Is
municipal
operation of public utilities more economical
than private ownership and operation?
than private ownership and operation?
Beard - 1931 - Questions and Problems in American Government - Syllabus by Erbe
4. Do you think that State legislatures are ordinarily com-
petent to pass upon municipal problems?
5. Can cities be trusted to govern themselves?
6. List arguments for and against having education adminis-
tered by city government rather than by an independent board.
7. Should members of the city council be paid for full time,
allowed a small compensation, or serve without pay? Explain.
8. Is the City Manager plan adaptable to cities of all sizes?
9. Which of the following do you think gives the greatest
difficulty in municipal administration: the form of the govern-
ment, the personnel of the officers, or the indifference of the
voters?
10. Do municipal political parties exist? Is there any real
need for them? Explain.
11. Make a diagram showing how each of the three different
types of municipal government are organized.
12. How are cities and towns in your State classified?
13. What is the best type of budget for a city?
14. Has the income of municipal governments kept pace with
the increase of their functions?
15. Should tax exemption be used as a form of municipal poor
relief?
16. Do you think that it would be possible or desirable to
run a city on the "pay-as-you-go" plan?
17. Give reasons why or why not a municipally owned power
plant should pay taxes the same as a privately owned plant.
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? MUNICIPAL ORGANIZATION AND FINANCE 107
18. Do you believe that abutting property owners should be
required to pay for street paving? Explain.
19. Should the suffrage in municipal elections involving bond
issues be restricted to taxpayers?
20. Why should a municipal budget be submitted to a State
officer for approval?
References
Beard's Readings in American Government and Politics, New and Re-
vised Edition, Chap. XXVII.
Munro's The Government of the United States, Third Edition, Chaps.
XL-XLII.
Ogg and Ray's Introduction to American Government, Fourth Edition,
Chaps. XLI-XLIII.
Mathews' American State Government (1924), pp. 490-512.
Mathews and Berdahl's Documents and Readings in American Govern-
ment (1928), Chap. XXVIII.
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? CHAPTER XXXI
(pp. 750-785)
MUNICIPAL FUNCTIONS
1. Under what headings may municipal functions be classi-
fied?
2. Are municipal functions tending to increase or decrease?
What does this indicate?
3. What municipal activities are included in the department
of public safety?
4. Make a list of the activities that come under police ad-
ministration.
5. Why is it that police administration is so difficult?
6. Should there be State or local administration of police
functions, or both?
7. Describe the organization of the typical police force.
8. To what extent does politics enter into police adminis-
tration?
9. How are the courts related to police administration?
10. In what way might municipal judicial systems be im-
proved?
11. Of what importance is the juvenile court? What has it
accomplished?
12. Discuss briefly the office of public defender.
13. Describe the organization of the fire service.
14. How has the fire service been improved?
15. How extensive are our losses annually by fire? Does this
warrant the steps we are now taking to prevent fire?
16. What activities are included under the department of
public works and utilities? What are some difficulties encoun-
tered in this field of service?
108
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? MUNICIPAL FUNCTIONS 109
17. To what extent have municipalities gone into the business
of owning and operating public utilities? Is this desirable?
18. Do you agree that the municipal ownership of public
utilities should not be extended to revenue-producing industries
not involving public health, safety, and transportation, or the
permanent occupation of public streets or grounds?
19. Is politics involved in the operation of public utilities re-
gardless of whether they are under public or private ownership?
20. What conclusions may be drawn in regard to the success
or failure of municipal ownership of public utilities?
21. What has been done to regulate public utilities when
operated under private management?
22. What are the functions of the municipal department of
public health?
23. Give the organization of an ideal health department as
outlined by a committee of the American Public Health Asso-
ciation working in conjunction with the Federal Public Health
Service.
24. What effect has the modern public health service had
upon the medical profession?
25. Trace the development of public education in American
cities.
26. How is education usually administered in American
cities?
27. Should school administration be independent of control
by the city's government? Discuss.
28. What has brought about the changed attitude toward
social welfare?
29. Do you believe in this statement, "It is blessed to give
and always will be, but it is more blessed to use intelligence in
reducing the necessity of giving"?
30. List the major activities undertaken by a department of
social welfare.
31. Comment upon the amendment of 1917 to the Massachu-
setts Constitution which authorized all cities and towns to
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? no PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
provide food, shelter, and other common necessities of life to
the people at reasonable rates in time of war, emergency, public
exigency, or distress.
32. To what extent have American cities planned for their
future?
33. Is there a tendency at present to deliberately plan our
cities with a view to promote the welfare of all concerned?
34. How did the idea of city planning develop in America?
35. What motives led to the development of the single tax
idea?
36. What are the qualities of a good municipal adminis-
trator?
37. Do you think that the study of municipal government is
important? Why or why not?
Questions and Problems for Further Study and
Discussion
1. List the advantages and disadvantages of State supervi-
sion over municipal functions.
2. Is municipal government centralized for administrative
purposes?
3. Compare the organization of municipal government in
your city with that provided for in the Model Charter issued by
the National Municipal League.
4. Should the merit system be applied to the rank and file
of municipal employees?
5. How can the training of the police force be improved?
6. Would the establishment of a State police force solve the
problem of law enforcement? What States now have State
police?
7. Why is so much spent for fire protection and so little for
fire prevention?
8. What right has a city to prevent a man from operating a
filling station on his own premises?
9. Is a building code desirable for all cities?
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? MUNICIPAL FUNCTIONS
in
10. To what extent should the city assume responsibility for
the care of the sick?
11. Should a city take care of its own poor?
12. Do you think it possible or desirable to enforce smoke
abatement laws?
