center of local life in the republic. A fourth, and perhaps the most potent cause of all, is the dread of disorder which is constantly present in the minds of Frenchmen, and makes them crave a master strong enough to cope with any outbreak.

413. Complex character of English local government. In striking contrast to the simple multiple system of subdividing local areas in the United States are the irregularity and overlapping of English local units.

The subject of local government in England is one of extreme complexity.... . . So perfectly unsystematic, indeed, are the provisions of English law in this field that most of the writers who have undertaken to expound them, even to English readers, have seemed to derive a certain zest from the despairful nature of their task, a sort of forlornhope enthusiasm. The institutions of local government in England have grown piece by piece as other English institutions have, and not according to any complete or logical plan of statutory construction. They are patchwork, not symmetrical network, and the patches are of all sizes, shapes, and materials.

For almost every new administrative function," complains one writer on the subject, "the Legislature has provided a new area containing a new constituency, who by a new method of election choose candidates who satisfy a new qualification, to sit upon a new board, during a new term, to levy a new rate (tax), and to spend a good deal of the new revenues in paying new officers and erecting new buildings."

It has been the habit of English legislators, instead of perfecting, enlarging, or adapting old machinery, to create all sorts of new pieces. of machinery with little or no regard to their fitness to be combined with the old or with each other. . . .

In general terms, then, it may be said, that throughout almost the whole of English history, only the very earliest periods excepted, counties and towns have been the principal units of local government; that the parishes into which the counties have been time out of mind divided, though at one time of very great importance as administrative centers, were in course of time in great part swallowed up by feudal jurisdictions, and now retain only a certain minor part in the function, once exclusively their own, of caring for the poor; and that this ancient framework of counties, towns, and parishes has, of late years, been extensively overlaid and in large part obscured: (a) by the combination (1834) of parishes into "Unions" made up quite irrespective of county boundaries and charged not only with the immemorial parish duty of maintaining the

poor but often with sanitary regulation also and school superintendence, and generally with a miscellany of other functions; (b) by the creation of new districts for the care of highways; (c) by new varieties of town and semi-town government; and (d) by the subdivision of the counties (1889) into new administrative "districts," charged with general administrative functions. The only distinction persistent enough to serve as a basis for any classification of the areas and functions of the local administration thus constructed is the distinction between Rural Administration and Urban Administration.

414. Rural local government in the United States. The general nature of local subdivision in the United States is well stated in the following:1

The differences in local institutions throughout the United States have been so often emphasized by writers on American government that it seems well at the outset to indicate certain fundamental principles common to them all. The first of these is that our local communities enjoy large powers of self-government through elective officers, and in the exercise of these powers are only slightly subject to the supervision and control of the state administrative officers. In the second place, the states, with one exception, are divided into counties, and counties are in turn divided into towns, townships, or districts of one kind or another. Every county, and generally speaking every subdivision of a county, is a unit for certain financial, judicial, police, and local improvement purposes which are usually carried out by elective officers and boards. In the third place, subject to the few general provisions in the commonwealth constitution, the county and its subdivisions are under the absolute control of the state legislature, which can create and abolish offices, distribute functions among the various authorities, and in other ways regulate by law even to the minutest detail the conduct of local government.

The divergences that occur among the states in local institutions may be ascribed to the manner in which local functions are distributed between the authorities of the county and of the town or township and to the manner in which the inhabitants of the county subdivisions participate in the conduct of their local matters. On this basis of differentiation our states have been classified into the three famous groups: (1) those of the New England type in which the town and its open meeting overshadow in importance the county; (2) those of the South in which the township is absent or appears only in the most rudimentary form; and (3) those of the middle type, like New York and Pennsylvania, in which

1 Copyright, 1910, by The Macmillan Company.

the town, or township, as it is sometimes called, has a large and important place, but is subordinate to the county administration. These three types of local government . . . have been carried westward roughly along parallel lines and have formed, with varying emphasis, the basis for the development of local institutions west of the Alleghanies.

...

IV. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF CITIES

415. Definition of city. Fairlie states as follows the three essential elements of a city:1

There are, in fact, three essential elements which must exist to form a city, and all of these must be represented in the definition: (1) the geographical fact of a definite local area on which buildings are for the most part compactly erected; (2) the sociological fact of a large community of people densely settled on the given area; and (3) the political fact of an organized local authority or authorities controlling the public affairs of the community. Combining these elements, a city may be defined as "A populous community, inhabiting a definite, compactly built locality, and having an organized public authority."

