59. The Work of the City. In the next nine chapters is a discussion of the work of a city. This discussion is for the purpose of showing how difficult such a government is and how many officers are needed for it. After we have learned what a city has to do, we shall then learn something about the way certain cities have organized their governments to do this work. It will not be useful to study the work of these cities unless we do it thoughtfully. We must remember that the facts are not important unless we know why we learn them. For the work of cities is changing all the time. Any city may begin to do some new kind of work at any time, and may stop doing some that it now does. We do not study these kinds of work merely for their own sake, but also for the purpose of seeing how such a great body of people coöperates, and therefore why it is necessary for it to organize.

60. Our Own City. To study the government of our own city gives us the best practice in this subject. All that any city does, our city may plan to do. All the good things that other places have we may have. The best government is none too good for us. Let us therefore examine our city carefully. Why was it located where it is? What industries have helped it to grow? What commerce is important to it? What lines of trade pass through it? What coöperation do we undertake that makes the city a better place to live in? Is this coöperation in the hands of the most experienced and trained people that we can get? Is the work done as well as it can be done?

61. Writing a Charter for our City. We shall find it an interesting and useful class exercise to write a charter for our city. To do this the class will organize itself into a convention just as it would if it were to write a consti

tution. The necessary officers, such as a chairman and secretary, will be elected, and strict parliamentary law will be enforced in order that time may be spent economically and that the debates may be orderly. The nine chapters which follow this one should be read and some committees appointed to study different kinds of city work. Each committee will then report on the kind of organization which it thinks is necessary. Either these same committees or others appointed later will write articles for the charter: one on methods of legislation, one on officers, one on nominations and elections, one on taxation and a budget, and so on through the list of articles into which the convention thinks the charter should be divided. Members of the convention will find it helpful to read as much of the present charter of our city as possible in order to see whether they agree that the present is the best arrangement they can find. It would be well for them to remember, however, that the present city charter was written by experienced men and that therefore it may be a much better one than the class convention could write however long it might study the subject.

SUGGESTIONS AND QUESTIONS

1. Why do you live in a city rather than in the country? 2. What do you have in the city that you would not have in the country?

3. Draw a map of your state showing the location of your city, and the railroads and large rivers near it.

4. Try to find out how your city came to be located where it is? 5. What industries or trades cause the prosperity of your city? 6. Make a list of ten of your friends and find out why their families came to the city instead of living in the country?

7. How many people live in your city? How much more difficult is it to organize a government for so many than for the small number in your athletic association?

8. Do you feel that the city belongs to you and that you are responsible for its welfare? If not, why do you not feel so?

9. How can you help to make the city a still better place to live in so that more people will come to it?

10. Make a list of city officers who are protecting you every day from danger or inconvenience.

11. If you have any friends in the country, make a list of the distances they have to travel to school, to the theater, to church, to visit their friends.

12. We saw that an athletic association would not be successful unless most of the members helped the officers to make it so. Do the people in your city help the officers to make its government a success? How do they do this?

13. Do you know any people who spend more time complaining than they do helping? Are these people very useful to the city?

CHAPTER VII

SOME PUBLIC UTILITIES

62. Public Utilities. This chapter contains a discussion of several of the simplest public utilities such as water and light. There are certain services which every family must have and which all can have much more cheaply and conveniently by coöperation than by individual effort. In old times most of these services were procured without mutual helpfulness, and some are still obtained in this old-fashioned way. When each family obtained water from a separate spring or well there was always danger that the supply might be impure or that it might fail in dry weather; moreover, the well was expensive and constant work was necessary to bring the water into the house. In those days, too, each home was lighted by lamps or candles, which involved danger from fire and much labor in caring for the vessels. Most families still have separate heating plants. Taking care of these separate heating plants is an expensive task in time or money, for wood or coal must be hauled to many separate homes and ashes must be carried away. Individual heating involves difficulty in keeping the house clean and also danger from fire. How much cheaper and better it would be to practise coöperation in this service!

63. The Modern City. Many utilities are now supplied in the modern city with so little work on the part of the householder that we scarcely appreciate the burdens which our ancestors endured. A small suburb of Philadelphia

gives an admirable illustration of coöperation. An ample supply of good water is piped to every house. Gas, electricity, and steam are supplied from central plants. No resident is permitted to use fuel which fills the air with smoke and the streets with ashes. The work of the housekeepers is made simple and pleasant; the labor of men in hauling fuel and ashes is greatly reduced; and the little city is a delightful place to live in because of the wisdom of its administration.

64. Need of Efficient Government. But such coöperation cannot be had without two conditions. These are, first, intelligent citizens who will support their government; and, second, a well organized government which will secure expert officials and give them power to make and enforce · good laws. Every city has some inhabitants who are shortsighted and unwilling to coöperate with their neighbors. A few always prove unwilling to work with the others. They insist on having things separately, or on getting more than their fair share of what the city has to give. For such people, a government with a strong hand is necessary; and the hand of government cannot be strong unless a majority of the citizens support it against those who object and hold back. The remainder of this chapter tells about some of the difficulties such a government has to deal with in order to show why expert and experienced officers are needed.

65. A Brief Account. After reading the chapter do not think that you know everything about the means of supplying these utilities to a city. This is only a superficial account; that is, only a few things on the surface of the subject are spoken of. The object is, not to show how the work should be done, but to show how necessary it is to have able men to do it. Some cities which do not recog