13. Are zoning ordinances unwarranted invasions of private
rights?
14. Are planned cities more desirable to live in than those
which are not planned?
15.
Is municipal operation of public utilities more economical
than private ownership and operation?
16. Is the citizen more concerned about the rates than about
who owns and operates the utilities?
17. Should a city build, own, and rent houses to its citizens?
Explain.
18. Is the indeterminate franchise more advantageous to the
city or to the public utility company? Explain.
19. Is there a danger of utility corporations controlling the
city rather than the city controlling the utility corporations?
20. Can the city council be trusted to safeguard the municipal
interests when dealing with public service corporations?
References
Beard's Readings in American Government and Politics, New and Re-
vised Edition, Chap. XXVIII.
Munro's The Government of the United States, Third Edition, Chap.
XLIII.
Ogg and Ray's Introduction to American Government, Fourth Edition,
Chaps. XLIV-XLV.
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? CHAPTER XXXII
(pp. 786-807)
LOCAL RURAL GOVERNMENT
1. Of what importance is the study of local rural government?
2. Is it true that "the foundations of national life rest
essentially on agriculture; if the cities were all destroyed to-
morrow, they could be renewed again; but if the countryside
were ravaged, every city would sink down in ruin"?
3. What is the relation of local rural government to State
Government?
4. What are the classes into which the States fall because
of the type of local government that has been adopted?
5. Explain the essential difference between the various types
of local government used by the American States.
6. Approximately, how many counties are there in the
United States? How do they compare as to size?
7. Describe the organization of the county's government.
8. What officers does a county have, how long do they serve,
how are they selected, and what are the duties of each?
9. What type of county board do you prefer? Explain.
10. Point out the functions of county government.
11. Distinguish between the town and township as units of
local government.
12. How is the work of the town carried on? The township?
13. Name the officers of the township, tell how they are
selected, and give the duties of each.
14. What units of local government are found in counties
where neither the town nor township exist?
15. What is a village and how is it governed?
112
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? LOCAL RURAL GOVERNMENT
16. In what way has local government been criticized? Do
you think these criticisms are just?
17. What remedies have been offered to perfect the weak-
nesses in local government?
18. Discuss the question of "Home Rule" for counties.
19. How is it suggested that commission government might
be used for the control of the county's affairs?
20. Do you think that there should be more or less super-
vision by the State over local government?
21. What promises are there for the future of local govern-
ment in America, and for those who live in rural areas?
Questions and Problems for Further Study and
Discussion
1. Are systems of local self-government the product of
tradition or the results of political necessity?
2. Is the relationship between the State and county, federal
or unitary in its nature?
3. To what extent should the areas of local government be
given local autonomy?
4. Is there any essential difference between the self-deter-
mination of nations and the self-determination or self-govern-
ment of local communities?
5. Can a system of local government be successfully im-
posed on a community by external authority, or must it grow
out of the experiences of the local community itself?
6. Should systems of local government be designed primarily
for popular control rather than for efficient administration?
7. Is the movement toward a greater degree of centralized
supervision of local areas inevitable?
8. Is it true that local government in Canada is more efficient
than it is in the United States?
9. Point out the difference, if any, between local self-
government and democratic government.
10. What do people desire most, good government or par-
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? ii4 PROBLEMS IN AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
ticipation in government? Which should they be educated to
desire most?
n. What stands in the way of adopting the merit system in
local government?
12. As a matter of fact, do people take more interest in the
affairs of the local community than in matters of national and
international concern?
13. Are there good reasons for declaring that county govern-
ment is the "worst government in the United States"?
14. Should county supervisors be expected to rely upon the
legal advice of an attorney whom they did not hire and can not
fire?
15. List the arguments for and against a public defender for
every county.
16. Would county assessment of property be an improvement
upon the present system of township assessment and county
equalization?
17. What is the so-called "City-County" problem?
18. What problems arise in connection with City-County
consolidation?
19. Is there any need of county government within the limits
of large cities?
20. How should the problem of the overlapping of the func-
tions of the county and the large city be solved?
21. Make a chart showing the organization of a typical county
government.
22. Make a chart showing how county government ought to
be organized according to your own conception of it.
23. Make a chart showing how county government ought
to be organized according to the recommendations of the leading
authorities in the field of local government. Compare these
charts and explain the differences that exist.
24. From what sources are the suggestions for reform in local
government coming? What are some obstacles in the way of
reform?
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? LOCAL RURAL GOVERNMENT 115
References
Beard's Readings in American Government and Politics, New and Re-
vised Edition, Chap. XXIX.
Munro's The Government of the United States, Third Edition, Chap.
XLIV.
Ogg and Ray's Introduction to American Government, Fourth Edition,
Chaps. XXXIX-XL, XLVI.
Bates and Field's State Government (1928), Chap. XVI.
Porter's County and Township Government in the United States (1922),
Chaps. XV-XVII.
Mathews and Berdahl's Documents and Readings in American Govern-
ment (1928), Chap. XXVII.
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? APPENDIX
POLITICAL TERMS AND EXPRESSIONS WITH WHICH
THE STUDENT SHOULD BECOME FAMILIAR
1. Abatement
2. Absolute pardon
3. Accessory
4. Accessories before the fact
5. Accessories after the fact
6. Accomplice
7. Acquittal
8. Adjective law
9. Adjourn sine die
10. Administration
11. Administrative personnel
12. Administrator
13. Affidavit
14. Alien
15. Amnesty
16. Appellate jurisdiction
17. Aristocracy
18. Arson
19. Assault and battery
20. Attorney-at-law
21. Attorney-in-fact
22. Bail
23. Bailiff
24.
