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tion of classification where there was room for reasonable men to differ as to what the classification should be. In the opinion which accompanied the decision, however, the court distinctly laid down that the declaration in the statute that a position is confidential does not ipso facto make that position exempt. The Page law reorganizing the inferior courts contained a clause declaring that the probation officers were the confidential employees of the justices, and this clause was one of the main grounds on which the appellate division held that the position should be made exempt. The decision of the highest court is of great importance to the merit system in New York City in keeping the probation officers out of politics, and the municipal civil service commission has taken a high stand in insisting that all the probation officers, who had been appointed without examination following the decision of the lower court that the places were exempt, should be dismissed and their places filled by appointments from the eligible list.

In another case-that of Merritt vs. Kraft-the New York court of appeals upheld the lower court in refusing to reverse the action of the state civil service commission in transferring from the competitive to the exempt class the thirteen positions of examiners of stock transfers in the state comptroller's office. The court handed down no opinion, resting its decision on the ruling in the case of People ex rel. Schau vs. McWilliams, referred to above, and the appellate division in its decision did not enter into the merits of the question of classification in any way whatsoever. In a third case, involving the question of the classification of sixty special excise agents in the New York State Department of Excise, the court on similar grounds has upheld the state civil service commission in refusing to transfer these positions from the competitive class, where they had been for fifteen years, to the exempt class. ROBERT W. BEECHER.

New York.

Wisconsin-Home Rule.-In the 1911 session of the Wisconsin legislature a socalled "Home Rule" bill was passed. The act gave every city the power to alter or amend its charter or to adopt a new charter by convention.

Every city, in addition to the powers now possessed, is hereby given authority to alter or amend its charter, or to adopt a new charter by convention, in the manner provided in this act, and for that purpose is hereby granted and declared to have all powers in relation to the form of its government and to the conduct of its municipal affairs not in contravention of or withheld by the constitution or laws, operative generally throughout the state. (1911, ch. 476.)

The constitutionality of the act was tested before the supreme court of the state, arising from the question of a proposed alteration of the charter by Milwaukee in order to allow the city to conduct the business of furnishing its citizens with ice. The court handed down a decision1 against the constitutionality of the act. The decision is based on the grounds that, since the constitution provides, that "it shall be the duty of the legislature . . . . to provide for the organization of cities" and since the legislative power is vested in the senate and assembly, a municipal organization can only be created by legislative act, that is, by legislative charter, and a legislative delegation of authority to make a city charter or a part of it is a delegation of legislative power and void.

The decision strengthens the principle that "Home Rule" in order to stand the test of the courts must be based not on legislative act alone but on a constitutional provision expressly authorizing it. GEORGE TIEFENTHALER.

Complications Under Direct Primary Laws. The indifference to party divisions in these days when party names are discharged of their significance gives rise to amusing and to party managers vex

1 State of Wisconsin, et rel. Carl T. Mueller vs. Carl D. Thompson, City Clerk of the City of Milwaukee.

atious-complications under the direct primary laws. It frequently happens that members of one party receive nominations to minor offices in another, and in a number of instances men have been actually chosen members of the election committees of the opposite party.

It may be that these confusions are merely the temporary effects of a new and complicated system, but there is much ground for the belief that the direct primary system presupposes valid and vigorous party divisions, and having performed an indispensable service in breaking up the intrenched and inveterate rule of bosses it should now be superseded, certainly in municipal elections by some method less exigent of popular attention in minor details and more responsive to broad currents of opinion.

Provisions of the New York direct primary, especially those prohibiting the placing of a name more than once, have been held unconstitutional by the supreme court in New York.

RICHARD W. MONTAGUE.

Portland, Oregon.

Charter Revision in Michigan.--Decisions previously mentioned in this column to the effect that Michigan cities must amend their charters by a general revision, not piecemeal, have been affirmed. A contention that the provision permitting such revisions applied only to cities incorporated under the general act was not sustained by the court, which held in Gallup v. Sagward that cities having legislative charters came under the law.

Municipal Pure Food Laws. A conviction for violation of pure food ordinances passed by the city of Chicago was upheld by the supreme court of Illinois' despite the contention that the state law did not cover the particular offense, and being later than the city ordinance, impliedly repealed it. The power thus pre

1 Chicago v. Ice Cream Manufacturing Company, 96 Northeastern Reporter 872.

served to municipalities to legislate upon matters of food cleanliness and adulteration as they arise is manifestly of the utmost importance.

