This scheme of city government has all the advantages of the commission plan and some of its defects. The detailed work falls on the city manager who is qualified to do it. There is a single, responsible head of the administration. When a citizen has any complaint to make, he knows exactly where to go. In all these respects it is an ideal arrangement. [Sidenote: Two practical questions.] But there are two practical questions connected with the plan which only the future can answer. [Sidenote: 1. Will the cities pay adequate salaries?] In the first place will cities be willing to pay the high salaries which they must pay in order to obtain the services of thoroughly competent managers? Men who are capable of handling the affairs of a great corporation, which a city is, cannot be secured without paying them the market price for their skill and experience. Private corporations pay high salaries to their general managers, and the cities, if they want the right men, must do likewise. But public opinion in most American cities is inclined to balk at high salaries. People who have to work hard for their own living do not see why anyone should get a salary of eight or ten thousand dollars a year from the city, and particularly they do not see why such a large salary should go to an outsider. In consequence many cities are striving to get good managers at low salaries, which is a very difficult if not an impossible thing to do. The sentiment which strongly favors appointing a “local man” as city manager is also likely to work harmfully. Local appointments in the long run are almost certain to be influenced by local politics. [Sidenote: 2. Is the plan applicable to very large cities?] A second limitation concerns the applicability of the city-manager plan to very large communities. A competent official can take charge of the entire administration in a place of fifty or one hundred thousand people. But how about a city of a million? Would the task be too big? This is a question which cannot yet be answered, because no very large city has yet tried the plan. It is pointed out that giant business enterprises, with operations extending into many countries, are sometimes managed by one capable man who ensures success by a careful selection of his subordinates. Until the experiment is made we are not safe in assuming that the city-manager scheme can be advantageously adopted by all communities of whatever size.