ing in the constitution of the state these provisions authorizing cities which have over a certain population to formulate their own system of government:

Sec. 8. Any city containing a population of more than three thousand five hundred inhabitants may frame a charter for its own government, consistent with and subject to the Constitution [or re-frame a charter], by causing a board of fifteen freeholders, who shall have been for at least five years qualified electors thereof, to be elected by the qualified voters of the said city, at any general or special election, whose duty it shall be, within ninety days after such election, to prepare and propose a charter for such city, which shall be signed in duplicate by the members of such board, or a majority of them, and returned, one copy to the Mayor thereof, or other chief executive officer of such city, and the other to the Recorder of the county.

How the

charter is

drafted.

Publication

and ratifi

Such proposed charter shall then be published in two daily newspapers of general circulation in such city, for at least twenty days cation. and the first publication shall be made within twenty days after the completion of the charter; provided, that in cities containing a population of not more than ten thousand inhabitants such proposed charter shall be published in one such daily newspaper; and within not less than thirty days after such publication it shall be submitted to the qualified electors of said city at a general or special election and if a majority of such qualified electors voting thereon shall ratify the same, it shall thereafter be submitted to the Legislature for its approval or rejection as a whole, without power of alteration or amendment. Such approval may be made by concurrent resolution, and if approved by a majority vote of the members elected to each house it shall become the charter of such city, or if such city be consolidated with a county, then of such city and county, and shall become the organic law thereof, and supersede any existing charter, . . . all amendments thereof, and all laws inconsistent with such charter. A copy of such charter, certified by the Mayor or chief executive officer, and authenticated by the seal of such city, setting forth the submission of such charter to the

Amendment

of the charter.

Classes of cities

Special city laws.

electors, and its ratification by them, shall, after the approval of such charter by the Legislature, be made in duplicate, and deposited, one in the office of the Secretary of State, and the other. after being recorded in said Recorder's office, shall be deposited in the archives of the city, and thereafter all courts shall take judicial notice of said charter.

The charter, so ratified, may be amended, at intervals of not less than two years, by proposals therefor, submitted by the legislative authority of the city to the qualified electors thereof, at a general or special election, held at least forty days after the publication of such proposals for twenty days in a daily newspaper of general circulation in such city, and ratified by a majority of the electors voting thereon, and approved by the Legislature as herein provided for the approval of the charter. Whenever fifteen per cent. of the qualified voters of the city shall petition the legislative authority thereof to submit any proposed amendment or amendments to said charter to the qualified voters thereof for approval, the legislative authority thereof must submit the same. In submitting any such charter, or amendments thereto, any alternative article or proposition may be presented for the choice of the voters, and may be voted on separately without prejudice to others.

200. The New York Check on the Legislature

New York has sought to find the middle ground between local autonomy and state centralization by the following constitutional provision:

All cities are classified according to the latest state enumeration, as from time to time made, as follows: The first class includes all cities having a population of one hundred and seventy-five thousand or more; the second class, all cities having a population of fifty thousand and less than one hundred and seventy-five thousand; the third class, all other cities.

Laws relating to the property, affairs of government of cities, and the several departments thereof, are divided into general and

special city laws; general city laws are those which relate to all the cities of one or more classes; special city laws are those which relate to a single city, or to less than all the cities of a class. Special city laws shall not be passed except in conformity with the provisions of this section. After any bill for a special city law, relating to a city, has been passed by both branches of the Legislature, the house in which it originated shall immediately transmit a certified copy thereof to the mayor of such city, and within fifteen days thereafter the mayor shall return such bill to the house from which it was sent, or if the session of the Legislature at which such bill was passed has terminated, to the Governor, with the mayor's certificate thereon, stating whether the city has or has not accepted the

same.

