Some Defects in Municipal Government. 117 



administration of its affairs. I think, however, that a 

 council of three members would give too great an oppor- 

 tunity for unity of action in evildoing. In a council with 

 a larger membership one or more are generally found 

 who will not enter into combinations and schemes, but 

 who will make public and open opposition thereto. 

 There is nothing which a grafter, a political schemer or 

 a corporation lobbyist tries so much to avoid, and there 

 is nothing which lends so much to honest municipal 

 government, as publicity. 



IV. 



Another example of a blind attempt on the part of 

 the legislature to effect a reform in municipal affairs, 

 resulting in failure so far as efficient government is con- 

 cerned, is the invention of the board and the commission. 

 Nothing could be more unscientific in theory and nothing 

 but utter failure can possibly result therefrom in prac- 

 tice. The board or commission is neither a part of the 

 executive branch nor of the legislative branch. It is mon- 

 grel, and like all mongrels it is an outcast. It affiliates 

 neither with the executive officers nor with the legislative 

 officers. Take, for example, the board of waterworks trus- 

 tees and the board of park commissioners as they are 

 constituted by statute. They are accountable to neither 

 the mayor nor to the council, so far as their official acts 

 are concerned. They receive the money from the tax- 

 payer and spend it, with no officer or body of men whose 

 duty it is to audit or approve their bills before they are 

 paid. They do their own legislating, pass judgment upon 

 all matters within their respective departments, and 

 their action, whatever it may be, is practically conclu- 

 sive. 



The great and serious objection to the board and 

 commission is in the fact that there is absolutely no co- 

 operation between the various boards themselves, or be- 

 tween them and the council or the executive department. 

 Each is independent of the other and is made so by 

 statute. Each adopts its own policy, which may or may 

 not be in harmony with the policy of the adnjinistration. 



