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cil; individually, they conduct the city administration. At the head of each of the great city departments is a commissioner in full charge. On the surface at least, this seems a radical change in our traditional form of government.1 Why has it developed?

On its behalf its proponents contend that it has the great virtue of simplicity, conducive, so they claim, both to efficiency and intelligent voting. Through it even more than through the strong-mayor-council type, the short ballot is achieved. Under it, as well as under the former plan, the elimination of wards has in a measure at least eliminated ward politics. That a small group facilitates business to a far greater degree than does an unwieldy council, is beyond question. Not so certainly, perhaps, and yet with reasonable sureness it is maintained that responsibility for both the tax rate and the service falling upon the same body is conducive to efficiency. For the most part the points seem well taken. Nevertheless, it should be noted that under this plan the multiple executive is restored; the administration is five-headed. And the chances are that the joint authority of the commission will not be sufficient to secure that coöperation among departments which is desirable. In practice, it has more than once occurred that the commissioners have worked for the good of their departments rather than for the good of the whole administration, particularly

1 Actually the commission form existed very early in our history, although the older form differed somewhat from the modern one in detail.

in the matter of appropriations. In fact, to such an extent has the disintegration sometimes proceeded that one opponent of the system maintains that the city actually gets five little separate governments. That this condition is not ideal is perhaps realized when one remembers that all five of the department heads are mere amateurs at municipal administration, having been elected, in most cases, upon questions of policy. The question also very naturally comes up whether five men are sufficient to represent the varied political, geographic, racial, and economic interests of any large community. One does not have to be a member of the society of sceptics to realize that some of these criticisms are well taken. They, too, perhaps help to explain the development of the city manager idea.

This latter plan resembles the commission form in many respects. A small council, usually composed of five to seven members, is selected by the voters and is responsible for all the work of the city. Unlike the commission, however, it does not attempt to conduct the administration itself. Instead, it hires a citymanager for the purpose, who is at all times under their supervision and control. He, in his turn, is given full administrative control over all the departments of the city, with the power of appointing, supervising and removing the department heads whenever he thinks necessary.

In favor of this type of organization it is maintained that popular control is much more thoroughly

achieved and higher efficiency attained than under any of the types hitherto discussed. The government is in the hands of a commission fully responsible to the people, both for their own and the city manager's actions. Since the only task now imposed upon the council is that of policy-determining, the burden upon the voter is confined to the selection of typical representatives. The need to estimate the candidate's administrative ability is no longer present. The fact that the council is no longer called upon to master the dreary detail of administration is conducive also, so the proponents of this plan believe, to the candidacy of a superior type of individual, one who is interested in the broad questions of municipal policy but who could not afford the time demanded to administer a department. That the short ballot is conducive to the same end, admits no refutation. The size of the council also facilitates business. Moreover, there is the great advantage of having concentrated in the hands of one man, the city manager, all the administrative work of the city, making coöperation between the various departments not only possible but probable. Furthermore, a premium is placed on efficiency, since the chief executive or city manager is hired by the council, not for a limited term, but as long as he gives satisfactory service. The stability of administration thus made possible is more likely to produce far-seeing plans for the city's development than is the constant turnover under any of the other forms of organization. In addition, the possibility of selecting a city manager

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Chart VII.-City-Manager Plan

from any place in the United States gives a greater range for the choice of the man best equipped for the position than do the usual political elections. These are the claims of its proponents. And many of them are, indeed, well founded. Objection is made to the system, nevertheless, on the ground that the right to elect the executive directly is taken out of the hands of the people and that in consequence the city manager will be out of touch with local sentiment. Particularly will this be the case if the manager is an engineer, as in all probability he will be, for technicians are by education and training narrower in their sympathies than even the average layman. Furthermore, no political leadership is provided. Finally, here as before, it is contended that five or even seven men are too few to represent the varied political, geographic, racial, and economic interests of any large community.

Which of these four
One can be unhesi-

The question naturally arises: types of organization is the best? tatingly condemned, the weak-mayor-council form. No government organized on the principle of diffusion of power and confusion of responsibility can hope to be successful. Which of the other types is to be preferred, is primarily a matter of expediency. Local circumstances enter into the choice to such an extent that any generalization which may be made will be faulty. There has been a decided drift of recent years, however, toward the city-manager plan, which is significant though not by any means conclusive.

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