I LIBRARY")

UNIVERSITY Of
I CALIFORNIA

SAN DIEGO !



ASSETS

OF
THE IDEAL CITY



BY THE SAME AUTHOR



HANDBOOK OF
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT

A compact but complete statement of the
various forms of city government and the
best methods of administration.

THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY
PUBLISHERS NEW YORK



THE IDEAL CITY




BY

CHARLES M. FASSETT

SPECIALIST IN MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS

FORMER MAYOR OF SPOKANE



NEW YORK

THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY

PUBLISHERS



Copyright, 1922,
BY THOMAS Y. CROWELL COMPANY



Printed in the United States of America



To MY WIFE
EDITH M. FASSETT

TO WHOSE VISION, INSIGHT AND
KINDLY COUNSEL I OWE SO MUCH
THIS BOOK IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED



FOREWORD

BY HAROLD S. BUTTENHEIM, EDITOR OF The Ameri-
can City

This book attempts to sketch no impractical Utopia.
It is inspired, rather, by the author's knowledge of,
and participation in, municipal progress already accom-
plished in America, and by his faith in the dictum of
Dr. Edward Alsworth Ross, that mankind has "only
to do everywhere what is now being done with success
somewhere," that the world may be re-made.

In a larger measure than we yet realize, the future
of America and of the world will be determined by
the vision and ability of our local community leaders.
There are at least three reasons why this is so:

In the first place, in times of peace the governmental
activities which most directly affect our prosperity and
happiness are those of the community in which we live.
What would life or property in any city be worth
without the police and fire protection, the public schools,
the street paving and lighting, the water-supply, sewer-
age system and other community activities?

Secondly, the city offers an experimental ground for
civic progress which can be watched and controlled
much more readily than the larger governmental units.
A factor of prime importance in American progress

vii



viii FOREWORD

has been the initiative of local leaders by which im-
proved forms of city government and better methods
of promoting the public welfare have been developed
here and there throughout the United States, and
through the contagion of a good example have spread
to other communities. If the adoption of new ideas
had to wait until public sentiment throughout the
nation rose to the level of the more progressive com-
munities, we should render impossible our present rapid
progress.

In the third place, the psychology of competition
between cities is totally different from that which
exists between nations. What I mean is this : Perhaps
the greatest obstacle to permanent world peace is the
too-prevalent idea that the welfare of one nation is
necessarily enhanced by the poverty or weakness of
other nations. But within any nation there are few
who believe that the welfare of their city would be
enhanced by the poverty of some other city. On the
contrary, we have learned that no city can attain its
maximum of prosperity and health and happiness until
every other city is prosperous and healthy and happy.
Some day we shall learn that the same thing is true
in international relations. And it is more than prob-
able that the most potent influence in bringing about
that understanding will be, not our national diplomats,
but our municipal officials, our educational institutions
and the leaders in our local commercial and civic or-
ganizations.

In striving to make our cities more nearly ideal, we



FOREWORD ix

in America have much to learn from other cities
throughout the world. A more frank and frequent
interchange of ideas would benefit cities of every na-
tion, and would help to establish among municipal
officials and the commercial and civic organizations
at home and abroad a mutual understanding and good
will which in times of world crisis might save civiliza-
tion from an overwhelming catastrophe.

No community is too small to afford to the citi-
zens trained for leadership an opportunity to render
service of local and perhaps even of national and inter-
national significance. So, in cataloguing the assets of
the ideal city, Mr. Fassett has included not merely the
physical requirements of modern community life, but
also governmental, educational, religious, cultural and
civic attributes, and the forces of organized leader-
ship by which community ideals are being transformed
into actual accomplishments in cities large and small
throughout the nation.

As a successful engineer who became president of
the Chamber of Commerce in a large city and subse-
quently its mayor, Mr. Fassett has had an exceptional
training and experience for the task which he under-
took in the compilation of this book. I am sure his
hope is well founded that each chapter may prove
to be both an inspiration and a practical aid to students
of civic affairs, and to municipal leaders in their efforts
to make our American cities as nearly ideal as possible
and that the book may stimulate in some measure
that kind of inter-city emulation which shall help to



x FOREWORD

make of our world one great friendly community
whose local units shall vie for superiority in the arts
of peace and in service to mankind.

