The Kansas University Quarterly : $b Vol. I, No. 4, April 1893

For Canada, see J. G. Bourinot’s “Local Government in Canada: an historical study,” in Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada for 1886, vol. 4., sec. 2, pp. 42-70; printed separately by the publishers, and reprinted, with a letter on the municipal system of Ontario, in the 5th series of the Johns Hopkins Studies. A paper on “The Ontario Township,” by J. M. McEvoy, printed in 1889, forms No. 1 of the Toronto University Studies in Political Science.

2. EUROPEAN CITIES.

For the purpose of comparison, some study should be made of municipal government abroad. Dr. Albert Shaw gives a general view of “Municipal Government in Great Britain,” in Notes Supplementary to the Johns Hopkins Studies, No. 1, January, 1889, and in the Political Quarterly, June, 1886, vol. 4, pp. 197-229. Of larger works on English municipal history, mention may be made of J. R. S. Vine’s “English Municipal Institutions; their Growth and Development from 1835 to 1879,” London, 1879. Dr. Chas. Gross has printed a very complete “Classified List of Books relating to British Municipal History,” Cambridge, 1891, as No. 43 of Bibliographical Contributions of Harvard University. Foreign experience is of very little assistance in the solution of the general problem of municipal government in the United States, but it may be useful in indicating improved methods of administration in particular departments of a city government. Several cities that illustrate different forms of municipal government may be taken as examples.

_a._ _London._

Specially excepted from the operation of the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835. For outline of government read Chalmers, chap. 10. For full description see J. F. B. Firth’s Municipal London, 1876, and his Reform of London Government and of City Guilds, “Imperial Parliament” Series, London, 1888. For history of the corporation consult W. J. Loftie’s History of London, 2d ed., 1884, and the same author’s small work, London, published in 1887 in Freeman’s series on “English Historic Towns.” Both books are based on new material, part of it recently discovered by Bishop Stubbs. For additional references, see Gomme, pp. 122-134.

There have been a great many articles on the municipal government of London in recent periodical literature. Among them may be cited those by W. Newall, Contemporary Review, 1873, vol. 12, p. 73, and 1875, vol. 25, p. 437; W. M. Torrens, Nineteenth Century, 1880, vol. 8., p. 766; Alderman Cotton, Benj. Scott, City Chamberlain, and Sir Arthur Hobhouse in Contemporary Review, 1882, vol. 41, pp. 72, 308, and 404 respectively; the Westminster Review, for January, 1887; Dr. Albert Shaw on “How London is Governed,” in the Century, November, 1890, vol. 41, pp. 132-147, and on “Municipal Problems of New York and London,” in the Review of Reviews, April, 1892, vol. 5, p. 282; James Monroe on “The London Police,” in the North American Review, November, 1890, vol. 151, pp. 615-629; Sir John Lubbock on “The Government of London,” in the Fortnightly Review, February, 1892, vol. 51, p. 159; and an article on the “Municipal Administration of London,” in the Edinburgh Review for April, 1892. For a good review of attempts since 1860 to regulate the London gas supply, see an article in the British Quarterly for January, 1879.

A Royal Commission on the City Livery Companies reported May 28, 1884. See the discussion by Sir R. A. Cross, one of the dissenting members of the Commission, in the Nineteenth Century for 1884, vol. 16, p. 47, and by Sir Arthur Hobhouse in Contemporary Review for 1885, vol. 47, p. 1. The most important work on the London guilds is William Herbert’s “History of the Twelve Great Companies of London,” London, 1837. The latest contribution to the subject is Price’s “Description of the Guildhall,” London, 1887.

