I. INTRODUCTORY.
1. LOCAL GOVERNMENT GENERALLY.
Short accounts of the systems of local government of the principal countries of continental Europe are given in the Cobden Club Essays: Local Government and Taxation, London, 1875, edited by J. W. Probyn. See also F. Béchard’s De L’administration de la France, 2 vols. Paris, 1851, with appendix on municipal organization in Europe.
The best short description of English local government is M. D. Chalmers’s Local Government, “English Citizen” Series, London, 1883. See also Local Administration, “Imperial Parliament” Series, London, 1887, by Wm. Rathbone, Albert Pell and F. C. Montague. For still shorter account read chapter 15 of May’s Constitutional History and article on “Local Government in England” by F. J. Goodnow in the Political Science Quarterly, December, 1887, vol. 2, pp. 338-65, and an article by the same writer on “The Local Government Bill” in the Political Science Quarterly, June, 1888, vol. 3, pp. 311-333. Supplement Chalmers with Cobden Club Essays: Local Government and Taxation in the United Kingdom, London, 1882, edited by J. W. Probyn. The most exhaustive work on English local offices is Rudolph Gneist’s Self-Government: Communalverfassung u. Verwaltungsgerichte in England, untranslated, 3d ed., 1876. For full bibliography see Gomme’s Literature of Local Institutions, London, 1886.
The best short outline of local government in the United States is an article by S. A. Galpin on “Minor Political Divisions of the United States,” in Gen. F. A Walker’s Statistical Atlas of the United States. The papers on the local institutions of several of the States in the Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science are especially valuable. Chas. M. Andrews has articles on Connecticut towns in the Johns Hopkins Studies, vol. 7, and in the Annals of the American Academy of Political Science, October, 1890, vol. 1, pp. 165-91. Especially important is Prof. Geo. E. Howard’s Local Constitutional History of the United States, vol. 1.: “The Development of the Township, Hundred and Shire,” printed as an extra volume in this series. John Fiske’s lecture on “The Town Meeting,” delivered at the Royal Institution, was printed in Harper’s Magazine, vol. 70, pp. 265-272, and in his American Political Ideas, N. Y., 1885. A different view of the present importance of local institutions is taken by Prof. S. N. Patten in an article on the “Decay of State and Local Government,” in the first number of the Annals of the American Academy of Political Science. For comparison of American and foreign methods, read R. P. Porter’s article “Local Government: at Home and Abroad,” Princeton Review, July, 1879, n. s. vol. 4, p. 172, and reprinted separately. See two articles on “Local Government in Prussia,” by F. J. Goodnow in the Political Science Quarterly, December, 1889, vol. 4, pp. 648-66, and March, 1890, vol. 5, pp. 124-58. For further reference on local self-government see W. F. Foster’s Monthly Reference Lists, vol. 2, pp. 23-29, and his pamphlet of References on Political and Economic Topics, p. 24.
For Canada, see J. G. Bourinot’s “Local Government in Canada: an historical study,” in Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada for 1886, vol. 4., sec. 2, pp. 42-70; printed separately by the publishers, and reprinted, with a letter on the municipal system of Ontario, in the 5th series of the Johns Hopkins Studies. A paper on “The Ontario Township,” by J. M. McEvoy, printed in 1889, forms No. 1 of the Toronto University Studies in Political Science.
2. EUROPEAN CITIES.
For the purpose of comparison, some study should be made of municipal government abroad. Dr. Albert Shaw gives a general view of “Municipal Government in Great Britain,” in Notes Supplementary to the Johns Hopkins Studies, No. 1, January, 1889, and in the Political Quarterly, June, 1886, vol. 4, pp. 197-229. Of larger works on English municipal history, mention may be made of J. R. S. Vine’s “English Municipal Institutions; their Growth and Development from 1835 to 1879,” London, 1879. Dr. Chas. Gross has printed a very complete “Classified List of Books relating to British Municipal History,” Cambridge, 1891, as No. 43 of Bibliographical Contributions of Harvard University. Foreign experience is of very little assistance in the solution of the general problem of municipal government in the United States, but it may be useful in indicating improved methods of administration in particular departments of a city government. Several cities that illustrate different forms of municipal government may be taken as examples.
a. London.
Specially excepted from the operation of the Municipal Corporations Act of 1835. For outline of government read Chalmers, chap. 10. For full description see J. F. B. Firth’s Municipal London, 1876, and his Reform of London Government and of City Guilds, “Imperial Parliament” Series, London, 1888. For history of the corporation consult W. J. Loftie’s History of London, 2d ed., 1884, and the same author’s small work, London, published in 1887 in Freeman’s series on “English Historic Towns.” Both books are based on new material, part of it recently discovered by Bishop Stubbs. For additional references, see Gomme, pp. 122-134.
There have been a great many articles on the municipal government of London in recent periodical literature. Among them may be cited those by W. Newall, Contemporary Review, 1873, vol. 12, p. 73, and 1875, vol. 25, p. 437; W. M. Torrens, Nineteenth Century, 1880, vol. 8., p. 766; Alderman Cotton, Benj. Scott, City Chamberlain, and Sir Arthur Hobhouse in Contemporary Review, 1882, vol. 41, pp. 72, 308, and 404 respectively; the Westminster Review, for January, 1887; Dr. Albert Shaw on “How London is Governed,” in the Century, November, 1890, vol. 41, pp. 132-147, and on “Municipal Problems of New York and London,” in the Review of Reviews, April, 1892, vol. 5, p. 282; James Monroe on “The London Police,” in the North American Review, November, 1890, vol. 151, pp. 615-629; Sir John Lubbock on “The Government of London,” in the Fortnightly Review, February, 1892, vol. 51, p. 159; and an article on the “Municipal Administration of London,” in the Edinburgh Review for April, 1892. For a good review of attempts since 1860 to regulate the London gas supply, see an article in the British Quarterly for January, 1879.
