V. CONCLUSIONS. This pamphlet has sought to give in detail the information that may be desired by the constitutional convention in dealing with the local problems of Chicago and Cook County. The data have been collected upon the assumption that they should throw some light upon the issues involved in the adoption of any one of the various alternatives. for the solution of these local problems. The several alternatives have been stated and discussed, with the object merely of presenting the issues which may in one form or another present themselves in the deliberations of the convention. It is assumed, however, that the constitutional convention, if it frames constitutional provisions upon this matter, will deal only with the general issues, without seeking to place the details of local organization in permanent constitutional form. The constitution of 1870 prescribes in detail the present governmental organization and judicial system of Cook County; and detailed provisions framed for a county of 350,000 have naturally ceased to be fully applicable to the county after its population has increased eightfold. The Chicago amendment to the constitution, adopted in 1904, was also detailed in character, and does not permit the solution of Chicago's governmental problems. If the important and changing problems of Chicago and Cook county are to be satisfactorily solved, the plan may well be resorted to of making it possible to meet these problems without serious constitutional restrictions. The discussion in this pamphlet of the plans adopted in other large urban communities is of value as indicating what has been done elsewhere under somewhat similar conditions, but emphasis should be laid upon the fact that the experience of one community is not precisely applicable to the problems of another. Cook County and the City of Chicago present problems of a type different in many important respects from those presented by the city and county situation in other states, and the constitutional basis for the settlement of these problems must be determined primarily by the facts of the local situation. In all discussions of proposals for consolidated government, it has been assumed that no community would be in any way forced to give up its autonomy and become a part of a larger consolidated city and county. The discussion in this pamphlet has been based upon this assumption and the several alternatives for local organization are discussed, not with the notion that any one of them will be placed in the constitution, but in order to present the several plans which might be worked out upon the basis of local consent, if the constitution were so changed as to make possible the local solution of the problems discussed. The problems, of Chicago and Cook County bear a close relation to those of local government elsewhere in Illinois. The multiplicity and complexity of overlapping areas within Cook County are here discussed, but in discussing the Cook County situation, it should be borne in mind that local government in many other parts of the state is almost as complex, if not equally so. St. Clair and Rock Island counties have already begun to present situations not dissimilar from those here detailed with respect to Cook County. A separate pamphlet in this series will be devoted to the question of local government throughout the state. The issue of municipal home rule will present itself to the convention not only with respect to Chicago but also with respect to the other cities of the state as well, and the issue as to limitations on municipal indebtedness will arise as to both. The question of municipal home rule for Chicago is more important perhaps, because Chicago is the state's largest city, and also because of the fact that Chicago has a very large proportion of the state's population. The peculiar status of Chicago and Cook county raises other problems not involved in the grant of municipal home rule to other cities. In one respect, however, the problem is the same. No plan for municipal home rule for Chicago or for any other city is likely to place cities in a position independent of state authority as to matters of vital state concern. However, Chicago and Cook county present a distinct question with respect to representation and this question is likely to be connected with that of granting larger powers to Chicago and Cook county to work out their peculiarly local problems. The problem of representation has a twofold aspect. The proposal to limit the representation of Cook county and Chicago will be made for the purpose of preventing Chicago and Cook county from dominating the rest of the state. But it is probably not desired by anyone that the rest of the state should control the local problems of Chicago and Cook county. If Cook county and Chicago have limited representation in either or both houses, but continue under the necessity of getting permission from the general assembly to deal with every new aspect of a purely local problem, they are helpless, for legislative inaction denies them the things they need. If Chicago is governed largely from Springfield, reducing the representation of Chicago at Springfield is reducing the power of the city to govern itself. A discussion of the problem of representation will be found in a pamphlet on the Legislative Department, and a separate pamphlet in this series is devoted to the subject of municipal home rule. In a pamphlet devoted to the judicial department, an analysis of the present judicial system of Cook county and Chicago will be found. It may be worth while to suggest here, however, that the present judicial organization within Cook county confines its attention primarily to the questions presented by the city itself and somewhat neglects the civil and criminal matters arising in parts of the county outside of Chicago. APPENDIX NO. 1. REFERENCES. Constitutional Changes required in Cook County, by H. S. Mecartney and Enoch J. Price (1900-01). The Extent of Necessary Constitutional Amendment, by Wallace Heckman. Address to Chicago Law Club, March 29, 1901. Chicago and the Constitution. Report of Civic Federation Committee. September, 1902. Proceedings of the Chicago New Charter Convention. The Proposed Amendment to the Constitution of the State of Illinois and a new charter for Chicago, by B. E. Sunny, April, 1904. The Chicago New Charter Movement, July, 1904. Opinion on the Amendment to Article IV of the Constitution of Illinois. By E. B. Tolman (Corporation Counsel of Chicago) December 1, 1904. The New Amendment of the Constitution of Illinois covering the Some Legal Aspects of the Chicago Charter Act of 1907. By Ernst The Park Governments of Chicago, Chicago Bureau of Public Efficiency, December, 1914. The Nineteen Local Governments in Chicago, Chicago Bureau of Public Efficiency. December, 1913, Second Ed., March, 1915. Unification of Local Governments in Chicago, Chicago Bureau of Public Efficiency. January, 1917. Tentative Propositions affecting the City of Chicago. Special Council Committee on Constitutional Proposals. December 1, 1919. APPENDIX NO. 2. TABLES. TABLE 1.—Assessed Valuations-1918-City of Chicago, Sanitary City of Chicago. District, and Cook County. Sanitary District of Chicago. Cook County outside Chicago. Cook County outside Sanitary District. Entire County.... $1,082,763,780 1,145,619,326 87,311,363 24,455,017 1,170,075,143 TABLE 2.-Assessed Valuation-1918-City of Chicago. |