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PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
PROBLEMS OF
CITY GOVERNMENT
By
L. S. ROWE, Ph.D., LL.D.
PROFESSOR OF POLITICAL SCIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

INTER
RUCTUS
FOLIA
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
NEW YORK
MCMVIII
COPYRIGHT, 1908, BY
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
Published October, 1908
azz ja oals
TO THE MEMORY
OF
MY FATHER
THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY
DEDICATED
12-14-31
mup
Roelass,
190407
PREFACE
THE purpose of this volume is to present an analysis
of the general principles involved in city growth. The
rapid development of our large cities has a far deeper
significance than the administrative problems which they
present. Profound changes in social structure are di-
rectly traceable to the increasing aggregation of popu-
lation. In this volume an attempt has been made to
ascertain the nature of these changes.
My thanks are due to Mrs. Morris Jastrow, Jr., for
the careful reading of the manuscript. I also desire to
express my obligation to my colleagues, Dr. Simon N.
Patten, Dr. Emory R. Johnson, Dr. James T. Young,
Dr. William Draper Lewis, and Mr. Murray Gross, for
many kindly criticisms and stimulating suggestions.
L. S. R.
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA,
July, 1908.
INTRODUCTION
-
-
-
The historian of American political institutions will
probably designate the last quarter of the nineteenth
century as the period of municipal experimentation.
The history of municipal institutions during this period
negatives many of the accepted views of Anglo-Saxon
conservatism. Changes of a radical nature have been
accepted with an ease and readiness departing widely
from the traditions of our political life. Any attempt
to explain this seeming paradox with the statement that
American people are more open to change in their mu-
nicipal than in their State and national institutional life,
begs rather than answers the question. An analysis of
the conditions of city life will show the presence of
causes, deeply rooted in our political system, which
fully explain the prevailing uncertainty as to the most
effective organization of the municipality, as well as the
great divergence of opinion on some of the fundamental
questions of municipal policy. We have reached a point
at which further progress has become dependent upon
the clear recognition of these causes. To determine their
nature and, if possible, suggest the line of progressive
evolution is the purpose of this book,
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
PAGE
1.--THE CITY IN HISTORY. . . . . . . 1
11.-THE ANCIENT, THE MEDIÆVAL, AND THE MODERN
CITY . . . . . . . . . . 14
III.—THE NATURE OF THE MUNICIPAL PROBLEM . .
IV.—THE SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF CITY GROWTH . 62
V.-THE POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF CITY GROWTH. 96
VI.--THE POSITION OF THE CITY IN THE AMERICAN
POLITICAL SYSTEM . . . . . . . 115
VII.—THE LEGAL POWERS OF THE MUNICIPALITY . . 141
VIII.—THE ORGANIZATION OF THE MODERN MUNICIPALITY 167
IX.-CITY GOVERNMENT AND AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC
IDEALS . . . . . . . . . · 194
X.—THE RELATION OF THE CITY TO PUBLIC UTILI- .
TIES . . . . . . . . . . . 208
XI.-THE MUNICIPALITY AND THE GAS SUPPLY, AS ILLUS-
TRATED BY THE EXPERIENCE OF PHILADELPHIA , 241
XII.-FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED IN MUNICIPAL
OWNERSHIP . . . . . . . . . 271
XIII.—MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP AND OPERATION OF STREET
RAILWAYS IN GERMANY . . . . . 281
XIV.–MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP AND OPERATION: THE VALUE
OF FOREIGN EXPERIENCE . . . . . . 330
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
CHAPTER I
THE CITY IN HISTORY
In every system of social philosophy from Aristotle
to Spencer the relation of city growth to national prog-
ress has occupied an important place. While the diver-
sity of interpretation becomes less marked with the more
recent writers, we are still far from a consensus of
opinion.
The interest of the philosophers, as that of the people
of ancient Greece and Rome, was centered in the city.
Beyond its limits life was stunted and incomplete.
With the simpler concept of life which ushers in the
Middle Ages a reaction against the conventionality and
artificiality of city life makes itself felt. The city is
looked upon as the center of vice and crime rather than
as the focus of the elevating and ennobling pleasures.
“Return to nature,” which had been the cry of the
eighteenth century as well as of the sixth, expresses the
revolt against the excesses to which the temptations of
city life had led. Not until the changes accompanying
the industrial revolution had demonstrated that economic
2
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
progress and city growth were connected as cause and
effect do we find a marked change of attitude. With
the evolutionary philosophy of the present century the
city is again given a position of importance among the
factors of advancing civilization.
If we turn from the interpretation of philosophers
to the facts of historical development, it is evident that
concentration of population is a primary requisite to
advancing civilization. The temptations and dangers
which city growth involves are those incident to prog-
ress. That nations have succumbed to such temptations
is merely an illustration of the fact that every change
in the conditions of life brings with it a new strain upon
national character requiring increased self-control and
discrimination."
Throughout the history of civilization we can readily
trace the close relation between the concentration of pop-
ulation and the development of the arts and sciences.
The close association of city life first makes possible
division of labor, and with division of labor comes in-
creased productive power. Every advance in productive
power creates new wants and involves new possibilities
of enjoyment. In the earlier civilizations menial duties
were performed by slaves, thus permitting the develop-
ment of an artisan class to supply the wealthy and
leisure classes with comforts and luxuries. The pos-
sibility of leisure, which becomes a reality through
division of labor, opens new avenues of intellectual
THE CITY IN HISTORY
UD
development. We speak of the country as the best
place for meditation and reflection, but constantly lose
sight of the fact that it is " the crowd, the hum, the
shock of men” that sharpens the intellect, develops
inventive genius, stirs commercial activity, and arouses
the spirit of coöperation.
The primary incentive to intellectual advance comes
from the city. For the mass of the population a con-
stant stimulus is necessary to assure even a small amount
of intellectual activity. Left to himself the individual
rapidly sinks to the intellectual stagnation character-
istic of isolated rural districts. The constant contact
of mind with mind, which can be obtained only in the
city, is necessary to any general intellectual advance.
The social life of our modern cities clearly shows that
in the great majority of cases the incentive to intel-
lectual effort comes from without; the desire to imitate
some person or group of persons who have acquired a
commanding position in the social circle to which they
belong. It is only within recent years that we have
come to appreciate the full importance of this principle
of imitation in progressive as well as in regressive evo-
lution. The growth of custom is but one of its appli-
cations. Bagehot was the first clearly to perceive the
far-reaching importance of this factor in making possi-
ble concerted action and in establishing social order.
But custom presupposes the close association of a con-
· Bagehot, “Physics and Politics," Chap. V.
4
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
TO
siderable number of persons, whether it be the primi-
tive family or the more highly organized modern com-
munity.
The limitations of a civilization devoid of cities are
well illustrated in the history of the early Aryans, of
which Ihering 1 has given us a masterly analysis. Their
slow advance was due to peculiar economic conditions,
distinctly unfavorable to city growth. A people of
shepherds cannot found cities; their occupation is in-
consistent with the concentration of population neces-
sary to city life. The fact that the parent stock of
the Indo-Europeans did not reach even the agricultural
stage explains their inability to advance beyond the vil-
lage as the highest form of social organization. Even
as late as the time of Tacitus the Teutons had not
advanced to the city stage. Ihering truly says that no
progressive people that has once made this tremendous
stride toward a higher civilization would take the step
backward to a lower type of organization. The word
“ city” is unknown to the Sanskrit tongue. Its nearest
equivalent-vastummeans “ abode, domicile, place of
habitation.” Furthermore, each of the Indo-Germanic
tongues has a different term for“ city.” Urban growth,
therefore, must have been subsequent to the splitting
of the parent stock into separate nations.
We are apt to underrate the importance of the tran-
sition from the village to the city economy. It consti-
1 Ihering, “Evolution of the Aryan.”
THE CITY IN HISTORY
tutes the most important, and, to the minds of many, the
final step in the progress of civilization. In all the
nations of Western Europe the city represents the high-
est type of social organization. The nature of the forces
determining this transition from the village to the city
economy has been the subject of endless dispute among
Coulanges, the closer association necessary to the devel-
opment of city life was made possible through the adop-
tion of a common religion. Community of religious
worship constituted the basic civic bond. “The tribes
that united to form a city never failed to light a
sacred fire and to adopt a common religion.” An-
other and more recent interpretation is that advanced
by Ihering. According to this view, the city was
originally the fortified place which served as a refuge
for the surrounding agricultural population in periods
of danger.
From our present knowledge of the conditions of life
in primitive communities, it is evident that Ihering's
explanation strikes closer to the root of the problem.
Community of religious worship was the result of cer-
tain definite economic and social needs; a necessary inci-
dent to the closer coöperation which city life demanded.
While common religious ties usually accompanied the
71
I
G
1 Fustel de Coulanges, “The Ancient City,” English edition,
p. 167.
2 "Evolution of the Aryan.”
6
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
Y 11
founding of the city, it is not the cause to which con-
centration of population is to be ascribed.
The early history of the Semites furnishes abundant
testimony-most of which is cited by Ihering—that the
fortified center always accompanied increasing density
of population, and that in a great many instances it was
within the walls of the fortified inclosure that the city
first developed. Just as the towns of the tenth and
eleventh centuries grouped themselves under the pro-
tection of some fortified castle, so the cities of the early
Semites were nothing more than walled inclosures to
which men, women, and children fled, and in which
household goods were stored and cattle corralled at the
signal of an approaching foe. From a mere place of
refuge this walled inclosure gradually became a place
of residence; at first for a few artisans, then for all
those whose estates were nearest the fortifications.
This explanation throws light on the institutional
changes accompanying increased density of population,
but gives no clew to the nature of the forces determin-
ing such aggregation. Upon this point the researches
of Geiger furnish most valuable information. His
study of the Avesta people shows that to the early
Iranians fixed habitation was “the beau ideal of good
fortune, of rest and of peace.” Until the transition
from the nomadic state to one of fixed settlement was
i Geiger, “Civilization of the Eastern Iranians in Ancient Times,"
vol. i, Chap. IV.
THE CITY IN HISTORY
2
VI
1
(D
effected, the growth of towns was out of the question.
Stability of settlement is not sufficient, however, to
account for city growth. With it there must be com-
bined certain physical conditions favorable to proxim-
ity. Mountainous regions, for instance, are distinctly
unfavorable to concentration of population. The land
fitted for cultivation is restricted in extent, while in-
dividual holdings are usually separated from one an-
other by regions of forest and pasture. On the other
hand, under the conditions of primitive civilization,
perfectly flat country is hardly less unfavorable to city
growth. It is particularly adapted to the cattle raising
of nomadic tribes.
The combination of physical conditions favorable to
town growth is well illustrated by the early town com-
munities of eastern Iran. They occupied the cases on
the banks of streams with the mountains on one side
and the desert plains on the other.1 Land thus situated
is fertile and requires little draining. Extending along
the river valleys it is sufficient in extent to support a
large population. Furthermore, the exposure to the
inroads of the nomadic tribes of the steppes was a con-
stant menace to the safety of the agricultural popula-
1
1 “Andkhūi, Shibarghan, and more particularly Mero, are towns
which owe their existence to oases. The tracts between the flat
land and the mountains are held by Kunduz, Khulin, Balkh, and
Sarakhsh. Siripūl, Mairxane, and Herāt lie in broad and easily acces-
sible river valleys, and indeed, just in parts where the valleys begin to
narrow.” Geiger, op. cit., vol. i, p. 236.
8
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
tion, and made coöperation and closer association for
mutual protection absolutely necessary. These fertile
areas along the river valleys soon became the foci of
trading routes which contributed considerably to their
growth. This was also true of the communities of
Greece, where the “ agora” constituted the central fea-
ture of the town.
In the Iranian communities, however, commerce with
other districts was unimportant. The main occupations
were cattle raising and agriculture. As Geiger says:
.“ Towns where houses are ranged one close to the other
in regular streets, where the profession of tradesmen is
held in the same honor as that of agriculturists, yea, even
surpasses the latter, and where commerce and mercan-
tile pursuits flourish; such were unknown to the Avesta
people. ..." If, on the other hand, we define the town
as an inclosed and fortified settlement, constantly in-
habited in all its parts, of larger extent and with morė
numerous inhabitants, the existence of townlike settle-
ments among the Avesta people is at least probable. In
that case the fortified village and the town properly
so called differ only with respect to their dimensions.1
Ihering's explanation thus serves to supplement and
enrich that offered by Geiger. The one gives us the
stages in the development of town life, the other an
analysis of the forces determining such development.
There is abundant evidence that the agricultural com-
D
D
i Geiger, op. cit., vol. i, p. 240.
THE CITY IN HISTORY
CD
t
munities endeavored to protect themselves against the
inroads of unfriendly tribes by building towers and
walled inclosures, and that these walled inclosures ulti-
mately became the habitation of a large portion of the
population. In some cases the walled inclosure was a
short distance from the village, in others a portion of
the village itself was separated by intrenchments. The
transition from village to town was usually accompanied,
however, by the definite marking off of a particular area
within a fortified inclosure.
It required many centuries to make fully apparent
the radical changes which this new form of association
was destined to work in the conditions of national life
and thought. The fundamental political ideas upon
which modern governmental organization rests, the char-
acteristic features of our economic activity, the higher
standards of social intercourse which distinguish mod-
ern from primitive society-all are based upon con-
ditions for the development of which the growth of the
city was a prerequisite.
The idea of territorial attachment, which is at the
root of our modern idea of patriotism, was greatly
strengthened by the influence of city life. It is true
that the origin of the idea is found in the changes inci-
dent to the transition from the pastoral to the agri-
cultural stage. We are prone to forget, however, that
one of the most important factors in the development
of agriculture was proximity to the city. Until new
10
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
market possibilities are developed the amount of labor
expended upon the soil is comparatively small, and the
attachment to any particular locality is correspondingly
weak. Strong territorial ties are largely dependent
upon “ the memory of long and hard struggles, upon
the consciousness of effort expended in the past and
willingness to make further sacrifice in the future.” No
such feeling seems to have moved the early agricultur-
ists. With the city, however, an entirely new basis for
the development of economic and social relations was
offered. In the purely agricultural stage each household
was sufficient unto itself; everything necessary to the
daily routine of life was manufactured in the home.
Division of labor among different groups of occupations
was unknown. With the certainty of a ready market
comes the possibility of specialization in trade and in-
dustry; relatively complex relations of service and
counter-service soon develop, which strengthen the ter-
ritorial tie. The city comes to mean the territorial unit
within which the activity of the artisan has its lim-
its, as well as the center of social amusement for the
well-to-do landed proprietor. · Thus the new economic
relations, combined with the social pleasures which
never fail to arise when population becomes dense, give
a new meaning to the idea of residence. Citizenship,
with the feeling of loyalty and attachment to the terri-
tory itself, becomes a reality. It is important to note
Ihering, “Evolution of the Aryan."
(
THE CITY IN HISTORY
11
TA
IO
(D
VU
that the feeling of attachment is no longer limited to
the property owned by the individual, as is the case in
the agricultural stage. The whole territory of the city,
as the center of new economic opportunities and the
theater of social pleasures, becomes the “home” of the
individual. He is no longer the inhabitant of a small
piece of ground, but the resident of the city-in short,
a“ citizen.”.
Another important result of this development of
economic and social relations is the influence upon social
manners and customs. Language has here recorded the
accumulated experience of the race with great accuracy.
The Latin homo rusticus and homo urbanus, which indi-
cate the contrast between city and country bred, were
used to describe also the difference between the boorish,
the unrefined, the vulgar, and the cultured, the polished,
the courteous. The influence of city life upon the indi-
vidual took some time to make itself felt in the cities
of the earliest historic time. The principle of social
imitation already referred to shows itself with peculiar
force in the growths of the customs, forms, and cere-
monials which constitute the outward signs of the refin-
ing of social relations. The great landowners, who were
as a rule the heads of the oldest families of the town-
those who were regarded as the founders of the city-
were the first to develop the more refined forms of social
intercourse. They were at the same time the political
leaders, a fact which gave to all their actions additional
12 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
UV
prestige and authority. To appreciate the influence of
such leaders we need only glance at the conditions of
social life in modern society. Each class-in fact, every
social set within each class—has its leaders, those who
set the standards of social intercourse. The constant
search for "the thing to do," the uncertainty as to
whether a particular form is correct until sanctioned
by a social leader, are among the most interesting illus-
trations of the law of social imitation. Although the
attempt of each class to imitate the forms of social
intercourse of that just above it appears at first sight
to be one of the weaknesses of human nature, viewed
from the sociological standpoint, it is one of the great
forces making for progress. Its influence as a unify-
ing force extends far beyond the limits of the city.
Social classes in different cities are constantly taking
from one another new standards of conduct and inter-
course. This is particularly true of the relation of the
capital city to provincial towns. Thus in ancient times
the customs of the Athenian citizens were copied
throughout Greece; the patricians of Rome were the
models to the ruling classes in other cities of Italy; just
as to-day the man of leisure of Lyons imitates the boule-
vardier of Paris. The more polished manners of the
wealthy and leisure classes gradually filter from stratum
to stratum. With each class the form of intercourse is
modified, until some traces of the refining influence are
to be found even in the lowest classes. Babylon, Athens,
THE CITY IN HISTORY
13
Rome, Constantinople, each in turn served as a model
for the provincial towns, just as Paris, Berlin, and Lon-
don serve at the present time.
. With these primary results of city growth in mind
we can readily appreciate the significance of city life
in the history of civilization. It creates new economic
activities, new political ideas and ideals, new forms of
social intercourse, new possibilities of interchange of
ideas. Discussion, the contact of mind with mind through
which the general level of intelligence is raised, becomes
one of the prominent factors in the political life, first of a
class, then of the whole people. A constant and ready
audience is furnished to the orator, the poet, and the
philosopher. Although it required centuries to develop
all these possibilities, they were in process of formation
from the time the inclosing walls of the first cities were
built.
REFERENCES
BAGEHOT, W. “Physics and Politics,” Chap. V. New York:
Appleton, 1875.
COULANGES, FUSTEL DE. “The Ancient City.” Boston: Lee, 1882.
DRAPER, J. W. "History of the Intellectual Development of
Europe.” New York: Harper, 1876.
GEIGER, W. “Civilization of the Eastern Iranians in Ancient
Times,” vol. i. London: Frowde, 1885.
IHERING, R. Von. “Evolution of the Aryan." New York:
Holt, 1898.
MASPERO, G. "The Dawn of Civilization.” Appleton, 1894.
RIEHL, W. H. “Culturstudien aus drei Jahrhundersten.”
Stuttgart: Cotta, 1859.
CHAPTER II
T
THE ANCIENT, THE MEDIÆVAL, AND THE MODERN CITY
THE CITIES OF GREECE
THE records of Greek civilization begin and end with
its cities; no other nation has so completely concentrated
its life and thought upon the perfecting of city life.
To the Greek mind the history of the race begins with
the founding of the city. The facts of historical devel-
opment are made to harmonize with this view by means
of a kind of social-compact theory, according to which
primitive tribes were brought together by some super-
natural power, and as the result of their union the city
was formed. Though this explanation of the origin
of the city may lack foundation in fact, it is interesting
as an indication of the dominant position occupied by
the city in the thought of the time. This early form of
the social-compact theory was used at a later period
to explain the origin of Rome and of the other cities
of Italy.
The rise of Athens furnishes one of the best instances
of the influence of environment upon urban growth.
The city is situated in the center of a plain surrounded
ANCIENT, MEDIÆVAL, MODERN CITY 15
U
UL
by mountains on all sides except on the south, where
it approaches the sea. This protected position offered
a resting place for the more advanced clans and tribes,
especially those who were prepared for the settled pur-
suits of agriculture. The introduction of the olive,
which requires great care and attention, served to
strengthen the attachment to the soil, and thus assured
a relatively stable population.
In the immediate vicinity of Athens, furthermore,
the greatest variety of soil and climate was to be found.1
Within a short radius of the Acropolis the grape, the
olive, and the staple agricultural products were raised
with comparatively little difficulty. Mineral resources
of considerable importance were within easy reach, clay
pottery offered employment to a large number, while
close proximity to the sea opened the seafaring careers
to the population. Another important element in the
situation of Athens was the abundance of water due to
nearness of the mountain ranges. The deification of
these springs and the important position ascribed to the
water nymphs, such as Agrauleon, Nysa, and Krene, are
indications of an early appreciation of the necessity of
husbanding these resources with the greatest care. The
fact that the first settlement of the native tribes was not
made immediately on the seacoast is not surprising when
we bear in mind the constant exposure to attacks of
marauding pirates. In ancient times the seacoast was
1 Cf. Curtius, “Stadtgeschichte von Athen.”
16
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
W
the haunt of robber bands rather than a place for per-
manent settlement.
With such a combination of physical and economic
conditions, the rapid growth of Athens is readily ex-
plained. In fact, the country districts of Greece never
developed a distinctive life of their own. Citizenship
meant membership in the body corporate of some one
of the “ city-states.” Not only was everything planned
to meet the demands of the city, but the soil itself was
owned by persons living within the city walls. Agri-
culture was carried on by slaves, and the produce sent.
to the city. To be compelled to live in the country was
a mark of social degradation. Citizenship of Athens
was the goal of civic ambition.
We have some difficulty at the present time in pictur-
ing to ourselves the conditions resulting from the com-
plete absorption by the city of all the political and
social interests of the community. At a time when
political, social, and religious institutions were still un-
differentiated, when the city concentrated within itself
the ties which to-day are scattered over an ever-increas-
ing area and among an indefinite number of institutions,
it is not surprising that an intensity of city life was
developed which has not again been attained. For this
reason, the social and civic life of the cities of Greece is
of far greater interest to us than the form of govern-
mental organization and administration.
The identity of state and municipality makes com-
UL
ANCIENT, MEDIÆVAL, MODERN CITY 17
O
parisons with modern conditions misleading rather than
helpful. Athens seems to have lacked the nice coördi-
nation of authority which characterizes our modern
system. During the early history of the city-states,
kinship seems to have been the guiding principle in
administrative organization, and this accounts for the
growth of an aristocracy of birth that monopolized pub-
lic office. Coincident with the increase of the privileged
class came the first clear differentiation of governmental
functions. The king was induced to delegate certain
of his powers to his immediate advisers, an act that
marked the first step in the transition from the early
“king-priest” form of government, in which all power,
civil and ecclesiastical, was vested in one person, to the
aristocratic and oligarchic systems. Those whom the
king called in as advisers soon came to regard their
office as a proprietary right. A narrow aristocracy of
magistrates was thus formed, which in Athens absorbed
all political power, and gradually degenerated into an
oligarchy of the worst type. Most of the other cities
of Greece went through the same stages of develop-
ment.
The transition to democracy in Athens was preceded
by important economic changes which completely altered
the class relations within the community. The primary
cause of these changes was the increasing industrial im-
portance and consequent social power of the artisan
1 Boeckh, "Staatshaushalt der Athener.”
(D
18
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
class. This element arose in response to the higher and
more refined wants of the governing and wealthy classes.
Selected at first from among the dependents, because of
special aptitudes as handicraftsmen, they gradually ac-
quired social privileges which became more important as
they rose in the industrial scale.
The imitation of the fashions set by the social leaders
of Athens aroused a constantly increasing demand for
the better class of products. Economic independence
brought with it gradual social emancipation. It required
long years of struggle before this condition of fact was
recognized in law. This inherent contradiction between
legal and social relations was a fruitful source of discon-
tent and a constant menace to the peace and safety of
the community. The drastic legislation of Solon sought
to reëstablish harmony between law and fact. The first
step was to give to those who had acquired economic in-
dependence the right to participate in the political life
of the community. To make civic emancipation com-
plete, all outstanding debts on land and person were
abolished. The entry of a relatively large class of for-
mer serfs and slaves into the political life of the com-
munity led to the formation of the first popular assem-
bly. From this time until the Athenian democracy
reached the height of its development we have a series
of assemblies comprising an ever-increasing percentage
of the population. The best authorities seem to agree
that at no time did the citizen body exceed one tenth
- ANCIENT, MEDIÆVAL, MODERN CITY 19
of the total population of 200,000. To this general
assembly of citizens all important questions were sub-
mitted. A standing committee or council of 500, elected
from the larger body, was intrusted with the general
administration of public affairs. That Athens was able
to make this rapid extension of rights without bring-
ing about political anarchy represents her most impor-
tant contribution to the development of political insti-
tutions.
The ideals which dominated the period are so differ-
ent from our own as to make the contrast both suggestive
and profitable. In Athens, as in most of the cities of the
ancient world, the individual was completely subordi-
nated to the community. His welfare had no existence
independent of the welfare of the city as a whole. The
Greeks could not conceive of an opposition of interest
between the individual and the group, or, if such oppo-
sition did arise, there was no question as to which should
prevail. Ideas of imprescriptible, inalienable rights
were foreign to Greek thought until the time of the
Stoics. Adjustment of individual activity to the har-
mony of communal life seems to have been the guiding
principle of social conduct. The contrast between the
splendor and attractiveness of social life and the rela-
tive crudity of family life is difficult for us to grasp at
the present time. This is largely due to the fact that
in modern communities the welfare of the family rather
than that of the community commands the best energies
20
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
of the individual. With us the common, inexclusive
pleasures of communal life play a very small part com-
pared with the intense pleasures of home life. In the
cities of Greece, however, these public pleasures strength-
ened the feeling of local attachment which found ex-
pression in the highest type of local patriotism.
1
ROME AND THE CITIES OF ITALY
The fact that the conditions of soil, climate, and
immediate physical environment were less favorable to
Rome than to Athens was far outweighed by the com-
manding position of Rome in the Italian peninsula and
its more favorable geographical relation to the other
countries of the Mediterranean. Although the plain of
Latium—in which Rome occupied a strategic position-
did not offer the variety of soil and climate of the cen-
tral plain of Attica, it was sufficiently fertile to attract
and support a large population. With the Sabine Moun-
tains to the east, the Volscian to the south, the hill lands
of Etruria to the north, and the sea to the west, its posi-
tion combined to a remarkable degree security with ac-
cessibility to other portions of Italy, Europe, and Africa.
The desire to protect themselves from the attacks of
YT
at a distance of some five miles from the sea, was equally
powerful in the case of Rome. At a distance of some
fourteen miles from the mouth of the Tiber the series
ANCIENT, MEDIÆVAL, MODERN CITY 21
IS
1
0
of surrounding hills furnished a readily defensible posi-
tion most favorable to permanent settlement.
The founding of the city has been lost in a mass of
legend and tradition. It is quite certain, however, that
a number of separate tribal settlements existed on the
several hills long before the formation of a unified city.
The division of the city into wards, known as tribus
rustica, long after such unity had been attained, is con-
clusive evidence of the nature of the constituent factors
in the formation of the city. The explanation now gen-
erally accepted is that the necessities of common defense
forced the tribes into closer relationship, which ulti-
mately developed into political unity. The first organi-
zation of the populus romanus is in the three tribes--
the Ramnes, the Tities, and the Luceres—which were
probably the original tribal settlements.
The government of Rome presents comparatively
little of real interest to the student of local institutions,
owing largely to the lack of differentiation between
state and local administration. During its early history,
when territorial dominion did not extend beyond the
city limits, the government was organized on the prin-
ciple of the patriarchal family and clan. For admin-
istrative purposes the city was divided into thirty wards
or curiæ, each of which enjoyed separate legal exist-
ence and retained for a long period separate assemblies
and festivals. The logical application of the patria
potestas to the organization of the city government de-
>
22
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
veloped the monarchical system of the earliest period
of Roman history, a system analogous in many respects
to the early organization of Athens. The elders of the
constituent clans formed a body of councilors which
afterwards developed into the Senate, while the body
of the people was consulted only when the king wished
to introduce an innovation into the public law. As
against both king and popular assembly the Senate, as
guardian of the constitutional system, exercised a veto
power. The transition from monarchy to aristocracy,
thence to democracy and oligarchy brought Rome to
the period of the extension of its dominion beyond the
limits of the city. The organization of the government
loses its local character, adapting itself to the larger
problems of empire. An examination of this period
belongs to the history of the state rather than to the
city.
The cities of ancient Italy, while lacking the charm
of high artistic development which characterized some
of the cities of Greece, mark a distinct advance when
viewed from a political standpoint. The Greek concept
of restricted city territory was ill adapted to the larger
view of political relations developed by the Romans.
Furthermore, the growth of a world empire made it
necessary to give a broader interpretation to citizen-
ship. Roman citizenship was conferred upon the lead-
ing citizens of conquered districts, even when their
actual residence was at a great distance from the city.
V
ANCIENT, MEDIÆVAL, MODERN CITY 23
This intangible political relation marked a long step
toward the idea of nationality.
Of all the cities of the Italian peninsula of this
period Rome is the only one which commands our
attention because of her enormous influence upon west-
ern civilization, the magnitude of the municipal prob-
lems with which she had to deal, and the striking
analogies with modern urban growth. In her history
one can detect the presence of most of the forces which
explain the increase of urban population in recent times.
In advancing beyond the “ city-state ” and developing
the idea of world empire she created the conditions
requisite for the growth of large centers of population.
The extension of political influence to distant countries
led to the development of an elaborate administrative
system with its center in Rome. The conquered coun-
tries, instead of being reduced to a condition of com-
plete subjection, were permitted a large measure of local
self-government. Political centralization brought with
it well-developed means of communication between
province and capital, and a system of police protection
to life and property. Thus freedom of migration was
for the first time made possible and resulted in the
influx of the country population into the cities. The
economic opportunities offered by a city of the size of
Rome, combined with the fascination of the spectacular
display of court life, proved irresistible to the most
energetic and capable of the inhabitants of the rural
(D
24
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
districts. The constant tension of interest and excite-
ment which the city offered made poverty there seem
more desirable .than comparative ease in the rural dis-
tricts. The metropolis was open to every new idea and
eagerly welcomed every invention and discovery. Men
of science, philosophers, and poets all sought the ap-
proval of Rome. The disbanding of the armies served
to increase still further the population of the capital
city.
With all these influences at work, it is not surpris-
ing that the population soon approached the million
mark. Owing to the absence of a census the exact num-
ber is not known, the estimates varying from 750,000
to 2,000,000. The best authorities place it at about
800,000. There is abundant evidence that when this
point was reached all the phenomena of overcrowding
made their appearance, for although the walls of the
city embraced a comparatively large territory and were
being continually moved farther from the original lim-
its, the lack of means of transportation led to the con-
centration of population in the central districts. Every-
one wished to be near the center of social life and
amusement. The clientes had to be at the door of the
patron early in the day, and were unwilling to take the
risk of a long journey from the peripheral or suburban
districts.
The narrow streets, characteristic of all the ancient
1 Cf. Beloch, “Bevölkerung der Griechisch-römanischen Welt.”
ANCIENT, MEDIÆVAL, MODERN CITY 25
Italian cities, added to the difficulties of the situation.
In Rome we can see clearly the relation of the standard
of life of a people to the question of overcrowding. It
is true that most of our modern cities contain districts
far more densely populated than any quarter of Rome,
but owing to the low standard of life of the poorer
classes and the lack of effective sanitary supervision,
the resulting conditions in Rome were far worse. For-
tunately, the habits of the people led them to spend the
greater portion of their time out of doors, which coun-
teracted, in part at least, the unwholesome effects of the
conditions of housing. This love of street life, which
contrasts so strongly with conditions in our American
cities, led to the congestion of the thoroughfares to
such a degree that Cæsar found it necessary to issue
a decree prohibiting the passage of wagons through
the central districts during the ten hours after sunrise.
The strict enforcement of this regulation was made im-
perative by the great number of traders' booths that
were erected along the sidewalks. Not until the time
of Augustus was any systematic attempt made to regu-
late the building of dwelling houses. Their height was
then limited to seven stories, and some elementary sani-
tary requirements were prescribed.
It is curious, and at first sight rather surprising,
that the municipality of Rome-and the same is true
of all the ancient cities—while neglecting the regula-
tion of private sanitation, gave considerable attention to
26
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
everything connected with public convenience and com-
fort. Great public baths, a magnificent water supply,
and splendid public places were provided with a munifi-
cence which has not since been equaled. By such means
the emperors gained the support of the masses. To
make way for such public improvements whole sections
of the city were torn down, thus increasing the conges-
tion in adjacent districts.
In short, the municipal activity of Rome was directed
mainly toward the development of the social amusements
of the city. The regulation of individual health and
welfare was largely lost sight of. In modern times the
tendency is in exactly the opposite direction. The great,
and probably the only, lesson which Rome has to teach
modern municipalities, quâ municipalities, is the im-
portance of the role of the public authority in provid-
ing healthful recreation for the citizens. Our strong
individualistic instincts have led us to develop only
those sides of municipal activity that contribute directly
to individual welfare; we are still far from accepting
the idea of the social rôle of the municipality. It is
clear to every student of our industrial and social con-
ditions that we must sooner or later give due weight
to this more positive view of governmental power, and
in the readjustment which is gradually being effected
the experience of the ancient cities will be of value.
ANCIENT, MEDIÆVAL, MODERN CITY 27
CITIES OF THE MIDDLE AGES
LAV
UL
D
With the breaking up of the Roman empire, Europe
enters upon a period of disintegration which finds ex-
pression in the most extreme forms of political decen-
tralization. The feudal system, while containing the
germs of city growth, did not permit the free move-
ment of population necessary to the growth of large
centers. Settlement was dependent upon the will of the
feudal lord. The earliest towns grouped themselves
around the feudal castles, mainly to enjoy the protection
afforded by the fortifications, while others owed their
origin to special market privileges granted by the feudal
lords. To one or the other of these causes, or to both
combined, the growth of the mediæval towns may be
traced. None of the early towns could boast of more
than a few thousand inhabitants—hardly larger than a
modern village; in fact, the largest English borough
of the thirteenth century contained but 5,000 inhab-
itants. At the beginning of the fifteenth century Lon-
don itself had a population of but 40,000. The three
primary requisites for city growth were lacking:
1. A large territory from which to draw popu-
lation.
2. An advanced state of commercial and industrial
1 Mrs. J. R. Green, “Town Life in the Fifteenth Century,'
op. cit.
28
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
UIIU
development offering opportunity for remunerative em-
ployment to large numbers.
3. A strong central government guaranteeing free-
dom of migration from district to district, thus per-
mitting the city to exercise its full powers of attraction
upon the country population.
The absence of these conditions places the social life,
the economic activity, and the position of the mediæval
city in the loosely coördinated political system of the time
in striking contrast with modern municipal institutions.
We have become so accustomed to regard the city as
an administrative subdivision of the state, enjoying cer-
tain subordinate powers of government, that we have
great difficulty in picturing to ourselves the town life
of the twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth centuries.
The greatest differences relate to the activity rather
than to the form of city government. The mediæval
town was primarily an economic unit, the modern city
is mainly a political and administrative division. A
study of the town life of the Middle Ages leaves the
impression that we have to do with great commercial
corporations, exploiting special economic privileges.
The monopoly of market rights, the power of regulat-
ing trades and industries, the complete control over
every economic activity, all rights wrested from the tem-
poral or ecclesiastical feudal lord, are the most important
factors in the development of town institutions. Those
who participate in the struggle for these privileges
(D
ANCIENT, MEDIÆVAL, MODERN CITY 29
share equally in their enjoyment. When we stop to
consider that all our modern ideas of political and civil
rights, patriotism, and national allegiance were as yet
undeveloped, it is not at all surprising that the early
burghers looked upon the town as a complex of economic
privileges, and that the town life of the period should
receive its character from this principle. The exploita-
tion of the tangible property and of the intangible
rights of the town is the key to the institutions of the
period.
The main problems with which the mediæval towns
had to deal were connected with the enjoyment of these
property rights. Not until late in their history was any
attempt made to develop the distinctively municipal
services with which we associate the modern city; no
public water supply, no public drainage or lighting
system, no sanitary regulations—in a word, nothing to
remind us of the purely public or governmental side
of the city's activity. On the other hand, innumerable
regulations concerning trade and industry, prescribing
with great minuteness every detail in the industrial
life of the individual, occupied the attention of the
local authorities. Those who were fortunate enough to
be parties to the original privileges were naturally anx-
ious to assure exclusive enjoyment to themselves and to
their posterity. Active participation in the benefits of
these privileges was the mark of citizenship; strangers
were admitted as a matter of grace. The idea of polit-
TY
1
30
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
ical right was the product of a much later period. The
city authorities not only regulated the trade and com-
merce of the town, but were the leading spirits. In
many cases the city had the first option on all goods
offered for sale. A curious trait of the policy of the
mediæval towns was the strong desire to protect the con-
sumer against the exactions of the producer. The price,
time, and place of sale were fixed for every class of
goods. The few foreign merchants who were permitted
entry into the city markets were carefully watched, the
supervision of the public authority often extending
to the assignment of their dwelling places.
The contrast between mediæval and modern citizen-
ship is readily explained when we keep in mind that
the former carried with it certain specific economic
advantages, quite as definite as membership in the mod-
ern business corporation. It is no wonder, therefore,
that citizenship became a marketable, inheritable prop-
erty right. In some cases it could be acquired by owner-
ship of land within the limits of the town or by serving
an apprenticeship in one of the trades under guild regu-
lation. But in every case the extension of citizenship
was under the control of the town authorities. The
usual methods of acquiring full membership in the com-
munity were, first, through inheritance; second, gift
from the municipality ; third, purchase.
The desire of the citizen body to retain the exclusive
enjoyment of the town privileges explains the form of
ANCIENT, MEDIÆVAL, MODERN CITY 31
?
government of the mediæval towns. It is but natural
that those who had participated in the early struggles
with the feudal lords should share in the advantages
accruing from the results of the conflict. In the early
history of many of the towns the market rights fur-
nished the economic basis for city growth. Equal par-
ticipation in these advantages and political equality went
hand in hand. The democratic movement of the Mid-
dle Ages was checked as soon as the original settlers
or their descendants had established the rule of exclu-
sive enjoyment. After the twelfth century distinct
traces of a nascent oligarchy are to be found, which
become well marked at the beginning of the fourteenth.
“ The English borough in its first condition, and prob-
ably during a considerable part of the twelfth and thir-
teenth centuries, realized the ideal of a true democratic
community."1 The forces that undermined the early
democracy were twofold — first, the denial of equal
economic opportunity to newcomers, which led to their
political subordination ; second, the social ascendancy of
the more prosperous trades, which gave to certain classes
the leadership in political affairs.
The first of these requires little explanation, as the
monopoly of economic and political privileges which
the founders of the towns had secured for themselves
was inherently inconsistent with the principles of de-
mocracy. The second is closely connected with the
1 Mrs. J. R. Green, “Town Life in the Fifteenth Century.”
32
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
coated,
growth of the guilds which were, at first, conglomerate
associations of employers and employees--the organiza-
tion of producers as against consumers. Within each
guild, rank was determined by individual skill and effi-
ciency; inherited privileges were unknown. Democracy
within the guild continued to exist long after democracy
in town government had disappeared.
The intimate relation between the guilds and the
town government, which developed very gradually, was
due to the fact that the main function of the public au-
thority was to guard the economic privileges of the town
and to further its industrial prosperity. Constant con-
sultation with the trade organizations and their active
coöperation were necessary for the efficient performance
of this function. It is but natural that they should be
called upon for advice in the solution of purely commer-
cial questions, in much the same way as municipal au-
thorities call upon chambers of commerce at the present
time. In the medieval city, moreover, municipal activi-
ties were almost exclusively concerned with questions of
trade, commerce, and industry. With organizations so
well equipped to deal with commercial questions as
were the guilds, it was only a matter of time when
their advisory power would develop into real authority
over this branch of municipal activity. The absorption
of the most important public functions by the trade
organizations gave them a strength of political power
which resulted in the subservience of all other public
1
S
ANCIENT, MEDIÆVAL, MODERN CITY 33
authorities to their will. This shifting of public power
completely changed the character of the city govern-
ment.
The consciousness of acquired power reacted upon
the guilds, transforming them into aristocratic associa-
tions of the most pronounced type. The temptation to
use this power to secure monopolistic control over the
trade and industry of the city was irresistible. Mem-
bership in one of the guilds was made a prerequisite
to the exercise of a trade. Thus there was a twofold
incentive to withhold membership from newcomers :
First, to prevent the overcrowding of trades; and, sec-
ond, to maintain the high value of guild membership.
Thus the same economic forces, which in the early his-
tory of the mediæval towns were instrumental in creat-
ing a democratic society, became destructive of this form
as soon as the desire to retain exclusive possession of
market and trade privileges began to show itself.
It was not long before the guild aristocracy degen-
erated into an oligarchy, due in part to the exceptional
power enjoyed by the leaders of the guilds, but mainly
to the decreasing interest in town affairs incident to
the expansion of commercial relations. As is the case
with all such associations, the affairs of the guilds were
carried on by a comparatively small number of officials
who naturally enjoyed the political power connected
with their position. Thus a small fraction of the total
guild membership became the real rulers of the town.
34
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
That this assumption of power aroused no great
opposition is due to the fact that at the time when it
took place the economic and political interests of the
citizen were beginning to extend beyond the limits of
the town. At the close of the fourteenth century the
English towns had reached the height of independent
development. “With the ages of restless growth lying
behind them, and with their societies as yet untouched
by the influence of the Renaissance or the Reformation
or the new commercial system, the boroughs had reached
their prosperous maturity.”i During the succeeding
century England passed through her first industrial
revolution. From a cloth-importing she became a cloth-
exporting country. The establishment of commercial
relations with foreign countries carried the interest of
the citizen beyond the territorial limits of municipal
control. The spirit of independence and assertive indi-
vidualism thus created reacted unfavorably upon local
institutions, while local ties, being largely economic, were
weakened with the disappearance of economic depend-
ence upon the community. So soon as the citizen began
to appreciate the possibilities of individual activity
independent of the coöperation and sanction of the
public authority, the vigor and intensity of town life
began to decline.
With the fifteenth century we enter upon a period
of political development which was destined to destroy
i Mrs. J. R. Green, "Town Life in the Fifteenth Century."
1
ANCIENT, MEDIÆVAL, MODERN CITY 35
U11
the importance of the town as a political unit, reducing
it to the condition of a subordinate administrative sub-
division of the state. The growth of national life
proved fatal to town independence in England, as well
as on the Continent. In England, however, the period
of local autonomy was considerably lengthened by the
failure of the feudal lords to extend their political
power at the expense of the crown. Before reaching
national unity the countries of continental Europe
passed through a period of territorial integration, in
which the small but independent sovereignties were in
a state of constant conflict with the towns.
In France the necessities of war developed a strong
central government as early as the twelfth century,
cutting short the period of municipal independence.
In England the centralizing policy of Henry VIII and
Wolsey demanded the subordination of the towns to
the purposes of the king. The crown saw clearly that
independence of local policy develops political ties and
political ideas inhérently antagonistic to a strongly cen-
tralized system. The necessity of obtaining control over
the towns was made imperative by the desire of the
king to maintain his supremacy in Parliament through
the manipulation of the borough representation. In
order to assure to the crown the support of this im-
portant element of parliamentary representation, a sys-
tem of electing members was devised, to which the
peculiar development of borough government lent ready
0
36 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
aid. As the concentration of municipal authority in
· the hands of a few guild representatives grew more
pronounced, it became the custom, in adjusting inter-
municipal relations, to identify these individuals with
the municipality. The corporate concept, which was
just making its appearance in the English law-having
been first applied to ecclesiastical and eleemosynary
institutions-furnished a ready means of effecting the
purpose of the crown. The essence of the corporate
idea is the legal personification of a collection of in-
dividuals. If, by any means, the crown could make
its own nominees the corporate body, there would be
no difficulty in controlling the parliamentary represen-
tation of the borough. This was done by issuing writs
of quo warranto and substituting for the charters for-
feited under this proceeding a form of organization in
which those constituting the corporate body (i. e., the
returning parliamentary organ) were specifically named.
Such proceedings would have aroused a storm of
opposition, even a revolution, at an earlier period, when
the citizen body was in closer touch with municipal
powers and prerogatives, but, as has been pointed
out already, the growing industrial independence had
greatly weakened local ties. With the exception of the
larger cities, such as London, little opposition was en-
countered. The people were too much absorbed in
exploiting the new commercial and industrial opportuni-
ties to pay much attention to changes in the mechanism
ANCIENT, MEDIÆVAL, MODERN CITY 37
of local government. Furthermore, the increasing im-
portance of national affairs absorbed the political en-
ergies of the people. Thus a change, which at first
glance would seem to violate the fundamental political
principles of a liberty-loving people, took place without
violence, and almost without opposition.
In granting the new charters the crown appointed
the members of the corporation, giving to these ap-
pointees power to fill all vacancies. As a result, the
community as a body of citizens and the borough as a
corporation became distinct entities. Under such con-
ditions it is not surprising that the civic life of the
boroughs of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
possesses little of interest to the student of local institu-
tions. Town life does not again offer a fruitful field
for investigation until the appearance of the new urban
centers, which owe their rise to the industrial changes of
the end of the eighteenth century.
THE MODERN CITY
The mediæval system of independent town units was
succeeded by a period of political development in which
the city was given a position fundamentally different
from that which it occupied during previous periods.
The change affected not merely the relation between city
and state, but also profoundly influenced the attitude
of the population toward the city and its government.
38
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
(D
With the Reformation period the transformation of
political ideas and ideals becomes distinctly apparent;
a movement which was hastened by the radical changes
in territorial relations throughout Europe.
In the cities of the ancient and mediæval world the
individual in all his personal and property interests was
subordinated to the community. The communitates oc-
cupied first place in the political thinking of the time;
political ideals were grouped about the city. Individual
welfare was so closely bound up with the city's activity
that this interpretation of the relation of the individual
to the community was not only logical but necessary.
Every relation of trade, industry, or commerce was
dependent upon the public authority. In the mediæval
towns, membership in the political community was a
prerequisite to the exercise of any trade or calling. In
consequence the attention and interest of the population
were centered in the city.
The new and distinctly modern spirit first asserts
itself in an intense individualism which completely
changes the concept of government. The idea of the
individual as an end rather than as a means begins
to dominate political thought. England of the seven-
teenth century gives clear evidence of the influence of
the new political principles. The rôle of government,
which in the mediæval cities had been construed to in-
clude the regulation of every field of individual activity,
receives a new and distinctly negative interpretation.
ANCIENT, MEDIÆVAL, MODERN !
CITY 39
0
VU
Ideas of inherent and imprescriptible individual rights
obtain general acceptance, while government is regarded
as the guarantor and protector of these rights rather
than as a positive factor in industrial activity. The
settlement of America gives to these ideas a new and
wider environment in which to develop. There they
receive definite formulation in law. The bills of rights
and the prohibitions upon government of the early com-
pacts are dominated by a spirit of individualism which
was fostered by the industrial evolution of the last cen-
tury. In a country of unexploited resources the oppor-
tunities for individual initiative and enterprise are so
great that a feeling of independence toward government
inevitably arises.
Due, in large part, to the combination of these forces,
the negative view of government which limits the public
authority to the protection of individual rights, received
its fullest development in the United States. It has met
with no such counteracting political forces as has been
the case in England. Not only the conditions of eco-
nomic growth, but the character of our political life have
fostered these individualistic tendencies. The political
issues which the present generation has had to face have
made prominent individual rather than national inter-
ests. The manufacturer desires a tariff to increase his
profits; the workingman to raise his wages; the debtor
advocates a silver standard; the creditor a gold stand-
ard. In none of these questions have the interests of the
111
40
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
nation, as such, been made prominent. It is taken for
granted that public and individual interests are essen-
tially identical.
That this attitude toward government has strongly
influenced the civic life of our cities is evident to every
observer of American political conditions. To one sec-
tion of the community the city government is a necessary
evil designed to avoid the greater evil which would result
from the clash of individual interests. To another it
is akin to a great business corporation, justifying the
use of the ordinary standards of commercial morality
in obtaining favors and privileges. No civic or social
duty is violated if franchises are obtained by question-
able methods; transactions of this character are judged
by the prevailing standards of business life. It is as-
sumed that if the municipal authorities are unable to
safeguard the city's interests, they deserve to be out-
classed in the commercial struggle, as would any incom-
petent business man. The city's interests are rarely, if
ever, identified with those of the public, and in taking
advantage of incompetent or corrupt officials there is no
thought of depriving the public of rights to which it
is entitled. So long as such a view of the city and
its interests obtains we cannot expect any permanent
improvement in the civic morality of individuals or
corporations seeking special privileges from the goy.
ernment.
Another important influence in strengthening this
ANCIENT, MEDIÆVAL, MODERN CITY 41
ULU
10
negative attitude toward the city is closely connected
with one of the strongest traits of American national
character—the high development of the domestic virtues
and the resulting intensity of home life. While no one
can deny the great service which these qualities have ren-
dered to our national life, we must recognize that upon
our civic life their influence has been distinctly negative.
The concentration of effort upon the exclusive pleasures
of the home has retarded the growth of the distinctive
civic ideals. The feeling of social solidarity and civic
responsibility, so necessary to the maintenance of high
standards in public life, has remained undeveloped.
Administrative efficiency has been attained only in those
departments such as the police and fire services—which
directly affect the safety and integrity of the home.
In European cities, on the other hand, those munic-
ipal activities which contribute most to the inexclusive
and social pleasures are more highly developed. The
street-cleaning, highway-construction, and architectural
services of Paris furnish a striking illustration of this
principle. In the life of the French capital the outdoor
pleasures play a most important part, pleasures which
are dependent largely upon the degree of care given to
the streets. As a result, the failure to maintain high
standards is immediately felt by the population and
arouses violent opposition. In our American cities the
streets are regarded as means of communication and
nothing more; and the mass of the population remains
السر
CD
42
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
satisfied so long as such communication is made easy and
rapid. Not that the people do not desire clean streets,
but the fact that dirty streets do not arouse resentment
sufficiently strong to give rise to positive action makes
such opinion as does exist ineffectual. Standards of
efficiency in government are determined by the dislikes
rather than by the desires of the population.
The problem of city government involves more than
the question of governmental organization or reorganiza-
tion. Its successful solution requires not merely the
most efficient administrative machinery, but such a
change in the life and thought of the people as will
bring an increasing number of city services into organic,
vital relation with the daily life, the pleasures, and the
recreations of the population.
REFERENCES ::..
ADAMS, G. B. “Civilization During the Middle Ages.” New
York: Scribner's, 1894.
ASHLEY, W. J. "The End of the Middle Ages.” New York:
Putnam's, 1893.
BELOCH, J. "Bevölkerung der Griechisch-römanischen Welt."
Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1886.
BLUMNER, H. "Home Life of the Ancient Greeks.” New
York: Cassell, 1893.
BOECKH, A. "The Public Economy of Athens” (second ed.).
London: Parker, 1847.
BOISSIER, GASTON. “Promenades Archæologiques.” Paris:
Levy.
ANCIENT, MEDIÆVAL, MODERN CITY 43
CURTIUS, E. "Die Stadtgeschichte von Athen." Berlin:
Weidmannsche, 1891.
DILL, S. “Roman Society from Nero to Marcus Aurelius,”
Chap. II. London: Macmillan, 1905.
FERRERO, G. “Greatness and Decline of Rome,” vol. i. Put-
nam's, 1907.
FOWLER, W. W. "The City-State of the Greeks and Romans.”
New York: Macmillan, 1893.
FREEMAN, E. A. "The Athenian Democracy." Macmillan,
1875.
GREEN, MRS. J. R. "Town Life in the Fifteenth Century."
Macmillan, 1894.
GROSS, C. "The Gild Merchant.” Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1890.
GROTE, G. "The History of Greece." New York: Harper, 1865.
HEGEL, KARL. “Städte und Gilden der Germanischen Voelker
im Mittelalter.” Duncker & Humblot, 1891.
JASTROW. "Die Entstehung der deutschen Stadtgemeinde." .
Düsseldorf, 1889.
MOMMSEN, C. M. "History of Rome.” Scribner's, 1895.
WEBER, A. F. “The Growth of Cities in the Nineteenth Cen-
tury." Macmillan, 1899.
CHAPTER III
THE NATURE OF THE MUNICIPAL PROBLEM
THE institutional history of ancient and modern
communities has shown that the vigorous growth and
healthful functional activity of any political system are
dependent upon the close adjustment of three factors,
political ideas, political forms, and political problems.
A lack of harmony between any two of these soon be-
comes a source of weakness in the body politic. Real
progress, as distinguished from temporary expedients,
is to be measured by the degree of adaptation of these
factors to one another.
The lack of definite civic standards and ideals, the
absence of an intense city life, the failure to develop
a distinctive form of municipal government and to
establish definite relations between the municipality
and the state constitute the main counts in the indict-
ment against our existing system. Whatever may be
the proximate causes of these shortcomings, a close
analysis will show at the basis of each a lack of adjust-
ment among these three factors.
The relation between the form of city government
and the nature of city problems is the first to demand
A
44
THE MUNICIPAL PROBLEM
45
our attention. Instead of organizing our municipalities
with reference to the problems with which they have
to deal, we have applied analogies taken from our state
and national governments. The attempt is made to
separate the executive from the legislative, on the ground
that the plan has worked well in other parts of our
political system. The legislative organ is then divided
into two branches, with a view to obtaining a system of
self-acting guaranties against hasty or ill-advised action.
In doing this we do not stop to think that city prob-
lems are primarily of an administrative rather than of
a political character; that the conditions demanding an
independent executive and justifying a bicameral legis-
lature are wanting. When, as in England of the eight-
eenth century, a system of guaranties to personal and
property rights was being developed, the maintenance
of the line of division between the executive and the
legislative was essential to political progress. Where
fundamental civil and political rights were at stake the
“checks and balances” of a bicameral legislature con-
stituted one of the elements of political strength. The
adoption of these principles of organization in our state
and federal systems may be justified by the same con-
siderations.
In our city governments, however, none of these
conditions is present. Neither the mayor nor councils
can encroach upon the civil and political rights of the
citizen. Furthermore, city conditions do not offer the
46
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
possibility of a bicameral system in which each house
shall be organized through different constituencies. Yet
this is the basic idea of the bicameral principle. The
result is that we get two branches of the local legisla-
ture of much the same makeup, in which there is a con-
stant shifting of responsibility. The situation is further
complicated by the introduction of another generally
accepted canon of political organization, viz., that of
district representation. From the petty bargaining be-
tween local interests we expect to develop a progressive
municipal policy.
The most cursory examination of municipal prob-
lems will show that they must be considered from
the standpoint of the community as a whole, and that
the governmental machinery must be such as to favor
rather than to impede positive action. The greatest
danger in our present municipal system is the lack of
continuous and effective responsibility. The enforce-
ment of responsibility at election periods is wholly
inadequate to guarantee an efficient and economical
administration of municipal affairs. In order to make
such responsibility effective it must be constantly en-
forced by the watchfulness of public opinion. To en-
deavor to pit the different governmental bodies against
one another is the surest means of destroying real re-
sponsibility, and thereby courting the introduction of
the baneful influences that have marred our municipal
history.
THE MUNICIPAL PROBLEM
47
.
Another instance of a complete failure of adjust-
ment, and one closely connected with the preceding, is
to be found in the relation existing between our political
ideas and methods of political reasoning and the form
of municipal government. The idea of popular gov-
ernment, which for a long time was consistently ap-
plied throughout our municipal system, furnishes an
excellent illustration of this fact. We proceed on the
assumption that the best means of insuring responsi-
bility is through popular vote, completely ignoring the
fact that for offices requiring preparatory professional
and technical training, popular opinion cannot apply
the proper standards nor popular vote enforce responsi-
bility. The evils to which this abuse of the elective
principle led have compelled us to modify the system.
But what is the nature of the change we have made ?
The elective principle, it is true, has been sacrificed in
certain cases; a system of appointment of departmental
heads by the mayor has been adopted, but instead of
recognizing that from the very nature of departmental
work these officials must enjoy fixity of tenure, we have
taken analogies from our federal system. The heads of
departments, it is argued, must be in political harmony
with the mayor; they should constitute his cabinet.
The sweeping changes made after each mayoralty elec-
tion are regarded not only as justified, but as one of
the means of registering the will of the people. A little
reflection will show that what is demanded of heads of
48
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
departments is the ability to plan large public improve-
ments, and to execute in the most economical and effi-
cient manner the policy of the local legislative assembly.
This is practically impossible under the system of short
tenure, which prevents the acquiring of that intimate
knowledge of departmental work so necessary to efficient
service, and acts as a deterrent to the adoption of plans
for great public improvements, the execution of which
requires a long term of years.
The root of the evil lies in a mistaken concept of
the nature of administrative responsibility as applied
to municipal affairs. That individual responsibility of
some kind must exist requires no argument; but it is
equally true that the responsibility in the administra-
tion of municipal departments is different from that
which must obtain in the administration of national
affairs. In local affairs, few broad questions of political
policy are involved. Details of departmental adminis-
tration in our cities can never be made the subject of
an intelligent judgment by the mass of electors. The
usual result of the attempt to pass upon such details at
popular elections is that the efficiency of a departmental
head is gauged by one or two subordinate facts which
happen to attract public attention. What form, then,
shall departmental responsibility take? The direction
in which we have been moving, viz., appointment of
heads of departments by the mayor and responsibil-
ity to him, is giving satisfactory results, but needs
Q
THE MUNICIPAL PROBLEM
49
CV
to be supplemented by a more permanent tenure of
office.
This relation between municipal organization and
municipal progress was impressed upon me with peculiar
force in the course of a conference with the Charter
Board of Kansas City. The members of this board,
known as the Board of Freeholders, were elected by
their fellow townsmen to frame a new charter. Under
the provisions of the Missouri Constitution 1 all cities
with a population of 100,000 or over may frame their
own charters through the agency of a local charter
convention, and such charter when accepted by the
people takes effect immediately without any action on
the part of the state legislature. The only require-
ment is that such charter shall conform to the general
laws of the state. The relation thus established between
the community and its organic law has exercised an
influence on the civic life of the people which carries
a lesson of far-reaching importance. The fact that the
responsibility for the framing of a new charter rests
not with the state legislature, but with the people of
the community, has aroused an intensity of civic spirit
which makes itself felt in every department of the city
government. Every literary and scientific organization
in the city was discussing the question of the new char-
ter, and the Board of Freeholders, to which was in-
trusted the function of framing this charter, was receiv-
1 Art. IX, Sec. 16.
ce
50
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
ing dozens, yes, hundreds of propositions for changes
in existing organization. Every municipal service was
being subjected to the closest scrutiny, and through this
discussion there was developed a more definite as well
as a higher standard of efficiency which the people of
the community were prepared to require of their offi-
cials. Entirely independent of the plan of municipal
organization that may be adopted, the manner of its
adoption illustrates how governmental machinery may
be so constructed as to foster and develop civic alertness,
Although we have given lip-service to the principle
that governmental machinery reacts on civic life, we
have failed to observe it in the actual conduct of munici-
pal affairs. In most American communities the purpose
seems to have been to construct a self-acting mechan-
ism which would guarantee good government and secure
honesty. By pitting the executive against the legisla-
tive authority, by electing one official to exercise control
over another, and by making official terms as short as
possible, we have beguiled ourselves with the illusion
that it is possible to construct a machinery of govern-
ment which only requires the attention of the people
at stated election periods. Our statute books are filled
with definitions of malfeasance in office and with 'penal-
ties for derelictions of duty. These national character-
istics all point to the fact that we are a people with
unlimited faith in machinery in government as well as
in industry.
S
THE MUNICIPAL PROBLEM
51
.
It is not surprising that this search for self-acting
machinery of government has proved fruitless. We are
simply trying to relieve ourselves of an obligation which
we cannot throw off. The history of municipal govern- ,
ment in the United States has proved that one of the
primary tests of efficient municipal organization is the
extent to which such organization not only develops, but
demands the alertness and watchfulness of the people.
Any form of government which arouses in the people
the belief that they have constructed a self-acting mech-
anism not only tends to lower the standard of civic
effort, but relieves the government of that salutary con-
trol of public opinion without which efficient govern-
ment is impossible.
New York City has advanced to a clearer perception
of this truth than has any other large city of the Union.
The abolition of the bicameral legislature, the concen-
tration of appointive power in the mayor, the relatively
long terms of heads of departments, have marked the
successive stages toward the realization of this truth.
In this process the representative assembly of the city
has been reduced to a position of relative significance.
Although we may criticise the form of government
which has resulted, the instinct that has guided the
public has been a healthy one. Under the present form
of government the power vested in the mayor is so
great that the community feels the necessity of watch-
ing his policy at every step. The form of government
52 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
demands alertness, and the people have responded to
this demand. The very fact that this concentration of
executive power involves dangers has exercised a pow-
erful influence on the attitude of the people toward the
government.
Before we can secure good government in our Amer-
ican communities it is not only necessary to abolish this
fetichism of governmental machinery, but so to construct
that machinery as to make the control of public opinion
both easy and effective. We have too long clung to the
belief that popular government means the election of
a large number of public officials. Tempted by this
belief we have stretched the elective principle far be-
yond its possibilities, and in many instances have made
it a source of governmental weakness. There is no rea-
son in the nature of things why the city attorney, solici-
tor, treasurer, or receiver of taxes should be elected by
the people. The application of the elective principle to
these offices tends to divert the minds of the people
from the really important executive offices, and so
divides responsibility that its enforcement becomes in-
creasingly difficult. Here, again, we must modify be-
liefs which we have inherited from a period when the
appointment of local officials was an indication of monar-
chical or despotic power. The essence of popular goy-
ernment is such popular control as will enforce certain
definite standards of efficiency in the administration of
public affairs. That control can best be exercised when
THE MUNICIPAL PROBLEM
53
it is directed toward one or at most two or three execu-
tive officials.
There is every indication that we are gradually
adapting our political beliefs to the manifest require-
ments of our municipalities. In this process of adapta-
tion we must be prepared to make many changes, both in
the organization of our government and in our attitude
toward that government. Whatever these changes may
be, anything that tends to diminish the alertness of the
population will to that extent lower the tone of its civic
life. The relation between city and state and the organ-
ization of the city government must be arranged so as
to foster this alertness, and the mechanism of govern-
ment must be so adjusted as to make both the control
of public opinion and the enforcement of responsibility
easy, ready, and effective.
The discussion up to this point has had to do mainly
with the organization of our municipal institutions. A
question of far greater complexity remains to be con-
sidered. The proper adjustment of civic and political
standards to the conditions of city life is a matter of
such fundamental importance that upon it the whole
municipal problem may be said to rest. Viewed in this
light, municipal reform becomes something more than
a governmental problem. It assumes the proportions
of a great social question upon which the future of the
race depends. That the city is something more than a
mere aggregate of individuals requires no demonstration,
1
5
54 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
but that the peculiar conditions developing out of such
close aggregation demand a change in our civic and
political standards is a fact which has not received such
general recognition. An examination of the conditions
of city life, especially in the large centers of population,
will show the far-reaching effects of two leading char-
acteristics :
First.--The close interdependence of the units, and
the sensitiveness of the whole body politic to the stand-
ards of individual action.
Second.The artificial character of the city enyi-
ronment.
The simple and elementary fact of the concentration
of population within a comparatively small area brings
with it the necessity of adapting individual conduct to
such new conditions. A new concept of individual re-
sponsibility and of the possibilities of organized action
must be developed. But what, it will be asked, is the
nature of these higher civic standards; and what cir-
cumstances or forces are to contribute to their devel-
opment? The usual answer to this question may be
summarized as follows: Once get the people to appre-
ciate the fact that good city government pays, that the
material advantages to be derived from the efficient per-
formance of services will more than compensate for the
energy expended, and your problem is solved. While
no one would deny the importance of this factor in
certain specific cases, it is equally certain that this utili-
THE MUNICIPAL PROBLEM
55
tarian calculation does not and cannot furnish a per-
manent basis for civic progress. Such advance must
come, if it comes at all, from new standards of action,
created through the recognition of the full meaning of
a better city environment and from the belief that the
city contains within itself the possibility of the highest
type of social life. Under such conditions civic activity
results, not from the balancing of effort and return,
but rather from the new meaning which the city, as an
organic and, in many respects, ideal unit has attained.
If we stop for a moment to consider the motives
underlying the devotion to national honor and dignity
and the ever-ready and willing sacrifice in the interest
of the “home," the tremendous power of this civic
force will be apparent. As yet, however, no such tradi-
tions and associations have clustered themselves about
our American cities. We are continually asking our-
selves whether it pays to take an hour from business
activity or from family comforts to be devoted to the
good of the city. So long as the city represents little
more than an ordinary private corporation, furnishing
police protection, drainage, water, etc., a negative
answer is to be expected. Examine for a moment the
attitude of the great middle class. The tidiness of the
household interior is a matter of great pride, but no
æsthetic or moral sense is disturbed by filthy streets, or
if so, the disturbance is but momentary. The garden
or small back yard, enjoyed in the seclusion of the fam-
56
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
ily, is placed in the balance as against a public-park
system, resulting in indifference to the latter. A public
supply of pure water is balanced with the possibility
of purchasing a filter. The discomforts of the over-
crowded street car do not weigh heavily, because the
ride represents the comparatively short period between
the exclusiveness of the business and the isolation of the
home. Although these facts imply many admirable
qualities of domesticity, they also show grave defects in
our civic life. To remedy these defects is at present the
primary problem of American city life. Is it possible
for the community to adopt a policy favoring the
growth of the new civic standards, or are we entirely
dependent upon the play of natural forces, the slow
process of the struggle for existence and the survival of
the fittest?
The answer to this question would necessitate an
exhaustive examination of the conditions of the city
environment, the process of natural selection, and the
probability of the survival of a higher type through
the operation of this process. Whatever future investi-
gation may show, our present knowledge of the process
of social evolution points to possibilities in municipal
activity which have been completely neglected in most
American cities. By far the strongest force at the dis-
posal of the municipality is the influence of organized
effort on the standard of life of the community. When
combined with this we have the clear recognition by the
. THE MUNICIPAL PROBLEM
57
citizen body of the influence thus exerted, an irresistible
force making for civic progress is at work. The expe-
rience of the cities of England and Scotland is of special
value to us, because of the similarity in environmental
conditions. Even the casual observer cannot help feel-
ing that the British town population is developing a
new concept of municipal activity, that the people have
begun to realize that upon the concerted action of the
community depends to a very large extent the kind of
life which the mass of the community shall lead. The
first glimpse of the truth of this fact brings with it a
new attitude toward the city.
The civic activity of the community may be divided
into two classes :
First.-Those efforts directly modifying the environ-
ment, and thus indirectly influencing the standard of
life.
Second.—Those directly affecting the standard of
life through the offering of new services or commodities.
In the animal world the adaptation to purely natu-
ral conditions and the unrestricted struggle for exist-
ence may be necessary to preserve “ the speed of the
antelope undiminished and the sight of the eagle un-
dimmed,” yet the moment we enter the field of human
society we have the struggle modified at many points,
due to the development of social instincts and class feel-
ings. And it is well that it is so, for, as Huxley has
shown, evolution does not necessarily mean progress,
LI
58
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
nor is the cosmic process necessarily identical with the
ethical process. With the growth of social relations
incident to the development of city life man becomes to
an increasing extent the product of social as distin-
guished from purely natural forces. His mental and
moral traits are determined largely by his environment,
but it is an environment furnished him by the com-
munity rather than by nature. This view of the sub-
ject carries with it a new element of responsibility. If
the city environment is to determine the character of
the city man, the importance of making the environ-
ment favorable to the development of the highest type
becomes apparent. The fullest utilization of this power
of the community is made all the more necessary by
reason of the improved condition both as regards the
wages and the hours of labor of the working classes.
For the first time in the history of modern countries,
leisure has become a possibility not to a privileged circle,
but to all classes. This is particularly true in the large
cities, where we have combined the highest average
income with a comparatively short working day. While
this increase of income has been dwelt upon by many
writers, little attention has been given to the use made
of the consequent leisure. We have hardly begun to
realize the extent to which its use is dependent on the
opportunities offered by the community, and how closely
it is bound up with the character of the environment.
With an unfavorable environment leisure inevitably
THE MUNICIPAL PROBLEM
59
.
becomes the source of racial degeneracy and social dis-
integration. Under favorable conditions, on the other
hand, it constitutes one of the strongest forces making
for progress. At a certain stage in social evolution the
possibility of leisure becomes the condition requisite for
further progress. The manner of its use will determine
whether the community is to take the next step in pro-
gressive evolution or whether the temptations which
leisure brings with it will lead to retrogression and ulti-
mate decline. Viewed in this light, the judicious dis-
tribution of parks, play and recreation grounds, the
adjustment of street-railway fares with a view to pro-
moting travel, the creation of a system of municipal
theaters offering the best that dramatic literature affords
-all these institutions, and many more, acquire a new
significance. When the failure to provide a proper
environment leads to the development of forces endan-
gering the future of the race, the question of municipal
activity becomes one of fundamental importance. When
the creation of new municipal institutions means a new
mode of life, and a new view of life for the mass of
the community, the attitude of the population toward
the city and its government becomes a matter of vital
importance.
The city is no longer regarded as a necessary evil;
it is recognized as the accompanying factor of all civ-
ilization. Only under the conditions of city life can the
possibilities of human development be realized. This
U
*
60
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
does not mean that the city should be a monotonous
succession of narrow and depressing thoroughfares, that
every available open space should be covered with flar-
ing signs, that at every street corner there should be a
saloon, and that every individual should be permitted
to give free range to his fancy in the erection of dwell-
ings. Through the construction of parkways, the erec-
tion of imposing public buildings, a change in the im-
mediate environment of the poorer classes, and, finally,
the acceptance of the social standard in the performance
of municipal services, a new concept of municipal activ-
ity and of city life will be attained.
The question of greatest interest in this connection
is the ultimate effect of this view of municipal serv-
ices on the civic standards and activities of the com-
munity. The great problem of the social reformer, it
has been said, is to get the people to use their im-
agination. John Stuart Mill put this in another form
when he said that “one person with a belief is a
social power equal to ninety-nine who have only in-
terests." Belief in the possibility of a higher type of
civic life can come only from the creation of new ideals.
The primary elements of such ideals must be found
in existing conditions. The citizen is then in a posi-
tion to make new combinations, to add new elements
to such combinations, and, finally, to picture to himself
an ideal city environment. The first effects of this
change will be of a negative character. The community
S
THE MUNICIPAL PROBLEM
61
will no longer tolerate methods of action which are now
regarded with indifference. A new sensitiveness which
is the necessary condition to higher standards will be
developed. The overcrowded street car, the advertise-
ment-covered fence, the filthy alleyways will arouse the
active condemnation of the community. Opinion will
thus reach its true position as a great social force in city
life. From these more negative standards there will be
a gradual advance to positive standards. The new civic
standards based upon distinctively city ideals will assure
that devotion to the public good upon which the future
of American city life and the efficient working of all
forms of government must ultimately depènd.
REFERENCES
GIERKE. "Das deutsche Genossenschaftsrecht,” vol. i.
POLLARD, J. "A Study in Municipal Government: The Cor-
poration of Berlin" (second ed., rev.). Edinburgh and
London: Blackwood, 1894.
Shaw, A. “Municipal Government in Great Britain.” New
York: Century, 1895.
VINE, J. R. S. "English Municipal Institutions.” London:
Waterlow, 1879.
Wilcox, D. F. “The Study of City Government.” New York:
Macmillan, 1897.
CHAPTER IV
THE SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF CITY GROWTH
THE migration of the country population into the
cities, while not the most important, is certainly the
most striking of the social phenomena incident to city
growth. The violent opposition which this movement
first aroused was the expression of a deeply rooted moral
antagonism to city life. That the city is a necessary
evil, the center of vice and the nursery of crime, per-
vades the theological literature of the eighteenth cen-
tury. To avoid its temptations was one of the first
precepts of Puritan morality. The cry of the French
philosophers—“ return to nature”_was largely a re-
action against the conventionalities of city and court
life. Under the circumstances, it is not surprising that
the political philosophy of the present century should
take a pessimistic view of the future of a civilization
which is building up its cities at the expense of the
country districts.
A broader grasp of the process of social evolution,
supplemented by a more thorough analysis of the condi-
tions of city life, has considerably modified this view of
our social development. It is true that the conditions
our SC
62
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 63
1
Y
prevailing in the cities of the eighteenth century and
the first half of the nineteenth century justified the pes-
simistic predictions as to the future of a civilization
which was building up its cities at the expense of the
rural districts. (Until the beginning of the nineteenth
century the urban death rate was so high that migration
from the rural districts was the only means of city in-
crease. It was evident to the social philosophers of the
eighteenth century that if this excess of deaths over
births was a necessary accompaniment of city life, the
nations of western Europe were condemned to gradual
extinction.
This reasoning, which was based on conditions of a
bygone age, has perpetuated itself in our modern phi-
losophy and is responsible for much of the opposition
to city growth. The conditions upon which it is based,
however, have totally changed. The extraordinary ad-
vance in urban sanitation has made the cities not only
self-sustaining but is rapidly placing them in a more
favorable position than the rural districts, owing to the
fact that, as a rule, the birth rate in cities is higher
than in the country.
France is the only country in which the conditions
which were universal during the eighteenth century still
obtain to a certain extent. Of the twelve larger cities
six are unable to maintain their present population
through natural increase.1) Of the total growth of ur-
1 Weber, “Growth of Cities," p. 239.
64
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
ban population eighty-seven per cent is due to migration
from the rural districts. Professor Lagneau," in an in-
teresting comparative study of the population of France
and of the Department of the Seine, has shown the in-
fluence of reduced vitality upon the population. The
following table shows the average number of survivors
of every ten thousand infants born in France as com-
pared with the same number in the Department of the
Seine:

