Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 1.djvu/566

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THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

7. One house is enough—to say the least.

8. Members should be paid reasonable and adequate salaries—and should not be expected to steal them.

So much for charter reform.

The next great feature of good legal environment is Civil Service Reform—the Merit System. This should embrace all appointees and employes except the chiefs of departments and their private secretaries.

And the next is Home Rule.

This means:—

1. A charter granted in a general incorporation law of the state.

2. The limits of taxation made by the state constitution and strictly general laws of the state.

3. A constitutional prohibition of special legislation.

4. No appointments of city officials made by any state authority.

And the next is Election Reform.

1. The Australian ballot.

2. Laws governing primaries—bringing primary elections under the regular and rigid control of law as other elections are.

3. A corrupt practices act—applicable to committees and candidates.

4. Separate city elections.

This concludes a summary statement of what I believe is needed in the legal environment and the mechanism of city government—a programme of municipal reform which would remove the present legal obstacles to the introduction of business methods.

Before passing to the second class of obstacles, I wish to mention an interesting item of nearly all programmes of municipal reform, which does not seem as clear a prospect to me as it does to many. I refer to the demand for non-partisan nominations. Most assuredly I should have no objection' to city government without national parties if that were possible. But having had a good deal to do, first and last, with the effort to separate city