New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-11-02
CITY GOVERNMENT.
TWO STUDIES OF THE PROBLEMS OF
MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATION

THE G,,S sTTDY OF CITY G9yERNMENT; Az
PAL FUNCTIONS. CONTROL AND ORGANi-
3A s,rKo r, BY ps .s t WcO3 NJ Pm
CITY GOVERNMENT IN THE UNITED STATES.
1 chARTER % Of 49, nf BY SN Afaed
New-York and Member OF Assembly Of the
State OF New-York. octave. PIP xiv. 2i5. D.
There are many hopeful signs that the Ma
sional American instinct for organization and
government, which during the first century Of
our National existence has solved-and solved
with surprising ease and brill.ancy-so many OF
the larger problems Of politics. Is at last to make
its influence felt in the hitherto neglected field Of
municipal administration. That American politi-
cal progress should have been almost wholly
along the line OF developed scheme of State
and Federal Government In which municipaH-
ties played the part Of wholly subordinate and
dependent units. is altogether natural The
political life OF the city for the greater part or
our history differed little in theory or practice
from that of the township, the county or the
State. and 1t was not until the amazing urban
growth Of the last few decades had begun TO
show itself in the development OF enormous
centres OF population that the vastly Increased
complexities Of the municipal form of govern
ment were fully unfolded 10 the American con-
sciousness. The latterday tendency OF Ameri-
can cities to enlarge their boundaries and swell
by all available means the numbers Of their In
habtants has ar,ifcially fostered this eXpan-
sion Of municipal needs and subjected trad-
tiona theories OF local administration 10 tests or
intensified experience which few of them are
wholly fitted to bear.
No problem Of American politics is for the
Of ifal ir7nO
than that Of adjusting accepted American ideas
OF ef-government to the new conditions which
the concentration of population in the great
cities has imposed on urban political life. The
noteworthy experiment in municipal consolida-
ton about 10 be attempted in the Greater New
York has manlfestly quickened the interest OF
American students of politics in the problems
OF city government; for in the operation OF the
vast municipal machine created under the new
charter many modern tendencies in urban ad-
ministraton are to be put to the touchstone OF
prac.io al experience 1t is only natural. there
FORE to find in both Dr. Wilcox's and Mr..
Conkling's studies of municipal politics wealth
Of references to the tried and untried FEATURES
Of the Greater New-York Charter. and to note
that each volume has been timed to appear at
the very height Of the struggle just ending for
the control of the political destinies Of the I'M
shores of New-York Bay.
Both studies are in aim and point OF view de-
scrptive rather than constructive and critical;
yet both undeniably open the way to a clearer
understanding OF the general municipal prob
lem On one vital point Of theory the two au-
thors are inclined to Numerically opposed opin-
ions Mr. Conkling writes his title-page the
motto "Municipal Government Is Business, not
Politics" and throughout his study he frankly
asserts the predomnance OF the corporate or
business side Of urban administration. DR.. Will
cox. on the other hand. stoutly contends that
the CITY, as such. can never be shorn OF genuine
political functions It's primary activities, he in
sists, must certainly be political In the broad
sense Of that term" THE man." he adds. "who
claims that the city Is a business corporation,
and should be conducted primarily on business
as opposed to political principles, ought to ad-
NIT frankly his close kinship to the Socialist
For IL the whole people residing within a given
district and possessing governmental power are
thereby constituted business corporation. what
more can Socialism claim
The secondary municipal functions-the raising
OF revenue. the establishment and maintenance
OF public works. the enforcement Of inspections
and the like-Dr. Wilcox admits to be essentially
corporate in character. But throughout the
work, though confessing that many Of the city's
normal and traditional political functions have
gradually been obscured by the encroachments
Of State control, ne seems to deprecate the view
held so strenuousy by most municipal reform
ers-that In its essence municipal administration
is corporate and non political. and can be prac-
tically ASSOCIATED from those motives Of popu-
lar action which govern in the larger spheres of
State or National politics. DR.. Wilcox quotes
Professor Goodnow as having Shown conclu
&bot Fnr
exclusion Of party contests from municipal cleo
lions as long as we have State and National
party government But this view-which is GER
tainly deba;able-is left in the main unsub
Stimulated by either evidence argument. It
remains a opinion cathedra, against
which may be set the equally positive conclu-
sion OF Mr. Conkling and the political school he
stands for that underneath all the remedies
that may be suggested for the better govern
ment Of municipalities Is the incubation Of the
doctrine that they must be ruled on sound busi-
ness principles and that questions Of policy that
divide the best men In National politics have no
place in the choice Of municipal officers"
1t Is indeed the chief disappointment OF DR..
Wicox's work that 1t does not present any def
mite or clear cut theory of the modern munich
pality either In Its relations TO the steadily en-
croaching power OF the State or to the new and
intensified demands for freer and larger scope
In local administration which have followed the
expansion Of urban boundaries and the increase
Of urban population. The author sketches with
accuracy and fulness of information the general
schemes Of organization to which the creators
Of municipalities In this and other countries
have adhered; but no adequate summary Is at
tempted Of the main drift Of municipal policy.
nor Is any effort made TO mark the limit
of the so-caed Socalstic functions in which
the energies OF municipal administration are
being more and more absorbed. That the from
tier OF the realm of governmental functions will
continue to be in the Cities the author cursori-