HAROLD S. BUTTENHEIM.
Editorial Rooms
The American City
January, 1922.



PREFACE

This book is not a treatise. Every chapter title in
it might easily have been expanded into a volume.
Indeed, there are books and periodicals extant which
cover in fuller detail and wider application all of the
subjects treated, and these I commend to the interested
student who desires to pursue the subjects further.

In compiling this book, my aim has been to collect
in one small volume a brief statement regarding each
of the more important institutions, activities and un-
dertakings which have come to be generally under-
stood as appertaining to modern life in cities, in the
hope of encouraging a better citizenship by the develop-
ment of a greater interest in the public welfare. My
constant effort has been to condense and simplify, in
order to keep the size of the book so small that the
municipal official, the college student, the busy man
or woman might not be discouraged from its perusal
by its bulk.

The instances of specific cities mentioned are usually
those with which I am personally acquainted. It may
be that there are other cities whose activities in these
various lines are more deserving of praise, and to them
I can only apologize for the oversight. Particular
credit is gratefully acknowledged to Professor Zueblin's



adi PREFACE

"American Municipal Progress," the Research Division
of the American City Bureau, and to the files of The
American City magazine.

CHARLES M. FASSETT.
January, 1922.



CONTENTS

CRAFTKB PAGE

I GOVERNMENT i

Relation of State to City Charter Form
of Government City Plan Zoning Police
and Fire Protection Centralized Purchasing
Testing Laboratory Civil Service Service
Pensions Accounting Budget Publicity.

II STREETS 17

Pavements ' Cleaning Lights Signs
Trees Piles and Wires Bridges Safety
Islands Fountains Comfort Stations
Grade Separation Traffic Rules Sidewalks
Alleys Street Widening.

III UTILITIES 33

Water Supply Gas Sewers Garbage
Disposal Electric Light and Power Tele-
phones Street Railways The Motor Bus
Steam Heat Coal, Ice, Food Rates.

IV TRANSPORTATION 46

Railways Passenger Depots Freight Ter-
minals Waterways Port Facilities Avia-
tion Fields.

V INDUSTRIAL 54

Sites Switching Tracks Power Market
Labor Tax Exemption Democratization,
xiii



xiv CONTENTS



VI EDUCATIONAL 63

Kindergartens Grade Schools High
Schools Junior High Schools Technical
Schools Night Schools Colleges School
Lunchrooms Delinquents Forums Boy
Scouts and Camp Fire Girls Americaniza-
tion.

VII STRUCTURES 78

City Hall Library Auditorium Museum
Art Gallery Public Markets Armories
Building Code.

VIII HEALTH 86

Housing Food Inspection School Clinics
Communicable Disease Clinics Visiting
Nurses Hospitals Health Centers Health
Thought Cemeteries.

IX SOCIAL 97

Social Centers Clubs Women's Clubs
Dancing Pageants and Celebrations.

X CORRECTIONAL 104

Police Court Juvenile Courts Court of
Domestic Relations Probation System Pub-
lic Defender Municipal Farm Jail.

XI INSTITUTIONS 113

Chamber of Commerce Young Men's
Christian Associations Young Women's
Christian Association Hotels Red Cross
Humane Society Associated Charities
Woman's Hotel.



CONTENTS xv

CHAPTEK PAGE

XII RECREATION 122

Parks Boulevards Play Grounds Gym-
nasiums Athletic Fields Camp Grounds
Public Baths Municipal Game Fields.

XIII Music AND ART 131

Band Concerts Municipal Orchestras
Community Singing Organ Recitals Paint-
ing and Sculpture Architecture The Drama
Landscape Gardening.

XIV ENVIRONS 141

Agriculture Forestry Farm Bureaus
Suburban Homes Suburban Parks Roads
and Transportation.

XV RELIGION 149

Churches Sunday Schools Religious So-
cieties The Salvation Army.

XVI CITIZENSHIP 154

Honesty Humanitarianism Public Spirit
Co-operation Leadership.