OF 10,000 INFANTS BORN
THERE ARE SURVIVING IN
AGE,
France.
Department
of Seine.*
From 0 to 5 years.....
From 5 to 10 years....
From 10 to 15 years...
From 15 to 20 years....
From 20 to 30 years...
From 30 to 40 years.......
From 40 to 50 years..
rs....................
From 50 to 60 years....
From 60 to 70 years..
From 70 to 80 years...
From 80 to 90 years...
7,035
6,620
6,392
6,111
5,452
4,880
4,227
3,353
2,163
4,897
4,675
4,561
4,313
3,567
2,918
2,288
1,588
847
247
ars..................
714
61
22
* The Department of the Seine contains Paris and two small
communes.
According to the same author, 10,000 native-born
Parisians leave only 5,996 descendants. So rapid is the
1 Lagneau, “Essai de Statistique Anthropologique sur la
Population Parisienne.” Cited by Meuriot, op. cit.
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 65
decline that with the eighteenth generation the entire
population would disappear.
In Germany, Sweden, Austria, and Hungary from
twenty-five to fifty per cent of the total growth of urban
population is due to natural increase, namely, excess of
births over deaths. In England the death rate in the
towns is higher than in the rural districts, but the birth
rate is also considerably higher. The natural increase
in population is the same in both rural and urban dis-
tricts. (In the United States the improvement in the
conditions of sanitation has been such that the cities now
show a larger natural increase than the rural districts.
Thus the old doctrine that a civilization which rested
on urban conditions was doomed to extinction has no
longer a foundation in fact. The experience of the last
few decades has shown that it is within the power of
the community so to adjust the conditions of city life
that instead of reducing vitality and producing racial
degeneracy and decay, they shall tend to eliminate the
causes of disease and strengthen rather than reduce
vitality.
Whether we regard the phenomenon of rural migra-
tion as contributing to social progress or retarding it, an
examination of the causes determining the change will
show that the movement is one which legislation cannot
check. The forces at work in modern society have not
only increased the attractiveness of city life, but have
also weakened the economic and social ties of the rural
L
.
(D
(D
66
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
11
population. The economic history of Europe during
the last thirty years has shown that we are in the midst
of a period of falling agricultural prices. While there
may have been a temporary rise in prices in one section
or another, the general trend has been downward. A
large part of the change has been due to the opening
up of new resources, of new possibilities in the produc-
tion of food. In the readjustment of productive forces
it is evident that the farmers in the less favored dis-
tricts must suffer. Only those who are in the vanguard
of improvement will be able to maintain the struggle
with the new conditions. Complaints will probably
increase with each year in all those sections that have
not a distinct world advantage in the raising of food
products. It is a significant fact that in England be-
tween the years 1870 and 1891 the acreage of cultivated
wheat land decreased 47.67 per cent. The constant
increase in the average size of the farm has lessened
the possibilities of profitable employment and contrib-
uted in no small measure to the rural exodus.) In Great
Britain and Ireland 12,477 persons own two thirds of
the land.
The uniformity and monotony of country life must
also be taken into account as one of the social causes
making it distasteful. The influence of this factor will
probably be seen more clearly in an examination of
the social attractions of the city. As Mr. Pearson has
well said: “ To the country yokel the city is an unend-
(D
- SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 67
ing romance."1 The variety of pleasures, the excite-
ment, and constant change characteristic of city life,
the gratification of the social instincts which these con-
ditions afford, prove an irresistible attraction to those
who have been brought up under rural conditions.
Then, too, most of these pleasures are enjoyed without
cost. Whatever or whenever the hour of leisure, the
inhabitant of the city is sure to find unlimited oppor-
tunities for indulgence in social pleasures. When to
this we add the higher rate of wages and the shorter
hours of labor in cities as compared with country dis-
tricts, the attraction of urban centers is readily ex-
plained. The great social demand of modern times is
leisure, and in the choice of employment we find those
occupations given the preference in which the amount
of leisure time is the greater, even if the choice involves
a lower rate of wages. It is only necessary to contrast
the position of the shopgirl with that of the domestic
servant to be convinced of this fact.
In addition to this social cause there are a number
of economic reasons that tend to increase the induce-
ment to migrate from the country into the cities. The
city offers a variety of industrial opportunity, which
makes it possible to utilize every special capacity or
talent. It is not surprising, therefore, to find the most
energetic and the most capable migrating to the cities,
where the division of labor and the possibility of spe-
1 Pearson, “National Life and Character.”
68
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
cialization are greatest. The greater educational advan-
tages of the city constitute another inducement to leave
the country. Not only the thoroughly organized elemen-
tary-school system, but also the development of technical
stitute a powerful attraction to the more intelligent of
the country population.
On the continent of Europe we find an additional
cause, absent in American communities, namely, the
universal military service. It is the custom to place
the recruits from the country districts in cities for the
period of military service. After enjoying the pleas-
ures of city life for a number of years, few are willing
to return to the country. As a result, there has been
a constant accretion to the city population, due to the
continued residence in the city of those who have com-
pleted their military service.
With such a combination of forces at work, it is
easy to account for the failure of the attempts that have
been made through legislation to counteract the effect
of this movement. In the countries of continental
Europe, where the paternal eye of government has
looked upon the change as involving serious dangers,
these attempts have proved futile. During the last
twenty-five years most of the countries of Europe have
reorganized their local rural institutions, with a view
to increasing the vigor of local political life. The Prus-
sian reforms of 1872 and 1876, the English County
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 69
0
)
(D
Council Act of 1888, and the Parish Councils Act of
1894 were intended to give to the local rural divisions
a more democratic form of government. It was hoped
that the increase of political interest would tend to
strengthen the attachment of the population to such
local districts.
Again, the attention which has been given in recent
years to the development of educational facilities in the
country districts has, in part at least, been dictated by
the desire to strengthen local ties. Another class of
measures attempts to counteract the movement by direct
coercion. For instance, in Germany the Poor Law au-
thorities have the power to repatriate inhabitants from
the rural districts who are likely to become charges
upon the community. The system of labor colonies is
designed to relieve the pressure of population in the
cities. As late as 1891 a proposition was made and
seriously considered in the Prussian Diet to limit the
freedom of change of domicile in such a way as to pre-
vent migration from the rural districts of those whose
equipment and economic condition did not warrant the
change. It must be remembered that the right of un-
restricted migration from one part of the kingdom to
another was not recognized in Prussia until 1867, and it
seems likely that its present recognition will be modified
in order to check the depopulation of the rural districts.
The lessons of this varied experience make it clear that
the movement from the country districts into the cities
70
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
is one of those great social changes which we cannot
hope to counteract. While it involves certain definite
dangers, they are dangers incident to progress.
• Individual as well as racial progress involves an end-
lėss series of adaptations to environmental conditions.
Every change in the conditions of life makes new de-
mands upon the individual. Failure to meet new re-
quirements carries with it a corresponding disadvantage
in the struggle for existence. For the individual and
the class this means gradual elimination from the com-
munity through the manifold agencies of natural selec-
tion, such as disease and vice, or of artificial selection
operating through the criminal code and the poor law.
An excellent instance of the process of elimination
acting upon the classes unable to resist the temptations
of city life is to be found in the application of the crimi-
nal law. It is usually assumed that the city population
shows a distinctly lower moral tone than the population
of the rural districts, and in support of this view the
greater number of misdemeanors and crimes committed
in the cities is usually cited. If the figures alone are
considered the contention seems justified. Thus in a
comparison of ten agricultural and industrial counties
of England; we find in the former 0.71 crimes and 13.84
misdemeanors per thousand inhabitants; whereas in the
industrial counties the percentage is 0.90 crimes and
23.81 misdemeanors per thousand inhabitants. Again,
in the rural districts of France the number of criminal
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 71
n
accusations amounts to 0.7 per thousand inhabitants,
whereas in the urban centers the proportion is 1.4.
Further analysis discloses the fact that so far as
offenses against the person are concerned, the propor-
tion is nearly the same in rural and urban districts;
whereas there is a wide discrepancy in favor of the rura)
districts in the offenses against property. This fact
must lead us to quite a different conclusion as to the
moral tone of the country as compared with the city,
for in the offenses against the person we have a very
much more effective test of moral strength than in the
offenses against property. It is evident, even to the
casual observer, that the opportunities and temptations
to violate property rights are far more numerous in the
city than in the country districts. The mere fact of
increased density of population brings individuals into
relations with one another which require far greater
self-control to avoid encroachment upon property rights
than is the case in the rural districts. For instance, the
temptations to business dishonesty of different kinds,
such as the adulteration of food products, fraudulent
bankruptcies, and the like, are infinitely greater in the
larger cities. Furthermore, the greater division of
labor in the urban centers leads to the introduction of
large numbers of persons into the household performing
minor services, and thus increases the temptations to
petty thefts. We must therefore be extremely careful
in drawing conclusions as to the moral standards of city
72
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
life from criminal statistics alone. This situation, when
viewed from the broad standpoint of social evolution,
points to the conclusion that under the conditions of city
life those who lack the moral fiber necessary to with-
stand these additional temptations are temporarily or
permanently eliminated from society; peopling our
houses of correction, jails, and prisons. While, there-
fore, to the individual, lack of self-control means elimi-
nation from society, it involves gradual extinction for
the community unless new and better elements are con-
stantly introduced from without. This increase in
temptation to wrongdoing is but one of the indications
of the radical change in environmental conditions inci-
dent to the transition from country to city life. We
are only beginning to appreciate its full significance. .
The mere fact of concentration of population means
a degree of interdependence between the individuals of
the community unknown to country life. With increas-
ing density of population the points of contact between
individual activity and social welfare become more nu-
merous. The facts of every-day experience offer many
illustrations. In the country districts the sanitary con-
dition of the home is a matter of individual concern in
which the community at large has but an indirect and
remote interest, but in the city the situation is radically
changed. Every unsanitary dwelling is a direct menace
to the welfare and safety of the community; neglect. to
fix, the standards of sanitation means reduced vitality
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 73
and diminished industrial efficiency. The heaviest bur-
dens of such neglect fall upon those classes least able
to bear the strain. This is particularly true wherever
the working classes are housed in tenements. Escape
from the influence of neighbors becomes impossible, and
as we descend the scale of income the degree of inter-
dependence becomes greater. The manner of perform-
ing the ordinary routine of household duties directly
affects the comfort and often the health of a whole dis-
trict. Even where the tenement-house system is the
exception, as in Philadelphia, there is no escape from
the ignorance and selfishness of neighbors.
The use to which the back yards of our city dwell-
ings are usually put furnishes an excellent illustration
of the influence of the city environment upon individual
conduct. In the country, the management of the farm
is determined by the choice of the individual owner,
and with the exception of a few unimportant restrictions
the community does not attempt to limit freedom of
choice. To permit anything like the same liberty of
action in a densely crowded community would involve
the most serious dangers. In a city like Philadelphia,
for instance, with its hundred thousand workingmen's
dwellings, we find the back yard used as a dumping
ground for refuse matter. Adaptation to the city envi-
ronment has not advanced sufficiently to develop a feel-
ing of social responsibility or to show the necessity of
enforcing higher standards of individual action:
74
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
As the more progressive elements in the community
begin to appreciate the type of conduct required for
the fullest. utilization of the opportunities of city life
the feeling of social responsibility begins to appear.
This stage once reached, the final step will be to enforce
the new standards upon the less progressive elements
through legal enactment. At the present time only a
very small section of the community ever stops to think
of the reactive influence of individual conduct upon
social welfare. The enforcement of new standards of
conduct seems to imply, at first glance, a serious en-
croachment upon the domain of individual liberty. In
a country such as ours, in which the fundamental prin-
ciples of government have been framed with a view to
securing personal and property rights, the problem of
effecting a modification of political standards in the
direction of greater governmental regulation is pecul-
iarly difficult.
A careful analysis of the situation will show that
adaptation to the city environment implies a modifica-
tion of the concept of liberty rather than an actual
narrowing of the field of free choice. We have be-
come so accustomed to identify “ liberty ” with “ free-
dom from restraint” that any increase of regulative
control is regarded as a step toward governmental tyr-
anny. To the average citizen, liberty is an absolute
term—a definite and unchangeable series of individual
choices. While the tyranny of social custom is not
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 75
IL
ULL
LI
looked upon as a real restriction of personal liberty,
every increase of legal regulation is so regarded. Even
in the philosophical discussions of the subject we rarely
find a recognition of the fact that the range of choice
in a progressive society is constantly increasing. Dif-
ferentiation of wants, and diversification of opportu-
nity for their satisfaction, are the very essence of social
progress. The intellectual and industrial stimulus de-
veloped by concentration of population finds expression-
in the greater variety of wants, the constant diversi-
fication of industry, and an intreasing variety of choices
in consumption. Striking illustrations of this fact may
be drawn from the food supply, the clothing, the occu-
pations, the amusements, recreations, and intellectual
opportunities of the city. In all of these the possibili-
ties of choice are immeasurably greater than in the
country districts. While this wider range of choice is
one of the conditions requisite to progress, it begets
new dangers, both to the individual and to the com-
munity.
The community has a very definite interest in the
kind of choices which the individual may make, and the
dangers of a wrong choice increase with the rise in the
rate of wages. With every increase in income the range
of choice is widened. So long as the selection of occu-
pation, food, or amusement which the individual may
make does not injuriously affect broader social inter-
ests, regulation through law is not only unnecessary, but
76
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
positively oppressive. To make the right choices, how-
ever, presupposes a degree of self-control and discrimi-
nation which is to be found in only a small fraction of
the population. The bitter lessons of English experi-
ence during the early decades of the last century have
demonstrated for all time that unregulated development
brings with it the most serious evils, endangering the
health and safety of the community. The food supply
of the population must be carefully inspected in order
to protect the housekeeper against the allurement of
mere cheapness, which usually means adulterated or
otherwise unwholesome food. In the regulation of the
liquor traffic the community endeavors to minimize the
temptations to drunkenness and crime. The building
laws and tenement-house regulations are designed to
protect the population against the consequences of un-
sanitary surroundings. Trade regulations exclude cer-
tain occupations from the field of choice, and in the
case of unwholesome trades determine where and under
what conditions they shall be carried on. This exten-
sion of governmental control, which registers with con-
siderable accuracy the gradual adaptation of the popu-
lation to the city environment, has not been effected
without a struggle. The eighteenth-century interpre-
tation of individual liberty had to give way before the
pressure of existing evils. A century's experience has
taught us that the process of adaptation is far from
being complete. On all sides we have evidence of wide
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 77
U
discrepancies between individual conduct and social wel-
fare, but the emphasis on individual rights has obscured
the new relation of the individual to the community.
In the United States the belief in absolute individual
rights makes it possible for the citizen to take refuge
behind the Constitution in the attempt to enforce his
will or pleasure against the best interests of the com-
munity. It is this attitude toward the freedom of the
individual that encumbers our sidewalks with all sorts
of obstructions, enables the soap manufacturer to bur-
den our streets with blazing advertisements, and makes
it possible for the individual to ruin the architectural
effect of an entire section of the city. The city envi-
ronment demands an essentially different type of con-
duct, and consequently a different type of morality from
that of the rural districts. In the city the individual
must clearly visualize the reactive influence of his acts
upon the welfare of the community.) Communal wel-
fare must become an important factor in the motives
that determine individual action.
As civilization advances from a condition of rural
isolation to the close association of city life, a marked
change takes place in the degree of dependence upon
purely physical conditions. The mere fact of increas-
ing density of population involves the gradual devel-
opment of an artificial environment to replace natural
physical conditions. The plotting, grading, and paving
of streets, the construction of wharves, the public water
78
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
supply, and drainage system-in short, every public
work—supply needs which natural conditions fail to
meet. Every increase in municipal functions marks
another step in the development of this artificial envi-
ronment.
: This power over the environment carries with it far-
reaching consequences, for it places upon the community
a large share of the responsibility for social advance.
For the greater portion of the population the question
of an elevating or degrading environment is decided by
the community in its organized capacity. That we have
failed to recognize this fact in our American cities has
been due to one of the defects of our strongest virtue
—the intensity of home life.
The development of the home and of the instincts
and feelings which group themselves about the home ideal
has been and still is the leading characteristic of our
social life. It is the phase of American character which
impresses itself most forcibly upon the foreigner. Our
individualism, intense as it is, stops short of the family
group. Devotion to the family and to family interests
occupies so high a place in public opinion that it can
readily be used to cloak fraud and dishonesty in busi-
ness relations. Business reputation will stand many
shocks if well padded with domestic virtues. Offenses
against family integrity, on the other hand, are visited
with punishment which is often cruel in its severity.
No one will deny that this high development of home
OTY
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH
79
life has played a most important part in the formation
of American character, and that it has been one of the
strongest safeguards against the excesses which usually
accompany rapid material progress. But in spite of
their great social value in other directions, our home
ideals have retarded rather than promoted civic advance.
This does not mean that there is a necessary and inher-
ent antagonism between home instincts and civic activ-
ity, but rather that modern social development has
placed a premium upon the domestic virtues. Family
responsibilities stimulate those industrial qualities which
make for economic progress, whereas civic zeal is often
a real hindrance to business success.
The women of this country must bear part of the
responsibility for the failure of the home to contribute
toward the development of civic action. The influence
of the average woman in the United States, especially
in the middle classes, has been distinctively unfavorable
to the participation of the head of the household in pub-
lic affairs. (There is a strong feeling in the vast majority
of American homes that time given to public affairs is
time lost. With relatively few exceptions the wife has
discouraged the participation of the husband in public
life, because of the fear that such participation would
take the husband away from home, and that it would
encroach upon the time that should be given to the sup-
port of the family. Combined with this there has been
a deeply rooted feeling of repugnance against the par-
80
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
ticipation of the husband in political struggles. No in-
fluence has been more potent in keeping voters not
only from the polls, but also from more important ac-
tivity in the local political associations and committees.
The root of the difficulty is to be found in the defective
training of the women of the country. Their educa-
tion in the home and in the school has been of a char-
acter which has fostered the strongest individualistic
tendencies.
There is in fact no inherent antagonism between
domestic virtues and civic usefulness, but the mistaken
interpretation which the women of the country have
placed upon the domestic virtues has served to create a
fictitious antagonism which has done and is still doing
incalculable harm to the civic advance of our American
communities. Thus, the powerful economic forces that
contributed toward the isolation of the home have
diverted the attention of the community from the enor-
mous power which the city in its organized capacity
does and must always wield for good or evil. It is a
mistake to suppose that a passive attitude means a
neutral one, for the mere fact of concentration of popu-
lation necessarily involves a change of environment.
The only question at issue is whether this environment
shall be consciously modified by the community with a
view to developing new moral qualities and stimulating
higher ideals, or whether unregulated development shall
be the course adopted. The answer to this question is
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 81
not a difficult one when we stop to consider the nature
of the interests at stake-the physical vigor and moral
tone of the community. ..
The exercise of the community's power over indi-
vidual conduct is largely dependent upon one of the
most important of the laws of social choice, that of
“ minimum cost.” In the selection of food, of recrea-
tions and amusements, the individual seeks a maximum
of enjoyment for a minimum outlay. Changes in habits
and mode of life in order to be permanent must rest
upon this basis. When, therefore, the transition from
country to city life makes necessary radical changes
in the standards of conduct, the modification of envi.
ronmental conditions may be made to contribute toward
this end. The conditions of life in our great cities offer
striking instances of the power which the community
may exercise. The improvements of the last few years
in street construction have already changed the habits
of large sections of the population. Rapid and easy
communication between different parts of the city has
been made possible; the electric railway has become an
instrument for recreation as well as a means of trans-
portation. The local environment of the individual has
been enlarged, and with this enlargement of environ-
ment there will come a broadening of civic interest.
Again, the influence of the saloon is largely to be
explained by the fact that in most American cities it
is the only center of social intercourse and amusement
(D
1
82
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
.
.
readily accessible to the laboring classes. Little or no
attempt has been made to develop institutions which
will serve all the purposes of the saloon without its
degrading influences. The success of the few discon-
nected efforts of private associations to offer counter
attractions is but an indication of the possibilities of the
wider and more efficient action of the community in its
organized capacity. No one who has studied the influ-
ence of institutions, such as Toynbee Hall and the Peo-
ple's Palace, can have failed to be impressed with their
influence upon the habits and morality of the popu-
lation.
At the present time the attractiveness of the saloon
is greatly enhanced because of the uninviting and oft-
times positively repulsive appearance of the streets. We
are only beginning to appreciate the fact that permanent
improvements in city life are dependent upon institu-
tional changes, upon better opportunities for recreation
and enjoyment rather than upon argumentation and
agitation. The distinction between good and bad citi-
zenship runs parallel with the line of division between
the wholesome and injurious use of leisure. Unless the
opportunities for the use of such leisure are abundant,
healthful, elevating, and readily accessible, the popula-
tion will hold to its inherited tastes and instincts. In-
stead of many and varied pleasures there will be a few
violent and exhausting indulgences, such as drink and
debauch, which eventually sap the vitality of the popu-
1
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 83
lation. Private associations may be able to reach small
groups, but to exert a lasting influence the action of the
community as a whole is required.
The condition of the water fronts of America as
compared with those of European cities furnishes one
of the most striking illustrations of this fact. With
rare exceptions we have permitted our water fronts to
be utilized as best suited individual convenience. The
result has been not only to destroy any natural beauty
which they may have had, but to make these districts
less attractive than any other portions of the city. It
is only necessary to call to mind such superb harbors as
New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, which, as regards
natural beauty, rival, if not outrank, the cities of the
old world. Compare, for instance, the waterfront of
Paris with that of Chicago, or Philadelphia's treatment
of the Schuylkill with Berlin's splendid avenues along
the Spree. We have proceeded upon the assumption
that commercial convenience is incompatible with clean-
liness and artistic beauty, and as we were determined
to obtain the former, the latter has been sacrificed.
The failure to make the most of environmental pos-
sibilities involves much more than the loss of æsthetic
training. It affects the moral tone and industrial effi-
ciency of the community, and greatly reduces its possi-
ble enjoyments. Instead of making the water-front dis-
tricts the most attractive promenades and recreation
places, they have become the haunts of the very worst
84
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
elements. As generation after generation is brought up
under the same unfavorable surroundings, the moral
fiber, the vitality, and the industrial qualities of the
population of these districts tend to decline. Thus are
formed the breeding spots of disease, vice, and crime,
which are the great obstacles to social progress.
It is instructive to note the contrast between two
such great ports as Havre and New York. The French
have succeeded in combining the two principles of com-
mercial utility and artistic beauty. Instead of permit-
ting every individual to assert what he believes to be
his economic interest - which in such cases usually
means cheap and unsightly structures—the community
undertakes the management of its riparian rights and
requires that warehouses and other buildings conform
to one general plan. The result has been that in Havre,
as in most of the cities of France, the quays are not
only fully equipped for all commercial purposes, but
are made popular recreation centers. In most cases they
serve all the purposes of great public parks, brilliantly
illuminated and readily accessible-a constant source of
civic pride and a powerful stimulus to civic patriotism.
The history of Paris furnishes abundant evidence of
the influence of the city environment upon the character
of the population. The artistic reconstruction of large
sections of the city during the Second Empire has been
one of the forces contributing to develop that keen
appreciation of the beautiful which distinguishes the
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 85
population of Paris from that of the other large cities
of the civilized world. It has, furthermore, aroused that
devotion to the city which constitutes the most inspir-
ing element in the life of the French capital. Whatever
may be the shortcomings in the political life of the
French nation, there is a sensitiveness and alertness of
public opinion to everything that affects the well-being
of the city which arouse the admiration of every ob-
server. The environment, as formed by the community
in its organized capacity—the splendid avenues and
boulevards, the dignified and imposing public buildings,
the judicious distribution of parks, etc.-has contributed
largely to this end.
The activity of the English and Scotch cities under
the “ Housing of the Working Classes Acts” furnishes
numerous striking instances of the influence of objective
environment upon civic effort. In Glasgow, Birming-
ham, and London, great districts have been remodeled
and rebuilt by the municipality, thus creating new sur-
roundings for large classes of the population; surround-
ings which have reacted with great force on the every-
day life of the people and on the civic ideals of the
community.
Take, for instance, the Bethnal Green Improvement
undertaken some years ago by the London County Coun-
cil. In this district of the East End, an area of some
fifteen acres of closely built-up slum property was ex-
propriated, the buildings demolished, and a generous
86
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
plan of reconstruction executed. Streets sixty feet wide
arranged upon the radial plan, model tenement houses
complete in every detail, a common laundry, reading
rooms, and other social institutions were provided. In
short, the possibility of a new and higher mode of life
was offered to the population. The environment called
for higher standards of living to which the population
readily responded. The laying out of parks and play-
grounds exerts a similar influence. Instead of the gut-
ter or alley, with the kind of amusements which they
permit, a new and wider freedom is given to the child,
and for the adult the saloon need no longer furnish the
only cheerful recreation center.
In the administration of city services, especially the
municipal industrial enterprises, similar ends must be
kept in view. In our American cities the gas and street-
railway services have never been viewed in the light of
their possible social functions. Private lighting, while
in some instances under direct municipal management,
has been controlled by purely financial considerations,
while public transportation has been uniformly managed
by private corporations. Here, again, the recent experi-
ence of English cities is extremely significant. The
street-railway systems of Glasgow and Sheffield, which
are under direct municipal management, are being used
as a means of effecting a better distribution of popula-
tion. The rates of fare are so adjusted as to offer direct
inducement to the laboring classes to move into outlying
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SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 87
districts instead of congregating in the central and
already overcrowded portions. The one- and two-cent
fares during the early morning and evening hours have
been the means of bringing large numbers into a new
environment. Recently, Glasgow has decided to go one
step farther in offering model tenements in the subur-
ban districts. This may seem a dangerous extension of
function, and yet it is the logical outcome of a recog-
nition of the true relation of the community to its en-
vironment. In the administration of the gas service,
similar ends have been kept in view. (In order to extend
the use of gas in the homes of the working classes the
price was gradually reduced, until at the present time:
Glasgow offers gas at 50 cents per 1,000 cubic feet,
Manchester at 54 cents, Leeds at 54 cents, and Birming-
ham at 44 to 60 cents, according to the amount con-
sumed. As an additional inducement penny-in-the-slot
meters have been introduced in most of the cities. Leeds
has 1,300 of these meters in operation, Birmingham
2,000, and Manchester 11,500. A similar policy is now
being adopted in the electric-light service)
From this analysis of the relation of the individual
to the environment, it is evident that the morality and
civic standards of all classes can be profoundly influ-
enced through changes in the conditions of life which
are within easy reach of the community. That the ad-
vance in this direction has not been more rapid in the
United States has been due to three influences which
88
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
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1 YILLI
have weighed heavily on civic progress — inheritance,
inertia, and ignorance. The first of these — inherited
ideas and standards of conduct-is by far the most
important, as it is at the root of much of the inertia and
ignorance of which we hear constant complaint. It is
comparatively easy to show the points of maladjustment
between the environment and the habits and customs
of the population, but to determine the nature of the
forces which make for adjustment is far more difficult.
In the many and varied agitations for political re-
form, so characteristic of the last two decades, one can
readily discern a common principle which seems to
actuate them all—an unbounded faith in the efficacy
of an appeal to individual reason and utilitarian cal-
culation. It is taken for granted that so soon as the
population begins to appreciate the fact that this or
that form of administrative organization means greater
economy or efficiency, reform is at hand. The agita-
tion for clean streets, pure water, sanitary drainage,
and so forth is based upon the same class of arguments.
City government is likened to a great business corpora-
tion, the same instincts and motives determining success
in both. It is assumed that the desire for individual
gain, which is the determining force in private business
relations, is equally powerful in public life.
The failure of these appeals to bring about the de-
sired results has been the pons asinorum of reformers.
Discouraged by the meager success of their efforts, they
TI
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 89
have attributed the lack of responsiveness to the low
moral standards of the city population, to the evils of
universal suffrage, to the massing of foreigners in our
cities, and to a number of other equally irrelevant causes.
They have failed to grasp the fact that the effectiveness
of individual activity in public affairs is dependent/
upon concerted action. · Until the time is ripe for such
coöperation, individual effort fails to exert any real
influence.
Again, the returns from civic effort are usually more
or less remote and always uncertain. These two causes
alone explain why the response to such utilitarian ap-
peals is so feeble. On the other hand, the advantages
to be derived from unswerving devotion to private
affairs are readily calculable and usually immediate.
Under ordinary circumstances the citizen will not hesi-
tate in his choice between the public interest and private
advantage if a “ dollar-and-cents” calculation is the
only factor determining his conduct. The possibility
of a general response under any such conditions presup-
poses an ability to appreciate future results and a readi-
ness to coöperate for purposes other than immediate per-
sonal gain. An analysis of the motives to groupal action
in politics discloses the fact that utilitarian calculation
is one of the subordinate factors in the determination
of civic action. To make the individual labor and strug-
gle for the welfare of a larger social unit requires the
influence of forces sufficiently powerful to emancipate
90
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
him from narrow, selfish interests. These forces are to
be found in the civic ideals of a community--that “com-
bination of feeling and belief which we call loyalty.”
Although the development of the modern city has
not as yet reached a point to make possible the deter-
mination of the ultimate content of the distinctive city
ideals, we are in a position to analyze the nature of the
forces contributing toward their formation. In the
home, the church, and the club~-to mention but three
of an ever-increasing number of institutions—we have
instances of social groupings which readily command
the best energies of the individual without the expecta-
tion of a quid pro quo.
Again, if we stop to analyze the home, it is evident
that the group of pleasures which we associate with it
may be enjoyed by the individual in other relations. It
is the grouping and blending of these pleasures in the
family relation which give to the home its power over
the individual, calling forth unlimited sacrifice and
devotion. But family life tends to isolate the individual
from the community; the family instincts and pleasures
are essentially individualistic. Civic instincts in the
broadest sense of the term-are not aroused until the
inexclusive pleasures of a larger social grouping begin
to play an important part in the life of the individual.
Whatever the exact nature of this larger unit may be,
it will require of the individual a readjustment of his
activities. Historically, the larger social unit was first
VU
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 91
the family, based on kinship, then the political unit,
formed to meet the necessities of defense and aggression.
Contemporaneous with the political and often identical
with it was the religious grouping.
In all of these relations the individual was taken
beyond the limits of the family in the modern sense of
the term. But political organization once effected, new
groupings within the community are soon formed with
a view to satisfying wants which cannot be satisfied in
isolation. The development of the social instincts and
the increase in social ties are the prerequisites to civic
advance. So long as the individual remains content
with the pleasures and satisfactions of family life, he is
unwilling to sacrifice time and energy in the interests
of a larger group. With the growth of the city, how-
ever, new social possibilities and new social wants make
themselves felt --- wants which can be satisfied only
through the coöperation of large groups. The possibility
of satisfying these social cravings constitutes the essen-
tial distinction between city and country life. All the
primary physical wants, such as pure air and whole-
some food, can be better satisfied in the country, for
there each householder has full control over both.
So soon as we get beyond these primary physical
wants, however, and enter the field of social desires, the
limitations of the country are immediately manifest.
Social pleasures in the rural districts are restricted to
.the meetinghouse, the tavern, and an occasional circus.
92
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
Social relations such as these can never develop the
broader civic instincts. The possibility of new pleasures;
which require for their enjoyment the presence of large
numbers of persons, forms one of the chief attractions of
city life. The social club, the theater, the various lit-
erary, scientific, and musical societies cannot become an
integral part of the life and activity of the individual
until he has come under the influence of city conditions.
With each new tie his readiness to labor in the interest
of a group larger than the family becomes increasingly
evident. What at first seemed a loss of time and pos-
sible loss of profit becomes an instinctive impulse until
it reaches its full fruition in a spirit of devotion to the
interests of the community as a whole.
It will be seen, therefore, that the growth of the
civic instinct is but part of a larger movement involv-
ing all the distinctively social relations of the individual.
In social organizations, such as the church, the club, and
the university, those standards of efficiency are first
developed which are afterwards extended to every de-
partment of the city's activity. The splendid results
of concerted action in these fields are constant object
lessons in social coöperation. The influence of the uni-
versity furnishes a striking illustration of this principle.
In many of our larger cities the university has made a
model city of the district over which it has jurisdiction.
The splendid walks, the artistic arrangement of build-
ings, the spacious athletic grounds, all contribute to the
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 93
general effect. The dormitory system, with its highly
developed social life and spirit of coöperation, modifies
the habits and standards of conduct of everyone coming
under its influence, and is not without its lessons to the
community. Finally, the elimination of all debasing
influences completes the group of factors which give to
the university sections of American cities their distinc-
tive character.
Along somewhat different lines the church and the
club contribute toward the development of civic in-
stincts. They both foster the feeling of loyalty, and
impress upon the individual the possibilities of coöpera-
tive action. The coördination of these various social
institutions with the city concept is the first step in the
development of distinctive city ideals. As yet they are
isolated groupal relations which have not been correlated
with the city environment. The incentives to unselfish
devotion which they foster are distinct contributions to
the development of a broader civic spirit. As the object
lessons of environmental changes produced by these so-
cial institutions become more numerous and prominent,
the elements will be furnished from which the individ-
ual will be able to construct a picture of an ideal city
environment. The life of the individual must be brought
into organic and vital touch with the life of the com-
munity. The citizen must think of the city as far more
than a protector of person and property. In his mind,
the city must be associated with a large group of services
94
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
upon the efficiency of which the maintenance of his
standard of life depends.
All this involves a wide extension of municipal func-
tions: the creation of a new city environment. The city
dweller must associate the city in its organized capacity
with those pleasures and recreations which he now can
vate organization. The extension of municipal func-
tions which this involves, while it may constitute a dan-
ger, is one of the dangers incident to progress. The city
of the future will be associated with all the social pleas-
ures, now isolated and exclusive. Instead of expecting
a mechanism of government to maintain a high standard
of public service, these standards will be furnished by
the public opinion of the community. Inefficient gov-
ernment will mean the curtailment of a great mass of
pleasures which are at present offered only by the ex-
clusive social and athletic clubs. The city democracy
toward which we are approaching will be a democracy
of pleasures and enjoyments rather than a democracy of
the suffrage.
REFERENCES
XIII. London: Scott, 1894.
HOWE, F.C. "The City: the Hope of Dernocracy." New York:
Scribner's, 1905.
LAGNEAU. “Essai de Statistique Anthropologique sur la
Population Parisienne."
SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 95
PEARSON, C. H. "National Life and Character," Chap. III.
London: Macmillan, 1893.
ROBINSON, C. M. "The Improvement of Towns and Cities."
New York: Putnam's, 1901.
WEBER, A. F. "Growth of Cities in the Nineteenth Century."
New York: Macmillan, 1899..
ZUEBLIN, C. "American Municipal Progress." Macmillan,
1902.
CHAPTER V
THE POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF CITY GROWTH
UNTIL recently the attention of students of munici-
pal affairs has been directed chiefly to the administra-
tive aspect of the municipal problem. But this aspect
is superficial; underlying it are the deeper forces of
city life-the real influences, political and social, which
determine municipal progress.
It is possible to examine the political influence of
cities from several different points of view. We may
inquire into the effects of city life upon the political
thought and action of the population; or we may trace
the influence of cities upon the political life of the
nation. These two questions may best be examined sepa-
rately, as they deal with essentially different problems,
the one requiring a psychological inquiry, the other an
examination of political relations.
As regards the first question, it is evident that we
have to deal with the influence of the environment upon
the feelings, instincts, and desires of the individual and
of the group. An analysis of the conditions of city
life gives evidence of certain definite influences which
will ultimately develop a type of thought and action
96
POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES A.
OF GROWTH 97
clearly distinguishable from that of the rural districts.
That the process of differentiation is not further ad-
vanced is due mainly to the fact that the traditions
and habits of thought of modern nations have been de-
veloped under the conditions of rural life. It is neces-
sary, therefore, to counteract this social inheritance
before the process of adaptation to the conditions of
city life can proceed. Many, if not most, of the defects
of modern city life are directly traceable to the lack
of harmony between the instincts and standards of con-
duct of the individual and the conditions of the environ-
ment. A comparison between the inhabitants of the
country and of the city at the present time, while it
gives evidence of certain marked differences, shows
merely the beginnings of a far more radical transforma-
tion through which coming generations of city inhab-
itants must pass.
It is evident that the mere fact of a change of envi-
.ronment from rural to urban conditions is certain to
work profound changes in political ideas. The disin-
tegrating effect of a new environment upon accepted
traditions and standards of conduct is one of the fun-
damental laws of social change. The transition from
rural to city life has acted as a solvent of this kind. So
powerful has been its influence in this direction that
many thinkers have ascribed to city life a purely de-
structive rôle, undermining all accepted ideas, tradi-
tions, and beliefs. While such a generalization is both
98
PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
(D
hasty and premature, it is explained readily by the
fact that up to the present time the conspicuous func-
tion of city life has been to break down the social and
political standards developed under rural conditions.
To take a concrete instance during the early period
of our national development the conditions of rural life
strengthened that negative attitude of the American
people toward government which we inherited from the
struggle with the British crown. We have been accus-
tomed to regard protection of property rights as the
real and usually the only legitimate field of govern-
mental action. Beyond these limits state activity is
called state“ interference" – an encroachment upon
the liberty of the individual.
It is comparatively easy to explain this attitude when
we consider the character of the early settlers. In any
new country the pioneers are, by a process of natural
selection, the most energetic and independent. They
constitute a population trained to depend upon them-
selves and with little sympathy for schemes involving
governmental coöperation. With them, intense individ-
ualism finds unquestioned acceptance.
With increasing density of population new stand-
ards of governmental action are forced upon the com-
munity. One of the first effects is to make apparent
the necessity of regulation in the interest of the pub-
lic health and morals. The patent facts of everyday
life demonstrate the evils of unrestrained individual
POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 99
(D
liberty, which is the first step toward a broader inter-
pretation of the regulative function of government.
The closer interdependence of the individuals of the
community, the fact that the activity of each affects
the welfare of the whole at so many points, must neces-
sarily influence the standards of individual liberty.
This is the first and the inost important point of contact
between the political ideas and the social activity of the
community.
The political principle of noninterference with in.
dividual activity, so dear to the Anglo-Saxon, cannot
receive the same acceptance in the city as in the coun-
try. A change of attitude toward governmental activity
is forced upon the community by the conditions of city
life. The evils resulting from unregulated development
are so numerous and press with such weight upon all
classes that the modification of political ideas takes place
with relatively little friction. It first finds expression
where the pressure for the extension of governmental
control is greatest, viz., in the matter of sanitary regu-
lations.
The next step in the development of a new concept
of governmental action begins with the undermining
of faith in the effectiveness of free competition as a
guarantor of efficient service and a regulator of prog-
ress. No one who has followed the trend of opinion in
the large cities of the United States can have failed to
observe the gradual awakening to the limitations of free
D
100 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
competition. The facts of corporate combination and
consolidation, particularly in such quasi-public services
as the street railway, gas, and water supply, have done
more to bring about a truer appreciation of the relation
of the community to industrial action than any amount
of discussion. American communities at first dealt with
every one of these services on the basis of free compe-
tition. Under this plan, short periods of low prices and
indifferent service scon led to combination or consolida-
tion, with the high cost incident to inflated capitaliza-
tion. Lessons such as these have profoundly influenced
the political thought of our urban communities. There
is no longer the same distrust of all positive govern-
mental action so characteristic of the early decades of
the last century.)
A further step in the development of political
thought directly traceable to the influence of city life
is closely connected with the growing appreciation of
the nature of the city environment and of the reactive
influence of such environment upon the population.
The conditions of city life are capable of indefinite
modification through the action of individuals or through
the concerted action of the community. The history
of every large city bears testimony to the possibilities
of radical changes in environmental conditions, changes
which have profoundly affected the health, morals, and
welfare of the community.
The general appreciation of the tremendous power
i
POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 101
CD
at the disposal of the community exerts a powerful in-
fluence upon the political ideas of the urban popula-
tion. The rapid extension of municipal functions dur-
ing the last few years is an indication of a marked
change of attitude toward the municipality. This does
not necessarily mean that we are approaching a period
of municipal socialism in the ordinary acceptation of
the term. Ultimately, the industrial activity of the mu-
nicipality may be relatively less than it is at the pres-
ent time. The change in political ideas will be in the
direction of demanding of the municipality the physical
conditions for the best utilization of the industrial possi-
bilities of the individual and for the gratification of his
æsthetic tastes. Perfect sanitation, a good water supply,
and a cheap and efficient system of transportation will
be regarded as rights rather than as mere desiderata.
While these changes in the attitude of the popu-
lation toward government constitute the most impor.
tant of the consequences directly traceable to the influ-
ence of city life, there are unmistakable indications of
important modifications in our ideas of governmental
structure due to the same set of causes. The organiza-
tion of our government — national as well as state —
has been determined by a political philosophy inherited
from the English Whigs of the eighteenth century.
The central thought of this philosophy is the belief
in a governmental mechanism acting through “ checks
and balances " and designed to prevent the abuse of
102 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
power. Concerted action among the various organs
of government was what the English middle class of
the eighteenth century feared most. It was felt that
the individual could be protected from the tyranny of
government only by allowing one organ of government
to counteract the action of another. Division of power
was regarded as essential to the preservation of indi-
vidual liberty.
To these political ideas and standards the American
colonists fell heir. When we consider the characteristics
of the first generation of Americans and the nature of
their environment, it is not at all surprising that these
principles should have been applied with a logical con-
sistency even surpassing that of the English Whigs. At
the time the states began to construct their systems of
municipal government upon this basis, English political
sentiment was undergoing a change in favor of concen-
trated authority and concentrated responsibility.
In the period immediately following the adoption
of the Constitution the faith in the system of “ checks
and balances ?' seemed to gain rather than to lose in
strength, due in large part to the grievances against
the English crown. The oppression from which the
colonists had suffered was ascribed to a lack of proper
adjustment of checks upon legislative and executive ac-
tion. It is not surprising, therefore, to find this theory
determining the organization of our state and national
governments. At first the traditions of English borough
POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 103
government prevented its application to the cities. The
“ close corporate ” organization, modeled after the Eng-
lish borough of the eighteenth century, soon proved
itself not only inadequate to solve the problems of the
with the prevailing democratic ideas. The dissatisfaction
which resulted furnished the opportunity for the appli-
cation to city government of the political principles
which had already been applied to the state and national
systems, and which were regarded as necessary to the
preservation of free institutions.
The popular faith in the efficiency of this form of
government was so great that the unsatisfactory work-
ing of the system was ascribed to imperfections in the
D1
tion. Instead of subjecting the system to a thorough
examination to ascertain whether it was adapted to the
kind of problems with which the city has to deal, at-
tempts were made to patch defects by means of minor
changes in organization.
It is only within the last decade that we begin to
find an awakening distrust of this system of divided
power and divided responsibility.) Industrial develop-
ment, particularly the management of private corpora-
tions, has impressed upon the country the advantages
of concentrated power when accompanied by individual
responsibility. The analogies between the administra-
tion of municipal departments and certain forms of cor-
104 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
porate enterprise are so numerous that the application
to the former of experience obtained in the latter is
dictated by the most elementary political reasoning. In
fact, municipal government is often spoken, of as a kind
of business undertaking. The traditions of concentrated
power developed in business life have had a distinct
influence upon that portion of our political system which
it most closely resembles, viz., the organization of city
government. The decline of the local legislative assem-
bly which has accompanied the concentration of power
in the mayor marks one of the turning points in the
development of political ideas. We have begun to real-
ize that individual liberty is no longer dependent upon
the “ reciprocal struggles of discordant powers," and
that the progressive development of municipal policy
demands the coöperation of all the organs of govern-
ment rather than their mutual distrust. To insure effi-
ciency in administration, it is necessary to give to indi-
vidual officials full authority to carry out the policy
determined upon by the legislative organ."
The change in popular opinion regarding the struc-
ture of city government is beginning to show its in-
fluence upon our state and national life. The tendency
to curtail the powers of the state legislatures has be-
come so marked that they have already been reduced
to a position of subordinate importance. The governor's
powers, on the other hand, have been constantly increas-
ing. The great number of executive commissions sub-
10
UG
POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 105
ject to his power of appointment and removal has given
him an effective control over the administrative policy
of the state. This concentration of power has resulted
in a concentration of responsibility which makes the
gubernatorial election the popular verdict on party
policy.
Changes in the problems and structure of govern-
ment do not, however, exhaust the political consequences
of city growth. Besides the direct influence of environ-
mental changes upon political ideas, there is an impor-
tant indirect influence traceable to the conditions of
intellectual life in densely settled communities. The
intellectual stimulus which results from the close con-
tact of mind with mind has been clearly set forth by
Bagehot, Maine, Pearson, and Giddings. The weight
of custom and tradition, which rests as a pall upon all
early civilizations, cannot resist the spirit of analysis and
criticism fostered by the discussions of the forum and
the market place. While the limits of such discussion are
comparatively narrow, the possibility of free criticism
develops that healthful variation in political thought
upon which progress depends. The constant interchange
of ideas which concentration of population, particu-
larly in periods of undeveloped transportation facilities,
makes possible is the entering wedge for the growth of
political toleration. The discussions within the “sacred
precincts” of the ancient cities, of the market place in
the mediæval towns, and the constant criticism to which
106 PROBLEMS OF CITY. GOVERNMENT
every political movement is subjected in our modern cit-
ies, constitute the great solvents in the political life of
modern nations. This fact has led many writers to
the conclusion that the influence of cities is destructive
rather than constructive.
In support of this proposition, it is argued that while
the great revolutions in political thought have pro-
ceeded from the cities, they have failed to furnish the
constructive principles of new institutions. The influ-
ence of Paris upon the political life of France is cited
as a case in point.1 In no other modern country has
one city developed such power over the political life of
the nation, due in part to the centralization of French
administration, but mainly to the fact that Paris, as the
political and intellectual capital of the country, attracts
the best talent in every field of activity. The provinces
look to Paris for their standards in political as well
as in social life. The history of the country during
the last century points to the conclusion that " while
the fundamental principles upon which French institu-
tions rest have been upheld by the conservatism of
the provinces, the great catastrophic forces have been
directed from Paris.” It seems more than probable that
were Paris to have full control over the political policy
of France, political instability would be even greater
than it is at the present time.
To explain this influence of the city we must picture
{"The Influence of Paris.” Spectator, November 5, 1898,
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POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 107
(
LI
1
to ourselves the effects of a change of environment upon
individual thought and action. The inhabitant of a
country district moving into the city finds himself con-
fronted with new conditions of life which immediately
réact upon the ideas inherited or acquired in the coun-
try. Until adaptation to the new conditions has been
effected, the undermining of the old standards of thought
and action is apt to find expression in a form of political
radicalism, negative rather than constructive. Further-
more, the great contrasts in social conditions, in political
power, in intellectual capacity, which are part of the
everyday experience of a city population, tend to under-
mine his faith in equality and to weaken the belief in the
reality of democratic ideals. Social discontent, which
is so closely connected with the awakening desire for
economic betterment, tends to strengthen the reaction
against accepted ideas and traditions.
With these forces at work it is not surprising to
find the intellectual impetus to revolutionary movements
coming from the cities. This certainly has been the case
in France during the present century. In Germany the
cities are furnishing an ever-increasing number of ad-
herents to the anti-governmental parties; while in Eng-
land and the United States the cities have long been
centers from which the most searching criticism of ex-
isting conditions has proceeded.
This rather negative rôle which has been assigned
to the city by recent writers must be regarded as char-
108 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
acteristic of a period of transition from a country to
a city civilization. The stability and further progress
of our institutions depend upon the growth of habits of
thought and action in harmony with the conditions of
city life. These must be just as definite and positive as
those which country life developed. When we have
grasped fully the demands which a higher type of city
life makes upon the individual, and have become clearly
conscious of the form of government adapted to meet
city problems, the more positive part which the city has
to play in the development of political thought will be
If the effects of city life upon political ideas are of
the nature indicated, it is evident that the gradual tran-
sition from rural to urban conditions is fraught with
far-reaching consequences. With the gradual increase
in urban population there is introduced into the body
politic a new influence which acts as a dissolvent of
political standards, and which may react unfavorably,
at least for a time, upon national life. Openness to new
ideas, which characterizes the city population, usually
means the absence of profound conviction on any funda-
mental question.
The great political parties in all countries have long
recognized this fact, which explains their desire to pre-
in political life. The dominant party feels that the
forces which it has most to fear emanate from the city,
POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 109
and this accounts for measures which otherwise would
be inexplicable. Thus it would seem that when the
movement of political opinion in the cities is favorable
to a party, it would do everything to give to the cities
an influence at least proportionate to their population,
but the instinct of self-preservation dictates an essen-
tially different course. It is tolerably certain that from
the constant criticism and analysis to which party policy
is subjected in the cities, a movement unfavorable to the
dominant party will gradually develop.
We have, therefore, the curious spectacle of the dom-
inant political party refusing to give to the cities their
proportionate share of representation, in spite of the fact
that such a change would increase party power—for a
time at least. The distrust of the stability of political
opinion in the cities leads both parties to hold them to a
minimum of representation. This fact explains, in part,
the readiness to insert in state constitutions provisions
setting definite limits to urban representation in the
legislature. It is a significant fact that this prohibition
is directed almost exclusively against the largest cities,
in which the oscillations of political opinion are most
frequent. Thus the Constitution of Pennsylvania 1 pro-
vides that“ no city or county shall be entitled to a sepa-
rate representation exceeding one sixth of the whole
number of senators.” The Constitution of New York ?
provides that "no county shall have more than one
1 Art. II, Sec. 16.
· Art. II, Sec. 4.
110 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
third of all the senators; and no two counties, or the
territory thereof, as now recognized, which are adjoin-
ing counties, or which are separated by public waters,
shall have more than one half of all the senators." This
latter provision is directed against the Greater New
York. Such provisions are not peculiar to Pennsylvania
and New York. They are found in the constitutions of
many of the other states. The following table will show
the discrepancy between the population and representa-
tion of the larger cities as compared with the represen-
tation of the total population :