_b._ _Paris._

A sketch of its government by Yves Guyot, a member of the municipal council, may be found in the Contemporary Review, March, 1883, vol. 43, p. 439. Dr. Shaw gives an excellent short account in an article entitled “The Typical Modern City” in the Century, July, 1891, vol. 42, pp. 449-66. He cites as the principal authority on the subject Maxime Du Camp’s _Paris, ses organes, ses fonctions, et sa vie dans la seconde moitie du dix-neuvieme siecle_. An extended description is also given in a work entitled _Administration de la Ville de Paris_, written by Henri De Pontich under the direction of Maurice Block, Paris, Guillaumin, 1884. The _Rapports et Documents and Process-Verbaux_ of the municipal council are printed yearly in three large quarto volumes, and the municipal bureau of statistics issues an annual report.

_c._ _Berlin._

An excellent short account of the government of Berlin is given by Dr. Rudolph Gneist, a member of the municipal council since 1848, in the Contemporary Review, December, 1884, vol. 46, p. 769. See also the report on the “Administration of the City of Berlin” in Foreign Relations for 1881, p. 487, made by Assistant-Secretary of Legation Coleman at the request of Hon. Andrew D. White, then Minister to Germany. Also the articles by Prof. R. T. Ely in the Nation for March 23 and 30, 1882, vol. 34, pp. 145 and 267. In the Nation for September 25, 1892, vol. 55, p. 221, Mr. Leo S. Rowe combats some of Dr. Shaw’s generalizations respecting municipal government in Europe, taking Berlin as his text. The Magistracy of Berlin publish reports at irregular intervals. The first, _Bericht ueber die Vervaltung der Stadt Berlin, in den Jahren 1829 bis inclu. 1840_, Berlin, 1842, and the second, _in den Jahren 1841 bis incl. 1850_, Berlin, 1853, are of considerable importance. A third, published in 1863, covers the period from 1851 to 1860, and a fourth, printed in 1882, covers the period from 1861 to 1876. The Director of the Statistical Bureau of the city publishes annually _Das Statistische Jahrbuch der Stadt Berlin_.

The present municipal system of Prussia dates from the reorganization of the municipalities by Stein and Hardenburg, November 19, 1808. See Seeley’s Life of Stein, part 5, chap. 3, and Meier’s _Reform der Vervaltung-Organization unter Stein und Hardenberg_, Leipsig, 1881. The present “Municipal Corporation Act,” _Stædte-ordnung_, was passed May 30, 1853. See Kotze, _Die Preussischen Stædte Verfassungen_, Berlin, 1879, and Backoffner, _Die Stædteordnungen der Preussischen Monarchie_, Berlin, 1880, and especially Eugen Leidig’s _Preussisches Stadtrecht_, Berlin, 1891. See also the articles on local government in Prussia cited above.

_d._ _Other Foreign Cities._

Statistics of all important German cities are given in Dr. M. Neefe’s _Statistisches Jahrbuch Deutscher Stædte_, Erster Jahrgang, Breslau, 1890. Financial statistics of the great European cities are given in Joseph Körösi’s _Bulletin Annual de Finance des Grandes Villes_, Dixième Année, Budapest, 1890.

A short account of the municipal government of Vienna is given in a report by Mr. Kasson in Foreign Relations for 1879, p. 64 and an extended account in Dr. Felder’s _Die Gemeinde-Vervaltung der Reichs-haupt und Residenzstadt Wien_, Vienna, 1872. For the government of Budapest see Dr. Shaw’s article in the Century, June, 1892, vol. 44, pp. 163-179. Prof. F. G. Peabody gives a sketch of Dresden in an article entitled “A Case of Good City Government,” in the Forum, April, 1892, vol. 13, p. 53.

The following relate to various British Cities: Dr. Shaw’s “Glasgow, a Municipal Study,” in the Century, March, 1890, vol. 39, pp. 721-736; the same writer’s “Municipal Lodging Houses,” in No. 1 of the Charities Review, November, 1891; Julian Ralph’s “The Best Governed City in the World” (Birmingham) in Harper’s Magazine, 1890, vol. 81, pp. 99-111; Thos. H. Sherman’s report on “Liverpool, its Pavements, Tramways, Sewers and Artisans’ Dwellings,” in Consular Reports, June, 1890, vol. 33, pp. 284-303; and Consul Smyth’s report on “Tramways and Water Works in England,” in the Consular Report for December, 1891.

