=The Organization of City Government.=—Twenty-five years ago the general plan of city government, as established by these charters, was fairly uniform throughout the country. Charters were granted in different ways; their provisions varied in many details; but the main framework of city government which they set up had everywhere the same general features. This was the mayor-and-council type of government, its chief feature being a division of powers between the mayor, who performed executive functions, and the council, which served as a municipal legislature. In other words the cities were governed on the same principle as the nation and the states. Even today most of the larger cities retain this plan. [Sidenote: The newer forms.] During the opening years of the twentieth century, however, a new plan of city government came to the front and spread with great rapidity through many sections of the country. This is known as the commission system of government. Instead of dividing powers between a mayor and council it combines them all in the hands of a small elective board. This plan of government now prevails in several hundred American cities, but most of them are small places. Out of the commission plan has grown a third scheme of city government during the past few years. This is called the city manager plan. It gives to an elective commission or small council the general supervision of city affairs, but entrusts to a professional administrator, or city manager, the immediate charge of the actual work. Let us look at these three types of city government a little more closely.