policy,  obtaining  in  so  many  juris- 
dictions, of  continuing  the  aged  employees  on  the 
payrolls  after  their  period  of  usefulness  has 
passed.  Although  not  designated  as  such,  this 
is  a  type  of  pension  system  and  undeniably  the 
most  costly  now  in  operation. 

W.  E.  MOSHER. 


Progress  Reported  in  Solving  New  York's 
Traction  Tangle.— Shortly  ui>on  the  heela  of  the 
injunction  restraining  the  operation  of  Mayor 
Hylan's  buses  as  being  beyond  the  legal  powers 
of  the  city,  comes  the  announcement  of  a  plan 
looking  to  the  reorganization  of  the  Interborough 
Rapid  Transit  Company  and  guaranteeing  the 
five  cent  fare. 

As  is  generally  known,  the  city  administration 
had  been  supervising  the  operation  of  numerous 
buses  as  feeders  to  elevated  and  subway  lines 
which,  according  to  the  mayor's  estimates  haul 
200,000  persons  daily.  Their  continued  oper- 
ation has  been  enjoined  and  an  appeal  to  the 
governor  to  call  a  special  session  of  the  legis- 
lature to  empower  the  city  to  operate  them  was 
denied.  Naturally  enough,  the  governor  took 
the  ground  that  the  mayor  should  look  for  relief 
to  the  transit  commission,  now  authorized  by 
law  to  compose  New  York's  traction  difficulties. 
Opposition  to  this  commission  has  been  one  of 
the  strongest  political  weapons  which  a  versatile 
mayor  has  utilized,  but  the  governor  now  ad- 
vises him  to  counsel  with  it  since  it  has  all  pos- 
sible legal  power  to  give  New  York  A  unified 
transportation  system. 

The  announcement,  therefore,  by  the  transit 
commission  that  the  consent  of  the  necessary 
number  of  security  holders  to  a  plan  which  guar- 
antees a  five  cent  fare  and  paves  the  way  to  a  uni- 
fied traction  system  strengthens  the  governor's 
position  to  the  discomfiture  of  the  mayor.  The 
latter  has  been  quick  to  catch  on  however,  and 
now  claims  that  the  new  plan  was  originated  by 
him. 

In  brief,  it  provides  for  doing  away  with  the 
Interborough  Consolidated  Holding  Company 
with  its  excessive  issues  of  securities  and  for  the 
modification  of  the  troublesome  Manhattan 
elevated  lease,  by  which  excessive  rentals  have 
been  paid  for  use  of  the  elevated  properties,  so  as 
practically  to  cut  apart  the  elevated  road's  finan- 
ces from  the  Interborough.  Moreover,  a  plan 
for  public  representation  on  the  directorate  has 
been  accepted  by  the  security  holders  involved. 
Certain  members  of  the  directorate  are  to  be 
chosen  by  the  transit  commission  and  the  city 
by  means  of  a  voting  trust. 

$114,000,000  worth  of  securities  are  wiped  out 
by  the  demise  of  the  Interborough  Holding  Cor- 
poration, and  the  $35,000,000  worth  of  stock  of 
the  Interborough  Rapid  Transit  Co. (the  operat- 
ing company)  will  be  held  by  the  stockholders. 
Tin-  fixed  rentals  on  the  almost  obsolete  elevated 


394 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[November 


properties  are  eliminated.  Rentals  for  these  are 
now  payable  only  out  of  earnings  and  only  in 
case  dividends  are  paid  to  the  stockholders  of  the 
operating  company.  The  I.  R.  T.  stock  is  to  pay 
no  dividends  for  five  years  and  then  never  in  ex- 
cess of  seven  per  cent.  Notes  for  $10,500,000 
are  to  be  issued  for  new  equipment  and  improve- 
ments. 

At  this  writing  the  plan  prepared  by  a  bond- 
holders' committee,  representing  an  overwhelm- 
ing majority  of  the  security  holders,  remains  to 
be  approved  formally  by  the  transit  commission. 
Announcement  of  it,  however,  came  through  the 
commission  and  it  is  indicated  that  it  is  in  line 
with  the  wishes  of  that  body.  Threat  of  a  re- 
ceivership seems  to  have  been  the  strongest 
weapon  waged  by  the  commission. 


Chicago  School  Board  Members  Indicted  for 
Graft. — Chief  Justice  McKinley  of  the  criminal 
court,  Cook  county,  Illinois,  continued  for  the 
October  term  the  special  grand  jury  that  had 
been  investigating  the  Chicago  school  board 
scandal.  This  marked  the  beginning  of  the  fifth 
month  of  continuous  and  searching  inquiry. 

A  widespread  feeling  that  the  June  grand  jury 
attempted  to  whitewash  the  school  situation 
aroused  the  public  to  indignant  protests  with  the 
result  that  the  court  instructed  the  July  grand 
jury  to  re-open  the  investigation.  Since  then 
over  forty  indictments  have  been  returned,  true 
bills  having  been  found  against  a  score  or  more 
school  trustees  and  employees,  city  hall  attaches, 
politicians,  and  business  men.  Malfeasance, 
embezzlement,  and  conspiracy  to  defraud  are 
among  the  serious  crimes  charged. 

Among  the  persons  already  indicted  are  Edwin 
S.  Davis  and  Albert  H.  Severinghaus,  school 
trustees  and  former  president  and  vice-president 
of  the  school  board;  William  A.  Either,  attorney 
of  the  board;  Charles  J.  Forsberg,  business  man- 
ager of  the  board;  Patrick  H.  Moynihan,  mem- 
ber of  the  Illinois  Commerce  Commission;  Louis 
Piquett,  city  prosecutor;  Thomas  Fitzgerald,  of 
the  Fitzgerald  Boiler  Works;  Charles  Ward,  city 
hall  politician  and  attorney  for  the  Fitzgerald 
Boiler  Works;  J.  A.  Hock,  president  of  the  Wis- 
consin Lime  and  Cement  Company;  and  a  dozen 
or  more  school  board  employes  including  Charles 
Driscoll  and  Joseph  Spain,  officials  of  the  organ- 
izations of  engineer-custodians. 

The  transactions  for  which  these  men  are  be- 


ing held  responsible  involve,  among  other  things, 
suspicious  real  estate  deals;  padding  of  the  pay- 
rolls; manipulating  bids  through  shadow  com- 
panies; paying  $418,000  for  boilers  that  could 
have  been  bought  for  $110,000;  favoritism  in 
letting  contracts;  destroying  property  and  re- 
moving fixtures  to  make  way  for  unnecessary  re- 
pairs and  new  supplies;  short- weighting  coal 
deliveries;  dishonesty  in  printing;  the  taking  of 
bribes;  insurance  gouging;  and  creating  a  short- 
age in  school  moneys  running  into  the  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  dollars. 


Ashtabula  Takes  Over  Street  Railway. — 
The  city  of  Ashtabula  has  recently  purchased 
and  taken  over  for  operation  the  street  railway 
system  at  an  original  cost  of  $150,000  plus  $85,- 
000  which  is  being  spent  immediately  for  new 
equipment  and  repairs  to  track  and  overhead.  Of 
the  purchase  amount,  $82,000  was  needed  to  set- 
tle first  mortgage  bonds  and  accrued  interest, 
and  the  balance  was  employed  to  pay  judgments, 
taxes,  miscellaneous  claims  and  second  mort- 
gage bonds.  It  is  understood  that  the  second 
mortgage  bond  holders  accepted  6  cents  on  the 
dollar.  The  financial  disaster  of  the  company  can 
be  traced  to  local  agitation  against  increase  of 
fares  during  the  war  period.  This  undoubtedly 
ruined  the  car  company  and  brought  about  sub- 
sequent sale  to  the  city. 

By  the  time  this  appears  in  print,  the  line  will 
have  been  overhauled  and  new  cars  put  in  use. 
The  administration  of  the  car  system  is  in  the 
hands  of  the  division  of  street  railways  in  the  city 
manager's  department.  The  entire  staff  of  the 
private  company  was  continued  as  the  operating 
force  for  the  city. 

Ashtabula  has  operated  her  own  electric  light 
plant  for  about  thirty  years,  and  under  city  man- 
ager government  feels  confident  that  the  opera- 
tion of  her  street  railway  system  will  be  a  success. 
A  new  municipal  electric  plant  is  soon  to  be  put 
in  operation  which  will  furnish  current  for  the 
street  car  system.  An  automobile  bus  system 
is  being  added  as  a  feeder  to  the  electric  lines. 
For  the  time  being  the  8  cent  fare  with  free 
transfers,  which  the  company  finally  secured,  ia 
being  continued.  Later  when  the  cost  of  electric 
current  from  the  municipal  plant  is  determined, 
a  readjustment  will  be  made  in  the  fare.  A 
school  children's  rate  of  twenty  five  tickets  for  a 
dollar  was,  however,  immediately  introduced. 


1922] 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


395 


Items  of  Civic  Interest — Civic  Information 
Hiircau:  Attention  is  called  to  the  fact  that 
members  in  the  American  Civic  Association  are 
entitled  to  the  service  of  the  civic  informa- 
tion bureau.  Specific  questions  will  be  answered 
and  information  concerning  local  practices  will 
be  secured  for  members  on  request.  It  is  hoped 
that  members  will  make  the  fullest  use  of  this 
service. 

Watch  Service — Members  are  also  reminded 
that  the  American  Civic  Association  is  represent- 
ing their  interests  in  the  national  parks  and  for- 
ests by  maintaining  a  watch  service  in  Washing- 
ton. The  secretary  is  always  glad  to  answer 
questions  concerning  status  of  pending  bills  and 
executive  acts  and  to  indicate  to  individual  mem- 
bers and  organizations  how  they  can  help  protect 
their  national  property. 

City  Planning — Reprints  have  been  made  of 
Dr.  Strayer's  talk  on  "The  School  Building  Pro- 
gram— An  Important  Part  of  the  City  Plan," 
which  was  given  at  the  City  Planning  Conference 
in  Springfield,  Mass.  Copy  will  be  sent  on  re- 
quest to  the  American  Civic  Association. 

Billboards — The  Indiana  highway  commission 
has  ruled  that  sign  boards  along  the  roads  ob- 
struct the  view  of  the  automobilist,  as  well  as 
other  travelers  and  therefore  increase  the  hazard 
at  crossings.  An  order  was  issued  by  the  commis- 
sion in  July  of  1921  directing  owners  to  remove 
signs  within  the  year.  The  commission  is  now 
proceeding  to  clear  away  those  signs  which  own- 
ers have  neglected  to  remove.  About  one  mil- 
lion advertising  signs  have  been  removed  from 
the  state  highways  in  Indiana  during  the  past 
year  and  it  is  announced  that  the  work  will  be 
continued  until  all  billboards  are  down.  Good 
work  in  Indiana! 

HARLEAN  JAMES. 


Proposed  Charter  Changes  in  San  Francisco 
and  Los  Angeles. — The  citizens  of  these  two 
cities  will  be  called  upon  November  7  to  vote  up- 
on some  highly  significant  charter  changes.  In 
San  Francisco  a  far  reaching  civil  service  amend- 
ment has  been  drafted  by  a  special  committee 
which  includes  William  II.  Nanry,  director  of 
the  Bureau  of  Governmental  Research,  and  Paul 
l-'liel,  former  director  of  the  same  bureau.  The 
effect  of  the  amendment  will  be  to  place  in  the 
classified  service  many  offices  such  as  auditor, 
assessor,  county  clerk,  city  attorney,  sheriff, 
treasurer  and  tax  collector  which  have  heretofore 


been  elected.  This  will  result  in  a  shortening  of 
the  ballot  and  a  removal  of  purely  technical  po- 
sitions from  politics.  The  civil  service  commis- 
sion is  given  additional  powers  and  duties.  Sal- 
ary standardization  is  required  and  transfers  be- 
tween departments  are  authorized.  Discharge 
by  the  appointing  power  is  provided  after  the 
accused  has  been  given  an  opportunity  to  an- 
swer charges.  The  commission  is  authorized  to 
establish  training  forces  for  persons  on  the  eligi- 
ble register  or  in  service. 

Los  Angeles  voters  will  pass  upon  a  wide  range 
of  amendments,  chiefly  among  which  are  ones 
providing  proportional  representation  for  the 
election  of  fifteen  members  of  the  city  council,  a 
pension  system  for  all  city  employees,  and  an  in- 
crease of  the  salaries  of  the  mayor  and  council. 

The  proportional  representation  plan  is  pre- 
sented to  offset  another  proposal  for  district  rep- 
resentation in  the  election  of  the  city  council, 
one  member  from  each  district. 


Attempt  to  Recall  Mayor  Kohler  of  Cleveland. 
— An  attempt,  so  far  unsuccessful,  has  been  made 
to  order  a  recall  election  for  Mayor  Kohler  who 
assumed  office  last  January  and  is  to  serve  until 
the  new  city  manager  charter  goes  into  effect. 
A  minority  candidate  in  the  last  mayoralty 
campaign  recently  circulated  petitions  which, 
when  filed,  were  seen  to  contain  only  about  7000 
names,  which  is  less  than  half  the  number  re- 
quired by  the  charter.  Under  the  charter  pro- 
vision an  additional  twenty  days  may  be  allowed 
if  the  number  of  signers  to  a  recall  petition  are 
found  to  be  insufficient,  and  the  enemies  of  Mr 
Kohler  proceeded  to  secure  more  signatures 
which  brought  the  total  well  over  the  15,000 
names  required.  The  city  clerk,  however,  an- 
nounced that  he  would  not  examine  the  validity 
of  the  additional  names  on  the  ground  that  the 
original  petition  had  not  been  filed  in  good  faith 
and  in  this  he  has  been  sustained  by  the  law 
director.  For  the  time  being  at  least  the  move- 
ment to  recall  "  Golden  Rule"  Kohler  has  been 
defeated. 

* 

Kansas  City  to  Make  Cash  Payments  for  Im- 
provements.— A  plan  to  eliminate  the  excessive 
cost  of  public  improvements  is  occupying  the 
attention  of  the  commission  drafting  a  new  char- 
ter for  Kansas  City.  It  will  substitute  cash  pay- 
ments for  improvements  in  place  of  the  present 
antiquated  and  expensive  tax  bill  system. 


396 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[November 


At  present  contractors  for  grading,  paving, 
sewerage  construction,  etc.,  are  paid  in  tax  bills, 
payable  in  installments  running  over  a  period  of 
years.  These  tax  bills  are  payable  out  of  special 
assessments  levied  against  the  property  benefited. 
Because  the  courts  may  decide  later  that  the  tax 
bills  are  invalid  for  one  reason  or  another  they 
are  accepted  by  the  contractors  only  at  a  dis- 
count which  may  be  as  much  as  25  per  cent. 
Thus  a  heavy  and  needless  burden  is  imposed  up- 
on the  public. 

The  plan  proposed  in  the  new  charter  is  to 
have  assessments  levied  and  judicially  confirmed 
before  the  improvement  is  begun.  The  council 
thereupon  may  authorize  the  issuance  of  local 
improvement  certificates  for  an  amount  not  ex- 
ceeding the  special  assessments  outstanding,  and 
the  proceeds  from  same  will  be  paid  into  a  revolv- 
ing fund  out  of  which  shall  be  paid  in  cash  the 
cost  of  local  improvements.  In  this  way  partial 
payment  of  special  assessments  can  be  con- 
tinued. 

* 

Chicago  Citizens  Advised  to  Oust  Council. — 
The  Municipal  Voters'  League  of  Chicago, 
which  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  has 
been  protecting  the  people  of  that  city  against 
incompetent  and  dishonest  officials,  has  sent  out 
a  call  to  the  people  to  supplant  the  present 
aldermen  with  more  vigorous  citizens  referring 
to  certain  present  members  as  grafters  and  others 
as  weak  and  wabbly.  Particularly,  the  League 
attacks  waste  of  public  moneys  in  foreign  junkets, 
the  wanton  smashing  of  good  school  furniture  so 
as  to  enable  purchase  at  rising  prices,  the  "pinch- 
ing off"  of  a  percentage  on  purchases  for  the 
school  board  and  a  trick  by  which  several  so 
called  real  estate  experts  abstracted  $3,000,000 
from  city  funds  which  should  have  been  devoted 
to  carrying  out  the  Chicago  plan. 

The  new  fifty  ward  law,  which  changed  the  po- 
litical landscape  by  breaking  up  many  political 
combines,  is  said  to  give  independent  citizens  a 
rare  opportunity;  and  the  League  makes  a  strong 
plea  that  independent  groups  in  each  ward  start 
fit  candidates  in  the  race  for  aldermen  at  the 
election  this  fall. 


Two  Home  Rule  County  Charters  in  New  York 
State. — The  charter  commissions  appointed 
to  prepare  plans  for  the  reorganization  of  the 
county  govr  -nments  in  Westchester  and  Nassau 


counties  pursuant  to  a  constitutional  amendment 
approved  last  fall,  have  now  reached  a  point  in 
their  deliberations  at  which  it  is  possible  to  antic- 
ipate some  of  their  conclusions. 

Both  counties  adjoin  New  York  city,  one  on 
Long  Island  and  the  other  to  the  north.  Nassau 
is  a  county  of  274  square  miles  and  about  135,000 
inhabitants.  It  is  fairly  evenly  settled,  has 
three  large  townships,  a  number  of  incorporated 
and  unincorporated  villages,  two  of  which  mas- 
querade as  cities.  One  of  the  cities  has  less  than 
10,000  inhabitants,  the  other  is  a  beach  which 
has  a  few  thousand  inhabitants  in  summer  and 
almost  none  in  winter.  The  charter  revision 
commission  under  the  direction  of  an  able  and 
independent  chairman  has  decided  upon  the 
transfer  of  a  number  of  township  functions  to  the 
county.  The  townships  will,  however,  be  re- 
tained as  trustees  of  town  property,  for  certain 
road  building  purposes  and  for  the  supervision 
of  certain  other  public  works  and  services.  The 
justices  of  the  peace  will  be  absorbed  into  a  new 
full  time  inferior  court  of  county-wide  jurisdic- 
tion under  assignment  by  the  county  judge. 
The  vacancies  on  the  town  boards  created  by  the 
removal  of  the  justices  of  the  peace  will  be  filled 
by  town  trustees,  elected  for  overlapping  terms 
and  paid  only  for  actual  days  of  service. 

All  of  the  executive  functions  of  the  town  are 
to  be  placed  under  a  supervisor-at-large  who  wijl 
preside  over  the  Board  of  Supervisors.  The 
present  six  supervisors  will  be  retained  but  a 
change  will  be  made  in  the  voting  power  so  that 
the  largest  township  will  not  control  the  board 
as  at  present.  There  will  be  a  county  health  de- 
partment, a  county  police  department,  a  county 
department  of  taxation  and  assessment,  and  one 
of  welfare  and  charities  in  addition  to  the  county 
engineer's  department  which  will  be  developed 
into  a  department  of  public  works.  A  tentative 
agreement  has  been  reached  upon  a  flat  county 
education  tax  which  will,  of  course,  necessitate 
some  kind  of  county  school  authority.  A  tenta- 
tive agreement  has  also  been  reached  on  a  county 
zoning  authority  which  will  zone  the  rural  terri- 
tories and  will  review  village  zoning  plans  to  see 
that  they  conform  to  a  central  county  plan.  In 
general,  the  village  governments  are  not  dis- 
turbed, but  the  commission  is  attempting  to  find 
some  unit  of  government  between  the  township 
and  the  village  for  public  service  and  utility  pur- 
poses which  will  be  effective  to  prevent  the  fur- 
ther multiplication  of  village  governments  and 
special  districts. 


1922] 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


397 


Westchester  county  is  a  territory  of  some  450 
square  miles  with  the  population  estimated  at 
approximately  375,000.  It  has  four  cities  of  re- 
spectable size,  including  Yonkers  which  has  over 
100,000  inhabitants,  many  villages  and  eighteen 
townships.  Its  board  of  supervisors  has  41  mem- 
bers. It  is  obvious  that  the  problem  of  govern- 
mental co-ordination  in  Westchester  is  a  great 
deal  more  complicated  than  the  problem  in 
Nassau.  The  Westchester  county  government 
commission  has  proceeded  slowly.  It  is  a  large 
commission  with  representatives  of  a  number  of 
diverse  elements  and  groups  in  the  county.  While 
the  majority  of  members  belong  to  the  dominant 
Republican  party  which  is  normally  directed  by 
a  very  able  county  leader,  the  subject  of  county 
reorganization  has  brought  into  play  differences 
of  opinion  which  have  nothing  or  very  little  to  do 
with  party  politics.  For  this  reason,  apparently, 
and  because  the  support  of  the  minority  party 
and  the  independents  will  be  required,  there  has 
been  a  good  deal  less  leadership  and  drive  in  the 
commission  than  might  be  expected. 

The  most  important  report  which  has  been 
made  so  far,  is  that  of  the  committee  on  the  form 
of  county  government.  This  committee  has 
recommended  a  single  county  commissioner  with 
a  four-year  term,  elected  at  large,  to  be  in  charge 
of  all  the  executive  machinery.  The  board  of 
supervisors  is  to  be  a  purely  legislative  body. 


There  is  also  to  be  a  board  of  estimate  controlled 
by  the  county  commissioner  which  is  to  consist 
of  the  commissioner,  two  of  his  appointees, 
namely,  the  county  attorney  and  county  engineer, 
the  chairman  of  the  board  of  supervisors  who  is 
to  be  elected  at  large,  and  the  county  comptroller 
also  elected  at  large.  This  board  will  have  com- 
plete control  over  the  preparation  of  the  budget, 
over  salaries  and  positions,  over  franchises,  and 
the  incurring  of  all  debts.  The  board  of  super- 
visors may  reduce,  but  not  increase  the  budget 
and  will  have  no  control  over  salaries  and  posi- 
tions. Considerable  opposition  has  already  been 
manifested  to  this  plan,  particularly  on  the 
ground  that  too  much  power  is  concentrated  in 
the  commissioner  and  that  the  board  of  estimate 
is  not  likely  to  function  publicly.  It  seems 
likely  that  some  changes  will  be  made,  especially 
in  the  board  of  estimate  and  possibly  in  the  di- 
rection of  insuring  minority  representation. 
There  is  considerable  sentiment  in  the  county 
and  in  the  commission  in  favor  of  a  small  council 
elected  by  proportional  representation,  which 
will  in  turn  select  a  county  manager.  It 
is,  however,  unlikely  that  this  plan  will  be  rec- 
ommended, and  it  is  only  fair  to  say  that  it  would 
be  unlikely  that  so  novel  a  proposal  would  win  a 
popular  majority  at  this  time  along  with  all  the 
other  changes  in  the  county  organization. 

ROBERT  MOSES. 


II.    CITY  MANAGER  NOTES 


City  Manager  Elections. — Elections  on  the 
adoption  of  city  manager  government  are  being 
held  in  Utica,  New  York,  Hudson,  New  York, 
Stockton,  California,  Santa  Rosa,  California, 
Augusta,  Georgia,  Cordela,  Georgia,  and  Bev- 
erly, Massachusetts. 


Montana  will  vote  at  the  November  election 
on  an  amendment  to  the  state  constitution  au- 
thorizing city  county  consolidation.  The  impe- 
tus is  coming  from  Butte  which  is  anxious  to 
consolidate  with  Silver  Bow  county  under  the 
manager  plan. 


Recent  Adoptions  include  Tulare,  California, 
and  Heavener,  Oklahoma;  Avon  Park,  Florida, 
and  Red  Oak,  Iowa,  have  adopted  the  plan  by 
ordinance.  On  October  4,  the  plan  was  defeated 
in  North  Attleboro,  Massachusetts. 
* 

C.  M.  Osborn,  manager  of  East  Cleveland 
ever  since  the  adoption  of  the  city  manager  form 
there  five  years  ago,  has  resigned  to  accept  the 
managership  of  Kenosha,  Wisconsin.  Charles 
A.  ('arran,  formerly  director  of  finance  under 
Mr.  Osborn,  hns  been  appointed  to  succeed  him. 
4 


The  Lynchburg  (Va.)  "News,"  published  by 
Carter  Glass,  is  enthusiastic  over  the  showing 
made  by  the  city  administration  under  Manager 
Beck.  During  the  past  two  years  an  extensive 
street  improvement  program  has  been  financed 
by  current  revenues.  In  this  period  the  city's 
liquid  assets  have  increased  $1,150,000. 

* 

In  the  Referendum  recently  conducted  by  the 
Illinois  State  Chamber  of  Commerce  on  the  ques- 
tion whether  cities  of  more  than  5,000  population 
should  have  the  power  to  adopt  city  manager 


398 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[November 


government,  thirty  cities  out  of  thirty-two  voted 
in  the  affirmative.  In  twenty-four  ci  ties  an  actual 
poll  of  the  membership  of  the  chamber  was  taken 
and  only  one  returned  a  majority  in  the  negative. 
In  nine  organizations  the  vote  was  cast  by  the 
directors  and  again  only  one  cast  a  majority  for 
the  negative. 


Movement  to  Repeal  Nashville  Charter. — A 
charter  framing  committee,  which  was  appointed 
by  the  mayor  of  Nashville,  Tennessee,  has  com- 
pleted a  draft  of  a  new  charter,  which,  if  adopted 
by  the  legislature,  would  mean  a  return  to  the  old 
aldermanic  form  of  government  with  all  its 
boards  and  a  council  of  twenty-five. 

The  city  has  operated  under  the  present  char- 
ter, which  was  ratified  by  the  state  legislature, 
since  February,  1921.  Of  the  fifteen  councilmen 
elected  under  it  thirteen  are  said  to  have  won  by 
large  majorities  because  they  were  openly  pledged 
to  the  appointment  of  Felix  Wilson  for  mayor, 
who  frankly  states  that  he  was  made  mayor 
because  of  his  opposition  to  the  charter.  Mr. 
Wilson  contends  that  by  calling  for  an  open  dec- 


laration of  council  candidates,  the  political  ma- 
chine then  in  control  of  the  administration  was 
prevented  from  gaining  control  of  the  new  in- 
strument of  government. 

The  present  charter  is  a  distinctive  one.  It 
specifically  provides  that  the  mayor  "shall  be  a 
full  time  officer,  appointed  by  the  council  for  an 
indefinite  period,  subject  to  removal  by  the  coun- 
cil, shall  be  designated  mayor,  shall  have  all  the 
powers  and  duties  of  a  business  manager,  and 
have  supervision  and  control  of  all  of  the  admin- 
istrative affairs  of  the  city."  Responsibility  is 
centralized  further  than  in  the  commonly  adopted 
city  manager  charter  in  that  the  mayor  appoints 
not  only  all  department  heads,  but  the  city  clerk, 
treasurer,  judge,  attorney  and  board  of  educa- 
tion. 

In  the  recent  election  for  members  of  the 
legislature  the  entire  ticket  advocating  the  repeal 
of  the  present  charter  and  return  to  the  old  alder- 
manic  government,  was  elected  by  a  very  sub- 
stantial majority,  indicating  that  this  majority 
favored  a  return  to  the  aldermanic  government 
with  an  elected  mayor,  city  judge,  board  of  pub- 
lic works,  and  council  of  twenty-five  members. 


III.    MISCELLANEOUS 


Death  of  Lieut-Corn.  C.  P.  Shaw. — In  the 
death  of  Commander  Shaw  civic  reform  loses  a 
staunch  advocate.  He  died  on  April  26  after  a 
life  of  great  usefulness  to  the  public.  His  partic- 
ular interests  were  the  short  ballot,  proportional 
representation  and  civil  service  reform.  Many 
came  to  look  upon  him  as  the  official  collector  of 
data  and  compiler  of  information  regarding  re- 
form movements  in  municipal  government. 

Commander  Shaw  served  in  the  navy  for 
twenty  years.  His  own  city,  Norfolk,  and  the 
state  of  Virginia  are  indebted  to  him  for  much 
that  is  modern  in  their  municipal  life. 


