Evening star., 1932-10-23

menCS 10 Cld1ne lot JNe depression. Inc
task Of local governments was to con-
duct civic life within the community
1t followed that certain governments
must bear the cost OF abnormal effects
of depression falling on local authori-
ties. unemployment and all the rest Of
it, but that this did not mean the ad-
visibility Of surrendering to central
government the conduct Of community
affairs. Local governments, he said,
must continue to look upon autonomy
as the only basis for the development
Of good civic life.
And son on. Enough to show that
the minds of the people from all nations
we're running on the same problem diff
ferent as might be their methods of ap-
proach.
Municipal Rule New.
One other striking thing came out in
this meeting of the cities of the world.
1t was not discussed 1t was tacitly as
sumed. 1t was this. That municipal
government is an essentially new thing
in the world
NJ Mecourts of Athens (where I had
thought Pericles was once city man
ager) astonished me by saying he was
glad to be in England, where municipal
government was born 100 years ago.
DR.. Testa of Rome (which I had
thought of as a fairly long established
municipality said that municipal gov
ernment was a phenomenon which
emerged in the middle of the nineteenth
century but would be shaped by the
twentieth century.
Seddik Bey of Egypt, the director
general tcity manager of Alexandria.
began his speech by telling how proud
he was to be the representative of the
| oldest city government in his country.
He said 1t dated back to 1892! Second
dynasty of Grover Cleveland)
An American said to group of the
English delegates that American mu-
nicipal government at the time of the
Revolution had carried over from Colo
nial days the old English system of mu-
nicipal government. But interrupted
two or three of them, England had no
municipal government then-not until
1857
Now. what these men mean by mu-
nicipal government being so new is
something that Americans would do
well to understand. They mean that
the modern municipal government, with
its elaborate system of services for its
citizens. is a new thing under the sun
1t is product of the industrial revo-
luton and the great urban migration.
What if there were men who hal the
titles of mayors and aldermen in Eng
land and in America during the early
days Of the Republic? There we're no
police forces. no fire departments. no
public schools, no public health depart
ments. no street cleaning and garbage
collection. no water works no sewage
systems, no public street lighting. no
public street paving, no parks no play
grounds, none of the dozens and scores
of services now rendered on commu-
nity-wide basis to urban citizens.
Provision for Services.
The provision by the municipality of
certain services for the health. the
safety. the education and the recreation
of the mas of urban dwellers is every
where admitted to be the duty of the
local government. The primary respon-
sibility of local government for the
relief of the needy and distressed at
one time or another has been universal.
but under the impact of the economic
crisis of the last half century. the par
ticipation of central governments in the
provision of relief has been gradually
extended among all nations.
The significant fact is that whether
local government be directly and init
mately controlled. directed and stand
ardized by central government. as in
Italy Russia and France, or whether
it be still almost entirely a matter Tor
local determination. as in the
United States, the worldwide change
in the balance of population which has
made the urban groups the controlling
factor in most national economies has
made the continuation of local govern
ment and central government in sep
arate water-tight compartments no
longer possible.
Thomas Jefferson saw in the rise of
cities the doom of the Nation. and 1t
that he knew. But the urbaIlzatiUn
of the Nation has not necessarily con-
demned it; it only has made it neces-
Sary to recast our political thinking
to conform with the realistic require
ments of the change. In the United
States our urban governmental struc-
lures take their tone and form from
the Jacksonian ideas of democracy. 1t
is high time that the necessary read
justmentS we're undertaken.
Judged by money alone. the local
governments of the United States
spend twice as much as does the FED
eral Government. Judged by the inn
mediate necessity Of the services they
uIlOCl ldkC lOI tIlcll CitlZSllo, tileh ACAd
tive Importance is even greater. Judged
by the efficiency with which these serv-
ices are performed. the verdict is not
simple Go into almost any city and
ask the first person you meet what he
thinks of his city government. In all
but few fortunate towns the reply
will be "Rotten" But that same citi-
zen, If you linger long enough. will tell
you with pride that no town has bet
ter schools or parks or water supply or
Fire Department. In one or two towns
he will even brag about the Police De-
partment.
Some Good in System.
The trouble isn't that all city gov
erment in America is bad Some Of
it is exceedingly good. The trouble is
that we Americans are still looking
| upon municipal administration IS q
matter of government and therefore
Of politics. In Europe, generally. the
municipal administration is no longer
CONTINUED On Third Pase.)