Gemeinde-Verwaltung, Zurich, Switzerland. Boletin del Ayuntamiento de Madrid. Boletin Municipal de Barcelona; Administratiacion, legislacion y esta distica, Barcelona. Revista Municipal de Santiago de Cuba, Havana. ANNUALS. Proceedings of the National Municipal League. Municipal Engineers of the City of New York Proceedings. The Municipal Year Book, New York (1902). Municipal Year Book, London. Annual Review of the Commerce, Manufactures and the Public and Private Improvements of Chicago. Shaw's Local Government Manual and Directory for Unions, Urban and Rural District Councils, County Councils, Metropolitan Boroughs, London. Argus Municipal Guide. A Poll Book and Year Book Combined, London. Brooklyn League Year Book. An examination of this bibliography, would justify the claim that numerically there are certainly periodicals enough. The list is interesting as an exhibit to any one interested in all that relates to municipal reform and its development, and is a most encouraging document. Of course, if the League can in some way be made a means of intercommunication between the various publications and the various organizations which they represent, either by a periodical publication or by so adapting its printed bulletins or issues of various sorts to this form of inter-communication, it would be fulfilling a highly useful function; and your committee hopes that steps to that end may be in time taken, and perhaps be taken at once. THE SECRETARY: I should like to supplement what Mr. Howland said in regard to the number of periodicals referred to in the list submitted. The total is 149. That includes about 34 foreign publications of various types, and 7 or 8 Canadian publications, leaving somewhat over 100 periodicals in this country that are dealing with municipal problems in some form or another, and not including a very large number of publications issued by boards of trade, chambers of commerce and other business bodies dealing to an increasing extent with municipal questions. PRES. BONAPARTE: The next paper which is to be submitted to you is the Report of the Associated Harvard Clubs on School Administration, which will be presented by Mr. A. Julius Freiberg, of this city. [Applause.] MR. FREIBERG: I would like it understood at the outset that the report that will be spoken of in my paper is the report that was made by a special committee designated for that purpose; and I want it, of course, understood that we have absolutely nothing to do with the authorship of that report. Before I begin my paper I would like to call the attention of the meeting to a fact which has been referred to me by one of the members of the committee, namely, that there has been a great demand for this report from all over the United States. I will read from a letter I have just received: Harvard Clubs' "Just recently there was a call for a large number of copies from the city of Philadelphia. Cities in which the beneficent results of reform are already manifest are anxious for copies of the report as a means of helping to conserve the gains which have been made, as at Cleveland and Indianapolis. Other cities which are contemplating radical changes find in the report a valuable campaign document in which the wisdom of the new method of school administration is set forth. Several of the educational periodicals are reviewing the report, and from no source as yet has there been a single word of unfavorable comment." 66 Mr. Freiberg's paper on The Associated Harvard Clubs' Report on School Administration" will be found in the Appendix. MR. WOODRUFF: Mr. W. D. Lighthall, who is the distinguished and most inspiring Secretary of the Union of Canadian Municipalities, is deeply concerned in bringing the various organizations dealing with municipal problems in Canada, America and Europe into closer communication; and he has prepared a statement and asked me to transmit it to the Executive Committee, which I took great pleasure in doing. This title was placed on the program by the committee in order that the idea might be brought to the attention of our members and suggestions enlisted. Naturally such an ideal as an International Municipal Bureau is one involving a great many details, and requires a great deal of consideration. I am not formally authorized by the Executive Committee to say so, but I am sure I can of my own authority say that the Committee will be very glad indeed to have thoughtful and carefully worked suggestions as to the feasibility of this plan, and as to methods of working it out, should it be deemed feasible. The following Report of the Committee on the Coördination of Instruction in Municipal Government was presented by the Secretary on behalf of William Bennett Munro, Ph. D., Assistant Professor of Government at Harvard University, Chairman of the Committee: During the year 1907-1908 the Committee on the Coördination of Instruction in Municipal Government undertook an enquiry concerning the amount and nature of the instruction offered in the subject of municipal Instruction in government by the various colleges and universities of the United States. The results of this enquiry were published in the last volume of the League's Proceedings. For the year 1908-1909 the work of the Committee has been mainly that of taking up, with the authorities of those colleges which do not provide such instruction, the question whether they might not advantageously add, at least one course in municipal government to their curriculum of studies in political science. There is reason to believe that the report of the committee's investigation and its subsequent action in drawing the attention of various college authorities to the matter of special instruction in municipal science have had some favorable results. A considerable number of institutions reported, either to the secretary of the League or to the chairman of the committee that courses devoting special attention to the field of municipal government had been established. The Committee on Instruction, in consultation with the Executive Committee of the League chose as the subject for the Baldwin prize competition in 1909-1910 the topic: "City Government by Commission," and an announcement was issued giving an outline of the way in which this subject might be advantageously dealt with by competitors. It is the opinion of the Committee that the widest latitude, both as to scope and method, should be given contestants in this competition; but as every teacher of political science knows, the average undergraudate needs a certain amount of guidance in order to make good use of his opportunities, and it has seemed desirable to provide for him a general outline which he may follow if he so