The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1931-02-06
II MUNICIPALITIES
IN j, s, NOW HAVE
100000 RESIDENTS
Law Enforcement Demands Re-
arrangement Of Systems in
Adjacent Boroughs
PROSECUTION IS affected
Problems of Taxes, Sanitation
and Health Also Become
Involved in Cities
PROSECUTION is AFFECTED
By FREDERIC j. HASKIN

- ny ~
Washington. d. c., Feb. 6-New en-
phasis on the necessity which faces
the cities of the United States to take
thought concerning their forms OF
government and management has
brought to bear by the 18th census
which has shown SC marked an in
crease in the drift of population to
urban centers. In 1920 there were 81
cities having population OF 200 900 and
more. Only 10 years later, the new
census shows that there are Al such
cities.
A city of 200, 1000 is sufficiently large
to raise special problems in govern
ment under modern conditions. The
smallest of these Al cities is 200, 900.
They rank upward from that figure to
New York's seven millions.
Yet it is not wholly the city proper
which forces attention to the new
problems. The practically universal
use of the automobile has given cities
a new definition. A city may have
zoo, 900 inhabitants within its corpo-
rate limits but in reality be much
larger. City planners and business
men alike have come to realize thai
any city of such size within its COR
porate limits actually is a very much
larger community because of the pop
ulation of it's environs which are tr1-
butary to it. From this circumstance.
the term metropolitan district has
arisen. meaning that entire territory
including the city proper and the sur
rounding suburbs and communities
which are intimately connected with
the center.
New York City. for example. has
within it's corporate limits a popula-
ton of Just under 1000, 900. Yet care
full surveys covering the envlrons
show that the people who live in the
suburbs and earn their livelihood In
New York, or who, living nearby. are
in constant touch with the city itself
~transacting the bulk of their business
there and spending most OF their
money there, number up to more than
10, 000, 900.
Using approximately similar pro-
portions. then, it is estimated that a
city of zoe, 900 has within it's metro
politan district another 100 900 and
that the greater city actually is a COM
munity Of 100000.
Minor Political Divisions
The automobile enables a man TO
carry on his business or profession
downtown in the heart of the cor
poratc limits Of a city yet live some
miles beyond those limits. Neverthe-
less, he is part of that city's life. The
New York banker or newspaper nan
may live in New Rochelle or larry
town; the Chicago merchant or law
yer may transact his affairs and make
his living in the Loop yet live in Lake
Forest or Evanston. They will lnva-
riably call themselves New Workers or
Chicagoans. Yet they are counted as
of the places of their outlying domi-
Giles.
In the larger cities there are many
subdivisions within corporate limits
with q vast amount of overlapping.
With a very few exceptions there is
always a minimum of two local gov
ernments. the municipal and the
county. The great cities show more
intricate complications. Take Chicago.
Within its metropolitan area there
are five suburban cities. themselves
incorporated although contiguous, and
IS villages: 10 park districts. so school
districts, and various townships. And
within the city proper there are no
less than 80 separate subdivisions
having governing and taxing powers.
Underlying the whole structure is the
government of Cook county with, of
course, the state of Illinois as the
basis of all.
The state problem may, perhaps. be
dismissed in connection with this
question but the separate govern
ments Of the minor political divisions
within the metropolitan area may not
be so lightly set at side. One may
traverse a street and, unless intimate
ly familiar with the region, pass from
one jurisdiction into another without
knowing it.
This would not be a matter of much
moment if all these contiguous COM
munities pulled together in matters of
public concern. Experience has pain
fully shown that they do not. A CON-
munity, being absolutely autonomous
regarding it's local affairs, its tax
levies, and its ordinances will take a
different view from that Of its i'm
mediately contiguous neighbor. For
example, it may have very strict or
dinanceS regarding fire protection, wa
ter supply, sanitation, policing, public
health, guarantees and the like.
VrNA Aai0hka hnUyoVyA~ wa4vy dnx,o n
government which is lax in such mat
tiers. It's local fire department is not
kept up to the mark. Its sewer sys-
tenn is inefficient. It does not care
to appropriate sufficient funds for
adequate police protection.
Many Evils Disregard Bounds
The various elements which menace
mankind in cities have no regard for
the imaginary lines which obscurely
mark the divisions between such in