SELECTED LIST OF BOOKS 161

INDEX 171



ASSETS OF THE IDEAL CITY



CHAPTER I

GOVERNMENT

Relation of State to City. A city cannot be a
city without a legalized corporate existence, derived
from the next higher political unit, the state. In the
exercise of its paramount power, the state either grants
the right of organization to the growing urban com-
munity, or gives to it the choice of, or imposes upon
it, certain ready-made plans of city government which
have been approved by the legislature. But when the
city is organized, only two states, Oregon and Colo-
rado, allow it to work out its own salvation. In all
states the city government is bound by certain funda-
mental principles of democracy, and a direct relation
to the general government, and this is quite proper and
essential ; but most states go much farther, and hold the
city subservient to a continuing tutelage of the state
legislature, which hampers and discourages constructive
development.

This condition has brought about a reaction in the
growing demand for home rule for cities. There is no
logical reason why a city should submit its internal



2 GOVERNMENT

problems to a legislative body whose members come
largely from rural surroundings, whose sessions are
infrequent and short, and whose processes are not con-
ducive to careful study or deliberate action upon the
vital problems of municipal life. Some functions of
government, such as deal with health, education and
the public peace may be handled better through the
broader authority of the state, but there is every reason
for allowing cities the greatest freedom for self-ex-
pression consistent with the basic structure of our gov-
ernment. Every state constitution not now granting
this freedom should be amended or modified to con-
form to the provisions now in effect in Oregon and
Colorado, which are practically identical to the proposed
"home rule" constitutional amendment promulgated by
the National Municipal League in connection with its
Model City Charter:

"Such proposed charter . . . shall become the organic law of
such city . . . and shall supersede ... all laws affecting the
organization and government of such city which are in conflict
therewith."

Charter. A city charter and the ordinances
based upon it are the tools which, in the hands of the
city officials, will make or mar the civic structure. We
need not expect good workmanship, even from the best
of public servants, unless we provide the best possible
tools obtainable. The old notion that all we need to
produce good government is good men in office, is a
proven fallacy ; we know now that there are three prin-
cipal factors in good government, viz., good laws, good



GOVERNMENT 3

men, and a continuing interest on the part of the citi-
zens.

Given the proper home rule clause in the state con-
stitution, the city charter and its adequate administra-
tion determine the democracy, the efficiency, the econ-
omy, the responsiveness of the municipal government.
Experience has taught us that some charters tend to
discourage and hamper constructive action by city offi-
cials, disappoint forward-looking citizenship, and en-
courage graft and bossism, while others, even with
government in the hands of mediocre men, tend to give
us better results. We have learned better than to at-
tempt legislation in a city charter, understanding now
that the public conscience and the public will are in
constant flux, and that as soon as a man or a human
document becomes stationary, decay begins.

There are enough well-governed cities in America
today for our investigation as to form of city govern-
mental structure, so that a charter commission com-
posed of earnest and intelligent citizens properly ad-
vised by experienced experts need not go wrong in the
selection of a type of government and in the prepara-
tion of a charter, which, in the hands of competent and
honest officials, will give any city a modern, responsive
and democratic government, conducive to efficient ad-
ministration, suited to local conditions, and satisfactory
to the best citizenship.

Form of Government. The selection of a form
of municipal government is a matter of prime impor-
tance, and many cities and towns now seek to improve



4 GOVERNMENT

civic conditions by a change. Forms now used in our
cities may be classified as follows : town meeting, fed-
eral, responsible executive, commission, and city man-
ager.

In spite of its claim for pure democracy, the town
meeting is, in practice, the least democratic. Taking
the Census Bureau's estimate, that fifty-five per cent
of total population consists of adults over twenty-one
years of age, a town of 10,000 population has 5,500
persons capable of citizenship. Few town halls seat
more than 1,000. The clerk of the town of Greenfield,
Mass., with 15,000 population, reports that measures
in the warrant are usually decided by a total vote of 200
or less. This can only mean that 101 persons deter-
mine the action of over 8,000 voters, and it may easily
give rise to evil practices by means of a "packed" town
meeting.

