Most of the city’s work is business.
Now there is a good deal to be said for this point of view. A large part of the work which the city officials perform is of a business rather than a governmental nature. Making laws and enforcing them is a relatively small portion of their task. The great majority of city officials and employees are engaged in rendering social and economic services—such as teaching in schools, caring for the public health, building streets, inspecting markets, attending to the water supply, putting out fires, and making out tax bills; all of which tasks are quite different in nature from the work which legislatures or governors or courts perform. It is work which, in order to be effective, must be done in accordance with the methods of everyday business with emphasis on intelligence, punctuality, and honesty.
But not all of it can be managed according to business principles.
Nevertheless we should be careful not to press this point too far. The aim of all organized business is to secure a profit, but the purpose of city administration is to promote the well-being of the citizens. It must be conducted in compliance with the desires of the voters, whatever these desires may be, and must give them what they want. Business can sometimes be managed without any heed to public opinion, but municipal administration cannot. The science of municipal government is, to a considerable extent, that of keeping the people satisfied. The voters must have what they want and they do not always want what some expert may deem to be the best or the cheapest. Government by the best people is not necessarily the best government. There is no denying that business methods can be advantageously applied to city administration at many points (particularly in the awarding of contracts and the buying of supplies), but it does not follow that such departments as poor-relief, correction, and public health should be managed according to exactly the same principles as a railroad or a cotton factory. Success or failure in these departments cannot always be measured in terms of dollars and cents. The administration must be sympathetic and humane; it avails little to save a little money if the saving entails a great deal of human misery. The strict rules of business may easily be pressed too far.
MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATIVE DEPARTMENTS
The accompanying diagram indicates the way in which the administrative work of a large American city such as Boston is distributed among various officials and departments. It will be noted that there were, in 1920, some forty departments under the control of the mayor. Some consolidation has since been made, but the number of departments is still larger in Boston than in any other city.
This chart should be referred to in connection with Group Problem No. 1 (page [223]).
