TO MY STUDENT FRIENDS

Human need is the origin of all just government among men. Whether we are considering the home (our first contact with organized government) or the school (our second experience with formal control), or whether we are thinking in terms of the larger units of government, the village, the city, the town, the county, the state, the nation, or the relations existing between nations, the fact remains that all just laws, ordinances, regulations, or treaties are but the verbal expression of some human need.

Human need led the first settler, around the site of whose cabin has grown your beautiful city, to strew with boughs the pathway from his to his neighbor's hut, so that the inmates of the one might pass dry-shod to the home of the other. Thus it was human need which led to the construction of this primitive sidewalk in the "forest primeval,” and it is human need which causes us to make sidewalks, lay out streets and highways, build bridges, establish health, fire, and police departments, and to maintain schools, churches, playgrounds, parks, banks, stores, factories, railroads, telephones, telegraphs, postal systems, an army and navy, legislatures and congress, mayors, governors, and presidents; and for all these and many more we voluntarily tax ourselves in one form or another, since all are maintained out of the original income of the home for your need and mine.

Into this field of the study of human need as dealt with in the government of your village, city, town, county, state, and nation, and in our relations with other nations, you are

invited. The conditions which are rapidly developing in these various units of government call for grave consideration on the part of those who think straight on these questions. I can only wish you the joy that has been mine as I have written these lines to my young fellow countrymen. Upon your shoulders rests the future of American institutions. He who uses public office for private advantage is an undesirable citizen, and he who plots against the industries or government of his country is a traitor. The issues are great and demand clear thinking and far seeing, but there need be no fear as to how these issues are to be met and solved for mankind by the boys and girls of the American public school, the nation's bulwark and strong tower of defense, so splendidly garrisoned.

THE AUTHOR

ACTUAL GOVERNMENT OF

NEW YORK

PART I. GOVERNMENT OF THE LOCAL

UNITS

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Lest we Forget. The constitution of the United States, " and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding. The senators and representatives before mentioned, and the members of the several state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United States and of the several states, shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support" the constitution of the United States (see Appendix, p. liii). Thus the framers of the federal government made it clear that the government which they were organizing was first in point of authority. New states are admitted to the Union by act of Congress upon

specific terms detailed in the enabling act, which terms, in case of violation by state authorities, would be enforced by the federal courts (see Chapter XXV, p. 341).

Government and Business. In order that sewers, streets, public buildings, fire and police departments, etc. may be had and maintained, large sums of money are needed. Municipal government, that is, the government of a village or city, is, in many particulars, much like a department store, with its several departments of health, public safety, education, justice, etc., in which we are all stockholders and partners. It is to our interest to see to it that the fire department is well equipped, that its administration is efficient, that the water pressure is adequate, in order that our property may be protected from destruction by fire. This interest is on the same level as our interest in seeing that the grocer uses a pair of scales which will give us what we pay for. In no sense, however, can this business instinct be construed into meaning allegiance or love of country. We move from one village or city to another or from one locality to another in the same or different states with great frequency. Our relatives live in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and in other states under substantially the same conditions as we live. Leaving one's locality or state is entirely different from leaving one's country. However great our love for our state or locality, it is not so great as that for our country. It is this love of country which makes all state and local government secure and worth while, which leads men to forsake home, business, all personal interests, and offer themselves for their country's good. It was this love of country which defended the pass at Thermopyla, which led to "the charge of the light brigade," and which left five thousand sons of New York dead on the field at Gettysburg. No true American will slander the memory

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of those whose unselfish acts and deaths have made government in the smallest unit possible by intimating that it is essentially a business proposition." In the truest sense there is nothing yellow or jingoish in the sentiment which we sum up in the word "patriotism," the true foundation and motive power of all popular government.

Federal Government and the Individual. It is sometimes stated that the federal government is so removed from the individual in his daily round of duties that it is less important than the smaller units of state, county, and local government. Such statements are misleading. Through tariff laws the federal government may and has placed a tax upon practically every article of food and clothing and shelter, thus daily reaching the most obscure individual in the remotest cottage; it may and has placed a tax upon bank checks, express receipts, telegrams, and the like; it may and has entered any home in any state and forcefully taken the father, son, brother, or husband and put him up as a target to stop the bullets of the country's enemies; it may and has sent troops into a state to enforce federal laws; it may and has passed laws which have opened or closed down industries. It controls the postal system, the foundation of all business; it may declare any street, road, railroad, trolley, or steamship line a post road; its power over interstate commerce gives it practical control over our great railways and water routes, some of which it owns, and the present tendency is to increase federal power. It coins our money and establishes our weights and measures, thus entering into the most minute details of our daily business transactions. Not one of the above powers may be exercised by state,

1 Panama railroad and a steamship line from New York to this railroad are examples.