and suggestions of each member of the Committee were finally incorporated, with the unanimous approval of the Committee, in the draft submitted to the League at its Indianapolis meeting in November, 1898. In presenting this preliminary report, the Committee took occasion to say that it did not "Apologize for presenting this outline sketch of its labors to fulfill the commission intrusted to it. The fact that a body of men of widely divergent training, of strong personal convictions, and who approached the matter in hand from essentially different points of view, should and did come to unanimous agreement that a Municipal Program was feasible and practicable, and had conferred, and by comparison of opinion were able to embody the result of their agreement in definite propositions, is a hopeful augury that the general body of the League, after a full opportunity for discussion, criticism, and interchange of views, can and will adopt either the Committee's propositions, or some improvement upon them. The Committee therefore presents its report with the confident expectation that after sufficient time and opportunity shall have been given for such further consideration which the importance of the subject demands, the members of the League will be able formally to present to their fellow-citizens in the United States a definite Municipal Program that will embody the essential principles that must underlie successful municipal government, and which shall also set forth a working plan or system, consistent with American industrial and political conditions, for putting such principles into practical operation. "The resolution of the League under which the Committee acted involved a task for which few, if any, precedents existed. The Committee was working to crystallize the result of the experiences of American and European cities, and at the same time to make the results of its labors practically ap plicable to our present conditions. Under such circumstances it became necessary to proceed with care, caution, and conservatism. The Committee keenly felt the necessity of bringing any system they might recommend into organic relation with the traditions and accepted political ideas of the American people." 66 At the request of the Committee, four of its members undertook to discuss the more important underlying principles that controlled the preparation of the amendments and act, in special papers which were submitted to and approved by the sevéral members of the Committee, and constituted an essential part of its report. These were:"The Municipal Problem in the United States," Horace E. Deming, Esq.; “ The Place of the Council and of the Mayor in the Organization of Municipal Government; The Necessity of Distinguishing Legislation from Administration," Dr. Frank J. Goodnow; "The City in the United States: The Proper Scope of its Activities," Dr. Albert Shaw;" Municipal Franchises," Mr. Charles Richardson. These four papers were read at the Indianapolis Conference, and published in its proceedings as part of the preliminary report of the Committee. These principal papers were in turn discussed in subsidiary papers by a number of students of the municipal problem, all of which were published in the proceedings of the Conference at Indianapolis. At this meeting the following resolution was adopted: Resolved, That the report of the Committee and the criticisms and suggestions which have been made at this Conference, or which may hereafter be submitted in writing, shall be referred back to the Committee, with instructions to complete their work and to report a Municipal Program for action at the next meeting of the League; and that the said Committee shall have power to fill vacancies and increase its number." In accordance with this action the Committee took into consideration the various suggestions and criticisms that had been offered through the medium of correspondence with a large number of persons throughout the country interested in municipal government, and through correspondence and frequent personal intercourse between the individual members. and prepared an official draft, which was submitted to a meeting of the Committee held in New York City in November, 1899, and formally adopted for presentation to the League at Columbus. In connection with the final draft, the Committee, following the plan that had been pursued at the Indianapolis meeting, submitted the following papers as part of the report of the Committee, and as explanatory of its principal features: "Political Parties and City Government Under the Proposed Municipal Program," Dr. Frank J. Goodnow; "Public Opinion and City Government Under the Proposed Municipal Program." Horace E. Deming, Esq.; "Public Accounting Under the Proposed Municipal Program,” Prof. L. S. Rowe. These papers, like those of the preceding year, were submitted to the criticism of the other members of the Committee, and had received their approval and, like the papers read at Indianapolis, constituted an essential part of the Committee's report. Following still further the Indianapolis precedent, these principal papers were in turn discussed at length in supplementary papers, prepared in advance at the invitation of the Committee. The volume herewith presented under the title, "Municipal Program," represents the result of two years of unremitting and painstaking endeavor to present, in accordance with the original resolution, "a working system consistent with American industrial and political conditions, and embodying the essential principles that must underlie successful municipal government in this country." The proposed Constitutional Amendments and the proposed Municipal Corporations Act constitute the Municipal Program which was unanimously adopted at the Columbus Conference. These two docu ments, together with the leading papers presented at the Indianapolis and Columbus meetings, and a "Summary of the Program," prepared by Prof. L. S. Rowe, constitute the report of the Committee. In addition to these papers the Committee have included in the book which is now presented to the public a paper by Hon. Bird S. Coler, Controller of the City of New York, on "The Power to Incur Indebtedness Under the Proposed Municipal Program"; a paper by Dr. Delos F. Wilcox entitled, " An Examination of the Proposed Municipal Program," both of which were read at the Columbus meeting; and a brief historical sketch of " Municipal Development in the United States," prepared by Dr. John A. Fairlie, of Columbia University, at the request of the Committee. THE COMMITTEE. TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE The Municipal Problem in the United States. The City in the United States-The Proper Scope of its Activi- The Place of the Council and of the Mayor in the Organization of Mu- nicipal Government-The Necessity of Distinguishing Legislation Political Parties and City Government under the Proposed Munici- Public Opinion and City Government under the Proposed Municipal |