By the adoption of the topical method it is believed that a more convenient arrangement for study has been provided.
Wherever statutory legislation has supplemented constitutional provisions herein considered, the author has endeavored so far as practicable to make use of such material. Some of the newer institutional forms of democracy which have recently been enacted into law, such as the primary election, the commission plan of city government, and the like, have been included in the discussion. Statutory provisions are, of course, subject to change at any session of the General Assembly; and so, a text-book on State and local government must always be supplemented by legislation enacted subsequent to its publication.
The purpose of the author has been to explain both the organization and the functions of government. Nor has he hesitated to express freely his own opinions relative to the organization or activities of the State. Teachers and students alike must always bear in mind the fact that government in the United States is popular government, and that changes in organization and administration are constantly being made to meet the most recent demands of the people. The old notion that the individual exists for the State has been discarded: we now say that the State exists for the individual. Government is a very human institution and at every point the human element is apparent. It should be the duty of the teacher to instil sound notions of public morality, to teach both the spirit and the letter of the law, and to encourage the pupil to observe for himself the actual workings of government so