CITY.
Estimated | Estimated
Popula- | Popula-
tion of tion of
City, State,
1908. 1908.
Relation of City to
State Population.
Actual number of Repre-
sentatives in State Senate.
Total membership
State Senate.
1 Number of Representatives
if fully represented.
1 Actual number of Repre-
sentatives in Lower House.
Total membership
Lower House.
| Number of such Represent-
atives if fully represented. I
150
Per
cent.
New York .. 14,285,435 8,476,427 150.55 20
Chicago..... 2,483,641 5,590,000 44.43 17
Philadelphia. 1,491,161 16,900,000 21.611 8
St. Louis.... 750,000 3,885,989 19.3 6
Boston...... 607,340 3,173,487 19.13 8
While we do not find constitutional limitations pre-
venting the cities of European countries from enjoying
their full quota of representation, the same influences
have produced similar results. With the constant shift-
ing of population, resulting in the growth of urban cen-
POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 111
(D
ters at the expense of the country districts, it is evident
that the more rapidly growing sections fail to obtain
the representation to which their population entitles
them,1 unless a constant revision of electoral districts
be made.
In Germany, for instance, the electoral districts have
not been thoroughly revised since 1871, when the unit
of representation for the Reichstag was fixed at 103,000
inhabitants. The growth of population since that time
has caused the unit of representation to rise from
103,000 to 131,000, a change mainly due to the growth
of cities. Thus Berlin was given one representative for
every 138,000 in 1871; in 1897 the unit of representation
for the city was 280,000, whereas it has now advanced
to 350,000. From these figures it will be seen that the
discrimination against Berlin dates from the foundation
of the empire, and that the phenomenal increase in
population of the capital city has intensified the dis-
crepancy in representation. So far as its representation
is concerned, Berlin has occupied a position of dimin-
ishing importance in the national legislature.
For the whole of Germany, it is interesting to note
that at the time of the founding of the empire the
cities were given proportionate representation in the
Reichstag. In 1871 the cities of over 100,000 inhabi-
i For the statistics of urban representation in European countries,
I am indebted to the work of Professor Meuriot on "Des Agglomera-
tions Urbaines dans l'Europe Contemporaine."
112 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
tants contained 6.9 per cent of the total population
and were given 6.8 per cent of the total number of
representatives. By 1897, however, the percentage of
urban to total population had increased to 13.9 per
cent, whereas relative representation had remained un-
changed. As the growth of urban population is far
more rapid in the northern than in the southern sec-
tions of the empire, it is evident that this discrimination
against cities gives to the south a disproportionate share
of political representation, and since this is the section
of marked particularistic or“ states' rights” sentiment,
it follows that the decentralizing political forces are
given undue strength."
In France the urban centers enjoy representation in
the national legislature nearly proportionate to their
population. The twelve larger cities, which include 11.9
per cent of the total population of France, are given
11.3 per cent of the total representation. The senatorial
divisions, however, combine urban and rural districts,
and thus prevent the urban centers from having a dis-
tinct representation.
England furnishes another instance of the unwilling-
ness of political parties to adjust national representation
in accordance with the changes in the distribution of
population. During the first decades of the last century
the agricultural counties of the south of England domi-
nated the political life of the country. The small bor-
1 Meuriot, op. cit.
C
POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF GROWTH 113
oughs which controlled the representation in the House
of Commons were concentrated in the district south of
the Trent. Until the changes brought about by the
Reform Acts of 1832 and 1834 the region north of the
Trent elected but 131 out of a total of 449 members of
Parliament. Even at this time the south was given
greater political influence than its population warranted.
The north had one representative for every 135,000; the
south one for every 128,000. It required a long strug-
gle, extending over the greater portion of the century,
to assure to the northern counties their due proportion
in the national representation. The Reform Act of
1832 was the first important step in this direction, but
even after the passage of this act the southern counties
continued to enjoy a favored position in the national
legislature. The Reform Acts of 1867 and 1884 were
both important measures in effecting a more equitable
distribution of representation. The representation of
the counties south of the Trent, which had been fixed at
298 in 1834, was reduced to 228. The northern counties,
on the other hand, increased their quota from 136 to
170; while London, which had always been unfairly
treated, found its representation increased from 22 to 62.
If such, then, is the influence of city growth upon
political thought and action, it is evident that with the
gradual transition from rural to urban conditions pro-
found changes both in the constitution and in the activ-
ity of government are inevitable. Until our habits of
114 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
thought and standards of conduct have become adjusted
to city conditions, we may expect to find an element of
instability in our political life directly traceable to the
undermining of accepted traditions and ideas. Every
step toward such adjustment finds ultimate expression
in the attitude of the population toward government.
We have entered upon a period of development in which
the extension of municipal powers is receiving increasing
emphasis. The evils resulting from unregulated compe-
tition have given rise to a strong movement in favor of
strengthening the regulative powers of the city govern-
ment. A new equilibrium between governmental activ-
ity and individual freedom is being established.)
CD
REFERENCES
GIDDINGS, F. H. "Democracy and Empire." New York: Mac-
millan, 1900.
“Influence of Paris.” Spectator, Nov. 5, 1898.
MEURIOT, M. P. “Des Agglomerations Urbaines dans l'Europe
Contemporaine.” Paris: Belin Frères, 1898.
WEBER, A. F. “Growth of Cities in the Nineteenth Century.”
New York: Macmillan, 1899.
CHAPTER VI
THE POSITION OF THE CITY IN THE AMERICAN
POLITICAL SYSTEM
OY
THERE is probably no other question in American
administrative law that has attracted so much attention
and presented so many difficulties as the relation between
the municipality and the state. The great diversity in
the relations between city and state, and the uncertainty
of many of these relations, have added to the difficulty
of treatment and have complicated the problem of for-
mulating general principles applicable to all parts of
the country.
Two distinct aspects of the question present them-
selves for consideration: the legal and the political. In
the discussions of recent years, whether in judicial
opinions or in scientific treatises, emphasis has been laid
on purely legal relations. The danger of this method
of treatment lies in the fact that it creates the impres-
sion, if not the presumption, that the problem involves
nothing more than an adequate formulation of legal
relations, and that therefore no distinction need be made
between the legal and political aspects of the question.
In the struggle to obtain for the municipality a more
115
116 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
definite place in the political system of the state, to
assure to it a certain field of autonomy, and to prevent
the state legislature from constantly interfering with
local affairs, recourse has been had to constitutional
amendments. The belief has been quite general that
through a mere change in statutory provisions it will
be possible so to shape the relation between state and
municipality as to limit each to its proper sphere of
action.
In order to understand the position which the mu-
nicipality occupies in our political system, it is neces-
sary to take a rapid glance at certain principles of the
private law, which have had a far-reaching influence
upon the development of the public law. The law of
municipal corporations is but a branch of that larger
system of corporate jurisprudence which has its roots in
the Roman law. It must be remembered that while the
corporate idea in the common law was first applied to
institutions of a quasi-public nature, such as charitable
and ecclesiastical foundations, it was not until the indus-
trial companies began to play an important part that
the principles of modern corporation law became firmly
established. The law of private corporations was devel-
oped into a coherent and logical body of rules long
before the legal relations and obligations of municipal
corporations were determined. These clearly formu-
lated rules of the law of private corporations were in
many cases carried over to the law of public corpora-
THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM 117
tions, and thus resulted a confusion of thought from
which we are still suffering.
Corporations, for the purposes of this discussion, may
be divided into two broad classes, private and public;
the former being again divided into two subclasses-
private corporations in the strict sense of the word and
private corporations' affected with a public interest.
Public corporations include likewise two great classes,
namely, (public institutions, such as state banks, of which
the whole interest is in the public, and those corporations
which are created for the purpose of exercising goy-
ernmental powers. It is with these governmental cor-
porations that we have to deal.?
. Our system of law recognizes two distinct classes of
public corporations created for governmental purposes-
first, the public quasi-corporation, which is a local sub-
division of the state, created for the purpose of partici-
pating in the administration of civil government, and
which for this purpose is vested with certain of the
characteristics of corporate existence, such as the right to
sue and to be sued. Counties, townships, school districts,
poor-law districts, and the like, are instances of this class.
As was said by the court in Hamilton County vs. Mig-
hels: 2“ Counties are at the most but local organizations,
which, for the purpose of civil government, are invested
with a few functions characteristic of corporate exist-
1 Dillon, “Law of Municipal Corporations."
a7 Ohio, 109.
118 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
ence. They are local subdivisions of the state, created
of its own sovereign will, without the particular solici-
tation, consent, or concurrent action of the people who
inhabit them."
It is evident that corporations which are created for
one, or at most for two or three specific purposes, and
whose powers are absolutely restricted to such purposes,
are unable to meet the requirements of a. densely popu-
lated area. A county, for instance, cannot provide a
system of public drainage, nor can a township under-
take to supply water to its inhabitants. In other words,
for all the functions of distinctly local concern there is
needed an authority, whose legal powers enable it to
meet the demands which necessarily arise in densely
populated districts. The modern municipal corporation,
which combines the characteristics of the public quasi-
corporation with the broader powers. necessary to meet
every local need, is the result of these economic and
social necessities. It may be defined as an incorporated
subdivision of the state-created partly as an agency of
the state in the administration of civil government, and
partly to administer the local and internal affairs of
the area incorporated.) Enjoying greater powers than
the public quasi-corporation, it is vested with commen-
surate responsibilities. In the adjustment of these re-
sponsibilities the courts have borrowed many of the
principles of the private law, and have not hesitated in
. 1 Dillon, “Law of Municipal Corporations," vol. i, Chap. I.
THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM 119
a number of cases to hold the municipality to the same
measure of liability as the private corporation.
(The existence of a body of constitutional provisions,
protecting the personal and property rights of individ-
uals and the more recent constitutional amendments
designed to protect public corporations against the in-
terference of the state legislature, have led to the devel-
opment of a system of law regulating the powers and
duties of municipal corporations, for, which we find no
parallel in any country of Europe. European munici-
palities, although given a definite political status, have
no legal rights as against the state governments. They
are subject to the unrestricted will of the central author-
ities: That they have been able to obtain for them-
selves a wide measure of home rule has been due to the
self-control and forbearance of the national legislatures.
For this reason the problem of municipal home rule
presents itself in an entirely different form to the Euro-
pean mind than to the American. In France, for in-
stance, the movement toward decentralization is one
which is being effected through a recognition on the
part of the state legislature of the advantages of such a
system. No attempt is made to place further constitu-
tional restrictions on the central government, and in-
deed such restrictions would have no binding force.
In the United States, on the other hand, the natural
tendency to appeal to the courts to remedy every abuse,
combined with the growing distrust of the state legisla-
120 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
tures, has led to the belief that through constitutional
restrictions it is possible to force upon the state legis-
latures a policy of non-interference with the internal
affairs of municipalities.
The judicial interpretation of the rights and obliga-
tions of municipalities has passed through two distinct
stages. During the first period ending, roughly speak-
ing, with 1870, the state constitutions contained com-
páratively few provisions relating to municipalities,
thus giving to the legislatures wide discretionary power
in determining the relation between city and state.
The use made of this power soon reduced the cities
to a condition of absolute dependence upon legislative
will. The larger cities in particular became the football
of party politics. The temptation to use the power over
municipal expenditures for personal and party ends
proved irresistible. The Tweed Ring in New York and
the Gas Trust in Philadelphia are striking instances of
this fact. Furthermore, as has been well shown by Pro-
fessor Goodnow, our decentralized government, under
which so many local officials are elected, makes it neces-
sary for the dominant party in the state legislature to
control the elections in municipalities. The struggle for
party supremacy thus increases the tendency toward
state interference.
The rules of law developed by the courts have
favored rather than retarded the policy of state inter-
Goodnow, "Municipal Problems" and "Municipal Home Rule.”
THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM 121
T
ference. One of the fundamental principles of Ameri-
can corporation law is that, while the charter of a private
corporation is a contract between the state and the cor-
poration, which the state is prohibited from impairing
by Article I, Section 10, of the federal constitution, the
charter of a public corporation is in no sense a contract.
Such a charter is rather in the nature of a public privi-
lege, revokable at all times and subject to the discretion-
ary power of the state legislature.
The courts recognized the danger to the unity of
political life which any other interpretation would in-
volve. Municipalities would be able to enforce their
will even when in conflict with the interests of the state
at large. The unqualified application of this rule, on
the other hand, placed the municipalities at the com-
plete mercy of the state legislature and gave rise to the
conditions which have called forth the movement for
municipal home rule.
Municipal home rule, as it is usually understood, is
the power of the municipality to determine local policy
in all matters of distinctly local concern without inter-
ference from any outside authority, whether it be the
state or any subdivision thereof. It also involves the
power to determine the means and methods to be pur-
sued in the administration of those functions of more
general or state concern which are delegated to the
municipality by the state; subject always to those pow-
ers of state control which in the interests of the state
DI
122 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
at large may prescribe a minimum standard of effi-
ciency. The main purpose of the struggle for municipal
home rule has been to prevent the state legislature from
substituting its will for the will of the local authorities.
The tendency on the part of the state legislature to
encroach upon local powers is explained by the peculiar
historical conditions accompanying the growth of munic-
ipalities in the United States. The various influences
and forces that have contributed to produce the present
situation are so closely interwoven that it is difficult to
separate them into their constituent parts.
Municipal home rule does not involve so much a
change in our political system as a change in the atti-
tude of the city population toward local affairs. It
is important to emphasize this fact, because there is
a natural tendency in our American political life to
regard every shortcoming as capable of being easily
remedied by a change in governmental organization,
which has led to the belief that constitutional prohibi-
tions can so modify the policy of the state legislatures
as to guarantee to cities wide freedom of action.
The history of the constitutional amendments in-
· tended to guarantee municipal home rule furnishes one
of the most interesting chapters in American history,
because it illustrates the danger of attempting to crys-
tallize into constitutional provisions a political relation-
ship which must, from the very nature of the case, be
constantly changing. The purpose of these constitu-
THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM 123
tional amendments was to establish a fixed relationship
between the state legislature and the cities of the state.
There is no other instance, either in our federal or
state constitutional history, which illustrates so clearly
the futility of trying to obtain by constitutional amend-
ment that which can be secured only through the con-
stant alertness and watchfulness of the people. After
years of fruitless effort we are gradually beginning to
realize that municipal home rule cannot be secured
through this means. The endeavor to prevent the state
legislature, by means of constitutional prohibitions,
from interfering with the local affairs of municipalities
constantly involves the danger of restricting its author-
ity in matters in which its action is not only helpful,
but absolutely necessary. Probably the best instance
is to be found in the constitutional amendments which
first became general throughout the United States, and
whose primary purpose was to prevent the state leg-
islature from constantly tampering with the govern-
mental organization of cities of the state. Within a
comparatively brief period twenty-two states 1 adopted
YIT
1 Arkansas Constitution, Chap. XII, Sec. 3.
California Constitution, Chap. XI, Sec. 6.
Illinois Constitution, Chap. IV, Sec. 22.
Indiana Constitution, Chap. XI, Sec. 13.
Iowa Constitution, Chap. III, Sec. 30.
Kansas Constitution, Chap. XII, Sec. 1.
Kentucky Constitution, Secs. 56, 59 (17).
Louisiana Constitution, Sec. 46. (This excepts the city of
New Orleans and levee districts and parishes.) .
124 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
amendments forbidding the incorporation of cities by
special act.
In some cases these amendments took the form of
prohibitions against special charters, in others of posi-
tive requirements for general incorporation acts. Their
purpose was the same: First, to prevent the legislature
from interfering with the local affairs of the municipal-
ities by forcing new charters upon them; secondly, to
discourage practices which had become deeply rooted
in the habits of the inhabitants of our larger cities,
namely, the constant appeals to the state legislature for
charter amendments whose purpose was not always in
the interest of the municipality; and finally, to relieve
the state legislature from the overwhelming burden of
dealing with the mass of purely local problems involved
in the granting and amending of local charters.
The first amendments to be passed were those prohib-
-
Mississippi Constitution, Sec. 178.
Missouri Constitution, Chap. IV, Sec. 53.
Nebraska Constitution, Chap. III, Sec. 15.
North Dakota Constitution, Sec. 69, p. 33.
Ohio Constitution, Chap. XIII, Secs. 1, 6.
Pennsylvania Constitution, Chap. III, Sec. 7.
South Dakota Constitution, Chap. III, Sec. 23.
Tennessee Constitution, Chap. XI, Sec. 1.
Washington Constitution, Chap. II, Sec. 28 (8).
West Virginia Constitution, Chap. VI, Sec. 39.
Wisconsin Constitution, Amendment IV, Sec. 31.
Wyoming Constitution, Chap. III, Sec. 27.
Minnesota Constitution, Chap. IV, Sec. 3 (7, 9).
Texas Constitution, Chap. XI, Secs. 4, 5.
(Goodnow, “Municipal Home Rule," p. 56.)
THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM 125
iting the incorporation of cities by special charter and
forbidding the legislature from interfering with the in-
ternal affairs of the municipalities by means of special
laws. They were intended to put an end to that long
series of local and special laws prescribing the execution
of public works and the expenditure of public moneys,
which had worked great harm to the finances of Ameri-
can cities, and furthermore to prevent the revocation of
city charters for the purpose of legislating existing offi-
cials out of office. This latter device was commonly used
whenever the political complexion of the city adminis-
tration differed radically from that of the state legis-
lature.
Soon after the passage of these amendments the diffi-
culties presented by their enforcement became apparent.
Constitutional amendments, no matter how specific in
terms, cannot overcome the traditions of legislative prac-
tice. These were such as to make impossible the enforce-
ment of the constitutional requirements in the spirit in
which they were intended. From the earliest period of
our history the practice of state legislatures has been to
prescribe minutely both the form of municipal govern-
ment and the sphere of municipal activity. This alone
makes it impossible to frame general municipal corpora-
tion acts which will at once meet the needs of the larger
and smaller cities. If in drafting such acts the needs
of the smaller cities be taken as the standard, the devel-
opment of the larger cities will be hampered by reason
126 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
of the inadequacy of the governmental machinery. A
city of 25,000 does not require the same number of
executive departments nor as wide a range of function
as does a metropolitan center of one or two million.
Two possible plans presented themselves for the solu-
tion of this difficult problem: one involved a complete
change in the method of incorporating municipalities ;
the other was to permit the classification of cities. As
to the first, it is evident that had the state legislature,
instead of adhering to the traditional plan of prescrib-
ing minutely the form of government and enumerating
in detail the functions which the municipality may
exercise, simply provided a general framework of gov-
ernment and made a general grant of municipal powers,
then the constitutional amendments could have effected
the purposes for which they were intended. But this
would have meant a complete change in legislative
policy.
If, for instance, the legislature in the general munic-
ipal corporation act had provided that municipalities
shall be organized with an elective mayor and council,
with as many executive departments as the authorities
might determine, and endowed with all powers not in-
consistent with the law of the state, it would then have
been possible to make one general law for all the cities
of the state.1 So radical a change in legislative policy
1 See model charter contained in "Municipal Program," published
by the National Municipal League.
THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM 127
LU
could hardly be expected, and it is not surprising, there-
fore, that the state legislatures soon resorted to the
policy of classifying cities, and that the courts gave
sanction to this practice. The early decisions of our
state supreme courts with reference to classification
were dictated by the necessities of the situation, as is
well illustrated by a number of Pennsylvania cases. In
Wheeler vs. Philadelphia, the question presented to the.
court was whether Section 7, Article III, of the con-
stitution of Pennsylvania prohibited the classification
of municipalities. This section provided that “the
General Assembly shall not pass any local or special
law-regulating the affairs of counties, cities, townships,
wards, boroughs, or school districts ... incorporating
cities, towns, or villages, or changing their charters.”
The Act of the Legislature of May 23, 1874, divided the
cities of the commonwealth into three classes. The deci-
sion of the court is based mainly on the principle of
expediency “If the classification of cities is in vio-
lation of the statutes,” says the court, “it follows of
necessity that Philadelphia as a city of the first class
must be deprived of the legislation necessary for her
present and future development, or that the smaller
inland cities must be burdened with legislation wholly
unfit for their needs."
With the choice thus presented there was no alterna-
tive but to uphold the validity of classification. This
1 77 Pennsylvania, 338.
128 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
decision immediately raised the question whether classi-
fication might be continued indefinitely; a question
finally settled in Ayar's appeal, which involved the
constitutionality of the Pennsylvania statute of May 24,
1887, dividing the cities of the state into seven classes.
The Act of 1874 dividing the cities of the state into
three classes was sustained because it was within the
spirit if not within the letter of the constitution. In
Ayar's appeal 1 the court said: “It is impossible to
suggest any legislation, that has or may hereafter be-
come necessary for any member of either class, that
cannot; without detriment to other members of the
same class, be made applicable to all of them. If classi-
fication had stopped where the Act of 1874 left it, it
would have been well; but it did not. Without the
slightest foundation in necessity, the number of classes
was soon increased to five, and afterwards to seven,
and, if the vicious principle on which that was done
be recognized by the courts, the number may at any
time be further increased until it equals the number
of cities in the commonwealth. The only possible pur-
pose of such classification is evasion of the constitutional
limitation; and, as such, it ought to be unhesitatingly
condemned.”
This tendency toward minute classification has been
far more pronounced in those states in which the courts
have not drawn the line as strictly as in Pennsylvania.
1 122 Pennsylvania, 266.
THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM 129
0
In California a division of cities into six classes has been
approved. The Supreme Court also upheld a law in
which the state legislature divided forty-eight counties
of the state into forty-five classes. In Ohio, prior to
the recent decision of the Supreme Court declaring the
system of classification unconstitutional, the cities of the
state were divided into two classes, each subdivided into
several grades.
In short, the net result of the experience of the
various states has been that if municipal home rule is
to be secured constitutional amendments do not furnish
the means to this end. The necessary changes relate
rather to the policy of the legislature and to the atti-
tude of the people of the city toward local affairs.
These changes cannot be brought about through the
mandate of the lawgiver, but must await the develop-
ment of a clearer appreciation on the part of the people
that city problems are to be worked out through their
own efforts rather than by an indefinite increase of
prohibitory statutes.
Repeated attempts at evasion of constitutional pro-
hibitions on local and special legislation have compelled
the courts to develop a number of tests for the purpose
of determining whether legislation, which purports to
be general, is in reality special.1
• First.-All classification must be based upon substan-
Charles Chauncey Binney, "Restrictions upon Local and Special
Legislation in State Constitutions."
130 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
tial distinctions which make one class really different
from another. In general, it may be said that the
courts have regarded differences in population as the
most important, if not the only basis for substantial
distinctions, although in some cases they have admitted
geographical situation as a proper basis. As regards
the degree of difference necessary to distinguish one
class from another, there has been great diversity of
opinion.
Second.—The basis of classification must be germane
to the purpose of the law. This rule has acted as an
effectual check upon indiscriminate classification for all
purposes. The courts require that there shall be a
direct relation between the basis of classification and
the purpose of the law; in other words, a logical and
reasonable justification for making a distinction. Thus
a law dividing cities into classes on the basis of geo-
graphical situation for the purpose of prescribing dif-
ferent methods of electing the mayor would violate this
rule; inasmuch as there is no direct relation between
the situation of a city and the manner of choosing local
officials.
Third.—Classification must not be based upon exist-
ing circumstances nor upon those of limited duration,
except where the object of the law is itself a temporary
one. This rule is designed to prevent the legislature
from making a class which shall exist for a short period,
i Goodnow, “Municipal Home Rule," p. 76.
THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM 131
JUL
and which shall manifestly evade the constitutional pro-
vision against special legislation.
Fourth.—To whatever class a law may apply, it
must apply equally to every member thereof, except
where its application is affected by the existence of prior
unrepealed local or special laws. The evident purpose
of this rule is to prevent the legislature from making
special classes of certain cities by exempting them from
the rules applicable to all the cities of their class.
Fifth. If the classification be valid, the number of
members in a class is wholly immaterial. The adoption
of this rule has permitted the legislatures in many of
our states so to classify cities as to leave but one city
in a class. Thus in Pennsylvania, cities of 1,000,000
inhabitants or over are placed in one class. As Phila-
delphia is the only city of such size, general legislation
for cities of the first class is in reality special legislation
for Philadelphia.1
Because of these limitations which the courts have
seen fit to place upon their original interpretation of
the meaning of general and special laws, it may be said
that the constitutional prohibitions have failed to effect
the purposes for which they were designed. This fail-
ure cannot be ascribed to a lack of good will, either on
the part of the legislature or the courts. The most
that can be said is that the legislatures have established
1 The decision of the Supreme Court upholding the Greater
Pittsburg law will add another city to this class.
132 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
methods of municipal incorporation incompatible with
The general recognition of the failure of absolute
prohibitions upon local and special legislation, combined
with a growing appreciation of the necessity of special
legislation under certain circumstances, finds expression
in the more recent constitutions. New York adopted
the plan of incorporating a scheme of classification into
the Constitution. The cities of the commonwealth are
divided into three classes. General city laws are defined
to be those that apply equally to all the cities of a class;
special city laws, those which apply to less than all the
cities of a class. The Constitution does not prohibit
special legislation, but simply provides that whenever a
law is made applicable to less than all the cities of a
class, it shall be submitted to the mayor, or mayor and
council of the cities affected. If disapproved by the
local authorities, it is returned to the House in which it
originated, and must be passed by a two-thirds vote of
both Houses, and is then subject to the approval or veto
framed this provision recognized that the increasing
diversity of municipal conditions incident to the growth
of the great cities makes special legislation necessary.
By giving to the cities affected a voice in the passage
of such legislation the interests of both city and state
are subserved.
The next step in this movement to secure municipal
.
THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM 133
home rule was to prevent the legislature from placing
matters of local concern in the hands of state commis-
sions. The experience with such commissions in a num-
ber of cities has been disastrous. The impossibility of
holding them strictly accountable to local public opinion
led to extravagant expenditures, and in a number of
instances resulted in a burden of debt, which for a time
prevented the execution of much-needed public improve-
ments. The classic instance of the evils of the system is
the construction of the City Hall in Philadelphia, which
was placed in the hands of a commission appointed by the
governor, with power to requisition councils for such
funds as it might require. The powers of this commis-
sion threatened for a time to destroy the control of the
council over local finances. The extravagance incident
to the construction of this municipal building led the
constitutional convention of 1873 to insert a provision
forbidding the legislature from ? " delegating to any
special commission, private corporation, or association
any power to make, supervise, or interfere with any
municipal improvement, money, property, or effects,
whether held in trust or otherwise, or to levy taxes or
perform any municipal function whatever." Similar
provisions have been inserted in the constitutions of a
number of other states.
A
1 The act of the legislature was sustained by the Supreme Court
of Pennsylvania in the case of Perkins vs. Slack. 86, Penna., 283.
? Art. IX, Sec. 16.
10
134 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
The most recent step in the movement for munic-
ipal home rule consists in giving to cities the right to
frame their own charters; thus placing the city char-
ter in the same relation to the inhabitants of the city
as the state constitution to the inhabitants of the state.
The State of Missouri took the lead in this respect. The
constitutional convention of 1875 inserted a clause, giv-
ing power to cities with a population of more than
100,000 to frame their own charters through a locally
elected board of thirteen freeholders. It was provided
that charters so framed should go into effect without
being submitted to the legislature, but subject to amend-
ment by the general laws of the State. St. Louis took
advantage of this provision in 1876, Kansas City in 1890.
In December, 1904, a Board of Freeholders was
again elected in Kansas City to frame a charter for
the city. This charter was submitted to the people of
the city at a special election, but was rejected. The
Board of Freeholders is now at work framing another
charter which is to be submitted to the people in the
fall of 1908.
In 1879 California adopted a similar plan, but re-
quired that the charter be submitted to the legislature
after adoption by the city. The legislature, however,
is compelled to adopt or reject the charter as a whole.
This privilege, which was first restricted to cities of
100,000 or over, has been gradually extended, until in
1890 all cities with a population of 3,500 or over were
THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM 135
included. The cities of Los Angeles, Oakland, Stockton,
San Diego, and Sacramento have adopted charters under
the constitutional provision. San Francisco, after two
unsuccessful attempts under this freeholders' clause of
the Constitution, finally succeeded in adopting a home-
rule charter, which went into effect in January, 1900,
and to which amendments were made in February, 1903.
In 1889 a constitutional convention of the State of
Washington inserted a similar provision, giving the
right to frame charters to cities with a population of
20,000 or over. The Missouri rule was adopted which
permitted city charters to go into effect without rati-
fication by the state legislature. Seattle and Tacoma,
the only cities of the required size, both adopted char-
ters under this provision. Provisions of a similar char-
acter are contained in the constitutions of Minnesota,
Colorado, and Wyoming.
The fact that all these charters are subject to general
state laws makes it possible for the state legislature,
if it cares to use its power, to nullify the home-rule
privileges. Up to the present time, however, these char-
ter-framing privileges have had a salutary restraining
effect upon the state legislatures.
The attempts that have been made to assure to cities
a certain freedom of action without danger of interfer-
ence from any extraneous authority show that the real
difficulty is to obtain a change of policy in the state
legislature. Experience has shown that in any system
YY
UI11
136 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
of government, discretionary authority must be lodged
in some organ of the body politic. To attempt to pre-
scribe a limit to legislative discretion through constitu-
tional prohibitions, while it may remedy one particular
abuse, usually gives rise to a series of evils quite as great
as those at which the prohibitions are aimed. Students
of municipal government are beginning to recognize that
the solution of the problem of municipal home rule in-
volves a change of attitude on the part of the state leg-
islature, an attitude of self-control and self-restraint,
but with the possibility of interference where interfer-
ence is really necessary. This change must come, in the
last analysis, from the electors themselves. In other
words, the standards of public opinion must force upon
the legislature a policy of non-interference. The diffi-
culty of developing such standards in our American
communities is due largely to the fact that our consti-
tution so thoroughly protects the personal and property
rights of the individual that the interest and watchful-
ness of the average citizen are greatly diminished. The
feeling of security is so strong that it is difficult to
arouse public interest to an appreciation of the dangers
of the situation.
In closing this discussion it only remains to suggest
a few changes in legislative policy, which would doubt-
less contribute to the development of a more healthful
relation between city and state. It is important to bear
in mind that no form of government can absolutely
THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM 137
assure such a relation; the most that can be done is to
facilitate its development. To bring about a large meas-
ure of local self-government at least two changes in
legislative policy are necessary: First, the method of
municipal incorporation should be so changed that the
powers of the municipality, instead of being minutely
specified, should be conferred by a general grant to ex-
ercise all powers not inconsistent with state laws. At
present, the municipality must look to its charter for
must be either specifically granted, fairly implied, or
essential to the declared objects and purposes of the
corporation in order to make its exercise possible. This
means that whenever the city is contemplating an exten-
sion of its functions an appeal is made to the state leg-
islature for further powers. These constant appeals
constitute one of the influences strengthening the tend-
ency toward legislative interference. The legislature
is fully conscious of the fact that municipal activity is
dependent upon its will, and is, therefore, always ready
to direct such activity. If, instead of minute delegation
of functions, the state were to give to the municipalities
the right to exercise all powers not inconsistent with the
state laws, one of the incentives to legislative interfer-
ence in local affairs would disappear.1
A second change in legislative policy involves the
1 Report on Municipal Program
League.
of the National Municipal
138 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
recognition of a distinction between state and local func-
tions. No one will deny that in the exercise of those
functions which concern the state at large, such as the
management of the roads, the administration of the poor
law, the administration of justice, etc., the control of
the state should remain unimpaired. On the other hand,
as regards functions of distinctly local concern, the
municipality should be permitted to develop its own
policy in its own way and on the basis of its own social
and economic conditions. The recognition of this dis-
tinction by the state legislature would do away with
much of the confusion which now exists regarding the
degree of central control which should be exercised over
cities.1
In order to make the foregoing changes effective, it
will be necessary to develop a system of administrative
control distinct from legislative control. At the pres-
ent time, with our decentralized system of administra-
tion, the only really effective responsibility to which
local officials are subject is the control exercised at the
polls and by the law. The former is only effectively
enforced at stated intervals. If local officials in the
exercise of discretionary power cause inconvenience or
even positive harm to a citizen, there is no redress. The
control which the legislature exercises through its com-
mittees, or through changes in legislation, cannot be
1 Cf. Goodnow, "Municipal Home Rule," and "Municipal Prob-
lems."
THE AMERICAN POLITICAL SYSTEM 139
effective, because it is impossible for so large an elective
body to “ inform itself of the conditions and needs of
particular localities.” Furthermore, the fact that the
legislature in most of the states meets biennially, and
that it is a body subject to constant changes, tends to
diminish its efficiency as a supervising organ. The re-
sponsibility of officials to the courts, it must be borne
in mind, can only be enforced in cases of actual mal-
feasance or criminal negligence. This means that in
cases of inefficiency not resulting from either of these
causes there is no redress.
The only form of effective supervision over lower
administrative officials is through the control of higher
administrative officers or boards. This is particularly
true of those local officials who are performing functions
which concern the welfare of the state at large. In such
cases the possibility of appealing from the decision of a
lower to a higher official is a means of control, which no
other system can provide. We have a constant demon-
stration of this fact in our federal service and in the
civil service of every European country.
As was pointed out before, the adoption of all these
changes, which it will be noted are changes in legislative
policy and do not involve an increase of constitutional
prohibitions, can at most facilitate such an adjustment
of the relations between city and state as will maintain
the unity of the political life of the state, and at the
same time assure such a degree of local self-government
LI
UIT
140 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
as will stir civic activity and enlist the interest and
energies of the population in the solution of local prob-
lems.
REFERENCES
ABBOTT, H. S. "Treatise on the Law of Municipal Corpora-
tions.” St. Paul: Keefe-Davidson, 1905.
BINNEY, C. C. "Restrictions upon Local and Special Legisla-
tion in State Constitutions.” Philadelphia: McKay, 1894.
COOLEY, T. M. “Constitutional Limitations,” Chap. VIII.
Boston: Little, Brown, 1903.
DILLON, J. F. " Commentaries on the Law of Municipal
Corporations.” Little, Brown, 1890.
EATON, D. B. "The Government of Municipalities.” New
York: Macmillan, 1899.
FAIRLIE, J. A. "The Centralization of Administration in New
York State.” New York: Columbia University, 1898.
- “Municipal Administration.” Macmillan, 1901.
- "Essays in Municipal Administration.” Macmillan,
1908.
GOODNOW, F. J. "Municipal Problems.” Macmillan, 1897.
“Municipal Home Rule.” Macmillan, 1897.
NATIONAL MUNICIPAL LEAGUE. “Municipal Program.” Mac-
millan, 1900.
OBERHOLTZER, E. P. "Home Rule for Our American Cities.”
Annals of American Academy of Political and Social Science,
May, 1893.
ORTH, S. P. "The Centralization of Administration in Ohio."
Columbia University, 1903.
CHAPTER VII
THE LEGAL POWERS OF THE MUNICIPALITY
N
THE question of the scope and limits of municipal
powers is but one phase of the broader question of the
relation of the municipality to the state. The problem
presents two aspects which require independent treat-
ment: First, it is necessary to ascertain the princi-
ples that have determined the interpretation of mu-
nicipal powers; and, second, an examination must be
made of the efforts of the courts to secure to the
inunicipality a certain definite sphere of local action
in which it shall be free from the interference of the
state legislature. The preceding chapter explained
how the powers of the legislature over municipalities
have been gradually restricted by means of constitu-
tional amendments. Independent of these amendments,
and in many cases supplementing them, the courts have
formulated rules of law which are intended to secure
to the municipality a certain measure of control over
its own affairs.
The discussion of municipal powers belongs to the
subject of general corporation law; in fact, the rela-
tion between the law of public and private corporations
141
142 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
is so intimate that a study of the powers of the munici-
pality presupposes an acquaintance with the general
principles of the private law. As regards scope and
limit of powers, the general principles of interpretation
have been essentially the same for both private and pub-
lic corporations, although in recent years a tendency
toward a more liberal construction of municipal pow-
ers has made itself felt. The general judicial doctrine
was well expressed by Chief Justice Shaw, of the Massa-
chusetts Supreme Court, in the case of Spaulding vs.
Lowell: 1 • They (i. e., municipal and public corpora-
tions) can exercise no powers but those which are con-
ferred upon them by the act by which they are con-
stituted, or such as are necessary to the exercise of
corporate powers, the performance of their corporate
duties, and the accomplishment of the purposes of their
association.”
Judge Dillon has formulated the same principle in
his three well-known canons of interpretation which are
constantly cited by the courts. A municipal corpora-
tion possesses and can exercise the following powers and
no others :
1. Those granted in express words.
2. Those necessarily or fairly implied in or incident.
to the powers expressly granted.
3. Those essential to the declared objects and pur-