desires. In connection with this competition the Committee has from time to time received requests for a bibliography of material relating to the subject assigned for competition, and it was felt that, for the present year at least, the plan of having a short list of materials prepared and placed at the disposal of competitors might be a profitable experiment. Dr. Ford H. Macgregor of the Municipal Reference Bureau, Madison, Wisconsin, has been asked to prepare this list. In view of the wide interest in the system of city government by commission this bibliography will undoubtedly have a demand from many who are not directly concerned with the Baldwin prize. Baldwin Prize The Baldwin prize competition has brought forth each year a dozen or more essays, some of them extremely meritorious. Yet the Committee on Instruction feels that more essays would be submitted if the terms of the competition were more widely known and if teachers of political science were to take an interest in laying the matter before their students. It is the practice in most college courses to require from each student a thesis embodying the results of his special investigation into some assigned topic. Some teachers have been sufficiently interested in the Baldwin prize competition to accept from their students, in lieu of this regular thesis requirement, any essay which a student might prepare and submit as a contestant for the prize. This practice has seemed to work out so favorably in institutions where it has been given a trial that the Committee felt justified in issuing a circular letter to college teachers in which the general adoption of the plan was suggested. It is hoped that the competition in 1909-1910 will be considerably increased. There seem to be three matters which might engage the attending of the Committee on Instruction during the coming year. One is the preparation of a syllabus which might be used by teachers of municipal government in planning their courses, particularly by those teachers in the smaller colleges who have not had special training in this field of political science. This syllabus should not be too rigid in character and should be so ararranged that it would allow teachers considerable latitude in adapting it to their special tastes and aims. It ought to contain, in order to be of high service, an outline of a course of lectures, lists of required and optional readings, and suggestions as to suitable topics for special study. Other branches of political science have such aids at their disposal and have found them very serviceable. The Committee ought, in the second place, to consider and report to the League upon the possibility of having Professor Brooks's admirable Bibliography of Municipal Problems and City Conditions revised and The Brooks brought down to date. This work was printed in 1901 and in its time did much to smooth the paths of both teachers and students. But the intervening eight years have added greatly to the literature of the subject and this considerable mass of data has not been arranged in any single bibiliographical compilation. It is possible that, under the League's auspices, an arrangement with Professor Brooks might be made such as would permit a republication of the Bibliography in revised and extended form. A third important matter, which directly concerns every teacher of municipal government, is the present lack of a periodical publication devoting its pages to the field of municipal administration. When Municipal Affairs ceased to appear some half dozen years ago its loss was distinctly felt, and the gap which it left has never been properly filled. There is a conspicuous need for a regular publication which should serve as the official organ of the League and at the same time form an authoritative journal of municipal science. These and other like matters might well engage the attention of the committee on Instruction in co-operation with the League's executive committee. They form a substantial legacy of opportunities which the present committee finds it necessary to bequeath to its successor. Cambridge, Mass., November 10, 1909. MR. CHARLES H. INGERSOLL: I desire to bring before the open meeting a resolution on the subject of Mr. Howland's report on "Municipal Publications." It is perhaps in order for me to say that I have favored some start at a publication which would be a means of communication between the League's members, and might develop other very important features. I therefore present this resolution: Resolved, That the Secretary be hereby authorized to issue the matter heretofore contained in the so-called "Clipping Sheets in the form of a sheet with a caption to be selected by him. Resolution Resolved, That it is the sense of this meeting that the League should, if circumstances and finances will permit, issue a periodical, monthly if necessary, weekly if possible, and that the sheet herein authorized is designed to be the beginning of this important work. Resolved, That as the organ of the League this periodical shall be the medium of communication between League members, shall convey to municipalities the news of all progressive municipal movements and shall aim eventually to be a model for and aid to the establishment of local municipal papers. I think that my resolutions are comprehensive of my ideas. I do not know whether this subject is now open for discussion, but my object is if it were open for discussion, to hear from the lay members of the League. I have something to say later if there is to be discussion. PRES. BONAPARTE: You have heard the resolution. The Chair will be happy to hear from any one present who desires to speak on the subject. MR. GEORGE BURNHAM, JR., Philadelphia, Pa.: I should like to ask to what extent the resolution is mandatory or would involve the league in additional expense? As the treasurer of the league it is a matter of a great deal of interest to me. THE SECRETARY: The resolution reads, "that it is the sense of this meeting that the League should, if circumstances and finances will permit, etc." MR. BURNHAM: That seems to cover the ground. I simply wanted to say that we would have to be very careful about involving ourselves in expense; but if it is practically submitted to the judgment of the Executive Committee, as I suppose it is, why, I should think that would be quite safe. PRES. BONAPARTE: The resolution divides itself into two parts. The first is rather a matter of minor importance in itself; namely, the suggestion or direction that the Secretary publish what he now publishes in the form of clippings in the shape of a sort of bulletin. The second part is a very much more important matter, that this bulletin thus to be |