Elections-Ballots.-The order in which the names of candidates shall appear on the ballot is the subject of a decision in Chicago. The court there held that the election board had no right to determine the order but that that function should be performed by the county clerk. The later legislation on this point most usually follows the Minnesota plan whereby the order is changed at intervals in the printing. Undue importance has probably been attached to this feature of the long ballots now in use. An analysis of a number of cases where it was insisted that results were materially affected by position on the ballot, showed that candidates placed lower down were readily elected where there was any ascertainable ground of preference-identification with a popular cause, a better known or better liked personality, etc., and that the choice of the better position was traceable as a cause only where all were obscure or unimportant. When that condition exists there is little hope of good results anyway.

Parks in Denver.-The supreme court of Colorado construing the constitution of the state with a commendable purpose to recognize and carry out its obvious intent holds the people of Denver have every power in making a charter possessed by the legislature, and that notwithstanding the failure to enumerate parks in a list of the objects for which land may be condemmed, the city may provide for the purchase and condemnation of lands for parkways.

Commission Charters in Oklahoma.The technical objections to the adoption of commission charters in Oklahama aris

2 Landaner v. Denver, 119 Pacific 157.

ing out of failure to observe certain formalities in the election have been declared insufficient, and the charter held properly adopted by the supreme court in the case of Mitchell v. Carter, decided March 12. The commission form of government has also recently been declared constitutional by the court of last resort in Nebraska.

Pueblo Charter Declared Legal.-On April 6 the Pueblo charter was upheld by the courts and a temporary halt in the contest over its legality brought about by the decision of Judge Rizer sustaining the city commissioners in the quo warranto proceedings instituted to oust them from office.

VII. SOCIAL AND MISCELLANEOUS

The City as a Socializing Agency.The March number of the American Journal of Sociology contains several articles of interest to students of the city problem. Several of them were papers presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Society.

The first paper is by Frederic C. Howe, on the City as a Socializing Agency, in which he lays emphasis on the physical basis of the city plan, his contention being that in America thus far we have been care takers rather than architects, and that our cities may be likened to the business man who neglects his factory in his efforts to perfect his system of bookkeeping. Too little attention has been given in America to the city plan. The laying out of streets for a city Mr. Howe believes is worthy of as much thought as the planning of a cathedral. In America we have failed to regard the city as a permanent thing, and have given no attention to its site, to the site of buildings, parks, etc., planned in advance of the city's needs. We have neglected its plumbing and at the same time its superstructure, all of which are matters of community concern.

The second paper is on the Urban Habit of Mind, by Howard B. Woolston, of the College of the City of New York. Mr. Woolston pleads for the recognition on the part of the citizens that the city is more than a place, a corporation, or a political unit, that in reality it is a spiritual unit, "growing, enlarging, and striving for a realization of an adjusted order in which all men may share."

The third article, by Jane Addams, is on Recreation as a Public Function in Urban Communities. In this paper Miss Addams maintains that the comradeship that grows out of the opportunities of the athletic field may become the basis for a new citizenship.

Municipal Cleanliness and Sanitation. The movement for municipal cleanliness and sanitation is rapidly gaining strength, and, in Washington, D. C., found expression in the city cleaning week designated by the commissioner for April 15-20. Baltimore is undergoing a thorough renovating under the stimulus of the Women's Civic League, which has declared relentless war against waste, flies, smoke and improper refuse disposal. The workers of the League have been organized as "walkers" and "talkers," carrying the campaign to the doors of the citizens. In Chicago, the Woman's City Club is conducting an effective campaign for city cleanliness by conducting a photographic contest for which amateur photographers under twenty years of age submitting Chicastreets in good and bad condition and school buildings that are what they should be and those that are not. The New York School Hygiene Association has outlined a definite program for school sanitation. It calls for discontinuance of the common drinking cup; for the substitution of moist for dry sweeping; for specific rules as to methods of cleaning and sanitation of school buildings;

for three lessons a week in hygiene for grammar grades instead of one as heretofore, and for adequate instruction in normal and training schools in methods of teaching personal and social hygiene.

Denver Civic Parade.-Denver Municipal Facts, in its issue of May 11, gives a graphic account of the Denver civic parade, held May 8. Although many European cities have been holding similar parades as a means of educating the citizen and tax-payer in regard to governmental matters and to stimulate civic pride, Denver is the first city in America to carry out the idea to complete proportions. The parade was three and a half miles long,' completely presenting the activities of the city, its departments and the county of Denver. It was a great lesson in the amount of work being done by the city, the number of men and women and pieces of equipment it requires to conduct the affairs of the government, and in general the progress that has been made in the past few years along municipal lines. A great civic parade was one of the unique features of the National Municipal League's meeting in Los Angeles, July 8-12.