--
1 23 Pick, 71 (74). Cited by Dillon, “Law of Municipal Corpora-
tions," vol. i, pars. 89 and 90.
LEGAL POWERS OF MUNICIPALITY 143
poses of the corporation—not simply convenient but
indispensable.1
These strict rules of interpretation lend special sig-
nificance to the system of granting municipal powers.
If, as in the United States, the legislature undertakes
to enumerate with great minuteness the powers to be
exercised, it is evident that the cities must constantly
be petitioning for authority to meet new problems. The
European method of granting municipal powers pre-
sents a marked contrast with our own. There the city
enjoys the right to exercise all powers not inconsistent
with state laws. A rigid system of administrative con-
trol gives to the central government all necessary au-
thority to maintain harmony between state and local
interests.
The exercise of municipal powers in the United
States involves two fundamental legal questions :
1. The interpretation of the express and implied
powers of the municipality.
2. The legal and constitutional limitations to which
their exercise is subject.
The courts have shown themselves extremely reluc-
tant to recognize anything but the expressly granted
powers, although they have admitted from the earliest
cases that municipalities may exercise all the powers
“ within the fair intent and purpose of their creation,
and which are reasonably proper to give effect to the
1 Dillon, op. cit., vol. i.
ULL
1.
144 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
0
powers expressly granted.” While adhering closely to
this general doctrine, the decisions of recent years give
evidence of a more liberal interpretation of the powers
incident to express grants. The extension of municipal
authority under the police power furnishes the most
striking illustration of this tendency. Thus the courts
have held that under the power to make police regula-
tions a city may“ establish fire limits, prevent the erec-
tion of wooden buildings, regulate the mode and re-
moval of ashes, and make any other reasonable regula-
tions to prevent and extinguish fires."94 Carrying the
interpretation one step farther, the establishment of a
public water supply has been placed under the police
power. In Johnson vs. Philadelphia, 6 the levying of
a street-railway license tax of $30 per car was justified
as a valid police regulation. One of the more recent
cases illustrating the same general principle is City of
Crawfordsville vs. Braden,7 in which the right of a city
to furnish electricity for private lighting was justified
as an exercise of the police power. The court, in the
course of its opinion, said: “The corporation possessing,
as it does, the power to generate and distribute through-
.
1 Douglass vs. the Commonwealth, 2 Rawle (Pa.), 262.
2 Wadleigh vs. Gilman, 12 Me., 403.
3 Filbey vs. Combe, 2 M. & W., 677.
• Dillon, op. cit., vol. i, par. 143.
Hale vs. Houghton, 8 Mich., 458.
6 60 Pa. St. 445 (1869).
I 130 Ind., 149.
LEGAL POWERS OF MUNICIPALITY 145
streets and other public places, we can see no good reason
why it may not also at the same time furnish it to its
inhabitants to light their residences and places of busi-
ness. To do so is, in our opinion, a legitimate exercise
of the police power for the preservation of property and
health. It is averred in the complaint that the light
which the city proposes to furnish for individual use
is the incandescent light. Here, again, is a fact of which
we are authorized to take judicial knowledge. A light
thus produced is safer to property and more conducive
to health than the ordinary light. Produced by the
heating of a filament of carbon to the point of incan-
descence in a vacuum, there is nothing to set property
on fire, or to consume the oxygen in the surrounding air,
and thus render it less capable of sustaining life and pre-
serving health.”
Finally, in the case of Oren vs. Pingree et al, the
court, although refusing to justify the municipal oper-
ation of street railways as an exercise of the police
power, said: “ All the things mentioned (public parks,
waterworks, lighting plant, fire department, drains, and
sewers) are authorized and defended because it is a
proper exercise of the police power. ... Nothing so
affects the health of the community as the character of
its water supply. Drains and sewers and parks are all
.? Attorney-General en rel. Barbour vs. Pingree, 120 Michigan Re-
ports, 550 (1889).
146 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
needed in the interest of public health. Lighted streets
tend to the prevention of crime."
The mode of exercise of corporate powers brings up
the question of the ordinance-making authority of the
municipality, and the legal and constitutional limitations
to which such power is subject. Under the term " ordi-
nance” is included all“ acts or regulations in the nature
of local laws, passed by the proper assembly or gov-
erning body of the corporation." 1 Such rules occupy
a position distinctly inferior to state laws. In case of
conflict, the local ordinance must give way. Further-
more, the courts will not hesitate to inquire into the
motives which may govern the city council in the enact-
ment of an ordinance. Thus, in State vs. Cincinnati
Gas Company 2 the question arose whether the city coun-
cil of Cincinnati could use the power of determining the
price of gas—a power granted to it by state law-for
the purpose of driving the company to a sale of its
plant and franchises. The court, in maintaining its
right to inquire into the motives of the council, said:
“ It is clear that a city council is to be distinguished
in many respects from the law-making power of a sov-
ereign state. ... The ordinance under consideration is
not one of a general character, but operates on the
defendant alone, and was passed under the special au-
2
1 Dillon, op. cit., vol. i, par. 307.
2 18 Ohio State, 262 (1868), cited by Dillon, op. cit., vol. i, par.
312.
LEGAL POWERS OF MUNICIPALITY 147
thority of the Act of 1853. The intention of the legis-
lature in the thirtieth section of that act was to require
incorporated gas companies, over whose charters it had
the power of absolute control, to dispose of the gas
which they might furnish for public or private use
at fair and reasonable prices. . . . The discretionary
power given by the act to city councils might have been
vested elsewhere, but wherever vested, the gas com-
panies, whose property interests are so vitally affected
by it, have a right to demand that it shall be honestly
exercised for the purposes for which it was given. ...
Both public and private rights are to be protected, and
for that purpose we must recognize the fact that a mu-
nicipal as well as a private corporation can do wrong.”
Where a specific duty has been placed upon the
municipality, the court will go so far as to mandamus
the city council to pass the resolutions or ordinances
necessary to meet the statutory obligations. In the case
of The People vs. Guggenheimer, the Supreme Court of
New York issued a mandamus to the members of the
Council of the City of New York to vote the issue of
$570,000 of bonds to pay for the franchise and plant
of the Long Island Water Company. The State Legis-
lature had authorized 1 the purchase of the works, and
directed the proper officers of the city to issue water
bonds in payment therefor. The lower branch of the
municipal assembly refused to authorize the issue. In
Chap. 481, Laws of 1892, amended by Chap. 669, Laws of 1893.
148 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
ordering the recalcitrant members of the council to issue
these bonds the court said:
“The council is an inferior body, unlike the state
legislature, which represents the sovereignty of the
state, and is the mere creatüre of the legislative will,
with power to pass by-laws in the form of ordinances
and the like, and is not exempt from judicial supervision
and control.
“ The main distinction between public and private
corporations is that over the former the legislature, as
the trustee or guardian of the public interest, has the
exclusive and unrestrained control; and acting as such
it may create, or it may modify or destroy, as public
exigency requires or recommends, or the public interest
will be best subserved. The right to establish, alter, or
abolish such corporations seems to be a principle inher-
ent in the very nature of the institutions themselves;
since all mere municipal regulations must, from the
nature of things, be subject to the absolute control of
the government. . . . If the respondents had been given
a discretion in the matter, the power of the court would
be limited to compelling them to exercise their discre-
tion, and could not direct them to vote for or against
the measure. But where the duty is mandatory, and no
discretion is vested, its performance and manner of
performance may be compelled by mandamus."
Municipal ordinances must conform to certain stand-
ards, the most important of which are as follows:
LEGAL POWERS OF MUNICIPALITY 149
1. Ordinances must be reasonable. !
A case decided by the Supreme Court of Michigan 2
in 1886 furnishes a striking instance of the readiness
of the courts to declare oppressive ordinances void, par-
ticularly if they be passed in pursuance of the general
police power of the municipality. A man named Frazee
was arrested under an ordinance of the city of Grand
Rapids intended to put a stop to the demonstrations of
the Salvation Army. “ The ordinance is unreasonable,"
said the court, “ because it suppresses what is in general
perfectly lawful, and because it leaves the power of per-
mitting or restraining processions to an unregulated
official discretion, when the whole matter, if regulated
at all, must be by permanent legal provisions, operating
generally and impartially.”
Another excellent illustration of the same principle
is the case of Commissioners of Northern Liberties vs.
Gas Company. The Board of Commissioners of North-
ern Liberties had been intrusted with the general super-
vision of the highways of the city. In pursuance of this
power an ordinance was passed prohibiting the North-
ern Liberties Gas Company from opening a paved street
for the purpose of laying pipes from the main to the
opposite side of the street. In declaring this regulation
to be unreasonable, and therefore void, the court said:
“The effect of the ordinance is to compel the company
1 Dillon, op. cit., vol. i, par. 319. 2 63 Mich., 396 (1886).
8 12 Pa. St., 318 (1859). Dillon, op. cit., vol. i, par. 320.
11
150 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
to construct two mains, one on each side of the street,
instead of one, thereby materially increasing the ex-
pense to the company, and consequently enhancing the
price of the gas to the inhabitants of the district. This,
we think, an unreasonable exercise of authority, and
consequently not within the power of the board. A
by-law must be reasonable and for the common benefit;
it must not be in restraint of trade, nor ought it to
impose a burden without an apparent benefit.”
The case of Red Star Steamship Company vs. Jersey
City 1 is an instance of the length to which the courts will
go in their examination of the reasonableness of an ordi-
nance. The Board of Public Works of Jersey City was
empowered to regulate the use and distribution of water,
and to fix the cost to the consumer. In the exercise of
this power the board passed a resolution that “ all par-
ties using metered waters be charged the full value of
the meter in use.” While there was no question in the
mind of the court as to the power of the board to pre-
scribe the use of meters, it denied the right of the city
to impose the cost of these expensive devices upon the
consumer. It held that the only duty of the consumer
spoken of in the charter is the payment of rent for the
use of the water, and the city may not, therefore, with-
out the consent of the consumer, supply fixtures for the
distribution or use of water and charge him with the
cost. It is important to note, however, that the courts
1 45 N. J. Law (16 Vroom), 246.
1.)
LEGAL POWERS OF MUNICIPALITY 151
CY
IULU
will usually refuse to inquire into the reasonableness of
a city ordinance, if the power under which the ordi-
nance has been passed is one which is expressly dele-
gated and carefully defined. The examination of the
reasonableness of an ordinance is usually restricted to
those passed under powers “ expressed in terms general
and indefinite.” 1
2. Ordinances must not be oppressive.
In Mayor vs. Winfield 3 the court was called upon
to determine the validity of an ordinance of the city
of Memphis, instructing the watchman to arrest all free
negroes who might be found out after ten o'clock within
the limits of the city and lodge them in the calaboose,
there to remain until next morning; and that all free
negroes so offending should be fined $10 for the use of
the corporation. In deciding against the validity of the
ordinance, on the ground of its oppressive character,
the court said: “ It is an attempt to impair the liberty
of a free person unnecessarily, to restrain him from the
exercise of his lawful pursuits, to make an innocent act
a crime, and to exact a penalty therefor both by fine
and imprisonment without trial before any tribunal.
... We think this ordinance is both unnecessary and
oppressive."
Again, in Baltimore vs. Radecke 4 an ordinance of
the city of Baltimore giving to the mayor the power to
D
120
UL
150 N. J. Law, 55 (1887).
3 Dillon, op cit., par. 321.
? 8 Humph. (Tenn.), 707 (1848).
49 Md., 217.
152 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
revoke permits for steam engines and boilers was de-
clared void because it clothed a single individual with
uncontrolled and arbitrary power. “It commits to the
unrestrained will of a single public officer the power to
notify every person who now employs a steam engine
in the prosecution of any business in the city of Balti-
more to cease to do so, and by providing compulsory
fines for every day's disobedience of such notice and
order of removal renders his power over the use of steam
in that city practically absolute, so that he may prohibit
its use altogether. But if he should not choose to do
this, but only to act in particular cases, there is noth-
ing in the ordinance to guide or control his action.
It lays down no rules by which its impartial execu-
tion can be secured or partiality and oppression pre-
vented.”
3. Ordinances must not make special and unwar-
ranted discrimination.1
They must be fair, impartial, and general.
This rule is well illustrated in the case of New
Orleans vs. Blineau.? By resolution of the municipal
council, approved by the mayor, the Blineau soap fac-
tory was directed to be removed within twenty days
unless put into such condition as not to be a nuisance.
Failure to comply with the resolution carried with it a
fine of $50 for every infraction in case complaint should
nnnnnn
UUUUU
1
LN
1 Dillon, op. cit., vol. i, par. 322.
23 La. Annual Reports, 688 (1848).
N
LEGAL POWERS OF MUNICIPALITY 153
h
be made within a certain period by three inhabitants
under oath. The court, in declaring the ordinance void,
said: “ An ordinance imposing a fine is in every sense à
penal enactment, and by its essence must be general in
its operation. ... To designate one individual or one
establishment, and subject its owners to punishment, ap-
pears to us to be entirely inadmissible and contrary to
common right. . . . It has more resemblance to an im-
perial rescript than a rule for the conduct of citizens
under a government of laws, exacted by a body possess-
ing mere powers of administration.”
4. While ordinances may regulate, they may not re-
strain trade.
This rule involves the important question of the
power of the municipality to grant exclusive privileges
and to create monopolies. It is evident that the general
police power of the city gives it far-reaching powers of
control and supervision over those trades and occupa-
tions which involve danger to the public health and
safety. The extent of the power depends upon the na-
ture of the trade or occupation. It is important in
the first place to distinguish between those occupations
which are inherently dangerous to the public health or
morals, such as gambling, prostitution, etc., and such
as are lawful and useful under ordinary circumstances.
The former may be prohibited, the latter regulated.
The power to prohibit the former class is closely con-
nected with the power to suppress nuisances, which is
ALL
S
154 PROBLEMS OF CİTY GOVÉRNMENT
usually conferred in express terms, or if not, is con-
strued as part of the general police power of the munic-
ipality. The limit which the courts have set to the
exercise of this authority is well illustrated in the case
of Yates vs. Milwaukee, where the question arose
whether the city of Milwaukee, acting under the author-
ity of a state law " to establish dock and wharf lines
upon the banks of the Milwaukee River, etc., "' could fix
such lines wherever it deemed fit, and order the removal
of a wharf, which in no way interfered with navigation,
as a public nuisance. In declaring the ordinance void,
the court said: “The mere declaration by the city coun-
cil of Milwaukee that a certain structure was an en-
croachment or obstruction did not make it so, nor could
such declaration make it a nuisance unless it in fact
had that character.”
In the recent case of Grossman vs. City of Oakland ?
the doctrine was carried one step farther. The charter
of the city gave it power" to prevent and restrain nui-
sances, and to declare what shall constitute a nuisance."
Acting under this power, the city prohibited any rail-
road company from fencing its track in the plotted por-
tions of the city, and declared such fence to be a nui-
sance. In spite of the express power “ to declare what
shall constitute a nuisance,” the court held this ordi-
nance void on the ground that the city cannot arbitrarily
declare any particular thing a nuisance which has not
1 10 Wallace, 497 (1870).
2 30 Oregon, 478 (1895).
AV
SLUI
LEGAL POWERS OF MUNICIPALITY 155
heretofore been so declared by law or judicially deter-
mined to be such. “An ordinance of the city cannot
transform into a nuisance an act or thing not treated
as such by statutory or common law.”
The courts have, furthermore, attempted to discour-
age the more stringent remedies for the suppression of
nuisances. Thus, in prohibiting an offensive trade, the
courts will not permit the city to order the destruction
of the building. The regulation cannot go beyond the
particular purpose to be attained. The Supreme Court
of Pennsylvania 1 refused to issue an injunction to re-
strain the erection of a bone-boiling establishment,
although it recognized the fact that the industry is a
public nuisance, which the public authority may sup-
press if established in the midst of a densely populated
area. The erection of the buildings, however, cannot
be regarded as a nuisance.
The power to regulate as distinct from the power to
prohibit covers a far larger number of subjects. There
is probably no occupation which in some form or other
does not come under one or more of the regulations
prescribed by the municipality for the carrying on of
industrial pursuits. Certain classes of industries, how-
ever, because of their peculiar relations to the public or
because of other special circumstances under which they
are pursued, are subject to particularly rigid super-
vision and inspection. Thus ordinances regulating
1 Czarniecki's Appeal, 11 Atlantic Reporter, 660 (1887).
156 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
markets and providing for the inspection of food prod-
ucts of all kinds come within the general police power
of the municipality. In fact, under a specific grant of
authority from the state legislature, the city may make
the carrying on of certain trades dependent upon the
procuring of a license. Every extension of the license
principle must be justified by paramount considerations
of the public health and safety; otherwise the regulation
will be void, because it may act in restraint of trade.
Milk dealers, butchers, peddlers, pawnbrokers, and
liquor dealers may be required to take out a license. It
is important to distinguish, however, between the use of
the licensing power as a means of police regulation and
the use of the same power as a means of raising revenue.
To come within the police power, the license fee should
not exceed an amount necessary to reimburse the city
for the expense incurred in inspecting and controlling
the business. Thus in Mankato vs. Fowler,1 the Supreme
Court of Minnesota declared that where the plain intent
of the charter provision granting the power to license
auctioneers is to control and regulate the business rather
than to tax it, a fee of $200 per annum is" unreasonable
as a regulation and unauthorized as a tax." The high
license fees exacted from liquor dealers should in reality
be regarded as coming within the power of taxation
justified by the peculiar relation of the business to the
public morals.
TO
1 32 Minn., 364.
LEGAL POWERS OF MUNICIPALITY 157
As a rule, the conditions under which liquor licenses
may be granted are prescribed in the general state law
dealing with the subject. Where, in the absence of a
state enactment, the city charter gives to the local au-
thorities power to regulate and license liquor dealers,
the courts will permit the levying of fees to almost any
amount. Thus in Perdue vs. Ellis," a license fee of $500,
and in Marion vs. Chandler,2 a fee of $1,000 were held
to be within the competence of the city authorities.
The most important question involved in this discus-
sion is the power of municipal authorities over those
industries, such as street railways, gas works, etc., which,
because of their very nature, require the granting of
special privileges, such as rights of way above, over, or
under the public highways.
The subject is one fraught with very great difficul-
ties, owing to the lack of harmony in the decisions of
the courts. It is necessary in the first place to distin-
guish between a monopoly and an exclusive privilege.
A monopoly is a privilege in derogation of common
right, and involves the exclusion from a particular pur-
suit of those entitled under ordinary circumstances to
engage in it. An exclusive privilege, on the other hand,
may relate to a class of industries which requires the
grant of special rights as a condition prerequisite, in-
dustries which are not open to the public at large. The
construction of bridges and the establishment of ferries
VIN
16 Alabama, 899 (1844).
2 18 Georgia, 586.
158 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
are instances of exclusive privileges which recur most
frequently in the early English common law. They were
not regarded as monopolies opposed to public policy.
In every such instance the public is supposed to have a
direct interest in the service which gives it a quasi-public
character. The offering of a service of a public nature
is construed as a sufficient consideration for the exclu-
sive privilege granted.
When the state constitution contains no specific pro-
vision to the contrary, there is no doubt as to the power
of the state legislature to grant exclusive privileges to
individuals or corporations, provided always that con-
siderations of public good and public service can be
shown to exist. In the class of industries above referred
to, the grant of exclusive privileges does not deprive
others of preëxisting rights, and does not therefore vio-
late the provision of the Federal Constitution that “ No
state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or prop-
erty without due process of law."
The authority of municipalities to grant exclusive
privileges is subject to very definite limitations. Unless
expressly delegated by the state legislature, the courts
hold that it does not exist. As was said in Long vs.
Duluth :1 " The authority conferred upon such govern-
mental agencies of the state (viz., cities) to grant exclu-
sive franchises or privileges must be as explicit and free
from doubt as would be required if the franchise were
1 49 Minn., 280.
LEGAL POWERS OF MUNICIPALITY 159
created directly by the legislature.” And, again, in
Jackson County Horse Railroad Company vs. Interstate
Rapid Transit Railway Company, Justice Brewer, in
passing on the contention that the general control of
the streets vested in the municipality of Kansas City
gave it the power to grant exclusive street-railway privi-
leges, said: “Let me in the outset formulate two or
three unquestioned propositions: (1) The legislature has,
as the general representative of the public, the power,
subject to specific constitutional limitations, to grant
special privileges; (2) It may, with similar limita-
tions, grant the like power to municipal corporations as
to all matters of a purely municipal nature; but, (3)
As the possession by one individual of a privilege not
open to acquisition by others apparently conflicts with
that equality of rights which is the underlying princi-
ple of social organization and popular government, he
who claims such exclusive privilege must show not only
clear warrant of title, but also probable corresponding
benefit to the public. . . . The legislature has not in
terms given the city the power of granting an exclusive
privilege of occupying the streets with railroads; it has
not in terms given to it the right to contract away its con-
tinuous control of the streets. . . . It is doubtless true,
as counsel says, that capital is timid, and will not under-
take such enterprises without abundant guaranties and
undoubted security. But this suggests matters of policy,
1 24 Federal Reports, 306 (1885).
· 160 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
1
and presents considerations for the legislature. It does
not aid in determining what powers have been granted,
or in the construction of charters or ordinances. When
the legislature deems that the public interests require
that cities should be invested with power to grant ex-
clusive privileges, it will say so in unmistakable terms,
as it already has in some instances. Till then the courts
must deny the possession of such power.”
The strict construction of all grants of privileges in
favor of the public has led the courts to deny an exclu-
sive character to franchise grants unless they are spe-
cifically so declared Where, however, the city has been
given power to grant exclusive privileges, the grant
of such privileges constitutes a contract between the
city and the grantee, and will prevent the granting of
similar privileges to another company. All such grants
enjoy the protection of Article I, Section 10, of the
Federal Constitution, that“ No state shall pass any law
impairing the obligation of contracts.” It will not,
however, debar the city from entering upon the conduct
of similar enterprises, although as to this point there
has been some difference of judicial opinion.
The Pennsylvania courts, for instance, have wavered
between two opposing doctrines. In the Lehigh Water
Company's appeal," the Supreme Court adopted the gen-
eral rule that a franchise grant to a water company,
which stated that “no other company shall be incor-
1 102 Pa., 515 (1883).
LEGAL POWERS OF MUNICIPALITY 161
1
/
CD
porated for that purpose until the said corporation shall
have from its earnings realized and divided among its
stockholders during five years a dividend equal to eight
per centum per annum upon its capital stock,'' was exclu-
sive only as against other water companies, and did not
preclude the municipality from erecting a water plant of
its own. Although the value of the company's franchise
may thereby be impaired, they have no legal cause for
complaint. In this case the court treated the water com-
pany and the municipality as creatures of the state leg-
islature. “No contract has been shown between the
water company and the state,” said the court, “by
which the latter is precluded from granting to the bor-
ough of Easton the privilege of erecting works to supply
its citizens with water.” The same rule was followed in
Howard's appeal.1 In White vs. Meadville, the court
reversed the decision in the Howard case, and held that
“a municipality has no power to erect works for the
supply of water except by virtue of a legislative grant,
and where by virtue of such a grant it enters into a con-
tract for the supply thereof by another person, it is bound
by its contract and the terms of the law authorizing it,
the same as would be a private individual.” In this case
the court had before it two acts of the legislature, one
authorizing water companies to introduce water into
cities and boroughs; the other authorizing cities to con-
struct their own plants for the supply of water or to
1 162 Pa., 374 (1894).
2 177 Pa., 643 (1895).
D
162 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
make contracts with any person, company, or associa-
tion to supply the same. The evident determination of
the court to protect the water companies led it to the
conclusion that a city may either erect its own works
or make a contract for the supply of water, but having
once adopted the latter plan, it cannot proceed to erect
its own works, and thereby destroy the value of the
water company's plant. The only course open to the
city in case it desires to furnish water is to purchase the
plant of the company. In Metzger vs. Beaver Falls,
the court held that where the city had entered into a
contract with a private company for the supply of
water, it was debarred from constructing a plant until
the expiration of the franchise period fixed by the state
law.
It is evident that while this interpretation tends to
safeguard private rights, it seriously hampers the mu-
nicipality in dealing with public-service corporations; in
fact, practically makes the latter the masters of the
situation. Fortunately, the views of the Pennsylvania
courts have not as yet received general acceptance in
other states.
From the discussion up to the present point it is
evident that in granting franchises, whether exclusive
or otherwise, the discretionary power of the city is lim-
ited by the contractual obligations arising from such
grants. The general rule of interpretation is that with
1 178 Pa., 1 (1896).
LEGAL POWERS OF MUNICIPALITY 163
the exception of powers expressly reserved and subject
always to the exercise of the general police power of
the municipality, the local authorities can do nothing
that will in any way diminish the value of a franchise
privilege. It is also a settled doctrine of law that no
governmental agency can divest itself of its power to
protect the health, comfort, and welfare of the com-
munity ; 1 but the city cannot, “under pretense of reg-
ulation, take from a corporation any of the essential
rights and privileges which the charter confers. They
must be police regulations in fact, and not amendments
in curtailment of the corporate franchise.” The most
interesting cases illustrating the exercise of this power
are to be found in ordinances regulating the street-rail-
way traffic. In most American cities the general police
power of the municipality is reënforced by an express
grant of power to make ordinances regulating the con-
struction and operation of street railways. In the exer-
cise of this power of control a city may regulate the
speed of cars, require cars to stop at designated places,
prescribe that the tracks be watered by the company,
prohibit smoking on the cars.5
1 New Orleans City and Lake R.R. Co. vs. New Orleans, 11 So.
Rep., 77.
2 Hanlon vs. South Boston Horse R.R. Co., 129 Mass., 310
(1880).
3 No. Birmingham St. Ry. Co. vs. Calderwood., 7 So. Rep., 360
(1890).
4 City & Suburban Rwy. Co. vs. Savannah., 77 Ga., 731 (1886).
5 Louisiana vs. Heidenlain., 42 La. Ann., 483 (1890).
164 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
The power of the municipality in the absence of
an express reservation in the charter to fix the rates of
fare to be charged by street-railway companies has not
been definitely passed upon by the courts. It seems
hardly likely that the courts will extend the doctrine
of Munn vs. Illinois to municipal corporations, but
will rather follow the rule that in a matter of this
kind the right must either be expressly reserved by
the municipality in the franchise grant or it must re-
(
authorization must be anterior to the making of the
grant.
Where the authority to fix fares has been expressly
reserved, it must be exercised in a reasonable manner,
and not confiscate the property of the company under
cover of such regulation. The case of Milwaukee Elec-
tric Light and Transportation Company vs. Milwaukee 1
illustrates the principle here involved. An ordinance
of the city attempted to compel the company to sell
six tickets for twenty-five cents and twenty-five for
a dollar, which would have involved a reduction of
nearly twenty per cent from the prevailing five-cent
fare. In declaring the regulation repugnant to the
Fourteenth Amendment—which forbids a state from
depriving any person of life, liberty, or property with-
out due process of law—the court said: “ The improved
1 Michie's "Municipal Corporation Cases," vol. I, p. 442. 95
Wis., 39.
LEGAL POWERS OF MUNICIPALITY 165
service received by the public, with the universal sys-
tem of transfers, is well worth the five-cent rate charged
therefor. The company has not received earnings in
excess of an equitable allowance to the investors for
the means necessarily invested in furnishing such serv-
ice. Enforcement of the ordinance would deprive com-
plainants of property rights by preventing reasonable
compensation for its service."
The restrictions on municipal powers considered in
this chapter result from two causes: (1) From the
fact that the city is a subordinate governmental
agency, the creature of the state, and dependent upon
the legislature for its authority, and (2) from the pro-
tection of vested rights under the state and federal
constitutions.
The existence of such limitations upon the authority
of the municipality makes it all the more necessary to
exercise the greatest care and foresight in the granting
of franchises. The mistake of one generation is per-
petuated, and often carries with it serious and irrepa-
rable financial consequences. It is far more difficult to
correct mistakes of legislative or administrative policy
under our constitutional system than it is in Europe.
The constitutional safeguards to vested rights, and the
broad interpretation of such rights, place the local
authorities in a position of trusteeship not only for
the present generation, but also for the generations to
come.
12
166 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
REFERENCES
U
"American and English Annotated Cases." Northport, L. I.:
Thompson, 1906.
DILLON, J. F. “Commentaries on the Law of Municipal Cor-
porations." Boston: Little, Brown, 1890.
MCQUILLEN, E. "Treatise on the Law of Municipal Ordinances.”
Chicago: Callaghan, 1904.
SMITH, J. W. “Commentaries on the Modern Law of Municipal
Corporations.” Indianapolis: Bowen-Merrill, 1903.
CHAPTER. VIII
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE MODERN MUNICIPALITY
In all matters affecting form of government, the
American people enjoy a reputation for conservatism
which lacks real justification when examined in the
light of municipal development during the last twenty
years. In fact, the readiness with which we have ac-
cepted sudden and almost revolutionary changes in
municipal organization might lead the casual observer
to conclude that political radicalism finds its most con-
genial atmosphere in the United States. This condition
of political unrest with its resulting instability is trace-
able to a lack of adjustment between the form of munici-
pal government and the functions which the city is
called upon to perform.
The apparent willingness to make frequent and radi-
cal changes in municipal organization is strengthened
by the abiding “ faith in mechanism,” which, as was
stated in a previous chapter, is one of the leading
traits of our national character. It fosters the belief
that political abuses are to be remedied by changes
in governmental organization. It is a remarkable fact
that while the form of municipal government in conti-
C
167
168 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
nental Europe has remained almost unchanged during
the last century, the cities of the United States have
been passing through at least three distinct stages, in
each of which an essentially different form of mu-
nicipal organization has prevailed. Europe has been
endeavoring to perfect the operation of a given sys-
tem, while in the United States we have been search-
ing for a form of government so perfect in its adjust-
ment as to assure efficiency without the necessity of
the constant vigilance and active coöperation of the
population.
The history of municipal development in the United
States may be divided into three periods, in each of
which the attempt has been made to remedy adminis-
trative inefficiency through changes in governmental
organization.
In the first period we find municipal powers concen-
trated in a local elective assembly, which not only deter-
mined the policy of the municipality, but appointed all
administrative officials, and in many cases elected the
mayor. For instance, in Philadelphia the mayor was
for a long time little more than the presiding officer of
the city council. It was not until he was elected directly
by the people that the office acquired real importance as
one of the organs of the city government.
In the second period the powers of government are
distributed between a popularly elected mayor and a
council; in the third, the mayor acquires a dominant
THE MODERN MUNICIPALITY
169
1
(D
position, while the elective council is gradually stripped
of its more important functions.
In spite of the fact that the different periods merge
into one another by insensible gradations, the dominant
tendencies in each are sufficiently distinct to justify the
classification above outlined. Thus we may still be said
to be in the midst of the second period, although the
concentration of power in the mayor represents a dis-
tinct tendency, particularly marked in our larger cities,
and leads to the conclusion that the third period of
development has begun in certain portions of the
country.
The form of government which prevailed during the
first period was a direct inheritance from the English
system. The fact that the English people have been
able to develop a high degree of efficiency under a sys-
tem which we have become accustomed to regard as the
worst possible form of governmental organization, throws
an interesting side light on the relative importance of
governmental form as one of the factors in the mu-
nicipal problem. The period during which council
supremacy prevailed in the United States furnishes
abundant illustration of the weakness of any form of
government, where the lack of positive standards of
public opinion permits a representative assembly to con-
duct public affairs without any effective responsibil-
ity. The population of our American cities, absorbed
in the exploitation of the resources of the country, was
1
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170 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
interested primarily in the protection of personal and
property rights. Beyond this, interest in government
did not extend. So long as the council provided a fairly
good police system, the people did not concern them-
selves as to whether the individual councilors were de-
riving personal profit from the public treasury.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the elective as-
semblies, thus emancipated from popular control, should
yield to the temptations which beset the disbursement
of public funds. Given the conditions of commercial
and industrial life during the first four decades of the
last century, the student of American political life is
surprised to find that corruption and inefficiency were
not far greater. Had the council confined itself to mere
jobbery and log-rolling, it is probable that the system
would have remained unchanged for a longer period.
The attempt on the part of the council to use every
municipal office for political purposes and to direct
every detail of administrative activity proved a constant
menace to administrative stability, and made continuity
of municipal policy impossible. As soon as the evils
incident to this condition of affairs reached the depart-
ments affecting the personal and property rights of the
citizens, a radical change of some kind was inevitable.
The most effective remedy would have been to send a
better class of representatives to the city council, as was
done in England under similar conditions. This would
have required a larger amount of civic energy than the
THE MODERN MUNICIPALITY
171
ILU
population was prepared to expend. The line of least
resistance was to experiment with changes in govern-
mental organization. In making these changes, the peo-
ple turned naturally to the state and national govern-
ments, which, within their respective spheres, had proved
themselves capable of coping with complex political and
social problems. It was felt that the concentration of
power in the council was no longer in harmony with the
principles which our political experience had demon-
strated to be of unquestioned validity. Petition after
petition was sent to the state legislatures, requesting
that the form of city government be remodeled after
the pattern of the state and national governments.
The response to these petitions brings us into the
second period of municipal development, in which an
elective and independent mayor, vested with an execu-
tive veto, is given a position coördinate with the council.
This form of government was adopted very generally
throughout the country, and under it the majority of
our cities are now organized. The effect of the change
was to place the control over the police service in the
mayor, and to hold him responsible for the efficiency of
the service. In this second period American cities
passed through the same experience as in the preceding
epoch. The municipal departments directly affecting
protection of life and property were fairly well admin-
istered, while the services further removed from the
daily life and economic interests of the people did not
WT
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172 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
call forth any serious or concerted protest against waste-
fulness, extravagance, or even inefficiency. In the larger
cities, however, where social problems are at once more
complex and more pressing, the shortcomings of local
government aroused sufficient discontent to raise anew
the question of a remedy through administrative re-
organization.
The lack of definite administrative responsibility re-
sulting from the division of power between the mayor
and the council aroused the same kind of dissatisfac-
tion as prevailed during the period of council supremacy.
It was felt that greater efficiency would be secured if
responsibility could be definitely fixed. The readjust-
ment of our municipal system which resulted increased
the powers of the mayor at the expense of the council.
In Philadelphia, Brooklyn, New York, and especially
in the Greater New York, this tendency has found most
distinct expression.
With these three forms of municipal government
before us, it becomes necessary to examine which, if any,
is best adapted to meet the problems that confront our
municipalities. It is hardly profitable to devote much
time or attention to the form of organization which
obtained during the early period of our history. It is
quite evident that we have discarded definitely and irrev-
ocably the supremacy of the council in local affairs.
The second plan of organization, namely, that mod-
eled after our national and state governments, is the
THE MODERN MUNICIPALITY
173
27
TY
20
prevailing type at the present time, and deserves, there-
fore, more careful consideration. Briefly outlined, it
consists of a popularly elected mayor, whose power
of appointment is restricted to a few heads of depart-
ments, and is subject to the advice and consent of the
higher branch of councils. He exercises over legislation
a suspensive veto of exactly the same character as that
enjoyed by the governor of a state and the President of
the United States. The local legislature is often bicam-
eral, and is usually elected on the district plan, exercising
in its upper branch concurrent powers of appointment
with the mayor, and vested with the power of determin-
ing local legislative and financial policy. Heads of de-
partments who are not appointed by the mayor are
elected by popular vote. Of these, the most important
are the city comptroller or auditor, and in some cities
the city treasurer, the receiver of taxes, and the city
solicitor. As soon as we get beyond this mere outline
of organization, however, the greatest diversity appears,
particularly in the relations existing between such heads
of departments and the council.
The final test of every form of governmental organ-
ization is the adaptation of structure to function. In
subjecting the prevailing form of city government to
this test we must consider the executive in the narrower
and in the broader sense. As regards the former--the
mayor—there is but little doubt that this office has been
relatively the most satisfactory part of the system. It
1
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174 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
is interesting to note that the United States is the only
country in which the mayor is elected by popular vote
In England, Germany, France, and generally through-
out the continent of Europe, he is either the appointee
of the council or of the central government. So thor-
oughly are we committed to the elective system, how-
ever, that any practicable scheme of municipal reorgan-
ization must accept this principle as an unchangeable
factor. Nor is there any valid reason for discarding it,
for the sense of dignity which comes to the official
elected by the community at large and the sense of re-
sponsibility which comes with the enjoyment of polit-
ical power have assured a higher standard of ability
in this office than in any other portion of the municipal
system.
The organization of the executive in the broader
sense, namely, the administrative departments consid-
ered as a unit, is in a far less satisfactory condition.
Experience has shown that stability and continuity of
policy are the primary requisites for efficiency in munic-
ipal departments, particularly in those cases in which
technical knowledge and preparation are required. The
popular election of such officials as the city treasurer
and the receiver of taxes tends to prevent the continuity
of policy which the administration of these departments
requires. In these offices real responsibility is not en-
forced through popular election, for, as a rule, they have
little to do with directing the general policy of the
UU
THE MODERN MUNICIPALITY
175
municipality. Honesty in administration, a thorough.
grasp of every detail of the financial system, and a well-
trained ability to adapt this system to the increasing
complexity of city functions, constitute the qualities
necessary to success. Popular judgment, no matter how
enlightened, is unable to furnish the standards to which
the administration should conform. The short term of
office and the relative certainty of a change of incumbent
at the close of each term remove the incentive to improve
departmental organization. In our larger cities many
months must elapse before the comptroller or auditor
can acquaint himself with the complexities of municipal
accounting. When, finally, he becomes familiar with
the details of his office the close of his term is so near
at hand that he usually deems it inadvisable to make
any radical changes.
As regards the other heads of departments, viz.,
those appointed by the mayor with the advice and con-
sent of councils, even greater difficulties present them-
selves. The power of confirming or rejecting appoint-
ments vested in the upper branch inevitably leads to
the interference of that body with the details of depart-
mental policy. This has been one of the most fruitful
sources of jobbery and corruption. In addition, the
mayor is able to shirk responsibility for his appointments
on the plea that he had to consult the wishes of councils
before selecting the heads of departments. Whatever
may be the justification for this plea, it is certain that
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176 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
this impression is created in the community, and results
in the shifting of responsibility. Finally, given con-
ditions such as exist in most of our municipalities, it is
tolerably certain that with the mayor and councils coöp-
erating in appointments, each incoming administration
will make a clean sweep of the higher official class, and
will only be restrained by rigid civil-service rules in
the lower administrative service. This has been the
experience in every city in which the system has been
tried. As we shall presently see, to remedy this defect
will require a twofold change—first, the concentration
of the power of appointment in the mayor, and a dif-
ferent distribution of powers between the executive and
the legislative from that which exists at the present time.
Before examining these necessary changes let us turn
to the organization and powers of the legislative depart-
ment. It has already been pointed out that the bi-
cameral council grew out of the application of our
national political ideas to local government. Its main
virtue was to prevent hasty and ill-considered action,
particularly when the result of such action might en-
danger the political and civil rights of the individual.
To the founders of the republic this system represented
one of the “ checks and balances " through which indi-
vidual rights were to be guaranteed. They were willing
to sacrifice ease and rapidity of legislative action to
what seemed to them the main purpose of government,
namely, the protection of individual rights.
THE MODERN MUNICIPALITY
177
As the dissatisfaction with the working of the sys-
tem of municipal government has increased, the ques-
tion has naturally arisen whether the nature of city
problems is such as to justify the application of the
political principles which obtain in our national and state
governments. It is clear at first glance that the protec-
tion of the fundamental civil and political rights rests
with the national and state governments rather than
with the municipalities. Whatever the advantages of
such a system in contributing to the security of indi-
vidual rights, there is always attached to it the grave
danger of a dissipation of political responsibility. Where,
therefore, the problems of government have no direct
relation to the security of individual rights, the dangers
incident to a lack of political responsibility are greatly
increased. Municipalities have few if any distinctively
political problems to deal with. Good government re-
quires that responsibility for the decisions on local legis-
lative policy be quickly and readily enforced. The expe-
rience of every American city shows that under a
bicameral system such enforcement is almost if not quite
impossible. Whenever the opposition or resentment of
the public is aroused by reason of some mistaken or sus-
picious act, each chamber endeavors to throw the odium
upon the other, and in the resulting popular uncertainty
both escape censure.
Another principle of considerable importance is that
a bicameral system presupposes a different unit of rep-
Antha
178 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
resentation in each house. Under our present municipal
system territorial extension and population constitute
the only differences between the units of representation
of the upper and lower houses. In both branches we
find petty sectional interests giving the tone to legisla-
tion. The position of each member is dependent upon
the number of special favors he can secure for his special
district. In this constant bickering of petty interests
the broader and more permanent interests of the munici-
pality' are lost sight of.
. But this is by no means the most important violation
of sound principles of governmental organization. The
work of a municipality may, from one point of view, be
classed under two distinct heads: First, the determina-
tion of the general policy in the various departments
which must naturally rest with the legislative authority;
and secondly, the execution of the details of such pol-
icy, which must be assigned to administrative depart-
ments, if the highest standards of efficiency are to
prevail. In but few cases has there been anything
approaching a recognition of these principles by our
municipal legislatures. The desire to control every
administrative detail has too often resulted in a subordi-
nation of the city's interests to the personal profit of a
group of councilors, and in every case to the great detri-
ment of the service.
Before drawing any definite conclusions from these
lessons of experience, it will be well to examine briefly
THE MODERN MUNICIPALITY
179
TOY
the third form of city government to which we have
referred, namely, that in which the council is shorn of
its most important powers, giving to the mayor the com-
manding position in the city government.
The process of reducing the council to a subordinate
position in the city government has passed through two
distinct stages : First, to deprive it of its independent
as well as of its concurrent powers of appointment, and
secondly, to take from it its more important financial
powers. The first change was dictated by a recognition
of the impossibility of fixing responsibility with a
divided power of appointment. The popular distrust of
local legislative bodies has become so deeply rooted,
however, that the further step of depriving the council
of many of its financial powers is now being taken. In
the larger cities, particularly in the Greater New York,
the council has been deprived of these powers which in
its earlier history furnished the main reason for its exist-
ence. In fact, until quite recently the principle that
financial policy should be directed by the representative
assembly was one of the unquestioned tenets of govern-
mental organization in the United States. Instead of
attempting the more thoroughgoing remedy of enforcing
a higher standard of capacity and integrity in the city
council, the simplest plan seemed to be to take from the
council those powers which it had shown itself in-
competent to administer.
In the recent charter of the Greater New York this
180. PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
tendency has found its most distinct expression. The
framing of the budget is intrusted to a Board of Esti-
mate and Apportionment, made up of the mayor, the
comptroller, the president of the Board of Aldermen,
and the presidents of the five boroughs, into which the
city is divided. The budget, as framed by this board,
is submitted to the Municipal Assembly, which can only
reduce the amount assigned to each item, but has no
O
such reduction is subject to the approval of the mayor,
and if vetoed by him must be passed by a majority of
five sixths of the assembly. In making the transfer
of financial powers to the Board of Estimate and Ap-
portionment, it was argued that such a change would
enable the citizens to hold a few persons to strict ac-
countability for the financial policy of the city. It is
not surprising, therefore, that local elections have come
to mean a verdict on the policy of the mayor rather
than on that of the council.
The lessons to be derived from the practical work-
ing of the two types of government which have pre-
vailed since the beginning of the last century are suffi-
ciently definite to guide us in the formulation of a
system of municipal government which shall conform
to the standards of popular government in legislation,
and at the same time facilitate continuity of adminis-
trative policy.
Any scheme of municipal reorganization, in order to
THE MODERN MUNICIPALITY
T
181
TOy
be practicable, must conform to the accepted political
standards of the American people. Any attempt to re-
model our system after the pattern of the English or
continental forms is quite certain to meet with little
response. Our political ideas have moved too far from
the system of council supremacy to make a change in that
direction probable or even desirable. It seems equally
certain that any attempt to encroach upon the principle
of universal suffrage will arouse the most violent oppo-
sition. Furthermore, the concentration of appointive
power in the mayor is rapidly becoming an accepted
principle in the organization of municipalities. It is a
system dictated by sound principles of administration,
and is in harmony with present tendencies in American
industrial and political methods.
Given these factors, what is the form of organization
best adapted to meet the problems of city life? So far
as the legislative department is concerned, we have seen
that, however justified in the state and national legisla-
tures, city conditions do not furnish the basis for a
bicameral system. The kind of business which a council
is called upon to perform, being of an essentially non-
political character, calls for a small representative as-
sembly which will assume the full responsibility for the
general policy of the municipality.
Within recent years a new tendency in the organiza-
tion of American municipalities has begun to make itself
felt. It is true that this new movement has not as yet
13
182 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
assumed large proportions, but it is so significant and
is fraught with such far-reaching consequences to the
future of local institutions in the United States that it
deserves the most careful attention.
We have hitherto proceeded on the assumption that
in the organization of municipalities the same care must
be observed in the division of executive, legislative, and
judicial functions as in the organization of state and
national governments. The failure of this organization
to give satisfactory results has gradually undermined
popular faith in this division of powers. As a further
influence in the same direction we must take into con-
sideration the growing importance which the analogy
between the municipal and the business corporation has
assumed in the popular mind. The doctrine that mu-
nicipal administration is essentially and primarily a
business matter, to be managed in the same way as large
corporate enterprises, has deeply influenced the attitude
of the public toward municipal affairs, and has pre-
pared the way for a form of organization based upon
business analogies in which the older doctrine of the
separation of powers has been completely set aside.
Another fact in this connection which deserves con-
sideration is the gradual change of opinion with refer-
ence to the character of public control over municipal
affairs. For a long time it was the accepted belief
throughout the United States that the control over the
activities of local government could best be secured
Y
· THE MODERN MUNICIPALITY
183
VN
through a form of governmental organization in which
the different organs of government controlled one an-
other. The division of the city council into two branches,
and the complete separation of the executive from the
legislative authorities were intended to serve this pur-
pose. Through such a mechanism the people thought to
relieve themselves of the necessity of constant alertness
and watchfulness.
That this plan has failed to produce the results an-
ticipated is a fact that is gradually impressing itself on
the American people. There is a growing conviction
that the only effective control over administrative work
is to be found in the standards set by public opinion.
Instead of making governmental work as difficult as
possible through a system of “.checks and balances,”
the line of progressive development is to be found in
giving to the city authorities wide powers, in holding
them to strict legal accountability in the exercise of
these powers, and in maintaining a high standard of
administrative efficiency through a well-organized pub-
lic opinion. All these influences combined have served
to bring about a change of attitude toward municipal
affairs which has found expression in a new type of
municipal organization. Under the name of the " Gal-
yeston” and “ Des Moines " plans a new principle is
gradually finding acceptance.
The genesis of the idea is to be found in the organ-
ization of the District of Columbia, which is governed
D
2.1
184 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
by a board of commissioners appointed by the President.
In 1900 the Legislature of Texas framed a new system
of municipal organization for Galveston. Under the
original plan as first submitted the government of the
city was vested in an appointive board. In the course
of the discussion an amendment was introduced com-
