Elements of Civil Government Part 6

THE CITY.

When the village, borough, or town becomes so large that its government does not meet the people's local public needs, it is incorporated as a city. Where the country is spa.r.s.ely settled the peace is seldom broken, private interests do not conflict, the people's public needs are small, and therefore the functions of government are few and light.

As the population grows dense, the public peace is oftener disturbed, crime increases, disputes about property arise, the public needs become numerous and important, and the officers of the law must interfere to preserve order and protect the people. The fewer the people to the square mile, the fewer and lighter are the functions of government; the more people to the square mile, the more and stronger must be the functions of government.

INCORPORATION.--Cities and villages or boroughs differ princ.i.p.ally in size and in the scope of their corporate authority. A city is larger in area and population, and the powers and privileges of its government are more extensive. In most States cities may be incorporated under general laws, but some cities are incorporated by special acts of the State legislature. The act or deed of incorporation is called the city charter. The charter names the city, fixes its limits, erects it as a distinct political corporation, sets forth its powers and privileges, names its officers, prescribes their duties, and authorizes the city to act as an independent government. The legislature may amend the charter at any time, and the acts and laws of the city must not conflict with the const.i.tution of the State or of the United States.

WARDS.--The city is usually divided into wards for convenience in executing the laws, and especially in electing representatives in the city government. Wards vary greatly in area and population, and their number depends in a measure upon the size of the city. Each usually elects a member of the board of education, and one or more members of each branch of the city council. Each ward is subdivided into precincts for convenience in establishing polling-places.

CITY INSt.i.tUTIONS.--Cities maintain a number of inst.i.tutions, peculiar to themselves, for the public welfare. The frequency of destructive fires causes the formation of a fire department. A police force must be organized to protect life and property. A system of sewerage is necessary to the public health. There must be gas-works or electric-light works, that the streets may be lighted, and water-works to supply water for public and private use. In many cities gas-works and water-works are operated by private parties or by private corporations.

FINANCES.--Each city has an independent financial system, which requires skillful management. The city borrows money, issuing interest-bearing bonds in payment, and engages in extensive public improvements. The large outlays for paving the streets, constructing water-works, laying out parks, erecting public buildings, and for maintaining police systems and fire departments, cause cities to incur debts often amounting to many millions of dollars. As the result of the greater expense of its government, and as its people also pay State and county taxes, the rate of taxation in a city is far greater than in rural districts and villages.

CITIZENS: RIGHTS AND DUTIES.--The qualifications, the rights, and the duties of citizens of the city are the same as those of citizens of the township and the county. The qualifications of voters are also usually the same. The duties of voters are the same in all elections, whether in the school district, the civil district, the city, the county, the State, or the United States; namely, to vote for the best men and the best measures. Under whatever division of government the people are living, they always have the same interest in the maintenance of order, in the enforcement of the laws, in the triumph of right, principles, and in the election of good men to office.

GOVERNMENT.--A city often has a more complex government than that of the State in which the city is situated. The ma.s.sing of so many people, representing so many interests, requires a government with strong legislative, executive, and judicial functions. One of the great questions of our time is how to secure economy and efficiency in city government; and, as our cities are growing with great rapidity, the problem is daily becoming more difficult to solve.

OFFICERS.--The legislative power is vested in the city council, in many cases composed of a board of aldermen and of a common council. The executive authority is vested in the mayor, the city attorney or solicitor, the city clerk, the a.s.sessor, the collector, the treasurer, the city engineer or surveyor, the board of public works, the street commissioner, the school board or board of education, and the superintendent of schools. The judicial power is vested in the city court, police court, or recorder's court, as it is variously termed; in a number of justices' courts; and in the higher courts, which are also courts of the county in which the city is located. The officers of the city are usually elected by the legal voters, but in some cities the collector, the city engineer, the street commissioner, and a number of subordinate officers are appointed by the mayor or city council. The superintendent of schools is elected by the school board.

DUTIES.--In many small cities, and in several of the larger cities, such as New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, the council consists only of the board of aldermen. When the council is composed of two branches, a law can not be made by one of them alone; it must be pa.s.sed by both; and if vetoed by the mayor, it must be pa.s.sed again, and in most cities by a two thirds vote, or it is void. The council makes laws, or ordinances, regulating the police force; fixing the rate of city taxation; ordering the issue of bonds and the construction of public works; and making appropriations for public purposes.

The mayor is the chief executive of the city. It is his duty to see that the laws are enforced. He appoints a number of subordinate officers, and in most cities may veto the acts of the city council.

The duties of the city attorney, the city clerk, the a.s.sessor, the collector, the treasurer, the school board, and the superintendent of schools are similar to those of township and county officers of the same name. The city engineer has charge of the construction of sewers and the improvement of parks. The street commissioner attends to the construction and repair of the streets, crossings, and sidewalks.

There are a number of officers appointed by the mayor or the council, such as chief of police, chief of the fire department, and the city physician, who have duties connected with their special departments.

The city judge, police judge, or recorder, has duties similar to those of the same officer in an incorporated village. Cities also have higher courts, variously named, whose judges have duties and jurisdiction equivalent to those of county officers of the same grade.

Because offenses against the law are more frequent, officers are more numerous in cities than in the rural districts.

COMMISSION PLAN OF CITY GOVERNMENT.--In recent times the "commission plan" of government has been adopted for many cities, in a number of different States. This plan gives full control of the city government and its minor officials to a commission or council composed of a few men (usually five) elected by the voters of the whole city. This commission exercises both legislative and executive functions. It is composed of a mayor, and councilmen or commissioners who act also as heads of administrative departments.

