iments have been tried already on that plan.

274. =Organization of the City Government.=--(1) _In America._ The
police department is but one of several boards or official departments
for the management of municipal affairs. The administrative officers
are appointed or elected, and are usually under the supervision of the
city executive. The usual form of city government is modelled upon the
State; a mayor corresponds to the governor and a city council of one
or two chambers usually elected by wards is parallel to the State
Legislature. The mayor is the executive officer and the head of the
administrative system, the council assists or obstructs him,
appropriates funds, and attends to the details of municipal
legislation. Political considerations rather than fitness for office
have usually determined the choice of persons for positions.

(2) _In Europe._ In Europe municipal government is treated as a
business or professional matter, not one of politics, and the results
have been so much more satisfactory that American cities have begun to
reform their governments. In England cities are governed according to
the Local Government Act of 1888, by which cities of more than fifty
thousand people become counties for administrative purposes, and
control of administration is vested in a council elected by voters of
the city. Councillors are regarded with high honor, but their work is
a work of patriotism, for they are unpaid, with the result that the
best men enter the city councils. Administration is carried on through
various committees and through department officials who are retained
permanently. In Germany the cities are managed like large households,
and their officials are free to undertake improvements without
specific legislative permission. The mayor or burgomaster is usually
one who makes a profession of magistracy, and he need not be a citizen
of the city that he serves. In administration he is assisted by a
board of experts known as magistrates, who are elected by the council,
usually for life. The council is the real governing body, and its
members are elected by the people for six years, one-third of them
retiring periodically, as in the United States Senate. The activities
of the German cities are more numerous than in this country, yet they
are managed economically and efficiently.

275. =Organizing Municipal Reform.=--The earliest reform movements in
the United States were spasmodic uprisings of outraged cit