bining the appointive and elective principles by making
three members appointive and two elective. This plan
was declared unconstitutional on the ground that it did
not conform to the requirements of a democratic organ-
ization of municipalities. Before this decision was
1 Ex parte Lewis.. Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, March
25, 1903. 73 Southwestern Reporter, 811.
In declaring unconstitutional the law providing for the appoint-
ment of a municipal commission the court based its opinion on
Section 2, Paragraph 1 of the Bill of Rights, which reads as follows:
“All political power is inherent in the people, and all free govern-
ments are founded on their authority and instituted for their bene-
fit. The faith of the people of Texas stands pledged to the preser-
vation of a republican form of government,” etc. Also Section
2, Article II of the Constitution which provides: "All qualified
voters of the State herein described, who shall have resided for
six months immediately preceding an election within the limits
of any city or corporate town, shall have the right to vote for
mayor and all other elective officers; but in all elections to de-
termine the expenditure of money or assumption of debt, only
those shall be qualified to vote who pay taxes in said city or
incorporated town.”
In interpreting this article the court said: “We believe if the
clause confers the right on the voters in cities to vote for mayor
and other elective officers, it is effective, no matter where it may
have been placed by the Constitution builders. The language of
said provision is not dubious. It is clear and unequivocal. The
terms used are strong. The language is that the elector 'shall have
THE MODERN MUNICIPALITY
183
handed down, however, the law was again amended,
making all the members of the board elective. This
form of organization has been extended to Houston,
Dallas, Fort Worth, and El Paso.
A step in the same direction was taken by the city
of Des Moines in 1907. Under an act passed by the
Iowa Legislature on March 29, 1907, all cities of the
State having a population of over 25,000 inhabitants
are permitted, upon petition signed by twenty-five per
cent of the electors, to submit to the people of the city
the question of adopting the plan of government pro-
vided for under the act.
The plan vests the entire executive, administrative,
and legislative powers of the municipality in a mayor
and four councilmen, nominated and elected at large.
the right to vote for mayor and other elective officers. If this right
is conferred, by what power can the Legislature deny it? If they
cannot do it directly, can they accomplish it by indirection? To
hold that the Constitution makers undertook the task of defining
qualifications of voters in cities, and providing that persons pos-
sessing the enumerated qualifications should have the right to vote
for mayor and other elective officers, and then to decide, without
an express provision of the Constitution on the subject that the
Legislature should have the power to withhold this right to vote
in cities, would, in our opinion, be a travesty on constitutional
construction. Certainly after the right to vote had been conferred,
it would be a strange doctrine that the Legislature, without some
constitutional warrant, would be authorized to limit or deny the
right of suffragans to vote in cities.”
The Supreme Court of the State reversed the decision of the
Court of Criminal Appeals, but before this occurred the law had
been changed to its present form.
186 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
The government is divided into five administrative de-
partments, designated as follows:
1. Department of Public Affairs.
2. Department of Accounts and Finances.
3. Department of Public Safety.
4. Department of Streets and Public Improvements.
5. Department of Parks and Public Property.
Each member of the board, or council, as it is called,
is assigned to one of these departments as the adminis-
trative head thereof. It is furthermore provided that
all grants of franchises to public-service corporations
shall first be submitted to popular vote for approval.1
It is furthermore provided that any member of the
board or council may be removed upon petition of
twenty-five per cent of the electors demanding a new
election for the office. The incumbent may be a candi-
i Every ordinance or resolution appropriating money or ordering
any street improvement or sewer or making or authorizing the making
of any contract, or granting any franchise or right to occupy or
use the streets, highways, bridges or public places in the city for any
purpose, shall be complete in the form in which it is finally passed,
and remain on file with the city clerk for public inspection at least
one week before the final passage or adoption thereof. No franchise
or right to occupy or use the streets, highways, bridges or public
places in any city shall be granted, renewed or extended, except by
ordinance, and every franchise or grant for interurban or street
railways, gas or water-works, electric light or power plants, heating
plants, telegraph or telephone systems or other public-service utilities
within said city must be authorized or approved by a majority of
the electors voting thereon at a general or special election as provided
in Section 776 of the code.
THE MODERN MUNICIPALITY
187
(D
date at such election. Opportunity is thus offered at
any time to pass on the efficiency or honesty of any
member of the board."
i The holder of any elective office may be removed at any time
by the electors qualified to vote for a successor of such incumbent.
The procedure to effect the removal of an incumbent of an elective
office shall be as follows: A petition signed by electors entitled to
vote for a successor to the incumbent sought to be removed, equal
in number to at least twenty-five per centum of the entire vote for
all candidates for the office of mayor cast at the last preceding
general municipal election, demanding an election of a successor
of the person sought to be removed shall be filed with the city clerk,
which petition shall contain a general statement of the grounds
for which the removal is sought. The signatures to the petition
need not all be appended to one paper, but each signer shall add to
his signature his place of residence, giving the street and number.
One of the signers of each such paper shall make oath before an
officer competent to administer oaths that the statements made
therein are true as he believes, and that each signature to the paper
appended is the genuine signature of the person whose name it
purports to be. Within ten days from the date of filing such petition
the city clerk shall examine and from the voters' register ascertain
whether or not said petition is signed by the requisite number of
qualified electors and, if necessary, the council shall allow him extra
help for that purpose; and he shall attach to said petition his cer-
tificate, showing the result of said examination. If by the clerk's
certificate the petition is shown to be insufficient it may be amended
within ten days from the date of said certificate. The clerk shall,
within ten days after such amendment, make like examination of
the amended petition, and if his certificate shall show the same to
be insufficient, it shall be returned to the person filing the same;
without prejudice, however, to the filing of a new petition to the same
effect. If the petition shall be deemed to be sufficient, the clerk
shall submit the same to the council without delay. If the petition
shall be found to be sufficient, the council shall order and fix a date
for holding the said election not less than thirty days nor more than
188 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
The act also gives to the electors of the city the
power to exercise the right of initiative. If a proposed
ordinance is accompanied by a petition signed by twenty-
five per cent of the electors, the council is compelled
either to pass such ordinance within twenty days after
the filing of such petition or to order a special election
for the purpose of passing on such ordinance. If the
petition is signed by not less than ten nor more than
twenty-five per cent of the electors, then the council is
required within twenty days either to pass the ordinance
without change, or to submit the same at the next gen-
eral city election, occurring not more than thirty days
after the filing of the petition.
forty days from the date of the clerk's certificate to the council that a
sufficient petition is filed.
The council shall make or cause to be made publication of notice
and all arrangements for holding such election, and the same shall
be conducted, returned and the result thereof declared, in all respects
as are other city elections. The successor of any officer so removed
shall hold office during the unexpired term of his predecessor. Any
person sought to be removed may be a candidate to succeed himself,
and unless he requests otherwise in writing, the clerk shall place his
name on the official ballot without nomination. In any such re-
moval election, the candidate receiving the highest number of votes
shall be declared elected. At such election if some other person than
the incumbent receives the highest number of votes, the incumbent
shall thereupon be deemed removed from the office upon qualification
of his successor. In case the party who receives the highest number
of votes shall fail to qualify, within ten days after receiving notifica-
tion of election the office shall be deemed vacant. If the incumbent
receives the highest number of votes, he shall continue in office.
The same method of removal shall be cumulative and additional to
the methods heretofore provided by law.
THE MODERN MUNICIPALITY
189
The people are also given the power of protest and
referendum. Section 20 of the act provides that no ordi-
nance passed by the council, except when otherwise re-
quired by the general laws of the state, by the provisions
of the act, or for the immediate preservation of the pub-
lic peace, health, or safety, and passed by a two-thirds
vote of the council, shall go into effect before ten days
subsequent to the date of its final passage, and if during
this period a petition of protest signed by twenty-five
per cent of the electors of the city is presented to the
council, the operation of the ordinance shall, for the time
being, be suspended. The council is then required to
reconsider such ordinance, and if the same be not re-
pealed, it must be submitted to the electors either at a
general or special municipal election, and cannot become
operative unless a majority of the qualified electors vote
in favor thereof. The act furthermore provides for the
greatest publicity of city affairs, especially in the matter
of public accounting.
The only city which up to the present time has
availed itself of the provision of this act is Des Moines,
but as the plan did not go into operation until the last
Monday in March, 1908, it is too early to form any opin-
ion on its actual operation. It is clear, however, that
the basic idea is to assure as large a measure of public
control as possible. If successful in these smaller cities,
this plan will exert a profound influence on the political
thought of the country. It will demonstrate that some
(1
· 190 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
D
of our traditional ideas with reference to the organiza-
tion of government require radical revision. The health-
ful kernel of this new movement is that it rests on an
abiding faith in the efficacy of public control. It places
responsibility for good government exactly where it
belongs, namely, on the people themselves, and makes
necessary the development of a well-organized public
opinion.
The fact that this new movement has made a deep
impression is attested by the efforts that are being made
to secure the adoption of similar plans in different sec-
tions of the country. In Massachusetts we find con-
tinued agitation in favor of this plan; in Salem, North-
ampton, and even in Boston, considerable interest is
being aroused. In Tennessee: Nashville and Memphis;
in Missouri: Kansas City; in California: San Diego
and Oakland; in Wisconsin: Madison and Sheboygan;
in Texas: Austin and Beaumont, are all actively push-
ing for a similar system. In Chicago the agitation for
a commission plan of government has assumed large
proportions.
In Kansas the last legislature provided for the gov-
ernment of cities by commission, but as yet the new plan
has not been adopted by any of the cities of the State.
In Wichita the attempt to incorporate under the new
act failed at a popular election. Topeka and Coffeeville
are now agitating the question to avail themselves of
the new type of organization.
Y
THE MODERN MUNICIPALITY
191
While this dependence on public opinion as the con-
trolling factor in local government constitutes a distinct
step forward, it is evident that in order to make this
control effective it must emanate from a public opinion,
which is not only well organized, but which is also highly
enlightened. This necessity lends a new significance to
the efforts that are now being made to place the people
in full possession of the basic facts concerning municipal
affairs. It is not sufficient that the enlightenment of the
public mind be restricted to periods of moral upheaval.
In order that public opinion may exert a healthful influ-
ence on local affairs, it must be kept in constant posses-
sion of the facts, and these facts must be so presented
that a judgment can readily be formed on the work of
municipal departments.
The establishment of the Municipal Research Bureau
in New York City marks an epoch in this process of
the enlightenment of public opinion. The primary pur-
pose of this bureau is not to ferret out abuses, but rather
to place before the public in the most accessible and
striking form, the facts upon the basis of which an accu-
rate opinion of the efficiency or inefficiency of particular
departments may be formed. In this way, and in this
way only, may we expect permanent improvements in
our city life. Agencies such as these make possible an
effective control over municipal administration through
public opinion.
To assure to any form of municipal organization its
192 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
In
highest efficiency, it will be necessary to give to the
municipality a more definite place in our political system
than it has heretofore occupied. The numerous constitu-
tional prohibitions upon the state legislature, while they
have remedied certain evils, have been wholly inadequate
to secure to the municipality a large measure of local
autonomy. It seems unlikely that any system of consti-
tutional limitations can ever be devised which will take
the place of the recognition by the legislature of the
necessity of respecting municipal home rule as a primary
requisite for the development of vigorous local institu-
tions. We are now beginning to see that in many cases
these constitutional limitations have developed as many
real evils as they were intended to remedy, and there
are indications that the faith of the American people in
such mechanical safeguards is being gradually under-
mined. The experience of the last quarter of a cen-
tury demonstrates that we must give to the state leg-
islature wide discretionary powers. The standards of
public opinion must be so well defined and the stand-
ard of capacity of the legislatures so high as to assure
the continuous recognition of those principles of govern-
ment upon which the successful working of democratic
institutions rests, namely, confidence of the people in
their representatives, combined with a degree of self-
control in the state legislatures, which will enable the
municipalities to determine their local policy without
fear of interference from without.
10
ro
THE MODERN MUNICIPALITY
193
REFERENCES
CONKLING, A. R. “City Government in the United States."
New York: Appleton, 1894.
GOODNOW, F. J. “City Government in the United States."
New York: Century, 1904.
NATIONAL MUNICIPAL LEAGUE. "Municipal Program.” New
· York: Macmillan, 1900.
SHAW, A. “Municipal Government in Great Britain." Cen-
tury, 1895.
"Municipal Government in Continental Europe.” Cen-
tury, 1895.
Wilcox, D. F. "The Study of City Government." Macmillan,
1897.
CHAPTER IX
CITY GOVERNMENT AND AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC IDEALS
JOHN STUART MILL opens his discussion of “ Repre-
sentative Government” with the remark that govern-
ment“ by some minds is conceived as strictly a practical
art, giving rise to no questions but those of means and
an end. Forms of government are assimilated to any
other expedients for the attainment of human objects.
They are regarded as wholly an affair of invention and
contrivance. Being made by man, it is assumed that
man has the choice either to make them or not, and how
or on what pattern they shall be made. Government, ac-
cording to this conception, is a problem to be worked like
any other questions of business.”
Mill here expresses a view which still dominates mod-
ern political thought, in spite of the fact that the philos-
ophy of which it is the expression has long since ceased
to color the study of institutions other than political.
It is a curious fact that while the doctrine of evolution,
with its leading principle of the adaptation of form to
function, has profoundly influenced our reasoning on all
matters pertaining to social relations, it has failed to
overcome the influence of tradition upon our political
194
AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC IDEALS
195
thinking. We still deal with political phenomena as if
governmental organization could be made, unmade, and
remade without reference either to industrial conditions
or to the special problems with which government has to
deal. The principal effect and the immediate danger of
this attitude toward questions of civil government are
that our reasoning on political affairs is usually “ in
harmony with what we want rather than with the con-
ditions and problems which government has to face."
The history of city government in the United States
presents a peculiar interest to the student of poli-
tics, because it illustrates so clearly these general prin-
ciples.
The formative period in the development of our
American cities was dominated by an essentially nega-
tive view of government. During the eighteenth and the
greater part of the nineteenth centuries American polit-
ical thought was concerned primarily, in fact, almost
exclusively, with the protection of individual rights. A
minimum of government and a maximum of individual
liberty represented the primary standards of political
thought and action. From our present perspective we
can appreciate the great service rendered by these essen-
tially negative political ideas. They strengthened that
feeling of personal responsibility and initiative which
has contributed so much toward our industrial develop-
ment and has served to maintain that alertness to pos-
sible encroachment upon the domain of individual lib-
196 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
U
erty which has been the admiration and envy of the
people of continental Europe.
Furthermore, the restriction of governmental activ-
ity to the protection of person and property and the
care of the dependent, defective and delinquent classes
enabled the country to train the electorate at a time
when the functions of government were few and the
possibilities of harm due to inexperience reduced to a
minimum. Local government was then looked upon as
the cradle of American liberties and as the bulwark
against the possible tyranny of the state and federal
governments. It was expected to preserve and foster a
feeling of opposition toward any extension of the posi-
tive action of government.
Viewed in the perspective of the last hundred years,
the contrast between the conditions out of which our
ideas of local government developed and the circum-
stances which now confront us is fraught with lessons
which we cannot afford to ignore if we hope to build
up vigorous local institutions. The menace to indi-
vidual liberty from the tyranny of government is no
longer a real one, and to this extent, therefore, there
is justification for the essentially negative views of
government. On the other hand, the concentration of
population and the growth of great industrial centers
have brought into the foreground a mass of new prob-
lems which the community is compelled to face. Many
of them come directly within the legitimate sphere of
C
DIY
AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC IDEALS
197
government, but so strong is the hold of the political
ideas of the eighteenth century that in most of our cities
we must depend upon private effort for their solution.
The widening gap between the life of the community
and the activities of our city government is impressing
itself on every student of American city life. The first
step in the development of greater civic vigor is some
method of bridging this gap, which shall include, pri-
marily, such an extension of municipal functions that
the community can grapple with the problems which
can be solved only through organized action; and sec-
ondly, such a readjustment of the machinery of govern-
ment that positive action will be fostered rather than
made increasingly difficult, as under our present system.
The ideas of governmental organization, which we have
borrowed from an earlier period, are no longer appli-
cable to the conditions that prevail in our cities.
If we examine the history of city government dur-
ing the last fifty years, we find that slowly and with
great reluctance we are begining to acknowledge, in fact
if not in theory, that the political ideas which have
dominated our reasoning for more than a century are
no longer adequate to meet the complex conditions of
modern city life. We continue to reason as if the po-
litical principles of the eighteenth century had lost none
of their force, but the pressure of circumstances has
nevertheless compelled us to make certain compromises,
the full import of which we have hardly begun to realize.
14
198 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
Our inherited ideas of democratic government have
dictated a form of city organization in which the local
representative assembly or city council occupies an im-
portant position. The same political traditions dictate
that the higher administrative officials of the city, no
matter what their functions, shall be chosen by popular
election. It is a significant fact that this tenacious
adherence to what we regard as the essentials of democ-
racy has been contemporaneous with a totally different
movement in other branches of administrative activity.
The management of great business enterprises is being
concentrated in the executive heads of industrial cor-
porations. The responsibility for the conduct of the
affairs of educational and charitable institutions is like-
wise drifting from the board to the single executive
head. Even in the management of the affairs of the
church this tendency toward the concentration of ex-
ecutive power is apparent. Wherever the form of board
management is still preserved, the actual control and re-
sponsibility are vested in one individual, whether he be
called the president of the board or the chairman of
the executive committee. However we may regard this
tendency, there is every indication that it is not merely
a passing phase, but that the immediate future will wit-
ness a strengthening of its influence.
Tendencies so clearly marked in American business
and institutional activity are certain to exert an influ-
ence on the administration of public affairs. We cannot
AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC IDEALS
199
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hope permanently to preserve the illusion that political
organization can be kept free from the influences which
are dominant in every other department of our national
life.
If the concentration of power in the mayor repre-
sents a permanent tendency in American administrative
policy, the question immediately presents itself whether
we can reconcile these changes with our views of democ-
racy. No one will deny that the increase of executive
power as well as its concentration has been accompanied
by a marked increase in efficiency. The choice presented
to our American communities, therefore, takes the form
of an apparent opposition between democracy and effi-
ciency. Thus presented, there is little doubt as to the
ultimate choice of the American people, who, above all
other peoples of western civilization, are worshipers of
efficiency. The establishment, therefore, of a harmoni-
ous relation between democracy and efficiency, both in
thought and in action, becomes a requisite for the main-
tenance of those institutions which we are accustomed to
regard as the distinctive products of American civiliza-
tion.
If this analysis of the present situation be correct,
the outlook for the municipal council is anything but
encouraging. While the analogy between a business
and a municipal corporation may be faulty in many re-
spects, it is of real value when viewed from the stand-
point of the organization of city departments. Whether
Yht
200 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
or not we agree with this analogy, we cannot disregard
the fact that the popular view with reference to the
administration of the city's executive departments is
moving toward the standards which have proved so suc-
cessful in the management of great corporate enter-
prises. This means that the people are prepared to ac-
cept the same administrative standards in municipal
affairs as those which prevail in the business world. The
recent proposal to give to the police commissioner of
New York a term of ten years, or possibly a life tenure,
would have been received with scorn and indignation
fifty years ago. Today it is regarded by many as the
best means of securing an efficient administration of this
service.
Similarly, the increasing limitation of the powers of
the municipal council is not due to any decline in the
character of its membership, but rather to a growing
appreciation of the difficulty of enforcing responsibility
against a large assembly. The repeated failure of the
efforts to enforce such responsibility is accountable for
the steady decline of popular interest in the work of the
council.
It is significant that even in those cities in which
years of effort have finally secured an improvement in
the character of the men serving in the local legislative
body, the betterment of the administrative service is
in no sense commensurate with the amount of effort
expended. The vital interest of the citizens lies in
UU
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AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC IDEALS
2010
strengthening the administrative service rather than the
legislative body. The gradual appreciation of this fact
has led to the transference of what were formerly re-
garded as legislative functions to administrative officers.
Although the movement is by no means uniform, the
general trend of institutional development in this coun-
try is to reduce the power of the council to a control
over finances, and by means of constitutional and statu-
tory limitations to set definite limits even to this control.
The council is gradually assuming the position of an
organ of government to prevent the extravagant or un-
wise expenditure of public funds. It is thus rapidly
becoming a negative factor in our municipal system.
To an increasing extent the American people are look-
ing to the executive not only for the execution, but also
for the planning of municipal improvements. Even the
freedom of discussion in the council is being subjected
to statutory limitations by provisions requiring that the
vote on financial and franchise questions shall not be
delayed beyond a certain period.
This decline in the power of the council involves no
loss of popular control. In every city in which the
mayor has been given independent powers of appoint-
ment, and has been made the real head of the adminis-
trative organization of the city, the sensitiveness of the
government to public opinion has been considerably in-
creased. Rightly viewed, this change involves possibili-
ties of popular control which we have hardly begun to
CD
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realize. Almost every city in the country offers a num-
ber of instances in which the mayor, when supported by
popular opinion, has been able to withstand the combined
influence of the council and any machine organization
that attempted to direct his action.
The lessons of this experience have left their im-
press upon the political thought of the American peo-
ple, and explain the tendency to look to the executive
rather than to the legislative authority for the solution
of difficulties. Popular control over the city government
will become more effective as public opinion becomes
more thoroughly organized. At present we must de-
pend upon a great number of voluntary organizations,
representing different elements in the community, but
which cannot from the nature of the case represent the
opinion of the community as a whole.
The danger involved in this tendency toward con-
centration of executive power is that the council will be
divested not only of its administrative, but of its legis-
lative powers as well. The desire for greater adminis-
trative efficiency may lead us to a type of government
in which the determination of executive policy will be
left exclusively to the mayor and his heads of depart-
ments. This form of organization is certain to give us
better government than does our present large and
unwieldy council. The accumulated experience of Amer-
ican cities has shown that unless the council is reduced
to a single chamber, with a small membership, responsi-
AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC IDEALS
203
T
bility cannot be enforced. The choice that presents itself
is clear and simple. We must either make the council
a small body of nine or eleven members, elected by the
people, having complete power over the finances of the
city, or we shall inevitably be driven to a system in
which the council will disappear, and all power will be
lodged in the mayor and his heads of departments.
The reconciliation of the idea of popular government
with the concentration of executive power represents
the first step toward a better adjustment of our polit-
ical thinking to the conditions of city life. A second
and no less important step involves some further modi-
fications in our ideas of municipal organization. Ameri-
can cities are organized as if they were the small towns
and villages of fifty years ago. We have proceeded
on the assumption that an aggressive and progressive
municipal policy can be developed out of the compromise
of conflicting district interests. As a matter of fact, our
present plan of district representation clogs positive
action and prevents the systematic planning and eco-
nomical execution of great public improvements.
Placing the mayor as a check upon the council and
the council as a check upon the mayor has served to
strengthen that most baneful of political superstitions
the belief in a self-acting governmental mechanism
which will carry on the work of government without
the need of watchfulness and alertness on the part of
the people. For every evil, no matter what its nature,
204 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
we recur to the statute book. There is a widespread
belief throughout the country that for every abuse there
is a legislative remedy. This belief in the moralizing
power of the law is one of the most insidious as well as
one of the most corrupting influences in our public life.
It leads us to place unenforceable laws on the statute
books, and the disregard of these laws becomes the in-
strument of blackmail and bribery.
The same political superstition pervades the organiza-
tion of our city governments—to construct a self-acting
mechanism which will secure honesty and guarantee effi-
cient administration. By pitting the executive against
the legislative authority, by electing one official to exer-
cise control over another, and by making official terms as
short as possible, we have beguiled ourselves with the
illusion that it is possible to construct a mechanism of
government which requires the attention of the citizens
only at stated election periods. It is not surprising that
this search for a self-acting governmental machine has
proved fruitless, for it represents an attempt to relieve
ourselves of a responsibility which we cannot throw off.
The complexity of organization that has resulted from
this attempt to secure efficiency and honesty through
statutes rather than through men has done more to re-
tard municipal progress than any other influence.
The problem presented by city government in the
United States is not merely to construct a well-balanced
mechanism of government, but so to construct that gov-
AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC IDEALS
205
ernment that it will require the alertness and watchful-
ness of the people. The situation in Philadelphia is an
instructive instance of the effect of so organizing the
government as to leave the people under the impression
that officials are so encompassed with statutory limita-
tions that they have little power for evil. With a bi-
cameral council, a mayor whose appointments are sub-
ject to the approval of the upper branch of the local
legislative body, and such important services as the con-
trol of education vested in a board appointed by the local
judiciary, authority is split to such an extent that the
people believe that no one official or group of officials
enjoys sufficient power to work much harm. We fail
to appreciate the fact that this splitting of authority
means that harmony can be secured only by gathering
these loose threads in the hands of some person or group
of persons, who, while not officially recognized in the
organization of government, exercises the real govern-
mental power.
The foregoing discussion has shown that industrial
and social organization in the United States is tending
toward an increasing concentration of executive and
administrative power, and that this movement has been
accompanied by a corresponding increase in efficiency.
In the government of our municipalities the fear of ab-
solutism has led us to offer considerable resistance to a
plan whose value is no longer questioned in other de-
partments of organized effort. The half-hearted recog-
206 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
nition of this principle has led to a series of makeshifts,
which have failed to give satisfactory results.
Instead of giving the mayor complete control over the
administrative work of the city, we have, in most cases,
hampered his powers of appointment, making them sub-
ject to the approval of the council. The unfortunate
compromises which this system has compelled the mayor
to make have been laid at the door of the council, and
have served further to weaken faith in local representa-
tive assemblies. If this feeling continues to increase in
intensity, it is likely to carry us to a form of city gov-
ernment in which the mayor and the heads of executive
departments will exercise not only the administrative,
but also the legislative functions of the municipality.
The alternative that presents itself to the American
people is clear and unmistakable. If we wish to pre-
serve the council, we must be prepared to make three
changes : First, to deprive it of all participation in the
appointment of executive officials; secondly, to transform
it from a bicameral organization to a single chamber,
and thirdly, to reduce its membership. Unless this is
I
1
toward a system in which both executive and legislative
powers will be vested in the mayor and the heads of
executive departments.
It is important for those who are interested in the
betterment of city government to realize that while in
the organization of government compromises may be
AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC IDEALS
207
attempted, the actual operation of any system is deter-
mined by deep underlying forces over which the indi-
vidual has little control. The compromises that have
been dictated by our unwillingness to accept the con-
sequences of certain fundamental canons of political
organization have placed our city governments at the
mercy of a small group of men who understand these
principles more clearly than we, and who are able to
manipulate this organization for their own ends.
The traditional fear of absolutism need not deter us
from making the mayor the real executive head of the
city government. Correctly interpreted, this plan offers
possibilities of popular control which our present system
lacks. At all events, it is well for us to understand that
the demand for efficiency, which the American people
place above their desire for democratic rule, will in-
evitably lead to this concentration of executive power,
The real alternative is, therefore, whether this concentra-
tion of power will be accompanied by the destruction of
the city council, or whether the city council will survive
as an organ of government restricted to purely legisla-
tive functions.
REFERENCES
ADDAMS, JANE. "Newer Ideals of Peace.” New York: Mac-
millan, 1907.
Bondy, W. "The Separation of Governmental Powers," vol.
v. New York: Columbia University Studies.
PICKARD, C. E. “Great Cities and Democratic Institutions.”
American Journal of Politics, April, 1894.
1
CHAPTER X
THE RELATION OF THE CITY TO PUBLIC UTILITIES
OL
In the discussion of the relation of the municipality
to quasi-public works, the water, gas, electric-light, and
street-railway services present the most important ques-
tions for consideration. While each involves problems
peculiar to itself, they have certain characteristics in
common, due in part to the exceptional relation which
they occupy to the public and also to the peculiar con-
ditions under which these industries are conducted.
The English common law early in its development
recognized the necessity of protecting the public against
extortionate exactions and unfair discrimination in cer-
tain classes of industry. To justify exceptional powers
of control, the courts invoked three principles, which
have withstood the test of the industrial changes of the
last two centuries, and still remain the basis upon which
the relations between the so-called “industries affected
with a public interest” and the government are ad-
justed.
The determination of the status of ferries furnished
the first occasion for a definite formulation of the rules
upon which the modern doctrine rests. In the earliest
208
THE CITY AND PUBLIC UTILITIES
209
I
cases the courts dwelt on the fact that ferries can be ad-
vantageously established only in certain places, and that
the public is consequently placed in a position of pecul-
iar dependence on the regularity of the service and on
the reasonableness of the price charged therefor. The
English courts also emphasized the fact that the opera-
tion of ferries and public conveyances is dependent upon
the use of public property, such as navigable streams or
public highways,.
In these earliest cases may be found all the elements
that in more recent times have placed gas and electric-
light works, water works, and street railways in a spe-
cial category. In taking this position the courts also
have been strongly influenced by the peculiar relation
which industries of this class occupy toward the pub-
lic. Everyone, no matter what his trade or occupation,
is dependent on the transportation, gas, and water
services. They are essential to the routine of everyday
life, and no adequate substitutes are available. The fact
that these services are indispensable to the great mass
of the community, that the health and industrial ef-
ficiency of the population depend to so large an extent
upon their efficient performance, has weighed heavily
with the courts in giving to the public authority ex-
ceptional powers of control.
In addition to these two elements of " monopoly ”
and “ dependence" there is a third factor that gives
to these industries an exceptional position, viz., that the
>
210 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
price of service cannot be regulated by the ordinary
rules of competition. Competition in the same territory
is practically impossible. In the case of the street rail-
ways, for instance, endless confusion would result if
two companies were granted franchises over the same
highway. It is true that there may be competition be-
tween parallel lines, but such competition is never fully
effective. Furthermore, competition in this class of in-
dustries, when it does exist, is destructive rather than
regulative. Self-preservation demands consolidation,
and periods of competition are therefore followed by
combination. That consolidation is inevitable is attested
by the history of the gas, electric-light, water, and street-
railway companies throughout the country.1
Because, therefore, of the inherently monopolistic
nature of these industries, the peculiar dependence of
the public upon the services which they perform and
the fact that competition with regard to them is de-
structive rather than regulative, the rules that deter-
mine their relation to the public authority are essen-
tially different from those that govern ordinary business
pursuits. It must, furthermore, be borne in mind that
in these industries competition usually results in dis-
criminating charges which involve the gravest injustice
to those who are unable to secure the most favorable
rates.
1 "Relation of Modern Municipalities to Quasi-Public Works."
Publications American Economic Association. Vol. ii, No. 6, 1888.
THE CITY AND PUBLIC UTILITIES 211
The exceptional position occupied by industries of
this class is further emphasized by the fact that they
cannot be carried on without the grant of some public
privilege. The granting of such privileges presents
a far more complex problem in the United States than
in any of the countries of Europe, because under our
political system these grants are safeguarded by a num-
ber of constitutional provisions which prevent the pub-
lic authority from revoking them at will, whereas in
Europe a franchise once granted is nothing more than
a license or privilege revocable at the will of the fran-
chise-granting authority. The provisions of the Fed-
eral Constitution forbidding a state to impair the obli-
gation of contracts, or to deprive any person of life,
liberty, or property without due process of law, have
been constantly invoked to prevent the public author-
ity from resuming control of public rights and privi-
leges. The first effect of these constitutional provisions
was to place the municipalities of the country at the
mercy of corporations exercising functions of a quasi-
public nature, because franchises when once granted
were viewed as contracts between the corporation and
the municipality. Any attempt on the part of the
municipality to place additional duties on the public-
service companies was construed as an impairment of
the obligation of such contract.
The inconvenience and dangers resulting from this
situation led most of the states to insert in their con-
212 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
(
stitutions provisions which give to the state legislatures
the power to alter, amend, and repeal all charters
granted to private corporations. Under this reserved
power a state may terminate a monopoly or it may revoke
an exemption from taxation which has been granted.
The concept of monopoly which the courts have had
in mind has not been monopoly secured by combinations
of individual manufacturers, but monopoly that grows
out of natural or physical conditions. They have rec-
ognized the fact that there are certain industries car-
ried on under conditions which will not permit of
competition, industries in which the physical conditions
under which the services are offered are such that rivalry
in the same territory is practically impossible. As the
court said in Munn vs. Illinois : 1 “When one devotes
his property to a use in which the public has an inter-
est, he in effect grants to the public an interest in that
use, and must submit to be controlled by the public for
the common good to the extent of the interest that he
has thus created.”
The street railway, the gas, and the water services are
monopolistic because of the physical conditions under
which these industries are carried on. The public au-
thority has the power to fix the charges which the com-
panies shall be permitted to make. The doctrine in its
earliest form as laid down in Munn vs. Illinois was that
the legislature has the right to fix the charges, and its
:
194 United States, 113.
THE CITY AND PUBLIC UTILITIES 213
(
decision is not subject to review by the courts. This doc-
trine was subsequently modified in Stone vs. the Farm-
ers' Loan and Trust Company, the Supreme Court of
the United States holding that the regulation of charges
cannot be used as a cloak for the confiscation of prop-
erty ; in other words, the regulation must be reasonable.
Endless difficulties have presented themselves as to what
constitutes a reasonable charge; in fact, the enforce-
ment of this doctrine has compelled the courts to con-
stitute themselves examiners of the accounts of railroad
and other public-service corporations.
The greatest difficulty that presents itself in the
judicial determination of the reasonableness of rates is
to do justice both to the public and to the stockholder.
If the courts accept the nominal capitalization of these
companies, they often will be led to permit a higher
charge than a fair return on the actual investment
would require. On the other hand, if the actually in-
vested capital of the enterprise be made the basis of cal-
culation, a large number of innocent stockholders will
find the value of their stock considerably reduced.
Neither the state legislatures nor the local authori-
ties have made wide use of this power, due in part to
the far-reaching influence of the public-service corpora-
tions in local politics. The Legislature of Illinois in
1891 prescribed the maximum water rates to be charged
in cities. In the same year the New York Legislature
2
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1116 United States, 307.
15
214 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
L-
fixed the price of gas for public lighting and vested in
a state commission the power to prescribe the price for
private lighting.
The power of municipal authorities over the charges
of public-service corporations has been curtailed by the
fact that in many instances the franchise grant specifies
the cost of service. When this is done the courts are
inclined to regard such charges as an essential element
of the contract, preventing subsequent reductions with-
out the consent of the company. Thus in many of the
cities of Pennsylvania the original street-railway fran-
chises stipulated not only the rate of fare, but also
required the companies to do a certain amount of street
paving and to pay a license fee for each car. The Su-
preme Court of Pennsylvania has taken the view that
the return which the companies were required to make
was prescribed with the understanding that they were
to be permitted to charge a certain rate of fare, and
therefore any attempt to place additional burdens upon
the companies, either by lowering the rate or by the
imposition of further obligations, is in violation of the
contract between the companies and the state.
When, therefore, franchises are granted to com-
panies engaged in industries of a quasi-public nature,
and no further stipulations are inserted, the public
authority enjoys the right to fix the charges with the
limitation that the charges so fixed shall be reasonable.
Where, however, in return for the franchise the com-
THE CITY AND PUBLIC UTILITIES 215
pany agrees to perform certain services or to make
certain money payments, and it is specifically stated
that the right to charge a certain rate is granted in
return for such services or money payment, a contract-
ual relation between the public authority and the com-
pany arises which cannot be impaired by subsequent
legislation.
Leaving aside for the moment the question of mu-
nicipal ownership and operation, let us consider briefly
the relation of the city to these services when performed
by private corporations. It is clear that the mere fact
of the grant of public privileges, whether it be the right
to occupy the public highway, to lay pipes under the
highway, or to place wires overhead, entitles the public
to some return, either financial or otherwise, and the
first question which local authorities are called upon
to decide is the form which this return shall take.
This question may be viewed from two different
standpoints—the fiscal and the social. Shall the com-
munity exact a money return or shall it demand that
the return be made in improved service and in lower
cost of service to the consumer? This question is too
often discussed with sole reference to the money return
for public franchises without regard to the larger ques-
tion involved in the effect of the service on the social
life and industrial efficiency of the community.
In the adjustment of the relation between corpora-
tions performing quasi-public functions and the munici-
216 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
pality, two purposes have been kept in view, first to
secure a financial return for the franchise, and secondly
to maintain control over the service. In some cases an
attempt has been made to limit the profits which these
corporations may secure and to require a division of
profits with the municipality. This plan is now but
rarely used in the United States. It was most common
in the early grants of street-railway franchises in Phila-
delphia, which provided that whenever the profits of
the companies exceeded six per cent they should pay
into the city treasury six per centum of the excess. The
cardinal defect of any system involving a participation
in profits is the lack of adequate control over the ac-
counting of public service corporations.
A provision common to franchise grants both in
American and European cities is the determination of
the maximum charge to the consumer. The grave de-
fect of this plan, unless the charges are subject to
periodical revision, is that at the outset the charge
must be sufficient to enable the company to make a fair
profit. With each improvement in operation this maxi-
mum charge becomes an increasing burden to the con-
sumer and gives rise to a demand for further regulation
of price, which in some cases is made difficult by reason
of constitutional limitations.
The most perplexing problems that have confronted
American municipalities in the regulation of charges
are traceable to the lack of effective control over cor-
THE CITY AND PUBLIC UTILITIES
217
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porate capitalization. The moment the door is opened
to inflated capitalization, charges cannot be reduced
without confiscating the property of innocent holders
of stock. The close connection between these two forms
of control-control over capitalization and control over
charges-has led some of our states, notably Massachu-
setts, to establish careful supervision over the capitali-
zation of public service companies. It is true that this
step was taken after a long period of unregulated capi-
talization, and of course the system can have no retro-
active effect, but it has established a basis for future
regulation which will guarantee to the public better
treatment than is possible under the system of unregu-
lated capitalization.
Another factor in strengthening the control of the
public authorities over public-service corporations is the
reserved right of purchase of the plant. This plan has
failed to produce the best results, owing to the limi-
tations on the borrowing powers of municipalities,
which in most cases prevent the large expenditure
which the purchase of a street railway, gas, or water
system involves. For instance, had the city of Phila-
delphia decided in 1907 to take over the gas works from
the company to which it is at present leased, it would
have had to pay for all improvements plus simple inter-
est. During the ten years since the leasing of the
works the gas company has spent over $15,000,000 in
extensions and improvements, the payment of which
218 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
1
would have carried the city beyond its constitutional
debt limit.
The gradual shortening of franchise terms has also
contributed toward strengthening the control of the
local authorities by permitting at stated intervals a
complete readjustment of the relation between the city
and the companies. The earliest grants were made for
indefinite periods, and were therefore practically per-
petual. This system presented the very grave difficulty
that the public authority could not impose new obliga-
tions, such as the extension of lines or the lowering of
the cost of service. To remedy this evil the duration
of franchise grants has been gradually reduced until
in some states, notably in New York, the maximum
grant for street railways is twenty-five years for sur-
face lines and fifty years for underground lines. 1
THE GAS SERVICE
The wide extension of municipal ownership and
operation of gas plants in Great Britain renders pos-
sible some instructive comparisons between public and
private management. The testimony published by the
Municipal Ownership Commission of the National Civic
Federation shows that the total average receipts per
thousand cubic feet of gas sold in 270 municipal
1 Cf. “Charter of the Greater New York,” Chap. III, sec. 73.
THE CITY AND PUBLIC UTILITIES 219
11
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plants reporting for 1905–06 were 76.4 cents as
compared with 83.9 cents for the 482 private com-
panies. The figures for 27 municipal and 36 private
plants in 1905–06 were 72.1 cents and 78.9 cents per
thousand cubic feet respectively, a result which, after
deducting one fourth the gross receipts for residuals
and miscellaneous receipts, shows an advantage of
municipal over private management of 5.1 cents per
thousand.1
Private companies in London furnished gas at from
58 cents to 88 cents per thousand cubic feet, and in
Liverpool at 60 cents per thousand cubic feet. In
Birmingham, where the gas works are municipally
owned and operated, gas is furnished to the consumer
on a sliding scale ranging from 44 cents to 60 cents per
thousand cubic feet, according to the amount consumed.
The municipal plant of Manchester furnishes gas of
17.6 candle power at 54 cents, and Glasgow provides
gas of 18.2 candle power at 50 cents per thousand cubic
feet. The only private plant which furnishes gas at
a low rate is in Sheffield, where gas is furnished on
a sliding scale ranging from 28 cents to 36 cents
per thousand cubic feet, according to the amount con-
sumed.
In 1906 there were 270 towns in Great Britain owning
.
1" Municipal and Private Operation of Public Utilities,” Part I,
vol. i, National Civic Federation Report, 1907, p. 212, quoting
Field's “ Analysis."
220 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
and operating gas works, an increase of 122 since 1882.
tions is indicated by the fact that the 270 municipal
undertakings sold' 57,754,403,956 cubic feet of gas to
1,945,777 customers, whereas the 482 private companies
sold 93,923,289,511 cubic feet to 2,385,348 customers,
that is to say, there are nearly twice as many private
companies as municipal undertakings, but the number
of consumers is but 30 per cent greater.
The experience of British cities has shown that un-
der municipal management it is possible to keep certain
broader social ends in view, adjusting the price of gas
not merely to secure the largest possible financial return,
but also to secure improvement in the social condition
of the community. To appreciate the extent of the
service performed by the town authorities, it is neces-
sary to bear in mind that the use of gas by the work-
ing classes in Great Britain is far less general than in
the United States. British municipal works have done
much to extend its use through the introduction of the
slot meter. In the larger cities private companies have
also introduced this system on a large scale. The ex-
tension of the use of gas for lighting, and especially
for cooking purposes, works far-reaching changes in the
habits of the people. One of the most noticeable effects
is on the standard of living. The gas stove becomes the
means of introducing a larger variety of cooked foods
into the diet of the people.
THE CITY AND PUBLIC UTILITIES 221
In the United States there are twenty-five munici-
palities that are furnishing gas through municipal
plants. Since the leasing of the Philadelphia gas
MUNICIPAL GAS PLANTS IN THE UNITED STATES, 1906 1
T
.....................
Holyoke, Mass.....
Middleboro, Mass.,
Wakefield, Mass...,
Westfield, Mass..
Norwich, Conn.
Bellefontaine, Ohio...
Hamilton, Ohio.
Escanaba, Mich.
Duluth, Minn..........
W. Minneapolis, Minn..
Dell Rapids, S. Dak.
De Smet, S. Dak........
Rich Hill, Mo..
Gilroy, Cal
Alexandria, Va.....
Charlottesville, Va..
Danville, Va.......
Fredericksburg, Va.
Richmond, Va........
Wheeling, W. Va....
Cartersville, Ga.....
OUTPUT (FEET)
136,970,000
1,874,600
25,000,000
18,150,500
40,000,000
40,000,000
73,000,000
1,200,000
151,000,000
1,594,450
1,838,000
2,000,000
3,000,000
4,000,000
44,000,000
19,000,000
42,000,000
8,834,000
410,000,000
116,000,000
6,300,000
9,000,000
5,000,000
23,000,000
.1,182,761,550
.....................
Talladega, Ala...
Henderson, Ky.....
Total.
works, the largest city operating a gas plant is Rich-
mond, Va., where municipal operation was established
1 Report of Municipal Ownership Commission, National Civic
Federation, Part I, vol. i, p. 146.
222 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
in 1852. Although the experience with this plant has
been satisfactory in most respects, the policy of the
local council is open to the same criticism as was the
Philadelphia management. There is a constant tend-
ency to use the profits for the reduction of the tax
rate rather than for the improvement of the plant. A
report of expert accountants, on the basis of an audit
of the books in 1906, showed that not only had the
works been paid for out of earnings, but that a surplus
of $1,500,000 had been turned into the city treasury.
CD
THE ELECTRIC-LIGHT SERVICE
Municipal ownership and operation has made more
rapid advance in the electric-light service than in the
gas service. Much interesting information on this point
census on central electric-light and power plants pub-
lished in 1902. The figures there given show that 22.5
per cent, or 815 out of a total of 3,620 electric-light
plants, are publicly owned and operated. It is, further-
more, a significant fact that of the 574 electric-light
plants established before 1899, but 68, or 11.4 per cent,
were municipal, while of the total of 1,502 plants estab-
lished between 1899 and 1906, 318, or 21.2 per cent, are
publicly owned and operated.?
1 Report of Municipal Ownership Commission, National Civic
Federation, Part I, vol. i, p. 148.
2 Ibid., p. 161.
THE CITY AND PUBLIC UTILITIES 223
The movement for municipal ownership of electric-
light plants is more noticeable in the smaller towns
than in the larger cities. Thus the census shows that
82.3 per cent of the municipal plants are located in
towns of less than 5,000 inhabitants, whereas but 72.8
per cent of the private plants are located in cities of
this size. Furthermore, but 28 per cent of the total
number of municipal plants are in cities of 25,000 or
over, whereas 84 per cent of the private plants are
located in such cities. In the 84 cities with a popula-
tion of 50,000 or over, but 7 have municipal plants,
namely, Chicago, Allegheny, Detroit, Columbus, Seattle,
Nashville, and Grand Rapids. Of these Seattle is the
only city in which the electric-light plant does commer-
cial as well as public lighting. In the 67 cities having a
population of more than 30,000 and less than 50,000 in-
habitants, there are but 8 municipal plants. Of these
Holyoke and Taunton, Mass., Jacksonville, Fla., and
Tacoma, Wash., do commercial as well as public light-
ing, whereas the municipal plants of Springfield, Ill.,
Lincoln, Neb., Galveston, Texas, and Joplin, Mo., confine
themselves to public lighting. In the 151 cities of over
30,000 inhabitants, there were in 1904 but 15 municipal
plants. The remaining 800 were all situated in cities
of less than 30,000.1
The relative importance of the municipal and the
0
1 Report of Municipal Ownership Commission, National Civic
Federation, Part I, vol. i, p. 163.
224 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
private plants is shown in the accompanying table, in
which the dynamo capacity of each group is indicated.