A Royal Commission on the City Livery Companies reported May 28, 1884. See the discussion by Sir R. A. Cross, one of the dissenting members of the Commission, in the Nineteenth Century for 1884, vol. 16, p. 47, and by Sir Arthur Hobhouse in Contemporary Review for 1885, vol. 47, p. 1. The most important work on the London guilds is William Herbert’s “History of the Twelve Great Companies of London,” London, 1837. The latest contribution to the subject is Price’s “Description of the Guildhall,” London, 1887.
b. Paris.
A sketch of its government by Yves Guyot, a member of the municipal council, may be found in the Contemporary Review, March, 1883, vol. 43, p. 439. Dr. Shaw gives an excellent short account in an article entitled “The Typical Modern City” in the Century, July, 1891, vol. 42, pp. 449-66. He cites as the principal authority on the subject Maxime Du Camp’s Paris, ses organes, ses fonctions, et sa vie dans la seconde moitie du dix-neuvieme siecle. An extended description is also given in a work entitled Administration de la Ville de Paris, written by Henri De Pontich under the direction of Maurice Block, Paris, Guillaumin, 1884. The Rapports et Documents and Process-Verbaux of the municipal council are printed yearly in three large quarto volumes, and the municipal bureau of statistics issues an annual report.
c. Berlin.
An excellent short account of the government of Berlin is given by Dr. Rudolph Gneist, a member of the municipal council since 1848, in the Contemporary Review, December, 1884, vol. 46, p. 769. See also the report on the “Administration of the City of Berlin” in Foreign Relations for 1881, p. 487, made by Assistant-Secretary of Legation Coleman at the request of Hon. Andrew D. White, then Minister to Germany. Also the articles by Prof. R. T. Ely in the Nation for March 23 and 30, 1882, vol. 34, pp. 145 and 267. In the Nation for September 25, 1892, vol. 55, p. 221, Mr. Leo S. Rowe combats some of Dr. Shaw’s generalizations respecting municipal government in Europe, taking Berlin as his text. The Magistracy of Berlin publish reports at irregular intervals. The first, Bericht ueber die Vervaltung der Stadt Berlin, in den Jahren 1829 bis inclu. 1840, Berlin, 1842, and the second, in den Jahren 1841 bis incl. 1850, Berlin, 1853, are of considerable importance. A third, published in 1863, covers the period from 1851 to 1860, and a fourth, printed in 1882, covers the period from 1861 to 1876. The Director of the Statistical Bureau of the city publishes annually Das Statistische Jahrbuch der Stadt Berlin.
The present municipal system of Prussia dates from the reorganization of the municipalities by Stein and Hardenburg, November 19, 1808. See Seeley’s Life of Stein, part 5, chap. 3, and Meier’s Reform der Vervaltung-Organization unter Stein und Hardenberg, Leipsig, 1881. The present “Municipal Corporation Act,” Stædte-ordnung, was passed May 30, 1853. See Kotze, Die Preussischen Stædte Verfassungen, Berlin, 1879, and Backoffner, Die Stædteordnungen der Preussischen Monarchie, Berlin, 1880, and especially Eugen Leidig’s Preussisches Stadtrecht, Berlin, 1891. See also the articles on local government in Prussia cited above.
d. Other Foreign Cities.
Statistics of all important German cities are given in Dr. M. Neefe’s Statistisches Jahrbuch Deutscher Stædte, Erster Jahrgang, Breslau, 1890. Financial statistics of the great European cities are given in Joseph Körösi’s Bulletin Annual de Finance des Grandes Villes, Dixième Année, Budapest, 1890.
A short account of the municipal government of Vienna is given in a report by Mr. Kasson in Foreign Relations for 1879, p. 64 and an extended account in Dr. Felder’s Die Gemeinde-Vervaltung der Reichs-haupt und Residenzstadt Wien, Vienna, 1872. For the government of Budapest see Dr. Shaw’s article in the Century, June, 1892, vol. 44, pp. 163-179. Prof. F. G. Peabody gives a sketch of Dresden in an article entitled “A Case of Good City Government,” in the Forum, April, 1892, vol. 13, p. 53.
The following relate to various British Cities: Dr. Shaw’s “Glasgow, a Municipal Study,” in the Century, March, 1890, vol. 39, pp. 721-736; the same writer’s “Municipal Lodging Houses,” in No. 1 of the Charities Review, November, 1891; Julian Ralph’s “The Best Governed City in the World” (Birmingham) in Harper’s Magazine, 1890, vol. 81, pp. 99-111; Thos. H. Sherman’s report on “Liverpool, its Pavements, Tramways, Sewers and Artisans’ Dwellings,” in Consular Reports, June, 1890, vol. 33, pp. 284-303; and Consul Smyth’s report on “Tramways and Water Works in England,” in the Consular Report for December, 1891.