most numerous in the German states, where there are no postal savings banks. In Prussia, 804 cities and communes have municipal savings banks, while there are also 378 owned by the provincial authorities and 311 private institutions. The municipal establishments have in the aggregate over 4,000,000 depositors and $500,000,000 of deposits. Bavaria has 325 municipal savings banks to 75 in private hands. Baden has 123 municipal banks, and Hesse 43. Thus these four states together have 1,300 municipal institutions, and if the figures for the smaller commonwealths were at hand, they would increase the aggregate for all Germany to nearly 1,500. It is evident from these figures that this line of municipal activity has commended itself in Germany not simply to the large cities but also to a host of small towns, and in fact the list of municipal savings banks includes a goodly number of rural communes. Among the larger citiesthose with over 50,000 population—out of 46 reporting on this subject in 1895, 38 had municipal savings banks. Of the six cities which rank first Hamburg alone is without a municipal establishment; and of the ten next in order there are only two exceptions Frankfort-on-the-Main and Altona.- Maltbie, op. cit., p. 752. 14 New York's Municipal Docks. Ten million dollars seem an enormous sum for a municipality to expend for improving something over half a mile of water frontage, but this will hardly cover the amount which will have been paid out by the city of New York when, next month, she turns over as a Christmas present to the big steamship lines the magnificent steel-concrete docks which are now nearing completion in the Chelsea Section, lying along the North River from Washington Market, at Little Twelfth Street, to the railroad piers at Twenty-third Street. The enterprise will add to the source of revenue of the city the sum of $565,000 per annum-quite a tidy sum from one branch of a city department. Standing pre-eminent among the commercial centers of the world, the city found itself in a quandary with the onrush of passengers and cargo from all over the civilized world, and its officials found it a stupendous task to care for this business, as well as to provide suitable accommodations for our for eign travelers and the exporters of the nation. Ten or fifteen years back it became evident that something must be done to afford additional dockage facilities, and the advent of the huge ocean greyhounds brought the matter more forcibly to the attention of the city. As the municipality owns 90 per cent of the water front of the Island of Manhattan available for commercial purposes, it behooved its officials to put a portion of it in shape or compel the steamship companies to seek berths elsewhere. It fell to the lot of the Department of Docks and Ferries to work out a solution of this problem. This department has, shown its efficiency continuously since its organization in 1870 - it has built seawalls, constructed piers and docks, and has even operated ferries, but it had not yet attempted any task of such magnitude. The Commissioner and his engineers looked about for models, but nowhere found anything which suited exactly the ideals of the officials. Yet from one source and another details were gathered; some suggestions were approved, others rejected, and in the new structures they believe they have incorporated the best of anything that may be found in the details of all these, and better than may be found in many of them. The most pretentious portions of the work are the steel sheds, whose massive proportions extend for half a mile along the waterfront and a sixth of a mile into the harbor, and rise to a height of 60 feet, and which are yet most pleasing from an architectural point of view.-Municipal Journal and Engineer, Vol. 27, p. 657. QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW. PART III 1. What has made the growth of cities possible? Why is Australia's population urban rather than rural? What have been the principal causes of city growth? Are they all operating now to make cities larger? Name some of the social consequences of the growth of cities. Some of the political consequences. Explain the legal position of the city. How are cities incorporated? Why should cities have Home Rule? 2. How did the English borough serve as a model for American city government? What changes were made? Why is the ward system of representation vicious? Why has the common council lost much of its power? Describe the procedure in passing an ordinance. How would you proceed to secure action by the council on a matter in which you were interested? What is meant by Commission Government? By the City Manager Plan? What are the advantages of these new forms of organization? 3. What are the principal functions of the mayor? In what ways can he influence legislation? Should he have the veto power? Compare the advantages of the board and the commissioner system of administration. Describe the preparation and passage of the budget. Why is a budget advisable? What are the sources of municipal revenues? How is a tax rate arrived at? Compare the organization of each of the principal administrative departments. 4. Distinguish between municipal and state functions. Is poor relief a state or municipal function? The maintenance of libraries? Cemeteries? Why should the city own and operate waterworks? How is water purified? Sewage? To what extent do cities maintain bathing facilities? Public convenience stations? Lodging houses? Municipal markets? What are the various means of disposing of garbage? Which is the best way? What is the necessity of a city plan? Discuss civic centers. SUBJECTS FOR SPECIAL STUDY 1. Constitutional Municipal Home Rule, as presented by Goodnow, Wilcox, Parsons, and other writers on municipal government. 2. Municipal Ownership of Public Utilities. See the Report of the American Civic Federation of 1907. 3. "The Collection and Disposal of Municipal Waste," by Samuel F. Morse. 4. "Civics and Health," by William H. Allen. 5. Commission Government, the City Manager Plan, Uniform Accounting, Popular Control, and other subjects of organization and administration. 6. Medical Inspection, School Feeding, School Gardens, Public Playgrounds, Open Air Schools, and allied subjects. PART IV State Government CHAPTER V ORIGIN AND CONSTITUTIONAL BASIS OF STATE GOVERNMENT TATE government, like all other branches of gov STAT ernment in America, has been a product of growth. It did not originate in any abstract theory of government, nor spring into being in full maturity as a result of the inventive genius of our forefathers and the conditions under which they found themselves; but grew, rather, out of the "actual experience gained by generation after generation of English colonists in managing their own political affairs." They planted in the New World the seeds of representative govern-ment brought from the Old, and during a hundred years of comparative self-government developed the principles upon which are based the commonwealth governments of today.1 Even the Revolution did not break the continuity of institutional life. Some of the colonies did not adopt new constitutions when they became states, but continued under their old colonial charters. Rhode Island did not adopt a new state |