Dr.  Delos  F.  Wilcox,  public  utility  consultant, 
has  moved  his  main  office  from  New  York  to  436 
Crescent  Street,  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan.  In 
announcing  the  change,  he  declares  his  belief 
that  there  is  no  solution  of  the  utility  problem 
consistent  with  public  interest  except  in  public 
ownership  and  operation.  He  is  accordingly 
building  up  a  staff  specially  equipped  to  assist 
cities  in  acquiring  and  operating  their  utilities. 
The  requisite  services  which  cities  will  need  and 


which  he  will  be  prepared  to  offer  include  general 
surveys,  preparation  of  legislative  measures, 
studies  of  transportation  needs  in  relation  to 
city  planning,  preparation  of  plans  and  estimates 
for  new  utilities,  help  in  negotiation  of  contracts, 
estimates  on  costs  of  operation,  etc. 

Cities  desiring  to  own  and  operate  their  utili- 
ties now  have  available  the  services  of  an  ex- 
perienced consultant  and  staff  whole-heartedly 
committed  to  public  operation  who  are  specializ- 
ing in  this  particular  form  of  service. 


Charter  Makers  Divorce  Morals  from  Busi- 
ness.— The  board  of  freeholders,  which  is  fram- 
ing the  Stockton,  California,  home  rule  charter, 
announce  that  they  intend  to  divorce  the  manag- 
ing of  the  business  affairs  of  the  city  from  the 
handling  of  moral  questions,  by  removing  the 
police  department  and  the  chief  from  supervision 
by  the  manager  and  empowering  the  chief  to  at- 
tend to  all  moral  and  criminal  matters.  It  was 
pointed  out  by  a  local  attorney  that,  no  matter 
how  excellent  a  manager  might  be  as  a  business 
executive,  a  situation  might  arise  wherein  the 


1922] 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


300 


council  would  have  to  remove  him  if  he  were  not 
efficient  in  enforcing  moral  laws.  Thus  the  city 
would  lose  a  good  man. 

Whether  the  city  manager  win  be  expected  to 
ignore  morals  in  the  management  of  the  city's 
affairs  has  not  been  stated  by  the  charter  com- 
mission. 

* 

Engineering  Societies'  Employment  Service. — 
The  four  National  Engineering  Societies  con- 
sisting of  The  American  Society  of  Civil  Engi- 
neers, The  American  Institute  of  Mining  and 
Metallurgical  Engineers,  The  American  Society 
of  Mechanical  Engineers,  and  The  American 
Institute  of  Electrical  Engineers  are  developing 
along  interesting  lines.  One  of  these  activities 
comprises  the  employment  service,  better  known 
as  the  Engineering  Societies'  Employment  Serv- 
ice, which  is  tending  toward  a  national  clearing 
house  for  engineers,  from  the  highest  paid 
executive  to  the  man  just  out  of  college. 

The  administration  of  the  service  is  in  charge  of 
Mr.  W.  V.  Brown,  29  West  39th  Street,  New 
York,  who  will  be  glad  to  help  you  get  in  touch 
with  the  engineers  you  are  looking  for. 
* 

The  American  Society  for  Municipal  Im- 
provement held  its  twenty-eighth  annual  con- 
vention in  Cleveland  last  month.  Prominent 
subjects  on  the  program  included  specifications 
for  street  paving,  sewer  specifications,  water 
supply  and  transportation.  The  Ohio  State 
Conference  on  City  Planning  met  jointly  with 
the  society. 

* 

Civic  Club  Manages  Summer  Band  Concerts 
for  Pittsburgh. — Following  violent  protests 
against  the  quality  of  music  provided  the  city  of 
Pittsburgh  at  the  summer  concerts,  the  Civic 


Club  of  Alleghany  County  was  delegated  by  the 
administration  to  manage  the  concerts  with  a 
view  to  improving  the  conditions  complained  of. 
By  reducing  the  number  of  bands  and  increasing 
their  size,  by  careful  attention  to  expenditures, 
by  introduction  of  better  programs,  and  in  nu- 
merous other  ways,  the  concerts  were  made  more 
attractive  to  larger  audiences  with  distinct  im- 
provement in  their  cultural  influences. 

* 

Dublin  Pushing  City  Plan.— The  Civics  In- 
stitute of  Ireland  was  founded  in  1913  to  pro- 
mote civic  surveys,  improved  administration  and 
city  planning  in  Dublin.  In  1916  it  awarded  a 
prize  of  £500  for  the  best  town  plan  for  that  city. 
Now  with  the  realization  of  the  Irish  Free  State, 
the  Civics  Institute  has  resumed  activity.  To 
frustrate  bad  housing  conditions  and  haphazard 
growth  of  a  reconstructed  Dublin,  the  Institute 
is  beginning  a  campaign  of  publicity  on  what  city 
planning  means  with  respect  to  the  economic 
and  health  interests  of  the  people. 

We  wish  them  great  success  and  will  watch 
future  developments  with  keen  interest. 

* 

The  Canadian  Municipal  Journal  has  been 
incorporated  with  the  Municipal  Review  of  Can- 
ada under  the  management  of  Harry  Bray,  who 
founded  the  former  journal  in  1905  and  left  it  to 
take  charge  of  the  department  of  municipal 
affairs  of  the  Repatriation  Committee.  The 
NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW  extends  cordial 
fraternal  greetings  to  the  new  Review. 
* 

Correction. — The  reviewer  of  William  Bas- 
sett's  pamphlet,  The  Board  of  Appeals  in  Zoning, 
in  the  September  REVIEW,  was  Robert  H.Whit- 
ten  and  not  Robert  H.  White  as  was  printed. 


New  York 


*' 


STATEMENT  OF  THE  OWNERSHIP.  MANAGEMENT.  ETC.,  OF  NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 

Published  monthly  at  Concord.  N.  H.,  required  by  the  Act  of  August  24.  1912. 

NAME  or  STOCKHOLDERS  OB  OFFICERS  POST  OFFICE  ADDHEM 

Editor  261  Broadway 

Harold  W.  Dodds 
Managing  Editor  (none) 
Business  Manager  (none) 

Publisher.  The  National  Municipal  League  ( 

Owners  (if  a  corporation,  give  names  and  addresses  of  stockholders  holding  1  per  cent  or  more  of  total  amount 

of  stock).    The  National  Municipal  Review  is  published  by  the  National  Municipal  League,  a  voluntary  MBO- 

ciation,  unincorporated.    The  officers  of  the  National  Municipal  League  are  H.  M.  Waite,  President;   Carl  H. 

Pforiheimer,  Treasurer,  and  H.  W.  Dodds,  Secretary. 
Known  bondholders,  Mortgagees,  and  other  security  holders,  holding  1  per  cent  or  more  of  total  amount  of  bonds, 

mortgages  or  other  securities.    None. 
The  National  Municipal  League.  H.  W.  DODDS.  Editor. 

Sworn  to  and  subscribed  before  me  this  26th  day  of  September,  1022. 

HENRY  J.  WKHLE. 
Term  expires  March  30,  1923.  Notary  Public.  Queens  County.  Certificate  Filed  in  New  York  County. 


CURRENT  PUBLICATIONS  OF  THE 
NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE 


A  Model  City  Charter 
Pocket  Civic  Series 

1.  Modern  Principles  of  Polit- 
ical Reform. 

2.  The  Short  Ballot. 

3.  The  Story  of  the  City-Man- 
ager Plan. 

A  Model  State  Constitution 
Technical  Pamphlets  . 


50  cents 

10  cents  each,  $5.00  per  hundred 

4.  Ramshackle  County  Govern- 
ment. 

5.  City  Planning. 

6.  Nominations  and  Elections. 

7.  New  Municipal  Enterprises. 

8.  Criminal  Justice. 


1.  The  Assessment  of  Real  Es- 
tate. 

2.  Administrative  Consolidation 
in  State  Governments. 

3.  The  Coming  of  Centralized 
Purchasing  in  State  Govern- 
ments. 

4.  A     Correct     Public     Policy 
Toward  the  Street  Railway 
Problem. 

5.  Zoning. 


25  cents 

25  cents  each,  $15.00  per  hundred 
6. 


Outlines  of  a  Model  Election  System    . 
The  Fate  of  the  Direct  Primary    . 
Modern  City  Planning    ..... 
Special  Assessments  for  Public  Improvement 
Pensions  in  the  Public  Service 
The  National  Municipal  League  Series  of  Books 


Employment  Standardiza- 
tion in  the  Public  Service. 

7.  The  Presidential  Primary. 

8.  The  Law  of  the  City  Plan. 

9.  Administrative     Reorganiza- 
tion in  Illinois. 

10.  Service   at    Cost    for   Street 
Railways. 

11.  The  Law  of  Zoning. 

12.  State  Parks  (illustrated.) 

25  cents 
25  cents 
25  cents 
25  cents 
25  cents 


1. 


A  New  Municipal  Program. 
$2.60. 

Experts     in     City     Govern- 
ment.    $2.60. 

3.     Municipal  Functions.    $2.60. 
Town  Planning.    $2.85. 
City  Planning.     $2.60. 
Satellite  Cities.    $2.60. 
The  Social  Center.    $2.60. 
The  City  Manager.    $2.60. 


2. 


9.     Cky   Government  by   Com- 
mission.    $3.10. 

10.  Excess    Condemnation. 
$2.60. 

11.  The   Regulation  of  Munici- 
pal Utilities.     $2.60. 

12.  The  Initiative,    Referendum 
and  Recall.    $2.85. 

13.  Lower   Living    Costs   in 
Cities.    $2.60. 

14.  Woman's  Work   in   Munici- 
palities.    $2.60. 


15.    County  Government.     $2.10. 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 

261  BROADWAY,  NEW  YORK 

Annual  Subscription $5.00 

Free  to  Members  of  National  Municipal  League 


NATIONAL 
MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


VOL.  XI,  No.  12 


DECEMBER,  1922 


TOTAL  No.  78 


COMMENT 


Martin  Van  Buren  in  his 
Can  we  Autobiography  (a  volume 

Elect  Judges  of  800  pages  sold  by  the 

government  for  a  dollar 
and  worth  it)  refers  to  the  generally 
accepted  belief  (in  1821)  that  the  judi- 
ciary ought  not  to  be  elected.  Unfortu- 
nately, Jacksonian  democracy  changed 
all  this  and  to-day  in  many  states  only 
an  occasional  voice  is  raised  in  favor  of 
the  appointive  system.  Van  Buren, 
one  of  the  first  American  bosses,  was 
agreeable  to  the  popular  election  of 
judges  for  he  knew  how  to  operate  a 
political  machine.  But  can  we,  who 
observe  at  each  election  the  wild  scram- 
ble of  judicial  candidates,  their  weird 
antics  and  the  extraneous  issues  they 
trump  up,  be  so  complacent? 

* 

On  November  7  Day- 
Dayton  Sustain*  ton  voted  down  by  a 
C.  M.  Government  vote  of  25,000  to  16,- 

000  a  proposal  to 
abandon  city-manager  government  in 
favor  of  the  federal  plan.  On  the  same 
day  Waltham,  Massachusetts,  the  first 
city  in  the  state  to  adopt  the  manager 
plan,  became  the  second  city  in  the 
United  States  to  give  up  its  manager 
charter  in  favor  of  a  mayor  and  council. 
Manager  government  in  Waltham  had 
to  bear  the  blame  not  only  for  higher 
taxes,  but  for  higher  rents  as  well. 


At  the  same  election,  Springfield, 
Massachusetts,  refused  to  accept  a 
modern  mayor-council  charter.  The 
principal  objections  were  that  the  pro- 
posed charter  abolished  party  elections 
and  introduced  the  initiative  and 
referendum. 


The  Elections 


Everyone,  with  the  possi- 
ble exception  of  the  Wash- 
ington Post,  agrees  that 
the  voters  at  the  last 
election  had  it  in  for  somebody.  And 
this  applies  as  well  to  constitutional 
amendments  and  legislative  proposals 
as  to  candidates. 

The  $500,000,000  water  power  proj- 
ect in  California,  described  in  full  in 
this  issue,  seems  to  have  been  defeated 
by  3  to  1.  Most  of  the  other  thirty 
measures  on  the  California  ballot  suf- 
fered a  similar  fate. 

In  Ohio  an  amendment  embodying 
some  of  the  provisions  of  the  new  mu- 
nicipal indebtedness  law  failed.  The 
purpose  was  to  prohibit  the  issuance  of 
paper  for  current  expenses  and  to  limit 
the  term  of  a  loan  to  the  period  of  use- 
fulness of  the  improvement.  Another 
amendment  to  limit  the  tax  on  prop- 
erty, including  state  taxes,  to  15  mills 
also  failed. 

In  Virginia  a  proposal  to  call  a  con- 
stitutional convention  was  defeated. 


401 


402 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[December 


Many  friends  of  constitutional  revision 
opposed  it  because  of  the  fear  that 
a  convention  elected  at  this  time 
would  be  dominated  by  a  reactionary 
group. 

A  proposed  amendment  authorizing 
the  state  to  engage  in  the  banking  busi- 
ness was  defeated  in  South  Dakota. 
Minnesota  defeated  an  amendment  for 
an  occupational  tax,  but  approved  a 
rural  credits  measure  by  which  the 
state  will  lend  its  credit  for  agricultural 
purposes. 

In  Michigan  a  state  income  tax 
amendment  was  turned  down  by  a 
100,000  majority.  An  excess  condem- 
nation amendment  was  defeated  also, 
although  by  less  than  20,000  votes. 
Lack  of  interest  in  the  latter  among  the 
rural  districts  is  the  attributed  cause 
of  its  failure. 

Nebraska  successfully  resisted  anoth- 
er raid  on  the  direct  primary. 

Pennsylvania  adopted  an  amend- 
ment permitting  the  legislature  to  grant 
home  rule  to  cities. 

Illinois,  Iowa,  Kansas  and  Oklahoma 
approved  soldiers'  bonus  measures. 


Hare  System 

Declared 

Unconstitutional 


* 

The  California  court 
of  appeal  for  the 
third  district  has  de- 
clared that  the  Hare 
system  of  proportional  representation 
as  provided  by  the  new  Sacramento 
charter  is  unconstitutional.  The  case 
now  goes  to  the  state  supreme  court. 
The  suit  was  brought  by  an  unsuccess- 
ful candidate  for  city  council.  The 
opinion  reverses  the  decision  of  the 


lower  court,  which  found  P.  R.  con- 
stitutional. 

The  grounds  for  declaring  it  uncon- 
stitutional are  similar  to  those  dis- 
covered by  the  Michigan  court  in  the 
Kalamazoo  case,  viz.,  that  it  violates 
the  voter's  constitutional  right  to  vote 
at  all  elections,  and  thus  contravenes 
section  1,  article  II  of  the  California 
constitution.  The  " right  to  vote  at  all 
elections"  is  held  to  guarantee  the  right 
to  vote  for  candidates  for  all  offices  to 
be  filled. 

Although  we  have  seen  only  extracts 
from  the  court's  opinion  (handed  down 
October  23),  it  is  safe  to  say  that  it 
rests  upon  the  assumption,  wholly  gra- 
tuitous, that  the  only  possible  basis  of 
representation  is  a  geographical  area. 
Thus  if  nine  councilmen,  says  the  court, 
are  to  be  elected  from  the  city  at  large, 
each  voter  must  be  allowed  to  vote  for 
nine  just  as  if  the  nine  offices  were  dis- 
tinct in  duty  and  name.  Of  course  if 
the  city  were  divided  into  nine  districts, 
one  councilman  from  each  district,  a 
voter  undoubtedly  could  vote  for  but 
one. 

Why  is  it  that  a  court  should,  for  a 
second  time  within  a  few  months,  dis- 
play ignorance  of  any  possible  political 
constituency  except  area  measurable  by 
square  miles?  The  patent  fact,  easily 
demonstrable  by  mathematics,  that  the 
Hare  system  gives  an  individual  more 
voice  in  elections  and  stronger  repre- 
sentation in  the  legislative  body  is  stu- 
diously ignored. 

The  decision  coming,  as  it  did,  a  few 
days  before  the  Los  Angeles  election  on 
P.  R.,  doubtless  influenced  the  result. 
H.  W.  DODDS. 


ZE  CEETY  PAYS 


»  > 


BY  HAROLD  A.  CAPARN 


NOT  very  long  ago  I  sat  on  a  bench 
in  one  of  the  New  York  City  parks. 
Nearly  opposite  on  another  bench  sat 
a  happy  and  shortish  and  stoutish 
family  eating  lunch.  You  could  see 
they  were  a  family,  they  were  so  much 
alike.  There  were  "poppa"  and 
"momma"  and  several  children  from 
about  26  inches  to  31  inches  high. 
They  all  smiled.  Why  wouldn't  they 
smile?  It  was  a  beautiful  day,  they 
had  had  a  good  lunch,  and  they  didn't 
have  to  clear  away  after  them. 

Presently  poppa  gave  one  of  the 
children  a  pasteboard  box  of  the  kind 
that  Iwantanother  biscuits  come  in. 
He  took  it  and  proceeded  to  tear  the 
paper  cover  slowly  into  eleventeen 
bits  and  let  the  wind  blow  them  in 
eleventeen  different  directions.  Mean- 
time, poppa  looked  on  and  smiled 
benignantly. 

Then  I  thought  of  the  way  they 
pick  up  papers  in  the  parks.  You 
have  seen  how  they  do  it.  An  oldish 
sort  of  man  comes  along  with  a  spiked 
stick  and  a  bag.  He  stabs  each  piece 
of  paper  separately  and  puts  them  all 
into  the  bag.  In  this  way,  he  can  pick 
up  quite  a  number  of  pieces  in  a  day. 

Then  I  thought  of  what  it  costs  to 
pay  this  man  and  all  the  other  men  who 
pick  up  papers  that  people  ought  to 
pick  up  for  themselves,  or  that  never 
ought  to  be  scattered  around.  And  I 
remembered  the  South  Parks  in  Chi- 


cago, where  it  costs  them  $28,000  a 
year  to  pick  up  papers!  Think  of 
what  one  could  buy  with  all  this 
money  in  the  way  of  swimming  pools, 
or  gymnasiums,  or  tennis  courts,  or 
other  things  really  worth  while! 

So  I  thought  it  was  time  to  say 
something,  and  I  went  up  to  him  and 
began:  "My  friend" — 

(It  seems  a  little  queer  that  if  you 
address  some  people  as  "My  friend'* 
they  get  rather  angry,  while  some 
others  seem  to  like  it.  It  seems  to  me 
to  show  a  nice  disposition  to  be  glad  to 
be  told  that  you  are  somebody's  friend.) 

"My  friend,"  I  said,  "don't  you 
think  it's  a  mistake  to  let  that  boy  tear 
up  that  paper?  Don't  you  know  that 
every  piece  has  to  be  picked  up,  and 
that  you  and  I  help  to  pay  for  it?" 

But  he  looked  at  me  and  smiled 
cheerfully.  "Ah,  no!"  he  said,  "it 
is  olright!  Ze  ceety  peeck  him  up;  we 
no  pay." 

"Yes,  but,"  I  persisted,  "don't  you 
know  what  the  city  is?  It  is  you  and 
I  and  everybody  else.  We  all  help  to 
pay  the  taxes.  All  this  work  raises 
the  taxes  and  helps  to  make  rent  and 
groceries  and  clothes  cost  more." 

"Ah,  no!"  he  replied,  "you  do  not 
onderstand!  We  no  pay!  Ze  ceety 

pay." 

So  I  gave  it  up.  I  couldn't  make 
him  see  that  he  and  I  were  helping  to 
pay  for  picking  up  those  bits  of  paper. 


403 


ROUTING  GERMS  IN  FRAMINGHAM 


BY  HELENA  V.  WILLIAMS 


One  American  city  demonstrates  that  tuberculosis  can  be  controlled. 


A  GREAT  many  people  in  the  world 
claim  that  health  is  almost  entirely  a 
matter  of  luck.  Illness,  they  main- 
tain, comes  like  a  thief  in  the  night, 
generally  striking  down  its  victim 
when  his  or  her  life's  work  is  most 
needed  or  is  at  its  height.  Wherefore, 
they  proceed  to  lay  away  money  for  a 
particularly  rainy  day  of  sickness  and 
heavy  doctor's  bills.  Not  that  taking 
thought  of  such  an  eventuality  is  not 
an  excellent  and  laudable  habit.  But 
the  foresight  of  a  man  having  the  above- 
mentioned  viewpoint  regarding  his 
health  is  very  apt  to  be  a  rather  one- 
sided business.  It  leaves  out  of  con- 
sideration one  important  factor — 
namely,  that  the  proper  way  to  safe- 
guard against  illness  is  to  prevent  it 
by  checking  the  first  symptoms — or 
better  still  by  not  allowing  a  first  symp- 
tom to  appear.  It  is  the  realization  of 
this  fact  that  has  brought  modern 
preventive  medicine  to  the  fore  during 
the  past  decade.  That  it  is  a  workable 
and  highly  effective  plan  which  can  be 
applied  not  only  to  an  individual  life, 
but  to  a  whole  community  at  a  time, 
has  been  indisputably  proven  by  the 
successful  work  of  the  Health  Demon- 
stration now  being  conducted  in  Fram- 
ingham,  Massachusetts. 

Within  a  period  of  five  years,  Fram- 
ingham,  Massachusetts,  a  typically 
American  town,  with  typical  health, 
industrial  and  social  problems,  possess- 
ing a  typically  American  population, 
has  reduced  its  tuberculosis  death  rate 
from  a  10-year  average  of  121  per 
100,000  to  40  per  100,000,  or  a  reduc- 
tion of  67  per  cent.  This  reduction,  if 


applied  to  the  United  States  as  a 
whole,  would  have  resulted  in  the 
saving  of  50,000  lives  in  1921. 

THE   FRAMINGHAM   PROBLEM 

In  1917,  the  National  Tuberculosis 
Association  began  a  demonstration  in 
Framingham  with  a  fund  of  $100,000 
donated  by  the  Metropolitan  Life 
Insurance  Company,  in  an  effort  to 
show  whether  tuberculosis  may  be 
controlled  in  an  average  American 
town.  If  it  could,  they  argued,  then 
other  towns,  profiting  and  inspired  by 
the  example,  could  and  would  doubtless 
do  the  same. 

The  death  rate  from  tuberculosis 
for  the  ten  years  preceding  the  demon- 
stration, with  resident  and  certifica- 
tion corrections,  was  121  per  100,000. 
In  the  past  five  years  these  death  rate 
figures  have  been  reduced  to  40  per 
100,000,  or  nearly  7  per  cent. 

THE   PROGRAM 

Framingham  has  demonstrated  to- 
the  world  that  with  sound  community 
methods,  the  great  white  plague  can 
be  controlled,  and  the  number  of 
deaths  resulting  from  it  reduced  to  a 
minimum.  Under  the  leadership  of 
Dr.  Donald  B.  Armstrong,  the  execu- 
tive director,  aided  by  Dr.  P.  Challis 
Bartlett,  the  medical  consultant,  and 
an  excellent  staff,  the  inhabitants  have 
been  convinced  that  community  health 
is  purchasable  just  the  same  as  streets, 
fire  engines  or  public  schools  are  pur- 
chasable, and  that  it  is  a  sound  invest- 
ment. The  people  of  Framingham 
are  now  paying  $2.15  per  person  for 


404 


1922] 


ROUTING  GERMS  IN  FRAMINGHAM 


405 


health,  a  record  for  American  cities  of 
this  type.  The  results  achieved  are 
due  to  the  co-operation  of  the  entire 
community. 

Under  Dr.  Armstrong  a  sickness 
survey  was  organized  in  which  in- 
surance agents,  nurses,  citizens  and 
school-teachers  all  took  a  part. 

This  undertaking  revealed  a  far 
greater  amount  of  illness  than  anyone 
had  suspected.  The  information  se- 
cured from  this  survey,  however,  was 
not  sufficiently  accurate  for  scientific 
purposes,  and  Dr.  Armstrong  followed 
it  with  a  medical  examination  cam- 
paign. 

For  this  work  a  score  or  more  doctors 
were  brought  to  Framingham  to  work 
with  the  local  physicians.  A  definite 
time  was  set,  and  the  campaign  widely 
advertised.  Hundreds  of  homes  were 
visited  and  thousands  of  people  were 
examined.  While  the  doctors  looked 
especially  for  tuberculosis,  they  tried 
to  discover  other  pathological  condi- 
tions as  well.  This  campaign  was  fol- 
lowed by  similar  ones  later,  and  the 
school  board  was  urged  to  make  a 
physical  examination  of  every  school 
child. 

THE   RESULT   OF   EXAMINATION 

The  Demonstration  then  offered 
the  services  of  Dr.  Bartlett  to  the  doc- 
tors of  the  town,  as  consultant  and 
expert  in  tuberculosis,  his  services  to 
be  given  free,  or  at  whatever  price  the 
physicians  might  wish  to  pay.  As  a 


result,  the  number  of  known  cases  of 
tuberculosis  in  the  first  and  second 
years  of  the  demonstrations  activities 
jumped  from  27  to  over  250.  For 
these  cases  the  community  immediately 
proceeded  to  provide.  The  hopeful 
cases  were  sent  to  the  state  sanatoria, 
from  which  many  have  since  been 
discharged  as  arrested  cases.  The 
more  advanced  cases  were  sent  to 
hospitals  for  careful  attention,  and  of 
these,  too,  a  number  have  also  been 
restored  to  working  capacity.  The 
children  having  active  tuberculosis,  or 
who  had  been  in  close  contact  with 
tuberculous  parents,  received  expert 
care  at  home,  at  a  camp  or  at 
children's  institutions.  Tuberculosis 
nurses  frequently  visited  the  homes 
where  families  were  given  instruction 
in  the  care  of  the  patient,  the  preven- 
tion of  infection,  and  so  on.  And  both 
children  and  adults  were  supervised 
through  the  school  or  industry  with 
which  they  were  connected. 

Framingham  has  set  a  standard  of 
community  health  which  other  cities 
may  take  pride  in  following.  Much  of 
the  tuberculosis  work  that  is  being 
done  at  present  is  under  the  auspices  of 
voluntary  organizations  whose  chief 
supply  of  funds  for  the  campaign  is 
procured  through  the  annual  sale  of 
Christmas  seals.  Every  seal  that  is 
purchased  helps  to  advance  the  cause 
of  better  health  in  every  community 
in  the  country. 


CONSTITUTIONAL  CONVENTION  CONSID- 
ERS CITY-COUNTY  CONSOLIDATING 
FOR  ST.   LOUIS 


BY  HARLAND  BARTHOLOMEW 


The  city  of  St.  Louis  has  outgrown  her  old  boundaries.  In  the  interests 
of  health,  city  planning,  parks,  flood  prevention,  etc.,  parts  of  St.  Louis 
county  should  be  consolidated  with  her.  But  there  are  strong  obstacles. 


THE  constitution  of  Missouri 
adopted  in  1875  effected  the  separa- 
tion of  the  city  and  county  of  St. 
Louis.  According  to  the  terms  of  the 
agreement  reached  at  this  time  the 
boundaries  of  the  city  of  St.  Louis  were 
increased  to  such  an  extent  that  the 
area  of  the  city  was  more  than  doubled. 
The  purpose  of  the  separation  was  to 
avoid  duplication  of  political  offices 
and  of  taxation  which  was  secured  in 
these  two  respects.  By  more  than 
doubling  the  city  area  a  considerable 
degree  of  foresight  was  presumed  to 
have  been  exercised.  Subsequent 
growth,  however,  has  shown  that  the 
judgment  of  the  constitution  framers 
was  not  sufficiently  farsighted.  Within 
less  than  fifty  years  St.  Louis  has 
grown  up  rather  tightly  to  its  city 
limits  in  several  directions  and  a  large 
percentage  of  new  growth  is  taking 
place  outside  the  established  city 
limits. 

TO   EXPAND   ST.   LOUIS 

The  separation  of  the  city  and 
county,  having  been  effected  by  a  con- 
stitutional provision,  literally  so  es- 
tablished the  present  city  limits  that 
they  cannot  be  changed  except  by 
constitutional  provision.  A  consider- 
able demand  for  a  change  in  the  city 
limits  has  arisen  from  time  to  time, 
but  no  hope  of  changing  the  present 
city  boundaries  was  in  evidence  until 


the  people  of  Missouri  voted  in  favor 
of  a  constitutional  convention  in  1921. 
The  convention  convened  in  May, 
1922. 

