Municipal Government
I5y James C. Carter, Kx-President
of National Municipal League
KFOUU any intelligent effort can
B
be adopted In any city In the
country to carry on the work of
municipal regeneration where It
is needed the cause of the mu
nicipal disorders must be well understood.
In our opinion that cause consists simply
In this: The domination of municipal af
fairs by partisan or boss government, for
the two are names for one and the same
thing. The cause, the principal, the remote,
the ultimate cause id the circumstatu;! that
the people choose to surrender the domina
tion and the government of their municipal
affairs to one or the other (it makes no
matter which) of the great national polit
ical parties of the day.
Now. in saying that we have come to a
conclusion that that is the cause have we
made any new discovery? No. Any
thoughtful man who at any time will look
Into the municipal situation, and Into Us
ersei'tlal nature, must see that such a
surrender by the people of the control of
their municipal afi'uirs must necessarily
be followed by the mischievous effects to
which I have alluded, and yet but few,
comparatively, are really persuaded of this.
Many people have thought that the trouble
was in republican government. They say:
"Kepublican government Is Inadequate to
the proper government of our (Hies, and
we are powerless, therefore, to relieve it
unless we abandon republican government
and adopt some other." Others have said
that it was the enormous influx of Ignorant
foreigners into the country ignorant of
our institutions, not understanding our lan
guage nor our customs, naturally the tools
and instrumentalities of the politicians; as
booh as that element became amalgamated
with the general population of the country
we should have a better state of things.
Others, again, have said that It was in
consequence of Imperfect municipal chart
ersthat our laws were Insufficient; that
we most have better laws laws to punish
offenses In reference to the transaction of
municipal affairs and that our remedy was
to go to the legislature and have a lot of
new laws enacted.
Now there Is more or less truth in all
these views. That Is to say. there Is this
much truth In them: Our municipal dis
orders are aggravated; the ability of ma
chine politicians to control municipal af
fairs Is increased In consequence of the
irrent number of foreigners -ignorant for
eignerswho have-come Into the country;
In consequence of the ignorance among
those of our own community of the proper
administration of municipal affairs; in con
sequence of the Indifference of those who
are more Intelligent, but who wish to take
no part. There is some truth In all of this,
but we think that the main cause, which
must be removed before any considerable
Improvement can be reached. Is the sur
render by the citizens of the several cities
of the control of their affairs to the dom
inance of a partisan or boss machine.
When
(Copyright. 1903. by T. C. McClure.)
A"T SOME early time, in a manner
that we do not understand clearly
today, despite all our study, cer-
A2S tain single, living cell-beings ap
aitvJ peared In the world.
These creatures. In consisting of only one
cell each, resembled the bacteria, amoebes
and similar "Infusoria" of today in this
characteristic.
Each of these cell-beings carried out all
the undertakings of simple life by Itself. It
moved, multiplied (through primitive fis
sure), betrayed certain sensations and took
nourishment.
Tho methods of this nourishment were
different. In one ease Inorganic, mineral
matter was taken In as we t-e j it den today
among the plants; In tho other case, or
ganic stuffs, already dissolved, were taken
In the shape of other cell-beings, as we see
feeding done today among the true nnln als.
Both methods are to be seen today among
the bacteria.
Let us remain with those single-cells that
already had reached the point of nourishing
themselves as "animals," by conquering
other animals and weaker single-cells and
devouring them.
Tills process of devouring and the entire
process of nutrition In such a pimple b. ins
proceeded without any organ entirely with
out stomach or intestine. Just as no single
cell in our stomachs has a stomach of Its
own, so did that single-cell of the dim past
lack a stomach. It surrounded Its tod with
Its whole Jelly-like cell-body, took it in
Whole and digested it whole, something as
a drop of water will swallow n tiny bit of
red color ami liccome permeated with It till
It is red through and through. We can still
see. this primitive mode of feeding in living
single-cells of our time.
Then there came the first great advance.
The primordial beings, hitherto slrici'y
solitary, came together here and there and
formed themselves into the very simplest
forms of communities.
