is a creature of the general government of the state. These
provisions merely secured, or rather sought to secure, to cities some
benefits of a negative character--immunity from certain recognized
abuses of legislative authority. They are the expression of an effort to
find a remedy for the evils of municipal government by restricting the
authority of the legislature rather than by giving cities the power to
act independently in local matters. They have diminished somewhat the
evils of state interference, but they failed to remove the cause by
giving the cities the constitutional right to control their own affairs.

The failure of all these measures to accomplish what was expected of
them finally brought the advocates of municipal reform to a realization
of the fact that the American system made no provision for real local
self-government, and that our refusal to recognize this principle was
the chief cause of the prevalent corruption and misrule of our cities
and the insuperable obstacle to all effective and thoroughgoing reform.
As soon as attention was directed to this feature of the problem it was
seen that no system could be devised that would be better adapted to the
purpose of defeating the end of good city government, since those who
would be directly benefited by the reforms in municipal government were
powerless to bring them about except with the co-operation of the
legislature. Moreover the consent of the legislature, though once given,
was liable at any time to be withdrawn at the instigation of private or
partisan interests, since this body was not directly interested in
establishing and maintaining good municipal government nor responsible
to those who were.

It was finally seen that some more effective measure than the
prohibition of special legislation was required. The next step was the
attempt to secure to cities the needed authority in local matters by
means of a constitutional provision authorizing them to frame their own
charters. In this movement the state of Missouri led the way by
incorporating a home-rule provision in its constitution of 1875.
California, Washington, Minnesota, and Colorado have since adopted
similar provisions. In each of these states the charter is framed by a
commission locally elected except in Minnesota, where it is appointed by
the district judge.

In Missouri this privilege is accorded only to cities having more than
100,000 inhabitants. The constitution of California