The  question  of  expanding  the  limits 
of  the  city  of  St.  Louis  was  referred  to 
the  committee  on  counties,  cities  and 
towns  of  the  convention.  Various 
proposals  have  been  made  to  this 
committee  and  a  very  perplexing  di- 
lemma has  arisen.  Any  expansion  of 
the  city  limits  will  be  at  the  expense 
of  the  county,  more  especially  since 
the  more  densely  populated  and  hence 
the  greatest  taxable  values  in  the 
county  are  in  the  cities  and  towns 
which  immediately  adjoin  St.  Louis. 
An  arbitrary  detachment  of  these  cities 
and  towns  from  the  county  to  the  city 
is  not  beneficial  from  the  county  stand- 
point and  is  strongly  opposed  by  county 
officials.  On  the  other  hand  a  con- 
siderable sentiment  has  developed  in  a 
number  of  the  communities  for  an- 
nexation to  the  city  of  St.  Louis  be- 
cause of  increasing  taxes  for  water, 
schools  and  other  purposes. 

A  PROPOSAL  TO  RESTORE  THE  COUNTY 

A  second  proposal  has  been  the 
re-entry  of  the  city  of  St.  Louis  into 
the  county,  which  is  opposed  on  the 
ground  that  it  would  again  offer  op- 
portunity for  duplication  of  taxation 
and  of  political  offices.  A  third  pro- 
posal is  that  the  entire  county  should 


406 


1922] 


CITY-COUNTY  CONSOLIDATION 


407 


be  absorbed  by  St.  Louis.  Little  ex- 
pression of  public  opinion  has  been 
forthcoming  on  this  proposal  except 
that  it  would  create  a  very  difficult 
tax  problem,  since  there  are  some  492 
square  miles  in  St.  Louis  county  as 
well  as  61.37  square  miles  in  the  city  of 
St.  Louis.  This  would  create  a  city 
much  larger  than  that  of  any  other  in 
the  United  States,  Los  Angeles,  the 
largest  city  in  point  of  area,  having 
only  approximately  350  square  miles, 
and  the  area  of  New  York  being  ap- 
proximately 327  square  miles. 

-OLD  BOUNDARY  LINES  NO  LONGER  FIT 

Certain  it  is  that  the  city  of  St. 
Louis  needs  relief.  It  has  far  outgrown 
its  present  boundaries  and  is  not  profit- 
ing by  the  growth  which  it  has  helped 
to  create.  St.  Louis  county  has  a 
population  to-day  of  approximately 
100,000  people  whereas  it  had  a  popu- 
lation of  50,000  in  1900.  Already  the 
«ity  of  St.  Louis  has  numerous  inter- 
ests in  St.  Louis  county.  It  has  pur- 
chased a  farm  for  delinquent  children, 
another  for  tubercular  and  insane, 
while  a  large  additional  area  will  soon 
be  needed  in  connection  with  the  ex- 
pansion of  the  waterworks  system,  a 
new  source  of  supply  being  contem- 
plated on  the  Missouri  river.  Splendid 
scenic  areas  along  the  Meramec  river, 
the  Missouri  river  and  Creve  Coeur 
lake  can  now  be  secured,  which  in  the 
course  of  a  very  few  years  will  be 
spoiled  if  the  city  does  not  secure  con- 
trol. It  is  estimated  that  some  500,- 
000  front  feet  of  land  has  been  sub- 
divided into  building  lots  within  the 
past  year  most  of  which  is  in  St.  Louis 
county  and  over  which  the  city  of  St. 
Louis  has  no  control.  Bad  housing 
conditions  are  being  created  in  certain 
sections  of  St.  Louis  county  immedi- 
ately beyond  the  city  limits.  River 
des  Peres,  a  troublesome  stream  having 
A  watershed  of  some  70,000  acres, 


passes  through  the  city  limits  of  St. 
Louis  before  it  reaches  the  Mississippi 
river.  St.  Louis,  therefore,  has  to 
contend  with  most  of  the  flood  water 
even  though  only  16,000  acres  of  the 
watershed  are  within  the  present  limits 
of  the  city,  and  there  is  inadequate 
legislation  for  joint  district  sewers. 
St.  Louis  county  does  not  have  to  con- 
tend with  the  storm  water  problem  and 
is  therefore  not  interested  in  helping 
to  solve  this  very  difficult  matter. 
The  city  of  St.  Louis  is  now  preparing 
to  expend  more  than  $10,000,000  on 
the  elimination  of  nuisances  caused  by 
this  stream,  not  one  cent  of  which  can 
be  assessed  in  St.  Louis  county. 

It  is  particularly  important  that  the 
present  constitutional  convention  at 
least  open  an  opportunity  for  a  solution 
of  this  problem.  Another  constitution 
for  the  state  will  probably  not  be  writ- 
ten within  the  next  fifty  or  one  hun- 
dred years.  Within  this  time  there  is 
no  reason  to  doubt  but  what  the  city 
of  St.  Louis  will  expand  to  two  or  three 
times  its  present  size  and  unless  it  can 
exert  some  measure  of  unification  of 
control  over  physical  development, 
tremendous  problems  will  arise.  This 
situation  is  another  illustration  for  the 
need  of  regional  planning  which  has 
recently  excited  much  interest  in  the 
larger  cities  of  the  country. 

COMMITTEE    REPORTS    COMMENDABLE 
PLAN 

After  several  months'  consideration 
of  the  political  and  other  intricacies  of 
the  problem  above  referred  to,  the 
committee  on  counties,  cities  and 
towns  has  presented  a  most  commend- 
able report  to  the  convention.  The 
report  provides  that  upon  compliance 
with  certain  provisions  including  con- 
sent of  the  voters  in  any  given  section 
of  the  county  and  the  city  of  St.  Louis, 
portions  of  the  county  may  be  added 
to  the  city  up  to  a  point  where  the 


408 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[December 


area  of  St.  Louis  county  will  not  be 
reduced  to  less  than  410  square  miles. 
Since  the  present  area  of  St.  Louis 
county  is  approximately  492  square 
miles  this  means  that  77  square  miles 
may  be  added  to  the  present  area  of 
St.  Louis,  or  more  than  double  that  at 
present  contained  within  the  city 
limits. 

The  report  also  makes  possible  the 
changing  of  county  boundaries  so  that 
should  St.  Louis  county  adjust  its 
boundaries  in  other  directions,  even 
more  area  might  be  added  to  the  city. 
Areas  added  to  the  city  of  St.  Louis 
under  this  provision  would  not  pre- 
serve their  local  identities,  becoming 
part  and  parcel  of  the  city,  which 
would  assume  any  existing  indebtedness 
of  absorbed  areas. 

The  report  of  the  committee  also 
makes  possible  the  acquisition  of 
ground  within  the  county  by  condem- 
nation, which  power  has  not  heretofore 
been  enjoyed.  This  means  that  St. 
Louis  would  not  be  restricted  as  here- 


tofore in  opportunities  for  securing 
favorable  sites  for  its  eleemosynary 
institutions,  waterworks  or  an  outer 
park  system. 

The  report  of  the  committee  also 
includes  three  other  important  meas- 
ures, zoning,  excess  condemnation  and 
police  home  rule.  In  fact  the  com- 
mittee report  recommends  home  rule 
for  cities  in  every  respect  except  elec- 
tions, education  and  public  utilities. 

It  will  be  a  matter  of  great  interest 
to  see  what  action  is  taken  upon  the 
report  by  the  constitutional  conven- 
tion. It  may  safely  be  said  that  the 
committee's  report  goes  beyond  the 
expectations  of  those  chiefly  interested 
in  and  acquainted  with  the  present 
situation. 

A  minority  report  was  presented  by 
a  few  members  of  the  committee, 
recommending  the  consolidation  of 
St.  Louis  and  St.  Louis  county,  but  it 
is  not  expected  nor  hoped  that  the 
majority  report  will  be  substantially 
altered. 


BILLBOARD  CONTROL  TO  DATE 


BY  EVERETT  L.  MILLARD1 


THE  chief  reasons  why  boundless 
acres  of  out  door  advertising  signs 
offend  the  view  throughout  the  coun- 
try have  been :  First,  the  apathy  of  the 
public,  and  second,  the  difficulty  of 
legal  control. 

CONFLICTING    PURPOSES 

Almost  everyone  except  those  finan- 
cially interested  dislikes  the  billboards, 
but  most  people,  wishing  they  could 
be  done  away  with,  prefer  to  "let 
George  do  it,"  and  are  seldom  willing 
to  trouble  themselves  to  write  letters 
of  objection  to  advertisers  or  to  bring 
pressure  on  the  local  authorities  to 
pass  and  enforce  the  ordinances  that 
are  possible.  They  need  to  be  led  in 
these  campaigns  by  civic  organiza- 
tions, clubs  and  institutions,  which  are 
able  to  translate  the  incoherent  pro- 
test of  the  public  into  effective  action. 
There  is  no  longer  any  doubt  as  to 
what  the  general  feeling  is,  because 
boards  have  grown  in  number  greatly 
during  recent  years,  especially  along 
railroads  and  country  roadsides,  and 
the  people  have  become  more  vividly 
aware  than  they  used  to  be  of  their 
flaunting  selfishness.  People  have  also 
a  much  stronger  realization  of  the  fact 
that  beauty  is  not  divorced  from  the 
pocketbook;  that  it  is  good  business  to 
make  a  community  attractive,  and 
that  a  city  which  offers  beautiful  streets 
and  country  surroundings  to  the  tour- 
ist and  the  dweller  gets  more  trade, 
and  has  higher  real  estate  values  than 
one  that  does  not.  Many  millions  of 
dollars  are  being  spent  on  city  develop- 
ment and  beautification  plans  through- 

1  President  of  the  Municipal  Art  League  of 
Chicago;  Chairman,  Billboard  Committee  of 
the  American  Civic  Association. 


out  the  country,  part  of  which  is  spent 
for  the  purpose  of  facilitating  traffic 
and  business,  but  much  of  which  is 
spent  for  beautification,  and  these 
plans  are  in  general  popular.  What 
common  sense  is  there  in  voting  these 
millions  of  dollars  of  taxpayers'  money 
for  adornment,  only  to  have  the  effect 
in  a  large  measure  spoiled  by  a  fun- 
gous growth  of  advertising  signs 
springing  up  in  every  location  that 
prominently  meets  the  eye?  People 
who  want  civic  beauty  are  no  longer 
sneered  at,  and  its  development  is  now 
a  business  as  highly  respected  by  gov- 
ernmental agencies  as  any  other.  The 
practical  business  man  sees  that  he  is 
letting  the  billboard  nuisance  obtrude 
itself  for  no  return.  More  important 
than  this,  the  city  home  dweller  finds 
the  boards  a  continuing  detriment  to 
health  and  safety  from  crime  and  fire, 
as  well  as  eyesores. 

The  manifest  evidence  all  over  the 
country  of  these  facts,  from  individual 
opinion,  newspaper  editorials  and  re- 
strictions placed  upon  boards  in  many 
localities  now  availing  themselves  of 
the  clearer  legal  situation,  shows  that 
the  apathy  of  the  people  is  in  large 
measure  disappearing,  and  that  they 
are  ready  to  back  up  any  campaign 
taken  in  their  behalf. 

SUPREME     COURT     RECOGNIZES     UTILI- 
TARIAN  OBJECTIONS 

The  boards  had  a  good  chance  to 
grow  to  their  present  abundance, 
because  of  the  legal  confusion  in  their 
regulation.  The  first  attacks  on  them 
were  made  on  the  basis  of  aesthetic 
objections  only,  and  the  courts  have 
almost  uniformly  held  that  these  were 
insufficient  to  support  a  regulatory 


409 


410 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[December 


ordinance;  that  unlike  offenses  to  the 
nose  and  ear,  offenses  to  the  eye  could 
not  be  prohibited.  Since,  however, 
the  decision  of  the  United  States  su- 
preme court,  in  the  case  of  City  of 
Chicago  vs.  Cusack  Co.,  242  U.  S.  526, 
there  has  been  a  clearly  defined  basis 
for  regulation  and  prohibition  in  cer- 
tain cases.  In  that  case,  it  was  held 
that  an  ordinance  requiring  a  majority 
of  frontage  consents  in  residence  blocks 
was  valid,  and  it  therefore  follows  that 
a  prohibition  of  boards  in  such  resi- 
dence districts  would  be  valid,  because 
the  frontage  consent  is  merely  a  waiver 
of  the  right  of  prohibition.  The  court 
found  that  fires  started  from  the  ac- 
cumulation of  combustible  material 
which  gathered  around  such  billboards; 
that  offensive  and  insanitary  accumu- 
lations were  habitually  found  about 
them,  and  that  they  afford  a  conven- 
ient concealment  and  shield  for  im- 
moral practices  and  for  loiterers  and 
criminals;  that  residence  districts  do 
not  have  as  full  police  or  fire  protection 
as  other  sections  have,  and  that  the 
streets  of  such  sections  are  more  fre- 
quented by  unprotected  women  and 
children  and  are  not  so  well  lighted  as 
other  sections. 

Based  upon  these  utilitarian  objec- 
tions, it  is  possible  now  to  progress 
from  an  ordinance  requiring  a  major- 
ity of  frontage  consents  in  residence 
districts  to  one  prohibiting  boards  in 
residence  districts,  and  many  cities, 
notably  Los  Angeles,  have  already 
taken  advantage  of  this  decision  to 
secure  such  an  ordinance.  It  should 
require  only  concerted  action  by  those 
interested,  and  the  co-ordination  of 
civic  organizations  and  individuals  in 
bringing  pressure  upon  municipal  gov- 
ernments. 

Upon  a  case  with  proper  foundation 
of  evidence  the  same  objections  might 
be  extended  to  at  least  some  types  of 
business  sections. 


ZONING  A  WEAPON 

The  recent  popularity  of  zoning  in 
cities  and  wide  appreciation  of  its 
value  for  both  business  and  residence 
purposes,  with  a  clearer  definition  of 
the  law  on  the  subject  has  further 
opened  a  broad  field  for  effective  regu- 
lation of  outdoor  advertising.  In  resi- 
dence districts  these  ordinances  gen- 
erally provide  that  no  structures  other 
than  those  specified  are  allowed,  which 
automatically  prohibits  boards,  unless 
mentioned.  Zoning  ordinances  must 
be  reasonable  under  the  police  power, 
and  the  legal  difficulties  lie  only  in 
understanding  the  scope  of  the  police 
power.  This  power  extends,  of  course, 
to  the  public  health,  morals  and  safety. 
That  it  extends  also  to  the  power  of 
the  state  to  provide  for  the  public 
convenience,  welfare  and  general  pros- 
perity by  appropriate  legislation  is  also 
settled,  by  cases  such  as  Bacon  vs. 
Walker,  204  U.  S.  311,  and  Lake  Shore 
&  Michigan  Southern  Ry.  Co.  vs.  Ohio, 
173  U.  S.  285.  The  exact  scope  of  the 
regulation  of  outdoor  advertising  under 
the  general  welfare  and  public  conven- 
ience is  not  clearly  defined.  Zoning 
regulations  may  be  upheld  under  it, 
including  regulations  of  boards  where 
the  application  of  the  ordinance  is 
general  to  the  community  or  to  dis- 
tricts of  certain  classes  therein.  Boards 
might  be  regulated  under  this  power  in 
ordinances  covering  that  particular 
subject  only,  and  have  been  so  regu- 
lated in  Washington  without  attack. 

In  a  properly  prepared  case  the  bill- 
board companies  may  yet  be  as  much 
surprised  to  find  that  the  supreme 
court  upholds  their  regulation  on  ses- 
thetic  grounds  as  they  were  in  the 
decision  in  the  Cusack  case.  The  de- 
cisions have  been  mostly  on  ordinances 
clearly  prohibitory  in  intention,  and 
the  courts  will  accept  almost  any  legal 
peg  that  gets  them  away  from  the 


1922] 


BILLBOARD  CONTROL  TO  DATE 


411 


precedents  invalidating  the  aesthetic 
basis.  There  is  at  least  a  growing 
tendency  toward  a  revision  of  the  old 
narrowness  of  the  decisions,  and  recog- 
nition that  modern  living  conditions 
and  congestion  have  changed  the  utili- 
tarian excuses  for  allowing  offenses  to 
the  eye  to  go  unimpeded. 

Boards  along  railroads  and  country 
roadsides,  which  are  now  causing  more 
and  more  offense  to  the  public,  are 
harder  to  control.  They  can  be  re- 
moved from  the  public  parkways  in 
almost  any  state,  but  the  difficulty 
comes  in  removing  them  from  pri- 
vately owned  land  fronting  the  high- 
ways. The  proper  way  to  control 
this  is  by  giving  municipalities  consti- 
tutional power,  as  Massachusetts  has, 
to  regulate  advertising  on  private 
property  within  public  view.  Such 
powers  will  be  progressively  given 
with  the  development  of  public  edu- 
cation and  sentiment  on  the  subject. 
Meanwhile  township  authorities  find 
their  power  of  removal  of  country 
boards  more  limited  than  that  the 
cities  have  attained. 

WHAT  WAS  ACCOMPLISHED  IN  COLORADO 

The  splendid  movement  to  abolish 
the  advertising  signs  at  the  mountain 


parks  of  Denver,  conducted  by  the 
Colorado  Rocky  Mountain  Club,  offers 
an  example  of  what  sufficient  vigor  and 
public  spirit  will  accomplish.  The  ad- 
vertisers on  the  signs  defacing  those 
beautiful  landscapes  were  approached 
one  by  one  by  the  club  committee,  and 
the  results  published  in  the  club  bulle- 
tin. Gradually  those  holding  out  di- 
minished in  number,  until  none  re- 
mained. Indefatigable  work  is  needed 
for  this,  for  the  billboard  companies 
themselves  appear  to  have  no  men  of 
broad  public  spirit  behind  them  and  of 
much  foresight  of  public  opinion. 
They  are  heading  their  industry,  by 
contempt  of  all  motives  except  narrow 
selfish  gain,  into  the  position  the 
liquor  people  arrived  at.  No  landscape 
is  too  lovely  for  them  to  spoil,  even 
though  it  educates  people  to  hate  them 
for  it. 

Community  effort  upon  the  adver- 
tisers direct,  and  upon  the  city  fathers 
and  state  solons  to  make  and  en- 
force laws  regulating  outdoor  adver- 
tising to  the  full  extent  permissible 
affords  a  field  of  control  that  is 
bounded  only  by  the  energy  of  the 
workers. 


A  COMMENTARY  UPON  THE  COMPARA- 
TIVE TAX  RATES  OF  THIRTY-TWO 
CITIES,  1922 


BY  C.  E.  RIGHTOR 


The  table  of  comparative  tax  votes,  compiled  by  The  Detroit  Bureau  of 
Governmental  Research  and  published  below,  is  explained  and  analyzed 


IN  the  absence  of  available  data  on 
tax  rates  levied  by  the  larger  cities  in 
the  United  States,  the  Detroit  Bureau 
of  Governmental  Research  has  col- 
lected and  tabulated  the  total  tax 
rates  in  thirty-two  cities  for  the  year 
1922. 

BASIS  OF   COMPILATION 

To  arrive  at  a  comparable  tax  rate 
basis,  the  varying  legal  bases  of  assess- 
ments in  different  states  are  adjusted 
uniformly  to  a  100  per  cent  basis.  For 
instance, — property  in  Illinois  is  as- 
sessed at  50  per  cent  of  the  true  value; 
consequently  a  tax  levy  of  $76.50  per 
$1,000  assessed  valuation  in  Chicago 
is  reduced  to  one  half  of  that  amount, 
or  to  $38.25  on  the  adjusted  basis  of 
100  per  cent. 

Further,  while  the  usual  statutory 
provision  in  states  is  that  property 
shall  be  assessed  at  "true  cash  value," 
experience  indicates  that  a  full  valua- 
tion upon  this  basis  is  seldom  made. 
Therefore,  to  assure  more  nearly 
equality  in  the  comparisons,  the  tax 
rate  is  further  adjusted  upon  the  ratio 
of  the  assessed  value  to  the  true  value 
of  the  property.  For  instance, — in 
Detroit,  the  tax  rate  for  1922,  for  all 
subdivisions,  totals  $28.34;  it  is  es- 
timated that  property  in  Detroit  is 
assessed  on  an  average  at  80  per  cent 
of  its  "true  value,"  therefore  the  tax 
burden  on  property  of  all  kinds  in  the 


city  of  Detroit  is  actually  only  $22.67 
per  $1,000. 

A  tabulation  of  tax  rates  so  compiled 
adjusts  the  levies  of  the  various  cities 
to  a  uniform  and  comparable  basis, 
and,  it  is  believed,  reflects  the  relative 
burden  upon  each  $1,000  of  property 
for  all  taxes  levied  for  one  year. 

Except  as  noted,  therefore,  the  tax 
rates  for  each  purpose  and  the  total 
tax  rates  are  actual  figures,  and  may 
be  accepted  at  full  value. 

The  legal  basis  of  assessment  needs 
no  comment,  as  it  will  be  seen  that 
nearly  all  states  now  require  a  100 
per  cent  basis  of  assessment.  For 
comparison,  it  is  obviously  permissible 
to  adjust  the  rate  to  a  standard  100 
per  cent  basis  for  all  cities. 

The  final  three  columns  are,  of 
course,  only  estimates,  as  it  would  be 
difficult  if  not  impossible  to  determine 
with  exactness  for  any  city  the  ratio 
of  assessed  values  to  true  values.  The 
ranking  of  any  city  must  depend  upon 
the  accuracy  of  this  "guess"  or  es- 
timate, and  in  examining  the  rankings 
the  basis  for  them  should  be  borne  in 
mind. 

The  figures  should  be  accepted  for 
just  what  they  are  labelled, — nothing 
more  nor  less.  In  other  words,  an 
industry  would  not  be  justified  in  ac- 
cepting them  as  a  reason  for  deciding 
to  locate  in  a  city  shown  to  have  a  low 
tax  rate  according  to  the  adjusted 


412 


1922] 


COMPARATIVE  TAX  RATES 


413 


tabulation,  because  it  is  not  purported 
that  all  the  evidence  is  presented. 

THE    TAX    RATE    REQUIRES    SUPPLE- 
MENTARY  DATA 

Those  conversant  with  tax  problems 
will  agree  that  the  "tax  rate"  alone 
means  nothing, — even  though  inquir- 
ies relative  to  tax  rates  are  frequently 
received  from  citizens  and  taxpayers, 
realtors,  and  industries. 

Too  many  elements  enter  into  the 
seemingly  simple  question. 

The  ratio  of  assessed  to  true  prop- 
erty valuations,  the  scope  and  extent 
of  services  undertaken  by  the  cities, 
the  area  and  population  served,  the 
topographical  and  other  natural  con- 
ditions, and  the  revenues  from  ordinary 
and  extraordinary  sources, — all  these, 
and  many  other  factors,  have  a  bearing 
on  the  question. 

The  public  services  performed  is  the 
basis  for  measuring  the  efficiency  of 
municipal  government.  A  tax  rate, 
therefore,  should  be  analyzed  to  ascer- 
tain the  amount  of  each  kind  of  serv- 
ice obtained  by  the  community,  for 
comparison  of  services  in  the  various 
municipalities. 

Because  undue  value  may  be  placed 
upon  the  statement  of  tax  rates,  with- 
out ample  consideration  of  the  facts 
pertinent  to  the  rates  in  many  in- 
stances, it  is  deemed  well  to  offer  a 
word  of  caution  and  suggestion. 

PURPOSES   OF   LEVY  VARY 

With  respect  to  the  table,  it  will  be 
noted  that  the  purposes  of  levy  vary. 
In  some  cases  the  city  rate  includes 
such  extraordinary  levies  as  port,  dock, 
park,  flood  prevention,  etc.  These 
instances  are  referred  to  in  the  notes. 
Again,  in  certain  cities  there  is  no 
county  levy,  due  to  city-county  con- 
solidation or  the  absence  of  any  county 
government,  as  indicated  in  the  notes 
accompanying  the  tabulation.  Com- 


parisons may  be  made  properly  only 
when  these  facts  are  considered. 

Further,  some  states  have  no  real 
estate  tax,  notably  Pennsylvania,  Cali- 
fornia, and  Delaware.  Ohio  levies 
but  a  small  tax  for  state  purposes, 
although  the  table  would  indicate  a 
rather  substantial  levy  of  $3.67.  The 
note  opposite  Cleveland  shows,  how- 
ever, that  of  this  levy,  $2.65  is  in 
reality  an  attempt  to  overcome  the 
undue  restrictions  and  internal  limita- 
tions of  the  so-called  Smith  One  Per 
Cent  Law  in  that  state. 

Due  to  having  the  largest  tax  levy 
for  schools,  Chicago  ranks  sixth  in 
amount  of  total  adjusted  tax  rate. 
It  is  of  interest  to  note  in  this  connec- 
tion that  Chicago  has  followed  for 
some  years  the  "pay-as-you-go"  policy 
of  constructing  new  schools,  the  entire 
building  program  each  year  being 
borne  by  general  taxation.  As  a  re- 
sult, the  tax  rate  is  high,  but  the  city 
has  no  bonded  debt  for  schools  (to  be 
exact,  $125,000  school  bonds  were  out- 
standing on  January  1,  1922),  and  of 
thirty -two  cities,  Chicago  stands  fourth 
from  the  smallest  in  amount  of  total 
bonded  debt. 

NATURE    OF   ASSESSMENTS    VARIES 

It  should  be  observed  that  there  is 
considerable  divergence  in  the  nature 
of  assessments  against  which  the  tax 
rate  applies. 

The  total  assessment  roll  may  in- 
clude a  large  percentage  of  personalty, 
as  in  Cleveland,  where  42.7  per  cent  of 
a  total  valuation  of  $1,700,000,000  is 
assessed  in  that  class.  This  compares 
with  Detroit's  personal  assessments, 
which  are  23.7  per  cent  of  a  total  roll  of 
$1,954,000,000.  Michigan  laws  ex- 
empt many  kinds  of  personal  property 
that  are  taxed  in  Ohio. 

On  the  other  hand,  exemptions  in 
some  states  have  worked  nearly  to 
eliminate  consideration  of  personalty, 


414 


[December 


•s 

(S 
o 

8  .£ 

S  go 

8*1 

gig 
111 

618 

ill 
511 

KM 

tf  o  T5 

g?l 

°  i 

«  5  I 

e  I 

|-i 

«  2  o 

M|| 

2°  S 
H  H  g 

M  tr- 

H  gg 


COMPARA 
COMPILED 
m  Data  Furnished 


•B 


•   »*;— 


•So  g 


. 

3*"   M 

•<4  03  03 

KJO 


1 


rl  C4  n  M  <-<  ^l  CO  CS  N        CONi-li-t 


tCRt^OSC/OOsaiOOOOOOOOOOOOOI^OOOOOOOOOCO'OOCOCOOOOt^ 

a, 


OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMOOOCOOOOOOOOOOO 
O«5OOOOOOOOOOOOWO»OOtOOOOCOOOt^OO'OCCOO 


Sr-OKNt~^Hi-HOOt~tOCOCOt-tO>OT»<OO'-c-<»iOffi>C»OO)COOO  *»JB 

l^l     .  CO  CO  »-l  CS  CO     •     •     •  tH  T}(  00  ^  i-l  W     •O'i'COW'^'     •CO'OWWN^"     •     •  -9  •- 

J  °- 

a 

Is. 

