USA > Pennsylvania > Philadelphia County > Philadelphia > Municipal government history and politics, Vol. V > Part 10
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The City Hospital is managed by an incorporated board of trustees, consisting of five persons appointed by the mayor and aldermen to serve (without pay) for five years each.
The Overseers of the Poor were, until 1864, elected by popular vote2-one from each of the twelve wards. In that.
1 See ante, 43; also Laws of 1885, Ch. 323.
2 Grocers, coal-dealers, and others got elected on the board for the sole purpose of furnishing, either directly or indirectly, the articles for which the city paid. Mayor Quincy attempted in 1824 to obtain additional legislation by which the doings of the board would be brought under the supervision of the city council ; but he failed, and his successors who after- ward renewed the attempt failed, for the reason that the people could
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year the Legislature authorized the city council to elect them, and they continued so to do until, under the Act of 1885, the power of appointment was given to the mayor and aldermen. They are appointed to serve for three years, four being appointed each year. They have charge of the outdoor relief of the poor (the indoor relief being administered in the alms- houses by the directors for public institutions), and the care and custody of the trust funds which have been left to the city for that purpose. They are not compensated for their services.
The Water Department is managed by a board consisting of three persons, appointed by the mayor and aldermen to serve for three years each. The board has charge of the water- works, and regulates the price, or rents, of water. The city engineer, appointed annually by the mayor and aldermen, is engineer of the waterworks and of such public works as the city council may, from time to time, direct.
The Park Department is organized under a special Act of the Legislature, passed in 1875. Three commissioners are ap- pointed by the mayor and aldermen to serve (without pay) for three years each. They have charge of the parks recently established in the outlying sections of the city, with power to appoint police officers for service therein. Their jurisdiction does not extend to the Common, public garden and other open spaces in the old portion of the city. These are under the charge of a superintendent appointed by the mayor and aldermen.
The Public Library, which is supported by appropriations made by the city council, is managed by a board of trustees incorporated by the Legislature, the members of which, five in number, are appointed by the mayor and aldermen to serve (without pay) for five years each.
The Assessors' Department consists of five principal assess-
not be made to understand why the persons elected by them to the board of overseers were not as trustworthy as those elected to the city council. Memorial Hist. Boston, III. 271.
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Present City Government.
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ors, appointed by the mayor and aldermen for a term of three years each, with full power, under the laws of the State, to value real and personal property, and assess the taxes levied annually by the city council on account of the city, the county, and the State; and of thirty-four first assistant assess- ors, and the same number of second assistants, appointed annually by the principal assessors, subject to confirmation by the mayor. The assessors make out and deliver to the city collector, on or before the first day of October in each year, tax bills for all taxes assessed on persons or estates.
The City Collector is appointed annually by the mayor and aldermen, with authority to collect all bills and dues payable to the city, and to sell real estate for non-payment of taxes.
Three Registrars of Voters are appointed by the mayor and aldermen, to serve for three years each, whose duties in the preparation and revision of the voting-lists are carefully defined by law. Five Directors of the Ferries owned by the city are appointed annually by the mayor and aldermen to serve without pay. Five Trustees of Mount Hope Cemetery and five Commissioners of Cedar Grove Cemetery are appointed by the mayor and aldermen to serve without pay ; the former being appointed annually, and the latter for a term of five years each. Six Sinking Fund Commissioners are appointed by the mayor and aldermen to serve without pay for three years each, and to have control of all the sinking funds for the redemption or payment of the city debt. Two Record Commissioners are appointed annually by the mayor and aldermen to serve without pay, and to have charge of com- pleting the record of births, marriages, and deaths prior to 1849, and of copying, indexing, and printing the old records. In addition to the officers named, the following, whose titles suggest the duties they perform, are appointed annually by the mayor and aldermen, and their salaries fixed by the city council :
City Treasurer.
City Auditor.
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Corporation Counsel.
City Solicitor.
Superintendent of Public Buildings.
City Architect.
Superintendent of Street Lights.
Superintendent of Bridges.
Superintendent of Sewers.
City Surveyor.
Harbor Master, and ten assistants.
Water Registrar.
Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
Superintendent of Printing.
Superintendent of Faneuil Hall Market.
Inspector of Provisions.
Inspector of Milk and Vinegar.
A Sealer and four Deputy Sealers of Weights and Meas- ures.
A Commissioner on certain bridges between Cambridge and Boston.
Also 968 election officers and their deputies, to serve at the polling-places in the several precincts, and to receive such compensation as the city council may prescribe.
The following officers, appointed annually by the mayor and aldermen, are paid by fees fixed by the public statutes :
1 Inspector of Lime.
1 Culler of Hoops and Staves.
3 Fence Viewers.
10 Field Drivers and Pound Keepers.
3 Surveyors of Marble, etc.
3 Inspectors of Petroleum.
9 Superintendents of Hay Scales.
4 Measurers of Upper Leather.
15 Measurers of Wood and Bark.
20 Measurers of Grain.
15 Inspectors of Pressed Hay.
3 Weighers of Beef.
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38 Weighers of Coal.
