Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/547

 A YEAR'S MUNICIPAL DEVELOPMENT 533

cannot long prevail in the face of widespread investigation and discussion and efforts at improvement. If organizations like the National Municipal League serve no other function, they at least show that, serious as the present municipal problem is, the out- look is full of hope and promise.

One great difficulty with municipal reformers in the past as well as in the present has been a too great desire to get ahead and to introduce the political millennium without adequate politi- cal preparation. In other words, they have failed to appreciate and realize, even if they may recognize it, that political instincts and institutions are of necessarily slow growth. People do not change their political habits in a day. When we appreciate how difficult it is to secure agreement among a few, is it any wonder that we experience difficulty in influencing the minds and actions of tens and hundreds of thousands ? And yet this is what we must do if we are to secure permanent municipal reform.

The recent experience of New Orleans illustrates the point in question. In 1896 the burden of the "ring" had become intolerable. The voters, under the leadership of a public-spirited Citizens' League, founded on those principles for which the National Municipal League stands, won an overwhelming vic- tory. They drove the rascals from power, sent a number of them to jail, and elected honorable, honest, and capable men to succeed them. Forthwith reforms far in advance of the public sentiment were inaugurated, and the usual results followed. The voters grew tired of maintaining so exalted a standard, and a reaction set in. They had not been trained to persistent effort. The experience, however, has, on the whole, been beneficial rather than the reverse, and the people of New Orleans, having had one taste of decency, will not rest content under machine rule. Gradually a permanent sentiment for better government will be formed in the face of adverse conditions, which will last longer than if formed in the heat of a single campaign.

The persistency of the organized effort for municipal better- ment is an equally encouraging factor. Many of the organiza- tions that were at work in 1894 at the time of the Philadelphia conference, or were formed shortly thereafter, are still at work,