•a^ 

11 M 

•  LOO     •  CS     *O     •  *O     •OkftO»-'CS^<     •  ^H  iO  f— <  CS  O3     'Is"     •     •  «3  ^*     •  03CJ 

-CO     -iH     -CO     -OC:iOiO<N<D     -t-COOCSOO     •  r»     •     -OCS     •  o 

oo   •   •    -toes   '••#   -t~~   •«   -po-^iccoes   ••*T«I«IOCS   -co   •   -t-oo   • 

s 

OOO®O)O-*CSOO     •T-lOOOOt^WtOOaO'OO'-lO     -i-«O     -O>OO 
O  .-I  U3  ^<  O5  00  O  •*  "5  OO     •  r-l  t»  O  t^  >O  CO  O  «O  t»  «O  Tf  ^<  CS  >O     -COCO     "^<CSO 

Si 
3 

•4 

_< 

"CMrt    "rt""rtcVirtrHiH 

B*j| 

"op 

"-  d 

II 

B*l 

ag 

:%  ' 
::<     •:••-     •*•     =^1     I  :=  i  H      I* 

11 

icsolcscococijcccoroc^c 


1922] 


COMPARATIVE  TAX' RATES 


415 


a  -ss  l 

£     8*  2 

m   ft  o 

3    .*5  ° 

g     5  a  .5 

E  bfl"O  d  a) 

S  3  fl  O  J3 

iia.i  ^ 


11: 


J  .8 


J- 


j 
I 

I 
lli     1 

J  Q)  C 

>£     8       -3 

S.y     "O          TS 


5      I 


>•£ 


*  -zx-a   .a 

1  ^<b£J 

I  Ull^ 

§  'So  r  §    .5 

1  njss; 

•9  x^llsll 

J3  C«  „  CS— 1c73 

o  08  — ^  >-g  v  a 

•9  5§s'S-3§'» 


, 
$2. 
is 


o  8  S  g  S  a  _ 
^^sS-J  |^ 

S     J-^sg-Sl 
o     il^lljl 

*     J^^a- 

t  Uiiili 

1  l|El||l 

w;  b    ^^.    O    O.-'i 

3    £  S  °  **  .-=9 


•2^ 


p 
1. 


l  tax, 
ts  fo 


i       > 


•a  .  ^3 
a>  OQ  *J 

g  d  » 
•S  g  S 

•2t  s 

*«  fe 
^9  £ 
2o  2 
S«  a 

8 

a 


o  d      « 
o«      « 


Of 

y,  a 


county  rate 
tholic  rate  fo 


Hg 
.-353        ll 

fill    5« 
1511  .11 

Bill    883 

-•i9jll  l«i 


eirp5«etwlF 

i^lli^iiMUitliffiil 

1lF.|/§l|||il|lPl|l||| 


H2 


416 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[December 


as  in  New  York.  For  instance,  Buf- 
falo in  1921  had  $10,500,000  personal 
assessments,  which  has  shrunk  20  per 
cent  this  year.  The  exemption  by 
New  York  city  of  newly  constructed 
residences  from  municipal  taxes  for  a 
ten-year  period,  and  the  principle 
adopted  in  Pittsburgh  of  applying  a 
millage  (tax)  rate  to  buildings  at  only 
a  given  percentage  of  the  full  rate 
applied  to  land,  until,  after  1925,  the 
millage  rate  for  buildings  will  be  only 
50  per  cent  of  the  full  rate  for  land,  are 
further  examples. 


The  existence  of  tax  limitation  laws, 
as  in  Ohio,  has  a  bearing  upon  the  rank 
of  cities,  which  without  consideration 
of  all  the  facts  gives  them  an  unduly 
favorable  aspect.  A  simple  statement 
of  the  tax  rate  alone  cannot  reveal  the 
fact  that  Cleveland  during  the  past 
few  years  has  issued  deficiency  bonds 
amounting  to  $12,750,000,  and  that 
some  other  Ohio  cities  are  similarly 
hard  pressed.  The  fallacy  of  tax  limit 
laws  has  been  proved,  but  not  uni- 
versally remedied. 

SEPARATION   OF   SOURCES  OF    REVENUE 

The  development  in  the  separation 
of  state  and  local  revenues  has  an  im- 
portant bearing  upon  the  property  tax 
rate.  Some  states  have  already  turned 
in  part  from  property  taxation  to  other 
sources  of  taxation,  leaving  property 
taxation  largely  for  local  requirements. 
Notably  is  this  true  in  Wisconsin, 
Massachusetts,  and  New  York,  which 


rely  in  part  upon  an  income  tax.  It 
would  be  a  fallacy  to  assume  that  be- 
cause property  taxes  are  low  in  these 
states,  individual  and  corporate  wealth 
in  some  other  form  did  not  have  to  sup- 
port the  state  governments. 

In  some  instances  the  fiscal  year  does 
not  correspond  with  the  calendar  year, 
but  it  is  assumed  that  ordinarily  no 
great  change  in  any  rate  will  be  found 
from  one  year  to  the  next,  so  latitude 
in  this  respect  is  permissible  without 
impairing  the  value  of  the  figures. 

Finally,  it  is  fair  to  repeat  that  the 
table  does  report  the  actual  tax  rates 
on  each  $1,000  worth  of  assessed  prop- 
erty for  1922,  in  each  of  the  cities, 
together  with  an  estimate  of  the  rela- 
tive tax  burden.  This  is  all  that  may 
properly  be  construed  from  the  tabu- 
lation. 

This  is  the  second  annual  compila- 
tion of  tax  rates  made  by  the  Detroit 
Bureau  of  Governmental  Research. 
It  is  hoped  that  a  similar  report  will 
be  compiled  each  year,  and  possible 
discrepancies  occurring  in  this  report 
may  be  eliminated  in  future  compila- 
tions. It  is  unfortunate  that  the  tax 
figures  for  Los  Angeles,  Washington, 
Cincinnati,  Indianapolis,  Jersey  City, 
Providence,  Louisville,  and  Des 
Moines,  were  not  furnished,  and  it  is 
hoped  to  include  them  in  future  state- 
ments.1 

1  Los  Angeles  reported  its  1922  tax  rate  after 
completion  of  the  statement.  The  rates  are: 
City  rate,  $10  (per  charter  limitation);  Debt 
service,  $2.60;  Basis  of  assessment,  50  per  cent. 


HUGE  WATER  AND  POWER  DEVELOP- 
MENT PROPOSED  IN  CALIFORNIA 

BY  WM.  J.  LOCKE 

Executive  Secretary,  League  of  California  Municipalitiet 

This  measure  was  voted  on  at  the  November  election.    Early  returns 
received  as  we  go  to  press  indicate  that  it  was  defeated  by  3  to  1.    :: 


CALIFORNIA'S  Water  and  Power 
Act  is  a  proposed  constitutional  amend- 
ment, to  conserve,  develop  and  control 
the  waters  of  the  state  for  the  use  and 
benefit  of  the  people ;  to  make  possible 
the  unified  and  scientific  maximum  of 
irrigation,  flood  control  and  hydro- 
electric power  development;  to  guaran- 
tee to  separate  communities  the  fullest 
possible  freedom  in  solving  their  own 
water  and  power  problem,  with  state 
assistance;  to  provide  a  method  of 
unified  control  by  which  communities 
may  co-operate,  and  to  make  the  re- 
maining nine-tenths  of  the  water  and 
power  resources  of  California  pay  for 
their  own  development,  without  taxa- 
tion of  the  people,  without  profit  to 
middlemen,  without  new  bonded  in- 
debtedness on  the  land,  and  with  rates 
at  cost  to  users  of  water  and  power. 

WHAT  THE  AMENDMENT   PROVIDES 

The  provisions  of  the  amendment  for 
carrying  out  the  above  purpose  fall 
under  four  main  headings.  They  are: 

1.  Availability  of  state   credit  for 
community  development. 

2.  The    organization    of    the    Cali- 
fornia   water    and    power    board,    to 
which  are  assigned  powers  to  carry  out 
the  purposes  of  the  act. 

3.  A  definite  legal  process  by  which 
single  communities  or  communities  in 
groups  may  proceed  under  the  act. 

4.  Safeguards  against  political  con- 
trol, or  corrupt  or  unwise  administra- 
tion. 


Communities,  separate  or  united, 
may,  under  the  amendment,  procure 
state  credit  for  irrigation  or  power  de- 
velopment, or  both,  or  for  building  or 
acquiring  distributing  systems  for 
water  or  power  or  both.  This  credit 
will  be  extended  only  on  the  basis  of 
proven,  feasible  projects,  with  assured 
returns  sufficient  to  retire  bonds  in 
fifty  years,  and  meet  interest,  operat- 
ing, depreciation,  maintenance,  and 
other  charges.  For  distributing  sys- 
tems, the  return  must  be  in  twenty- 
five  years.  The  sale  of  bonds  will  be 
limited  in  each  case  to  the  amount 
required  for  the  project  in  hand,  and 
the  final  limit  of  this  gradual  extension 
of  credit,  item  by  item,  through  a 
period  of  years,  is  $500,000,000. 

The  foundations  of  the  proposed 
amendments  are  rates  at  cost  and  unified 
development.  Adjustments  of  rates 
from  time  to  time,  according  to  varying 
costs  of  labor  and  materials  is  pro- 
vided, so  that  rates  may  always  be 
kept  on  a  cost  basis.  Pursuant  to  the 
need  for  unified  development,  the 
water  and  power  board,  of  five  mem- 
bers, appointed  by  the  governor,  is 
given  adequate  powers  in  co-operating 
with  various  communities,  the  state, 
or  the  United  States. 

Following  are  a  few  of  the  main  safe- 
guards against  corrupt  or  unwise  pro- 
cedure: 

1.  The  board  must  be  representa- 
tive, in  its  personnel,  of  irrigation  and 


417 


418 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[December 


municipal  interests,  and  of  geographi- 
cal divisions. 

2.  Members  of  the  board  may  be 
recalled,  either  by  the  legislature,  or  by 
direct  vote  of  the  people. 

3.  Amount  of  hydro-electric  energy 
which  may  be  sold  to  corporations,  for 
necessary  "stand-by"  service,  limited 
to  20  per  cent.     Limitation  on  price, 
to  prevent  collusion  with  corporations 
in  selling  people's  power. 

4.  No  confiscation  of  property  pos- 
sible, through  provision  requiring  court 
proceeding,  with  award  of  compensa- 
tion and  damages,  and  recourse  to  jury 
trial  if  desired. 

5 .  Country  districts  protected  against 
possible  aggression  by  large  cities. 

6.  Cities  assured  of  adequate  sup- 
plies of  water  and  power  to  meet  needs 
of  growth. 

7.  Proceeds  from  sale  of  bonds  to  be 
placed  in  state  treasury — sufficiently 
answering  the  power  company's  un- 
truth about  the  board  "opening  its 
own  bank." 

8.  Flexibility  in  adjusting  rates,  in 
accordance  with  varying  cost  of  con- 
struction and  materials,  so  that  rates 
may  be  kept  uniformly  on  a  cost  basis. 

9.  A  preliminary   appropriation   of 
$5,000,000,  to  keep  the  board  a  "going 
concern"  during  the  opening  stages  of 
construction,  before  returns  from  proj- 
ects are  at  hand. 

10.  Auditing  by  the  state  depart- 
ment of  finance. 

11.  Complete  report  of  all  proceed- 
ings to  the  governor,  and  to  all  mem- 
bers of  the  legislature,  with  all  books 
and  papers  open  at  any  time  for  the 
inspection  of  any  citizen  of  the  state. 

12.  Limitation  of  interest  rates  on 
bonds  to  6  per  cent,  thus  safeguarding 
the  system  against  excessive  interest 
rates. 

The  actual  sale  of  the  bonds  is  in 
the  hands  of  the  finance  committee, 
consisting  of  the  governor,  the  treas- 


urer, the  controller,  the  chairman  of 
the  board  of  control  and  the  chairman 
of  the  water  and  power  board.  The 
actual  merits  of  a  proposed  project 
are  made  an  essential  part  of  the  com- 
mittee's consideration. 

FLOOD   CONTROL  AND   IRRIGATION 
INCLUDED 

California  has  reached  a  stage  in  her 
industrial  development  that  demands 
the  bringing  of  her  water  and  power 
resources  into  use.  The  water  is  here 
and  the  potential  power  is  here.  The 
water  must  be  brought  to  the  land,  and 
to  the  cities,  and  the  power  developed 
for  home  and  factory. 

Two  methods  of  bringing  them  into 
use  have  been  suggested : 

1.  By  private  monopoly. 

2.  By  the  state. 

The  power  companies,  not  concern- 
ing themselves  with  flood  control  or 
the  solution  of  the  irrigation  problems, 
propose  issuance  of  securities  aggre- 
gating $1,000,000,000  for  hydro-elec- 
tric development  alone.  The  interest 
on  this  vast  amount,  and  the  principal, 
if  ever  paid,  will  be  met  out  of  rates 
charged  the  people  for  water  and  power. 

DEVELOPMENT  BY  STATE  BITTERLY 
OPPOSED 

The  second  plan  for  bringing  the 
water  resources  into  use  is  to  employ 
the  credit  of  the  state  as  proposed  in 
California's  Water  and  Power  Act,  not 
only  hydro-electric  development,  but 
for  the  storage  of  flood-waters  and  for 
irrigation.  For  this  work  state  credit 
up  to  the  maximum  of  $500,000,000, 
half  the  amount  which  private  monop- 
oly proposes  for  the  development  of 
hydro-electric  power  alone,  is  author- 
ized. The  interest  and  principal  on 
this  capital  investment  will  be  met  out 
of  rates  for  water  and  power  precisely 
the  same  as  would  be  done  under 
private  monopoly.  As  the  state  would 


1922] 


HUGE  WATER  AND  POWER  DEVELOPMENT 


419 


pay  at  least  two  per  cent  less  interest 
than  private  monopoly,  the  amount 
necessary  for  private  monopoly  to 
collect  to  pay  the  interest  charges, 
would,  under  state  development,  not 
only  suffice  to  pay  the  interest,  but 
could  retire  the  entire  capital  invest- 
ment in  less  than  twenty-six  years. 

The  power  companies  are  charging 
that  this  amendment  is  the  work  of  a 
"self-constituted  group."  So  was  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  but  the 
signers  of  this  document  carried  the 
added  opprobrium  of  being  seditious. 
To  be  consistent  in  this  charge  the 
power  companies  were  compelled  to 
attack  the  principle  of  the  initiative — 
and  this  they  have  done.  Eustace 
Cullinan,  leading  the  power  company 
fight  against  this  act,  speaking  in  San 
Francisco,  May  12,  said:  "The  initia- 
tive is  a  menace  to  our  institutions." 
The  line  is  clearly  drawn.  California's 
Water  and  Power  Act  is  being  fought 
by  the  same  interests  which  have 
fought  the  entire  program  of  Cali- 
fornia progressive  legislation.  As  to 
the  origin  of  this  measure,  a  reference 
to  the  list  of  those  who  sponsor  it  will 
disclose  the  names  of  some  of  the  most 
prominent  citizens  of  the  state.  This 
work  was  done  in  co-operation  with  a 
committee  of  the  League  of  California 
Municipalities,  in  conferences  which 
covered  every  business  day  for  nearly 
the  entire  three  months  of  the  summer 
of  last  year.  No  other  measure  in  the 
history  of  California  has  represented 
as  much  work  by  as  many  representa- 
tive men  and  women. 

WOULD   TAXATION   RESULT? 

This  bond  issue  of  five  hundred 
millions  must  be  retired  from  returns 
from  water  and  power  development. 
Bonds  would  be  sold  only  on  projects 
of  proven  feasibility,  with  an  assur- 
ance that  each  would  yield  returns 
sufficient  to  retire  bonds  in  fifty  years, 


and  carry  other  charges.  It  has  been 
proven  by  Los  Angeles  and  Ontario 
that  the  saving  in  interest  rates,  and 
other  savings  incident  to  public  owner- 
ship, is  sufficient  to  carry  the  double 
load  of  bond  retirement  and  deprecia- 
tion. Under  this  amendment,  bonds 
could  be  sold  only  in  accord  with  the 
demand  for  water  and  power.  There 
could  be  no  pledge  of  state  credit  be- 
yond the  certainty  of  returns. 

The  water  and  power  board  cannot 
sell  a  dollar's  worth  of  bonds.  The 
actual  sale  of  the  bonds  is  in  the  hands 
of  a  committee  of  five,  called  the  fi- 
nance committee,  consisting  of  the 
governor,  the  treasurer,  the  controller, 
the  chairman  of  the  board  of  control 
and  the  chairman  of  the  water  and 
power  board.  The  board  submits  to 
the  committee  a  proposal  for  a  project, 
stating  the  amount  of  money  required. 
This  proposal  must  be  accompanied 
by  full  details  of  the  project,  showing 
that  it  will  pay  itself  out,  without 
taxation  of  the  people. 

is  THIS  "SOVIETISM"? 

The  power  companies  are  basing 
their  attack  on  this  measure  on  the 
ground  that  it  is  a  "soviet"  enter- 
prise. They  have  deluged  the  state 
with  a  pamphlet  called  "Shall  Cali- 
fornia Be  Sovietized?"  If  Ontario 
and  Los  Angeles  have  been  "soviet- 
ized,"  the  power  companies  are  doing 
Lenine  and  Trotzky  a  brotherly  serv- 
ice by  advertising  these  achievements 
as  being  of  soviet  inspiration.  If  the 
farmers,  legislators,  bankers,  econo- 
mists, public  officials,  club  women, 
publishers,  college  professors,  and  fin- 
anciers who  head  this  movement  are 
Russian  radicals,  the  "reds"  have 
gained  some  distinguished  adherents! 
If  it  is  sovietism  to  borrow  money  at 
4  per  cent  instead  of  8  per  cent,  and 
to  make  your  business  pay  its  way  out, 
the  power  companies  are  welcome  to 


420 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[December 


their  epithet.  This  "soviet  charge 
amounts  to  merely  this:  The  power 
companies  carefully  picked  out  what 
they  believed  to  be  the  most  unpopu- 
lar term  obtainable  with  which  to 
assault  this  measure. 

The  powers  assigned  the  board  are 
clearly  and  definitely  limited  to  the 
purposes  of  the  act,  which  are  stated 
as  follows:  "To  conserve,  develop  and 
control  the  waters  of  the  state  for  the 
use  and  benefit  of  the  people."  In 
preparing  the  act,  supreme  court  de- 
cisions were  considered,  phrasing  the 
amendment  so  that  the  board  would 
be  definitely  limited  to  carrying  out 
this  purpose.  While  the  power  of 
eminent  domain  is  placed  in  the  hands 
of  the  board,  this  means  merely  the 
assignment  of  a  power  which  is  used  in 
all  great  public  projects. 

STATE   BEHIND   THE   BONDS 

The  "full  faith  and  credit  of  the 
state"  is  actually  pledged  to  the 
bonds,  and  for  this  reason  it  was  neces- 
sary to  make  taxation  possible,  to 
meet  any  deficit  in  funds  for  payment 
of  interest  or  principal.  The  great 
reservoir  of  state  credit  is  available  by 
virtue  of  the  fact  that  the  taxing  power 
of  the  state  stands  behind  its  bonds. 
The  purpose  of  this  measure  is  to  use 
this  reservoir  of  credit.  There  is  no 
use  issuing  bonds  unless  you  expect  to 
sell  them.  A  moment's  consideration 
of  the  water  and  power  assets  behind 
these  bonds  is  sufficient  to  answer  the 
question  as  to  whether  there  is  any 
danger  of  this  taxing  power  actually 
being  used.  The  provision  regarding 
the  sale  of  additional  bonds,  if  at  any 
time  sufficient  revenues  are  not  avail- 
able, is  a  refunding  provision,  which  is 
a  commonplace  of  finance.  Privately 
owned  companies  are  continually  re- 
funding in  this  manner.  The  chief 
difference,  in  this  connection,  between 
the  public  and  the  private  method,  is 


that  the  private  utilities  are  constantly 
"pyramiding"  their  debt,  as  they  do 
not  pay  off  the  principal.  The  rate- 
payers must  pay  perennial  interest 
charges  on  investments  in  which  they 
have  no  share.  Under  California's 
Water  and  Power  Act  the  returns 
from  rates  build  up  an  investment  for 
the  people. 

A   SAFE   VENTURE 

The  proposed  bond  issue  of  $500,- 
000,000,  for  approved  projects,  under 
California's  Water  and  Power  Act  is 
a  safe  and  sensible  procedure,  for  the 
following  reasons: 

1.  The   bonds   will  be   issued   and 
sold  only  for  the  amount  needed  for 
each  feasible  project,  with  an  assur- 
ance that  returns  will  retire  bonds  and 
carry  all  other  charges. 

2.  Each  issue  is  amply  safeguarded 

(a)  by  provisions  governing  the  per- 
sonnel and  responsibility  of  the  board; 

(b)  by  requirements  for  the  actual 
issue  and  sale  of  the  bonds  by  the 
finance  committee,  consisting  of  the 
governor,    the    state    treasurer,    con- 
troller, chairman  of  the  board  of  con- 
trol and  chairman  of  the  water  and 
power  board,  on  the  basis  of  a  showing 
of  assured  returns,  sufficient  to  enable 
the    project   to    "pay    out"    without 
taxation;  (c)  by  the  constantly  increas- 
ing   demand   for   water    and    power, 
which  makes  this  development  "good 
business." 

3.  The  volume  of  the  assets  reclaim- 
able  and  of  the  basic  wealth  of  Cali- 
fornia reduce  to  absurdity  any  charge 
that  the  bond  issue  would  be  a  strain 
on  the  credit  of  the  state.     Irrigation 
is  the  primary  objective  of  water  de- 
velopment, and  power  returns  should 
be   considered   as   derivative   wealth. 
Regardless    of    power    resources,    the 
value  of  water  now  flowing  to  waste, 
sufficient  to  irrigate  9,000,000  acres  of 
land,  and  the  augmented  value  of  this 


1922] 


HUGE  WATER  AND  POWER  DEVELOPMENT 


421 


land  under  irrigation,  brings  the  value 
of  resources  reclaimable  to  an  astound- 
ing total  of  potential  wealth.  A  con- 
servative estimate  of  the  value  of 
taxable  property  in  the  state  is  over 
$10,000,000,000. 

There  are  obligations  in  outstanding 
state,  county,  municipal  and  district 
bonds  of  about  $322,000,000.  Cali- 
fornia's Water  and  Power  Act  would 
raise  this  liability  to  $822,000,000— 
even  if  the  bonds  were  issued  and  sold 
at  once;  which,  of  course,  would  not 
be  the  case.  This  obligation  would 
be  about  8£  per  cent  of  the  underlying 
value  of  the  state.  Consider  together 
the  underlying  wealth  of  $10,000,000,- 
000,  and  the  reclaimable  water  and 
power  wealth  of  additional  billions, 
and  the  "strain  on  state  credit"  be- 
comes comparable  to  the  strain  on  a 
man's  credit  when  he  pledges  a  pocket 
knife  against  a  house  and  lot. 

4.  California  already  has  accepted, 
tried  and  proven  successful  the  prin- 
ciple of  retiring  bonds,  and  paying 
other  charges,  under  state  operation. 


This  is  the  method  of  the  San  Fran- 
cisco harbor  development.  It  has 
proved  an  unqualified  success.  On- 
tario, Canada,  and  Los  Angeles  have 
made  splendid  demonstration  of  the 
truth  of  the  statement  that  water  and 
power  at  cost  will  yield  returns  suffi- 
cient to  retire  bonds,  and  meet  all 
charges  of  interest,  depreciation,  op- 
eration and  maintenance. 

Gifford  Pinchot,  who  with  Theodore 
Roosevelt  launched  the  American  con- 
servation movement,  and  who  has 
received  the  republican  nomination 
for  governor  of  Pennsylvania,  gave 
enthusiastic  indorsement  to  Califor- 
nia's Water  and  Power  Act.  He  came 
to  California  to  speak  for  the  measure 
and,  addressing  the  state  convention 
of  the  League  of  California  Munici- 
palities at  Santa  Monica,  September 
28,  1921,  he  said: 

You  have  a  law  which,  by  the  way,  is  a  model 
of  bill  drafting.  I  have  had  a  good  deal  to  do 
with  drafting  bills  for  the  last  15  years,  and  I 
think  I  have  knowledge  enough  to  say  that  Cali- 
fornia's Water  and  Power  Act  is  a  beauty. 


ILLINOIS  VOTES  ON   NEW  CONSTITUTION 


BY  GEORGE  C.  SIKES 

Chicago 

The  document  framed  by  the  Constitutional  Convention,  which  has  been 
in  session  intermittently  for  more  than  two  years,  will  be  submitted  to  the 
people  as  one  proposition  at  a  special  election  to  be  held  December  12, 
1922. 


THE  outcome  of  the  election  on  the 
new  constitution,  on  December  12, 
appears  uncertain.  There  is  much 
opposition  to  the  new  document  among 
extreme  radical  and  labor  groups.  The 
Hearst  papers  are  hostile  because  the 
convention  rejected  the  proposal  for 
the  initiative  and  referendum.  Fol- 
lowers of  Mayor  Thompson  of  Chicago 
are  critics  of  the  new  constitution  and 
it  is  expected  that  the  Thompson 
organization  will  be  in  open  opposi- 
tion before  the  campaign  is  over. 
The  entire  document,  with  its  many 
changes,  is  to  be  submitted  as  one 
proposition,  thus  inviting  the  cumula- 
tive opposition  of  those  who  may  vote 
no  because  of  dislike  of  this  or  that 
petty  feature. 

Speaking  generally,  it  may  be  said 
that  the  conservatives  are  for  the  new 
constitution,  and  the  extreme  radical 
and  labor  groups  against  it,  though 
of  course  there  are  many  cross  currents. 
Leaders  of  extreme  radical  and  labor 
groups  who  dislike  the  new  constitu- 
tion because  of  things  it  contains  and 
because  of  things  it  omits,  seem  to  be 
influenced  little  by  the  progressive 
features  of  the  new  document,  such  as 
the  direct  grant  to  Chicago  of  large 
home  rule  and  charter-making  powers 
and  of  large  borrowing  power  for  the 
municipal  ownership  of  transportation 
facilities. 

A   CONSERVATIVE   CONVENTION 

The  members  of  the  convention, 
judged  as  individuals,  were  unusually 


capable  and  high-class  men,  nearly  all 
of  the  conservative  type.  Collec- 
tively, the  convention  might  be  char- 
acterized as  an  aggregation  of  inde- 
pendent-minded stars.  It  floundered 
badly  for  many  months,  and  did  not 
function  at  its  best  until  the  last  few 
weeks  before  adjournment.  It  seems 
to  some  of  us  that  the  new  constitu- 
tion as  finally  framed  is  a  much  better 
document  than  was  looked  for  during 
the  middle  of  the  session,  and  that  it 
contains  fewer  objectionable  features 
than  anticipated.  I  am  one  of  those 
who  strongly  favor  the  adoption  of  the 
new  constitution,  despite  its  short- 
comings. A  popular  impression  un- 
favorable to  the  convention  was  cre- 
ated during  its  deliberations  that  is 
likely  to  cause  some  citizens  to  vote 
against  the  new  constitution  without 
a  careful  balancing  of  beneficial  fea- 
tures against  objectionable  ones.  Prej- 
udices and  petty  considerations  are 
likely  to  weigh  strongly  with  some 
voters. 

TWO    SPECTACULAR    CONTROVERSIES 

The  two  spectacular  battles  of  the 
convention  were  those  over  the  initia- 
tive and  referendum  and  the  plan  to 
limit  the  representation  of  Chicago  in 
both  branches  of  the  state  legislature. 

The  proposal  for  the  initiative  and 
referendum  was  rejected.  In  addi- 
tion, a  section  was  inserted  which  is 
regarded  as  a  flaunt  to  the  advocates 
of  direct  legislation.  It  reads:  "The 
republican  form  of  government  of  this 


422 


1922] 


ILLINOIS  VOTES  ON  NEW  CONSTITUTION 


423 


State  shall  never  be  abandoned,  modi- 
fied, or  impaired."  It  seems  to  many 
of  us  that  this  section  has  no  practical 
significance  and  should  be  ignored,  but 
it  is  the  subject  of  much  adverse  com- 
ment. The  form  of  government  of 
the  state  is  prescribed  in  detail  in  the 
constitution  and  cannot  be  changed 
anyway  without  amending  the  consti- 
tution. The  section  in  question,  if  it 
means  anything,  can  be  modified  by 
future  amendment  like  any  other  part 
of  the  basic  law.  Quite  clearly  the 
provision  would  not  operate  to  prevent 
legislation  for  the  initiative,  referen- 
dum and  recall  in  local  matters.  Un- 
der the  charter-making  powers  given 
Chicago  that  city,  without  legislative 
interference,  can  provide  for  the  initia- 
tive, referendum  and  recall  in  munici- 
pal affairs  if  the  people  want  these 
features. 

