Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/94

 78 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

Even in the management of the affairs of the church this tendency toward the concentration of executive power is distinctly apparent. Wherever the form of board management is still preserved, the actual control and responsibility is vested in one individual, whether he be called the president of the board or the chairman of the executive committee. However we may regard this tend- ency, there is every indication that it is not merely a passing phase, but that the immediate future will witness a strengthening of its influence.

It should not require lengthy argument to prove that tenden- cies which are so clearly marked in American business and institutional activity are certain to exert an influence on the administration of public affairs. We cannot hope permanently to preserve the illusion that by some occult force political organi- zation can be kept free from the influences which are dominant in every other department of our national life.

If this concentration of power in the mayor represents a per- manent tendency in American administrative policy, the question immediately presents itself whether we can reconcile these changes with our views of democracy. No one will deny that the increase of executive power, as well as its concentration, has been accom- panied by a marked increase, in efficiency. The choice presented to our American communities, therefore, takes the form of an apparent opposition between democracy and efficiency. Thus pre- sented, there is little doubt as to the ultimate choice of the Ameri- can people. Above all other peoples of western civilization, we are worshipers of efficiency. The establishment, therefore, of a harmonious relation between democracy and efficiency, both in thought and in action, becomes a necessary requisite for the main- tenance of those institutions which we are accustomed to regard as the distinctive products of our American civilization.

If this analysis of the present situation be correct, the outlook for the municipal council is anything but encouraging. The analogy between a business and a municipal corporation, while faulty in many respects, is of real value when viewed from the standpoint of the organization of city departments. Whether or not we agree with this analogy, we cannot disregard the fact that