5 Weighers of Boilers and Heavy Machinery.
92 Undertakers.
4 Weighers and Inspectors of Ballast and Lighters.
150 Constables.
The following clerks and officers are elected by concurrent vote of the city council : A city clerk, who acts as clerk to the board of aldermen, and has, in general, the powers of a town clerk; a city messenger, and a clerk of committees. The common council elects its own clerk. In addition to all these, there are many county officers elected by the qualified voters of the County of Suffolk1 (which includes, in addition to Boston, the city of Chelsea and the towns of Revere and Win- throp) for three or five years-e. g. a sheriff, who is keeper of the county jail, for three years ; a register of deeds for three years ; a register of probate and insolvency for five years ; a district attorney for three years, and clerks of the supreme, superior civil, and superior criminal courts for five years.
Ever since the province charter was adopted in 1691, all judicial officers, from the highest to the lowest, had been appointed by the Governor and council to hold office during good behavior.
It appears that, exclusive of the election officers and the officers paid by fees, the mayor and aldermen appoint as members of permanent boards, or as single heads of depart- ments, one hundred and seven persons, of whom sixty-five are appointed annually, sixty-one receive salaries established
1 The whole territory of the Massachusetts Colony was divided in 1643 into four counties, showing roughly their relative territorial positions, namely : Essex (East Saxons), Middlesex (Middle Saxons), Norfolk (North Folk), Suffolk (South Folk). Norfolk, as at present constituted, lies mainly to the south of Suffolk. By an agreement, made some fifty years ago, between Boston and the other municipalities included in Suffolk County, Boston pro- vides all the county buildings and pays all the county charges, except for laying out highways beyond its own limits ; and it holds the title to all the property so provided.
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by the city council (generally very liberal ones, considering the character of the service performed), and forty-six perform gratuitous service. There are no less than forty separate departments and offices in the city government as at present organized, to most of which a large number of assistants, clerks, or laborers are attached. All of these departments and offices, except the school committee, the street commis- sioners and the police, are now under "the general super- vision and control" of the mayor, and thus a responsible system of administration has been secured ; but, as stated in the report of the commission on the charter, in 1884, this mul- tiplicity of departments and executive officers involves the city in expenses not to be measured by the salaries paid to the superfluous officials. The various officers and clerks appointed by the mayor and aldermen, or elected by the city council, have power to appoint their subordinates for such terms of service as may be fixed by law or ordinance. This is subject to the Civil-Service Law passed in 1884, which applies to the clerical, police, prison, fire, and common-labor service, and which is administered directly by a State commission. 1
VIII. CONCLUSION.
The development from a purely democratic government to the concentration of executive power in a single head is readily traced. First, all town or communal affairs are determined at meetings of all the freemen living within the township or plantation, the opinion of the major part of those attending the meeting being ascertained by a show of hands, or by viva-voce vote. The first departure from that is a hes- itating bestowal of temporary executive authority upon the
1 For a statement as to the operation of the law in the city of Boston, especially in regard to the labor service, see Second Annual Rep. of Mass. Commissioners, January, 1886.
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pastors and elders. Then certain men, generally seven, ten or twelve, are selected to have charge, for a limited time, of the details of administration-the prudential affairs, 80 called.1 A little later this delegation of local authority is recognized by the central authority, and placed upon an enduring basis, and the right of the several communities to continue to manage their local affairs is established. The next step, after a long interval, is the annual election by the qualified voters of representatives to manage all the corpo- rate interests. Then comes the interposition of the State for the protection of property and the better enforcement of the criminal laws. And, lastly, there is a separation of the exec- utive from the legislative power, and a concentration of the local executive power in a single head.
It will be observed that in Massachusetts, as in other pop- ulous States of the Union, the present tendency of legislation relating to municipal government is in the direction of con- centrating the executive power, and of restricting and defining the legislative power, especially in the matter of raising and appropriating the public money. It is not alone in legislation concerning the city of Boston that the tendency is marked. In some of the charters recently granted to small cities, and in the amendment of charters granted thirty or forty years ago, the power of the mayor is increased, and the power of the city council, especially in the election and control of the executive heads of departments, is diminished.ª This is not
1 The earliest entry preserved in the town records of Boston is dated September 1, 1634. At that date the local executive was exercised by & board of ten different townsmen. In 1647 the custom began of electing in March seven men to serve during the ensuing year.
2 In the last city charter granted by the State Legislature (Waltham, 1884), "the administration of all the fiscal, prudential and municipal affairs of the city, with the government thereof," is vested in the mayor and a board of 21 aldermen. There is no common council. In many of the other cities the power of the mayor in appointing and removing police and other officers has been increased, and appointments are made during good behavior instead of annually.