The  proposal  for  the  limitation  of 
Chicago's  representation  in  the  legis- 
lature was  urged  by  down-state  dele- 
gates, with  the  strong  backing  of  the 
Anti<-Saloon  League.  The  delegation 
from  Cook  county,  in  which  Chicago  is 
located,  threatened  to  bolt  the  conven- 
tion if  the  proposal  should  be  adopted. 
The  matter  was  finally  compromised  on 
the  basis  of  giving  Cook  county  equal 
representation  in  the  lower  house  in 
proportion  to  voting  strength,  but 
limiting  it  to  one-third  of  the  senate. 
Cook  county  has  nearly  one-half  the 
population  of  the  state.  It  seems  to 
many  of  us  that  this  compromise  ought 
to  be  accepted,  but  it  is  the  subject  of 
criticism  from  both  extremes — from 
those  who  insist  that  Chicago  ought  to 
be  limited  in  both  houses  and  from 
those  who  hold  that  any  limitation,  no 
matter  how  small,  is  wrong  in  principle. 

CHICAGO'S  HOME  RULE  POWERS 

The  most  progressive  feature  of  the 
new  constitution  is  that  giving  Chi- 
cago large  home  rule  and  charter-mak- 


ing powers.  It  is  significant  that  these 
powers  are  given  only  to  Chicago,  and 
not  to  other  cities  in  the  state.  It  is 
claimed  there  is  much  sentiment  in 
down-state  cities  for  additional  home 
rule  and  charter-making  powers,  but 
if  so  that  sentiment  was  not  effectively 
represented  in  the  convention.  It 
might  be  added  that  in  their  personal 
views  many  of  the  delegates  from 
Chicago  were  not  in  favor  of  popular 
policies  made  possible  by  the  action  of 
the  convention,  but  they  responded  to 
what  was  believed  to  be  the  public 
opinion  of  that  community  on  such 
matters. 

The  grant  of  home  rule  powers  to 
Chicago  is  conferred  in  the  following 
words : 

Except  as  expressly  prohibited  by  law  the 
city  of  Chicago  is  hereby  declared  to  possess  for 
all  municipal  purposes  full  and  complete  power 
of  local  self-government  and  corporate  action. 
This  grant  of  power  shall  be  liberally  construed 
and  no  power  of  local  self-government  or  cor- 
porate action  shall  be  denied  the  city  by  reason 
of  not  being  specified  herein.  The  city,  how- 
ever, may  impose  taxes  and  borrow  money  only 
as  authorized  by  the  general  assembly  or  by  this 
article. 

The  city  of  Chicago  also  is  given 
directly  by  the  constitution  the  power 
to  frame  and  adopt  its  own  charter. 
The  city  council  is  to  provide  for  the 
calling  of  an  elective  charter  conven- 
tion, the  work  of  which  is  subject  to 
approval  of  the  people  on  a  referen- 
dum. As  to  structure  of  government, 
as  distinguished  from  powers,  legisla- 
tive interference  is  prohibited.  In 
this  respect  the  charter  is  to  prevail 
over  state  laws.  The  process  of  amend- 
ing the  charter  is  to  be  as  provided 
therein.  The  general  assembly  is  au- 
thorized to  pass  local  or  special  laws 
relating  to  the  municipal  affairs  of  the 
city  of  Chicago,  but  such  laws  are  not 
to  take  effect  until  the  city  consents. 
A  law  applicable  to  no  other  city 


424 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[December 


than  Chicago  is  to  be  deemed  local  or 
special. 

The  city  of  Chicago,  subject  to 
regulation  by  general  law,  is  given 
authority  to  "own,  acquire,  construct, 
operate,  sell,  pledge,  lease  or  let  public 
utilities  or  buy  or  sell  the  service 
thereof."  With  reference  to  utilities 
generally,  this  provision  is  not  of  large 
practical  value  because  of  lack  of 
financial  power.  For  transportation 
and  water,  however,  the  new  constitu- 
tion gives  to  the  city  of  Chicago  au- 
thority to  issue  such  amounts  of  regu- 
lar city  bonds  as  may  be  needed, 
subject  to  approval  on  a  referendum. 
This  provision  will  enable  the  city  to 
acquire  and  improve  the  local  trans- 
portation system.  When  the  city 
makes  use  of  this  grant  of  borrowing 
power  in  excess  of  the  ordinary  limita- 
tion on  municipal  indebtedness  it 
must  maintain  rates  of  fare  high  enough 
to  make  the  system  self-supporting. 
A  municipally-owned  transportation 
must  pay  taxes  like  private  property. 

COUNTY   GOVERNMENT 

Illinois,  like  many  other  states,  is 
sorely  in  need  of  reform  of  county  gov- 
ernment. Unwise  restrictions  in  the 
present  constitution  make  reorganiza- 
tion on  sensible  lines  impossible.  Prac- 
tically all  these  unwise  restrictions  are 
continued  in  form  in  the  new  docu- 
ment. However,  Section  166  gives 
the  legislature  authority,  in  disregard 
of  these  restrictions,  to  provide  for 
thoroughgoing  reform  of  county  gov- 
ernment, subject  to  the  provision  that 
the  plan  shall  not  go  into  effect  in  any 
county  until  approved  by  a  referendum 
vote.  Section  166  reads  as  follows: 
"The  organization  and  government  of 
and  offices  in  counties  as  provided  in 
this  constitution  may  be  changed  by 
law  uniform  as  to  classes  of  counties; 
but  any  such  law  shall  become  effective 
in  a  county  only  after  approval  by  a 


majority  of  those  voting  on  the  ques- 
tion." 

COURT  REORGANIZATION 

Provision  is  made  for  court  unifica- 
tion in  Cook  county.  The  circuit, 
superior,  criminal,  probate  and  county 
courts,  the  municipal  court  of  Chicago, 
and  the  city  court  of  Chicago  Heights 
are  to  be  merged  into  one  court,  with 
two  divisions,  civil  and  criminal.  Ad- 
vocates of  court  reform  claim  that  this 
change  is  one  of  great  value. 

The  judges  of  the  circuit  are  to  re- 
main elective.  Judges  of  the  appellate 
courts,  now  designated  as  such  by  the 
supreme  court  from  elective  judges, 
are  to  be  appointed  outright  by  the 
supreme  court. 

The  supreme  court  now  consists  of 
seven  judges,  one  from  a  district. 
The  seventh  district,  comprising  Cook 
and  four  other  counties,  has  over  half 
the  population  of  the  state,  with  only 
one  judge.  Under  the  new  constitu- 
tion the  supreme  court  is  to  consist  of 
nine  members,  of  whom  three  are  to 
be  elected  from  the  seventh  district. 

The  supreme  court  is  given  large 
rule-making  powers  for  all  courts,  sub- 
ject to  the  limitation  that  any  rule 
may  be  set  aside  by  act  of  the  legis- 
lature. The  supreme  court  is  also 
empowered  to  designate  the  chief  jus- 
tice of  each  of  the  two  divisions  of  the 
new  unified  court  for  Cook  county. 
These  provisions  are  praised  in  some 
quarters  and  criticised  in  others. 

REVENUE 

Dissatisfaction  with  the  revenue 
article  of  the  present  constitution  was 
one  of  the  important  reasons  for  calling 
a  constitutional  convention.  How- 
ever, the  new  revenue  article  is  con- 
sidered disappointing  by  many.  In 
view  of  the  differences  of  opinion 
among  both  the  people  and  the  dele- 
gates over  revenue  matters,  and  in 


1922] 


ILLINOIS  VOTES  ON  NEW  CONSTITUTION 


425 


view  of  the  disposition  of  the  conven- 
tion to  adhere  to  the  policy  of  the  old 
constitution  of  dealing  with  such  mat- 
ters in  considerable  detail  in  the  basic 
law,  the  difficulty  of  agreeing  upon  a 
new  revenue  article  is  easily  under- 
stood. At  least  the  new  revenue  ar- 
ticle appears  to  be  considerably  better 
than  the  old  one. 

The  requirement  is  continued  for 
the  general  property  tax,  with  uniform 
rate,  with  the  exception  that  as  a 
substitute  for  the  tax  on  intangible 
personality  provision  may  be  made  for 
an  income  tax.  In  addition,  provision 
is  made  for  a  general  income  tax,  with 
low  exemptions.  If  the  general  in- 
come tax  is  graded  and  progressive  the 
highest  rate  must  not  be  more  than 
three  times  the  lowest. 

In  counties  other  than  Cook,  there 
must  be  a  county  assessor  "selected  as 
provided  by  law,"  to  succeed  the 
present  township  assessors.  Cook 
county  already  has  assessment  by 
county  assessors. 

THE  SHORT    BALLOT 

The  majority  of  the  membership  of 
the  constitutional  convention  was  un- 
friendly to  the  short  ballot  policy  and 
voted  down  proposals  to  reduce  the 
number  of  state  elective  officials. 
However,  as  a  result  of  the  conven- 
tion's work,  if  adopted,  the  ballot  will 
be  shortened  somewhat.  The  clerk  of 
the  supreme  court,  and  clerks  of  appel- 
late courts,  now  elective,  will  be  ap- 
pointive by  the  respective  courts. 
Court  unification  in  Cook  county  will 
operate  ultimately  to  reduce  the  num- 
ber of  elective  court  clerks  in  that 
community  from  five  to  one.  Making 
appellate  court  judges  appointive  will 
reduce  somewhat  the  number  of  elec- 
tive judges.  The  legislature  also  is 
authorized  to  make  the  position  of 
county  superintendent  of  schools  ap- 
pointive instead  of  elective.  Under 


Section  166,  intended  to  authorize 
reorganization  and  reform  of  county 
government,  supposedly  it  will  be  pos- 
sible to  reduce  very  greatly  the  num- 
ber of  elective  county  officers. 

MINORITY  REPRESENTATION  ABOLISHED 

The  so-called  plan  of  minority  rep- 
resentation in  the  lower  house  of  the 
legislature — long  the  subject  of  public 
complaint — is  abolished.  Instead  of 
choosing  three  representatives  from  a 
district,  under  the  plan  of  cumulative 
voting,  representatives  are  to  be  elected 
from  single  member  districts.  To 
insure  redistricting  of  the  state,  it  is 
provided  that  in  case  the  legislature 
fails  to  act,  the  new  districts  shall  be 
made  by  three  elective  state  officials. 
Although  the  present  constitution  di- 
rects a  re-apportionment  every  ten 
years,  the  state  has  not  been  re-ap- 
portioned for  over  twenty  years,  with 
the  result  that  there  are  now  great 
inequalities  of  population. 

THE  AMENDING   PROCESS 

There  is  disappointment  because  the 
amending  process  is  not  made  very 
much  easier  of  use.  But  here  again, 
the  provisions  of  the  new  constitution, 
though  disappointing  to  many,  are  a 
marked  improvement  over  those  of  the 
old  constitution.  Under  the  old  con- 
stitution but  one  article  may  be 
amended  at  a  time;  under  the  new,  the 
legislature  at  the  same  session  may 
submit  amendments  to  two  articles. 
Under  the  old  constitution  an  amend- 
ment in  order  to  carry  must  receive  a 
majority  of  all  the  votes  cast  at  the 
election  at  which  submitted.  This 
means  that  an  elector  voting  for  any 
official  and  not  voting  on  the  amend- 
ment is  counted  against  it.  Under 
the  new  draft  an  amendment  will  be 
adopted  if  voted  for  by  electors  equal 
in  number  to  a  majority  of  the  votes 
cast  for  members  of  the  house  of  rep- 


426 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[December 


resentatives.  This  means  a  substan- 
tial gain  in  ease  of  adoption  of  consti- 
tutional amendments  on  referendum. 
The  old  constitution  provides  that 
amendments  may  not  be  offered  to  the 
same  article  oftener  than  once  in  four 
years.  The  provision  of  the  new  draft 
is  that  amendments  may  not  be  offered 
to  the  same  section  oftener  than  once 
in  four  years.  This  is  an  important 
gain. 

VARIOUS   PROVISIONS 

Some  of  the  other  changes  made  by 
the  proposed  new  constitution  are: 

1.  Zoning    and    Excess    Condemna- 
tion.   There  are  desirable  provisions 
of  importance  about  zoning  and  excess 
condemnation. 

2.  Special  Assessments.    The  legis- 
lature is  authorized  to  permit  cities, 
villages,  incorporated  towns  and  park 
districts  to  join  in  making  local  im- 
provements by  special  assessment. 

3.  Legislative  Procedure.    There  are 
provisions    designed    to    bring    about 
improvement    in    detailed    legislative 
procedure. 

4.  Juries.    The  general  assembly  is 
authorized  to  provide  that  women  may 
be  eligible  to  serve  as  jurors.     It  also 
may  provide  for  juries  of  less  than 
twelve  in  all  civil  cases.     The  right  of 
trial  by  jury  may  be  waived,  except  in 
capital  cases. 

5.  The   Indictment   Process.    There 
are  changes  in  the  indictment  provi- 
sions of  the  bill  of  rights.     Except  in 
capital  cases  prosecution  on  informa- 
tion is  to  be  permitted,  at  the  instance 
of  either  the  attorney  general  or  state's 
attorney.     No  such  information  is  to 
be  filed  by  the  state's  attorney  except 
by  leave  of  court  after  a  showing  of 
probable  cause. 

6.  Bail.    The  provision  as  to  bail 
has  been  so  changed  that  an  accused 
person  is  not  entitled  to  bail  as  a  mat- 
ter of  right.     Under  the  present  con- 


stitution an  accused  person  is  entitled 
to  bail,  except  in  capital  cases  where 
the  proof  is  evident  or  the  presumption 
great. 

7.  Local    Control    of    Streets.    The 
provision  of  the  present  constitution 
forbidding    the    legislature    to    grant 
street  railway  franchises  without  local 
consent  is  broadened  so  as  to  forbid 
the  grant  by  the  legislature  of  the  right 
to  occupy  streets  or  public  grounds 
for  any  purpose  without  local  consent. 

8.  County  Audits.    A  uniform  sys- 
tem of  accounts  for  all  constitutional 
county  officers  shall  be  prescribed  and 
supervised  by  the  state  auditor,  and 
their  accounts  shall  be  audited  by  him. 

9.  Referendum.     The    new    consti- 
tution requires  a  referendum  on  all 
bond  issues  of  the  city  of  Chicago,  ex- 
cept for  refunding  purposes.     This  is 
now  statutory  policy. 

10.  Pension  Funds.    There  is  a  pro- 
vision authorizing  the  general  assem- 
bly to  give  a  vested  interest  in  the 
accumulated  portion  of  any  pension 
fund  to  which  an  officer  or  employee  is 
required  to  contribute. 

11.  Consolidation   of  Local   Govern- 
ments.   There  are  provisions  designed 
to  pave  the  way  for  consolidation  of 
local  governments  in  Chicago.     It  is 
doubtful  if  the  provision  for  the  merger 
of  city  and  county  is  workable.    There 
is  doubt,  too,  as  to  the  value  of  the 
features  relating  to  the  consolidation  of 
the  Sanitary  District  and  Forest  Pre- 
serve District  with  the   city.     Clear 
authority  is  given  for  the  complete 
elimination  within  the  city  of  Chicago 
of  town  governments  that  still  have 
formal  existence. 

12.  Bible  in  the  Schools.    There  is  a 
provision  that  reading  without  com- 
ment selections  from  the  Bible  shall 
not  be  held  to  be  in  conflict  with  the 
constitution. 

13.  No  Color  or  Racial  Discrimina- 
tion.    It  is  stipulated  that  laws  shall 


1922] 


ILLINOIS  VOTES  ON  NEW  CONSTITUTION 


4*7 


be  applicable  to  all  citizens  without 
regard  to  race  or  color. 

14.  Farm  Loans.     The  legislature  is 
authorized    to    provide    for    lending 
money   on  farm  lands  in   the   state. 
Any  act  providing  therefor  must  be 
approved  on  a  referendum  vote. 

15.  Forestry.     The  legislature  is  di- 
rected to  pass  laws  to  encourage  for- 
estry, and  to  that  end  it  is  authorized 
to  classify  for  purposes  of  taxation,  or 
to  exempt  from  taxation,  areas  devoted 
to  forests  or  forest  culture. 

16.  Waterways.      The      legislature, 
without  further  referendum  vote  on 
that  specific  matter,  is  authorized  to 
appropriate  $10,000,000  for  waterway 
construction,  in  addition  to  the  $20,- 
000,000  bond  issue  for  that  purpose 
approved   on   a   referendum   vote   in 
1908.     On  account  of  advanced  prices, 
it  is  said  the  waterway  cannot  be  com- 
pleted  for    the    original   estimate    of 
$20,000,000. 

17.  Election  Matters.    With  respect 
to  counties  other  than  Cook  provision 
is  made  by  the  constitution  limiting 
elections  to  one  a  year — all  to  be  held 
in   November.     As   first   offered   this 
proposal  was  general  in  scope,  but  Cook 
county  was  eliminated  from  its  opera- 
tion  because  of  the  objections  from 
Chicago.     These  objections  were  not 
based  on   Chicago's  desire  for  more 
elections  but  to  incidental  undesirable 
features  of  the  plan. 

OBJECTIONS  TO  THE  NEW  CONSTITUTION 

Among  the  reasons  urged  for  voting 
against  the  new  constitution  may  be 
mentioned  the  following: 

1.  Dislike  in  some  quarters  of  the 
personnel  and  the  generally  conserva- 
tive attitude  of  the  convention  that 
framed  the  new  constitution. 

2.  Failure  to  provide  for  the  initia- 
tive and  referendum. 

3.  Objection  to  Section  21,  reading 
as  follows:  "The  republican  form  of 


government  of  this  state  shall  never 
be  abandoned,  modified  or  impaired." 

4.  The  revenue  article  is  not  satis- 
factory. 

5.  The  amending  clause  is  not  satis- 
factory. 

6.  Dissatisfaction    with    the    com- 
promise provision  about  limitation  of 
representation  in  the  legislature  both 
by  those  who  object  on  principle  to  any 
limitation  whatever,   no  matter  how 
small,  and  by  those  who  want  Cook 
county  limited  in  both  branches  of  the 
legislature. 

7.  The  supreme  court  is  given  too 
much  power. 

8.  Objection  is  made  to  the  change 
in  the  provision  about  bail  in  criminal 
cases. 

9.  Objection  to  the  provision  giving 
the  attorney  general  of  the  state  au- 
thority to  institute  prosecution  on  infor- 
mation in  criminal  cases,  except  capital 
cases,  without  leave  of  court. 

10.  Dissatisfaction   with   the   addi- 
tion of  the  words  to  "protect  life  and 
property"  to  the  purposes  for  which 
the  militia  may  be  called  out  by  the 
governor. 

11.  Dislike  in  some  quarters  of  the 
provision  that  reading  of  the  Bible  in 
the  public  schools  without  comment 
shall  not  be  held  unconstitutional. 

12.  Fear  of  abuse  of  the  power  given 
the  legislature  to  encourage  forestry 
by  classifying  for  purposes  of  taxa- 
tion,   or    exempting    from    taxation, 
areas  devoted  to  forests  or  forest  cul- 
ture. 

13.  Objection   to   the   abolition   of 
minority  representation. 

14.  Objection  to  the  feature  of  the 
plan    of   court   unification   for   Cook 
county  which  will  lead  ultimately  to 
the  reduction   of  five  elective  court 
clerks  to  one. 

While  I  sympathize  with  some  of 
these  objections  none  of  them  outweigh 
the  desirable  features. 


"THE  BUDGET  AND  ACCOUNTING 
LAW,  1921" 

SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THIS  MEASURE  AS  A  DEVICE  TO  INSURE 

COMPETENCE   AND    FIDELITY   IN   THE   MANAGEMENT   OF 

A   GREAT  PUBLIC  TRUST 


called  upon  to  give  up  selfish  pursuit 
and  dedicate  themselves  to  serving 
the  people  as  beneficiaries?  Was  it 
not  this  note  in  the  call  of  Lincoln, 
when  individual  and  sectional  creed 
threatened  the  foundations  of  good 
will  on  which  the  institutional  super- 
structure was  built — was  it  not  this 
note  which  made  his  Gettysburg 
address  immortal? 

SEPARATION  OF  POWERS  MEANT  AUDIT 
AND   CONTROL 

With  this  fundamental  conception 
in  the  minds  of  those  great  idealists 
(practical  men)  chosen  by  the  Ameri- 
can people  to  act  as  their  attorneys 
in  drafting  the  charter  of  their  national 
service  agency  (their  deed  of  trust) 
— when  they  got  together  in  Phila- 
delphia in  1787 — they  busied  them- 
selves, not  in  controversy  over  the 
fundamental  purpose,  but  with  the 
consideration  of  the  practical  means 
of  achieving  it.  Their  thought  at 
once  turned  to  the  arrangement  of  the 
human  parts  of  the  new  corporate 
body  they  were  about  to  create;  and 
their  one  care  was  to  make  sure  that 
the  entrusted  powers  and  estate  would 
be  faithfully  and  efficiently  adminis- 
tered. Having  agreed  on  a  principle 
of  corporate  organization  which  had 
been  tried  and  not  found  wanting,  the 
convention  took  on  the  character  of  a 
group  of  lawyers  and  business  men  en- 
gaged on  drawing  up  and  critically 
discussing  the  articles  of  the  deed  of 
trust  through  which  this  principle 


AT  the  outset  the  writer  confesses 
to  a  charge  frequently  made  that  he  is 
"an  idealist" — makes  this  confession 
as  a  way  of  getting  before  the  reader 
the  first  premise  of  his  reasoning,  viz. : 
that  only  an  idealist  can  be  "practical " 
about  anything;  that  anyone  who  is 
practically  useful  as  guide,  whether  of 
his  own  action,  or  as  leader  or  critic 
of  others,  must  have  a  very  vivid  con- 
ception both  of  end  most  to  be  de- 
sired and  of  means  to  the  achievement 
of  that  end.  With  this  side  note, 
let  us  consider  the  standards  set  up 
by  the  designers  and  builders  of  that 
great  institution,  "The  government  of 
the  United  States  of  America,"  an 
essential  modification  of  which  is  now 
before  us.  Can  there  be  any  differ- 
ence of  opinion  as  to  what  their  ideal 
was?  So  far  as  related  to  the  matter 
in  hand,  was  not  the  measuring  stick 
by  which  they  judged  the  fitness  of 
things  that  fundamental  tenet  of 
political  faith  which  ran  through  all 
the  thought  of  their  time,  and  which 
is  just  as  sacred  to  us  to-day?  Was 
it  not  this,  that  all  governmental 
institutions  are  only  devices  for  realiz- 
ing the  ends  and  purposes  of  a  self- 
determining  political  society;  that 
government  is  a  mechanism  made  up 
of  human  parts  to  be  employed  in 
working  out  the  group  will;  that 
constitutional  government  is  an  in- 
corporated trusteeship,  and  that  all 
persons  employed  in  it  are  persons 


428 


1922] 


"THE  BUDGET  AND  ACCOUNTING  LAW,   1921" 


was  to  be  made  operative.  In  the 
lingo  of  political  discussion,  this  prin- 
ciple has  come  to  be  known  as  "the 
separation  of  powers." 

Simply  stated,  it  is  this:  That  fidel- 
ity and  competence  in  the  admin- 
istration of  a  trust  can  be  assured 
only  when  provision  is  made  for 
audit  and  control  as  well  as  for  ex- 
ecution. And  since  audit  and  control 
has  been  found  to  be  a  matter  of 
practical  necessity,  this  function  must 
not  be  confused  with  administration — 
the  thing  to  be  controlled. 

The  minds  of  those  who  are  called 
upon  to  review  critically  the  acts  and 
proposals  of  executors  must  be  kept 
clear,  so  that  when  sitting  in  critical 
judgment  they  may  have  an  eye  single 
to  the  interests  of  the  beneficiaries. 
We  may  differ,  as  others  have,  in 
our  interpretations  of  the  aims  and 
purposes  of  members  of  the  con- 
stitutional convention  so  far  as  these 
may  relate  to  specific  devices  for  mak- 
ing this  controlling  principle  effective, 
but  there  is  no  divergence  of  opinion 
on  this  point.  We  may  question  the 
capacity  of  the  makers  of  our  con- 
stitution as  architects,  we  may  say 
that  they  had  little  experience  in  demo- 
cratic institution  building.  But  four- 
teen years  of  experience  with  govern- 
ing devices  in  which  responsibility  for 
administration  had  been  confused  with 
responsibility  for  audit  and  control 
gave  to  them  a  very  practical  basis 
for  negative  judgment.  The  town 
meeting  and  Montesquieu's  treatise 
on  the  English  Constitution,  together 
with  their  inherited  traditions  and 
historic  knowledge  of  the  struggle 
for  the  right  of  the  representatives 
of  the  people  to  audit  and  control 
the  administration  gave  them  their 
positive  basis  for  reaching  this  con- 
clusion. The  result  was  that  when 
the  draft  was  completed  the  principle 


of  separation  of  powers  in  these  lines 
found  expression  in  Articles  I  and  II. 
In  Article  I  an  organ  or  agency  in- 
dependent of  the  authority  of  the 
executive  is  set  up  with  fullest  powers 
of  audit  and  control.  In  Article 
II  is  set  up  a  single-headed  agency  for 
exercising ' '  the  executive  power. "  And 
over  and  above  both  of  these  is  set 
up  another  organ  or  agency  of  audit 
and  control — the  electorate.  Provi- 
sion was  also  made,  based  on  experi- 
ence, for  changing  both  the  personnel 
of  administrative  leadership,  and  the 
personnel  of  the  controlling  body, 
in  case  anyone  in  either  or  both  these 
branches  might  prove  unwise,  incom- 
petent, or  unfaithful  to  his  trust. 
This  was  done  by  making  the  electo- 
rate (i.e.,  the  great  democratic  body  of 
voters)  an  agency  of  final  review  and 
determination.  These  are  vital  things 
written  into  our  fundamental  deed  of 
trust  to  insure  competence  and  fidelity: 
A  chief  executor;  a  board  of  audit  and 
control;  an  electorate  —  each  having 
a  sacred  duty  to  perform,  each  made 
independent  with  a  view  to  maintain- 
ing the  confidence  and  good  will  of 
the  people. 

THE    MACHINERY    FOR    AUDIT    AND 
CONTROL 

In  the  draft  of  the  constitution 
(our  deed  of  trust)  nothing  was  said 
about  the  kind  of  organization  which 
must  be  set  up  for  administration 
except  in  two  clauses:  (1)  That 
clause  which  vests  "the  executive 
powers"  in  the  president;  and  (2) 
that  clause  which  empowers  the  presi- 
dent to  require  "the  principle  officers 
of  each  of  the  executive  departments" 
to  report  to  him  "upon  any  subject 
relating  to  the  duties  of  their  respective 
offices." 

With  respect  to  organization  and 
procedure  for  exercising  the  function 
of  audit  and  control,  however,  the 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[December 


deed  of  trust  was  more  explicit.  To 
insure  that  the  body  instituted  to  per- 
form these  functions  might  be  repre- 
sentative, and  that  action  might  be 
deliberate  with  opportunity  for  review, 
criticism,  and  discussion,  congress  was 
required  to  meet  in  two  separate 
chambers — one  composed  of  repre- 
sentatives of  constituencies  organized 
as  "states,"  the  other  composed  of 
representatives  of  smaller  districts. 
These  houses  were  to  meet  and  organize 
as  vicarious  town  meetings;  before 
the  membership,  from  time  to  time, 
the  president  must  come  (and  Washing- 
tion  the  head  of  the  convention, 
evidently  understood  the  constitution 
to  mean  that  the  heads  of  departments 
were  also  expected  to  appear  before 
them  to  give  an  account  of  steward- 
ship); each  house  was  given  fullest 
inquisitorial  powers;  all  administrative 
measures,  plans,  or  proposals  must 
first  be  approved  before  the  administra- 
tion would  have  authority  to  execute 
them  and  this  approval  must  take  the 
form  of  a  majority  vote  in  both  houses; 
finally  as  an  effective  means  of  pre- 
venting an  unauthorized  or  unapproved 
use  of  power  on  the  part  of  an  executor 
of  the  trust,  this  bicameral  board  of 
censor  and  policy  determiners  was 
given  "control  over  the  purse." 

