and intelligent men! How tireless should be the efforts of voters to secure the election of such men! Remember this: If you succeed in getting honorable, wide-awake men in your City Council, you will have a well-governed city. As far as you know, have you such men now in your City Council?

The Mayor; Municipal Executive Department.—At the head of the municipal executive department stands the Mayor. This officer is nearly always elected directly by the people, although in a very few cases he is chosen by the City Council. His term of office varies from one to four years. The chief duty of the Mayor is to carry into effect the ordinances of the Council. In most cities the Mayor can veto an ordinance of the Council. When an ordinance is vetoed it is generally sent back to the Council, where it is voted upon again and if it is passed again by a two-thirds (or three-fifths) vote, it is a lawful ordinance, notwithstanding the Mayor's objection.

The work a city government has to do is very great, and it takes a small army of men to perform it. The municipal business is done by departments. At the head of each department there is an executive officer or a board. The heads of these departments (or boards) are usually either appointed by the Mayor or elected by the people. When they are appointed by the Mayor they sometimes must be approved by the City Council.

The municipal executive departments are few or many according as the city is small or large, and according as the municipal work is light or heavy. In many good-sized

wide-awake cities you will find the following departments, officers, and boards:

(1) A Department of Finance with a comptroller, or auditor, and assessors and collectors of taxes.

(2) A Department of Law with a city solicitor, or corporation counsel, who acts as the city's lawyer.

(3) A Department of Public Safety with fire commissioners, health commissioners, inspectors of buildings, inspectors of boilers, inspectors of plumbing.

(4) A Department of Parks and Squares with a board of park commissioners.

(5) A Department of Education with a board of school commissioners.

(6) A Department of Charities with a board of overseers of the poor.

(7) A Department of Police with a board of police commissioners.

(8) A Department of Highways with a street commissioner, a city engineer, and a superintendent of lamps and lighting.

Many cities do not have all the above departments and officers, but many large cities have them all and many more besides. Serving in these departments are assistants and employees, who in many cities are numbered by thousands and in a few by tens of thousands.

The Commission System of Municipal Government. In a large number of cities, in various states, the commission plan of municipal government has been adopted. Under this plan the city is governed by a

F. Civil Govt.-8

commission consisting of a Mayor and a small body of Councilmen (or Aldermen)-usually four in number. The Councilmen are elected by the whole body of voters without regard to wards or precincts, and are supposed to be elected without regard to political party. The Mayor and the Aldermen act together in governing the city. The commission both makes the laws by which the city is governed and carries those laws into effect. The Mayor is a member of the commission. He is its chairman, but he does not have the veto power. The business of the city is divided into as many departments as the commission has members, and each member of the commission is placed in charge of a particular department and is held responsible for the management of that department.

Services of City Government.-In the paragraph on the City Council mention was made of many of the usual and more important services of city government. But should the city attempt to do more than it usually does? It supplies the people with water; should it supply them with gas also? Should it own and operate the electric cars? It provides children with an education; should it provide them with a midday lunch also? Should it furnish the music for the parks? Should it own and operate the telephone? Should it lay pipes and supply heat to families? These are a few of the questions you will be called upon to answer when you become voters. You may not be able to answer them intelligently now; but if you will begin to study them now, when the time comes for you to vote and act, you will not vote and act like blind men.

Surely if you live in a city the subject of municipal government deserves all the attention you can give it. Sooner or later you will discover that much of the happiness of your life depends upon the way the affairs of your city are managed. A well-governed city is one of the best places in the world for one to live in, while a badly governed city is one of the worst places. If when you are grown you will try to make the government of your city better, your efforts may be richly rewarded, for you may be the cause of making the lives of thousands of people happier.

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

(For Pupils who live in Cities.)

1. In what county is the city in which you live situated? When was it organized? What are its boundaries? What is its population? What are its industries? Can a city be situated in a town?

2. How many wards in your city? In which ward do you live? Bound the ward in which you live. How many councilmen or aldermen does each ward in your city send to the City Council? What are the qualifications of a good councilman? Name the councilmen who represent your ward.

3. Let a pupil obtain a copy of the report of the police department and describe its work. The report will show how many policemen are employed, what are their salaries, the number of arrests made, the causes for which the arrests were made, and other interesting facts. Reports of other departments may be similarly studied.

4. How does the rate of taxation in your city compare with that of other cities of equal size?

5. What is the amount of the debt of your city?

6. Does your city own its gas and electric light plants?

7. Has your city the reputation of being well governed?

8. What are the qualifications of a good Mayor?

9. How may young people help the cause of good city government?

XXI. THE STATE

"States make up the mass, the body, the organic stuff of the government of the country. To them is intrusted our daily welfare." -Woodrow Wilson.

The Thirteen Colonies. While studying the government of the city and town and county mention was made now and then of a larger government that is above the local governments and that holds them together and gives them their power. This larger government is the State, and it is the State that we are now going to study. We may best begin the study of the State by glancing at the history of State government in the United States.

At the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, three million English-speaking people lived along the coast of the Atlantic in thirteen distinct and separate colonies,Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. These colonies were all dependent upon the English government; their inhabitants were subjects of the English king. But England was three thousand miles away, and it took, in those times, many weeks for a vessel to cross the Atlantic. As a result of this wide separation, England could not govern an American colony in the same way that she governed one of her counties at home. A colony in many things was allowed to govern itself. It