TOTAL
PRIVATE
STATIONS
MUNICIPAL
STATIONS
HORSE POWER CAPACITY
OF DYNAMOS
Num-
ber
Per
Cent
Num-
ber
Per
Cent
Num-
ber
Per
Cent
100.0
2,805 | 100.0 |
001 815
62.5
23.9
1,650
700
58.8
24.9
612
164
100.0
| 75,1
20.1
Total............
Under 200.........
200 but under 500....
500 (under 1,000).....
1,000 (under 2,000)....
2,000 (under 5,000)....
5,000 and over. .......
3,620
2,262
864
226
137
83
48
201
co
oma
co
120
ܕܢ ܠܓ ܟܬ
تا ن م
bom
O
1.3
1.7.
0.1
The tendency of municipal plants to furnish light
and power for commercial as well as for public purposes
is far more marked in the smaller towns than in the
large cities. Of the 815 municipal plants, all but 77
are selling current to private consumers.
The following table shows the distribution of munic-
ipal plants 1 in cities of different size in 1902:

TOTAL
PRIVATE
STATIONS
MUNICIPAL
STATIONS
POPULATION OF PLACES
IN WHICH LOCATED
Num- 1
Per
Cent
Num-
ber
Per
Cent
Num- | Per
ber
ber
Cent
3.5
115
Total........... 3,620 100.0 2,805 100.0 815 100.0
Under 5,000.......... 2,714 75.0 2,043 72.8 | 671 82.3
5,000 but under 25,000
18.7 554 19.8 121 14.9
25,000 but under 100,-||
000........
4.1 13 1.6
100,000 but under
500,000............||
6 0.7
500,000 and over......
40.5
1 Report Bureau of the Census on “Central Electric Light and
Power Stations," p. 10.
2.0
30
67
26
0.8
THE CITY AND PUBLIC UTILITIES 225
THE STREET-RAILWAY SERVICE
(a) British Experience
In the adjustment of the relation between the mu-
nicipality and the street-railway service, the experience
of the British cities during the last twenty years con-
tains much of interest and value. The rapid extension
of municipal ownership and operation is not traceable
to any preconceived theories regarding the proper
sphere of municipal action, but to the difficulties en-
countered in the attempt to secure efficient service from
private companies. The short-term franchises made it
difficult, if not impossible, for the British street-rail-
way companies to undertake improvements on a large
scale. With each demand for the extension of the service
to the suburban districts the question presented itself
whether such extension could be made to pay, in view
of the comparatively short duration of the franchise.
Endless controversies arose between the municipalities
and the companies, which finally forced a clear-cut issue
—either to permit the companies wider freedom of ac-
tion and longer franchise terms, or to accept the alter-
native of municipal ownership. The traditions of rigid
public control over private companies were so strong,
and the reluctance to grant long-term franchises so
great, that municipal ownership was adopted as the
only solution of the difficulty.
(D
(D
1 For discussion of the experience of German cities, see Chapter
XIII.
226 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
0
D
W LLU
During the last ten or twelve years this movement
has acquired great momentum. In 1894 but three Brit-
ish cities owned and operated their street railways; in
1906 the number had increased to 123. Fifty-seven per
cent of the street railways of the United Kingdom are
now operated by public authorities. In spite of the
criticism of the opponents of municipal ownership,
there is no doubt as to the general feeling of satisfac-
tion with which the people of the cities concerned view
the results accomplished under municipal operation, not
only because of the improved service, but mainly be-
cause of the important contributions which the local
authorities have been able to make to the social welfare
of the working classes through the extension of the sery-
ice into outlying districts. For reasons already stated
it seemed impossible to secure this end under private
management.
In judging of the success of municipal management
in Great Britain, this is the most important factor to
be considered. British municipalities have suffered se-
verely from the congestion of population incident to
the lack of adequate transportation facilities. In secur-
ing a more equable distribution of population through
a readjustment of street-railway fares and a liberal
policy in the extension of lines, British municipalities
have not only improved the health, but have also in-
["British Tramways," by Prof. Frank Parsons, National Civic
Federation Report, Part I, vol. i, p. 261.
THE CITY AND PUBLIC UTILITIES 227
TY
O
creased the industrial efficiency of the population.
The Board of Trade returns, according to the report
of Professor Parsons, show that the annual rate of ex-
tension of lines under municipal operation has been
from five to fifty times greater than under private
operation.
The financial results have also been most satisfac-
tory. Immediately after taking over the street-railway
system, Glasgow reduced fares thirty-three and one third
per cent and increased the length of rides. In all cities
in which municipal operation was introduced the mini-
mum fare has been reduced from two cents to one cent.
Comparing the average distance that may be traveled
for two cents, we find that under municipal manage-
ment the distance varies from two to two and a half
miles, whereas under company management it is but
one mile. Municipal authorities have also made great
1 National Civic Federation Report, Part I, vol. i, p. 267.
"In Glasgow fares were reduced about thirty-three per cent soon
after the city took the lines, and fifty per cent a few years later.
In Manchester public management reduced fares fifty per cent, in
Leeds about forty per cent, in Sheffield sixty per cent, in Liverpool
fifty to sixty-six per cent, and on long routes much more than this.
The company fare from the center to the suburb was twelve cents,
while the city made four cents the maximum fare on the same
routes. In Glasgow the average distance for one pence is two and
one third miles against one mile for the company. Sheffield gives
an average of two and one half miles for one pence. The shortest
penny route is two miles and the longest three and a half miles.
Under the company régime the fare was one pence a mile. The
traveler gets more for two cents on the municipal trams than he
would have had to pay five cents for on the company's cars."
228 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
improvements in the service, especially in the frequency
with which cars are run.
It has often been charged that the system of street-
railway accounting in British cities is defective, and
tends to show a fictitious rather than a real surplus.
In every case these charges have been proven to be
untrue. The accounts of municipal street-railway un-
dertakings are made to conform to all the requirements
of sound business management. Not only do the cities
make provision for the ordinary depreciation of the
plant, but also for the contingency that constantly faces
these enterprises, viz., the substitution of new and more
economic methods of traction which may render the old
plant obsolete. In fact, municipal accounting conforms
DEPRECIATION, RENEWALS, AND RESERVES 1

DEPRECIATION
AND RENEWALS
FUND
RESERVES
AND SURPLUS
TOTALS
Glasgow........
Manchester...
Liverpool....
London, C. C....
$3,888,185
925,430
1,355,095
320,255
$162,950
318,370
220,945
35,270
$4,051,135
1,243,800
1,576,040
355,525
...........
Total.
$6,488,965
$737,535
$7,226,500
London United..
Dublin, United...
Norwich..............
$12,500
$80,580
140,535
23,975
$80,580
153,035
23,975
Total.........
$12,500
$245,090
$257,590
1 Cl. Report National Civic Federation, Part I, vol. i, p. 276.
THE CITY AND PUBLIC UTILITIES 229
more closely to sound business standards than cor-
porate accounting. Few private companies in Great
Britain make adequate provision for depreciation and
renewal.
British cities are required to provide for the repay-
ment within thirty years of any indebtedness contracted
for the purchase or construction of lines, an obligation
which does not rest upon the private companies. The
law furthermore requires cities to pay on street-railway
lines owned by them the same taxes as private com-
panies. The amounts thus paid in 1904 were as fol-
lows: 1
Leeds........
....... $253,058
Liverpool....
156,122
Salford.
58,398
Hull...........
55,965
Manchester.........
243,325
Nottingham...
63,265
Glasgow (to Common Good Fund)......... 196,437
In spite of all these fixed charges the municipal
street-railway lines paid large amounts into the respec-
tive city treasuries, which served considerably to reduce
the burden of taxation. The amounts thus paid in 1906
ranged from $126,500 in Liverpool to $250,000 in Man-
chester. The question has been raised and is now being
seriously discussed whether it would not be better policy
to avoid any surplus by giving the community the benefit
of lower fares. The influence of the taxpayers in local
? Cf. Howe, “ The British City,” p. 97.
16
230 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
affairs is so strong that the adoption of this policy has
not as yet been possible.
The reduction in the tax rate which the surplus from
the street-railway lines has made possible fully refutes
the assertion so often made that the extension of mu-
nicipal ownership has burdened the British cities with
abnormally heavy tax rates. A comparison of the cities
which have embarked upon this policy with those in
which public utilities are owned by private companies
discloses the significant fact that as municipal owner-
ship advances the tax rate declines.
Municipal operation has also contributed toward im-
proving labor conditions. The working day has been
HOURS AND WAGES OF MOTORMEN AND CONDUCTORS 1

SCALE OF PAY
HOURS
PER
WEEK
PER WEEK
PER HOUR
Maximum
Minimum
Maximum
cts.
$7.44
7.44
7.50
9.00
7.84
Glasgow.........
Manchester.....
Liverpool..
London, C. C...
Municipalities
London, United.
Dublin, United.....
Norwich.......
Bristol. ........
Companies.........
11.2
11.24
11.0
11.5
11.23
10.80
13.9 cts.
13.74
12.50
15.0
13.78
13.20
10.50
7.80
9.24
6.78
6.72
6.12
8.26
9.50
8.06
8.74
10.48
7.22
8.73
1 National Civic Federation Report, Part I, vol. i, p. 280.
THE CITY AND PUBLIC UTILITIES 231
reduced. Under municipal management, motormen and
conductors work from fifty-four to sixty hours per
week, whereas they are compelled to work seventy hours
under corporate management. Wages also have been
increased. The average wage under municipal opera-
tion ranges from 111 to 13 cents per hour, as compared
with 88 to 101 cents under private management.
LITU
(6) American Experience
Street-railway development in the United States has
far outstripped that of any of the European countries.
The total trackage in the United Kingdom in 1902 was
but 2,336.7 miles, or about one ninth of the trackage
in the United States. The number of fare passengers
in the United States during the same year was 4,774,-
211,904, as compared with but 1,586,830,271 in the
United Kingdom. The greater frequency of travel on
street railways in the United States is shown by the
fact that the number of rides per capita in urban cen-
ters of 4,000 inhabitants was but 54 in the United
Kingdom, as compared with 168 in the United States.
The contrast with Germany, Italy, France, and Austria
is even more striking, indicating the extraordinary de-
velopment of the street-railway service in the United
States.
In the United States the relation between the munic-
1 Special Census Report on “Street and Electric Railways,” 1902,
p. 149.
232 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
ipality and the street-railway service has been treated
as if it were a part of the general railway problem.
The real analogy is with the omnibus line rather than
with the railroad. The street railway is in reality
nothing more than a kind of omnibus. It uses a
(D
lic, and in the view of the law the highway remains
the property of the public. It is true that at times
the companies purchase their right of way in subur-
ban districts, but this is the exception rather than
the rule.
In the adjustment of the relation between the mu-
nicipality and the street-railway service, one of four
possible plans may be adopted: First, private ownership
and operation; second, public ownership of the track
and private ownership and operation of rolling stock;
third, public ownership and operation of track and roll-
ing stock; and finally, public ownership of track and
rolling stock with private operation. Throughout the
United States the general rule is the private owner-
ship of both the track and the vehicle. In some of the
German and English cities the municipality maintains
the ownership and control of the highway and the track,
i This analogy is fully discussed in the report of the Massachusetts
Railway Commission appointed in 1894 to report on the status of the
street-railway problem.
2 As the electric roads have pushed into suburban and rural
districts they resemble more nearly the steam railroad. In many
cases they are now purchasing their right of way.
THE CITY AND PUBLIC UTILITIES
233
leaving the operation of the road to a private company.
Instances of the third relationship are to be found in a
number of German cities.
In the granting of street-railway franchises there
is noticeable an increasing number of constitutional and
statutory limitations designed.
First, to prevent the state legislature from granting
such franchises without the consent of the local au-
thorities of the district in which the lines are to be
constructed. Thus the Constitution of Pennsylvania
provides that no rights over the highways of any mu-
nicipality shall be granted by the State Legislature
without the consent of the local authorities.
Secondly, statutory requirements guaranteeing to
municipalities a certain minimum return for street-
railway franchises. The laws of Kentucky, Virginia,
California, and Nevada require that franchises be of-
fered at public competition, although no indication is
given as to the basis for such competition. The legis-
lation of New York and Louisiana furnishes such basis
by requiring that the bids be based on percentage of
gross annual earnings.1 The system which best meets
modern requirements is that adopted in Ohio, under
which competition is made to inure to the benefit of
The charter of the City of New York exempts the city from this
provision of the General Railroad Law, but maintains the ap-
provision of the General Manroad Law; but mar
plicability of $ 95 of the Railroad Law, which requires every grantee
of a railway franchise to pay three per cent of the gross receipts
during the first five years and five per cent thereafter.
234 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
the people by requiring that franchises be granted to
the bidder who submits the lowest rate of fare.
The system of awarding franchises by public com-
petition has not fulfilled expectations. This is due
mainly to the fact that franchises are at present sought
for the extension of existing lines, and, as a rule, such
extensions can only be made profitable to the company
controlling such lines. Where the extension is valuable
to competing companies the percentage bid is usually
advanced to a point which makes the construction of
the line practically impossible. Thus in one case in New
York City the bidding resulted in an offer of seventy
times the gross receipts of the proposed new line. In
another case one hundred per cent was offered. At the
present time there is but one line in New York City,
the Metropolitan Crosstown Railway—which has been
constructed under a competitive franchise. This line
is paying eight per cent of the gross receipts into the
city treasury.
· Third, statutory provisions assuring to the people
some control over the granting of franchises. In Mon-
tana, Nebraska, and Arizona the law requires that all
grants be first submitted by the local council to popular
vote. In Utah, South Dakota, Colorado, Indiana, and
Iowa, franchises must be passed upon by the people if a
certain proportion of the qualified electors make formal
demand by petition.
Some of the states require that the consent of the
THE CITY AND PUBLIC UTILITIES 235
abutting owners, or at least a certain proportion thereof,
shall be secured before street-railway franchises are
granted. In Missouri, Louisiana, Nebraska, New Jer-
sey, Ohio, and in cities of over 40,000 in Kansas, the
consent of the owners of more than one half the front-
age must be secured. The New York law requires the
consent of the owners of more than fifty per cent in
value of the frontage, but in case such assent is refused,
appeal may be taken to the courts.
As regards the form of compensation for such fran-
chise privileges, a number of different plans have been
adopted. The earliest and most usual method was to
exact a license fee for each car. In New York and
Chicago this fee is fixed at $50 and in St. Louis at $25.
Until recently the license fee in Philadelphia was $50
per car, but under a recent agreement this license fee
was abolished in consideration of the payment of an
annual lump sum by the company. Another form of
return that has been quite usual has been to require the
companies to pave, repair, and clean the streets over
which their lines are run.
The plan which is at present meeting with most
favor is to exact a certain percentage of the gross
receipts. The law of New York requires that such pay-
ment shall be a minimum of three per cent during the
first five years and five per cent thereafter. In Rich-
mond, Providence, and Newark five per cent is exacted,
in Cincinnati six per cent and in Baltimore nine per
236 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
cent. But little attempt has been made to secure com-
pensation in the form of lower fares, although it is be-
coming increasingly evident that this form of return
is of far greater value to the people of the community
than money payments into the city treasury.
In a surprisingly large number of instances the street-
railway companies have succeeded both in evading the
money payments to the city as well as the other services
which their contracts prescribe. This evasion has been
made relatively easy by the lack of control over the cap-
italization and accounting of the companies. The abuses
growing out of these conditions have led some of the
states to establish more careful control over the capital-
ization of street-railway companies. In Massachusetts the
approval of the State Board of Railroad Commissioners
is necessary before any securities may be issued by a
street-railway company. The law furthermore provides
that new stock must be offered to stockholders at present
market value in order to avoid the distribution of stock
dividends. Massachusetts also attempts to secure to the
people participation in the profits of the street-railway
companies by providing that “any street-railway com-
pany which has from the beginning of its corporate
existence paid in the aggregate dividends equal to six
per cent on its capital stock, and which is now paying
more than eight per cent, shall pay a tax equal in
amount to one half the excess of dividends over and
above eight per cent."
THE CITY AND PUBLIC UTILITIES 237
A further step toward assuring compliance with the
contract requirements of franchise grants has been taken
in providing for the publicity of corporate accounts.
The most notable effort in this direction has been made
by the State of Ohio. Provisions providing for a simi-
lar form of control are contained in the charters of
San Francisco and Portland, Ore.
As regards the duration of the franchise, the most
diverse systems prevail. The early method was one of
perpetual franchises, and this plan still prevails in New
Jersey, Missouri, and Indiana. This plan suffers from
the serious defect that the local authorities cannot se-
cure adequate control over the companies until they
apply for new privileges. This system is being rapidly
abandoned, and is giving way to a plan for limited
franchises ranging from ten years, as in Wyoming, to
ninety-nine years, as in the State of Louisiana. In Ari-
zona, Idaho, in the second-class cities of New York, and
in the city of Cincinnati, the limit of franchise grants
is fifty years. In Michigan, Virginia, Alabama, and
Florida the limit is thirty years; in Ohio and in
the cities of Iowa which are under special charter, as
well as in San Francisco, St. Paul, and Portland, Ore.,
twenty-five years, and in the cities of Illinois, Ken-
tucky, Nevada, South Dakota, and Montana, twenty
years. The most peculiar plan is that adopted in Massa-
chusetts, in which franchises are granted for indefinite
periods, revocable at any time, although such revocation
238 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
CD
must be approved by the State Board of Railroad Com-
missioners.
The interests of the municipalities are best subserved
by a relatively short franchise grant with periodical
renewals. The original grant must be for a period
sufficiently long to induce capital to embark upon the
enterprise. Under present conditions a period of thirty
years is fully adequate to offer this inducement, pro-
vided the grant contemplates a renewal at the end of
this period, with the possibility of revising the terms
of the grant. In New York grants may be made for
twenty-five years, with a renewal of twenty-five years
at the expiration of the original period. In the city
of Cincinnati grants are made for fifty years, with the
reserved right of the city to change the rates of fare
after the expiration of the first twenty years, and at the
expiration of fifteen years thereafter...
In any discussion of the principles that should govern
the granting of franchises, it is important to remember
that these principles must change with changing condi-
tions. Thus the rules which we to-day regard as of
unquestioned validity would have greatly retarded the
development of the street-railway system had they been
applied forty or fifty years ago. For instance, there is
at present a growing sentiment throughout the United
States that franchises should not be granted for a period
exceeding twenty-five years, but it is extremely doubtful
whether the street-railway companies would have been
THE CITY AND PUBLIC UTILITIES 239
willing to make the extensive improvements which recent
years have witnessed if the franchise period had been a
short one. The long-term franchise contributed in no
small measure toward giving to our American communi-
ties a fairly efficient transportation service long before
such service was enjoyed by the people of European
cities.
Briefly summarized, the principles that should govern
the granting of franchises may be formulated as fol-
lows:
(1) The power to determine the charges of public-
service corporations is of little value unless there is com-
bined therewith careful control over capitalization.
(2) Control over capitalization cannot be made ef-
fective unless it is combined with public supervision over
the accounting of such corporations.
(3) In order to prevent the payment of stock divi-
dends new stock should not be issued at less than its
market value.
(4) No universal rule can be established with refer-
ence to the length of franchise terms. Such terms should
range from twenty-five to forty years, depending on the
size of the city and the probable annual net return from
the use of such franchise.
(5) The city should exact compensation in the form
of lower charges rather than in large financial re-
turns.
(6) At the close of the franchise term the physical
240 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
property of the company should revert to the city at its
appraised value.
REFERENCES
BEMIS, E. W. "Municipal Monopolies.” New York: Crowell,
1899.
“Central Electric Light and Power Stations, 1902." Washing-
ton: Bureau of Census, 1905.
FOOTE, A. R. “Control of Public Works.” Published by
author, 1897.
HOWE, F. C. “The British City." New York: Scribner, 1907.
"Municipal and Private Operation of Public Utilities.” New
York: National Civic Federation, 1907.
“Relation of Modern Municipalities to Quasi-Public Works."
Publications American Economic Association, vol. ii, No.
6, 1888.
“Street and Electric Railways, 1902.” Washington: Bureau
of Census, 1905.
WHINERY, S. "Municipal Public Works.” New York: Mac-
millan, 1903.
CHAPTER XI
THE MUNICIPALITY AND THE GAS SUPPLY, AS ILLUSTRATED
BY THE EXPERIENCE OF PHILADELPHIA
IN 1897 the mayor and councils of Philadelphia
decided to lease the city's gas works to a private com-
pany. This marked a change of policy of more than
local importance. That the third largest city in the
United States should decide to relinquish the control
of one of its public works, after over forty years of
quasi-municipal management, and ten years of complete
municipal ownership and operation, was construed as a
confession of the inability of public authorities to admin-
ister public works successfully, or at least as an acknowl-
edgment of the superiority of private over public man-
agement. For this reason, if for no other, the conditions
under which the change took place deserve more than
passing notice. A further element of interest presents
itself in the fact that the abandonment of municipal
management illustrates, with great clearness, the atti-
tude of the population of our large cities toward munic-
ipal affairs.
The friends, as well as the opponents of the lease,
were agreed that the results of municipal management
241
242 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
of the gas works were not encouraging. This conclu-
sion was reached, however, without a careful examina-
tion of the history of this municipal enterprise. It was
deemed sufficient to point out one or two manifest short-
comings to settle the question. This attitude of many
who were opposed to leasing contributed greatly toward
strengthening the hands of the corporation bidding for
the franchise.
To form a correct opinion of the success or failure
of any municipal undertaking is by no means a simple
operation. It involves an insight into the past and a
discounting of the future, rare in any community, par-
ticularly in those in which the interest in public affairs
is undeveloped. Factors of great future importance but
minor present interest must be considered. A constant
comparison of the relative advantages and disadvantages
of public and private management must be made, and
the tendencies manifested by each kept in mind.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the immediate
advantages connected with the company's offer should
have proved an irresistible temptation to the people of
Philadelphia. The comparatively weak opposition en-
countered by the leasing proposition was regarded by
many as one of the most discouraging symptoms in our
civic life. It would be difficult to justify this criticism.
The interest of the population in the administration of
the gas works is limited to the quality and price of the
gas supplied. As regards quality, there had been just
L
THE MUNICIPALITY AND GAS SUPPLY 243
cause for complaint. Although gradually improving,
the illuminating force had not risen above nineteen can-
dle power. To ascertain the real causes of this defect
required more careful study and discrimination than
are usually given to public affairs, where the popula-
tion is concerned with results rather than with causes.
Tangible results furnish the basis for an easy judg-
ment of existing conditions; the ascertainment of causes
requires careful analysis and far more time and thought
than the average citizen is willing to take from his pri-
vate affairs. It is true that the opposition to the lease,
carried on by a few public-spirited men, had begun to
arouse the public to a consciousness of the fact that
motives other than the mere desire to escape from the
shortcomings of city management would determine the
policy of the city. This feeling was not given time to
express itself. The lease was hurried through councils,
discussion was systematically blocked, and the ordinance
was signed by the mayor without a moment’s delay.
Within a week of the signing of the ordinance the whole
question had practically dropped from the public view:
The question first to be considered is whether munic-
ipal management was really a failure. The answer to
this necessitates a review of certain facts in the history
of the works. By far the most important point to be
kept in mind is that Philadelphia had but ten years
of responsible municipal management of the gas works.
When the city in 1835 first embarked upon the manufac-
D
244 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
ture of illuminating gas, it was in the form of a combina-
tion of public and private ownership and management.
In 1841 the city became sole owner, but the management
was intrusted to a board elected by councils, which was
to have full charge of the property and funds, and to
act as trustees of the gas loan. No part of the profits
from the works was paid into the city treasury. Soon
after the creation of this body, which was known as the
“ Gas Trust," a conflict arose with the city councils.
The trustees denied the right of councils to interfere
with their management of the works. In this they were
sustained by the courts, which held 1 that neither coun-
cils nor any other city authority could interfere with
the trustees until the maturity and payment of all
the gas bonds placed under their charge. Not until
July, 1885, was it possible to free the works from this
irresponsible body, for not until then did these bonds
mature.
The period of responsible city management may be
said to begin with the new city charter, known as the
Bullitt Bill, which went into effect on April 1, 1887.
By the ordinance of April 4, 1887, councils organized
the Bureau of Gas as a part of the Department of Pub-
lic Works, thus placing this service under the control
of an official directly responsible to and removable by
the mayor. The era of gas-trust administration is of
1 Western Savings Fund Company vs. Philadelphia. 31 Pa.
State Reports, 175.
THE MUNICIPALITY AND GAS SUPPLY 245
importance in judging the period of responsible city
management, for it throws considerable light on the
nature of the difficulties with which the city authorities
have had to deal. Various investigations into the admin-
istration of the gas works, notably that of 1881, have
thrown a flood of light upon the corruption, fraud, and
mismanagement which flourished under gas-trust con-
trol. During the closing years of this irresponsible
body, especially between 1875 and 1885, the plant was
tion were ignored, mains and service pipes were allowed
to rust and rot, and no attempt was made to adapt the
distributing system to the increase in production and
consumption. The works gradually became filled and
overfilled with the political subordinates and henchmen
of the board. This was conclusively shown by the
attorneys of the Committee of One Hundred, a body
which aided the city in the prosecution of the trustees.
In 1887 the city fell heir to this mass of systematized
corruption, together with an antiquated gas plant. The
tests of efficiency in the public management of the
works must in fairness be restricted to the period since
that date. That municipal management started out
under the worst possible conditions is a fact not to be
overlooked in judging of its success or failure.
The ten years between 1887 and 1897 give evidence
of continuous and concerted effort to overcome the ob-
stacles to improvement which the period of gas-trust
17
246 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
management had accumulated. In the face of these diffi-
culties the profits steadily increased, notwithstanding the
fact that the city was no longer paying for the gas used
in public lighting, as had been the case prior to 1887.
That the amount consumed in public lighting was by no
means insignificant is shown by the following table:

YEAR
Amount of
gas consumed in
public lighting,
i.e., gas unpaid for
Value
at current price
Value at
estimated cost of
production
and distribution
1887......
1888..
1889.....
1890..
1891..
1892.
1893....
1894.....
1895...
1896......
506,499,881
536,158,081
521,401,101
551,459,572
587,398,328
594,203,605
602,392,714
623,313,751
638,494,005
674,031,512
$759,749.82
804,237.12
782,101.65
827,189.36
881,097.49
891,305.41
903,589.17
623,313.75
638,494.01
674,031.51
$683,774.84
723,813.41
702.891.49
744,470.42
792,987.44
793,174.87
813,230.25
488,651.00
480,795.20
539,225.21
In 1894 the price of gas was reduced from $1.50 to
$1.00 per thousand cubic feet, which caused a sudden
decline in gross profits.
The relative amount expended for salaries and wages
was being gradually reduced by the city authorities.
Thus, in 1870, in the manufacture of 1,240,485,000
cubic feet of gas, $941,740.40 were expended in salaries
and wages ; in other words, nearly seventy-six cents per
thousand cubic feet. By 1890 the amount had been
reduced to twenty-seven cents per thousand, and in 1896
to twenty-two cents.
An examination of the reports during this period
THE MUNICIPALITY AND GAS SUPPLY 247
gives unmistakable evidence of improvement in organ-
ization and businesslike administration, within the
comparatively narrow limits in which such improve-
ment was possible. We are here brought face to face
with the real source of weakness in the municipal man-
agement of the gas works, viz., the policy of councils.
In this respect Philadelphia furnishes a striking in-
stance of a governmental weakness characteristic of
American cities. The universal experience has been that
if local representative bodies are permitted to direct the
details of administrative policy, unbusinesslike methods
are sure to result. In Philadelphia the local assembly
still retains complete control over the city's finances,
mental administration. If, in these circumstances, the
city council had allowed itself to be guided by the rec-
ULU
partments businesslike management of the works would
have been possible. Two influences immediately made
themselves felt in the policy of the council: First, the
desire to reduce the rate of taxation, regardless of the
needs of municipal industrial enterprises, and, secondly,
the temptation to use the control over public works for
political purposes. Both of these influences were pro-
ductive of much harm during the ten years of municipal
management.
It is generally supposed that the attempt to use
the works for political purposes, i. e., to have friends
248 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
of councilmen placed upon the payroll, was the most
serious obstacle to efficiency. As a matter of fact, this
was a small evil compared with the shortsighted finan-
cial policy of councils. As we shall have occasion to
see, the amount expended in wages and salaries was
excessive; but while this evil was gradually being rem-
edied, the financial policy of councils gave but little
evidence of improvement. The most elementary busi-
ness principles were disregarded. In every well-man-
aged manufacturing enterprise it is the custom to charge
à certain amount each year to depreciation or to adopt
some other plan to provide for constant renewal. This
involves the expenditure of a certain percentage of gross
profits to prevent actual deterioration. In any well-
ordered account this item constitutes a fixed charge to
be met before gross, not to speak of net, profits can be
said to exist. In the case of the Philadelphia gas works,
however, gross profits were used to diminish the tax rate
rather than to maintain the plant at a high standard
of efficiency. Between 1887 and 1897 nearly $8,000,000
would have been available for the improvement of the
plant. Hardly a sixth of this sum was used for this
purpose. Year after year the Director of Public Works
urged upon councils the necessity of improved methods
of production and distribution. With equal regularity
councils continued to use the profits from gas making
to defray general city expenses. The accompanying
table illustrates the financial results of this policy:
LI
THE MUNICIPALITY AND GAS SUPPLY 249

EXPENDITURE FOR EXTENSIONS
YEAR
Gross profits
Expenditure
for
permanent
improvement on
works
Excess
of profits used
for other
city purposes
Excess
of extensions
and improve-
ments over
profits
New mains
Service pipes
1887..!
1888..
1889..
1890..
$684,356.90
781,012.80
1,240,403.15
1,331,019.41
1,441,308.61
1,425,789.12
1,459,069.37
192,310.812
284,589.56
352,988.80
$93,175.00
128,568.32
276,386.39
136,642.17
91,550.68
133,629.00
202,243.47
324,616.12
3,100.00
242,309.53
$85,021.82
163,576.36
140,848.59
258,150.63
256,121.30
149,305.34
111,608.51
102,364.97
115,773.03
80,637.88
$81,322.07
91,059.71
96,779.68
105,580.70
100,675.83
100,932.40
107,575.03
118,905.52
113,873.11
117,981.87
$424,838.01
397,808.41
726,388.49
830,645.91
992,960.80
1,041,922.38
1,037,642.36
1892..
1893..
1894..
1895...
1896..
353,575.80
51,843.42
87,940.48
Totals. $9,192,848.532 $1,632,220.68
$1,463,408.43 | $1,034,685.92
$5,504,049.78
$441,516.28
1 Price reduced from $1.50 to $1.00.
2 During the decade 1887–97 the excess of gross profits over expenditures for improvements and
extensions was $5,010,890.08.
250 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
felt both in the manufacturing and in the distributing
departments. The former showed an unusually high
C
centage of leakage. While the estimates of the cost of
production, exclusive of the cost of distribution, differ
somewhat, it is certain that it was not below forty-five
cents per thousand, and probably nearer fifty. It was
comparatively easy for private companies to offer gas
to the city at a price far below this figure. The great
improvements in the water-gas process had brought
about a complete change in methods of production, a
mixture of coal and water gas having been generally
adopted by the more progressive companies. Instead
of making the changes in the works necessary for this
purpose, the city entered into a contract with the Phila-
delphia Gas Improvement Company to furnish water
gas at thirty-seven cents per thousand cubic feet. These
purchases, small at first, gradually increased, until in
1896 over thirty-eight per cent of the total gas used was
purchased from the company. The purchases for each
year are given in the accompanying table.
While at first glance the purchase of gas at thirty-
seven cents seemed advantageous to the city, the real
effect was to retard improvement. The increased con-
sumption of each year was being met largely through the
purchase of water gas from a private company, thus
removing the greatest incentive to the improvement of
THE MUNICIPALITY AND GAS SUPPLY 251

YEAR
Coal gas
manufactured,
cubic feet
Water gas, cubic
feet
Amount
expended for
water gas
1889...
1890.
1891.
1892.
1893.
1894.
1895.
1896.
1,310,869,000
2,042,059,000
2,065,444,000
2.233.238.000
2,261,550,000 1
2,803,838,000
2,538,065,000
3,021,570,000
919,640,000
1,134,922,000
1,326,443,000
1,351,351,000
1,541,756,000
1,306,563,000
1,699,687,000
1,891,891,000
$299,985.64
425,283.75
490,784.08
500,000.00
570,449.96
557,428.38
600,000.00
700,000.00
the city's works. Furthermore, as was shown by expert
testimony before the committee to which the question of
leasing had been committed, water gas could then be
manufactured at twenty-five cents per thousand, which
means that the city was paying to the gas company
a clear profit of fifty per cent on the gas thus pur-
chased.
Another direct result of the failure to expend a cer-
shown in the cost and conditions of distribution. The
Chief of the Bureau of Gas repeatedly called the atten-
tion of councils to the fact that the gas-holders were not
sufficiently numerous, nor were they so distributed as
to secure the best results. In order to carry the gas to
great distances, it was necessary to force it through the
pipes at high pressure. The resulting friction robbed
it of a part of its illuminating power, caused condensa-
U
ther aggravated by the fact that the mains had not been
agg
252 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
enlarged to accommodate the increased volume of gas.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the item “gas un-
accounted for " increased with each year, until in 1896
it amounted to nearly one fourth the total amount manu-
factured. This alone meant an annual loss of over
$1,000,000. Comparison with a few well-managed city
or private enterprises, for which figures are obtainable,
is of interest in this connection:

WORKS
Amount of
gas manufactured
1896
Leakage
and gas unac-
counted for
Per-
centage
Philadelphia.............
Manchester....
Glasgow.................
Boston Gas Company.....
Brookline Gas Company..
Lowell Gas Company......
4,913,461,0001
3,762,570,000
4,525,000,000
1,130,189,700
753,824,000
315,073,000
1,132,646,138 | 23.9
116,560,000 | 3.1
425,500,000 1 10.0
32,692,630 2.89
58,590,067 | 7.77
20,232,700
6.42
Further evidence of the unfortunate influence of
councils upon the administration of the gas works is to be
found in the abnormal annual expenditure for wages
and salaries. We have already seen that this constituted
one of the great abuses during the period of gas-trust
management. Although the worst evils were remedied
under responsible city control, much still remained to be
done. In the first place councils had fixed a rate of
wages far above the market rate. The Director of Pub-
lic Works published a statement in which he pointed
1 Including water gas purchased from Philadelphia Gas Improve-
ment Company.
THE MUNICIPALITY AND GAS SUPPLY 253
out that instead of paying the 1,700 laborers $1.75 per
day he could obtain equally competent men for $1.25.
Whatever may be said in favor of “trades-union
wages” in city employment, it must be remembered
that this excess of fifty cents per day above the market
rate involved an additional annual outlay of nearly
$275,000. The payroll was further increased through
the addition of many laborers under the elastic account
of “repairs.” Comparison with the accounts of pri-
vate and municipal gas works shows the drain of this
item upon the resources of the Philadelphia works:

WORKS
Amount of gas
Price
consumed in private
and public lighting 1 1 000 ci ft.
' of gas per
cubic feet
Total
expenditure
Philadelphia (1896).
Glasgow (1896).....
Manchester (1896). ||
Birmingham (1896). |
3,619,427,312
4,062,500,000
4,300,165,000
4,152,652,000
$1.00
.52%
.54%
.5471
$2,852,103.112
2,449,553.47
2,222,903.00
2,364,238.93

WORKS
Expenditure
for coal
Expenditure
for wages
and salaries
Expenditure for
wages and salaries
per 1,000 cu. ft.
Relation of wages
and salaries to
total expense
Philadelphia (1896). $1,049,969.29 $1,194,191.00 $0.32%
Glasgow (1896).....1 1,320,300.22 622,393.00 0.15-16
Manchester (1896)../ 1,120,058.47 473,890.00 0.11
Birmingham (1896). 1,054,862.91 463,350.00 0.111/
Per cent
41.8
25.4
21.3
19.6
1 Seventy-four cents for small quantities.
2 Exclusive of $700,000 expended in purchase of gas from private
company.
254 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
(D
While, therefore, it is evident that the real weak-
ness in city management lay in the policy of councils,
there are distinct indications of minor evils due to
the internal administration of the works. The most
important of these relate (1) to the purchase of
materials, and (2) to the receipts from residual
products.
During the period between 1887 and 1897 the city
paid between $3.11 and $3.14 per ton for coal, whereas
it is a well-established fact that responsible firms were
prepared to furnish the same quality at $2.95. The bids
of the firms offering coal at $2.95 were invariably
ignored. In this one item alone the department could
have effected an annual saving of between $75,000 and
$100,000.
The failure fully to utilize residual products affected
even more unfavorably the profit-and-loss account. The
receipts from this source averaged during the last few
years of municipal operation about 30.6 per cent of the
cost of coal, the main item in the expense account. That
this percentage is far below the amount which careful
business management would give is shown by compari-
sons with private companies in the United States and
with municipal gas works in England. The report of
the Massachusetts Board of Gas and Electric Light
Commissioners for 1896 gives full information on this
point for the companies within that State. In the larger
companies the percentage of the outlay for coal, realized
1
THE MUNICIPALITY AND GAS SUPPLY 255
through the sale of residual products, ranges from
45 to 51 per cent. The average of 47 companies is 43.89
per cent. In the gas works of the cities of Manchester,
Glasgow, and Birmingham the percentage ranges from 43
per cent in the former to 56.2 per cent in the latter.
Compared with these figures, the 30.6 per cent obtained
in the Philadelphia works makes but a poor showing.
fact that certain persons, either councilmen or other
local politicians, enjoyed the monopoly of the purchase
of residual products at prices considerably below market
rates. Here, as in so many other cases, the influence
of the local assembly was at the root of the difficulty.
It is to be noted, however, that the period of respon-
sible municipal management gave evidence of increasing
economy in the utilization of by-products as compared
with the “ gas-trust ” period. In 1870 the percentage
was but 15.4; in 1875, 17; in 1880, 21.9; in 1896, 30.6
per cent.
Our analysis thus far, tends to prove that the most
serious defects connected with city management are
traceable to evils inherited from a period of corruption
and incompetency. During the decade of responsible
city control we find abundant indication of improvement
in every direction. That such improvement was not
more rapid is to be attributed to the shortsighted policy
of councils rather than to defects in the administration
of the gas department.
Y
256 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
DIQQ
LUNDI
Before entering upon a discussion of the broader
questions of public policy which are involved in the
relation of the municipality to the gas supply, it will
be well to consider the conditions under which the lease
was effected.
Some years before the expiration of the gas-trust
period, combinations of capitalists began to speculate on
the possibility of obtaining a monopoly of the gas supply.
In 1883 the first definite offer was made—$10,000,000
for the plant and an exclusive franchise. During subse-
quent years new offers were forthcoming, which usually
met with vigorous opposition in councils, as well as with
the public. When in September, 1897, the mayor trans-
mitted to councils the offer of the United Gas Improve-
ment Company, it soon became evident from the dispo-
sition of councils to stifle discussion and hasten action,
that the plans for the leasing of the works had been care-
fully laid. It is not our purpose to enter into an analysis
of the influences which proved irresistible in securing
the acceptance of the company's proposition. It must be
said, however, that whatever the nature of these influ-
ences, they were greatly aided by the attitude of a large
portion of the business community. The prospect of
securing gas of a better quality at a lower price over-
shadowed for the time being all other considerations.
As a result, the permanent interests of the city were lost
sight of. The gas works were handed over to the com-
pany whose proposals alone received serious consideration
THE MUNICIPALITY AND GAS SUPPLY 257
from councils, notwithstanding the fact that other and
more favorable offers had been made by responsible par-
ties. In granting an exclusive privilege to this corpora-
tion the most elementary business principles were dis-
regarded.. It seems a commonplace to say that the
consideration in return for a franchise should be de-
termined by the value of the privilege. In this case,
however, the only question which seemed to interest
the public was whether the company was prepared to
give better gas at a lower figure than the city; if so,
no further conditions seemed necessary to safeguard
local interests. Had the terms of the lease been for-
mulated with reference to the possibilities of profit to
a company enjoying a monopoly of the gas supply, the
results would have been very different. There was evi-
dence on all sides that the population was gradually
awakening to this fact; but so rapidly was the lease
hurried through councils that no opportunity was given
to make such awakening effective.
The lease, as finally signed, gave to the company a
monopoly of the gas supply for a period of thirty years.
At any time prior to July 1, 1907, the city might have
terminated the lease on condition of reimbursing the
company for all improvements, plus six per centum sim-
ple interest on the amounts thus expended. It was quite
clear at the time of the signing of the lease that the
option thus given was one which the city would not be
able to exercise, owing to the constitutional limitations
258 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
L
on municipal indebtedness. In return for the privilege
the company agreed:
First.-To furnish gas of twenty-two candle power
at $1 per thousand cubic feet.
Second.—To pay into the city treasury upon all gas
sold prior to January 1, 1908, all sums received in excess
of ninety cents per thousand cubic feet; after December
31, 1907, and prior to January 1, 1913, all sums in excess
of eighty-five cents per thousand; from December 31,
1912, to January 1, 1918, all sums in excess of eighty
cents per thousand, and from that time until the expira-
tion of the lease (December 31, 1927) all sums in excess
of seventy-five cents. Council is given the power to
reduce the price at the dates above mentioned to ninety,
eighty-five, eighty, and seventy-five cents respectively,
in which case the city will receive no money rental.
Third.—To light, free of charge, all public buildings
and lamps, and to provide for the lighting of 300 addi-
U
extinguished, cleaned, and repaired at the expense of the
company.
Fourth.–To expend within three years $5,000,000 in
alterations, improvements, and extensions, and at least
$15,000,000 for the same purposes during the thirty
years of the lease.
Fifth. At the expiration of the lease, December 31,
1927, the city is to receive the works “ without charge
or cost in the condition of alteration, improvement, and
THE MUNICIPALITY AND GAS SUPPLY 259
change in which the same shall then exist, and the same
and condition.”
It would seem, at first glance, that these provisions
judge of this, however, one must enter upon an exami-
nation of the possibilities of profit which the company
enjoys. It is to be noted that if the price of gas is suc-
cessively reduced from one dollar until it reaches sev-
enty-five cents, the city will receive nothing from the
company except free light for public lamps and the plant
at the expiration of the lease. The contract, therefore,
amounts to this: The city places the gas works in the
hands of a private company for thirty years, in return
for which the city is to receive a certain amount of gas
for public lighting free of charge. During these thirty
years the people of the city will be compelled to pay $1
per thousand cubic feet, or if the city council avails
itself of the power of reducing the price of gas to 90,
85, 80, and 75 cents during the periods as specified in
the lease, such reductions will have to be made at the
expense of the city treasury. The agreement to expend
$15,000,000 in extensions and improvements cannot be
regarded as a burden upon the company, as it repre-
sents nothing more than a profitable investment of cap-
ital, such as every business man would be compelled to
make in order to utilize fully the opportunities of his
business.
260 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
In the discussions in councils and in the public press
the cost of service to the citizens of Philadelphia has
been largely lost sight of. An examination of these rates
will show the great value of the franchise to the com-
pany as well as the inadequacy of the return to the city.
One of the most striking facts in the history of gas-
making has been the great improvements in methods of
production that have taken place during recent years.
During the last three years of municipal operation the
price of gas was reduced from $1.50 to $1 per thousand.
In this connection the experience of British cities is of
interest. In Glasgow the gas works came under munic-
ipal control in 1869. During the first five years of
city management the price was gradually reduced from
$1.35 to $1.14 per thousand cubic feet. With each im-
provement in production the price was lowered until
gas of 18 candle power was reduced to 52 cents in 1896,
and recently has been fixed at 50 cents. Manchester
began to manufacture its own gas as early as 1807, which
was reduced to 543 cents per thousand in 1896, where
it at present stands. In Birmingham, where the city
took over the gas supply in 1874, the price ranges from
60 to 44 cents per thousand cubic feet, according to the
amount consumed, the price diminishing as the amount
used by the individual consumer increases. In almost
every case, whether at home or abroad, a reduction of
from 331 to 50 per cent has taken place during the last
thirty years. Compared with these figures, the price
D
VUI
THE MUNICIPALITY AND GAS SUPPLY 261
0
which the Philadelphia company is receiving is excessive.
Unless the company sees fit to do so for purely business
reasons it will be impossible to effect a reduction of
more than 12 per cent during the next twenty years.
But, it will be said, British cities are able to offer
gas at a low price because of cheaper materials and
the lower rate of wages. As regards the former, the
price paid for coal is about 20 per cent below that paid in
Philadelphia. A comparison of the rate of wages will
show that while the average wage was 30 per cent higher
under municipal management in Philadelphia than in
Glasgow, Birmingham, or Manchester, the difference was
due largely, if not wholly, to the fact that councils had
fixed the wages of employees far above the market rate.
It is to be noted, furthermore, that the Philadelphia
management was paying an unusually high price for
coal, which the United Gas Improvement Company has
reduced considerably.
It is clear, therefore, that there is no such great dif-
ference in the cost of production as is generally sup-
posed. With the price of gas nearly 50 per cent lower