PROVISION   FOR   PUBLICITY 

Great  care  was  also  taken  to  insure 
that  the  "electorate"  (the  body  of 
voters  created  by  the  constitution 
as  the  final  arbiter  of  disputes  and  the 
chooser  of  "representatives")  be  kept 
informed.  Accounts  of  stewardship 
must  be  published;  all  regular  meetings 
of  both  branches  of  the  board  of  control 
must  be  kept  open  to  the  public;  each 
house  must  keep  a  journal  of  pro- 
ceedings open  to  public  inspection; 
the  beneficiary  was  to  have  full  op- 
portunity to  keep  informed — as  well 
as  was  his  most  immediate  contact 


in  the  incorporated  trusteeship,  the 
voter.  Not  only  was  provision  made 
for  individual  public  inspection  and 
report,  but  also  for  the  fullest  dis- 
semination of  facts  and  fullest  dis- 
cussion of  acts  and  proposals  both  of 
administrators  and  of  members  of  the 
auditing  and  controlling  branch;  this 
result  was  assured  by  specifically 
restraining  everyone  to  whom  powers 
were  given  from  interfering  with  the 
right  of  free  speech,  free  press,  and 
peaceable  assembly;  then  finally  it  was 
written  down  that  members  of  congress 
must  periodically  return  to  the  people, 
by  expiration  of  a  fixed  term,  in  order 
that  the  acts  and  proposals  of  the 
executor  of  the  trust  estate,  and  their 
own  acts  as  auditors  and  primary 
controllers,  might  be  reviewed.  And 
if  as  a  result  of  either  representative  or 
public  inspection  it  appeared  that  an 
officer  was  abusing  his  trust,  he  could 
be  summarily  mandamused,  enjoined, 
or  removed, — -the  first  two  remedies 
being  put  into  the  hands  of  the  courts, 
the  third  into  the  hands  of  the  board  of 
the  representative  body  acting  as  a 
board  of  control.  Thus  was  the  prin- 
ciple of  popular  sovereignty  to  be  pro- 
tected and  the  "vote"  made  effective 
on  every  occasion  when  the  final 
arbiters  (the  electorate)  might  have 
brought  before  them  the  question  as  to 
whom  they  would  choose  to  represent 
them  at  the  next  vicarious  town  meet- 
ing, and  questions  of  policy  taken  to  the 
electorate  on  appeal. 

RESULTS  WHICH  HAVE  SUGGESTED 
NEED  FOR  CHANGE 

No  other  conclusion  can  be  reached 
than  this;  that  the  record  of  the  last 
one  hundred  years  cannot  be  reconciled 
with  the  fundamental  conception  that 
"a  public  office  is  a  public  trust." 
It  is  a  record  of  subversion;  of  spolia- 
tion of  public  enterprises,  public  lands, 
the  public  purse.  Turning  from  this 


1922]         "THE  BUDGET  AND  ACCOUNTING  LAW,   1921' 


431 


record  of  organized  exploitation  to  the 
institutional  means  developed  and 
employed  by  persons  who,  because 
they  were  trusted  in  positions  of 
leadership  or  other  service,  were  able 
to  use  their  powers  for  enrichment  or 
other  benefits  to  themselves  and  their 
associates,  and  considering  the  manner 
in  which  the  system  has  been  worked 
out  and  the  reasons  given  in  support 
or  defense,  we  are  reminded  of  the 
adage  "the  devil  can  quote  scripture 
for  his  own  purposes."  At  every 
turn  the  principle  of  "separation  of 
powers"  has  been  pleaded  as  a  cogent 
reason  for  measures  aimed  at  its 
violation. 

AN   IRRESPONSIBLE   EXECUTIVE 

Whatever  opinion  may  be  held  on 
the  subject  of  the  relations  of  executive 
to  the  auditing  and  controlling  body 
(congress),  there  is  no  difference  of 
opinion  about  the  original  intention 
to  centralize  executive  responsibility 
in  the  president.  Yet  what  has  been 
the  result  of  the  exercise  of  powers 
given  by  the  constitution  "to  make 
all  laws  which  may  be  necessary  and 
proper  for  carrying  into  execution  the 
.  .  .  powers  vested  by  this  Con- 
stitution." The  following  description 
of  the  administrative  machinery  ac- 
tually developed,  under  the  pretext 
of  "separation  of  power,"  is  taken 
from  the  writings  of  Dr.  Walter  F. 
Dodd,  one  of  our  best  authorities 
in  matters  of  this  kind: 

In  the  federal  administrative  organization  at 
the  present  time  [1921]  powers  are  in  the  main 
not  vested  in  the  department;  and  in  the  per- 
formance of  their  statutory  functions  a  large 
number  of  federal  bureaus  within  the  ten  depart- 
ments are  substantially  as  independent  of  the 
head  of  the  department  as  they  would  be  of  an 
outsider. 

A    BUREAUCRATIC   ADMINISTRATION 

This  is  quite  a  different  order  of 
things  than  we  find  described  in  our 

3 


school  text-books  and  by  campaign 
orators  who  give  us  to  understand 
that  the  simple  arrangement  for  lo- 
cating responsibility  in  the  executive 
laid  down  in  the  constitution  obtains. 
That  this  organization  has  been  im- 
posed by  congress  we  cannot  question. 
Dr.  Dodd  goes  on  to  say: 

Under  the  federal  system  there  has  been  a 
theoretical  subordination  of  bureaus  to  the 
president,  but  this  subordination  is  largely 
theoretical  because  of  the  steady  growth  of 
independent  functions  vested  by  statute  in  the 
various  bureaus,  such  functions  being  exercised 
to  a  large  extent  independently  of  the  head  of 
the  department. 

Now  how  is  this  related  to  the 
question  of  executive  trusteeship  and 
accountability?  Commenting  on  this 
Dr.  Dodd  tells  us: 

In  connection  with  the  recent  budget  pro- 
posals, the  most  serious  defect  in  the  federal 
administrative  organization  from  the  standpoint 
of  real  responsibility  has  been  exalted  into  a  vir- 
tue; and  it  has  been  urged  that  one  of  the  merits 
of  the  new  budget  system  established  by  act  of 
June  10,  1921,  is  that  the  budget  director  is  to 
exercise  his  powers  by  virtue  of  statute  or  of  ex- 
ecutive regulations  independently  of  the  depart- 
ment in  which  he  is  nominally  placed.  So  long 
as  the  federal  administrative  system  has  a 
theoretical  organization  of  ten  departments, 
but  practically  an  organization  into  independent 
units  within  departments,  there  can  be  no  effec- 
tive responsibility  of  this  administrative  or- 
ganization to  the  President. 

What  has  happened  to  the  very 
simple  device  for  audit  and  control 
(patterned  after  the  town  meeting  but 
adopting  the  representative  system 
in  order  that  the  town  meeting  idea 
might  be  made  practical  for  a  national 
voting  electorate) — what  has  been  done 
by  congress  in  the  exercise  of  its  powers 
to  make  rules  or  laws  which  may  be 
necessary  and  proper  for  carrying 
into  execution  the  powers  granted  to 
that  corporation  which  now  employs 
more  than  a  million  servants  and  whirh 
administers  an  entrusted  estate  that 


432 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[December 


touches  the  everyday  lives  of  one 
hundred  million  people — what  has  been 
done  by  congress  to  insure  fidelity 
and  efficiency  in  the  expenditure 
of  over  three  billion  dollars  each  year? 
For  description  and  characterization 
we  may  again  turn  to  the  writings  of 
persons  who  speak  with  highest  au- 
thority. And  no  other  conclusion 
can  be  drawn  from  these  than  that 
indicated  above:  Every  intention  of 
those  great  men  who  wrote  the  con- 
stitution has  been  defeated.  Not  only 
has  the  line  of  executive  authority 
and  responsibility  in  administration 
•of  the  trust  been  tampered  with, 
^broken  and  destroyed,  but  also  respon- 
sibility for  audit  and  control  has  been 
disseminated  and  processes  of  inquiry, 
review,  and  discussion  have  become 
secret  and  collusive, — real  effective 
leaderships  being  directed  to  con- 
trolling the  electorate  instead  of  being 
controlled  by  it;  laws  have  been 
passed  and  organizations  effected  whose 
sole  aim  has  been  to  subvert  the 
electoral  function  to  the  selfish  uses 
and  purposes  of  those  who  were  looked 
to  for  leadership  and  away  from  the 
uses  and  purposes  of  the  legally  con- 
stituted beneficiaries.  Thus  we  be- 
come aware  that  the  institutional 
design  has  been  systematically  aborted 
for  a  hundred  years.  Thus  we  are  led 
to  inquire  into  the  character  of  the 
alterations  made  prior  to  the  budget 
enactment,  having  in  mind  this  institu- 
tional purpose. 

"THE  LITTLE  LEGISLATURES" 

Pifty  years  ago  Senator  Hale,  an 
-outstanding  man  of  his  day  who  served 
so  long  in  congress  that  he  was  ac- 
corded the  title  "Dean  of  the  Senate," 
told  the  American  people  in  his  auto- 
biography that  congress  had  long  since 
lost  its  character  as  a  vicarious  town 
meeting;  that  instead  of  conducting  its 
deliberations  and  reaching  its  decisions 


in  open  forum  as  contemplated  by  the 
founders  of  the  government,  it  had 
split  the  membership  of  each  house 
up  into  a  lot  of  "little  legislatures" 
in  which  the  real  business  of  this 
branch  carried  on  its  business  behind 
closed  doors — so  that  even  the  mem- 
bers, to  say  nothing  of  the  public, 
could  not  know  what  was  going  on. 
Characterizing  the  result  he  went  on 
to  say: 

Hundreds  of  measures  of  vital  importance 
receive — near  the  close  of  the  session,  without 
being  debated,  printed  or  understood — the  con- 
stitutional assent  of  representatives  of  the  Ameri- 
can people. 

A  few  years  later  Woodrow  Wilson 
thus  characterized  the  situation  as  it 
has  remained  to  the  present  day. 

For  a  long  time,  this  country  of  ours  has  been 
lacking  one  of  the  institutions  which  freemen 
have  always  and  everywhere  held  fundamental. 
For  a  long  time  there  has  been  no  sufficient  op- 
portunity for  counsel  among  the  people;  no 
place  or  method  of  talk,  of  exchange  of  opinion, 
of  party.  .  .  .  Congress  has  become  an 
institution  which  does  its  work  in  the  privacy  of 
the  committee  room  and  not  on  the  floor  of  the 
chamber. 

"GAG-RULE"  AND  "THE  BOSS" 

The  relation  of  the  breaking  down 
of  the  line  of  executive  authority  and 
responsibility  to  the  breaking  up  of  the 
vicarious  town  meeting  into  a  lot 
of  "little  legislatures"  can  be  under- 
stood only  when  it  is  known  that  the 
bureaus  by  operation  of  statutes  have 
been  linked  up  closer  and  closer  to  the 
secret  processes  of  the  standing  com- 
mittees (these  "little  legislatures"), 
which  in  turn  are  headed  by  persons 
who  owe  their  positions  of  leadership 
and  control  to  secret  irresponsible 
organizations  outside  of  congress,  whose 
stock  in  trade  is  the  patronage  and 
the  "honest-graft"  obtained  by  ap- 
propriations rubber-stamped  by  con- 
gress, which  has  applied  "gag-rules" 


1922]         "THE  BUDGET  AND  ACCOUNTING  LAW,   1921" 


to  put  through  the  scheduled  projects 
planned  in  these  "little  legislatures" 
in  conference  with  bureau  heads  and 
their  subordinates.  And  this  helps 
to  an  understanding  of  the  significance 
of  the  statement  made  by  Dr.  Dodd, 
above  quoted,  that  the  department 
heads  and  the  president  are  rendered 
practically  helpless — -rendered  help- 
less by  the  statutes  passed  by  congress 
on  motion  of  the  heads  of  the  "little 
legislatures."  And  along  with  this 
has  grown  up  that  protective  process 
called  ' '  red-tape ' ' — corresponding  to 
the  folk-ways  of  primitive  people, 
developed  to  protect  the  bureaucrat 
in  a  r6gime  in  which  those  who  are 
charged  with  responsibility  to  the 
electorate  seek  to  avoid  it  by  "pass- 
ing-the-buck,"  a  phrase  so  well 
known  in  Washington  that  it  needs 
no  apology. 

CHANGES  UNDER  THE  NEW  BUDGET 
LAW 

So  far  we  have  been  dealing  with 
preliminaries — setting  up  our  standard, 
measuring  the  structure  as  it  stood 
before  the  new  law  was  passed,  con- 
sidering its  adaptability  to  the  purpose 
for  which  it  was  designed.  Now  we 
come  to  description  of  changes  made 
under  authority  of  the  "Budget  and 
Accounting  Act,  1921,"  and  the  accom- 
panying "Resolutions"  to  change  the 
rules  of  each  of  the  two  houses  of 
congress. 

CONGRESS    INNOCENT    OF    DESIRE    FOR 
RADICAL   CHANGE 

The  statute  referred  to  provides 
for  setting  up  a  budget  bureau,  nomi- 
nally in  the  department  of  the  treasury, 
but  responsible  to  the  president; 
and  for  a  new  "Office  of  Controller 
General  of  the  United  States,"  in- 
dependent of  all  other  branches,  de- 
partments, and  authorities — as  in- 
dependent as  the  supreme  court — the 


head  of  which  with  his  "assistant" 
is  appointed  by  the  president  "with 
the  advice  and  consent  of  the  senate." 
When  it  comes  to  analyzing  the  motives 
of  congress  at  the  time  the  budget  and 
accounting  measure  was  put  through, 
it  can  only  be  said  that  it  was  evident 
that  few  members  had  an  idea  of 
what  it  all  meant;  few,  if  any,  thought 
that  it  could  do  more  than  possibly 
to  make  the  housekeeping  a  little  more 
orderly  and  lessen  for  the  time  being 
the  complaints  of  a  disgruntled  con- 
stituency. Not  a  note  was  sounded 
among  them  to  indicate  that  an  effec- 
tive gearing  in  of  this  new  mechanism 
of  control  would  require  a  realignment 
of  all  the  machinery  and  power  trans- 
mission in  the  political  plant. 

Yet  this  is  an  idea  that  has  now 
begun  to  percolate:  The  establish- 
ment of  responsible  executive  leader- 
ship in  matters  of  administration  and 
finance  necessarily  means  that  the 
old  scheme  of  irresponsible  leadership, 
the  very  vitals  of  the  old  regime, 
must  be  "knocked  into  a  cocked  hat"; 
redefinition  of  administrative  authority 
on  lines  consistent  with  responsible 
leadership  means  death  to  bureau- 
cracy, the  needed  instrument  and 
product  of  the  old  regime;  the  in- 
troduction of  a  central  agency  for 
prescribing  administrative  procedures 
and  uniform  accounting  and  reporting 
means  the  breaking  down  of  the  little 
monopolies — the  walls  behind  which 
collusion  in  subversion  of  the  trust 
has  thrived;  publicity  through  open- 
forum  methods  of  review,  criticism, 
and  discussion,  means  an  informed 
electorate  and  increasing  difficulties 
to  those  who  organize  to  subvert  and 
control  the  machinery  of  nominations 
and  elections. 

THE   NEW   OFFICE   OF  COMPTROLLER 

Nor  was  there  any  cause  for  alarm 
to  the  old  r6gime  when  it  came  to 


434 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[December 


setting  up  the  office  of  comptroller  of 
the  United  States — although  its  in- 
dependent auditing  and  controlling 
powers  were  great.  Up  to  the  very 
last  throughout  the  five  months  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention,  the  Cus- 
todial junction,  as  distinguished  from 
the  Administrative  was  kept  separate 
and  apart.  The  Treasury  was  to  be 
made  independent.  Finally  the  Treas- 
ury and  the  executive  were  merged. 
Now  an  office  of  Controller  was  set 
up  to  check  the  Custodial  function 
under  the  executive.  And  it  went 
farther.  It  was  to  enforce  that  Con- 
stitutional provision  requiring  that  "a 
regular  statement  and  account  of  the 
receipts  and  expenditures  of  all  public 
money  shall  be  published  from  time  to 
time;"  and  to  insure  that  these  state- 
ments and  accounts  should  be  true. 
By  law  this  office  was  made  an  inde- 
pendent branch  of  the  government,  and 
to  it  was  given  powers  different  from 
but  equal  in  importance  to  the  execu- 
tive and  the  judiciary.  As  an  auditing 
organization,  it  was  charged  with  the 
duty  of  critical  review  of  and  report  on 
every  transaction  conducted  by  an  ad- 
ministrative office  or  agency;  in  arbitral 
functions  it  was  given  the  powers  of 
a  supreme  court  to  adjudicate  any  and 
every  controversy  arising  out  of  con- 
tractual relations  with  the  government. 
But  this  great,  new,  independent  con- 
trolling device  was  geared  in  without 
a  jolt  or  squeak  in  any  part  of  the 
going  machine — without  noticeable 
change  in  the  established  order  outside 
of  the  six  treasury  bureaus  involved. 
This  was  done  by  appointing  as  the 
head  of  this  great  office  a  man  of 
political  wisdom — his  experience  for 
the  discharge  of  the  functions  having 
been  gained  through  service  as  clerk 
to  a  well-known  western  senator,  and 
later  as  the  office-head  of  the  Republi- 
can party  machine  at  Washington. 
This  fact  is  noted  not  with  the  thought 


of  detracting  from  any  estimate  of 
integrity,  foresight  or  ability  of  Mr. 
McCarl  or  what  he  may  achieve 
during  the  fifteen  years  of  his  legally 
established  tenure,  but  as  suggesting 
a  reason  why  the  country  heard  no 
noise  and  felt  no  tremor  when  a  new, 
great,  independent  branch — co-ordi- 
nate with  the  three  branches  set  up  by 
the  constitution  and  having  in  its  em- 
ploy thousands  of  employees — was  put 
into  operation. 

GENERAL    DA  WES,    BUSINESS    MANAGER 

The  first  jolt  in  the  machinery, 
the  first  great  noise,  came  with  Gen- 
eral Dawes,  who  was  appointed  by  the 
president,  director  of  the  budget. 
This  was  shortly  after  the  law  was 
passed  (June,  1921).  To  make  a 
budget  an  effective  instrument  of 
executive  accountability  ("at  once 
an  account  of  stewardship  and  program 
of  service  to  be  financed"),  in  the 
circumstances  described,  required  a 
man  of  energy;  to  use  the  powers  given 
to  him  by  statute  in  a  manner  to- 
enable  the  president  to  become  a 
responsible  executive  without  making 
a  consummate  ass  of  himself  every 
hour  of  the  day  required  organizing 
ability;  to  cope  with  an  existing  "sys- 
tem," in  which  every  personal  relation 
and  tradition  was  opposed  to  central- 
ized executive  leadership,  required  a 
man  of  courage;  and  beside  all  this 
he  must  be  a  man  who  commanded 
the  confidence  and  had  the  support 
of  the  president.  General  Dawes  was 
all  these  kinds  of  man  and  several 
others. 

CHANGES  IN  THE  EXECUTIVE  BRANCH 

The  first  week  after  his  entry  (let 
us  say  re-entry)  into  the  arena  of 
political  life  something  remarkable 
happened.  All  the  heads  of  depart- 
ments, divisions,  bureaus,  and  sub- 
divisions of  bureaus  in  Washington 


1922]         "THE  BUDGET  AND  ACCOUNTING  LAW,   1921" 


435 


were  called  together  under  the  au- 
thority of  the  president  and  (with  his 
blessing  given  at  the  meeting,)  were 
organized  as  "The  Business  Organiza- 
tion of  the  United  States."  This 
organization,  they  were  given  to 
understand  (cabinet  offices  and  all), 
was  by  the  president  placed  under  the 
direction  and  control  of  the  director 
of  the  budget  as  chief  of  staff — his 
purpose  being  thereby  to  establish 
central  executive  control.  The  presi- 
dent told  them  that  his  ideal  was  a 
well-organized  business  concern  with 
a  chief  executive  at  the  head  of  the 
"line,"  who  (in  order  to  become  effec- 
tive) had  collected  around  him  an 
able  "staff."  The  part  assigned  to 
members  of  cabinet  and  heads  of 
bureaus  was  to  serve  as  the  line  of 
authority  in  everything  except  staff 
matters.  In  these  they  served  only 
as  clearing  offices.  The  next  move 
was  to  set  up  liaison  groups,  called 
"  co-ordinators  " — made  up  of  special- 
ists chosen  from  each  of  the  bureaus 
handling  kindred  subjects.  All  this  was 
outside  of  the  purview  of  the  framers  of 
the  act,  but  without  which  very  little 
could  have  happened  except  to  carry  on 
the  routine  functions  of  the  three 
"divisions"  established  in  the  law, 
viz.:  the  divisions  of  estimates,  in- 
vestigations and  law.  These  divisions 
were  manned,  feebly  be  it  said,  but 
sufficiently  for  the  work  then  to  be 
done,  for  the  division  "of  estimates" 
could  do  little  more  than  make  up 
the  first  budget  with  scissors  and 
paste,  the  best  that  could  be  done  in 
the  circumstances — and  the  divisions 
of  investigations  and  law  were  ex- 
pected to  do  little  within  the  year 
General  Dawes  agreed  to  act.  The 
real  work  of  these  statutory  divisions 
was  left  to  be  developed  very  largely 
by  his  successor,  General  Lord — a 
man  of  exceptional  qualifications. 


BREEDING     THE     WALLS     OF     THE     OLD 
SYSTEM 

The  real  job  to  be  done  by  General 
Dawes  during  the  year  was  to  prepare 
the  way — by  smashing  in  the  en- 
trenchments of  bureaucracy.  And  to 
this  end  President  Harding  lent  his 
authority — following  the  central  staff 
organization  described  above  with  an 
order  from  which  this  language  is 
taken:  .  .  .  "His  (General  Dawes') 
calls  upon  the  chiefs  of  bureaus  and 
other  administrative  officers  for  pur- 
poses of  consultation  and  information 
take  precedence  over  the  cabinet  head." 
And  most  significant  of  all  was  the 
order  which  put  the  breath  of  life  into 
the  liaison  organization,  viz.:  "The 
decision  of  the  chief  co-ordinator  in  all 
matters  of  co-ordination  shall  be  final." 
The  only  right  or  standing  which  a 
cabinet  head  had  was  that  he  might 
appeal  to  the  director  of  the  budget 
within  four  days,  and  then,  if  he  was 
not  satisfied,  he  might  appeal  to  the 
president,  being  given  only  six  days 
more,  however.  At  the  end  of  ten  days 
all  rights  lapsed. 

CHANGES  IN  CONGRESSIONAL 
PROCEDURE 

Another  jolt  was  given  to  the  old 
regime  in  the  house.  Here  when  the 
new  centralized  appropriation  com- 
mittee was  organized,  these  things 
happened:  (1)  The  "rule  of  seniority" 
was  set  aside;  (2)  an  agreement  was 
entered  into  that  the  amount  of  the 
president's  budget  request  for  a  sup- 
port of  a  bureau  or  service  would  be 
the  maximum  which  might  be  written 
into  the  appropriation  bill  prepared 
by  the  committee,  and  recommended 
for  favorable  consideration;  (3)  they 
agreed  not  to  hear  any  head  of  a  bureau 
on  a  question  of  policy  which  had  been 
under  consideration  and  passed  on 
by  the  executive  head,  his  chief  of 


436 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[December 


staff;  (4) that  "riders"  on  appropriation 
bills  would  not  be  permitted.  These 
decisions  if  adhered  to  must  breach 
the  four  walls  of  the  "little  legis- 
latures." And  in  the  main  they  were 
adhered  to  in  the  last  session — the 
chief  departure  being  the  result  of 
enormous  pressure  to  recommend  sev- 
eral millions  more  for  "R'vers  and 
Harbors"  than  the  president  asked 
for.  In  two  of  these  respects  the 
senate  committee  finally  fell  into  line. 
But  they  saw  to  it  that  the  "rule  of 
seniority"  was  not  impaired;  and  they 
did  not  propose  to  surrender  their 
trading  advantage  with  the  executive — • 
they  holding  "control  over  the 
purse,"  he  having  the  right  to  "veto" 
and  appoint  with  their  "advice  and 
consent." 

A   FIRST    STEP   TAKEN — WHAT   NEXT? 

This  has  been  the  start  made  during 
the  first  year.  And  as  a  start  it  is  the 
most  significant  happening  in  our 
institutional  development  since  the 
Civil  War.  Its  significance,  however, 
depends  on  the  persistence  of  that 
public  demand  which  made  even  the 
start  possible — a  public  demand  which 
will  get  behind  leadership  in  the  re- 
constructive process,  and  insist  that 
such  notifications  be  made  in  organic 
arrangements  as  will  insure  both 
responsible  leadership,  and  to  this 
end  visibility.  All  those  arrangements 
and  processes  developed  since  the 
constitution — adopted  to  intercept  and 
destroy  responsibility,  and  to  insure 
secrecy  in  the  interest  of  individual 
or  group  selfishness — must  be  torn 
out.  This  must  be  done  before  the 
constitutional  organs  for  insuring  ac- 
countability and  publicity,  as  set  up 
by  our  constitution,  may  function. 

VOTERS   STILL   IN  THE   DARK 

When  looked  on  thus  broadly, 
even  the  complete  fulfillment  of  all 


that  was  contemplated  in  the  new 
Budget  and  Accounting  Law  could 
not  possibly  be  more  than  a  start; 
for  it  deals  with  only  one  phase  of  the 
problem.  It  is  a  design  for  making 
executive  leadership  effective  and  ac- 
countable for  technical  compliance 
with  the  law.  But  the  real  problem 
has  not  been  touched — the  problem 
of  devising  ways  and  means  whereby 
each  voter  and  each  member  of  the 
congress  may  act  intelligently  as  a 
juror;  for  we  get  the  best  vision  of  our 
constitutional  plan  when  we  think  of 
both  "the  congress"  and  "the  electo- 
rate" as  juries  (the  first  organized 
as  an  initial  trial  court,  the  second  as 
a  high  court  of  final  appeal  and  review 
of  the  record),  and  like  the  common 
law  jury  system  it  was  instituted  as  a 
means  of  keeping  strong  the  founda- 
tions on  which  all  our  institutions 
rest,  the  confidence  of  the  people — 
their  good  will.  This  is  the  end,  the 
real  objective.  Without  this  end  fairly 
within  our  reach,  what  has  been  done 
must  be  appraised  as  worthless.  And 
be  it  observed  that  with  the  new  budget 
and  accounting  law  in  full  operation 
the  government  is  still  carried  on  just 
as  secretly  as  before;  both  members 
of  the  congress  and  voters  are  just 
as  innocent  of  what  is  going  on  behind 
the  scenes;  secrecy  and  collusion  is 
still  undermining  the  good  opinion 
in  which  our  institutions  are  held;  our 
public  servants  are  just  as  much  dis- 
trusted as  before  the  law  was  passed. 

PROPOSAL  TO  KEEP  CONGRESS  AND 
VOTER  INFORMED 

Democracy  insists  that  its  leaders 
shall  be  made  responsible;  and  to  this 
end  it  insists  on  being  kept  informed. 
The  budget  method  has  proved  the 
only  way  of  doing  this;  because  it  is 
adapted  to  the  uses  and  purposes 
of  a  representative  government — to 
carrying  control  over  leadership  down 


1922]         "THE  BUDGET  AND  ACCOUNTING  LAW,   1921" 


437 


to  the  people.  As  bearing  on  this 
principle  something  has  been  happen- 
ing, also  not  contemplated,  which  is 
reassuring — something  which  holds  out 
a  promise  that  the  processes  of  control 
will  finally  reach  the  voter.  While  the 
need  for  a  budget  and  accounting 
control  has  been  under  discussion,  a 
very  definite  body  of  opinion  was  being 
formed  which  has  insisted  that  congress 
shall  so  organize  that  in  this  consti- 
tutional forum  what  has  been  done 
and  what  is  being  proposed  by  the 
administration  may  be  dramatized. 
This  takes  concrete  form  in  proposals 
to  "put  the  cabinet  on  the  floor  of 
congress" — to  bring  the  chief  execu- 
tives of  the  trust  before  this  repre- 
sentative jury  in  this  court  of  inquest. 

