ipalities had been treated by the courts
as a limitation of the power of the legislature to interfere in purely
local matters. The refusal of the state government to recognize an
appropriate sphere of municipal activity which it would have no right to
invade, has been the main cause of corruption and inefficiency in
municipal government.

The policy of state interference in municipal affairs was the inevitable
outgrowth of the doctrine that cities had no powers except such as had
been expressly given, or were necessarily implied in their charters.
This lack of the power of initiative made it necessary for cities, as
they increased in size and complexity, to make constant appeals to the
legislature for permission to supply their wants. Every new problem
which the city had to deal with, every new function which it had to
perform, was a ground for state interference. This necessity of invoking
the aid of the state legislature, constantly felt in every rapidly
growing city, tended to develop a feeling of dependence upon legislative
intervention as an indispensable factor in the solution of local
problems. Thus the refusal of the state government to recognize the
right of municipal initiative compelled the cities to welcome state
interference as the only means of dealing with the new problems with
which they were being continually confronted.

Another reason for the extension of state authority at the expense of
the municipality is to be found in the twofold character of city
government. Besides being a local government the city is also for
certain purposes the administrative agent of the state, and as such is
properly subject to state supervision. But, in the absence of any clear
distinction between state and local interests, it was an easy matter for
protection of the former to serve as a pretext for undue interference
with the latter.

The city was thus placed at the mercy of the state government, since the
legislature could make the needs of the municipality or the protection
of the general interests of the state a pretext for any interference
calculated to further the private or partisan ends of those who
controlled the legislative machine. As cities increased in importance it
was found that this unlimited power over them could be made a valuable
asset of the party machine in control of the state legislature. The city
offered a rich and tempting field for exploitation. It had offices, a
large revenue, spent vast sums