RECALL.--In a few States a mayor or councilman (or other local or State officer elected by the people) may be displaced before the expiration of his term of office. If a sufficient number of voters pet.i.tion to have this done, a new election is held to decide whether he or some one else shall have the office for the rest of the term.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

1. What is meant by incorporating a village?

2. What is a breach of the peace?

3. What are polling-places?

4. To what State officer does the mayor of a city or town correspond?

5. Why are offenses against the laws more frequent in the cities than in the rural districts?

6. What is the largest city of this State? Is its council composed of one body or of two?

QUESTION FOR DEBATE.

_Resolved_, That the legislative department of a city government should consist of only one deliberative body.

CHAPTER VII.

THE STATE.

INTRODUCTORY.--After the county, the government nearest us is that of the State. The political divisions which we have considered are subject to the State, holding their powers as grants from its government. The State can make and unmake them, and we owe them obedience because the State has commanded it. As we sometimes express it, the sovereignty or supreme sway of these local divisions resides in the State.

DEFINITION.--A State is a community of free citizens living within a territory with fixed limits, governed by laws based upon a const.i.tution of their own adoption, and possessing all governmental powers not granted to the United States. Each State is a republic and maintains a republican form of government, which is guaranteed by the United States. The State is supreme within its own sphere, but its authority must not conflict with that of the national government. A State is sometimes called a commonwealth because it binds the whole people together for their common weal or common good.

FORMATION OF ORIGINAL STATES.--The thirteen original colonies were princ.i.p.ally settled by people from Europe. The colonial rights were set forth and boundaries fixed by charters granted by the crown of England. In the Declaration of Independence these colonies declared themselves "free and independent States." After the treaty of peace which acknowledged their independence, they framed and adopted the national const.i.tution, and thereby became the United States of America.

ADMISSION OF NEW STATES.--New States are admitted into the Union by special acts of the Congress of the United States. An organized Territory having the necessary population sends a memorial to Congress asking to be admitted as a State. Congress then pa.s.ses a law called an "enabling act," authorizing the people of the Territory to form a State const.i.tution. When the people have framed and adopted a State const.i.tution not in conflict with the Const.i.tution of the United States, Congress pa.s.ses another act admitting the new State into the Union "upon an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever." Sometimes the enabling act provides for admission on proclamation of the President of the United States. Several of the Territories adopted State const.i.tutions and were admitted as States without enabling acts.

PURPOSES.--The State keeps power near the people, and thus makes them more secure in their liberty. "The powers not granted to the United States, nor prohibited to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the people." If the whole country were a single republic without State divisions, power would be withdrawn from the people and become centralized in the national government.

Our political system leaves the various functions of government to the smallest political communities that can perform them efficiently. The county has charge of all public interests that can be managed by it as well as by the State. Many public affairs, such as popular education,[1] private corporations, and the organization of the smaller political divisions, can be better managed by the State than by the National Government, and are therefore properly left to the State's direction.

Parts of the country widely separated differ in climate and soil, giving rise to different industries and occupations, which require different laws, made and administered by different States. The State serves as a convenient basis for the apportionment of members of both houses of Congress, and State inst.i.tutions preserve and develop the local individuality and self-reliance of the people.

FUNCTIONS.--The functions of the State are very extensive, including the greater part of those acts of government which preserve society by affording security to life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness.

The State government touches the citizens at most points; that is, all those laws that concern the body of the people in their ordinary daily life are made and enforced by the State, or by the smaller political divisions of the State, acting under the State's directions. Officers discharge their duties, arrests are made, courts are held, offenders are punished, justice is meted out, and taxes are collected, by the authority of the State.

The National Government has similar functions to perform in every part of the country, but they are far less frequent than those of the State.

INSt.i.tUTIONS.--The State maintains a number of charitable and other inst.i.tutions for the public welfare. It makes appropriations of land or money for the support of asylums, prisons, reformatories, scientific inst.i.tutions, schools, colleges, and universities. The support of these inst.i.tutions, the payment of salaries, the administration of justice, and the conduct of other public interests, involve large annual expenditures, often amounting to several millions of dollars.

CITIZENS.

The citizens of a State are the people who live in it, whether natives of the United States, or foreigners who have been adopted. Persons who are citizens of the United States are thereby citizens of the State in which they reside. They have all the rights that freemen can possess, and enjoy a larger freedom than do the people of any other country.

The legal voters, often called electors, are the male citizens who have resided in the State, the county, and the township, or voting precinct, the time required by law to ent.i.tle them to vote. The length of residence required in the State varies, being two years in some, six months in others, and one year in most States. Several States permit citizens of foreign countries to vote, and a few permit women to vote.

RIGHTS.--Every citizen has the right to be secure in his person; to be free from attack and annoyance; to go when and where he may choose; to keep, enjoy, and dispose of his property; and to provide in his own way for the welfare of himself and of those dependent upon him.

The rights of the people are set forth at length and with great precision in a portion of the State const.i.tution called the Bill of Rights. These rights must be exercised under the restrictions of the law, and with due regard for the same rights held by others.

The legal voters have the right to vote in all local, State, and national elections. They are voters in national elections by virtue of being voters in State elections. The right to vote implies the right to be voted for, and the right to hold office; but for many officers the State requires a longer residence and other qualifications than those prescribed for voters.

DUTIES.--For every right, the people have a corresponding duty; and for every privilege they enjoy, there is a trust for them to discharge.

The large personal freedom possessed by the American citizens imposes equally as large public responsibilities. It is the duty of every citizen to obey the law, to aid in securing justice, to respect authority, to love his country, and to labor for the public good. No one can be a useful member of society unless he respects the laws and inst.i.tutions of the land. The people themselves have established this government, both State and national; it exists for them, and therefore they owe it honor and obedience.