The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-05-09

N1A vi liz HIT
class, each class choosing a third If
the council. Thus the people who
have to support the city
vote according TO the support they
give it. It makes for thrifty munich
pal housekeeping, according to most
authorities, but also has many Ora W.
backs. bismarck once called Il the
most miserable and absurd election
law ever formulated by any country.
1t is asserted by some authorities
that the German council is made Up
Of h very best men in the community
ana that they serve it well. although
the progressive element continually
asserts that narrow-mindedneSS and
ultra -conservatism characterize the at
tltude of the majority of councillors.
When the council is elected it organ
ICES, With a chairman and vice-chair-
man and a clerk. All other officers
are appointed by the Magistrate, and
hence are regular municipal employ
eeS.
h Magistrat is a body Of admins
trative authority mad up of one or
sometimes two b~urgOmasters, and a
number Of members, usually about
one-thlrd as many as there are cOun-
cillOrs. These officials are appointed
by the council, but a De removed
only by the higher authorities, who
also must confirm their appointment.
Some OF these are salaried positions
and those who fill them are experts
in their respective branches Of muni-
cipal government. One holds the ro-
sitiOn Of kammerer, or head of the
city's financial affairs; another acts as
Syndikus, Or chief of the legal de-
partment. The Schulrat is the head Of
the primary education system, while
the Baurat has charge Of public
works. All these men are chosen sole
~ with respect to their fitness, and
need not even be residents of the city
they erve. They usually start in the
smaller cities and work up to the
larger ones. The Magistrat is known
as the upper house Of the city legisla-
ture. and is the direct representative
Of the state.
There are many other interesting
and important features in the mum
cipal administration of German cities.
such as the citizen deputies, who cor
respond in genera to commissions
which serve without pay and which
in this country are appointed from
private life, to assist in the perform
ance Of some important work or in
the conduct Of some investigation.
But all the agencies that ave been
invoked by the urban communities of
Germany for their government seem
to END to the same end-a highly
efficient administration, where the
maximum of results is accomplished
with a minimum of expenditure. The
bureaucratic system of the Magistrat
has its disadvantages, but it does af-
ford the opportunity for carrying the
merit system of civil service to its
conclusion.
Good government makes for rapid
growth in German cities as much as
it ever has in the United States. Ber-
H. loo ~,.0vxyp facfnr fho- TI,ioa 90 IN
the past twenty-five years: Hamburg
| grows as fast again as Boston and
Ba1timore: every important city in
Germany is forging ahead as rapidly
as the most rosperous cities of SIM
liar population in the United States.
Yet their citizens are not as rich as
| those in America. UncOunted thou
sands of German boys a-e educated,
| only to leave to swell the population
of Am rican cities. They suffer under
heavy state and national taxes while
the American citizen has an easy
time Of it in this respect. Yet the
German cities. in the face Of far
greater difficulties than those which
| American cities must meet, have solved
the new municipal problems much
more promptly n completely thar
we have done.
However complicated and seeming
ly different from the English, French,
or American systems the German plan
of municipal rule may be, its dominant
note is the concentration Of the will
Of the people in a single elected body,
/! of considerable size, and sitting in one
chamber. The success Of the Euro
| peon system in general, and Of the
| German city in particular, may be at
tributed to the fact that the council
is a continuing body, and that once a
| plan of municipal expansion and con-
troll Sc laid ont. it is pursued to the
end instead of being halted n
| changed with every outgoing n in
coming administration.
German cities come more nearly
| realizing the dream Of the idealist
| than those of almost any other coun-
try so far as economical adnlnistra-
ton is concerned. Berlin utlllzes the