IaI us assume that about 100 of such
cell individuals formed a clump. Each of
them previously had moved Itself forward
In the water by lengthening its soft body
Into a pointed, thin thread, whoso Hammer
I want to say a few words In explan
ation of this, and to show how It Is
brought about. Just look, for instance, at
what the condition is. The cities of tho
country at the present time control Kit
enormous amount of money. There is
annually collected by taxation In tho city
of New York for municipal purposes
$ln0.flW.0W; $3P.0Uu.UU0 In I'hfledalphla. 1 do
not know how many In the city of Boston,
but nil over the country aoiuu JtiuO.OUO.Ofln
or JTiW.OOu.Ouu are annually collected by
taxation for municipal purposes, and the
control and management of that vast sum
constitute means by which those who may
be able to gain control of It may enrich
themselves, enrich their associates, ud
vance themselves on the road to political
fortune and In a multitude of ways, mostly
corrupt and Improper, pervert those funds
from their true and proper purpose. Now
that Is the great prize constantly offend
at every election to the eupte of thii
country a prire, which, of course, has ap
proached Its present magnitude only with
in recent years, which in the eirly history
of the country did not exist at all or not
exist to s.uh an extent as to tempt perilous
seriously. Now, however, the temptation
Is enormous; It Is prodigious; the force
of It we can hardly measure; and this Is
the price which Is dangled before the
politician at every municipal election.
On the other hand, what are the Induce
ments to honest men to take ofllce? They
must abandon their business; they must
give up their regular pursuit, and they
must devote themselves disinterestedly to
the public good for little or no compensa
tion. I need not sjy, that constituted as
human nature is, here Is a very great d.m
ger always present. Knowing, as we do,
the weakness of human nature, is it a won
der that In tho struggle for municipal
office the men who want the possession f
these glittering pecuniary prizes, and who
know they can be obtained by tho practice
of unscrupulous means, will get the better
of men who do not care to have tho pos
session of them, and who under no circum
stances will resort to unscrupulous means?
The republican and democratic parties,
the two great national parties, have no
concern with municipal politics. They
never deal with them. You never see In
their platforms anything nbout them. They
know nothing about them; they care noth
ing about them; and. In reality, they have
no proper concern with them. And yet
they assume a concern. What do they
want? They want the votes, all they can
get, the one side or the other, and there
fore they want some agency operating In
theso great cities which will act on their
side and secure to them by one means cr
nnother (and they do not care what at all
events they do not exhibit much care nbout
it) the greatest number of votes.
What can they offer In return? This:
They have the control of the general party
organization of the country. They can or
ganize whichever local organization they
the First Stomach Was Formed
ing motions whirled the tiny thing ahead.
The newly formed clump of communistic-cell-creatures
also needed such motion.
So, as the cells combine, each protruded
Its little filament end freely and before long
the first mutual act of the clump was to
achieve a certain measure of motion by
which all the filaments were swung In even
tempo. Thus at last the whola clump be
gan to move in a forward direction.
It was a simple and natural result of this
mutual act for the clump to 'icq u ire the
shape of a bladder. Each single-cell had
to remain l.i touch with the outer world
for its Own preservation. Therefore all of
them crowded to the surface of the sphere;
the inner portion remained empty and hol
low and the bladder or hollow sphere was
created.
A cell-community of this kind, forming
a hollow sphere and moving merrily In the
water through the rhythmic motion of each
plngle-cell. is not a hypothetical thing In
vented for the purpose of Illustration. Such
communities live today in fresh as well as
salt waters.
The single-cell individuals of this little,
fast-moving, social bladder did not cling
so hard to Its outer edge merely for the
sake of motion. The need for nourishment
Hindi! it mandatory. Despite the new and
close communion, each cell still fed for
Itself. Each had to fish for its own nour
ishment and digest It for Itself. If a cell
had fallen out of tho outer circle Into the
Inner part of the sphere it would have
died miserably from hunger.
And now we ttegin to see how the food
problem reaped the greatest benelit from
this soi la 1 community.
It lay not on'y in the fact that the sphere
could reach new feeding places more
oulckjy, propelled a3 It was by united pow
ers. The chief gain lay In a spontaneous
division of labor.
