Curing Cities

Why do big, prosperous cities— Chicago, for the most blatant ex-ample—have such frightful local governments? A Hottentot could give the answer; the electorates do not care.

But political economists care, and of all political economists, none cares more intensely than Dr. Augustus Raymond Hatton of Cleveland. Dr. Hatton has taught poli-tical science at Western Reserve University since 1907, has served on Cleveland’s city council since 1924. When he announced last week that he was leaving Cleveland, the reason was his deep interest in good city government.

Dr. Hatton had severed his Cleveland connections, had declined the deanship of the University of Detroit, to become a faculty member at Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.) and conduct there a re-search bureau, assured of $100,000 per annum for five years, for the International City Managers’ Association.

This Association is composed of representatives of some 350 cities in the U. S., Canada and New Zealand which are run by city managers. Dr. Hatton, an ardent promoter of the city manager movement, conceived the idea, last year, “that city managers generally are so engrossed in their own problems that they have little time to work out solutions of new problems of administration.” Dr. Hatton went to Rochester, N. Y. and told his idea to George Eastman, rich and earnest friend of better city government.

Mr. Eastman promised money. Northwestern University promised money. Others promised more money. Now the bureau will be gin work in Evanston; Dr. Hatton at its head. The title of its magazine: Public Management. The plan: to investigate city governments, rate their efficiency, offer to improve them by sending experts from the bureau to cure specific troubles, disseminate efficiency schemes through Public Management.

The city manager system much resembles the structure of a business corporation. There is a city council or commission like a board of directors, elected by the people. The councilors or commissioners sometimes appoint a vestigial sort of mayor whose functions are chiefly social. Their important appointee is an executive who man ages the actual government and then tells the council or commission about it.

The largest city-manager city is Cleveland. Dr. Hatton wrote Cleve land’s present charter, effective since 1924. Cleveland’s city man ager is William Rowland Hop kins, portly, amiable, obedient, elder brother of famed Stage Producer Arthur Hopkins.

Indianapolis lately voted 53,000 to 9,000 to become a city-manager city (TIME, July 4).

Twelve other important cities with managers: Grand Rapids, Cincinnati, Dayton (Ohio), Kansas City (Kan.), Sacramento, Fort Worth, Miami, Austin, New London (Conn.), Portland (Me.), Rapid City, Tampa.