The federal form, with a mayor and two branches
of the legislative body, occasionally numbering 200 or
more, is cumbersome, unresponsive, slow in action,
and divides authority. Checks and balances may re-
strain but they cannot vitalize government.

The responsible executive form, as it prevails in
many cities, and as it has been adapted to state govern-
ment in Illinois, Idaho, Nebraska and other states,
depends too much upon a single elected official, and
involves too great an upheaval in administrative or-
ganization after each election. The commission form
is a considerable improvement over the older types.
It curtails national partizan politics in city business,



GOVERNMENT 5

fixes responsibility, and minimizes the practice of
"passing the buck." Its chief weakness is that it pro-
duces a five-headed executive which also constitutes
its legislative body, a body too small as a representa-
tive assembly and too large for efficient administration.

The city manager form, involving a city council with
only policy-forming functions and a hired expert to do
the work, is the latest approved form of city govern-
ment. It is democratic, responsive, efficient and econom-
ical. It involves little change in administrative organi-
zation following elections ; it tends to make city execu-
tives experts instead of amateurs ; it allows representa-
tive men to sit in city councils without detriment to
their private business, and it provides for carrying on
the city's business with economy and dispatch. It is
therefore not acceptable to those elements which are
restrained by good government, nor to politicians who
live upon office or upon political spoils.

City Plan. Most American cities have not been
built, they have grown without plan. A railroad sta-
tion, a cross-roads, a river junction, or a waterfall has
determined the first location, and from this point the
development has proceeded in haphazard fashion, en-
couraged here by an existing country road, hampered
there by some trivial natural obstacle or obstructive land
ownership. It is difficult for the pioneer to visualize
the city of the future, to realize that the hamlet of
today is the city of tomorrow, to understand that the
narrow road which is sufficient for the occasional farm-
er's cart is entirely inadequate for the heavy traffic of



6 GOVERNMENT

a city, to forecast the need of an urban population for
parks, playgrounds and open spaces. And even if the
vision appears, the means of carrying it out are lacking.

The city planning movement, now very much in evi-
dence in American cities, is a realization of our lack of
foresight and an attempt to direct growth and develop-
ment along sane and useful channels. Its aims are
threefold: to correct as far as may be possible the mis-
takes made by reason of the absence of a plan in the
past, to meet with good judgment the needs of the
present, and to prepare for such growth as may be
reasonably predicted for the future. In its more recent
aspects the city plan is not primarily a "City Beautiful"
movement; it is an attempt to build a city useful, effi-
cient and livable, a city in which men may work with
comfort and convenience and may make their homes
amid healthy and wholesome surroundings, homes that
are capable of producing the highest type of American
citizenship. Such planning no city can afford to neg-
lect or postpone.

Zoning. The right of a citizen to do what he
will with his own is gradually yielding to the larger
right of the community. Private property in city land
is not so sacred as it used to be. We have long recog-
nized the right of the city to condemn privately owned
land for public use; some states go further and allow
the condemnation of more land than is required for the
public improvement, and the re-sale by the city of the
unused portion. Now we are ready to go another step,
in saying that the use made of land shall be so regulated



GOVERNMENT 7

that it shall not infringe a neighbor's right of usage, or
the common interests of the community. This is zon-
ing, and it is usually made the first step in city plan-
ning, after an expert diagnosis of the local conditions
and requirements.

Zoning sets aside certain areas for every reasonable
use to which land in cities may be put; arranges for
facilities to accommodate specific uses, and prevents
infringement or trespass of one use upon another. It
determines the character of pavements and the height
of buildings, it locates manufacturing plants and ware-
houses in districts easy of access by railroad sidings
and heavily-paved streets, it prevents the location of a
stable, a garage, or an undertaker in a purely residential
neighborhood, and provides locations for all sorts of
business where it can thrive without damage to adjoin-
ing property. It stabilizes realty values and gives
greater permanence to investments in city property.
Zoning is the latest expression of the desire to make a
city more livable for all its inhabitants by the reason-
able application of a wholesome law.