II. AMERICAN CITIES.

1. LEGAL STATUS.

For comparison of the provisions of the state constitutions relating to municipal corporations, see F. J. Stimson’s American Statute Law, Boston, 1886, vol. 1, articles 34, 37 and 50. Note the classification of municipalities in Ohio. On the relation of municipalities to the states, consult the chapter on “The Grades of Municipal Government” in Judge T. M. Cooley’s Constitutional Limitations, 6th ed., Boston, 1890, and a short chapter at the close of the same author’s Principles of Constitutional Law. Judge J. F. Dillon’s Treatise on the Law of Municipal Corporations, 4th ed., 2 vols., Boston, 1890, is the standard authority on the subject. Note the introductory historical sketch. A new text-book on the Law of Municipal Corporations, by Chas. F. Beach, Jr., has been recently issued by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Reference may also be made to Judge Dillon’s Law of Municipal Bonds, Chicago, 1877, and to A Treatise on Municipal Police Ordinances, Chicago, 1887, by N. T. Horr and A. A. Bemis, of the Cleveland bar. The authors of the last work say in their preface that “The necessity for it arises from the fact that, except in those cities and towns where the municipal council has the assistance of regularly employed legal advisers, the limits of lawful legislation are apt to be exceeded.”

Numerous references to articles in law journals are given on pp. 386-388 of Jones’s Index to Legal Periodical Literature, Boston, 1888. An article by J. R. Berryman on “Constitutional Restrictions upon Legislation about Municipal Corporations,” in the American Law Review, May-June, 1888, vol. 22, p. 403, may be cited.

2. STATISTICS.

The Eleventh Census will give very full statistics of cities, but though some of the results have been announced in bulletins, none of the final reports have yet been issued. These results have been summarized by Hon. Carroll D. Wright in the Popular Science Monthly for 1892, vol. 40. On “Urban Population” see p. 459; on “Social Statistics of Cities” p. 607, and on “Rapid Transit,” p. 785.

The following Reports of the Tenth Census treat of this subject: vol. 1, Population; vol. 7, Valuation, Taxation and Indebtedness; vol. 18, Social Statistics of Cities: New England and Middle States (reviewed in the Nation, vol. 44, p. 256); and vol. 19, Social Statistics of Cities: Southern and Western States.

Scribner’s Statistical Atlas of the United States, N. Y., 1883, exhibits the figures of the census graphically (p. xlv, statistics of population). Plate 21 illustrates the growth of American cities since 1790. There were then only eight cities of eight thousand inhabitants, and the population of New York was 33,131. Plate 30 gives ratios of different nationalities to total population in the largest fifty cities. Plate 76 gives net per capita debt in the largest one hundred cities.

On movement of population see an article by B. G. Magie, Jr., in Scribner’s Monthly, January, 1878, vol. 15, p. 418; Prof. Richmond Smith’s “Statistics and Economics,” p. 264 in vol. 3 of the Publications of the American Economic Association; a study on the “Rise of American Cities” by Dr. A. B. Hart in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, January, 1890, vol. 4, pp. 129-157; an article by Lewis H. Haupt on “The Growth of Great Cities” in the Cosmopolitan for November, 1892, and another by John C. Rose, on “The Decrease of Rural Population” in the Popular Science Monthly for March, 1893, vol. 42, pp. 621-38. Cf. work by E. Levasseur, entitled _Les Populations Urbaines en France, comparees a celles de l’Etranger_, Paris, 1887.

