promises which could not be fully carried out. It seems worth while, however, to state what has been undertaken; and what may be developed on the basis of the steps already taken.

For several years the University Library has been giving special attention to the collection of municipal laws, charters, ordinances, reports, and documents, and also to the large number of miscellaneous publications and pamphlets relating to municipal problems. These are carefully classified and catalogued; and a large part of this collection is gathered together in Lincoln Hall, near the history and political science departmental library, in which is kept the general works on municipal and political administration. Most of the technical treatises and reports of special departments are however classified with the particular subject,—as engineering, landscape gardening, etc. The municipal reference section now consists of several thousand volumes, covering all the available publications in Illinois cities, publications from all the larger and many smaller American cities, and also publications from a considerable number of Canadian, European and other foreign cities.

The Illinois material has been among the most difficult to secure; and the officials can help in making this collection complete by sending the reports and publications from their cities.

Thus far this collection has been used primarily as a working laboratory for advanced and graduate students in municipal government. In connection with their university work such students prepare special reports on particular problems, which not only serve as part of the general training of the student, but aids in giving them an interest in and definite information about municipal problems. This of itself is likely to have indirect results in bringing about a more intelligent understanding of such problems. In some cases the work of graduate students can be made of more direct assistance to municipal officials. A study of municipal revenues in Illinois, by Mr. L. D. Upson, pub

lished by the University, gives a thorough analysis of municipal revenues in twenty-four Illinois cities, which is of great value to any city officials interested in financial problems. This is the first comparative study of the kind made in this country; and it has been highly commended by students of municipal finance in other parts of the country.

Another graduate student at the University has been making an intensive study of the working of commission government in Illinois cities. This when completed will be a valuable source of information on this subject.

Occasionally this collection of materials have been used in solving particular problems at the request of city officials. A report on garbage disposal was prepared for the mayor of a neighboring city. Other requests for assistance in technical lines have been turned over to the departments specially qualified to answer.

Additional requests of this kind could be more easily invited than properly answered. What can be done without interfering with their regular work, the University staff is ready to do. But to undertake a general system of replying to inquiries and preparing reports on particular problems will require special provision in the way of a definite organization with one or more qualified experts, and also clerical assistance.

In 1909, the Mayors' Association of Illinois at its annual meeting in Elgin, adopted a resolution urging the trustees of the University to establish a municipal reference bureau for this state. What has been done has partially complied with this request, in so far as it could be done along the lines of the primary work of the University. But the University authorities have felt that the special expenses for dealing with specific inquiries should not come out of the University educational funds.

At the last two sessions of the General Assembly, bills have been introduced for definitely establishing such a bureau at the University, with a small appropriation from the state. This has been done in the case of the State

Water Survey; but thus far the bill for the municipal reference bureau has failed to pass.

This Illinois Municipal League and its members can be of assistance in securing the enactment of a state law for this purpose. Or it may be worth considering whether the cities may not by joint action provide the funds for establishing this bureau for their mutual benefit.

The basis for such a municipal reference bureau has been provided by the University, in its collection of materials, classified and catalogued and available for use. What is needed is the means to furnish a properly qualified man in charge of the collection, and to supply the necessary clerical and other assistance, in order to reply to special inquiries, and to prepare and publish bulletins and reports on subjects of interest to the municipalities of the state.

IMPORTANCE OF THE MUNICIPAL ENGINEER

IN AN EFFICIENT CITY ADMINISTRATION

BY IRA O. BAKER

Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Illinois

The two most important branches of city administration are those of public safety and public works. The term public safety is here used to include the police, the health department, and the fire department; and the term public works is used to include water supply, sewers, pavements, and public buildings. There are other important branches of city administration, for example, financial and legal; but the matters relating to public safety and public works, at least in the attention and amount of money required, are much the more important. In the amount of money expended the department of public works is more important than the annual appropriation to that department would seem to indicate; for that department not only spends a considerable proportion of the general taxes, but also spends very large sums raised by special assessments. It is not unusual for the annual budget to show an appropriation of one or two thousand dollars to the city engineer, while in fact that official may direct the expenditure of fifty to one hundred times this annual appropriation. The work involved in connection with the construction and maintenance of public works is largely of an engineering character; and therefore the engineer should have an important part in this branch of city administration. The writer has long been of the opinion that the importance of the city engineer in municipal affairs is usually underestimated, particularly in the smaller cities. The term "City Engineer" is nearly synonymous with the term "Civil En

gineer", and for the convenience of this discussion it will be assumed that the city engineer is, or should be, a civil engineer, although there are some functions connected with a city engineer's office that are not ordinarily considered as being in the field of a civil engineer. Of course, in this case the city engineer should employ one or more specialists, either temporarily or permanently.

The fact that the public generally under-estimates the opportunities for the city engineer and also the importance of his work is not unnatural; and is probably due to the fact that engineering as a profession is comparatively new, and that consequently the public does not generally understand the functions of the engineer. Not a few people assume that the usual county surveyor is a representative of the civil engineering profession; but in mental equipment and in engineering training the typical county surveyor is far from being a fair representative of the civil engineering profession, and the legal duties of the county surveyor are the simplest of surveying. Surveying is only one branch, and usually a minor feature, of the practice of a civil engineer. However, the surveying operations connected with the development of a city are important enough to warrant the employment of a really competent engineer; and the failure to have the surveying work properly done and properly recorded often seriously embarrasses the administrative officers, and not infrequently leads private citizens to expensive litigation that might have been easily prevented. But, if the only duties of a city engineer were properly to survey lots for private citizens, establish the elevation of a sidewalk, and determine the proper grade for a drain, then it would hardly be wise to consume the time of this meeting in considering the work of the city engineer.

The construction of public improvements involves numerous matters of a real engineering nature; and unless these matters are carefully studied, there may be a useless expenditure of money and perhaps a needless waste of human life. For example, the selection of a form of pave