2. Dangers in our educational system. Hall, G. S., in New England Magazine, 35 (1907), 667-675.

3. Industrial education in United States. Becker, C. M., in World To-day, 13 (1907), 1117-1124.

4. Practical education. Johnson, C. C., in World's Work, 10 (1905), 6365-6373.

5. State aid to high schools. Bolton, F. E., in Educational Review, 31 (1906), 141-166.

6. The doctor in the public school. Cronin, J. J., in Review of Reviews, 35 (1907), 433-440.

7. New York "Craig Colony." Brooks, S., in Review of Reviews, 21 (1900), 313–317.

8. Country library pioneering in Massachusetts. Titus, E. K., World To-day, 9 (1905), 1188-1194.

9. Municipal playgrounds.

Boston; Lee, J., in New England Magazine, 27 (1902), 521-536. Chicago; McNutt, G. L., in Independent, 57 (1904), 612–617. 10. Grouping of public buildings in Cleveland. Baxter, E. C., Review of Reviews, 31 (1905), 561-566.

in

in

11. Public squares in city and village. Baxter, S., in Century Magazine, 71 (1906), 860-870.

12. Park development in United States. Crawford, A. W., in Annals of American Academy of Political Science, 25 (1905), 218–234.

13. The Parks of Chicago. Foreman, H. G., in Century Magazine, 69 (1905), 610-620; Perkins, D. H., in World To-day, 8 (1905), 268274; Foreman, H. G., in World To-day, 13 (1907), 902–912.

14. Seaside parks of Eastern cities. Baxter, S., in Cosmopolitan, 33 (1902), 425-435.

15. Small parks of Philadelphia. Crawford, A. W., in Outlook, 77 (1904), 35-44.

16. Golden Gate Park, San Francisco.

land, 37 (1901), 735-765.

Gibson, R. M., in Over

17. State and city parks. Review of Reviews, 35 (1907), 561-578. 18. Protection of Galveston from the sea. Davis, W. W., in Review of Reviews, 33 (1906), 200–205.

Questions

1. What are the boundaries of this school "district"? How many schools are located in it? Learn the number of teachers, the total attendance of scholars, and the cost of maintaining the schools.

2. How many members are there in our school board? Do all go out of office at the same time? Is it the custom to reëlect these officials?

Who issues teachers' certificates ? From whom do our teachers get their pay?

How many

3. Is there more than one high school in this city? pupils attend it? Learn the number of pupils in all of the public schools of the city. What is the yearly cost of supporting the schools? Have we a public municipal library ?

4. What forms of charity are administered by the local government under which we live? How successful has it been?

5. Name the principal parks of this city.

general playgrounds? special playgrounds?

Does the city maintain

6. Have we high license, low license, or prohibition? Is local option permitted in this State?

Views of desirable relations.

Government and ordinary business.

Government and public interests.

CHAPTER XI

SUPERVISION OF COMMERCIAL INTERESTS

136. Government in its Relation to Business. Modern governments are very closely connected with the business interests of the people, although there is considerable difference of opinion regarding the closeness and character of these relations. Many people believe that government should limit itself to warding off dangers from which a business man cannot possibly protect himself; others advocate the greatest amount of aid to business, in the form of favorable legislation and actual money subsidies; but the majority believe that business should be protected and promoted as much as may be demanded by the best interests of the whole people.

So much of our ordinary business is transacted through corporations, which are really artificial persons created by the State, that supervision of corporations is essential. So much business, at least ninety-five per cent, is done not with cash, but on credit, that safeguards are necessary to preserve a credit system. Contracts, written or unwritten, play so large a part in commercial transactions that indefiniteness in the law of contracts or laws affecting parties engaged in business, or uncertainty in the enforcement of such laws, would be fatal to industry and commerce. Moreover, every line of activity is depressed by unjust, discriminating laws, and is benefited by the wise, fostering legislation.

Many undertakings are of such a nature that they must be performed or specially supervised by our governments. Canals or railways are semi-public enterprises or common carriers which cannot be allowed to manage their business

to the disadvantage of any person or community. Improvements of a public nature, like the location and improvement of highways, should not be left to private parties. Essentials like water for cities should be owned and managed by the public. Government must have special power of regulation, and, if necessary, prohibition over necessary but dangerous or objectionable industries such as powder factories, gas works, or garbage incinerators. In its final analysis the power to regulate must include, if necessary, the power to prohibit.

TRANSPORTATION

ment of Towns and

137. Public Highways. Among the most necessary im- Laying out city streets. provements made by our governments or under their supervision are the streets of our cities and the rural roads. The location is the first question to be considered. City Robinson, streets are usually laid out in convenient rectangular blocks, civic beauty having been disregarded in most of our cities. Washington is a notable exception, since its avenues connecting the public buildings give an impression like that created by Paris or Vienna. Very often, streets are located according to no definite plan, so that not only beauty but convenience is lacking.

Cities,

18-33.

The problem of locating city streets is much less serious Location of than that of rural roads, the latter having been neglected rural roads even more than that of city streets. The earliest good roads in this country, constructed by private turnpike companies, usually connected important villages or cities, but since private construction has given place everywhere to government construction, which means ordinarily maintenance by towns or small counties, no definite principles of engineering or public policy have been followed. There has been no proper classification of rural highways as through roads or local roads. Little attempt has been made to find the best route between two centers of population, or have its feeders constructed at the right points, or along the best

Process in securing a right of way.

The improvement of

rural roads.

course. No account is taken of hills, which are crossed with heavy grades on both sides, or even rivers, which must be forded or bridged at considerable expense.

The right to lay out streets is given to the city council, and for rural highways is conferred usually upon the county boards. Streets are ordinarily cut through before the property becomes valuable, but at times it is necessary to open a new street or widen an old one at great expense. When streets or roads are needed, rights of way are obtained from the property owners if possible, at a price acceptable to the owners and the officials. If they disagree concerning the value of the right of way, the government exercises the right of eminent domain, which permits some court, after investigation, to condemn the property and to appoint referees, who fix a reasonable price which the government shall pay.

138. Improvement of Highways. We Americans have not yet learned that, particularly in road making, the best is the cheapest. Most of our rural roads are broad, flat stretches of dirt, with heavy grades, and in rainy weather or in the spring, an appalling amount of mud. We are beginning to realize that a team can haul several times as heavy a load over a hard-surfaced road with minimum grades as it can on the ordinary dirt road in fair weather. At present, the cost White, W.P., of the property required for a road, of grading it and of

Potter, I. B., in Century, 43 (1892), 803-820.

in Outing,

51 (1907), 221-228.

National

and state aid.

surfacing it, is usually borne in the form of a road tax by all the property owners of the road district in which it is located. In many parts of the United States, farmers are allowed to "work out" their road taxes, contributing a certain number of days' labor with or without teams. This custom is becoming rarer, for gradually road making is being reduced to a science. Since good roads are in the end found to be more economical than poor roads, the surfacing of the highways is now quite frequently left to engineers and their assistants. The national government has sent roadmakers to different parts of the country, giving object les