The Annual Statistician, published by L. P. McCarty, San Francisco, gives the following statistics for leading cities: Number of votes registered and polled; number of voting precincts; strength of police; losses by fire and number of fire-engines and firemen; value and capacity of gas and water works; number and character of street lights; vital statistics; number of murders, suicides, and executions; length of street railroads and cost of motive power; telegraph and telephone mileage; number of saloons and cost of licenses; attendance and cost of schools, annual tax-rate, expenditure and the public debt.

3. FINANCE.

Volume 7 of the Reports of the Tenth Census, compiled by Robert P. Porter, gives statistics of local taxation and indebtedness, and a summary of the provisions of the several state constitutions limiting the rate of taxation, the amount of municipal debts, and the purposes for which they may be contracted. See p. 674 for an analysis of the purposes for which the debt outstanding in 1880 was contracted. The Eleventh Census will give similar data. Mr. Porter published an article on municipal debts in the N. Y. Banker’s Magazine for September, 1876, and another in Lalor’s Cyclopædia of Political Science, vol. 1, p. 730. Cf. also his article in the Princeton Review, n. s., vol. 4, p. 172. For a further study of this subject, read Prof. H. C. Adams’s Public Debts, N. Y., 1887, Part 3, chap. 3. See also G. W. Green’s article on “Municipal Bonds,” Lalor’s Cyclopædia, vol. 2, p. 920; Prof. S. N. Patten’s “_Finanzwesen der Staaten und Stædte der Nordamerikanischen Union_”, Jena., 1878; C. Hale’s “Debts of Cities,” Atlantic, vol. 38, p. 661, for the law of Massachusetts; D. L. Harris’s “Municipal Economy,” Journal of Social Science, vol. 9, p. 149, for the experience of Springfield, Mass., the articles in Bradstreet’s for February 10 and March 3, 1883, for a comparison with local debts in England, and H. B. Gardner’s “Statistics of Municipal Finance” in the Publications of the American Statistical Association, June, 1889, vol. 1, pp. 254-67. On the debt of New York City see the paper by Wm. M. Ivins cited below. A Statement of Facts Concerning the Financial Affairs of the City of Elizabeth, N. J., which has the largest per capita debt in the United States, was published by some of the citizens of that place in January, 1886.

Municipal taxation is treated at length in Prof. R. T. Ely’s Taxation in American States and Cities, New York, 1888. The Reports of the Commissioners Appointed to Revise the Laws for the Assessment and Collection of Taxes in New York, 1871 and 1872, contain much valuable material. The members of the Commission were David A. Wells, Edwin Dodge, and George W. Cuyler. The first report was reprinted in New York by Harpers, and both were reprinted in England by the Cobden Club. Cf. also Wells’s “Theory and Practice of Local Taxation in America,” in the Atlantic Monthly for January, 1874; “Rational Principles of Taxation,” a paper read in New York, May 20, 1874, Journal of Social Science, vol. 6, p. 120; and his “Reform of Local Taxation” in the North American Review for April, 1876. On the evils of double taxation see a paper on “Local Taxation” by William Minot, Jr., read in Saratoga, September 5, 1877, and printed in the Journal of Social Science, vol. 9, p. 67. See Report in 1876 of New Hampshire Tax Commission, composed of Geo. Y. Sawyer, H. R. Roberts, and Jonas Livingstone; and Report of the Michigan Commission, House Journal, February 23, 1882. A similar Commission, appointed by the City of Baltimore, reported in January, 1886. The Report contains, in addition to the recommendations of the Commission, a paper by Prof. R. T. Ely, entitled “Suggestions for an Improved System of Taxation in Baltimore.” A further article on “Municipal Finance” may be found in Scribner’s Magazine, January, 1888, vol. 3, pp. 33-40, and a thesis entitled “Special Assessments: A Study in Municipal Finance,” by Victor Rosewater, is announced for vol. 2 of the “Studies in History, Economic and Public Law,” issued by Columbia College.

4. GENERAL DISCUSSIONS.

Adams, Charles Francis. “Municipal Government: Lessons from the Experience of Quincy, Mass.” Forum, November, 1892, vol. 14, pp. 282-92.