Police and Fire Protection. The protection of
life and property is one of the first obligations of gov-
ernment. A bill of rights or a paper grant of freedom
is of little avail, unless the citizen may confidently rely
upon his local government for his personal safety and
for adequate protection of his property. To this end
the organization and conduct of the police and fire de-
partments is of great importance. Equipment, person-
nel, organization and location of stations are the princi-



8 GOVERNMENT

pal factors. Motorized equipment is essential to prompt
action and is economical for many reasons. Fewer
stations furnish better service where the motor has
replaced the horses, and, particularly in a district where
calls are infrequent, the economy of a traction which
consumes no fuel when inactive, is very marked. With
good equipment, personnel and organization largely de-
termine efficiency. It is pitiful to see such vital depart-
ments subject to disruption and overthrow with every
change of political administration, as is so commonly
the case in American cities.

Fire departments are frequently sources of trouble
by reason of their men being idle so much of the time
that they get to hating themselves and each other. It
has been proposed* that the city establish shops in con-
nection with every fire station, where the city's equip-
ment for all departments may be renewed and repaired ;
that firemen be chosen for their mechanical ability as
well as their physical fitness for fire-fighting ; that they
be better paid, and expected to be at work excepting
when out on fire alarms. Spokane, Wash., maintains
a shop in connection with one fire station, at which
automobile apparatus is assembled and repaired, and
the products of this shop, as well as the influence of
productive labor on the men, have been of remarkable
interest and advantage. Men are just as good firemen,
and perhaps better, when, on an alarm, they drop useful
tools, as when they lay down a deck of cards.

Centralized Purchasing. No city, large or
small, can afford to allow each department or foreman



GOVERNMENT 9

to buy supplies independently. If the volume of pur-
chases does not justify a purchasing agent on full time,
an official with other work should be designated for this
duty. It will follow that the city will buy at lower
prices, goods bought will be accounted for, and time
will be saved, not only that of city officials and em-
ployees, but of the merchants from whom purchases
are made. The purchasing agent should be responsible
for goods bought, until they are in the hands of the de-
partment or the crew which uses them ; arid all check-
ing of goods received and authorization of payment for
them should come through him.

Most modern charters require bids to be submitted
and considered in open session of the city council or
other official body when the amount of the purchase is
of considerable size, making provision for emergencies
when the time required for advertising would cause ex-
pensive or dangerous delay. This emergency clause is
frequently overworked, but if the city is fortunate in
having a real purchasing agent he will usually get as
good bids over the telephone as would have been sub-
mitted in writing, and no damage is done. Emergency
purchasing in the hands of all the officials often leads
to dishonest practices and the practice is found always
wasteful.

Testing Laboratory. It has been said that no
city of 10,000 inhabitants can afford to be without a
testing laboratory ; it is certain that any city which buys
in large quantities can get better goods at lower prices
if it has available the means of determining qualities.



10 GOVERNMENT

Most commodities which a city purchases have qualities
which relate closely to their value and which cannot be
determined by any casual inspection. The materials of
engineering construction, the component parts of
bridges, pavements, culverts and other civic improve-
ments are peculiarly subject to substitution, adultera-
tion and damage in manufacture and transport, and
unless they are carefully tested before they are incor-
porated into the city's structures great loss may result.
Good labor and skill may be wasted upon worthless
material, and resulting structures may not be able to
stand the strains which they are confidently expected to
bear. The testing laboratory in competent hands de-
termines comparative quality and value with scientific
precision. Coal, cement, asphalt, fire hose, lubricants,
paints and like products can be bought on absolute
merit by its means.

But only a small part of its benefits can be estimated
in money. Its work for the health department is vastly
more important, although less showy. The chemical
and bacteriological examination of milk and other
foods, the analysis of the city's water supply, the in-
spection of cultures and smears from suspected com-
municable diseases, these and the scores of other ser-
vices which the laboratory may render in the protection
of public health and the increase in public sanitation,
amply justify its cost, regardless of any money it may
save the taxpayers in other matters.

Civil Service. The ideal city cannot do without
a proper merit system for determining the fitness of



GOVERNMENT 11

its employees. The old method of appointment to of-
fice as a reward for political or personal service has not