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 288 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

to the constitution itself, and, while undoubtedly certain restrictions upon the power of the legislature may be implied from the language of that instrument, it is only where the implication is strong and clear that the courts are justified in asserting its existence.

Even those courts that have championed the right of the municipality to self- government have confined that right to matters of purely local concern. The prin- ciple upon which this distinction is based is that the municipality acts in a dual capacity : as the agent of the state with regard to certain matters, and as the agent of its own inhabitants with regard to others ; and in respect to the former it is subject to the complete control of the state (People vs. Common Council of Detroit, 28 Mich. 228). While extremely difficult of application, the distinction is indispensable if the doctrine of local independence is accepted. The difficulty lies in drawing the line between matters of general and matters of local concern. In two recent cases it is held that the management of the municipal waterworks and fire department is a matter of purely municipal concern, and that a statute transfering their control to a state board is an unconstitutional interference with the right of municipal self-government (State vs. Barker, 89 N. W. Rep. 204 [Io%va] ; State vs. Fox, 63 N. E. Rep. 19 [Indiana, Supreme Court]). Although the weight of authority sustains these conclusions there are decisions contra (David vs. Portland Water Committee, 14 Oregon, 98).

A conflict of opinion must necessarily arise upon this question because of the nature of the problem to be solved. The courts are called upon to decide whether the empowering of a municipality to carry on a certain work is a delegation by the state of a matter of general concern, or merely the grant of power to do things in the doing of which the state as a whole has no particular interest. Inasmuch as whatever involves the health and prosperity of a large body of citizens is a matter of interest to the entire state, the administration of matters local in their nature is likely to become of state concern. Where this is true it can fairly be said that the municipality is acting as the agent of the state with respect to those matters and is subject to its con- trol. Under this view the analogy of the decisions upon what constitutes a public use justifying the exercise of the power of eminent domain should be followed, and a wide legislative discretion should be recognized even by those courts that uphold the local independence of the municipality. Harvard 1. aw Review, June, 1902.

R. M,

National Convention of Employer and Employed. According to the state- ment of the promoters, this national gathering, which will take place at Minneapolis, September 22-26, 1902, is designed to afford an opportunity for the free exchange of ideas on the present labor problem. It is an attempt to inaugurate a great educa- tional movement, in which all sides are to participate and work in harmony for a common purpose, namely, a better understanding and a more satisfactory adjustment of the relation between employer and employee. Representative employers, some of the ablest champions of the cause of the workingmen, and well-known investigators of social and economic problems will meet to consider the situation, and to take such action as will make for harmony and tend to elevate the dealings between the employer and his employees to a higher and nobler plane. Among the speakers who will address the conference are : President Roosevelt ; Cyrus Northrop, president of the University of Minnesota; J. B. Clark, professor of political economy in Columbia University; Hon. Carroll D. Wright, United States commissioner of labor; James Kilbourne, president of the Kilbourne & Jacobs Manufacturing Co., Columbus, O.; Richard T. Ely, professor of political economy in the University of Wisconsin ; Frank L. McVey, professor of political economy in the University of Minnesota ; Miss Jane Addams, of Hull House, Chicago ; Senator J. W. Bailey, of Texas ; John Ireland, archbishop of St. Paul, Minn. The convention will be held under the auspices of the Eight Hour League and the citizens of Minneapolis. Cyrus Northrop, president of the University of Minnesota, is chairman of the executive committee that is making arrangements for the occasion. R. M.