EVIDENCE    OF     PRACTICABILITY     TESTI- 
MONY  OF   EXPERTS 

This  conclusion  had  long  since  been 
reached  (in  1881)  by  a  select  com- 
mittee of  congress  in  a  report  bearing 
on  what  was  then  regarded  as  an 
irresponsible  use  of  executive  power — 
the  remedy  proposed  by  them  to  put 
the  cabinet  on  the  floor.  First  be  it 
said  that  the  report  was  signed  by 
four  Republicans  and  four  Democrats, 
which  deprives  it  of  any  partisan 
significance;  that  the  four  Republicans 
and  four  Democrats  were  outstanding 
men,  namely:  Mr.  Allison  of  Iowa  and 
Mr.  Elaine  of  Maine,  Mr.  Ingalls  of 
Kansas,  Mr.  Platt  of  Connecticut,  Mr. 
Voorhees  of  Indiana,  Mr.  Pendleton 
of  Ohio,  Mr.  Butler  of  South  Carolina, 


and  Mr.  Farley  of  California.  On  the 
constitutional  aspect  of  the  proposition 
this  committee  of  eminent  lawyers 
came  to  the  conclusion  unanimously 
that  it  was  not  only  in  harmony  with 
it  but  much  thought  of  as  within  the 
intent  of  its  methods.  On  the  ques- 
tion of  expediency  they  were  also 
quite  as  positive. 

Their  report  was  not  favorably 
received  at  the  time  by  the  heads  of 
the  "little  legislatures,"  the  leaders 
in  congress.  They  saw,  as  did  the 
congressional  leaders  in  earlier  days, 
a  very  grave  danger  that  just  as  soon 
as  a  responsible  leader  was  permitted 
to  enter  the  front  door,  irresponsible 
leadership  must  go  out  the  back  way. 

SOME  STRAWS  WHICH  SHOW  THE  DIREC- 
TION  OF   THE   WIND 

Now  after  the  further  lapse  of  time, 
three  other  things  have  happened 
which  are  significant:  (1)  In  1921  three 
bills  were  introduced  to  put  the  cabinet 
on  the  floor;  (2)  the  National  Economi- 
cal Council  sent  out  a  referendum  to 
its  membership,  and  the  returns  show 
that  96  per  cent  were  in  favor  of 
responsible  executive  leadership,  92 
per  cent  being  in  favor  of  putting  the 
cabinet  on  the  floor;  (3)  The  National 
Budget  Committee,  a  propagandist 
organization,  made  up  largely  of  men 
of  affairs,  after  the  budget  and  ac- 
counting act  was  passed,  turned  its 
forces  to  a  campaign  of  popular  educa- 
tion to  demand  that  the  cabinet  be 
put  on  the  floor. 


I.    GOVERNMENT  AND  ADMINISTRATION 


Items  Reported  by  American  Civic  Associa- 
tion. No  Civic  Center  for  Toledo. — The  city 
council  of  Toledo  on  September  last  repealed  its 
action  taken  several  weeks  earlier  to  submit 
the  civic  center  project  to  the  voters  on  Novem- 
ber 7.  This  action  meant  that  the  project, 
which  was  defeated  at  the  August  primary  and 
which  had  been  authorized  to  be  placed  on  the 
November  ballot,  did  not  in  fact  appear  on  the 
ballot. 

This  is  an  economy  year,  but  it  is  possible 
for  a  city  to  "save  beyond  its  means." 


Alloona  Surveys  Housing  Neads. — The  Al- 
toona,  Pennsylvania,  Chamber  of  Commerce 
has  appointed  a  housing  committee  which  is 
making  a  survey  to  determine  Altoona's  housing 
needs.  This  committee  is  also  considering  the 
matter  of  financing  both  the  builder  and  the 
ultimate  purchaser. 

Five  and  six  per  cent  money  with  no  com- 
missioner or  bonus  will  help.  Elimination  of 
waste,  systematic  supervision  in  construction 
and  consecutive  labor  will  help.  Intelligent 
planning  of  houses,  good  material  and  careful 
craftsmanship  will  help.  It  is  also  to  be  hoped 
that  Altoona  will  not  follow  the  example  of  many 
cities  which  have  overbuilt  in  expensive  houses 
and  apartments  and  neglected  the  low-cost 
house. 


Milwaukee  to  Re- Number  Houses. — The  citi- 
zens of  Milwaukee  have  decided  that  they  have 
an  antiquated  and  confusing  system  for  number- 
ing their  houses.  The  common  council  has 
under  consideration  a  new  plan  which  would 
establish  base-line  streets  and  the  principle  of 
100  house  numbers  to  the  block.  The  plan 
has  been  supported  by  sixteen  civic  societies 
and  opposed  by  one.  The  stranger  within  the 
gates  will  appreciate  a  system  of  house  number- 
ing which  makes  it  easy  to  locate  addresses. 


Those  Who  Don't  Go  to  the  Movies. — A  uni- 
versity president  and  a  member  of  the  women's 
municipal  league  of  New  York  agree  that  the 
educational  value  of  the  motion-picture  is 
greatly  exaggerated  for  the  very  good  reason 


that  there  are,  apparently,  many  people  who 
seldom  patronize  the  motion-pictures  but  who 
use  their  eyes  to  read  the  really  inspiring  and 
educational  articles  which  appear  in  the  best  of 
our  periodicals.  No  one  knows  yet  whether 
these  individuals  are  the  last  of  the  conservatives 
or  the  front  ranks  of  a  new  army  of  progressives. 


Smoke  Control. — The  director  of  public  safety 
in  Cleveland  has  promised  the  Women's  City 
Club  that  the  smoke  commissioner  who  is  to  be 
appointed  will  be  fitted  to  do  constructive  work 
by  reason  of  his  technical  training  and  that  he 
will  be  instructed  to  co-operate  with  the  smoke 
committee  of  the  Women's  City  Club.  Smoke 
committees  are  finding  much  discouragement 
in  the  increased  use  of  soft  coal  occasioned  by 
the  shortage  of  coal  this  year;  but  they  are  all 
the  more  needed  for  that. 


Weekly  Highway  Maps. — The  City  Club  of 
Milwaukee  posts  on  its  blackboard  highway 
maps  issued  weekly  by  the  State  Highway 
Commission  to  show  the  current  status  of  all 
roads  in  Wisconsin,  a  service  which  is  no  doubt 
much  appreciated  by  the  motorists  of  the  state. 


To  Eliminate  Grade  Crossings. — The  city 
planning  commission  of  Toledo  reports  148 
grade  crossings  and  32  grade  separations.  Con- 
struction is  now  under  way  to  change  one  im- 
portant intersection  and  the  council  has  before 
it  an  ambitious  five-year  program  to  eliminate 
all  of  the  important  grade  crossings. 


New  City  Planning  Bulletin. — On  October  1 
appeared  No.  1  of  Vol.  1  of  City-Facts,  pub- 
lished by  the  Buffalo  City  Planning  Association, 
Inc.  The  panel  on  the  back  presents  the  future 
program  under  ten  headings,  which  are  to  be 
elaborated  later.  City-Facts  is  quite  as  per- 
suasive as  its  predecessors,  the  series  of  bulletins 
by  which  the  Buffalo  City  Planning  Association 
sold  the  city  plan  and  the  civic  center  idea  to  the 
people  of  Buffalo. 


Shall    Manufacturers    Invade    Washington? — 
There  is  a  noisy  agitation  to  persuade  manufac- 


438 


1922] 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


131) 


turers  to  come  down  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac 
and  erect  smokestacks  enough  to  raise  a  smoke 
screen  between  Washington  and  the  shores  of 
Virginia.  Since,  however,  the  boundaries  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  extend  to  the  high-water 
mark  of  the  Potomac  on  the  Virginia  side,  it  is  to 
be  hoped  that  such  an  invasion  will  not  be  per- 
mitted. Which  reminds  us  to  inquire,  will  the 
time  come  when  the  recession  to  Virginia  of  that 
part  of  the  District  of  Columbia  which  congress 
thought  unnecessary  ever  be  declared  unconstitu- 
tional? If  so,  will  that  bring  Alexandria  and 
the  surrounding  territory  again  into  the  District 
of  Columbia?  In  these  days  of  regional  planning 
it  has  come  to  be  pretty  generally  recognized 
that  the  L'Enfant  plan  as  amplified  by  the 
McMillan  committee  cannot  be  protected  unless 
the  environs  of  Washington  are  controlled. 
Even  the  original  District  of  Columbia  was  only 
ten  miles  square.  With  3,026,778  square  miles 
in  which  to  develop  industry  in  the  United 
States  it  does  seem  as  though  the  utilitarians 
might  allow  Washington  to  continue  to  be  what 
its  founders  had  in  mind — the  Federal  City,  and 
the  Federal  City  only. 

HAHLEAN  JAMBS, 
Secretary  American  Civic  Association. 


Vicissitudes  of  Lincoln's  Municipal  Coal 
Yard. — The  essence  of  the  municipal  home  rule 
amendment  of  the  Nebraska  constitution, 
adopted  in  1913,  follows:  Any  city  having  a 
population  of  more  than  5,000  inhabitants  may 
frame  a  charter  for  its  own  government  consistent 
with  and  subject  to  the  constitution  and  laws  of 
this  state. 

In  1917,  Lincoln,  now  a  city  of  approximately 
60,000  population,  framed  a  home  rule  charter. 
In  1921  the  council  passed  an  ordinance  pro- 
viding for  a  municipal  coal  yard  to  purchase  and 
sell  coal  and  wood  as  other  retail  dealers,  with 
some  limitations.  There  were  at  that  time 
twenty-one  private  dealers  in  fuel  in  the  city. 
During  the  last  winter  the  city  sold  over  8,000 
tons  of  coal.  Advocates  of  the  city  yard  claim 
that  its  operations  caused  a  material  reduction 
in  the  price  of  coal  over  that  of  the  preceding 
winter. 

Last  summer  the  coal  dealers  attempted  to 
induce  the  district  court  to  enjoin  the  continu- 
ance of  the  municipal  yard,  but  the  court  sus- 
tained a  general  demurrer  to  their  petition  and 
the  case  was  appealed  to  the  supreme  court. 


The  argument  of  the  dealers  was  that  the 
legislature  had  not  empowered  the  city  or  its 
authorities  to  sell  fuel,  that  the  home  rule  clause 
confined  the  character  of  the  charter  to  pro- 
visions relating  to  the  government  of  the  city 
as  a  public  corporation,  that  unless  the  charter 
power  should  be  thus  confined  to  the  language 
of  the  constitution  the  "door  would  be  open  to 
the  ambitious  politician,  the  theorist,  the  so- 
cialist, the  bolshevist,  or  any  political  boss  with 
a  following,  to  exploit  the  interests  of  the  city  by 
engrafting  bis  selfish  schemes  on  the  charter  of 
the  municipality,"  that  there  was  not  in  this  case, 
as  in  the  Portland  case,  any  emergency  claim  nor 
any  decision  by  legislative  authority  that  dealing 
in  coal  is  a  public  utility,  and  that  the  home  rule 
charter  is  a  grant  of  power  and  not  a  limitation 
of  power. 

The  city  attorney's  brief  conceded  that  the 
city  is  subject  to  legislative  restrictions  on  the 
extent  of  authority  and  the  manner  of  its  exer- 
cise, if  these  are  expressed  in  general  state  law, 
but  contended  that  the  people  of  the  city  had 
stepped  into  the  place  of  the  legislature  in  refer- 
ence to  the  grant  of  municipal  powers,  and  that 
the  people  of  the  city  had  followed  the  plan  of 
the  people  of  the  state  with  respect  to  the  con- 
stitutional powers  of  the  state  legislature,  in 
granting  the  council  of  the  city  all  legislative 
authority  possessed  by  the  city  as  such,  and  that 
in  Nebraska  the  rule  that  the  home  rule  clause 
is  self-executing  has  been  accepted  without 
conflict. 

The  court,  apparently  conceding  without 
consideration  the  public  nature  of  a  municipal 
coal  yard,  held  (189  Northwestern  643)  that  the 
charter  is  a  grant  of  power  to  be  construed  ac- 
cording to  the  same  rules  as  a  legislative  act 
containing  the  same  provisions,  that  the  pro- 
vision of  the  charter  that  "the  council  shall  have 
.  .  .all  ...  legislative  powers  and 
duties,"  does  not  confer  legislative  authority 
beyond  that  necessary  to  the  exercise  of  the 
powers  specifically  enumerated,  and  that  the 
clause  of  the  charter  authorizing  generally  the 
acquisition  and  operation  of  plants  for  furnishing 
light  and  heat  does  not  include  power  to  main- 
tain a  coal  yard,  expressing  the  opinion,  however, 
that  the  city  might  have  adopted  a  charter  either 
as  a  grant  of  power  or  as  a  limitation  of  power. 

The  council  at  once  submitted  for  popular 
consideration  at  a  special  election  a  charter 
amendment  empowering  the  council  to  establish 
a  coal  yard,  which,  in  an  exceedingly  light  vote 


440 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[December 


was  approved  almost  eleven  to  one.  Initiative 
petitions  had  in  the  meantime  been  presented 
intended  to  authorize  the  city  council  to  establish 
a  lumber  yard  and  a  general  merchandising 
business,  either  in  a  spirit  of  humor  or,  more 
probably,  to  discredit  the  coal  yard  proposition. 
The  signatures  were,  after  much  counting,  found 
insufficient,  and  their  authors  did  not  present 
them  at  the  general  election. 

Coal  is  being  sold  at  the  "muny"  yard. 

Lincoln  boasts  a  large  percentage  of  home 
owners  and  philosophically  is  not  inclined  to 
socialism  at  all. 

RALPH  S.  BOOTS. 
* 

California  State  Issues. — Although  the  follow- 
ing measures  were  all  defeated  by  the  people  at 
the  November  election,  they  are  significant  and 
in  principle  are  not  settled  yet. 

Number  30  on  the  California  ballot  was  a 
proposition  submitted  by  the  initiative  to  add 
a  section  to  Article  12  of  the  constitution.  It 
gave  the  railway  commission  exclusive  power 
to  grant  determinate  or  indeterminate  franchises 
for  street,  interurban  and  suburban  railways, 
and  motor  stages,  to  prescribe  the  terms  and 
conditions  of  the  grant  and  regulate  rates.  It 
further  was  authorized  to  accept  the  surrender 
of  existing  franchises  upon  petition  of  the  com- 
panies. It  provided  that  if  a  municipality 
or  political  subdivision  took  over  the  utility 
the  franchise  should  have  no  pecuniary  value 
in  fixing  the  value  of  the  utility;  nor  should  the 
franchise  have  a  value  in  rate  fixing. 

The  California  Real  Estate  Association 
claimed  the  authorship  of  this  amendment. 
Many  local  real  estate  organizations  and  cham- 
bers of  commerce  accepted  the  state  associa- 
tion's arguments  for  this  proposal.  Almost 
without  exception  city  officials  declared  against 
it.  The  California  League  of  Municipalities  was 
solidly  against  it. 

The  Realtors  declared  that  only  by  the  process 
can  lines  be  extended,  service  standardized, 
capital  secured  and  many  burdens  such  as 
paving,  for  instance,  be  thrown  off  trans- 
portation's shoulders.  The  argument  sounded 
excellent  to  men  who  are  selling  subdivisions 
which  have  no  transportation  service.  It  also 
was  alluring  to  those  who  realize  that  our  metro- 
politan communities  are  being  throttled  by 
local  interests.  It  seemed  to  many  the  only  way 
out  of  the  pulling  and  hauling  of  local  competing 
bodies. 


It  would  seem  to  the  writer  that  rather  than 
fly  to  a  state  commission  for  the  settlement  of 
such  a  distinctly  local  administrative  difficulty 
there  should  be  established  a  metropolitan 
transportation  district  for  San  Francisco,  for 
Alameda  county  and  for  Los  Angeles  county. 

It  is  charged  by  members  of  the  legislature  and 
by  local  officials  that  this  amendment  was  the 
child  of  the  transportation  and  utility  interests 
who  have  become  converts  to  the  theory  of 
state  commission  regulation.  A  similar  measure 
failed  to  pass  the  last  session  of  the  legislature- 


Number  10  on  the  California  ballot  was  an 
initiative  proposal  to  add  a  section  to  Article- 
13  of  the  constitution  to  rescind  the  tax  exemp- 
tion now  operating  in  favor  of  publicly  owned 
utilities  and  subject  city  or  district  public  service 
enterprises  to  state  taxation.  An  exception 
was  made  in  the  case  of  municipal  water  works. 
The  reason  for  this  submission  was  transparent 
and  on  the  face  of  it  it  seemed  logical  that  all 
public  service  enterprises,  whether  private  or 
public,  should  be  put  upon  the  same  basis. 
Should  all  utility  enterprises  become  publicly 
owned  the  state  revenues  (which  come  only  from 
corporation  taxes)  would  be  cut  down  materially. 

On  the  other  hand  by  taxing  a  governmental 
operation,  tax  money  goes  from  one  pocket  to> 
another  and  the  public  is  poorer  by  the  amount 
necessary  to  administer  the  tax. 

The  proposal  would  probably  have  discouraged 
s®me  communities  from  attempting  public 
ownership. 


There  was  another  measure  on  our  ballot 
which  indicates  that  the  public  service  com- 
panies have  found  the  initiative  a  useful  device. 
Number  11  provided  that  all  publicly  owned 
utilities  should  be  subject  to  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  state  railroad  commission  in  all  respects, 
except  as  to  the  issuance  of  securities,  that 
private  corporations  are. 

C.  A.  DYKBTRA. 
* 

Tentative  Charter  Provides  P.  R.  for  New 
York. — The  New  York  charter  commission 
has  adopted,  as  a  basis  for  discussion,  the  draft 
of  a  new  charter  prepared  by  its  counsel,  the 
outstanding  feature  of  which  is  the  adoption 
of  proportional  representation  for  the  election 
of  the  board  of  aldermen.  There  is  strong 
sentiment  in  New  York  in  favor  of  increasing 
the  legislative  functions  of  the  board.  At 


1922] 


NOTES  AND  EVENTS 


441 


present  many  matters,  which  should  properly 
be  the  subject  of  ordinances,  are  handled  by  the 
legislature  at  Albany.  But  to  increase  the  power 
of  the  board  of  aldermen  as  at  present  consti- 
tuted is  unthinkable.  Not  only  are  the  members 
of  average  poor  quality,  but,  as  a  recent  report 
shows,  a  majority  of  them  are  elected  by  about 
80  per  cent  of  the  voters. 

Inasmuch  as  greater  home  rule  will  require 
that  the  aldermen  be  more  than  a  nominal 
legislature,  proportional  representation  is  the 
easy  and  logical  method  for  securing  proper 
consideration  for  all  elements  in  an  extremely 
diverse  population.  In  no  city  in  the  world 
is  the  problem  of  adequate  representation  so 
serious  as  in  New  York. 
* 

Home  Rule  Postponed  in  Wisconsin. — The 
referendum  for  a  constitutional  amendment  for 
home  rule  in  cities  of  Wisconsin  which  was  to 
have  taken  place  November  7  has  been  delayed 
at  least  two  years  through  a  decision  of  the 
Wisconsin  supreme  court.  A  technical  error 
in  procedure  when  the  legislature  adopted  the 
necessary  resolution  in  1919  rendered  that 
resolution  null  and  void.  In  Wisconsin  con- 
stitutional amendment  is  secured  by  joint 
resolution  adopted  by  two  successive  legislatures 
followed  by  referendum. 

The  wording  of  the  proposed  amendment  is 
as  follows: 

(Article  XI)  Section  3.  Cities  and  villages  organised 
pursuant  to  state  law  arc  hearby  empowered  to  deter- 
mine their  local  affairs  and  government,  subject  only 
to  thin  constitution,  and  to  such  enactments  of  the  leg- 
islature of  state-wide  concern  as  shall  with  uniformity 
affect  every  city  or  village.  The  method  of  such  deter- 
mination shall  be  prescribed  by  the  legislature.  .  .  . 

This  provision  is  more  brief  and  consequently 
broader  in  its  scope  than  the  home  rule  provi- 
sions in  other  state  constitutions.  It  does  not 
include  charter-making  procedure.  The  legis- 
lature will  provide  for  this  after  the  amendment 
has  been  approved. 

LEO  TlEFENTHALER. 

* 

Kansas  City  Completes  Draft  of  New  Charter. 
— The  charter  now  before  the  people  of  Kansas 
City  for  adoption  is  not  a  manager  charter, 
although  a  stiff  campaign  for  this  form  was 
carried  on.  It  is.  however,  an  improvement  in 
many  respects  over  the  present  antiquated 
document.  Kansas  City  is  one  of  the  two  or 
three  larger  cities  which  retains  a  bi-cameral 


council.  The  provision  in  the  proposed  charter 
for  a  single-chamber  council  is  therefore  a  dis- 
tinct gain.  The  Kansas  City  Public  Sen-ice 
Institute  believes,  however,  and  in  this  we  con- 
cur, that  the  number  of  members,  twenty-four, 
is  too  great.  The  mayor  is  given  exclusive 
appointing  power  with  respect  to  the  heads  of 
the  six  departments,  viz.,  law,  finance,  public 
works,  safety,  parks  and  welfare.  A  modern 
budget  system  is  provided. 


Pay  Roll  Padding  Uncovered  in  Des  Moines. — 
The  old-fashioned  game  of  padding  the  public 
pay  roll,  considered  usually  as  a  relic  of  earlier 
and  cruder  days,  has  been  uncovered  in  Des 
Moines.  The  first  discoveries  were  made  by  the 
Bureau  of  Municipal  Research  which  turned 
over  its  findings  to  the  state  auditor,  who  is  now 
proceeding  under  grand  jury  indictments.  The 
principal  irregularities  were  in  the  departments 
of  parks  and  public  property,  streets  and  public 
improvements,  and  in  the  garbage  collection 
division  of  the  department  of  public  safety. 
Already  six  indictments  have  been  issued  and 
more  are  pending.  The  resignation  of  one 
council  member  is  expected. 


Municipal  Ownership  in  Canada. — The  Cit- 
izens' Research  Institute  of  Canada  (Toronto) 
reports  that  the  number  of  publicly  owned 
utilities  is  growing  throughout  Canada.  The 
Institute  has  tabulated  the  figures  for  57  cities, 
Montreal  being  excluded  because  the  facts  were 
not  available.  All  these  municipalities,  with 
one  exception,  own  their  water  works.  Thirty- 
seven  own  the  sources  of  their  electric  light  and 
power;  fifteen  own  their  street  railways.  The 
net  per  capita  public  utility  debt  for  the  fifty- 
seven  is  $73.33. 


Arizona  Sticks  to  Direct  Primary.— In  a 
special  election  recently  the  people  of  Arizona 
refused  to  adopt  a  constitutional  amendment 
which  would  make  possible  a  return  to  the  con- 
vention sytem.  Efforts  to  develop  the  pre- 
primary  convention  also  ended  in  disaster. 
One  such  unofficial  convention  was  held,  but  it* 
nominees  were  all  defeated  in  the  following 
primary.  In  Arizona,  as  in  some  other  western 
states,  the  support  of  the  machine  is  often  a 
heavy  handicap. 


442 


NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 


[December 


Municipal  Cleaning  Cheaper. — The  depart- 
ment of  public  works  of  Philadelphia  is  asking 
an  appropriation  for  street  cleaning  for  next 
year  of  $1,000,000,  or  20  per  cent  less  than  the 


cost  for  1921,  the  last  year  under  the  private 
contract  system.  The  work  for  1922  will  be 
done  for  $230,000  less  than  was  anticipated  by 
the  budget. 


II.    CITY  MANAGER  NEWS. 


Annual  Convention  in  Kansas  City. — The 
city  managers'  convention  was  held  in  Kansas 
City,  November  14,  15,  and  16.  Over  100 
managers  attended  and  a  very  instructive  and 
interesting  program  was  provided.  Consider- 
able local  interest  was  shown  by  Kansas  City 
organizations.  Some  features  of  the  convention 
were  an  address  by  Governor  Allen,  a  debate 
on  public  ownership  and  a  competition  in  which 
the  annual  reports  from  all  city  manager  cities 
were  judged  on  several  points  by  a  committee 
of  managers. 

* 

The  1922  Yearbook  will  come  from  the  printer 
shortly  and  is  available  at  55  cents  a  copy  from 
the  offices  of  the  City  Managers'  Association, 
East  Cleveland,  Ohio. 


leakage  in  city  funds  in  a  poorly  metered  water 
system. 

* 

Numerous  Managers  are  observing  fire  pre- 
vention week;  others  are  interesting  themselves 
in  their  state  municipal  leagues  by  forwarding 
progressive  municipal  legislation. 

* 

Timely  Tributes  were  made  to  C.  M.  Osborn 
when  he  resigned  as  manager  of  East  Cleveland, 
Ohio.  The  citizens  presented  him  with  a  mantel 
clock  and  the  city  employees  gave  him  a  white 
gold  watch  and  chain  and  a  gold  fountain  pen 
and  pencil.  Last  January  Mr.  Osborn  bought 
a  time  clock  for  the  city  hall,  and  it  appears  that 
everyone  took  this  occasion  to  return  the  com- 
pliment. 


The  November  Issue  of  the  City  Manager 
Bulletin  carries  an  article  entitled  "The  Qualifica- 
tions of  a  City  Manager."  The  October  issue 
carries  a  four-page  article  about  the  Long  Beach 
recall. 

* 

City  Manager  Questionnaire. — The  office 
of  the  City  Managers'  Association  has  sent  out 
a  chart  to  all  city  manager  cities,  requesting 
information  which  has  never  before  been  com- 
piled and  will  be  interesting  as  well  as  valuable 
when  the  final  compilation  is  made. 


Manager  Osborn  won  his  first  legal  battle 
in  Kenosha,  the  first  Wisconsin  manager  city, 
when  the  state  attorney-general  handed  down 
an  opinion  that  the  change  in  the  form  of  govern- 
ment in  no  way  affected  the  right  of  the  executive 
head  of  the  city  government  to  appoint  and 
supervise  department  heads. 


Manager  Rigsby  of  Durham,  North  Carolina, 
has  convinced  the  council  of  the  need  of  com- 
prehensive city  planning  and  zoning. 

* 

The  New  Manager  of  Akron,  M.  P.  Tucker, 
is  apparently  taking  hold  of  things  in  a  manner 
which  will  redound  to  the  benefit  of  the  city. 

* 

Long  Beach,  California,  provides  the  example 
of  a  seeming  paradox — as  the  days  grow  colder 
the  civic  recall  temperature  rises.  The  manager 
recall  election  is  set  for  November  29. 

* 

Numerous  California  Managers  are  making 
preparation  for  extended  park  improvements. 

* 

Long  Beach  stands  at  the  head  of  the  cities 
of  the  United  States  with  a  population  of  from 
50,000  to  100,000  in  having  only  54  deaths  of 
children  under  one  year  of  age  during  the  year 
1921. 


Manager  Graeser,  who  has  gone  from  Tyler 
to  Temple,  Texas,  has  unearthed  a  considerable 


A  Trio  of  Part-Time  Managers  and  engineers 
is  now  on  record.     Manager  E.   C.   Knox   of 


1922] 


NOTES  AND   EVENTS 


443 


Chapel  Hill,  North  Carolina,  serves  on  the 
engineering  staff  of  the  local  state  university; 
Manager  J.  E.  O'Donnell  of  St.  Albans,  Vermont, 
devotes  time  on  railroad  engineering  work; 
and  Manager  R.  F.  Armstrong  of  Woodstock, 
Canada,  is  a  member  of  a  firm  of  consulting 
engineers. 

* 

The  Following  Cities  are  showing  an  interest 
in  the  manager  plan:  Hutchinson,  Kansas, 
St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  Butte  and  Billings,  Mon- 
tana, Fresno  and  Modesto,  California,  Warrenton 
and  Newport,  Oregon,  Bristow,  Oklahoma, 
Harrisonburg,  Virginia,  and  Milford,  Connecti- 
cut. 

* 

Elections  on  Manager  Charters  were  held  in 
November  in  Billings,  Montana,  Santa  Rosa, 
and  San  Mateo,  California,  and  Utica,  New 
York. 

* 

Yale,  Oklahoma,  voters  on  October  6  voted 
four  to  one  to  retain  their  city  manager  charter. 
* 

The  Following  New  Appointments  have  been 
made  to  manager  positions:  Ponca  City,  C.  E. 


