Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 1.djvu/111

 Rh to acquire the strength which these organizations had long possessed. Accordingly the Federation again exhibited its character as a natural evolution of local conditions by offering itself as an organ of cooperation between these well-known agencies. It did not try to be a substitute for these organizations. Their members were familiar to each other and to the citizens. Through their leadership many and vast enterprises had been successfully conducted. The Federation therefore inaugurated a series of civic movements on the presumption that the execution of them would involve harmonious action of the bodies of citizens to which we refer. The results of the cooperation which followed in pursuance of this programme have already been indicated.

The fourth distinguishing feature of the movement was that it was comprehensive rather than fractional. It did not confine itself to rectifying a single abnormal municipal condition, neglecting all the rest; on the contrary, it confronted municipal conditions as a whole, and attempted to exert an influence toward rescuing them from the demoralization that had resulted from popular neglect. It consequently avoided the mistake of dealing with a few specially interesting symptoms and thus making a false diagnosis of the total condition.

Here, again, there might have been failure if there had been any attempt to carry out ambitious theories of social philosophy. If, for example, the Federation had begun by drafting its proposed substitute for the city charter, or even the civil service bill, and had made its programme turn on attempts to get the city regulated according to logical deductions from either or both of those plans, it would have failed from inability to concentrate the sympathies and efforts of the citizens. Instead of staking its reputation and its usefulness upon ability to carry some particular measure, which it might have considered radically and logically antecedent to all minor reforms, the Federation undertook to organize practical measures for improving municipal conditions in every respect in which they were obviously neglected.