International Movement for the Beautification of Cities.-A popular booklet in French has been recently issued dealing with the international movement for the beautification of cities. The booklet which is by Georges Benoit-Levy is entitled La Ville et son Image and its seventy pages are profuse with maps and photographs of landscape work in the United States, Great Britain and Europe. Besides the popular presentation of much recent material concerning particularly American conditions there is a section of valuable references to the leading authorities on the new landscape art both here and abroad. The movement in England is given particular mention and one entire chapter is devoted to the playground movement in the American cities.

The booklet brings out in a striking way international unity in developing the health and beauty of our cities.

Voluntary Idleness in Berlin.-On March 4, the Kommunalkommission of the Prussian Herrenhaus made a report on the proposed law for the regulation of voluntary idleness and failure to provide. During the discussion of the report on March 7, the mayor of Berlin made the statement that the number of the voluntary idle is perhaps nowhere as great as it is in Berlin. Over 5000 persons are accommodated nightly in the municipal refuge. Upon being put to vote, a majority voted in favor of the measure. In the event of its becoming a law, it will be operative on October 1.

Philadelphia Vice Commission.-On June 1, Mayor Blankenburg, of Philadelphia, announced the appointment of a commission of twenty-one citizens, with William Clarke Mason, Esq., chairman, to study the problem of vice in Philadelphia and to make recommendations for minimizing or eliminating the evil in the city.

Texas Housing Problem is the title of "a study of physical conditions under which the other half lives," reprinted from the Galveston-Dallas News in November and December of last year. These newspapers have done a splendid work in bringing to the attention of the residents of Texas cities the actual housing conditions existing in them.

Chicago Summer School of Civics.The Chicago Summer School of Civics and Philanthropy, of which Prof.Graham Taylor is director, opened on June 24 and will continue to July 26. The sessions will be devoted particularly to Community Coöperation for Social Service.

Landscape Architecture and Civic Problems. Phelps Wyman, of Minneapolis, has issued a pamphlet on Landscape Architecture, its Application to Civic and Semi-Public Problems, which combines in a happy way art and commercialism.

The Public Recreation League of Boston is making a novel attempt to popularize the public parks of the city by conducting a series of informal Saturday afternoon walks and outings in the parks of Boston and vicinity.

Recreation Centers.-The Playground for April contains a detailed statement concerning recreation centers in the leading states and cities of the country. It also contains a list of the available playground workers.

Personal Mention.-E. O. Edgerton has resigned as secretary of the Los Angeles Municipal League to accept an appointment at the hands of Governor Johnson as a member of the new state board of public utilities. Charles D. Willard has been elected to succeed to the vacancy. The many friends of Mr. Willard will be delighted to learn that his health will permit him to reassume the position which he filled with so much usefulness and credit.

Howard Strong has been elected general secretary of the Cleveland Municipal Civic and Commerce Association which represents the merger of several business bodies into one strong, vigorous organization. Mr. Strong for ten years has been an assistant secretary of the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce.

Frederic C. Howe, former State Senator of Ohio, author of The City, the Hope of Democracy has been elected director of the People's Institute of New York in succession to the late Charles Sprague Smith.

The withdrawal of Robert C. Brooks, professor of political science, from the faculty of the University of Cincinnati to return to Swarthmore College has brought forth expressions of universal regret from the student body of the University of Cincinnati. The University Weekly News refers to the loss of the University: "He has resigned, his resignation has been accepted, and still we shout out opposition to it."

Frank G. Henderson, former secretary of Mayor Alexander of Los Angeles, has been appointed a member of the public service commission of Los Angeles to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Parley M. Johnson. The appointment is a promotion for the merit Mr. Henderson manifested as secretary to the mayor.

Among the appointments made by Governor Johnson of California has been that of Dr. John R. Haynes of Los Angeles as a member of the state board of charities. Dr. Haynes is one of California's best known public men, and has been conspicuously identified with the movement for direct legislation and perfection of a direct primary system for his state.

On an indictment charging him with taking money unlawfully in connection with a paving contract while chief executive, Mayor Edwin W. Packer of Long Branch was fined $500 and costs by the court after pleading non vult.

At Richmond, President Foulke of the National Municipal League referred to the splendid work which had been done by Dr. Adickes, the mayor of Frankfort, Germany. Whereupon, the Hon. Walter L. Fisher, secretary of the interior, who was presiding, said: "I do not know that it will help to explain the problem which President Foulke has been discussing this evening, but perhaps it will interest him and you, as it has me, to know that Dr. Adickes, the Ober Burgermeister of Frankfort, is a member in regular and ordinary standing of the National Municipal League."

Professor Frank Greene Bates, formerly of the University of Kansas, has

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