Before that, whenever a single-cell arch
being obtained a choice bit of food, It
would become torpid for a while. It drew
Its filament-end In and lay still. In the
new community, too, whenever a single
cell nte, it wou'd fall Into this digestlvo
torpor. But now it was fast in the mass
that moved aa a whole. Even It It was
please and the one they choose to recognize
Is the only one that can exist. All tho
others must go out of existence. Now tho
leaders of the great political parties prac
tically say to the politicians of tho citici:
"You tiring us all the votes you can, and
the man who Is able to bring us the great
est numler of votes (which Is evidenced,
of course, by the extent to which lie car
ries municipal elections for the party)
the man who brings us the greatest number
of votes, the organization that brings it,
that man and that organization shall be
pronounced regular;" and that declaration
of course enables this municipal organiza
tion In the cities where It can carry nn
election to obtain entire control of the
business of the municipality and of all its
proceedings.
I remember a story of a gentleman who
had been a member of congress, and after
twenty years was elec ted again. When he
went back he had occasion to go Into one
of the department offices, and he found
there a gentleman, an official, who had
been there when he was In congress twenty
years before, and he congratulated him on
It. He said. "How Is It thnt you have re
mained here through so many changes of
administrations?" There had been a half
a dozen. Kepubllcans had come and gone
and democrats had come and gone. Well,"
says he, "If they can change their adminis
tration quicker than I can change my poli
tics they are pretty smart." Now, theso
corrupt politicians of the municipal stripe
do not care under what banner they light
one Is Just as good as the other; and If
you did attempt to put them out and did
succeed In the attempt in one party, they
would go over Into the other nnd make that
party successful by the same means.
The only remedy Is to conquer the ev!l
In Its cause this alliance, this control of
municipal affairs by the political parties
to attack the control of tho political par
ties over municipal affairs, to say to the
political parties: "You have no business
or concern with them. You must not nom
inate candidates; if you do they nro to be
beaten."
Now you ask. What does this mean?
Does It mean that we are to organize, to
have an organization In the various wards
and districts of the city, a municipal party
formed for the purpose of securing better
government, and to put up candidates for
mayor, for aldermen and other municipal
offices and to endeavor to elect them? Yes,
It means just that. Well, they say, yotl
cannot do it. Terhaps you can't, but If you
don't do it you will suffer. You will suffer
and in the end you will be obliged to do
It; and when It becomes necessary to do It,
as it will, why then you will do it, because
whatever is necessary to be done will be
done as a matter of course, and the time
will come when It will be necessary.
Well, Is It not possible? Why, yes, It Is
possible If you will think so. If all tho
Individuals or half of the well disposed
Inactive itself, the sphere dragged It along.
So, even during Its digestive sleep, it
rolled toward new food supply, avoided
dangers in brief, enjoyed all the advan
tages of motion.
In exchange the torpid single-cell paid
a certain tribute to the contiguous cells In
return for their work. Through the close
crowding of the soft cell-bodies It became
inevitable that some of the digested Juices
from the fed cell should flow into the
neighboring cells.
Without Its being "willed" by any of
them, there began a compulsory co-operation.
If four cells moved another cell
around while it was torpid, they got some
of the food absorbed by It In return.
For a time this, the most simple of all
forms of mutual labor, took place, now
here, now there, wherever and whenever a
cell happened to seize food. But gradually
this co-operation became practicably Inev
itable. The bladder or sphere bored its
way through the water In a straight line
one polo In front, one pole behind to meet
the floating of food. Now, what happened?
The cells In the forward end of the sphere
obtained the most food.
So, In this part of the sphere, there devel
oped a certain number of cells that fed,
digested and became torpid continuously,
until at last they did nothing else, ceasing
entirely to furnish motive power to the
ball. Hut to balance this, a constant
stream of Juices flowed from these over
fed eel's Into the rest of the sphere. The
division of labor Into feeding cells and
motor cells began to develop according to
rule.
So one day there appeared a sphere
whose forward pole consisted entirely of
feeding cells pure nnd simple, while the
opposite end consisted of motor cells alone.
With this change, the necessity became
even greater that the forward cells should
cat enough to supply all the others. But
their imwer wia limited by their number
and there wns no room lor more at the
forward pole. What happened?
