tion of progressive teachers in the task of bringing about the desired change. It is a very reasonable hope that in a comparatively short time all the high schools in Greater New York will be giving the civics instruction so urgently needed to all the boys and girls who enter their doors. Once New York or any other important educational center shows the way, we may confidently expect the movement to spread rapidly. Judging from the numerous communications the Chairman of your Committee has received there is already widespread interest in the subject.

The time is therefore ripe apparently for us to offer definite recommendations on the make-up of a proper course of study in the new subject, whose value as a part of the curriculum will depend chiefly upon the manner in which it is presented. On the whole it is fortunate that a text-book is hardly possible except as a supplementary aid, for there is grave danger that a study of municipal activities based upon a text-book would take on too much of an academic character and interfere with or minimize the first-hand observation and investigation on the part of both pupil and teacher which are of primary importance in realizing the aims of the work. However there are some books with which the teacher should familiarize himself, among them such works as Baker's Municipal Engineering and Sanitation, Eaton's The Government of Municipalities, Fairlie's Municipal Administration, Wilcox's The American City, Zueblin's American Municipal Progress, and Shaw's excellent books. These are useful in a broad, general way. The teacher should make copious use of the city charter and reports of the various city departments, such as health, tenement house, parks, schools, etc. The pupil's chief reliance will be on the city charter apart from the teacher's instruction and his own observation and investigation.

The course might well be outlined in the following general way:

I. A brief consideration of the way in which government in general arises with a discussion of the rise of a village and its development into the city. The pupil will be led to note the extension of the co-operative idea from its simple manifestation in the primitive community to the comprehensive undertakings

of a modern metropolis. The relation of the city to the state will be made clear in this discussion and a proper understanding of what a city charter is be given.

II. Following immediately upon this brief introductory study which will take on added meaning as the course progresses should come a study of what may properly be considered the central element of city life-the street. Here we can appeal directly to the pupil's own experience and observation in a marked degree, and we are sure of his interest when the work is related so closely to his daily life. It is probably worth while to give a pretty full outline of the topics to be taken up in a study of the city street. The one which follows has been in successful use for several years in the High School of Commerce in New York, and naturally covers some points of slight importance in other cities.

THE STREET, THE CENTRAL ELEMENT OF CITY LIFE.

(a) How streets are made.

(b) To whom they belong.

(c) Who pays for their improvement.

(d) What they are used for and what they contain:

1. Roadways for traffic. 2. Sidewalks. 3. Gutters. 4.
Sewers. 5. Water pipes. 6. Telegraph, telephone
and electric light wires. 7. Car tracks. 8. Subways.
9. Gas pipes. 10. Conduits.

A. Which of these belong to the City government?
B. Who controls each of these.

in the city charter.)

(Exact officials as found

C. How these public utilities came to be in the streets.
D. Franchises; what are they?

THE STREET.

(a) The proper arrangement of streets.

(b) The defects of the local system as compared with that of

other cities.

Why our street system was laid out as it is.

(d) The surface of the street.

1. Paving.

a. The various kinds, comparative advantages and costs. b. The importance of good paving to the business interests, as shown in transportation charges.

c. Why the surface of the streets is not better, and who suffers from it.

(1) Poor paving at the beginning, and the reason for it.

(2) Constant tearing up of the streets and failure to replace property.

(3) Remedy for these evils.

A. The conduit or subway.

1. Why we do not have it.

2. Additional evils resulting from its absence. a. Waste of gas.

b. Waste of water.

c. Difficulty of making repairs.

d. Injury to health and vegetation.
Poisonous gases.

Uncleanliness.

2. The cleaning of the streets.

a. Who has charge of it.

b. What it costs.

c. Why necessary.

d. How the department is run.

e. What is done with the refuse and what should be done.

f. Duties of the householder.

g. How we may keep the streets cleaner.

h. The sprinkling of the streets.

1. By whom done.

3. The regulation of traffic.

a. Who makes the regulations (ordinances, rules).

b. Who enforces them, such as the direction and speed of traffic.

c. The encumbering of sidewalks and streets.

d. The restriction of certain streets.

e. Remedies for the congestion of traffic, as tunnels, belt lines, etc., for freight.

f. The growth of business limited by traffic.

4. Sidewalks.

d. Right of the citizens to demand good sidewalks. e. Blocking the sidewalk.

5. Gutters.

a. Whose business to keep clear of ice, snow or dirt.

b. Whose business to enforce the law and who makes the law.

6. The sewer system.

a. How and by whom sewers are put in.

b. Who pays for them.

c. Who has charge of them.

d. How connected with the houses.

e. How the sewage is disposed of.

f. What is done in other cities and what should be done here.

g. The importance of a good sewer system to the health of the community.

7. The water supply.

a. Why the city and not the individual furnishes the supply of water in a great city.

b. Why the water supply conditions the growth of the city.

c. Where we obtain our present water supply and how it reaches us.

d. Who has charge of the water supply.

e. The total and per-capita supply of water in the city. f. How water is paid for.

g. The danger of a water famine.

1. How it can be averted.

(a) Saving the water by the repairing of leaks, using metres, etc., salt water for fires and cleaning streets.

(b) New source of supply. The difficulties.

h. The advantages of city ownership over private com

pany.

i. Cost of water supply.

8. Lighting the streets.

a. How is it done.

b. What it costs.

c. Who has charge of it.

d. Should it be done by city or private company.

e. The use of the streets for carrying pipes and wires. f. Who controls this use.

g. The control over these companies by the city or state. h. Ought the city furnish light to citizens for their private purposes.

i. How the furnishing of light and fuel differs from furnishing meat and groceries.

j. Who gives the right to place telegraph and telephone wires.

Why should they be underground.

(a) Appearance. (b) Light. (c) Fire.

9. Transportation by cars in the streets. a. The giving of franchises, why?

b. What is paid for a franchise?

c. Who has jurisdiction over street railways and to what extent?

d. Should the city own them.

e. Importance of street passenger transportation in the life of the city.

f. What cheaper fares could do for the city. 10. The rights of citizens on the streets.

a. Laws and ordinances which secure these, as those against disorderly conduct, crowding, ball playing, excessive speeding and those regulating processions, banners, etc.

II. Licenses to use streets.

a. What businesses require to be licensed and why.
b. How licenses are secured.

III. Part III of the course takes up the matter of protection to life and property by the various departments of the city government as follows:

Protection to life and property by

I. The Police Department.

2. The Department of Education.

3. Fire Department.

4. The Courts and Department of Correction.

5. The Health Department.

6. The Tenement House Department.

7. The Bureau of Buildings.

8. The Park Department,

9. The Charities Department.

1. Police.

Policing the Streets.

The organization and management of the police department. The duties of policemen. The importance of an honest and efficient police department. Why this department is so often criticized. The evils of graft and why it exists. State or county control of Police. Should the head rise from the ranks. Should his position be permanent. The rights of citizens as against the police. How to make complaints. Serving warrants. The police control over traffic, street crowds, push carts, etc.

2. Education.

The educational law and why it exists. Why the city furnishes free education. The organization of the department of education. The method of appointment of officials and the