Norton;  Lakeland,  Florida,  Anton  Schneider, 
formerly  of  Bartow;  C.  M.  Grantham,  Golds- 
boro,  North  Carolina;  James  Trogdon,  Morgan- 
town,  North  Carolina,  to  succeed  O.  B.  Lackey, 
who  resigned;  W.  L.  King,  Brownsville,  Texas, 
to  succeed  George  Grupe,  who  resigned;  Horace 
Bowen,  Michigan  City,  Indiana,  to  succeed 
W.  B.  Manny,  who  resigned;  J.  S.  Looney  to 
Decatur,  Georgia;  F.  E.  Golightly  to  Coalgate, 
Oklahoma;  F.  W.  Waggoner  to  Farmville, 
Virginia;  H.  G.  Barnes  of  the  St.  Paul  Bureau 
of  Municipal  Research  to  White  Bear  Lake, 
Minnesota;  A.  A.  Hall,  Morgantown,  West 
Virginia,  to  succeed  C.  F.  Sutherland;  U.  P. 
Prater,  Tyler,  Texas,  to  succeed  H.  G.  Graeser; 
C.  A.  Car  ran,  East  Cleveland,  Ohio,  to  succeed 
C.  M.  Osborn. 


New  manager  positions  have  been  filled  by 
E.  O.  Garrett,  Dormont,  Pennsylvania;  C.  W. 
Mizell,  Heavener,  Oklahoma;  Paul  Steintorf, 
Calexico,  California;  C.  B.  Forsbeck,  Red  Oak, 
Iowa;  J.  P.  Broome,  Salem,  Virginia. 

PAUL  B.  WILCOX. 


HI.    MISCELLANEOUS 


Administrative  Reorganization  for  Tennessee. 
— The  Tennessee  state  conference  of  chambers 
of  commerce  meeting  in  Nashville  have  endorsed 
the  movement  for  state  administrative  consolida- 
tion. A.  E.  Buck  of  New  York  has  prepared  a 
report  and  plan  of  reorganization  which  will  be 
presented  to  the  legislature  this  winter. 

* 

Ralhp  B.  Howell,  senator-elect  from  Nebraska, 
is  well  known  for  his  successful  management  of 
the  municipally-owned  water,  gas  and  ice  plants 
of  Omaha.  He  has  promised  us  a  story  on  these 
enterprises  for  the  REVIEW  and  we  yet  hope  to 
get  it  before  he  moves  on  to  Washington. 

* 

Prof.  Frank  G.  Bates  is  now  executive  secre- 
tary of  the  Indiana  Municipal  League.  The 
League's  headquarters  are  now  permanently 
eatalbiahed  at  the  University  of  Indiana. 

* 

A  Dog  Curfew. — In  1  ukeluud,  Ohio,  it  seems 
owners  of  dogs  guilty  of  I  niking  after  dark  will 
be  fined  one  dollar.  It  remains  to  be  seen 


whether  this  form  of  prohibition  is  capable  of 
easier  enforcement  than  the  Volstead  law. 


Health  Commissioner  Bun de son  of  Chicago 
has  announced  that  shrieking  exhaust  whistles 
carried  by  motor  trucks  are  nuisances  and  must 
be  silenced.  The  sharp  blast  of  a  truck  whistle, 
he  declares,  is  harmful  to  persons  with  weak 
hearts.  For  a  full  account  of  the  noise  menace 
see  article  by  Dr.  Nance  in  the  October 
REVIEW. 

* 

Mayo  Fesler  has  resigned  as  secretary  of  the 
Brooklyn  Chamber  of  Commerce  to  become 
secretary  of  the  City  Club  of  Chicago. 


Dr.  Don  C.  Sowers,  for  the  past  five  years 
director  of  the  Akron  Bureau  of  Municipal 
Research,  has  accepted  an  appointment  with 
the  University  of  Colorado  as  director  of  the 
bureau  of  business  and  governmental  research 
of  that  university 


444  NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW  [December 

Charles  A.  Clark,  chairman  of  the  county  Frank  M.  Williams,  who  is  completing  hia 

board  of  Duval  county,  Florida,  declares  that  fifth  year  as  state  engineer  of  New  York,  has 

his  county  needs  a  county  manager.     The  pres-  joined    the    Technical    Advisory    Corporation, 

ent  form  of  county  government  is  too  clumsy  and  consulting   engineers,    of    132    Nassau    Street, 

too  easily  swayed  by  politics.  New  York  city. 


INDEX 

NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  REVIEW 
VOLUME  XI,   1922 


AUTHORS 


Adams,  Thomas.  Modern  City  Plan- 
ning    157 

Anderson,  William.  John  Stuart  Mill 

and  the  Model  City  Charter 321 

Barnett,  J.  D.  Fighting  Rate  Increases 

by  the  Recall 212 

Bartholomew,  Harland.  St.  Louis  City- 
County  Consolidation  Before  Con- 
stitutional Convention 406 

Bauer,  John.  Review.  Analysis  of  the 

Electric  Railway  Problem 345 

Bauer,  John.  Deadlock  in  Public  Util- 
ity Regulation 21 

Bauer,  John.  Deadlock  in  Public  Util- 
ity Regulation.  The  Right  of 
Cities  to  Appear  for  the  People  in 
Public  Utility  Actions 76 

Bauer,  John.  Deadlock  in  Public  Util- 
ity Regulation.  Municipal  Action 
to  Break  the  Deadlock 140 

Bennett,  E.  H.     Zoning  Chicago 69 

Boots,  Ralph  S.  The  Career  of  the 

Direct  Primary  in  Nebraska 373 

Boots,  Ralph  S.  Review  of  Popular 

Government 390 

Briggs,  John,  E.  The  Direct  Primary 

in  Two  States.  Iowa 282 

Brown,  H.  G.  Review  of  Outlines  of 
Public  Finance. 

Buck,  A.  E.  Nebraska's  Reorganized 

State  Administration 192 

Buck,  A.  E.  The  Illinois  Civil  Ad- 
ministrative System — What  It  Has 
Accomplished 362 

Byrd,  Margaret.     Future  Statesmen ...     313 

Caparn,  H.  A.    "ZeCeety  Pays" 403 

Carroll,   Dorr  H.    The   Recall   in   N. 

Dakota 3 

Childs,  Richard  S.  Views  and  Re- 
views  61,125,179 


Childs,  Richard  S.  Three  Town  Man- 
agers in  Trouble 134 

Cleveland,  F.  A.  The  Budget  and 

Accounting  Law,  1921 428 

Cocker,  F.  W.  Review.  The  State  and 

Government 345 

Crane,  Robt.  T.  Escanaba  Adopts 

Corps  of  City  Managers 353 

Crawford,  F.  G.  Emergency  Zoning  in 

Syracuse 131 

Dana,  Edward.     The  Boston  Elevated 

Railway 336 

Dean,  Ruth.  A  "Swimming  Hole"  in 

Chicago 138 

De  Raay,  Joseph  Q.  The  Middleboro 

Revolution 63 

de  Roode,  Albert.  Pensions  in  Public 

Employment 145 

Dodds,  H.  W.  Views  and  Reviews  ....  1, 255 
Dodds,  H.  W.  Comment 305,  351 

Engler,  Irvin.  County  Manager  Char- 
ter Defeated  in  Sacramento 309 

Goodrich,  Robt.  M.  Like  the  Dead 

Indian— The  Country 259 

Griffin,  Russell  F.  Grand  Rapids  Re- 
fuses to  Revert  from  the  Commis- 
sion-Manager Plan 200 

Guild,  Frederic  H.  The  Direct  Primary 

in  Two  States.  Indiana 286 

Gulick,  Luther.  New  Revenues  for 

City  Government 7 

Harley,  Herbert.  Supplement.  Crimi- 
nal Justice — How  to  Achieve  It 

Jackson,  George  C.  Akron's  City  Man- 
ager— Another  Viewpoint 183 

Jackson,  Walter.  The  Place  of  the 

Motor  Bus . .  :u,s 


INDEX 


Kasch,  Gus.  The  City  Manager  Plan 

as  It  Was  Worked  in  Akron 73 

Kimball,  Theodora.  A  Review  of  City 

Planning  in  the  United  States 27 

Locke,  Wm.  J.     Huge  Water  and  Power 

Development 417 

Marsh,  H.  W.  Recent  Spoils  Raid  in 

Washington 269 

Maxey,  Chester  C.    Cleveland  Revolts .       13 

Maxey,  Chester  C.  The  Political  Inte- 
gration of  Metropolitan  Communi- 
ties   229 

McFarland,  J.  Horace.  Free  Citizen 

or  Slave— Which? 17 

McFarland,  J.  Horace.  Review.  Lon- 
don of  the  Future 345 

Merriam,  Charles  E.  Next  Step  in  the 

Organization  of  Municipal  Research  274 

Millard,  Everett  L.  Billboard  Control 

To  Date 409 

Moses,  Robert.  Home  Rule  for  Two 

N.Y.  Counties 5 

Moses,  Robert.  Congress  Considers  the 

Federal  Employee 214 

Mosher,  W.  E.  Partnership  in  Govern- 
ment    64 

Munro,  W.  B.  Peters  of  Boston — A 

Reform  Mayor  Who  Did  Not  Fail  85 

Nance,  Willis  O.  Gains  Against  the 
Nuisances.  Noise  and  Public 
Health 326 

Purdy,  Lawson.    Old  Age  Pensions  for 

Public  Servants 355 

Ramsey,    Russell.     Review.     Budget 

Making 345 


Rhodes,  S.  A.    Gains  Against  Nuisances    262 

Rice,  Stuart  A.  The  Failure  of  the 

Municipal  Lodging  House 358 

Rightor,  C.  E.  Review  of  Reports  on 

Funded  Debt  of  Cities 385 

Rightor,  C.  E.  Comparative  Tax  Rate 

for  32  Cities 412 

Roane,  Eleonore.  How  the  City  Man- 
ager Plan  Was  Defeated  in  Atlanta  311 

Schram,  Ross.     Detroit  Takes  Over  Its 

Street  Railways 186 

Schutt,  -Harold  G.  Advanced  Police 

Methods  in  Berkeley 80 

Sikes,  George  C.  A  Step  Toward  the 

Short  Ballot 260 

Sikes,  Geo.  C.  Illinois  Votes  on  New 

Constitution 422 

Smith,  Clarence  B.  Jr.  Closing  the  New 

Orleans  "District" 266 

Studensky,  Paul.  Pensions  in  Public 

Employment 97 

Tierney,  M.  Genevieve.    The  St.  Louis 

Municipal  Outdoor  Theatre 128 

Upson,  Lent  D.     The  Coroners  Again  . .     132 
Upson,  Lent  D.     Increasing  Activities 

and  Increasing  Costs 317 

Walnut,  T.  Henry.  Gifford  Pinchot  and 

the  Direct  Primary 332 

Williams,  E.  W.  The  Defeat  of  City- 
County  Consolidation  in  Alameda  204 

Williams,  Helena  V.  Routing  Germs  in 

Framingham 404 

Woodruff,  Clinton  Rogers.  A  Non- 
Assembled  Civil  Service  Examina- 
tion    181 

Woodruff,  Clinton  Rogers.  Wanted: 

Civic  Dramatists .  .  379 


SUBJECTS 


Assessments.     Special  Assessments ....       43 

Billboard  Control.  Billboard  Control 

to  Date 409 

Boston.  Peters  of  Boston,  a  Reform 

Mayor  Who  Did  Not  Fail 85 

Budget.  Budget  and  Accounting  Law, 

1921 428 

Citizenship: 

1 .  Free  Citizen  or  Slave —Which? . .         17 


2.  Future  Statesmen 313 

City  and  County  Consolidation.     See 

County  Government. 
City  Manager: 

1.  Three  Town  Managers  in  Trouble     134 

2.  Akron's  C.  M. — Another  Viewpoint    183 

3.  The  C.  Manager  Plan  as  It  Worked 

in  Akron 73 

4.  How  the  City  Manager  Plan  was 
Defeated  in  Atlanta 311 

5.  Cleveland  Revolts .  .  13 


INDEX 


6.  Grand  Rapids  Refuses  to  Revert 
from  the  Commission  Manager  Plan  200 

City  Manager.  Eseanaba  Adopts  a 

Corps  of  City  Managers 353 

City  Planning: 

1.  Modern  City  Planning 157 

2.  A  Review  of  City  Planning  in  the 
United  States 27 

Civil  Service: 

1.  A   Non- Assembled   Civil    Service 
Examination 181 

2.  Recent  Spoils  Raid  in  Washington    269 

3.  Congress    Considers   the    Federal 
Employee 214 

Commission    Government.    The    Mid- 

dleboro  Revolution 63 

Coroner.    The  Coroners  Again 132 

County  Government: 

The  Political  Integration  of  Metro- 
politan Communities 229 

The  Defeat  of  City-County  Consolida- 
tion in  Alameda 204 

Like  the  Dead  Indian — The  County    259 
Constitutional  Convention  Considers 
City-County  Consolidation  for  St. 
Louis. 

County  Home  Rule.    Home  Rule  for 

Two  New  York  Counties 5 

County    Manager.     County    Manager 

Charter  Defeated  in  Sacramento  . .     309 

Couzens,  James.  Mayor  Couzens'  Re- 
election    10 

Crime  and  Criminals.  Criminal  Justice 
— How  to  Achieve  It.  Supple- 
ment to  March  Issue — 1922. 

Debt,  Municipal.     Review  of  Reports 

on  Funded  Debt  of  Cities 385 

Detroit: 

Mayor  Couzens'  Re-election 10 

Increasing  Activities,  and  Increasing 
Costs 317 

Electric  Power  Development.  Huge 
Water  and  Power  Development  in 
California 417 

Elevated  Railways.  The  Boston  Ele- 
vated Railway 336 

Employment  Administration.  Partner- 
ship in  Government 64 

Home  Rule.    See  County  Home  Rule. 


Middleboro,     Mo. 
Revolution .  . 


The     Middleboro 


63 


Moving     Pictures.      Wanted:      Civic 

Dramatists 379 

Municipal  Charters: 

1.  J.  S.   Mill  and  the  Model  City 
Charter 321 

2.  The  St.  Paul  Charter  Fight 72 

Municipal  Finance: 

Increasing  Activities,  and  Increasing 
Costs 317 

Municipal  Home  Rule.  See  County 
Home  Rule. 

Municipal  Lodging  Houses.  The  Fail- 
ure of  the  Municipal  Lodging  House  358 

Municipal  Research.  Next  Step  in  the 

Organization  of  Municipal  Research  274 

Municipal  Theatre.  The  St.  Louis 

Municipal  Outdoor  Theatre 128 

Nebraska.      Nebraska's      Reorganized 

State  Administration 192 

Nuisances.     Gains  Against  Nuisances. 

1.  Overhead  Wire  Construction 262 

2.  Noise  and  Public  Health 326 

Omnibus.    The  Place  of  the  Motor  Bus    368 

Pensions : 

Pensions  in  Public  Employment ....  145,  97 
Old  Age  Pensions  for  Public  Servants    355 
Peters,  Andrew  J.     Peters  of  Boston — 
A  Reform  Mayor  Who  Did  Not 

Fail 85 

Police.    Advanced  Police  Methods  in 

Berkeley 80 

Primaries : 

1.  The  Direct  Primary  in  Two  States. 

Iowa 282 

Indiana 286 

2.  Gifford   Pinchot   and   the   Direct 
Primary 332 

3.  The  Career  of  the  Direct  Primary 

in  Nebraska 373 

Prostitution.  Closing  the  New  Orleans 

"District" 266 

Public  Utility.  Deadlock  in  the  Public 

Utility  Regulation 21^76, 140 

Recall: 

Fighting  Rate  Increases  by 212 

The  Recall  in  North  Dakota 3 

Revenue.  New  Revenues  for  City  Gov- 
ernment    7 

Short    Ballot.    A    Step   Towards   the 

Short  Ballot . .  260 


6 


INDEX 


Spoils  System.    The  Recent  Spoils  Raid 

in  Washington 269 

State  Government: 

1.  Nebraska's  Reorganized  State  Ad- 
ministration       192 

2.  The  Illinois  Civil  Administrative 
System — What    It     Has    Accom- 
plished       362 

Illinois  Votes  on  New  Constitution  422 
Street  Cleaning.  "  Ze  Ceety  Pays  "  ....  403 
Street  Railways.  Detroit  Takes  Over 

Its  Street  Railways 186 

Swimming  Pools.  A  ' '  Swimming  Hole ' ' 

in  Chicago 138 


Tax  Rates.  Comparative  Tax  Rate  for 

32  Cities 412 

Tuberculosis.  Routing  Germs  in  Fram- 

ingham 405 

Views  and  Reviews 61, 125, 179, 1,  255 

Welfare  Work,  U.  S.  P.  O.  Dept.     Part- 
nership in  Government 64 

Zoning: 

Zoning  Chicago 69 

Emergency  Zoning  in  Syracuse 131 


TITLES 


Advanced  Police  Methods  in  Berkeley. 

Harold  G.  Schutt 80 

Akron's  City  Manager — Another  View- 
point. George  C.  Jackson 183 

Analysis  of  the  Electric  Railway  Prob- 
lem. Reviewed  by  John  Bauer. 

Billboard  Control  to  Date.    Everitt  L. 

Millard 409 

The  Boston  Elevated  Railway.  Edward 

Dana 336 

Budget  and  Accounting  Law,  1921. 

F.  A.  Cleveland 428 

Budget  Making.  Reviewed  by  Russell 

Ramsey. 

The  Career  of  the  Direct  Primary  in 

Nebraska.  Ralph  S.  Boots 373 

The  City  Manager  Plan  as  It  Was 

Worked  in  Akron.  Gus  Kasch ....  73 

Cleveland  Revolts.     Chester  C.  Maxey.       13 

Closing  the  New  Orleans  "District." 

Clarence  B.  Smith,  Jr 266 

Comment.     H.  W.  Dodds 305,  401 

Comparative  Tax  Rate  for  32  Cities. 

C.  E.  Rightor 412 

Congress  Considers  the  Federal  Em- 
ployee. Robert  Moses 214 

The  Coroners  Again.     Lent  D.  Upson     132 

County  Manager  Charter  Defeated  in 

Sacramento.  Irvin  Engler 309 

Criminal  Justice— How  to  Achieve  It. 
Supplement  to  March  1922  issue. 


Deadlock  in  the  Public  Utility  Regula- 
tion.   John  Bauer 

Deadlock  in  the  Public  Utility  Regula- 


21 


tion.  The  Right  of  Cities  to  Ap- 
pear for  the  People  in  Public 
Utility  Actions.  John  Bauer 76 

Deadlock  in  Public  Utility  Regulation. 
Municipal  Action  to  Break  the 
Deadlock.  John  Bauer 140 

The  Defeat  of  City-County  Consolida- 
tion in  Alameda.  E.  W.  Williams  204 

Detroit  Takes  Over  Its  Street  Railways. 

Ross  Schram 186 

The  Direct  Primary  in  Two  States. 

Iowa.  John  E.  Briggs 282 

The  Direct  Primary  in  Two  States. 

Indiana.  Frederic  H.  Guild 286 

Emergency  Zoning  in  Syracuse.  F.  G. 

Crawford 131 

Escanaba  Adopts  Corps  of  City  Man- 
agers. Robt.  T.  Crane 353 

The  Failure  of  the  Municipal  Lodging 

House.  Stuart  A.  Rice 358 

Fighting  Rate  Increases  by  the  Recall. 

J.D.Barnett 212 

Free  Citizen  or  Slave — Which?  J. 

Horace  McFarland 17 

Future  Statesmen.     Margaret  Byrd  .  . .     313 

Gains  Against  Nuisances.     1.  Overhead 

Wire  Construction.  S.  A.  Rhodes  262 
Gains  Against  the  Nuisances.  2.  Noise 

and     Public     Health.     Willis     O. 

Nance,  M.D 326 

Gifford  Pinchot  and  the  Direct  Primary. 

T.  Henry  Walnut 332 

Grand  Rapids  Refuses  to  Revert  from 

the     Commission-Manager     Plan. 

Russell  F.  Griffin. .  200 


INDEX 


Home  Rule  for  Two  New  York  Counties. 

Robert  Moses 5 

How  the  City  Manager  Plan  Was  De- 
feated in  Atlanta.  Eleonore  Roane  311 

Huge  Water  and  Power  Development. 

W.J.Locke 417 

The  Illinois  Civil  Administrative  Sys- 
tem: What  It  Has  Accomplished. 
A.  E.  Buck 362 

Illinois  Votes  on  New  Constitution. 

Geo.  C.  Sikes 422 

Increasing  Activities  and  Increasing 

Costs.  Lent  D.  Upson 317 

John  Stuart  Mill  and  the  Model  City 

Charter.    Wm.  Anderson 321 

Like  the  Dead  Indian  — The  County. 

Robert  M.  Goodrich 259 

London  of  the  Future.    Review  by  J. 

Horace  McFarland. 

Mayor  Couzen's  Re-election.    "ANon- 

Partisan  Voter" 10 

The    Middleboro    Revolution.     Joseph 

Q.  DeRaay 63 

Miscellaneous  Notes 35,  59, 89, 147, 

218,  294,  346,  392 

Modern  City  Planning.   Thomas  Adams     157 

Nebraska's  Reorganized  State  Ad- 
ministration. A.  E.  Buck 192 

New  Revenues  for  City  Government. 

Luthur  Gulick 7 

Next  Step  in  the  Organization  of  Munici- 
pal Research.  Charles  E.  Merriam  274 

A  Non-Assembled  Civil  Service  Ex- 
amination. Clinton  Rogers  Wood- 
ruff   181 

Old  Age  Pensions  for  Public  Servants. 

Lawson  Purdy 355 

Outlines  of  Public  Finance.     Reviewed 

by  H.G.  Brown 391 

Partnership    in    Government.    Wr.    E. 

Mosher 64 

Pensions  in  Public  Employment.    Paul 

Studensky 97 


Pensions  in  Public  Employment.  Al- 
bert de  Roode 145 

Peters  of  Boston — A  Reform  Mayor 

Who  Did  Not  Fail.  W.  B.  Monro  85 

The  Place  of  the  Motor  Bus.  Walter 

Jackson 368 

The  Political  Integration  of  Metropoli- 
tan Communities.  Chester  C. 
Maxey 229 

Popular  Government.  Reviewed  by 
RalphS.  Boots. 

The  Recall  in  North  Dakota.     Dorr  H. 

Carroll 3 

Recent  Spoils  Raid  in  Washington.  H. 

W.  Marsh 269 

A  Review  of  City  Planning  in  the  United 

States.  Theodora  Kimball 27 

Review  of  Reports  on  Funded  Debt  of 

Cities.  C.  E.  Rightor 385 

Routing  Germs  in  Framingham.  Helena 

V.  Williams 404 

St.    Louis   City-County   Consolidation 

before  Constitutional  Convention. 

Harland  Bartholomew 406 

Special    Assessments.     Committee    on 

Sources    of     Revenue,     National 

Municipal  League 43 

The  State  and  Government.     Reviewed 

by  F.  W.  Cocker. 
A    Step    Toward    the    Short    Ballot. 

George  C.  Sikes 260 

The    St.     Louis    Municipal    Outdoor 

Theatre.     M.  Genevieve  Tierney  . .     128 
The  St.  Paul  Charter  Fight.     "A  Local 

Civic  Worker" 72 

A  "  Swimming  Hole  "  in  Chicago.     Ruth 

Dean 138 

Three    Town    Managers    in    Trouble. 

Richard  S.  Childs 134 

Views  and  Reviews 1,  61,  125,  179,  255 

Wanted:    Civic    Dramatists.    Clinton 

Rogers  Woodruff 379 

"ZeCeety  Pays."    H.  A.  Caparn 403 

Zoning  Chicago.    E.  H.  Bennett 69 


ATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  LEAGUE 


'lent 
-:T  M     W.M  rr.  New  York 


1,  JR.,  Philadelphia 

D  S.   '  >rk 

M   1  >.   I  -nd,  Ind. 

I.II.IITHALI.,    Montreal. 
i  .os  Angeles. 


President* 

versitjr 

.iid,  Ohio 
i.  1).  C. 
:  t  Wayne,  Ind. 


Honorary  Secretary 

'hiladelphia 

tary 
*H\noLn  W.  Don  us,  New  York 

Treasurer 
CARL  H.  PFORZHEIM KH,  Harrison,  N.  Y. 

Charier  Consultant 
A.  R.  HATTON,  Cleveland,  Ohio 


Council 

*MATO  FEBLER,  Chicago 
RAYMOND  V.  IVGERSOLL,  New  York 
Wn  i  :TT  MUNRO,  Cambridge,  Mass. 

MRS.  ALBERT  LEE  THURMAN,  Washington,  D.  C. 
.1.   I.OCKIE  WILSON,  Toronto,  Canada 
CLINTON  ROGERS  WOODRUFF,  Philadelphia 

Terms  to  expire  1924 
*CHARLES  A.  BEARD,  New  Milford,  Conn. 

E.  A.  COTTRELL,  Stanford  University,  Cal. 
C.  A.  DYKSTRA,  Los  Angeles,  Cal. 
HARRIS  S.  KEELER,  Chicago 

PAUL  N.  MEYERS,  St.  Paul,  Minn. 

F.  L.  OLMSTEAD,  Brookline,  Mass. 
RICHARD  B.  WATROUS,  Washington,  D.  C. 
A.  LEO  WEIL,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

M«s.  T.  G.  WINTER,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 
LENT  D.  UPSON,  Detroit,  Mich. 


Terms  to  expire  1922 
IAKER.  Montclair.  N.  J. 
COWARD  W.  BIDDLE.  Carlisle,  Pa. 

rLETT,  Seattle.  Wash. 
DEALET,  Dallas,  Texas 
GEORGE  GELLHORN,  St.  Louis 

'.hiss. 

V!AUD  WOOD  PARK,  Washington,  D.  C. 
s  PURDT,  New  York 

SHERWIN.  Cleveland,  Ohio 
STONE,  Detroit,  Midi. 
:D  STRONG,  Charlottesville,  Va. 
r  E.  TRACT,  Philadelphia 
WEIL,  Goldsboro,  N.  C. 

Terms  to  expire  1923 
)  BETTMAN,  Cincinnati,  Ohio 
BRANSON,  Chapel  Hill,  N.  C. 
BUTTENHEIM,  New  York 
isk  indicates  members  of  Executive  Committee. 

Objects  of  The  National  Municipal  League 

-To  multiply  the  numbers,  harmonize  the  methods  and  combine  the  forces  of  those  who  are  inter- 
good  municipal,  county  and  state  government. 

d.  —  To  promote  the  thorough  investigation  and  discussion  of  the  conditions  and  details  of  govern- 
idministration.  and  of  the  methods  for  selecting  and  appointing  officials,  and  of  constitutions,  laws 
inances  relating  to  surh  ol>:' 

.  —  To  furnish  data  for  public  information  and  discussion,  by  the  publication  of  the  proceedingi  of 
tings,  reports  of  committees,  and  other  papers,  books  and  periodicals  bearing  upon  the  subjects  of 
lent  and  administration. 
h.  —  The  League  shall  have  no  connection  with  state  or  national  parties  or  issues  as  such. 


vices  of  National  Municipal 
I  —  The  NATIONAL  MUNICIPAL  UFA  IKW  issued  monthly,  the  central  pub- 
lication for  those  who  follow  civic  affairs. 

I  —  Information  service  on  civic  matters,  all  inqn  rfnlly  answered. 

Consultants  and  speakers  supplied. 

J  —  Co-operation  in  organizing  and   conducting  short  ii  »nal 

conferences  in  po'itical  reform  where  an  interested  group  of  citizens 
request  such  services. 

impaign  service  for  local  groups  working  for  economic  but 
governn 

>—  Assistance  in  drafting  city   charter  mment, 

revising  state  constitutions  or  remodeling  niment. 

5  —  Research  committees  forming  the  central  clearing  house  of  the  nation 
on  civic  matters. 


WHERE  tuberculosis  lays  its  hand,  nurses 
go  to  fight  and  save. 

When  you  buy  Christmas  Seals,  you  are  send- 
ing help  where  it  is  needed. 

Nurses  and  doctors  aid  the  stricken.  Children 
are  saved  from  consumption,  breadwinners  re- 
stored to  their  families,  and  the  spread  of  infec- 
tion checked  with  the  money  that  comes  from 
the  sale  of  tuberculosis  Christmas  Seals. 

You  who  are  strong  and  healthy  should  give 
your  help  by  buying  these  seals.  The  good  they 
do  depends  on  you. 


Stamp  Out  Tuberculosis 
with  Christmas  Seals 


The  National,  State,  and  Local  Tuberculosis  Associations  of  the  United  States