8. What ought to be the minimum limit of population for an incorporated village, an incorporated town, a city? Topics for Debate 1. All county administrative officials, except the highest, should be chosen by civil service rules. 2. City and county government should be consolidated in cities like Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, and Los Angeles. ----- Footnote 24: In doing this they do not take editorials, resolutions, and letters too seriously. Some newspapers merely reflect the opinion of their owners, not public opinion. Societies often adopt resolutions without hearing both sides of the case. Congressmen sometimes receive several hundred letters in a single day, most of them saying exactly the same thing, which means that they have all been inspired from the same quarter. Footnote 25: The President of the United States is to all intents and purposes chosen directly by the voters although as a matter of form the choice is made indirectly (see pp. 288-290). Footnote 26: The appointment of officials is sometimes made by legislative bodies, although this plan is not common. In a few states the judges are named by the legislature. In some others the legislature elects the state treasurer, the secretary of state, the comptroller, or the auditor. Where the commission form of city government has been adopted all appointments are made by the commission. The general theory of American government is, however, that the choosing of administrative and judicial officers should not be vested in the hands of a legislative body. It is regarded as undesirable that the body which enacts the laws should have anything directly to do with the selection of those officers who enforce or apply the laws. But this principle ought not to be applied inflexibly; there are good reasons at times for making exceptions to it. Footnote 27: Washington was not a party man and cared very little about the political views of men whom he appointed to public office. His immediate successors, Adams and Jefferson, did not preserve this strict impartiality; on the other hand, they were disinclined to treat public office as a mere means of rewarding their own supporters. They did not remove office-holders in order to make room for their own political friends. Footnote 28: The story is often told, and it may well be true, that at a critical time in the war a visitor to the White House remarked to Lincoln that the responsibilities of the great struggle must be a heavy burden upon his shoulders. “No,” replied the President, “it is not the war that is giving me the greatest worry at this moment. It is the problem of filling that postmastership at Little Rapids, Indiana.” Footnote 29: