Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-07
BRYCE ON MODERN
CITY AND STATE
The British Ambassador Dis
cusses Their Relationship.
WORK OF THREE CLASSES
Certain Functions Which Are Vital
and indispensable.
PUBLIC SPIRIT AND CIVIC DUTY
Two Things Necessarily Essential to
Good Municipal Government, He
Declares to Chicagoans.

CHICAGO, April 6.-Jamcs Bryce. Brit
ish ambassador to the United States. after
spending busy day in Chicago. attend
Ing lupcheons and visiting a score OF
large commercial and industrial establish
ments, tonight was the guest of honor at
a banquet given by the Commercial Club
at the Auditorium Hotel. There were Ia
prominent business and professional men
about the board. Red, white and blue, in
the form of st. Andrews cross. faced from
one end Of the hall the red, white and
blue Of the stars and stripes at the other.
Ambassador Bryce was the only speaker
during the evening. His topic was The
Modern City in Relation to the State"
Mr. Bryce said:
Three Glasses of Municipal Work.
What are the functions Of a proper
city government, and what kind of work
ought 1t to undertake for the benefit Of
the community?
Muhlclpal work seems to fall into three
classes. There are certain functions
which are vital and Indispensable. be-
cause the individual citizen living in a.
very large community cannot do them
for himself or herself. They must be
done by an organization which covers the
whole city. One of these is the main
tenance Of public safety-that is to say.
the police. Among other functions are
drainage, street paving and cleaning, the
care of public health and making of SAN
itary regulations, and general building
regulations and protection from fire.
A second class of municipal functions
covers those which might possibly be left
either to individuals or to large corpora
uons-what we call in England public
| companies Such are the provisions OF
water; me provisions of light whether of
| gas or electricity; street railways; the tel
! ephone and the provision and regulation OF
| markets. There is also the care of the
| poor and public education.
Stage of Experiment
A third class of municipal activities COW
ers matters which may or may not be given
to a local authority and which in Britain
are in a few places only undertaken by
such authorities. One of these is the pro-
vision of public lodging houses, of public
baths and wash houses and of dwellings for
the laboring classes. What has been done
in this direction is still In the stage of
experiment. and opinion is not Iet fixed
to the desrabiity of making tits part of
municipal work.
Much depends on whether the particular
work to be done is in the nature of a mo-
nopoly. For instance, the supply of water
is almost of necessity a monopoly. You
cannot have number of water compa MES
undertaking to supply each citizen by their
own pipes. Still less can you have rival
street railway companies laying down their
rails in the same streets because there
would not be room. This must be a mat
ter either taken over by the city or handed
over to one corporation, which would be
come monopollSt, at least for one par
ticular part of the city. And the same
thing is true of lighting. Now, where there
is strong monopoly, 1t Is strongly urged
in England that the profits which a mo-
nopoly may earn and the increased value
which the growth of city gives to such a
monopoly that of street transportation
ought to belong to the public
Sense of Civic Duty.
The financial results of some branches
of municipal work are much disputed and
to present general conclusions on the SUBJ
ject would be at this moment premature.
This much, however, may be said. 1t Is a
pre-condition TO the giving to a municipal
authority of any control over public work
and public utilities which are not neces-
sarily involved in the varying existence of
that municipal authority that the author
ity itself should be honest and capable-that
is to say that the administrators should
be upright and intelligent men. Whether
they are will depend on the conditions of
the particular city. 1t will depend mainly
on the public spirit of the citizens and
the sense of civic duty which animates
them. If there is a lively sense of public
duty and of the responsibility of each in
dividual citizen for the good government
of the community. If he gives an honest
vote based on his judgment of the character
of the candidates, If he watches the con-
duct of those who administer on its be-
half and calls them to strict account for
any misdoings, 1t will obviously be safe to
intrust to the municipality functions which
otherwise it might be desirable to withhold