Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 11.djvu/97

 MUNICIPAL GO VERNMENT AND DEMOCRA TIC IDEALS 8 1

toward a system in which the council will disappear and all power will be lodged in the mayor and his heads of departments.

The reconciliation of the idea of popular government with the concentration of executive power represents the first step toward a better adjustment of our political thinking to the conditions of city life. A second and no less important step involves some fur- ther modifications in our ideas of municipal organization. American cities are organized as if they were the small towns and villages of fifty years ago. We have proceeded on the assumption that an aggressive and progressive municipal policy can be developed out of the compromise of conflicting district interests. As a matter of fact, our present plan of district representation clogs positive action and prevents the systematic planning and economical execution of great public improvements.

Placing the mayor as a check upon the council, and the coun- cil as a check upon the mayor, has served, furthermore, to strengthen that most baneful of political superstitions the belief in a self-acting governmental mechanism which will carry on the work of government without the need of watchfulness and alert- ness on the part of the people. For every evil, no matter what its nature, we recur to the statute book. There is a widespread belief throughout the country that for every abuse there is a legislative remedy. This belief in the moralizing power of law is one of the most insidious as well as one of the most corrupting influences in our public life. It leads us to place unenforceable laws on the statute books, and the disregard of these laws becomes the instru- ment of blackmail and bribery. The same political superstition pervades the organization of our city governments to construct a self-acting mechanism which will secure honesty and guarantee efficient administration. By pitting the executive against the legis- lative authority, by electing one official to exercise control over another, and by making official terms as short as possible, we have beguiled ourselves with the illusion that it is possible to construct a mechanism of government which only requires the attention of the citizen body at stated election periods. It is not surprising that this search for a self-acting governmental machine has proved fruitless, for it represents an attempt to relieve ourselves of a