Berryman, J. R. “Constitutional Restrictions upon Legislation about Municipal Corporations.” American Law Review, May-June, 1888, vol. 22, p. 403.

Bowles, Samuel. “Relation of State to Municipal Governments, and the Reform of the Latter.” Journal of Social Science, vol. 9, p. 140. A paper read in Saratoga, September 7, 1877.

Bradford, Gamaliel. “Municipal Government.” Scribner’s Magazine, October, 1887, vol. 2, pp. 485-493.

Browne, G. M. “Municipal Reform.” New Englander, February, 1886, vol. 45, p. 132.

Bryce, James. “The American Commonwealth.” Lon. and N. Y., 1888. This well known work contains the following chapters on municipal government: chapters 50 and 51, “The Government of Cities;” chap. 52, “An American View of Municipal Government in the United States,” by Pres. Seth Low; chapters 59-64 explain the working of party machinery; chap. 88, “The Tweed Ring in New York City,” by F. J. Goodnow, and chap. 89, “The Philadelphia Gas Ring.”

Cambridge Civil Service Reform Association. “Prize Essays on Municipal Reform.” 1884. Contents:--“The Selection of Municipal Officers: their Terms and Tenures,” by T. H. Pease, of Chicago, Ill.; “The Appointment of Municipal Officers,” by John Prentiss, of Keene, N. H.; and “The Selection and Tenure of Office of Municipal Officers,” by Prof. H. T. Terry, of the University of Tokio, Japan.

Chamberlain, Joseph. “Municipal Institutions in America and England.” Forum, November, 1892, vol. 14, pp. 267-81. Mr. Chamberlain was Mayor of Birmingham 1873-6. He compares its government with that of Boston.

Crandon, F. D. “Misgovernment of Great Cities.” Popular Science Monthly, vol. 30, pp. 296 and 520.

Eaton, Dorman B. “Municipal Government.” Journal of Social Science, vol. 5, p. 1. A paper read in Boston, May 13, 1873.

Eliot, C. W. “One Remedy for Municipal Misgovernment.” Forum, October, 1891, vol. 12, pp. 153-168.

Fassett, J. S. “Why Cities are Badly Governed.” North American Review, May, 1890, vol. 150, pp. 631-7.

Senator Fassett summarizes the results of the investigation in 1890 of a committee of the New York Senate on cities.

Field, David Dudley. “Our Political Methods.” Forum, November, 1886, vol. 2, pp. 213-22.

Fisher, Wm. R. “Municipal Government.” Publications of the Philadelphia Social Science Association. This Association has united with the American Academy of Political and Social Science and its publications are now furnished by the Academy.

Fiske, Amos K. “Remedies for Municipal Misgovernment.” Forum, April, 1887, vol. 3, pp. 170-77.

Fiske, John. “Civil Government in the United States.” N. Y., 1890. Chapter 5.

Ford, Worthington C. “American Citizen’s Manual.” N. Y., 1882. Part 1, pp. 66-83, on municipal corporations.

Forum. “The Science of Municipal Corruption.” March, 1893, vol. 15, pp. 43-51. Author’s name not given.

Godkin, E. L. “Criminal Politics.” North American Review, June, 1890, vol. 150, pp. 706-23.

Godkin, E. L. “A Key to Municipal Reform.” North American Review, October, 1890, vol. 151, pp. 422-31.

Grace, William R. “Government of Cities in the State of New York.” Harpers, 1883, vol. 67, p. 609.

Hale, E. E. “The Congestion of Cities.” Forum, January, 1888, vol. 4, pp. 527-35.

Harrison, Carter H. “Municipal Government.” An address delivered before the Nineteenth Century Club of New York City, November 23, 1886.

Ivins, William M. “Municipal Finance.” Harpers, October, 1884, vol. 69, pp. 779-87.