undreds of
municipal laws and charters.

As a general proposition, direct government in all its forms was
bitterly opposed by men of a conservative cast of mind. It was denounced
by Senator Henry Cabot Lodge as "nothing less than a complete revolution
in the fabric of our government and in the fundamental principles upon
which that government rests." In his opinion, it promised to break down
the representative principle and "undermine and overthrow the bulwarks
of ordered liberty and individual freedom." Mr. Taft shared Mr. Lodge's
views and spoke of direct government with scorn. "Votes," he exclaimed,
"are not bread ... referendums do not pay rent or furnish houses,
recalls do not furnish clothes, initiatives do not supply employment or
relieve inequalities of condition or of opportunity."

=Commission Government for Cities.=--In the restless searching out of
evils, the management of cities early came under critical scrutiny. City
government, Mr. Bryce had remarked, was the one conspicuous failure in
America. This sharp thrust, though resented by some, was accepted as a
warning by others. Many prescriptions were offered by doctors of the
body politic. Chief among them was the idea of simplifying the city
government so that the light of public scrutiny could shine through it.
"Let us elect only a few men and make them clearly responsible for the
city government!" was the new cry in municipal reform. So, many city
councils were reduced in size; one of the two houses, which several
cities had adopted in imitation of the federal government, was
abolished; and in order that the mayor could be held to account, he was
given the power to appoint all the chief officials. This made the mayor,
in some cases, the only elective city official and gave the voters a
"short ballot" containing only a few names--an idea which some proposed
to apply also to the state government.

A further step in the concentration of authority was taken in Galveston,
Texas, where the people, looking upon the ruin of their city wrought by
the devastating storm of 1901, and confronted by the difficult problems
of reconstruction, felt the necessity for a more businesslike management
of city affairs and instituted a new form of local administration. They
abolished the old scheme of mayor and council and vested all power in
five commissioners, one of whom, without any special prerogatives, was
assigned to the office of "mayor president." In 1908, the commis