ed wholly to matters of local
concern. Furthermore, we do not deny the legislative functions of
the city, nor does the plan we advocate contemplate the destruction
of the city's legislative body. It simply means that in place of the
present notoriously inefficient, isolated council, we establish a
commission council composed of the heads of the various
administrative departments. The question at issue is not whether we
shall have a city council, either system provides for that; but
whether a commission council, or an isolated council will furnish
better ordinances. We are contending that the commission council
must furnish superior measures, because in the making of city
ordinances there are at least three great essentials for which this
commission council alone makes adequate provision.

First the legislative and administrative work of the city must be
unalterably connected;

Second, the councilmen must have a direct and technical knowledge of
the city affairs;

Third, the councilman must be representative of the whole city.

Consider, first, how the legislative and administrative work are
connected. State and national legislation are general in their
nature and scope. The extent of territory, and the variety in local
needs have naturally created a separate law-making body. But in the
city such conditions do not exist. The legislative acts of the
council are specific in their nature. The very name reveals their
distinctive character. They are ordinances as distinguished from
other laws, and are designed to meet a particular kind of
administration. The specific act and the particular administration
of it go hand in hand. Hence, satisfactory measures can be enacted
only when they come from the hands of a commission council.

President Eliot recognized this fact when he said that the work of
the city council is not concerned with far-reaching policies of
legislation. There is no occasion for two or even one separate
legislative body. Dr. Albert Shaw writes, that so indistinguishably
blended are the legislative and administrative departments of the
city, that it is impossible to separate one from the other.

Second, a commission council is more effective because it furnishes
a direct and technical knowledge of city affairs. An investigation
in Des Moines showed that out o