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the result of any settled policy on the part of the State Legis- lature ; it is in response to the demands of the citizens, who seek a stronger and more responsible government than the old system provided.
It is undoubtedly the duty of the State to establish the form of local-government organizations, and to define their powers and duties. And it would seem to be a legitimate exercise of its authority to limit, in general terms, the rate of taxation and the amount of municipal indebtedness ; to pre- scribe the general purposes for which the public money shall be applied, and to ascertain by a central audit,1 or otherwise, whether the public funds have been legally and honestly applied. This is a very different thing from putting the entire administration of local departments into the hands of State officials. The circumstances may be such as to justify a tem- porary exercise of such power, but it is difficult to conceive a condition of things in which the permanent interference in local government by the central authority will not, in the end, produce greater evils than those it seeks to cure.
The experience of New York on this point may be studied with profit. Nearly thirty years ago the misgovernment of that city reached a point where it seemed necessary, for the protection of life and property, that the administration of the local police should be placed under the control of the State executive. The centralizing tendency of the measure was admitted, and formed one of the principal points in the argument against its constitutionality. But the highest court of the State, while assenting to the proposition that a tendency might be discovered in the constitution toward local adminis- tration, and in favor of decentralizing the powers of govern- ment, held that there was nothing in the text of the funda- mental law which prevented the Legislature from adopting such a measure as the establishment of a State police for
1 For an account of the central audit of local-government accounts in England, see "Local Government" (English Citizen Series), by M. D. Chalmers ; and Dist. Auditor's Act, 42 Vict., Ch. 6 (1879).
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Conclusion.
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local service. "The business of the courts," said Mr. Chief Justice Denio, "is with the text of the fundamental law as they find it. They have no political maxims, and no line of policy to further or advance."
This scheme for strengthening and purifying the govern- ment of a great city by giving to the State executive, and the country delegates in the Legislature, a controlling influence in the management of local municipal affairs, was regarded by many citizens interested in the reform of municipal gov- ernment as a happy solution of a most difficult problem. The scheme produced good results in the beginning, and other departments of the local government were brought under State control. But, as stated by the distinguished commis- sion which was appointed by Governor Tilden to devise a plan for the government of cities in the State of New York, "the notion that legislative control was a proper remedy was a serious mistake." "One of the principal causes of existing evils," they said, " is the assumption by the Legislature of the direct control of local affairs. This legislative intervention has necessarily involved a disre- gard of one of the most fundamental principles of republi- can government. We entertain no doubt that this interven- tion has greatly aggravated the evils which it was, in many instances, designed to remove. . . .. The system of govern- ment by municipalities is inherent in our free institutions. The separate communities existing as integral parts of the commonwealth, but having local interests which immediately concern themselves rather than the State at large, the instinct of self-government has always asserted itself in some way as the basis of their organic life. From this vital germ have sprung the municipalities which, in every civilized state, have claimed and exercised the right, sometimes granted as a concession of sovereign power, and sometimes extorted by superior force, of administering law and government in respect to their local affairs, while retaining their allegiance as members of the whole nation. This element of local
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administration in local affairs entered into the framework of our constitutional government at the outset, and was the most marked characteristic of the national life, reproduced and existing in this State, and in most of the States of the Union, at the time of the establishment of their independence. . . . . Whatever concerns the rights of all the citizens of the State, in respect either of person or property, belongs to the central authority, which is also charged with the duty of devising uniform plans by which the affairs of the various local divis- ions of the State may be administered by the people of those divisions.
" There are obvious reasons why the representatives elected to the central Legislature ought not to be charged with the direction of the local affairs of the municipalities: 1st. They have not the requisite time; 2d. They have not the requisite knowledge of details; 3d. They have not that sense of personal interest or personal responsibility to their con- stituents which is indispensable to the intelligent adminis- tration of local affairs."
And the commission placed first among the amendments which they recommended to be incorporated in the constitu- tion of the State, a provision that the entire business of local administration should be delegated to the people of the cities, free from legislative interference therewith ; reserving to the State its functions of making the general laws under which the local affairs are to be administered, and also a supervision of the manner of administration.
In the concluding chapter of the admirable little work on " Local Government," for the English Citizen Series, Mr. M. D. Chalmers says : " The extent of the administrative control that the central government should exercise is a most difficult problem. Obedience to the general laws which the Legislature has laid down for the preservation of private and individual rights and the limitation of the power of local authorities can be enforced by the courts of law ; but how
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Conclusion.