Suppose that It were desired to crowd
an Immense number of persons together
on one of the poles of this earth to catch
something fulling from the sky. How
members of the community who have n
pecuniary interest in politics would say,
"wo will adopt this policy," the thing would
be done. A putty would at once be formed,
which, put in the Held, would have the
majority or would so endanger tho election
of candidates ot cither of the oilier two
that it would quickly become superior and
control the destinies of the city. Why, It
Is done repeatedly, is It not? We have done
it two or three times in New York. It Iris
lain done In fifty of the cities of tho
country occasionally, i.poi adlcally Indeed,
but what has been done once or twice "r
three times, can it not bo donu always?
Why. of course It can. If you can do it
once, you tan ultvays do it.
1 am a party man myself, nnd I like to
see the great national policies which are
presented by the two opposing parties pre
sented to the people of tlu country, and
their nsscnt to this or that measure sought
by dlcusslon, by argument, by every fair
Inlluence upon the mind. The national po
litical campaigns, with nil their accom
paniments, or most of them thero are
some of them I would leave out are Inter
esting and valuable experiences, instructive
to the citizen, necessary to freedom, and
they are not to be given up by any manner
of means. It is only when national politics
undertake to encroach upon a domain with
which they have no concern that the mis
chief arises, and It is at that point tint
our efforts ought to be directed.
If 1 should compare, however, the Im
portance of national polities with municipal
polities, if I may so call them, the Im
portance of u proper control of national
affairs with that of municipal affairs, I
should say that the former were less Im
portant, nlmrst like dust In the balance
compared with the latter. In national
affairs the moment degeneracy begins It Is
felt In every corner of your civil nnd po
litical life. The moment unscrupulous men
get possession of your municipal offices nnd
turn them to their own purposes, your
schools begin to suffer degradation, the
pavement of your streets Is affected, the
cleanness of your city Is gone, your police
comes Into alliance with crime nn1 you
are threatened with every sort of danger,
and there Is no form of social or political
life In which you do not Instantly feel the
result. It is for this reason that I cannot
help thinking that the attention to munici
pal affairs is vastly more Important In Im
mediate results than any attention to na
tional politic, although I would by no
means disparage the latter.
I look forward to a time when these views
In reference to our municipal affairs will be
better understood nnd will be generally
accepted and acted upon, nnd the methods
which now seem to some visionary will be
fully employed nnd become thoroughly
effective, and our cities, great and small,
be made to le what they ought to be, the
magnificent temples of our modern civiliza
tion. New York City.
could tho greatest number be accommo
dated with room?
Simply by digging a deep pit whose bot
tom and sides could be lined with people.
This Is Just what the cells did. First they
formed a shallow pit. At last they formed
a concave hollow toward the Inner part of
the sphere; that Is, the sphere collapsed
toward the Inward, like a rubber ball from
which the air has been squeezed. It waa
a cup, wide open In front.
The outer su -face of this cup consisted
of the motor cells. The Inner surface con
sisted of feeding cells. Now, when the
cup glided forward, the food that met it
swam straight. Into the open cup. And,
since the entire inner side of that cup
consisted of feeding cells, the food went
directly to the right place.
And this adjustment of cells brought
other advantages with It. The feeding anil
digsting ccllu were protected much better
now against enemies and accidents than
they had beer, when they were cm tho ex
posed surface of s sphere. And the con
nection between them and with the motor
cells was immeasurably better. Their sup
ply of nourishment could be given to theia
constantly.
Now, Hiippcw a person who knows noth
ing nt all of cells and cell communities
were to capture such a cup-formed mass.
What pent of un unlmal would lie imagine
it to be?
It would be clear to him that he had
before him a v ry simply constructed
creature, which possesses only two organs.
On the outside is a skin, clothed, after the
manner of many animals, with fine points
-hairs. Til animal swims in a straight
line, propelled by the lllmnierlng Impulse
of these hairs.
Inside the animal has a stomach, with
which It eats and digests. This combina
tion of only two organs stomach nnd skin
gives the thing it primitive appearance.
One perceives that it. stands low In the
scale of animal development. But nt any
late It lias organs most Important a
stomach. So the beholder would fay, "Yes;
It Is a' real animal." And he would b
(Continued on Page Fifteen.