416. Causes of cities. The reasons for the recent rapid increase in the number and size of cities follow:

The only conditions where these permanent congregations of people are possible are those which both permit and require a great division of labor. No city can exist in a country where a considerable proportion of the population cannot live without direct recourse to agriculture. A considerable urban population is possible only in two cases: first, where the cities themselves are situated in a country of great fertility upon which they may rely; or, second, where the means of transportation are so highly developed that the cities may obtain with reasonable cheapness their food supply from a distance. . .

Cities are then possible only when men may live from other pursuits than agriculture; only when from the agricultural point of view there is a large surpì 's population. What now are the reasons which cause this surplus population to settle in any particular spot? . . . They are: first, commercial; second, industrial; and third, political. Facilities for transportation are not merely some of the most important causes of the development of cities generally; they are as well the causes why cities grow

1 Copyright, 1901, by The Macmillan Company.

up and flourish in particular places. It is to secure such facilities that cities are founded at some place on the ocean, or other great body of water, where there is a favorable situation for the receipt and shipment of merchandise. The mere shipment and receipt of such merchandise offer employment to many people. But further, the business subsidiary to commerce, such as banking, insurance, etc., aids in attracting to such commercial centers those who are looking for work.

In the second place, the use of machinery has been and now is of the greatest importance in attracting an urban population. For this reason all places which are favorably situated for the development of the power necessary to drive machinery tend to become centers of population.

...

Finally it must be admitted that cities which are unfavorably situated for either commerce or industry still have been founded and continue to flourish. At the time of their origin they may have been so situated as to be able to share in the existing commerce and industry. Later on new commercial and industrial conditions may have sprung up to which they could not accommodate themselves. Yet other causes may have enabled them to overcome their disadvantages. This is particularly true of political centers which may continue to exist and increase in population, although situated unfavorably from the point of view of existing industrial and commercial conditions.

417. Results of the growth of cities. Among the most important consequences of the recent growth of cities may be mentioned the following:

The effects of this great concentration of population are numerous. Three may be especially mentioned. First, cities are naturally the centers of active intellectual life. It is in them that the newspapers and periodicals are published, and their inhabitants are generally more alive to current issues than the people in the country. The cities consequently exercise a much greater influence upon the policy of the government than the country. In the second place, the crowding of people into cities has raised many new problems; for example, protection from contagious diseases and from the horrors of overcrowding in habitations unfit for human beings, the adequate supply of pure water, of gas and electricity, of street-car lines and telephones, the proper paving, lighting, and cleaning of the streets, and the disposal of garbage and sewage. Thirdly, the growth of the cities, and the problems to which this growth has given rise, have rendered the city governments in many ways more important to the individual citizen than the central government.

418. Political consequences of city growth. Rowe points out the changes in political ideals and methods due to the predominance of city life.1

With increasing density of population new standards of governmental action are forced upon the community. One of the first effects is to make apparent the necessity of regulation in the interest of the public health and morals. The patent facts of everyday life demonstrate the evils of unrestrained individual liberty, which is the first step toward a broader interpretation of the regulative function of government. The closer interdependence of the individuals of the community, the fact that the activity of each affects the welfare of the whole at so many points, must necessarily influence the standards of individual liberty. This is the first and most important point of contact between the political ideas and the social activity of the community.

The next step in the development of a new concept of governmental action begins with the undermining of faith in the effectiveness of free competition as a guarantor of efficient service and a regulator of progress. No one who has followed the trend of opinion in the large cities of the United States can have failed to observe the gradual awakening to the limitations of free competition. The facts of corporate combination and consolidation, particularly in such quasi-public services as the street railway, gas, and water supply, have done more to bring about a truer appreciation of the relation of the community to industrial action. than any amount of discussion. American communities at first dealt with every one of these services on the basis of free competition. Under this plan, short periods of low prices and indifferent service soon led to combination or consolidation, with the high cost incident to inflated capitalization. Lessons such as these have profoundly influenced the political thought of our urban communities. There is no longer the same distrust of all positive governmental action so characteristic of the early decades of the last century.

A further step in the development of political thought directly traceable to the influence of city life is closely connected with the growing appreciation of the nature of the city environment upon the population. The conditions of city life are capable of indefinite modification through the action of individuals or through the concerted action of the community. The history of every large city bears testimony to the possibilities of radical changes in environmental conditions, changes which have profoundly affected the health, morals, and welfare of the community.

1 Copyright, 1908, by D. Appleton and Company.