s lately
operated but a few years in a few small cities, amid aroused civic
interest. The Affirmative would abolish at one blow the working
principle of successful city organization in France, Germany,
England, Canada, and unnumbered cities in the United States.

In the second place, evils in our cities are due to bad social and
economic conditions. Harrisburg, Pa., was notoriously corrupt. A
spirit of reform aroused the citizens, and Harrisburg stands today
as a remarkable example of efficient government, yet the form of
organization has been unchanged.

In many of our large cities there is a feeble civic spirit, due, in
part, to undesirable immigrants, the prey to the boss, and utterly
lacking in inherited traditions so essential to the capacity of
self-government. Another instance: the mutual taxing system has
fostered public extravagance and loss of interest on the part of the
taxpayer. Again, favor-seeking corporations have continually
employed corrupt methods. James Bryce says that in the development
of a stronger sense of civic duty rather than any change in the form
of government lies the ultimate hope of municipal reform.

A third cause of municipal ills is that of poor business methods.
First, unjust election laws and lack of proper primaries have
permitted the corrupt arts of the caucus politician. Second, lack of
a uniform system of accounting has served only to conceal the facts,
resulting in apathy on the part of the people, diffusion of
responsibility, and widespread corruption among officials. Third,
lack of publicity of proceedings has protected graft. Fourth, lack
of civil service has perpetuated the spoils system.

All these can and are being remedied. The Bureau of Municipal
Research shows plainly that it is not necessary to change
fundamental principles to secure business efficiency. It reorganized
the Real Estate Bureau of New York that eluded all graft charges and
made 100 per cent profits. The Department of Finance, heretofore
unable to tell whether taxes were collected, is reorganized from top
to bottom. Through the glaring light of publicity, the bureau
collected more than a million dollars for paving done at the
public's expense between the street-car company's rails. The old
conditions, where examination of the books of any department
involved