TOPICS FOR REPORTS AND DEBATES

1. Federal versus States' Rights.

2. What Liberty Really Means.

3. The Advantages of the Committee System of Handling Legislative Business.

4. "United We Stand; Divided We Fall."

RESOLVED: That the commission form of legislative body is preferable to the council form for our city.

QUESTIONS

1. Some years ago a political thinker named Jean Jacques Rousseau said that mankind ought to do away with all laws and go back to a 'state of nature." Would this be an ideal way of living? Give reasons. 2. Why is it said that there can be no liberty without laws?

3. What is a pure democracy? Does such a type of government exist in the United States? Where? Is it a possible form for your city? Explain.

4. What does the Bill of Rights in your state constitution say? 5. What advantages has a written constitution over an unwritten one?

6. How may your state constitution be amended?

7. When and how frequently does your state legislature meet?

8. Explain how a bill is drafted, introduced, and passed through your legislature.

9. Who is your representative in the lower house of the legislature? In the upper house?

10. Do you know of any measure that is being considered by your representatives that directly affects your welfare? What can you do about it?

11. Have any laws been enacted by the people of your state through the use of the initiative? What laws?

12. How much power of "home rule" has your city?

13. What is your city's legislative body? How many members has it? How are they chosen?

14. Who is your representative in your city's legislative body? 15. How much power has your city legislative body?

16. What is the "States' Rights" question?

17. Who represents you in the federal House of Representatives? In the Senate?

18. Give some examples that indicate that the federal government is growing stronger and the state governments relatively weaker in our country.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

1. "General Statistics of Cities for 1915." Published by the Census Bureau, Washington, D. C., 1916.

2. "American Government and Politics," by C. A. Beard. Published by the Macmillan Co., 1910.

3. "American City Government," by C. A. Beard. Published by the Century Co., 1912.

4. "The American Commonwealth," by James Bryce. Macmillan Co., 1914.

5. "The New City Government," by Henry Bruère. Appleton & Co., 1913.

Published by the

Published by D.

6. "City Government by Commission," by Clinton Rogers Woodruff. Published by D. Appleton & Co., 1914.

7. "Municipal Government," by Frank J. Goodnow.

8. "The State," by Woodrow Wilson. Published by D. C. Heath, 1898.

9. "State Government in the United States," by A. N. Holcomb.

10. "Readings on American State Government," by Paul S. Reinsch.

11. "Handbook of Municipal Government," by Charles M. Fassett.

12. "The Initiative, Referendum and Recall," by W. B. Munro.

13. "American Municipal Progress," by Charles Zueblin.

14. "Model City Charter." Issued in 1916 by the National Municipal League.

15. "The Government of American Cities," by William Bennett Munro.

CHAPTER XX

CARRYING OUT THE LAWS

INTRODUCTORY LESSON PLAN

Have the class organize itself into a city government according to the mayor-council plan, the commission plan, or the city manager plan. If the last-named is chosen, let the class elect a mayor and four commissioners, as in the Dayton plan. Let the commissioners hold a meeting and choose a city manager, who will then appoint the heads of the five departments:

a. Public Service, which takes charge of traffic regulations, such as are needed in ordinary class activities.

b. Public Welfare, in charge of sanitation in the school roomclean desks and floors, ventilation, coughing and sneezing in handkerchiefs.

c. Public Safety, which organizes fire prevention and fire drills, and takes charge of the order in the classroom.

d. Law, which records and argues all classroom regulations put in force by the other departments.

e. Finance, which may be headed by the class treasurer.

At the end of a period of 2 weeks (or longer) let the class vote on the advisability of returning to the old form of class government, or maintaining the new form.

1. WHY REPRESENTATIVES CARRY OUT OUR LAWS

In the preceding chapter we have seen that the people delegate to representatives their power to make laws for the benefit and the protection of the whole community. These representatives are the members of the city councils or commissions, of the state legislatures, and of the national Congress. Their next problem is to have these laws justly and thoroughly carried out. This, again, is a matter which the people cannot themselves attend to, for they must give their time and energy to their labor, to their business, and to their professions, so that the industrial life of the nation can go on. Therefore the people delegate this second power of theirs to another group of representatives, some of whom they choose directly by ballot. These

representatives who carry out the laws are called executive officers. The executives run the city, state, and national governments. They manage schools, police departments, fire departments, hospitals, prisons, roads and streets, water works, post offices, the army and the navy, and the various other departments into which the executive work of government is divided. Why We Do Not Elect All of Our Representatives. Not all of the many thousands of our executives can be elected by the people, however. To elect them all would take far too much time; for to vote wisely means to know quite a good deal about each individual whom we select for office. The voters would have to spend a great deal of time in discussing and studying the records of the multitude of candidates for executive office. For this reason the people elect only a few of their executive officers, and they depend upon these few to choose assistants and coworkers. It is easier and better to choose one executive and then to hold him responsible for the men he appoints than it is to choose a large number of executives for whom no one individual is responsible.

2. LAWS ADMINISTERED BY CITY EXECUTIVES

A great many of the laws which affect the lives of city dwellers are enforced by office-holders under the authority of the city's executive officers. These office-holders are either elected by the people or appointed by the higher executives of the city, subject to the civil service laws. The foreman of a gang of street workers, the police lieutenant, the health inspector, the fire chief, the building inspector, and many other officials, are carrying out the state and city laws that affect our daily lives. Included in the long list of executive officers are all those working in the many city departments whose functions we have discussed in the preceding chapters.

3. THE MAYOR-COUNCIL TYPE OF CITY GOVERNMENT

At the head of the executive branch of the government in many cities is the mayor. With hardly an exception he is elected

by the people of the city. Here again we are reminded that the city is a state-created institution, for the mayor's powers are strictly enumerated in the city charter. The term of the mayor varies in different cities. In some it is one year, in others, four years. The average term is two years. In a few cities the term of the mayor may be cut short, for cause and after a hearing, by the governor of the state. The salaries paid to

mayors vary with the size of the city and the relative importance of the chief executive. New York City pays her mayor $15,000 a year, Philadelphia, $12,000, Boston, $10,000, and Flint, Michigan, only $100.

The Powers and Duties of the Mayor. The authority granted to the mayor differs greatly in different cities. It is determined by the limitations imposed on his acts by the city charter, by the length of his term, and by the extent of the appointive power granted to him in the charter. In cities where the chief executive is inferior in power to the council, the office of mayor is of little importance and his authority is small. A mayor whose term continues for four years is apt to have a more lasting

*This is the case in the large cities of New York and Michigan, and in all the cities of Ohio.