WORKS
Price of
gas per
thousand
cubic feet
Gross profit | Amount paid
exclusive of to sinking
amount
fund to
debited to liquidate
depreciation gas loan
Net profits
$0.50
Manchester...... .54% !
Birmingham..... 60 to 442
Glasgow.........
$98,395
527,140
445,550
$158,670
219,070
187,920
$60,2752
308,070
257,630
1 Deficit.
2 According to amount consumed.
18
262 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
than in Philadelphia, the profits of municipal gas works
of British cities in 1905 were as shown on page 261.1
According to the terms of the lease the people are
debarred from participating in the benefits of improved
production during the next two decades. The testimony
of experts before the finance committee of councils was
to the effect that it was possible in 1897 to manufacture
gas of 22 candle power at 25 cents per thousand, and
that the cost of distribution should not exceed 10 cents.
It is beside the question to say that Philadelphia under
municipal management of the gas works was not able
to produce gas at this price. In determining the return
for the grant of this monopoly, the question as to what
the city can or cannot do in performing the same service
is a matter of secondary importance. The only sound
basis of negotiation is the value of the franchise to the
party seeking it; in other words, the possibilities of profit
which the company will enjoy.
The first ten years of the company's management of
the gas works expired in 1907. Under the terms of the
contract the city was given the option to terminate the
lease on condition of reimbursing the company for all
expenditures for extensions and improvements. The
statements filed by the company showed that during the
first nine years of the lease they had expended $11,354,-
919.77 for these purposes. This statement of the com-
pany was not and could not be verified, inasmuch as the
1 National Civic Federation, Part I, vol. i, p. 414.
THE MUNICIPALITY AND GAS SUPPLY 263
system of accounting of the company is in no way con-
trolled by the local authorities. In any case it would
have been extremely difficult for the city to have taken
over the works, inasmuch as on January 1, 1907, the city
was within $8,836,959.80 of its constitutional debt limit.
Owing to the satisfactory service which the company
was giving there would have been little or no desire on
the part of the people to terminate the lease had the
company refrained from submitting any proposition for
a further extension of the term. In May, 1905, a com-
munication was sent by the company to the mayor, pro-
posing an extension of the lease until December 31, 1977.
In return for this extension the company was to pay
to the city the sum of $25,000,000, and was to under-
take also a progressive reduction of the price of gas.
The plan thus submitted passed both branches of coun-
cils, but was vetoed by the mayor, who was supported
by an aroused public opinion. The gas question was
made the basis of a vigorous reform campaign, which
swept the then political leaders from power. It looked
for a time as if this agitation would lead to the termina-
tion of the lease in 1907, but when the time arrived pub-
lic sentiment had quieted down, and the financial con-
dition of the city was not such as to justify the payment
of the large sum due the company for improvements
and extensions. The gas works will, therefore, remain
in the company's hands until December 31, 1927, when
they will revert to the city.
264 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
Having examined the lease as a purely business rela-
tion between the city and the company, there still re-
mains to be considered the abandonment of this munici-
pal function from the broader standpoint of general
municipal policy. The attitude of the population to this
phase of the question may be regarded as typical of our
American communities, and furnishes a striking instance
of the lack of civic ideals in our city life. Throughout
the discussions of the subject little thought was given
to the influence of such a curtailing of city functions
upon the civic life of the community; nor was the pos-
sible social function which the city might perform in
the administration of the gas service considered worthy
of attention. This attitude of the population accounts
for the feebleness of the opposition and the boldness of
councils in stifling discussion. ;
We have already seen that from a purely financial
point of view the contract with the United Gas Improve-
ment Company can hardly be said to have given due
recognition to the interests of the city, or to those of
the population as consumers. Furthermore, that the
ten years of municipal management, far from giving
evidence of financial failure, show steady improvement
in organization and management. Such shortcomings
as, existed were due to clearly assignable causes that
might readily have been remedied. In abandoning the
control of the gas works, the valuable experience ac-
quired during the period of municipal management was
THE MUNICIPALITY AND GAS SUPPLY 265
thrown away. There is no easy and direct road to effi-
cient public administration. In every department effi-
ciency is gradually attained through slow and laborious
accretions of small improvements. When, therefore,
twenty years hence the city again comes into possession
of the gas works it will be compelled to meet difficulties
equal to if not greater than those of the ten years of
municipal management.
Furthermore, in parting with the gas works the city
deprived itself of the power of performing an important
social service. Until recently financial considerations
have ruled supreme in determining the sphere of munici-
pal activity beyond the minimum of protection to life
and property. We are beginning to see that social '
standards should be given some weight in municipal
policy. The many points at which municipal activity
touches our industrial and social life give it a far-reach-
ing influence for good or evil. In the relation of the
gas supply to the standard of life and the industrial
efficiency of the population we have a most conspicuous
instance of these possibilities. Here, again, we must
turn to the British cities for enlightenment. : ..
That the use of gas is playing an important part in
the economy of modern life requires no demonstration.
Neither will anyone doubt that it is destined to play an
increasingly important part for some years to come. At
the time the gas works were placed under municipal
control in Glasgow-and the same statement applies to
266 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
the other cities of Great Britain the use of gas was lim-
ited to the well-to-do classes. After careful study and
inquiry the municipal authorities came to the conclu-
sion that a great social end was to be accomplished in
securing its introduction for cooking and illuminating
purposes by the working classes, particularly in the
thickly settled tenement districts. The wastefulness of
the coal stove, and the comparatively high cost of its
maintenance, had given to uncooked foods an important
place in the standard of life of these classes, a fact that
seriously affected their industrial efficiency and physical
vigor. The widespread use of alcoholic drinks was
to be explained largely by the crude diet of the laboring
classes. It was evident that the introduction of a new
element into the standard of life could only be effected
by the city through a temporary subordination of finan-
cial considerations. In order to facilitate the use of
gas for illuminating purposes automatic penny-in-the-
slot meters were introduced. For two cents a large
burner could be supplied for a period of five hours.
Furthermore, the city inaugurated the policy of renting
gas stoves, making all connections free of charge. At
first the use of automatic meters was small, but with each
year the number has increased until they have become
almost universal in the larger British cities. With each
year the number of gas stoves rented by the city is
increasing.
The influence of this more general use of gas is
1
THE MUNICIPALITY AND GAS SUPPLY 267
evident to anyone examining the standard of life of the
working classes in Great Britain. The use of cooked
foods is far more general than was the case ten years
LISA
health and industrial efficiency of the population is
attested by the testimony of the local sanitary officers.
Furthermore, through the low price of gas, the city has
been able to exert an influence upon industrial condi-
tions. The introduction of the gas engine to replace
the steam engine has given a new lease of life to the
small manufacturer.
In pursuing this policy in the administration of the
gas works the British cities have been carrying out a
general principle which pervades the management of
all their quasi-public works. The municipal street-rail-
way systems are being used to effect a more equable dis-
tribution of population; the municipal water supply
furnishes hydraulic power at low rates; and the munici-
pal gas supply is contributing to the improvement of
the standard of life and of the industrial efficiency of
the population. The municipality for this reason rep-
resents a far more positive force in the life of the British
city than in the United States. That American munici-
palities must in time perform the same functions is evi-
dent to anyone who has followed the course of municipal
development in this country. To relinquish public works
means simply to postpone the period when such service
is to be performed.
268 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
From whatever point of view the change of policy
in Philadelphia be examined, the conclusion that it
marked a retrograde movement is unavoidable. This is
particularly true when examined from the standpoint
of civic progress. The recent history of American mu-
nicipalities has shown that the inability of our city
governments to maintain control over private corpora-
tions performing quasi-public functions is the greatest
danger to American local institutions. It is scarcely an
exaggeration to say that these corporations have suc-
ceeded in intrenching themselves as the real power be-
hind the constituted authorities in all matters affecting
their interests.
We usually take for granted that the most effective
means of eliminating corruption is to reduce to a mini-
mum the functions which the municipality performs,
and are surprised to find that this method in reality
increases the evil. The cause lies on the surface. With
every diminution of city functions we increase the influ-
ence of irresponsible corporate bodies. The real prob-
lem before us is to eliminate such corporate influence.
Until this is done all efforts for more efficient admin-
istration are almost certain to fail of their purpose.
The classes that should furnish leaders in our civic life
are bent upon maintaining the supremacy of private
interest over public welfare. Attachment to the city
is not sufficiently strong in American communities to
withstand the temptation of private gain. The absence
THE MUNICIPALITY AND GAS SUPPLY 269
of city ideals makes the citizen feel that the responsi-
bility for the safeguarding of public interests rests with
the constituted authorities rather than with himself.
To those who have studied the growth of our large cities,
the introduction of a new and powerful corporation into
the public life of the community means another obstacle
to civic advance. As regards Philadelphia, the danger
has been increased by the fact that the monopoly of the
street-railway and the gas and electric-light services is
vested in the same combination of individuals.
At a time when the true relation between municipal
activity and social progress is finding acceptance with
à constantly increasing percentage of our population,
it seems peculiarly unfortunate that Philadelphia should
offer so discouraging an example to American cities. In
England and Scotland some 270 and in Germany over
335 municipalities own and operate their gas works,
with an efficiency which private corporations would
find difficult to equal and certainly could not surpass.
Whether the cities of the United States will develop
an equally efficient administration remains to be seen.
Whatever be the steps in the process, it is certain that
no single and sudden change will effect the desired end.
The population must be prepared to meet temporary dis-
couragements and to withstand the temptation to throw
off the burden of public service in favor of private agen-
cies. Until this is done, until we are able to discrimi-
nate more clearly between the temporary and perma-
_
]
0
270 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
nent interests of our municipalities, the road to good
city government will remain closed. Though logical
deduction and a priori reasoning may furnish all sorts
of simple remedies the order of historical development
is more complex, encountering difficulties that must be
consciously met by every progressive society. Tempo-
rary expedients may postpone but they cannot avoid the
necessity of facing fairly and squarely the vital prob-
lems of governmental activity. Their successful solution
soon becomes the requisite for civic advance.
REFERENCES
BRYCE, JAMES. "American Commonwealth” (Gas Ring), vol.
ii, Chap. 89. New York: Macmillan, 1893.
“City Government of Philadelphia," Chap. vii. Wharton School
of Finance and Commerce, University of Pennsylvania.
“Gas Works, Philadelphia.” Citizens' Municipal Association,
1898.
JAMES, E. J. “Relation of the Modern Municipality to the Gas
Supply.” Publications American Economic Association,
vol. i, Nos. 2, 3, 1886.
Report Councils Committee, Philadelphia, 1895.
Report Pennsylvania Senate Investigating Committee, 1896.
ROWE, L. S. "The Municipality and the Gas Supply." Annals
of the American Academy of Political and Social Science,
May, 1898.
- “Relation of the City of Philadelphia to the Gas
Supply.” National Civic Federation Report, Part II, vol. i.
New York, 1907.
CHAPTER XII
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES INVOLVED IN MUNICIPAL
OWNERSHIP
THE discussion of the relation of the municipality
to quasi-public works has been obscured by the desire
to find some one general principle of universal applica-
bility which will furnish a ready solution for every
question affecting the relation of the municipality to
public utilities. The futility of this plan is attested
by the fact that the principles thus formulated have
been so vague that they have furnished no real guid-
ance. The failure of these attempts at sweeping gen-
eralization is gradually developing a more healthful
attitude toward this question. We are beginning to see
that the most that we can hope to accomplish is to arrive
at some agreement on certain fundamental principles
which govern the industries that are " affected with
the public interest." The application of these princi-
ples to concrete problems must depend on the peculiar-
ities of local conditions.
Viewing the subject from the broad standpoint of
the social interests of the community, it is important
to bear in mind that in all these industries—street rail-
271
272 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
int
way, gas, electric light, or water---the consideration of
primary interest to the community is the kind of serv-
ice which it enjoys. The industrial efficiency, the social
welfare, and the general well-being of the population
depend to so large an extent upon the efficient per-
formance of these services that every other consideration
must be subordinated to this end. It is assumed by
the opponents of municipal ownership that no city can
hope to offer these services with anything like the same
degree of efficiency as the private corporation. This
contention is quite as wide of the mark as the statement
of the advocates of municipal ownership that under all
conditions the city is able to offer better service.
In so far as experience may serve as a guide, the
results accomplished in the cities of Great Britain dem-
onstrate not only the possibility of offering efficient
service, but the actual superiority of municipal over
private management, especially in accomplishing those
larger social purposes which constitute the highest func-
tion of communal life. The contribution which the Brit-
ish cities have made to social and industrial progress is
the brightest chapter in the history of modern city de-
velopment. In lowering street-railway fares, in foster-
ing the extension of the gas service, in striving con-
stantly to improve the water service, the British cities
have given to the world a valuable lesson in the possi-
bilities of organized action in improving social condi-
tions. All the indictments that have been brought
MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP
273
against municipal ownership and operation in Great
Britain must be quashed when tested by the services
which these municipalities have performed in improv-
ing the city environment, in making city life more
healthful, in removing many of the causes of disease
and of reduced vitality, and in opening a new horizon
of the possibilities of communal action in raising the
plane of city life.
There is a widespread belief that the lessons of
European experience in general, and British experience
in particular, are of little or no value to our American
cities. The tremendous social significance of the move-
ment for the municipalization of public utilities is dis-
missed with the statement that the conditions in the
United States are totally different from those in Eu-
rope. That there are important differences in social
organization, in the attitude of the population toward
government, and in the traditions of the public service,
no one will deny; but in spite of these differences the
fact remains that the municipalities of Great Britain
and of Germany have become positive factors in the
betterment of social conditions. Sooner or later Ameri-
can municipalities must place themselves in the same
vital relation to the life of the community. In fact, the
people have a right to demand that the street-railway,
the gas, the electric-light, and the water servicës shall
be so performed as to further the larger ends of social
welfare. How shall these ends be attained? In answer-
1
274 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
ing this question there are certain facts of American
experience which deserve careful consideration.
It is generally agreed that the overwhelming need
of our American communities is the development of a
distinctive city spirit. Whatever the dangers involved
in the extension of municipal functions it is clear that
this spirit will develop in proportion as the munici-
pality becomes a vital factor in the life of the individ-
ual. Some may be willing to postpone the development
of this civic spirit, others may think it bought too
dearly, but we cannot expect it to gather strength until
the municipality is affecting the life and the conduct of
the individual in so many different ways that he asso-
ciates the city with the maintenance of his individual
and family welfare.
Furthermore, although we may do full justice to the
spirit of enterprise which most public-service corpora-
tions in the United States have shown, we cannot close
our eyes to the fact that they have exerted an unfor-
tunate influence on the civic life of American commu-
nities. There is hardly a city in the country which has
been free from that degrading influence which is pro-
duced by the desire of public-service corporations to con-
trol local policy. We have attempted to cover up the
situation with many neat phrases, and have even con-
doned the action of these corporations with the explana-
tion that they did not desire to control local policy, but
were compelled to do so for their own protection. It is
MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP
275
not necessary, in this connection, to weigh the rights
and wrongs of the situation, but it is a matter of the
deepest concern that the public-service corporations have
undermined the civic life of many American cities.
If we are to retain our present system of private
management, the most serious question confronting
American municipalities is the elimination of corporate
influence from their political life. Various plans for
the accomplishment of this purpose have been sug-
gested. Some pin their faith to the publicity of cor-
porate accounts as the most effective means of prevent-
ing the more insidious forms of corruption. Others
have advocated the public sale of all franchises, while
others regard the control over capitalization of public-
service companies as the most effective remedy. No
doubt each of these will contribute something, and their
combined influence will certainly make more difficult
the kind of bargaining which has disgraced so many of
our American communities.
In the last analysis, however, the only permanent
safeguard is an alert public opinion, sensitive to every
influence that tends to undermine the well-being of the
community. The events of the last few years prove con-
clusively the sensitiveness of corporate management to
the slightest stirrings of public opinion. In their rela-
tions with the public authorities--federal, state, or mu-
nicipal-public-service corporations will no longer per-
mit themselves the practices that were common five years
276 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
ago. The education of public opinion in municipal
affairs, which has been pushed with such vigor during
the last few years, must now be systematized and made
general throughout the United States. Every commu-
nity in the country stands in need of agencies such
as the Municipal Research Bureau of New York City,
to place the public in full possession of the facts con-
cerning municipal services.
The same forces that have developed this sensitive-
ness of public opinion to the corrupting influences of
public-service corporations have also led to a demand for
greater regulative control, which is likely to produce
far-reaching consequences. With the education of pub-
lic opinion the demand for improved service becomes
more urgent. If the companies were normally capital-
ized, these demands could be readily met without en-
dangering the profitableness of the enterprise. The
great difficulty, however, is that almost every municipal
public-service corporation in the United States is highly
overcapitalized. The tendency toward further regu-
lation will soon reach a point at which these companies
no longer can be carried on at a profit. In fact, the
increasing demands of public opinion for more careful
regulation are likely to force the issue sooner than we
expect. The situation of a great number of public-
service corporations in American cities, and especially
the street-railway companies, is such that any attempt
ät adequate regulation is likely to prove embarrassing
MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP
277
:
and may even force some into bankruptcy. Their enor-
mous overcapitalization has burdened them with fixed
charges which cannot be met if the public authorities
either demand any considerable reductions in the cost
of service or far-reaching improvements in the character
of the service. Companies such as the Interborough-
Metropolitan of New York or the Rapid Transit Com-
pany of Philadelphia cannot at the same time meet the
requirements of an advancing public opinion and pay
dividends on their inflated capitalization.
Fortunately, we no longer look with the same dis-
trust on the possibilities of municipal ownership and
operation. The bugbear of socialism has given way to
a more rational view of the possibility of promoting
social welfare through the improvement of these serv-
ices under municipal management. We are beginning
to see that the old-time fear, that the increase of mu-
nicipal functions would lead to an inordinate increase
of city officials, is a danger certainly no greater than
the interference of public-service corporations in mu-
nicipal politics. The dispassionate and unbiased con-
sideration of British experience has weakened many in-
herited prejudices and misconceptions. We now fully
appreciate the fact that while municipal ownership and
operation may involve some dangers, there are also
many incidental advantages. The cities of Great Brit-
ain and of Germany present the picture of municipal
services adjusted so as to improve the social welfare of
S
278 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
the community. A reduction of from fifty to seventy-
five per cent in street-railway fares, such as occurred
with the change from private to public ownership in
Great Britain, possesses a significance far greater than
any profits which the management of the enterprise
might show. It means the extension of the habitable
city area, better housing conditions, and new possibili-
ties of recreation and enjoyment. The influence of an
improved water supply is shown in the declining death
and sickness rates. It is a significant fact that those
British cities which have a municipal water supply en-
joy the lowest typhoid rate. Similarly the reduction in
the price of gas has raised the standard of life of the
working classes, not only by the introduction of gas as
an illuminant, but by its wider use for cooking pur-
poses.
This record of accomplishment indicates that in
Great Britain and Germany the city means something
more than the protector of property. Its activities are
in vital touch with the life and welfare of the people.
The life of the community has been so deeply influenced
through the municipal operation of public utilities that
there is no thought of a return to private management.
It is a remarkable fact that the extension of municipal
activities both in Germany and Great Britain has not
been accompanied by any increase in taxation. In fact,
many of the services undertaken have contributed
toward a reduction in taxation, but even if taxation had
(
MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP
279
been increased it would be no conclusive argument
against municipal operation, for in both the British
and the German cities the returns looked for have been
rather in the improved health and efficiency of the com-
munity than in large profits. It is true that municipal
indebtedness has grown, but the productive enterprises
upon which the cities have embarked are able to
take care of the interest and liquidation of this in-
debtedness.
Public opinion in the United States with reference
to municipal activities is rapidly advancing. We are
beginning to appreciate the fact that the city in its
organized capacity is called upon to play an important
part in the struggle for the elimination of poverty, the
increase of individual efficiency, and the improvement
of moral and physical vigor. Furthermore, we can no
longer tolerate the opposition of interest between public
welfare and private gain which has so long existed in
American municipalities. Incalculable harm has been
done to our city life by the reluctance of the stock-
holders of public service corporations to participate in
any movement that might result in a reduction of the
profits of such companies. The elimination of this oppo-
sition of interests through municipal ownership will
mean a great moral gain to the community, and will
prepare the way for the development of that broader
civic concept which will give to the modern city the
same hold on the energies, loyalty, and affection of the
280 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
people as was exercised, in their day, by the cities of
Greece and Rome.
REFERENCES
FAIRLIE, J. A. "Municipal Administration.” New York: Mac-
millan, 1908.
“Municipal and Private Operation of Public Utilities.” New
York, National Civic Federation, 1907.
“Relation of Modern Municipalities to Quasi-Public Works.”
Publications American Economic Association, vol. ii, No.
6, 1888.
SALTER, W. M. “Relation of Municipalities to Quasi-Public
Corporations." National Municipal League, 1896.
ZUEBLIN, C. "American Municipal Progress.” Macmillan,
1902.
CHAPTER XIII
MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP AND OPERATION OF STREET
RAILWAYS IN GERMANY
The introduction of the electric railway marks a
turning point in the history of street-railway develop-
ment in Germany. It inaugurated a movement toward
municipal ownership and operation which is sweeping
over the empire, and which includes not only the larger
cities, such as Munich, Frankfort, Cologne, and Nürn-
berg, but small towns, such as Bonn, Trier, Colmar, and
Graudenz. The radical change in public opinion, as
well as in the attitude of the town authorities toward
the question of municipal ownership and operation, is
due in part to the feeling of antagonism toward the
street-railway companies; an antagonism traceable to the
never-ceasing struggle to secure from them something
approaching efficient service. A further factor which
has exerted no small influence is the fact that the intro-
duction of electricity simplified considerably the condi-
tions of street-railway management, and made the town
authorities less reluctant to assume the burden of this
new function. It is a significant fact that during the
entire horse-railway period but two towns, both of less
281
282 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
X
than 10,000 inhabitants--Wiesloch and Friedrichshagen
-owned and operated their street-railway systems.
The communalization of street railways began in
Great Britain at a much earlier date than in Germany.
As early as 1897 forty-two British towns had acquired
title to their street-railway systems, and eight of these
(viz., Glasgow, Hull, Huddersfield, Blackpool, Leeds,
Sheffield, Plymouth, and Birmingham) had embarked
upon municipal operation. Not until 1898 did one of
the larger German cities-Frankfort-commit itself to
the principle of municipal ownership and operation.
It may seem surprising at first glance that while the
movement for the municipalization of gas plants of Ger-
man cities began in the early sixties, there seemed to be
little or no desire to take over the street railways. In
1902 fifty-six of the seventy-three cities, with a popula-
OWNERSHIP OF GAS PLANTS

1868
1885
1895
CITIES
WITA POPULATION OF
Pri-
Munic.
Pri-
vate
Pri-
vate
Munic.
va te
34
Under 5000...........
Between 5,000-10,000.1
Between 10,000–20,000.
Between 20,000-50,000.
Over 50,000 ..
| 46
111
99
76
35
(28)
(89)
(61)
(40)
(16)
16
258 | 175
290
282 | 254 | 367 (234)
· Figures in parentheses represent the number of cities in which
the gas supply was made municipal at the time of its introduction.
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY 283
o
tion of 50,000 and over, owned and operated their gas
plants. The course of development is shown in greater
detail in the foregoing table.
The municipal gas plants were successful beyond the
expectation of the advocates of municipal ownership.
The influence of these municipal plants was not con-
fined to the cities concerned, but also raised the stand-
ard of service in those communities in which the gas
supply was still in the hands of private companies. In
fact, between 1850 and 1890 the efficiency of the most
important municipal services, such as water supply,
lighting, sanitation, and poor relief, was raised to a
point which placed the cities of Germany in the van-
guard of municipal improvement.
In the midst of this general betterment of municipal
conditions, urban transportation remained in a most
primitive state. In fact, it was not until 1865 that the
first street-railway line was built-a short experimental
line between Berlin and Charlottenburg. Not until
1872, twenty years after the introduction of street rail-
ways in the United States, was the construction of street-
railway lines on any considerable scale begun. Ham-
burg had no street railways until 1866, Stuttgart until
1868, Munich until 1876, Cologne until 1877, and Nürn-
For this table, as well as other assistance in the preparation of
this chapter, the author begs to acknowledge his indebtedness to the
work of Dr. Hugo Lindemann,“Arbeiterpolitik und Wirtschaftspflege
in der Deutschen Staedteverwaltung," Stuttgart, 1904.
284 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
berg until 1881. As late as 1900 there were still nine
cities with a population of 40,000 and over without street
railways.
The backwardness of this service was due in great
part to the small area of the German cities. The con-
centration of population within the old city walls made
the problem of urban transportation of relatively little
importance. Furthermore, the fact that in the German
cities of the '70's and '80's the residence and business
sections were not separated, tended to reduce the neces-
sity for improved transit facilities, and delayed the
development of a true appreciation of the bearing of
rapid transit on the improvement of city conditions. It
was not until the cities of Germany began to extend
their areas through the incorporation of suburban dis-
tricts that the problem began to assume vital importance.
When the city authorities were awakened to the tre-
mendous social value of a well-developed transportation
system, they found their hands tied in the attempts to
secure it. The franchise grants of the '70's and '80's
were generally made for a term of at least twenty-five,
and in some cases for forty and fifty years. Under the
terms of these grants the street-railway companies could
not be compelled to extend their lines into the suburban
districts. The companies were not disposed to take any
chances, inasmuch as the original franchise grants im-
posed heavy financial burdens which would permit of
the construction of lines only in the more densely popu-
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY
285
lated sections. The efforts to secure an extension of
service from the street-railway companies led to long
negotiations, and gave rise to considerable bitterness
of feeling. The only possible solution seemed to be the
expropriation of the lines, but this involved expenditures
which would have taxed the credit and resources of the
larger cities to the utmost, and would have been entirely
beyond the reach of the smaller cities.
Fortunately, the necessity for better service became
acute at a time when the street-railway companies
throughout Germany were applying for the right to
change their motive power from horse to electric trac-
tion. The new system was so much more efficient and
at the same time so much more economical that no com-
pany could afford to forego its use. The city authorities
found themselves therefore in an entirely new relation
to the companies. Instead of being petitioners for
favors, they held the key to the situation. The position
of the companies was further weakened by the fact
that in most of the larger cities the franchises granted
during the '70's had but comparatively few years
to run.
The negotiations between the city authorities and the
street-railway companies during the period of 1890–1900
constitute one of the most interesting chapters in the
history of German municipalities. The main purpose
of the negotiations, so far as the cities were concerned,
was to secure the construction of additional lines in re-
286 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
turn for the new privileges. Only after long-continued
negotiations had demonstrated the impossibility of arriv-
ing at an amicable understanding was the desirability of
municipalization seriously discussed.
The experience of Frankfort, Munich, Cologne, and
Nürnberg is typical of the difficulties encountered in
bringing about an adjustment to the new conditions, and
also explains the rapidity with which the movement for
municipalization of street railways has spread through
the cities of Germany.
FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN
In 1880 the city of Frankfort granted to a Belgian
company the right to operate a railway over certain
specified streets. The duration of the franchise was
limited to twenty-five years, but the city reserved the
right to terminate the contract at the expiration of
twelve years and take over all the company's lines. If
the city availed itself of this right, the company was
entitled to receive, until the expiration of the franchise
in 1904, an annual sum equal to thirty per cent of the
average gross income during the three years, 1890, 1891,
and 1892. If the city preferred, this annual payment
was to be capitalized at six per cent, and the entire
amount paid in one lump sum. In return for the fran-
chise the company was compelled to pay to the city five
YT
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY. 287
U
per cent of the gross receipts from all lines. As the
expiration of this first twelve-year period approached it
became evident that the sentiment in favor of munici-
palization was not sufficiently strong to lead to a termi-
nation of the contract. On March 24, 1891, the city
entered into a new contract with the company. Under
its terms the city agreed to extend the franchise until
December 31, 1914, but reserved the right to terminate
the contract and take over the lines either on January 1,
1898, or on January 1, 1906. The annual payment by
the company to the city was fixed at six per cent, with
the exception of certain of the new lines, which were
classed as suburban, and from the gross receipts of
which the company was only compelled to pay three
per cent. The contract provided, furthermore, that the
company pay the following sums into the city treasury:
During the first two years of the franchise........... $7,500 annually
During the following three years of the franchise..... 10,000 annually
During the following five years of the franchise...... 12,500 annually
During the following five years of the franchise..... 15,000 annually
During the following five years of the franchise...... 17,500 annually
During the following five years of the franchise...... 20,000 annually
In addition, if the company's accounts showed a net
profit exceeding ten per cent, the city was entitled to one
half of such excess ; if the net profits exceeded sixteen
per cent, the city was entitled to receive two thirds of
the excess.
The rapid growth of the city during the first five
288 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
1
years of the life of this contract 1 clearly demonstrated
that while the city was receiving a fair return for the
use of its streets, the existing lines were totally inade-
quate to meet the needs of the newer sections of the city.
Both branches of the local legislative assembly—the
council and the “Magistrat” 2-determined to use the
right to terminate the contract as a weapon to compel
the company to construct much-needed lines in the out-
lying districts of the city. Although the possibility of
placing the street-railway system under municipal oper-
ation was discussed, the sentiment was not sufficiently
strong to make this step seem probable. The negotia-
tions between the company and the city were prolonged
but fruitless. The situation was complicated by the fact
that the company was anxious to change its motive
power from horse to electricity, for which privilege the
city was also determined to exact a quid pro quo. The
only solution for the deadlock which ensued was the ter-
mination of the contract between the city and the com-
1 According to the census of 1900, the population of the city
proper was 288,989, but including the suburban districts within a
radius of six miles from the center of the city, which in reality form
part of the city, the total population dependent upon the street-rail-
way lines of the city amounts to over 400,000 (436,792).
2 The “Magistrat” of the Prussian cities is one of the organs of
local government combining executive with legislative functions.
The individual members are the heads of administrative departments.
As a legislative body the “Magistrat” occupies a position similar in
some respects to that of the upper branch of the American town
council.
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY
289
C
1.
pany. On November 10, 1896, the city gave notice that
it would take over the lines on January 1, 1898. The
reluctance of the city authorities was all the greater
because the decision involved a heavy financial burden,
as, under the terms of the contract, the city had agreed
that in case it decided to take over the lines it would
pay to the company, until the expiration of the franchise
in 1914, an annual sum equal to thirty per cent of the
average gross income of the years 1895, 1896, and 1897.
Although the street-railway lines became the prop-
erty of the city on January 1, 1898, the authorities
were unwilling immediately to assume the burdens in-
volved in municipal operation. The “ Magistrat," in a
report submitted to the council, laid special emphasis
on the difficulties incident to the change from horse
power to electricity, and pointed out that no matter
how carefully the change was planned it would cer-
tainly cause considerable inconvenience. In these cir-
cumstances municipal operation would be introduced
under the most unfavorable auspices. In order to avoid
this, the city adopted a plan which other German cities
have followed, viz., to lease the lines for a brief period
to the same company to which the contract for the con-
struction of the electrical equipment was awarded. In
1898 a contract was made with two electrical engineer-
ing firms for the transformation of the horse railway
into an electrical system, and for the construction of a
number of additional linės. Under the terms of this con-
.LU
290 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
tract the operation of the entire railway system was
handed over to the construction companies for a term
of five years, with the reserved right on the part of the
city to terminate the contract prior to the expiration of
the five-year period by giving one year's notice.
MUNICH
The successive steps leading to the municipalization
of the street-railway system of Munich 1 are of peculiar
interest, owing to the many difficulties and discourage-
ments which the municipal authorities had to face, both
in their dealings with the company during the period of
private ownership as well as during the first years of
municipal ownership.
In 1882 the city granted to the Munich Street Rail-
way Company the exclusive right to operate street rail-
ways within the city limits. Under the terms of this
franchise, the company was required to pave, repair,
maintain, and clean the section of the street between
the rails and sixteen inches on either side thereof. The
city reserved to itself the right to do all such paving,
repairing, and cleaning, and to charge the same to the
company. The rates of fare to be charged by the com-
pany were minutely specified. The lines were divided
into sections of three fifths of a mile each. For each
1 According to the census of 1900, the population of Munich
was 499,932.
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY
291
section the charge was not to exceed one and one quarter
cents, but the company was permitted to fix a minimum
fare of two and one half cents, no matter how short the
distance traveled. In return for this franchise the com-
pany was compelled to make the following annual pay-
ments to the city treasury:
1. Of the first $250,000 gross receipts, two (2) per
cent.
2. Of the succeeding $12,500 gross receipts, two and
one half (21) per cent.
3. Of all receipts above $262,500, three (3) per cent.
The contract with the company had not been in oper-
ation five years before controversies arose between the
city and the company relative to the construction of
new lines. The desire on the part of the authorities to
relieve the congestion in the central sections of the city,
combined with the rapid growth of the population, made
the extension of existing lines imperative. The com-
pany was unwilling, however, to incur the expense unless
the city was prepared to grant terms more favorable than
those of the original contract. Negotiations with the
company extending over a period of four years having
proved fruitless, the “ Magistrat” 1 and council decided
1 In the Bavarian cities the "Magistrat” occupies the same
position as in Prussia, viz., exercising both executive and legislative
functions. The members of the "Magistrat” are elected by the
council subject to the confirmation of the central government.
The members of the council are elected by the people through re-
stricted suffrage.
292 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
SK
to build the new lines. They were not prepared, how-
ever, to take over the operation of the new lines, and
therefore entered into a supplementary contract with
the street-railway company on February 17, 1892, under
which the new lines were handed over to the com-
pany to be operated for the account of the city. Under
this arrangement the company was permitted first to
deduct the cost of operation from the gross receipts. The
remainder of the income was then divided as follows:
The city first to receive four per cent on the cost of
construction, two per cent depreciation charge, and a
sum equal to three per cent of the gross receipts. The
remainder, if any, was then to be divided between the
city and the company in the ratio of three to one. This
contract of February 17, 1892, had been in operation
but a short time when the question of the electrical
equipment of the entire system arose. Further nego-
tiations with the company resulted in the signing of the
contract of October 25, 1897, according to the terms of
erty of the city. Instead of taking over the operation
of the system, it was stipulated that the Munich Street
Railway Company should continue to run all the lines
until the termination of the original franchise period,
viz., July 1, 1907. Owing to the fact that certain sec-
tions of the system were built by the company and
certain others by the city, the adjustment of the finan-
cial relation during the period 1897–1907 was fraught
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY
293
with considerable difficulty. The agreement, as finally
reached, provided :
First.-Inasmuch as the introduction of electricity
made much of the old rolling stock worthless, it was
necessary to make a large outlay for new equipment and
cars. Instead of making these purchases from city
funds, the contract stipulated that all such purchases
be made by the company after consulting the city au-
thorities, and that the city return to the company each
year the amount thus expended. For the renewal of
equipment the contract provided for a “ Renewal
Fund,” which should receive at least six per cent of the
gross receipts.
Second. --The gross receipts from lines built by the
city must be paid into the city treasury, in return for
which the city guaranteed to the company a sum suffi-
cient to pay all operating expenses.
Third.—The gross receipts from lines built by the
company were to be paid into the city treasury. In
this case the city guaranteed to the company not only
all operating expenses, but agreed to pay to the company
annually, until 1907, a sum equal to the gross profits of
the year 1896–97, viz., $230,804.76.
Fourth.—The contract further stipulated that the
company was to receive twenty-five (25) per cent of the
net profits.
As we shall see when we come to consider the finan-
cial results of municipal ownership, the contract of the
20
294 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
T
city of Munich with the street-railway company, while
most profitable to the company, had been a constant drain
on the resources of the city. Since 1897 the stockholders
have enjoyed a guaranteed dividend of eleven per cent,
with the possibility of a larger dividend if a net profit
remained after deducting all fixed charges. Until the
close of the fiscal year 1904–5 the city treasury was
compelled each year to meet a considerable deficit. The
amount of this deficit, and the causes thereof, will be
considered in a subsequent section.
COLOGNE
The duration of the original franchises granted to
the Cologne Street Railway Company ranged from
twenty-five to thirty years, but were made at different
periods. The first of these expired in 1902, another will
expire in 1916, and still another in 1924. Early in the
nineties the city authorities suggested to the company
the prolongation of certain existing lines and the con-
struction of a number of new ones, but met with no
encouraging response. As in Frankfort and Munich,
the situation was further complicated by the desire of
the company to secure the right to equip the system
with electricity. The popular clamor for improved
transportation facilities became so strong that the city
decided in 1896 to undertake the construction of five
new lines on its own account, and to equip the same with
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY
295
electricity. Here a new difficulty presented itself. The
original franchises gave to the company the exclu-
sive right to run cars on certain streets. As soon as
the resolution of the city council became known, the
company gave notice that it would contest the right of
i
indirectly compete with the existing system. To make
this threat effective, the company immediately applied
for an injunction to restrain the city from building the
new lines. In a long and carefully reasoned opinion
the .court held that the city could not, without violat-
ing the terms of the franchise, construct any new lines
which would compete directly with the existing lines of
the company. An appeal was taken by the city to the
Supreme Court of Prussia, and finally to the Imperial
Supreme Court, but with the same result. These de-
cisions placed the city in a most difficult position. The
choice lay between a policy which meant a complete sur-
render to the company, and one which, by delaying the
change from horse-power to electricity, would work
great harm to the social and economic welfare of the
city.
In view of these difficulties, the city council, by reso-
lution of March 31, 1897, decided to take over the entire
street-railway system, provided an agreement could be
made with the company. A commission was appointed
to report a plan. The commission presented a report
favorable to city ownership and operation, and on Janu-
296 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
ary 2, 1900, a contract with the Cologne Street Railway
Company was signed, under which the city became
owner of all the company's lines. It is true that the
city had to make great financial sacrifices in order to
become master of the situation, but it was felt that a
continuation of the antagonism between the company
and the city would work incalculable harm to the eco-
nomic and social welfare of the community. Under the
terms of the contract the city agreed to take over all
the real estate and rolling stock of the company; the
former at an appraised value of $661,795.60, the latter
at an appraised value of $333,995. In addition, the city
agreed to pay to the company in return for the cancel-
lation of the franchises the following sums:
...
..
..
...
..
...
..
..
..
First. From January 1, 1899, to June 30, 1913, annually, $250,000
Second. In addition the following sums:.
For the year 1903,.
$6,250
For the year 1904.
...... 12,500
For the year 1905..
....... 18,750
For the year 1906
. . 25,000
For the year 1907...
.. 31,250
For the year 1908.
37,500
For the year 1909..
43,750
For the year 1910..
.. 50,000
For the year 1911.
56,250
For the year 1912......
.. 62,500
For the half year January 1, to June 30, 1913.... 34,375
The contract was given retroactive effect in provid-
ing that the lines were to be regarded as belonging to the
city from and after January 1, 1899, but that the com-
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY 297
(D
pany should continue to run the same for the city's
account until such time as might be necessary to perfect
the organization under city operation. On April 1, 1900,
all the lines were placed under city management. The
city was given the privilege, under the contract, to fulfill
all its financial obligations toward the company at once
by capitalizing the annual payments and making pay-
ment of one lump sum. Of this privilege the city has
not as yet availed itself.
The first problem confronting the city was to equip
the entire system with electricity. In fact, Cologne was
the last of the larger German cities to retain horse power,
and the city authorities therefore felt a special obliga-
tion to make the change with all possible speed. Before
the close of 1901 the four principal lines were equipped
with electricity. The city immediately began to plan
the construction of a number of new lines not only
within the city limits, but also to connect the city with
the smaller suburban towns. During the fiscal year
1902–3 five new lines within the city limits were con-
structed, the following year a number of existing lines
were lengthened, and during the year 1904–5 the city
took over three existing suburban lines.
.
2
Nürnberg
In Nürnberg, as in Frankfort, Munich, and Cologne,
the municipalization of the street-railway system was
298 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
as
forced upon the community because of the impossibility
of securing from the street-railway company the kind
of service which the rapidly growing city required. The
original franchises were granted in 1881 for a period
of forty years. In 1897 the Nürnberg-Fürther Street
Railway Company applied for permission to substitute
electricity for horse power. On August 13, 1897, a new
contract was entered into under which the company was
given this privilege. In view of the great expense in-
volved in the introduction of the new system the com-
pany made a strong plea for an extension of the fran-
chise period beyond 1921. The city finally agreed to an
extension of five years, viz., until 1926, provided the
company would undertake the construction of three new
lines.
Within a comparatively short time after the signing
of this contract the city authorities began to realize that
they had made a serious mistake. Nürnberg was rapidly
acquiring a position as one of the leading industrial
cities of Germany. Its population was increasing at an
extraordinary rate. In 1899 a number of suburbs had
been incorporated into the city limits, and in the imme-
diate vicinity were a number of smaller towns, which
in fact formed part of the municipal aggregate, although
not legally a part of the city. It was evident that in
order to relieve the congestion of population in the city
proper an elaborate system of urban and interurban
railways would be necessary. Negotiations were opened
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY
299
LUU
with the company with a view to securing such exten-
sions. The company in its reply expressed a willing-
ness to make all the extensions desired, provided the city
was willing, first, to extend the original franchises be-
yond 1926, and secondly, to guarantee to the company
a net profit on all new lines equal to the average net
profit on the lines included in the original franchises.
The 'apparent onesidedness of this proposition
aroused considerable feeling against the company, which
was aggravated by differences growing out of the inter-
pretation of the contract of August 13, 1897. Before
the close of 1898 the city authorities were convinced
that the only possible solution of the problem lay in the
construction of the new lines, either by some other com-
pany or by the municipality itself. Negotiations were
opened with another company, but led to no definite
results. The authorities were convinced by this time
that the city would have to build the new lines, and be
prepared to take over their operation. In December,
1901, application was made to the Bavarian Minister
of Internal Affairs for leave to construct and operate
certain lines both within and without the city limits.
Soon thereafter the necessary permission was granted,
but objection was immediately filed by the company
on the ground that the new lines planned would com-
pete directly with existing lines, and were, therefore,
in violation of the terms of the franchise. The city, in
its reply, not only contested the right of the company
>
300 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
to make any objection to the proposed lines, but sub-
mitted a more elaborate plan, involving the construction
of a far greater number of lines. In deciding upon this
larger plan the city council was influenced mainly by
the fact that the territory incorporated within the city
limits in 1899 was without adequate transportation
facilities. It was hoped that cheap and sanitary work-
ingmen's dwellings would be constructed in these quar-
ters, and in order to encourage this larger social purpose
the city extended the water, gas, and drainage services.
It was evident, however, that property owners would
not be willing to build until an efficient and relatively
cheap transportation system was provided.
On July 7, 1902, the Bavarian Government gave
permission to the city to construct the larger system,
with the understanding that all questions affecting the
rights of the company be settled by the courts. The
company had already filed a bill to restrain the city
from building the lines, but the suit was brought to a
sudden close by the announcement that the city had
decided to purchase all the company's lines, and that an
agreement to this effect had been reached. Under the
terms of this agreement, which was ratified by the com-
pany on October 20, 1902, the city agreed to pay to the
company for the real estate, rolling stock, and franchise
$2,835,000, i. e., $525 for every share of stock (par value
$250). The payment was made in city bonds, bearing
three per cent interest. The bonds began bearing inter-
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY
301
est in January, 1903, but for the year 1902 the city
agreed to guarantee to the stockholders a dividend of
eight per cent. The net profits of the year 1902 not
being sufficient to pay this dividend, the city was obliged
to make up the deficit of $6,605.
On June 6, 1903, the entire system passed into the
hands of the city. Work on the extension of the lines
was immediately begun. Before the close of August,
1903, two of the most important lines had been extended
to the suburbs of the city. During the fiscal year
1903–4 over $80,000 were expended on new lines. The
city also reduced the fares on certain lines for the pur-
pose of relieving the congestion of population in the
central districts. Thus, after a long struggle extending
over seven years, the city authorities found themselves
complete masters of the transportation situation.
over se
THE CONDITIONS OF MUNICIPAL OPERATION
C
FINANCIAL RESULTS
In considering the results of municipal management,
it is important to bear in mind that in all the German
cities which have adopted this policy, and particularly
the four cities now under consideration, the street-rail-
way administration is struggling under exceptionally
heavy financial burdens, due in part to the necessity
of large outlays for the construction of new, and, in the
302 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
main, unprofitable lines, but mainly owing to the large
indemnities which these cities were compelled to pay
for the unexpired franchises. A further fact which has
had considerable influence is the reaction against over-
speculation, from which many of the German cities are
at present suffering. It is not surprising, therefore, that
the first years of municipal management do not show
brilliant results.
Frankfort-on-the-Main
Of the four larger cities that have embarked upon
municipal operation of street railways, the financial sit-
uation of the Frankfort system is the most favorable.
At the close of the fiscal year 1903, after paying all
operating expenses, there remained a surplus of $576,-
574.25. Out of this the following fixed charges were
paid:
$82,080.00
First. Annual payment to street-railway company (to
be paid each year until the expiration of the
original franchise in 1914).....................
Second. Interest and liquidation charges on street-rail-
way loan......
........
Third. Depreciation and renewal fund...............
Fourth, Contribution to general administrative ex-
penses of the city.......
140,666.72
56,250.00
16,816.93
$295,813.65
From the remaining $280,760.60, the city contrib-
uted $15,805 toward the pension fund for employees,
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY
303
$4,057.50 toward the pension fund for orphans and
widows of employees, and $36,250 toward the repaving
and widening of streets, leaving a net profit of $224,-
648.10. This is by far the most favorable showing since
the beginning of municipal operation, the net profits of
the preceding years being as follows:
LI
NET PROFITS
1899.......
1900...
1901....
1902........................
$85,921.65
108,190.59
126,677.25
122,190.95
...
CD
These results are not due to exceptionally favor-
able traffic conditions, but are traceable directly to care-
ful and economical administrative methods. During the
period between 1899 and 1903 the cost of operation per
car mile 1 was reduced from 131 to 84 cents, while the
percentage of gross receipts required for operating ex-
penses was reduced from 68.29 per cent to 54.9 per
cent. This compares very favorably with the situation
in the United States, where the relation of operating
expenses to gross income for all the electric lines is
57.3 per cent. The accompanying tables will give a
clearer idea of the efficiency of municipal management.
The receipts per car mile have also declined, but this
is due to circumstances which indicate improvement of
1 The term “car mile” means the total cost of operating reduced
to a unit standard, i. e., the cost of operating each car over a distance
of one mile.
304 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT

STREET RAILWAYS.
FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN
RECEIPTS 1899–1903
Sounci OF INCOMI.
1899
1900
1901
1902
1903
Fares ......
$747,829.99
100,610.07
$882,616.70
123,282.59
$864,619.39
130,443.75
7,763.58
16,676.43
Commutation tickets.
$985,880.20 $1,072,505.24
158,624.62 170,910.08
7,800.97 7,857.65
28,073.61
Forwarding mail............
Miscellaneous...
8;285.73
Total...
$856,725.79 $1,020,542.22 $1,019,503.15 $1,167,342.01 $1,279,346.58
Receipts per car mile.........
20 cents
|
19 cents
154 cents
15 cents
155 cents
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY
305

STREET RAILWAYS.
FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN
EXPENDITURES 1899–1903
ITEM.
1899
1900
1901
1902
1903
Total operating expenses ...
$581,667.57 $620,493.871 $633,257.31 $688,570.10 $702,772.57
Relation of operating ex-
penses to total receipts
(in per cent)......
Operating expenses per
car mile.....
68.29
60.8
56.6
59
54.9
131 cents
| 111 cents
|
8 cents
1
9 cents
18 cents
Gross profits...
$270,058.21 $400,048.84 $486,245.84 $478,771.92 $576,574.25
Net profits..
85,921.65
108,190.59
126,677.25
122,190.95
224,648.10
306 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
service rather than decline of traffic. During the five
years of municipal operation from 1898 to 1903 the
city has constructed a number of new lines in relatively
sparsely settled districts, from which no surplus can be
expected for some years to come. Although they are
certain ultimately to prove profitable, the city has had
primarily in view the possibility of influencing the set-
tlement of outlying districts.
Munich
We have already had occasion to examine the unfor-
tunate financial situation of the Munich system, due in
large part to the extraordinarily heavy payments which
the city had to make each year to the street-railway com-
pany as indemnity for the canceling of the unexpired
franchise. The deficit for the fiscal year 1904–5
amounted to $32,747.03, but this is not surprising when
we stop to consider that the budget was burdened with
the annuity payable to the street-railway company,
amounting to $230,804.76. Inasmuch as all lines be-
longing to the city were operated by the company until
1907, the period of municipal operation is too short to
draw any conclusions with reference to its efficiency.
Cologne
In considering the municipal railway system of
Cologne, it is necessary to distinguish between the dis-
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY307
tinctly urban and the suburban lines. During the first
few years of municipal operation, especially in 1901
and 1902, the street railways of Cologne, as of all the
cities of Germany, were affected by the general eco-
nomic depression from which the country was suffering.
The receipts were further reduced by the temporary
disturbances of traffic caused by the change of equip-
ment from horse power to electricity.
The fiscal year 1901–2 showed a net loss of $12,-
145.54; in 1902–3 there was a net profit of $21.51, and
in 1903–4 a net profit of $130,816.06. In considering
this profit-and-loss account we must take into considera-
tion that the city is compelled to pay to the street-rail-
way company an annuity of $314,319.15. During the
last four years the city has been able steadily to reduce
the operating expenses.
The city owns and operates three suburban lines, one
to the neighboring town of Frechen, another to Königs-
forst, and a third to Ehrenfeld. Under the Prussian
law any community operating railway lines occupies a
legal position very similar to that of a private corpora-
tion. It may seek franchises from neighboring com-
munities for the operation of such lines, and is held to
the same measure of obligation as a private company.
In 1903 the city of Cologne entered into a contract with
the town of Frechen to take over the line constructed in
1893. Under the terms of the contract Frechen is to
receive an annuity of $12,500, which is to be increased
308 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT.
annually by $250 until it reaches $15,000. Cologne
agreed furthermore to pay into the treasury of Frechen
one third of the net profits, and to equip the line
with electricity with the least possible delay. The line
MUNICIPAL STREET RAILWAYS OF COLOGNE

1900–1901
1901–1902
Per
Gross
receipts
Per
car
mile
Gross
receipts
car
mile
cts.
20%
$751,486.50
434,207.75
317,278.75
$801,350.75
484,793.50 / 12
316,557.25
Receipts .................
Operating expenses.......
Surplus.................
Relation of operating ex-
penses to gross receipts
(in per cent).
60.50%

1902-1903
1903-1904
Per
Per
Gross
receipts
car
mile
Gross
receipts
car
mile
cts
cts.
16
113
15
$1,249,536.75
706,461.25
543,075.50
8-190
Receipts............ $1,021,433.00
Operating expenses. . ! 621,611.00
Surplus............. 299,822.00
Relation of operating
expenses to gross re-
ceipts (in per cent) 60.85%
56.54%
is of considerable importance for freight as well as
passenger traffic; in fact, since 1900 the income from
freight traffic has been more than double that from
passenger traffic. The city authorities of Cologne were
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY
309
anxious to acquire the line because of its importance to
the industrial growth of the city rather than the possibil-
ities of profit involved. During the first year of munici-
pal operation, after paying the annuity of $12,500 to the
town of Frechen, there remained a net profit of nearly
$1,000. .
The second of the Cologne suburban lines, viz., from
Cologne to Königsforst, is the first section of a network
of suburban lines on the right bank of the Rhine which
the city decided to build. As this line passes through
three towns—Kalk, Vingst, and Merheim—it was neces-
sary first to enter into agreements with the local author-
ities of these towns. The agreements entered into are
as follows:
First. In return for the use of its streets the town
of Kalk is to receive an annuity depending on the net
profits of the section running over its highways. It is
provided, however, that in no case shall the annuity be
less than $2,125 nor more than $6,750.
Second.—The town of Vingst received a lump sum
of $1,250 to be expended for certain street improve-
ments, and in addition is to receive an annuity depend-
ing on the number of inhabitants, and graded as
follows: 21 cents per inhabitant per year so long as
population remains under 10,000; 39 cents per inhabi-
tant per year for population between 10,000 and 15,000;
5 cents per inhabitant per year for population between
15,000 and 19,999; 61 cents per inhabitant per year for
21
310 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
population between 20,000 and 29,999; 77 cents per
inhabitant per year for population over 30,000.
Third.—The town of Merheim granted the right to
use one of its streets for $750, a sum sufficient to make a
few minor repairs.
The third suburban line operated by the city is in-
tended mainly for freight traffic. The city is doing
of new industries. The Cologne-Ehrenfeld line was
acquired mainly with a view to improving the freight
connection with the state railways.
(D
Nürnberg
The city of Nürnberg did not come into full posses-
sion of its street-railway system until June 6, 1903.
During the brief period of municipal management the
city authorities have shown a degree of business capacity
which promises to place the system in the front rank of
tained complete control of the situation, the construc-
tion of the new lines which the city had failed to obtain
from the street-railway company was begun. Before the
end of August two of the main lines were extended into
outlying wards. The influence of the improved service
in relieving congestion in the older portions of the city
was immediately apparent. Two new lines to suburban
towns were also begun without delay. The following
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY
311
year (1904) the belt line, encircling the entire city, was
completed through the construction of a section connect-
ing the terminals of two existing lines.
The financial results of the first two years of munic-
ipal operation have been satisfactory. It must be re-
membered that the street-railway account is burdened
with the interest and liquidation charges on the loan
contracted for the canceling of the company's franchise.
This means an annual outlay for thirty years of about
$138,000. In spite of this fixed charge, the street-rail-
way department turned over to the general city treasury
a net profit of $13,669.89 in 1903 and $38,263.91 in 1904.
During the first year the expense per car mile was re-
duced from 131 cents to 12 cents, and the percentage
of total receipts used for operating expenses was re-
duced from 48.7 to 47.2 per cent. As regards economy
of management, the city can easily hold its own when
compared with company management. The street-rail-
way accounts under the two forms of management give
ample evidence of this fact.
(6) FARES
The most difficult problem confronting the German
cities which have embarked upon the municipal opera-
tion of street railways has been the adjustment of fares.
During the last five years this question has been in the
foreground of public attention. Unfortunately, the pur-
312 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
1
poses and policies which the city authorities had in mind
at the time the street railways were taken over have
had to be considerably modified, owing to the necessity
of avoiding a deficit. In almost every instance one of
the considerations, which was of no small influence in
bringing popular sentiment to favor municipal owner-
ship and operation, was the possibility of so adjusting
fares as to subserve social as well as financial ends. It
was constantly pointed out that with municipal opera-
tion the city would be able so to adjust fares as to
influence migration from the densely populated central
wards to the outlying districts. Unfortunately the
movement for municipal operation came at a time of
economic depression in Germany, which was also felt
in the street-railway traffic. The first attempts to read-
just fares with a view to influencing the distribution of
population were followed by a marked decline in gross
receipts. These two circumstances were immediately
associated as cause and effect, and led most of the cities
to return to the system of fares in force prior to the
period of municipal management.
The two plans with which the German cities have
experimented are:
First.—The uniform rate under which the same fare
is charged, no matter what the length of ride.
Second.—The zone tariff, i. e., a system under which
the rate of fare increases with the length of ride.
Prior to the period of municipal operation the zone
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY
313
VI
tariff was practically universal. This system, although
sound from the standpoint of the financial interests of
the companies, retarded the development of the sub-
urban districts. In the agitation for municipal owner-
ship much stress was laid on the possibility of intro-
ducing a uniform fare. Of all the cities that have
tried this system, Nürnberg is the only one that has been
able to retain it. Munich, Düsseldorf, Barmen, and
Königsberg have tried it, but felt compelled, for finan-
cial reasons, to revert to the zone system.
The experience of Munich is particularly instructive.
As soon as the lines became the property of the city a
radical revision of the system of fares was undertaken.
A uniform rate of 22 cents was introduced for all dis-
tances within the limits of the older city—a maximum
distance of 6 miles. With this fare the right to one free
transfer was given. Beyond the old city limits the fare
was 5 cents with one free transfer. We have already
had occasion to point out the heavy financial obligations
of the city toward the street-railway company which,
combined with the fact that at the time of the beginning
of city ownership the community was in the midst of a
period of financial depression, explain the deficit of the
first few years. The municipal authorities felt that the
uniform fare was at least one of the causes of the unfa-
vorable showing. A commission was appointed which
recommended that the uniform fare be retained at 27
cents for week days, but that on Sunday the fare be
U
314 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
increased to 32 cents. It was furthermore recom-
mended that commutation tickets be adjusted to the
zone system. Monthly cards, valid for a distance not
exceeding 2 miles, were to be sold for $1.25, while
cards permitting of a 3-mile ride were to cost $1.877.
This plan was put into operation in July, 1903, but
did not fulfill the expectations of increased income.
The number of persons using the cars on Sundays
dropped from 10,408,833 in 1902 to 6,933,450 in 1903.
The people evidently were unwilling to pay the higher
Sunday rate. The question was again referred to a com-
mission, and in 1904 the city council decided to abandon
the uniform fare and to substitute therefor a zone tariff.
On October 16, 1904, the new system went into effect.
The lines were divided into sections called “units,"
each of a mile in length. The rate of fare for each
unit was fixed at 11 cents, with a minimum fare of
21 cents. The fare for the maximum distance was fixed
at 61 cents. Free transfers on all lines are issued. In
order to make the change more acceptable to the work-
ing classes, it was provided that from May 1st to Octo-
ber 15th the fare prior to 7 A.M., no matter what the dis-
tance, should be 21 cents, and from October 16th to
April 30th the same fare should obtain prior to 7.30
A.M. Monthly commutation tickets, valid for a speci-
fied “ two-unit ” ride (11 miles), are sold for $1.50, for
a “ four-unit ” ride, $3. The holders of these cards
may travel over these units as often as they desire.
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY 315
Monthly cards good for the entire system are sold
for $3.75.
During the first nine months of the new system the
financial results were relatively satisfactory. The gross
receipts during this period increased $16,156.60. Al-.
though the gross receipts were larger, the total number
of passengers carried declined considerably. As com-
pared with the nine months of the preceding year the
decrease was nearly half a million (458,626).
Frankfort also has a zone-tariff system similar in some
respects to the Munich system. The gradation of fares
is as follows:
For 1} miles or less...
... 24 cents
Over 1} and less than 2to miles............ 34 cents
Over 21o and less than 3 miles............. 5 cents
For every 16 of a mile over 3 miles ......... 14 cents
Frankfort has done more than any other German
city to encourage the migration of population to the
suburban districts. In 1904 a special system of fares
was introduced for apprentices, workingmen, and arti-
sans whose income is less than $500 per year. Cards for
the six week days and entitling the holder to the use of a
single section not exceeding 14 miles are issued for 7
cents. These cards must be used before 7.30 A.M.; at
least the ride must be begun before that hour. Weekly
cards, good for a morning ride over any portion of the
system before 7.30 and a return ride in the evening,
316 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
are issued for 20 cents. Monthly commutation cards
for unlimited use of a section not exceeding 14 miles
are also issued to workingmen for $1.25. The city of
Mannheim, imbued with the same desire to favor the
housing of the working classes in the outlying districts,
has adopted a plan which has proved most successful.
Workingmen's 1 tickets, good for a 21 miles' ride, are
sold for 11 cents, but these tickets can only be used
from the suburban sections to the old city wall. A fur-
ther ride must be paid for at the regular rate.
In Bielefeld special workingmen's cars are run dur-
ing the early morning and evening hours. The fare is
13 cents, no matter how long the ride (maximum ride
5 miles). In Mühlheim on the Rohr workingmen's
monthly commutation tickets are issued for $1, good for
the morning ride to and the evening ride from place of
work.
Cologne has recently introduced a new zone-tariff
system, arranged as follows:
Fare for 19 miles.....
Fare for 3 miles.
Fare for 5 miles.....
Fare over 5% miles........
... 23 cents
. 31 cents
.. 5 cents
..... 67 cents
With every fare exceeding 24 cents a free transfer is
issued. Four classes of tickets are sold:
i These tickets are sold only to persons whose income does not
exceed $300 per year.
2 Cf. Lindemann, op. cit., p. 273.
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY 317
(D
First.--Monthly tickets over the entire system, $3.25.
Second.-Monthly tickets over definite sections of
the lines are arranged as follows: The entire system
is divided into 81 “ unit sections." The charge for
monthly tickets over three contiguous sections is $1.25;
for five sections, $1.75; for seven sections, $2.
Third.—In order to furnish workingmen with cheap
transportation facilities, tickets good for use before 7
A.M. in summer and before 7.30 A.M. in winter are issued
at the rate of six for 71 cents.
Fourth.--Tickets for school children are issued for
11 cents, good for any distance.
In Cologne, as in the other cities, holders of commu-
tation tickets may use the lines as often as they choose.
Nürnberg and Darmstadt are the only large cities of any
size that still retain the uniform rate in their municipal
railway system. The fare is 27 cents. In the issuance
of commutation tickets Nürnberg has departed from the
uniform rate. Monthly tickets for two-mile sections are
sold for $1.50; monthly tickets for the entire system cost
$2.50. In Darmstadt the uniform fare of 21 cents is
only departed from on one line, on which the fare is 3
cents.
The experience of some of the other cities in which
the street railways are under municipal management is
worthy of attention. Düsseldorf took over the street
railways and immediately introduced the uniform fare
of 24 cents with right to one free transfer, and 34 cents
318 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
with right to two transfers. Monthly commutation
tickets for the entire system were sold for $1.50. A
special rate of $1 was made for school children. The
first year of municipal operation showed a deficit of
$33,963. After careful consideration the city authorities
decided to abandon the uniform rate and adopted a zone
tariff. This seemed to have no immediate effect, as the
real cause of the deficit was the general economic depres-
sion. The attempt was then made to remedy the finan-
cial situation by diminishing the size of the zone unit.
The increase in price, combined with the improvement
in the industrial situation of the community, placed the
system on a paying basis.
In Barmen the uniform 24-cent fare with free trans-
fer was also introduced immediately after the municipal-
ization of the street railways. Monthly commutation
cards good for all portions of the system were issued at
$1.25. The maximum length of ride without transfer
was 41 miles. Under this system the street-railway ac-
counts showed a chronic deficit amounting to $220 in
1897, $9,849 in 1898, $5,312 in 1899, $3,729 in 1900, and
$4,026 in 1901. In December, 1903, this system was re-
placed by a zone tariff under which the lines were divided
into five zones of 21 miles each. The rate for each
zone was fixed at 14 cents, with a maximum fare of 21
cents.
In Königsberg the uniform fare system was in force
during the first years of municipal management. In
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY
319
April, 1903, the city authorities, in order to increase
the receipts, introduced a combination of the uniform
rate and zone tariff. Within the limits of the city the
uniform 21 cent fare is retained; beyond the city limits
3f cents is charged.
CHARACTER OF SERVICE UNDER MUNICIPAL MANAGEMENT
LUI
It requires but very brief observation of conditions
in German cities to be forced to the conclusion that
“rapid transit” in the sense in which that term is used
in American cities is unknown in Germany. Its absence
has added greatly to the burdens of the municipal au-
thorities, especially in increasing the difficulties of the
housing and other sanitary problems. The failure to
develop a system of rapid transit is not traceable to the
shortcomings of municipal management. In fact, under
municipal management conditions have been greatly
improved.
The marked difference between American and con-
tinental cities in the efficiency of the service is traceable
directly to the conditions of business life. Until com-
paratively recent years there was no definite line of
demarcation between the business and residence sections
of German cities. This condition is directly traceable
to the industrial characteristics of the mediæval city in
which the artisan's workshop and residence were in the
1 Cf. Lindemann, vol. ii, p. 266.
320 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
same building. Another factor of considerable impor-
tance is the relatively small area of the German as com-
pared with the American cities. The incorporation of
suburban districts which has taken place within the last
ten years has greatly diminished the contrast, but the
standards of traffic have not been made to conform to
the changed conditions. The system of urban transpor-
tation in Germany fails to meet the requirements of the
great industrial centers that have developed in recent
years.
In most of the German cities the day cars are run
at intervals of from four to eight minutes. On some
of the most important lines the interval is reduced to
three minutes, but more frequent traffic is unknown.
After midnight the service is usually suspended until
5 A.M. The speed of the cars is from one third to one
half less than in the United States.
It is true that greater care is taken of the comfort
of the passengers, the number of persons permitted in
each car being carefully designated. Nevertheless, the
advantage of this attention to detail is relatively unim-
portant when compared with the disadvantages incident
to the absence of a well-developed system of rapid com-
munication which, by favoring a more equable distri-
bution of population, would considerably simplify the
most pressing social problems of the cities of Germany.
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY
321
(D
LABOR CONDITIONS UNDER MUNICIPAL MANAGEMENT
One of the most notable achievements of municipal
operation in Germany has been the betterment of labor
conditions. The German cities undertook without delay
to readjust the hours of labor so as to bring them within
the ten-hour limit, and so to arrange the schedules that
this ten-hour service should be as continuous as possible.
This constituted a great improvement over the older
schedules, under which the employees worked three and
four hours at a time, and were thus compelled to be on
duty considerably beyond the ten-hour period. Com-
pared with the United States the wages seem surpris-
ingly low. In the larger cities of Germany the average
wage of motor men is 80 cents per day; of conductors,
75 cents per day. In Cologne conductors receive from
$22.50 to $30 per month; motor men from $29.50 to
$37.50, depending on the length of service. In case of
disability arising from any cause, an annuity of $175
is assured during the period of such disability. Mu-
nich pays the motor men and conductors 75 cents per
day, which is gradually increased until, after five years
of service, the maximum rate of $1.25 per day is reached.
This represents the wage condition in most of the cities
in which the street railways are under municipal man-
agement. The hours of labor in all the cities are ad-
justed on a ten-hour scale.
In judging this comparatively low wage scale, it
322 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
must be borne in mind that the “fee " system still
prevails in most of the German cities. Many of the
passengers in paying their fare give to the conductor
5 pfennigs (14 cents). The motor man is entitled to a
certain percentage of the fees received by the conductor
-usually about 35 per cent. In this way motor men
and conductors receive from 30 to 40 cents per day in
addition to their regular wage.
Even with these additions the wage seems low com-
pared with American conditions. The results of a special
inquiry undertaken by the Census Bureau in 1902 show
that 14 per cent of the conductors on electric surface
railways in cities of over 100,000 receive from $1.75 to
$1.99 per day, 62.1 per cent receive from $2 to $2.24,
and 13.6 per cent receive from $2.25 to $2.49. Of the
motor men, 12.9 per cent receive $1.75 to $1.99; 59.8 per
cent receive from $2 to $2.24, and 19.8 per cent receive
from $2.25 to $2.49. Although in Germany the wages
of street-railway employees under municipal and private
management are practically the same, there is consider-
able difference in the treatment of employees in case of
sickness, disability, or death. In all the German cities
special funds have been established, toward which the
city treasury contributes each year a sum equal to a
certain percentage of the employees' salaries. Cologne
and two or three of the other cities have even undertaken
to build dwellings for their employees.
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY 323
TO
e
COMPARISON AND CONCLUSION
Any attempt to determine the success or failure of
municipal management of street railways in Germany
must be based upon a comparison of public with pri-
vate management. A careful review of the experience
of German cities will show that private control has been
singularly unprogressive. This has been due, in part at
least, to the onerous conditions under which the original
franchise grants were made. The companies did not feel
justified in incurring the risks involved in making im-
provements on a large scale or in extending the service
into the outlying districts of the city. Impressed with
the lessons of this experience we find the more recent
franchise grants specifying minutely the streets over
which the service must be extended.
The relation between the city and the street-railway
corporations in Germany seems to be exactly the re-
verse of that in the United States. Here the companies
are constantly seeking the right to extend their lines
into new districts, whereas in Germany the municipal
authorities are engaged in a constant struggle to secure
from the companies an extension of the service. This
difference in the attitude of the companies toward the
extension of the service is due in part to the broader
spirit of enterprise of American corporations, but the
main reason is to be found in the fact that the Ger-
man companies are aware that every new grant from
324 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
the city is accompanied by a demand for so large a
percentage of gross receipts that net profits are consid-
erably diminished. It is not surprising, therefore, that
the German companies have shown a conservatism which
is usually interpreted as lack of enterprise and inability
to discount the future.
We have seen that the movement toward municipal-
ization was largely determined by the antagonism be-
tween the cities and the street-railway companies, grow-
ing out of the desire of the city to secure a more rapid
extension of the service. If, at the time they applied
for the right to substitute electricity for horse power,
the companies had more fully appreciated the value of
the privilege, it is likely that they would have been
more willing to accede to the wishes of the city author-
ities.
The process of municipalization was greatly facili-
tated by the fact that under the German law the ac-
counts of public-service corporations are subjected to
careful public control. The amount expended by each
(D