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far ought local bodies to be allowed to mismanage their own affairs ? If they are superintended by an intelligent and conscientious central department, armed with large executive power, it is apt to err on the side of undue interference. When it sees things going wrong, it steps in with a high hand to set them right. Yet it is only by a succession of tumbles that a child can learn to walk. A local authority in leading-strings is not likely to learn aright the lesson of self-government. If local autonomy possesses the political value its admirers assert for it, it may be well worth while to make some temporary sacrifices to develop and strengthen it. In local matters ' that which is best administered ' may not be 'best' in the long run. The tendency to regard all England as a suburb of London is certainly not a healthy one. Anything that can give vigor and color to local life should be encouraged. In the case of local bodies, as in the case of individuals, it may be better and healthier to be too little governed than to be too much governed, even though the government be good."
There is abundant evidence in the experience of France and Germany to show the evil effects of depriving the people of the local franchise and local self-government1-the politi- cal primary schools in which they get a practical knowledge of government, and of their political relations and responsi- bilities. But it is not within the scope of this paper to carry the discussion so far afield.
Having described the present system of local government in Boston, and its historical development, it may be said, in conclusion, that while it is crude in form and appears to con- tain much unnecessary and expensive machinery, it pos- sesses (with the exception, perhaps, of the department under the control of the State) a certain adaptability to the wants
1 See, in addition to standard historical works, Tocqueville's Democracy in America, 1st Am. ed., pp. 72-73 ; Conversations of Tocqueville with N. W. Senior, Vol. II. 78, et seq. Seeley's Life and Times of Stein, Pt. V., Ch. 3.
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of the community which yields, on the whole, fairly good results. The responsibility for the system rests upon the State; the responsibility for the application rests upon the city. No system can be devised which will give good gov- ernment if the people elect bad men to administer it. Much depends, however, upon the system-whether it contains cor- rect general principles of government, and at the same time recognizes the interests and traditions of the locality to which it is to be applied, or whether it is a mere form for putting certain theories into operation. The present tendency-more strongly marked in other parts of the country than in New England-to disregard localities, and organize municipal governments on a general and uniform plan, has been en- couraged without much consideration as to where it will lead. Certainly no better preparation for centralization could be devised.
CORRECTIONS.
Page 15-Fourth line from the bottom, for "votes " substitute voters.
24-Eighth line from bottom, for " six " substitute eight.
66 28-Fourth line from bottom of note, for "corporal " substi- tute corporate.
.6 44-Second paragraph : Since this paper was written, the act under which a new division of the city was made in 1885 has been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, and the old division of wards, voting precincts, and assessment districts has been restored. There are, therefore, at the present time, 25 wards, 107 voting precincts, and 33 assessment districts. Two of the wards are smaller than the others, and are together entitled to only three representatives in the common council. The whole number of the present members of the council is, therefore, correctly stated as 72.
66 45-Add to note concerning qualifications of voters : "Women possessing the qualifications above named have a right to vote for members of local school committees."
66 47-First line of second paragraph, for "thirty-four" sub- stitute twenty-four.
.6 53-Twentieth line from the top, for "had " substitute have. 53-In the note it should perhaps have been stated that Nor- folk County, as originally constituted, included a part of what is now New Hampshire, and a part of the present county of Essex. The original organization ceased to exist in 1680. The present county was incorporated in 1793, and included, as stated, towns to the south of Suffolk.
IV
THE CITY GOVERNMENT OF
SAINT LOUIS
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY STUDIES IN HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
HERBERT B. ADAMS, Editor
History is past Politics and Politics present History - Freeman
FIFTH SERIES IV
THE CITY GOVERNMENT
OF
SAINT LOUIS
BY MARSHALL S. SNOW, A. M. (Harvard) Professor of History, Washington University
BALTIMORE N. MURRAY, PUBLICATION AGENT, JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY APRIL, 1887
·
COPYRIGHT, 1887, BY N. MURRAY.
JOHN MURPHY & CO., PRINTERS, BALTIMORE.
THE CITY GOVERNMENT
OF
SAINT LOUIS.
I.
On the fifteenth of February, 1764, a small party of French- men acting under the orders of Pierre Laclede Liguest, who had previously fixed upon this spot for a settlement, cleared a bit of ground on the right bank of the Mississippi and erected temporary dwellings. Auguste Chouteau was the leader of this company of about thirty men, and his name with that of Laclede is inseparably connected with the founding of the great city of Saint Louis, the name of which comes from the patron saint of the then reigning king of France, Louis XV.
To the hunters and mechanics who made up this colony, Laclede, acting under the authority of the charter granted him by the French king, allotted holdings of land, but for some months no organized plan of civil government was needed. In October, 1765, St. Ange de Bellerive, who had just surren- dered the country east of the Mississippi to the English, accord- ing to the terms of the Treaty of Paris, and had withdrawn his command to St. Louis, was given by the unanimous voice of the people full powers for the government of the settlement until a legally appointed successor should arrive. No man among them was better fitted for such a high and responsible position. Thus the first government of St. Louis was strictly
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