In every city of the first class, the mayor, and in every other city, the mayor and the legislative body thereof concurrently, shall act for such city as to such bill; but the Legislature may provide for the concurrence of the legislative body in cities of the first class. The Legislature shall provide for a public notice and opportunity for a public hearing concerning any such bill in every city to which it relates, before action thereon. Such a bill, if it relates to more than one city, shall be transmitted to the mayor of each city to which it relates, and shall not be deemed accepted unless accepted as herein provided, by every such city. Whenever any such bill is accepted as herein provided, it shall be subject as are other bills, to the action of the Governor. Whenever, during the session at which it was passed, any such bill is returned without the acceptance of the city or cities to which it relates, or within such fifteen days is not returned, it may nevertheless again be passed by both branches of the legislature, and it shall then be subject as are other bills, to the action of the Governor. In every special city law which has been accepted by the city or cities to which it relates, the title shall be followed by the words "accepted by the city," or "cities," as the case may be; in every such law which is passed without such acceptance, by the words "passed without the acceptance of the city," or "cities," as the case may be.

Public

hearings and

action on

bills.

Overlegislation.

Larger powers to localities.

Absence of

tion.

201. The Leading Difficulties in City Government

A committee appointed by the New York legislature in 1890 to investigate the conditions and problems of modern city government came to the conclusion that the following were the chie difficulties underlying the question of city government in tha state:

Our investigations result in the conclusions that the chief difficulties which underlie the government of cities in this State are fourfold.

First. Overlegislation and too frequent yielding on the part of the Legislature to the importunities of representatives of the various cities for the passage of special or local bills. In our opinion the Constitution should be amended so as to protect cities against the power of individuals to appeal to the Legislature, and to protect the Legislature from the necessity of entertaining such appeals by restricting its power to legislation by general laws.

Second. The absence of a general law for the government of all cities in the State, whereby larger powers should be granted to local authorities and the Legislature correspondingly relieved.

Third. The absence of a complete and accurate information full informarelative to municipal administration, and as incident to this, the tion on city administra- necessity for the enactment of a law which shall require a series of systematic annual reports to be filed by each municipality with some proper State officer, setting out with sufficient fulness and detail the classes of administrative and financial facts which we refer to hereafter, in order that the Legislature and the people may be enabled to advise themselves fully, and at all times, with regard to the general condition of the government of cities, so far as the same can be made apparent by means of an accurate and systematic publication of reports showing the indebtedness, taxation and expenditure of such cities.

Fourth. The subordination of city business to the exigencies of State and national politics. . ..

Under the existing system, stability of city government is a

changing

to cities.

practical impossibility. The officers of our municipalities find it Constant impossible to determine upon any general policy whatever looking of laws towards better administration with the expectation that any such relating policy can ever be carried out to its proper and logical conclusion. This is due not only to the continued possibility of legislative interference, but because of the pertinacity with which interested parties or local authorities appeal to the Legislature year after year in matters affecting city government from the most important to the most insignificant - thus depriving the cities of their administrative autonomy, and subjecting them to conditions which do not prevail in the administration of the business of any other corporation whatever. For this the people are themselves very largely to blame, because of their indifference to the policy of their local authorities and their failure to protect both themselves and the Legislature by a knowledge and disclosure of the facts. These are conditions which, if applied to the business of any other corporation, would make the maintenance of a continued policy and a successful administration as impossible as they are to-day in the government of our municipalities, and produce waste and mismanagement such as is now the distinguishing feature of municipal business as compared with that of private corporations. The situation then is as follows:

That it is frequently impossible for the Legislature, the municipal officers, or even for the courts to tell what the laws mean. That it is usually impossible for the Legislature to tell what the probable effect of any alleged reform in the laws is likely to be. That it is impossible for anyone, either in private life or in public office, to tell what the exact business condition of any city is, and that municipal government is a mystery even to the experienced. That municipal officers have no certainty as to their tenure of office. That municipal officers can escape responsibility for their acts or failures by securing amendments to the law. That municipal officers can escape real responsibility to the public because of the unintelligibility of the laws, and the insufficient publicity of the facts relative to municipal government. That local authorities

Confusion certainty in the laws.

and un