Capitalization
COMPANY
Total
capitaliza-
tion
Length of
line, includ-
ing double-
track rail-
ways
of road
Cologne Street Railway
Company........
Nürnberg Street Railway
Company .......
$27,101.48
$1,368,625
1,570,000
50.5
29.0
| 63.0
54,138.28
23,809.52
Company............
1,500,000
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY
325
company for the construction and equipment of the
lines is easily ascertainable. Every dollar of capital
represents actual investment. The total capitalization
of the companies whose lines have been recently munic-
ipalized is as given in the foregoing table.
The net capital liability per mile of track of the
electric surface railways of the United States is $92,114.
In the cities with a population of 500,000 and over,
the net capitalization per mile of track reaches the
enormous sum of $182,775. In New York City the
capitalization per mile of track is $259,542; in Chi-
cago, $109,537; in Philadelphia, $165,085; in St. Louis,
$198,647; in Boston, $97,353; in Washington, $186,416;
in Pittsburg, $185,170, and in San Francisco, $140,985.
The influence of this wide difference in capitaliza-
tion on the expense account of street-railway lines
under American and European conditions is readily
apparent. The percentage of total income expended
by American companies for interest and liquidation
charges, and for the payment of guaranteed dividends
to subsidiary companies, is considerably larger than
that of the German companies. The table on the fol-
lowing page presents some data relating to Frankfort,
Cologne, and Nürnberg. Accurate figures for the larger
American companies are not obtainable.
Any attempt to review the results of municipal own-
ership would be incomplete without some reference to
the effect on the civic life of the communities under
VU
22
326 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT

CITY
Interest
and liquidation
charges
Per-
centage of
total ex-
penditure
Frankfort.............
Cologne...........
Nürnberg .........
$112,066.04
204,000.00
138,063.00
10.6
17.0
28.7
consideration. The introduction of electricity as a
motive power greatly increased the possibilities of profit,
and led the companies to exert the strongest possible
pressure to secure a renewal of their franchises, com-
bined with the right to use electrical power. In the
struggle to secure these new rights one can detect the
first traces of the insidious forms of corruption which
have done so much to undermine the civic life of Amer-
ican communities. In a number of instances members
of the town council were retained as attorneys for street-
railway companies, and in one case an influential alder-
man of one of the larger cities was made a director of
a street-railway company at a time when the company
was seeking important privileges.
On the other hand, in those cities that have munic-
ipalized their street-railway systems there is no indica-
tion of corruption traceable to the large increase in the
number of city employees. The civil-service system is
so highly organized that the danger of political influ-
ence is reduced to a minimum.
Viewing the situation broadly, it may fairly be said
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY
327
Ynd
that the municipalization of the street railways has
protected the German cities from the dangers involved
in the desire of private corporations to secure control
of local administration for the purpose of securing spe-
cial privileges. In 1890 but few of the companies were
declaring large dividends. In fact, the large return
which they were compelled to make for the franchises
under which they were operating made it necessary to
exercise the greatest economy in order to make a fair
profit on the capital actually invested. The new fran-
chises, in offering to the companies far larger possibili-
ties of profit, correspondingly increased the temptation
to secure control of local policy. It is too early to
predict whether the cities in which the street rail-
ways are still in the hands of private companies will
be able to withstand the temptations which now beset
them.
Are these lessons of German experience of any real
value to our American municipalities? The answer to
this question is a matter of far more than theoretical
importance. Partly because of the feeling of irritation
aroused by. the corrupting influence of public service
corporations on the civic life of American communi-
ties, but mainly owing to a general awakening to the
possibilities of improved service in urban transportation
and in gas- and electric-light services, the public mind
is anxiously turning to municipal ownership and opera-
tion as a possible solution.
328 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
In any comparisons with German conditions, it is
demands more rapid service than the German. The
m
fact that the requirements as to the standard of service
are being raised with such rapidity that the overcapi-
talized corporations are unable to maintain the pace
to which they have been forced during recent years.
Although the discussions in favor of municipal oper-
ation are being grouped about the possibility of large
financial returns to the city treasury, it is not likely
that this argument will stir the American people to any
drastic measures. To secure united action, appeal must
be made to the desire for improved service. Whatever
may be said against American street-railway corpora-
tions, no one will deny that they have given far better
service than the German companies. It is true that
they have been given greater freedom in the develop-
ment of the service, and also that the public demands,
especially as regards the rapidity of the service, have
been considerably higher than in Germany. In any
case, however, municipal operation in the United States
would have to bear the test of a higher standard of
service than in Germany. Any attempt to apply the
lessons of German experience which does not keep this
difference in mind is certain to be misleading rather than
helpful.
(D
STREET RAILWAYS IN GERMANY
329
REFERENCES
Annual Reports of Berlin, Frankfort, Cologne, and Nürnberg.
LINDEMANN, H. "Arbeiterpolitik und Wirtschaftspflege in der
deutschen Staedteverwaltung.” Stuttgart, 1904.
Shaw, A. “Municipal Government in Continental Europe."
New York: Century, 1895.
CHAPTER XIV
MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP AND OPERATION: THE VALUE OF
FOREIGN EXPERIENCE
IN all matters affecting municipal organization we
have now reached a point at which it is possible to
secure a calm, dispassionate discussion of the elements
entering into the present situation, but the moment we
enter upon questions connected with municipal activ-
ities, we seem unable to eliminate traditional prejudices.
Whenever the experience of foreign cities with munic-
ipal ownership and operation is discussed, the only
this experience proves or disproves the desirability of
this policy for American cities. We are not satisfied
unless we can find some general principle applicable to
all conditions and in all circumstances.
It is clear that. we cannot hope to arrive at any
sound conclusion in this matter unless we are willing
to apply the same methods that have gradually worked
their way into the discussion of questions of municipal
organization. We must be prepared to accept as final
that there is no one general policy applicable to all the
cities of the United States, and that the most we can do
330
VALUE OF FOREIGN EXPERIENCE
331
is to make a dispassionate analysis of the different
elements that must enter into the final judgment on
any local situation.
The experience of foreign cities is certainly one of
the elements to which consideration should be given,
but the way in which foreign experience is now being
used bids fair so to confuse the public mind that, unless
we are willing to deal with it in an entirely different
spirit, its use is likely to do more harm than good. The
advocates as well as the opponents of municipal owner-
ship are constantly citing European conditions, and each
side is able to array a group of facts to support its
position."
The advocates of municipal ownership point with
enthusiasm to the reduction in the burden of taxation,
the lowering of charges to consumers, the greater econ-
omy of operation through lower interest rates, the im-
proved condition of employees, and the broader social
policy directly traceable to the substitution of public
C
1 The morning this chapter was begun I received two publications
which illustrate the difficulties involved in the use of forcign
material. A work entitled “Municipal Ownership in Great Britain,"
by Prof. Hugo Richard Meyer (340 pages, Macmillan Company, 1906)
is devoted to proving the thesis that municipal ownership and
operation in Great Britain has been a failure from almost every point
of view. On the other hand, a monographic study by Frederic C.
Howe, entitled “Municipal Ownership in Great Britain”_which is
the result of a special investigation conducted under the auspices of
the United States Bureau of Labormis replete with evidence pointing
to exactly the opposite conclusion. This monograph is published in
the Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor for January, 1906.
332 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
for private ownership and operation. They emphasize
the impossibility of securing from private companies
the improvements that were carried out as soon as the
cities took over these quasi-public services, and they
point with much satisfaction to the better coördination
of municipal policy directly traceable to this extension
of functions and the record of achievement in improv-
ing the social well-being of the population.
On the other hand, the opponents of municipal own-
ership point to the terrific burden of local indebtedness
under which the cities which have adopted this policy
are now staggering. They endeavor to prove that in-
stead of relieving the burden of taxation, the actual
effect has been to increase it; they maintain that, owing
to a faulty system of accounting, the profits reported are
fictitious rather than real, and finally they draw a lurid
picture of the extravagant increase in municipal em-
ployees since the inauguration of this policy. No won-
der that the average citizen turns wearily from this
mass of conflicting testimony, convinced that no guid-
ance can be secured from these real or supposed facts,
and resolved to settle the question without reference to
foreign conditions.
It seems unfortunate that the self-interest and preju-
dice which have obscured the real issues involved in this
great question should prevent us from availing ourselves
of the mass of valuable experience that both British
and Continental cities have accumulated during the last
A
e
VALUE OF FOREIGN EXPERIENCE
333
T
twenty-five years. To make this experience helpful,
however, it must be used with the greatest care and dis-
crimination. The best introduction to a proper esti-
mate of its value is an analysis of the causes that
have led to the present movement for municipal owner-
ship in European countries. It is both an interesting
and a significant fact that the same combination of
causes is everywhere apparent. The movement for the
municipal ownership of gas and electric lighting, but
particularly of street railways, is directly traceable to
the failure of private companies to furnish the kind
of service which the inhabitants of the cities demanded,
and had the right to expect. Particularly in Germany,
the history of the relation between municipalities and
public-service corporations is one long story of crimina-
tion and recrimination.
The indictment against the public-service corpora-
tions was none too strong, and fully justified the step
taken by the leading municipalities in these two coun-
tries. In order, however, properly to interpret the situ-
ation, we must know something of the conditions under
which these private companies were operating. The
original franchise grants were made for relatively short
terms, ranging from twenty-five to forty years, and were
usually accompanied by the requirement for payment
into the city treasury of from three to eight per cent
of the gross receipts. The relatively large financial
return, combined with the comparatively short fran-
2
334 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
chise period, discouraged the companies from taking
any large risks, especially in extending the service into
new and relatively sparsely settled sections of the city.
This natural conservatism has been interpreted as an
indication of the inability of the companies to meet the
requirements of the local service.
: The faith in private ownership was further weak-
ened by the reluctance of the companies to make the
change from horse to electrical power. In both Great
Britain and Germany, but particularly in Germany, the
introduction of electrical traction came toward the close
of existing franchise grants, and it is not surprising
that the companies refused to make the large capital
investment which the change required unless they were
assured either of an extension of the franchise period
or of adequate reimbursement for the capital outlay.
It is, therefore, manifestly unfair to ascribe all the
shortcomings of corporate service to defects inherent in
corporate management. In fact, the most important are
directly traceable to the stringent conditions under
which franchises were held, and the unwillingness of
the municipalities to make further concessions to the
companies. This experience contains a valuable lesson
and somewhat unexpected argument for the advocates
of municipal ownership. The universal experience of
European countries has been that as the terms of fran-
chise grants are made shorter, and the financial pay-
VALUE OF FOREIGN EXPERIENCE 335
ments for such grants increase, the service performed
by private corporations deteriorates, while the initia-
tive and enterprise which lead them to experiment with
new methods and devices are stunted, if not totally
destroyed. The willingness of American corporations
to take great risks, and even to sacrifice considerable
invested capital for the purpose of ultimate economy,
is due very largely to the fact that until recent years
they have been permitted to plan for a service upon
which no time limit was placed.
If the reform in the method of franchise grants
becomes general, as it bids fair to do, we are likely to
experience a marked change in the policy of the public-
service corporations. The short-term franchise to the
highest bidder assures to the city an adequate money
return for the privilege granted, but tends to discourage
the companies from incurring large risks in the exten-
sion of the service. It is not unlikely that municipal
ownership will come all the more quickly because of
the difficulties and antagonisms that are certain to grow
out of this more careful safeguarding of public fran-
chises. From these facts several lessons may be drawn:
First.--In the adjustment of the relation between
public-service corporations and municipalities there is
constant danger of overemphasizing financial considera-
tions to the detriment of the larger social ends which
all these services should perform. This does not mean
a reckless granting of franchises, but rather a clearer
DI
336 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
perception of the fact that money payments are not
the only, and in fact not the most important form in
which a community may receive an adequate return
for franchise grants. European cities have overem-
phasized the financial return, and the same danger
confronts American municipalities. It is true that our
American communities have received a totally inade-
quate money return for the valuable privileges which
they have granted, but it is equally true that the inhab-
itants of our cities have profited to no small degree by
the spirit of enterprise and the readiness to make sweep-
ing improvements in equipment which have character-
ized the policy of the larger public-service corporations
in the United States.
Second.-Inasmuch as most American cities are now
committed to a policy of short-term franchises, the ex-
perience of every European city teaches the necessity
of inserting in the grant a reserve power on the part
of the municipality to require the companies to make
certain definite extensions of service each year, or at
least to fix the minimum requirements for such exten-
sions.
Third.-Even with all these precautions, it is more
than likely that American cities will repeat the 'ex-
perience of European communities. The antagonism
between the local authorities and the public-service cor-
porations, arising out of the interpretation of the re-
served power of the municipality, will develop to such
sert
n
VALUE OF FOREIGN EXPERIENCE 337
1
1
an
a point as to make municipal ownership the only possi-
ble solution. The numerous controversies between the
city of New York and the Interborough-Metropolitan
Company illustrate this danger.
Another series of lessons to be drawn from Euro-
pean experience relates more particularly to the effect
of municipal ownership on local finance. Much has
been said and written on this question, and the testi-
mony presented by the advocates and opponents of
municipal ownership is of the most conflicting charac-
ter. The opponents of this policy have drawn a depress-
ing picture of the extraordinary increase in municipal
indebtedness and the inordinate increase in taxation in
those countries in which municipal ownership has been
tried. As a matter of fact, in all the European coun-
tries in which municipal ownership has received general
recognition, particularly in Germany and Great Britain,
the increase in municipal indebtedness caused by the
adoption of this policy does not represent a real burden
on the community, as both the interest and the sinking-
fund charges of this portion of the debt are defrayed,
with very few exceptions, from the receipts of the vari-
ous services. The increase in taxation is traceable to
public improvements, such as the betterment of school
facilities, repaving of highways, improved organization
of police service, etc., from which no direct money re-
turn is secured.
The failure to distinguish between the two types of
T
338 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
municipal services—the financially productive and the
financially unproductive has befogged the real issue,
and has in some cases prevented the consideration of
the question of municipal ownership on its merits. The
experience of the European countries points to the ne-
cessity of distinguishing between that portion of the
city's indebtedness which represents investments in re-
productive enterprises and that portion which is used
for financially unproductive services. The constitutional
limitations on local indebtedness, because of the fail-
ure to make this distinction, are hampering the normal
growth of American municipalities. They served their
purpose in checking that spirit of speculation and wild-
cat enterprise which for a time threatened the stability
of our system of local finance. This danger is now
happily past, but the perpetuation of the old restrictions
is a real obstacle to progress and places our municipali-
ties at the mercy of the public-service corporations. It
will be difficult to secure the repeal of these constitu-
tional limitations, but it is imperative, if this question of
municipal ownership is to be dealt with on its merits,
that a distinction be made between productive and un-
productive enterprises, and that the limitations on that
portion of indebtedness incurred for reproductive enter-
prises be removed. This plan was proposed by the
Committee on Municipal Program of the National Mu-
nicipal League, and the wisdom of this proposal is mak-
ing itself more apparent each day. In modified form
VALUE OF FOREIGN EXPERIENCE - 339
S
it has been inserted into the State Constitution of New
York.
The most serious objection advanced against the
policy of municipal ownership and operation in the
United States is the lack of an administrative organiza-
tion, and particularly of a civil-service system adequate
to bear the additional burden which such extension of
function would involve. The picture of extravagance,
corruption, and misrule which is held up to us as the
inevitable accompaniment of the extension of municipal
powers has done more than anything else to check the
spread of sentiment in favor of municipal ownership.
On this point the experience of the municipalities of
Great Britain and Germany is particularly suggestive
and valuable.
The first thing that is impressed upon every stu-
dent of foreign municipal institutions is the small num-
ber of elective administrative officers and the relative
permanence of tenure of the heads of executive depart-
ments. In the United States we have proceeded on
the assumption that popular government means short
term of office and, to a certain extent, rotation in office.
We are but beginning to appreciate the fact that there
are certain portions of our political system in which
the plan of popular election and short tenure defeats
rather than promotes the real intent and purpose of
popular government. Considerable sections of the coun-
try have already become convinced of this fact, so far
340 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
1
as the election of judges is concerned, and in our
largest cities the application of the elective principle
to heads of administrative departments is being grad-
ually restricted, although in no case have we as yet
reached the point at which the management of a great
city department is looked upon as a career to which a
man may give the best years of his life with the assurance
of permanent employment. Under our present system
the term of office is so short that the head of a municipal
department hesitates to propose large plans for improve-
ment, because of the relative certainty that he will be
unable to carry these plans to successful conclusion.
The American people must, sooner or later, develop
a new concept of popular government, in which the
prominent factor will not be the election of officials, but
rather that control of organized public opinion over
the administration of public affairs which is, after all,
the essential element of a vigorous democracy. On this
point the lessons of foreign experience are clear and
unmistakable. The administration of executive depart-
ments in the German, and particularly in the English
cities, shows a sensitiveness to every stirring of public
opinion, which is in marked contrast with the apparent
indifference so often shown in similar departments in
our American municipalities. The fact that a head of
a department is staking his career on the successful
management of one branch of the public service makes
him eager to meet every public demand. It is clear,
VALUE OF FOREIGN EXPERIENCE 341
therefore, that if our American municipalities are to
extend their functions through the management of such
quasi-public services as street railways, gas, and electric
light, we must be prepared to accept an administrative
organization under which the heads of executive depart-
ments will hold office during good behavior.
It is also evident that if these services are to be
efficiently performed we must develop an organization
of the civil service on a basis similar to that of Euro-
pean cities. That there is no insuperable obstacle to the
attainment of this end is sufficiently attested by the
rapid strides of the civil-service reform movement in
most of our large cities.
It is important in this connection to examine the
experience of foreign cities on one of the points most
strenuously urged against municipal ownership and
operation. We are told that this policy means a dan-
gerous increase in the number of municipal employees.
The danger that is pointed out is twofold. In the first
place, the increase in employees introduces an element
of political danger because of the activity of these offi-
cials in the civic-life of the community. Although for-
eign cities have suffered to a very slight extent from
this cause, it must be kept in mind that the immunity
has been due largely to the fact that their civil service
has been organized on a permanent basis and adminis-
tered under the merit system.
The opponents of municipal ownership also lay
23
342 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
much emphasis on the fact that the extension of munici-
pal functions will mean not only a corresponding in-
crease in the number of offices, but that the extrava-
gance which characterizes municipal operation will lead
to the addition of a great number of unnecessary em-
ployees to the city's payroll. It is often charged that
this has taken place in the British: cities, but all the
available evidence shows conclusively that this charge
is unfounded.
A third and equally serious question connected with
the municipal employment of labor is the influence of
organized labor in securing from municipalities better
conditions than they can secure from private corpora-
tions and individuals. It is pointed out that unskilled
labor under municipal ownership enjoys a position of
special privilege which is unfair to the great mass of
the laboring population.
The experience of every European city shows that
the change from private to public ownership and oper-
ation has always been accompanied by a betterment of
labor conditions, and that this improved condition has
set a standard to which other enterprises of a similar
character have been gradually forced to conform. This
sensitiveness to the demands of labor organizations may
place municipal industries at a certain disadvantage
when in competition with private companies, but the
ultimate effect on the general labor situation is salutary
rather than otherwise. In but few instances have unrea-
VALUE OF FOREIGN EXPERIENCE 343
sonable demands been complied with, and even where
this has occurred the situation has usually corrected
itself by subsequent readjustments.
Another lesson of equal if not greater importance,
and as to which foreign experience speaks with no
uncertain voice, relates to the system of municipal
accounting. In every British and Continental city
each public work is regarded as a separate industrial
enterprise, and the accounts are kept accordingly. In
fact, if not in law, the accounts of the municipal under-
taking are kept in exactly the same way as if the enter-
prise were under private management. Until all the
charges for repairs, depreciation, interest, and liquida-
tion are met there is no thought of profits. The result
has been that the industrial enterprises in both Ger-
man and English cities have been maintained at a high
point of efficiency. The besetting danger of municipal
operation in the United States has been the desire to
reduce the tax rate through the profits of industrial
enterprises. This temptation has been so great that in
a number of instances the efficiency of the municipal
plant has been destroyed by the desire to make a large
D
poses. The most notable instance is the Philadelphia
gas works, whose decline was not due so much to tech-
nical mismanagement as to the refusal on the part of
the city council to permit it to be managed on a busi-
ness basis. Gross profits, which should have been used
1.
344 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
1
U
for repairs and renewals, were used for general city
purposes. The city council persistently refused to make
the appropriations necessary to keep the plant in good
condition. Unless our American municipalities are pre-
pared to make the system of accounting of their indus-
trial enterprises as businesslike as that of European
cities, there is little or no hope that municipal owner-
ship and operation can be successfully carried out.
A final lesson of a negative rather than of a posi-
tive character relates to the policy to be adopted in
fixing the cost of service to the consumer. It has been
pointed out time and again that the industries usu-
ally referred to as public-service industries occupy an
exceptional position because of the special franchises
or privileges necessary for their operation. While this
is true, a far more important fact is often lost sight of,
namely, that these industries are capable of subserving
certain broad social purposes, and that it is within the
power of the municipality so to adjust the cost of sery-
ice that these larger social ends will be attained. It is
one of the commonplaces of social economy that the
transportation service is the best means of relieving
congestion of population, and that the gas supply can
be made one of the most effective means of influencing
the habits and customs of the people. In the transpor-
tation service the plan adopted in most of the large
European municipalities has been to adjust the fares
under a zone tariff, thus increasing the cost of service
VALUE OF FOREIGN EXPERIENCE 345
with the increase in the length of ride. Although this
has given satisfactory financial results, it has prevented
the municipalities from performing their greatest serv-
ice to the social well-being of the community, namely,
to induce the population to move into outlying and less
congested sections of the city. It is true that the uni-
form fare of our American cities is relatively high, and
is no doubt a considerable tax on the short-distance
passenger, but it is a tax which ultimately redounds to
the social welfare of the community in contributing to
that more equable distribution of population so neces-
sary to social advance.
As regards the gas supply, it is evident that a reduc-
tion in the price of gas so as to permit the substitution
of the gas stove for the coal stove is certain to have a
far-reaching influence on the diet of the poorer classes.
In this respect the British municipalities have done
splendid service. The readiness with which food is
heated on the gas range as compared with the effort to
start a coal fire makes it possible to introduce a far
larger proportion of warm, cooked food into the work-
ingman's diet: The record of achievement of the British
cities is an indication of the tremendous power of the
city in furthering social welfare.
These are but a few of the many instances in which
the municipality in the management of its public-service
industries is able to influence profoundly the industrial
efficiency, the social welfare, and the general well-being
346 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
of the community. Although the sum total of actual
achievement in American cities is meager, the general
principle involved is one of the highest importance;
the full import of which we have but begun to ap-
preciate.
Whatever lessons may be drawn from foreign expe-
rience—and they are numerous and important no one
will contend that this experience can do more than
throw an interesting side light on the problems that
confront our American cities. The final choice be-
tween private and public ownership and operation must
be made on the basis of our own peculiar conditions.
In this choice, factors which are entirely absent in Euro-
pean countries will play an important part. We must
recognize, in the first place, that the attitude of the
American people toward the city is totally different
from that which prevails in the countries of Europe.
With us city government is a negative rather than a
positive factor. We look to it for the protection of
life and property, but it is with considerable reluctance
that we accept any extension of function beyond this
limited field. In Europe, on the other hand, the city
is a far more positive force in the life and thought of
the people. The inhabitants of European cities look to
the community in its organized capacity for the satis-
faction of new commercial needs as they arise. With
us in the United States the presumption is against any
extension of municipal functions, and it requires con-
VALUE OF FOREIGN EXPERIENCE
347
siderable pressure to induce the population to accept an
increase in municipal powers.
The immediate bearing of this contrast on the ques-
tion under consideration is that municipal ownership
in the United States is regarded as a last resort, to be
used only after all efforts to secure efficient service
through private management have been exhausted. This
of itself is an assurance that any experiments that may
be made will be conservative. Whatever our attitude
toward the question of municipal ownership and oper-
ation, the country as a whole is interested in having
such experiments made. It is a grave mistake-espe-
cially on the part of the representatives of the public-
service corporations-to decry such movements as so-
cialistic and as foredoomed to failure.
We must also bear in mind that in most of our large
cities municipal ownership is practically impossible.
Given the numerous constitutional restrictions, the finan-
cial resources of our cities are now so limited that the
repurchase of franchises belongs to the field of academic
discussion rather than to practical politics. It is pos-
sible that we shall find a way out of this difficulty
through constitutional amendments which shall distin-
guish between unproductive and reproductive enter-
prises, but it is evident that the sentiment of our Amer-
ican communities is still so strongly opposed to an
increase in municipal indebtedness that even this plan
is not likely to receive very general acceptance.
348 PROBLEMS OF CITY GOVERNMENT
In spite of all these difficulties and dangers, there
is every indication that the sentiment in favor of mu-
nicipal ownership, and even of municipal operation,
will acquire increasing force with each year, due pri-
little attention has been given, namely, the opposition
to monopoly. We are not concerned in this connec-
tion with the justification for this feeling. That it is
an important factor in the situation is attested by the
popularity of every political platform that emphasizes
opposition to monopoly. In order to gauge the strength
of this feeling at its true value we must always bear
in mind that the American people, in inheriting the
traditions of the English common law, also inherited
that opposition to special privilege upon which some of
the most distinctive features of the common law rest.
This feeling has been intensified in the United States
by the gradual consolidation of competing public-service
corporations. · Unless the signs of the times are funda-
opposition to monopoly will force some of our Amer-
ican communities to override all the difficulties and dan-
gers of municipal ownership and operation. Whether
justified or not, there is a growing body of opinion that
the people of our cities will in no other way escape the
tyranny of local monopolies.
While it is true that the experience with municipal
ownership and operation in the United States has not
VALUE OF FOREIGN EXPERIENCE 349
been uniformly encouraging, it is also true that any
experiments that may be made now will be carried on
under more favorable conditions than at any previous
period. Our cities are far better organized than they
were fifty years ago. Their administrative system is
more stable, and public opinion is far more exacting
in its control over administrative departments. Munic-
ipal operation of the public-service industries involves
some dangers and many new responsibilities, but it is
not at all unlikely that in the effort to meet these new
responsibilities we shall place the civic life of our Amer-
ican cities on a higher plane. Civic improvement in
the United States has always followed in the wake of
new responsibilities, and there is every indication that
the experience with municipal ownership will prove no
exception to the rule.
REFERENCES
DARWIN, L. "Municipal Trade.” New York: Dutton, 1903.
DOLMAN, F. “Municipalities at Work." London: Methuen,
1895.
HOWE, F.C. "The British City.” New York: Scribner's, 1907.
“Municipal Ownership in Great Britain.” Bulletin U. S.
Bureau of Labor, 1906.
MEYER, H. R. "Municipal Ownership in Great Britain.” New
York: Macmillan, 1906.
INDEX
Amendments, 122–26.
Assembly, 18, 51, 180.
Athens, 14–20, 22. See also City.
Bethnal Green improvement, 85.
Bibliography, 13, 42, 43, 61, 94,
95, 114, 140, 166, 193, 207,
240, 270, 280, 329, 349.
Birmingham, gas in, 219, 253,
255, 260, 261.
Birth rate, 64, 65.
Board of Estimate and Appor-
tionment, 180.
Bridges require grant of exclu-
sive privileges, 157.
Bullitt Bill, 244.
Douglass vs. Commonwealth,
144.
Filbey vs. Combe, 144.
Grossman vs. City of Oak-
land, 154.
Hale vs. Houghton, 144.
Hamilton County vs. Mighels,
117.
Hanlon vs. South Boston
Horse R. R. Co., 163.
Howard's Appeal, 161.
Jackson County Horse R. R.
Co. vs. Interstate Rapid
Transit Railway Co., 159.
Johnson vs. Philadelphia, 144.
Lehigh Water Company's AP-
peal, 160.
Ex parte Lewis, 184.
Long vs. Duluth, 158.
Louisiana vs. Heidenlain, 163.
Mankato vs. Fowler, 156.
Marion vs. Chandler, 157.
Mayor vs. Winfield, 151.
Metzger vs. Beaver Falls, 162.
Milwaukee Electric Light and
Transportation Co. vs. Mil-
waukee, 164.
Munn vs. Illinois, 164, 212.
New Orleans vs. Blineau, 152.
New Orleans City and Lake
R. R. Co. vs. New Orleans,
163.
California, cities in, classifica-
tion of, 129; charters of, 134.
Capitalization, 217, 236, 324,
325.
Cases cited:
Ayar's Appeal, 128.
Baltimore vs. Radecke, 151.
City of Crawfordsville vs.
Braden, 144.
City and Suburban Railway
Co. vs. Savannah, 163.
Commissioners of Northern
Liberties vs. Gas Company,
149.
Czarniecki's Appeal, 155.
351
352
INDEX
the state, 28; special city
rights, 29; the modern city,
a branch of the state, 30;
breakdown of special priv-
ileges, 31; guilds, 32, 33; de-
cline of towns in fifteenth
century, 34; strong central
governments, 35; effect on
cities, 37; the modern city
37; limitation of public
authority, 39; the city a
necessary evil, 40; the city
a larger factor in Europe
than in America, 41; the
needs of city government,
42.
Cases cited—continued
North Birmingham Street
Railway Co. vs. Calder-
wood, 163.
Oren vs. Pingree, 145.
People vs. Guggenheimer, 147.
Perdue vs. Ellis, 157.
Perkins vs. Slack, 133.
Red Star Steamship Co. vs.
Jersey City, 150.
Spaulding vs. Lowell, 142.
State vs. Cincinnati Gas Com-
pany, 146.
Stone vs. Farmers' Loan and
Trust Co., 213.
Wadleigh vs. Gilman, 144.
Western Savings Fund Co. vs.
Philadelphia, 244.
Wheeler vs. Philadelphia, 127.
White vs. Meadville, 161.
Yates vs. Milwaukee, 154.
Charter, 36, 37, 49, 121, 134, 135,
179.
Charter Board of Missouri, 49.
Checks and balances, 45, 101,
102, 183.
Church, influence of, 90, 92, 93.
Citizenship, 10, 16, 22, 29, 30.
City. “The Ancient, the Medi-
æval, and the Modern City,"
14-43. The city the unit of
Greek life, 14; Athens-de-
mocracy, 17; manners, 18;
citizenship, 19; Italian cities,
20; Rome dominates Italy,
21; political importance of
Italian cities, 22; expansion
of Rome, 24; the city stand-
ard of life, 25; social amuse-
ments in Rome, 26; medi-
æval cities, 27; the city and
“City Government and Demo-
cratic Ideals,” 194-207. Is
government a business prob-
lem? 194, 195; early Ameri-
can view of government,
195–97; democratic govern-
ment and the city, 198;
discouraging present out-
look, 199, 200; decline of
council, 201; concentration,
202; bad results of "checks
and balances,” 203; effect
of political tradition, 204;
necessity of concentration,
205, 206.
“The City in History,” 1-13.
The city the center of civili-
zation, 1-3; rural civilization
simple, 4; religion the first
group principle, 5; fertile
lands make cities possible,
5–7; no cities before agri-
culture, 8; cities develop
patriotism, 9; division of
labor, 10; city and educa-
INDEX
353
tion, 11; the city and the terpretation, 127; evasion
moral standard, 12, 13.
of constitutional provisions,
"The Political Consequences 129–31; absolute prohibi-
of City Growth,” 96–114. tions a failure, 132; Phila-
City in politics, 96, 97; den delphia's experience, 133;
sity of settlement and in-
present movement for mu-
creased regulation, 98, 99; nicipal home rule, 134, 135;
necessity of increased gov changes suggested, 137, 138.
ernmental activity, 99, 100; “The Social Consequences of
new attitude toward govern City Growth,” 62–95. Mi-
ment, 101; early faith in gration to cities, 62; rapid
“checks and balances," 102, growth of cities, 63, 64; cities
103; advantages of concen and depopulation, 64, 65;
trated power, 103, 104; monotony of country life,
public opinion and the 66; increased pleasures in
cities, 105, 106; the cities cities, 67; legislation to op-
in revolution, 107; the city pose city growth unavailing,
a dissolvent force, 108; fear 68,69; elimination of the un-
of the dominance of cities, fit, 70; crimes in cities, 71;
109; constitutional limita interdependence in cities,
tions, 110; European ex 72; incomplete adaptation
perience, 111, 112; appor to city environment, 73–76;
tionment in England, 113, individual rights and gen-
114.
eral good, 77, 78; home
"The Position of the Cityin the life, 78; public affairs and
American Political System," the home, 79, 80; changed
115–40. Relation of city standards of life and con-
and state, 115; law of pri duct, 81; increased oppor-
vate corporations, 116; pub tunity for diversion, 82,
lic corporations, 117; pur 83; American and Euro-
poses of corporations, 118; pean cities contrasted, 83–
constitutional protection to 85; the results of city ser-
personal and property vices, 86, 87; city life and
rights, 119; judicial inter social standards, 87, 88;
pretation, 120; municipal present unsatisfactory city
home rule, 121, 122; guar conditions, 88, 89; social in-
antees of municipal home stincts in city life, 90–92;
rule, 122; futility of con the church and the club in
stitutional amendments, city life, 93; complexity of
123, 124; classification of city life, 94.
cities, 126-28; judicial in- | City-states, 16, 17, 23.
354
INDEX
Civil service, 339, 341.
trated by the Experience
Classification of cities, 126–32. of Philadelphia," 241-70.
Club, influence of, 90, 92, 93.
Philadelphia's gas works
Cologne, street railways of, 294 leased, 241; was city man-
97, 306–10, 316, 317.
agement a failure? 242, 243;
Commissions, state, 133; plan of historical sketch of city
government of, 190.
operation, 244, 245; public
Corporations, public, 117, 119, lighting, 246; deficiency of
142, 148; private, 117, 142, administration, 247; de-
148; modern municipal, 118; fects, 248–50; politics and
public quasi, 118.
the gas works, 252, 253;
Counties, 117, 118.
weakness of city manage-
Crimes, 70.
ment, 254, 255; circum-
stances of the lease, 256,
Death rate, 63, 65.
257; terms of the lease, 251,
Democracy, 17, 31, 94.
258; terms deceiving, 259,
Des Moines plan, 183, 185.
260; comparison with Brit-
District representation, 46.
ish experience, 261; gas
Docks and wharves, citation of works under private man-
case, 154.
agement, 262, 263; criticism
of the lease, 264, 265; Glas-
Electric light, 144, 222-24.
gow's experience, 266, 267;
elimination of corruption,
England, County Councils Act of,
268; Philadelphia's example
68; representation in, 112.
discouraging, 269.
Gas, price of, 87, 146, 219, 246,
Ferries require grant of exclu-
260, 345; in Great Britain,
sive privileges, 157, 208.
218–20, 345; Northern
Finance, 180, 201, 301-11, 343.
Liberties Gas Co., citation
France, population of, 63; repre-
of case, 149; United States,
sentation in, 112.
municipal plants in, 221,
Franchises, 157 et seq., 215–18,
222; in Philadelphia, 241-
225, 233-40, 284-301, 335.
70.
Frankfort, street railways of,
| Gas Trust, 120, 244.
286–90, 302–6, 315, 316.
Germany, representation in, 111;
Free competition, 100.
street railways of, 281-329.
Freeholders, Board of, 49, 134. I
Glasgow, street railways of, 86,
227–30; gas in, 87, 219,
Galveston plan, 183, 184.
260, 261, 265.
Gas. "The Municipality and | Greece, 14–20. See also City.
the Gas Supply, as Illus- / Guilds, 32 et seq.
INDEX
355
Home, influence of, 41, 55, 78, Municipal ownership. "Funda-
90.
mental Principles Involved
Housing of Working Classes Act, in Municipal Ownership,”
85.
271-80. The city's con-
trol of public works, 271,
Italy, 20–26. See also City.
272; municipal management
may be superior to, 272,
Kansas City, charter of, 49, 134. 273; applicability of Euro-
pean experience, 274; pub-
Labor, 2, 10, 71, 321, 342.
lic opinion and efficiency,
Labor colonies, 69.
275, 276; present outlook,
Law, English, 36; poor, 69, 70; 277; the city as a social in-
criminal, 70; public, 116; strument, 278, 279.
Roman, 116; private, 116, “Municipal Ownership and
118; corporation, 116, 121, Operation of Street Rail-
141; common, 116, 158, 208, ways in Germany," 281-
348; railroad, 233.
329. Street railways in
Leeds, gas in, 87; street railways Germany, 281; gas plants
of, 227, 229.
in Germany, 282; historical
Leisure, 58, 67.
sketch of, 284; Frankfort
Liberty, 74, 98.
and public services, 286–89;
Licenses, 144, 156, 157, 235.
Munich, 291–94; Cologne,
Liverpool, gas in, 219; street 294–97; Nürnberg, 298–
railways of, 227–30.
300; financial results of
Local self-government, 23, 137. municipal operation, 301-
London, County Council of, 85; 10; fares under municipal
representation in, 112; gas operation, 311-19; char-
in, 219.
acter of service under mu-
nicipal operation, 319–23;
Manchester, gas in, 87, 219, 260,
comparison and conclusion,
261; street railways of, 227–
323–28.
30.
"Municipal Ownership and
Massachusetts, street railway Operation: the Value of
capitalization, 217, 236; gas Foreign Experience,” 330-
in, 254.
49. Value of foreign ex-
Military service, influence of, 68. perience, 330, 331; public
Misdemeanors, 70.
services and city indebted-
Missouri charter, 49, 134.
ness, 332; public service
Munich, street railways of, 290-
corporations and corrup-
94, 306, 313–15.
tion, 333; in politics, 334;
Municipal home rule, 119 et seq.
reform in franchise grants,
356
INDEX
335; lessons from American
experience, 335, 336; from
European experience, 337;
civil service system, 339;
few elective officers in Euro-
pean public services, 340,
341; organized labor and
public services, 342; munic-
ipal accounting, 343; how
to fix the cost of service,
344; American conditions
must determine method of
operation, 346; constitu-
tional debt restrictions in
American cities, 347, 348;
public sentiment in favor
of, 348, 349.
Municipal problem, “The Na-
ture of the Municipal Prob-
lem,” 44-61. Form of city
government, 45; bicameral
government not suitable,
lack of responsibility, 46;
political and technical quali-
fications of officers, 47, 48;
form of government and
municipal progress, 49, 50;
confidence in machinery, 50;
abandonment of bicameral
system, 51; city problems in
connection with politics, 53,
54; the city as an economic
and social unit, not politi-
cal, 55–58; use of leisure by
city classes, 58, 59; higher
type of civic life in cities,
60.
Municipal Research Bureau, 191,
. 276.
Municipality. “The Legal Powers
of the Municipality," 141-1
66. Scope and limits of mu-
nicipal powers, 141; judicial
interpretation of powers of
city, 142, 143; increased lib-
erality of interpretation,
144, 145;extent of ordinance
power, 146; rules set by
courts, 149–57; conflict of
decisions, 157, 158; strict
construction of all grants to
and by cities, 160; conse-
quences thereof, 162; Amer-
ican experience, 163, 164;
reasons for restrictions, 165;
care in franchise grants,
165.
"The Municipality and the
Gas Supply, as Illustrated
by the Experience of Phil-
adelphia." See Gas.
“The Organization of the Mod-
ern Municipality," 167–93.
Changes in organization,
167; historical develop
ment, 168–71; present pre-
vailing organization, 173,
174; appointments by the
mayor, 175; legislative de-
partments, 176; politics and
the state, 177; defects in
organization, 178; the coun-
cil in city government, 179;
lessons to be learned, 180,
181; present tendency, 182,
183; new plans of city
government, 183–86; in-
itiative and referendum,
188, 189; extent of new
movement, 190, 191; Munic-
ipal Research Bureau, 191,
192.
INDEX
357
Negroes, citation of case, 151. 212; public service corpora-
New York, government of, 51; tions and politics, 213;
representation in, 109; franchises and regulation of
classification of cities of, charges, 214; the city and
132; franchises, 234.
public service corporations,
Nuisances, regulation and sup 215, 216; over-capitaliza-
pression of, citation of tion and interest payments,
cases, 152, 154.
217; gas service-public and
Nürnberg, street railways of, private, 218–20; municipal
297–301, 310, 311, 319.
gas plants in United States,
221; electric light service in
Ohio, classification of cities of, United States, 222, 223;
129.
street railways in Britain,
Ordinance power, 146 et seq.
225–29; in America, 231;
constitutional limitations
Paris, city environment of, 84; on grants, 232, 233; methods
influence upon national life, of granting franchises, 233,
106.
234; percentage of gross re-
Parish Councils Act, 69.
ceipts favored, 235; eva-
Pennsylvania, representation in, sions by street railway com-
109; classification of cities panies, 236; duration of
of, 127, 131.
franchises, 237, 238; prin-
People's Palace, 82.
ciples advocated in granting
Personal rights, 119.
franchises, 239.
Philadelphia, in classification of
cities, 127, 131; gas in, 217, Referendum, 189.
241-70.
Reform, municipal, 53; Prussian,
Police power, 144–46, 163.
68; English acts of, 113; in
Political parties, 108 et seq.
franchise grants, 335.
Poor law, 69, 70.
Religion, 5.
Population, of Rome, 24; of Representation, 46, 109 et seq.
London, 27; of France, 64. Richmond, Va., gas in, 221, 235.
Property rights, 29, 71, 98, 119. | Rome, 20–26. See also City.
Public utilities. "The Relation
of the City to Public Util Saloon, influence of, 81.
ities,” 208–40. Public ser Salvation Army, citation of case,
vices and the public, 208; 149.
monopoly, and dependence, Sanitation, 72.
209; monopolistic nature of 1 Sheffield, street railways of, 86,
public services, 210, 211; 227; gas in, 219.
charters and amendments, | Social imitation, 3, 11, 12.
24
358
INDEX
Steam engines and boilers, cita 281-329; financial condi-
tion of case, 152.
tions, 301-11; service un-
Street railways, fares of, 86, 164, der municipal management,
227, 311-19, 344; car li 319.
cense, 144, 235; municipal
operation not exercise of Tenements, 73, 87.
police power, 145; fran- | Town, 7, 8, 27, 32.
chises, 159, 225, 233–40, Toynbee Hall, 82.
284-301, 326, 335; capitali- | Tweed Ring, 120.
zation, 217, 236, 324, 325;
Great Britain, 225–31; ac University, influence of, 92.
counting, 228; wages of em-
ployees, 230, 321, 322; Washington charter, 135.
United States, 231-40; Water supply, 144, 147, 150, 160.
municipal ownership and Water fronts, 83.
operation of, in Germany, / Whigs, 101, 102, 103.
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