Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 1.djvu/106

 94  fault of officers hired and sworn to perform particular duties, partly the result of inattention and neglect on the part of people who might easily combine and supply civic needs for which the laws do not provide.

4. At the present moment there is widespread interest among Chicago people in the feasibility of placing a larger share of control over municipal concerns in the hands of those citizens who are most responsible and most patriotic. The opinion which is gaining force about the relation of the average citizen to our corporate affairs is substantially that contained in a tract by Mr. Charles Richardson, published by the Municipal League of Philadelphia. The title is "The City of Philadelphia; its Stockholders and Directors." Although the tract refers to only one fraction of the municipal problem, the principle to which it calls attention makes it an expression about the facts of the whole situation in each large city. Changing only the specific references to Philadelphia, the following paragraph represents the opinion which our committee is trying to make effective: "You are a shareholder in the coöperative corporation, the business company known as The City. So far as other companies are concerned, you may be your own master, and if you are afraid that they will not pay good dividends, or will assess you too heavily, or if you doubt the honesty or ability of their managers, or in case you have no money to invest, you can decline to become a stockholder. But with the city you have no such option, and it is only by emigration or suicide that you can avoid paing a portion of its expenses and becoming responsible for liabilities which it incurs. Even if you have no property to be taxed, you must nevertheless contribute indirectly. Prices would be lower, and you could live for less if the taxes were reduced on the house you rent, the store where your food and clothing were bought, and the capital and business of those with whom you deal. Some may think that people who have nothing and earn nothing, cannot suffer from the burden of taxation; but this is a mistake, since those who support them could afford to supply their wants more liberally if there were no taxes to be paid. There is not a man or woman or child in the whole city who has not a personal interest in preventing unnecessary taxation. There is not a single individual who is too rich or too poor to be benefited by any effort which will tend to secure the utmost wisdom and economy in the collection and expenditure of every penny that goes into the city treasury."