POWELL] SOCIOLOGY LXXXVir 



recognized iu all hig-hh- civilized countries, although it is but 

 imperfectly differentiated from executive government. I mean 

 bv operative government that department which is underg-oing 

 rapid development and which is the subject of much contro- 

 versy at the present time in this and other countries. It is 

 affirmed by some and denied by others that the government 

 should operate the i-ailroads. Already the government, in 

 one or another of its iniits, constructs the connnon highways, 

 but Ijevond construction and maintenance further operation is 

 unnecessary. City governments construct and maintain 

 streets and sidewalks, and some of these subordinate units 

 provide and maintain the agencies for lighting the city. ]\Iost 

 city governments provide water for domestic use. The nation, 

 the state, the city, the county, the township, or the precinct 

 provides for the establishment and maintenance of schools. 

 On every hand there is a development of the operative func- 

 tions of government. The distinction which we here draw is 

 well understood by the people, and parties are divided on the 

 question of the wisdom of the assumption of operative functions 

 by the government. On one hand extremists affirm that only 

 executive functions should be exercised, and that all operative 

 functions are encroachments upon the rights of individuals. 

 On the other hand extremists affirm that all the operative 

 functions of modern society should be assumed by the gov- 

 ernment in the interest of justice. This characterization of 

 oper 



ative 2'overnmcnt seems to be all that is necessary for 



ti 



present purposes. 



Executive department. The executive department is jn-imarih- 

 organized for the purpose of causing the statutes to be enforced. 

 It is charged with the maintenance of peace and order in 

 society, both in its intei-nal affairs and in its external relations. 

 It therefore consists, in its personnel, of the executive officers 

 of the government, as presidents, governors, mayors, marshals, 

 constables, and policemen, and in external affairs of the army 

 and navy with all their multifarious personnel. Nowhere 

 amono- civilized p-overnments is the differentiation between 

 the executive and the operative departments fully accomplished, 

 though the distinction is well recognized. 



